Little Person lost in the desert.

What a terrible way to go.

Toddler appliqué!

About a week ago, I found this adorable T-shirt at Target. The very next day, the adorable shirt was involved in a very sad incident involving dirt, mustard, and other unknown staining agents. Upon washing, the multi-colored stain extended over the entire front of the adorable shirt. But, I refused to throw it away. So, I used a vintage pillowcase from my fabric scrap bin and cut out a rose design, pinned it so that most of the appliqué could cover the stain and sewed it on with my sewing machine. Here's the adorable shirt before:



And after:



Still adorable!

Little People Overboard

Ikea hack: Magnetic easel board

Here's Ikea's $19.99 MÅLA easel:



Seems like a pretty good deal, except that one side is a faux-chalkboard and the other other is a dry erase board. Maybe it's just my kid, but if there was a dry erase pen around, the only place it won't be used is the dry erase board. So, with $10 worth of metal sheeting from Lowes, and we've got a magnetic board for her letters:

More Creepy Little People

FisherPrice Little People. Who knew what their interior lives were all about...

Creepy cool Little People

These are photos that I did of my daughter's Little People collection. I love how they are so cheerful, but a little creepy.

Roadtrip

It's that time of year, when it's cold, windy, and dusty gray here in the Northwest that I start dreaming of a road trip...

Images: anthropologie, rachelredlips.blogspot.com, Rob Hann via DesignSquish
Christophe Kutner

New at West Elm

It seems like a new West Elm catalog appears in my mailbox every week. Every week, I'm tricked into thinking that there will be new items inside, but alas, it's the same products with a different cover. With much incredulousness, I opened their new catalog that arrived yesterday, and what a shock! New and exciting stuff everywhere!

New Year post (a few days late)

Happy New Year!
"Whenever I'm With You" poster by Spreadthelove

Some inspiration

From the newest Lonny magazine (October/November 2010)

Yummy pink with framed Polaroids:
Textiles, textiles:
This should be my bedroom:
This is a hotel in Florence, Italy. I love how the Italians use ribbons on their drapes:
Ahhh! I LOVE this room for girls and grown up girls:

Awesome Austin Texas (with a toddler)!

Last week the whole family flew down to Austin for six days of sun and fun (well, Hubby had to work for most of it). When we lived there a few years ago, before we had a kid, I knew a different kind of Austin, one where the margaritas flowed past 7 p.m. bedtime. This visit, with a toddler in tow, I wasn't sure what we'd do for fun. Rest assured, there's plenty for kids and their parents. Here's my little guide to Austin with a toddler:



1. Flora and fauna: With new and interesting species of birds, bugs, and other critters all around, Olivia the toddler chattered non-stop about the cool sights and sounds of nature. We saw turtles, frogs, grackels, geckos, and all kinds of beautiful flowers and plants that don't exist in the Pacific Northwest.

(View of the Colorado River along the train route.)

2. Zilker Park: Ride the charming green Zilker Park Zephyr through the trees and along the paths of Zilker Park. Plan ahead for times and tickets on weekends and when the weather is nice. There's also a great playground right next to the train with a variety of play structures and a super-cool music creation area.

(At Deep Eddy Pool)

3. Swimming: Rent a motel with a pool (we stayed at the totally groovy Austin Motel, which has a spacious and relatively quiet pool area). There's really nothing more interesting to a toddler than water. In Austin there are other options than a chlorinated pool, we loved wading in the cool waters of Deep Eddy, a historic pool on the banks of the Colorado River with water supplied by the river. Of course Barton Springs is incredible too, but less manageable for young kids.


4. Toy Joy: Easily the coolest toy store in town. A little spendy, but with a variety of small trinkets toddlers dig, such as a vast array of rubber duckies.

(Making "tamales" at the "In My Family: En Mi Familia exhibit)

5. Austin Children's Museum: ACM's large, open space is perfect for little ones on the run. For me, it was nice to be somewhere that I didn't have to worry about Olivia breaking something or someone. We went on a weekday afternoon when it wasn't crowded. That was crucial, since friends tell me that the weekends see an overwhelming number of tots. Check out "In My Family: En Mi Familia," a wonderful and creative interactive space inspired by the art of Carmen Lomas Garza.



6. Hot dogs: After the Children's Museum, visit Frank, located just a few blocks away on 4th and Colorado. They serve fancy Chicago style dogs (veggie dogs too!) but to a kid, even a fancy hot dog is still a hot dog. I think Olivia's favorite part was the vintage phone booth complete with a 10 cent rotary phone.

Women on the verge

I'm loving these photos by Alex Prager. (She's a part of MoMA's New Photography 2010 exhibit.)






So many images about the conflicting realities of being a modern woman. Love it.