ABC, Oakley's Three!

I need a new camera. I threw a birthday party for my newly 3 year old recently and I didn't take a single photo. I already regret it.

If I do say so myself, the party was pretty Pinterist-worthy - for an event held in my proudly "nifty thrifty" home and not involving a professional party planner.

I used punchbowl.com for the invitations for the second year in a row. Their free offerings are customizable yet user-friendly.

The party itself was minutely lower key than Oakley's second birthday; 23 people rather than 30. Thank goodness it was sunny and we were able to get out into the backyard at one point. I'm beginning to understand why parents host parties in rented rooms and parks now.

I never knew before having a child with an "o" name just how great it would be for him. O's are everywhere. They're circles and zeros and faces and wheels and bagels, not to mention a well-used vowel. My son notices them all the time so I did an alphabet theme. I hung Lisa DeJohn's alphabet animals cards on twine with clothes pins, stuck ABC stickers all over balloons, put ABC bathtub stickers on our bathroom mirror, planted flowers in our entrance way planters and stuck in  a couple over sized whirligigs for good measure.

I served the essential alphabet pretzels and a plethora of "o" shaped food including pineapple rings, apple chips, rice crackers, olives, carrots, cucumber, and peppers cut in rounds, and Dad's O cookies. We played a couple simple alphabet games and at the end we handed out goody bags with each child's initial on the front and stickers, a bouncy ball, a whirligig, and an ABC book inside. But really, the cute kids  - all 12 of 'em - made the party.

And yes, I admit it. This party - exemplifying my love of typography and words and pattern and food and fun - was a little bit for me. I mean, my son's only three; he loves monster trucks, Lightning McQueen, hockey, Spiderman, tigers, Dora, Diego, AND the letters of the alphabet. I just chose something he likes that I could really get behind! He had a really good time and so did I. Now it all fades into a blurry memory faster than you can say "cheese". Thank goodness Grandma took a couple photos!

I made a fresh orange and olive oil bundt cake; we just called it
"o cake". The glaze made it extra delish but it also absorbed
all the decorative powdered sugar!

Maybe my boy's really getting into toys now that he's 3
or maybe the other parents are all super in touch with
what 3 year old's like, but every gift he received has
been a major hit (including the stomp rocket they're
all crowding around here).

Desktop Calendars Galore

I've started downloading free desktop calendars every month to pretty up my office, my mobile office. While I do have a desk I often work on my laptop in other rooms of the house. For instance, I'm currently kneeling on my bedroom floor with my laptop on a cushion on my bed!

I love print and color but live in this slowly-getting-less-beige house so I take my fun and pretty wallpaper pattern where I can get it! Here's a few that I've used recently and a few I wish I'd used. I found so many I like for March that I switched halfway through the month! Check the links' corresponding sites for future calendars as the year rolls by.

December 2012 from Love Mae

Rebekka Seale's January calendar

I used this for February and I can't find the source
now that I'm looking for it!

Sasha Endoh Design's March

March envelopes by Alma

March from Gennine's Art Blog

Marimekko' s March theme

Blog O'clock

I found these lovelyvintage clocks
over at Sadie Olive's Etsy shop.

It's blog o'clock. That is, it's 10:30pm and I've been sitting at this computer for nearly three hours since I put the boys to bed. I've got a rare night to myself and I fully intended (in fact, looked forward) to creative time tonight. However, my desire to think big and grow a business and stay in the loop and maintain my marketable skills pressured me into working instead.

Working for Edgewise that is. It's writing, it's editing, it's Facebook, it's Twitter, it's looking at dozens of fabulous artists' websites - I'm working on a press release for Shiny Fuzzy Muddy. It's working for myself. And yes, I'm really trying to complain here.

It's just that I was beginning to think that I might be able to free up my evenings for my creative endeavors and maybe even read one of the many books piled on my bedside table. I haven't even gotten halfway through my much anticipated copy of Stephen Fry's "The Ode Less Traveled" and it's nearly time to return it to the library; the same goes for "Vancouver: Stories of a City". Fortunately I own "Vancouver's First Century", though I'm not even a third of the way into that one - the introduction was such a pleasantly intricate and entertaining surprise that I think I'll have to go back and start over, when I have time of course.

My bedside milieu is not
quite so serene.

Then there are the two parenting books that are getting dusty and really should be returned to their shelf. Maybe I'll have a chance to read up on Dr. Sears' take on disciplining a preschooler and "What to Expect the Toddler Years" once my boys are in school.

That - right there at the end of the last sentence - was a completely ridiculous but rather representative thought not unlike others I have daily about all the wonderful things I'll do once the boys start school. It's only three or four years away (IF we don't have more kids)! Now rationally I know this is akin to all the wonderful things I was going to do on mat leave - other than take care of one teeny tiny baby and his or her teeny tiny needs - but the thoughts still occur.

Back to the bedside table. There are also a few food magazines kicking around, literally. The toddler knocked them off the table yesterday and they've been on the floor since; I keep writing 'meal planning' on my to do list and I keep just scraping by with one idea a day. I really do have the best intentions as the magazines on the floor can attest to.

Getting back to how I am able to afford to work - if you don't have young children that statement may seem like an oxymoron, but I assure you time is not money, it's much more valuable than money (though there isn't enough of either as far as I'm concerned). I can afford six hours a week to tentatively dip my toe in the lake of non-familial (aka: paid) childcare. I'm giving the granny nanny a brief respite, or at least I'm not solely relying on her, while testing out the world of the nanny share two mornings a week.

In theory, the goals that these six hours of childcare a week are going to allow me are to further my business, find a mentor, blog more, and possibly even plan more than one meal at a time. I'll keep you posted.

