Leona Lane

Thirty-Seven Weeks

This week is big for me because I am now full term! If baby wants to show up any day, then she is good to go! I am scheduled to work these last three weeks, but she wants to be early I would welcome it. My doctor says she is already 7.5 lbs, so I'm thinking she will be a big baby. Don't I just look HUGE?? I can't believe how enormous my belly has gotten. I can hardly lean over anymore because she's in the way. I can't even tell you how often I have accidentally bumped my belly into something. Ouch! Good think baby girl has lots of water and padding around her.

Overall, I'm feeling good. I've been seeing a chiropractor and my hips and pelvis are SO MUCH better. I can actually walk now without a ton of pain. I will be trying to walk as much as possible to help this baby come quicker. :)

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Photo Friday: Wood Grain

Happy Friday! This week’s Photo Friday prompt is wood grain. I love the added texture and depth you get when using raw wood as element in design or home decor. I thought it would be fun to make some Project Life cards using a photo I took of a wooden wall. I just printed it out on matte photo paper, cut out 3 inch x 4 inch rectangles and added some badges from my latest Studio Calico kit. 

Here is Sarah's - My picture is from one of our recent hikes with the doggies. We're loving finding new trails this summer around town, this is one from Riverside. It's been so fun exploring new places and swimming in the lakes and rivers with the dogs and hubby!

And Jenn's picture - My picture is of our little "Mexico wall." I love it because it reminds me of our trip to Cabo when we brought back these souveniers. Every day my hubby would barter with the Mexicans on the beach and ended up buying those carved ironwood sculptures. He just loves anything solid wood because he used to do a lot of wood working. We have a cactus, whale and a turtle on this shelf and a big huge swordfish above our fireplace. Yes, it's pretty silly, I know. :) I also love this painting that we got in Cabo as well; it's hand painted on tile.

And as usual feel free to play along on instagram. Just use the hashtag #photofridaywithleonalane so we can see what you all come up with!! We love seeing your pictures! 

a bright, happy & tropical nursery

Bright, Happy, Tropical

Yes, that is the theme in Baby Girl’s nursery.

I never intended to use so much color, or so MANY colors for that matter. In fact, if you check out my baby room pinterest board, you will see that I tend to love soft colors and especially white. My decorating process has, however, morphed into a much brighter palate.

And you know what? I love it.

It started with the Aqua wall, which I love. It could be for a girl or a boy, but I think it’s beautiful and feminine for our little one. I got some yellow sheets next, and intended to have a mostly blue and yellow color scheme. Then I made her a brightly colored quilt, full of aqua, pink, coral and orange. At the time I figured it would be the one pop of color in the room.  The colorful lanterns and the neon flowers were another addition. Although I made the bunting softer in color by adding lots of white, it still ended up creating another colorful element, which spread across the whole wall.

And that’s the story of how white and pastel aqua became bright and colorful.

I feel that the colors in this room are perfect to convey my thrill and excitement of bringing this little one into the world.

(Now, if she ends up being a boy? We may have to redecorate.)

 

First I will show off my little gallery wall. This is a mix of art from my childhood (the koala and the cat print) and some newer things I've aquired. I made the chalkboard in December, but just recently spray painted the frame white to match her room better. I added a couple of Ls that I got from Joann's, and also painted her a little canvas. (I stole the idea from here.)

I love these bright and happy flowers that we had at my baby shower! I customized a vase to hold the bouquet. This locker basket from Pottery Barn holds all of baby girl's books. You can see baby's first car! In pink, of course. Her Dad picked this one out at Land of Nod. :)

I displayed some of my favorite items such as these awesome neon converse shoes, the Lucy's socks box and this adorable mushroom toy.

Here is what you see as you walk in the door:

I just love those sheets from Target! I also have a chevron pattern and elephants in blue. :)

And here is another look at the other side of the room. As you can see, baby girl gets half the room, and the other side is full of crafty stuff! We only have a two bedroom condo, so we have to do a little improvising.

And just because, I will show you a photo of her shoes, which are lined up along the window.

As you can see, I am all ready for baby to arrive! All I need is a baby to fill up the room. :) I think I will wrap up this long and photo-heavy post with a few links to previous projects. That way they are all in one place.

Baby girl's Bunting

Baby girl's Quilt

Baby girl's Triangle Vase

Baby girl's colorful lanterns

Baby girl's chalkboard

My big "To Do" list is now complete and now all I have to do is WAIT!! I think that's going to be the hardest part. I have less than three weeks until her due date!!!

