Seventeen

{I'm 17 months old, yeahyeahyeah!}

I must've blinked my eyes a few too many times since the Bean was born, because holy H-E Double Hockey Sticks this guy is like a real live person now, complete with thoughts, feelings, colloquialisms, and a train collection and everything! 

My lima bean is sprouting into a green bean, whomp whomp. BUT I am totally 92% ok with it. Really. 

Green beans (toddlers) are waaaaaaay better than lima beans (babies).* 

Besides the 24-7 lima bean snuggling, of course, because nothing is better than that.

Luckily, Mr. Grownup Green Bean still is quite snuggly and still is very much so the finders-keepers of Mama, (so, I guess we'll keep him. sheesh),

meaning, he loves me, and needs me, and must have me RIGHT NOW, and I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread, (Daniel is a very close 2nd, perhaps the greatest thing since sliced gluten free bread).

And he loves sliced bread, sure does. Especially with peanut butter.

He also loves dancing, yelling, whole milk, Mickey Mouse, anything with wheels, brushing his teeth, eating crayons, bubble baths, and the word "no," amongst many other things.

Another favorite pastime continues to be telling other children that they are being "doo woud!" aka "too loud!" (Even though he's being loud. We're trying to teach him what "irony" is. Also, "please" and "thank you")

17 Months going on 87! 

That's our Josiah "Bean" James. 

xoxo

{Bon Bon} 

*In vegetable and human theories. I DO love love LOVE babies. Don't get me wrong. But within that seemingly endless vortex of diapers and feedings from age 0-9months, when they must've sold 1/2 of your brain to the black market while you were in the hospital, and every day it's Mission Impossible: Operation Shower...and we had an easy baby! 

And then you think maybe, just maybe, that was a tiny smile. Yes. That was the 1st one. He actually knows me? He knows me! He thinks I'm funny! 

He LOVES me. 

Right? Baby? 

Hey, eyes up here. 

On the other hand, babies sleep all the time and coo softly in their strollers, instead of dumping applesauce all over your head and leaping out of their cart in the middle of World Market.  

Just embrace the moment. Whatever moment. Whatever time. 

It'll eventually make for some great wedding slideshow blackmail.  

Slow and Steady

Our little house has been our home for almost SIX months now, and our hearts are definitely here within these walls.

We've hosted birthday parties, dinner parties, slumber parties, basically, all.the.parties. since then.

The space and the freedom and the ownership, (let's pretend that whole mortgage thing isn't looming over our heads for the next 3 million months), and the natural light, and the sneaky feline that suspiciously lives in our basement and has a walk of shame across our driveway every morning while we eat breakfast...

It's been real good. 

That simply uncomplicated kind of contentment right there is what it's all about. 

And what I have to remind myself on a, gulp, sometimes daily basis. 

The decor. The vignettes. The not-too-literal and slightly-obscure collection of coffee table books artfully arranged just so.

Fun stuff, but not Real stuff.  

The story of my friend's toddler who wrote a love note to her parents in the form of Sharpie on Brand New Designer Couch kind of puts things back into perspective. 

At least, that's what I tell myself as I'm drooling through an issue of Cottage Style. 

...

xoxo

{Bon Bon}

A Cozy Comfy Giveaway!

Happy Middle of the Week Wednesday to you all! Here's a fun and cozy and sweet giveaway, if you're into that sort of thing. 

Some of you might have heard of the new online magazine, Daily Mom, that just launched last month. It's an amazing resource of posts and articles for the modern woman and mom. Imagine Pinterest worthy posts with useful information about all aspects of life - from parenting to beauty, fashion, green living, health, fitness, and more. Once you visit Daily Mom, you will be hooked - hop-skip-and-a-jumping from one post to another.

I have partnered with Daily Mom to host one of their giveaways as a part of an extensive 50 Days of Giveaways campaign to celebrate their launch! For 50 days, they will be giving away one awesome prize a day to thank their new readers. Fifty days and fifty prizes! FIFTY! (Molly Shannon/SNL, anyone?) So today we're giving an opportunity for one lucky lady or gent, but let's be honest, probably lady, to win a blanket from American Blanket Company.

Finding the perfect bedding is a daunting task. You want comfort, style and quality; and most importantly, you want all of this from a company you can trust. One that has your best interest in mind when you envelop yourself in the warm embrace of your blankets at the end of an exhausting day. American Blanket Company is a name you can trust to do just that. Be sure to check out their stylish and luxurious linens on their website. Keep in the loop by following them on Facebook and Twitter. And of course, enter below for a chance to win! Check out the Daily Mom Feature on the American Blanket Company by writer Danielle.

