PERFECT Christmas Card

This is SO funny!

All I want for Christmas is you (If you're holding a bunch of presents that are also for me.)
Perfect.  Please check out Sycamore Street Press!  This is a great online shop with stunning letterpress everything.  Here is another awesome one:

I think these people would be my friends.

Another Princess and Another Pea

I love Garnet Hill!!  I dream of having a life like the women on the pages of the catalog.  I would wake up in my over priced pajamas and they would be IRONED, and i would lounge in my slippers with my robe perfectly askew in my room that was decorated to the inch in what ever season i happened to be in.  We'd have a different Advent calendar in every room stuffed with little trinkets that are both exciting and somehow NOT materialistic clutter that I won't shove in a bag when my kids aren't looking in six months.  My children's hair will be the perfect mix of messy and glamour ad as they lounge in THEIR pajamas and robes and slippers on the painted rough hewn timber floors.  It would be WARM even though that very gaping flooring is nestled on a snowy hillside.  Oooo, did I mention I'd have a steaming mug of coffee in my hand?  I would.  I would be contemplating my day of dressing in my fabulous wrap sweater that is 3 inches thick and goes around me 4 times while i still look shockingly skinny, to take the train to visit my girlfriends in the city and do a little shopping for more non-materialistic sorts of goodies to fill my house with.  My warm house that has 1" holes between each floor board.  Because we are *rustic* like that.

All of this ties very clearly into the image above!  I'm in love with The Princess and the Pea, and we had a lovely party for my daughter's 5th birthday celebrating said princess.  I was SO going to make her a darling little set like this one, but of course ran out of time, but GARNET HILL didn't!!  It is quite charming, although not nearly as charming as viola & pearl's.  And seriously, $100?  Of course my daughter waaaants it, she says with her sweet little hands clasped in a pleeeease sort of grasp.  Maybe I'll make her one for Christmas?

Yahoo!

Our super awesome reversible hats from Flipside Hats (designed JUST for us) are featured in the denim section of Cool Mom Picks Back To School Guide!

We are beyond excited here!

And if anyone wants to find gifts for me or the kiddos, let's just say we want everything ELSE on this list!!  Make sure you check it out before you go school shopping - the prices are fantastic.  Our Flipside hats are all currently 50% off and there is a code to get 25% MORE off on their guide.  Happy shopping!

A "You Choose" Giveaway!

My 20 year reunion is coming up in the next couple of years.  I'm not sure I'm ready.  Alright.  It is next month---! I am incredibly excited to go home.  Here and there my vanity gets the best of me and I wish I looked more like the 18 year old who drove out of Valdez, Alaska - minus the 6 inch tall bangs, cut off jean shorts, and blue eyeliner - but mostly I'm just really, really excited.  Sometimes I cry because I'm so excited.  I. Know. That. Place.  You know how everything just seems right in the place you really, really know?  That is Valdez to me.  I know the rocks.  I know the trees.  I know the bugs.  (Thank God there aren't as many up there...)  I've never really felt the same anywhere else, and I'm so glad I get a short little hug from my home.  And even more I'm happy I get to spend a little time with my dear friends I started this life with.

I'm so excited I'm going to do another giveaway. This time YOU choose what you want. YOU choose whether it is for you or your babes. Win this one and we'll send you a $40 gift certificate to use as you wish!!  You could get this adorable Hatched Egg'rs Melville Elephant Chair for FREE:

Or only pay $10 for these super cool WallCandyArts Dyno-MITE Removable Wall Decals:

Or, you can splurge and get $40 off of this ducduc Parker Playtable with Paper Roll!! 

Or if your week has been like mine, maybe you will choose a new Blomus Lounge Shaker (mine is bent and leaks with every pour) for after the kids go down.

 mmmmm.... cocktails.  

*shakes self back to the present*

Right.  So you know the drill just leave a comment here on this blog to enter. 

Or:

-  "like" Cat in an Apron on Facebook. and get an additional entry.

-  follow Cat on twitter and tell me you did - and get an additional entry.

-  tweet this giveaway and tell me you did - and get an additional entry.

-  link this post to your blog and leave the link - and get an additional entry.