"A house without books is like a room
without windows" Heinrich Mann

Ponytail No Longer

I did it. I chopped my hair off. It's not the first time nor is it that last time, but considering long hair is my default setting, it feels darn good - cathartic really.

I pretty much walked into Bye Napoleon and said to Jenn (my hair's new bff), "I'll take one of these please" and walked out an hour later smiling ear to ear.

I wanted this cut

Or this

Sure

Definitely

It's hair like this that caused me to delay
cutting mine for so many months. 

Beware the Beige

Lovin' the linen

It all started with the natural linen duvet cover. I was young and impressionable and in search of a calming element in our eclectic, eccentric east side abode. It cost too much but we were DINKs (double income, no kids) flying by the seat of our pants, flitting here and there: New York City one month, Galiano Island the next, and Okanagan wine country after that. All it took was a Long Beach sunset and the aforementioned duvet cover and the next thing I knew we were married and three months later, pregnant.

But it doesn't stop there. Oh no. Due to our expanding family and sense of adult achievement we went and moved into our current house: the clean slate we'd been searching for. The kitchen and bathroom floors are neutral ceramic tile, tub and sink and toilet are in a matching shade of cool eggshell, the walls are painted a uniform cafe au lait, the french doors are a breezy white, the silk living room drapes are champagne, and I have my first modern kitchen complete with stainless steel appliances and a travertine back splash.

Benjamin Moore electric blue

I now find myself somewhat surprisingly entrenched in a beige phase. I've been averse to wearing all black for as long as I can remember and I've always been a fan of bold graphics (the first blog I ever followed was the eye-popping print and pattern). In my single days I painted a bedroom with hearty "red desire" and within a year met my now-husband. In our common law days, I painted a room (and I've only ever admitted this to a select few) "Sex and the City" blue. Yes, I researched the exact color and brand that they used on the set of the movie, painted our living room and hung artwork in a similar format.

Indian block prints: color full.

Since moving into this beige house I haven't seen hide nor hair of my color-loving self; our two previous duvet covers (Indian block printed no less) have been retired and even my one-time favorite artwork (a Balinese dot painting) hangs in a dimly lit nook while a sepia toned black and white print takes centre stage on the dining room wall. 

I've made an effort to infuse color into my bland decor. I went looking for bold patterned curtains and came home with a print (!) on a beige background. We bought a sectional couch to fill up our big living room and the one that fit our layout was - beige. We got dining room chairs and those that were the right size and style for our table had beige upholstered seats. 

Fortunately we still have most of our old mismatched furniture and we do have kids (and their clutter) to liven the place up. The older one, nearly two, is, as Picasso once found himself, in his blue period. My only hope is that his blue period doesn't get all over my beige phase.

I'm beginning to think that beige may be the exact color I need in my hectic, messy life. It is a darn good backdrop for splashes of color (intentional and otherwise and two year old temper tantrums often result in the latter). Have you seen my blog layout?

Not all bad comes from being understated. Under this beige roof we've had our second child and will continue to raise our loud little family. So I will beware the complacency of a staid and comfortable (read: beige) existence while trying try to enjoy the simplicity of my staid and comfortable existence.

What I'm Gifting

Lu Prints napkins and placemats

Paper bird game by French company Djeco

Upcycled guitar string necklace from  Blue Bird Sky in Brooklyn via Etsy

Homemade seasoning salt

Reusable bathtub stickers

Homemade pumpkin butter

Bingo for tots

Homemade candied orange peel au chocolat

Kids' card game

All I Want for Christmas...

For the boys:

A bath toy hammock or bag

Any art supplies from Clementine Art

Or any other toddler-appropriate art supplies

Push cart for baby

And as always, books, books, and more books are welcome gifts

For Mama:

Set of stacking cake plates or a frilly 3-tiered dessert tray

Stainless steel lemon juicer

 1 quart sauce pan

Natural soap - I like to stockpile

Gift cards for any of the following:

My favorite store

My hair salon

My local fitness studio

A Different Scarf Style Every Day of the Month (Well, Nearly)

I just wish I could remember a few of them when I'm on my way out the door...

Use What Your Mama and Daddy (and Great Aunt, and Co-worker, and Sister-in-law) Gave You

Now that the holiday festivities are over (and they are for me being the mother of a baby that I am, I won't likely get up to much of anything for New Year's Eve - a rousing game of cribbage if I'm lucky) I find myself with a boatload of Christmas cards that I can't bear to part with. And there's even a few still trickling in after the Christmas postal boom. 

I have a wire card wreath (a much-loved wedding gift that has a permanent home on our dining room wall that houses cards year-round depending on whose birthday was recent or which holiday is near), but I can't leave Christmas cards in there until our next family birthday in March. And as much as I can't abide tossing the holiday notes neither can I stand storing years and years of season's greetings in a shoe box. And so I craft. It's the perfect solution: I turn these seasonal mementos into new cards or, as in this year's incarnation, ornaments. 

These super easy orbs require only old cards, scissors or straight edge paper cutter, a hole punch, and some metal page fasteners (as we used to use in duo-tangs back in my grade school days).

 Simply cut cards into same length strips, punch a hole in both ends of each strip, mix and match for the best color combos (I used about a dozen trips per orb), attach a fastener through each end of each group of strips, fan the card strips out to form a ball and voila! 

These look as good on the tree as they do on the mantle or in a glass bowl on the table.

--

Next year I'd like to tackle this wreath from goodhousekeeping.com

And these gift tags from marthastewart.com and modkidboutique.blogspot.com respectively.