Liz Morrow Liz Morrow

candid thoughts on having kids

tiny me

So.  Kids.  Since I'm, like, a married woman now it's kind of what people expect from us next.  Usually people don't bother asking, because I think I'm relatively obvious about my desire to not yet broach that subject with my uterus, but occasionally the, "so when are you guys having kids?" question gets asked. Lately I've been thinking about the nature of my apprehension towards that whole kid thing.  I've realized that I'm not worried about the carrying/birthing of said child.  I trust that my body is pretty much designed to do such a thing and despite the prospect of extreme pain and possible complications during birth or prior or post, the physical aspect of babymaking doesn't phase me much (yet).  The part that is freaky? Where they hand a tiny human to you and say, "Here's your human. You made it, now keep it alive and don't fuck it up!" and then slap you on the ass and send you home with a couple pamphlets.

Okay, I know I'll have 9 months to read things and get used to the idea.  But it's still weird, is it not?  Like... you can just manifest a human being with some pretty rudimentary biological mechanics.  And then it's your job to a) keep that human alive, and if you succeed at that, then b) try as best you can to get it through 18 years with as little psychological and physical damage.  I don't doubt my ability to be a halfway decent parent, but you have to admit, it's kind of daunting looking at it from the pre-parenthood side of things.  I never had a younger sibling who I "parented."  I can barely even remember either of my younger brothers' years as infants, even though I was about 8 when my youngest brother was born.  I don't like babies, don't want to hold them, and have no interest in baby sitting, so my practical experience with kids is rather limited.

mom 7

In a lot of ways, this is a big reason I want to get a puppy, rather than rescue an older dog.  While I love the idea of rescuing a dog, and want to support that wholeheartedly, part of my desire to have a dog is to learn to take care of a living creature from infancy(ish).  To train and be a mother to a baby dog before I have to do it with a person.  I know it's not the same, not even close, but it's a step.  And while I don't need that step, I want it.

I'm excited to make a person though.  I'm a lot more excited about having a 3-4 year old tiny human than an infant.  I love hearing stories about kids like Harper and Jacob and Rowan, who are developing interests and personalities, saying hilarious thing, and being silly little people.  I'm sure when I have a headstrong 3 year old who is a total brat, I'll long for the days when it would just lay around and look at the world with big eyes.  I think about how great it is to be friends with my mom, and I long to have that relationship with a child in some 30 years.  Life is so indescribably enriched through having children in a way I don't believe can be replaced with anything else, and I look forward to that.  I'm not entirely sure a human can experience their full capacity for love, joy, and pain, without having become a parent.  It's a scary thing.  Probably the most vulnerable thing you can do.  I don't know if I'm ready for it yet, but at the same time, I don't know if anyone ever really is.  I mean, you can probably think you are, but things almost never go according to plan, and life has a tendency to throw you in the deep end when you're still learning to dog paddle.  At least we have wine.

tiny me
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Liz Morrow Liz Morrow

goddess vibes

The past couple days I've felt incredibly motivated to get things done.  I have tons of projects around the house I need to finish, but mostly my motivation channeled itself into starting and finishing new projects.  Either way it felt good to finish some projects!  I made a DIY bench out of an old pallet.  It's a bit rickety and I sort of just winged it, but I like it!  It might need some reworking in the future, but we have a bench on our porch now and it's awesome.  I also got inspired to create some hanging flower pots, macrame style.  And I strung up some fun lights in the backyard!  Our house is truly starting to feel like a home.  Oh, and Ruthy and I are organizing a fun blogger social event in late July, so that's happening too (deets hopefully coming soon)!  I almost finished my coffee table DIY but I don't have the right length screws, so that will have to wait till tomorrow.  Even Dan was tripping on the motivation fumes because he's been fixing up the El Camino like nobody's business.  Fixed my broken ignition, choke, stereo, and subwoofer.  Okay, well,  some of those things only had a blown fuse, but it's still awesome to have stuff working.  Feels great to actually get things done.  



