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Another edition of Monday Love…

A quote: Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.  Proverb

Something personal:  My husband and I both grew up with very modest lifestyles.  Single parents, public school, simple home/apartment, etc.  I think we both learned to appreciate the value of a dollar that way, and how hard our parents worked to make sure we had the things we needed.  I have great memories of my childhood, of my first job (at 15.5 years old), and my first car (a beat up red camaro!).  I worked for everything, including my college tuition!   When I look at my life now, and my kids lives, I would say we are “rich” in comparison.  And yet we live on a budget, we try to save money, we are “upside down” in our home (thanks to the housing market), and I long for new clothes, shoes, and purses!   I often ask myself why I want these “material things,” and I’ve yet to find a good answer.  I just do!  But alas, the point to my story is that Jeff is really good at fixing and reusing things.  I love that about him (and hate it sometimes too).   Here is a great example of the latest reuse/recycle project.  Kylie’s Barbie bike that I purchased at a consignment sale for $20 two years ago, repurposed into a VORTEX racer bike for Jake.  It’s better than any bike we could have bought in the store, and the whole family had fun completing the transformation.  Grandpa even found a new seat and pedals to complete the look.  And now the “making” of the bike is part of the memory.  Love that!

Here’s a “before” pic.  Kylie learned how to ride without training wheels in December.

The “after” picture.  Jake looks pretty cool right?

Something cool:  A while back at a friend’s Pampered Chef party I bought the Mix & Chop Tool.  It has been the best purchase – and I use it all the time!  It’s always such a pain to chop ground beef/turkey into small pieces with a spatula. This makes it so easy!  It’s the little things…..

 HAPPY MONDAY!!!

Another edition of Monday Love…

A quote:  ”Your birthday is a special time to celebrate the gift of ‘you’ to the world.”  Anonymous

Something personal: I’m a little late, but I still wanted to post about Jake’s Birthday.  He just turned three, and I can’t believe how old (and yet how young) he is.  I still look at him as my baby, and wonder how long that will be the case (maybe forever).  And yet, he is growing into a sweet, outgoing, handsome little guy.  We decided to keep his party small (and it was a serious debate), so as not to overwhelm him with too much attention and chaos.  For some reason, in my mind, Jake is shy and I have labeled him as such.  If I take my mommy goggles off, I see now that he’s not shy at all, and he’s changing everyday.  I have a new goal to NOT label him (or Kylie) and TRY to let him grow into whomever he chooses to be.  VERY CHALLENGING!  :)

It was a beautiful day for his party and I had done much of the work in the month or two leading up to the day.  Which is a good thing because I was bed-ridden with Strep Throat the day before!  Thank goodness for Aunt Laurie, who not only helped with all the awesome decor (cupcake toppers, banner, thank you circles, etc.), but also arrived early and helped us get everything set up.  Jake had requested a ‘green’ party, and we added in the trains for a fun theme.  Kylie got to have her BFF over for the party and we told them they could help us with the little kids.  It was a great time!

To start off, here’s Daddy working on the train cake.  This was Jake’s self-proclaimed FAVORITE thing about his birthday.

I often found Jake hovering around the party table, waiting for a quiet moment to sneak some candy off the cake.

Welcome to the party!!!  (with Aunt Laurie)

Thank you bags with train whistles and train lollipops.

Our train cut-out craft magnets for painting.

My little man – hamming it up!

The whole group!  Jake’s best bud, Anna, who he has basically grown up with.  Plus, three friends from school and Kylie and Ainslee (our helpers) in the back.

The train theme was from TomKat Studio, and the cupcake toppers were from Parker’s Flour Patch on Etsy.  The custom Train T-Shirt was from Smitten and Company and the super-cool train puzzle was from Grandpa’s Workshop on Etsy.

Something cool: As many of you know, I always put a quote in my Monday Love posts.  I find them from various sources on the internet.  While searching recently, I found a website with tons of Dr. Seuss quotes and I have to say – that man was brilliant!  Though most of his quotes are in his children’s books, they definitely pertain to adults as well – even more so!

Here are a couple awesome quotes at the top of the list.  You can view more HERE.

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”

HAPPY MONDAY!!!

Another edition of Monday Love…

A quote: “It’s good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”  Ursula K. LeGuin

Something personal: It’s been a while.  I know.  A long while actually.  The fall was busy and then I fell off the photography planet and into another world, otherwise known as “my life.”  I’ve spent time with my family, time cooking (and even BAKING), I joined a running club with the goal of running my first 10K in March, I’m eating healthier.  I have also been spending time being creative in other ways that give me joy, like planning ridiculously cute details for Jake’s third birthday party (even though it will be super small) and thinking of ideas for Kylie’s possible “Pirate Birthday Party” in March, and even MY fiesta in April — the BIG FOUR-O!!  In short, I’ve been enjoying a life of what some people would call “leisure” and I’m trying not to feel guilty about it.  Would you believe I actually started designing MY OWN family album from our beach session last October?  *GASP*  All of these things happen between carpool, laundry, dishes, childcare, and husband-care (is that a word), but I have enjoyed every minute.

