little bits of awesome





The guys over at Grow Interactive were replaced temporarily by a tinier version of themselves. WebTV live streaming & a gang of children under five = complete chaos. Glad I watched safely from my office monitor and joined them afterward for a pizza and ice cream party.

Loads of fun and Avery had a blast (and apparently isn't great at taking direction).

a week of preparation



I'm busily preparing for our ladies retreat in Chincoteague this weekend, so the posts will be few and far between the next few days.

Like always, I have complicated my life by deciding to make little souvenirs for all my guests. I can't wait to share images of them next week upon my return.



On a different subject, do y'all want to know what I've been loving recently? I'm sure you can't wait to find out! You can always peruse my Pinterest boards, too.

• Finally finished Tina Fey's book and the last few chapters won my heart. From her stint as Sarah Palin at SNL to her difficult balance between motherhood/work and the tough decision whether or not to have another child. So captivating and in a sense, relatable.

• Foster the People. I'm really late to this game as usual, but this might be the most perfect summer album EVER.

• The most charming film I've seen in years: Midnight in Paris. Don't read any reviews or plot synopsis - just go see it. You won't regret it, especially all you art history geeks out there.

• I want to start collecting vintage Ben Cooper masks (photos above), especially the non-cartoon/superhero specific. It really is the last thing I should spend a dime on, but I'm so taken with the vibrant color and campy nostalgic nature of them. Tell me I'm insane.

little bits of awesome

finding a bag of new indestructible ponies at the local thrift store for $3 after having scoured every tourist trap on Chincoteague last weekend without luck. Ave has had fun playing with my old Breyer horses, but I don't want another pony to lose a limb.

finally seeing the finish line on the never-ending quilt project

sell this house: bathroom floor



We have a floor level with our foundation now. Yippee!

We'll remove the kitchen door, which will give easy access to the bathroom and open up the space. The framer is returning today to finish the floor and build the inset steps leading to the garage.

Our plan was to continue the bamboo flooring into the mudroom and bathroom, but now I'm concerned about using bamboo for the inset steps. It sounds super tricky.

Have any of you had inset stairs/steps built and how were they covered?

it's carnival time



It's amazing to see your childhood repeated right before your eyes.

Some of my fondest memories include attending the Chincoteague Carnival in the summer with my grandparents and older cousin John David.

I was terrified of everything growing up, so my cousin rode on all the rides with me to boost my courage.



So imagine my excitement when my cousin and his family stayed in Chincoteague for the weekend, too. One of his daughters is a few weeks younger than Ave and the other is older by two years.



Though Avery didn't need any coaxing to get on the rides.



In fact, we had a difficult time prying him off.



One of his favorites was the cars. Those old cars have been around since my childhood.



I never thought I'd see my baby on a ferris wheel so soon. At one point, he was shaking AND crying with anticipation while waiting his turn in line . His older cousin Emma rode with him to make sure he would survive.



He did. And he won't stop talking about it.



Here's to family and fun times!

circus

Did you guys watch "Circus" when it aired on PBS last winter? It's a multi-part documentary about the performers in a European-style big top traveling circus. And if you missed it like me, you can stream the entire series through Netflix now.

I've been rising an hour early every day this week to catch another episode and work on my quilt, which still isn't close to being finished. I particularly am fascinated by Sarah Schwartz, the wire walker. She's beautiful and her body movements are so graceful and...animated? Check it out below and you'll see what I mean, especially starting at the :50 mark.

little bits of awesome: safety first!



Avery insisted on wearing a helmet, knee pads, and elbow pads so he could ride his "skateboard" in the house. And I appreciate this. Alot. So, we cut a pair of old socks to create make-shift elbow pads and bunched up his old Baby Legs for knee pads.

Dude, he like totally shredded.

Haha - showing my age by using early 90s lingo. I shut up now. Okay - ba bye.

project: sell this house - let's make a deal

Well, hello. Let's make a deal, shall we? You have three choices: you can pick door number one, door number two, or keep the envelope...



Door number one, you say?



Cue the sad trombone.

The progress on Sunday. Within a few hours - no more wall (right photo).
And since the photo was taken, there is no more floor!

Though it looks daunting, this is actually a great view compared to a few weeks ago. The damaged wall has been completely torn down, the rotten boards have been replaced around the base of the exterior walls, and those are new pipes you see! They're small and fit INSIDE the wall, which is a big improvement since the old plumbing was so large. The previous owners covered it with a false wall that went 3/4 up to the ceiling. Crazy, right?

