thursday tidbits

greetings y’all!  it’s that time again…let’s dive right in, shall we?

i love a good katie ridder wallpaper.  and wouldn’t you know, i have an example right here?!  now – have you seen bailey at peppermint bliss’s before and afters in her austin, tx home?  the bathrooms especially are bananas.  i love that when renovating this particular bathroom, she was on bed rest and could not oversee the installing of the tile…and they were supposed to be turned at 45 degree angles to be a quatrefoil pattern.  i thought it looked fab at first glance though!

it’s been pretty warm around these parts.  in all seriousness, the thought of hauling two kids and all of their gear to the pool….alone….chasing after a wily 3-year-old boy and tending to a baby in a float simultaneously…it makes me want to cry real tears.  so what is one to do?  THIS of course!

i am sure our neighbors are super impressed and uber glad we moved to the street.  between that and the skivvy sprinkler runs, we are really making a name for ourselves here.

speaking of our neighborhood, i stopped by a neighbor’s house yesterday (i love our listserve) to grab two slightly used toddler car seats that we will use for rinne once she switches from the infant seat.  i was by myself and just tossed them into my car along with my other two car seats i always have in the back seat.  y’all, 4 car seats is a lot to have in a sedan.  and then i stopped by a nursery to pick up a few plants for the garden (if you’re thinking hello, trunk?, it’s full. strollers.)  i kept snickering to myself driving down the road with this next to me, wondering what i would think if i saw this sight along with three other car seats in the back.  perhaps – a gardening hoarder with a penchant for child or purse safety?  maybe i’m a mom who REFUSES to upgrade to a minivan, therefore necessitating a child’s car seat to be put in the front seat (which i’m fairly certain is illegal).

it just really made me laugh.

we’ve been working on lots of birth announcements this summer!  this custom calligraphy birth announcement in bright, feminine colors just puts a smile on my face.  it’s so happy.

lots more fun things to show you soon in our new and improved website we’re busily working on!!
xoxo

i’ll have what she’s having

did i ever tell you i had a huge girl crush on nora ephron?  i feel like i did but maybe i didn’t.  if you have not read her recent collections of short stories, “i feel bad about my neck” and “i remember nothing” (which i ironically could not remember the title of last night discussing her death at dinner among friends), you’re missing out.  she was obviously a good bit older than me, but had this way of writing that made you feel like she’s your equal, a friend that you’re having coffee with.  the cool aunt you never had, and that will give you all the dirt on everything yet to come.

she wrote about things all people have in common – aging, marrying, divorcing, parenting, careers and the way that life is just so damn interesting.  she was an intern during the kennedy white house years (she claims she was the only intern kennedy never hit on), was married three times (one of the times to a man intertwined with the watergate scandal…who later left her while she was pregnant with their second child), grew up as a child of two screenwriters (who later both became alcoholics and reportedly, per her book, her dad accidentally killed her mom via an overdose) in beverly hills and rubbed elbows with some of the greatest icons of yesteryear through all of her years in LA and new york.  she said her mother told her – everything is copy.  she certainly lived a life with lots of copy opportunities.

i was going to type out a succinct favorite passage or two from her books, but i tried and…you just won’t get it.  you have to read the whole story, and they’re so good i just can’t cheat you of that.  but i do love her lists.  she made great lists.  here are two, from “i remember nothing.”

WHAT I WILL MISS:
my kids
nick (her husband)
spring
fall
waffles
the concept of waffles
bacon
a walk in the park
the idea of a walk in the park
the park
shakespeare in the park
the bed
reading in bed
fireworks
laughs
the view out the window
twinkle lights
butter
dinner at home just the two of us
dinner with friends
dinner with friends in cities where none of us live
paris
pride and prejudice
the christmas tree
thanksgiving dinner
one for the table
the dogwood
taking a bath
coming over the bridge to manhattan
pie

