Blizzard 2011

First off, I'd like to thank everyone who voted in last week's poll. Your feedback is very much appreciated and I simply cannot wait to put all these findings to work. Our next pattern release is already well under way and I'm happy to report that a lot of your requests are already being addressed, but in the following one we hope to get to the rest of the requests. This is all so fun! (a lot of work, but tons of fun!)

Well, I don't know about you, but Jon and I have been spending A LOT of quality time with our kids this week. Unless you've been living under a rock (and believe me, sometimes I feel that way) you most likely have heard all about the BLIZZARD OF THE CENTURY! We totally predicted it was going to disappoint, but believe you me, it lived up to all that hype. We picked up the kids from school Monday afternoon and already the snow was coming down by the bucketfuls and the wind gusts were out of this world. All I can say is that I was extremely thankful for our brand new tires and for a hubby that can take command of the road like nobody's business (this tropical girl would've crashed into someone in no time!)

This was the view from the passenger seat on the way to school that Monday afternoon...



The next 3 days were spent here at home doing some mega cooking, mega baking, mega dancing, mega Wii playing and lots of mega sleeping. Oh and crossing our fingers that the power would stay on so we could do all of the above, well, except the mega sleeping.

After a major case of cabin fever I insisted we go outside and brave the circumstances today but I was pleasantly surprised when we saw clear skies and the sun shining brightly through the snow covered branches... it was the calm after the storm.

The girls immediately wanted to climb this mega snowdrift in front of our house. This thing is taller than me!! (yes, I know, bring on the short jokes.)



Queens of the mountain!



Don't let these smiling faces and the sun rays fool ya... the temps were still in single digits! I only stayed out long enough to snap these few shots then my little (ehem!) Costa Rican butt ran back inside as fast as it could...











This was the view out our back door. Yes, the snow is almost up to the top of that table and our grill -- the same one that was ice skating all by itself on the porch at the beginning of the storm -- is now buried somewhere under all that! I guess we won't be grilling for a while...



I know this storm affected lots of you out there, so I am sending big hugs and warm wishes across all of the Midwest and Northeast regions!!! Tomorrow, it's back to school for the kids and back to work for us!! Can't wait!

Life in a Northern town...









Let's see if I can sum up today in stream-of-consciousness style: It started off with a bout of insomnia like it often happens when I have tons of work going on. Which is pretty much all the time. Exhaustion finally did me in sometime in the wee hours of the morning. Then, just as I had finally dozed off, I was rudely-awakened by a phone call sometime around 5:29 a.m. Jumped out of bed and grabbed the phone in a flash (cause you just never know what it could be at that time) and was annoyed to hear the automated message from the girls' school saying that school was canceled due to inclement weather. Inclement weather? Yes, it's snowing. Yes, it's cold. But what's new? This is a Northern town. The kids woke up at their normal time, because... that's what they do. Luckily I have a husband that 1. does not suffer from insomnia, 2. loves mornings, 3. is a pretty awesome daddy. I tried to sleep in but the kids kept coming in my room with their various "important" announcements: "Mama, there's no school today!" Yes, I know. "Mama, the elf is on top of the refrigerator!" Really? "Mama, can I have a snack?" Sure. I finally got up, still with probably less than 2 hours of sleep under my belt and started assembling my next fabric collection for Michael Miller Fabrics. Yes, the one that I've been working on non-stop for the past several weeks. It's finally time to send it in. My self-imposed deadline was end-of-day today... before 5, so I could take it all to FedEx before they closed. Print. Print. Print. All day long. Re-size. Print. Re-color. Print. Almost done! Almost there... Bang! Printer runs out of ink. Yep, the same ink that I have to special-order from Epson... 2-day delivery. Hmmm... can I just send these last 3 designs to Kinko's & call it a day? Can I still make it to FedEx in time? Hey, aren't Kinko's and FedEx the same thing now? Still not enough time. Other end of town. Snowing. Cold. Late. Ugh.

Oh well! At least I can smile when I look at this little face...



And where's the other little face, you ask? Hmmm... most likely inside playing a video game. What else would a 9-year-old-going-on-16 do on a snow day?

Slippin' and Slidin'

Hope everyone is having a great Winter break! We had a great time over the Holidays with Jon's family. All we did was eat, watch movies and play Wii for 3 days straight, but we made up for that extended period of inertia with an afternoon of fun in the snow today.

We made some snow angels...





Had a snowball fight...





And headed out to the local hill to do some sledding...



Uncle Sean & Auntie Alicia joined us.



And even went down the hill a few times...



Jon and I did too...







And survived a few collisions on the snow...



Grandpa Jim joined us as well...



Then Auntie Alicia and Sophie did a tandem run...



Oh, how great it is to see her smile like that!



What a Winter Wonderland!

Happy New Year!!

I had the absolute pleasure of hanging out with my entire family for the past 10 days. This includes all 4 of us, both of my parents plus my sister, her fiancé, and my niece. Boy, did we have a blast! It is so quiet now here at the house.

