Falling too soon

Well the days are beautiful but the signs of fall are all around us now. It seems way too soon. We're not ready yet.

Helicopter seeds make a nice magic wand. Leaves fading from green to red. A spider that wasn't home until we put him there.

Did you know that you have to accessorize for walks? c.

Melons and cheezborgers

The fruit of choice around here is melon. Even our dog likes it.

Driving along today I saw this sign being hauled by a truck. Billy Goat Tavern is a Chicago greasy spoon made famous by a Saturday Night live sketch in the 70's. Cheezborger! Cheezborger! It was funny to see it driving next to me on the highway. c.

Sun bear

Here are a few other highlights from our fun trip to the zoo.

This sun bear is nocturnal so he was so, so sleepy. He was doing that nod off and jerk the head thing. We loved him!

We also saw three lazy lions sleeping on rocks c.

My holiday card

Well that was easy. Thanks to my new polar bear obsession I'm ahead of schedule. So if you're on my list (what list?!) you'll be getting one of these. I'm not totally sure about this yet but I'm going to use my polar bear drawing for a free pattern. I'll have that up once I figure out what it's going to be. c.

Lovely Lee the polar bear

It was hot and it was humid. A nice day to be a polar bear for sure.

Lee the polar bear was as interested to watch us as we were to watch him. Little g. asked over and over to touch the animals. She does not know yet that we can't actually do that.

Apparently the foot of a polar bear is about half the size of little g.

Even more family

A special week for little g. She's got her "Big Grannie" (big because she's tall) here visiting. It's been a year since she's seen her and I wasn't sure if she would remember. I don't think she did but she took to her immediately. I think children have a 6th sense with family.

"Cupla" teddy comes with us everyplace we go lately. Lindsay might recognize him! c.

Family

It was so nice having my nephew Sean here. He was really sweet and very patient with his little cousin.

Just before he left we asked him if there was any last minute thing he wanted to do. He wondered if there was any quintessential American food (Sean lives in London) he should try. Rather than subject him to hot dogs and apple pie we went out for some Cold Stone Creamery. Probably just as unhealthy but a whole lot more fun. c.

Thud, thud, thud

That's the sound of me kicking myself! We had a wonderful day on Saturday with my nephew at the air and water show in Chicago. So what did I do? I forgot my camera at home !*@#! Even just typing that sentence got my blood pressure up. All the stuff I could have shot, the amazing people, the jets, the buildings, the sightseers, the protesters, our spaced out waitress, the beautiful lake, the craziness and intensity of it all. I'm so mad at myself!

I stumbled on something that's cheered me up though. I just found out about the latest thing in trippy kids programs. Yo! Gabba Gabba on Nick Jr. is totally out there and fun to watch. I seriously think this clip of crying veggies was made just for us. Little g. has watched it about 10 times this mornning. c.

Happy food

It's nice to have your breakfast smiling back at you. I can actually get her to try new things if I present it like a face and then make up a story about it.

An egg inspired card. c.

Some Friday favorites

A pretty yellow vase from this far away place.

A special push toy.

It's going to be a sunny action packed weekend with a visit from a nephew and trips to the city! c.

Two tutus

I made two tutus last night. One for little g. and one for her friend. They are so easy and fun to make I think I'll make a few more for some other little girls. Dress up clothes are very popular with the 2 year-old crowd. I just folded 4 yards of tulle in half, made a pocket along the uncut edge and fished ribbon through to tie. c.

Mixed Media

Our deck gets a lot of use for messy craft projects. I'm going to miss the outside time once it gets too cold. We should have a few more months of decent weather around here but we can feel that cold stuff looming in the distance. Most casual conversations end with some comment about it. It must be some sort of universal mental prepping we do.

I like to lay out all kinds of stuff for little g. to use. We usually end up with something pretty colorful. Just look how much concentration is required to learn how to use the scissors properly. c.

Natural flora

Little g. brought me these prairie flowers back from her walk. Where we live if you leave your land alone you will eventually end up with a prairie. We have a pretty path near our house that has lots of natural prairie flowers.

A prairie inspired card. c.

New stuff

Been very busy with invitations lately and some play date cards too. All of these and some fun new items will be on the new Mia Zucca website which we are currently redesigning. c.

Bubble trouble

Little g. developed a cold over the weekend that brought everything to a screeching halt. We were able to sit outside on the deck on Sunday for some much needed fresh air and a little bubble blowing. c.

Pareidolia chitchat

I notice these two random bits of paint in our half finished garage all the time. Today they are having a conversation.

In our loft downtown we used to have some plaster on a brick wall that had a dog's face on it. A few other people pointed it out to us so I know I'm not totally crazy.

Don't forget to stop and look at what your eating or you might just bite into a Pope Tart. c.

