photobooth for a year

At the start of the New Year we decided to make it a monthly practice of getting a family Photobooth strip taken. Last year we did a handful and ended up using the images for our Holiday card. So this year I wanted to document us as a family over the course of the whole year. So far we have three strips and it is turning into quite the event. We now make a day of it. I enjoy looking at the calendar and seeing one day on the last weekend of the month is slated as being the Photobooth day. We'll head downtown to the Ace Hotel [place of choice these days] and take our photos and then grab a bite to eat or coffee.


Already both Daniel and Miss. A have warmed up to the whole process. This last weekend I found myself looking down at Daniel before the second or third photo only to realize that he had brought a prop. Prior to the flash of the first bulb he donned an old pair of magnifying glasses we had sitting around the house.


Miss. A has warmed up to the camera and by this last photo strip she had taken to sticking out her tongue for the whole strip. It must have been held over from her solo strip she took prior to the family one.


I am looking forward to seeing what that photobooth image will hold as it processes the final images on the 27th or 28th of December. Only time will tell.

[7] things about me

Well I have been tagged by my sister to write seven random things about myself. I always love reading what other people write but have a hard time with myself, I will give it a try.

1. Savory not sweet
I have to be in the mood for ice cream or chocolate but will almost always crave a savory treat.

2. Cream no sugar
Coffee is a must every morning but it is always just a plain house coffee with cream. When my punch card gets filled at the coffee shop I tend to redeem my free coffee for just a house blend often getting suggestions of more fancy drinks from the person behind the counter. If I am feeling like something special I will go for a latte but tend to wonder half way through why I ordered such a milk heavy drink because it always upsets my stomach. I will learn one of these days.

3. I used to be quite the risk taker. I love adventure and the outdoors.
My date for the eight grade graduation dance took me rock climbing for the first time before dinner, my parents were not very happy with this decision but it may have been what spurred me on to try other things. I continued to rock climb in both high school and college. Daniel and I actually met while rock climbing. I summated two 14,000 ft peeks in college and used to sky dive until I realized it was only a matter of time before something went wrong. The summer before getting pregnant with Miss. A I learned to surf and even thought I would be taking her to the beach for a few surf trips the summer she was born, this never happened. When Miss. A was nine months old I ran my first half marathon it was amazing to realize that I could actually do something like that. Now I don't do quite as many adventures things with my time but we still love to get out and hike as a family.

4. I had a fear of sewing until about three years ago.
When I was young my mother taught me to sew on her machine and I loved it. I would mess around and play with different fabrics but it did not stick with me. During winter break my freshman year of college I taught myself to knit and just stuck with that for years. I would collect and buy fabrics that I intended to make dresses and skirts out of but would just put them into a suite case and then suite cases as my collection grew. My fear was that once I made the cut in the fabric there was no going back. With knitting I could just pull out the yarn and start over but with fabric if you make a mistake you have to get creative. It is amazing for me to think that just such a short time ago I really had a fear of that first cut.

5. I am left handed:: kick with my left foot+sew with my right
I write and cut with my left hand, play soccer with my left foot but when it comes to sewing I have to use my right foot and can't have a shoe on. There have been many occasions that I will answer the door with one shoe on and the other off because I have been sewing. I know it must look quite strange but it really makes a difference in how I feel the foot peddle.

6. Freckled face Imp
When my sister was in fifth grade she wrote a story about our family and described me as a "freckled face imp". I was so offended by this statement and insisted that I was not an imp. She informed me that I should look up "imp" in the dictionary and I found that she was quite right. I am the fair skin, reddish hair, freckled one of the family with a bit of an impish side while my sister had the blond hair and tan skin and her personality is anything but impish.

7. Love to read hardly ever have less then one book going at a time
I think this trait was inherited from my father. In years past I would start more books then I would finish and end up with a pile by my bed of books I was in the middle of. Last year I challenged myself to reading only one book at a time and though I did not hold fast to the challenge it did help me to focus a bit more on only reading maybe two books at a time and actually finishing them. Even now I have an ever-growing stack of books I want to read by the bed but I am only reading one. Now if only I could stay up late enough at night to get through more than five pages at a time.

[Interesting or not at least they are random. It is amazing how long it took me to actually compose this post. I am not tagging anyone to write about themselves but if you choose to take on the challenge I would love to read about it.]

interlude

Monday was the perfect day to go to the beach for the afternoon. Miss. A is now at that point where the wonders and exploration of the sandy beach are all encompassing.

She could have spent the whole day wondering around digging in the sand and playing with the water.


We are looking forward to a few more trips like this in the coming spring/summer months.

large shop update

I am excited to announce that the shop has been filled with a new run of items I have been working on recently.

I had aimed to have the shop loaded on Friday but decided to not push myself and instead enjoy distractions that came up. The weather has been wonderful around here and so it was hard to stay inside. In the evenings I was continually being drawn to a book I was only pages from finishing. Finally on Friday evening I finished the book only to pick up the next one on the shelf. Instantly I was drawn into it and found myself steeling away time to pack in a hundred pages an evening over the weekend. So despite marking my calendar with a prospective load date for the shop I enjoyed the wonderful distractions of family, friends, gardening, and books. It feels good to have done all of these things and to get the shop in order. Tomorrow Miss. A and I are off to the coast of the day. It should be quite an adventure.

small shop update

These items have been ready to go into the shop since November but things got in the way. The Coffee Sleeves are currently in the shop and I will also be adding a new addition of baby items on Friday morning. I am quite excited for the new items I have been working on, thank you for your continued support and encouragement.

A first time for everything

Miss. A has been asking for months when she was going to get a haircut like mom and dad. She has never had her hair cut at a barber shop and really the only time it was cut was when she was about six months old.


At that time we had to get rid of the mullet that was getting out of control. It's funny Miss. A has always had quite a bit of hair. I distinctly remember the ultra sound tech making a comment about the amount of hair she had and I was shocked, what did that mean.

So in the past two years we have not done anything to her golden locks except try to keep it brushed. Even that is a challenge at times and we often resort to putting it up. Well this weekend we were driving by our barber shop and decided to just see if Vinnie was in and had a quick opening. As luck would have it he was just finishing with a client and had some time.


Miss. A was all for the idea in the car but was a bit unsure once she crossed the threshold. We watched another person getting their hair cut for a few minutes just to see what it was all about. Once it was time to sit down I think it started to sink in for her and she needed me to stay close. The whole process took less then ten minutes and Vinnie only took a bit off the back.


By the end Miss. A was excited about the whole event and walked away wanting to go back for more. Who knows when that will be.

brotherly love

For weeks and maybe months Daniel deliberated over what to give his brother for a birthday gift. It had to be just the right gift and of course ironic.


So after finding the perfect gift [with the help of Miss. A], he set to designing the packaging. Now if you know Daniel the you understand that the packaging of a gift is almost as important as the gift itself.


Oh, I am sure you are wondering what the gift actually was. Well take a look. I am certain he will love it...