New Thrifting Finds

Yesterday I scheduled in some time during my day to hit up the thrift/antique stores downtown. Two hours of guilt free rummaging, then back to work. Here are some quick photos of what I found:

- little container for bathroom
- ceramic apple trays
- blue curtain tie backs for dining room French doors

- yellow baby sweater. I couldn't resist - it was only .95
- yards and yards of these two fabrics
- silk scarf. I love the colors and design

Found: White Record Frames

I've been looking for white record frames for these kids records I've been collecting for the baby's room/guest room. I realize now the records I picked are kind of girly, so if we end up having a boy I'll have to switch out the Mary Poppins and Sound of Music for more manly ones like Robin Hood & Peter Pan or something like that. I think Forest would appreciate it.

If you have a need for white or non-black record frames you can find them online @ hobbyframes.com. They come in 12 stains and colors, ranging in price from 14.95 - 17.95.

September is Fat Magazine Month

my bump. my bump my bump my bump.

my little baby bump! That's right, I said baby bump.

The Carlisles are very proud to announce we're having our first baby! Due date is Feb. 9, 2008. I was going to preface this post with one of those "tune in tomorrow for a big announcement", but I figured that would be too easy. I have been holding out on your for 17 whole weeks, but I could do so no longer.

Here's a photo of me at 15 weeks:

See it? It's there..and bigger now at 17 weeks. I'm still wearing my regular jeans, but we'll see how long that lasts. Now my recent crafting/sewing binge probably makes more sense. Since we found out I've gone into major nesting mode - MAJOR nesting mode. Like I basically gave Forest a list of things that need to be done around the house before the baby comes because I know they won't happen afterward.

So far I've been feeling pretty good besides some intense exhaustion during my first trimester and crazy cravings for Maruchan Cup of Noodles and Ramen. I hear MSG is really good for developing fetuses....

We have an ultra-sound appt. in a few weeks to (hopefully) find out whether we have a little Mr. or Miss on our hands. Forest and I have a non-monetary bet going. Can you guess what I think it is? Read "think" as "want".

In other news, I shot a beautiful wedding on Saturday and pretty much spent the rest of the weekend recovering. I didn't think being pregnant would really affect shooting that much, but after 9 hours on my feet with my 20 lb camera in my hands and barely any food I was spent. The photos that I've seen came out great and I look forward to showing them to you later this week.

Yay for babies!

The Schwager Family

Going to the Schwagers' house is always fun when I'm visiting my home town. I have known both Markus, or Koozee as he is better known...that's not how you spell it, but that's how it sounds. He's Swiss and it's some sort of Swiss formula nickname. Something about the last part of your name, so marKUS = Kusie. ANYWAY, taaaanngent. I have known Kusie and Meris for a long time, but in different ways.

I used to drive around in Kusie's light blue BMW when I was in high school and hang out with him and his skater friends. He had long greasy hair and like to yell things out of his car at passers by to embarrass me. I would usually end up on the floor of the passenger seat because I was a shy little 15 year old and cared a lot about what strangers on the street thought about me.

I met Meris later in life through our church community, but we really bonded on a two week service trip to Turkey of all places. Faith, Meris and I endured many trials such as:
- Being solicited for "favors" by our hotel room neighbors in "Hotel Fatih". Think business card shoved under your door at 3am with INAPPROPRIATE suggestions written in broken English.
- Faith lost her contact in the dirt by our construction site one day and of course she is blind as a bat and did not have spares. We searched in the dust under a bus while local men stood by and laughed.
- Then there was having to clean and "sweep" a piece of plastic the size of half a football field because it had been rained on while covering the still wet foundation of the building we were there to construct. Apparently the construction team did not want to buy a new piece, but we couldn't use this one again if it was this dirty. We had to roll it out little by little in this empty DIRT lot next to where we were working and try to keep more dirt from getting on it as we were sweeping the old dirt off.

