As a child (and to this day), I was obsessed with my Grandma's old photo album. It was always the first thing I wanted to pull out when we would visit her and I have so many memories of just pouring over the pictures, trying to imagine what it was like to have been those people on the other side of the lens. I practically have every picture in the album memorized. 

A couple of years ago I borrowed the album with the big dream of scanning all the photos and making a digital collection of them for myself, and the bigger dream still of making a book out of it. The years have past and a wedding and a baby and a move happened, and the album has remained untouched, save for the first few pages. 

In a couple of weeks I am going back home and we are taking a trip out to South Dakota to visit my Grandma (who is turning 93 this year!) and I know I have to bring the album back. It's just been too long.  So, the fire has been lit. I am using all free time to get this project done.  Onward. 

What are you doing this weekend?

 

 

The skies opened up here in New York last Friday (and again this morning) and rained in a serious way. I tucked my self safely inside all afternoon, worked on a dying project and listened to the audio version of Bringing up Bebe.  I was really reluctant to read it, but I am thoroughly enjoying it. In parts, feeling cocky and confident that I am already following some of the methods she presents, and in others thinking "Oh, so that's how I should be dealing with r's eating/sleeping/throwing things on the floor problem". I am by no means about to dismiss all my parenting instincts that contradict what the author claims in the French style, but there are definitely some seemingly good solutions for those moments when I have no instincts at all.

It was in the upper 90's yesterday and very humid. To beat the heat, and R's lack of nap crankiness, we spent the afternoon lounging at a friend's pool. It was hot-hot-hot, but really fun. R was pretty cooperative, and let me lather her with sunscreen and kept her sun hat on most of the time, but I just couldn't complain when she took it off and revealed her awesome Nick Nolte hair.

R is transitioning from two naps to one, and on a day like today, to none. Needless to say, productivity is down. My old projects are languishing and new projects I somehow thought I could accomplish are just making a mess of the place.

My darling sister keeps asking about him, so I thought I should officially make the update here: Miraculously, Mr. MaxFish is still alive and swimming over a month later. We are really growing fond of the little guy. 

I asked the lady what shoes she wanted to wear to the park today and these are the ones she picked out. Now that's one stylish baby (mesmerized by the boys playing basketball).

There was a Herman Miller sale at Design Within Reach last week and, even though I probably can't afford it, I reasoned with myself that the Eames molded side chair would never be any cheaper than it was during that sale and I should probably just do it. I just did it. It arrived yesterday in an impossibly small box. I may not be clutter free, but at least I've got a nice place to sit down.

 E is out of town this week, so it's just been me and the little lady. She hasn't been sleeping well and I haven't been sleeping well, so everyone is feeling a bit frazzled. She's at daycare today and I decided I should take the opportunity to DO something and decided to pick up a little sewing project. You know, something easy and quick. Apparently, the state my brain is in couldn't handle quick or easy, so instead I got a 5 hour project, full of miss-sewn seams, mathematical black holes and a burned thumb. R did get a top in the end though, and it's actually pretty cute.

The letters are all done. Despite being a bit tedious to make, I had fun. The bonus is that my felt scraps pile is now about half as tall. I'm working on some doubles now so we have more options in the words we spell out, and some numbers.
So far r is pretty uninterested - though she has taken an instant liking to the "L" and "I" and carries them in a tight grip around the house. She is also pretty keen on the ikea crochet basket I'm using to hold them in.

Working on a special order with Handle & Spout in corals, whites and gold. It's always nice to see the colors all together

Handle & Spout was featured this week over at the lovely blog Paper Heart Wedding. Check out the link here. When they contacted me about the post they asked a few questions about the business and inspiration. I wrote out a lengthy email jabbering on about who-knows-what and, to my surprise, the whole thing is included in the post! It's a little embarrassing, but hopefully I don't sound too obnoxious.

Goofing off with the little lady yesterday morning. There have been a lot of tears around here lately. I don't know if it's lack of sleep or teething or just general toddler-ness, but it's been hard. Luckily, when we have these pockets of real joy and playfulness I feel like she could really be shaping up to be an excellent kid.

p.s. Does anyone know how to remove the border from my photos here in blogger? I've tried everything that seems obvious, but so far the border remains. I'm stumped.

I just spent the last hour trolling through the archives of this beautiful blog. It is really inspiring, but all her beautiful photos have got me feeling anxious about the clutter around our house. Maybe (definitely) it's time for a purge.

A little walk around the lady's room. How does she have a better wardrobe than I do?