holly's plate

elementary, my dear

2008-09-29T09:37:00.005-04:00

i've been searching high and low for some new coasters for the coffee table and i think i've found some! from green chair press i present the sherlock holmes letterpress printed coasters. watson would be so pleased!

it's friday, baby!

2008-09-26T09:27:00.005-04:00

i thought i'd still do baby products on fridays, since that's all i seem to be looking at these days. there's some really fantastic stuff out there!

this is the latest piece i've been drooling over. it's called the abc sampler quilt by sferra. it's gorgeous in person—so soft and crisp at the same time. the letters are embroidered and have a great illustration-like quality to them. i really, really want one. or two? not sure so i'm still thinking about it!

a glutton for cute

2008-09-22T12:09:00.004-04:00

i spotted these sinfully wonderful mugs by trixiedelicious over my maternity leave (while on bedrest, actually) and thought they were so, so clever. if i worked in an office, i'd totally get these—one for every day of the week (if you work weekends, too).

anyway, i'm back now—a happy new mum of two. i probably won't be posting quite as often as i learn to juggle the boys and my job. i'm hoping for two times per week—baby steps, right?? if you miss me, you can always find me over at the shooting allens.

first fourth

2008-07-04T22:26:00.003-04:00

we live in a high rise, as i'm sure most of you know, and every year on july 4 we have the best view in town. the windows in the living room and the nursery look over lenox square mall, which is where they shoot off the fireworks each year.

here are the boys enjoying their first fourth from the safety of the living room floor. two minutes after this photo we decided to wake them up to show them the fireworks. that was, um, how do you say—a total mistake. note to self: never wake a sleeping baby. not even for the grand finale. they do not ooh and aah. they shriek and scream. for a long time.

ps—if you'd like to follow the twinks, check out my other blog. it may be some time before holly's plate is back up and running again, but i'm still blogging daily about the boys.

we're parents!!

2008-06-22T12:59:00.001-04:00

aren't they just beautiful?!?

alexander george (alex)
born: june 9, 2008 at 3:55 pm
weight: 5 lbs., 14 oz.
length: 19 3/4"

maxwell murphy (max)
born: june 9, 2008 at 3:56 pm
weight: 5 lbs., 3 oz.
length: 18"

maternity leave

2008-05-20T13:53:00.004-04:00

sorry guys!! not to get into too much detail, but i've been in the hospital trying to help those twinkies bake for a while longer. i finally was released after 10 days and am on strict bedrest until the babies come, which hopefully will be at least another week or two. other than that, all is well.

i'll miss you!

it's friday, baby!

2008-05-02T07:47:00.002-04:00

first, apologies for not posting in between fridays. i've actually been put on bedrest for the rest of my pregnancy and it's quite tough to type with my big old whale belly in the way. so, i'm guessing things will pretty much slow to a crawling pace here at holly's plate. i will try, but no promises!!

second, the shelves!!

my parents made the drive again last saturday and my dad helped tripper hang the shelves in the nursery. i don't have all the right do-dads up there yet, but was so excited i wanted to put something on them. the alternating chocolate and white really do make all the pieces—white cribs, chocolate dresser—tie in together. yay!

it's friday, baby!

2008-04-25T09:25:00.003-04:00

so for this next post, you're going to have to use your imagination a little bit. tripper and i have big ideas for the nursery walls, but i wanted to fake them in photoshop before we did any purchasing. your feedback is greatly appreciated!!

here are our ideas:

1. a wall of photos. (above)
what do you think about this grid? we're planning to take black and white photos of all the twins' stuffed animal friends (not just the duck) and i'll have green mats cut to fit each frame.

2. airplane. (still above)
we like the idea of something hanging from the ceiling above the rocker. what do you think of this airplane? would it look better with two of something instead?

3. shelves.
we want to center the monkey painting and put up four shelves—two on each side—to display some of the cute things we've gotten and some family pictures. the shelves will extend out past the dresser, but i think that'll be ok.

thoughts?

hey bud

2008-04-23T10:12:00.003-04:00

just look at this gorgeous set of five hand-blown bud vases. so very pretty! i was surprised to find these at plum party of all places. this is the time of year i usually look for fun jockeys and jillys® party stuff. even though we aren't having our party this year (for a couple of reasons ;) ), habit made me look. glad i did!

it's friday, baby!