Gluten Free Berry Cobbler

The other day I was craving a really good berry cobbler. Not just a simple, ordinary berry cobbler. This one had to be a little more fancy, and of course, gluten free. I came across this recipe, and here's what I came up with:

I was all set to go up to Greenbluff and pick my own berries, but the bathroom disaster got in the way of that.. So I used blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries. Storebought... 

For my flour, I used gluten free bisquick. I've found its quite the perfect supplement for regular flour, you can barely tell the difference! It's great for anything! Pancakes, cookies, you name it! For you gluten free friends out there, I definitely recommend it!

I discovered this crazy trick off Our Best Bites recipe, where you grate your butter before tossing it with your flour. It makes pie dough making and cobbler dough SO much better! I'm so excited about this new trick! 

Here's what mine looked like post-grating:

Such beautiful butter! But anyways. back to the recipe..

Here's the list of ingredients I used:

3 cups Gluten Free Bisquick

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 stick butter, grated

2 eggs

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup raspberries

1 1/2 cups blueberries

1 1/2 cups blackberries

1/2 cup brown sugar

 

For the Streusel topping:

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup Gluten Free Bisquick

1 teaspoon cinnamon

4 tablespoons butter, room temp

 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease your baking dish and set aside. I used a 9x13. 

Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar.

Using a cheese grater, grate your butter. Then fold it in with your flour mixture, until crumbly. Whisk the eggs into the flour mixture. Add in the cream, mix until combined. The dough will be lumpy. Press half of it into your greased pan. 

Toss the berries you're using with brown sugar. Pour over the dough in the pan. Press the remaining dough over the berries.

For the streusel:

Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, and sugar; cut in the butter until mixed in evenly. Sprinkle this over the cobbler!

Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes. It should be golden brown on top. Next time I make this I think I'll bake mine for a little longer, the middle of my cobbler turned out VERY soft. Still SO delicious though! The perfect summer treat with vanilla ice cream! 

{Of course I can't take the credit for this amazing recipe, that goes to Our Best Bites! They're one of my new found favorite recipe blogs!}

Next Place!

We're renting a new place! ...and I am soooo excited! We still don't get the keys for another week and a half or so. The Seattle rental market is pretty crazy right now, so I feel really grateful that we found such a nice spot. I'm really excited that the house has an open floor plan, with lots of windows and some outdoor space. I'm also in love with the kitchen and all the tile work in the bathroom! ...and since fall is inevitably right around the corner, I'm pretty stoked about having a gas fireplace and heated floors. I can't wait to show you guys some pictures once we get moved in!  

Anyways, a few months ago when I knew we were moving again, I made a Pinterest board called "Next Place" and have been slowly adding inspiration - either things I really want to try or the general look that I'm going for. I thought I'd share a few of my favorites here today and hop on over to my pinterest board to see more. 

First up, I love this console table with its lightweight design and the fun plant next to it. I'm also loving the white walls with dark floors and the random globe lights. Thinking of doing something similar for a drop spot just next to the front door. Source : elinadahl.blogspot.com

I love this idea for sharing either instagrams or instax photos! I love the exposed nails, the mini-clothespins and the pop of yellow. Haven't figured out where this would fit in well yet... possibly over the fireplace or our bedroom or somewhere else entirely. Source : lifemadelovely-blog.com 

I originally pinned this because I love the empty frames with photos taped to the walls. But I also love everything else about this - the colors, the fan, the stacked books, the blue mason jar, billy balls, and modern lamp mixed with a rustic night stand. I'm thinking of trying something like this for the 'guestroom'. Source : apartmenttherapy.com

For some reason, I find it really hard to decorate my bedroom, it just never feels just right. I love how Dana from HouseTweaking styled her bedroom and nightstands - they're perfect! Which is awesome because I already have dark nightstands and grey duvet cover. Source : housetweaking.com  

This last picture is of a home office that I have literally been drooling over. I think it's perfect, an amazing mix of white & color, organized & messy, modern & vintage! I'm thinking of getting a half size expedit in white for storage space and I'm in the market for a new desk too. I love the wire basket for incoming papers, the 'pinboard' on the wall and the sketches taped directly to the wall. And that chair is just killing me. Source : apartmenttherapy.com

Thanks for looking at some of my favorites with me! It was hard to narrow it down, if you check out my pinterest board, be sure to let me know which pins were your favorites! Anything you definitely think I should try at my next place?

And if you love pinterest, be sure to check out our Leona Lane pinterest account too!