Artsy Inspiration

What is not to love about this bunny sculpture by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman? Check out the beached piano too--incredible! (Found on Designspongeonline.com)

Christmas Shopping in July

Audrey's birthday is just one week from Christmas. I want to get her cowgirl boots. Most of them in her size are pink, but I'm shopping for red. Oh, we have some contenders.

Good: Red boots

Better: Boots that light up...for my rhinestone cowgirl.
BEST: Red and turquoise AND the hearts light up? Seriously?

Random Old Shoe Sketches

The names of shoes aren't quite as inspiring as the names of paint chips, but they do have a sort of dusty allure.

File Under Francophile

Why don't they have this dress in Audrey's size? It is French and her chubby little self would look so freakin' adorable in it. Lindsey started work at the French company bioMérieux this week. The standard legal jargon footer in their emails is in French and also includes this sweet green sentiment...

• Préservons l'environnement - Avez-vous réellement besoin d'imprimer ce courriel?
• Please consider the environment - Do you really need to print this e-mail?

Why do I love everything French all of a sudden? Baby clothes, cheese (well...that isn't new), tennis shoes. French class was the only C grade I received.

We toured a montessori school this morning (for the 2010 school year) and I wanted to like it more than I did. I envisioned something greener, with more inspired playgrounds. I dunno. I just wasn't impressed. Everyone seemed nice enough. But I have a tour scheduled at another school tomorrow. They already have a wait list, so that doesn't sound hopeful. I can't believe I have to already start looking into this. The forms for the magnet pre-schools are incomprehensible. (Form says "See page 4 for details on age requirements." Um...the form is only 1 page long. Duh.)

I have so many smart and wonderful friends. Some with kids, some without. I wish we could all tackle this daycare thing together. I find four friends--watch their four kids and mine one day a week, and we all take turns. Except that we would each need an assistant and day to recover. But the idea of Audrey learning art and photography from Jess and Laura, and learning to garden and write from Stefene, learning to play soccer from Thomas, pottery from Carmelita, how to score terrific finds from Katy. I can handle teaching her how to cook and sew. Lindsey can handle teaching her bad jokes and good grammar. Let's see...we need to cover dancing and musical instruments. Can I cram anything else into the kid.

How about a little love?

Oh, by the way, she had two shots and blood drawn at her 18 month check-up today and not a single tear. She is one super baby.

Enough.

Summer Lovin'

The last few weeks have been whirlwinds.

We took a glorious, but too short trip to North Carolina to visit Lindsey’s family. Picked blackberries. Baked a pie. Had brunch with friends. Went to a family reunion. Scored some Bojangles. Excellent time.

We were supposed to host guests between those two trips, but a health scare prevented their visit. THANKFULLY, the test results were negative.

So Audrey and I spent three days at the farm. Went swimming. Road the golf cart in the hay field. Played with kitty. Marveled at the miniature donkey. Took tons of photos. Had a beautiful time.

Spent 4th of July at my cousin Kelly’s for the annual “Rain of Fire” celebration that my cousin’s Mark and Brian orchestrate. The most awesome fireworks celebration I’ve every attended. Rain be damned. We camped in a soggy tent. Ate ridiculous amounts of food. So much fun. I love my family to no end.

And hip hoopla hooray—Audrey is walking. She’s also quickly mastering the fine art of tantrum throwing. They are loud, but very short lived. My little peanut is growing up and I don’t like it one bit. Well, it is exciting, but happening all too quickly. She’s already figured out how to open the office door where the computers are with all their blinking buttons and humming fans. What next? Will I find her with her own Facebook page?

Lindsey starts a new job on Monday. Yesterday, we took Audrey to Grant’s Farm. I hadn’t been since a goat tried to eat my skirt when I was six. I had forgotten how much was there. Um…or maybe it has changed a lot in 35 years.

Picked two tomatoes and had first BLTs of the season. Also made first batch of pesto. Have the itch to entertain friends, but feel like I have dozens of things to get in shape with the house before that.

Breathe.
Sigh.
Love.