Mayfly

Brian and little N have plans. There is a Daddy-Daughter Valentine's Ball to attend. There will be dancing and snacks and little girls in fancy dresses. When we explained it to her, I thought she might burst. Every morning she asks if it's the day of the dance. And then sometime later in the day she hollers, "NO! I will NOT _______!" (fill in the blank with any small request from us) and slams a door. Then we threaten to take the dance away. (Bad, bad parents.) But who are we kidding? You know she'll get to go.

I have sprung into action in my way- styling the outfit. It's a Christmas dress from her cousins. I think I'll change it up just a little- maybe a pink ribbon sash instead of the tulle, remove the flower from the dress, and perhaps make a flower for her hair or her wrist. I started hunting for fabric flower ideas found some great stuff:

• I LOVE everything in this store, including that adorable Emerson.

• These have a nice tailored feel. I think N might need a headband in navy blue. And then I need to make her a little natural linen sundress to wear it with, yes?

• I've been admiring one of these for myself for quite awhile. It could hide a hole in a little cashmere cardigan I have.

• Pretty.

And speaking of links, these two have nothing to do with any of that but make me smile:

• This photo. Ahhhhh. I may be responsible at least half of it's 1200+ views.

• OK. This one is cheesy, but SO funny. If you were into grunge at all (we were), watch this *song*. Ohmygod. Brian and I watch every once in awhile to cheer up the day.

Have a great weekend.

Posted by Alicia at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I disappeared there for a little while. Sorry about that. It's been busy, busy: murals, treats to school(s), friends, family, sick kids, birthday parties, yadda yadda yadda.

Today is the girl's birthday- her official entry into big-kid territory. She's five. I feel like a page has turned to a new chapter for us. SO corny, I know. But I've been feeling the sappiness of it all day. Five and nine. Big kids. And I'm their mom. It's a joy watching them grow and a great relief to be past toddler-hood, but enormously sad at the same time. I guess that's how it goes.

I just keep thinking "so far so good..."

Posted by Alicia at 5:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

First the multiple dumpings of snow, then weeks of unrelenting frigid temps, and now we've been submerged into a cold, thick fog for days on end. It's been odd weather this year for sure.

But we've found a few things to distract us. There was a birthday. A certain young man here turned nine. And I can't even believe it.

And we've made a few things. N made a snow globe:

We followed these easy directions. She made the funny little snowmen out of Fimo and we used water not oil. She insisted on the pink glitter snow.

And I made a desert terrarium:

I don't think mushrooms grow in the desert, but the desert part was unplanned. Apparently it is nearly impossible to find live moss in Kansas in January.

Happy Monday Tuesday, everyone.

p.s.

Visit here.
Buy something here.
Donate here.
Please.

Posted by Alicia at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Have a great weekend.

Posted by Alicia at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

20-10. Twenty ten? No, I prefer the long way. I wanted to set down a few things l'd like to do this year, personal wishes to fulfill (love that Rach). I'm not really a resolution maker, but I do love a good list, so here's where the twain shall meet.

I will try to...

Get involved with the arts again- go to the Nelson for lectures, attend openings, First Fridays, go to some more of these events, reconnect with artsy folks I use to know.

Find my film mojo. Oh, mojo... where are you???

Frequent estate sales in hopes of finding a dusty, forgotten old etching press that no one knows what to do with, buy it for a steal, give it some tlc and get going. (What? Yes it could. It could happen.)

Explore my city.

Take the cameras along.

For everything I buy at the thrift store, send something out of the house.

Wear more skirts.

Grow something. (other than tomatoes.)

Can something. (maybe tomatoes.)

Teach the girl to read. She is oh-so-close.

Help the boy learn to organize and be more responsible for himself.

Start to get a hold on my one big health issue- persistent migraine headaches.

Stay focused. Keep it simple.

Follow through. Finish old projects to free up space (physically and mentally) for new ones.

There. That's plenty.
Until soon.

Posted by Alicia at 8:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)

I'm stir crazy.

It's our second snow day in a row. It's deadly cold out there. My car is in the shop (for something minor) but I doubt we want to brave the frigid temps anyway. I have been feeling that old February fatigue creeping in early, so I'm making a strong effort to stay positive. I should be working, but my office/studio is the coldest room in our old house. When we turn on the space heater and any one of the following: tv, the space heater downstairs, the other tv, the iron, etc., it trips a breaker. I'm getting a little behind on some work projects, but oh well.

To fight it off the funk today I have:
slept late
cuddled my little people
built an icicle sculpture
danced and sang with N
read a book

and now I do believe it is time. Time to bake a chocolate cake. Indeed.

Stay cozy.

Posted by Alicia at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

I'm feeling cold and scatter-brained today:

We posted our very last entry at the Noticing Project this morning. It's been such a nice little project- I see the world around me a little differently because of it. I'm sad to see it end, but mostly feeling good and proud.

The habit reunion is over, and they've got new guests for January.

Shanna and Julia made a new desktop calendar.

The kids are back to school. The holiday break was cozy and fun, but enough togetherness is enough, if you know what I mean.

I've been thinking up a list of things I'd like to do in this new year, little and big. I might post them here if I get them organized instead of watching them swirl around in my mind. Maybe later in the week.

In order to finish up home projects I've started, I'm tackling one room at a time. I started with our bedroom. Saturday I repaired our headboard and sewed new pillow cases. Yesterday I reupholstered a little chair that's been in progress for only, oh, maybe about ten years! Next I'm framing and hanging artwork and making a little artsy throw pillow. Perhaps I'll post a short tour of each room as I go. We've done a lot of remodeling, updating, and decorating to this old house on the cheap and we're pretty proud.

January is birthday extravaganza month here at our house, so I'll show you all that too. These children are getting impossibly old. How does that happen?

Well, that's about it. Happy Monday! (Stay warm.)

Posted by Alicia at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)