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Birthday Banner ponderings…

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Time is zooming by and Wren is getting older every day. I suppose everyone is getting older every day, but it seems more monumental in a wee one, doesn’t it? The countdown to my little birdie’s first birthday (May 24!) has begun and I’ve been pondering party themes and decorations. I really don’t want a throw-away birthday with lots of paper and plastic junk. I’ve been thinking a lot about making an heirloom-quality “Happy Birthday!” banner, which can be used for years to come. Here are some ideas I’ve stumbled upon so far…

I love the funky colors and the whimsy factor in this first birthday banner, don’t you?

But I’m thinking of something a bit cleaner and modern. Like this one. This one is a better fit for our nest. Does it say boy and girl though? No, I’m not pregnant; just trying to plan ahead, just in case.

But I like the simplicity and fun shapes in this banner. This is definitely boy or girl, no?

And then there’s this possibility for a classic pennant-style banner.

What say YOU, dear readers? Any other birthday banner ideas you want to send my way? I could do a “boy” banner on one side and a “girl” banner on the other. I’m not really into “boy” and “girl” colors, but it might be a fun way to have two banners in one.

In other party ponderings…

I’d love to have an outdoor garden party for Wren, but Memorial Day weekend in northern Michigan is hit or miss. It could be 75 and sunny or it could easily be 40 and rainy…. arrghhhh.

Speaking (err, writing) of weather, it’s above 50 (!!!) and sunny in these parts. Yee-haw! Trying to suck up the Vitamin D while I can. Is it possible to make up for the last four months in one week? I’m going to try. Can’t hurt.

Best!

Remembering the babymoon.

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Almost exactly a year ago we went on a “babymoon” to Palm Springs, California for a week and did a whole lot of nothing. It was a blast! Because we’re not venturing anywhere warm and sunny this winter, I thought we all could live vicariously through last year’s trip… grab a fruity beverage and dive in!

We stayed at the Desert Riviera Hotel, which is just a hop, skip and a jump (or quick bike ride) from lovely downtown Palm Springs. The boutique hotel is–in a word–amazing. Service is over the top and the wonderful owners (Larry, Patty and Judy) treat you like they’ve known you forever, in a good way.

Every day, we’d wake up and I’d wobble or waddle (I was pretty darn pregnant then) outside, grab a table and read the LA Times and surf the Internet until we felt like jumping in the pool. Then we proceeded to spend most of the day right there, in the pool. When we shriveled up too much, we’d get out and play a few rounds of Bananagrams (love that game!) Bliss!

This was our second visit to Palm Springs so we didn’t feel pressure to do too much exploring this trip. When we felt like venturing out, we went to our favorite places in and around Palm Springs. Yummy sushi and Mexican eats… long scenic neighborhood walks to enjoy mid-century modern architecture and funky desert landscaping…

a visit to Moorten Botanical Gardens for a succulent fix… this place is FUNKY and only three blocks from the hotel. Love it!

and of course, a visit to the Shield Date Farm for date shakes and the funny “Romance & Sex Life of the Date” film. mmmmmmmmm.

It was a wonderful, relaxing, memorable babymoon. We even got to watch the Oscars on LA time, which meant I didn’t have to stay up too late to see the end. Bonus! Especially for a pregnant lady who nods off around 8:30 this was indeed a special treat. Speaking of Oscars, are you going to an Oscar party, dear readers? Are you hosting one? What’s up with so many nominees anyway? Argghhh.

Hope you enjoyed your Cyber-trip to Palm Springs. I sure did!

hopscotch!

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Don’t you love the game hopscotch? Pretty soon the sidewalks in our neighborhood will be clear of snow and impromptu games of hopscotch will commence. Yahoo!

Fun facts about hopscotch… for when you’re on Jeopardy. When you win because of your amazing hopscotch knowledge, will you please give me $50?

