{Rubber-Sol: Why, hello there!}

Kick Up Your Heels

We just returned from our weeklong vacation visiting my brother and his family!  We're beat, and taking our sweet time in the unpacking, settling back into our lives routine.  I have tons o' catching up to do since the entire week was  computer free (save for a few e-mails here and there) -- lots o' blog reading, and an entire week of flickr photos to peruse.  Isn't that dreamy?  Flickr is my visual treat, and Sundays are always such a fun day to peek at everyone's weekend!

For now, though, I leave you with this:
Kick Up Your Heels!

Our newest movie star showing some of her finest moves.  Just what is it that has her so excited?  She was watching the Teletubbies for the first time. (Note: Okay, we're back to the silent film again. . . If only you could hear the squealing. . . the sound is 99.9% of the cuteness factor!

And see?  I told you I was addicted:

What I Did Over Summer Vacation

Man, I can't believe that summer is almost over!  Where on earth did time go?  That always happens, though, doesn't it?  Summer whizzes us by, and then before we know it, we're writing essays titled, "What I Did Over Summer Vacation."  Or something like that.

If Alison were to sit down and write an essay like this, hers might read a little like this:

What I Did Over Summer Vacation (So Far)
By Alison W.
"Summer started off pretty fun.  My mama signed Henry and me up for swimming lessons.  Henry kinda freaked out and screamed every day at  the lessons.  He didn't like hanging on the side of the pool.  So he just screamed and hollered.  Now he sits on the side of the pool and watches me.  Oh and he eats lots of popcorn too.  Mama says she makes it for him to keep him focused and still.  I don't think it works, though, because I always hear Henry yelling "Hi!  Hello Allie!" to me while I'm swimming.

Let's see what else?  Um, we've been eating a lot of frozen yogurt.  My mama said that she's "hooked" on frozen yogurt from The Golden Spoon.  I don't know what hooked means, but I feel like I could eat that stuff every day. Especially the mint flavor with gummy bears.  That stuff is so yummy.  My mama says eating her frozen yogurt is as important as breathing air.  I usually just smile and nod and say, "Can I get two toppings this time?"

Oh we're going on vacation soon.  We're flying out to see my uncle, aunt, and cousin.  That should be fun, and if I remember right, our last plane ride was kind of crazy.  Mama likes to refer to it a "disaster."  All I remember is Henry pooped his pants on the plane, and then my shoelaces got stuck in the escalator at the airport.  Oh and I also remember Mama rushing off to buy some medicine called Addvill.

Another exciting thing that happened is Baby Kate started walking all over the place.  She can walk everywhere now, and she usually ends up playing in my room or my closet.  She's so cute, and I love being her big sister.  My mama has taught her some sign language, and she signs for simple things like "more," "milk," "eat." 

And Henry.  As crazy as he is, he really is my good pal.  We do fun things like play "FOOD" or "FAMILY."  Usually I'm the mama, and he's the daddy.  Oh and Baby Kate is, well, the baby.  We have pretend food, and we take orders and stuff.  Today Henry and I pretend cooked some tomatoes.  We all laughed when Henry said that he added his special salt, pepper, and syrup to them.  He always makes us laugh.

We also got to spend the night at our grandparents' house.  My Daddy surprised my Mama with tickets to see Sirk Doo Solay in a place called Vegas.  They flew to Vegas and saw the show, and my Mama was happy that she was able to go on a trip sans the kids.  (And she always whispers that part). 

Well, I think that's about it.  Summer is almost over, but we still have a lot of plans left for the next few weeks.  It should be a lot of fun!  Life is good."

******
Hee!  i think that about sums up our summer vacation so far!  I have some (potentially) exciting news relating to The Paper Princess that I can't wait to share, but I'm afraid of jinxing things. . . so I'll just leave y'all with a cliff hanger!  I have been reworking some of my illustrations for card designs.  Here's the lastest one I redid. . . . still in its production stage!  Do you like?

HONK IF YOU'RE HOT!

Honk! Honk! Honk!

Hot diggity!  It's hot!  Is it hot in your neck o' the woods too?!  Right now it's a cool, NINETY DEGREES INSIDE THE HOUSE.  Yep.  And outside?  Add about another 10 degrees.  The funny thing about this obnoxious heat is a conversation I had with Hank last November (when we were having a new heating system put in).  It went a little something like this:

Hank:  So did you want to just go ahead and add a/c to the forced heating system?

