little bits of awesome

raspberry fingertips

project: sell this house



So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, we're making some repairs to our house in preparation for putting it on the market.

Our to-do list is as follows:

1. replace roof (Bobby is still comparing estimates, but writing that check is going to hurt)
2. remove wood stove and have chimney professionally sweeped. Make necessary cosmetic repairs.
3. renovate mudroom and adjoining 1/2 bathroom. This includes removing and replacing the bathroom wall and flooring. We were fortunate to have been given some stylish cast-offs, so we'll also be replacing all the fixtures, toilet, sink, etc.
4. organize garage
5. edit our household objects to make it more "normal"
   

So, we're starting with #3 first since #1 and #2 involve hiring professionals and giving them all our hard earned money. We started the mudroom a few years ago, but never completed the floor or added the little bench I had envisioned. Bobby will be starting the wall demo soon, but we're both terrified we'll find something unsatisfactory behind. Hidden treasure, the secret of NIMH, dead bodies...who knows!!

Some friends of mine said the "live, laugh, love" sign is the dorkiest thing on the planet. I'll admit, I was feeling a little sentimental the day I bought it. And Bobby loathes the star, but that's another story.

What would you guys do? Have any ideas you'd be willing to share? I'm all ears.

p.s. Are you guys eyeballing my rose colored padded toilet seat? It makes a lovely "pfff" sound when you sit on it. Perhaps I should host my first giveaway!

manic monday: monkey bread!

It was a gloomy weekend, which was the perfect excuse to introduce Ave to one of my favorite treats to bake while growing up: monkey bread.



I taught him the way I made it, which is a paired-down version omitting the brown sugar, butter, and bundt pan. No sticky hands!

Here's how we do it:
All you need is one can of refrigerated biscuits. Slice biscuits into 4 parts. Roll parts into little balls and drop them in a bowl full of a cinnamon/sugar mixture. Fully cover and space them out on a cookie sheet. Bake for 13 minutes at 375. Done.



Ave and I devoured them until we felt sick. That's how memories are made, folks.

old man and the sea

Hello, my friends. Are you still there after my absence?

Spent the last few days working in the Outer Banks. Perfect weather and a successful shoot. I could think of worse jobs.

Also, happy birthday wishes to my dear friend Marissa. Thirty-four years young and more beautiful than ever.

manic monday: experiments around the house

Hi, guys. I'll be out of town for the next few days on work-related business. In the meantime, enjoy this awesome video (Lullatone, via Something's Hiding in Here).

I can't tell you how many times our little family has watched it.

Lullatone - Experiments Around the House from lullatone on Vimeo.

avery's 2nd birthday: the party

When you promise a carnival in the invitation, you gotta deliver for the party. The challenge: create an entire circus in a limited time frame and a small budget.

Since the little guy was only turning two, we decided to forgo the games and focus on decorations. I picked up some pinwheel melamine plates at Target towards the end of the season ($2 each) that not only served as one of the initial color inspirations for the party, but are used everyday for Ave's meals. I highly suggest using melamine for parties, as they're resusable and much sturdier than the average paper plate.



We brought out the traditional Korean hanbok Ave wore for his first birthday, which was falling off him last year, to see if it still fit for his second birthday. Better than ever, minus the shoes. Birthday boys can run barefoot at their parties if they want to. Plus, it makes for better break dancing anyway.

Bunting = instant party

We created bunting out of cheap string and scrapbooking paper from Micheals. Sprayed the backside with spray mount and folded it over the string; cut the triangles freehand with scissors while watching TV. Doesn't get any easier really, and bunting is just so darn festive. We still have it hanging in Ave's room.

The giftboxes

For the giftboxes, I found box shells at Michaels which I wrapped with images of tents to match the invite. Again, cut by hand and printed on the same stock as the invite. Spliced two sheets of paper to complete the wrap. I filled them with bags of organic animal crackers, stickers and a cute wind-up toy. Total: less than $3 a box.

The birthday cake

This cake looked so much better in my drawing beforehand, haha. I misjudged the size of the cake pans, so the cake came out a little more petite than I would have liked. The patterned paper is all scrapbooking paper from Michaels (they were having a sale, okay!) wrapped around a paper towel tube and a cone made from thin chip board. My lovely mom made the chocolate horses from candy molds and the orange poles are bendy straws. I got a new set of icing tips for Christmas the year before, so I tried them out for the first time on the cake. Kinda shabby, but good enough. And the cost was right, coming in under $5.

The utensil carts

I painted these $4 wooden carts (found at that store again) to hold the napkins and utensils (orange napkins and utensils found at walmart). I justified this purchase by thinking Ave could play with these after the party. Needless to say, they now reside in the attic.

Cupcake tier

Since the cake was so petite, I stopped by my favorite cupcakery for some backup. The cupcake tier is lined with more of the scrapbook paper and the chocolate horse and flags were added to tie everything together.

PB&J Elephants

I'll admit, these were brilliant and solely my mom's idea and contribution. She made whole wheat and white bread sandwiches and then used a cookie cutter to create the form (this also eliminates the crust). We served these mainly for the toddlers in attendance, but the adults had just as much fun eating them, too.

