Seven Minute Interval Training

I've been starting to get back into the fitness routine now that my youngest son is 19 months old.  I feel like the family is at a point where I can take a little time to get healthy.  I saw an article on the New York Times website here, about a Seven Minute Interval training fitness routine and I jumped at the chance to try it!  Literally, jumping jacks are included in the routine!

The day after I started I was in pain and loving that I could tell that seven minutes actually gave me a sweat.  Then, I saw that Harley Pasternak came up with his own modified version of the interval training and he recommended that you switch up your exercises to reduce the chance of repetitive stress injury.  So, now I have multiple interval training options so that I don't get bored with the same training every day.

My favorite part about all of this is that I can totally afford to take 7 minutes out of my day to be active and fit without losing time with my family!

Design Drool

I have been on hiatus for a while now.  So sorry.  Blogger wasn't working and every time I tried posting something, it would go ca put.  It seems to be fixed now (and speedier than ever).

Since I've been away for so long I just want to post a few things that I'm currently drooling over and then I'll be back next week.  These are kid focused, because my boys have a Birthday next month:

Wood Mobiel
Never ending options for building fun for kids. 
I think my toddler is a bit young for this right now, but it is right up his alley as he's obsessed with Lego's.  Maybe I should buy this for my husband instead; he's never gotten over his obsession with tinkering and custom building.  The other day he rigged up a system out of our laptop, microphone, and Lego's to accurately determine the speed of individual Hot Wheels cars.  (The burgandy car was the winner)

Haba Arranging Game
Haba has quality toys and their games are fun without temporary cardboard pieces.  You know that when you buy Haba, it will last forever. 
I particularly like this game because it reminds me of Tetris, but with blocks.  You can play the game or just use the blocks to build with.  It can grow with the kids' development!

Completed Nursery

The nursery has been done for a couple of months now and I am just getting to sharing the photos with you.  The growing baby must be draining my blogging capabilities!  My due date is a month from tomorrow, so that gives you the perfect amount of time to leave me feedback on the room.  Tell me what you think and feel free to ask questions.

We chose a teal color called Harbor 520F-5 (Behr), but had them paint match and used a Glidden paint in a satin finish.  The ceiling and crown molding were a Glidden eggshell finish in Stone White GLC30.  Before the curtains went up I thought the color was too bright and Nathan thought the color was too dark, but I think the colorful curtains pulled it all together.

It took me a few hours to make the curtains from the fabric I ordered from my previous color board here.  After I put the curtains up, I decided they were a tad bit long, so I ended up re-hemming them for another hour.  I'm quite pleased with the result.  It's a quality fabric that, with the light blocking blinds, will keep the room nice and dark as needed.

I used and old canvas to do the graphic painting hanging over the white chair.  I painted it by layering about 5 colors of dotted paint to cover the canvas completely.  The paints were leftover from college; I can't believe they weren't completely dried out.  The painting is nothing spectacular, but it does that job and is a definite improvement over the previous painting.

I actually won the white chair at Chicago's Neocon a few years ago.  It was, also, in Logan's nursery once upon a time.

The top owl print was a holdover from Logan's nursery in the old house that I found on Etsy a few years ago.  The lower print was something I created and printed.

We picked up the plush Tigger at our trip to Disney in April and I decided it would make a cute addition to the crib pre-baby.  I had extra fabric from the curtains and made a quick pillow with leftover stuffing from a previous project.  Both of these items will be removed from the crib when the baby starts to use it, but they are cute for now!

I folded about 25 origami cranes in varying shades of blue and green to create the mobile hanging over the changing table.  Kite string was used to hang the cranes from a Manzanita branch.

We decided to hang a light from West Elm over the Eames rocker.  I purchased picture ledges to store a small collection of children's books in a front-facing library of sorts.  Logan likes to browse the books in this room as his aren't represented in such a pretty fashion.

Happy Bungalow

Elephants on Parade

I have a talented friend that has recently started up an Etsy shop called Happy Bungalow.  He makes an assortment of wood crafts that are for sale at his shop and many are kid friendly and durable for little kids.  He will be adding new merchandise on a regular basis, so don't forget to check it out often.  I think hand crafted items are the perfect gift for Christmas because individual attention and love has gone into making them!

Dollhouse Bookends

On Safari

He has a few different locations where you can browse his goods or keep updated on the latest Happy Bungalow news:

etsy shop:  www.etsy.com/shop/happybungalow

website:  www.happybungalow.com

facebook:  www.facebook.com/HappyBungalow

twitter:  twitter.com/#!/@AHappyBungalow

flickr:  www.flickr.com/photos/happybungalow/