the good stuff

Just when you thought things couldn't get any better around here...

CONTEST CLOSED!  BE BACK WITH THE WINNER!!

***this post is going to remain here at the top of the blog until the end of the giveaway on 8/7...new posts will follow just underneath!***

The Good Stuff and AllModern.com have teamed up to offer a pretty sweet giveaway!

All Modern has a fantastic selection of modern furniture and home accessories from many leading designers.  Part of CSN Stores, All Modern is just one of over 260 retail sites that offer a diverse array of products from Herman Miller’s popular Aeron Chair to cookware by Rachael Ray. 

For our giveaway, one winner will receive their choice of 4 very cool pieces of wall decor.  Three are wall decals, totally eco-friendly removeable repostionable collections for kids rooms.  After putting up a HUGE dinosaur on Sam's wall, I am loving this idea.  My favorite one below is the tree--it comes in pieces and can be arranged in so many different ways...a tall tree (shown below) a wide tree, and even two small trees.  The little birds in the Fly Society pack are so very chic, and I might need to add a set of the dyno-MITE decals for a certain boy I know.

If trees, birds, and dinosaurs aren't doin' it for you, check out the Chalkboard panel.  I can think of about 50 places that would be useful in my house.

And please do go check out the All Modern site.  They have some beautiful stuff--I love their selection of kids products...I think there is a toothbrush holder in Jane's future....

keep reading for how to win....

 

 

 

 

There are SIX ways to win one of these little beauties.  SIX ways to INCREASE your chances!

1.  Leave a comment here telling me which of those wall decor items is your favorite.

2.  Leave a comment about something from the AllModern website that you think is neat-o... 

3.  Post a link to this post on facebook, and tell me about it in a comment here.

4.  Tweet about it!  And tell me in a comment here.

5.  Post about it on a message board...and link it here!

6.  Blog about it!  ...and link your blog here!

Comments will be open on the site until NEXT FRIDAY--August 7th at 8:00 pm. Then we'll draw the winner!!

GOOD LUCK! 

Kevin & Amanda engagement session

three from our shoot yesterday...This was possibly the MOST FUN engagement session in recent times.  We were at the beach, (when you're from the Cape, you MUST have beach photos.  It's in the rules.) then went to Main Street where we stopped at the carousel, then the bowling alley.  I think I am going to have to post another round of these, but I had to share these lovelies. 

 

 

Beluga-palooza

Spent a day last week at the Mystic Aquarium with some of my most favorite people in the wide wide world.  Kathy, Caroline, and Allison are here!  For the next few weeks! And I got to see them!!  And squeeze Kathy!  And love on the girlies!  It was WONDERFUL!

Okay, so first I shut Sam's fingers in the car door.  He spun around and put his hands on the car JUST as I was shutting the door.  I had it open a NANOSECOND later, but he had one of those silent screams for a second---before the noise kicked in.  A family was getting out of a nearby car and literally came running with an icepack.  Sometimes people are awesome.  Sam had his two little fingers iced for a few minutes before he said, "they're really feeling better now!" and that was that.  I was looking, though, for the men in black, with DSS on their jackets, to come and swoop down and take my children, but it seems I am going to get away scott-free. AGAIN. Phew.

I REALLY loved that as Kathy and the girls were approaching, Sam and Jane ran to them, and Jane and Caroline ran straight into each others arms.  As Kathy and I were embracing too, I'll tell you that our eyes were a little misty!  I scooped up Caroline, told her how much I missed her, and she sweetly said, "I missed you so much too, Sarah!"  *sigh* I love her.  We are approaching the one year mark Since the Cheshire, Connecticut Tredwells became the Dallas, Texas Tredwells, and yet the cousin connection is as strong as ever between our little ones.  Can't ask for more than that.

So we touched some Rays in their little pool, checked out the sharks, VERY exciting stuff.  I got a big fat "SEE MOM? I TOLD YOU!" from Sam when he pointed out that the shark jaws did not belong to a great white, as I said, but to a Megalodon, as he insisted.  Now that he can read, he is putting me in my place all the time.  I don't remember thinking that this whole READING thing was going to be so great anyway.

We saw a FANTASTIC sea lion show, and of course, had our faces pressed up to the glass at the Beluga Whale tank.  Seeing those amazing whales is worth the trip AND the $65 it cost three of us to get in.  That was NOT a typo.

Did I mention the fossil digging?  AT THE AQUARIUM?  Some fool in a blue apron looked right at Sam and asked if he wanted to come on in and dig for some fossils.  That would be like asking me if I wanted a camelback filled with iced coffee.  Or some m&m's.  Or front row seats to Celtic Woman.  Or a role in the next Harry Potter movie.  UM, YES PLEASE.  WHERE DO I SIGN UP?  I thought Sam's head was going to explode.  If he was ANY other kid, I would have totally skipped it...and in truth it was pretty lame, but he got to put on an apron, and goggles, and show Caroline how to inspect a shark tooth with a magnifying glass ("see the serrations on the sides, Caro-lion?"), and that was pretty cool.

Most exciting of all was just being with Kat and the girls.  We laughed, and hollered, threatened time-outs and passed goldfish and juice boxes.  We were just two moms, hanging out for the day, and all the miles that separate us completely vanished.  I know that I am going to blink, and they will be back in Texas until Christmas, but for now, just the thought that I could throw the kids in the car and be passing goldfish and juice boxes with my favorite girls simply makes me happy.

Some pics from our day:

 

 

 

 

 

 

As Jane said, "MOM!  It's a thousand MEE-MOs!!!"

Sam lost his head here, coming across this leopard shark, and started waving to it like a madman.  Had I been drinking a beverage, it would have come shooting out of my nose.