Me: Nah, it never really gets that hot in the summer.  We'll be alright!

So yeah, I'm kicking myself for not splurging on the a/c.

And I  know, I know.  It's hot everywhere.  Poor Joleen is suffering through 121 degree heat. . . . I'm just a big ol' wimp when it comes to extreme temperatures (be it too hot or too cold!).  I'm a 70 degrees kinda gal.  Yeah, that sounds nice.  Oh, if only.

Anyway, what was the point of this post?  I dunno. . . I think the heat melted all the ideas in my head!

Well how about these long overdue photos?  The blogosphere spoiled me good for my birthday.  Here take a peek at part of my gifty from Kathleen:

You can view the rest o' the goodies over here. ***

I've been getting many questions about my Crap Swap -- I had grand plans of using flickr as our medium of trade, but after e-mailing the fine flickr folks, I learned that flickr cannot be used for commercial purposes.  (Jes and Hope also tipped me off about the flickr TOS, and they suggested I remove links to my business site to prevent losing my flickr account!  Thanks girls!) And well, flickr,  considered my crap swap a "commercial use."  Bummer, I know.  I had fun in the first round. . .round 2 coming up soon.  And Gifty?!  Oh, we'll get around to that again soon too!  The group has gotten quite large, and it's becoming harder to manage.  Any suggestions?  What do you guys think about putting a cap on "registration?"  Does that take the fun out of the swap?

***

And I almost forgot (see what happens when the posts are so infrequent?  You get a random bunch of random thoughts all thrown together!).  I almost forgot to tell you folks that I opened up a shop over at etsy.   Go take a peek!  My paper goods are cheaper there (primarily because I don't have to worry about the spying eyes of retailers surveying my prices).  My learning curve for selling wholesale is quite steep, and I'm just now learning how to offer wholesale prices while making it worthwhile for me too!

***

Okay, now the real question.  HOW HOT IS IT WHERE YOU ARE?  Do tell.

In My Life + Winners + Etc

I'm super thrilled that there has been much excitement regarding the In My Life project over at flickr.  When I first thought of the project, I had imagined that it would be an easy peasy project to do.  And yet, it has taken me nearly two weeks to get my own images up!  Egads! Why?  Well, I'd start the day snapping away.  Morning?  Check!  Noon? Check!  Afternoon?  Check! Evening?  Zzzzzzzzzzzz.  The evenings are always a flurry of activity 'round here, and most of the time, I'm crossing the finish line in a state of exhaustion.  But!  I managed to get a series up and uploaded.  Yay! Yay!
Behold: 
"Morning"

Since summer has started, the kids and I have been in summer mode, waking a wee bit later than normal.  Our mornings start out at a more leisurely pace, and as you can see I've got a bit of chores to do here!  While I was making breakfast, the kids managed to take a ride in their "spaceships."

Go see the whole series here.  A special thanks to Kathleen for keeping our flickr group on track!

Okay, and now onto the really exciting news!  Drumroll please. . . the winners!  Oh the winners of my contest!  Are you ready?!

The lovely winners are:
1.  Kirsty of Two Lime Leaves
2.  Jessica of Funky Finds
3. Capello of No Appropriate Behavior
4.  Jo of Mummy Jo
and last but certainly not least,
5.  Alicia A. of The May Fly!

Ladies! Stay tuned for an e-mail from me shortly!  Congrats! And thank you to Hank for pulling the names! :)  I also have to add that I enjoyed reading everyone's tidbits and jokes!  You kept me laughing all day!

And one final bit of exciting news:  Hope just launched a new line of greeting cards: Paper Vignettes! Go check 'em!  I had the honor of witnessing her creative process unfold as she designed her cards one by one.  I ordered up a bunch, and I have to say that they are the bee's knees!

And I am terribly behind on e-mails and responding to comments left on this here blog!  Please know that I read every bit that is sent to me, but it does take me a bit to get through everything!  So in time, my friends, in time!

