Hello, 2012

I'm not back in the studio just yet, but I wanted to pop in and wish you all a Happy New Year! Since we stayed at home over Christmas, we spent the weekend celebrating with family in Atlanta. The kids have been quite the troopers with all the extended celebrations/present opening. I kid, of course. I've yet to meet a child that doesn't like opening presents. Or an adult for that matter. Which, speaking of presents, I had a bit of a love affair with tinsel this holiday season, one that I don't think will be ending anytime soon. It's such a happy thing.

Here's to great things in 2012!

Round Here

Hi! I'm afraid in all the hurly-burly of card season, the old blog here has taken a hit. To make up for that, I'm going to try for an extra long post. Curious what's been going on around here?

Letters to Santa:





(The letter template is a b.wise original, which I have available for free download right here!*)

Fred's back:



I've tried to be a little more creative this year with his spot because I fear that this may be the last year that my oldest gets into it. Their favorite place so far was when Fred was in the Halloween candy bowl [yes, I know Halloween was a month and a half ago]. I opened up a candy bar and pinch a little corner off and had it sitting in his lap. When they discovered him in the morning, they came bounding back into our room shouting "Fred's eating candy!! Isn't that crazy?!" Mind you, these exciting spots are only once in a while -- there's only so much time I can put into this at the moment!

Our tree is up, and I get to look at all my favorite ornaments:



Do you vote white or multicolor lights? For my tree, I vote white, but I'd love to have some multicolor lights outside.

There's been lots of packaging going on:



Only now I need to start in on actual presents! Have you done your Christmas shopping yet? I've got a ways to go myself.

I have started in on holiday card addressing. I designed two different ones for us this year -- more on that after I've sent them out!



That's all from here for now!

*THE FREE DOWNLOAD IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY AND REMAINS COPYRIGHTED TO B.WISE PAPERS. Please feel free to spread the word just make sure you link it back here. Thanks, and enjoy!!

Florida

If this doesn't scream "Old Florida" [what with the golf clubs, fishing poles, palm tree and old window], then I don't know what does. Last weekend, I took a little jaunt with some friends to Micanopy, my favorite close-by getaway. I picked up some vintage Pyrex dishes with little Amish people on them, too [my too kind and generous friend actually secretly paid for them for me for my birthday while I was checking out some old matchbooks].





They go nicely with my 1960s countertops, no? Countertops that I don't think I could ever bring myself to replace. Even with my soft spot for marble. You just can't buy gold flecked ones anymore!

Downtown

We hit downtown last Friday...



...for a friend's art show...



...that was amazing. I'll give you one guess who designed that poster. About halfway through the night, I started envying Reggie's shoes...



...I chose style over comfort, and was regretting it.



So much so that I was sitting down on the ground. The gross downtown pavement. I don't even want to think about what has been there. But I was desperate.

Bonus of the night: when the Hares joined the buskers and rocked out:



Quite the distinguished buskers, I might add, with their little oriental rug.

T to the G to the I F

Hello, blogland! Has it really been a week since my last post?? It just doesn't seem possible. I'm afraid posting is going to get a wee bit sparse over the next couple months with holiday card season gearing up. I'm going to try and post at least once a week, even if it's just a snapshot of the whirlwind that is the studio this time of year. Or you may get lucky and it'll be completely random. You just never know!

Speaking of random, I came across the site of photographer Hallie Burton this week, and it is beautiful. You should definitely check out her portfolio over the weekend. I was totally inspired by this living room:



See those portraits by the fireplace? Yes. Please.

I'll be back next week, announcing new holiday designs and some other nifty things going on around here! Have a great weekend!

Laxing

Not laxing as in lacrosse playing, but laxing as in toddler-ese for "relaxing." Obviously. Here's to a most laxing long weekend!

Stacks and Things

My house has been overrun with piles and stacks over the past couple of days.





Shambles, I tell you. I've been packing for a trip and trying to ship out all the orders that needed to be gone before I left. It's never easy closing up shop, but I couldn't be more excited about this opportunity.

