i heart vampires

It's a bit overdone, but yes, I've read the Twilight series and am a fan (not one of those obsessed ones that reads the book in 1 day - it took me about 3 days per book :) The series is definately NOT literary genius and Stephanie Meyer is anything but succinct (500-600 pages per book!). Still, I'll admit the books are fun, fast reads and the forbidden love story between Edward and Bella is delicious. The first book in the series is currently in movie production and here are a few pics of the cast.

Cullen Family Portrait (this one looks just like the old OC promos):

Keep up with the movie progress at the Stephenie Meyers website

Yearning for Yellow

This post is an homage to my lil'sis who is enjoying a vacation in Central America this week. She has always had her own style - informed by fashion trends, but always displaying her unique flair (in college, her roommate even tried to copy what she wore the previous day!).

Lil'sis often catches fashion trends just as they are starting and she saw the yellow train coming! After she told me a few months ago how much she was loving butter-yellow I've seen it everywhere! Pictured are a few of my recent favorite yellow ensambles.
(btw- my mom once told me that a little splash of yellow makes any arrangement or project look better :)

-The 2 runway images are from an article on Vogue's style website about spring trends(Sonia Rykiel on top followed by Gucci).
-Amber Valletta and son photographed for Cookie Magazine
-Bottom image by Anna Wolf (a fantastic photographer)

Nature vs. Nurture

The great debate in child-rearing. How much of the boy/girl personality differences are innate or born in the child? Or... are most of the differences due to things we subtly teach children about how a boy should act and how a girl should act (i.e. boys should like sports and girls should like princesses).

So I was buying a building/block set for my BFF's little boy Jack. Since Jack and his dad love the set so much, I decided to buy one for Little S - she and her dad could build cars/planes together too, right? WRONG!!

While Daddy worked on building a motorcycle Little S took the mini screwdriver in one hand and a block in the other and proceeded to poke her eye with the screwdriver.
Mommy: Stop poking your eye! What are you doing?
Little S: No, Mommy. I'm putting on my makeup. You want your makeup?
Mommy: OK.. (at which point I got the screwdriver poked in my eye and brushed along my cheek)




On a kind-of related note - I read an excellent article today on npr about the benefits of children participating in pretend play and free play. You can read it here

Favorite Oscar Moment - ONCE

"make art - make art"
I'm sure tomorrow everyone will be talking about the winners of the best song category from the film Once. Their speeches (thanks Jon Stewart for bringing Marketa back on stage to finish hers) were my favorite part of the night - passionate and inspiring - gotta love struggling artists! I saw Once in December. Yeah, it's rated R but I won't deny L-L-Loving this movie. The fantastic soundtrack helps, too.

Sick Days

We've been passing the flu around our house this week. These 2 sickies stayed home from church today and when I got home I found them working on this together (leftover kit from Christmas).

President's Day - Observed!

The cousins came to our house for a fun-filled pres day; they came looking for some snow in the mountains above us and we delivered. Thanks to my friend Chanel who invited all 12 of us to her fam's cabin to find snow for sledding and lunch on the patio overlooking the lake.
Pictured above: Uncle Matt and Julia. Pictured below: cousin Aislinn enjoying the ride down - Aislinn's been obsessed with snow lately and because she had never seen any, her dad came up with the idea to go sledding for the holiday!


Sunbathing - Aunt Becca, Claire, Chanel, Little S, and Lucy enjoy the sun and sledding.


Little S and Claire looking for trouble during lunch on the patio.

Valentine's Cupcakes

Little S and I decorated v-day cupcakes for our friends and family. She ate 2 candies for every 1 she put on a cupcake. We delivered them to Auntie L at work, Daddy at work, and a few of Little S's friends. We decorated before nap time, took a nap, ate lunch and then delivered cupcakes in the afternoon- the project took our entire day!

1 day left

Valentine's gift box from Sprinkles Cupcakes. mmmm

Little S delivered roses to Daddy at work today. We had to stop at home to pick up a vase before the delivery and she was perplexed that I had forgotten about the flower delivery. I assured her that we were headed to Daddy's office next - I was just running inside the house for a second. Man, she's always on my case about something! :>

2 days left

Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture in Philadelphia. The BYU Museum of Art has one in its collection as well.

Gymnastics

This morning we went to our weekly mom-and-me gymnastics class. I took my camera not knowing that today the kids would be using the harness belt during class to practice tuck kicks and "flying" (I can't remember the official name for this piece of equipment). Little S loves flying in the belt - the kids get to use it at class every few months. (Outside of the picture frame there is another teacher pulling on the rope that hoists the child via a system of pullies.)





Other less-dangerous activities at class. Auntie L came to class to assist so I could snap pics.

Girlfriends

These cute sisters are the closest thing Little S has to girlfriends. They are some of her favorite people in the world - Haley, Ruby and Lucy adore Little S almost as much as she adores them!
A few weeks ago I took these pics of the girls at the park on a cold, windy day. We enjoyed pizza together until we couldn't stand the cold any longer!

All You Need is Love

I was web-wandering for fun Valentine's ideas and came across this awesome poster. It was actually made for a poster show at PS1 in NYC (PS1 is a contemporary art center that D and I ventured out to on our last visit to the Big Apple). I've been trying to convince D that we are due for another visit to NYC this spring, so maybe if I get him this poster he will take me there :>

You + Me from www.vllg.com/products/

Itzhak Perlman's in Town!

I heard it on the radio today! He's playing with the Philharmonic this weekend. Of course, all three performances are sold out otherwise I would totally be there. He's one of the greatest violinists of this century and if you don't know him, you've probably heard him because he is the solo violinist on the soundtracks of Schindler's List and Memoirs of a Geisha.

My mom took me to see him perform when I was little. We had fantastic seats on the third row, dead center. I remember him coming onto stage with his crutches (he contracted polio as a child) and sitting on a chair playing right in front of us. I fell asleep during the concert, but it was memorable, nonetheless. BTW, my mom told me on the phone today to go to the concert and try to get some scalped tickets. Do they scalp tickets to classical violin performances? I love that she thinks this is a good idea - she'd be at the concert hall trying to get tickets if she was here!