Happy Heart Day: Love Big Zoom
We’re just about to head out to Big Zoom’s class Valentine’s Day Party and I thought I’d share the Valentines he lovingly crafted (ha!) for his friends.
We have several kids with allergies in the class, so sweet treats were to be kept at a minimum.
Have I mentioned my love of Pinterest? I have no shame in using (stealing) ideas I find online. Frankly, I’m just delighted someone finally figured out a way to curate creative ideas into one spot so I can steal them more easily! I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Creative thinking isn’t my strongest suit. Copying to a T is. But, always remember to give credit where credit is due. Sharing is caring folks and I’m so grateful for all those who share their ideas online for others to re-create!
Hope you are having a lovely heart day. We’ll be working on these to celebrate with this afternoon!
Side Hustle.
So, if you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen me post some fun design-y + photograph-y type stuff over the past couple of weeks. Mainly of sweet kids or fabrics or business cards.
I have this friend and she’s pretty crafty with the old sewing machine. Well, actually, hers is new and fancy and shiny. Her name is Raedene Averitt, and she’s the owner of Chasing Mermaids Boutique. She makes incredibly cute clothes for kids in the seasons latest fabric fashions and trends.
I’ve technically been working with Raedene since last summer, on an ad hoc basis, photographing things for her here and there and helping with design things for her shop. Towards the latter part of 2012, her business skyrocketed and she began getting order after order after order. Feeling the need to streamline her business, as well as spice up her Facebook page and Etsy shop, she asked if I’d be interested in assisting her with a multitude of behind the scenes bits and bobs.
I was pretty excited. See the thing is, I’m a terribly good assistant. I love to organize. I love to-do lists. I love the behind the scenes. I’m good at taking direction. I don’t get offended if criticism is delivered respectfully and kindly and I genuinely ADORE small business. I don’t have the time or talent (yet) to have a business to call my own, so for the time being assisting someone who’s doing something I really admire…does it get any better?
A month or so in, and I think we’re in a good groove. I’m taking pictures and designing enclosure cards and being all technical in Big Cartel and I’m loving it. It’s just enough to stimulate my brain, but not so much that I’m ignoring my kids and pulling my hair out from stress (a resolution if you’ll remember).
Hop on over to her Facebook page for all the latest designs and updates about Flash Sales, Ready to Ship deals, and new fabric combinations. She’s pretty rad, I think. And I’m pretty sure you’ll like her too.
Best Buddies
Just a little ham for your Wednesday afternoon.
Thankful today for Mama friends and kiddie friends.
Hope your day is super smiley.
365 Project: January + Fun Photo Apps
I made it! I’m 1 month in to the 365 photo project I’m doing, and we’re still going strong. I have to say there were only 1 or 2 times I got to dinner time and thought “oh shoot, I need a photo today”. Most days, I had lots to choose from.
I’ve decided to continue my Facebook hiatus another month. Week one was a little hairy and I was tempted to log in on 1 or two occasions, but since then I’ve been great. I even had to log in to my old account last night for an address (I seriously logged in, went straight to my messages totally avoiding my newsfeed, got what I needed and deleted my account again as fast as I could), and didn’t peek! Instagram is fulfilling my need to be “connected” to family and close friends, so I still feel like I’m in the loop.
On that note, I thought I’d share some of my recent most favorite photo apps. It’s been so much fun playing around with filters and cropping on my phone and I’m not even ashamed to admit that most of my pics are “doctored” up quite a bit. Don’t hate the double-filter!
1. Camera+ : This was my go to app for a long time. It’s got great adjustment presets for different lighting situations, great cropping and rotating abilities, and some cool (free) filters.
2. Snapseed : I’m sort of still new to this one, but I really really like it for its editing options. You can adjust Brightness, White Balance, Exposure, and Contrast allowing you to fiddle with your photos like you would in many real photo editing software packages. They have filters available here as well, though I’ve never used them. Usually I’ll do a quick brightness and white balance adjustment here, and then export to another app for filter fun.