  • I had no idea there was such deep meaning to such a simple game. According to the French Canadians… “The player hops along, pushing a marker that represents the soul. If he wobbles, it is because his soul is weak and he must work at purifying himself to get to heaven. After avoiding hell, and earning different merits, the player reaches heaven, picks up the marker (his soul) and places it under his arm or on his head, symbolizing the re-merging of soul and body. The aim of the game is to avoid stepping on the lines dividing the boxes, symbolic of keeping one’s life free of uncertainty.”  YIKES!
  • According to Wikipedia, “there are apocryphal stories of hopscotch being invented by Romans or Chinese,[2] but the first recorded reference to hopscotch dates back to 1677. In an entry of Poor Robin’s Almanack for that year, the game is referred to as “Scotch-hoppers.” The entry states, “The time when schoolboys should play at Scotch-hoppers.” The 1707 edition of Poor Robin’s Almanack includes the following phrase… “Lawyers and Physicians have little to do this month, so they may (if they will) play at Scotch-hoppers.”[3]
  • Hopscotch was/is called Potsy in New York City. Potsy? Now that’s funny!
  • Those crazy French. A French variant of hopscotch is known as Escargot (snail) or “La Marelle Ronde” (round hopscotch). It is played on a spiral course. Players must hop on one foot to the center of the spiral and back out again. A player marks one square with his or her initials, and from then on may place two feet in that square, while all other players must hop over it. The game ends when all squares are marked or no one can reach the center, and the winner is the player who “owns” the most squares.

When’s the last time you played hopscotch, dear readers? I love it when we go for walks in our neighborhood and come across several different hopscotch games. I can’t help but join in. You?

Until then (it IS still mid-winter after all)… for all the kids and all the kids at heart, enjoy this great hopscotch rug!

Jello.

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There’s something about mid-winter that reminds me of being a kid and having a love/hate relationship with the potlucks in the basement of our church. Strange juxtaposition I know, but it’s true. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about a godzillion-layer rainbow Jello that someone used to bring to every potluck. If we were lucky. Seems like people were typecast into bringing the same thing every time. I think her name was Peggy? And she wore braces. It’s hard to forget an adult with braces.

Anyway, it looked a bit like this…

Now how’s that for brightening up your mid-winter doldrums?!

It’s actually quite a bit of work to make such a thing and I don’t remember it tasting all that great, but it’s got looks goin’ for it and looks get you pretty damn far in this world, don’t they? For more pretty pictures like this one and directions on how to make it, check out this blog.

Happy Fat Tuesday, folks! What are you giving up for Lent? I’m not really religious, but I like the tradition of giving something up to make me more mindful… you? By the way, tomorrow is my day, Ash Wednesday. Guffaw.

Nursery Rhymes & Whiskey Sours?

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Hey Diddle Diddle, what do you think of a Nursery Rhyme-themed cocktail party? It hit me like a Mack truck in my way sleep-deprived state in the wee hours of today so this could either be brilliant or tasteless. Sometimes a bit of tasteless is brilliant, no?

Start with these glasses you can order through Fish’s Eddy and the party’s already a hit!

Maybe also order the coasters for a fun detail…

Make your own party invitations from these old illustrations you can snatch up for only $3 on Etsy. See how this is all coming together?

By the end of the evening, you’ll probably have your own Little Jack Horner, sitting in the corner.

If you were a nursery rhyme character, who would you be? I might be Little Miss Muffet except that spiders don’t scare me so I’d keep munching on my curds and whey (yummy!), thank you very much.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

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Wren and I were on the road for a couple days, but we’re happily back home again in our cozy nest while the snow & blow continues to swirl out there. It was a super fun whirlwind trip to Detroit and back. I found Wren to be pretty darn good company, but I think she found me a bit boring. She started a new sort of babbling that I believe my drivel (“hey Wren, look at that huge snow pile over there! Wow!”) was most likely the catalyst for… and the one tooth is actually TWO teeth. She’s such a trooper, that little birdie. I swear she’s turning into a little girl more every day, yikes!

One highlight from our trip was a pit-stop at Ikea. I’m a sucker for that place. As it turns out, Wren seems to be giddy over cheap Scandinavian stuff too! We both got a kick out of these cookie cutters:

LOVE!

I can’t wait to make some cookies with them. And after almost nine months without a working oven, we now have one! Chris is amazing; he single-handedly brought our electrical system into the 21st century and we are so very, very (very) grateful. Go, Chris! So if I gain about ten pounds in the next week, this is why: lasagna, muffins, shepherd’s pie, cookies, cupcakes, OH MY!

More soon. Happy mid-week, dear readers.

imaginary nesting.

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Wren’s only a touch over eight months old and right now her favorite toy is…

That’s right, folks. The wooden stacker – not the colorful rings, but the stacker pole part of it. Hours of entertainment. Well, maybe not hours at a time, but if you added the minutes spent gnawing, banging and investigating, it adds up. Needless to say, this was not expected given the more interesting toys that she’s been given. Lesson learned. So I hesitate to invest too much cash in any new toys for my little birdie because she gets so much enjoyment out of everything else. Spoons, empty yogurt containers from the recycling bin, tags, magazines… did I mention magazines? Wren would hate the Kindel or the new iPad. She knows the pleasure in turning, err, ripping, real pages.