2008-04-18T09:42:00.002-04:00

sorry i wasn't able to post very much last week. we had a ton going on here and work has been crazy busy!! here's a nursery post that will hopefully make it up to you!!

our sleepytime rocker from nurseryworks came!! and tripper put it together. and it is beautiful!! i love the punch of spring green. it looks so fresh with the white and the chocolate.

also, we ordered a little white bench from the land of nod and that came, too! tripper put that together in the same night and voila!—it's starting to look like a nursery in there! i also ordered some fun storage bins to go in the cubbies. hopefully they'll make it here in time for next week's update!

happy hopscotch!

2008-04-15T08:01:00.005-04:00

i've been saving this post especially for april 15—and as luck would have it, the super cute shop that sells it, shades of violet, is having a special 30% off tax-day sale!!! yay!

so, why does hopscotch make me think of tax day you ask? well, tax day also happens to be tripper's birthday (happy birthday, tripper!!). and tripper's parents actually met long ago at a hopscotch tournament. (they were like 10 years old!!) so, thank you hopscotch for introducing tripper's parents. you started a whole string of events that ultimately brought me every happiness in the world :)

ps—enter TAXDAY at checkout all day to receive your discount at shades of violet.

it's friday, baby!

2008-04-11T07:23:00.000-04:00

time again for baby stuff! last sunday, my mum and dad came over so my dad could help tripper build the cribs. take a look!

and of course, ed just had to get in on the action ...

success! two happy builders at the end of a hard day.

voila! isn't the bedding just lovely?

and finally, my mum and me. we got in the way more than we helped, but it was fun!

thanks so much tripper and dad! the cribs look beautiful!! two cribs in one room = doubly cute!! now if we could just get the rest of the room in order!! until next week ...

green chair press

2008-04-10T09:02:00.004-04:00

i discovered green chair press over on etsy while doing my daily dooce browse. the letterpress prints are just brilliant and i love looking at all of them. oh to own an old letterpress printer!!

work, sweet work

2008-04-09T21:52:00.000-04:00

just wanted to post a picture of my new home office space. it's much smaller than before, but it's sweet and cute and functional, so weeeeeeee for me! we got the desk—called the jay desk—at west elm and it fits on the wall perfectly. it has a hide-a-way desk that rolls out from underneath so it nearly doubles in size when i'm using it. we also had to get a new desk chair (in chocolate leather) without arms so it could tuck under. it's very similar to my old one, so that makes me a happy little worker bee. also, i had to downsize my computer set up. no more cinema display for me! before you go feeling too sorry for me about that, don't!! i got to get a brand new iMac and it is lovely!!

the space isn't quite finished yet, but it's coming along. i'll be sure to post pics again when it's all done!!

it's friday, baby!

2008-04-04T09:28:00.003-04:00

i ordered this amazingly cute "dick and jane" baby blanket from superfly lullabies (super swank blankets for your super swank babe) and it came earlier this week. you have no idea how hard it was to wait until friday to post about it!! i love it!!

the printed side totally reminds me of when i was a kid—yes, i actually did read about sally, dick and jane (and spot!) when i was in grade school. the flip side is the softest minky you've ever felt. not only is this blanket just darling, the craftsmanship is superb (and creator julie is the nicest person ever)!! i can't wait to toss it over the rocker (if it ever gets here) and snuggle up with the twinks.

see holly smile.

love candy

2008-04-03T07:33:00.002-04:00

i'm adoring these super cute made by love "love candy" poster prints! they come in all kinds of candy colors—bright blue, cotton-candy pink, light grape, deep lemony yellow. they look lickable, don't they? or at least scented, right?!? available on etsy.

white hot

2008-04-02T10:50:00.003-04:00

i'm totally into white on white these days—it's so clean and inviting—plus i may as well enjoy it while i can, right? soon there will be splotches of mashed peas and carrots all around me. anyway, i was just alerted to this gorgeous site out of australia that completely feeds my new obsession. it's called whiteport and most everything in it—from fine linens to kitchen essentials to little unnecessaries—is a lovely shade of white! everything is so classic and elegant. you must check it out!!

nice shoes

2008-03-31T09:37:00.003-04:00

tripper had to go to kentucky on business last week and brought home two very lucky horseshoes from churchill downs. both were actually used on the track! i wonder if barbaro may have worn them?

ps—happy birthday, karen!

it's friday, baby!!

