I'm still waiting on the burst of energy I've been told will come with the second trimester.  I feel almost back to normal besides the growing belly.  I would kill for some caffeine and a cold turkey sandwich.  We're weeks away from finding out what we're having.  Jason really wants a boy.  He sees his son playing baseball for the Cardinals and winning championships.  Sure.  That will happen.  I don't really care either way.  I think our families are more anxious than I am at this point to find out the gender. 

I've been super busy with different sewing projects lately.  I've been making skirts, bags, and dining room seat covers.  Baby D is growing bigger every day (and so is her/his mom).   I'm not wearing maternity clothes yet, but definitely starting to look pregnant.  Here's a little bit of what's been consuming my time:

{Skirt from Pinterest}

{New Fall bag design.}

And last but not least, the weekly belly picture:

I didn't realize how much caffeine I consumed each day until I wasn't able to have any (or very little).  I saw the ad announcing the return of the Pumpkin Spice Latte and was suddenly very bummed out.  In the fall, I would usually have multiple Pumpkin Spice Lattes in a week.  This doesn't even count the amount of iced or hot tea I would drink each day.

I'm 15 weeks this week and I miss coffee and sushi the most....but mainly coffee....and multiple iced teas in a day.  I'm not in maternity clothes yet, but definitely starting to look chubby. 

{15 Weeks.}

My Labor Day was pretty uneventful.  Jason and I drove out to Chuck's Boots to get Jason a new pair of work shoes.  I could have spent a lot of money on boots...for myself.

{Rows and rows of boots at Chuck's Boots}

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the backyard on the new swing my dad made for us. 

{Everyone enjoying the new swing.}

In baby news, I'm officially 14 weeks and that horrible first trimester is officially over.  I've been feeling so much better.  While I'm not wearing maternity clothes yet, I've been scouting them out online. 

{14 Weeks.}

I've been feeling a little better lately (this first trimester is not my friend) so last Friday, I ventured out to the Kirkwood Farmers' Market.  The fresh produce was so colorful and pretty that I had to take pictures of it.  I came out with some tomatoes for Jason and some plums for both of us. 

See the Kirkwood Farmers' Market at Halloween here and Christmas here.

On another note, I'm officially 13 weeks. 

After seeing the idea on Pinterest, I decided to make a cute chalkboard to hang on the wall and to document a new chapter in our lives.  To get started, I found a framed print of flowers at a resale store for half price.

{Framed print before.}

I took the print out of the frame, flipped it over, and added several coats of chalkboard paint to it.

{Painting the back of the print with chalkboard paint.}

After putting the print back into the frame chalkboard side up, I now had a big chalkboard in a cute frame.  I thought about painting the frame, but actually liked the gold frame.

{My new chalkboard with gold frame.}

And now for the announcement the chalkboard was intended for:

{Our baby is due March 3.}

{This was still the result after 7+ tests.} {At about 5 or 6 weeks.}

While I didn't get to do everything on my "Summer '12" list this year, I did get to check a few things off of the list.  Here's how my summer went:

{A trip to The Muny to see Chicago.} {Caught a few Cardinals games at Busch Stadium.} {No summer is complete without a trip to Ted Drewes.} {Visits to my parents' pool.}

While experimenting with a maxi skirt design pattern a couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon a super easy way to make a simple maxi skirt.

{I used an interlock jersey knit fabric in bright pink.}

 I revisited my college days by drafting a maxi skirt pattern on computer paper that I taped together.

{Maxi skirt pattern on the fold of the fabric.}

While the original maxi skirt design I was working on is more complex, this was a nice surprise.  This is an easy way to make a skirt.  I measured a huge triangle pattern, cut it on the fold of the fabric twice, then drafted a waistband.  The waistband for this skirt fits like yoga pants; folding over the skirt.  After that, I sewed it all together.  The skirt is really comfortable.  I'll probably end up making one in every color.  Now on to the harder original pattern.....

{Finished skirt with overlap waistband.}

I love random junk.  I also love re purposing old random junk.  One of the places around my house that displays the most "junk" is the backyard.  I've got lots of "yard art" that I've purchased at different places.  One of my favorite places to get yard art is the Byrd's Nest in Kennett.  If I could fill the entire yard with yard art, I would.  I would be "that" person in the neighborhood.   

{Yard art.  This one is from the Byrd's Nest.} {Bird "tea party."  This once held water and bird seed.  The recent drought has left the tea cup empty and dry.  I bought this one here.} {Another drought stricken bird bath with hail damage.  This yard art has seen better days.  I got this one here.} {Yard art around the fish pond.  I found the turtle under our back steps after we moved in and I bought the metal butterfly piece at a flea market.} {This yard art holds a mosquito repellent candle.  This one is from the Byrd's Nest.}

Some people don't understand my yard art, but that doesn't stop me from buying and making more.