Thankfully, I had this little helper to tell me "Ess you" whenever I sneezed. Toddler-ese will never get old.



And this little helper, too, who wanted to come along in my suitcase.





And this helper, too, who was around to ask me lots and lots of questions. Like for instance, do I know how tall Michael Jordan is?



I'm going to miss all my people when I'm gone. I don't think I've ever been this far away from all of them before. I'm sure I'll get over it pretty quick, though, when I'm strolling the 62 degree streets of San Fran! It's going to be a nice change from our hot and sweatiness.

I'll be away from the old blog for a bit, so cheerio for now!

[The studio will be closed from Aug. 3 - Aug 14th. I will be checking email sporadically, and you can also order anytime from my collection at Minted]

School Days Cover

Look who was on the cover of School Days Magazine:



Did you notice the shorts? Told you they were his faves. I laughed hard when I saw this -- of course he would be wearing those that day!

Preschool Picture Day

This is the outfit that I picked out for Spencer's class picture:



And here is the "special" outfit that he picked out:



Shall we see the outfits side by side?



And now, let me direct your attention to the size of the orange shorts:



They are his favorites. Well-loved for sure. I bought them for Henry [who is 7] when he was 18 months. That was 5+ years ago and they have been worn ever since as evidenced by the holes and fading.

Can you guess whose outfit won?



I actually think the outfit nicely offsets the faux rainforest setting in the background, no? And his teacher made the mistake of trying to comb his hair, too. I laughed when she told me that. The boy has too many cowlicks to ever get his hair in one specific direction! Really, though, I'll probably love the picture that much more because of these things and how it reflects the little man that he is. One of my favorite school pictures is of Reg wearing a t-shirt that says "Have you hugged me today?" Priceless. And I think his hair was sticking up, too.

So today, I can check "embrace imperfection" off my to-do list. Most of the time, imperfect is actually perfect, you know?

Be back soon with some pictures from our weekend!

Easter Weather Whiplash

This past Easter, we celebrated in 90 degree weather:



A far cry from Easter in Cambridge, where the boys would wear hats and winter coats to hunt eggs!



Somewhere in the middle of these two extremes would be nice...just sayin'.

And thankfully, my kids also have cuter Easter baskets now. That one Spencer is holding looks like it came from some mail order sausage and cheese company. He can barely get his little hand around the handle!

A Day in Atlanta

Okay, so this may totally bore you if you aren't like me and, well, nosy. Last Friday, I documented [most] of my day while we were visiting in Atlanta. When we visit, I usually have lots of things to check off my list, so this is a typical errand day. Next time, I'll try to document a kid day there because there are so many great things for kids to do in Atlanta.

9:22 -- I start out with my sister in the passenger seat.



I was born and raised in ATL. Born at Piedmont Hospital and lived in several different houses in Buckhead, Vinings and near Chastain Park. My parents used to be house flippers, and I was known to tell my mom "My room is dirty. It's time to move." All this to say that I can get you around town using mostly back roads, which is definitely my preferred method because not only can you avoid the gnarly traffic, but you also get the scenic route.



Spring is by far my favorite season in my hometown -- the hydrangeas, flowering trees, green grass, tulips -- it makes me so happy. Yes, I think I'd have to say the snowball hydrangeas are my all time fave.



Weez wanted me to show you this house:



It's one if her faves with the ivy crawling up the front. This gal has got great things ahead, and I'm excited to see the guest house she's going to build me one day. Just sayin'.

We are headed to get some bloomers for Mags at The Children's Shop.



Are monogrammed bloomers a Southern thing? She doesn't wear them all the time, but I have a dress that I bought for her in Copenhagen last summer that didn't come with bloomers and I'm trying to match it. I ordered white bloomers with a circle monogram in cream. Can't wait to see how they turn out.

Next stop, checking out Laura's studio! I was so excited to see what was going on, and I love her new studio. It's right in the middle of everything, but feels calm and peaceful inside.



I wish this picture wasn't blurry [all these photos were taken with my phone] because it is amazing.



[Check out more of her beautiful work here]

11:15 -- We race to my 11:00 haircut appointment. If you are in the area and looking for a good haircut, call Seldon. She's the best.



She's opening up her own salon next month that will be on Pharr Road off Peachtree. I decided at the last minute to get bangs. Loved them at the salon, but then got back to the horrendous humidity down here and realized they were probably a mistake! Oh well -- I like trying new things and can always pull them back.

1:00 -- Lunch. We ate at the Buckhead Bread Company and it was scrumptious.



That dude in the back is all "are you taking my picture?" Why yes, I am. For my blog. Anyway, I ordered Potato Soup and a Fried Green Tomato BLT because when in the south, do as the southerners do. Weez and I actually halved our sandwiches, so I also got to have the chicken salad. It was fantastico.



After lunch, we hit Lenox. Can I just tell you how much I look forward to going here? Is that weird? Because malls aren't usually the most fun places.



But there are so many great stores here and I have so many memories of being here in High School, racing around the giant speed bumps behind the mall in my friend's white Jeep, listening to Rusted Root. Plus, practically speaking, I can't get a lot of things where we live that I can at Lenox. And there are always better sales here, too, and I love a good sale.

A few hours later, we make a stock-up stop at T.Joe's [forgot the camera]. On the list: coffee, Stockyard beer, Fig bars, Sunflower Butter and Sweet and Savory trail mix. Plus some other things that found their way into my cart.

Now we are headed back home for dinner. I can't remember what time it was at this point, but probably around 5? The littlest munchkin is waiting at the door. She was with her dad and some friends at Piedmont Park and the Botanic Gardens. Both excellent places to take kids, especially when it is so pretty outside.



With Weez around, I know dinner is going to be good. Tonight we are having Jeffrey's Roast Chicken, Roasted Butternut Squash and Stilton and Pecan salad. Mmmmmmmmm.



The boys had been at the zoo with my parents, and had a blast. I'm sure all the cotton candy and toys had nothing to do with it, either.

After the kids are bedded down, we caught the Swamp People marathon. You guys, I'm hooked. Who knew there was so much drama in reality alligator hunting? There's this one guy named Willy who is a complete Bad-A when it comes to catching those rascals.



And a bonus picture for any of you still reading this! Saturday, my dad came downstairs to see about building a shelf in the TV armoire. Weez and I were watching The Real Housewives of the OC. Guess who took a load off in the chair next to me?



He says he was still inspecting the armoire, but we knew better.

That's all for now! If you need any recommendations for ATL, let me know!

Road Trip

We headed to Atlanta last Thursday and stayed for a long weekend. Driving with 3 kids for hours on end is not my favorite thing to do, but things went smoothly this time around. All three of them even slept at the same time on the way there. It was only for 30 minutes, but I'll take what I can get!

To keep things real, here's a clip from the drive back. It's pouring down rain almost the entire 5+ hour drive and we are hauling a trailer carrying a sofa [to be recovered for our living room!] and a patio table and chairs set. The boys were trying to watch a movie, but M wouldn't stop playing her singing stuffed animal...



Can you guess what song has been in my head the past two days?

Off to see the Wizard

I got M all dressed today, took a step back, and thought "Hmmm. You remind me of someone."



Then she clicked her heels together and it came to me.

Shoe

Baby girl has a bit of a shoe thing going on. Can I blame her? The options for toddler girl shoes are usually too darn cute to pass up, especially compared to the choices I had with the boys. Come to think of it, she may actually have more shoes than I do.

"Shoe" was one of her first words, and she doesn't just say it in the morning when we are getting dressed. Most nights while we are putting on her pajamas she will say "shoe, shoe, shoe" and point to the a pair she will then insist on sleeping in:



Wow, that yellow looks bright with the flash on! I promise her room doesn't look like the outside of a school bus.

Some of my favorites that she has had so far? A pair of red mary janes by See Kai Run, and some high tops and sandals [right sleeping picture] that I bought for her in Copenhagen. They are made by a Danish company called Bisgaard, and are super soft. Frankly, I'd want to wear her shoes all the time, too.