Hello lovelies!
How was your long weekend?  Mine was not long enough!  How am I more tired after a holiday weekend?  Oh, I know...it's because I am cashmere-turtleneck deep in Fall right now with new fall product, fashion presentations, Fashion's Night Out, blah blah blah.  Not to mention a certain little one has started pre-pre-school and a certain mommy has to make themed lunches. (More on that later.)  So excuse the sporadic, random posts.  I'll try to keep up, but right now, I have to prioritize and blogging is taking a back seat. You may see more of me on Twitter when I can get a five-minute break in the day.  If you aren't already following, DO IT NOW so we can stay in touch, k?  Okay.

Oh, and ONE LAST CHANCE TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY!  You don't have a new baby or plans to have more?  Enter anyway and you'll have a luxe baby gift on-hand for your friend/neighbor/co-worker/Starbucks lady.

The Help

click here to view/purchase

Not only have I been out of blogging-commission from a bout of Father's Day food poisoning, I'm also completely lost in this book I've been meaning to read for over a year.  I love reading but this whole working/mothering/wife-ing/cooking/cleaning/not-sleeping gig doesn't leave much time for anything longer than 140 characters. (At that rate, I should have this book done by November 2012.)

If you're not familiar with the premise of this book, it's set in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1950's, with two black maids and one white Southern girl looking to write a book detailing the suffering endured by these hard working women.  The maids' portions are written in a deep, dated dialect and I tend to get lost in these chapters, talking to my child in the same accent: "Good Lawd, Child! You done made yo' self a mess!"  The only thing more amusing than my new vernacular is hearing it escape out of my Asian lips, complete with a Southern Black accent.

Anyway, this has now taken entirely too much time and my book awaits.  (So does a sink full of dirty dishes, a laundry basket full of unfolded clothes, and an Inbox full of emails.  Priorities people!  I need to know what happens to Miss Hilly!)

A better post for you tomorrow.  Maybe.  And it may or may not include the words "sho' nuff" and "I'm a gone watch the tee-vee."

Monday blues

 

Dear Monday,
We regret to inform you that your services are no longer needed here.  While we appreciate the promises that a new week may bring, the idleness of the past weekend overrides those possibilities.  You tried to fool us with the blissful weather continued from the weekend and we almost fell into your trap.  It wasn't until we were late to a meeting because of two closed lanes on the highway, and no traffic reports, that we remembered how unnecessary you are.  Perhaps we would reconsider this decision if you could conspire with the Universe for good fortune to fall upon us, that we may enjoy you as we enjoy Saturday afternoon walks and Sunday morning stillness.

Sincerely,
the {mommy chic} household

Aw, shucks. You like me, you really like me!

via

Thanks to the lovely readers who have clicked on the buttons to the right, scrolled down to the very bottom of the Circle of Moms and Babble pages and voted for {mommy chic}. While I have no illusions of being anywhere near the top, my inner teenage girl feels a little flutter of self-confidence when I see an extra vote. You can only vote once on Babble (find me on page 2), but you can vote daily until May 5 on Circle of Moms! (I'm just sayin'.)

Big kiss to you!

Changes?

I just added Feedburner to this site.  I'm not really sure what that means or what it does, but it's there.  So if you are subscribing to this blog and then suddenly become un-subscribed, I'm sorry.  It wasn't on purpose.  I think now you can add your email address and get my posts direct to your inbox.  And isn't that what you've always wanted???  I promise, no spam.  Except maybe the occasional request to help my friend, a prince, in Africa who needs your bank account number so he can wire you five million dollars.  Or maybe I'll share the great deals I just got on printer cartridges, discount pet supplies, how I lost 30 pounds in a month or exclusive Dish Network deals.  I'm just sayin'...
 

Sweatin' {with} the Oldies

via

I am on day 4 of the 30-day Tracy Anderson Method and so far I. Love. It.  When I start working out after a long hiatus, I have a tendency to jump right in like I never stopped.  This of course means sore muscles and a lot of complaining for the next three days, followed by another shorter hiatus before stepping foot into the gym again.  Then a full workout, sore muscles, a long break....and so the cycle goes...

