hello september

am i the only one holding tightly to the last days of summer?

us on the beach.  

nauset beach, cape cod, ma

late july 

a chilly, impromptu evening escape to the ocean's edge

we saw whales from the shore & ate onion rings for dinner

it was perfect

off adventuring

we've been off adventuring.  can't wait to fill you in.  see you here tomorrow!

xo *s (& a)

thursday at the farm

i planned on sharing some other photos with you today, but i was a little busy cleaning up after being at the farm this evening...

as i was picking tomatoes...

she was discovering mud for the first time!

* * *

after the mud bath, there was a regular bath followed by a delicious dinner with all of our farm share goodies! the yellow watermelon was the perfect dessert!

ps: thanks for your comments on yesterday's post :)

over a year.

tuesday/wednesday and part of thursday are now my "work days". on these days, i've been spending the majority the time up in my studio & i've been making a point to not go on the computer at all. i find, & i'm sure you can relate, that it can be so hard to NOT get sucked into email and other things online, so my new rule is don't even turn on my laptop until after i've had a full day of other creative work. so, on my 2 + 1/2 days to work, i'm beginning to find myself back in the swing of things in my studio... making messes, trying to organize & feel settled in the "new" space, getting sidetracked by making funny little vignettes on the chalkboard, painting a big canvas (feels so strange to be painting big & on canvas again!), filling up my sketchbooks, and overall, just feeling like i'm getting things back on track. it's been almost 2 years of book/computer work and that whole "ah!, i'm pregnant"/"i just had a baby" thing. oh yes, that. so yup, it's taken over a year post-baby to feel that i can truly be back to work in the studio & fully present on a regular basis without feeling like i'd rather just curl up on the studio floor and take a nap. no more sleep deprivation=lots of creative ideas. yup.

that's the equation to remember.

phew.

well, it's 4:30 in the afternoon, so i'm off to pick up my little gal at grammy's. i miss her when she's not here, but i know how important it is to get my alone/work time in.... lots of new ideas are finally flowin'. & that's always a good thing.

it's still a balancing act, this stay at home & work part time mama thing, but lately it finally feels as if something has clicked. i'm thankful for that.

see you tomorrow with some summery scenes from our recent travel. (another way to jumpstart creativity, that's for sure!)

hello july!

there are so many posts in my head i don't know where to start... but i wanted to say hello to you, and hello to july, my favorite month of the year! would someone please tell me what happened to may and june?

i'm trying to squeeze in a busy work day before the long forth of july weekend here in the states. we have a few plans- strollering and ice cream eating being the top two on my list. i'm also hoping that ada takes some more steps! she walked as if she's always known how the other night, but now she's acting like she has no idea what we're talking about! stubborn little gal she is. good thing we caught it all on video.

i hope you have a lovely weekend and i'll see you here on tuesday.

xo *s

ps: hello to a brand new blog header too. :)

book, baby & balloons!

hello hello!

here are the"civilized" pictures i promised of ada and "her" book

so happy to be here and to announce that we are now on the other side of the flu/fevers/colds that went around our house for the past couple of weeks. ugh! first ada, then mama (that's me) then dada. oh, did i mention that the twist fair was in the midst of all of this!? i survived, but barely. fever does not mix well with art show preparation! you know what else happened? my little baby turned ONE! we had a fun-filled weekend of parties full of cupcakes, new dresses, friends (little and big ones), family gatherings, frog catching, and "boons".... that would be balloons! they are her new favorite things, well, next to climbing up the stairs! i think i may officially have a toddler on my hands!

here's the birthday girl *early* on the morning of her birthday. she seriously would not let go of that balloon! :)

so as you may have guessed from my absence, that we've been quite busy these past few weeks! in addition to all of the fun, (and not so fun sickies!) i've been working like a crazy woman on book promo and event plans. LOTS of that exciting news coming up for you next week...

but, truth be told, i think i might have to call it quits for the day today... it's the long weekend to kick of the start of summer! yay! an iced coffee is calling my name...

i wish you all a happy weekend!

i'll be back here every day next week! what the what?! really, seriously!? yes indeed ;) there's so much to share with you and i've missed you!

see you then! xo *s

a quick hello!

my ode to spring. it's really coming... hooray!

just wanted to pop in and say hello!

it's a crazy week! i've got a teething babe in the house, need i say more?!

in addition to the above, i am working on taxes, a couple of interviews, as well as making plans for book promo stuff. phew! so much to do!

as i type this, there's a nutty baby in the other room screeching in delight while jumping in her bouncer. when she's not bouncing/scooting/crawling, she's pulling herself up on everything. yikes. (don't worry, grammy is on the case!)

i'm trying to focus on work by blasting my ipod and drinking way too much coffee.

i think it might be working. :)

juggling it all

sometimes my plans to be be here, on email and online don't alway line up as i imagine they would now that i'm a mama to a 9 month old. instead of continuing to feel guilty about not being on top of everything or doing all the things that i had planned, i've decided to let that go and simply tell you the truth.