Needless to say, we became fast friends. Sometime after this trip Meris and Kusie got married and now they have three beautiful children. We did a family photo shoot while I was there and these are some of my favorites. Meris is America's Next Top Model, as Faith says, and I agree. She could do runway.

Last Night Sewing

I had a night to myself last night, so instead of sitting on my butt watching Friend's DVD's (my current evening past time...don't I sound like the most exciting person ever?) I decided to try and make a pillow for our yellow chair.

With sewing these days I'm trying to use only what I have to keep the costs down. I used some of the leftovers from the clutch for this little 11" x 11" pillow. I didn't really use a pattern, but I did take a few tips from Amy Butler's In Stitches. I made a pillow form to go inside the cover and I used her instructions for tufting with the buttons.

This small accent is going to tie this whole room together, I think. There is so much yellow going on in that chair I was worried it was going to dominate, but I think once we get the art hung and the dining table chairs finished it's going to look nice.

Rearranging & Repurposing

Last night I moved everything off this shelf...

So I could move it into the living room...

And make room for these bad boys in the office. We bought this set of lockers from our school-district-maintenance-man neighbor for 15 doll hairs. Score! I was expecting him to say $200 when I asked how much he wanted - I said I would give him $20 and he said "for $20 I'll deliver them to you". We have such nice neighbors.

Forest is going to paint them this green color, inspired by these lockers we saw at the Santa Monica Antique Mart.

I liked my craft shelf, but moving things around and re-purposing them is a fun part of the home-decorating process. I would have never thought of putting another piece of furniture in our already small living room, but it actually fills up that area which was previously a big empty wall nicely and adds a little color. I'll post some photos when we get the lockers painted, hopefully this weekend or next week.

Lock Down

I'm locking myself to my desk today because I have GOT to get some photo editing and designing done. It's been on the list since Monday, but somehow I have managed to put it off two whole days so far.

This is a photo that happened during my shoot with Emily & Brian. I like all the textures and am thinking of putting up somewhere in the house. Most of the art I pick is so girly - I am starting to feel like I need to "man" up the house a bit. Next week we're gonna hang a bunch of art, so I'll post some photos of what we come up with.

Aprons, Cookbooks & Weekend Update

A few months ago Forest's Aunt Annie said she had a "silly" gift for me. They had been cleaning out some of Uncle Frank's mom's stuff and she found all these vintage aprons that used to be hers. Rumor has it that Uncle Frank's mom was a stellar chef and they even have a cookbook full of her Portugese recipes...I don't think Annie realized how excited I would be, but receiving a handful of vintage aprons made my year. Those inspired me to finally photograph my entire collection, so I did that this morning and have made a new set on Flickr if you want to check them out.

She also gave me this old tattered cookbook from the 50's:

Most of the recipes look kind of scary, but the illustrations are beautiful and there are tons scattered throughout the book. These will probably end up in a new batch of collages very soon.

How was your weekend? Ours was busy - here's the breakdown:
- Drove to No. Hollywood to hear our friend Hoku perform for a small audience of friends and family in preparation for her show this weekend - she's opening for Gwen Stefani in Hawaii! It was fun to hear her new stuff live and see friends.
- Shopped for jeans for Forest..always fun for me...maybe not for him though. He doesn't always "feel comfortable" in the styles I like, but we found some at the Barney's outlet in Camarillo. Those are great outlets if you haven't been there and its dangerous that I only live 15 min. away.
- Enjoyed a short visit with Forest's mom, dad and nephew on their way to camp in Big Sur for the week. Swam in the pool, shot the Airsoft gun, ate ice cream and played Yahtzee.
- Drove to No. Hollywood again to drive cars. We are selling our Subaru wagon and upgrading to something newer and a little bigger.
- Went to Aaron Brothers and gave my right arm to have a few pieces of art framed. None of my art costs more than $50, but I love it all and want it to look nice, so whatever. I'll get over it.

