Big Sis's lastest do.

Big Sister and her hair crack me up. . .and some mornings just make me want to scream ( or just scream!).

I'm not allowed to touch her hair. Unfortunately, I sort of have to. So I'm lucky to get her hair brushed and a barrette in. But she comes home from daycare with the craziest hair-dos all the time. The sort that require a lot of patience on her part, and probably a little bit of pulling and tugging on her head—which she wails over at our house.

So I've started taking pictures of her latest hair styles as she comes home with them.

This one if pretty funny—and all her idea.

She started the day with just 2 braids, but then told her teacher she wanted 2 braids. So she took the existed 2 out and redid them. That did NOT work for her!! She informed her teacher that she wanted 2 MORE! And then started pointing to the spots on her head where she wanted a braid. Thus the results.



And just because I think my kids are way too cute, here's a few more:





See? Aren't they adorable? ;)

xoxo—Lori

New Pillow!!

I'm starting to really enjoy making pillows! They're simple, but a really fun way to add some color to a room, inexpensive and easily interchangeable for a new look.

So this weekend I made a new one:







"Love"

It probably doesn't hurt to have a little reminder sitting around—especially at home! Where, unfortunately, if you're anything like me, I sometimes show my worst to the people I love the most. :(



The back of a pillow deserves to be just as lovely as the front! Fun band of color and button closure for easy removal to throw in the washer as needed!! (at my house, it WILL be needed!)

I've already got more started and want to add them to my etsy shop. The one I'm doing right now has the word "Laugh" on it. What word(s) would you use??

xoxo—Lori

Rain, Rain. . .You made my day??

This weekend we finally got around to celebrate my 30th birthday. The girls stayed with Nana, and Nate and I had a busy weekend doing whatever it was that made me happy in that moment. :)

The big thing I had planned was to go to the Main Street Festival in one of the suburbs here. Always a lot of fun, tons to see, beautiful houses to look at if you wander off the square, good food & music. Only on Saturday we were expecting storm after storm with high chances of tornadoes.So of course we went anyway. We got there right when things got started and it was already raining. The vendors were bravely setting out their wares and tying down their tents. Umbrella in hand, I kicked off my shoes, waded through puddles and checked all the fabulous stuff, laughing at myself and the rest of the crazies.

However, within an hour everyone packed up and called it quits on the day. It was really kind of odd to be in the festival space without the festivities. But we did get to see everything we wanted to see and hit all the antique shops my heart could handle. And got very, very wet. But somehow that just made the day more special. I couldn't keep from grinning.
(sorry for no pictures. didn't think my camera & a rain storm went well together.)
We did see one thing that I just have to share with you. Sarah Kaufman has the most amazing oil paintings!!!


I wish I could have taken one home with me right then. Her style is so whimsical and dreamlike. Takes me to that magical little girl place in me that I don't think will ever fully grow up (nor do I want to!!).


Her prices were reasonable, and I loved how she popped her head into the tent while we were browsing to inform us she was just "tying down the tent to keep it from blowing away." She seemed plucky. :)


So hopefully, before too long I will have one of her amazing paintings hanging in my house!! Preferably one of the really big ones, but I can go with a smaller one if I have to. ;)

But head over to her website and check out all her other paintings! You'll LOVE them. Promise.

xoxo—Lori

Sidewalk(less) chalk

Don't know why, but I've never purchased sidewalk chalk for the girls.
Perhaps it's because we don't have a sidewalk or paved driveway, so I've just never thought about it.

But Nate came home with it last weekend and I was quickly shown how limited my thinking was. :)



No sidewalks?? All you need is a fence.


She looks a little crazed in that one, don't you think? :)



Now if you don't have a sidewalk or a fence, I'm not sure what to tell you.
The side of your house?
It washes off.



Regardless, fun times that can be had again and again!



Hope you have a great weekend! (And stay dry. We're supposed to have some crazy storms tomorrow. . .on my delayed birthday weekend. . .bleck!)

xoxo—Lori

My Birthday Crown

I think the best part about having a 3 year-old is that they are now old enough to think outside of themselves and do things for others.