Happy browsing!
** update!  The last day to enter is Wednesday, July 21st at midnight Pacific time. **

Paper Dolls.

These lovely little darlings are free to download from Teri Pettit! I found them at Found It. Love It by Divine Caroline - one of my very favorite daily emails. I haven't talked my daughter into actually playing with any of the paper dolls we've gotten her her entire life, but I'm holding out hope!You can print out her entire tea party. Oh, I'm in heaven!

I finally got the courage to sit down and watch a tiny bit of the news this morning about the earthquake in Haiti. I just couldn't stop crying. I can't imagine what those people are going through. Seeing moms screaming for their children... - it simply is horrifying. Too, too much.

There are so many places and ways to donate the money that is so desperately needed - a quick google search will turn up a list - however, another way to help is by donating your gently used shoes and boots. Souls 4 Souls is putting together shipping containers of our shoes to send to Haiti. Right now with all of the broken glass, twisted metal, raw sewage and building rubble on the ground they need shoes more than ever.

Even if you don't have the money to spare, we all have extra pairs of shoes in our closets. In fact it is estimated that "Americans have 1.5 billion pairs of unworn shoes lying in our closets."

Just rubber band each pair together and drop them off at the designated locations. Here in Portland, the drop off location is:
Foot Solutions on SE 82nd.

God be with all of the people affected by this unimaginable tragedy.

New Year's Resolution: Feed My Family

I've never been one for New Years' Resolutions. I've never understood why anyone would wait for ONE time of year to make changes in their lives. This year, however, it coincides perfectly with what is going on with us. There's been a natural break in our schedules and it is a perfect time to start. There are SO many reasons this is so important to our family: we need to save money, we need to eat healthier, I need to get my head on straight. That last one is the biggie - the last thing I need right now is to try to figure out what to feed everyone at the last minute. This is when I give up and tell my husband to bring something home for dinner!

This is a before shot of just a tiny bit of my recipe books piled high with little corners bent over on the pages of yummy recipes I'd like to try. Let's just say I haven't opened one of them since I bent the little page over!I sat down and ripped out every recipe I think would work for us, put them in plastic sheet protectors,and made a binder for all of our family meals. I can take them out and move them around by the week or by dish or by season - anything I want.

I bought this darling little calendar from Clementine NW (LOVE THEM!!)

It stays in my recipe binder and every Sunday night I'm sitting down to plan out the week's meals. If I can swing it I go grocery shopping for the week on Sunday, so far it has been Monday morning. This will work!!!

I know tons of you plan out your menu's for the week ahead - do you have any great tips to help me!?

Free Original Christmas Music!

Download 7 free ORIGINAL Christmas songs today!! The Hipwaders, Brady Rymer, Didi Pop, Gustafer Yellowgold, Princess Katie and Racer Steve, Rock Daddy Rock, and David Tobocman all share NEW Christmas songs!!

Attic Journals for Christmas!

I just gave my kids' teachers their Christmas presents. I know some of them celebrate Christmas, I'm pretty sure some of them don't. But we do, so we get to give them presents. I adore Attic Journals. I adore Michelle and Miguel who make them. They are the most lovely vintage books, that would have otherwise been lost, turned into journals - the PERFECT gift for teachers - and everyone else. I found children's encyclopedias turned into journals and wrote personal notes in each one. Miss Mae dictated notes in a couple of them and drew pictures in all of them. I hope they inspire these awesome teacher people to take time for themselves and write their thoughts, or even give them a place to keep their to do lists. I wish I had taken a photo of my teetering stack, but the photo above is one I stole from Attic Journal's website.
I got each of my nieces and nephew one as well. A vintage vampire and werewolf for my Twihards (with photos of Jacob and Edward inside (sigh)) baseball for the little Mr., and palm trees for my California dreaming girl. They are the perfect gifts to encourage little ones, tweens and teens to write, too! Get some for everyone you know!

Too Stinking Cute!

I saw these at ourbestbites yesterday, and have been thinking about them ever since! I must get tiny little jars and make these personal pies! The idea of holding a warm little pie in my cold hands after being outside is lovely! And the savory ones just might get my son eating chicken pot pie. What a great site - they have SO many good recipes. check them out!

