Chimin'Time

Did I ever mention that I've been running a second Etsy shop?

I didn't think so. 

We created Chimin'Time with our friends Mark & Amy over a year ago, intending to sell the chimes sets to elementary schools to use in their music programs. 

Turns out by the time we got 75% through assembling 100 sets of chimes we were pretty burned out. :)

Once we finally recovered from that initial burn-out, Amy had the awesome idea to try to sell them on Etsy!

Today I discovered that we were featured on a site called outblush.com.  

HERE's the link directly to our chimes.

Cool, huh!? :)

Reach.

Often times when I'm drying and/or straightening my hair I will put Sesame Street on for Emily. 

This song was on today's episode, and it brought back so many memories. It was on the show when I was little, and I remember loving it. 

It made me want to "reach" and "stretch" more in my own life.

Funny how much our "flexibility" diminishes as we get older.

Oh, Yum.

How delicious are THESE!?

found here...

Um, yes. I would love to have one of those bathmats underfoot while I brush my teeth. Sign me up!

I wish they came in more colors, but I think white could totally work in our bathroom.

Ok, so I'll make it work!

The News from Washington

So far, so good.

We have things moved in and organized to a point where we are as far as we can go before getting another bookcase. 

We're gonna get one from IKEA. 

I went there this past Saturday (Have any of you ever been on a Saturday?? INSANE.) and got two dressers to go under our TV and a small(ish) shelf which ended up in the bathroom. We were going to hang it on the wall, but it's a hefty lil' thing, and the studs just didn't line up in the living room. Bummer. Anyhoo, that final bookcase wouldn't have fit in my car along with the other items. It's 79 1/2 inches long, for goodness sakes! Plus, it was the first item I found in the self serve area, and I was alone, and chickened out. I was alone with the dressers and shelf, too, but by the time I found them I was in this-trip-will-be-a-total-waste-if-I-don't-suck-it-up-and-find-a-way-to-get-these-on-my-cart mode.

So... our place used to look like this:

Master Bedroom.

Emily's Room.

 Bathroom. Obviously.

Living Room.

 View from the front door of the living and dining room.

Now it doesn't. And I'll get pictures again soon. I am too tired and lazy right now to do it. Plus--they'll be better with natural light coming in the windows anyways. 

Our trip here was a bit crazy. I've already mentioned the crazy weather, and the truck delay... But I've only barely gotten to upload any pictures.

Our couldn't-have-survived-withouts were the DVD player, goldfish crackers, and kix.

This is what the road looked like before we got to Pendleton for the night. I know what you're thinkin'. What road? So glad I wasn't driving.

This is how I felt by the end of it all, too.

And some non-roadtrip shots. Just 'cause.

Emily prefers to sit in the lid to her puzzle box when she watches TV.

I came in to check on Emily during her nap one day to find this. Whoops!

Yes, the right side of her diaper managed to come undone. Fabulous.

I decided to let Emily have a go at a bowl of yogurt all by herself yesterday.

She loved it. 

By the end of it everything was coated in yogurt.

She doesn't quite have the spoon thing down yet. Sometimes it's just easier to eat with your fingers...

Pinterest.

I know I'm long overdue for a personal post, and I promise I'll get to work on one once this is up. I've been wanting to tell y'all about Pinterest since I got invited to it though another blog I follow. It has simplified my life in a major way. 

'Lemme 'splain.

I am constantly finding inspiration for interior design ideas, crafting, fun activities to do with my kids someday, homemade and non-toxic cleaners, fitness tips, etc. etc. etc. on blogs I read, and other websites I come across. Well, back in the day the best thing I could come up with was creating a folder on my bookmarks bar with subfolders inside of it. So I had a "Crafts inspiration" folder, with subfolders like "Home Decor," "Sewing Projects," "Baby Stuff," and so on and so forth. It was a semi-effective system, except that I had to go through link by link to find a specific project I remembered, and half the time I couldn't picture the project until I clicked on the link anyways. No pictures = confusion. 

That's where Pinterest comes in. Pure genius. 

You simply drag a little thing that says "Pin It" from their site into your bookmarks bar, and then whenever you find a page you want to bookmark and remember for later, you simply click on the "Pin It" button, and then you select a picture from the page that represents its content (yes--it's one weakness--if there isn't any picture on the page, you are out of luck!), select which "board" you are pinning it to, and voila! 

You can see the "Pin It" button in my bookmark bar on the right side... Third from the right.

Another fabulous thing about Pinterest? Because it's all kept online, you can access it from any computer. This has saved me, because sometimes I use Kirby's laptop, and what use would that be if I had separate bookmarks on his computer?

Here are some screen shots of how fabulous the site is...

These first two are of the page that shows an overview of all my most recent pins to all my boards...

