Folk Mother..

Oh man, I saw these sewn beauties by Folk Mother on Teenangster's blog over the weekend. I swear, I could just blog off of Alison's blog and just be content (and not to mention NUTS and unethical) she is just so good at finding the most amazing shit ever.

I was introduced to Folk Mother a few years ago by Alison and may or may not have blogged about her work. But regardless these hand sewn, found vintage photographs should be seen as much as one wants. I wish, oh I wish she would make more of these stunning, stitched hybrids.

O My #CBC10 Week baby travel advice

I stumbled upon Harmony’s blog, Baby To Go, recently and when I read that her 14 month old baby has flown on 14 different flights, I instantly began devouring the ‘airplane’ category of posts.Because let’s be honest: mama’s a little nervous about this flying with a squirmy about-to-walk 10 month old thing on Thursday. OBaby is a very, very happy boy when he’s allowed to explore. I wouldn’t consider him high maintenance by any means, but I definitely would consider him high energy. (This is the part where you start to understand why I’m nervous about cooping him up on a plane for 4 hours.)We will be flying to Utah for The Casual Blogger Conference, and honestly I just wanted to hear every. single. thing. Harmony has learned in her experience with flying, so I started to send her an email. But then I thought that it’d be awfully selfish of me to keep her wisdom to myself.And so I’m pleased to present to you O My CBC Week: baby travel advice, a guest post by Harmony of Baby To Go!Back in January, I was flying alone to North Carolina with my then-9 month old son. On that trip, I started to reflect on all that I had learned traveling with baby C. So I decided to start Baby To Go, which I call part new mommy blog, part travel site. And when AllisonO  contacted me for flying advice, and then to write a guest post, I realized I had fulfilled my initial goal of starting the site to provide info to moms to gain the confidence to travel with their baby.To date, my 14-month-old son has flown on 14 different  flights, and has visited 13 states and Puerto Rico. Not that makes me some sort of expert, but I have learned from these experiences and here are my thoughts. Booking your TripTraveling domestically, a child under two can fly for free as a “Lap Infant.” This means they are not entitled to their own seat, but can sit in a parent’s lap. If you want your infant to have a seat, you have to pay (I believe at a reduced rate) but for budget conscious folks like myself, it is worth it to hold the baby (although I imagine that as your child approaches the two year mark, the money saved may no longer be worth it). If a seat is open, the airline will work with you to try to give the open seat to your infant. Sometimes, once on board, you can politely ask folks to move around so your family can sit together.As a general rule, we try everything possible to fly direct, and since we live in NYC, that is almost always possible. I think this is even more crucial when traveling with a lil’one. The shorter the travel time, the better.Checking bagsIf you do not pay for your infant, you do not have any extra baggage allowance. Different airlines have different fees for checked bags, so check with the individual carrier. However, you can check a child’s car seat free of charge.In the airportIf you are traveling with an un-ticketed infant, your ticket must say INFANT IN ARMS in order to take the baby through security. If it does not, someone at the ticket counter can help you. When traveling domestically, you do not need an ID for the baby, however, I always keep a photocopy of my son’s birth certificate in my diaper bag… just in case. I have also heard that if your child looks like he/she could possibly be over two years old, and you do not have proof that they are not, the airline could insist you pay for a ticket.Going through security these days is always a bit of a shuffle. And when traveling with an infant… it can be a bit of a challenge. I have started putting my son in a baby carrier (Bjorn when he was small, we use a soft-structured carrier now) while navigating security. This allows me to have my hands free to take off my shoes, fold the stroller etc. You must carry the baby through the metal detectors (you can keep the baby in the carrier) and you must fold up your stroller and put it through the x-ray machine. Since I am a breastfeeding mom, I have never had to take liquids though security. However, I have been allowed to take multiple jars of baby food. I believe you are allowed to bring a “reasonable amount” of food/formula/milk/breastmilk for your baby.Boarding the planeBefore boarding, I try to let my son crawl/run around the gate area to let off stream. The last thing I do before boarding is put him in a fresh diaper. Some flights have offered a “family pre-board” time, some have not, and frankly, it does not take us all that much longer to board than others. In fact, I usually don’t care to be the first person on the plane. When boarding, I put baby C in the carrier, so I once again have my hands free. We have always traveled with a stroller, which we use to navigate the airport and then gate-check it planeside. To do this, the ticket collector will give you a pink tag for your stroller and/or car seat. There is no charge for this and you receive these items as you deplane, not at the baggage carousel.Snagging a seat for your un-ticketed childWhen arriving at the gate, you can check with the gate agent regarding availability of an open seat. I know moms have different desires about trying to snag an extra seat. I personally like having the option of putting baby C in his car seat because he will nap better, there is somewhere to put him down and it is safer. However, a car seat can ONLY be placed in the window seat. So if you really want to try your best to have your baby in their own seat, I have found it best to book a window. If I am traveling with hubby we book the aisle and window with the hopes that no one will book the middle seat, and if they do, we hope they would be happy to move to the aisle. If in this scenario there is an open seat on the plane, hubby can move to it, baby in the window and me in the middle. When traveling alone, if you have the window booked it is possible that the person in the middle seat will want to move to another open seat on the plane. And if you end up holding the baby, it’s not so bad… and it’s free.On the planeWe have flown 7 round trips. Our longest flight was four hours in length, from NYC to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  My son is generally well-behaved on the plane because he nurses on demand, and sits in my lap. He is a snuggle bug like that. But of course, in anticipation of the flight, I advise packing fun snacks and toys, anything that can be used as a diversion and provide some entertainment.  I would advise packing more diapers/bottles/burp clothes/wipes/snacks than you anticipate needing. I always fly with an extra outfit for my son (which proved a smart idea on a recent flight to Puerto Rico). Some moms, especially those with children prone to spitting up, may want to carry on an extra shirt for themselves.I hope OMyFamily readers find these tips useful! Please feel free to add your own suggestions in a comment below. Bon voyage!~~~~~~Wasn’t she just full of knowledge? You like how she mentioned that you should always pack an extra outfit for your baby, possibly even one for yourself?Funny, I feel like I could have used that advice about 2 months ago.Happy CBC Week!