2008-03-28T08:57:00.003-04:00

a lot of you have been so sweet to email asking me all about the nursery for the twinkies. i was thinking, instead of making this an all-about-baby blog—which it's bound to turn into since that's all i'm really thinking about these days—i'll just write about baby stuff on fridays. i'll call it "it's friday, baby!!" and that way you can follow along if you'd like. sound good?! great! this is going to be a long post while i catch you up, so settle on in ...

so, first things first. i showed you the cribs we picked (thanks again, mum and dad!). they are so lovely and ... they are here! they're still in boxes, so no photos yet. and we got our mattresses this week (thanks, papa ger' and mama lin'!)!! and i finally picked out our bedding—i mean their bedding—which should be here any day now!!

isn't it beautiful? it's called rory from serena and lily. i love how sweet and clean and sophisticated it looks. plus i think having two sets of mostly white will help make the room feel bigger. the brown teddy i photoshopped in to make sure i like the white and green with dark brown. i do. which is good because i'm thinking we'll keep the brown sideboard that's in the room now for storage.

i also ordered the sleepytime glider in lime green microterry from nurseryworks. it matches the green accents in the rory bedding just perfectly!! hopefully it will arrive before the babies do!!

you've seen the fabulous giraffe tripper bought me, but what you haven't seen is all the amazing presents from our friends and family. my dear friend/little sister/soon-to-be-auntie jenny threw me a lovely little girly shower over easter weekend. it was small and intimate—just what i wanted. take a look ...

she made all the food herself, including those adorable lamb cupcakes!! everything was done in shades of white—down to the drinks (white grape juice, sprite and white grapefruit juice). we had avocado sushi, bow tie pasta, cheese, finger sandwiches, white chocolates, lemon cake—it was heavenly!!

and here are all the presents!

we really have amazing friends and family!! i can't believe how very generous they all are. i feel very blessed.

we also started a new blog—a virtual garage sale called making room for babies. since we don't have a garage or a yard and we do have internet access, we thought this would be a great way to get rid of the old stuff to make room for the new. if you know of anyone in the atlanta area looking for odds and ends, send them our way!! we add items as we come across them. all proceeds will go to the twins' diaper fund!

that's it for this week! another baby update next friday!! xoxox.

campfire girl

2008-03-27T08:42:00.004-04:00

camping season is just around the corner—though you won't catch me in a sleeping bag in the woods! i'm more of a camp at the ritz kinda girl where gazing at the stars means spotting a celebrity—not the big dipper—so this porcelain campfire tealight candle holder is right up my alley. pass the mini marshmallows—and the room service menu—please!

available at kikkerland.

tall order

2008-03-23T11:51:00.000-04:00

i've always dreamed of having a 5-foot-tall giraffe in the nursery. i must have seen it in a movie or something. anyway, on saturday that dream came true! we went to cute-as-ever baby shop b. braithwaite and found the perfect one! and, tripper bought it for me!! well, for the twinkies, really!! it adds some great height to the room, which is finally starting to come together in my mind. when it comes together in real life, i'll be sure to post some pictures!

so, i'm trying to think of a cute name for him/her. any ideas?

rub-a-dub-dub

2008-03-19T07:34:00.007-04:00

you know those cute, galvanized party tubs that make everything from izzy sodas to plain old beer bottles look fabulous? well, check this out—

isn't it adorable?!? it totally makes me want to throw a party! the chocolate dot party tub from the merry martini is bound to generate a chocolate-y high at your next shindig—you'll likely hear whispers of "isn't she so clever?"

on the site, which is oh-so-cute and owned by kelly owens, they say this also makes for great storage. hmmmmmm. i wonder if it would look cute holding lots of little towels ... or burpies ... or diaper supplies ...

ps—enter promotion code HOLLY to get 20% off your order!! offer expires on 7/31/08.

bunnies and peeps

2008-03-18T14:25:00.004-04:00

oh. my. goodness. look how incredibly cute! one of my very favorite artists—marisa haedike of creative thursday—just posted an adorable easter lineup of clay bunnies and peeps at her etsy shop! go get one!!

(i am the proud owner of a little clay panda bear and love it!)

for sale

2008-03-17T13:24:00.002-04:00

as we make room for babies, we're going to have to do a lot of selling. here's the first piece we have for sale! my new home office is now in its spot—yes my whole home office now fits in the spot this took up—so it has to go. :(

if you know of anyone looking for an armoire, or pretty much anything else, please send them our way!! we'll have lots in the coming days.

here's a link to our posting on craigslist. there is some damage to the back and top—pictures of the wounds are on the listing—i don't like ugly things on holly's plate!

thanks!

crystal light

2008-03-17T08:30:00.001-04:00

my dad bought this gorgeous chandelier from pottery barn for my mum to hang above their kitchen table. it was delivered and they hung it this weekend. my mum says it's absolutely perfect!! i can't wait to see it.

of course they had no idea we had an order in for it too—for my mum's birthday (which we are terribly late for—it was back in february)!! with all the crystals (there are 69 of them!!), i knew she'd love it. ah well, back to the drawing board!!

image from pottery barn