Felt bug

We have a lot of birthdays to celebrate in August. This is a gift for one of those birthdays. It's a wonderful pin by an artist that I think is so incredibly talented and unique.

That's me

A picture of a girl looking at a picture of herself (a little blurry still). We've had a long day. No nap (that happens a lot lately), a play date, and an afternoon at the pool. A nice day for little g. Missing all these naps is bad for me because I've got to do all my client work at night and in the wee hours of the morning, yikes. c.

Wanderlust

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

I remember when this hit the morning tv shows and the viral email circuit a while back. My first impression was that this was some dork doing a dorky dance but as I watched it and saw all the incredible places he's been I was really wishing I could experience all of it. Maybe I could crisscross the globe doing that Elaine dance.

Found the link via this site which I love because she's very clever at recycling and repurposing. c.

Here a moo, there a moo

Went to a little farm with our nice neighbors. We saw lots of animals and some silly plastic ones two. Took little g. on her first train ride and she loved it.

Today there will be a total eclipse of the sun but you won't see it unless you live in China or Greenland but you can go here to watch it online. c.

Lucky charms

Another treasure I received from Lindsay's trip was this wonderful necklace. She bought it at The Four Corners and it's supposed to bring me good luck. I'm going to wear it a lot because I need some good luck (don't we all!) and the color really suits me (if I can say so myself!). Thank you again to Lindsay & Co. for my lovely necklace. We really enjoyed seeing all of you.

Another kind of necklace is this good old fasioned clover chain. Little g. made this with her Nanni and she put it out to dry in the sun. c.

You say potato, I say ...

Potatoes can be waxy but this one really is wax. It's a potato candle from Idaho. The best roadside souvenir I've ever received! The burlap sack is a nice touch don't you think? Smells like vanilla which throws me because I keep expecting it to smell like, well a potato.

Had a great weekend with Lindsay and family. We heard all about their excellent adventure out west. c.

My apologies

I'm sorry but if you are anything like me you are about to waste a good half hour playing with my new favorite site. It lets you put your photos into these environments. Wow is it fun. I found the link via this great blog. c.

Produce of Heaven

Crunch, crunch, slurp, crunch, crunch, yummm. Can you hear that? It's me standing over the kitchen sink eating Rainier Cherries. These pricey perishable little delicacies are my favorite treat right now. Their color is amazing, I love the red to yellow and all the in betweens.

Another cherry inspired card. c.

Early bird

My neighbor is such a wonderful cook and yesterday she dropped off some homemade banana nut bread. Today I got up early and had a quite moment to have a cup of coffee and a slice of the bread. Gosh it was all so good and a real treat for a Friday morning. c.

Organizing

I'm trying to keep my purse more organized. I got really tired of rummaging through it ten times a day to find what I needed. Last week I found the cutest kleenex holder here and I love it. It was a real treat finding it in my mailbox today. c.

Blurry ballerina

Well this is the best photo I could get of little g. just before her first ballet class. She will not let me take photos of her anymore. We're going to have a whole chapter in her photo album of blurry shots of her back. Hopefully we will be able to laugh at it someday. c.

Busy busy busy

Our days have been packed with so much stuff this week. We had a chance to do a little walk last night after dinner. Here are some of the pretty flowers that live in our neighborhood.

We love the this wacky cd for kids that came with a Sandra Boynton book. The first time I heard it I wasn't sure I was going to like it but they wiggled their way into our daily routine and we singe these songs all the time now like the BusyBusyBusy song.

Two weeks ago

g. - Two weeks ago I had an elephant.
me - Where is he now?
g. - At the birthday party.
me - Is he coming back?
g. - Not today.

That's what little g. has been telling me all day. This got me wondering how much about time does a two-year-old understand? She has no idea what a minute is because when I tell her, "in five minutes," she asks again immediately. She definitely gets what elephants and animals are. I love that when we see one, no matter what it is, she greets it with hyper excitement.

An elephant inspired card. c.

Feelin' hot, hot, hot

We've had a warm weekend here. It felt extra long to us because we took some time off at the start. We finally got the kitchen/dining rooms painted. We used a low odor low VOC paint that went on and looks just as nice as traditional paint. Had a nice morning swim at the public pool on Saturday and used our own little pool and octopus sprinkler in the backyard on Sunday. c.

A good start

It was a nice morning to take a walk holding a flag and your Nannie's hand.

We have typically spent this weekend with Lindsay and family but this year they are off on a great adventure. We are missing them today but wishing them happy trails!

Happy 4th of July! c.

What the...

heck are these things? Yesterday we went to Whole Foods so I could salivate over all of the amazing produce they stock. When I got home I had two foreign objects in my bag. The first was a small bag of ice (very weird) and the second were these here things. I have no idea what they are but my best guess is some sort of onion. I could taste them but that would be too easy. I also don't really know how I ended up with them but the person that was in front of me is probably wondering where her ice and onions are. c.