In My Life

I love reading other people's blogs to learn more about them, especially if they live in another country.  Like for example, I love peeking at pictures of Yvonne's house -- and after spending many a moment chatting with her on the phone, it's easy to become intrigued with all things Dutch!  And I even find neighbors intriguing too.  I like the fact that SoCal pal, Kathleen, starts her morning in her secret shangri-la.  How wonderful is that?

All my spying and photo touring has inspired me to start this flickr group: In My Life.  I invite anyone and everyone to join.  The concept isn't new, of course, but I still thought it would be fun to chronicle your day with photos.  Wherever you may be, near or far, join me won't you?

Here's the nitty gritty:
Choose a day in July to chronicle.  Get out your handy dandy camera, and snap away!
At the end of the day, choose FOUR photos that best represent your day -- and then add them to our pool.  Please tag your each one of your four photos with the the corresponding tag:  morning, noon, afternoon, and evening.  Oh, and tag your photos with "inmylife" as well.  It'll be fun to see how this unfolds. . .

Oh, and be sure the snag the button up above!

P.S.  I will draw the names for the raffle later. . . I'm too tired (and lazy!) to do it right now!  Yawn!

Summer Pals

Today I was fiddling around in Illustrator, and created this illo for Lil' Miss Kate.  I'm going to have it printed on archival paper, frame it, and hang it in her room.  I sure hope she likes it. :)

Tomorrow we're having a picnic-style birthday party for Alison and Kate.  I have cakes to bake, party favors to pretty-up, and a million other party-related things!  Should be a fun day!  I'll fill you all in later!

****

Oh, and so sorry about the temporarily "closed comments" in the raffle post (not sure what happened there!)!  Those folks who entered the raffle via e-mail. . .no worries!  I'm including you too!  In the meantime, if you haven't entered the contest, whattya waiting for?  :)

Etc. + A Raffle!

Summer. 

Despite the fact that SoCal kinda ignored Spring altogether, the summer months are now upon us!  The kidlets are out of school, and now we are faced with long, warm days ahead of us!  I foresee evening bbqs, dinners outside on our patio, and perhaps even some Summer Lawnchair Theater evenings (those are always fun!).  Tomorrow I'm signing  Alison and Henry up for swimming lessons;  I'm coordinating Alison's lessons with her good pal's lessons. . .so, you know, the mamas can chat and talk chismes (gossip).

Yes, always an alterior motive! That's okay, don't you think? Ha! Of course it is!

Our summer days will also be filled with dayhikes, library trips, crafting, bike riding, swimming . . .basically all the fun stuff that summer entails!  Should be a fun one!  My neighbor and I also plan to start rollerblading on the banks that run behind my house!  Me! Rollerblades!  Who woulda thunk?!

******

The Paper Princess has been keeping me super busy, and I'm excited to announce that I have (finally) added my new cards.  (Thanks Hope for your continual support and encouragement!)

I am also thrilled to announce our new SUBSCRIPTION PROGRAM! Check it when you get the chance! :)  I'd also like to offer two things:

• A 25% discount code:  SUMMER -- that's for all y'all for being such great folks.  Good til the end o' June.  And. . .drumroll please. . .

• Another lil' raffle

Win one of the fabulous noteflat sets above FOR FREE!!!  Simply tell me a joke (knock knocks are always a hoot!), a random bit about you, or an utterly useless bit of trivia! Anything goes, really!  That's it!  I'll randomly choose FIVE WINNERS --  on June 30th?  Sound good?!  Hope so!

****
And be sure to wander on over to Jes' new site, JUNQUE REVIVAL -- she's having a fantabulous contest! Free entry and FABULOUS PRIZES. I'm headin' on over now!

**** And I'd also like to thank you for the sweet birthday wishes (and gifties!) for both me and sweet Kate!  Photos to be posted shortly!

365.

Dear Kate,
Sometimes I see you playing across the room from me, and the moment is so surreal and beautiful.  There you are, my baby, my beautiful Kate, playing, laughing, clapping.  There you are busy forming your own little world separate from me, and in moments like this, I find myself selfishly interrupting you as if to remind you that yes, Mama is here with you. 

One year ago today we welcomed you into our little family, and the knowledge that you were our last and final addition has made me savor each and every minute.  From the very first moment when they placed your warm body onto mine to the most recent moment today when you nuzzled your sleepy head against my chest, I realized how truly blessed I am to experience your love.

