a trick and some seersucker

Sorry for my absence yesterday. I made some bran muffins and then sat in a corner and ate them all day while trying to get our little puppy to do just one trick. She is finally sort of jam fist into palm clapping (if you disagree after watching the clip below please don't burst our first time parenting bubble). Maybe turn your sound off to avoid my obnox sing songy mom voice. 

(the crumbs are the remains of some semi-whole wheat peanut butter cookies. I thought I had successfully tricked Simon with my half white flour/half whole wheat scheme but he claims he knew due to their 'chalky consistency'.
Whatev.)

Other news in Julia land...she purchased a high chair with her chore money:

which she completely adores

and she is having a real live love affair with the public pool....all those kids to gawk at and the water to splash...a 35 minute outing sends her straight to sleep:

which obviously makes me closed eye attractive smile happy

(sorry for my awkward hand placement Julia...not intentional)

and for some minor sewing projects...

my friend Adrienne sent me this awesome crafty/sewing blog and I saw this post which made seersucker look so appealing. I wasn't up for sacrificing my seersucker pants but it got me to thinking and wondering if seersucker is still "in"? Back in my bigwig phone answering/mail sorting on Capitol Hill days circa '07-'08...you couldn't walk eight paces without spotting a sucker suit or skirt or pants or dress on a speed walking staffer. Times may have changed and maybe it went out of style with kitten heels and whiskered denim?

I don't know...but I pulled out my seers (sucks?) and this tunic shirt (which I realized needed a trim last night when I caught a looksy at my reflection in a window and wondered who the frump was staring back at me....) and decided to do some minimally invasive procedures:

my new favorite fix for shirts with loosey goose collars (which are extra annoying with Julia's little paws constantly pulling/stretching them inappropriately downward) is to flip the shirt inside out and fold it in half:

just kind of eyeball how much slack you need to take in and sew a seam from the neck to the bottom of the shirt:

and then simply clip off the excess and repeat if necessary:

this is a great tactic for maternity friendly shirts as the belly section isn't touched and generally this tightens up any annoyingly low cut v-necks that would normally have to be helped out by a tank top or undershirt which is cumbersome and hot in the summer.

 the finished product with the pants taken in ever so slightly:

improvement...with the help of a rib cage wrap

I recently found this muumuu tank at Goodwill and was sold when I saw it had pockets:

which is always really nice on outings when Julia forgets her purse and makes me hold her loose change, lipstick and hair ties

Without getting rid of the pockets and taking the normal shirt slimming route I just took the same steps shown above and nipped the neck and back down a little bit to help the puff factor:

obviously the belt alone would probably work just fine but ... shirt nipping obviously gives my life some meaning so let me think it helped a significant amount

And that is all for today. 

Other than yesterday's miracle: no ice cream consumed on Grace's part. 

Hoping for a repeat performance today but things are looking bleak. 

Have a phenomenal afternoon. 

well actually...phenomenal might be a bit much but I hope its semi-pleasant at the very least.