o, hai there. (a parentheses heavy post)

Hi friends and readers (who are friends I just haven’t met yet). How have you been?::stares at computer screen like Dora, waiting for your answer::Good!¡Bueno!I’ve missed you!¡Te extrañé!Hey, remember how we quit cold turkey from spending money on food from restaurants (or fast food joints (or coffee shops))?Yea, I do remember. So, how’s that going AllisonO?I’m glad you asked! It’s going well. It’s not going perfectly, but it IS going well.My first slip up occurred on the 11th of this month, when I bought a $3.05 chai tea latte at a cafe downtown.First slip up AllisonO? As in there have been multiple slip ups? And I thought you said it was going well?Ok, so maybe let’s back up to the successes then, before cataloguing the failures, shall we?I did successfully do “Once A Month Cooking”, or a subset thereof. I made 15 meals in one day and stuck them all in the freezer. It worked incredibly well, actually. I grocery shopped the night before (after bedtime to so I could go by myself without burdening DanO), did all of the chopping and prep in the first half of the day, and then assembled all the meals during nap time. It means that I have meals on hand and (permitting that I remember to take it out of the freezer in the morning to thaw) all I have to do is heat them up (via grill, oven, microwave, or crock pot). This has been the most helpful thing I’ve done to help us (mostly) succeed.Packing a lunch (straight out of grade school: pb&j, a nectarine, oreos and wheat thin crackers) has saved me 3 times. It’s not a glamorous life, but it’s an on-budget one.I have also needed to be flexible with my concept of dinner, meaning left overs, breakfast for dinner, or sandwiches are all fair game. It’s food, eat it and be sustained (again with the glamorous life thing).Ok, so about those other failures. They were actually two in close conjunction, because I was out of my house for 14 straight hours. (True story.) I DID eat breakfast before leaving, pack a lunch and even copious snacks, but it’s darn near impossible to last that long without more sustenance. (This is the part where I skip over the tiny little detail that I was “forced” to tag along on a shopping/girls’ night adventure during which I “had to” eat Swedish meatballs at Ikea and then “pressured” into ordering a ($4) appetizer pizza at a nice restaurant. It’s a rough life, but someone has to live it.)So, in all that, we (and by we I mean I) have spent almost exactly $15 on eating out this month. To be fair, DanO and OBaby ate out on Friday (while I was gallivanting around Ikea and stuffing my face with lingonberry sauce) but DanO’s brother picked up the bill. (Thanks, Paul!)But, y’all. It’s the 21st of the month, and we’ve only spent $15 on eating out.THAT DESERVES APPLAUSE.(Or maybe that deserves Chipotle burritos being delivered to my front door. I’ll let you decide.)(Carnitas, extra rice, black beans, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and lettuce.)(Please.)

