Santa is coming to town...

We've made a couple trips to see Santa this year. The first was this one at Lola and Gaines' International Night program.  Although Lola loved this "Santa" she made us aware that "This was not the real Santa as his beard isn't super white and long" which meant we would have to make a visit to  the "real" Santa too...

Here he is...the REAL SANTA!!! Side note...the polka dot skirt Lo is wearing is a Minnie mouse skirt from one of my old dance costumes.  It has a red sequin belt on the top and also has a tail and suspenders which we removed.  This seems to be Lo's favorite skirt right now. LOVE that she's able to wear it!

On Monday, I picked the kids up a little early from school so we didn't have to fight the torturous lines.  My strategy worked as we walked right up to the "real" Santa.  Lola immediately ran up and hugged him yelling "SANTA!!!". Gaines, at first, gave us puffy lip and cried a bit but then he just gave this stare in which I know he was thinking "Who in the heck is this guy?!?!?!".

Lola had been asking for dresses that twirl and dress up "princess" shoes (ummm...with heels).  We wrote a note to Santa to request these "goods" earlier this month.  In response to this, I (Santa), ordered some dresses that twirl (which includes a righteous petticoat from American Apparel) and the very very tacky dress up "princess" shoes.  OK...so we're all taken care of right?!?!?!?  Nope because this visit to Santa Lola took it upon herself to change up what she was asking for Christmas.  HUH?!?!?!?  As a super obsessive planner, this doesn't sit well with me.  NOW Lola wants a Ariel mermaid type doll thing.  Damn Disney!!!  Lets just say she won't be getting the exact one she requested (b/c we despise the promiscuity of her attire) but we're on a search for a mermaid type doll now.  She'll still get the dresses that spin but since she's no longer asking for the very very tacky dress up "princess" shoes, I've donated those to a child in need.  So even with the last minute change, it will all worked out.

On our "journey" to the mall (I hate malls btw and the word "journey" but still use it), the kiddos also took a train ride where once again I think G was thinking "What the hell have they gotten me into this time?!?!?!?"...

"Let me out!" thinks G.

And they're off...

Happy Holidays all!  I hope to reveal some of our fun Christmas projects we've been working on soon.  Of course, I still have A LOT to make with very few days remaining. YIKES!  I kind of over committed on the whole "Do it Yourself" idea for Christmas this year. Hopefully it all turns out!  Oh, we should have our Holiday cards done this weekend too.  Super excited to see how they turn out.  Yippee!

Through the eyes of a child

The other morning Clay caught this shot of Lola daydreaming.  His quote was "If we could only continue to see the world in the eyes of children".  This photo and the thought behind this statement moved me.  As I went through images of Lo, I found she is often daydreaming....imagining...  To a child, the world is a magical place...they aren't yet aware of all the stresses life can bring or tragedies that take place around the world daily.  Really....wouldn't it be nice to live just one day through the eyes of a child!?!?!?

Daydreaming in the grass.

More "deep thoughts".

Daydreaming by the creek.

Lola was fascinated by this Buddha we found at a park near our house.  She was entranced and in this position for a little while.  I wonder what she was thinking????.

I couldn't publish this post without a picture of our little guy deep in thought.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We're in FULL ON Christmas mode around here which is causing me to slack on the blog.  This along with a hectic work schedule and getting the new Bolder blog ready for the new year (Yikes!).  We have so many fun holiday projects going on at our house right now which is causing quite a disaster zone.  Here is just a little taste....

The Christmas Tree!

After a long week of traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday, Lola would not let us go home without first making a Christmas tree purchase.

Gaines' new thing is climbing chairs.  After a few big falls, you would think he would learn his lesson...not so much!

Boppity!

Boppity, the elf, arrived and quickly got a new make over!

The end result!

Holiday projects in the making!

Clay and Lo were inspired by the holidays and made this little village out of construction paper.  Ironically, this little village is also the inspiration for our upcoming Christmas card.  Can't wait to reveal this one.  May be the best one yet!

Christmas antlers.  Inspired by the picture of the cow above.  I actually have big plans for these antlers but this project will have to wait until after the holidays.

Fabric/felt for Lola's stocking.  Will have some other fun fabrics and small-bits for the other three stockings.  More to come on this!

The sparkly stuff!

Tree garland.

Inspiration for a holiday wreath.

Lo and I made these glitter letters which will be fun ornaments for the tree.

  
Finally, the holiday brew of choice!

This is just the beginning. Lola is beyond excited about Christmas this year which is making this all a magical experience. Can't wait to reveal the results!

iRetrofone = Love

It took me a LONG time to finally jump on board with the rest of the world and invest in an iPhone but I finally made the big decision to move away from the blackberry and this is a decision I don't regret.  I now want to invest in the iPhone 4 (not 4s)and will likely make this jump this week.  I mainly want it for the flash on the camera since I seem to use my iPhone camera more than our other two better cameras.  Ok...so if  don't feel you really need the iPhone for all the "techy" stuff, here's a reason alone to get one.

