The beach

{Malayna and daddy.}

{Malayna and mommy.}

{With her new friend Julie.}

We had a fantastic vacation in Cape May! The weather was perfect - sunny, breezy on the beach an practically no humidity. We've been taking Malayna to the beach since she was 6 months old, and since then she has stayed far away from the ocean. Not this year - she loved it! We were able to spend hours and hours on the beach RELAXING while Malayna found new friends to play with. Needless to say, we didn't want to come home.

{Swimming in the hotel pool.}

{Jack and Malayna on the boats in Ocean City.}

{Silly faces.}
{Mom-mom and Pop-pop and the kids.}

My parents and cousin Sean came down for part of the week and stayed in a nearby hotel. We were able to use the hotel's pool, which was a big hit for Malayna. My brother David, his wife Maria and their two kids Jack and Davyn also came down for a few days and stayed in the hotel. Tuesday night we all went to the Ocean City boardwalk. Honestly, I could do without the boardwalk - it's just too crowded. Plus, one of the reasons I love Cape May is because there's nothing to do. But it's become a yearly trip while we're on vacation, so I can't go against tradition. All Malayna wants to do while we're there is ride the boats and the carousel. She's a cheap date.

{"I want to wear no shirt like Aidan!"}

Aidan, Wendy and Daniel came down on Thursday and stayed over. There were two sets of bunkbeds in Malayna's room, so they slept in there - it was their first time having a sleepover with a friend. The four of us {me, Jimmy, Wendy and Daniel} sat in the living room that night listening to the two of them talk and laugh together. We had to go in twice to tell them to quiet down and go to sleep. Jimmy went in the second time and had to break up an argument about nocturnal animals.

{Mmmmm. Ice cream.}

{…more ice cream,}

{…and more.}

{I will not smile because a strange man is taking my picture.}

{Ahhhh. The beach.}

Photo Friday

I think I'll retire the Inside 264 posts - my house is only so big! Now that summer is here we'll be out and about more, so calling these posts "Photo Friday" makes more sense.

A storm passed through here on Tuesday night and knocked our power out from 8:30 that night until about 3:00 Wednesday afternoon. We don't have central air, so when Malayna's air conditioner went off Tuesday night she immediately woke up. She was scared and crying so we brought her downstairs. We thought the power would come back on after a little while, so we weren't trying to get her to go back to sleep right away. Malayna, Jimmy and I made paper fans and colored for a little while. It was so hot - we were just coming out of a heat wave with temperatures up near 100 and stifling humidity. The house was still hot, and we couldn't open the windows too much because of the rain and the 60-mph winds. Thank goodness our trees are gone!

{shadows on the ceiling}

After a while we realized that the power may not go on anytime soon, so we tried to get to sleep. First we all laid on the living room floor, but Luco was panting like crazy. Malayna couldn't sleep. Then she and I went up to her sauna, I mean room, but it started thundering and she was scared {never was before!}. Finally, we came back downstairs and she and Jimmy slept on the sofa while I slept on the floor. Between Luco's panting, Jimmy's snoring, and sweating, I think I got about 2 hours sleep that night.

{crafting by candlelight}

It was kind of nice not to have electricity the next day and having to come up with things that didn't involve the TV or the computer. I spent a while in the pool just listening to the radio {with batteries} and reading a book. Just as I was packing the food in our fridge into coolers to take to my parents' house, the power came back on. Do you know how good that air conditioning felt?!

Tomorrow we leave for a week-long vacation in Cape May, NJ. We go every year at this time - me, Jimmy, Malayna, Luco, my mom and dad and my cousin Sean. This year Aidan and his parents are coming to visit and stay over one night. He and Malayna will sleep in her room on bunkbeds. Should be interesting!

{Malayna got a haircut for the shore - she had about 6 inches cut off!}

{Why do so many kids around this age make goofy faces for pictures?}

I'll probably post some photos through the week, so check back on Monday! Happy Father's Day to all the dads!