so here it is:

sometimes, in the midst of trying to juggle it all, these things happen. things that are important fall by the wayside, and they have to wait their turn. i learn have to make these choices as i learn how to be a stay-at-home/work-from-home mom. i have to learn that sometimes, i am only able to focus on one thing at a time. it's a hard lesson, especially because i used to be a good juggler, but these past few weeks i found myself needing to take a break from the crazy balancing act i was trying to perform, and just direct my focus on one thing. one thing at a time. you see, this is the "thing" that's been most important lately, so i've had to step away from my work for a little while. no running to email or work as soon as she falls asleep, no worrying about what i wasn't getting done, no guilt. just focus on that one cute little thing.

i truly believe that all creative endeavors, blogging included, as for me, it's a creative outlet, should be done NOT out of guilt, but out of a place of creative need and want. so that's how i am trying to look at it all. i'm happy to see that i'm not the only one feeling this way sometimes. these two smart ladies couldn't have said it much better.

i have to remember too, that creativity always ebbs and flows. always.

my new truth and good news is that i am now over that need for a break. the new and refreshed me is so ready to dive back into to my work which includes writing to you here, posting new things here & even here, preparing for a big sale (!) and tons of new stuff here. even working on this which will debut (finally!) within the next couple of months.

i had given myself the month of february as a little "maternity leave" to do all the little things i didn't get to do around our house since we've moved in. i didn't cross everything off my to do list, but here's what i did accomplish. let's focus on that, shall we? : )

i did rearrange, clean and organize the studio, it desperately needed it! (photos coming soon)

i did finally sort through all of ada's clothes that she has grown out of with the help of my super duper mom. she's already in 12 month clothes! ah!

i did work on decorating her room. lots more of that to come.

in addition, these past couple of weeks allowed me to:

take some days off when i didn't even *think* about work. desperately needed that too.

spend as much time as we could outside even if it meant being totally bundled up.

but, most importantly, i did take a much needed break from my work and allowed myself some space to step back and let the creative juices start flowing again.

and guess what?! it worked! i'm happy to report that i can barely keep up with all the ideas i have swirling around in my head! lots of plans for future are being set into place now. i'm thinking ahead and getting so excited.

i've made lots of lists on my big old chalkboard to keep track of them all.

i've also made myself a new day-to-day schedule that i'm trying to stick to as much as i can. it's really simple, but it's helping me feel like i am getting things done. on the list for thursdays is blogging and laundry. : )

the truth is, it's always a struggle to balance it all, and as i go through each day, i'm learning new ways of making it all work. some days are easier than others for sure, but all in all it's falling into place... slowly but surely.

i'm so lucky to have grammy (my mom) here two full days a week so i can work, but i am also happy that this month of focus has helped us to set up wonderful routine that is working out beautifully on the days when it's just ada and me. (more on that sometime soon too.)

and you wanna hear the best new yet??? little miss ada slept through the night last night! all the way through, none of this 5-6 hour stuff, but truly slept from 7:30-6:30 am! not a peep out of her! i ran into her room this morning at 6:15 am and she was just starting to stir.... whoa. this is big. i feel like a new woman today. i'm hoping it's the start of a new routine, but we'll just have to wait and see. but oh how lovely it would be.

how i wrote a book with a new baby i'll never know.

thanks for being here & listening.

i'll be back tomorrow with some exciting news!

for reals. ; )

xo *s

you are here

ada and me

(she's in the beco)

i'm standing on the edge of the country with my feet in the ocean

i'm standing on the part of the map where it goes from green to blue

those are lyrics from the song you are here by the band, wait for it, lunch money. that's right, we're now loading up the ipod with kid songs! this served as the soundtrack for our road trip to and from north carolina. we played it over and over and over again. ada loves the music now, and luckily, so do we. i even caught my husband playing the cd in the car when he ran out to do an errand, alone, as in, no baby to hear the baby music! it's that good.

i've finally loaded the first half of my squam by the sea pictures up on flickr. and, of course in the 7 minutes i had to blog on friday, blogger was down. argh! so that's why there was a delay. i've also been working hard to have computer free weekends and focus on other things like continuing to unpack and set up our house. it's long overdue, we've been a wee bit busy, but i'm so happy to finally be getting the time to do things such as hang a curtain in our bedroom and a coat rack in the entryway. yup, those were the two "big accomplishments" around our house over the weekend.

we also had some dear friends visit on saturday with their little 3-year-old boy. it's been a couple of years since we've seen them, and it was just such a wonderful thing to pretty much to pick up where we had left off... albeit this time with a 3-year-old and a 5-month old thrown into the mix, but it was nice to catch up as we all strolled around town, went out to lunch and showed them around our neck of the woods.

many more pictures from our time at the sea over on flickr

it's a cold and rainy monday here in new england. some places nearby even got snow! i'm trying to stay inside and cozy while i work on my calendar. i love how 2011 is coming together so far, i think you will too.

