happy living Design

happy living design is now Brandywine Studio

You can now find me here at Brandywine Studio dot com.  I'd love if you popped on over to say hi sometime.

happy new year (belated)

I think that was a long enough break.  And I took an extra couple of days this week to handle some things that I was procrastinating about.

We had an extra sweet holiday and New Year.  How about you?

at the Brandywine Conservancy

not giving up

Lots of starts and stops here.  But still staying in the game.  I'm just spending a lot of time learning how to balance it all.  And loving every minute of it.

Last week (7 months old) watching the front end loader take away our leaves

I just love those stray curls on the top.

hiatus part two

 

Can you believe it's autumn (at least here in the northern hemisphere)?  Where does the time go?  I hope for any of you that still have this blog in your feed and get to read this that you are doing well.  I just wanted to come out of hiding for a moment to say 'hello'.

That small orange bump you see in the bottom of the photo above is going to be our special delivery on or around April 15, 2010.  I am about 16 weeks along and feeling fine.  Still a bit nauseous and still quite tired, like my dial is turned down and the knob broke off.  I lost a bit of weight in my 1st trimester so I am still fitting into a lot of my regular clothes but I did wear my first pair of maternity jeans on Sunday.  Boy are they saggy and I don't think a bigger belly is going to help.

My long term plan for the blog: This blog is most likely going to stay on hiatus until next year sometime.  My goal is to 're-launch' it once I get happy living Design, LLC up and running officially, sometime after the baby arrives.  I say 'sometime' and use it loosely.  I have a lot of the groundwork set, like my architect's license, my business license, but there is a lot left to be done.  A lot.  There will be a new design, some sort of portfolio, the blog of course and some other fun stuff.

In the meantime, all the old happy living Blog stuff will stay here and you can find me intermittently posting over here at price street.  It's a more personal blog (it's been mostly hidden for awhile) but I am opening it up.  There's no defining it, really.  It's just what I feel like posting on any given day: home, design/decorating, photos, chatter, being pregnant!.  If you feel like coming over to say hello, I would love that.  

All my best,
Erinn

  

hiatus

The last few months have been a big long roller coaster and to say it has left my brain a bit hazy would be an understatement.  I have decided to take a hiatus from the blog and from some other things as well.  My priorities have shifted immensely and I am making some adjustments.  This is really difficult for me.  In my mind, to put this on the shelf means moving further away from getting out on my own and having my own business rather than closer.  But I know it's only temporary and I have to look at the big picture.  I am not sure when I will be back.  Unlike last year when I decided to take the summer off from blogging, this time around I am not putting myself on a schedule.  I am going to see how things go.

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who reads and comments for your support and encouragement.  I hope that when I am back (because I will be for sure) that you will rejoin me.  I will still be around occasionally on Flickr, Facebook and Twitter (see sidebar links).  Please say hi.  I will still be blog-reading for sure and will hopefully cross paths with you 'out there' too.

 

on a boat somewhere in the Delaware Bay

We spent this past weekend at my in-laws' beach house in Lewes, DE with both sets of parents.  They get along well and we all had a great time and lots of laughs.  It made me so thankful for both our families' love and support.  I feel very lucky.

On that note, I wish you all out there a wonderful summer (what's left of it) and I hope we're not separated too long. ;)

erinn

heading south

to Key Largo for a few days with two lovely ladies for some needed head-clearing and R&R.

by flickr member larkatz Key Life Pie

This is my first official beachy vacation (other than to Jersey and Delaware).  We'll see if I can get myself to really relax. ?!?  I have two books to take with me.  Eat, Pray, Love (technically my second reading of this, since I had to return it to the library and skimmed through the second half) and Mediterranean Summer (given to me by my mom, it combines our loves: cooking and traveling!).

If any of you are also on Goodreads, you can find me here.

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  I will be back on Monday, June 1st.

ebay

I have some random stuff up for auction on ebay.

getting away

even just for a day is good.


lewes, delaware

unexcused absence

Hey There.  No, I haven't given up blogging.  I am just on an unplanned mini-break. 

Here's the deal:
We started trying for a baby in January.  By the end of March I was pregnant.  And nauseous.  And exhausted.  That was the reason for mini-break #1.  Two Sundays ago I had a miscarriage at 9 weeks.  That is the reason for mini-break #2.

I have been going back and forth about whether or not I wanted to blog about it.  As I write this I am still unsure as to whether or not I will eventually click on the 'Publish' button.  But I am having bloggers block and feel I need to put this out there and then move on. 

It is not until you have a miscarriage that you find out about everyone else who had one too.  It is just not something that is talked frequently and openly about as it is sad and disappointing and sometimes devastating.  It is physically and emotionally exhausting.  But I guess it is not uncommon.  We take some comfort in knowing that the couples we know that have had miscarriages all have healthy children. But right now I find myself still a bit angry and somewhat jealous of every woman who is pregnant.  Thankfully though, all that is tempered by hope that we'll move forward from this and have a happy outcome the next time.

I watched that program the other night with Michael J. Fox that is a companion to his new book.  I think it was called Adventures of an Incurable Optimist.  He said (and I am totally paraphrasing) that he could focus on the loss (of having Parkinsons) or he could be optimistic that something new will come to fill the hole.  There is a big difference between having Parkinsons and having a miscarriage, but I think what he said holds true for any type or degree of loss that we experience.

Thanks for hanging in there.

I am thankful...

...that you keep coming back.  It has been 13 days since I last posted.  I have been a bit under the weather lately.  So thanks for hanging in there with me and 'hello' to some of the new people who have stopped by in mini absence.

I never officially posted about the spending hiatus wrap-up.  I feel like I am in spending hiatus 'lite' mode.  I have purchased a few things but nothing that could be considered a clear-cut non-essential.  So much gray area there!  We have a couple of circumstances that have come up since the official end of TSH so TSH 'lite' will probably continue for the foreseeable future and I feel ok with it.  Maybe TSH 'lite' isn't really a spending hiatus at all.  Maybe it's my new perspective.

I did some spring cleaning of my closet over the past couple of weeks and have a few things that I might list on ebay.  I will let you know when they are up.  We have an SUV load of stuff to go to the Salvation Army.  And probably more that should! 

Our bedroom has been without trim (baseboard and door casing) for over a year.  So we are gearing up to finish the overhaul of that room in late spring.  I finally picked colors too.

I really enjoyed reading each of your comments about spring cleaning.  So many good ideas and thoughts.  I plan to go back and read them again!