Creative Friends Make Work Fun!

I met Viv earlier this year when she did Isabelle's 2nd year birthday photos.

She was so sweet and great with Isa!

I had known of her for awhile since we are both members of a local photography group.

(Since I've had Isa, my own photography has been shelved )

Well we just clicked and have been working together since.

She is an *awesome* photographer and has done a bunch of photo shoots lately

to help generate some new photos for my Etsy shop.

Here are the fruits of her labor - which can be purchased at my store.

And check out her site!

You will love her work!!

Zzzzzz

Isa must be having a growth spurt.

She's been doing a lot of new things this week,

and she's being such a *pain*.

I hate to say it, but when she goes through a little spurt,

it usually leaves me desperate to book a single, one way flight to Bora Bora..

I've spent way more time this week napping when she naps.

I know, I know..

I can hear you..

I need to nap - I'm in my 7 month of pregnancy..

It's just hard to be resting when I have so many new ideas,

and I know my life is only going to be all the more crazy in a few months.

Alas...

I'm going to take a nap.

Here are some photos from the shower of my wonderful mother and I!

Baby Shower For Miss Julie!

When we found out that we were having another bouncing bundle of pink,

I totally didn't expect to have a baby shower.

I figured if we had a boy then we would need some rough 'n tough items,

but I literally saved everything from Isa's babyhood.

Of course my family and friends

couldn't resist another pink baby shower though!

My mom and one of her best friends, the Original Martha truly outdid themselves.

The invites and boot favors were perfect for Julie's vintage cowgirl theme!

We had it at Dear Lizzie's in Alpine.

This place is every big girl's fantasy.

A frilly, sweet boutique with a quaint little tea room.

We spent the morning dining on tasty morsels and laughing over the trials and tribulations of motherhood. And then I was bombarded by the most thoughtful and adorable gifts!

I'm so lucky that my girls and I are surrounded by so much love and support!

((And no, I didn't get a single picture of myself or friends..

but I will be hopefully getting mom's photos soon and will post them!))

ACP Design Team Challenge - July #2

I love tussie mussies!

I bought a ton of vintage yarn cones years ago to make some.

They are still in the shipping box.

I drool over all the styles!

From shabby chic Victorian to the holiday styles,

but I had yet to make one.

Well enough is enough.

The 2nd July ACP design team challenge

was to create an item that included either black or white, and 2 other colors.

Since I'm heavily preparing for the Halloween season, I went

with: orange, grey, and black.

*And of course adding an ACP charm!*

And because I forget what I've bought in the past,

rather than break into my pristine shipping box full of yarn cones,

I opened a modern chipboard cone from Darice.

It came together really easy.

I have an area in my inventory room right now piled with

Halloween ribbons, trims,papers, and more.

However, I could not for the life of me find the wood balls I know bought years

ago to fill the gap at the bottom of the cone.

Luckily I had some awesome large grey glass beads

that fit perfectly in the hole with some good ol' glue

Love it, love it, love it!

I'll be adding to my Etsy store later this week.

It's a perfect decoration for the home

or as an extra special gift container for the wickedly sweet goblin in your life.

The Experiment

The Problem:

A family that is "teched in and tuned out"

Kiddo - addicted to videos

Mom - addicted to the Internet

Dad - not addicted, but gets sucked in to TV and/or internet like there is a force field

The Hypothesis:

Removing the TV, Videos, Internet, etc for 1 day a week will improve

the family connection and decrease the addiction on the other days.

The Results:

I checked emails and Etsy (my work) before either Thomas or Kiddo woke up. I was on for less than 10 minutes total. And yes I Twittered and Facebooked.

On Saturday we did not plop Isa down to watch "Dora" while we made breakfast and did our morning routine. Kiddo asked for it once or twice, but the response that the TV was broken seemed to suffice.

Thomas did go on the internet in a non-approved time (before Isa wakes, Isa's nap, and bedtime), but he jumped off right after getting the phone number he needed.

The Star Wars force field did not suck him in.

We had a fabulous time at Thomas' work carnival in the morning.

In general, Isa loved the undivided attention and did not seem to miss her videos.

I checked emails and Etsy again for about 10 minutes while Isa napped.

We did not sit Isa down to relax with a video before bed.

I read her a large pile of books and Thomas got her ready for bed.

We did awesome!

There were plenty of times I could have snuck on the Internet without notice, but I didn't.

There were times that Isabelle got bored,

but rather than a quick TV fix she found something to do.

I felt less guilt as a parent.

*****

We're hoping to do this 1 day/week for the foreseeable future.

We are going to reduce our cable service to the bare min and HBO

(come on, let's be realistic - I NEED HBO!)

Today, Isabelle was beezerko to watch some cartoons, but

our total TV time was at least 1/2 of what was the norm.

I didn't check my laptop every free second I had.

I feel good about this.

Technology is not the enemy, but it can quickly and easily consume us.

It breaks my heart to know there were times that Isa was tuned it to a video

and both Thomas & I were sucked into our personal laptops.

Our time together is something we should never take for granted.

It's important to balance the power of technology

with the power of a REAL connection.

If you're reading this and telling yourself that it sounds great,

but your family couldn't survive tech free for even a day..

I say to you, that your family may have the most to gain from it.

You won't die.

You're children won't die.

It will be okay.

It's 24 hours.