The Kate Effect

Chuy's Children Giving to Children Parade

we took the kids to the Chuy's Parade last weekend. the kids were super excited. although some of the perceived excitement could be due to the syrup we let them consume at our pre-parade breakfast. According to the movie ELF syrup is a very christmas food - According to me Syrup makes for very crazy kids. 

i was unaware that this would be the most difficult photo to take.... three kids sitting and waiting for the parade...should have been easy-right!?!

attempt #1

attempt #2

attempt #3

and we give up.

My SIL - Rach - was brilliant and suggested we run the kids around the Capitol lawn since we were an hour an half early. Yes, you have to get there that early to get the good seats - we had prime Congress spots right in front of the capitol....and three antsy kids.

great thing about the capitol lawn is you can run around AND get a good history lesson.

 

 

One trip to the bathroom in the capitol building - which included security checkpoint with metal detectors - all belts off and loose change in the bucket - then back to the parade which started FIFTEEN minutes early!  We had to run across the lawn and sneak under the rope and cross the street while the parade was coming.  

*the key is to just keep going and don't make eye contact with anyone*

it was a great parade- nice and long...

Chuy's puts on a parade every year on partnership with Blue Santa. They have the kids bring new toys and toward the end the whole parade comes to a stop and the kids get to go put their toys in the big trucks spread through out the parade. No photos from this since... well I was making sure my kid got to the truck, put her toy in , did take any other toys, didn't trample anyone, didn't get trampled, and made it back to our spot with out getting stolen. for a parent it's quite an adrenaline rush...for the kids it's the highlight of the parade.

   

the other cool thing about the parade this year was... my brother-in-law's girlfriend, who we call Swaffy and who works at Chuys, was Queen Creamy Jalapeno! I also did not get a photo of this because Kate was yelling "SWAFFY! SWAFFY!! it's me, kate!!! SWAFFY!" and i was trying to prevent her from running into the parade after the Queen.

it was a fantastic day.

**more photos on Facebook: 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=260872&id=501044426&l=62d46b6baa

five little pants all in a row.

i finally paused and made kate some pajama pants. she desperately needed them before the weather turned cold - if it ever gets cold here in Texas.

of course she picked out the fabric. 

it feels good to bang some clothes out for kate that fit and are really usable. 

how many lick does it take to get to the center of a blowpop?

well, if your kate it might take you all day just to open the lollipop.

my photo lab sends a blowpop in every order delivered. this is genius marketing. so when i am trying to work on something and an order arrives i sing Hallelujah. not because i will get to crunch down on the juicy blowpop but because it will occupy kate for a good hour. 

this is a good example. i gave her the lollipop and told her to stay int he chair and eat it while I packaged some items. it took her FOREVER to get it open.

then the licking begins. 

supposedly this is how a kitty would lick a lollipop while lying on a chair. 

and the licking continues.

then after a while I will look up and say "kate, where is your blowpop?"  and this is the look she will give me.

"uhhh!?!"

i am always baffled by this. how do you misplace a lollipop that you are licking?  in the process of pretending and daydreaming the blowpop gets put down and forgotten. thankfully this time it was on my desk laying on top a stack of invoices and not in her hair, under her bed or in the dirty clothes hamper. and yes, those are real examples.

 

accidental trendy buy

a few months ago I was perusing my favorite re-sale haunts. I go about every other month and stock up on awesome heels and sometimes pick up a few accessories. On this particular stop i found two pair of killer shoes. each pair about $9 - which was amazing. as i was leaving I saw this little wallet and i just loved it's style and color. 

not flashy - a little retro but not really...it was about $5 so i threw it in at the very last minute.

ok so the photo is not great but I am posting on the fly here...

it's a grey little leather wallet that folds over - the fabric pocket/lining is grey with teal...

lovely, right. 

it's been sitting on my dresser waiting for me to clean out my purse and current wallet.

then i click on to Facebook today and see this....