These last two are screen shots of what it looks when I'm looking at a specific board--in this case, my Interior and Exterior Spaces board.

When you click on one of the pictures it takes you to an individual page with all the information you've entered on it (you can even enter prices if you have a wishlist on there), and if you want to go to the actual page you pinned it from you simply click on the picture again and it takes you straight there!

Speaking of wishlists... this is also a great place to form one, because you can have pictures from a bunch of different sites all in one place. Tell your husbands how to get to your wishlist board, and they will love you for it. Not only does it have everything there, WITH PICTURES, but they can get straight to where they can purchase it.

You can also "follow" other people's boards, and re-pin items from others' boards to your own. Very cool. 

So there you have it. I don't get any sort of bonus if you join or anything, I just think it's amazing. As far as I know, it's invite only, which is why I posted about it. I think I have at least 5 invites as of right now, and I want to give them away! So please let me know if this is something you think you would use and love and leave me your email, and I'll send invites on a first come first serve basis until I run out! Again, I'm not exactly sure how many I have, but even if I run out I can probably request more.

I love Pinterest, and I think you will too! :)

Home Sweet Home.

We got our truck on Sunday morning. 

I think ABF may have arranged it specially for us, for which I will be eternally grateful. 

That extra day of unpacking has made a HUGE difference. We got our bedroom and most of the kitchen unpacked and put away on Sunday, which was an all-day task. I can't even imagine having to attempt to do that by myself while Kirby was at work on Monday!

I have this problem. When my house is in chaos, I feel this longing for cleanliness and order, but the disorder is so overwhelming that I don't get very much done. I don't know where to start, and I tend to flit around to different areas, and then take a "well needed" break to read a chapter or two of whatever Hunger Games book I'm on. 

Which, by the way, I just started Mockingjay. 

'Cause I know you all were dying to know.

The good news is that I got the entire bathroom put away yesterday, which was a daunting task! Remember that photo I showed you of all the awesome non-food stuff I got thanks to couponing? Well, most of that stuff is bathroom-related, and we have about 1/3 the storage in our bathroom here as we did in Orem. SO. It was a bit of a challenge (okay, a LOT of a challenge), but thanks to the plethora of baskets I've acquired over the last year or so it's even fairly organized!

Next step? Buy some sort of storage cabinet to stick above our toilet for the stuff we use every day. Then we don't have to bend down and rummage in the baskets below the sink.

It's cold. And raining. No big surprise there.

I think I want a nap. Yes, a nap sounds real good right now.

The Skinny.

We're stranded.

Well, not really. We arrived safe and sound in Vancouver, got our keys to our apartment, and then discovered that our truck STILL hadn't left Salt Lake City. 

EXCUSE ME!?

We had spent 2 days driving through snow storms and treacherous conditions in our small 2-wheel-drive vehicle, only to have some weak-sauce professional driver decide to stay in Salt Lake City!? 

The irony is that because the truck waited, as opposed to leaving when we left, it probably had a harder time of it--the storm in the blue mountains only got worse. The morning after we passed through it was completely closed off. It made for very empty roads for us, since there was no one else getting through west-bound I-84.

Okay--to be fair, I don't know the whole story. But considering they were originally estimating our truck would get to Vancouver on Thursday, I feel like my frustration is justified. The lady on the phone told Kirby that they would do all in their power to get our trailer to us this weekend.

Our truck is in Portland now. It arrived late this afternoon. Great, we thought. We'll be able to unload tomorrow morning. Just a day later than we'd planned. Not too bad. The panic of not having anything to wear to church on Sunday subsided. 

Kirby called the company to try and arrange a specific time for the truck to be dropped off tomorrow. And apparently it can't be dropped off until Monday? Oh wait, maybe they can get it to us on Sunday? Call on Sunday and they'll see what they can do. 

!?!?!?!?

...resume panic about Sunday...

Admittedly, it's not as bad as it could be. We could be staying in a hotel, dishing out a good chunk of money for four nights hoping and wondering if we'd actually get the trailer on Monday. Instead, we are at the in-laws.

Have I mentioned that Kirby starts work on Monday? We're going to have to do all the unpacking AFTER his first day of work, most likely. Another hard thing is that Kirby's family were all prepared to help us unload the truck this weekend--but it's unclear who will be able to help once Monday comes.

One good thing has come from the delay. I have had nothing to do besides read the entire first book of the Hunger Games series. Loved it. Although there were times I wanted to slap Katniss upside the head. Clueless.

It Really IS Christmas!

I love me a good smoothie. A lot. 

While we were in Florida we discovered a smoothie shop called Tropical Smoothie Cafe.

 DIVINE. 

I mean Jamba Juice is good, but there isn't really a comparison to TSC.

