I've gotta get me one!

I saw this motto on someone's blog recently (I'm sorry, I can't remember where I saw it) and thought, "Crap! That's my motto!" So, tonight I was working wasting time on the internet and I came across retroplanet.com. They have this dishtowel and some other vintage-inspired items. I am particularly enamored with the dishtowels...















http://www.retroplanet.com/PROD/26676

Bento

So, Mollie starts kindergarten on Monday! We decided that she will bring lunch from home, at least for the first week or so. The school lunches might be okay, but I am afraid that they are not big on fresh fruits and veggies and I think Mollie would choose PB&J every day. I shouldn't pre-judge, but I'm guessing the sandwiches are not made on whole grain bread with low-fat peanut butter.

So, I'm thinking of trying a bento-style lunch. You know the cute little Japanese boxes with small servings of different items? Mollie loves going to salad bars because she can select small amount of a variety of foods. And she is big on presentation, so I think it might work. I'm getting inspiration from Shannon's blog: What's for lunch at our house?

Now, I've just got to find some containers that will work. I am headed out grocery shopping and keeping my eyes peeled for just the right box. If I don't find something, we'll use some of the yogurt containers and small Tupperware that we have here and see how it goes.

Happy Half Birthday, Lucy!

Lucy is 18 months old today!

She is such a joy! For such a small person, she has big presence. Doors don't close, they slam. She doesn't take one crayon, she dumps all 64 of them out. She doesn't just pet the cat, she lays down on top of him.

Her absolute favorite thing to do is play with balls. She likes little bouncy balls and big beach balls, glittery balls and bakis (basket)balls, golf balls and baseballs; she likes balls. We have to avoid the big bins of bouncy balls in the store because she gets really excited (legs pumping and yelling, "Ball! Ball! Ball!" ) and then upset if we don't buy one.

She also enjoys balloons (bwoons), shoes, combing her hair ('pitty'), and reading "Moo, Baa, La La La!" by Sandra Boynton. She makes some good funny faces and adores Mollie.

My favorite thing is how she will just walk into the room and squeeze my legs in a hug! Happy 18 months, little Lu!

Printmaking

We were inspired by this post at whip up (linked from A Crafty Crow, a GREAT website for creative kids' projects) to try printmaking using fruits and vegetables today.

Mollie's friend Bella joined us and it was a lot of fun! We tried both acrylic craft paint and washable crayola paint. Both work well, but it was best to thicken them up a little with some flour (to a paste consistency).

The fruits and veggies we used were things I had around the house that were a bit past prime:
garlic
onion
apple
butternut squash
asparagus
lemon (my favorite, by far)
bell pepper

Slice the produce, make the paint paste, dip the produce in, and make prints! It helped to have some sponges to wipe off excess paint; a light coat of paint works best. The girls enjoyed touching the different fruits and veggies and discussing which textures make the best prints.

The produce manager at our grocery store said he would give us some of the expired veggies to use next time. I would love to try a pomegranate, star fruit, and corn on the cob. You don't have to waste the whole fruit/veg either- you can just use a thick slice and eat the rest! If you use non-toxic paints, rinse and throw the produce on your compost pile after painting.

Happy Father's Day

to Matt, my dad, Charlie, Blake (Mollie's godfather), Bill (Lucy's godfather), Sam (Lucy's honorary godfather), C.T. and all the dads and father figures out there!

We are remembering my grandpa George; this is our first father's day without him.

Fun (and free!) Online Photo Software

One of the fun things about digital photography, is playing with the pictures! If you haven't tried it yet, you should check out Picnik. You can do all sorts of fun things with your photos. Best of all- it's easy! Here are a few examples:

Original

Orton-ish

Black and White Focal

1960's

These transformations took about 5 minutes, in total, since I just used the stock effects. I haven't tried printing them yet, but I'm interested to see how they turn out.

For those interested, I still haven't figured out how to photograph fireflies... they are so ethereal anyway. Maybe they aren't meant to be caught on film.

Photographing Fireflies

Summer in the South is not what I would call pleasant. There's the heat, the humidity, and the bugs! However, there are some good things- the fragrant gardenias, the creamy white magnolia blossoms,

and fireflies (yes, they are bugs too, but in a completely different category than roaches, ants, and mosquitoes).

The fireflies are my favorite part of summer, but capturing them on film (or digital storage media) is hard! Anyone have any ideas? I'm thinking slow shutter speed and wide aperture and a tripod.