I recently went to the NARTS conference for work.  One of the workshops I attended was on closet chaos.  This is an interesting topic for me, because I'm always looking for new ideas on organization, especially organizing closets.  Two books were recommended for deciding what to keep and what to toss when cleaning out and organizing.  I checked out both books at the St. Louis County Library.

{Nothing to Wear? by Jesse Garza and Joe Lupo (please ignore the goofy cover photo.} {Wear This, Toss That! by Amy E. Goodman}

I'm half way through Nothing to Wear.  I would recommend it for those who are stuck in a clothing rut.  It has great tips on how to get rid of all of the stuff you don't need.  Reading this after watching an episode of Hoarding:  Buried Alive caused me to have crazy dreams. 

Our neighbors don't have to wonder what baseball team we cheer for.  Somehow Jason's love of the Cardinals has taken over our yard. 

{Stepping stone by the front door.}

{A flag for the porch.}

{The wreath I made for the front door.}

{And finally, Norm the gnome.}

Obsess much?  I think so.  You should see our guest room.

I originally saw this project on the Today show when Emily from my favorite blog shared this as one of her 5 must-haves for summer.  It's an easy way to take an old brooch and make it new.

{I bought this brooch at a thrift store last week.}

{Take any nail polish you have and start painting.  I used bright, fun colors.}

{Finished.}

{Paired with a cute bumble bee pin.}

 This was a super easy project that only cost me the $2 for the brooch.  Try it!

While attending a conference this week in St. Louis, my boss and I decided to have lunch at Sweetie Pie's. 

If you haven't heard of Sweetie Pie's, it's a local resturaunt owned by former Ike and Tina Turner backup singer Robbie Montgomery and features southern soul food.  Though they've been a St. Louis staple for years, Sweetie Pie's recently landed their own reality show on OWN (the Oprah Winfrey Network).  Learn more about "Welcome to Sweetie Pie's" here. 

The food is served buffet style and required us to wait in line with other Sweetie Pie enthuseists.  There was a Baptist convention in town this week also, so our fellow line patrons were from all over the country.  The ladies behind me in line were from Mississippi and were huge fans of the TV show.  When Robbie's son Tim came out from the kitchen, there was a frenzy of picture taking and hugs.  The lady standing behind me shouted "TIM!  TIM!" waving her arms frantically.  It was as though she knew him personally, but instead only knew him as a character on TV.  "I just love that show," she told me.  "I watch it every week."  She continued to tell the other staff members how much she loved the show.  They would smile akwardly at her, probably because they had never had any part in being on the actual show.

As luck would have it, the camera crews were present that day.  Guys in t-shirts and ragged jeans with big cameras and cords hanging from them followed Tim around the resturaunt as he greeted customers, took photos with fans, and went about his daily business. 

After a 30 minute wait in a line that wrapped around the resturaunt and onto the sidewalk outside, we were finally about to enjoy world famous soul food from Sweetie Pie's.  My meat was fried chicken wings, with okra and mac and cheese as my two sides.  My meal was topped off with a piece of cornbread, accompanied by the sweetest lemonade I've ever had in my entire life.  I chose lemonade thinking the sweet tea would be too sweet.  I think both drinks were filled with sugar. 

{Fried chicken wings, okra, mac and cheese, and cornbread.}

Because the resturaunt was packed with people, we ended up sitting with a small group in town for the Baptist convention.  They were also from Mississippi.  After they prayed over our lunch, the Reverand added two more sugar packets to his sweet tea.  I cringed. 

I was able to finish most of my lunch before starting in on my dessert.

{Banana Pudding.}

Though the food was so good, we were given so much of it that it looked like we had barely touched it.  This trip to Sweetie Pie's was definately worth it.

I spent this past weekend at my parents' pool.  As you can read here, I really enjoy my time at the pool. 

{My Saturday.}

After gathering some reading materials and checking out CelebraTORI from the county library, I headed south to Kennett to spend the weekend at the pool.  I was also able to spend Father's Day with my dad.  It was a short trip, but a much needed break.

My new obsession is re-purposing things.  This is probably because I've been watching Junk Gypsies on HGTV.  I've turned a corner of our basement into my own personal studio.  My newest project was redoing bar stools I bought at a yard sale. 

{Bar stools I purchased at a yard sale for $5.}

{Step 1:  A new coat of paint.}

{Step 2:  Recovering the seat cushions.}

{Finished.}

I love the new look of these stools.  I'm putting them for sale in the "junk re-purposing" section at Potentials.  On to the next project....