Lemme 'splain. 

My favorite flavor is called Bahama Mama. 

First off--AWESOME NAME. 

It has strawberries, pineapple, white chocolate, and coconut. Oh. My. Heavens. It is divine.

Oh. And then there's the Cranberry Truffle. It's not on their normal menu, but you can pretty much get it year round. I believe it has cranberries, strawberries, and white chocolate. Probably some other stuff, too. I like to throw in some coconut every now and again. It is also sent straight from heaven. 

What does this have to do with Christmas, you may be asking yourself?

There is a Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Portland!

I googled "smoothie vancouver, wa" to see what kind of options I was going to have when we got there and the TSC website was the first on the list! There aren't any other locations nearby--just the one in Portland--only 10 miles away from our apartment!!! It is an east coast chain, so I was shocked and giddy to find out I no longer have to mourn the loss of TSC.

Merry Christmas to ME!

Today.

I'm sitting here waiting for my unexpected load of laundry to be done. Emily decided to overturn an entire bowl of oatmeal in her lap this morning. Hardly any got on the tray of her high chair. Her pajamas were thoroughly gloopy. The pajamas would have to wait, though--we were running late for her 1 year checkup.

Did I mention my daughter is a YEAR OLD!?

While at the doctor's office, she slipped and bumped her face while cruising along. I snuggled with her until she stopped crying. When she pulled her face away, there was blood smeared all across her face. I felt so bad that she was bleeding. 

Poor Emily.

Then the doctor pointed out that there was a decent amount of blood on the shoulder of my sweater.

Poor Me.

And thus the spontaneous load of laundry came to be.

In other less melancholy news, here are Emily's one year stats:

Weight :: 25th Percentile

Height :: 50th Percentile

Head Circumference :: Between 25th and 50th percentile. 

Cuteness :: Unmeasurable. Off the charts. 

The doctor said so.

Ummmm, so yeah.

Yup. A month.

Just call me LAME BRAIN.

The skinny of it all is that I got several photography jobs that kept me busy. Not to mention the adorable almost-one-year-old I have running (okay, not quite yet) around. 

Some nights I sit in bed and try to analyze what I did that day. Sometimes it takes me a while to remember. 

I'm guessing some of you can relate.

My house is a mess, but I feel like we just cleaned it. And... rather than getting up to do something about it I am sitting on my patoot to accomplish something that's been on my list even longer :: B.L.O.G.

Priorities, right?

Here's the deal though. I feel so monumentally behind, that if I don't just let some stuff go, I think my head might pop off out of the sheer pressure to get it all posted. Phew. So I'm gonna post a couple of my favorite pictures and move on. :)

Occasionally, when we are having a shortage of food, we feed Emily giant orange rubber balls. 

Sometimes life is just hard, you know?
Especially when you are two feet tall and have someone waiting on you hand and foot...

She's trying SO hard to look innocent here. Yup. Not buying it.

Oh, and um... check out this chair!

I know what you're thinking. "Looks cool, but couldn't possibly be comfortable..."

Well, you would be wrong. 

'Cause it was CRAZY COMFORTABLE! Sold, though. And a million billion dollars.

The company we interned with paid for us to get out to and home from Florida. We discovered we LOVE Hampton Inn & Suites hotels. Here's the coolest one we stayed in...

Yup. I'm totally one of those people who takes pictures of cool hotel rooms.

AND... We got alphabet magnets. 

My life is now complete.

Lia Sophia

Have I ever mentioned that I love sparkly things?

Um, cause I do.

So much so, that I am opening my home to all of you and hosting a Lia Sophia party.

PLEASE COME!

When: October 6, 2010

Time: 7:00pm--8:30pm

(Let's be honest, though, it probably won't actually end at 8:30!)

  

Where: My place in Orem. 

If you don't know where it is, leave me a comment 

with your email address and I'll let you know!

  

Why: Do I really need to tell you why?

Sparkly Things!

Also? There will be games, and prizes (as in FREE JEWELRY, people!), and best of all--I'm going to make a few of my divine homemade apple pies. For reals. 

 TO. DIE. FOR.

Kirby is actually hoping no one will show up so that he can eat them all himself. 

No joke.

And hey--if you are planning on coming, would you comment on this post and let me know? It will help me know just HOW MANY pies I need to make. :)

Sucking it Up

Whew! What a couple of weeks it has been. We're back in Utah, and I feel like I have SO much to catch up on via the blog. This, inevitably, has led to blogging procrastination. I knew I'd have some free time today and I resolved last night to get at least one post finished. :) So here I am, sucking it up and tip toeing out into the whirlpool of catch-up, hoping I don't drown!
How's that for a lame metaphor?

First things first. 

Emily smeared poop in her hair this morning. 

