Blogger Style Challenge

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Yes you!  Bloggers, style enthusiasts, fashionistas....  A lot of you have commented on my new fashion design boards (above), and I know so many of you out there are at least as stylish as me, if not more so. So I'm bringing the challenge to the blogosphere.

Submit your idea of the perfect outfit for a new mom who has just returned to the work world.

It doesn't have to just be work wear.  The outfit can be for date night, a weekend brunch with the gals, a toddler playdate or just kicking around town.  I'll feature it here at the Eagle's Nest and one lucky person will be the winner of a fun prize.  Feel free to forward the challenge on to other blog and design folk.  The more entries the better. 

If you're not a graphics person and need help putting the board together, feel free to just send me the images and/or links and I will compose it for you. Just remember, we need the links to each source / item so that everyone can go purchase all the fabulous items you select.  Happy shopping and styling!

Jess

All submissions can be sent to jess@nesteaglerock.comSubmit your ideas through the end of February and feel free to forward the challenge on to other interested folks!

Happy Friday

Friday, January 27, 2012

Love this photo taken at a friend's birthday party with a REAL polaroid camera (nope, no instragram here).  It says it all.  Although I sort of feel like there is some role reversal going on.  Shouldn't Scott and I be the ones yawning?

L'atelier Des Cousins

Thursday, January 26, 2012

I'd like to introduce you to my newest Etsy find, L'Atelier des Cousins.   Elisabet and Cristina are Barcelona natives and have a beautiful line of well priced pillows for adults and kids alike.  Not that I'm thinking about baby number two, but some of these would be adorable in a little girl's room.

An added bonus: Eagle Nest Readers get 20% off their purchase with discount code TEN01

Happy Birthday!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

To my wonderful husband and father to this wonderful little guy.

Workwear Essentials

Monday, January 23, 2012

As you can see from the previous post, Bryan is quite a cutie. It's hard to leave him behind and go back to the cruel reality of work.  But there's no getting around it.  A cute work casual outfit is the perfect pick-me-up for the 8 hours away from little Bryan.
[1] Banana Republic Faceted Drop Earring
[2] Modcloth Upwardly Mobile Satchel
[3] Modcloth Downtown Diner Jacket
[4] Banana Republic Enameled Geo Bangle
[5] Modcloth Drawing Parallels Dress
[6] Frosted Willow Woodland Bracelets
[7]J Crew Classic Leather Ballet Flat

Happy 3 Months

Friday, January 20, 2012

Today is Bryan's 3 Month birthday.  He's pretty happy with himself I'd say.

The New Fridge

Thursday, January 19, 2012

I guess my parents got so tired of our drawer-less fridge during their month long grandson visit that they decided a new fridge was overdue.  So thanks to Mom and Dad's holiday generosity, we got a fab new fridge that takes us one more step toward getting our kitchen in tip top shape.  Check out the disaster of the old fridge.
Compared to the spaciousness and organization of the new one! Drawers!  A light in the freezer! A place for each and every condiment! Hurrah!

Guest Post: Full House, Getting Organized

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

First off, let me introduce you to Christina from Full House .  Christina is a mother of 5, yes, I said FIVE.  She has an amazing blog about design, her family, fashion etc.  I'm not sure how she manages to be so stylish while tending to so many kiddos, but she does it all while fitting in home renovation and craft projects and fun outings for the kids.  Today Christina is sharing some of her ideas on getting organized in the new year:

Hi there Eagle's Nest readers.  It is so great to be here today.  First off I wanted to say that Jess is one fine blogger and I have really enjoyed peeking not only into her design life but her life of being a new Mom with that adorable baby.  Anyway back to the post..I had thought about a guest post that included something about motherhood and how to heal kids the hippy Momma way but then I snapped out of it and decided to go with something that frequents my thought patterns as of late...these thoughts happen more around the New Year..."getting organized".  Not just the boring kind of organized but the kind that is both functional and stylish.  Like perhaps with acrylic or lucite.  