WHAT I WON’T MISS:
dry skin
bad dinners like the one we went to last night
email
technology in general
my closet
washing my hair
bras
funerals
illness everywhere
polls
fox
the collapse of the dollar
joe lieberman
clarence thomas
bar mitzvahs
mammograms
dead flowers
the sound of the vacuum cleaner
bills
email.  i know i already said it, but i want to emphasize it.
small print
panels on women in film
taking off makeup every night

nora, i could not agree more.  taking off makeup at night, every single night, is such a chore.  bras too.

xoxo

hybrid birth announcement

greetings!  hope y’all had a great weekend…mine flew.  i always think i’m going to get soooo much done with rbb home to help and turns out i’m the same level of productive as i am during the week.  le sigh.

anyhow.  we aim to please here at calliespondence – so when one of our favorite clients came to us with an idea of adding a custom insert into a rifle paper co. “baby!” foldover card, we said – sure!  i mean, rifle paper co. doesn’t do anything that’s bad.  we are proud to have done a hybrid rifle / calliespondence birth announcement – even though i am certain they have never, ever heard of calliespondence or are aware they took part in such…details.


here’s the front of the card.

how adorable is this little lad???  i absolutely love the picture.

we jazzed up the typical birth announcement stats language…

how fun is that?!

whatever you dream up, we can probably make it happen.  making dreams come true here, people.  we’re pretty much just like disney world.

xoxo

thursday tidbits

did you ever have one of those days when your life seems like a comic strip?  yesterday, mine would be a little bit of “family circle” mixed with “baby blues” and a top off of “peanuts” with a big SHEESH! as the last conversation bubble.

remember how i told you last week we were potty training?  well, we still are.  and we were using mama’s iphone as a good potty incentive (i.e. sit on the can, produce a little tinkle, eat m&ms and watch lightning mcqueen videos!  sounds like the life, right?) … until the phone landed in the toilet yesterday morning.  i don’t know how it happened as i turned my back for a mere moment to start a load of laundry …  but … ew.

why was i starting laundry?  well, rinne’s breakfast decidedly did not sit well with her, so the entire contents ended up all over herself, me, the high chair, the floor…poor thing.  i hate that for her.  my mom came shortly after this circus tent got pitched so i could run to the dentist to get a filling replaced.  i am serious, that is actually where i went.  i ran by verizon to see about getting my phone fixed afterwards (with half of my mouth numb slash immobile).  they couldn’t do a thing, but told me to make an appointment with a genius at the apple store – apparently they have phone surgeons in the back of the store and maybe they could help.  but of course everyone recommended i simply buy a new phone at the bargain price of $199.

this was not a bad idea, the genius thing, because the apple store is located at lenox square.  and what’s a gal to do when she’s feeling glum?  stroll into neiman marcus for their summer sale event, and pick up a little bouquet of flowers to lift her spirits.

between that and a little sprinkler action in skivvies, my day got turned around.

and, my phone made a miraculous recovery – i don’t know what those geniuses did, but i want to smooch every last one of them.

in other news around the world, publix has made a groundbreaking and very welcome revision to their “car” grocery carts.  they are approximately 3 feet smaller and actually go where you want them to go.  the whole family loves them!

did i mention that i got a new font?  i love her and just can’t get enough of her.  see how pretty?

today is already a better day.  yahoo!
xoxo

rinne’s six (or…eight) month photo session

poor second children.  i had rush’s photo sessions scheduled like clockwork – newborn, 6 month, 1 year…and little rinne finally got her six month photos taken when she was over eight months old.  eh, she’ll never know, right?!  when i finally got around to scheduling it, i immediately thought of abbey from dylan blue photography.  we’ve had several sessions with her before and i just love her work.  (you can see samples on our 2009 holiday card and our 2010 holiday card, as well as birth announcements here and here).  what’s even better, is her amazing bedside manners…which are duly needed when you’re working with small children.  i always feel so bad when they act up or won’t cooperate, but abbey makes you feel so at ease and like it’s no big thing – which is exactly how you want to be made to feel when your little tyrants, errr, rugrats, fuss and carry on in front of the camera (or anytime, really).

