Pandora Internet Radio

*currently playing on my Pandora station

So when I'm not whining about how all the good magazines are gone, I'm whining about how all the good radio stations are gone.  Next I'll be going on about those darn kids in my yard.  But come on!  You basically have three choices when it comes to radio stations round here: 

1. Top 40 skanky pop and hip hop

2. Spanish stations

3.Classic Rock (oh but we're down to only ONE of those my friends!)

All of which have their place, don't get me wrong.  But I crave variety.  Between A.J. and I, our varied musical collection would astound.  Last time I checked my ITunes I had enough music to play for 32 straight days.  And yet I need more.  Its a sickness really.  Which is why I'm currently smitten with Pandora.  Type in the name of a song or artist you like, and they will create a "station" for you (not unlike your "genius" button in ITunes).  You can add artists to the same station, so you end up with a mix you love.  I love that I get a great mix and can discover new music.  You can even "gift" your station to your friends.  FOR FREE!  woop!  

Make your own station here.  

From the Desk of A.J. - Mamasan & Miso Punk

So…my babe is on the verge of turning one…I can’t believe it. He’s turning into a toddler right before my very eyes and I can’t help but ache for the lost moments of his infantism. (is that a word?...if not…I’m making it one right now).

Anyway…long story short…my clock is ticking again. I know…already you ask? I’m 37…I don’t have a lot of time to dwell on the “should I…I mean “we” have another one? Is it too soon? Are we ready?" Nope, no time for that. What I really am starting to look at is my maternity clothes in my closet and drawers. Do I:

 a. pack it up and maybe bring it out again in a year or so? Or do I 

 b. start shopping for new summer pieces that will make me want to exercise and buy some smokin’ hot shoes and not even think about my belly turning into a basketball?

The point of the story? MamaSan Maternity. Met the owners at that glorious little “artisan” fair, Patchwork, a few weeks ago, because they have a side line called Miso Punk…for kidletts. Both are soooooo stinkin’ cute. MamaSan carries rock n roll wear for mamas to be. Cool skirts and dresses with rockin' embroidery. Great fun pieces that you can wear before and after baby.
And the Miso Punk stuff is just as cute! Found the babe the cutest shirts that say “Viva el Rock” and “Little Greaser”…all with fun doodles…cool, but in a fun edgy babe way.

Check out their site…its too fun to shop…and it’s a new mama run business…we love that:)

“Dress like you are going to be a mom, not like you are your mom”-MamaSan pearls of wisdom #2.

Ahhh-so true:)

Find Mamasan and Miso Punk here.

Happy Weekend!

No big plans this weekend, just kind of hoping we might clean up our little backyard and finally plant those veggies I've been meaning to grow. If we do accomplish that, I'm treating myself to some tiny hedgehogs to hide in my garden...

Have a great three day weekend!! Hope you get to sleep in a little, get a little sun and eat a little too much!

Find the hedgehogs here.

small magazine

Since the beginning of this year some of my absolute favorite magazines have folded. Last year I lost my beloved Blueprint (a younger/hipper/cheaper version of Martha Stewart's Living, it was brilliant!) and this year Domino, and then Wondertime (the ONLY parenting magazine I've ever enjoyed from cover to cover, it had amazing articles written by amazing writers, instead of being a laundry list of the 385 things that might kill your child this summer). *sigh* Sign of the times I suppose, but I will always miss coming home to a brand new magazine and spending the rest of my evening flipping through its pages. But if all these great mags going under means more people will start creating online mags like this then I might be able to get over it.

small magazine came out with their Summer 09 issue, and its chock full of beautiful photography of beautiful children's things. I love the illustrated fashion spread, love the downloadable coloring page by artist Mati Rose McDonough, love the crafting article, love it all! And while I still long for the tactile feel of a magazine in my hand, it is pretty handy to be able to just click on a link when you find something interesting.

Curl up on your couch with your laptop, and peruse small here.

Last year we had a power outage and only a few candles, so we killed time and calmed the beans down by making shadow puppets on the wall with our hands. Since then the kids have been obsessed with it. We visited a cave this weekend, and both kids were nervous till our tour guide pointed his flashlight at a cave wall and made a couple "cave" puppets. They giggled and were relaxed the rest of the way through.

These handmade shadow puppets sets would take our night time shows to the next level. Throw a sheet over your kitchen table, crawl under with a flashlight, and voila, you've got a puppet theater. Too fun!

Oh, and yeah, apparently this week is silhouette week on the Pinky Swear blog! Great minds do think alike...

Find these shadow puppet sets and more here.

From the Desk of A.J. - Dirty Pretty Things

Being an ex all black wearing (although it still gets a lot of air time due to it being the most flattering color in the spectrum), vamp lipsticked (& nail!), silver rings on every finger…bracelets, and LARGE earring gal (it was the late 80’s early 90’s come on), I will always and forever have a soft spot for the good vs. evil, halos vs. horns, dirty vs. pretty, artsy vs. trashy… in all things.