For my birthday, Big Sister made me a card and birthday crown at school. Granted, she had a lot of help, but she picked out everything and decorated both items.



She was SO PROUD of herself. Absolutely tickled that I loved it so much.
She was happy that her actions had made ME happy.
It was the sweetest thing EVER.

And perhaps I'm rubbing off on her a little bit, because she asked if I wanted to take a picture of my crown (and her braids!) — to which I answered— OF COURSE!!!!



Oh my sweet, sweet little BIG girl!!

xoxo—Lori

I just realized!!

Hey, I just noticed that it's my blog's birthday!!

Since my birthday was yesterday I like the idea of a blog birthday rather than an anniversary. And since it's my blog, I get to make those sort of decisions!



It's kind of silly how something so simple as starting a blog can & has changed so many things for me.
• Through this blog I have a creative outlet even if time does not allow for any other sort of creativity.
• I've been able to discover and meet so many other amazing women and the wealth of inspiration that's out there! Geez! Some days I am overwhelmed by what these incredible women are coming up with. Makes me feel a bit out of my league some days, but challenged at the same time! :)
• Encouraged me to take photos of EVERYTHING. Some of my favorites are from fairly mundane things that the family does on a regular basis. I've learned to really value the ordinary and not take the little things for granted.
• I'm becoming a better photographer and increasing my photo editing skills.
• I'm constantly learning. I can't even start to list the skills I've learned because I entered this blog world!!
• I opened an etsy shop and have big aspirations for the future.



So needless to say, I'm loving this thing and I hope that those of you who keep up with me are enjoying it too. If there's a certain type of thing I write about that you'd like to see more of, please let me know! I enjoy doing this, but I really want to create a place for you in the process.

Thanks for sticking with me!! I appreciate each and every one of you!

xoxo—Lori

Better than Planned.

This last weekend was supposed to be my birthday weekend of no kids and no agenda.

But it fell through and was postponed for next weekend.

But actually, I'm glad.
Otherwise, I'd have missed out on all of this.










(no animals were hurt in the making of this blog post.) :)






(Big Sis took this one!)





OK, so that was a lot, but we had lots fun!

xoxo—Lori

Thirty.

Happy Birthday to me!



Pretty flowers make turning 30 less painful, right?



Although, I've decided it's not 30 that scares me. It's 35. And 36, 37, 38, 39 & 40.



But I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?



I'm just going to enjoy right now & the place that I'm in: My beautiful, endearing, and always entertaining little girls, the wonderful man I'm going to grow old with, our adventures, and all the possibilities open to me.

Because really, I'm happy.
And I wouldn't trade that for 25.

xoxo—Lori

*************************************************************************************

I was greeted this morning with cupcakes!!!



The best kind, too. You know, the ones I don't have to follow with exercise!!





My girls sure know how to treat their Momma right!! :)
I could just squeeze them until they pop!! Love them so much.

In case you wondered. . .

So, just in case you ever wondered what my rosette headbands look like on an actual person's head, I {finally} have photos. :)

large rosette




medium rosette






Sooo much better than headbands on a log, don't you think?

And thank you to the very lovely Marise for helping me out! (Aren't you jealous of her red hair???) She's a very talented industrial designer that I work with who also makes jewelry that you will soon be able to find in her esty shop. (go visit!! she just added new stuff!)

Hope the sun is shining where ever you find yourself today!!

xoxo—Lori

Monkey Ears

Pigtails were unacceptable.

Attempts at a ponytail elicited much screaming and crying.

But "monkey ears" brought peace to my morning.



Thank you daycare staff.

******
And one more because it makes me laugh.

Have you seen the movie Up? This is our version of "Squirrel!"



"Airplane!!"


However you wear your hair, I hope you're having a beautiful day!

xoxo—Lori

. . .because you're a girl. . .

