take my hand... we're off to never never land /  by jen geigley


Oh yes, thanks to Bo, we have killer tickets for Metallica on Sunday. There was a time in my life when general admission was the only way to go, but those days have passed. At least for a Metallica show. We got seats this time around, but good seats; I want to sit back and enjoy. I'm short and always have a hard time seeing the band from the floor anyway. So stoked to be seeing them live again... it's been awhile. (And Bo has a four day weekend, and Lotus is staying overnight at her grandparents' the night of the concert. Yay, us.)
e.t.a.You can read more about my love for Metallica in today's Datebook article - read to the bottom. (blush. i am such a nerd.)

In other news, we survived L's annual Halloween costume party - it was a big one! (blurry photos, I know... point-and-shoot + treats in one hand + toddler clinging to my legs = these lovely photos.)

For a costume party filled with 50-some kids/babies under the age of five, everything went pretty smoothly. There was tons of food, toys for the kids to play with, and trick or treating. Great practice.

Lo surprisingly kept her Foofa costume on the entire time (even the hat) and loved carrying around her treat bag like a purse. Once she had treats in the bag, she carefully laid them all out on the ground and put them into piles.

She devoured a purple frosted cookie with sprinkles and a handful of Mike & Ikes before I even knew what was happening. The girl likes candy. And who am I to refuse candy to a kid at a Halloween party. ;)

The new challenge over at The Creative Type is up! Pick a shape and fill it with words. My question mark is filled with the lyrics to the Flaming Lips song 'yeah yeah yeah/what would you do.' We saw them at an outdoor festival over the summer, and I have wanted to scrap these pics forever. I love the song's lyrics/message and somehow, this has become one of L's very favorite songs. She sings along in the car and wants to hear it every time we go somewhere. Whenever I hear this song for the rest of my life, I'll flash back to this time. It's on the daily right now. ;)

Be sure to check in at Work Your Soul this Friday for a new prompt for your weekend! It's going to be ama-zing. We're having so much fun with this and love to see what you can do, too!

I can't even believe that November 1st is coming up so fast. I'm teaching a mini-book class at Get Inspired here in Des Moines and I'm getting all the last-minute kit stuff finished this week. Nervous and excited - hope to see you there! (9 am - midnight ... can you even handle it?!)

Okay, so I'm in the basement on my Mac as I type, and I here thud thud thud on the ceiling of the room I'm working in. I get freaked out easily this time of year anyway, with all the horror movie commercials on tv and what-not, so I kind of ran upstairs almost half-thinking it was a ghost. (I'm tired.) No, it was just Bo tapping on the floor upstairs telling me to get my A off the computer and come to bed. No ghosts. So with that, I'm off. Good night. ;)

oh yes I did use CrackMan for my new blog header... :) /  by jen geigley

And oh yes, I am going to torture you with another post about Yo Gabba Gabba...

We found these YGG t-shirts at Wal-Mart (of all places) last week.

They're pretty cool, I know.

We also snagged a very awesome pink Brobee hat and mitten set but I didn't get a photo of those yet. They're so funny - one mitten has Brobee with a happy face and the on the other one, he's sad. And the hat is lined with fleece and is reversible. I know, exciting, right?

And I finished up the L's Foofa costume just in time for our Halloween costume party on Wednesday. She's not crazy about the hat but she'll keep it on for small periods of time. I'm attempting to get a better photo of the whole outfit but she's a moving target who is hard to dress, and I'll take what I can get.
(*If you're wondering, I made this out of a pink sweat suit. I sewed a t-shirt to the inside of the sweatshirt, and then stuffed the sweatshirt with poly fill to make the round tummy. I bought an extra pair of pants to make the hat, and sewed on some pink binding to make a strap. I may use the rest of the pants fabric to make a treat bag. I made the pink scalloped collar and flower for the hat out of felt. And she's wearing pink Crocs for shoes.)

Update! Check Lotus out on GabbaFriends! We love that site. :D

let it be /  by jen geigley


This weekend:
* garage sale
* apple crisp
* blueberry muffins
* crackers and cheese
* hot chocolate/caramel apple cider
* attempting to stay warm

Sooooo happy that Leanne won PR. She totally deserves it, and I loved so many pieces from her collection. I really liked how Korto's line came out, too.

