Rose Bowl Weekend

We debuted fern & lola at the Pasedena Rose Bowl in California this weekend. I was so nervous to go, to get feedback, and to just try and sell our stuff. What if nobody liked them? What if people told us it was a stupid idea? What if we didn't sell a single thing? The night before I didn't sleep, my stomach was in a knot.

We got up at 4am, packed up the car and headed out to Pasadena. We set up our little tent and waited. And, would you know people really liked our stuff. We had one woman wanting to represent us. A textile designer gushed over us. A woman who made and sold goods for Bloomingdales window displays told us we were amazing, and that we should be selling on Rodeo drive. And, they bought our stuff. We actually sold stuff. Even people that were just there to brouse or as something to do, stopped, asked us questions and gave really favourable comments. Even MEN! (and they weren't even gay). So we came away from the experience pretty elated, and ready to take fern and lola to the next level.

Check out our little set up( you can't really see it, but our banner has a border of leaves scratched into the paint. It looks much cooler in person), oh and especially take a look at Allyson's paisley design which I just lurve.

Whew!

I know I've been a little distant lately, but I have been oh so busy with my little life.

I'm flying to Los Angeles this weekend for the debut of fern & lola at a pretty darned huge craft market called the Rose Bowl. So, I've been painting my rounded rear off (if only that could really reduce the size of my posterier I would be a very productive woman). I also volunteer with the Family Readiness Group (FRG) for Mack's military unit, and so have been doing stuff for them. I also spent a fabulous 4th of July weekend at Bear Lake, where I just vegged. I am also in alot of pain and can barely walk with a bit of a hip problem ( I have to see an orthopedic doctor). I also have a very active one year old that has suddenly decided she can't function unless she's attached to my leg in some way. I also have decided that I really, really, really need a massage.

And thats all for now. More after the weekend.

Wonder Balm

I suffer from lip sores. I'm not sure why, but my lips are always dry and invariably end up cracking and bleeding at least once a month. These lip cracks are really painful, because once they scab over, every little face movement I make, breaks the scab seal and makes the lip bleed over and over, and, they're not very pretty. I've tried SO many products but nothing seemed to work.

My last cracked lip happened this weekend. I was not a happy chappy. The only lip ice (chapstick) I had was a tube of Alcare that I bought on my last trip to South Africa. I pretty much caked my lip in the stuff before I went to bed, and lo and behold, when I woke in the morning my lip had pretty much healed overnight. WOOHOO!!!

Can you say: Wonder product? (I have the vanilla one).

zzzzzzzzz, Huh!

I've realized, that one year olds are very selfish little people. Oh, and very disobedient.

Take this morning for example. The Taz decided that 5am was a very decent time to wake up. Not so for the rest of the civilized world. Taz however decided that because she was awake everybody within a 20 mile radius should be awake as well, and proceeded to scream and perform at the top of her lungs, till I groggily stumbled into her room. I then asked her very nicely to keep quiet and lie down and go to sleep and not wake again till at least 8am. Did she listen. No. ( I swear I saw the defiance in her eyes.) I asked her again very nicely, this time explaining that her daddy had to get up in an hour and needed this last little bit of sleep. Her reply - a spine chilling, ear piercing, eye popping SCREAM! I then went into full rant mode letting her know how selfish she was and that if her attitude didn't change we were going to have to ship her off to some wilderness training camp to break her spirit and get her in line. Her reply to this, was to slap me in the face.

So instead I just made her a bottle of warm milk, and rocked her back to sleep.

But don't you worry, I'm still the one in charge. Oh yes I am!

Happy Birthday little Pumpkin!

My little girl is one today. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I love you munchkin pie!

fern & lola

Well every body, let me introduce you to fern and lola - hand painted linens. A little business idea that I've had for quite some time, that has finally become a reality. Now I'm not doing this by myself. My friend Gillian and sister-in-law Allyson are working with me to create one of a kind hand painted table cloths (for now - we have so many ideas to expand we're about to burst).

We finally have some of our work up on Etsy which is very exciting for us. Go to www.etsy.com, under sellers we're listed as fernandlola, otherwise you can search for table cloths and you'll find us.

Tell everybody you know - please!!!! Also, if you have a blog and wouldn't mind giving us a shout out we would be super appreciative.

