cooking school

man, i've been gone for awhile. things have been so busy around here it's crazy.

so the little dude and i have gone to cooking school for the last 3 weeks. it's at the same place as art school. we have both had so much fun. i think the little dude is definitely going to be a creative type. between art school and cooking school he's been in heaven.

here are a few photos of the things we've made in cooking school over the weeks:


top left: fruit and yogurt parfait
top right: hand squeezed lemonade
middle left: bagel face
middle right: cinnamon and sugar bread
bottom left: alphabet soup
bottom right: fruit soup

it's great because most of these "dishes" included teaching opportunities. for example, the alphabet soup was really called "counting soup". the ingredients needed to be counted out by the students. so, 1 scoop of tofu, 2 scoops of carrots, 3 scoops of peas, 4 scoops of corn, etc. etc.

i'm sure the little dude will be disappointed when next week comes and we don't get to go anymore. we'll be sure to sign up when the next session comes around.

my crazy kid

i know i've mentioned the little dude's obessive compulsive tendencies on my blog before. here's more proof:


out of the gigantic box of 96 crayons, he picked out each and every one of these colors. as he chose each of them he would say "orange". then if it met his requirements, he would say "yup". if however, said crayon did not meet his "orange" requirements, (being a shade too brown, pink, or yellow) he would say "nope", and then put it right back in the box where it came from.

i had to take the photo as proof to the hubby, as i knew he'd never believe me if i just told him the story.

gross....i know

the food cravings have been going strong for a few weeks already.

when i was pregnant with the little dude i had one craving that i hoped wouldn't come back a second time. unfortunately it has....



yeah....i know. my hubby is totally and completely grossed out by the whole thing. he cringes every time he sees it pass my lips.

i'm not quite sure why i crave them. i'm pretty sure it's not because it's filling some vitamin or nutrient void....are there even any in them?

the people who write fortunes . . .

on new year's day, the hubby, the little dude, and i went to our local chinese restaurant for lunch. at the end of the meal, we received our standard fortune cookies. after opening them and comparing, the hubby and i gave each other one of those looks.

here's why:


of course i saved them for good luck. exactly 7 days later i got that positive result on my home pregnancy test!

i think the people who wrote those fortunes need a raise!

a christmas miracle!

ok, so i don't even know where to start with this. so....how about this:


ummmmmm......yeah.

so back when i was writing my goals for the year and talking about how the hubby and i hadn't achieved the goal of conceiving in 2006, well i was lying. unknowingly of course. it turns out i was pregnant, i just didn't know it yet!! and in 2006 even....a few days before christmas.

seeing as how we have had major problems conceiving in the past, i don't even bother telling the hubby when i'm going to be testing anymore. it saves me the trouble of having to tell him about the negative test results which just make me more sad in the long run. so, when i took the above test and that little "pregnant" message came up, i nearly had a heart attack! i've never had a positive home pregnancy test before so i didn't know what it felt like to see that positive message. (with ivf, you're not supposed to take home pregnancy tests because you can get false results from all the drugs your're on)

so, i am running around the house wondering how i'm going to tell the hubby since he doesn't even know i'm taking the test and i don't really just want to call him at work and be like: "we're pregnant", so i took this picture and sent him an e-mail. i called him up and made sure i was on the phone while he opened the attachment. here's how the conversation went down:

hubby: "what's this?" (hahaha! that's how not used to this we are in this household!!)

me: "what does it look like?"

hubby: "how is this possible?"

me: "well, you see, we had sex."

hubby: "but....but."

and it went on and on like that for about 5 minutes. both of us in total and complete shock that we had sex and it actually worked! not something we're used to happening around here.

so i called my dr. and went in for two separate rounds of pregnancy tests to make sure my levels were rising. after a week of torturous waiting, we got the news that it was in fact a true pregnancy. for the last few weeks we've been talking about it, but at the same time being a little skeptical about it. after all, how could this have possibly worked?

yesterday i went in for my first ultrasound. the dr. said everything looked really good and healthy, so if we wanted to share the news, she felt comfortable saying "go ahead". so here i am....and here are some pictures:

(really sorry about the horrible quality. not sure why the scan is so bad)




i guess there's not much left to say!

thanks!

thanks to everyone for your suggestions on our "bodert" situation.....however, i'm on to bigger and better posts! check back in a few minutes!

bodert

as many of you who are parents already know, there are many words that you child comes up with...many of which you have no idea what they're talking about.