Old friends

{D'Arcy, Shani, Michelle, Michelle, Kim, me, Patrice and Lorie}

My 20-year high school reunion was Friday night. It was sort of weird to see all these grown women that I remember as teenage girls. Most of us look pretty much the same {apparently I do - I probably didn't even have to wear a name tag}, but there were a few women who looked completely unfamiliar. Someone brought our yearbooks from the four years we spent at Nazareth Academy, and I had to consult the last one several times Friday night to remind myself who certain people were. A few women look totally different and I would've never known them had I run into them on the street.

It was so good to see old friends. A handful of us still keep in touch and see each other often - mostly at our children's birthday parties.

There was a small group of us who rode the the el and the bus together to school every day. We were all from the Philadelphia neighborhoods below the Northeast {where our school was located} - neighborhoods like Kensington, Port Richmond, Fishtown and Bridesburg. Some people had a negative view of our working-class neighborhoods. A few girls we went to school with were afraid of us because of the neighborhood we grew up in {which we thought a little ridiculous!}. I can remember talking with someone in high school about taking the el - she had never ridden the el and thought that we were so brave for riding it to school each day! Our neighborhoods were much closer to Center City than those in Northeast Philadelphia, and most of us had spent our childhoods riding buses and the el - we didn't think it was a big deal.

I can remember seeing photos of the Northeast girls' houses and backyards. Backyards! We had a cement backyard that was about six feet square. They had trees and gardens. We rode the bus to school. They drove cars.

Needless to say, the el- and bus-riding group of us stuck together through high school - I guess you could call us a clique. Before reading the definition of that word, I thought it was a bad thing. Clique: an exclusive group of people who share common interests, views, purposes, patterns of behavior, or ethnicity. A clique is a subset of individuals from a larger group, who are more closely identified with one another than the remaining members of the group, and who exchange something among themselves, such as friendship, affection, or information.
Doesn't sound so bad, does it?

Seeing them on Friday reminded me how much I miss them. It was like no time had passed since 1988.

Some more photos from our reunion are here.

Failed

-6 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Poor (Failure) Take the test!

What a surprise!

Stuff

{new magnet}

Part of the website update is finished. I uploaded all the new magnets - they are quite different than the magnets I used to make. See them here. I always forget how long a website updates takes. I thought I'd be finished by today, but there are lots more products to add - 8" clocks, more desk and 10" clocks and more cards. For each product, I have to edit the photo, write a description {which usually turns out to be the same basic description with minor changes}, upload the photos and text and then check the site to be sure it worked. Hmmm. Must be why I don't update too frequently!

Yesterday Malayna and I went to Ross to look for an outfit for my 20-year reunion. {No luck, by the way.} I tried on four different dresses, and with each one she exclaimed, "Oh, mommy, you look sooooo pretty!" I thanked her each time, and then she said, "Mommy, sometimes you look so pretty that I can't even talk." How cute is that? I have my own personal self-esteem booster.

Tonight is my reunion, so I'll be back Monday with a report and maybe some photos {with smaller hair!}.

Have a good weekend.

20-Year Reunion

{Hair.}

Oh, my. How did we get this old? Tomorrow is my 20-year high school reunion. I went to high school in the 80s - which explains the hair in the photo above. It was taken at my house before we went to the Electric Playground. {Nice name, huh?}

EP was a dance club in Northeast Philly for high school kids. My parents would usually drive us there in our van {they weren't called minivans then}, drop us off and pick us up at the end of the night. We would all pile into the back of the van and sit on the floor. We usually picked up a friend or two while at EP, and my parents would drive them home, too. I know what you're thinking - "Wow! Your parents were so nice to drive everyone home!" Yes, they were. But the reason for driving everyone home was to keep an eye on me. They didn't want me taking the bus home or getting a ride with someone they didn't know. I wonder if I'll be doing the same thing for Malayna in 12 years or so?

