Pup Windows!!

  Part of Finch and Rigby's main jobs are to be good watchers. They keep an eye on what's going on, and let us know if they are concerned with what they see...
  Back in the Mpls house, Finch would perch himself on the couch, and look out the front window ALL the time - occasionally a little "burf" or soft growl would be Finch's way of letting us know that he was looking out for us.
  In the Minnetonka house, we don't have any windows for the pups to look out of except for the sliding glass deck door (where Rigby is occasionally concerned with the passing chipmunk or squirrel) or the downstairs office window (but we're not down there as often...)
  So! We decided to add 2 Pet Peek Windows into our deck fence!

image from the website: this is a really short fence or a really tall dog....

Here is OUR more realistic Before & After:

Finch supervising...

Rigby getting in the way...

  The pups REALLY love their new peek windows - Rigby oftens asks to go outside JUST to use them. He enjoyed keeping an eye out for Trick-or-Treaters headed our way

Nursery Inspiration: Color

  If you ask Kevin, our blueberry swirl cheesecake that revealed we're having a little boy, means our baby nursery should be "Space Theme." When I asked him "Why space theme?" he responds "How else will we get all of the Star Wars stuff to fit in?"       ......ummm.....

  I've been peeking around at nursery inspiration online - I started a secret Pinterest board back in June! - and yes, now that we know gender, it changes things a little bit. I'm not much of a 'theme room' gal, and despite gender, I've been imagining something more gender-neutral from the get go. In case you didn't know, I'm not much of a pink girl myself, so pink walls for a little girl wasn't really on the possibilities list. Just saying.

  We have some existing furniture that we want to incorporate into baby's room and our goal is to ensure the space is cozy, warm, modern (not in a stark, cold way) and eclectic. We have collected some items and decor over time, that would be really fun to incorporate into the room, and none of them really fit into a theme or overarching color family, so... eclectic it is!

For starters = Color Inspiration

I've really been responding to greens, oranges, aqua/turqs and gray color combinations....

1. Chevron Rug: Urban Outfitters  -  2. Little Nest Box, Etsy  -  3. Cord Roy Fox, Jelly Cat  -  4. Sugar House Ink, Etsy

5. Herringbone Rug: Urban Outfitters  -  6. Land of Nod  -  7. blablakids.com  -  8. how do it

9. Green Stripe Rug: Land of Nod  -  10. Cord Roy Croc, Jelly Cat  -  11. Ombre Dresser by Cape27  -  12. Wipe-Off Word Bubble Frames by Chez Larsson

13. Aqua Chevron Rug: Urban Outfitters  -  14. Paper Airplane Printed Pillow by Alyssa Nassner (we purchased this one of kind pillow from Alyssa!)  -  15. Illustration from "Jimmy's Tree" by Me! Elisa!  -  16. Gosh and Golly, Etsy

  I am liking the idea of doing an accent color wall: my fav idea so far = dark gray.

left. tumblr page no longer active...  -   middle. Follow Pics  -  right. Wall decals by Simple Shapes, Etsy

  I like how the dark gray walls really allow everything else to pop - feels light and airy even though its so dark! Hmmm....should prob get some little paint swatch samples before diving in...

More to come!

Hello Gray House!

   When planning to re-side our home exterior, I knew that I liked the idea of a more industrial, corrugated steel siding look - I tracked down some inspiration photos to sell Kevin on my plan for the siding and new lighting for the house.

I really like the green vertical siding on the left + the mix of the wooden steps on the right looks so warm and modern. Not sure if we could commit to a whole green house, but there's something nice about the natural green color...

Gray siding + Yellow door seems right up our alley right? Another good example of the great vertical corrugate + I liked this light fixture on the right side - yes, it's shown as a bathroom fixture, but still - thought this style was quirky and updated and not too modern...

   When going through the process of meeting with representatives from different siding companies, we explored several siding options - steel, steel corrugate, vinyl, etc. - and really considered the cost impact, and of course, can we get the look we like.
   Finally, we determined that we would walk away steel corrugate due to cost, but still achieve the look via a vertical Board & Batten style in vinyl. Now if you're like me, you cringe a little bit when you hear vinyl - Vinyl kind of makes me think of granny-siding, that's fragile and not attractive - well I was finally convinced that they don't make vinyl like they used to...

Good-bye poop brown house!  Here is our new gray house!

The garage door was left brown of course, so Kevin painted it right away - it looked  PRETTY bad with the new gray...

+ here is our "Accent Wall" - Green siding on the wall where our deck is (the only chance I had to snap a pic was kind of a cloudy, shadowy day, so...) + our new light fixtures for the front, sides of house + garage!
(Not surprised to see a certain pup named Finch, keeping an eye on me through the door!)

We're so pleased with our results and don't miss the poop brown color for a second!!

To Infinity AND BEYOND!!

