long overdue

I'm way behind on a lot of things right now (one of them being actually getting around to posting all the blog entries that are floating around in my head), but I'm easing my anxiety with "better late than never." This past Tuesday (April 25th), I finally put together my planner from Paper Source. Part of the reason I had put it off so long was I couldn't find the PVA glue I bought when I made my planner last year and I didn't feel like spending $7 on another jar that was going to get misplaced since I only use it once a year. Sure I could've borrowed some from Hannah who works at Paper Source, but that would've meant actually remembering to ask her to borrow her jar. I found my jar when John and I cleaned out the basement last Friday night (isn't our life exciting?) in the one box I had a feeling it was in but had not seen since we moved back in June. I had sort of resigned myself to the fact that this mysterious box had probably been lost in the move, but didn't understand how it really could've been lost. I mean really, where would it have gone to during a 45-minute drive? Misplaced seemed a more likely solution, but honestly there are not too many places to misplace a box that size in our house. Anyway, the box has been recovered and it's a good thing. Not just because I relocated the coveted jar of PVA glue, but also because I found the checkbook from my previous job and I figure it would be a good thing if I returned that to them. So, my plain, manilla-colored planner has gotten a facelift. When I showed it to John he said, "Good thing you've still got 8 more months in the year to enjoy it."










Part of the reason I'm so behind on blog-posting is because I've spent countless hours downloading ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY THREE photos from the night of the fashion show to our flickr account so I could share with the blogworld what consumed much of my time at the end of March/beginning of April. John and I felt it went pretty well for our first fashion show. We learned A LOT. Like that we will most likely never have another fashion show AT the store. Initially we thought it would be cool to have it in the space...well, because the space is cool. And it gets people in the store. And we thought it might be nice for people to be able to purchase merchandise after the show that they had just seen modeled. Well, it ended up being more work than we bargained for -- moving all the fixtures and product out of the store to make room for the runway, chairs, tables, Vespas (Vespa was one of the three major sponsors we had and they loaned us three retro Vespas for the evening to display). There was no way we were going to be able to bring all the fixtures and re-merchandise all the product that night with all those people milling about. So, it worked out to have it at the store space this time, but next time we will definitely hold it somewhere else. Here's a teaser to whet your appetite, go here to see a short slideshow of the other photos (not all 123...I narrowed it down to the top 50):



The superb photography is courtesy of Becca Spears. She was just experimenting during the fashion show for us as a favor, but the lighting was not the best for photos. If you're in the market for a wedding or portrait photographer, look her up.

All of the shoes and most of the clothing and accessories are from Habitat. You can view the product up close on our flickr account (our website will be up and running in May!). The beautiful silk dresses were designed by Jocelyn Himes and are for sale at her store, Nui Kai, which is around the corner from Habitat. Chadwick, who owns Shuttlecocks (also around the corner) loaned us the men's raincoat and his styling skills for the evening. Many of the female models were showcasing jewelry designs from our friend Kari Heybrock (her husband was also one of the models). And the models looked amazing because of the skills of Amber, Becky and Kimberly from the salon next door to our store called The Darling Room. If you live in KC, you definitely need to schedule an appointment with one of those fabulous girls! A big THANK YOU to all our friends who modeled and helped make it all work behind-the-scenes. We seriously could not have done it without the expertise, input and hard work of all of you.

If we did anything right with the fashion show it was making it a benefit for "Let's Make a Movie" -- an awesome afterschool program for youth in the urban core of Kansas City that our friend David founded. Check them out.

OK, all my other overdue posts will have to wait...it's about time I go to bed, it's 2am.

stupid parenting decision #73

To the faithful few who still check here occasionally to see if anything new is going on -- I apologize for my absence...and for the fact that you've had to stare at a photo of me for over a month now. I have high hopes of being a more consistent blogger, I just haven't had the energy for it lately. My husband told me today that he still checks my blog everyday thinking that maybe I will have finally posted a new entry. To at least give him something new to look at when he visits here...

Today when I put Margot down for her afternoon nap, I chose to not remove the four crayons she was gripping for dear life out of her hands. Mostly because I didn't want to her to get all riled up and upset and then not go to sleep. The thought did cross my mind that when I returned to get her up after her nap that there was the possibility crayon marks would be on the wall, but I figured the chances were slim to none since she seemed pretty tired. I assumed she would fall asleep holding them and she would eventually just let go of them. Oh Kristen, are you really that naive?

When I heard Margot talking to herself (the first sign that she's awake), I decided to go right up and get her up so as not to give her any time to see the crayons and use them. Oh, but I can quickly run to the basement and change over the load of laundry so I don't have to do it with Margot in a few minutes. Well, a few minutes was all Margot needed. Here's what I found when I walked into her room...Margot's latest canvas:


I wasn't upset at all. How could I be? I was the one who sent her to bed with crayons. Presented with the same circumstances, I'm sure I would've done the same thing. Honestly, all I could do was stand there and and try to stifle my laughter (plus, I've been enlightened to Washable Crayola crayons, so I was pretty sure the sheet would be as good as new after a load of laundry). Kids, you gotta love them.

Margot's been good for a lot of laughs lately. For the past three days, she's been carrying around her Easter basket filled with plastic eggs. She calls them bubbles. After about the twentieth time of trying to teach her to call them eggs, I gave up and started calling them bubbles too. Each morning she wakes up I think, "She's probably forgotten about the eggs," but every morning after we come downstairs she starts saying, "bubbles, bubbles" and walks around the house looking for her basket. At least she's finally realized that carrying the twelve plastic eggs in the basket is really is OK. The first day I gave her the basket, she tried continuously to wrap her tiny hands around four of the eggs and carry them around. Of course she kept dropping them, and then would get frustrated when they would split in two after hitting the ground. If I tried to help her pick them up, she'd get more agitated because she wanted to do it herself (yes, her independence is already coming out), but couldn't ever pick up all four eggs by herself. I started tucking one egg in each hand and one in the crook of each elbow, which seemed to help her carry them around a little bit longer. Eventually she set aside her independence long enough to let me show her the usefulness of the basket. Life is good now. Hey, maybe she's figured out that putting all your eggs in one basket isn't so bad after all (oh, that was bad).