for months now, the little dude has been saying "bodert" (short "o" as in box). we have NO earthly idea what it means. he says it very randomly...never the same situation twice. we've asked him a million times what he's saying and all we get in return is more "bodert".

so, any of you genius baby translators out there want to give this one a shot? help a mama out!

first day of "school"

the little dude all decked out waiting for "school" to start. it's all i heard about all morning before we left. he was so excited.

today was our first day of "school". toddler art time at the john michael kohler arts center. it was amazing and so much fun. the class is for 2 and 3 year olds, along with a parent. the class lasts 6 weeks and will be focusing on the theme of "snow". . . . an appropriate topic considering we just got 3 inches yesterday. today we painted pinecones to look like they had snow on them, painted a picture with black paint on white paper (black, to represent tracks in white snow), started a "snowscape" which we will work on for the next 6 weeks, and strung beads on pipecleaners. at the end of class, the teacher read a book about snow.

i think it was as much fun for me as it was for the little dude. it's also nice for me because i don't have to get out, or clean up any of the mess! we go for an hour, make a mess, and leave! that's my kind of class!

the arts center also offers preschool for children starting at 3 years old. we're definitely planning on sending the little dude as soon as we can. it's such a great place.

big boooyyyyy bed

today we switched the little dude's crib into a "big boy bed". this basically means that we took one of the sides off and lowered it to it's lowest setting. this also means that he's able to get up whenever he wants and wander around the room or into our room. i'm a little nervous to see how this works. we tested it out during nap time today and it went pretty well. for the first 15 minutes or so you could hear him bouncing around and squealing like a little girl. so i finally went up and peaked in only to find him standing at one end with his hands on the railing, counting "one, two, three, boooyyyyy" and then falling to his butt. repeat about a million times. i think he was a little excited about being a big boooyyyyy. pretty cute. after a serious talk about how we sleep in a big boy bed and not play, he drifted off and slept a nice long nap. he woke as usual with his rocking motion and didn't get out of bed before i went up to get him. i'm not sure how long he would stay put if i didn't go get him. i guess we'll see in the morning when i don't want to drag my butt out of bed!

a few more

so after i published my list of goals i, of course, thought of a few more. in addition to the ones in my last post, i'd like to accomplish the following things:

business related

1. after increasing traffic to shades of violet with strategically placed advertising and search engine optimization, my goal is to increase my business by 500% by the end of the year. that may sound like a huge number, but considering i didn't do a whole lot with it this year, it's not as much as it seems.

2. get, and stay, organized. i've started the organization project already and am really, really excited about it. it's not that i'm ever totally unorganized, or a messy person, but there's always room for improvement. i love the feeling of everything being clean and in it's place. so far my filing cabinet and desk have been pretty much organized. i'd love to get the rest of the office/storage space organized as well. (this will not be a small feat as it involves our entire basement)

personal

1. talk to a financial planner about our future. we currently have a 401k that has been rolled over into a "temporary" account that i had when i worked in corporate america. it's been sitting "temporarily" for 3 years now. while it's making pretty decent money sitting there, we should really explore our options more. this goes for the hubby's 401k, the little dude's college fund, etc. etc. etc. i just want to know that we're doing the right thing with our money so that we can live comfortably later in life.

2. make out a will. now that we have a kid, it should really be done. i'm a little embarrassed that we don't have one already, but hey, that's life. along with this, we need to look at our life insurance and adjust it accordingly.

3. re-do our personal budget. now that we have one of my student loans paid off as well as medical bills from ivf, we need to adjust our budget accordingly. i'd like to reallocate the money used for those things to pay our car and my other student loan off this year. (and maybe actually give our self a little "fun money" for once!)

ok, i think that about sums it up. i'm sure i'll think of more later.

so far 2007 is off to a pretty good start. while my list of things to do is a mile long, i'm slowly checking them off and making progress. i'm determined to make 2007 a great year!

welcome 2007!

i know many people hate resolutions because they say it’s impossible keep them. while i agree to a point, i also think it’s important to have some goals. attainable, realistic goals. none of those: “i’m going to eat only fruit for lunch every single day in 2007,” resolutions.

so here we go:

my goals for 2007 (and a little recap of 2006)