Yesterday after work/daycare, I was driving the girls to Target. On the way there we passed a very busy YMCA. Big Sister asked what all the kids were doing. I told her they were playing soccer, to which she responded: "And I gonna play football like Gavin!" (her much-looked-up -to-older cousin)

My first reaction, and I'm happy to say I was able to stifle it, was to respond, "oh honey, girls don't play football." But I didn't say it. Because my next thought was, what kind of world do I want my little girls to grow up in where they believe that they can't do something because they're a girl. . .or not tall enough, or not good enough, or not pretty enough. Especially at the age of 3. They should fully believe that they can do ANYTHING they want.



Someday, all too soon they'll realize what we all come to realize: Putting on our new tennis shoes doesn't make us the fastest. We aren't going to be the best at everything.

But I hope that doesn't stop either of them from trying. Someone has to be the fastest. Someone has to be the best. And regardless, each of us has something unique to offer.

It's weird. I don't want them to live under false disillusion that they will succeed at everything. But I also don't want them to believe that they can succeed at nothing.

I was thinking last night about the phrase "reach for the stars." I came to realize that in order to reach for the stars, you must first believe that you can touch them. I don't know if that's a unique thought or not, but lately I've noticed something about myself. I'm not sure I believe that I can touch the stars—which makes it pretty difficult to will myself into trying.

So I guess that what I want to take from this for myself is that while the Girls are still deciding what they're passionate about and what they truly want to pursue, that I don't discourage them in anything and help them to believe that the stars truly are the limit for them. I need to instill confidence, not meekness in them.

And of course, let them wear rainboots if that's what they want to wear, even when it's not raining.



xoxo—Lori

Oh, on a less thoughtful note:
You might notice Little Sister toting around the pillow I made her in the above picture. That's because I finished a different pillow to put in my etsy shop—only she thought it was hers and was very upset when I took it from her. (didn't want it to get dirty!) So in order to prove to her that it wasn't hers, I had to produce hers. Oh the mind of a 1 year-old!! :)

Giveaway Winner!!

Ugh! Yesterday did not go as planned, AT ALL.

Not that I had perfectly laid out plans, but spending the entire day in bed sick, sick, sick, was definitely not on the agenda!

Needless to say, today I'm playing catch up on everything that did not get done yesterday! (fun!!)
So I apologize! I had meant to get this post up first thing this morning.

Now, on to more important things. . .such as announcing the giveaway winner!! Thanks to Random.org, icitea you are the winner! Shoot me an email at loridanelle@yahoo.com with your color choice, and info on where I should be sending your headband and I'll drop it in the mail for you! Congratulations!

And thanks to everyone else who participated!!

Gotta run! Much more catching up to do!!

xoxo—Lori

Giveaway? That's a great idea!!

So things have been pretty slow here this week on my blog — which means that I've been really really busy. Funny how that works. :)

One genius plan I had to generate some excitement around here for you is to have a giveaway!! What better way to celebrate my shop being open than to let you have a chance at partaking of the goods??

Up for grabs is a Medium Rosette Headband in your choice of color! (check out the shop for color options)



Generally, I'm a pretty simple gal. I don't dress up too much and I'm not too big on accessories — not because I don't like them, but because I generally barely have time to pull on some clothes and get the girls out the door in time. But these headbands!! I LOVE them. Jeans and a T-shirt? Add a headband and it becomes a cute outfit instead of your haggard Mom apparel. :)

If you already have that cute put-together-Mom thing down, they come in several colors and look great with your perfectly matching, well-coordinated outfit too. ;) (could you give me a few pointers? or come babysit?)

To enter, leave a comment and let me know what color you would pick and what you'll be pairing it with. Want more chances? Post the giveaway on your blog, Facebook, and/or Twitter with a link back here. Leave another comment for each one of these telling me that you did it. I'll close comments Monday, April 12 @ 10PM and announce the winner on Tuesday. . .so check back!!

Good Luck! And thanks for helping me celebrate my etsy shop opening!!

xoxo—Lori


*************************************************************************************
Giveaway and commenting closed

My stuff in my Etsy shop!

Remember those Rosette headbands I showed you earlier. . .??? Now you can buy them in my etsy shop!!! Yes, I finally did it. :)





Have fun shopping. ;)

xoxo—Lori