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow night!

Show recap and some news

Thank you to all who came out to the Arts in the Park. I was happy to see all of you and so glad that yesterday was a gorgeous day. I had a wonderful time and sold lots of work!

Malayna and Jimmy even came by, but she spent most of her time there in the moon bounce. Seriously. They got to the festival around 10am, and she was the first one in the bounce. She was then in and out until 1pm when they went home. When she came back around 3:30 they went right back to the bounce until it closed at 5. That's a lot of bouncing.

Check back later this week for a website update. It's been a while! Since my next show isn't until September, I think I'll have a sale. But first I must do some uploading, description-writing and create a new front page for the site. I'll be sure to tell you when it's finished!

Coupon!

I'll be participating in the Arts in the Park juried craft show and festival on Sunday from 10-5. It will be held at High School Park {corner of Montgomery Avenue and High School Road in Elkins Park}. There will be lots of artisans, activities for children, food and live music all day. It's a fun show in a lovely park, and is always well-attended. Present the coupon above for $5 off your purchase of $30 or more!

Hope to see you Sunday!

Great weekend

{Huh? What? Where? I don't see any bunny.}

We had a wonderful, sunny, barbecue-filled Memorial Day weekend. I did lots of gardening and spent most of the weekend outside. See some photos here.

I'll be busy this week getting ready for the Arts in the Park on Sunday. If you're in the area, stop by!

Confidence

Malayna and I went to the bookstore yesterday, and when we were leaving the bathroom there we passed a big mirror. She watched herself walk by and said {with a big smile on her face}, "Look at my pretty self."

How cute is that? Don't you wish you had that kind of confidence again? After thinking about how stinkin' cute that comment was, the next thought that came to mind was, "How much longer will she feel that way about herself?" Honestly, how many of the women you know are completely happy with the way they look?

Here's an interesting article about young girls and body image.

I need sunshine and art

I've been feeling grumpy, annoyed and bored lately. Then yesterday I figured out why: it's been raining and COLD around these parts this past week or so {temperatures in the 50s and 60s - this is MAY!}. Plus, I haven't been in my studio in weeks. Yes, weeks. I've been up there for a small project or two, but haven't spent more than an hour in there since April. I need to change that. I can't change the weather, but I can get my butt upstairs to do some creating.

Jimmy and I work out after Malayna goes to bed, but last night I only did half of the workout so I could spend time with my art. It was so worth it. The minute I walk in the studio door the ideas start flying. I lose track of time and wish that I could add a few more hours to the night.

I don't normally schedule my creative time, but maybe I should. Instead of ignoring my need for creativity every day, I should just walk upstairs and make something. Or just sit in the studio - sometimes that does it for me. Just being around my stuff {paper, beads, color, mess} makes me feel more relaxed and less edgy.

For all you other creative souls out there, do you schedule your art-making time? Or do you just let it happen?

Thrifty

One of my favorite things to do with Malayna these days is to go thrift shopping. Being the pack rat that she is, searching through other people's junk is right up her alley. {I take full blame for passing on the collector gene.}

Yesterday Aidan and Wendy came along to our favorite thrift shop. Wendy really liked it and scored a few great finds, including a big ceramic bowl for about $2. Malayna and I came home with the following things {for a mere $15!}:

{The game "Ants in Your Pants". Played with no pants on, of course.}

{Chutes and Ladders and Spirograph. Remember Spirograph?!
That one's for me.}

{Lots of books.}

{Two large wooden bowls. I'll use these for snacks when we have parties.
We use plastic ones from the Dollar Store now -
I can't wait to get rid of them!}

{Small pitcher for cream.}

Meowers

We've had a little cat hanging around our house lately that Malayna has named Meowers. Jimmy is allergic to cats, so there's no way we can bring her in the house. She {we don't know if it's a female or not, but Malayna says it's a girl} comes in the yard, meows very loudly and walks around looking very cute. Of course, Malayna loves her and the feeling seems to be mutual. Last night I went out on the porch and there she was - curled up on the rocking chair. I felt so badly coming in the house and leaving her out there. I feel like I should feed her some cat food since she's on our porch every day anyway.

