Happy Thanksgiving!

And thanks to all my readers for stopping by...I love the sweet comments and kind words of encouragement. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving, and had as much help in the kitchen as I did!

Love,

Heather

P.S. Yes, we made the Betty Crocker turkey cupcakes and they were a big hit, but my photos didn't do them justice!

Color Me a Song

Nothing like a new box of crayons, right? Well, I'm being lured in by tv commercials for the really, REALLY, cool looking "color me a song" activity kit. The faster you draw, the quicker the song. I think this is going to be tops on Jake's Christmas list this year. I have to say, I do put a lot of thought into the toys that I get for Jake, but truthfully, I'm only at a 1 to 3 ratio if it ends up being a toy he actually loves to play with. These days, paper towels and brooms are favorites.

Any toy recommendations for a very cute, 20 month old boy?

All toys from Crayola.

Please bring a dessert

We are (thankfully) guests this Thanksgiving. I cannot imagine preparing a full Thanksgiving dinner. That came out on time. Hot. For XX number of people. My cooking skills are growing, but after living in Manhattan with 80 million fantastic restaurants and six square inches of counter space for years, there was not much incentive for me to create meals. We've been asked to bring a dessert, and I always gravitate towards something that will look good which I feel may cover up any taste issues that arise. Or at least will mask the fact that I count Betty Crocker among my best friends. Is this cheating? 

Images: 1. From Katie M (Whole Foods), 2. From best friend Betty 3. Bridget Lee (inspired by Martha Stewar), 4. Kim Coopet (with recipe)

Choo Choos and Duggahs

As I've mentioned before, it's tough to find really cute clothes for boys that don't involve stripes (which I do like) or fake looking athletic equipment (which I don't like). I saw these cute graphic t's while flipping through the Chasing Fireflies catalog at my mom's the other day, and have been tempted to order them. When I'm driving with Jake, we're always looking for "choo choo" trains and "duggahs" (diggers), so I think he'd love to have them on his tummy. I'm not too sure I can justify the $38 for the white background one because a.) it's for a toddler who will grow out of it by next Tuesday at the rate he's going, and b.) it's white. Having said that...it is very cute! 

Or maybe he just needs this one:

Now What?

Here we are...one foot up, and I'm waiting for the fall that's sure to come someday soon when Jake learns he CAN climb out of his crib. 

What to do? Do I just lower the side on the crib? REMOVE the side altogether? Get a toddler bed? Or, just put sides on the cozy double bed with the super snuggly comforter that I made for his room? Am I delusional to think he would sleep in a double sized bed? Is it necessary to immediately switch to a toddler/other bed as soon as he climbs out?

Some cute options...

A happy orange option, and I love the idea it converts to a chair. From Giggle.

Cute, but I'd have to redo his room (which isn't happening) from here.

I love the cute DIY toddler bed (very inexpensive at $75) that Gabriel Blair of Designmom created. We would need to add sides...

And this is just the cutest for a little boys room...although definitely not for us yet! But I think it's great!

Owl Sweater

I'm thinking about owls today because Jake and I actually SAW one on our little nature walk today. The most exciting thing about this sighting is...this is the first time Jake has retold a story (in his own way). When Daddy came home, he said, "Owl, Don". Translation: "Don from next door showed us an owl!" Of course, I am in awe of each step he makes.

I made him this little sweater and hat last year at Thanksgiving time. I don't actually knit very well (and I can't read a pattern), but I had this vision, and sort of pieced this together. He looked so cute wearing it. I haven't tried it on this year, but am hoping it might fit. As you can see from the photo, it's a little wide, so we may just get a little tummy showing this year. I got the idea to put an owl on the sweater from this (really good selling) journal I designed.

I am also thinking about owls today, because it seems that Jake his honed in on his favorite "dude" (aka "lovie"). It's owl dude (not monkey, frog, giraffe, dog or tiger...we've got them all). Before he goes to bed, or gets in anyway snuggly, he says simply, "owl". I always love to see what kids come up with as they refine their taste for their favorite thing. I'm going to have to stock up. I'm already getting a little panicky when we can't find "owl".

P.S. My oldest niece decided pink bows are the best...her bed was full of pink satin bows at bedtime...they had to be just the "right" shade of pink, so my sister bought rolls of the ribbon!

Playroom

Isn't this the cutest playroom? I just love how the bookshelves exhibit the books face out. In my mind, all it needs is an easel! The photo is from the portfolio of Black & Spiro Interiors. I strongly recommend taking a look at Australian based Anna Spiro's online portfolio for some great ideas and inspiration!

