I put my thing down, flip it and reverse it

Friday means time for a new Dare. I am in love what the other girls did with this one. Up today – Style: your signature thing ... a piece of jewelery/shirt/shoes/bag that completes you. Everyone has something and I bet a lot of people share mine. I started wearing Converse in high school. The days of metal (and okay, Nirvana and Pearl Jam.) All because of three boys named Blaine, Brian and Mark; one played drums and the other two played guitar. They introduced me to the best shoe in the world and I've worn them ever since. I still have my very first pair of (now) faded black hi-tops from high school that I drew all over (and I think there are stickers on them, too.) I even wore a blue pair of light blue All-Star lo-tops (and Bo wore black Vans old skools) for our wedding. For a very very long time, I have either worn Chucks or Vans (a very close second) every single day of my life.

Listening to this today...

If you haven't already, you can download the free NIN/JA EP here.

I sooo wish we were able to catch them on tour this summer, but it is just not going to work out. I'll be in Vegas during the Kansas City show, and the show in Chicago will only have NIN and not Jane's; we just saw NIN by themselves not long ago so it has to be both. Then they're playing Bonnaroo in TN like a week or two before I go to Nashville in June. Dang. I keep trying to win tickets on Twitter anyway. :)

ziggy stardust

Remember that second skein of yarn that I was talking about?

Handspun scarf no. 2 is done!

The last one was Iron Maiden, so naturally this is Ziggy Stardust.

This yarn was such a blast to work with; every few stitches brought in a new color.

This one turned out to be about 5" longer than my yellow/black one but I love that they're both nice and long. With loooong fringe.

So now what am I going to do? I am actually working on this completely crazy, semi-dangerous new project that I'll show you soon. I stayed up late last night getting it started and my fingers are about to fall off. Tonight's plans to see My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult have been squashed (they canceled) but I'm not sad, because I can just work on project crazy instead.

tulips and ... motocross.

Just a ton of photos, really...

Mother's Day weekend part 1: Tulip Time festival in Pella.

(Sometimes I think Lotus kisses the flowers instead of smelling them...)

The Dutchesses.

I love the dancing and singing. All in Dutch, and it's a family affair. Even the littlest kids participate.

This song was so sweet ... the kids sit on their dad's feet (under the 'windmill') and then the boys come and grab the girls' hands and then they run away together.




The Dutch letters were delicious.

The tulips were perfect and so bright and it's cool to see all of the varieties.

Lo and I wore matching Vans. Ha.

It was pretty much a perfect day to spend outside, and the perfect Mother's Day activity.

Part 2: We found out that there was going to be a freestyle motocross demo at Val Air (as part of the Disturbed show that night) so we headed over to check it out. Not the concert, just the motocross. Because Lo was with us.



Riders were Tommy Clowers, Myles Richmond and Destin Cantrell. They were doing crazy tricks and back flips. And probably nearly causing accidents for the cars passing by since the ramp was in the parking lot, right on Ashworth. Super fun to see, though. Hope you had a great weekend!

bento love

Wishing Wendy (Wendolonia) a happy one year bento-versary! She has pretty much been my intro to bento and actually has me excited for preschool days and packing lunches. Wendy has been documenting bento lunches made for her son for a year now on her blog. (More than 175 lunches and she photographed all but 3 or 4.) As the mom of a super picky eater, I'm all about embracing cute food. Here are some of my faves from the blog...

I've been taking notes... cute shapes cut with cookie cutters.

picks and kabobs.

cheese shapes.

silicone muffin cups.

cute animal dividers peeking out.

tofu shapes and sprinkles on fruit.

roll-ups.

checkerboard apples.

cute fruit.

and bunny sandwiches.

But of course the best part of bento lunches are the super cool containers.

And supplies/accessories. (all photos from Wendolonia)

Anyway, I'm still a rookie but since Lo has had a hard time branching out on her food choices lately, here's her simple lunch from today.

We'll settle for grape jam sandwich strips and cheese stars on a plate for now. Luckily, I have a little while before she heads to preschool to hone my bento skills. Thanks to Wendy for the fantastic ideas.

Unicycle to work day

Bo kicked off Bike to Work week by riding his Kris Holm 29" unicycle to work this morning. Check the local news coverage here.

And watch this to see the most sick unicycling you could ever imagine. Kris Holm, my friends. Bo's hero.

transform

First, I was obsessed with American Apparel's tube scarf that you can wear 20 ways. And now I'm in love with these convertible t-shirts from Free People.

happy mother's day

how do you get there?

It's Friday! Dare 137 is up and I think we all loved this topic: the commute. I spent quite a few years (and three jobs) trekking downtown in my pre-baby years. Which is a big contrast from my current stay-at-home/work-at-home gig. I wrote a little bit about both here. Two completely different parts of my life; both very cool.

Lucky for me, my non-commuter job lets me take lots of photos. This is what I call the Chroni-what-cles of Dressing Up. (Also known as Lazy Weekday.) A favorite activity in our house. My jewelry drawer is usually the first stop. Lo is really into the headbands (she layers them.)

Then there's the doctor kit, which includes these little plastic bandaids and a cast that fits over her arm, so she naturally calls them bracelets. And begs to wear them to the store.

So yes, all of these ensembles are her idea. This particular one was a hit for a couple of weeks and I could never find my shoes. She was also obsessed with wearing her bike helmet all of the time (and again, begged to wear it everywhere) and eventually we had to hide it. This concludes the Chroni-what-cles of Dressing Up. I'm certain there will be another part to this series soon. Happy weekend to you! (And thanks for the comments on my last post... maybe I'll do another vid-blog this summer. When my neighbors are not outside.)

v-blog and the Iron Maiden scarf

Okay, so I did it. Kinda embarrassing, but here you go. I made three attempts at vid to the blog, and each one got cut off at the end. So it's super short and it leaves out like three more really uninteresting topics that I attempted to cover, but my neighbors were outside staring at me and I didn't feel like doing take number four. (And what's with that crazy sunshine!?! Sorry.) So now all of you long-distance bloggy people know what's up... it's your turn.

And here are photos of my Iron Maiden scarf made from the handspun yarn that I was talking about a couple of posts back. (And here I am, trying to look all tough and rock and roll...) This was so much fun to knit and I just didn't want it to stop.

I was so sad when the yarn ran out and I had to bind off. But I'm so excited about the finished scarf and the long fringe and the crazy textures. If you're on Ravelry, you can see more pics here.

Love this so much. And last night I started to make a second one with the rainbow colored skein and I have no idea what I'm going to do when that yarn is gone!

Happy Thursday, peeps.

honest to blog

Who knew I'd be a blogger? Let alone a mom blogger. A crafty blogger. But I love my blog. I love your blogs. I read lots and lots of them, every day; Google Reader is my funnel. I write for many different reasons. This place has become my diary, my photo album, my memory keeper. The first blogs I remember reading were Dooce and Sounds of Science; both classics, one mommy and the other crafty. They were the ones who helped put me on this train. People in my family might not be in favor of me blogging. But I was never very good at listening to my parents. I started this baby in March of 2006, which is sort of unbelievable to me today, and I'm not about to stop.

I was interviewed for a story about tech savvy moms in Juice today. Read the story here. You can't deny the power of the internet. Whether I'm on Twitter, checking to see if any of our local pals are up for a last-minute playdate, or chatting with the awesome friends I've made in my online mom's group, it's plain to see that the internet has changed our lives forever. And I like it.