1. continue to grow my business at a comfortable pace. after last years huge sales goals, i realized that i’m quite happy where i ended up for the year. while i narrowly missed my main sales goal, i have also realized that i’m pretty pushed to my limits. i’ve hired help for the things i can, but there is so much in my business that other people just cannot do for me. (ie. design work) i think that while my child is still young, i just need to focus on making enough money to pay myself a decent salary and not try to over do it. i think i’ve hit my limit of how much i can possibly get done in a day without going insane. i just need to stay here for a while and worry about growing my business in little steps as i can handle them.
2. increase sales at the national stationery show by 30%. i know i just said i wanted to stay where i am, but increasing my sales at the nss doesn’t necessarily take a lot of extra work on my part. it’s all about marketing the right way to the right people. (hopefully i can figure out that equation.)
3. last year i had a goal to get a retail site up and running. that goal was easily and quickly achieved with the help of nicole at smart & lovely. this year i need to spend a little more time and money marketing and advertising the site so people actually know it’s there! i also need to work on my keywords for search engines. (something i know little if anything about….and don’t look forward to doing)
4. send out press releases and new samples to media on a more regular basis. (this is the same as last year. i still need to be better about it.)
5. get published in a “real” magazine. (again. same as last year. something i’m working on being better about. (see goal #4))

personal: key goals
1. last year i made a goal to lose 10 pounds. i tried really hard and went to the gym for the first couple months of the year and got nowhere. i mean not a pound. then the nss came and i got busy and put weight loss on the back burner. then somewhere around september, i thought i better give this weight loss thing one more try before the end of the year. i’m happy to say that i’m down between 8 and 9 lbs. in just a few short months the pounds have started falling off. without going to the gym! i’ve made several changes that have helped achieve my loss. first, i have been trying to incorporate more fruits and veggies in my diet. second, smaller portions sizes. third, i go walking at least twice a week. outside in the summer, inside at the local mall in the winter. i was really hoping to make it to 10 before the end of the year, but christmas really did me in. hey, i’m happy with 8 or 9. i’m down a whole pant size and my belt is 2 notches tighter!! yippee! so, this year’s goal is to lose at least another 7 lbs.!
2. last year’s goal of spending more one on one time with the little dude didn’t work so well. i’m constantly guilty that he’s entertaining himself all day while i work. i really want to try to work it out so that at 3:00 every afternoon, i’m done with work and spend 2 ½ hours with him one on one before daddy gets home from work. now that he’s older, he can start “helping” me with dinner and things like that which he enjoys. i’ve also signed us up for “toddler art time” at the john michael kohler arts center (where the hubby and i were married). i’m super excited to start this with him as it will be mommy and little dude time once a week doing art projects. it starts january 16th and goes for 6 weeks. if all goes well, maybe we’ll sign up for another session after that!
3. as you can probably tell by my lack of mentioning it, last years goal of trying to have another baby without infertility assistance (ie. ivf) didn’t go so well. i struggle with whether or not i should talk about our infertility on this blog. this blog was started to talk about being a business owner and mother, i’m not sure if it fits. i know that it’s obviously part of being a mom, but i’m not so sure if everyone wants to hear about it. we’ve tried several things this year to try and help but none of them have worked. we’ve recently started another option which i’m hopeful about. we’ll see. so, if you have an opinion on whether you’d like to hear about it or not, leave me a comment and let me know. otherwise i’ll continue to leave it out.
4. spend less time watching t.v…..again!!

welcome 2007. i have a good feeling about you, i think we’re going to be good friends!

christmas recap

we're slowly recouperating from christmas here. what a whirlwind! here's a photo recap of some great moments.


the little dude "helping" daddy vacuum for christmas.


the little dude in his christmas best!


the little dude listening to his new ipod shuffle.


traveling in style!


the morning after christmas. discovering the train that mommy and daddy had set up overnight. (the new thomas the train that is suposed to "steam". a gift from his aunt and uncle. it's not as great as the commercials show. is it ever?)

christmas cookies & houses

on sunday we "made" cookies with the little dude. since both the hubby and i are working on our waistlines, we didn't want to make a ton of real cookies, so we just bought the little kit at the store that has 12 cookies so he would have the experience. they included "stickers" that you put on after frosting, which were perfect since the little dude is obsessed with stickers right now. here's a photo of the finished product after the little dude "stickered" them. he was so excited about them.


next we made graham cracker houses (as seen on martha). this was so super easy and fun. so quick since you don't have to bake anything, but instead use graham crackers for the house. the little dude had a lot of fun making these too. above is a picture of one of the houses.


and here's the mess that accompanied the food crafting!

all work, no play

i feel like my blog has been all work and no play lately. boring, boring, boring.

i was recently tagged over at punkin' pie productions to list 6 weird things about myself that you may not know. i've been thinking, and thinking. i can't come up with anything good. i think i'm pretty normal and boring, so i decided to just do 6 things about myself that you may not know. (maybe you'll think their weird) in no particular order....