First up acrylic shelving:

I really love the look of the below custom shelves that are thicker than most manufactured acrylic shelves on the market.  If I were to accomplish this look I would probably outsource to a company called California Acrylic Design.  Still would be an investment but doable, yes.  If that weren't in the cards then I would consider these less expensive shelves from the container store.
Next up are magazine and shelf dividers:
A good source for shelf dividers would be kitchensource.com.  Then to organize all of those magazines that I know all of design bloggers have I would go back to the container store and look right here.
Then we all need some good acrylic containers to help keep us organized in our closets and bathrooms as seen in the above picture of Erica's closet makeover.  You could pick some of those babies up right here.

Lastly who wouldn't want an acrylic peg board system in their workspace?  I would suggest picking up all of those items over on Amazon.  In fact just put acrylic into the search engine on Amazons site and you will be amazed at everything that pops up;-)

Again thanks for having me and here is to 2012!

Happy Friday

Friday, January 13, 2012

Uh oh!  Bryan's first kiss.... I think the expression on his face says it all.

Ummm....

Thursday, January 12, 2012

If you only like positive posts, then you can stop reading now.  Just a little fashion rant. The below Michael Kors bootie was featured in Elle this month.  I'm generally an admirer of Michael Kors' easy classic style, but this just reminds me of some sort of Todd Oldham House of Style early 90's redux done on the fly with a pair of scissors and some old Doc Martins.  I have finally come to appreciate the open toed bootie, but this is taking it a little too far.  Perhaps when the steel toed pedicure comes into existence it will start to make sense.  Until then...

Workwear essentials

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

A few more ideas on work casual items.  I think this outfit does a nice job of transitioning to datenight with hubby with the gold accents and heels.
[1] Roman Ball Earrings from the Metropolitan Museum Shop
[2] Moon and Lola Block Cutout Monogram Necklace
[3] Loft striped raglan henley
[4] Asos Leather Envelope Clutch
[5] Madewell Staccato Stud Bracelet
[6] Madewell Pyramid Post Bracelet
[7] J Crew ankle stretch toothpick jean[8] Modcloth Discover your Niche Heel

Baby Essentials

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

I was reading Oh Joy's guide to baby essentials the other day and decided to put together my own list of top 10 items.  Everyone has their favorites when it comes to baby items, and I've found that in motherhood people tend to get hyper opinionated.  Granted  a lot of the time, you end up liking and swearing by the items that you already own and were given (It's not like you're going to go out and buy another stroller if some aspect of yours doesn't fit perfectly with your lifestyle - and most mom's don't like to hear that there are better options once they've already made a purchase).  That said, there are a few items that I feel have worked well for us and are worth recommending.  Take it all with a grain of salt and definitely do your own research before purchasing.
[1] California Baby Calendula Cream  - Since it's super dry in LA this cream is great for those rough spots that even baby gets.  It's great for sensitive skin and is super healing.  It's vegan so I've used it on Bryan's hands with no worry (he's a fist sucker and his hands get red and chapped) and on the occasional scratches that his tiny sharp nails have incurred on his face.  The cream works like a miracle and blemishes heal right up.  I think I might start using it on myself!

[2] One Line a Day - 5 Year Memory Book  - A friend of mine sent me one of these.  I'm not much of a diary person, but I love writing just one little insight or memory from the day.  The book takes you through 5 years and each date (for all five years) is on one page so you can compare from year to year. It will be fun to see how things change with Bryan and look back at when he was such a wee one.

[3] Aiden + Anais washcloths - I have about 15 washcloths from various sources. Some I use for covering up his peepee during diaper changes. These Aiden + Anais ones are great for the bath. They are large so they work well as a nice warm wet blanket on baby's tummy during bath time.  And they're super supple, soft and pliable, great for those crevices between Bryan's chins :)

[4] Cloud B Sleep Sheep - Honestly, I thought this stuffed sheep was a ridiculous gift when I first saw it.  It produces four different white noises from ocean waves to mom's heartbeat.  But I'm a convert now.  It does a great job of soothing Bryan to sleep at night and drowning out any other noise outside his room.

