Lessons learned.

Stumbled upon this great artist on Etsy that makes the most fun little series of prints that address all the things our parents told us a million times (and, now that I am a parent, I say myself!) I love these because it makes light of all the words we use as parents. Lately I have been feeling like my words mean nothing to Lilah. However, tonight we had a breakthru moment: we were playing on the floor and she somehow found the TV remote (for like the millionth time) and I immediately said, "No, no Lilah, give it to Mommy" and she toddled over to me and stuck out her pudgy little hand that clenched the remote! So there it was, she listened :)

Couple other things.
1. I'm a single mom this week, for eleven days to be exact. My husband went on a marathon fishing trip and won't be back until next sunday! (Hmmm. probably not the safest info to be put on the internet, huh?)
2. I am a pink, single mom this week. Went to the community pool yesterday with a friend and my brother and the kiddos and came back lobster-like. Makes me feel like I am young again! Why young? Cause I used to be able to fry my skin playing in the water at the lake/pool and never think twice about it. Now, we're always trying to prevent getting too much sun, which is healthy and makes sense, but just doesn't feel as good.
3. Brady took my camera to Canada on his fishing trip. Seriously, who in their right mind would want to miss eleven days of Lilah pictures just so they can take photo after photo of grown men holding up squirmy, slimy fish? Anyways, no new photos for a while - especially bummed that there are no photos from our day at the pool :(
4. Went to the Prairie Quilt Guild Quilt show this weekend and had a GREAT time. Incredibly inspiring and very beautiful artwork on display. Makes me wish I had more time to quilt...
5. Lilah has a new boyfriend. His name is Blankie. He is brown and she is in LOVE.
6. Some big changes coming my way soon with my career. Don't have all the details worked out yet, but should be all in good directions... very excited and ready for a change in our family lifestye.

Ok, I leave you with some summer photos of my girl. We're loving the sun and enjoying being one-year-old more and more every day!

Celebration.

Seems we've had so many reasons to celebrate lately. My folks' 30th wedding anniversary. Lilah's 1st birthday. Mother's Day. Celebration = lots of yummy desserts :)

We've been very busy with work lately, and all the other tasks of life. Preparing for our upcoming vacation to Boston, spring gardening, birthday prep and festivites, etc, etc. Anyways, those are some of my excuses for why I haven't posted in a while.

I had a tramatic experience while making/decorating Lilah's cake this weekend. It was late Friday night, after I had worked 12 hours, when I finally got around to it. I woke up the next morning and had to laugh at my efforts - and then start over. See for yourself:


(The first one is the cake in the back. Shameful, I know.)



Don't have much time to write, but here are some photos from the party, and the party preparation:




These are me working on the cupcake picks and the chocolate chips that were to decorate the cupcakes. To make the chips, I just dyed white chocolate and dropped out babyspoonfuls onto waxed paper. Tip: You cannot color white chocolate with your average liquid-style food coloring. You have to buy the professional, paste-type stuff.


This is Lilah on the morning of her birthday. Pancakes, syrup, balloons = happy one year old.


This is the table that was sitting on our deck when we woke up on Lilah's birthday. My (very talented) brother made it for her - isn't it great?!?! (He also sells them, if you're interested.)

The party:

What a difference a day makes.

I was beginning to worry that if Lilah didn't start walking soon, I would have to start patching holes in the knees of her jeans. Alas, I can sleep well at night know that won't be a problem.

Yesterday, she was doing things like this:



And today, this:




Funny how you can feel so many emotions at once. Proud that she has learned such a huge skill. So sad that she is growing up. Terrified that she'll fall and get hurt. Nervous that I won't be able to keep up with her. Excited to tell everyone I know.

Weekend craft.

Worked on another canvas I thought I might try to sell in my Etsy shop.

I listened to a very inspiring Podcast interview of Anna Maria Horner today - what an awesome story she has. Her fabrics are gorgeous and listening to what she had to say about breaking the craft/handmade industry was very interesting. Plus, she's adorable and is also busy raising FIVE kids! Holy cow, how does she do that, you ask? Guess you'd better listen to her interview. Below is a sample of her colors/style - this shot is her studio.


And, here's what Lilah's up to:


Being EXTREMELY curious.


Lovin' pancakes, syrup, her cousin Jak and when Jak feeds her pancakes and syrup.


Helping Momma in the kitchen.

...sure ain't where I began.

Jewel came to Wichita! And my friend, Linds, and I got our hands on two of the 100 tickets that were available! How cool is that? We decided that it was definetely on our top 10 list of very cool things we've done. The concert was at a little club in downtown Wichita and was a very intimate setting - which was the best part. My friend and I have been big fans since we were like 11 years old. Crazy that that is almost 15 years ago!! As we waited for the concert to begin, we reflected on our memories of those years. I can still remember sitting on the bus on a youth trip, getting my hair french-braided by Joellen Muyskens, when Lindsay brought me her Discman (which I thought was SO cool), and told me I had to listen to this new CD. And there she was, singing about things I hadn't heard women sing about and doing it so purely. It was love at first listen.

Jewel is a very inspiring person, having come from poverty and worked her way to success, all while maintaing humility and a respect for life. All the proceeds from the concert went to a local homeless shelter - which was pretty cool.


While I've listened to all her music many times, hearing it live made me listen to the lyrics closer than I had in a while. And I fell in love with this song, Stevenville, all over again. This lyric really hit home for me: "I'm 31 years old - that ain't the end, sure ain't where I began."



As Linds and joked about how we're "getting old" and I wonder all the time where my life is headed, this lyric just resonated with me. Life is such a journey - and everything we do is part of that. I don't have to have all the answers right now - and that's ok.

I love this!

This place, Relish, basically takes your preferences, budget and needs into consideration and generates a menu each week for you, complete with a shopping list and recipes/instructions.

What an AWESOME concept. What more can I say??? Who has time to plan, shop for groceries and cook every night after work??? This is an awesome service, with a low price tag. And I always get in a rut and get frustrated when I get home and have to think of something to make. Plus, I enjoy cooking so much more when I am trying a new recipe. I guess I just feel like making the same thing over and over again doesn't do much for my mind. And I love the planned shopping list thing - I am SUCH an impulse buyer at the the grocery store, which doesn't do much for our budget.

I think I'll try the one-week free trial next week and see how it goes...

Tricky, tricky.

Lilah is learning new things every day and I caught some of her latest ones on video.


If you want to fast forward to the best parts: 0:50, 2:20

Took care of a little craving for some hands-on creativity this weekend and made a patchwork cover for my very ugly, old address book.

I was able to use up some of the scraps I had kept from Lilah's baby quilt, which always feels good. What also feels good? Making something and keeping it for MYSELF! Seems I'm always satisfying somebody else's need - a handmade birthday gift, a client's rush job, my boss' direction, and on and on.

One of my online crushes, Karen Russell, is offering an online class for photography, which I am SO wanting to take. Her stuff is beautiful. I love that it's so real and the colors are always beautiful. She really knows how to capture the moment. I'm so tired of trying to get everybody to look at the camera (and failing at it), guessing at which settings are right for the lighting I have, and ending up with crap for pictures. Seems like I only get one good one for every 30 or 40 I snap! And that's not an exaggeration!

The perfect example: Easter weekend. There we were with an ADORABLE little girl with an ADORABLE little Easter dress on and I end up with some half-baked photos. Even after I played with them in Photoshop, they still aren't anything to get excited about. They just don't do the day justice.





So, maybe I'll save up my $250 and get in line with the other 400 people that are dying to take her class (which only has room for 50). I had better luck getting the Jewel tickets than I will have at that!