love

my new favorite song and the best black leather jacket possibly ever...

it makes me want to dance on rainy city streets, jump on cars and run through grocery stores. while wearing a really cool leather jacket.

collections

Dare #131 is up. Do you collect stuff? There are a lot of things I could have covered here, but I went for all of the short sleeved t-shirts in my closet. I took photos of them in Photobooth, and then did some mad Poladroid-ization on them all. I would have used the real deal, but I'm down to one 10-pack and that wasn't going to cut it. Plus, um, that would have been totally expensive. You can't see it here, but I raided my stash of scraps and used up tons of it to cover the backs of each 'droid.

Doing this made me realize that all my t-shirts have some sort of story or memory associated with them. Noted on each one with a Sharpie. Funny how I can remember what store they're from or who I was with when I bought them or something I did the first time I wore them. I know, they're just t-shirts. But so part of the every day. T-shirts that have been with me on vacations, to concerts, lost and then found again, some that should be retired, some too small, some too big, and some that are just right.

Minneapolis, Andrew Bird and okay, Orla, I give in...

Saturday, I ventured to Minneapolis with Lotus, my friend Jane and her twin girls. We hit up the Mall of Amercia (or as Jane's girls call it, 'The America') and more specifically, Nickelodeon Universe inside the MOA. Mixed in with a little shopping and eating treats.

We had lunch at the very kid-friendly Nickelodeon cafeteria.

Mac and cheese, french fries and hangerbers. (These girls were cracking me up all day.)

Lucky us got to meet SpongeBob and Patrick! Big fans.

And Dora, who the bigger girls loved but totally freaked Lotus out. She's hiding behind her blanket. And I think tears were shed.

And Joan Rivers. Joan Rivers?! Yeah, she was showing her line for Bloomingdales. We had a very fun and crazy day. But we had the best time chatting in the car on the drive up and back. Jane and I go back to third grade, so there are lots of memories and that whole sisterhood type of thing between us. I wish I had a fun pic of the two of us together from our adventure but I regret to say that we totally forgot.

Bo was lucky enough to catch Andrew Bird at Hoyt Sherman on Saturday night. (We returned from Minnesota too late, or I totally would have gone, too!)

What an amazing venue to see him play live. (photos jacked from MetroMix...)

Music lovers around here are waiting patiently to hear the lineup for 80-35 this year. And so far I think everyone is very excited to learn that it will be downtown again.

Last year's show will be tough to beat: The Flaming Lips, Dirty Little Rabbits, Andrew Bird, Ingrid Michaelson and more. The best part is that it's all outdoors and something that you can totally enjoy with your kids.

We brought Lotus last year and sat on a blanket watching The Roots – a good excuse, in my opinion, for keeping her up past bedtime. (Ahhhh, looking at this picture has me longing for summer days...)

Bo discovered the coolest site ever over the weekend. If you're a graphic designer and skateboarder. BoardPusher.

And an update on the snake scarf I knitted for Lo. It has (as I expected) become more of a play-thing than a scarf worn for warmth when going outside. And she has stretched it out quite a bit. But she's so proud to wear it around the house. I might make a another one that's a little shorter. Although this one will last a few years, which is good.

And alright, alright... Orla, you beckoned and I handed over the credit card. I tried to resist. I really did. But the mugs are way fun (love the handles.) And even though the juice glasses aren't made of glass, I fell in love with the colors and picked up a set of four. The patterns just work with this house, what can I say?

Had to grab a couple of the blue dish towels. And the casserole potholder. Which is like a normal potholder but longer and with pockets, so you can put both hands in.

And the apron. I've got a good apron collection going now... some handmade, some Anthro, some vintage, some hand sewn with plans to make more soon from my A is for Apron book. But Orla's made the cut.

in stitches

New challenge is up at The Creative Type, and it's all about the stitching. (And in my case, sequins and mourning the loss of the most perfect Anthro dress in the world. It's okay, I'm getting over it.) Play along with us for a chance to these...

from the most radical Emily at Manhandled.

And I'm so excited that the most excellent Amy Tan is our guest girl this week. I'm in love with her embroidered t-shirts but she definitely knows how to rock the stitching and embroidery in all areas of craft. And on top of that, she manages to stay 100% cute, all of the time. I'm so happy that I might have the chance to run into her in June... awesome!

like fingernails on a chalkboard...

...that's what styrofoam is to me.

Dare #130 is up – pet peeves. Styrofoam (the feel of it, the sound of it) is the number one thing that I cannot stand. If I'm in the same room as someone who is unpacking stereo or computer equipment packed in styrofoam, I squeal and run away as fast as I can. It makes my teeth hurt. I hate touching it at all, but worst of all is when two pieces touch each other and it makes that squeak. I'm cringing just typing this. If anyone was to ever torture me, this would be the way to go. Stapling this piece of styrofoam to my page (and writing on it with a Sharpie) was physically painful for me to do. But there you go. For the love of The Dares.

This is what is on our morning playlist today...


and this why you should watch Yo Gabba Gabba... (a brand new episode airs today and we're having our own viewing party.)