Your innocent love is so genuine and raw, and you express it in ways that only your mama can appreciate.  I recognize your love for me when I see your eyes light up at the simple sight of me entering a room.  I feel the love in your laughter and hums of happiness, and I recognize your love for me when you find comfort in my arms.

Your future is full of hope and brimming with endless possibilities, and there are days when I think about the future, and I wonder what kind of person you will be.  Will you be shy and determined like your sister?  Will you be funny and rambunctious like your brother? Or will you be a beautiful combination of both?  Time will only tell, but for now I am content knowing that you are growing your own wings, preparing yourself for an amazing journey.  I await the day that you’re ready to fly on your own with a bittersweet mixture of emotion.  Regardless of the path you take, always remember that I will be here for you when you need to retreat home.

Today I revel in the fact that I am your mama, your everything.  Each moment with you is a gift of future memories waiting to be honored.  I hope never to forget what it feels like to have you fall asleep in my arms, your heavy breathing a sign of your complete surrender to slumber.  I hope never to forget the happiness I feel when I pluck you from your crib each morning, your body sleepy and warm, your face happy to greet the day. 

Over the years our relationship will grow and change, and yes, there will be times when you will want your distance from me.  And in those times I will remember, I will cherish these moments of today. These moments when I am your everything.

Thank you, Kate.  Thank you for trusting me and loving me unconditionally.  Thank you for letting me be your mama.

Happy 1st Birthday!
Love you forever,
Mama

Signs of Spring?

Originally written on Gloomy Monday, May 22nd
It's 11 a.m., and the sun is shyly peeking from behind the clouds.  It'll only be a few moments, though, before she hides again as the weather here in SoCal has been unforgiving and unspringlike!  Egh!  Sun, won't you stay for a while? 

Kate is down for her morning nap, and I'm trying to enjoy my cup of tea (PG Tips, of course) and my mid-morning snack.  It'll only be a bit before I have to dash out to pick up Henry, and then the day turns crazy again!  Lately I have found that multitasking is not only a skill, but a prerequisite to raising a three ring circus!  So many thoughts and ideas are continually swimming through my head at any given moment, and oftentimes I find myself trying to find tranquility (like in my cup of tea) or in our roses (lovingly cared for and tended by Hank). Behold:

Could this be a sign that spring is near?  Oh I hope so! I am also finding that ME TIME is so utterly important nowadays.  I've been eager to create something for myself, something that I enjoy doing.  It's funny that these thoughts started surging, and then I happened to read Blair's recent post.  Here's her thoughts on creating:

I need to take ideas from inside my head to fruition.  I need to create with my hands, and my brain.  It has occurred to me that, being home with my kids all day, I could literally pick up after them, and clean up *all*day*long.  Seriously, without question, there is no shortage of something to be done in every corner, inside and out, all the time.

Amen, sister!  Oftentimes I am burning the candle at both ends, and I am at the point where I need to refocus and concentrate on the SIMPLE PLEASURES of every day life!  Every day I'm going to do something for myself (whether it be something small, like indulging in my favorite green tea latte or whether something luxurious, like taking a loong nap or even 30 minutes of drawing on the computer!)

So won't you join me?  I know there are other tired, multitasking, overworked folks out there!  Join me in spoiling yourself!  You deserve it, don't you think?

Oh Me! Oh My!

Today I was browsing the internet and googling random ideas and thoughts, and I somehow ended up on eBay (hmmm, how convenient).  And then, and then, that was it.  I found this fabulous eBay seller who sells nothing but magazines subscriptions.  For cheap!  Super cheap.  Check out some of the deals I snagged:

Can you believe that Domino was a mere $4.97/year?!  What?  Since the mags were all so reasonably priced, I bought several titles (Every Day Food, Self, Working Mother).  The Rolling Stone subscription is for Hank ($5.95 for two years). Unbelieveable! Friends and I swap mags all the time, so I know that they'll be equally thrilled with my bargains!  It's like I've suddenly gone magazine crazy ever since Hope posted about the new Blueprint Mag. 

Okay, I'm off to peek at more magazines.  Geez, I'm afraid I'm addicted.  Go on now. Go peek for yourself. And if you end up with some of your own bargains, let me know!