The Polaroid Portrait

These Polaroid portraits by Jen Altman are ethereally beautiful.



Her home was recently featured on Design Sponge. My two favorite parts? Her dining room and the "wall of love."



[that back wall is stunning. so are the chairs. and the light fixture. and the table.]



[jen made this for her daughters for when they start missing their friends and family. such a great idea!]

Check out the full gallery here...

One

How can it be? It just doesn't seem possible that a year ago today I was walking around the hospital corridors, holding my super hot gown closed, waiting out contractions. And then welcoming into the world this magical little creature. But it's true. Our sweet girl is a year old today.

We had her little celebration yesterday, and I'm hoping to get some pictures up soon. I think it may have been a bit overwhelming for her. She had this look of "what's going on and why are all these people staring at me?" most of the time. But no real tears, as was the case this very same day 31 years ago:



I don't know, I guess I just didn't like Snoopy all that much?

My New Accountant

Oh, I wish! While she's pretty good with a calculator, I'm not sure others would appreciate her finance skills.

Monsieur Mangetout

Speaking of eating, have you seen these plates by James Ward? Too much, I tell you!

[via desire to inspire]

Eating Out

Howdy! The blog as taken a little hit this week as I'm finishing up new holiday designs [which will be on the site soon!], but I do have a question for all you peeps out there with small kids [of the toddler set]: Do you ever eat out? And if that answer is "yes" what are your tricks for keeping them occupied and happy?

My boys [who are 6 and 4 for those of you who are new around here] are great. They can sit relatively still and it's easy to occupy them with games, coloring books, etc. I just saw these ideas from lmnop magazine that I thought were pretty rad, too:





But it's the littlest one [11 months] that has the hard time, and I can't remember what we did when the boys were that age aside from finding restaurants that are loud; eating early to avoid interrupting someone else's romantic dinner; bringing lots of snacks [but this doesn't work so well with her -- she just throws them on the floor, which makes me feel even worse for the poor server. BIG TIPS is all I gotta say!]. Anyway, we don't eat out that often, but I was just curious if any of you had a magic trick you wanted to share!

Happy weekend...no eating out for us, just smoked meat and football!

And this one, too.

Are there words? It brings tears to my eyes. Her beautiful, milky white, baby skin, her little tongue sticking out [which is usually how she rolls], the sweet smile, her baby curls -- she has been perfectly captured. Thank you, Laura!

The Fam

Just saw this picture from our photo shoot with Laura in August. She's amazing. You can't tell this from the photo [one of the reasons why she is so good] but at this point we were just trying to hold things together. Spencer hated his shirt. Maggie wanted to crawl all over the place. It was hot as all get out. And she got it anyway! I haven't seen all the pictures yet, but after seeing this one, I cannot wait...

Keep in Touch

I just spotted two ways to keep in touch that are as easy as sending an email, but way more fun and beautiful: 1. a telegram [seriously!] and 2. a Cartogram.


Telegram Stop will send your recipient a traditional telegram; all you have to do is type your message on their website, preview it, then pay and it's sent. All for only $5.65, which is about the same price as a nice greeting card.

Cartolina's new app prettys up your messages, and also keeps track of dates for you. [Available at the iTunes store for $2.99] If only it worked on Wall posts!

Let me know if you end up trying one of them!

[Telegram via Swissmiss; Cartogram via Design Sponge]

Inspired By [School Days]

Every August, I can be heard saying "Yay -- We get to go buy school supplies! I love buying school supplies." And my boys look at me like I've all of a sudden turned into an alien lizard who just might eat them if they aren't careful. They think it's weird. The joy of labeling binders and organizing pencil boxes is lost on them. Don't you remember the excitement of a new desk and fresh erasers just ready to be marker-ed and glued? [Did anyone else do that? We always had them squirreled away in our desks: as the glue dries, it soaks up the marker colors/pattern, which provided endless entertainment.]

Friends, it's been a tough transition this year. First grade doesn't seem to have the same appeal as Kindergarten. I'm hoping that was all just the first week jitters, though, and that once the new routine is in place things will brighten up.

[Images: FIRST ROW: Milk Magazine Gallery; Library Pocket Journal from the Curiosity Shoppe; Bianca and Family. SECOND ROW: Moma Choco Tape Dispenser; Sweet Bella Chalk; Know-it-all Pencil set from the Curiosity Shoppe. THIRD ROW: Knot and Bow Classic Sticker Set; Small Magazine chairs; Jonathan Adler highlighters]

Hooray!

Fantastic news from the studio -- "Fantastic Birthday" won second place in the Minted Greeting Card Challenge! If you headed over to vote, I think you're fantastic, too. Thank you, and thanks to Minted for their contests and stellar community!

BBQ + Cocktails

Two things I hope to partake of this weekend myself. BBQ chick, perhaps? Have you seen these paper cutouts by Maxim Dalton?



One set is of a Sunday BBQ [below], the other set is a cocktail party [above]. Both are pretty great.





Hope your weekend is a good one!

[You can find both sets here]

Sweet Little Things // Part 2

Next up on my inspiration list, children's rooms!



[First Option, Hawkes House]



I've got tons of images from both Domino [above left image] and Cookie [above & bottom right images] in my files and every time I see them I feel that little pang of sadness.



Oh the things I could put in those built-ins! They'd make a great home for the blocks in the right image;) [I cannot find the credit for the left image -- has anyone seen it before?]



[bunk room spotted on little lovely]



[left image from emmas designblogg; right image from ohdeedoh]

We've got the side by side twin bed set up right now, which I love. I'm not quite ready to abandon that for bunk beds yet, even though we've got a set sitting in our garage that I used when I was young and that my dad also used as a young lad. They need a paint job, and I haven't found the time or energy to tackle them you -- on the list! When I inherited them, they were a dark stain, and my mom had them painted in pastels for me, which I thought was fabulous. I'm thinking red for the boys.

I'm off -- happy Thursday!