we did the session at our house in front of the blooming hydrangeas.  i just adore what she was able to capture…

for rbb: go jackets

oh my, does it pain me to write the words “go jackets.”  the things we do for love, y’all.

if you’re new around here, rbb and i live in georgia.  there are two big state schools here and one big, long rivalry.  i went to one (u. of georgia), rbb went to the other (georgia tech).  we were both raised to detest the other’s school which makes for some interesting in-law chatter.  we always attend the uga/gt football game together (though usually do not sit together – we do want to stay married) the saturday after thanksgiving, and typically place a bet on it.  i usually get a month of not having to fill my car up with gas (it’s a drag, right?) or similar.  it works.

so – yesterday was father’s day, as we all know.  can you believe that i have never made rbb any stationery?!  isn’t that so silly.  not that he’s flying through stamps sending out personal jottings or anything, but the man should have some personalized notecards from the (literally) in-house stationery shoppe for crying out loud.  i finally made him some, putting my allegiances aside and using the gold and navy that the yellow jackets proudly don…

i am currently loving a card with a back.  such a fun surprise!

the cards also masquerade as business-like from the front with a classic navy liner…

perhaps i shall market these as my mullet inspired cards.  who wouldn’t want a card with a party on the back?

in etsy shop here (sans liner).  and of course, i can do any school colors, although red and black is preferred. :)

xoxo

thursday tidbits

i come before you today weary, in need of a shower (or a severe hand washing at least) and never having spent so much time within the confines of one bathroom before, even during four years spent at the #2 party school in the nation and being quite overserved at times.  it has been potty training boot camp around here, and woah – this s&*# is for the birds, pun intended.  the good news is that the accidents are becoming fewer, and the less urine i have to clean up the better (is this ever not the case?).  i was talking to a girlfriend who has two boys yesterday, and she said that with her 2nd son, she actually googled “potty trainer,” someone who would come to your house and train your kid for you.  she only found one and they weren’t in business anymore.  yeah, no kidding!  WHO would want that job?

a bright spot to the week: i ran by the babygap at lenox square yesterday to get – what else – more big boy underpants – and y’all.  they had an entire wall of DVF for babygap marked down to ridiculous prices.  i was dying!!  they are pretty much sold out online, so i was shocked to see so much inventory at such fab prices.  of course i had to get rinne a little something…

i mean, are you kidding me?!

did i tell you guys that i’ve been eating sort of paleo?  i really love it and i really do feel better, more energetic and more…spry.  if you don’t know what it is, it’s a food movement that advocates fresh, “real” food – nothing processed, no grains/breads/legumes, sugar or dairy.  i know, it sounds like a lot of nos – but i do allow room for cheating because there are some things that are non-negotiable.  i HAVE TO have cream in my coffee in the morning and every so often, i simply must ingest chips and salsa.  anyway, one of the areas i find is a little difficult is finding things to snack on between meals.  a lot of people do kale chips, which i made once before and they were gross – too chewy and not chip-like at all.  however – i found a fail-proof recipe and am now a convert.  they are SO good and super easy:

- take a bunch of kale and DO NOT wash it.  well, i guess you could wash it a day or two before and then just dry it really, really well.  but i buy organic kale and then don’t wash it…and yes i’m still alive.
- tear it up into pieces and lay them out in one layer on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- toss with a little olive oil.
- bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.
- sprinkle salt on the chips and devour.  delish!

my clients think of the coolest things.  a etsy client whose family just moved to chicago (with their two small children) commissioned me to create some “playdate cards” that she could use to give out at the playground, preschool, library, etc. to connect with other parents.  how neat!  we also did coordinating notecards so her children can properly thank the hosts of the ensuing playdates, right?  i do love a good children’s stationery suite.