Tattooed Toothums..

Yep. That's right. Tattooed crowns. Personally, I can't wait til at least one or all of my teeth fall out now. I'm all about subtle adornment, and I will be rocking a hawk on a back molar at the silver nugget's old folks home I reside in later on. Don't hate.

Found via Fletcher Lives via my homegirl Rae McCall.

goodshape design chris bianchi..

goodshape design just released their 2nd artist series w/ chris bianchi. a freelance illustrator living in london, chris' work is bold and graphic, often employing primary colors and big chunks of black. he has self-published two books and is behind the illustrative magazine le gun. t-shirts and prints are available now. check 'em out here.

Danilo Ricardo Silva aka Zéh Palito..

I spotted Danilo Ricardo Silva aka Zéh Palito's colorful and happy murals via Kate Singleton's Pinterest street art board. Be sure to check out Zéh's flickr page where there are pages and pages of his murals from all over the world.

concerned dont be.

OBaby: as good a construction cheerleader as there ever was (with the exception perhaps of the needing to be sequestered thing).Yes, he was safe. Yes he was far from the action. No he could not reach anything dangerous (or anything at all). No, he was not breathing in anything dangerous. Yes, we were smart about it.There, you can stop worrying about our parenting decisions now. You’re welcome.

Building Block..

I discovered Building Block via Montmarte over the weekend. Love the beauty in all of her subtle pieces -- from bags to quilts. I wish I could find out more about her...if you know anything let me know. ;)

Christopher Davison New Work..

Christopher Davison recently updated his website with, in his words: "18 very new, very dark, very small drawings that I wouldlike to share with you. They are visions from the long, cold, Winternights." I am definitely feeling that last statement right now smack dab in the middle of February. What did we do before the web? Thank goodness for the long arm of the www. And thank goodness for artists like Christopher who think outside the box, he's offering a high-res downloadable version of his drawing Sculpture Garden (Stand Alone). Definitely one of my favs of the bunch, if I absolutely had to choose.

New Work Richard Pearse..

Richard Pearse shot over an email with images of a new group he's been hard at work on for the upcoming group show, Linear Empires at White Walls Gallery. Richard's detail and ability to connect color & shape in his work is what really draws me in. So much to look at.

Check out Richard's blog to see all of the work that will be in the show. Linear Empires opens on February 12 and runs through March 5.