All of that came back to me this weekend when I met the cutest gal who is an amazing artist at the Patchwork show. Patchwork is an amazing little fair for artisans of all walks of life. Notice how I am trying not to use the word “Craft Fair”…because when I think of craft fairs…I think of silk flowers with raffia ribbons and lots of wooden hearts and geese. This is not your average craft fair. Its all organic goods…hand wrought…through the eyes of artist…real artists…who want to provide goods for the better of the planet.

Back to the cute gal. Patricia Lucas a.k.a. “Raven”. Her past…owned her own clothing line, has dressed some major celebs, and had her art hung in the Smithsonian Museum when she was just 17 (I don’t know about you but when I was 17 I was buying Wet N’ Wild black nail polish at the drugstore and hoping to get a pair of Doc Martins for my b-day…and that was it).

Now she’s married (to an artist of course) and owns her online shop called VeryDirtyPrettyThings.com. See…even her business name screams “COME BUY MY GOODS AJ!!!! Anyway, she makes it all. Beautiful yummy scented soy candles, adorable magnets…and a lovely line of cards & prints. The cards (which if I haven’t mentioned…I have a thing for all things made a la pape. I LOVE paper. Stationary, journals, wrapping paper-you name it…I’m a fan), can be bought with any of her prints on them or you can have them customized. My favs…the silhouettes. They are the old school silhouettes of a child’s face (remember those?…I think I got mine done at Knott’s Berry Farm back in 1978!), but with devil horns or halos. The babe’s name can be put on the bottom of her original silhouette…or she can do a customized one with your child’s face. I know…too cool for school.

I saw lots of goodies at the fair…but fell in love with this line. Going on her Etsy store this morning and I want to buy tons of soy candles…cards with my sweet boy’s devil horns, and her original art print that has a gal with sewing needles in her blue hair that says “I will know when I get there”. I think she’s an ex vamp wearer too:)

Find Dirty Pretty Things here.

Primary Colors

So call me weird, but one of my favorite ways to wind down is to "redecorate" my house. Mind you this redecorating only happens in my head and on my computer...but it makes me so happy, even if I never buy a single thing off my little list. And with my limited knowledge of photoshop, I'm now able to put all these little ideas into one handy little collage. So voila, witness my Wednesday night:

I was inspired by this poster by Darling Clementine. I've been blessed with a really large secondary bedroom, so we've put both my son and my daughter in there with more than enough room(and honestly? the sweetest thing to hear is them talking before they fall asleep. I've never regretted that decision for a minute). But, I've had kind of a hard time finding a cohesive feel for the room. Every week I think, I'm just going to gut this room and redo it completely. I'm really falling in love with the idea of primary colors with a retro feel for their room. I already have several vintage pieces (like an awesome Brio Barn my parents scored at an antique shop) so I'm really leaning towards this look. I figure I can get girly on her side, manly on his side, but the colors would pull it all together.

Do your kids share rooms? Did you plan their rooms out, or is it just a mish mosh of whatever they got? How do you walk the line of functionality vs. aesthetics?

1. Krakatoa Poster - Studio Violet $25.00
2. Marionette Cards - Darling Clementine $19.00/6 pk
3. Irmi Vintage Lamp - similar at Sweet Lily Studio
4. Retro Clock - Rosenberry Rooms $69.99
5. Stacking Clown - Brio $14.99*
6. Vintage Bluebird - KLT:Works $39.99
7. Red Letter Pillow - Serena & Lily $59.00
8. Circo Boys Modular Storage - Target on sale! $15.00

*This is a toy that my parents kept from my childhood, my kids now play with it at Gammie's house, and honestly, it still looks brand new! Worth every little cent!

From the Desk of A.J. - New Designs!

Well, my first mother’s day came and went. I got a little sentimental because that day…while on the Disney Express choo choo train (which is now my most favorite ride ever because little man loves it sooooo much) our little dude decides he wants to give kisses (ahhhhhh:). I got fantastic gifts (Hubster…you outdid yourself:), breakfast in bed (PANCAKES!!!) and I kept thinking of all the great gifts we (as in Pinky Swear) made for all the mama’s that had brilliant enough husbands & kiddos or moms that were brilliant enough to buy a gift for themselves in the way of a fine piece of jewelry…a la Pinky Swear Designs Jewelry:)

With graduations, communions, birthdays, and such playing a major role in our day to day lives (doesn’t it always seem to be you are buying a gift…like…every week?) we two gals thought you’d like to take a look at some of our newest and favorite pieces. Most of them are inspired by the people that are receiving them or things that are happening in our daily routine…as in our family & friends:)

Medium Heart Family Tree with 22K gold inlay. This tree turned out so sweet. Made for a mama of 2 that isn’t’ a big jewelry wearer…but put it on immediately. The initials represent her family…Papa, Mama, big sis…and new little baby sis.

A special gal was graduating and we were asked to do a necklace with her name on the front and a favorite scripture on the back. This has inspired us to do a whole line with favorite quotes…ooooh, I know, but more on that later.

