Work In Progress

musical happiness

remember about a year ago i told you to go buy the brandi carlile cd because it would bring you much joy? well, she has a new one out ... due in april. i'm counting the days. literally. and it's come to my attention that the cosmos are keeping me from seeing her live yet again. last year when she came to town, we were in indiana. this year when she comes to town, we'll be in indiana. what does this tell us, children? that we're in indiana too damn often.

but i'll leave you with this. and how cute are the guitar twins?? holy hotness. they remind me of a guy i used to make out with in college. not marc. another guy. strictly for making out, was he. but i digress ...:

and then there's this ... makes me sooo happy right now. how great is she??

and you've all heard/seen this one, right? cuz it's gorgeous. love these guys.

okay. that's it for now. (i obviously just figured out how to add this stuff. just call me "geek." *snicker*)

almost major

it wasn't the 18" they were predicting, but a solid 10" blew around the yard for two days. because of the high winds, the front yard has maybe 3", but the backyard is crazy deep in some areas. love it.

i really haven't taken too many pix yet ... i had too much fun throwing snowballs at my son and pulling harp around on the sled. snow is for playing in ... can't waste a moment!!

winter storm warning.

tonight through sunday night.
two days of snow.
(and marc's not flying to north carolina afterall.)

imagine my delight right now, people. if you know me at all, you know there are no three lovelier words in my world than "winter storm warning."
happiness ensues.
watch this space for pix of snow, snow, and more snow.
unless the weather system poops out and we get nothing. which, i'm sure, is possible.

then i'll cry.

it's tuesday.

i say that because it's friggin' tuesday. how?! it was friday, and i was pumped up for a great weekend, then pffft ... it's tuesday.

wow.

three days of blur.

saturday i had my super creative and talented friends over for a crop. we've slacked on our "once a month" commitment to each other, so i offered up my basement and my food, hoping that would get the ball rolling again. by golly, i think it did.

watch me name-drop: kirsten hegman was here. nisa fiin was here, along with a new friend/inspiration/cropper for us named mitchell, who is male, young, and fab. susan weinroth was here and sue thomas was here. margie schershleigt was here. sandra stephens was here. christine brown was here. and my new lovely friend mandy birdwell was here. i'm missing someone, aren't i? i can't even check photos because - d'oh!! i didn't take a single one!! we were too busy having fun. love these women (and new man) ... they are endlessly funny and sweet and talented like nobody's business.

after they all took off, marc and i got the kiddos to bed and crashed on the couch. we must have watched a show, but i honestly can't remember. think i was too firmly entrenched in the new annie leibovitz book. if i could meet one person in my lifetime, it would be her. so much of what she says about photography in her book resonates so loudly with me. that might have to be another blog entry of its own one day.

sunday was henry's birthday party. he's seven. seven, people. i about lost it sunday night while putting him to bed. i said, "do you know that exactly seven years ago you were only two hours old?" and then bam. tears. suddenly the "kid" in him is giving way to the "boy." it's weird.

his party was great. had it at pump it up again ... such a no-brainer, that. bake a cake and show up. that's all we had to do. unfortunately seven-year-olds never slow down, so i didn't get great pix. and then in the party room there was some electrical difficulty and the lights were doing this strobe thing the whole time, so again ... no pix. that sucks. but i got these:

went home, kids did quiet time, then we headed to rainforest cafe for henry's b'day dinner. he opted for that based on giantness of birthday desserts offered. spice thai may be the kid's favorite restaurant, but rice pudding's got nothin' over a chocolate volcano. with a sparkler in it.

so then that was sunday, end of the weekend. monday henry was off of school for president's day, so we hung out, he played with his new toys, i cleaned, then we tried to hit the zoo in the afternoon only to arrive at 4:01 ... the darn place closes at 4:00 in the winter. huh. so home we went.

i know there was more to the day, cuz it was crazy, but right now i can't remember what. my brain is absolutely fried. evidence: i put salt on henry's sugar toast for breakfast this morning. how i spazzed and did that, i have no idea. poor henry. he made quite the face after his first bite.

and here it is, tuesday. henry has a doctor's appointment this afternoon, his school program is thursday night, and we're having a plumber out to replace a knob in the bathroom on friday. really exciting week we've got going on here.