That being said, I’ve been looking ahead to a time when imaginary play will occupy our time. I’m not sure when this is exactly, but I’m sure it’ll be here before we know it. And there are two DIY projects that I’m going to attempt. If I get started on them in the coming year, they might be done by the time she might be interested in them. (Did you see that the operative word might was used twice in that sentence? With reason.) Given my luck as a naive new parent, she won’t have any interest, but they look fun enough that I won’t be too disappointed if Wren thinks they’re really not all that. So here goes. Drumroll, please…

Doll house renovation!

I was inspired when I read this article about renovating an old doll house. I despise those plastic doll houses, but the really cool modern doll houses are expensive. So I’m adding this to my garage sale “hunt” list when the season begins again around Memorial Day. Can’t wait! Another item I’m adding to my “hunt” list is an old nightstand so I can attempt DIY imaginary play project #2…

Play kitchen!

This inspiring piece was converted from an old night stand. Check out the article with more pics to drool over here. Again, I’m really not into those plastic kitchen sets. Blech. Isn’t this kitchen so much cooler? Doesn’t it make you want to redo your OWN kitchen?

These are two ambitious projects, but I think I have about two years to get them done and with Wren getting busier and busier every day…, I’m going to need all the time I can get. With any luck, I’ll find the nightstand and old dollhouse this summer and begin work on them when the long dark nights set in again late next fall. I’ll keep you updated!

Confessions.

  • Wren has just discovered her diaper and enjoys ripping it off in the few seconds before I can get her clothes on. Yikes!
  • Orange is my favorite color today. Yes, but a friend of mine showed me the color “dill pickle” yesterday and I might be starting a new love affair.
  • It was 40 and rainy last weekend and I was complaining about the mildness. Now it’s 9 and snowy and I’m complaining about the cold. I’ve become such a winter wimp!
  • It worked! I had a bag of hardened brown sugar. I read that it’ll soften up again if you place a piece of fresh bread in the air tight bag. Two mornings later, the bag was like new.

best!

gotta have kid stuff

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Amidst all the mountains of plastic electronic crap for kids out there, live some really cool things for kids too. Here are a few I love. Today.

Don’t you love these funky plates for kids or even your next dinner party? Who says you can’t play with your food anyway? It’s fun!

Or flex your foodie kid’s creative muscle with these “gourmet” colored pencils, called “Smencils.” Ooh, la la. They’re also made from 100% recycled newspaper. Bonus!

Speaking of food, I’m interested in reading the book Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea from Alice Waters.

Have you read it yet? I think I’ll look for it at our library. Trying to do that more and save a few bucks. Plus it’s such a cool place to be with lots of nice natural light and usually a few freaky people from all walks of life. Same folks you might see at the Secretary of State office. That’s why, even though you can avoid going to the office now by doing everything online, I like to physically step into the office once a year. Hey, this is northern Michigan. I gotta get my kicks where I can. And it’s refreshing to be reminded of the human spectrum from time to time, isn’t it?

Confessions.

  • It’s finally cold and a bit snowy again. Bring it on! This is what it’s supposed to be like in January, right?
  • Orange is my favorite color today. uh huh.
  • Yesterday Wren and I went to the local bakery and the woman at the counter asked if Wren could have a cookie. I said, “no, thank you. She’s a bit young for a cookie.” And the woman looked at me like I was the center of the freak show. Maybe I should have charged her admission.

best!

wanting.

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I’m truly blessed with so many abundances. I really am. I’m healthy and I have a wonderful husband, a beautiful child with whom I get to spend my every single day, a cozy home, supportive & fun family and friends. I just snuck in a shower and a cup of coffee. And that beautiful child is taking a snooze. The list goes on.

And yet, I find myself in want. Of these:

or maybe these:

sigh.

Will this wanting ever end? It is ridiculous, isn’t it? When we have so much and yet lust after more?  But they really are cute, aren’t they? And the pea green ones are on sale at Zappos. And given my conundrum with my current boots… oof.

Confessions.

  • So that sugar detox didn’t go so well last night. After a delicious dinner, we treated ourselves to peppermint ice cream with Sander’s hot fudge and a cookie. Then later with Bananagrams, we chowed on Good & Plentys. Oy yoy yoy. Time to begin again, Finnegan.
  • Orange is my favorite color today. Yessirreee. You saw those orange boots, right?
  • Mixed in with the Valentine’s Day candy at Meijer was a big box of Cadbury Eggs. WHAT?!

best!