what CAN'T you do with paint?

Saw this image over here and totally fell in love!  I love the colours, the proportions, and most of all, the POTENTIAL.  One of the things that I think would be great with a setup like this isn't just the storage or colour or whatnot, but the profile it makes against the wall that would make everything placed on or above the dressers seem that much more interesting.  And in case the colour's scaring you off, I don't see any reason why this couldn't be done in, either, shades of the same colour, or in more neutral shades (think how great charcoal grey, or a soft white, or, gosh, imagine a set of deep cherry red lacquer against a bright white wall!!)

rain rain

Now this is timely!  I was JUST trying to convince the hubs of my great plan to install narrow bookshelves behind my daughter's bedroom door that hold the books upright...  Then I saw this great idea!  You gotta know by now that I'm a sucker for repurposing stuff, right?  Yep.  Those are RAIN GUTTER bookshelves!  Cheap and cute??  Loves it!  (Though I think, personally I'm going to stick to my original open-faced plan...  The only thing that concerns me with this is that they wouldn't be as easy to clean out.  But in the same respect, you could easily use them to hold small toys, crayons, etc. that my open shelves wouldn't be so practical for.)   If you want diy instructions, check 'em out over here.

dance mom, stage right

As long as I can remember, my daughter has had a love affair with music and dance that me and her dad have cheerfully fostered. Though, for whatever reason she has an INTENSE love affair (in that way that only few things are at four. Most being fleeting infatuations.) with ballet. Not just the steps, or the costumes, but, most telling I think, the stories and the music. Whenever a song from "The Nutcracker" or "Swan Lake" is playing in a store or as the background to Bugs Bunny she squeals with joy and immediately starts prancing and leaping. When I made the mistake of nicknaming the princess(?) from Swan Lake, "Odie" I was fiercely corrected ("No! Mommy!  Her name's ODETTE.  Geez!")  I thought it would pass. I didn't want it to, but I was sure it would... But nope. The other day I let her sit with me while I looked up YouTube clips for her of ballets, and she sat enthralled watching dance after dance.  Image from here.

So today we drove 45 minutes across town to her uncle's record store to pick up "My First Ballets", a collection of the world's most famous scenes. Yeah. Do I need to remind you that she's four? Or that she rules? And what does it say about me that for every "weird" thing she does, I love her even more? Honestly, I think it's just that I feel I can relate much more easily to the "weirdness" in her. And I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Needless to say, I guess I'll be on the lookout for a good ballet school come next year!

gangsta

You know how on "Cribs" the rap dudes and wannabes are always describing their rides as "murdered out"? Like all black everything? Yeah, well, I ain't gonna lie. That's my FAVE. I love all black. I've even started referring to my favorite all-black stuff as "murdered out"... in a strictly just for giggles ironic (I hope) kind of way. Which is why this James Perse trike is SO awesome! Doesn't it make you wanna have kids just so you can get one? Oh, and is just me, or is stuff looking rad when it's all matte? Image from here.

say whuuuut?

Stella McCartney just put out a line of kids clothes through the Gap?? Seriously? That's pretty dope, actually. I've been really loving the stuff she'd done with Adidas so I wasn't the least bit surprised to see that I thought this stuff was super cute, too (though I kind of wish she had gone further outside the "Gap" box. I feel like a lot of this could have found it's way there regardless of her involvement.) Personally, I'm feeling partial to this pretty purple frock, though I couldn't justify the price tag, considering it's for a FOUR year old. But hey, if you've got the coin, knock yourself out. Who would YOU like to see whipping up a kit for your kid? And as a side note: Man would I ever have loved to have seen that little dress this summer when I was looking for flower girl dresses. It would've matched my sis' moh dress PERFECTLY!

nerd alert

So, I'm a GIANT sucker when it comes to taking my kid to pretty much any movie she'd like to see (though I do have SOME boundaries; I fought with all my might against seeing the likes of "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" and "Hotel for Dogs") so when she announced that she wanted to see "Robot Boy" I figured, why not? Now, I'm the first to admit that, while I watched the show as a kid, I wasn't the biggest fan... So I was FAR from excited to go see it. But I gotta say, I was pretty happily surprised. It's just a really nice story line about family, belonging, being different, etc. The animation's pretty. And it's got a bunch of little design tidbits aimed directly at parents that kept me pretty entertained trying to find more (Lenin propoganda in the robot revolution secret hangout??? Yeah, pretty funny.) Honestly, if you haven't seen it yet, go. It's worth it. Image from here.

commence stress-relieving head+wall banging

So, I cursed myself. I did. I once said that I would prefer an ugly child to one who had a hard time in school. Enter the curse: I have a beautiful, charming, incredibly creative child... who refuses to count to three. Now, no, this is far from what I would consider a "major" issue. She is, after all, only four. I should think we have plenty of time to rectify this (right???). But, I'm not going to lie, it makes me panic. It makes me wonder if this'll come up over and over and over again for at least the next 14 years or so... 14 years of me calmly, and as patiently as possible, explaining simple concepts over and over, in every conceivable way... 14 years of her "getting it" this moment, only to look at me dumbfounded 10 seconds later, saying, "Um, I dunno."

It's hard for me to pinpoint why, or more specifically how MANY reasons why, this bothers me... is it because I think she probably CAN do it, but it's more entertaining for her not to? Is it because, when I gently prod her to count "the bugs in the circle" she starts counting only to look up and start watching my face for reaction instead of finishing? Is it that, when prodded she counts "1. 2.... um.... 1. 2.... um... 1. 2." and so on? Or gets creative and does "1. 2. 18. 36. 59...." or even "1. 2. 4. 6. 8..." Yeah. It's great.