Wednesday, Erin and I went to Against Me! ...

... and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists downtown at Peoples. It was a pretty good show. Funny girls who were surprised/angry that people were pushing them around, but hey, sorry, you're at a punk show. Crappy photos, but here's what I got. First photo flash, second photo no flash. Both suck. (help me Kim!)

Speaking of Kim, I wasn't sure what to do with this page for my Wreck this Journal. So I sent it off to the UK in a little package to her, and now it's in her hands. Or it will be, once the package gets there.

This week, we are really noticing how many words L can say. She can count (kind of) and point out numbers that she sees. She can say certain letters in the alphabet. She knows her colors. Animal sounds. Please and thank you. She can 'read' a few of her books by herself. She can put together 2-3 word phrases. She'll attempt to repeat almost anything. And as shown in the photo above, we are finding that she is really blossoming as an artist. (hee)

My mom visited last weekend. My mantra when she's here is 'keep calm and carry on' but things have been okay with us lately. Despite our troubled past. I gotta learn to let go, and let it be. It's easier to forget the bad stuff when I see her having fun with little Lo. And L is the exact reason that I need to keep the past in the past and focus on the new and the positive. That should probably be my new mantra.

We had such a fun afternoon last Sunday playing at Pearson Park. Lotus can go down the slide by herself. This is clearly the look of pride.

So is this.

And like most kids,

she could swing at the park all day.

Pearson has grassy hills and big trees, and the leaves were falling all around us. The weather was awesome - just a perfect last-of-the-warm-stuff fall day.

Leaves are cool...

...happy day. :)

I heart Leanne /  by jen geigley


Dear Leanne,

I love you.

Please win. I know you will. Your wedding dress was divine, the bridesmaid dress was perfection, your collection appears to be killer, and your color palette is dreamy + crisp + full of my fave hues of blue. Go on and womp those other girls. Do this. xo.

I finally got caught up on some missed episodes of PR last night and now I am positive that there is no way that Leanne will not win this season. I have been in love with her all along (how adorable was she when she was lurking around the workroom like a spy on the Diane Von Furstenberg challenge?! And remember in the first episode when she said she thought her fellow contestants will underestimate her because of her quiet demeanor but assured us that she is the “silent fashion assassin?”) It's thrilling to see what she's going to make, I like how she dresses herself, she has such a cute, quiet personality, and she really is the best of the bunch.

And waahh, Kenley... calm down and check yourself before you wreck yourself. Never mind, too late. Check out this extended scene of Kenley's rudeness to the judges (and everyone on earth.) Unless you think she's had enough attention. Then don't.

a little handmade notebook tutorial, live shows and more... /  by jen geigley

I got my Red Velvet October kit in the mail last weekend and couldn't wait to start making stuff! I became totally giddy when I saw the Hambly birdcage and bicycle papers, and the gray platform Thickers. The color scheme this month is so perfect - yellow, orange, black, red, pink, turquoise mixed with gray!

She loves pumpkins. I mean loves them.

She also loves her vegetables. Eats them up like candy. For now anyway.

And she loves walking - you may recognize these photos from my post about her first steps. Glad I recorded everything from that day on the old bloggy because I totally copied my thoughts from here for this page to put in her book.

Check out the other gorgeous projects over at the RVKC blog (more to come soon) and this month was my turn to post a little tutorial, so go give that a look as well. I made a little hand-bound notebook to keep in my nightstand for all the middle-of-the-night stuff that I always wish I had written down. :)

It's super simple to make and it makes great use of random scrap paper, catalogs, junk mail, or whatever else you have lying around the house. A simple fabric binding and some thread and you've got a cute little jotter. That birdcage paper made such a perfect cover.

Tuesday night, Bo went to see Ryan Adams and the Cardinals. Next week I'm going with Erin to see Against Me! and Ted Leo & the Pharmacists. So excited to go. And funny how all this live music comes in spurts. Now we just have to scrounge up enough $$$ for Metallica tickets for the show later this month. Sigh.