 

 

 

 

However horrible indoor aquarium light may be, THIS is equally as AWESOME.

 

 

 

 

I love this last one...those sea lions were mesmerizing....Even Abigail couldn't stop saying "WOW".

 

Now, I know many of you reading this ALREADY have the chorus to Raffi's "Baby Beluga" stuck in your head.  You're welcome.

catch-up

Let me start with the Salon.

I can't believe that Rebecca is able to pull of such a cool event 4 times a year, and I was SO excited to show some work this time.  Here are the images she chose to show:

COLD FEET:

 

COLOR:

 

CATERWAUL:

 

11:57 PM:

 

KINETIC:

 

and CONUNDRUM:

 

One of the coolest parts of the evening were how many of my friends showed up!  It was surreal to be able to say, "Train Bride, meet Candy Store Bride!"  Sounds so much more clever than "Meg, meet Kelly", doesn't it?

Already working on my selections for the next salon....keep you posted!

----------------------------------

We've done a couple of pretty fun things over the last few weeks.  We had a "cousin swim" at my cousin Amy's house, and 4 first cousins and their kids had lunch and a swim!

Amy leading a rousing game of swim-around-the-rosie:

Mia, the fish:

Jane's new favorite face to make:

JJ!

Cam-he is SUCH a good swimmer too!

Amy M with Cady:

Abigail, an honorary Morrison for the day:

Michelle, Mawell & JJ:

Jane really made leaps and bounds in the pool...she can swim alone, with just arm swimmies!  I want Sam and Jane to be swimmers...I love being in the water, I hope they do too!

 

Amy M, Cameron and Cady:

 

And an extra nice thing about Amy is that she always grabs my camera and snaps a few of me with the kids!  Love it!

 

 

A whole wet gaggle of Morrison 2nd cousins....

 

Tomorrow.....pictures from out trip to the Mystic Aquarium with the Texas Tredwells!

three from the weekend

Photographed Jaimie and Rich's wedding on Friday.  It wasn't supposed to be such a gorgeous day...but it was. WOW, it was.  

Have done nothing but upload the images to my hard drives, but three of the images caught my eye...and I wanted to share!

(mom, Lori, there are loads of swimming photos to come...I SWEAR.)

Can you even get over the PINK SHOES?  Loved them!!

tomorrow!

Promise to post a nice LONG photo-laden post tomorrow, but I am off to bed this moment...I am never really prepared for how exhausting wedding season can be! 

Thought I would leave you with two things...

Came across this...and got a good laugh.  Barbie has clearly NEVER had to take an actual photo of a baby, or she would be wearing sensible pants from J.Jill and some converse all-stars.



And this little gem sent to me by my friend Christin (can't thank you enough, clg, this TOTALLY rocks!)  Enjoy!

getting my art on

yes, that is MY name in the featured artist section!

Rebecca, the founder and curator extraordinaire, sorted through hundreds of thousands of my images and chose the 6 that she thought were right for the Salon.  I got the chance to title my images, something I don't usually do, but what a cool exercise (thanks, Kelly, Kate & Tim for the help too...)

I'm not going to tell you WHICH photographs are being shown.  For those who know me, three of them will definitely be familiar, three unknowns.  I'm going to tease you with the titles...see if you are right when you come and join me at the salon tonight!

Kinetic

Cold Feet

Conundrum

11:57 PM

Caterwaul

Color


There they are! And i am TOALLY just now noticing the 'c' and 'k' connection...that's funny!

COME ON DOWN tonight!  Hope to see you there!

Cuttyhunk 2009

Best Cuttyhunk visit yet.

The weather could not have been better.  And the month of rain we had before we left CERTAINLY made a weekend of blue skies much more appreciated!

We played. 

We beached.

We napped. (yay!)

We made s'mores. 

We watched fireworks with our friends on their boat. 

We saw the parade. 

Sam learned how to cast his own fishing line, and he is GOOD at it! 

We learned that fishing is still fun, even if seaweed is the only thing that ends up on your hook.

I got to read an ENTIRE BOOK.  The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan.

I cried.  A lot.

We walked and talked, laughed and sang.

Ok, Jane sang.  A lot.

We lounged and visited with the Heywoods, something we haven't done in ages.

We applied sunblock. Over and over and over and over.

And they still have sun-kissed faces.

And are starting to freckle.

We slept with the windows open, the sound of the water, the smell of salt in the air rushing through the room.

It was goooood sleeping.

We said "Sure!" when the kids asked for a candy every time we were in the market.

We let them drink all the lemonade capri-suns that they could handle.

(it WAS vacation, you know.)

Sam and TK made up a new bedtime story that had us all in complete hysterics, especially when Sam told it:  "once upon a time, daddy walked into the woods.  There was a scary monster there. So he pooped his pants. The end."

Aaah, the sweet nothings of childhood.

I took photos.  A lot.

Sam and Jane cried when it was time to leave..."I am going to miss cuttyhunk SO much".

I wanted to cry a little too.

We love our annual trip to the island.

We can't wait to return.

Best story from the weekend:  After the fireworks were over, we left the heywoods boad to walk back to the inn.  Lots of the houses were setting off dinky little fireworks too, and we literally walked underneath many of them.  Jane was on TK's shoulders, Sam was holding my hand.  The little roads are dark, save for the moonlight, and the bushes along the roadside were alight with fireflies, delighting the kids.  Sam had a deeeeeep sigh and said, "Mom, I really love being here, watching fireflies, watching fireworks with Dad and Jane and you.  I love being together here on Cuttyhunk."

I couldn't have said it better myself, my darling.


NOW BRING ON THE PHOTOS!!!