september 30, 2008 - p.o.d.

conversation with a 3 year old : take 2

scene 1 : act 1
mommy, daddy, little dude, and baby are all in the kitchen having lunch together. as usual, the little dude is eating fruit by the pound. once again amazed at how much fruit that little body can consume, the following conversation was started:

mommy: (jokingly to daddy) i think the little dude is a fruit bat.
little dude: mommy, i'm not a fruit bat. i'm a giraffe.......
(pointing to his baby brother)......and he's barack obama.

oh my god! both the hubby and i almost shot food out of our noses! he just said it so nonchalant like it was perfectly normal for a 3 year old to not only know who barack obama is, but to then refer to his brother as such!

it's quite obvious who the little dude would vote for were he 15 years older!

september 29, 2008 - p.o.d.

september 28, 2008 - p.o.d.

bounce!

now that the little dude is in pre-school, the birthday party invitations are going to start coming home like crazy. we had our first one this weekend. it was at a place in town that has a whole level of inflatables! you can see by the photo above that this place is huge. i'm actually standing in the middle of the room! there's a lot more that you're not seeing. and for comparison in size, that's the baby in the middle of the picture! a fun time was had by all. pizza, presents, cupcakes, and then home for a 3 hour nap!! gotta love the post-birthday-party-extra-long nap!

become our fan!

so i finally got around to creating a facebook page for marzipan inc.! come visit us and become a fan....we'd love to have you!

september 27, 2008 - p.o.d.

september 26, 2008 - p.o.d.

new specs!

i got some new specs a couple weeks ago. i've been meaning to take some photos, but never really got around to it. well, here they are! they're a little more colorful than something i would normally pick, but i figured why not? i really love them. the bows are a great pumpkin orange and the fronts are this great brown/copper-y color.


if you'd like to see some more specs by the same company, they're by etnia barcelona. for some reason their website isn't showing any of their products right now so you'll just have to do a search for the company name.

mosaic of me

the lovely (and NICE) melissa posted this fun mosaic of me project. i haven't done anything like this in awhile so i thought i'd take a break from my morning and try it out. fun to see what comes up in the searches! directions below!


1. Lori Marie, 2. California Roll - Ray Special, 3. CN Board of Directors, 4. disneyland reflections, 5. OUT16947022, 6. Drink Dr. Pepper!, 7. llibreria - bookstore - Amsterdam - HDR, 8. Cinnamon Ice Cream & Raspberry Sorbet, 9. retired, 10. Reflection Of My Inner Child, 11. Genuine Sno-Kone, 12. immeublejaune

My answers:
1. What is your first name? (lori)
2. What is your favorite food? (california roll)
3. What high school did you attend? (lomira high school)
4. What is your favorite color? (i've been into orange lately)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (john krasinski)
6. Favorite drink? (dr. pepper)
7. Dream vacation? (all of europe)
8. Favorite desert? (ice cream)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (retired (early!!))
10. What do you love most in life? (my children)
11. One word to descibe you? (genuine)
12. Your flickr name? (marzipan inc)

So here's the deal...you answer the following 12 questions about yourself (my answers are in parentheses):

Wanna play? Type your answer to each of the above questions into Flickr's search. Using only the images that appear on the FIRST page, choose your favorite and copy and paste each of the URL's nto the Mosaic Maker (or make it yourself in photoshop). Have fun!

september 25, 2008 - p.o.d.

september 24, 2008 - p.o.d.

field trip

the little dude had his first field trip today with his pre-school class. it was very, very cool and i'm so glad he was able to go. (he's been a little under the weather and i was worried he wouldn't feel well enough to make it). we got to hang out at a outdoor sculpture gallery only a few miles from our house! i never knew it was there, but in the middle of the woods, there it was! the owner is an older gentleman who is a retired surgeon. he's represented artists over the years and had their work on display all over his property. (which is very wooded) so we got to walk up his very, very long driveway though the woods and look at (and play on) the sculptures along the way.





i thought it was just amazing that they let the kids feel and touch and even climb on the artwork. it's just not something you see everyday. the kids had a blast. they were also given little lunch bags so that along the way they could collect thing. they'll be bringing their treasures back to school to make their own sculptures! i thought it was such a cute idea.


of course, being a dr.'s house, it was right on the lake (michigan). basically right out their backdoor was a full sand beach. they allowed the children to go out and stick their feet in and hang out for awhile. above is a photo of the little dude and one of his teachers drawing in the sand. she's from england and so she sounds just like the nanny on that parenting show! so fun to listen to her talk to the kids.


