Testimony - Talk Excerpt from Jeffery R. Holland

First batch printing of great Nashville poster -- I'm in!

I have had my eye on these awesome subway sign art prints from Restoration Hardware for a while now but can't stomach the price tag.  But it must be my lucky day, because I just happened upon an even cooler and much cheaper alternative!  I love this version of the same idea and I love that it is made just for Nashville!

These are made by a designer by the name of Hannah and I found her via some mutual friends on Twitter.  I think Hannah may have made me my birthday gift to myself...

This is cool, that is cool

Some random things that I think are noteworthy:

Check out this great, giant wall calendar from PBTeen.  I love the design aesthetic and the functionality.

OK, so this one is less on the functional side and way high on the just-plain-rocks side.  Give your guitar an other-worldly glow: (also PBTeen)

Aaaaand baby is awake.  More later :)

Branding on the Brain & Hi Design House

If you know Jared, you know that he has an entrepreneurial brain and spirit.  I have started to catch the bug as well and lately we have been doing lots of scheming.  Its fun to see how his background in engineering and business and my artsy intuition and creativity come together.  He is left brained, I am right brained.
Its like, together we form a whole brain.  


We have honed in on a particular product that we want to produce and he has left the branding and market approach mostly up to me.  Its great!  Its a whole new world I never knew about but totally love.  I am so loving this particular design company that I happened upon that I just have to share it with you.  What makes me laugh is that I guess my taste is consistent:  I have always loved the brand Roxy for their products but also for their creative and colorful branding.  When I found Hi Design House, I loved them immediately and realized as I looked through their work that they do work for Roxy!  Serendipity :)

So Sunny and fun!  Makes me wanna grab my board and go tear it up in style!

Here lies a whole lotta inspiration for the aforementioned project.  Love the rustic cool vibe.

Delicious eye candy.

These are the colors and this is the feel I want for my interior home decor.  

Great, great work.

Catching My Breath

Oliver, growing like a weed and sporting a cute new outfit

Its almost midnight and I really ought to be sleeping but I am just reeling from the last little while.  Its a wonderful kind of crazy to have four kids.  I am exhausted but oh so happy.

I took all the kids to Target with me today.  With three kids, people used to just smile at me.  Now with four it seems like its more of a freak-show kind of stare.  But not always.  I interacted with one nice employee who asked the standard question, "Are you going to try for a girl?"  I told her it didn't matter to me whether I had a girl or a boy but I do feel like there is one last little one up there, saying "don't forget me!"  She paused and said, "By 'up there', you mean Heaven?"  Yep.  And she got a little teary and said I made her day.

The boys really were very good as we made our way through all the areas of Super Target that I wanted to go to today.  They didn't even complain when I tried a few clothes on.  I promised them they could each earn a dollar for good behavior so keep an eye out for something cool.  Zach (5), with his wonderful imagination, started noticing things on the floor.  He announced he found a popcorn trail, and LOOK! It leads to a pair of shoes on the floor and so there MUST be a robber about!  I guess he was pretty convincing to Tyson (7) because soon Tyson announced that he was also sure there was a robber and his stomach was now upset worrying about it.  Zach told Ty not to worry because he was spending his dollar on a sword and he had no problem fighting off a robber.  Ty liked this idea and decided on some little firework poppers to help in the fight.  Will (9) never even heard this conversation because he trailed behind us, simultaneously pushing a shopping cart and reading one of the Harry Potter books for the umpteenth time.  Baby Oliver was in my left arm, stroller in my right.

Why would anyone stare at us??

I actually enjoyed this little trip, though my feet are tired and my patience exhausted.  I loved laughing out loud when on our way out the door, Zach spotted some more litter and hovered over it and yelled, "MOM!  LOOK!  ITS A CLUE!!"

All was well until we got to the car (Pity me!  A five seater little Sentra!  I need a van!) and Mr. Ollie decided he needed to eat NOW and started doing the freak-out cry.  I parked the cart and stroller behind the car, loaded the three big boys, put Ollie on my front seat, changed his diaper and made an emergency bottle, hoisted him with all my might in his carrier over the boys and into the middle of the backseat and instructed the boys on how to feed him so I could put the groceries and loot into the back and get outta there.  I did whack my head putting him into the car though and the boys marveled that even adults can cry when they get hurt.  Will stroked my arm consolingly when I finally got in the car and out of this Tennessee heat.

And now its late and I am home and we have groceries and full bellies and my heart is super grateful for all these boys in my house, the big one included.  And now I catch my breath.  And sleep I guess...

What would you do with this?

I stumbled on decorative packing tape online... my mind is churning with all the possible uses.  What would you do with it?  I am loving the Manhattan Subway tape!

From Amazon and Art Fire