What else can I do? Other than putting her in the truck and driving her to the SPCA? Even that isn't really an option I like - they probably have too many cats already and she may just be put to sleep.

What would you do?

Inside and outside 264

{One of the new squares I'll have at the show tonight.}

Don't forget about the Home Show tonight! Stop by 419 Johnson Road in Horsham, PA anytime after 7pm. A portion of the proceeds from tonight's event will go to the American Cancer Society. Questions? Email me at milkshakecrafts at comcast.net.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. We met mom-mom at a gardening center, where I got some lettuce plants, a huge pot of basil and a few perennials. The basil is for pesto - one of my favorite things to make and eat in the summer. Malayna will have her own little area in the garden this year, so she chose a few pretty flowers to plant. She knew exactly what she wanted, color-wise. All her flowers are "magenta" and blue.

{Malayna's flowers.}

{Helping me weed.}

{See the worm?}

A letter to my girl

Dear Malayna,

Good morning! It's wonderful that you love the new alphabet print daddy and I hung in your room the other day. You really like reciting the alphabet over and over while pointing to the letters. You sound so excited! You've known your alphabet for a long time now, so I hardly take notice when you sing the alphabet song these days.

But, hey! Way to get my attention this morning! At 5:30 am. Reading the alphabet. In your loudest voice. Over and over. And over.

Are you too young to learn how to tell time? Since I make clocks it seems to make sense that you should be able to read them. Lesson one: Do not speak above a whisper before the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the seven. That's 7:00. No, that's not unreasonable. Do you know that before you came along daddy and I would sleep until 10:00 sometimes?

It's now 8:30, which means we've been up for 3 hours already. Would taking an actual NAP today {including closing your eyes and not talking} be too much to ask?

Love,
Mommy

PS: Daddy and I were married 13 years ago today. Our ceremony started at 6:30 PM because WE'RE NOT MORNING PEOPLE.

Happy Mother's Day

{three generations}

I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day! More photos here.

Inside and outside 264

{painting}

{Looking at a tiny caterpillar.}

{Don't you love the outfits four-year-olds choose?}

The weather was beautiful this week. We spent a lot of time in the yard and had our first {then second} barbecue of the season. Today is rainy and windy, but the weather is supposed to clear up for Mother's Day {at least the afternoon}. What are your Mother's Day plans?

Scoutie Girl giveaway

Head on over to Scoutie Girl and enter to win a collection of fabulous goodies worth $547! Jan explains the details here: Indie Goodness.

Good luck!

Home and Garden Festival

Yesterday's Home and Garden Festival was great and the weather was beautiful. I made lots of new wall squares, magnets and cards, all of which were well-received. One woman, who purchased three wall squares, told me my work was "happy." What a great compliment!

It was a long day - I left my house around 6:15 am and didn't get home until 7:00 pm. I didn't get to bed until after midnight the night before, so I was running on very little sleep. Luckily, I was busy enough at the show that I didn't even think about how tired I was.

I applied to this show at the last minute, but I'm happy I did. I will definitely do it again next year.

Thanks to everyone who came by to say hello! {And thank you, Rose, for helping me again. I hope you're not too exhausted today!}

Busy

{new magnet}

Hi all! I'm still here, just busy getting ready for my show on Sunday. This show is huge, so I'm getting a little nervous. Jimmy, Malayna and I went to this event last year, and it was super busy. My {very kind} friend Rose will be helping me with my booth - from setting up to selling to breaking down at the end of the day. It's a looooong day {set up starts at 6:30 am} and we'll be on our feet most of the time. We'll be busy selling out, right?!