once down by the lake, they had a big spread of snacks for the kids. the little dude pulled up a rock and sat and snacked. he said: "look mommy, it's just like a couch!"



finally just two photos of him enjoying the lake. he had so much fun and couldn't stop talking about it the whole way home.

you'll see a few "nature" photos popping up in the coming week on my "photo of the day" post that i took while out in the woods. so many cool mushrooms and other nature-y things to see!

worth 1000 words

excuse the quality of the picture, but i couldn't pass this one up! this picture captures the personality of our little guy like no other! i cannot look at this photo and not smile. in fact i have a hard time not letting out a little giggle because i think it's so cute. when this kid is happy, he's happy!

september 23, 2008 - p.o.d.

birthday card

i woke up this morning to a lovely card from my oldest.


the outside of the card features a birthday cake. (see the circles) the green crazy part in the middle is pudding! mmmmm!


this is the inside of the card. it may need a little explanation! it says "birthday". he wasn't happy with the "y" that looks like a "t", so he re-drew another one below it. then his name is below that. he started with "fin" but then ran out of room for the rest. so the "ley" are a little out of order before the "fin". he worked so hard on it and it melts my heart.

the boys also sang happy birthday to me while i ate breakfast. even the baby tried to join in! too cute!

september 22, 2008 - p.o.d.

poor baby

my poor baby had a rough day today. he took a little tumble into his toy basket and did a number to his eye. it swelled up immediately and looks really sore. this was the best shot i could get since he refused to sit still for the rest of the night and it kind of folds into his eye lid.

september 21, 2008 - p.o.d.

september 20, 2008 - p.o.d.

since i have this new camera that i'm going to be spending a lot of time learning how to use, i thought i'd document my progress by trying to post a photo of the day (p.o.d.). since i'm pretty busy with work all the time, i can't promise that the photo will have been shot that day, but it will have been taken recently. hopefully we'll see a progression. if any of you have tips and tricks along the way, please feel free to let me know!

renegade craft fair - chicago

i'm a little behind on posting about this, but better late than never, right?

the hubby and i took a trip down to chicago for the weekend....without the boys! it served as our anniversary get-away, but my main objective was going to the renegade craft fair. i had never been there before, but had heard many, many, many amazing things about it and had always wanted to go. unfortunately for us, the weather was not being very cooperative. over the 2 days we were there, chicago reportedly got 9" of rain. yeah. fun. i treked through booth after booth in the rain. many people's goods were just soaked with water. so sad. and nobody had power. this was not only unfortunate for them, but unfortunate for people like myself who couldn't see anything past 7:30 at night. i missed approximately the last 1/4 of the booths because it was just too dark to see anything. i tried to collect as many business cards as i could of those last booths so that i could visit them online to make up for it.

i had been saving up my money for a long time in anticipation of going to the fair. here are the goodies i managed to snag before it got too dark. please go easy on the photos as i'm obviously just learning with the new camera!


my first purchase are these adorable little earrings from sprout jewelry. i needed a pair of everyday-go-with-every-outfit kind of earrings. these fit the bill perfectly.....and at only $15, they hardly cut into my budget!


here's an adorable print i picked up from kitschy hippo. i just love the girl's dress and couldn't pass her up. i also love how the door has a little sign that says: "whiskey"!


i am completely in love with this next print. actually i was in love with pretty much every piece of art that johanna wright had at the show. it was so hard to pick just one. johanna also has a children's book coming out this spring entitled "the secret circus" that we're definitely going to be getting for the boys. i cannot wait to see all the artwork in it!


of course i had to pick up something for the boys while we were there. unfortunately i cannot find the business card for this adorable, precious, cuter-than-pie tie that we picked up. the gals were from minneapolis and super nice. we chatted with them for awhile and i'm super sad that i can't find their information to post. if anyone knows who's work this is, please let me know! i was super tempted to get 2 ties - one for each boy - but in the end, chose only one for them to share.



and the créme de la créme of my purchases.....an absolutely beautifully crafted purse from amber jensen, owner of sketchbook. it turns out i bought her favorite. she said it was going to be hers if nobody had purchased it at the fair. luckily it came home with me! i just love the whole grey/yellow combo that's been so popular lately. it was by far my most expensive purchase and i fought with myself over whether or not to buy it, but in the end i'm so glad i did!

