the pretty and the pirate

yup having a kid is the best thing ever. no matter what has happened in your day she makes it all ok. so much fun this child!

fleur de lis

today i got to go and feast my eyes on flowers. it's always a nice change of pace when karen calls and i get to go take photos of her beautiful arrangements for her fab little shop in south portland called fleur de lis.
so here are a couple close ups that i loved. it was so very cold today that these flowers made everything better. sometimes it's the little things, you know.

christmas for charlie

because what parent can resist bragging? here she is...she had a great christmas, but i think ours was even better cause we got to watch her enjoy it. some of these shots were taken over christmas vacation and i just love them.

super snowmen

my dear friend pat knittel showed me an article last year in a craft magazine called cloth, paper, scissors about these snowmen made from recycled bottles and other random materials. pat started gathering materials and planning over this past year so that she could make her own snowmen this winter. the snowmen in the magazine were neat, but i have to say these are amazing. pat definitely took it up a notch!

the process of building a snowman happens on her dining room table. when you come to her home she simply insists that you sit down and make one. you can make a snow man, or woman, or child, or butler, or diva, or whatever springs to mind. i have to admit when she first invited me to make one i felt a little like i was in middle school. i wasn't really a "craft maker" type person. i think i was a bit intimidated. well, anyway, i sat down and had so much fun that i have gone back twice more and took my camera this last visit so that i could show everyone what an amazing process this has turned into.

and that's the thing...it IS a process. you sit down and RELAX. (imagine that...during the holidays) pat told me the other day that she noticed that most people start to hum or sing. you find your self chatting or sitting quietly, but truly just enjoying the process instead of the product. i was back in middle school, but it was really great. thank you pat.