  Last year our nephew Owen was ALL about Sesame street - Elmo, Cookie, Big Bird, the whole gang {see Owen's Sesame Street B-day Party from last year}. THIS year, you'd better believe that Toy Story is #1. Owen's mom, our sister-in-law, Anna (of Birdie & B's Sweets) was out to make this years party one to remember - and of course,  I was super pleased to help out where I could :)

We fancied up the bottled water with two styles of fun B-day labels - featuring Slinky Dog and an Alien :)
 I Googled "Toy Story Font", but I didn't download it, I just traced out "Owen" to ensure it looked as "authentic" as possible. I recreated the Toy Story clouds and arranged my text, character and text elements on a 3" wide band x about 8-9" (had to measure a bottle). We used a skinny little strip of double-stick adhesive to keep 'em on.

I added Anna's menu items to little Etch-a-Sketch tent-labels that I printed off on card stock
(I fit 5 labels to an 8.5" x 11" page)

What's more Toy Story than pizza from Pizza Planet??! When Owen saw the sign I made to accompany the pizza boxes, he got REALLY excited + can't forget everyone's fav punch (aka 'Alien Juice') with Lime Sherbet...

And the sweets!! Chocolate Snickers and Strawberry Shortcake cupcakes = SO good. (Anna always takes care of the non-chocolate eaters like me and Kevin!) + of course! Birdie & B's Sweets Cake Pops! Vanilla pops "Alien" and "Hamm" were delicious and chocolate pop Mr. Potato Head was SO detailed.

Along with Toy Story coloring sheets and ring toss, the kids kept busy with creating their unique Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads and "The Claw Game"

Cute Toy Story buckets filled with goodies for kid's party favors!

And for just a little added fun, I printed out an extra large Etch-a-Sketch, mounted it on cardboard, and cut out the center to become a frame! It was super fun to snap pics of party guests - although I didn't get ALL of the guests :(

OWEN!! The Birthday Boy himself!  with his new Buzz Lightyear action toy - complete with impressive wingspan and blinky little lights....

Yes. That is Baby McBride featured in the lower-center pic there...

J is for Jimmy!

  Last Friday, our adorable niece, Brooke, was tasked by "school" (daycare) to bring an item from home that starts with the letter 'J' - I was so excited that Brooke chose to bring her very own purple Jimmy Doll that I made her for her first birthday!! Look how cute and excited she was - still a bit sleepy, but excited nonetheless!

sporting a lovely shooting star tattoo on her hand :)

Blueberry Swirl or Raspberry Swirl.....???

   Kevin and I are so excited!! We went in for an ultrasound this morning, got to see the baby doing a little jig, its lovely spine and brain + all four chambers of the heart: So cool! - AND most importantly, to find out the little Nugget's gender! Our Radiologist/Ultrasound Tech was named Molly, which we took immediately to mean we were in good hands (Kevin's older sister is Molly), and she was a really good sport... Because we have a surprise planned for ourselves and our parents!

  Tonight we are having parents over for dinner, but they don't know about the appointment this morning. We plan to reveal our baby's gender for dessert - Cheesecake dessert to be exact. Will it be blueberry swirl or raspberry swirl?? This thing is: WE don't even know yet! Molly the ultrasound tech, included a little 'photo' and a note that says 'Boy' or 'Girl' in a sealed envelope that we brought directly to Muddy Paws Cheesecake in St. Louis Park - they bake the BEST cheesecake - and since Kevin and I aren't the *biggest cake fans, we decided that cheesecake would be best (we even did cheesecake for our wedding! So it fits...).

  When we got over to Muddy Paws, we barely said "a cheesecake for McBride" - all prepped to re-explain how we there to pick up one of two possible flavors... - when the bakery gal says "Oh I've been WAITING for you!" We sent her off in back with our envelope, and she reappeared with a box, no flavor or info listed on it, tied with gender-neutral orange, curling ribbon (so it would be tamper-evident!)...

So right NOW - at 2:19 pm - we are still a few hours away from dinner, and a then a ways still from dessert time - and this box is just sitting in our downstairs fridge, waiting.... Oh! the anticipation!!!!!


Stay tuned.....


Fast-forward to about 6:45pm this evening!!!!!

BLUEBERRY SWIRL!!!

It's official! The McBride's are having a little boy!! Hooray! We couldn't be MORE EXCITED!

Boutique Bummer...

   Finch's Boutique is a no-go for 2013 - for those of you who saw our post McBrides are Expecting, the reason should be pretty obvious! I SO enjoy planning and scheming up new ideas and plans for the boutique each year, but man, the mental and physical demands will be much to much for this gal at 7 months pregnant.

   According to Kevin, I become "completely unavailable" in the month or two leading up to the sale - it's true I may get a little wrapped up with artist communication, blog posts, and list making - I guess I hadn't realized I was COMPLETELY unavailable! 

   This year, my lists are going to look a little different... So its a Boutique Bummer, but for really good reasons!

  We are hoping to keep up with our previous Finch's Boutique artists via our boutique facebook page + planning to keep you updated with other holiday sale events as they come up as well.
  We have a TON of Yellow Finch.Gray Day product made - with not even close to all of it listed on Etsy yet....  so perhaps we will find a sale to participate in elsewhere...

Instead of supervising the boutique this year, these shop dogs will have to oversee the the preparation of the new Nursery Room and practice sharing the house - and their mom & dad - with the new Nugget!

You never know! Perhaps the boutique will be back next year???