Birthdays…not that we’re a crazy pair of astrological crystal healing powers “can’t do that because my stars aren’t lined up on that day” sort of gals…but we love our birthstones, and elements, and astro sign’s characteristics…hey you never know. We are working on a few designs (hopefully, they’ll debut by summer) but we did this necklace for a b-day gal and what’s not to love right? Its her…all her…and that’s what we’re here for…making something just perfect for that perfect gift.

We'll be posting some more designs later this week! Just some things to think about when you get that invite to that baptism-graduation- b-day-anniversary-engagement baby shower party thingamajig.

Happy Shopping!
:)

Violet Riot Recycled Tees

Most days I have to beg my two year old to wear clothes. She wants nothing to do with dresses, would rather die than wear a button up shirt, and turns her nose up at any plain tees. If I can't talk up a shirt (look! it has balloons!/kitties!/snakes!) its just not happening without an all out brawl. Which is why I'm was so excited to meet the lovely lady behind these cuties over the weekend! My daughter will love the designs and I love the color combos and the simplicity. And you have to love that they are all made out of recycled tees! Making applique tees look fresh and new is no simple feat, but these pull it off with their great choices in colors and patterns. Find them at Violet Riot.

From the Desk of A.J. - Get Some Sleep!

As I begin to approach my first ever Mother’s day with a babe outside of my belly(last year I milked being preggers…as I believe all mama’s to be should:), I can not help but think about these last 9 ½ months.

They have been scary, funny, stressful, exciting, educational, rewarding, amazing, expensive ( that one is for you Hubster), and of course tiresome. This last one deserves another go…tiresome…did I say tiresome?

Anyway…being new to this adventure of mommy-dom…I had heard just how tired you get of picking up toys, cleaning, laundry, crying, diaper changing, bottle washing, and not to mention the lack of sleep. With all of these things listed above…the lack of sleep is what makes you so tired of these said things. I started to notice…within the first few weeks of being home with our little man…when I didn’t get enough sleep…I started to turn into a different person. I was already making the “transition” of married working wife to “mommy” which in my mind…was already a whirlwind…but doing all of these things without sleep…that’s when my head would spin and The Hubster knew to play nicey nice with the crazy new mama bear he shared his home with.

I can honestly say that getting my sleep is what saved me from crashing and burning. I felt like I could take on the day with a newborn and have the patience and willingness to tackle whatever would come (as we all know…its different everyday…those little buggers switch it up on you…and I think on purpose so that we always know who’s the boss of who). After some sleep…I knew who I was again and what I was meant to do with that little bundle (or for us…big bundle…the little dude was 10 lbs for Pete’s sake!) at least…for the time being.

Ok…here’s the point of my story. I was given the BEST baby gift ever by a friend that in our circle we call her the “Baby Whisperer” (said in a soft whisper-ey way). Why? Because she was one of the first of us to have a baby and she has been through it all before us. Our sweet boy was about 2 weeks old and she came to our house to meet him…and with her was, what we call, “The Book”. It’s the absolute best children’s book for adults you’ll ever read. “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child” by Dr. Marc Weissbluth, M.D. This man…is our GOD!

Basically…children need more sleep than most people think. They need their naps…and not in a moving car or swing…they need their peace and quite…and they need many many more hours than we adults do. The thought behind this book is…sleep begets sleep and live your life around your baby’s schedule …not the other way around. You chose to have this baby…now you’ve got to pay the piper:)

I am so proud to say…our big boy has slept 12 hour nights from the time he was 3 ½ months old. Yep…you heard me. He takes two 2 hour naps a day. He is the most happy, alert, well behaved baby (I know…mama’s bragging…but I give the book all props!!!). The Hubster and I get compliments in restaurants…markets…everywhere on how good he is. I know…he’s just 9 ½ months and things may and will change as he grows…but it’s a great start. He’s happy, Papa’s happy, and I’m happy because we are a well rested family.

So…this Mama’s day…give yourself a gift…the gift of sleep (and if you have an older babe…no worries…there’s still time!!!)…the best gift I have ever received (Thanks Mel!).

Happy Mama's Day!!!!

Trunk Show Update

We had such a great time at both of our trunk shows this weekend! We met some great people, received some nice orders, and got to hang out with some of the cutest kids in California. ;) One of the gals we met this weekend just put us on her awesome blog, Chic Kiddie Boutique. She writes about great finds and deals for kiddos and we're so excited that she liked our stuff enough to blog about us (not to mention we love finding a new blog to follow!). Check out her blog here.

Thanks to everyone who came by to check us out, we can't wait to get out there again! And of course a BIG thank you to This Little Piggy for hosting us, we always love spending time in a Piggy store (whether we're shopping or working!). :)

Coolest Rocking Horse Ever

I love this guy! So cute and modern, it looks like it would belong in any house for years to come. And for something that is completely handmade it is a totally reasonable price. Too bad my kids already have a rocking horse. And a rocking "bean". And a sit n spin. And a...well you get the idea. Might be time to trade all those in for just one awesome "rocking" apparatus...

Find him here.