Ave had the time of his life! There was an impromptu dance party in the kitchen and three rounds of singing Happy Birthday, complete with lit candles for each version. I realize it isn't necessary to obsess over the details of a toddler's birthday party because he would have been perfectly happy with a helium balloon and a bag of marshmallows. But it makes for better pictures, don't you think?

avery's 2nd birthday: the invitation

Upholding the tradition established last year with his first birthday, once again I designed an invitation with the birthday boy front and center. The plan (fingers crossed this lasts) is to illustrate a portrait of him every year while still incorporating the theme of the party; one which also shows his growth, current tastes and other reminders of the following year. So this year, we chose a "fun fair" theme, based on his obsession with a particular carnival carousel, and inspired by the illustrations in this book.

Trifold, printed economically (my printer) on French speckletone cover, fits to letter sheet. The speckletone is nice b/c it mimics aged paper found in vintage children's books. Fastened by an adhesive disc, printed on cover stock.
Carefully cut by hand - bleh.

So, there's the birthday boy – wearing his favorite shirt and playing drums alongside his favorite pal, Mila. If you look closely, you'll see Lucy hiding in the shadows of the green tent opening.



Now of course, next year will be a whole different story. Depending on what interests he develops in the next year, I might be trying to incorporate Avery into a Spiderman scene or a prehistoric landscape.

triangle quilt: a work in progress

Ave's lethargy freed up some extra quilting time over the weekend. Perhaps I should have been cleaning the house or preparing a family meal plan for the week, but alas, I am still a selfish gal who wants to add yet another quilt to the linen closet. And the little dude only wants to eat toast right now anyway.



I tried to get all fancy by choosing a matching color thread to quilt within each triangle, instead of traditional white. Paired with a dark gray back cloth, I thought the different color thread would look pretty swell.



Inspired by this quilt, I decided to try quilting very thin lines in the expansive off-white areas surrounding the central triangles. It is time consuming and it's flattening it to a pancake, but man, it looks cool. I'm staggering the line direction to mimic a basket weave effect, which creates a little more excitement in the negative space.

I need to finish it soon, because as the weather gets warmer, the chore list grows and the family activities increase. We're also taking steps to put our house on the market (ahhhhhh!). Yeah, I know it's the worst time, but we're going to give it a shot and see what happens. But, guess what that means for you dear readers? More Before and After posts, as we have a serious bathroom renovation to tackle before we can list.

manic monday: a couple more firsts

It's been an interesting week, my friends. We experienced a couple more firsts – one which carries the possibility of great excitement and the other, well, not so much.



It was Ave's first week of part-time daycare. We had been toying with the idea for some time, but when a spot suddenly became available at my parents' church, we jumped at the opportunity. And not because we need the child care coverage, but so the little guy will learn to play well with others.

I could just imagine him walking down the hall with his new little backpack and grinning while he unpacks his first lunchbox to see what his parents had packed inside. And I like to imagine him making new little friends and holding their hands on the playground while they skip in a circle singing "ring around the rosy." But, clearly I am imagining someone else's child, and not my own.

On both days, the teacher said they "had some issues" with Avery hitting/pushing other children and was running around the classroom while all the other children were seated for lunch. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

We're crossing our fingers and hope we'll see some progress in the next few weeks, once he learns to adapt.



And the other first, you ask? I was baptized by vomit into this thing called "parenthood" this weekend. And you know what, it wasn't so bad!

It's a parenting milestone I have been dreading, but I came out on top with improved confidence and just a minor stain on my sweatshirt. You know, it is challenging to simultaneously clean, comfort, and not gag.

But it was also the little guy's first experience with throwing up and he clung to my side the entire weekend. We read his new favorite book at least thirty times and lounged in our pajamas until the inevitable funk permeating through the house forced us to change.

little bits of awesome

My boys. Make sure your sound is on.

Avery and The Donut Eyes from Bobbyahhh on Vimeo.

show-and-tell: the animal fair



I found this book at the Brooklyn Flea Market for 3 bucks–an absolute score. The typography and illustration make each spread worthy of framing.



It even inspired Avery's second birthday party (photos to come).




You can view more of the book here.

manic monday: scenes from the playground

The temperature finally rose enough this weekend for us to participate in one of our favorite family activities: bike riding. We deviated from our original plans and leisurely rode around Mowbray Arch, an affluent neighborhood along the water, full of old victorians and tudor homes. I used to live in a tiny one-bedroom apartment nearby and would enjoy taking walks at dusk, mainly so I could peer in all the windows and steal a glimpse of the art on their walls, secretly hoping I would see one of my paintings hanging (In my former twenties life, I sold paintings at a nearby gallery).



Avery loves to tell me which direction to go, so I playfully named him my "little navigator," and he started making these strange roaring sounds in his throat. Apparently, navigator and alligator sound the same to a toddler. So the little alligator will always point us in the direction of the closest playground for a pit stop.



