Kick A$$ and Awesome

According to Aunti Em I had to title this blog post just as I have because this is exactly what she thinks the nursery is. Since she did a lot of the work with Brian and I, she gets to have her say for the title. What I was going for with our nursery was simple, or maybe not. I wanted bright colors but I definitely wanted it to have an ethnic/Ethiopian flare. I wanted our nursery to be completely unique. The pictures don't quite do justice to the brightness of the colors (the blue is a more tealy blue) but it will give you an idea. Here it is, the big reveal: Yes those are cheetah print sheets but it was a small enough amount that Brian allowed them into our son's room...The writing on the wall is 1 Samuel 1:27, "For this child I prayed and the Lord granted me what I asked." It is painted in Amharic. Emily and I did this on Friday night. At this point braggers might tell you it isn't as hard as it looks. Well, I'm all about being humble and truthful (ok so maybe me saying that reveals the truth :) ) so I will tell you it was in fact difficult. About 45 minutes into the logistics of it all I was beginning to question my own ability and whether or not my creative ideas are realistic. Luckily Emily kept reminding me it would look really cool when it was done. We worked through blood, sweat, and tears (ok maybe just sweat) and I am so glad we did.These pictures are authentic Ethiopian banana leaf art work. My Mom went to Ethiopia a couple weeks ago and brought back so much cool stuff for the nursery. Why was my Mom in Ethiopia you ask? Well getting things for my nursery was only a smaller side-mission (since she hates shopping more than ANYTHING), the real mission will be revealed in a future (soon) blog post.The mobile was a gift from Aunti Em. She bought it on her mission trip to Burundi in May. Brian thinks the birds are scary and will give our baby nightmares. I think the fact that it is hand-painted Burundian craftsmanship makes it awesome and it HAS to go in the nursery.This children's stool also made it back from Ethiopia.These fabric canvases are handmade by Brian, Emily and I. Yes, Brian crafted with me in between soccer games. Who would have thought? I guess having a baby brings all sort of surprises. I don't think I'll ever be able to get him to scrapbook though. We'll see, maybe one day he'll cross over to the dark side.This last one was inspired by Michelle's necklace.Notice the Ethiopian drum, Brian's favorite toy car, and the basket with both Brian and my first teddy bears. The giraffes are from (you guessed it)... Ethiopia.Here are pictures showing the details of the shelves. The figurines and painted bowl are from Ethiopia. The amharic coke can was purchased online because all during the olympics we just kept getting Thai cans (thanks, Em and Mom cause I'm pretty sure she used your credit card...).On this shelf again the figurine is from Ethiopia. The stringed platter is a Burundian instrument, and the elephant and giraffe are from (shhh, don't tell) Joanns. And yes the checker girl at Joanns told me she normally likes zebras but she didn't like this one cause its neck was so long. We had a good laugh at her expense. Who tells a customer that they think what they are purchasing is ugly anyway? Geesh.

And here is the hard working crew after a frustrating turned fun night of painting Amharic on a nursery wall. And yes we had a milkshake break to keep us motivated.

So, in conclusion, I would like to once again thank the parents for the beautiful furniture, Mimi for all the awesome stuff from Ethiopia, Aunti Em for the birds that scare Brian and also for helping make our nursery...Kick A$$ and Awesome! Colorful, Ethiopian influenced, unique nursery...CHECK! Now all we need is our baby...