{Life updates + a project that speaks to my heart.}

What an insanely awesome, busy, Gussified week we had last week! Every day was filled with new adventures + tasks that needed to be accomplished. I’m so, so grateful I’m at a point with this pregnancy where I have a lot of energy to get it all done. Keeping an honest schedule {being realistic about what needs to be done each day, then making sure it does it get done} has helped so much, especially since our holiday order deadline was Wednesday. And so because of these things I was able to fly out stress-free yesterday morning to Michigan to spend the week with my family. Yahoo!

Because of this insanely awesome, busy, Gussified week I feel like I was a little bit MIA from here, so I thought it would be fun to share some photos of what we were working on :)

Do you love Simple Mom’s podcasts or DO YOU LOVE THEM? I am going with B ;) One evening I had a bunch of little tasks “sitting” that needed to be done so I pulled up Tsh’s interview with Arianne of  To Think Is To Create and got my listen on with a cup of decaf nearby. I absolutely loved their podcast, and chances are you will too!

Last Friday was perhaps my craziest workday ever in Gussy Land. I woke up knowing we had a strict deadline with the post office Saturday and so I did what I know best: pulled on a pair of leggings, a comfy tank + one of Zack’s flannel shirts and got to work! I had Christmas music playing in the background. Bauer was perfect and snoozed all day {thank you doggie}…

I sewed and sewed and sewed. And then sewed a bit more…

And even though we stayed up allllll night making sure all the work was complete before nodding off to dreamland at 6am Saturday, there’s nothing quite like that moment where you let out a huge sigh of relief knowing your work is done. Because owning a handmade business is hard, yet extremely rewarding, work. Amen.

And so when we woke on Saturday afternoon of course I wanted a cup of half-caff coffee, which I sipped from an owl mug — which is the cutest owl mug! Barbara makes them in her Charleston studio and ohhhhhhhhhhh goodness, just seeing them on our kitchen counter makes me happy. I can’t get over the feather detailing on the front + back. Zack even loves his blue mug, which I love because having matching coffee mugs is one of my favorite things ;) 

Once all of our Gussy work was sewn + shipped I put on a crazy colorful outfit and stepped out for the afternoon with my man. It’s been a little gloomy in Santa Monica and I swear, wearing color totally makes up for the gray skies + drops of rain. Shades of coral or orange are my favorite. Whenever I’m out I have to force myself to look at a different hue. Ha! This scarf from Gap and this market tote from my shop — I just love them together!

Zack caught me taking a photo of my outfit {above} so he quickly snapped this photo {below} — sneaky man! You know you’re a blogger’s husband when… :)

Have you heard of Pure Charity? They are an amazing community of non-profit partnership making + I’m so excited to have recently collaborated with them. We’ll be doing some more fun things in the near future, but for now I wanted to share with you how Pure Charity works: simply create an account {totally free}, then view the dozens + dozens + dozens of merchants that have partnered with them. You probably already shop with so many of the merchants — like Sephora, Nordstrom, Target, Gap and LivingSocial, right? :) After you’ve created an account, any shopping you then do with any of the partnered merchants allows a percentage of your spending to go towards a project/charity of your choice. Collaborating with Pure Charity is one of the easiest ways to be a part of something grand, that’s for sure! 

One of my favorite projects Pure Charity offers is the Industrial Sewing Machine project. And what a great fit for me as a lover of fabric + sewing! I have vivid flashbacks to the ladies we saw sewing near the streets in Tanzania; seeing this project instantly fills my heart with joy. As you finish your holiday shopping // enjoy this season of giving, consider creating an account with Pure Charity so that a portion of what you’ve already budgeted for each month helps fund a project that speaks to your heart as well.

Click here to create an account + learn more about the grand projects Pure Charity has available. xoxo