Brunch is for Wimps

My husband's birthday was this weekend, and to celebrate, we decided to go to Soho to have brunch and then to Room and Board to see if we could finally buy some end tables. I had visions of my husband and I chatting lovingly in a chic little bistro while Jake happily sang Ah Mo Wo (Elmo's World), as we beamed at him with pride. We would then stroll past chic shops that I formerly frequented and into Room and Board where we would unanimously decide upon the end tables. Nice, right?

We ended up having the world's fastest brunch as Jake suddenly grew 5 more hands and grabbed everything in sight. My husband and I sat in stressed silence waiting to see what he would come up with next. About 15 minutes later, my husband said, "I'll take him out" and I sat alone and finished my latte.

Then a quick race to Room and Board where Jake immediately let us know that there was NO WAY he was staying in his stroller and proceeded to race through the store banging on every table and climbing on every bed and couch. (My former self saying, "why doesn't this woman control her child?" and my new self says, "I guess it's not SO bad to climb on the gray couch, but I'm definitely drawing the line on the white duvet cover") The sales woman told me she was beginning to hyperventilate watching him because "she had had two of her own" (said in a knowing way). She pointed me in the direction of padded ottomans which she strongly suggested we replace our coffee table with (we weren't even looking for a coffee table). At this point my husband said, "get whatever you want" and raced after Jake who kept giving him gleeful looks before he teased him and took off. We left with no end tables, and at that point I was suddenly quite content with the tv tables that have been acting as end tables for the last two years.

We got in the car and my husband said with pure conviction, "we're never going anywhere again."

Mom Dork

What is it about Mommy and Me type classes/gyms that just make me feel like a total mom dork? It seems like all the mommies joined some mommy club pre-birth and I just showed up late. On the days that I take Jake to some class or other, my husband always asks if any of the other mothers talked to me. Unfortunately, the answer is usually, "no" (although I DO try to strike up conversations!). And then, he laughs and says, "it's not you!". I'm beginning to wonder! Some moms just seem to hit the ground running, and I always assumed that with a baby would come new mommy friends. Let's just say, I'm still waiting. 

(Images from by Dear Kiki)

Fresh Kicks

When I found the art for this journal a couple years ago at the Surtex show, I loved it right away. Apparently, so does Hollywood, because it has been requested to be used as a prop in a feature movie! I can't wait to see it come to life on the big screen!

My little elf...

Here Jake is in his elf costume which was a big hit at our party! There were some cute curly toed shoes to go along with the outfit, but it was pretty rainy out so they didn't last too long on the soggy elf!

Hope you all had a good time. I'm still trying to get over this cold/virus/whatever but it seems to keep getting WORSE!

Halloween Blaze

Last night, my husband and I went to the amazing outdoor pumpkin "spectacle" called BLAZE at Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, NY (located right near the town of Sleepy Hollow!). About 1,000 artists and volunteers scoop and hand-carve over 4,ooo pumpkins that are lit all over the grounds of the historic manor. It takes about 3 hours for volunteers to light all the pumpkins before the event begins! My photos aren't great, but I'm posting to give you an idea how spectacular it is. The manor house itself is all lit up with fog and changing colored lights that cast a spooky glow. 

Throughout the grounds, there are all different groupings and themes. My favorite was a buzzing beehive...keep in mind that all these sculptures are made up entirely of jack-o-lanterns! There was also a really cool replica of Henry Hudson's Half Moon, complete with scary pirates.  Other themes depicted were life-sized dinosaurs, a UFO with aliens, a fairy garden, and "pumpkin henge", graveyards and other spooky things.

On another Halloween note, I don't usually post about what other's have posted on their blogs, but I was so impressed with two of Mrs. Limestone's accomplishments that I wanted to share them. She has decorated her Brooklyn town home in the most awesome way... I'll give you a sneak peek below, and invite you to take a look at her blog to see the rest. As an art director, I often have humbling moments where I see something so excellent, and think, "I wish I had come up with that!" Her Halloween invitations evoke that feeling! Congrats to her on a Halloween extravaganza that's just top notch! She has also posted a free downloadable Halloween hang-tag that's hysterical. See it here.

Halloween Spirit

On Halloween, we get some crazy number of trick-or-treaters... somewhere between 250 and 400 (yikes!). We were taken by surprise last year since it was our first Halloween in the neighborhood. We actually had to borrow candy from the neighbors because we ran out and panicked! 