[5] Baby Trend's Snap n Go Stroller - I originally wanted the Teutonia T-Linx stroller or a Bugaboo or the like, mainly because they looked so cool and technical and well designed (and because my brother worked on the design of the Teutonia).  I think if we still lived in New York I might have gone that route.  But being in LA where cars are king, we went with a snap-n-go for our Chicco Keyfit carseat.  The Chicco had the best safety ratings and the snap-n-go is super inexpensive and lightweight.  It's no the highest quality but it will get the job done until Bryan's big enough to sit front facing in his City Mini stroller (also awesome because of it's foldability)

[6]Tray - I highly recommend any sort of tray to corral your necessities (creams, snot suckers, peepee teepees) on your changing table.  I have a turquoise python print tray that a friend gave me, but this CB2 Format Orange Tray would be a great option. Anything easily wipeable and that adds a fun pop of color to the baby's room would be welcome. 

[7] Gerber 5 pack prefold cloth diapers - we don't use these as actual cloth diapers, but they work great as burp cloths. They're super absorbent, very inexpensive so you can buy a ton of them, and are easy to fold because of the way they're constructed.  I keep one handy in every room of the house in anticipation of burp-ups.

[8] Art Cards for Baby - These graphic art cards are a great way to stimulate your baby's mind.  They have wonderfully illustrated high contrast images of animals and are super sturdy so you can prop them up in baby's crib for a look see.

[9] Trumpette baby socks - The oxford ones are super cute, but they also come in so many other fun patterns and designs.  Bryan owns several styles of trumpette socks and they are the only ones that consistently stay on his little footsies.

[10] Baby Gap Knit Cargo Pants - These pants are super soft and I love that they have a narrow cuff at the bottom so they don't ride up.  The pockets and drawstring are great for storing pacifier covers and clipping pacifier strings to.

Baby Gallery Wall

Monday, January 9, 2012

Our friend Natasha sent us the cutest little embroidered namesake memento for Bryan's nursery and it fit perfectly on the gallery wall over his changing table.  I had originally planned to put a baby footprint impression in that spot but said footprint didn't turn out as planned.  The embroidered hoop from Abigail Wilder's Etsy shop was the perfect item to finish off the collection.

Happy Friday

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Workwear essentials

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Well, it's the new year and that means that I return to work in only three weeks!  Time has really flown.  It seems like just yesterday that I left work to go on maternity leave, and on the other hand, it seems like 3 years ago that Scott and I were living a life without a baby (even if he is only 10 weeks old).  I know it's going to be tough to leave Bryan in someone else's hands but I've gotta bring home the bacon (or at least the eggs that go along with the bacon so to speak).  Along with my new year's resolution to keep my head above water and to continue blogging despite having an infant and a full time job, I'm also hoping to clean up my wardrobe.  Being pregnant and now having someone else to think about gave me a chance to re-evaulate my current closet situation.  Easy separates that are durable, classic and well tailored are now the name of the game.  Time to throw out the trendy items and start afresh with pieces that will stand the test of time and work for both the office and the weekend (for me, this means biting the bullet spending a little more dough on staples).  Here's a little work ready outfit I came up with.  I love the cut of the blouse (perfect for the post baby tummy).  The pants are a classic as are the booties which I already own.  Just add a few bangles and some statement earrings and a workhorse bag. 
[1] Modcloth Blouse
[2] Maslo Jewelry Seychelles Earrings
[3] Claire Vivier Tote
[4] Willow Tree Designs Grey Leather & Gold bangles
[5] Banana Republic cropped black pants
[6] Banana Republic Booties

Palm Springs

Monday, January 2, 2012

We just returned from a relaxing week in Palm Springs with the fam.  Despite traveling with a 2 month old, we managed to enjoy a lot of what the town had to offer from lunch at Cheeky's, perusing the Palm Canyon Antiques shops (my favorite find being Swank on the South end of the Palm Canyon drag), and hiking the mountainside trails, to drinks at the Parker and dinner at the Purple Palm.  I'm in love with the quintessential mid-century modern architecture that abounds and that makes such a nice counterpoint to the desert scenery.  Can't wait to go back when Bryan is old enough to swim and we can really do some in-depth antiquing. 
Photos by Jessica Davis & Soyoung Oh