other places

how to make getting dressed easier, by maggie.

10 documentaries about powerful women

lemonade stands?!

Yesterday I told Ollie that if he went potty like a big boy, I’d buy him a Lightning McQueen car. Gabe and I had talked about a bribe, briefly, but this came out of nowhere. I'd been thinking about M&Ms and out of my mouth comes McQueen. A year ago, I never thought I’d even let him see Cars, let alone offer to buy it for him if he'd pee in his froggy toilet.

We’d been planning on heading out to run errands and pick up dinner w/ G. First stop was Amoeba. Gabe jumped out while we circled the block.

Mama, can we just go get my McQueen now?

No Ollie, sweetie. I’m sorry you misunderstood. Mama said we could buy a McQueen if you go potty in the big boy potty.

No, I don’t want to.

Later we go to the grocery store.

Can I go find McQueen?

No sweetie. They don’t have any McQueen here.

So now I feel bad, like I’ve confused him, or that he's not going to believe me anymore. He’s not three yet and they say boys are slower to potty train than girls. And I know that every kid is different. A couple of his teachers have told me they think he’s ready and I do think he gets it. I’m not in any particular hurry at this point.

I did ask him if he wanted to wear his Thomas underwear tomorrow and he said, no his Percy underwear.

loving these stacking rings by iosselliani.


via here, available here.

this set is gorgeous, too. the band with czs is vintage and the rest she made.







from here.

jojo

jojo

choose -- the design you like most

act -- pick the project you wish to support

either tree nation or the water project

check-- follow the project you pick

1 pair of jojo's = 1 tree planted in africa

1 pair of jojo's = 1 year of drinking water for one person in africa

via cool hunting.

i'm busy

video by dad

vacation part two

after our beach house stay, we headed down to southern california to see the g's folks.

we checked out the dinosaur museum at the los angeles museum of natural history. it was pretty cool, though a bit too old for o.


here he is, pteranadon in hand, on the way home.


there was froyo at my favorite place to get froyo in so cal, the golden spoon.



we also took o to his first baseball game. we had bleacher seats. tickets came with all you can eat hot dogs, nachos, sodas, peanuts and soda. ollie liked the nachos. that's my boy.


note the pacifier. the minute the national anthem started, ollie also started -- started crying that is. and saying he wanted to go home. pacifier it was. he eventually came around had fun.


food shot


g's folks have a fish pond in the backyard. ollie got to feed the fish. instead of slowly dropping the food into the pond, ollie dropped it all.



finally, here's a pic of us, way back when we were young. (i snapped a shot off g's parent's wall of photos.)

a good read

maggie linked to erika ray's blog and i'm three pages in. it's a really good read, the kind of blog i could delve into and miss out on a few hours of sleep because i get so into it. and, she's an amazing photog, to boot. go read it if you'd like.

speaking of losing sleep, well lemme tell ya! i started playing words with friends while on vacation. i've been losing sleep over this one, too. not worrying about it...but playing. i think i have 11 games going right now. at first i would get anxious when people would wait an entire day between moves. anxious meaning annoyed that they were dirtying up my list of current games. i've worked through that.

happy place

yesterday's lunch. a big bowl of fabulous. of phobulous. looking at this picture is making me want another bowl. btw, i finished this yesterday and felt totally comfortable. i think i made my stomach bigger on vacation.

vacation part one

last week we rented a beach house in aptos, which is 15 miles south of santa cruz. we went with my cousin, his girlfriend and his two kids. the house was right across the street from the beach.

balcony view


ollie maxin' and relaxin' on the balcony. mama, i'll take a leche, neat, please.



hank the puppy came, too.


we spent our days on the beach.


ollie loved it.


one grey morning we ventured to santa cruz and hung out on the boardwalk, while we waited for the fog to burn off. ollie had his first corndog. and went on his first ride. and then his second, third, fourth...


tuckered out after the boardwalk.


beach palm trees.


not pictured: beers on the beach, really good wine, food, gossip mags and books.

nails

so pretty!



photo from here with a step-by-step.

i'm running out of ideas for o's lunch -- and dinners for that matter. find good ideas here.

links

when my youngest brother was little he once told me and my middle brother that he was going to star us. get it?! instead of mooning us... speaking of stars, (ha! like that?) i've been saving links to share:

inspiring mamas and cute kids on the glow

garance covers mcqueen
wish i could've seen this.

love girls gone child's mom's eat well posts.

i think i've said this before, but i really love kristen wiig.

working from home means

one or two too many cups of coffee

taking a shower, then slipping back into my pajamas, or not showering at all

eating 1/2 bag of carrots and all the blueberries in the fridge

feeling the need to pick up every cheerio off of the floor before i can focus on my work

getting a ton done

foxy lady

when i was younger, my mom made me a belt. it was navy blue with rainbow lettering that said foxy lady foxy lady foxy lady foxy lady all the way around it. the closure was magnetic. if i had it now, i'd so rock it. but back then i found it horribly embarassing. actually, at first, i loved it. i would wear it with my purple cords and rainbow legwarmers. it was hott. but then my neighbor's cousin came over and she made fun of it. she explained what it meant and then i found it horribly embarassing.

this bracelet made me think of my foxy lady belt. i keep coming back to this piece. it's pretty.



from here.

family portrait.





busy, tired, lazy.

baby shower was saturday and i think it was a success. spent all day friday running around with my mom to various stores.

we decided to do individual floral arrangements for each guest for favors. i got to do the flowers.



does anyone want me to do their wedding? i would love it. (well, if the bride would let me do what i wanted and didn't have her heart set on a specific bouquet. ha.)


of course, i forgot my camera and only had my iphone to snap pictures. grrr.