One of my X-Mas gifts from Jon was a new home studio flash kit. I was giddy beyond words because up until now I had been using make-shift lights clamped onto lamp poles and what not... not a pretty sight, plus it required TONS of post-production work just to get the photos looking halfway decent.

But, of course, as with any new piece of equipment, you have to get the hang of it through lots of trial & error. So, I used my family as "guinea pigs" on New Year's Eve and I wanted to share the progression with you guys. :)

This first photo was completely blown out! I had the lights too close and the aperture too wide open! This is my niece, Asja



In this one, I moved the lights farther apart and I closed the aperture by 1 stop but it is still blown out. This is my niece and my dad.



Brightness was a bit more under control in this photo... but still not perfect. I was also having some problems focusing. This is my sister, Cathy, and her fiancé, Jason.



I LOVE this picture of my parents, even though it is all blown out on the right side and too dark on the left.



This one of my sis and my niece is not too bad, but the focus is still a bit wacky. UGH! I have so far to go!



And finally, the cousins had so much fun posing with grandma. The focus is still wacky and the brightness is off but I still thought it was a fun shot. :)



OK, so that was New Years Eve... soon after that photo session ended, we put the little ones to bed and the adults rang in the new year with some yummy mimosas. The following day, New Years Day, we headed out to a little hill down the street from our house to let the "Floridians" have a try a sledding. Brrrrrrrr... it was 19 degrees out so we were all looking like Eskimos.... especially my sister! LOL!



At first she didn't want to partake in the Winter festivities, but after much teasing from all of us, she finally gave in...



Even my dad went down the hill a few times...



Jon and Jason had the "bright idea" that if they held hands they might be able to sled down the hill while standing up on the disks. They called it "snow surfing"... we called it "Brokeback Sledding" LOL!!!!



It didn't quite work out...



Oh, and yes, Sydney was there too, although she didn't participate in the activities. She just stood back and watched us in disbelief...



And where was I? Behind the camera, of course. ;)

I did get included in this little family pic we took in front of our house... just kidding! This is a house designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, down in Springfield, Il. My dad is a HUGE fan of his, so we thought we would treat him with a tour of one of his house designs. It is gorgeous!



So, that's it! Thanks for bearing with me through my family photo album. I will be drawing a winner soon for the Boutique Cafe interview contest, so stay tuned!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!

It's beginning to look at lot like Christmas...

Are you singing along yet? I've had that tune in my head for the past 4 or 5 days so I figured the rest of you could stand to be annoyed with me. LOL!

This past Friday we had the first real snowfall of the season. Up until now, we had just had a few flurries here & there, but nothing to write home about (or in my case, blog about) ;) But, on Friday a soft blanket of snow, about 3 or 4 inches deep, covered the ground and by mid-afternoon, when I picked Sophie up from school, there was enough moisture in it to stick together and give way to the the perfect snowball fight. The girls and I had a blast...

But as the weekend progressed, that soft blanket of snow turned into a hard frozen mess on the ground and the trees were covered with a layer of ice about an inch thick. We had an ice storm on Saturday night, which made it virtually impossible to do anything fun outside, but it did yield some pretty amazing pictures...

So, needless to say, we hung out inside all day Sunday, which was perfectly OK by us since the Christmas spirit has permeated our house too. Our tree is up and I find myself staring at it, just lost in thought all the time... I just love seeing the glow of the lights as they reflect off the walls, the ceiling, the furniture... ahhhh... so pretty. I just can't wait to see all the wrapped presents gathered around it... one of my favorite childhood memories that I still enjoy profusely as an adult.


Our otherwise modern and uncluttered hearth has received a sudden transformation as more and more Christmas decorations keep landing on top of it. Just as I thought I was finished with it, the girls would find yet another item that they thought needed to be properly displayed or keep the others company. "How 'bout we put this pretty snowglobe on there..." OK, OK. "Oh, and what about my Christmas Barbie... she can keep my picture company." Alright.

So now it looks like this...


Cuteness abounds...

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, yes, I DID take the handmade pledge, so I will go ahead and proudly display my badge:



It'll be a "partial pledge" as there are some members of my extended family that have some pretty specific things on their wish lists that definitely cannot fall into this category, but I think, as it looks now it'll be about a 60/40 split which is not bad compared to how it used to be. But I am just so excited about making a few things and seeing some other handmade beauties up-close.

I am making a couple of things myself but I will also be spending an ungodly amount of my Paypal $$$ on Etsy. I'll be buying those things that I cannot make myself, like jewelry. Some of my current favorite jewelry gals are Ash, Erin and Ann. And how 'bout those cute little handmade felt creatures that I keep seeing everywhere? Anyone else just as in love with those are I am??? Well, I just did spend a small fortune at this etsy store. OMG! I just love Irma's work and she was so sweet to deal with... highly recommended. I can't wait to see my girls and niece's faces as they open their presents! Weeee!

UGH... which reminds me, I'd better go get the rest of my orders in before it's too late.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, everyone! :)