1 year

i'm a little behind on the 1 year pictures.....
it's so hard to believe that my little monkey is 1 year old already. it seems like yesterday that he joined our family. he's turning into such a little lover. his cheeks are just so yummy i want to eat them up and munch on them all day long. his dimples are just the cutest ever. he's such a ladies man and flirts with everyone he meets; turning his head slightly and giving them a shy little grin. irresistible.


he's also been motoring all over the house. he decided to start walking the day after his birthday.....which was the day after all the relatives came to visit. little punk!

happy birthday to me!

no, it's not quite my birthday yet. not until the 23rd. however, my birthday present arrived yesterday afternoon! i can't tell you how excited i am about this present.

i asked my wonderful hubby for a professional camera. no more of this point-and-shoot crap where all my photos are grainy because there's not enough light. i want something that's going to take the picture i see in front of me. granted, i know very, very little about a camera of this stature, but i'm willing to learn. i also wanted it for taking photos of some of my products for websites, catalogs, etc. so technically the business is paying for part of it (which helped me justify the outrageous cost for a personal camera).

i picked this particular camera - the canon eos rebel xsi 450d because of the many great reviews i've read on blogs about the rebel line of cameras by canon. they seemed manageable for someone like me who has a very small knowledge of cameras but also a ton of capabilities to grow with me as i learn more. i also got a few more add-ons that some other bloggers mentioned. (ie. another lens (which i haven't opened yet) and a tube (which hasn't arrived yet))

i have a lot of learning to do! (as is evident by my out-of-focus-photo of my camera!) hey, i have to start somewhere, right? i'm just leaving room to grow! ;)

the desk project : part 2

ok, so now that i know what i'm going to do with the desk, i need some opinions on colors/patterns. here are 6 color and pattern size options i put together. we can mix the colors and pattern sizes. so which do you like the best? leave your opinions in the comments.....for example: "i like pattern X with color X" so that i know what numbers go with what. i can't decide if i want teeny-tiny delicate patterns or large, oversized patterns. i honestly think it will look cool either way, but would love to hear what you think!

please click on the image for biggie-bigness!

p.s. the patterns and desk are to scale.

what's in a name?

conversation with the little dude:

ld: mommy, i played with a little girl and her mama at the park today.

mommy: you did? what was her name?

ld: hmmm.....i don't know.

mommy: you didn't ask her name?

ld: well, we can just call her sally cilantro.

that kid never ceases to make me laugh! every day is something new and crazy!

for all of eternity. . .

. . .or at least until they have to re-do the sidewalks again!

we were contacted by the city about 6 months ago regarding our sidewalks. seems that they needed to re-do some of them in front of our house and they wanted our money! i guess we don't pay enough taxes to cover sidewalks......i beg to differ. ugh. anyway, they finally started working on it last week and poured the concrete yesterday. the little dude and i watched out the window for them to be done and then rushed outside to leave our mark! luckily the baby woke up from his nap shortly after so he was able to get in on the action too!

and the winner(s) are....

ok, time to announce the winner(s) of the desk project giveaway!

i actually decided to choose two winners to split the prize because i thought they worked well together. i'm still working out the details because i don't know how feasible it will be cost wise. however, i figured even if i don't end up doing exactly what they suggested, it's what i would do if i could! so they win!

so the winners are: molly & melissa of operation nice

i thought molly's idea of using some of my patterns from my new photo correspondence division was brilliant!

"I really love some of the fabulous patterns you have on fin + roe, think that one of those printed in large format would look great covering the desktop. You could glue it on then either seal it with acrylic, or use a glass top to protect the paper."

and i thought melissa's idea of vinyl decals worked superbly with molly's idea!

"Would vinyl decals work on that surface?? You always seem them on walls and glass, but it might be good to have some elaborate colorful design on a desk top too. Maybe you could even design your own!"

like i said, i don't know if or how i'll be able to get it work, but it's a pretty cool idea! if i can't get the vinyl to work price wise, i may just have some patterns printed out large format on regular paper and then coat it in a sealer for protection.

i'll keep you posted on how it all works out and i'll be sure to post photos of the final project! thanks to everyone who posted their wonderful ideas. it sure was fun reading them. for the two of you that won, please contact me for your prizes! (lori at marzipaninc dot com)

almost a winner....

i just wanted to let you know that i'm very close to picking a winner for my desk project! i'm just checking on a few things before i make the official announcement! stay tuned!