Yay for momtrepeneurs!

San Diego Fun

We spent a few days in San Diego, cause I seriously needed to get out of Utah for a little while. It was definitely what I needed.

San Diego Zoo - Loved this place, and so did the Tazling.







Swimming at the hotel - Miss Madam LOVES water.


Sea World - At the Shamu show, they do this whole thing where you have to put your hands together and wave your arms up and down to make Shamu splash you. It was all smiles and giggles, till Shamu splashed our side of the auditorium. Would you believe that the splash came in a straight line and hit only one person in each row of seats. Its true, and guess who the one person in our row is who got doused - exactly! The person on my right was bone dry, and Mack had a few drops on his shoulder. I however looked like a drowned rat and had rivulets of water running from each butt cheek when I stood up. Good times, Good times!


(Mack feeding the seals - Taz did not appreciate the noise)

(Taz checking out the bat rays)

(The bat ray that touched Taz's foot and made her FREAK out!)




(The infamous Shamu splash - I still can't believe I was the one that got wet - Mack was the one that wanted to sit in the splash zone. I can still feel my damp jean clad thighs rubbing together. At least it was a nice warm day.)

Santa Monica Beach - we spent a couple of days in LA with Gillian.






Lego Land - We didn't have much fun here cause little missy was too small to go on any of the rides. We'll visit again when she's 5 or so - then she'll have a blast!


(she did not appreciate the coolness of being in the sharks mouth.)

(Moi looking super cool in a borrowed hat - I sunburnt my scalp the day before - looking like a dork was far better than getting a double burn.)

Summer Fruits

Tamsine LOVES fruit. I cut it up and put it in her little - no choke - fruit pouch thingy and away she goes. She particularly enjoys oranges and nectarines.

Figured It Out

I've been wondering about Tamsine and her screaming fits when we put her down for bed. It just didn't make sense that she would go down for her naps no problem, but that she would scream at night.

I've been wondering if it had something to do with the darkness. We always have a nightlight on, but her room is still pretty dark. So, tonight I put a single bulb lamp in her room which gave her a little more light, but still kept the room dim enough for her to know that its night.

AND, lo and behold.......NO TANTRUM!!!!! My little girl is afraid of the dark. That's why she's been freaking out at night. Poor kid. I feel so bad. But at least we figured it out and now we can both relax.

It Starts...

My mother told me that having a little redhead was God's way of getting me back for the grief I gave as a kid. AND Tamsine's hair gets redder by the day. Jeesh!

She isn't even 11 months old yet, but the battle of the wills has already started. Who will win? Right now that's anybodies guess. I know how stubborn I am, but I'm still learning how stubborn my offspring can be.

Nap times during the day are fine. She's tired, I put her in her cot, she lies and moans for a few minutes and then goes to sleep.

Going down for the night though is a COMPLETELY different story. She's tired, I give her a bottle, she about falls asleep drinking, she realizes that its bed time, she wakes herself up, she smiles coyly, she arches her little back and lets out a spine chilling screech, I put her in her cot, I turn on her lullaby music, she starts to wail, she pulls herself up and knaws on the side of her cot while wailing, I put her down, I put her dummy in her mouth, she rolls and squirms and screams, I pat her little bum and try to shush her, she slaps at my hand and screams some more, I start to mumble threats under my breath, she screams some more, I then walk out the room to see if she will cry herself to sleep, she goes into berserker mode, I listen to her scream for about 20 min, I walk into her room, I pick her up, I quiet her down, she rubs and rubs and rubs her little eyes, she pretends to be asleep, I put her in her crib, she arches her little back and screams, I mutter a few death threats (to or regarding no one in particular) and curse a little, she screams. 2 hrs later we're still doing the exact same thing, until I pick her up, she screams, arches her back, and promptly falls asleep.

WHAT THE???!!!!!???

I've wondered many things about what I might be doing wrong, if she's in pain, and on and on. The things is, that if I bring her out to the lounge she proceeds to smile and gurgle and act like the cutest happiest baby ever. I've realized, she just doesn't feel the need to go to bed at a normal hour and give me a little break. BRAT!

So as I said....The battle of the wills...It starts!

