hollywood housewife

announcing...

I made myself wait until Valentine's Day morning - a Monday - before I took the test.  All weekend I wondered, hoped, talked myself out of it, then wondered again.  All of this in my head, I couldn't bear to say it out loud. 

The test showed two lines almost immediately and I felt like I had known all along.  I was so excited, so immensely happy in those first few moments that I didn't think the bathroom could contain me. 

I did not tell The Gorilla. 

I went to the mall, I ran a few errands, I ate garlic fries beside the outdoor fountain.  I thought everyone could tell just by the look on my face, but no one said anything. 

That night, by fire and candlelight on the floor of our pink living room, I revealed to The Gorilla the news.  He was shocked and thrilled.  Stunned, actually, at my ability to keep a secret even for a day and at the deja vu from the very same day just two years ago. 

A new little life will join us in October, due just three days after Pigtail's second birthday.

We feel lucky and grateful.

I am so happy to tell you.  

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If I owe you an email or a phone call or even a guest post, please accept my apologies.  Without ruining this otherwise very joyous news, I've been a total wreck for the past two months.  Just...a disaster.  I'm just now getting back on my feet (literally) and am starting to play catch up.  I am not a flake, and I do not intend to pull the pregnancy card for the next six months.  -HH   

friday links - can you hear me now?

Oh, don't mind her.  She's taking a very important conference call.

I can't believe it's Friday already.  After the last couple of months have been rolling along at a snail's pace, this week zipped by.  I think it's because it's finally Spring.  And we have so many fun things coming up this Spring.

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For your weekend reading pleasure:

Megan introduced me to Kendi Everyday.  She posts pictures of her outfits (which are super fun).  It especially appealed to me because I have a similar idea (that involves you, HH reader!) for May.  Stay tuned.  (Kendi Everyday)

This is perhaps the best before/after home furniture rehab I've ever seen.  I keep clicking to look at it.  (Southern Exposure)

With religion or otherwise, don't tell me this has never happened to you: In Which God Uses the "Foolish" Things To Confound the "Wise." (Emerging Mummy)

I'm always tinkering with our living room.  The big things are done, it's the details that I constantly wrinkle my nose over.  I appreciated this advice, and I think I'm going to take it.  (Oh Happy Day)

This would be great on the baby registry for traveling parents or just as a gift.  I would have loved something like this about a year ago. (Giggle)

So clever!  Wouldn't you love to do this with your closet?  Make A Daily Outfit Chooser. (Photojojo)

I've read similar articles to this one, and they always tug at the parts of my heart I've closed in a box.  Those are the hard parts of my first few years in L.A.  Despite the fact that the middle section appears to be a book review of something I haven't read, this is the best thing I read this week: Sad As Hell.  (n+1)

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Happy weekend, HH readers! 

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making an old outfit new again

This may surprise you, but I don't have a closet crammed full of clothes.  If I have too many options, I get overwhelmed, so I try to keep my clothing limited.  I tend to wear the same things over and over in a certain season, anyway.  And I try (try) to stick to the one-in-one-out rule.  When I get something new, that means something must go out.

But sometimes I have items in the closet that linger because I hate to part with them.  Usually this means they were expensive or sentimental.  I bought this green and white eyelet sundress for a vacation in Mexico almost three years ago.  I've worn it a few times since - always on vacations - but it isn't something that I would wear day to day.  Frankly, it's not something I think is my style anymore.  But each time I do a closet purge, I always hesitate over it.  Finally I decided to see if it was worth salvaging as an outfit, if I could make it more me.

The trick to making something old look different is layering.  With a dress like this you could add over (a sweater or shirt) or under (a tank or tight tee) to give it a new look.

I went with "over."  I added a gauzy, paper-thin t-shirt from J-Crew.  It's one of my best layering pieces.  (Don't mind the crease in the skirt - this thing had been on the hanger a long time.  While we're at it, don't mind the un-made bed, either.)

Happy with the t-shirt, I added a belt from Urban Outfitters and gold ballet flats by Steve Madden. 

Much better!  A little funky, a little pretty, and errand-appropriate (where the strapless dress alone would not have been).

Late in the afternoon I ditched the belt and added a sleeveless sweater.  If I was going to go out and about in the sweater instead of the belt, I probably would have pulled my hair back and added big earrings. 

Experiment achieved.  The green and white eyelet dress is staying put in the closet.  For now. 