She has some mad ninja skills, I tell you. I didn't even see her reach down whole I was changing her diaper, but SOMEHOW...

Phew. Glad I got that out there. :) Here are some reasons I'm so glad to be back:

FAMILY!

Oh how I missed them. :)

And because I can't just leave you without some pictures--here are some random ones!

Lily pads at Lake Hollingsworth.

Iris.

I went to two different malls in Tampa and was completely blown away. Seriously. I could spend weeks walking around those malls and not get bored--just looking. Here's Emily crawling through a gigantic camera. Both malls had awesome play spots for kiddos!

Me. See those rippling arm muscles?? ;) Joking... joking...

Once upon a time, back in our apartment in Lakeland, I was blowdrying my hair and I suddenly heard Kirby throwing briskly moving our furniture around. I came out to see what was going on, and he was frantically looking for something with a boyish gleam in his eye. I thought he was hunting a cockroach, but no sir! It was this lil' guy. I can't believe Kirby caught him! He was soo tiny! We fed him to Emily. ;)

Bruise.

I'm sitting in the bedroom while Emily naps, checking blogs, sifting through email, and trying not to jump out of my pants every time a massive thunder clap shakes our little house. 

Good grief.

I was in the middle of replying to an email when I caught a glimpse of something scurrying at the speed of light--across my hand, on to my track pad, and off the other side of my laptop.

I resisted the instinct to throw the laptop across the room and run around in circles screaming. I lifted the laptop, set it aside (with the speed of a ninja, of course), and saw the little bugger. All that went through my head was: 

KILL IT! KILL IT NOW!!!!

So without further adieu, I proceeded to smack my thigh with my open palm. 

Over. And Over.

With all the frantic force I could muster.

Lauren : 1

Lighting-Fast Jerk of a Spider : 0

p.s. 

my leg hurts...

Squish.

Bedtime. 

Time to wash the day off. 

My hair is in my face. 

I step forward to better reach the hair clips in the bathroom cupboard.

Something is under my big toe.

Not unusual.

Our floors are old, and the sawdust junk in between the floorboards often comes up and gets tracked into the bathroom.

I look down at the floor to put it in the garbage.

Half of it is still moving.

But only half.

And it's not floor junk.

On the Road...

I just found this post as a draft that I never published. So here goes. 

And yes--I realize I still haven't even finished posting about when my family came to visit a month ago. Don't hate.

Fun shots from inside the car while driving. That's all. :)

If I Were a Food Photographer...

...I would work in the Sushi industry.

I tried sushi for the first time tonight. I felt so brave. But really--with food this beautiful? Could I really go wrong?

In other news... 

There is a cockroach's antenna sticking out of one corner of our switchplate, and a cockroach's leg sticking out of the opposite corner of the same switchplate. Hopefully not from the same roach, because that would be one big fella. (It's a three switch plate...) Yuck. Just glad it's on the other side! :)

I have yet to see an actual cockroach alive. Or dead, really, for that matter. I saw Kirby throw away one he squished, but I really only noticed how long the antenna he was holding it by was.

And we are leaving in just over a week.

Take that, bug-infested Florida!

Happy Dance of the Century

I WON.

Not something huge, but I won a giveaway on a photo blog I follow! BWUUUT!? When does that ever happen? 

Never. That's when.

Now I have to decide which of the four photoshop action packages I want. I can pick any one of the four they offer. 

WHICH ONE WOULD YOU PICK, AND WHY?
(the packages are listed in the left column...)

Meanwhile...

Yeah. Pictures are edited. 

And coming.

But meanwhile--check this out. 

If you haven't already, of course. 

It was posted three days ago, and already has over 900,000 views!

Huzzah, BYU! 

And if you thought this was funny, but didn't know the original reference (like me...) look up "Old Spice. The man your man could smell like" commercial on YouTube.

Phew!

So much to blog, and so little time!

False. 

I have time. I just have so much else to do during that time! I got back from all the vacationing with my family last night (they came to visit us in Florida for a week after I shot the wedding out there...) I just finished editing and engagement session that I shot while in Utah. I still need to edit the pictures from the wedding (the main reason for going to Utah), plus the bridals of my bride and groom (technically called "groomals," I guess...), plus a senior/pre-mission session which I also squeezed in while visiting the grand old Beehive state. 

Oh yeah. And did I mention I have hundreds of pictures of me and my family? I am really itching to edit those next, but Mr. Soon-to-be-Missionary enters the MTC in two weeks, so I'm afraid his session takes top priority. But soon, people. 

Very. Soon.

The Fly Lady

You may have heard of her. The cleaning, organizing whiz of a woman?

Well, I'm a fly lady, too. Pretty sure mine was down for the entire bridal shoot I shot this evening. 

OOPS.