Hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day weekend! Mine was fun, my "first" one as a mother. The farmer's market in our neighborhood reopened for spring/summer, just in time for peony season! Ben gave me a bouquet for Mother's Day, I went to a baby shower, and my father-in-law made a huge feast for all the mothers in Ben's family. I didn't get to see my own mom in person (just a phone call), but I'm looking forward to seeing my family in about a month at my sister's high school graduation (!!). In fact, we have lots of things coming up--I feel like this last stretch of pregnancy is going to fly by. And we really are getting close! On Sunday, I'll be 28 weeks along, officially in the third trimester. It feels like it too...I've noticed myself getting way more tired over the last week or so. My brain still has energy, but my body is like, "nope." I've never been a nap person, but I just started taking lunchtime naps, as well as sleeping in later in the mornings. Those are some of the main times that I used to work on blog posts though, so warning--posts may be fewer and farther between from now on. We'll see what I can manage. But I can forgive my body for being so lame, because I know the reason it's so exhausted is that it's growing a little human!

How have you been lately??

May is one of my favorite months: flowers, sunshine, the return of our neighborhood farmer's market, my birthday, and of course, Mother's Day! Mother's Day always seems to sneak up on me, so in case you're the same, consider this your warning: it's THIS Sunday! But don't worry, I have you covered with an easy last-minute gift idea that can be totally customized for your mama. Store-bought gift baskets often look cheesy and impersonal, but a DIY gift basket that's tailored to your mom's style? That's unique and thoughtful. I picked out some items that I would love, for a perfect relaxing evening. Head over to the Kendall-Jackson blog for more photos, and a few other ideas!

What would you put in a gift basket to make the perfect present for your mom?

Thanks to Kendall-Jackson for partnering with me on this post.

Happy Monday! I'm excited to participate in the book tour for Melissa Michaels' newest book, Make Room for What You Love...and I'm in good company with a slew of other awesome home bloggers. Melissa asked each of us to talk about  a way that we're simplifying our home and life, making room for what we love. For me, the topic was easy: making room for our first baby! I realized that part of the reason we've been so eager to buy a house is that we have TOO MUCH STUFF. We think we're outgrowing our rental, when really we just need to cut down the clutter. Eventually, we will "need" a bigger house. But for now, our current place is perfectly sufficient. It's 1200 square feet, with 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a den. That is more than enough for two adults and one tiny baby! Some people in New York and London raise families in homes that are half that size! I admit, I want to buy a bigger house...but we don't need to. So last weekend, we decided to "make room" in our current house. We went through every single room and consolidated closets, made giant Goodwill piles, and threw away junk we were storing for no good reason. We do a little spring cleaning every year, but this is the first time we've ruthlessly gone through everything--and it felt gooood.

The result is that we were able to clear out the entire extra bedroom for the nursery! We'd considered renting a storage unit for the stuff in there, so it was VERY satisfying to cross that off (and save ourselves $60/month).

Going through the house also made me realize that I have enough clothes, shoes, pillows, and decorative tchotchkes to last me a long, long time. So going forward, I want to be really deliberate about anything new that I buy. I recently heard a saying that I liked: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." I'm not going to stop shopping altogether (we still need diapers and clothes for our baby!), but I want to be way more critical about every purchase, especially since we are entering a new season of life where money is going to be tighter. I realize that "making room for what you love" can apply to lots of things. Not just physically making space in your house, but also making room in your budget, schedule, etc.

For example, we've decided to both take three months of maternity/paternity leave when the baby is born. Half of that time will be unpaid for me, and all of it will be unpaid for Ben. But we think it's worth it, because we'd rather have that time together as a new family, than the money we would make (or the stuff we could buy with that money). I'm sure becoming parents will lead to many more decisions like that, where we learn to prioritize what matters most, even if that means letting go of something else.

What are some ways that you've made room for what's important in your home/life?

For the rest of the book tour, check out these lovely bloggers:

Eleven Gables / At the Picket Fence / Fieldstone Hill Design / Julie Blanner / Southern Hospitality / Beneath My Heart / Thrifty Decor Chick / Reluctant Entertainer / My Sweet Savannah / Domestic Fashionista / 320 Sycamore / Sunny Side Up / Craftberry Bush / Happy Happy Nester / The White Buffalo Styling Co / Sweet and Simple Home / Finding Home Farms / In My Own Style / Fox Hollow Cottage / The House of Silver Lining / Infarrantly Creative / Shabby Nest / Today's Creative Life / Sarah M. Dorsey Designs / Emily A. Clark / Just A Girl

You guys have seen the George Nelson ball clock, right? It's a modern design classic, super gorgeous and fun...but at nearly $400 it's also dang expensive for a clock. Well, when I was putting together Ben's home office, I came across this clock which looks very similar but costs waaaay less. So I got it! The only problem? The black balls--they're just not as cute as the colorful ones. I always had it in the back of my head that I could paint them, so when we found out that we're having a baby boy I decided the clock would be perfect for our nursery!

Here it is: the easiest "DIY" clock you'll ever make. It's as simple as painting the balls to match the color scheme of your room! I also added a layer of varnish to lock in the paint and make the balls shiny, but really, it's the easiest project ever.

P.S. We haven't started setting up the nursery furniture yet, so this is not the final spot where the clock will go (or any of those other pieces, for that matter). But good enough for a photo!

P.P.S. It's worth mentioning, if you like the colors on the George Nelson original, hayneedle now has a replica with the same colors. It wasn't available when I got mine or I'd have probably just gone with that. But I'm still glad I got to do a custom color scheme for our baby! That's the nice thing about a DIY...when you're doing the work yourself, you can make it exactly what you want.