I heart the 60's

I have a love affair with the years 1940 - 1970, especially the clothes and photography of those eras. Faith obviously knows this and sent me this fabulous book of fashion ads from the 60's.


I eat this stuff up - every page is awesome, but here are some of my favorites:

More images on flickr. Thanks Faithy!

Sock Softies

I'm so excited to finally show you these. I gave them away to their new families last week, but it was hard giving them up : ( I love these because they are easy and inexpensive to make - something I could actually make a lot of without getting burnt out.

The patterns are from the same book the kitty is from and I adapted one of Hillary Lang's Make-a-Long-Story patterns for the outfits. These guys went to Santa Cruz where it's cold, so they needed sweaters. Both sweaters were purchase at Goodwill, then put through two wash and dry cycles to get them felted like they are.




Hopefully little Adam and Tansy enjoy these for a long time and the clothes don't get lost too quickly...I know this won't be easy - none of my childhood dolls have theirs anymore.

Weekend Sneak-away

Hello! I've been MIA for a few days due to our annual camping trip at Plaskett Creek in Big Sur. About 60 or so friends from Santa Cruz meet there once a year for a few days. This year the people I didn't know out numbered the ones I did, but my friends who plan the trip are always there and they are the ones I look forward to seeing most. I think this is my 6th trip, and my 3rd with Forest.

What was also different this year is that we had a beach! Usually we go earlier in the Summer before the sand builds up, but this year it was gorgeous and the 30 kids (I'm not exaggerating - we counted) had a blast in the water. I didn't take as many photos as last year, but I did bring it out for one beach day..here are some of my favorites:

Aqua & Red - my favorite

Happiness is running on the beach

this girl is fearless in the water

aw, just cute

Emily + Brian

I had such a blast shooting Emily and Brian's engagement photos! We spent about three hours together Tuesday evening covering a lot of ground - Capitola to Pleasure Point to Downtown. I don't have tons to say about the photos except that Brian & Emily are really stunning and interact so well together. Watch the slide show or browse through the gallery to see what I mean.

You can also click here to see their sweet wedding website..be sure to check out the proposal - it's quite a story.

My favorites are the lens flare shots - those kind of photos always evoke a mood that speaks to me and I love doing them. Thanks again you two and can't wait for the wedding in October!

Mid Week Review

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to my hometown (Santa Cruz, CA) where, in 48 hours I:

• Attended a baby shower for two good friends and got to give them the sock animals I made for them (photos coming soon)
• Spent some quality time with my sisters. Mani-pedis all around.
• Randomly ran into my brother two different times around town. Sat with him in Chili's and laughed at his jokes while he ate wings and drank beer with his fellow firefighter buddy.
• Spent a bunch of money purchasing items I forgot to bring with me: camera battery charger, ipod sync cord, film
• Made two impulse buys at the camera store: a new 70 - 200mm lens and a portable white balancer device. Both of these I actually need so...
• Shot an engagement session with Brian & Emily who are getting married in October. They are longtime friends and one gorgeous couple, as you will see soon.
• Photographed the Schwager family and their new baby girl - brought the two older kids stickers and markers so they would like me and not run away from my camera.

It was a good trip, but because I was doing so much work it felt more like a business trip than a visit at home. I did squeeze in a little family time though and some late night chats with my mom. The busy week carries on with another little shoot today, but I will have some photos for you tomorrow.

A Good Thing

We have a juice orange tree in our backyard and didn't even know it until we thought one day " I wonder if these oranges would make good juice". There are so many we didn't know what else to do with them. We tried it - and oh man do they make good OJ. Now we are having fresh squeezed OJ all the time and if you come for a visit we'll be serving it daily.


My favorite breakfast - fried eggs over-medium, sourdough toast and home squeezed orange juice. yum.

Internet Shopping

On the Want List today. All from Forever 21...




Yellow Polka Dot Tunic

White Basketweave Clutch

Red Striped Sweater Top

Lucite Bangle (on sale for 1.99)