The giveaway will run for a week, and there are only two mandatory entries with many optional ones. All you have to do is follow the directions below in the Rafflecopter widget. This giveaway is open to legal US and Canadian residents only. And be sure to visit Daily Mom tomorrow to see what new item they are giving away and to enter previous drawings! The prizes range from strollers to high chairs, monitors, diaper bags, fashion items, baby clothing and photography products. There is something for everyone.

Need Help? Don't have a Facebook account to enter with? Email Daily Mom staff!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

After you've entered the giveaway, be sure to browse Daily Mom and check out some of my favorite posts! I'm loving:

Ways to Encourage Dad and Baby Bonding

Traveling With Your Camera Gear

Teach Your Kids to Snack Healthy

FEATURED SPONSOR GIVEAWAYS FROM DAILY MOM

This post is for notification purposes only. To see a full list of prizes and current giveaways, please visit our Giveaway page.



xoxo

{Bon Bon}

Sometimes We Have Normal Weekends. Ha.

Nothing too exciting to report on from this past weekend. 

Besides chopping off half of my hair, 

finding a nest of freshly hatched squeaky naked mole rats, I mean, baby birds, 

and our neighbor thinking we were setting up a meth lab.* 

Nope. Nothing exciting at all. 

How was your Friday to Sunday? 

ho hum or hoorah?

xoxo

{Bon Bon}

FOLLOW ME ON: BLOGLOVIN/INSTAGRAM/TWITTER

*Basically, our fireman neighbor has been watching a bit too much "Breaking Bad" and thought my husband and father-in-law had spent the entire day setting up a drug business, (drug business? I don't even know the correct terminology?), instead of, you know, just installing new insulation in our attic. 

Top 10 funniest moments in history right there. 

The Usual & Unusual Weekend

Check out our last visit to the zoo {here}

This weekend we did the usual: Eat! 

{Jam} {Las Primas} {Little Big Burger} {Salt & Straw}

Both, I repeat, both locations of Salt & Straw were conquered. 

Shut.It.Down. We ate it all. 

Vanilla & Almond Brittle & Chocolate Brownie & smidges of Olive Oil, Thai Iced Tea, Chai, and Kombucha flavors.  

That, my friends, is the epitome of a good weekend. 

And the whole waiting outside-in-the-rain for an ice cream cone is the epitome of a TRUE Oregonian weekend. 

We also did something out of the usual: Celebrated a pachyderm's 51st birthday! 

Free raspberry cake and elephant ear party favors. 

The entire zoo was celebrating. 

Especially the Ménage à trois going on in the giraffe exhibit. 

We will never look at Sophie the same way again...

Hope your weekend was full of light and life and goodness and only rated PG-13. or so.  

xoxo

Bon Bon

Sketchbook Sessions

In honor of my {Renaissance Year}, and being a creatively frazzled dreamer in general, 
I'm finding myself attacking color to paper on a more regular basis again. 

And it feels right. 

Nothing groundbreakingly MoMA worthy or anything, 
(that would need to involve an obligatory rendition of a penis. ZING!)

And don't worry, I'm not opening up an Etsy store... 

(Double ZING!)


I'm just being me. 

Someone who realllllllly wants one of the new Mara Hoffman vinyl beach bags and listened to White Flight's "Panther" a little too much this morning. 


xoxo

{Bon Bon}



P.S. If you have an Etsy store, I'm just being passive aggressive and uber jealous of your talents and entrepreneurship. It's just my PayPal account talking. And if you're the owner of the MoMa reading this....seriously, too much.  

Allergies are to Horrible as Husband is to Hero

//RIFLE PAPER CO//

This past weekend, I had big plans. 

Basically, I galavanted through the week leading up to my Friday-Sunday with the notion in the back of my head of, "Oh, you can do that later. This weekend. Put it on the checklist. For the weekend! Long live the three day weekend! All the things will be done! Weekend!"

Big plans, I tell ya. 

There was writing, designing, sketching, and etc.

Check. Check. Check.

I love the scritch scratch of a checkmark and the weighty tada of a crossed off list. 

Everything was in place. Ready to go. 

What did I do instead? 

Achoo. Achoo. Achoo.

Sneezing. 

A helluva lot of sneezing. 

Oregon's Spring> Bonnie's Eyes/Nose/Throat

Besides outings for the necessities, (coffee and brunch), homemade piroshki, and a ridiculous marital tête-à-tête about cleaning the toilet-but not really about cleaning the toilet, 

nothing was done. 

I watched Duck Dynasty and ate Easter candy,

and used the checklist to blow my nose. 

xoxo

{Bon Bon}

Whyyyyyyyy?!

{books we own}

{books we borrow}

My DIY project this week: 

Restoring valuable tomes from the public library to their original state. 

I'm thinking washi tape and glitter glue could be a nice touch...

xoxo

{Bon Bon}