Anthropologie... AGAIN.

I know I go on and on about Anthropologie, but SERIOUSLY? This image (and the shirt she is wearing that is cut off in the image) is STUNNING. Why do her smashed up messy curls looks so fantastically chic?? If I COULD manage a do like this, I would probably knock someone behind me over with the protruding pile without even noticing. and that sweet little bump in the front?? Why, on her, does it not look like Jr. High cheerleading hair??? Oh Anthropologie....

I have loved http://www.reprodepot.com/ since I started sewing! They just always have the best fabric and books and notions. I was SO pleased to hear this morning that the folks over there have put out TWO books filled with gorgeous design prints! Each book even has a CD for you to use in all of your crafty goodness! What a fantastic idea - what a gift to all of us! They are also giving away stationary with every purchase and giving away an entire set to one person. Check it here.
Mmmmm. Another reason to love Repro Depot!

Fatboys

I want two of these SO bad for our basement rec room. I saw them first at Airplay Cafe here in Portland, and it was love at first site. They are HUGE. They are soft but incredibly durable. They can be a chair, a lounge, a fort. Oh, and they come in Marimekko prints. The outdoor styles are on sale at The Mini Social right now - sign up!

Community Supported Agriculture - LocalHarvest

I’ve been wanting to do this for years, and have never gotten around to it.  Sunday's Oregonian had an article about the difference in prices for a bag of fruits and veggies from the farmer's market, a discount grocery chain, a local Wholefoods, a CSA or Community Supported Agriculture subscription.

You can find one near you here: Community Supported Agriculture – LocalHarvest

They concluded that of course the retail chain store was the cheapest, but you won’t get organic, and who KNOWS where your food is coming from.  The farmers’ market and Wholefoods were basically the same price, but the lowest was the CSA!  The food is coming straight from the farm – often picked that morning – and the money is going straight to the farmer.  LOVE IT.

I’ve had friends who have done this over the years, and they’ve always loved getting the fresh surprise basket each week. 

I’m making the call.  Have you done this?  Were you happy with your surprise grocery basket?  What did you do with all of the LETTUCE in the spring??

Fabulous New Laura Gunn Fabric at Michael Miller

Michael Miller has a new line by Laura Gunn!! YUM! I don't usually like the painterly quality in fabrics - I tend to like solid colors, know what I mean? I don't like the scratchy/sketchy quality on fabric. But OH MY, these are LOVELY. and inspiring. And have changed my mind. The colors are insane.

And wouldn't you know it? She is the sister-in-law of Heather Bailey!! Whose fabric I also love. So how much do you have to pay to get to be part of THIS family?! i mean, REALLY.

Gorgeous. Art.

Isn't this STUNNING? My dear friend Shannon, sent me to this artist on etsy, and OH. MY. I could just stare at it for hours. There are more, too, that she sells as prints. The originals are: Paper, Pencil, Ink, and Digital color. She calls them illustrations, so I imagine they have stories to go with them. Don't you create your own story with every image? I do. WOW.

I blog on another site that I belong to - I've written about it before - Mamapreneurs. I posted there, about my plan of attack for keeping this house and this family together and working towards our common goal, similar to my blog post here. After the follow up post, a really incredible woman wrote on HER blog about MY post and added the best information. I think the attitude adjustment is a daily reminder! I feel like I'm doing great, and then we start to tilt and slide. Then I bolster up the other side and we start slipping the other way.

I had a really great talk with a dear friend the other day, and we were talking about this point in our lives. She said she felt like all of the big moments in life had already happened to her: falling in love, getting married, having babies.... And that her life was pretty much for the kids now. It made me think about my reality. I think it is SO easy to get overwhelmed when we are in the moment. Some days I feel like I missed the part where I signed up to be a cook and housekeeper. I want nothing more than to stay home with my kids, but frankly the other part of it stinks. I imagined playing all day with the kids, doing craft projects, going for walks, spending afternoons at the art museum meandering through the lovely installations. In real life, I'm lucky if we make it out of the house more than just to drop off or pick up someone from school or go to the grocery store. No one comes along to clean up the crafting messes and spend hours scrubbing the paint out of the kids' clothes. No one has dinner ready when we stroll back in after a day at the museum.