dress/courtesy of adventurer vintage :: triangle necklace/courtesy of moorea seal
 shoes (similar)/thrifted :: turquoise ring (similar)/courtesy of jewelmint
quartz necklace/courtesy of adorn by sarah lewis :: owl ring/forever 21

This dress is actually a nightgown, but when I saw it I immediately thought it'd be beautiful styled as a maxi dress.  I just put a slip beneath it to keep it from being too sheer, and voila!  A goddess maxi dress.      And it's short enough that I don't have to wear huge platform heels to keep it from dragging on the ground.  Usually when I wear maxi dresses I have to wear huge shoes, but this one is just right.
Alison from Adventurer Vintage sent it over and she's having a huge moving sale on her entire vintage stock.  She's moving this summer and needs to downsize her vintage stock, so take advantage of the discount while you can!  Enter the code "BYEBYEBYE" at checkout to receive 40% off!
And since we're talking about moving sales, Moorea Seal is also offering a discount of 35% with the code "FRESHSPRING." She's retiring some of her current designs, so if you've had your eye on some of her gorgeous pieces, now's the time to snatch it up before it's gone forever!  Moorea has some awesome plans for a new store opening this summer and I'm excited to see what it's all about!


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Liz Morrow Liz Morrow

summer lovin'


I got this dress this time last year, and I think I've only worn it once since then, but the other day it was sunny and warm outside and this dress felt like the perfect thing for such a day.  I kind of felt like a popsicle.  A stripey one, like a firecracker or something.  Firecrackers are my favorite.  Whenever the ice cream truck came around (which was like twice a year in Anchorage) I always wanted a firecracker.  I actually have a box of firecrackers in my fridge leftover from last summer.  I like to have them on hand.  You know, just in case.

While I was taking these photos a strange fellow approached me with his daughter and started bugging me about what I was doing and asking me to take photos of his daughter.  Last time I was approached like that it turned into a crazy story, so I was pretty ready to get out of there and avoid another bizarre interaction.  Luckily it turned out to be less weird, concluding with him insisting I look at "the most amazing and artistic thing ever," which he thought I'd appreciate as an artist.  I thought we were going to a grafitti wall or something, but no.  We stopped in front of a pile of sticks on the side of the alley.  Oh man.  He also insisted I give him my business card so I could take more photos of his daughter, and I didn't have any on me, and the only way to get him to go away was to give him my "phone number." Which turned out to be 9 randomly selected numbers.  Thankfully I got a few good shots in before he interrupted, because I booked it out of there as soon as possible.  Oh blogging.




dress/courtesy of modcloth :: shoes/courtesy of blowfish
shades/courtesy of lulu's

Dan is training for a new job where he's going to be a dedicated cook!  He used to be a "cook" and barback, and I use quotations because he wasn't really cooking food, just making tapas and other small plates and sandwiches that don't require cooking per se.  But he's getting excited about learning all these cooking techniques and I'm kind of jealous that he's getting all this sweet training and cooking knowledge!  Last night he got inspired to try and cook a steak after watching an episode of Good Eats. I don't think either of us has cooked steak before, so it was kind of an experiment, but it turned out!  It was a fun little treat since I don't really eat a ton of meat anymore, especially something like steak.  Taking a cooking class is one of my 26 before 27 goals, so maybe I'll look into it!  I just realized it's already halfway through 2013 and I'm nowhere near completing my goals.  So it goes.



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Liz Morrow Liz Morrow

life lately



Excited about...
My garden growing!  I came back from my Brave trip and it was so much bigger! There's a tiny green strawberry starting to emerge, even!  I was afraid my strawberries weren't going to make it after the transplant, but they've bounced back nicely.

Even more excited about...
My best friend (hopefully) moving to Tacoma!  She just graduated college and is in that weird post-graduation-what-do-I-do-now place, and I've been trying to convince her that Tacoma is a great place to figure it out, haha.  She loves coffee and yoga and tattooed, bearded men, so Tacoma is clearly a good match.  Even if she ends up not staying, it'll be nice to have a best friend around for a while, someone who knows you that completely.