3. VSCO CAM : This is the mobile version (limited) of the fantastic VSCO collection which emulates a film quality in digital photography. I ADORE these actions for Lightroom (my favorite photogs (use them) but I can’t quite bite the bullet on the full set for editing my own pics just yet. This mobile version offers some fun tools to adjust for grain, fade, temperature, and fill light and give photos a really neat film like quality.
And of course, I usually throw an Instagram filter on top of all this as well. I typically scroll through each one and see how my picture looks, but seem to choose Valencia and Nashville most frequently.
Check out my Instagram feed for examples of my recent pics!
Sicky Snowy Day
Farewell January! Good riddance! Nice knowing ya!
We’ve been majorly sick over here for the ENTIRE month of January. If you watch the national news and pay attention at all to the “health” reports, you’ll know that there have been many many bugs floating around the country this month.
We’ve had EVERY SINGLE ONE. I’m sure of it.
We’ve had every flu possible, sinus infections, migraines, ear infections, stomach bugs, pulled muscles. You name it, we’ve had it. Mr. Zoom and I seem to have been in the clear for a week or so, Big Zoom is rocking the last legs of a runny nose, and Little Zoom took his last dose of Baby Z-Pack this morning. Here’s hoping February is a bit less congested.
It’s also been quite cold and even a little snowy, so we’ve been cooped up inside quite a bit. One day last week, after watching our 6th viewing of Mighty Machines, I decided we’d bust out the Dot Dot markers and crayons and go to town. Mr. Zoom and Big Zoom built that little bird house at the Home Depot Kids Day earlier this month, and I suggested we brighten it up with some fun colored paints.
Arts and crafts time typically lasts approximately 3.2 minutes in our house, but on this day they both colored for quite a while. Maybe it was the snow falling outside or the Jason Mraz I had bopping on iTunes; I managed to snap some sweet pics.
Until I glanced over at Little Zoom.
I suppose it’s probably time for the highchair to go. We put it away back in December for several weeks, but Big Zoom isn’t quite tall enough to pass down his booster chair just yet. Little Zoom is making a habit of what you see above (as in every meal time he does this), and Big Zoom has taken to yelling out “MOMMY” whenever he does so I have time to grab him before he launches himself onto the kitchen floor.
It’s a total zoo in here!
We hope your January has been healthier than ours and that your February looks nice and sweet. We’re gearing up for Pancake Tuesday, some fun Valentine’s celebrations, and St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner!
On My Radar
1. So it’s a new year. And, I’m counting calories and huffing it through Zumba (ha!) class like everyone else. Yet my favorite bloggers are still posting stuff like this. HELP!
2. I’m 100% certain I need to have this rug for our family room. I’m also 110% certain Mr. Zoom is going to veto the design choice. HELP!
3. How lovely and fantastic is this teepee! As a mom of two toddler boys, I feel this should definitely be approved in the new “entertainment” budget. Thoughts?
4. Do you have a cart full of Etsy items you love but can’t pull the trigger on? These sweet stamps are numero uno on my list. Everyone needs an address stamp and I love the typography here.
5. I’m totally obsessed with hand lettering at the moment, and this girls work is my most favorite. Check out her sweet blog and shop. I think I’ll be getting this print (it’s actually a downloadable print-how easy is that!) for our new master bedroom wall installation.
6. Nobody panic. My iPhone 5 is on the way. Voice conversations with me will recommence shortly. “Can you hear me? Hello? Mary? Hello?”. Dont’ worry friends, it wasn’t just you.
7. We’re freakishly obsessed with Dexter. We’re halfway through Season 5 (in as many weeks) and it’s so creepily good. Need a new series? Check this one out. If you can make it past the first couple episodes of Season 1, you’ll be hooked!
Thanks for checking in. I’m still on my Facebook diet (cravings have subsided substantially) and would love to hear about any fun links or inspiration you’ve seen around the web lately!