The only way to make it through these times is to hold on to the fleeting seconds of wonderment, the lovely smiles and belly laughs that bubble out of my kids even when I'm carrying a giant tower of laundry. I know they are going to be big and gone so fast. I know I am SO BLESSED to have them. I know the fact that Miss Mae just shoved a pencil through the front of her dress is going to be funny some day, and I'll wish I had my baby girl to hold on my lap while she cries about how much she loves her little ruined dress.

It is so easy to think that what is happening right now is going to be my reality for ever. It isn't. Just like those difficult days when Mr. H. was a baby seemed like that WAS my life are gone now. He is 6 1/2 years old already!!

I simply have to focus. I have to step away from the computer and JUST PLAY. I have to allow the mountain of laundry to sit quietly in the corner and not loom and jeer at me. I have to not obsess over how much I am NOT accomplishing, and realize that my accomplishments are THEM. And I'm not going to get a second chance with them.

So here is to living in the NOW! Here is to letting go of all of the voices telling me how I'm not doing enough. Here is to realizing how quick this time in my life really is, and that I'm not going to get it back here is to MY attitude adjustment!!

How To Take Great Photos of Your Kids!

Campbell Salgado makes me happy. I first heard about them when I was pregnant with my second baby. One of my friends told me I should have some preggo photos taken, and I thought, "NO WAY!!" First of all, I look HORRIBLE this giant, and second, why on earth would I want to look at them in the future!? Well I was incredibly wrong, and thankfully, I have the photos to prove it. I went in very apprehensive thinking I wouldn't have any revealing photos taken, and I ended up feeling completely comfortable with Francisco, and actually feeling PRETTY and happy with my gigantic body. I did my photo session with my then two year old son, and our photos together are an absolute treasure. We have pics of him showing my belly a toy, and kissing my belly and us giving each other giant hugs among others.

If I could go to their studio once a month to capture my growing babies I would. Their photos are magic! We went back as a family when my baby Miss Mae was born, and then again for her first birthday. I'm hoping to schedule another session when Baby O. can sit up, so we can capture all of his yummy meatballness.

Their process from beginning to end is like having life long friends photograph you...., well, like you are a rock star who has amazing photographer life long friends. I felt so at ease, as did my kids, and I felt like it was really US being photographed, not me racing around trying to make sure every hair was in place and praying we get a good shot in our 20 minute time slot. At the same time though, this entire studio and photographer are focused on US - very rock star for me. If you can, GO THERE.

AND, now they have a great blog!! And they are sharing tips for taking photos of our kids ourselves! How lovely and generous of them! I think I may just get out a sheet and take photos of the kids on the next sunny day!

Michael Miller Rocks the Testing.

I just received a pdf of Michael Miller's Fabric (O'Henry uses their lovely flannels) testing proving they are phthalate and lead free, and that they pass the flammability requirements. They didn't specify if they had tested EACH print as the law seems to require, but what a great step to show that they care about their customers!!

Cat in an Apron has NEVER used any questionable fabrics or materials. Everything we make and everything we carry is made by people who are using the very best, and whenever possible, local products. We all care deeply about children and their safety AND their parents!

Here is Michael Miller's testing info:

I can only assume (and hope) the other fabric houses will start doing the same.

I just got a note from a friend that said she contacted Alexander Henry who told her they were NOT planning on doing any testing, and that the small business owners would be able to find out if their fabrics had any of the toxins when we did our own testing. NICE. I just sent them a letter, too so I will update this when I hear back.

The proposed testing is so expensive, and required PER BATCH of manufacture - even if it is 10 blankets in a batch - that the prices to the consumer would go way up, or not be able to be made anymore. If one fabric manufacturer handles the cost of this testing, I can assure you I will use the tested fabrics!

Please let me know how you feel about the testing and the law!

Sale at Anthropologie

I love Anthropologie. I love their window set designers. I love their web page designers. I love their photographers. I love their clothes and accessories! I imagine myself living in a super high ceilinged flat in Paris that is totally bedecked in Anthropologie ruffles and lusciousness.

They are having a sale. It is pretty fantastic, too. Check it out.