Busy...
Editing photos of Molly's wedding!  It was a lot of fun shooting, especially since she is such a beautiful and carefree soul.  It was kind of a test run to see if I enjoyed shooting weddings, and I think I do!  Of course, it's probably a bit less stressful shooting a friend's wedding, especially a friend who is so low-key.  I'm definitely open to shooting weddings now, though!  It was good to get outside my comfort zone, even photographically, as I had to shoot with a flash for the reception.  I shoot with natural light exclusively, so it was interesting to figure out the whole flash thing.  I definitely prefer natural light, but I'm glad I had an excuse to figure out flash photography.  I'm still a newb, but I'm glad I did it!

Reading...
Quiet.  It's SO good you guys.  If you're an introvert, or married to one, or just want to understand the differences between introverts and extroverts, it's a must-read.  I'm about 3/4 done now, and I would recommend it to anyone.  I think a lot of times introverts feel like the way they are is wrong or inferior, but that's absolutely not true.  The more we understand about one another, the better we can communicate and interact with each other.

Thinking about...
Cultivating a rest day.  Dan brought up having Sunday brunches where we invite friends over on Sunday for pancakes or whatever and I loved that idea.  Working from home, I never really have days off, just random chunks of time where I'm not at my computer.  And during those times I feel like I should be working, instead of genuinely taking respite from work.  Having a day, or even just a part of a day, where I am intentional about stepping away and not feeling guilty about it, would be healthy.  I've thought about making my office my work space, and not working unless I'm there, but I so enjoy working in the kitchen or living room, or in coffee shops, that I don't really like that idea.

Making...
An effort to be a better friend.  As an introvert it's really easy to thoroughly enjoy just staying at home, doing my own quiet things.  But knowing that I need that time to myself, I can also use that to fill my tank with solitude in order to fuel times spent putting myself out there, even if my natural instinct is to avoid going out with people.  Thankfully most people I'm friends with are also introverts, so the going-out-together avoidance isn't one sided.

 
 
 
 
 

tacoma // pretty plants at the nursery // molly's bouquets! // winne times
fixing loose belts in oakland // sunny day outfit // strawberry rhubarb iced latte
little beauty // flourishing garden! // celebrating HK + saying goodbye to 1022
some instax pix from molly's wedding!

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Liz Morrow Liz Morrow

just for pictures


Sometimes I like putting together an outfit, even if I take it off shortly after taking photos of it.  It's usually because, while I really love the pieces paired together, I don't feel like wearing that particular outfit at the moment.  But, since I have it on, it seems logical to photograph it before taking it off so I don't have to do so later when I maybe will wear the outfit all day.  It was just ever so slightly too cold to wear these shorts yesterday, but I loved this outfit, so I snapped some photos before changing into something more practical for the day's temperature.  It ended up warming up later in the day, so I could've kept wearing this outfit, but oh well!  In the past I haven't been a short shorts person, but lately I've been loving them.  These shorts are so stretchy and comfortable, they're easy to love.  And they're high-waisted.  And have pockets.  They kind of remind me of those vintage black and white photos of fabulous ladies on the beach.

Today ended up being one of those overwhelmingly stressful days unexpectedly (don't you love when random phone calls do that?) and I've got that cry-hangover feeling, so I'm going to meet a friend for coffee and hope that helps a bit with the recovery.  It's sunny and beautiful, so I think I'm going to bike there.  Biking always seems to lift the spirits.  Something about getting my blood pumping and feeling the fresh air finger its way through my hair as I pedal along.  


 


top/courtesy of tailor & stylist :: shorts/courtesy of modcloth
shoes/courtesy of blowfish :: necklace/courtesy of lisa leonard
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Hi, I’m Liz

I'm an artist, writer, designer, DIY renovator, and … well basically I like to do all the things. If it’s creative I’m probably doing it. I’ve spent over 30 years voraciously pursuing a life steeped in creativity and I wholeheartedly believe creativity and joy are inextricably linked.
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