Friday Favorites! A hodge podge of random things

The other day I was going through Goodreads, picking out books I wanted to add to my library wishlist (I always say, searching for books is a completely separate hobby from reading, lol!). I came across Fredrick Bachman's newest release, Anxious People. I always look at the quotes page to see if I vibe with the author's writing style. Man, does this book have some nuggets of wisdom! There are so many poignant quotes. This one resonated with me, just thinking about how overwhelming life can get when all those little things pile up:

"Because the terrible thing about becoming an adult is being forced to realize that absolutely nobody cares about us, we have to deal with everything ourselves now, find out how the whole world works. Work and pay bills, use dental floss and get to meetings on time, stand in line and fill out forms, come to grips with cables and put furniture together, change tires on the car and charge the phone and switch the coffee machine off and not forget to sign the kids up for swimming lessons. We open our eyes in the morning and life is just waiting to tip a fresh avalanche of "Don't Forget!"s and "Remember!"s over us. We don't have time to think or breathe, we just wake up and start digging through the heap, because there will be another one dumped on us tomorrow. We look around occasionally, at our place of work or at parents' meetings or out in the street, and realize with horror that everyone seems to know exactly what they're doing. We're the only ones who have to pretend. Everyone else can afford stuff and has a handle on other stuff and enough energy to deal with even more stuff. And everyone else's children can swim."

I have no idea of context of the quote below, but I can relate to this so much as an angel mama: 

          "He was my echo. Everything I do is quieter now." 

How beautifully heartbreaking is that? I couldn't put it any better myself. Everything I do without my Izzy is quieter now. 

There is also some great perspective on the whole "highlight reel" mindset of today:

"The truth, of course, is that if people were as happy as they look on the Internet, they wouldn't spend so much damn time on the Internet, because no one who's having a good day spends half of it taking pictures of themselves. Anyone can nurture a myth about their life if they have enough manure, so if the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, that's probably because it's full of shit. Not that that really makes much difference, because now we've learned that everyday needs to be special. Everyday."

Needless to say, I think I'm going to add Anxious People to my holds list. His writing seems incredible. Have any of you read his books before? 

The other day, my husband and I were watching TV and he randomly turned to me and said, "what about dark blue cabinets?" My jaw dropped to the floor and I got so excited. We have been talking about a mini kitchen reno for about 3 years now and we couldn't decide what to do with the cabinets, but Ive been leaning towards an out of the box color for a while now. They are currently an orangey golden oak color and I don't really like them. Of course the minute he dropped that bombshell... off to Pinterest I went! So that's what I've spent an enormous time doing this week: pinning gorgeous midnight blue kitchens. Who knows if this will ever come to fruition but I am obsessed. 

Ugh this color, that rug, the subway tile... it's everything

I love the combination of dark blue and warm woods. 

I posted about this on Thursday, but my Molly Bear came in the mail Thursday. Molly Bear is a company that creates teddy bears that you can customize to your angel baby's weight. You are able to add little details that remind you of your little babe as well. My bear is beautiful. I asked for her name to be embroidered, and included that florals and angel wings remind me of Izzy. How perfect is she? My Izzy Bear weighs 1 pound, 1 ounce and even came with a little blanket that resembles the one I had made for her. I've slept with my bear every night since I got her. I can't believe I get to hold something that weighs the exact same as my Isabela. 

I also attended my first support group this week. It was so refreshing to speak with other mothers that have also had to say goodbye to their babies too soon. We cried together, laughed together, and commiserated together. One of the girls in my group said that she loved how I talked about my daughter and it meant so much to me. It was a really good first experience and I hope to keep attending.    

Linking up with Erika & Rebecca Jo.