a week later

i got a little side-tracked with pre-school this week and never had a chance to post about labor day.

we went to my parents house out in the country to help them build a pergola for their garden. (am i the only one who knows what this is? it seems everyone i talk to is like....."a what?")

anyway, the kids always have such a blast there because they have tons and tons of free space to run. they have a huge yard and we can let them run free without worry.


you can see here just how much fun was had that day! and this was after being washed up once already! this face is a mix of dirt and dinner. he just loves being able to play in all the dirt at grandma & papa's house....something he never really gets to do at home.


and here's the baby playing in the grass. i've never seen a baby take to crawling in the grass like he does. most babies are afaid of the stuff. not this guy. he'd roll around in it all day if he could!


and here's a photo of the hard work the boys put in all day. (just one small corner) i can't wait to see the finished project! it's beautiful already!

giveaway : don't forget!

don't forget to enter our giveaway for $50 toward our shops: shades of violet or fin+roe! just help me figure out a way to make an old desk spiffy again and leave a comment here. deadline is sunday the 6th at 10:00 p.m. cst. (that's tomorrow!!)

first day of pre-school

today was the day. the little dude's first day of pre-school at the john michael kohler arts center. this day has been a long time coming as it was something that the hubby and i had been dreaming about even before we had kids. i remember the day that we discovered the arts center had a pre-school. we peered through the darkened room's door, trying to get a glimpse of the magical room inside filled with easels, floor to ceiling mirrors, paints, books, play areas and so much more! even though the lights were off and it was locked up, we knew right then and there that when we were finally blessed with children, they would go to this preschool no matter what the cost. (i recently found out that the only other art museum in the country to house a pre-school is the smithsonian!) while the fees to attend the pre-school are much higher than other pre-schools in the area, education for us is a huge priority. getting a superior education that revolves around art.....well, it couldn't be a more perfect fit for us. we got him on the wait-list soon after he was born. (yeah, almost 4 years ago! it fills up fast!)

to see those dreams become a reality was such a joy for us today. the hubby took off of work and accompanied us as we all walked up to the glorious front entrance. above you'll see the little dude sitting in front of his favorite bird bath. (yeah, that thing coming out of his head! we have to look inside every time we're there to see if there's water in it or not)


here you can see the beautiful glass entrance on the front of the building. i'm not sure who designed it, but it takes my breath away every time i see that building. i know i talk about the arts center a lot on my blog, (and how we were married here) but for us it's one of the huge benefits of the very small town we live in. we don't have a lot of fancy stores or restaurants, but we have the arts center and we take full advantage! for a small town, we get some amazing exhibits and entertainment.


ok, back to pre-school. on our way up to the door, one of the jmkac employees was walking up and offered to take our family picture. (how sweet) so now we have a lovely photo to remember this special day


the little dude loves to open the huge doors by himself by hitting the handicap accessible buttons. it was hard not to notice how small he looked next to those gigantic doors! (insert weepy mom sound here)


and finally, outside the door to his classroom giving us the thumbs-up. since he's VERY familiar with the jmkac, he had no problem saying good-bye. he had an absolute blast and cannot wait to go back on friday. (sometime i'll have to take photos of the insides of the classrooms)

here's some more information on what the classes focus on at the arts center.

help : giveaway!

i'm in need of some help. awhile back my husband was able to get me a rather large L-shaped desk for next to nothing. think cubicle desk without the walls. (sort of like the photo above) mine won't have file cabinets, but it does have some built-in shelving underneath. it's all horrible grey laminate type finish. the sides and base are a grey metal that i think would be fine if i did something cool with the top. i'm a little stuck for ideas......i do have one in the back of my head, but before i did it, i thought i'd ask for a little help here. i'm hoping all you creative folks can share some brilliant ideas of what i can do with the top to finish it. my only requirement is that it not involve paint. the finish is such that paint will most likely not adhere well, and to be honest, i want something more unusual than paint anyway.

so, if you have any brilliant ideas, post a comment with them. don't worry about how labor intensive the idea may be. i'm up for a challenge! if i select your idea as my final solution, i'll provide you with a coupon code for $50 of free product on either of my sites: shades of violet or fin+roe! if i end up using my original idea, i'll pick my favorite suggestion out of the bunch and send a coupon code for $25 just for the heck of it! put on your thinking caps and start commenting away.....you have until 10:00 sunday the 7th to leave your mark!