How do you keep seasonal or boring clothes fresh?

sweet valley confidential *big sigh*

I took one for the team and read Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later last week.  It only took a few hours, and I tore through it not because it was so great but because it bubbled up a huge amount of nostalgia from my childhood reading years. 

Characters I didn't know I remembered were suddenly on the tip of my tongue, their high school struggles popping into my head with embarrassing clarity.  These first few minutes of wistfulness were worth the price of the download. 

They were the only thing worth the price of the download.

Goodness was this book terrible. The language and actions were inconsistent with the characters I loved, it switched less-than-seamlessly from third to first person point of view, and and there was some strange bias to the plot line.  On top of all that, author Francine Pascal either forgot aspects of her earlier books or hoped that we would, because there were inconsistencies not only from the original series but within SVC itself. 

Jessica and Elizabeth are twenty-seven now.  They have lots of sex, swear, and as the book opens they're in the middle of the feud of their life.  The only thing familiar was the melodrama and implausibility, which I could have overlooked if the writing was so terrible.  SVC makes Twilight look like Shakespeare.   

My final advice (and this is advice I so rarely give): Skip it.  Sweet Valley Confidential almost ruined the Wakefields for me.  I don't hate the evening I spent with the twins I used to love, but I wish I had done it by picking up one of the original books. 

Amazon Affiliate links included in this post.

money matters

Sometimes Mommy Mondays become Marriage Mondays. 

Four of us were at a girls lunch, but only two entered a heated and tense conversation while the other two watched wide-eyed and mostly silent. 

The topic was marital bank accounts and the conflict was separate or joint. 

One friend - the breadwinner in her family - didn't want to have to "clear" her purchases with her husband, and the hassle of balancing two people's checkbooks together led them to have separate accounts.  The other friend - not the breadwinner in her family - found it to be easier and liberating to share a bank account. 

As the conversation got more heated, it became clear that they were both right and in fact not even saying anything that different.  But their own experience was making them wounded and defensive.  As it turned out, the friend with the separate checking account had been told by people she respected that it was a sign her marriage wasn't strong.  The friend with the joint account was insulted that someone might think that just because her husband was the breadwinner that she would have to check with him before she purchased anything. 

You just don't know what works in one family that would never work in another, and you definitely don't know the reasons behind the decisions and the emotions that people carry even after the decision is made. 

An outside observer of the conversation, hearing what they were saying when they couldn't hear each other, made me realize how often I judge without understanding.  I'm sure you don't ever do anything like that, right?

photo by peasap

sunday in the canyon - april foolishness

Last night we went to KROQ's Kevin & Bean April Foolishness show at the Gibson Ampitheather.  We were there to support a friend, and it was such a fun night out listening to comedy and supporting a good cause. 

The hardest I've laughed in a long time came courtesy of the Axis of Awesome.  I had tears streaming down my cheeks with every song.  In case you don't believe me:

friday links - spring!

Spring has hit southern California!  Oh, I know what you're thinking.  The weather here is perfect year 'round.  Well, that's not exactly true, but I'm not going to argue with those who have suffered record snowfall this winter.  I'll just say I'm so happy that warm and sunny days are upon us. 

Spring means lemon trees in the backyard, and hope.  Growth. 

And with that, I'll leave you with the first lines of a poem that I was obsessed with my senior year of college.  I'm not a poetry girl, but The Waste Land is something altogether different.  I wrote papers on it and scribbled thoughts in the margins.  I cannot greet this month without it. 

April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land,

Mixing memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

-T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

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For your weekend reading pleasure:

One of my favorite and most-quoted movies is Clueless.  It's especially appropriate since most of my favorite lines are L.A.-specific.  But, for any Clueless fan, this t-shirt will make you smile.  (Nylon)

I actually don't agree 100% with this post articulating why "stalker" should not be used in place of "fan," but it was food for thought.  Ultimately, I believe language is powerful, but I'm not sure we should police every nuance of the lexicon lest you offend.  (Finslippy)

There should be a limit to how many times I can link to one person, but Ali Edwards has so much helpful information!  This time I was interested to read her Thoughts On Traveling With Two Kids.  (Ali Edwards) 

For the business-minded among you, I enjoyed this interview with the creator of Flickr.  I love reading how other women work and think.  (Entrepreneur)

Do it yourself Fur Ottoman?  This would fit in my home.  (Nesting Place)

Lastly, because you guys seem to have a lot to say about makeup, I thought you would enjoy this tutorial on How to Apply Liquid Eyeliner.  It makes it so much less scary!  (Petit Elefant)

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Happy Weekend, HH readers!

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