If you live in the area, please stop by and say hello. It's a good event for kids - they have a pooch parade, moon bounces, sand art, and lots of other activities. Of course, there are lots of booths with stuff for your home and garden. Plants, too!

My booth will be on the 8300 block of Germantown Avenue, in front of Jenks School. Hope to see you there!

{PS: The raindate is May 18th. You can call the Business Association on Sunday morning to find out if the event is rescheduled. Their number is 215-247-6696.}

Cool clothing?

I have recently lost 10+ pounds {since November}. That's a good thing, right? It is, except for the fact that none of my clothing fits. Just about everything I have is too big, so it's hard to tell that I've lost anything! I end up wearing the same things again and again. Jimmy lost 40+ pounds, so his situation is even more extreme than mine. He has to cinch all his pants so they don't fall off. They look pretty silly. He's been able to buy a few pairs of pant here and there and even had his work pants taken in.

I lost the weight by been eating a little better and exercising. I hate exercising, so I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking it out for almost 6 months. This is going to sound really corny, but Jimmy and I work out together. We have a stationary bike, weights, weight bench, and heavy bags in the cellar. If it weren't for him pushing me to work out 5 days a week, I wouldn't have stuck with it. {Thanks, Jimmy!} There were many days that I would've rather been on the couch with a good book. Or watching bad TV.

Anyway, I need some cool clothing suggestions. I sometimes get cute tops from Forever 21, but their pants a slightly ridiculous. I'm a little too old to be shopping there! I need basics - like shorts, capris and tops that I can wear to work and to play.

Any suggestions?

Outside 264

{Click on the image to enlarge.}

The trees are down, the roof and gutters are finished and our house is starting to look good again. I can't wait to get out there this weekend and do some gardening!

{My favorite tree. See caption below.}

{My parents gave us this dogwood tree
for our 5-year wedding anniversary.}

{Lilac bush in the backyard. Smells incredible!}

{Primroses, forget-me-nots, astilbe and
bleeding hearts in the backyard.}

What's in your garden?

Preschool

Malayna and I are visiting a local preschool today. Remember way back in November, when I was thinking of signing her up to start this past January? I decided that wasn't the best idea - the kids would all know each other and be used to going to school at that point. She would've been the only new child.

She will start in September and probably go three days a week. I do have the option to in increase her days to four or five in January if she really likes it. She'll have one year in preschool before starting kindergarten in September 2009. We have full-day kindergarten in our township. Don't get me started with that topic - I could go on and on about how I think it's too much for such little kids.

Luckily, Lily {our neighbor and Malayna's friend} goes to this preschool. I told Malayna this morning that we would be visiting Lily at preschool and she was very excited. Phew! I was kind of dreading this morning - I thought she was going to give me a hard time about going. Call me a pessimist.

When I spoke to the director the other day, she gave me a short list of things kids need to know before they go to kindergarten. Malayna knows most of it, with the exception of writing her full name.

• cutting, including cutting on a line
• recognize upper and lower case letters
• write their name in upper and lower case letters
• know and recognize their address
• be able to rhyme
• understand concepts like over and under
• basic science and social studies {not really sure what this one means}
• know about the seasons and weather.

Is there anything you can add? What did your children need to know before starting kindergarten?

Weekend recap

Remember the first time Malayna went on the train? It was horrible, to say the least. Fortunately, she got all that screaming and crying out of her system and now LOVES to ride the train. We've taken many trips to Center City since that first time - and we always stop at Reading Terminal Market while we're downtown.

{The Academy of Music}

This past weekend, we went to The Academy of Music with Aidan and his parents, for a program called Sound All Around. It was a great show - members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, along with a storyteller, gave a mini-concert that was geared toward preschoolers. Afterwards, we all walked to LOVE Park so the kids could see the fountain {which was colored green for Earth Day}. They ran around like crazy, happy to be outside in the gorgeous weather.