Seriously, check out this iRetrofone. This is a charger and a doc. Ummmm and you can even make calls from it.  How great is this?!?!?!  Love it!

Happy weekend all!!!

A movie under the stars....

Just thinking of the idea of sitting in your very own yard watching movies on a big screen is whimsical.  Can't you just imagine yourself  in one of these fabulous settings....

Modern

Cozy

Todd Oldham's home cinema photo. Love the splashes of color.

We took inspiration from these images and decided to do it ourselves a few months back.  Now, ours wasn't quite as "upscale" and beautiful as the settings above but it was just as magical.  Here we are, watching a movie under the stars in The Compound.

 

Image / logo ideas

Goodness!  It's been a week since I've posted. Today brings an unexpected vacation day as the kids are out of school for Veteran's Day.  Although I just discovered this fact yesterday afternoon, I'm looking forward to a long weekend. I must get back to my parenting duties but in the meantime, thought I'd show you some image tests (merely tests) for Bolder.

Unfortunately, I can't get some of my favorite images to upload because they're too large. Even with these, I'm certain they will evolve and we'll eventually have our logo!

Don't forget...When in doubt, go BOLD!

Happy Friday all!

Enamored by...

I'm here to announce I'm sorry I've not been as good this week with the blog.  Work is of course insane (nothing different) and any spare time I have is spent working on getting the new blog - The Bolder the Better (we call it Bolder) up and going.  It's a lot more work than we anticipated but feel it will really pay off.  We have some really unique ideas and I seriously can't wait for the launch!

In the meantime, I realize Hola Lola is suffering but it will be back too.  I have several projects I can't wait to post and of course updates on the kiddos.  For now, I have to jump on a conference call in 12 minutes, so I leave you with some images that are inspiring to me....that I'm enamored by...

Via Kelly Wearstler - Ob-sessed with the chains.  LOVE!

Via Miss Moss bwo Honestly...WTF - The boldness of the colors and patterns in this image are beyond lovely.

  Via The Glamourai - I'm inspired by each and every pattern on these pillows.  Believe it or not, this was the setting / seats for a fashion show. .Love it!

Happy Friday all!!!

A Halloween to remember...

Halloween is quickly becoming one of my favorite holidays. The costumes, the parties, the candy, the jubilation...it's one day that's for the kids / all about the kids and I love it.  This Halloween was no exception, we had such a great time and I'm kind of sad it's behind us!

Just like every little 3 yr old girl, Lola wanted to be a princess but we wanted something a little more unique.  We were able to find this adorable buttercup fairy costume at Chasing Fireflies.  It had the tulle and all the frill Lola loves but was not pink and was not a princess (thank goodness).  Great compromise if I do say so myself!

Nice smile Lo!

Can you guess what G was?  A sock monkey! Note to self:  Don't buy a 1 yr old a costume with a hat....it doesn't stay on for any length of time!

And, then it was all about the good stuff....trick-or-treating.  We had such a blast!  Our great friends Kristen and Kev decided to come along for the ride with us this year (they're always such troopers).  Oh, and it was a wild ride! 

The trick-or-treating crew!

Lo was a little shy at times.

G wanted to hit up the houses himself.  Maybe next year!

We ended the night back at the compound hanging with neighbors and handing out candy to all the kids.  Lola and Gaines loved this part of the evening as it entailed lots of candy eating.  Needless to say, they were in hog heaven.

G discovered his love for suckers.  And I discovered if you give him a sucker it allows us a few moments of peace and quite.  I've also used this trick since this night. Bad I know!

 Loved this night and already can't wait until next year!

Old shoes turned new shoes

Lola and I took on a little project this past weekend and we turned some old shoes into new shoes.  How did we do this?!?!?!? By using a can of gold metallic spray paint. Love it!

Now, I must say, this was not my original idea.  The inspiration came from my very creative sister-in-law, Molly, who spray painted an old pair her shoes a while back.  I loved the idea so I decided to give it a go.

I used a pair of shoes I got from good 'ol JCP a few years ago.  I love the style of the shoe but I'm not crazy about the color so don't wear them as much as I'd like.

 The process went a little something like this....I taped the heels / inside of the shoe and just started spraying away with the metallic gold paint.  Easy stuff here!!!

Lola decided she wanted to spray a pair of hers too.  Why not?!?!?!

I grabbed some laces from American Apparel and I absolutely LOVE the result!

 

They're fabulous with jeans too...

So there you go!  I took a pair of shoes I really never wore and turned them into a shoe I'll wear like crazy!  I even got a few pair of laces which I can switch in and out depending on the outfit.  The great part about the laces is I'll put them in other shoes for both me and Lola.  If you don't want to go all the way with the spray paint, a new lace is another great way to spice up an old pair of shoes.

If you like this, you should also see where my inspiration came from via Smmidge.

Oh, and guess what?!?!?!  I have more fun projects up my sleeve.  Hopefully you'll see the result shortly.

Happy weekend all!!!