Family Christmas
We had a fantastic Christmas. The kids got to visit with my Mom and Dad (Granny and Grandpop Zoom) and they ate up the attention. We spent a lot of time eating and drinking and chatting and had several gorgeous, if a little chilly, days allowing us to get outside for family walks.
(I know this is terribly out of focus, but look at my pretty Mom and the best Grandpop in the world!)
Family is the very best. And I felt very luck this Christmas.
(….and we really missed you Andrew and Sarah! xoxo)
Simply Peaceful
This year has been one of a lot of personal change and growth for me. Some really really good, and some I’d like to improve upon. Starting this blog has been a catalyst for most of that change. I’ve learned new skills, met new people, and had the opportunity to explore things I’ve come to really really love. It’s also added a significant amount of stress and uneasiness to my daily life in many ways and at many levels.
I love this little blog and I’ve struggled with what exactly it should do and be and become. I’ve spent the last several weeks reflecting on what it is I really want to do and I think I’ve come to a conclusion. Call them resolutions, or keywords, or goals…I’m going into 2013 more simply and more peacefully.
I’m not entirely sure what that will look like. I’ve got a handful of clients left to shoot and design for this month and after that I’m going to take things as they come. I’ll not be pursuing photography as a business and I’ll be scaling back my design work significantly. I’m not sure how our family is going to change this year, and I’m not happy with how the business aspect of my hobbies impacted my family last year.
This decision came with lots of reflection and conversation and personal exploration. And it was a really tough one for me. I was blessed during the months of October, November and December to really be able to see what starting a business and maintaining my family would be like. I so enjoyed meeting and working with my 2012 clients and learned immensely from the work I did for them. I’ll surely be continuing my learning on a personal level and will continue to design and shoot for friends as a hobby and I’ll blog about these things and my family shenanigans here. Back to basics friends.
The words simply and peaceful are my buzzwords for the year. I’ve reflected and goal set along with Emily Ley, Lara Casey, and Nancy Ray over the past few days and I’ve been able to apply those words to every single one of my goals and objectives for the year.
So stay tuned friends. I’ve been waiting for January 1st for what seems like weeks. I’m excited and enthusiastic about the changes I’m going to make and I can’t wait to see what the next twelve months hold.
Happy New Year!
A Warm Winter Afternoon
Not much planned this weekend, which is a fantastic break from all the running around I’ve been doing over the past two months. I’ve been chasing around after some adorable kids lately and have loved it…but I’ve missed photographing my own little men.
The weather has been unseasonably warm over the last week or so and we’re not complaining! We’ve been at the park 4 times this week, and are loving the warm winter afternoons.
We let the boys run the bases at this dusty old field today. They loved it, and I can only imagine how many hours we’ll spend on fields like this in the years to come.
I’m sort of obsessed with these guys.
Mr. Zoom stepped behind the camera for this one. We’ve got to trade places more often. A goal for 2013 is more photographs of me WITH my boys.
Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. We’ll be enjoying this warm front for a couple more days!
Life Lately: Blast Off
I realized yesterday that it’s been a quite a while since I picked up my camera with the intention of snapping pictures of my little Zooms.
Life’s been a little hectic lately. I’ve been taking lots and lots of pictures, like thousands of them, but my camera has been focused on spunky kids and funny families other than my own. It’s been very exciting, very fun, and very busy!
A couple of weeks ago, on a sort of sick Sunday, we decided to open up and build a cardboard rocketship that had been gifted to us by a dear friend of mine when Big Zoom was still a small and very stationary baby. It’s been safely tucked away in our garage for nearly 2 years and so, on this particular Sunday with nothing else planned we decided to put it together.
This thing is gigantic, and the boys totally love it. I thought it took up a lot of space in our garage, and it’s taking up even more space now in our loft. Our neighbors and friends love it too and we plan to invite a big crowd around when the weather warms up to decorate it and celebrate with popsicles.
We’re in full Christmas mode around our house and I promise I’ve got photos of my own family to share though they are buried deep in my Lightroom archives and on the bottom of my list to edit. I hope to get to them just as soon as I finish my current editing and client Christmas card designs!
