1. We are expecting!!! A baby is on the way, coming April 23, 2012. It's still so surreal that there's a little life growing inside of me, almost fully formed yet still only the size of an avocado & no belly quite yet. Going strong in the 2nd trimester now, and by the end of November we'll find out if it's a girl or a boy. Ryan & I are really excited!
our little bugaboo at 13.5 weeks, now I'm about 16 weeks.
2. Disneyland Trip - probably the last trip we'll go on in quite a while. Back in September we stayed at the Disneyland hotel for a night & and saw the sights. It was a little sad that since I was pregnant I couldn't go on a lot of the fun rides, but I still enjoyed seeing the new things. There's a lot construction under way, so by the end 2012 it's going to be fantastic, especially at CA Adventure with a new Cars Land (my nephews will love that!) & the main entrance will be reminiscent of 1923 Los Angeles, the year Walt moved to CA to start his cartoon studio.
The Wonderful world of Color show, really good!
3. i Phone - It was time for my Verizon upgrade so I finally made the transition to my very first 'smart phone' and boy is it smart. It'll probably turn into a time waster for me, but so far it's been great & I've found some very useful apps (more about those later). I think it'll be great for photos & video of the future bugaboo. And 'Siri', the personal computer assistant that talks to you and actually gets the gist of almost any command or question is pretty cool too.
4. New job for Ryan - after much searching over the summer, Ryan found his almost dream job, it's definitely a step in the right direction for him. He works now at UCSB as the publications layout coordinator for the student newspaper, putting his graphic design skills to use. He gets to work with college students as sort of an advisor & also have his first 'desk job.' Being in front of a computer 8 hours a day isn't all it's cracked up to be, but he's enjoying it, there's great staff & it's a less stressful work environment.
5. New photoshoots - Ryan & I have had a chance to do some photo shoots & meet some new clients with our photography business. It's still very much a side business, but we love it. One really fun thing we did was shoot our buddy Logan's 1 year birthday party, we set up a fun photo booth with props & everything. We'll be updating our website soon. www.splusr.com
At the end of May I had the opportunity to join the Etsy SB team at a little crafting event held at Peanuts, a really cute kids boutique/consignment store on Figueroa street in downtown Santa Barbara.
So the weeks before that event, I gave myself a deadline to make at least 10 new kids aprons. It was a good test for me of how many aprons I could complete on a deadline. There were many late nights sitting at my sewing machine, but I reached my quota just in time for the event!
Unfortunately the streets were closed off for a race and it rained all day! ..So sales were slow to say the least... but I met some really great local crafters that are also selling their handmade items on Etsy.com.
On the bright side, at least my display looked great! And my hubby was there for moral support.
If there were more people there, I'm sure they would have taken advantage of the free S+R children's photo shoot I was throwing in if you bought some aprons.
We were able to do a great shoot with Rachel, Andreas, and their adorable 7 month old daughter Shalom at their home a few weeks ago...they even had family visiting from Germany. Shalom was definitely working it for the camera, giving us some cute photos. Thank you guys for letting us into your home & sharing your family with us!
Another thing Ryan & I have been trying to do more of is 'menu planning.' There are a ton of resources out there that show you how to create a 'home management binder' and you can download free pdf printouts to guide you with your grocery shopping & weekly menu planning.
For myself & others that are not moms yet, all the stuff you find here is useful even if you don't have kids, just being a wife requires some resources to keep yourself organized & sane :)
Here is a great article on menu planning, in it she actually talks about using her Google calendar to help keep track of her menus for the week...I never would have thought to do that, it's such a good idea.
In an effort to be healthier, we thought it'd be good to add some more fruits and veggies to our diet. My sister & brother in law recommended this great company, Local Harvest Delivery, that brings local produce straight to your door. You pay a weekly fee for them to deliver a box of fresh, locally grown & in season fruits & veggies. And you can go online every week to add to your box additional fruits, veggies, organic meats, eggs, and honey...all from local farmers.
Their motto is that "They are proud to offer life-changing services that will result in healthier people, a healthier environment, and a stronger local economy and community."
This Saturday will be our first delivery, we thought we'd try out the small $25 box every other week to see how it goes. At least 1/4 of our grocery bill is fruits & vegetables anyway, so why not get something that's locally grown, so you know where the food comes from. My sister did say they had to be a little creative sometimes with cooking some of the vegetables they received, especially during the winter months. But I look forward to a little challenge to our day to day cooking, maybe it will encourage me (especially me) to take some more risk with my vegetables of choice :)
For those of you that have not discovered this website, Pinterest, is a fabulously designed, social media infused, hip new way to share inspiration & favorite links. The idea is that you're pinning up photos on a virtual pinboard of all the things that inspire you. Then you share with friends and you can 're-pin' other people's favorite pins, they then become your favorites. You can have a multitude of pin boards to organize your inspiration. I love it.
But the only way in is through invitation. So if you haven't been invited yet, I would be happy to invite you :)
I'm really looking forward to my upcoming sewing projects, mostly aprons, and some curtains and such.
Now that I've got all the supplies, I'm all set & very motivated to start the projects...
I started by ordering some very cute fabric bundles on etsy from PoppySeedFabrics.
and I ordered my very first dress form...I've always had a dream of owning my very own dress form, being a craft & sewing enthusiast...and now I do! I found some good deals at Roxy Display, and they ship them right to your door within 4 or 5 days.
And now I can figure out how to use my dress form as home decor as well...PB Teen has some ideas...
We sang this song at church on Sunday, and the poetry of it really touched me...let's just say it was a tear-jerker kind of day for me...just feeling overwhelmed with the grace in my life.
The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell...
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
(song, "The Love of God")
Well, we have finally settled back in from our trip to the NAEA conference which took place in downtown Seattle. It was a jam-packed 5 day trip. We took advantage of the close proximity of museums, shops, and public art that was all within walking distance of our hotel & conference center.
It was an excellent trip, and Ryan & I had so much fun making our way around the city.
Pike's Place market, 4 levels & partly underground...and we did see the guys that throw the fish
We got into several art museums for free because we were part of the NAEA conference
the Space Needle
Olympic Sculpture Park, one of the many sculptures
The original Starbucks...notice the mermaid logo is different
Some of the highlights from the conference were the speakers...we were definitely inspired by the diversity of thought & experiences presented by artists, educators & art teachers.
Mark Dion- a very scientific artist, very interesting work, and we went to see his public art display in Seattle's Olympic Sculpture park
Mark Dion's greenhouse, or "Neukom Vivarium"
Wyland - over the years has created massive murals & encouraged ocean conservation, very inspiring
Seattle Public Library - a public art piece in and of itself! This is an amazing modern and innovative design from the structure of the building to the bold colors and typography used through out...
The red hallways (a whole floor painted wall to wall red)
neon elevators going all the way up to the 10th floor
10th floor atrium view
Seattle Museum - had a special exhibit by Nick Cave...and it was really wild...on display were people 'soundsuits' made out of so many interesting things..
This is the 3rd week that Ryan and I have gotten on a meal plan. We go out on a breakfast date after church on Sundays where we talk about the upcoming week and come up with a plan for the next 7 days of dinner. Then we go grocery shopping together...but the difference between what we've done in the past and what we do now, is that we enter TJ's with a plan of attack. No longer do we let hunger or convenience be our guide. We've been saving quite a bit of money planning out our meals this way, and it's an immense weight off our shoulders trying to come up with a plan for dinner when we're exhausted after a long day of work.
We had so much fun on this very large family photo shoot. It was great, everyone's personalities definitely came through in the photos. And it was a beautiful day down at the harbor and Butterfly beach on location.