The room is now prepped for our framer to build a new floor on a foundation level with the rest of the house. It'll be like a REAL bathroom, folks! And what's more exciting is the prospect of moving the cat boxes out there. That would make my day.

So, you remember what it looked like before, right? I mean, it can't get any worse. I'm finally getting really excited about picking the paint, deciding on a wall treatment, and finding just the right accessories. It almost makes me not want to put the house on the market.

bonding time

The Virginia humidity was unbearable and Bobby was busy demolishing the remaining walls and floor in the second bathroom throughout the weekend, so Ave and I stayed close to home, relaxing and enjoying some quality time together.

We did what many people do when they want to relax:
we gave each other manicures...

...and discussed contemporary art...

...over a delightful sushi lunch.

I've found that making a big deal over mundane daily events can immediately elevate them to adventure status (I also tell him we're going on an adventure when we go to Target, which for some reason works). Avery was ecstatic when I told him we would be having a picnic (in our backyard) and he would finally be able to use his special chopsticks. I've been wanting to make this toddler-friendly sushi ever since coming across it on Pinterest, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.



What a difference presentation can make! Give the boy a PB&J sandwich and he'll roll his eyes and throw it on the floor. Roll it up and slice it like a sushi roll, and the same kid will scarf it down in minutes.



In other news, we tried more potty-training over the weekend and that shit was gross. Literally. We're encouraging Ave to wear underwear around the house and we've been dealing with some accidents, but poo is the worst! Any tips? I know many people suggest a no underwear method, but I worry our little dude will have too much fun marking his territory. And yes, we are trying the M&M bribe method even though we KNOW one is not supposed to motivate with food, but whateva works at this point. And our little dude really WANTS some M&Ms, but apparently not enough to poo on the potty.

Also, major progress in the bathroom renovation over the weekend! Walls have been torn down, floor dug up, and the room is prepped for our framer. I can't wait! Full progress report to come on Tuesday.

So, did you guys do anything fun this weekend? Besides the picnic and cleaning the disastrous poo spills, I mostly worked on the never-ending quilt project and read more of the Tina Fey book I thought I didn't really like until Friday night, already having read half the book. I really really want to LOVE this book. Thoughts?

time to make the donuts

Our donuts are a variation of our monkey bread recipe and were a huge hit last Saturday morning.



Buy a tube of whole wheat biscuits, slice the biscuits into two parts, and roll to create long snakes (Ave's favorite part). Connect the snake mouth to its tail and smush together to form the donuts.



Dip into a sugar & cinnamon mixture.



Line them up on a pan and bake as directed on the package. Should make sixteen as long as the resident toddler doesn't start licking them.



Slather some nutella on the donut or serve plain. Voila!

little bits of awesome: shadow play



This book = awesome sauce. Makes bedtime stories so much cooler and a dark room a less scary space!



I guess you'll just have to take my word since the photos are total garbage. You try taking photos in the dark without a tripod!

oh, what a beautiful long weekend...



We hosted our friends from DC for a little 4-day beach getaway last week. Entertaining house guests made the work week seem like an ongoing slumber party with late night talks and morning coffee discussions. Plus, Ave was completely enamored with Maria (above) and intrigued by their son Fen (below), too.



The closing night of Art|Everywhere was Saturday. Ave spent some quality time glued to his favorite display...



...and we pinned flags to the Seven Cities Crafters Map. Participants were invited to write down ways "they create community" on ribbons provided and pin them to the area of the map they consider their community.

And I must say, that map looked super purty. I designed and printed it through Spoonflower. I uploaded the map as two images with a 2" overlap for the splice. Overall, the map was 9 x 6 feet! An a production note, the colors were accurate and the lines crisp. The map was sewn and assembled by Kristen and other crafters joined in to embroider the city names.





We were also treated to a delightful puppet show version of The Lorax.



And Avery was delighted when seed packets were tossed to the audience at the end of the performance.



Looking around, I saw families, couples and youth completely engaged (without alcohol) and I wondered why the city isn't doing more to encourage these programs on a more regular basis. Bringing consumers to the downtown district with otherwise slower weekend sales would seem like a good plan, right? Hmph.



And no weekend is complete in this area without a quick trip to the beach.



Yes, that is a tupperware tub in the sand. We call it the "hot tub" and it's apparently very popular. Plus, after we're through, we dump it out and use it as a container for Ave's sand toys.



Hope your weekend was all you wished it to be, too.

happy independence day

Ave's patriotic dance cannot be captured in stills. He's fast like lightening...or fireworks.