Tonight Bo and I are going to Burn After Reading for our long overdue date night. I already know we'll both enjoy this movie. I mean, really, it's the Coen brothers. Love the poster, too.

And now I need your vote on something very important.

Boot #1 (Latoria)

or Boot #2 (Pricilla)

It's really a question of would I rather have a mid-calf boot or high boot, and $10 price difference. But I can't decide so let me know which one is rocking the most attitude.

And as posted on Twitter: INFORMATION: Ben Folds has divorced the wife to whom he was married when he wrote The Luckiest. This means the song is A LIE.


Don't forget to stop by and see us tomorrow (Friday) at Work Your Soul! Our very first amazing challenge will knock your socks off. You really won't believe it - mind-blowing, I promise. Your weekend starts here.

Good stuff, fun fall days, boot decisions, and lots of projects to keep me busy. Can't beat it. :D

** work your soul ** /  by jen geigley


So ... the secret that I mentioned yesterday? See that arrow off to the right? The one that says 'the weekend starts here'? Click on it and come check out a new collaboration. Between me and a girl who lives in the U.K. who I met because of a Vespa flickr group. Kind of funny, but true.

Kim and I have been spending the past few months exchanging ideas and long emails. Long emails. About starting up something artistic and creative combining our shared interests. For the love of vintage, photography, music, art, journaling and scrapping ... and Work Your Soul became our new brainchild. It's a challenge blog with a little bit of how-to and a lot of photography know-how. Just hop over to flickr and check out Kim's photos, and you'll see what I mean. We'll be bringing you tutorials, challenges and more to get you inspired. You'll just have to wait and see what we have in store!

We've unveiled the little beauty today ... so please take a minute to go over and say hello! And be sure to check back Friday for our first ever challenge (it's a good one - and its sure to start your weekend off with a bang.)

the way I see it... /  by jen geigley


I can make Starbucks' caramel apple cider/spice or whatever they call it at home. So by the way, have you noticed that if you order your drink the wrong way at the 'Bux, they have to correct you? Like I sometimes order a drink with skim milk, but since I say 'skim' it never fails that they have to correct me with 'non-fat.' Me: 'I'll have a grande skim mocha.' Them: 'Okay, so a grande non-fat mocha?' Yes. Pretentious. I'm just going to keep saying skim on purpose. I've been saying it that way for years. Anyway, you can find the caramel apple cider/spice recipe here. You need to get the Starbucks cinnamon dolce syrup but it's still way cheaper to buy that huge bottle that will last forever than to buy maybe three of their drinks. No worries, Starbucks - I'm still addicted to your coffee. And snap... I just saw that they have hazelnut hot chocolate. Such a sucker.

My favorite t-shirt is fading fast...

...so I would like to get this t-shirt to replace it. Or just in addition to it. I never throw my t-shirts away. Stacy and Clinton would have a field day with my closet. But this shirt, I must have it - if you know me, you know I love the Karate Kid.

Sweep the leg.

I also want the new Jenny Lewis. Sigh. Which just reminded me of this. Makes me laugh. I'm guilty.

I got lots of fun mail this week... including Brobee flair for my diaper bag. (Thanks to the ultimate sweetie, Patty!) And Elsie's Halloween paper kit.

Not to mention the October Red Velvet kit, which was yummy enough to eat. More photos of what I did with that soon. I am doing a tutorial this month over at RVKC so check it out. And eeeps! I made the catwalk at SIS today with the first page I made for my Steady Hand, Faulty Heart journal. Totally made my day.

This week's challenge at The Creative Type is to create your own font. (It's a busy week, right? I know!) I was going to draw something kind of blocky, but then I decided to just open up Illustrator and try to write in cursive with the mouse. Slow and low, that is the tempo. I had the song 'Dyslexic Heart' in my head that whole day, so that's where the words all came from. Funny, since it's a song about a girl who has bad handwriting. Amongst other things. Check back at the Type soon to see who the awesome Guest Designer is this week. She's the absolute perfect person for this challenge, I must say.

Last but not least, I've got a big secret that I'll be able to share very, very soon!
*NO, I'm not pregnant. We are waiting until L is maybe three before we start thinking about adding babies to the fam. :)

little things... /  by jen geigley