Friday is here once again, we're unfortunately not going to make it to see Andrew Bird at Hoyt Sherman tomorrow (but that's okay because we saw him play last summer) and I feel a coffee date coming on. AND, weather permitting, my BFF Jane + girls and I are heading up to Minneapolis for a day of fun tomorrow. YAY weekend!

ode to grandma

This is my grandma, Minnie May. She loved fashion and sewing. She was crafty. And in my eyes, good at everything.

She made delicious meals. She was silly and soft spoken and would say phrases like 'oh my stars.' She was the best and sweetest grandma ever. And she taught me lots of things. Sewing, crochet, stitching of all sorts, baking... a lot of the special things a granddaughter gets to do with her grandma if she's lucky. But one thing I never got the chance to learn from her was one of the crafty skills she was best at: quilting. I remember admiring her works in progress stretched out on wooden quilting frames in the basement. And the quilts she had spread out on every bed. I loved snuggling under them when I stayed overnight at her house. And before she passed away, she had tucked away a special quilt she had made for each of us grandkids in her closet.

So this year, I promised myself that I'd learn to quilt. And I'm so happy I did. It's cheesy but I do feel as if I've bridged a gap and done something that maybe my grandma had always wondered or hoped I might learn to do. I wonder.

It's no surprise since I had her example to look up to. And I have to admit that it felt really special to give my first quilt to my little girly. My grandma inspired me to do this and now I feel like no matter how imperfect my quilting attempts may be, it's still something us girls can share. Something I can love that I know my grandma loved. And maybe a skill that I can teach to a certain someone someday who may or may not want to learn. We'll see.

And now for something a little less likely to make me weepy... I finally finished knitting my first hat! It's the robin egg blue hat pattern from Ravelry that I had started and re-started several times with different yarns before finding this awesome color and falling in love. I like my hats a tiny bit big, and I'm so glad this fits so well. And covers my ears.

I think it just had to be blue. And of course, all I had to do was look through my grandma's stash of old buttons that I had recently inherited to find the perfect big gray button for the side flap. I can't tell if it's made of shell or stone, but it's awesome. Shimmery and heavy and the perfect size. Thanks, grandma. Alright, alright, I get it, you're helping me out! You approve of the craftiness. ;)

guilty.

new dare up ... check it.

...and I finished knitting this dude today – a snake scarf for Lotus. Named Archibald, after the worm on Yo Gabba Gabba. I feel like it took me forever to finish this guy and I was so happy to find these perfect yellow button eyes in my grandma's bag of buttons. It almost looks like he's wearing glasses. He's just long enough that he'll curl around Lo's neck three times and hopefully he'll stick around for a few seasons.

happy weekend to you!

after careful consideration...

i do still want these... (if I can find them somewhere in my size.)

v-day recap

Sweet flowers from Bo to us girls. I love green mums.

Giant chocolate chip heart-shaped cookies and the softest snuggliest new pink jim-jams in the universe. Courtesy of grandma Carol. So soft that we let Lotus wear them all day. (No I didn't let her eat the whole cookie.)

Rad Valentine for Bo from Elise's shop. I had the toughest time trying to decide what words to fill in the blanks with. I enlisted the help of some friends who helped me get the ball rolling and then I included some of their ideas inside the card. Ahem... pain to my ass? Foofa to my Brobee? So funny.

Calendar love. For some reason, I forgot to take off the January card until now. Maybe because each month is so pretty and I don't want to say goodbye.

And an almost finished quilt. Yup, I made it through my five week quilting class and here is the not-so-perfect but still pretty cute end result. After I finish hand-sewing the binding to the back, I'm going to throw it in the wash and then I'll give it to Lotus to use in her crib/toddler bed. Sweetness.

on motherhood.

Last night Lo and I sat rocking in the Eames chair for quite a few of the early morning hours. She has been feeling sick for a day or two and last night she had a rough time sleeping.

As I was woken up several times during the night (and sat for long periods of time in the rocking chair,) I couldn't help but be reminded of this sweet ode to motherhood that I had just read by Keri Smith. She described those middle of the night experiences, where at one minute 'you feel bathed in frustration... and then sometimes even minutes later you are calm and peaceful again.'

It's nights like last night when you snuggle that little pajama body into your lap, smooth the hair over a warm forehead, give a back-rub, wash their face with a cool washcloth, offer clear liquids, rock ... and do pretty much anything else you can think of to provide a tiny bit more comfort to a little someone who just feels like crap and can't tell you why.

And no matter how tired you are, you are reminded of how special this motherhood gig is. You smile and kiss their hair and rock in the dark at 3 am, and take in these sweet days when you can still make everything better. When they actually ask to sit on your lap and welcome the excessive little kisses and hugs. The independent two-year-old who tells me 'no no no' and 'i do it myself' on a regular day is now just a sleepy, sniffly little girl who wants her mom. I rocked and rocked and rocked last night and reflected. Those newborn baby days are long gone. And nights like these are sometimes a reminder of how far we've both come.

I'm tired today, but I don't mind nights like last night at all.