Anthropolgie is having a big gift giving promo with the very same wallet. granted they are suede with a little ruche-ing  - but they are the same wallet, made by the same people.

i feel like I unwittingly gave myself a christmas present....for $5. plus my wallet is way cuter.

happy accidental trendy buy.

*photos from anthropologie

http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/index.jsp?cm_mmc=Facebook-_-2010_Anthropologie-_-Gifts%20For%20Everyone-_-Gift%20Landing

 

 

chair revival

i have a new project. it's an inherited project from a friend. 

two high and mighty chairs that need some new cushions and covers... and maybe a quirky new paint color. i can't wait to see what becomes of these... 

brownstone advent

last year i had the urge to make an advent calendar. i thought it would make the holiday season so special for our little family.  i envisioned kate waking up excited to look into that days gift for small trinket or a clue to that days events...

but after rushing to gather the supplies and being overwhelmed with ideas and underwhelmed by resources and time... I abandoned the project.

so when I stumbled upon this advent 'house' at the craft store I snatched it. it was ridiculously marked down in price and it was the only one like it.. and you all know how much i like it when there is not another one like. hurray for originality.

ok, i am super bummed i did not take before photos. in it's  original state it was all cream colored with silver numbers on each door. plain jane.

from the moment i saw it i thought it would be awesome as a little brown stone type house...

i still need to paint the numbers on each window-door but overall i love how it turned out. perfectly imperfect. I can not wait to put the little prizes in each door. we have some special activities planned thru the holidays and i am thinking up clues. 

like maybe a tiny lightbulb on a string necklace for the night we go christmas light driving or a tiny donkey for when we go out to Burnet to walk thru there Bethlehem village.

i am so thrilled I was able to pull this together right in time.the only problem is I have other advent calendar ideas...do you think this is something I could collect ?

the fifth demention

something big happened in our house while I was on blogging sabbatical.

kate turned five.

yep, five. it's kind of fun year for us. Brad and I turn 30, Kate turns 5 and our 10th anniversary is a two months. I really like it that way...all even and easy to count.

i'll find pic of the celebration and post them soon.

paper leaves

i loved paint leaves with Kate... but I prefer the leaf plain with all the text showing...oh how I like typeface.

falling for you.

kate helped me do a bit of fall decor this month. of course we had to do something with paint - her medium of choice. I thought it might be cool to use and old paper back book to make leaves and then paint them hap-hazardly.  I like it when the word show thru a little. *honestly* i think they are amazing all plain without paint - but kate disagrees. thne I ran them thru my sewing machine because this seemed quicker to me that glue or other methods.

it just seamed like the thing to do. 

ha! look at me trying to be puny.

 

here's the down side.

if your impatient like me you will start sewing before they are fully dry. and if your have a five year old help you like i did, you will notice they apply more paint which takes longer to dry.

things could get messy.

for those who have patience it's not a problem.

the results are some pretty awesome garland - not too kid-ish but not too grown-up. 

she's back....

hey blog world. 

i am back.

 

after trying to phase out, considering new options and planning/re-planning/researching new blogs+websites for business... I have come realize a few things.

I am junk-drawer kind of girl.

Some people can be the filing cabinet type. They can organize and separate home, work, friends... and file the different areas of life. 

I cannot. It's all mixed up together for me. I talk about work at home and home at work. I have friends who are clients and all my clients are friends. I bring my work to church and to family dinners. It's all in one big drawer of my life.

Maybe it's my personality or maybe it's that my "work" is so deeply personal. All I know is that it's all one in my head. Therefore to some extent it needs to me all one on the internet - at least for now.

I miss blogging - and I hate shopping for new websites/blogs. 

So I am back. *Hopefully* there will be ALOT of changes in look and organization of this blog. 

I considered even starting from scratch. But I like that it has evolved and like me has changed in content and usage. I am ok with it. So for now I will write and little by little change change change.