New Head Shots

I hate being alone in pictures.  I don't know what it is, but I just get awkward and everything looks so inauthentic.  So last year when Sycamore Street Press came out with a new website, my about me page ended up with a weird picture of me standing in my friend's kitchen with Ollie standing in the sink in front of me.  I kept thinking that I had to have a better picture of myself in recent years somewhere, but after searching, I came up empty handed. 

Luckily, just as the Sycamore Street Press team was updating the about me pages, Candice came to town and took some new pictures of me while we were in the midst of a family photo shoot.

Even though I don't love being in front of the camera, I try to remind myself that it's important to have these pictures. I want my kids to be able to remember me at this stage of life (Heck, I want to vividly remember this lovely stage of life).

Sycamore Street Press updates the inspiration boards regularly, and I love seeing what's inspiring the rest of the team. And as an added bonus, for a limited time you can still spot me with a row of knives behind me with my child in a sink that doesn't even belong to me, and a little friend's hand holding a treat in the corner of the photo. Alas, I already sent in one of these new pics so it won't be up much longer.

I can't believe we've lived in Casa Ford for over a year.  It still likes there's still so much to do, and we haven't even begun to settle in.  Lately, I find myself obsessing over well-made, functional household items.  We're not buying much these days as we save to buy into Larry's practice, but I find myself putting more thought into what we do buy, and wanting them to be beautiful and long lasting (especially if it's going to be something that I see or use every day).

I remember when I was getting married, I looked around my parent's house and realized how much of their household items they'd had since they got married.  Every time I've been tempted to take a hand-me-down or buy something cheap as filler until we could afford what we really wanted, my mom coached me not to do it because once it goes in your house it's not a priority anymore and it will never be replaced.  And now I can't help but look around at some of the cheapo things we've been moving around with for years and knowing my mom was right.  When we moved into this house, we had very few belongings that I would have been sad to see fall out of the moving truck and be destroyed (most because it's just junk, but I have to admit some of it was just a case of bad taste when I got married at 21 and was still figuring out what I liked. Don't we all wish we could do the wedding registry over again?). Over this year, I've been working on purging some of those things that I never really loved, but made do with, but I still have a long way to go.  I'm finding I don't mind having the empty space, and it's fun to dream about the replacements, even if we won't be buying them anytime soon.

Here are a few little functional household things that I wish I owned because I actually would be sad to see them fall out of a moving truck.

This mirror to go on the landing by the garage door

 These trays, that fit together with such pretty geometry.

 I wouldn't mind tripping over these fabric covered extension cords.

 And this tissue holder that almost makes me wish I had the sniffles.

 Some sturdy new silverware because we are running dangerously low on spoons these days (What happened to all of them? I hope they are living a happy life while they tour abroad)

A drink dispenser of my own so I could stop borrowing one every time I throw a party.

 And if my laundry basket had to be in the corner of the bathroom, couldn't it at least look like this?

Is the fact that this is what I drool over these days an indicator that I'm getting old?