Now That's What I'm Talking About

I'm Melting

Taz and I have been enjoying the bike seat. It helps me get some exercise, and helps tucker Taz out so that she takes lovely long naps. We usually bike to a park where we have a little picnic lunch and then play on the swings and attempt climbing on the other equipment.

We were biking around the other day, and as I took a corner I said "weeeee", and the next thing I heard this little "weeeee", come out of my tiny passenger. It was so adorable!!!!

Now everytime we take a ride she sits and says, "weeeeee". When I hear her, I just melt.

Mouse in the House

We have alot of construction going on around our house, and also a really large open field behind it. Both of these factors contribute to there being an abundance of furry little critters being disturbed in their natural habitat. Add a very frisky Phoebe into the mix and...I think you can see where I'm going with this.

So last night I noticed the cat staring intently at the corner of Tamsine's room, I wondered about it, but was too tired to really care. Then, this morning I found mouse droppings and pee in the container we keep Taz's nappies in, in her top drawer of her chest of drawers. I was not amused, but had been witness to Phoebe's conquests before, so I started looking everywhere for the mouse carcass. Nowhere! Argh!!!! I have a baby in the house and need to know where to spray copious amounts of Lysol disinfectant. THEN, I noticed the cat completely fascinated with the hall cupboard where we keep the vacuum. I thought - Aha - so opened the cupboard expecting the cat to jump in there and pull out the mouse. Instead she attacked the vacuum. Our cat (let me correct that, ) Mack's cat is a strange one anyway, but I figured there was something to her taking a dislike to the vacuum suddenly.

On closer inspection, I found the mouse had crawled up the vacuum hose and died there. Now isn't that a considerate mouse. I wish they would all do that!

So now instead of having to douse the whole house in Lysol disinfectant and have it dripping from the ceilings, I can just spray in the area's that I figure the mouse went.

Sweet New Ride

As summer approaches and the days begin to warm, I have been overcome with the need to get out into the sunshine and capitalize on the great weather. I seem to suffer from seasonal dysfunctional disorder here and go into a complete depression during the last few months of winter in Utah (which feels like about 9, maybe 10 months of the year).

Anyway, I have always enjoyed a nice bike ride or two. You know the kind - the ones where the wind is always in your favour and there are no uphills anywhere to be seen. Yip thats my kind of bike ride. But, this year so far I have been unable to follow my whim of biking around my parking lot a couple of times because of the dear munchkin.

I started researching bike seats versus bike trailers (which I have found are hellishly expensive). I found the perfet bike seat for the little missy, one where I can talk to her, where she is safe, where she doesn't throw my center of balance off, where she doesn't have to look at my wobbling butt the whole ride, and where I can see if she's uncomfortable or not.

So to make a long story short - meet Tamsine's new ibert. Even though the weather wasn't the best today, we had to take it for a test run. She LOVED it.

So come on summer, Taz and I have some serious biking to do - I might even try a slight incline or two!

Taz all kitted out and ready to go!

Virgin voyage of the ibert.

Of course we had to stop off in the park so that..ummm, both my kids could play on the swings a bit.


Just look at that happy little face!

Good Times, Good Times

I have to write this down before it becomes a distant memory - mainly because its my favourite memory from this last trip to Cape Town.

This is how it happened. Jeremy, Taz, my Mom and I went to breakfast with some of my Mom's friends. We arrived back at my Aunts house and heard the most awful noise (sorry Alana) coming from her sunroom area. Confused and just a little concerned we walked into the house, and found my cousin Alana sitting cross legged on my Aunts couch singing at the top of her lungs along with a karaoke style game called Sing Star. My cousin Brenna and her boyfriend Alexandre were just as into the game. Surprisingly, Alana's favourite song to sing to was Dolly Parton's 9 to 5. I think Lana was chanelling her!

But, to make a long story short, it felt like old times back in Cape Town. The cousins all hanging out together acting stupid and not caring. After only a few minutes we were all haggling over who was going to sing which song, getting excited about beating one anothers score, and teasing each other. Jeremy was a little reticint at first, which was surprising because out of all of us, he has the best voice, but seriously with all of us together, excited, singing off key, it was only a matter of minutes before Jeremy was sucked into the thick of things. And boy was he sucked in! Alana was so addicted that she was late for a dinner appointment - her husband had to call 3 times to remind her she needed to make her way home.

Ahhh, the good old days. I miss you guys!