After a little while Aidan, Wendy and Daniel went home {Aidan still naps} and we walked to the Market. Have I mentioned how perfect the weather was? Even though I was happy to be outside, I kept thinking about all the things I could've been doing if we were home - like moving plants around, getting the back of the yard ready for a new vegetable garden and painting the porch. That list could go on and on…

{LOVE park}

Sunday's weather was also great, so we did get outside in the yard that day. I pulled weeds while Jimmy mowed the lawn. We invited our neighbor Lily over to play with Malayna. How different this year is compared to last! Last year we couldn't both work while Malayna was out there, but this year she and Lily happily played and Jimmy and I did our own thing. I think we'll be having Lily over a LOT this summer.

In other news, the roofers are here today! We'll finally have a new roof, thanks to the storm on March 8th. You never know what you're going to get when you buy an old house - under the roof shingles is a layer of slate! Who in the world covers a slate roof with asphalt shingles?! That slate is probably what saved our house when the limb fell on it.

The weather here is gorgeous again. Yay for spring!

The park

{Looking up.}

We interrupt the regularly scheduled program to show you some photos from the park. Malayna and I took a stroll there yesterday morning - it was a GORGEOUS day, with a high of 75 and bright sunshine. I'm so glad the sun is back! It's been pretty dreary around here lately.

While Malayna and I walked the trail around the park, she quickly started art-directing me. {Who's the graphic designer, here?!} She pointed out the things she wanted me to photograph and I took the photos. I told her she was more than welcome to get her butt out of the stroller and take them herself, but she preferred to direct from the comfort of her seat. {Gee, so unlike her!} All the following photos, with the exception of the ones with her in them, are brought to you by Malayna. {See more in my new Flickr account.}

Website photographs

{Typical image for the website.
This is a new size - 8".}

When I take the photos for my website, I clean them up in a program called Photoshop. I take out the background and put a drop shadow behind the clock. I like the way it looks - clean and uncluttered. But I'm wondering if you can really tell what the clocks look like. I'm playing around with the idea of photographing them on one of my walls - so you can tell what it will look like in real life.

{I took these photo quickly this morning - obviously I'd have to get all the extra nails off the wall before taking more photos!}

{test photo 1}

{test photo 2}

How do you like to view products online? Clean and uncluttered or in a real-life setting?

Living in an old house

The first time I saw our house I fell in love with it. It had everything I wanted in a house - a porch to rock on, lots of ground for gardens, a fenced-in backyard for Luco, and loads of charm. Some of the things that sold us on this house were the hardwood floors (under really ugly green carpeting), built-in shelves in the dining room, a new kitchen and bathroom and a very convenient laundry room on the second floor.

Do you know what charm really means? It means cute, very old and ready to fall apart at any given moment. This house was built in 1899, and some parts of it seem like they haven't been updated since then. We have a mudroom off our kitchen (both were additions), and it's a complete mess. It's become the storage area for junk that doesn't otherwise have a home. It has potential, but only after the windowsills are replaced, shelves are built, walls and floor are scrubbed (really, really scrubbed) and walls painted. I wish the tree would've fallen on the mudroom and completely taken it out - that way we'd be starting fresh.

So many things need to be done in here that it's overwhelming. I think about all the stuff that has to be started and how there just isn't enough time to do it all. I don't like to start something and not finish. If I'm going to straighten the mudroom, I want to do it all in one shot. I don't want it to be half-finished. My thinking goes something like this: Why paint the windowsills when the mudroom needs to be straightened? Why fix the mudroom when Malayna's playroom needs to be finished? Why finish the playroom when gardens need to be planted?

Do you see a pattern here?

How do you prioritize? I'm thinking that maybe we should start from the ground floor and work our way up. I just need more hours in the day, but doesn't everyone?

My new niece

Welcome to the world, Davyn Maria! Born Saturday, April 12th. 9 lbs. 5 oz, 22 inches long. Congratulations to David, Maria and big brother Jack!