but it's tuesday. only three days left until the weekend. of course, marc might be taking off to north carolina on saturday for another seven days, so maybe i shouldn't rush the days ...

attention!!

ahem.
harper pooped on the potty chair.
that's all.

oh - except to add that she thought it was totally funny afterward - while eating lunch - to scrunch up her face and groan, "oooh ... push ... poopoo! poooooosshhhh!" and then giggle and say it again.

oh dear sweet mother of all thing diaperless, let this be the beginning ...

only in minnesota ...

can you watch the weather, see the local temp is 0, and then hear the weather guy say:

"and in the western part of the state it's a little cool."

meaning, it's -15. before windchill.

gotta love minnesota.

what do you do ...

when you catch your kids doing this?

why, you take a photo and scrap it of course!

and the best part? i scrapped it just for me. it's not for an assignment. it isn't part of an article. it was just for me.

that felt good.

rip, molly ivins.

your wit, your intelligence, your down-home sensibilities will be missed.

i'm so sad right now.

molly ivins

welcome home. it's -2.

or at least it was this morning. i think we've warmed up to a balmy 6 right now.

so, yeah. i'm back. from los angeles. from cha. it was so fun. so, so, so fun. really. i haven't laughed so hard or so much in a really long time. and my fellow masters? can i just say i'm in love with each and every single one?? oh my. (click here for photographic evidence of time well-spent.)

catherine, who was my roommate, (have you met catherine? wait ... sorry ... maybe that's only funny to us.) made the whole weekend so much more fun than it would have been had i stayed by myself. we laughed ourselves to sleep every night, and walking with her every day was eye-opening. the girl knows everyone. on day 1 i met her at the bar, sitting with donna. downey. seriously. then we'd go to the show and everyone would stop her and say hi - heidi swapp, emily falconbridge, various industry types and all levels of scrappers. i was totally impressed.

crystal and ronee, who arrived a little later, added a whole new level of hilarity. ronee is a total darryl hannah lookalike and is as honest as they come. crystal is the most comfortable person in her own skin that i've ever met. by the end of day two the four of us were having dinner, drinking several drinks, and laughing uncontrollably ... and somehow ended up in donna's bathtub. along with donna and ikuko, from ck japan, who was donna's roommate and as funny as hell.

and katrina - ahh!! a kindred spirit if ever i met one! adore this girl! i'm so going to vermont to hang out with her as soon as possible.

we really didn't get to spend too much time with hillary, who arrived late and left early and was sooo busy in between times, but the times we did talk i had so much fun. she has such an interesting life and family ... next time, hillary!! we'll talk more!

cha itself ... wow. exhausting and yet so energizing and inspiring. i didn't get to see every booth in the scrap area, but i spent a lot of time checking out the crafting section and getting so inspired by products not even marketed to scrappers. the ideas for crossover are endless!!

from what i did see, i can say right now that i adore fancy pants, cosmo cricket, crate paper, piggy tales, heidi grace, autumn leaves, maya road ... um, what else. pretty much everything, actually. based on the friendliness and awesomeness of reps in the booth, i have to say that you need to buy everything you can from american crafts. they are simply perfection in the customer service department. not to mention their product is gorgeous.

felt is the new hot. and chipboard is going amazing places.

i got to finally meet cathy zielske face to face and it was such a joy to talk to her. cathy - yak! really! and tara whitney was once again one of the sweetest people. and meeting amy butler was amazing ... she is so talented and TALL!! and stacy julian was so sweet when i approached her to thank her for her support of designerzine. she actually asked me how i was holding up now that the 'zine has folded. what a class act. saw my girls nisa and kirsten at the f+w cocktail party, and they arrived with kristi (contes) and genevieve ... SO cool to actually finally meet those girls! though i think i was several sheets to the wind and don't remember a whole lot about it ... regardless, good times.

missed martha's keynote, but from what i hear i really didn't miss much. so sad.

and getting to know the editorial/publishing staff from f+w (effin' w ... my new favorite swear word ... ha ha) was amazing. they are all so nice and so excited about the direction the magazine is going. i'm in love with them all.

i know i'm missing so much, but as i think of it i'll write more. i think i got about 16 hours of sleep in total for four nights, and my blood-alcohol level is finally back to 0, and my abs still hurt from laughing. and i'm so ready to sit down and CREATE!!