I cannot promise when things will get back into full swing for Tiny Heart Studios, as I’m taking a little break right now.  I have some other projects in the works, one involving the Atlanta Children’s Shelter.  And I thought I would share a recent project that got my work on the cover of the 2012 Winter/Spring WHERE Atlanta Street Map & Visitors Guide!  I did some pictures of some well known Atlanta landmarks and this one was picked up by the Publisher of Where Atlanta.

The original image:

And the map:

Here are a couple other images – the Atlanta Fish Market and one from the World of Coca-Cola:

I don’t really consider nature/landscape to be my specialty, but I had fun dabbling.  ;)

Something helpful: So maybe I’m behind the times, but I rarely (if ever) go to YouTube for anything.  I joined the facebook wave, and I do have several Pinterest Boards, including one dedicated to what my dream home (specifically the kitchen) would look like!  But, I guess I always thought of YouTube as a venue for a bunch of teenagers to make videos of themselves doing silly things.  I know, I know, it’s SO MUCH MORE.

So for anyone else who is maybe a little like me, and just doesn’t think of YouTube as super helpful, here are a couple videos that I think ARE pretty cool.

Recently I linked over to this video about how to curl your hair with a curling iron and it was really quite helpful.  The link, of course, was from Pinterest.  That got me wondering how many other helpful videos might be out there – and there’s A LOT!

Gordan Ramsay taught me how to chop an onion (I was doing it all wrong)

This one showed me a MUCH better way to cut a bell pepper into strips

And the parents that caught this on video and put it on YouTube should be given a hefty sum of money.  Hilarious!

That’s all for now!  Happy Monday!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Another edition of Monday Love…

A quote: Tradition is the illusion of permanence. -Woody Allen

Something personal:  What an interesting quote by Woody Allen.  After giving it some thought, I can truly understand the sentiment.  My view of tradition has always been centered around the holidays and various milestone events.  In my quest to have special traditions, I often find myself wondering what I’m so obsessed with.  Ah-ha!  My quest for things to always stay the same.  I became more obsessed with creating these traditions as my children started growing up.  Jeff often gave me the “what’s the big deal” speech when I would obsess about something as simple as what would be for breakfast on Christmas morning.  Of COURSE it’s a BIG DEAL!  I want my kids to do the same thing, year after year, and maybe then, JUST MAYBE, they will never grow up and leave…… or forget about me!!!  It’s funny, I just thought of that — but it must be what I’ve been thinking all along.   And, in hindsight, I didn’t have too many traditions growing up so it could just as well be a childhood issue for me.   Anyway, probably too much information, but just thought I would share.  :)  And on that note, here is a tradition that I started when Jeff and I got married.  I bought my first Swarovski snowflake in 2004 to hang on our tree, and I’ve bought one every year since then.  The process of opening each ornament and putting it on the tree reminds me of how far we’ve come in our 7 short years of marriage.  I feel very, very lucky.

And another tradition….. attempting to get a cute picture of my kids for our Christmas card…. not so pleasant.   I had this crazy idea that I would get some fake snow and have them lay on the ground with their heads opposite each other and get the perfect smiling photo.  I forgot to have them put coats and hats on (in my rush to do this in 10 minutes) which makes the “snow” seem kind of silly.  And Jake refused to lay “upside down” next to Kylie, which destroyed my vision.   So, our xmas card will have something else deemed more perfect (HA!) and I thought I would share this picture, cuz it did turn out cute!  :)

Cool Shopping Find:  I ordered this Mini Air Hockey table from the Land of Nod for the kids for Christmas, and I can’t wait to watch them play!  It’s a great deal for just $69.95 and free shipping too!  :)

HAPPY MONDAY!!!

Another edition of Monday Love…

A quote: No cowboy was ever faster on the draw than a grandparent pulling a baby picture out of a wallet. -Author Unknown

Something personal: ‘Tis the season…..to be busy, right?  I’m not even sure that I ever posted Halloween pictures (or Thanksgiving pictures) on my blog, and Christmas is RIGHT around the corner!  Sheesh!  We really are enjoying the season though, despite all of the hustle and bustle.  A few weeks ago, Nana and Grandpa came to town for Grandparents Day at Kylie’s school.  She was soooooooo happy they both came, and I think everyone had a wonderful time.  I snapped these pictures of Kylie and Nana making cookies that afternoon, and when I looked at them on my computer I was struck by how grown up Kylie looks.  I still see her as my sweet baby girl, but I know she’s getting bigger (and smarter) every day.  At times I forget how much she is capable of doing herself.

And just a few short years ago…..

Happy Monday!!!