1. i am a complete control freak. really, really bad control freak. i can't trust anyone to do anything at anytime, so i end up doing everything myself....often times leading to major work overload.

2. i hate, i mean despise, green peppers. i like jalapenos and other types of peppers, but bell peppers disgust me.

3. i don't drink coffee. i think i'm one of the only people left on the face of the planet that doesn't drink coffee. in fact, the smell of it makes me sick.

4. i was a major tomboy growing up. (still kinda am) we grew up in the country, so we only really had 1 neighbor, and he was a boy. so i had my brother and one boy neighbor....and they weren't playing barbies.

5. although i don't generally like tomatoes, i love cubes of them piled high on bruschetta.

6. i was married outside at an art gallery, in a garden, by a judge. (much to the dismay of my catholic family)

there you have it. 6 things about me that you hopefully didn't already know.

new designs. big deals!

we are super excited to introduce our new birthday and special occasion designs!
for a limited time, buy any 2 cards marked as "new" and get 1 card of your choice FREE! just enter code: FREECARD at checkout. hurry, offer ends 01-31-07!

check out our new birthday designs here
check out our new special occasion designs here


people have been asking us for YEARS to introduce flat enclosure cards with our current illustrations. well, we couldn't put it off any longer. when we started, we figured if we were going to do it, we better do it right, so we're introducing 24 designs at once! we hope you love them as much as we loved putting them together!
because you're a newsletter subscriber, we're offering a special deal....only to you! buy 3 new enclosure designs and get 1 of your choice free! just enter the free card of your choice in the comment secion of your order.

check out our new flat gift enclosure designs here


with all the new products moving in, it's time for us to clean house!
we're discontinuing 37 of our designs and they've been majorly discounted on our website. right now, you can get cards valued at $5.00 each for only $2.00! yup, that's right....60% off our regular prices! we're eager to move them out and make room for all the new! get them while you can, because, when they're gone....they're gone. we have anywhere from 8 - 50 cards of each style available...depends on the style. so hurry up and check them out.

check out our discounted designs here

tis the season

for features! check out all the recent features & mentions of marzipan inc./shades of violet

+ december 9 2006 + read the article in the seattle times newspaper which mentions our gift tags


+ december 4 2006 + see our gift tag mention on paper crave


+ november 30 2006 + see our mention on the mobs (mother's of boys) lounge


+ november 27 2006 + see our awesome feature on the mixed plate blog


+ november 27 2006 + see our spotlight on modish


+ november 27 2006 + see our holiday card feature on the indie fixx blog

b.i.k.e.

for weeks before "the birthday", the hubby and i must have spelled that word out 50 times in front of the little dude. we had been "test driving" bikes every time we went to our local chain stores, and every time it was torture tearing the little dude away from them.

so, for his birthday, he got his wish. a b.i.k.e.

behold....THE bike.


note the special monkey outfit picked out specifically for the curious george party. and of course, the small stuffed george that must, must, must be in the bike's basket in order to ride it.

happy birthday sweet boy

it's so hard to believe that two years have already come and gone. not a day goes by where we are not amazed at the things you do or say. we love your cute shy ways and the silly things you do when nobody is watching. watching you clap and head-bang to the music in the car today was such a great moment. you certainly are quite the character. i love the way you say your favorite words and how we have to work to decipher them. here are some of my recent favorites:
alpadet = alphabet
go-ga = go dog go
pancake = pocket
blah blee = blanket
nose = snow

just remember, even though you are no longer considered a baby, you will always be mine. i love you forever.

holiday features

i've been away way too long. sorry, it's been crazy hectic around here and with the holiday season upon us, it just gets crazier!

below are a few places that shades of violet has been featured for the holiday season. go check them out and order up some holiday cards.

p.s our boxed holiday cards are now 20% off! plus, we're offering free shipping. (just check the homepage for the coupon code!!)

our holiday gift tags on the cool mom picks holiday gift guide


see our holiday thank you notes on the mixed plate holiday gift guide

childhood flat notes

the new designs i mentioned a few posts back are officially here!

we are super excited to introduce our new childhood flat notes! these flat notes feature illustrations straight out of your childhood, and are perfect for every age! the front of the flat notes features a childhood object, writing lines, and a colored pattern that is then carried over onto the back. the cardstock is both beautiful and sturdy.

grab a bunch now for stocking stuffers! don't forget your kid's teachers, day care providers, and friends. these notes are truly perfect for any age.

check all 10 designs out here.