hope you all have had a good week, or at least one that wasn’t nearly as messy as mine :)

xoxo

calliespondence client in t&c

y’all, i am so tragically behind in blogging.  there are scores of fun projects i think about and want to write about but i just cannot find the time!  for instance, one of my clients was featured in the “weddings” section of the august 2011 town & country.  august 2011.  and it came out in july 2011!!!!!  that’s absurd, seeing as now it is june 2012.  after staring at the magazine sitting on the floor of my office for a good ten+ months, i decided that today it was high time to feature it.  well, and i saw the lovely bride last night and it jogged my memory :)

we did wedding weekend itineraries that featured a full run-down of the events, things to do in atlanta, and helpful phone numbers.

i’m not sure if you can read it, but it lists jalisco as “the BEST mexican restaurant in atlanta.”  it is, for real.

the groom also created a map (way to go, helpful groom!) that we printed on deckled edge paper to include in the welcome baskets.

i don’t know about you, but i just love the weddings section of town & country.  i usually flip there first and then work my way through the rest of the rag…

how cute are they?!

and, i’m pretty sure they are standing in front of the chapel doors at the same church where rbb and i got hitched.  holla!

xoxo

kicking off the salty 3s

my little man turned three last week!  wow.  that is so wild.  we’ve made it through the terrible 2s and am now embarking on what i am calling the salty 3s.  there’s a lot of sweetness too, but for the most part i’m finding…salty.

but alas, the show went on.  plus i had already picked up his lightning mcqueen cake…

how awesome is that?  katie at sweet peeps does an amazing job.  and just look at the detail in the screws and such…

what i love about katie’s cakes is that they taste as good as they look!  this one had almond flavored cake with raspberry filling and buttercream icing.  YUM.

y’all, this was the simplest of the simple birthday celebrations.  we had just gotten back in town from the beach, rbb had just taken the CFA the day before and we needed something easy peasy japanese-y.  i ordered the cake from katie in advance, grabbed dips/crackers to serve as appetizers and pizzas from whole foods, and made a big salad.  a couple of bottles of wine, lightning mcqueen paper plates from target, paper napkins i already had on hand – and i called it a day.  not my shining moment as a party hostess, but you know what?  three year olds don’t care much either way.

i’ll tell you what he did care about though…

the “olivia saves the circus” book i got him, being read to him by uncle brannon.  we’ve read it no less than five times a day since he got it.  and i love the olivia books – they’re just so cute and funny.

watching his dad break in his new tricycle from gaga…although he makes it look pretty hard?!

the plethora of lightning mcqueen gifts he received, including this playdough set from his uncle blake.

and of course, he loved the cake and blew out the candles like a champ.

rinne wants you to know that she was there too.

i didn’t even realize until hours after the party that we forgot to get a family picture.  dagnabit!  i always forget.

and today we embark on the wonderful world of potty training.  show me what else ya got, salty 3s.  i’m ready!!

xoxo

look whooooo’s having a baby (not me!)

some days, my street seems like a little slice of mayberry…  may 19th was one of those days.  i walked maybe 12 houses down to arrive at a baby shower being thrown for my friend brooke, who lives next door to the house where the shower was held.  and i would have normally stopped to pick up my friend margaret on the way, who lives a mere 5 houses down from me…but she was hosting so she arrived early.  i mean, how fun is that?!  i really love ‘ol longwood drive.

fabulously convenient location aside, this shower was just the essence of southern style.  i loved every inch of it.  for the invitation, we used the ever popular chevron style invitation with a little owl motif…

the wise old guy served as the theme for the shower, boosted by a coral and aqua color palette.

“baby pennington” is called BP for short…

and can you even believe how chic this mama-to-be is?!  i walked in and exclaimed how cute she looked, demanding to know where she found such a darling maternity dress.  she replied, duh – the reason why this is so cute is because it’s not maternity, it’s marc jacobs!!  should have known.

this might be my favorite picture – brooke was super excited about this gift because the store was featured on teen mom. :)

i can’t wait to stroll on down the street to hang out with BP once he or she arrives!!

xoxo