Archive | September, 2012

Making Room’s first giveaway!

September 24, 2012 at 9:30 pm

Now that fall has officially begun (yay!), I thought we could kick off the season with something warm, snug, and free! I’m giving away a pair of fingerless gloves from my Etsy shop Making Room {Handmade}. I’ve sold several pairs of these gloves over the past year and everyone loves them. I find they’re great for texting, typing, driving, and wearing indoors or out. These will make a beautiful gift for your mom, sister, best friend, girlfriend, wife… or even yourself!

Here’s a description of the gloves from my shop’s webpage:

“Knit from a luxurious blend of Chinese Tussah silk and extra fine merino wool, these will be a treasure for any recipient! Eyelet and seed stitches add modern and delicate details to these lovely gloves. Across the back of the hand a contrasting color is knit into the pattern. These gloves are light enough to be worn three seasons of the year but warm enough to be cozy even on the chilliest days.

“I knit these gloves by hand in Sicily, and thus they are truly Italian made.”

Size: Women’s Medium

Dimensions: Approximately 7″ in circumference and 8″ long.

Care: Dry clean only.

How do you win the gloves? Easy! Just comment on this post telling me your favorite thing about fall.

For additional entries, you can:

Become a Google Follower of Making Room blog and leave a comment telling me you did so
Follow Making Room through Blog Lovin’ and leave a comment telling me you did so
Blog about the giveaway on your own blog and leave a comment with a link
Tweet about this giveaway, mentioning makingroomwithus.blogspot.com and leave a comment telling me you did so

Winner will be announced on 9/28! GOOD LUCK!

40 :: in giveaway, knitting business, Making Room {Handmade}

Making Room’s first giveaway!

September 24, 2012 at 8:30 pm

Here’s a description of the gloves from my shop’s webpage:

“I knit these gloves by hand in Sicily, and thus they are truly Italian made.”

Size: Women’s Medium

Dimensions: Approximately 7″ in circumference and 8″ long.

Care: Dry clean only.

How do you win the gloves? Easy! Just comment on this post telling me your favorite thing about fall.

For additional entries, you can:

Become a Google Follower of Making Room blog and leave a comment telling me you did so
Follow Making Room through Blog Lovin’ and leave a comment telling me you did so
Blog about the giveaway on your own blog and leave a comment with a link
Tweet about this giveaway, mentioning makingroomwithus.blogspot.com and leave a comment telling me you did so

Winner will be announced on 9/28! GOOD LUCK!

42 :: in giveaway, knitting business, Making Room {Handmade}

a baby shower for a baby boy

September 24, 2012 at 11:30 am

From the moment my friend Sarah learned I was pregnant with my second baby, she wanted to throw me a baby shower. During the course of planning the shower, I sent her a few ideas (“This invitation is cute!” or “Can I bring something Italian-themed for the food?”) and she turned them into something more wonderful than I could have ever imagined. The invitations were adorable, the food was a vibrantly fresh and deliciously cheesy Italian spread, and the cupcakes and strawberry gelato (!) were to die for. And we did a book theme! Children’s books, friends, and Italian food… could it be more wonderful?

Sarah also planned the sweetest craft. She printed off pages that each had one letter of the alphabet. Each guest took a page and drew an object that started with the letter on their page. They would then write the name of the object and sign their name. When we had all 26 letters, we put them into a scrapbook and I took home an ABC book for my baby boy. I discovered we have some amazing artists in our midst (I am not one of them… my watermelon is lopsided and has purple seeds) and completely love this darling little book!

Enjoy the eye candy of a gorgeous baby shower. I love these photographs, the memories, and the joy captured here. Thank you, sweet friends!

Heather gave me Peek-a Who and thoroughly enjoyed it when I read it aloud to the group!

Can you tell someone is a fabulous 1st Grade teacher?

Just in case you book lovers are curious, these are the books my guests gave my baby boy. See any favorites of yours? I can’t wait to share them with our little bambino… and our little bambina Lena, too!

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (someone was reading my blog this week)
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (make that two people!)
Harold and the Purple Crayon and Harold’s Trip to the Sky by Crockett Johnson
Blue Hat, Green Hat and Doggies by Sandra Boynton
The Elephant’s Pillow by Diana Reynolds Roome
Peek-a Who by Nina Laden
Only One Woof by James Herriot
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Go Dog Go by P.D. Eastman
Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss
Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young by Jack Prelutsky

***

Check back later today for Making Room’s first blog giveaway!!!

12 :: in Baby Numero Due, friends, motherhood, Virginia

a baby shower for a baby boy

September 24, 2012 at 10:30 am

Enjoy the eye candy of a gorgeous baby shower. I love these photographs, the memories, and the joy captured here. Thank you, sweet friends!

Heather gave me Peek-a Who and thoroughly enjoyed it when I read it aloud to the group!

Can you tell someone is a fabulous 1st Grade teacher?

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (someone was reading my blog this week)
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (make that two people!)
Harold and the Purple Crayon and Harold’s Trip to the Sky by Crockett Johnson
Blue Hat, Green Hat and Doggies by Sandra Boynton
The Elephant’s Pillow by Diana Reynolds Roome
Peek-a Who by Nina Laden
Only One Woof by James Herriot
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Go Dog Go by P.D. Eastman
Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss
Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young by Jack Prelutsky

***

Check back later today for Making Room’s first blog giveaway!!!

12 :: in Baby Numero Due, friends, motherhood, Virginia

have you heard of Songza?

September 21, 2012 at 12:30 pm

One bummer of living overseas is you can’t use any of the major streaming services, like Hulu and Spotify and Pandora and Netflix Streaming (yes, Netflix, even though you pay for a subscription and everything!). Trust me, I’ve tried. Over and over. It’s because we have an Italian IP (internet) address and these services are not yet authorized to play in certain countries.

I guess one plus is that it does cut down on the amount of TV Elliott and I ~~might possibly~~ would definitely watch. But it’s just sad that we can’t stream free music in this day and age. How else is a new mama living on an island (hah) supposed to stay relevant, hip, and cool?

So when I come back to the States I indulge myself in streaming music services (and Starbucks and B&N and thrift stores and Chipotle). My favorite streaming music site is Songza, a totally hip site that helps narrow down my radio station to my mood. I took some screenshots to introduce you to it.

Here is what Songza looks like now, on Thursday night, while I am writing this post:

I chose “Unwind After a Long Day,” because I have a toddler and it was. Songza then said:

Because I wanted to prove to you how hip and cool I am (despite my earlier self-pitying proclamations otherwise), I chose “Atmospheric Indie.”

Because I was a little frightened when I got to this page and realized I was in over my head, I chose “Dream Pop.” I like nice dreams.

And here I am, with you, looking at this page and enjoying some mellow, chill tunes. Ahhh…!

Other reasons to love Songza:

Three words: No. Audio. Ads. Move over, Pandora.
A “Popular” tab where you can play popular playlists from this week, this year, or that are currently trending. For those of us who are really concerned about staying relevant.
The same rating system as we’re all used to from other music streaming services: skip this song, thumbs up (play more like this), thumbs down, pause.
Search and “browse all songs” features to find what you’re really looking for.
Apps for your iPhone, Android, and Kindle, too.

Now go check out Songza and enjoy along with me!

P.S. Songza obviously did not pay me to write this. I am not that cool.

Vintage vinyl image via here.