best news of the day

One of my all-time favorite bands, Ida, will release a new album at the end of January '08. According to Pitchfork, the band recorded the Lovers Prayers album in the Catskills-based home of Levon Holm (who used to play in The Band). I can not wait until January to hear this sweet music. Hopefully a well-connected-to-the-music-world fairy will send me one in the mail. Otherwise, I'll have to wait in agony!

sew, mama, sew! handmade holidays

so very excited about all of this! if i only had all day long to craft and craft. i wonder if the fabric store will let me barter mopping the bathrooms for fabric...

it's coming, it's coming

we've decided to hand make most of our christmas gifts this year instead of running up ridiculous amounts on our credit cards. so the weekend of hollerday crafting will begin tonight! i've been getting some inspiration from uncommon grace and soulemama lately. i also found a handy list of diy holiday gifts over at family fun. and now that i'm over my fear of sewing, i think i'll be ready to dive in and make all sorts of goodies. yippie!

even a 12-year-old knows how to pull a burt reynolds

to the left, my son parker. to the right, my nephew wesley--in disguise. he is probably the coolest 12-year-old around. smart, witty, so so so kind, generous, best friend to his sister, and moreso, friends with everyone. one of the most wonderful persons on the planet.

these were taken this summer at their joint birthday party. one of parker's gifts from me was a set of mustaches for accentuating his pirateness. note the pirate t-shirt from wesley's mom jen...matches perfectly with his friends in low places hat. anyway, we finally downloaded photos from that day this week and they've been a blast to look at. it was a pretty poignant day for me (i was in the middle of a miscarriage) but the photos of these terrific boys help me to remember just what a great celebration that was...and how awesome it is that they are here in this life with us. their existence is a true gift.

The Swedish Chef vs The Chicken

thank goodness for both the chef and the pigs in space!

decor8: Calendar Round Up 2008: Part One

calendars make me oh so happy. i only wish i could look at each of these right now. please see part two as well.

back to work.

decor8: Calendar Round Up 2008: Part One

if you teach him to fish (a.k.a. juvenile post for sunday)

last year we took our son to the hog calling contest at the circleville pumpkin show. we finally got ahold of the images that he took while standing with us in the crowded audience. i gave him my canon powershot camera to play with--i know, bad mother. anyway, he eventually dropped the camera, then picked it up and smashed the lens in. it rendered it useless and we've been without a real camera for a year. we've been using a video camera that "take photos, too!" but it ain't the same. i might as well be using a shoe to take a photo. anyway, back to those butts. we didn't know that while below he was getting some booty shots. here are a few to enjoy. feel free to provide captions.

sweet november

next week will be the third anniversary of our wedding reception, what i like to call our "second wedding" and what i consider was our real wedding. we had a shotgun ("with child") wedding with family and two friends (adamant about being in attendance) in march of 2004. we didn't have enough time to throw together a fancypants party, so we thought we'd wait several months. boy was it crazy. i had no idea how insane it would be trying to plan a wedding reception diy style with a 2 month old. i do not recommend it, unless you're a nihilist.

so on november 6, 2004 we held a renewal of vows and blessing of the family before all of those we loved. the ceremony/party was held at a barn outside of town. friends helped us throw the event together. a local vegetarian restaurant catered it with comfort soups, salad and bread. my mom put together the floral arrangements. and tons of people showed, despite the country location.

there were a few sour notes to the day. i was late, having been caught in a baby feeding call as i was on my way out the door. and, unfortunately, it was just a few days right after bush won his second term. for some, it was a very bitter time and no one was really up for celebrating anything. despite that, the whole day was lovely and the weather was perfect. it was an honor to celebrate with our friends and family. it was dreamy. i had wanted a full scale bourgeois martha stewart wedding for many years and struggled that this wasn't going to be the perfect one--but the event turned out to be quite the opposite. everything i wanted. color. food. loved ones. sunshine. music. sweet cake. we had it all.

i love to look at the photos from that day each november. they always remind me of how wonderful life is and how lucky i am to have experienced this day.

the randy's

paul and me. (that baby is now in kindergarten, i think)

flyboy looking for food

folks dancing with the bubbles

the photographer and oh so midwest modern jessica miller