one day

just one day to me, here in minnesota.but a life changing day for my family in oregon.i set out this morning to document my day-in-the-life, as inspired by laura of the hollywood housewife‘s one day project. it turned out not to be just any old, average day.:: :: :: :: :: ::8:45am: our furnace has been dead for a while now. this was all fine and good and kind of funny last week when the over night lows weren’t 15°. our furnace company was a victim of the hurricane (which was two days after our furnace went out) and hadn’t been able to ship anything out until monday of this week. the new, covered-under-warantee parts should be here friday.for now, i use my oven to help heat my house.9:30am: on mondays, wednesdays, and fridays i have been taking the boys to the ymca to play in their childcare for a bit while mommy either attends a ‘body pump’ class or hits the treadmill. it is a great way to get me out of the house. this is my stupid picture face.literally moments after taking this picture, i got the call from my mom.things are changing for my family in oregon. i don’t really know how to talk about it here. we lost a family member and he will be missed. it broke my heart to hear it from my mom, but if there’s anything i’ve learned about her in the last 10 years it’s that she is strong. still, as i left for the y, my heart was heavy.10:30am: the boys stop to watch the ‘people dancing in the pool’, as always.11:30am: while i run, i pray for my mom, for my brothers, for the other family back home. i just keep asking the Lord to show me my role in this situation. it’s a good, hard run and few things are better than a hot shower while someone else watches your kids.12:00pm: in our little city life, dano’s work is about a mile from our house, and it also happens to be about 6 blocks from the ymca. on occasion, we swing by and pick him up and bring him home for lunch after a morning at the y.it is one of those occasions. it’s a good life.12:30pm: lunch boy number 1.tired, messy lunch boy number 2.another huge, huge perk of having dano home for lunch some days is that when he has time, he stays and helps me put the boys down for nap.i think i’ll keep him.1:00pm: heavy-hearted, with two snoring boys and dano back at work, i set about trying to do something. being two thousand miles away from loved ones when they are hurting sucks. it makes you want to send a fruit basket or jump on a plane or something, anything more than cry on the other end of the phone.i send a fruit basket.2:00pm: the oldest wakes up.  he’s pretty good about taking a solid one-hour nap. in his haze we either read books or watch a show. today i am more pre-occupied than usual, so i turn on the cat in the hat, give him some milk and a bowl of granola bites, and keep processing my thoughts and options.i call this picture (and the glaze over his eyes) mommy’s gotta do what mommy’s gotta do.2:30pm: i do it. after deliberating, i buy a next-day ticket to fly home to oregon tomorrow (thursday). you know when you feel that ‘i should’ nudge but sometimes the follow through on that should is so complicated that you nearly turn back several times?that.but it will be so, so good to be there.3:45pm: normal life, it just carries on, doesn’t it? i click purchase on plane tickets, begin making arrangements… then moments later i exchange a fly-by kiss with dano who got home early from work so that i could hurry out the door and make it to a midwife appointment of the very best kind*.*and by very best kind i mean the semi-annual, invasive kind.4:45pm: with my pants now back on, i return home to throw dinner in the oven. last weekend, two friends and i got together and made several large batches of freezer meals that we split amongst ourselves. this is a freezer pizza and if i had the recipe available, i would give it to you because it was awesome and convenient and cheap and yummy (but i don’t).while i stand in the kitchen exchanging texts and phone calls with family and waiting for the oven to heat up, dano and oboy are outside starting a fire.it’s this thing they do lately, and i love it. it’s about as close to rustic outdoor life as we can get here on our city lot.we also have really nice, high-end patio furniture.5:45pm: having thusly inhaled dinner, the menfolk and i return outside to the still-going fire, stoke it some more, and let oboy practice his mallow roasting skills. we have long ago stopped making s’mores with them as one boy really just wants the marshmallows and the other, just the chocolate.6:30pm: two nakey butts in the shower.6:45pm: we brush.6:55pm: we read the bible together, which really looks like the boys climb all over dano while he reads the bible outloud. today we read the story of moses.8:00pm: both boys finally asleep, i sit down on the couch to email my parents, check-in with friends, and write this post.9:00pm: i have cycled the laundry and am packing for my trip tomorrow that i didn’t know about until this afternoon.crazy the difference one day can make.:: :: :: :: :: ::

Emily Glaubinger at Nooworks, part 2..

I stopped by Nooworks yesterday and got some great pics of Emily Glaubinger in action as she gets ready for her show that opens tomorrow night. She was crazy busy! In the window, on the wall and hanging her stuff! It was great to watch her in action. It was hard to not be inspired by her posi and happy energy as she got to it. The girl is a powerhouse...oh yeah and she makes jewelry! (I've posted before on her rad wood earrings.) At the moment that part of her renaissance is on hold...but if you are in SF her jewels will be along side her new work and her collaborative textiles with Nooworks at the boutique through Novemeber. Emily will be showing her latest work, digital drawings that took upwards of 20 hours to complete. They look so tough. The images are a psychedelic, color explosion of friends and self portraits.

Here are a bunch of pics I grabbed while I was there. Everything from her window and wall mural, to her jewels to her screenprinted goods she and Jen from Nooworks made together.

Here is my post on her sneak peek.