This year I thought it would be fun to invite some family over to have a party while all the doorbell ringing is going on. I came across these fun recipes to make for our little get together. Truth be told, we may just end up ordering pizza as Jake has been sick all week, and I've gotten about 4 hours of sleep a night since last Thursday between his fever, and my adorable nieces visit! But, an ambitious girl can dream... I guess I could always put plastic spiders on the pizza, and that would be sufficiently gross!

(Snacks from Disney Family Fun; Halloween cupcakes from Bakerella; Funny drinks from Better Homes and Gardens)

Thank you

Many thanks to Jenny at Pearl Street Interiors for featuring some pelmet boxes I made for my bedroom in my former apartment in NYC on her lovely blog. I sold the apartment last year, and although I love our new home in Westchester county, just 30 mins north of the city, I do miss all the readily available fun things to do in the city. Really, in just a 5 block radius from my apartment I had countless terrific restaurants, cool shops, yoga studios, a movie theater, Central Park, and great people watching. Westchester is great, but I do have to hop in the car to get most places other than our neighborhood bog (which is actually a great source of entertainment in itself!). As I'm feeling a little nostalgic about my small slice of Manhattan, I'll share a few photos from my old apartment!

M-I-A

Sorry I've been missing lately, but I've been consulting with the president on very serious national issues.

When books come to life

I came across this amazing sculptural art by artist Su Blackwell. She, quite literally, brings books to life through her cut paper art. I love this statement she makes, "It is the delicacy, the slight feeling of claustrophobia, as if these characters, the landscape have been trapped inside the book all this time and are now suddenly released."

Check out her website, to see more of her incredible images. Take a peek at the "Making a Paper TV Ad" video on her site...it's really cool!

Her work is being shown an exhibit called: SLASH: PAPER UNDER THE KNIFE at the Museum of Art and Design in NYC through January 10, 2010.

All images © 2009 Su Blackwell

My Italy Photo

Many of you wrote to ask how I created the effects in the Italy photo I made for our dining room that I posted about the other day. It's actually pretty easy...I used Adobe Photoshop, and if you have the program, I can show you can do something similar by following these steps...

1.) Start with a color image...either in RGB mode or CMYK. Here's my original:

2. Highlight the entire image (command-A), and copy it (command-C). 

3. Change the mode to grayscale. My image then looked like this:

4. Then, change the mode back to RGB or CMYK, and paste your original image (command-V) over the black and white layer. You will now have two layers. 

5. Click on the black and white layer (which will now be on the bottom layer), select it all (command-A), and cut it (command-X).

6. Click on the color layer, and then paste (command-V) the black and white version over it. This will create a third layer. (Your first layer will be blank, and you don't really need it anymore)

7. When you are in your black and white layer, go to "Image/Adjustments", and up the brightness and contrast to achieve the desired effect. Here's what mine looked like:

8. When you're on your black and white layer, change the opacity of that layer in the layer palette so you can see the color layer behind it. Just erase the areas you want the color to show through. 

9. When you're done, change the opacity back to 100%. I tend to work by frequently changing the opacity back and forth so I can see what I want to erase, and then to see what it looks like. Mine then looked like this:

9. When you're all finished, flatten the image in the layer palette.

I'm still playing around with it, and have two more to go to complete the series, but this is pretty much final!

Have fun! If you try this...send me what you've made, I'd love to see the results!

Things that make me secretly happy

Jake's been decorating for Halloween. I found these stickers he got from Grandma stuck to the floor of my office. Having wanted a baby for so long...how could I ever get upset about stickers on the floor??? Truthfully, I'm really psyched they're there!

Nothing Says Halloween Like...

Nothing says Halloween like these Entennman's cupcakes. Whenever I spy them in the grocery store, I know the season has begun. Of course, I always get them, and I've been working my way through the box this week.

A work in progress

I've been playing around in Photoshop with some of our photos from Italy. We want some artwork to hang in our dining room, and thought it would be have fun to have some reminders of the wonderful trip we took to Rome and the Amalfi coast when we got engaged...yet done in a cool "different" way. It's not quite finished, but I think I'm liking it. What do you think? (you can be honest...I can take it!)

On a funnier note, I took Jake to the zoo today, and I asked him what he thought we'd see. He replied, "AhhhMooo (Elmo)". I was sorry to disappoint, but we had fun anyway!