He no longer wants my help on the playground equipment and keeps reassuring me "Avery is big boy." Ugh - already? What happened to my little baby boy?



Other than the biking, we had a fantastic dinner at our friend's house, went to church (what?!), and I was able to break away for a 7 Cities Crafters meeting. A fun-packed weekend, but relaxing.

highlights from the mid-atlantic quilt festival



Last Sunday I gathered enough nerve to cross the bridge and attend the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival. I feared I would be the minority amongst the snazzy quilted jacket wearing 60+ crowd, but alas, there was not only a diverse array of attendees, but the quilt designs were varied to the same degree.



After paying what I considered a hefty admission fee ($12 sale on Sunday), I walked into the convention center to find rows upon rows of hanging quilts displayed against black curtains. White gloved attendants were peppered throughout the area to assist one in flipping over the quilt, as handling the quilts was understandably off limits. Vendors lined the perimeter of the room, where one could buy anything from quilting books to African baskets to repurposed clothing. I had to control myself.



Below are a few of my favorites. To see more, you can view my full set here.

Quiet Man by Brooke Atherton, Billings, MT

This woman got all raushenberg up on her quilt, haha. No, this one stood out amongst the others for obvious reasons. This wasn't the only quilt making use of found objects, but the one who did it most effectively. Bobby saw the photo and exclaimed, "it's a dirty quilt!" He was referring to what he calls "dirty paintings," which isn't a real style, but a trend among painters to artfully trash their canvas by intentionally letting paint drip, etc.

Graphene K and 'K States by Shirley Livingston, Williamsburg, VA

I kept returning to this one for of its subdued neutral colors and the contrasting little metallic triangle appliques. Plus, it was large - about the size of a king-size bed. While trying to get my shot, a woman leaned over to me and said, "it pleases me so much to see you take a picture because that's my quilt!"

I told her I really responded to the color palette and she said she chose it because it's "nature." She based her quilt on a honeycomb lattice structure composed of carbon atoms called Graphene. And now quoting her statement, "graphene is believed to be the thinnest and strongest material in the world and may eventually replace silicon as the base material for modern electronics."



She also said each triangle size varies and corresponds to the scientific structure (so yeah, not just decorative). And the names lining the perimeter represent the scientist and scholars involved in its research. Originally I thought playing with the typography would be more interesting, but on second thought, it does resemble a scientific diagram.

Precious Cargo, by Allyson Allen, Sun City, CA

Based on a historical slave auction flyer, this quilt had great graphic appeal. The type is appliqued and the chain link is made up of various traditional African prints. It's hard to see in this photo, but it's embellished by cowry shells and tiny handmade dolls. Not sure if the artist made the dolls or purchased the handmade items, but nonetheless, they're an interesting addition. Did you notice the quilting patterns? Totally digging that.

Tiger Lily Tango by Patricia Pressler, Hamilton, MT

The above is a more traditional quilt, but don't you love the color? The dark green, pale green and bright orange look so great together and I can't get enough of those pinwheels. I'd love to do a whole quilt based on the detail shot below.

So, we've got a busy weekend planned. Trying to join in on a group bike ride tomorrow, eating at Dr. P's later in the evening, and hoping to go to the 7 Cities Crafters meeting Sunday evening. Do you guys have anything fun planned for the weekend?

little bits of awesome

A few firsts over the weekend: first use of chopsticks, first taste of sushi roll, and first unaccompanied ride down the spiral slide. My boy is growing up...sniff.

Bobby rigged up some toddler-friendly chopsticks using a pinback button and a hair band.

an object of beauty


My friend Suzy formed a book club for two main reasons: 1) many of our friends want to read but lack the motivation and 2) it gives us a reason to hang out and drink wine together.


Nicole was the gracious hostess of our fourth meeting to discuss Steve Martin's An Object of Beauty. We feasted on cupcakes and homemade spanakopita before sharing our thoughts, most of the time overlapping, on what we all considered wasn't a piece of literary fiction, but an amusing tale (which could be argued by some) with some very interesting art world facts woven within.



So, yes, I would recommend the novel if you like art, because it's a quick read and it's chock-full of art history tidbits. I gave myself a pat on the back for understanding most of the references and got a kick out of learning more about the Richard Serra exhibition in Chelsea I was able to witness in 2002. I found the main character a tad vacant, but thought the art collector Hinton Alberg and his wife were a hoot. Actually, just having a glimpse into the art collectors' world separate from the artists was quite compelling. But, alas, if you're concerned with style and character depth, you may want to look elsewhere.

The unofficial Book Club mascot: Logan

In fact, I just ordered Confessions of an Art Addict by Peggy Guggenheim, which should satisfy my desire for more art world gossip. I visited her museum in Venice, her former house complete with puppy cemetary, and was blown away by her collection.

Norfolk Book Club represent!
Left to right: first row - Marissa, Rachel & Erin; second row - Rachel, Suzy, Julie & Shei; third row: Nicole and yours truly

Though I think it's still awaiting confirmation, the next book for discussion is The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls.