Chasing Bluebirds

my day

groceries clouds ikea visit 20 minutes on the trainer = 200 calories burned sewing projects the tutorial for these was found here and last the tree fabric from ikea i have been dying for...found at last! i saw the idea to make pillows by just cutting out the trees somewhere but cant remember!! there were examples that had embellishments like birds and critters in the tree that i really liked. i just dont have the time for that right now. getting ready to visit family in colorado and wanted to make some quick gifts. i havent mentioned here that i am in training for a half marathon in october, on my second week of serious training and so excited! i feel so good and am up to 6 miles (just run/walking) already! it is hotter than hell here right now so we are spending time in our little blow up pool and drinking gallons of water. really feels like summer! so my day off went well, back to work tomorrow and then off to vegas (for an ultrasound conference) then colorado (with a visit to mt. rushmore thrown in) i will try to post pictures of our trip!

wendy crabb love

yes we love wendy crabb!

a special painting for lizzie, we love elephants! you can check out a cool video of the painting here. wendy crabb is the coolest, nicest and most rad artist ever. i highly recommend her! we are hoping for a polar bear painting for emily in the near future... and on another note, here is my neutral doll. stolen from someone somewhere this was just a first draft and quickie sew job. liz thankfully loves it and embellished it with her own face and clothes (photo to come later). i just drew it out right on the fabric and sewed it up. this i also highly recommend. it was fast, fun and easy!

bluebird crazy

stumbled on to this shop and couldnt pass up the bluebird necklace! it came in such an amazing package, i had my camera out snapping photos before i realized i hadnt even opened the actual NECKLACE yet! can you say flippen satisfied customer?? i can!

overcrowded to the max (emily got a new haircut) so i can plant the box and get some carnations? sweet! i got a free pair of umbrella earrings (yes i am wearing them right now) and oh yeah, the necklace ROCKS as well... ok, now i just have to get something simple enough to wear this with. the girls love it as well, always a good sign. happy thursday! one more in case you couldnt see the little bluebird in there among all the other trinkets (a jeweled bee, branch, large round locket that lizzy loves and my camera is reflected in, large flower and just about any other cool thing you can think of) i think my flu is on its way out, hoping to be back to normal soon. :)

kick ass dolls

these are the kickingness of ass dolls i have ever seen. oh man!!!!

damn it if these are the coolest, go check them out yourself and see.

views beyond the catflap

strange title, but basically this calendar has photos taken only by cats, they secure a camera around the cat's neck and you get a real great idea of their perspective of the world.

check out the website, the calendar sales benefit an animal welfare group in england. i enjoyed reading more about the cats involved in the project, maybe you will like it as well. my cats are pretty lazy but wouldnt it be awesome to see what they do out there all day (and night?) maybe its just me! but i am curious!

wendy crabb

well we set up a meeting with wendy crabb and just about everyone had plans that conflicted so my little "group" of camp fire girls set off for noho (north hollywood) to see her artwork at cella gallery. the girls were so excited, lizzie has been drawing crabs to present to her for weeks now. they all wanted to see where the movie stars live (not sure how they know so much about it but they sure had a long list of stars to look for). we saw wendy walking along the street with baby jasper and the girls yelled from the car at her, they recognized her from her blog. we had hot dogs then headed over for a look at the gallery. the space was gorgeous and all the artwork was lovely up close, cant beat seeing art in real life. a personal favorite you know i could live in a place like this, just put a bed off in a corner somewhere. the girls got these shirts and emily is wearing it again today, i think it will be a favorite for a long time. lizzie is asking to go back to the "nursery" today, i finally figured out she means "gallery" and from the fit she is throwing about it, i think i did good with trying to influence the girls on viewing art at a gallery. meeting wendy (who is so sweet and i didnt get a SINGLE picture of!) and visiting a gallery was a great way to spend an afternoon, well worth the drive. thanks again wendy for meeting with us! we will keep in touch!

halloween weekend

four days off, what to do? celebrate my 41st, buy food for a friend in need (love you les!), trick/treating with new friends, make butter, spend time on the 3, 4 and 5 times tables, fill pages and pages of lizzies scribble journal, meet with long lost cousins and a super cool aunt, visit with my 99 year old grandpa, eat lobster (given by new friends, then stumble on to this article, yikes!), talk politics with my wonderful neighbors (go obama and debbie cook!), watch indiana jones and eat coconut pie (raw from earth cafe), wear new shoes (toms cool vegan shoes, so comfy!), shop for christmas online, get an email from an awesome artist who will meet with my camp fire girls!, cant wait to watch this movie (my grandma gave me this bread book long long ago), serious chills from watching this movie, anticipating this and this in the mail, getting ready for the thanksgiving and christmas season, hoping for a "change" this tuesday! so exciting!

preschool halloween carnival mermaid and witch, recycled costumes my super cool aunt margaret, 90 years old and grandpa at 99 cousins three days off and one more to go, lucky me!

yosemite fairy houses

i am obsessed with the little travelers, the movies and the website, i just love everything about this little family. my girls have even mentioned how well the two sisters get along and we have used them as an example when there is disagreements. emily or lizzie will say, "remember how the little travelers get along? we need to get along too" love it! 

on the blog there are many fun parenting ideas including the building of fairy houses. i made a fairy house for emily's 3rd birthday, it was a pixie theme and i remember how fun these are to make. i like how they are made from only nature and there is no limit to the creativity. our camping neighbor joined in and we spent days collecting feathers and rocks, dried flowers and sticks in preparation for making some fairy houses in the little meadow near our campsite.  we also rented this fairy movie from netflix and the girls watched it a few times, it was very sweet. i recommend it, very simple and quiet.

the girls got into my paints a bit, making a few painted sticks for the houses, emily made a sign on an egg carton this was so fun and i am sure a kid or two will stumble onto these cool houses and think they are neat (not to mention a few fairies)

holy macaroons!

finally got around to making some "cookies" from this book, i have a couple more to try from this book. i think raw desserts are going to be my new favorite thing, savory raw dishes have been hit or miss, mostly miss. here is emily's garden pick of the day: we started some alfalfa sprouts and made the squash dish (minus the sausage, probably the best part but... thats how it goes!) from here... lots of healthy stuff checked off the to do list today.

summer squash

here is a photo of our squash, i found one of the white ones poking out from under the plant and was surprised to see how big it was! yikes! glad to find a good recipe over here, will be trying it out asap. even though the light is still pretty crappy (overcast), i snapped a picture of my baby blocks, still not perfect but fun to make!