Now, I know, I know. I'm told over and over again, that she'll just "get it", spontaneously. But there's definitely a part of me that thinks, "I'm a stay at home mom! My kid shouldn't HAVE to wait to just figure it out. I'M supposed to be here to HELP her!" And clearly, I'm not doing a very good job... Or at least that's what my guilt's tellling me...

I thought we had made a bit of a break through today, and it might still have been (I'm willing to give it more time). Smarties. Yup, I'm bribing her with candy. Sue me. We made it all the way to 5, with her being expected to count different groups of bugs in a circle, at least three times in a row, properly, before we would move on to the next number. And at that, if she was having trouble, we would go back to the beginning to repeat those numbers she already "knew" before moving on... but then... nothing. Right back to "1 2 1 2 1 2..." and her watching me for reaction. She's a peach. And yeah, I get it: she's doing it FOR a reaction. Fine. Whatever. But how do I get her to COUNT for my reaction? Cuz, trust me, that reaction would be EPIC compared to the bs poker face I've been doing my best to maintain in the mean time!
Image from here.

seriously, don't even ask

I refuse to divulge how I came across baby shower game cards, but... these could sooooo easily be repurposed for a wedding shower, dontcha think?! I think it could be super sweet and really easy way to get your guests to ACTUALLY put down advice, or wishes for the couple without expecting a full paragraph or whatnot. I NEVER fill out those kinds of cards, but the super-simple, almost mad-libby tone here could be pretty fun! *hint hint shower organizers of mine* Image originally found at I *Heart* You.

other people's weddings: Leith & Stewart

Whoo, boy! Do I ever love the feel of this wedding from Carrie Patterson (found at The Bride's Cafe). I think it's the near perfect combo of relaxed but still special details. Oh, and the pic with the little blonde girls in the white sundresses suckered me in right quick! I gotta say, I know we might not have done things "the right way", but I wouldn't trade the experience of being able to share my wedding with my daughter for anything. If anything, it's made it more special for me... To watch her seeing us make this commitment to each other will, I hope, be a great example to her about what love can and should be. That parents aren't just two people who live with you, but people in their own right who really and truly, not just love each other, but are IN love with one another.... Anyway, I'm rambling... I going to hit "publish" then go kiss my daughter and giggle about "loooooooooveeee..." Good times. (Oh, and isn't her dress just so beautiful?!)

other people's weddings: Yuli & Keith

For as much as I love me a Martha-style, diy, vintagey wedding... well, I've noticed that lately they are so popular that they're starting to feel kind of contrived. Like hey, don't get me wrong, they're awesome, but a Vera Wang gown, an Armani tux, and thousands of dollars in flowers, and God only knows how many paper lanterns (seriously, though cheap, they cease to be cheap when you've got a hundred of them) doesn't exactly scream down-to-earth and/or authentic to me... Now I am NOT saying there is anything wrong at ALL with adopting a style you love, regardless of if it's your own or not, but as an outsider looking in, it kind of takes away from the charm of the thing. Which is nice when you see a great wedding like this one. Maybe it's authentic, maybe it's not, but the great thing is it doesn't make me have to wonder about it. Charm in spades, this one. Good one. Photos from Robert Sukrachand (originally found out about this over here.)

off to see the wizard

So, I had a flash of inspiration the other day that I've been busy tracking down links for today. I think I've solved a bunch of my colour, or lack of, problems! Little hint? I am SERIOUSLY considering these for Monkey's shoes... Killer, right? Shoes: Converse from Zappos

monkey preview

So, me and Monkey are sick today which means lots of lazing about but not much in terms of "quality time". So I decided to try to make it up to her a bit by letting her try on her flower girl dress (I need to kind of keep an eye on the size since I wore it when I was 8, but she'll only be just shy of 4). Adorably she refers to this as her "wedding dress" but it's awesome for other reasons as well. This is the dress my Baba made for ME when I was 7 years old to wear to both my First Communion and my godparents wedding. It was a HUGE deal for me then and I LOVED it. There was a moment in the church when I looked around me at all those huge polyester, 80s numbers, covered in itchy lace, all the little girls with gloves and veils, and there I was in this beautiful swiss dot cotton dress, with my pixie hair cut, and hand-made flower comb, when I felt HORRIBLY out of place (though in hindsight, doesn't that sound awesome?!?!) And then I heard them scratching at the itchy seams, pulling at the tight gloves, and their mothers scoffing at the idea of them getting to play soccer in these "beautiful" dresses... And then I went and played soccer. I love this dress.

So I snapped a few quick detail shots of the dress. It looks like the only thing that may need to be altered will be the armholes, just to make them a little smaller, but other than that, this is how it'll look on the Big Day (you know, minus the worst of the wrinkles!) Let me know what you think!

... hanging from the chandelier in Monkey's room...

That's about 10 rows of all different types of lace and ribbons trip that make up the bodice.

Detail shot of the lace trim along the bottom of the skirt.

Man, this dress is so cute! No stinking halter-tops for my princess! Gotta love a lace-edged, puff sleeve, know what I mean? Oh, and there's a LONG, wide purple satin sash that will tie around the waist...

my monkey the hipster (no training required)

When Monkey was in the womb, I was still working in the music store so I think she may have had an, um, interesting inoculation... The kid is never happier than when she's naked, rocking out to whatever (though she has a bizarre fondness for AC/DC... weirdo.) So would it not be fitting to let her rock out in these Cons??? Am I scarring her for life??? Or is this not the awesome-est thing evah? Off I go now to at least try to find some girlier version (though I think I'm stuck on the high-tops). So it'll be a swiss-dot, vintage sundress for Monkey with Cons... Her dad's going to kill me. (HA! Let 'im try!)