I broke this cycle before I was pregnant and had a solid, steady relationship with the gym and treadmill.  I was almost back down to my ideal shape when a little Bean interrupted my progress.  I told myself I would be back on track immediately after he was born.  Twelve months later, I still don't even see the track.

But the past four days, I've changed my habits.  I started slowly, not pushing myself too far.  I enjoyed the workout so much that I did it again the next day.  And since the 30-day Method is broken into 10 day segments, it's easy to tell yourself that you only have a few more days of this workout.  The video is understated, no obnoxious instructors with their cheesy commentary, moves are not too complicated, and all you need is a mat and some space.

This is now starting to sound like an infomercial (but wait, there's more! If you order in the next 30 minutes and mention...).  I swear, I've received nothing for this post, except sweat and a little bit of the good-kind-of-sore glute muscles.

I'm just saying, summer's around the corner and we're not 20 anymore.  (Thank God for that, but could we have kept our 20 yr old metabolism?)

Who else is on a countdown-to-summer-workout?

Life's an hourglass

Here's a sweet video of a family photo shoot to start off your week on a happy note.  It's such a cute idea and I hope to re-create a similar shoot for our family some day.

The song is "Hourglass" by Mindy Gledhill and I haven't stopped singing it to the Bitty all weekend.  
Enjoy!

video via

It's Friday, I'm in love...

 

Source: shopyovintage.com via perry milo on Pinterest

Hello, Friday!  I couldn't be happier to see you. While I had hoped to have a happy weekend vintage shopping and St. Patty's Day parading, it seems we will spend this weekend quarantined indoors as the Bitty has quite a cold.  This is probably all for the best, as the past two weeks have been exhausting and only a taste of what's to come next week.  So in between runny noses and dirty diapers, I'll be catching up on my favorite blogs, clearing the DVR, cooking, and reading the Hubby's new subscription to Architectural Digest.  I'm pretty excited about this, now that I think about it.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Baby trashes bar

We made it to Friday!  I had my doubts on Tuesday.  To kick off the weekend, I thought I'd share a little video that makes me laugh every time I watch it.  **Please note the padded bra and fanny pack to complete the drunk tourist look. 

Double decker dreaming

Snow days are the best -- especially when the sun is shining bright, the temperature is above zero degrees, there is fresh snow on the ground and huge snowflakes falling from the sky.  I love the silence and stillness the snow brings and sitting in it all day makes me dream of selling everything to pack up the family and dogs to live in an Airstream and travel the continent.

top RL airstream, bottom interiors

But, alas, reality sets in and I'm left day dreaming.  This woman, however, is living the dream in Australia and gutting an old double-decker bus to turn into a permanent vacation home for two.  What a brilliant idea!

via

Happy Chinese New Year

image via

It's the first day of the Chinese lunar new year celebration.  In honor of my people's holiday, I'm making pasta for dinner tonight (we're supposed to eat noodles for "long life" so an Italian pasta dish counts, right?), put the baby in red (it's the luckiest color and believed to ward off evil spirits), and handed out the red money envelopes (yes, we get money on new years!).  I'm also posting super-fantastic-cool Chinese things.  Other than myself of course.

Super-fantastic-Chinese-good-ah-duh-duh-duh number 1:

Chinese stools  (but really, I die for these windows)

Source: netvibes.com via Juannan on Pinterest

Super-fantastic-Chinese-good-ah-duh-duh-duh number 2:

Chinese food (and I don't mean Panda Express)

Source: via Audrey on Pinterest

Super-fantastic-Chinese-good-ah-duh-duh-duh number 3:

Chinese gardens

Source: flickr.com via Mia on Pinterest

Super-fantastic-Chinese-good-ah-duh-duh-duh number 4:

Shiny things

Source: google.com via Cindy on Pinterest

Super-fantastic-Chinese-good-ah-duh-duh-duh number 5:

Chinese babies

Source: news.cultural-china.com via Erin on Pinterest