xo *s

and...

we're back.

it took about 16 hours of driving with a lot of traffic, but we all made it home in one piece from the sea. ada did amazingly well in the car. rarely a peep out of her. really. she's a keeper. ; )

squam-by-the-sea was, just like you may have already heard, a m a z i n g...

really was.

you'll see what i mean when i show you my pictures. (tomorrow)

so. much. goodness.

we have been very busy since getting back home, and today, instead of writing out my "oh so very long list of stuff i want to remember to share with you that i have in my head but have yet to find the time to actually sit down and write it all out in a nice way" blog post, you'll have this one, a visual "bits and bobbles/miss (or is it mish or misc?) mash of what i have been up to in the past couple of weeks" post. phew. that was a mouthful.

mostly 'cause it's been a long, but good, day. so there. truth be told.

here it goes.... ( i think you'll like it this way better anyway)

fun at jen's studio.

see more shots here

everything was all yellow,

then it was pink and gray.

and this is what i see on the way back from yoga.

om.

captured with my iphone.

lovely sights like this made it easier to come home from the sea.

*

and lastly, for now, just dreaming about

this space and teaching a workshop there.

or some space like it.

maybe, just maybe.

this winter.

what do you think?

{8 things}

okay, so i seem to avoid blogging when i have too much to say. does that make sense?! probably not, but it's what i did last week. i returned from squam with SO much to say that i just felt overwhelmed and didn't say anything at all. silly me.

i'll get there this week, i promise, but let's just say for today that it was a fantastic time. having ada in tow with my mom made it really great, only a wee bit tricky here and there. grammy sally and ada b made lots of new friends as they strollered around while i was teaching, and i believe that ada was the second most photographed thing after the lake. so we coined a new term: babyrazzi. * to any of the people who were taking pictures~ i'd love it if you would like to share a picture or two that you captured of ada at squam! thanks! : )

{8 t h i n g s}

i did instead of blogging

last week:

monday:

brought ada to her 4-month check-up. (shots. yuck.) then, i did a lot of squam laundry. everything smelled like wood smoke from our fireplace. we had a smokey fire the first night which turned into a big old smoke fest with alarms and all. we ended up having to open the doors instead of getting warm. thank goodness for space heaters. well, i should really say space heater, because when they gave us another we blew a fuse. adventures.

tuesday:

vacuumed my house. this was WAY overdue. ada slept durning the whole thing. it's true you can vacuum around a sleeping baby. what a fun fact! and yes, it took most of my day.

wednesday:

gave ada a bath in her tub. yes, she's had a bath before, but this day marked the first bath where she didn't scream through the entire thing. no arching out or giving me the evil eye either. oh, and neither of us were in tears this time by the end of it all. we even had fun! she smiled and chatted and played... although not evident from this shot, it's true. hooray!

thursday:

my sister came from colorado to met ada for the first time. we've been having lots of fun with auntie heather! my sister is going through some big and brave life changes and we are so proud of her! she recently quit her job, is moving back east, and just today, started an MBA program in boston. exciting things are afoot. yay for my sister!

friday:

heather, jesse and i went to see one of our most favorite guys... it was so fun to see him in person! i love him even more. our bets that he would be wearing jeans, cowboy boots and an untucked white button down shirt were spot on. i'll upload a pic when i can to prove it.

also,

* ada and i went for lots of long stroller walks each day

*i dropped my camera and broke it. yup. (hence, no pictures from squam to share yet, but i'm working on getting them off of the memory card... )

*on those walks i came up with about 62 blog posts in my head that i never had the time to sit down and write.

as i promised my squam students, i will be a better blogger. so with that, i'll see you tomorrow!

xo *s

ps: i wrote this on monday afternoon, got ready to post, and then was sidetracked... so here it is on tuesday am! ah! more soon...

ada's debut!

introducing...

ada maeve bellemare

born may 21, 8:14am

6.6 lbs & 19.5"

we are over the moon!

all went really well! it took me longer than i thought it would to get these quick iphone pics up for you to see, but between nursing, sleeping and lack of sleeping, it's hard to get much done! here we are on day 12 of her life and things are really going well, we pretty much just spend our days staring at her in awe. at this point, we have finally managed to get settled into a little routine here at home and are feeling really good. we just can't imagine our lives without her... she's a keeper.

thanks so much for all of your well wishes and messages!

more soon

xoxo

*s, j & little a

the BIG news!

finally! the BIG news!

some of you have had your suspicions, and some of you flat out guessed after my last post, but it's finally time to officially let you know! (drumroll please... ) my BIG news is... we're having a baby! just pretend that the plastic woodpecker is a stork! ada maeve is due at the end of may and we couldn't be more thrilled!

see the proof here!

i'll be back with my {8 things} to fill you in with details of the journey so far... can't wait for little ada maeve bellemare to join us soon! (ah! just a few weeks to go!)

xo *s