bmi stuff, swimsuit shopping, and saying goodbye

My body seems to really, really like the mid 150s. Like, really like them. It makes sense. This is where I was for most of college and into my early 20s. I am tempted to say that this is a natural weight for me and call it a day on this weight loss journey. But if I went to my doctor today, she would tell me that my BMI (body mass index) is solidly in the overweight category. Solidly. I am still 13lbs from a “normal weight” BMI.And hear me: the BMI is not gospel. DanO was pre-med in college and has his degree in applied health science. I know the inherent problems in the BMI tables. But I also know that they are a good general ball park for health, and even as general ball parks go, I have room for improvement. That is why I will still be on this journey for a while longer.Even if it takes another month to break out of the 150s, I will keep at it. And did I mention that my body likes the mid 150s? Yea. Keeping at it is looking harder and harder lately. I am nothing if not motivated by instant results, and these last few weeks have been hard for that. The most encouraging thing to me, though, is how far I have already come.December 28, 2011 —> June 9, 2012.I have no reason to doubt that I can get to my goal weight – I have already lost more pounds than I have left to go! If I can lose 33lbs on Medifast, I can lose the rest.One of the only bummers of losing weight and changing my body has been the clothing debacle. Last year, you might remember that I bought a great swimsuit that I actually felt confident in. I love that swimsuit, but now it hangs off of me. It might be a tough sell, but believe me when I tell you I am bummed about that (really!). I only got one summer’s use out of that suit and now I need a new one (see also: $$). The bummer lasted a short while, though, because heaven help me, I went swimsuit shopping and enjoyed it. Yea, you heard me. I ended up finding one for a very reasonable price at a local boutique Target.Also hanging off of me lately (besides my children): all my clothes. I have so many clothes that I love that no longer fit me well at all. My closet was bursting with wardrobes in a range of many, many sizes, but some of the clothes were worn only a few times and I just couldn’t bring myself to do the trash-bag-to-goodwill thing with them (Gap! J.Crew! Anthropologie!). Serendipitously, a friend invited me to a clothes swap with her church tonight, so I went through every last pile of clothes and was very liberal about what I’m giving away at the swap. Good bye, weight. Good bye, too-big-for-me clothes. I hope to be able to snag some great finds in my new size at the swap and let my old clothes some more use.But can I be honest? Giving the clothes away scares me a little. It brings to light the insecurity I have about the permanence of these changes. What if you gain it back, Allison? Especially after another pregnancy? O, I know. I know about those statistics of gaining back lost weight. I know that the end of the diet/loss phase is only the beginning of the actual journey and that choosing health is a life-long venture. But at the end of the day, when I declare to myself and my closet that we will not go back there, I feel a pit in my stomach. When these worries start to consume me (pun intended), I try to remember something  Lysa TerKeust wrote in her fantastic book, Made to Crave. She writes:“Moment by moment we have the choice to live in our own strength and risk failure, or to reach across the gap and grab hold of God’s unwavering strength. And the beautiful thing is, the more dependent we become on God’s strength, the less enamored we are with other choices… The reality is, even when we stand on the scale and see out goal weight staring back at us, we’re always just one choice away from reversing all the progress we’ve made. I’m not saying victory isn’t possible. But victory isn’t a place we arrive at and then relax. Victory is when we pick something healthy over something not beneficial for us. And we maintain our victories with each next choice.” – Made to Crave, Chapter 17The very next choice. It is about my very next choice. Was my last choice not so great? O well. Making a disciplined next choice is what makes me victorious. One choice at a time from here on out. Thoughts like that make me confident as I stack those old-me jeans onto the donate pile.Bring it on, next choice.:: :: :: :: :: ::My Journey to Health:June 12, 2012: 154lbsJune 1, 2012: 155lbsApril 28, 2012: 160lbsMarch 31, 2012: 163lbsFebruary 29, 2012: 166lbsJanuary 30, 2012: 174lbsDecember 30, 2011, 187 lbs33 lbs lost!:: :: :: :: :: ::How am I losing that weight, you ask? Medifast!! If you use the coupon code, OFAMILY56, and sign up for Medifast Advantage, when you order $250+, you’ll receive 56 free Medifast Meals and free shipping! (More details at the bottom of this post.)Disclosure: I receive free product in order to evaluate and comment on my experiences on the Medifast Nursing Mothers Program. I will only ever tell you how I actually feel about this experience and the Medifast products. Pinky swearsies. I am supposed to tell you that the Medifast Program is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or illness and that any medical improvements noted while on the program are related to weight loss in general, and not to Medifast products or programs. K, you got that? Good. There will be a quiz later.

Al Farrow New Reliquaries..

I stopped by Catherine Clark Gallery last weekend to check out Al Farrow's amazing sculptures of ammunition and firearms, New Reliquaries. Each piece was so detailed and intense. Hard to not have a lot of dark thoughts while floating around such beautiful sculptures.

New Reliquaries is open through May 28th, 2011 at Catherine Clark Gallery.

You can see more images on Flickr.