This Post is Dedicated To the Vegetarians I Love

I was going to town on a pork shoulder just now, rubbing in the spice and onion mixture with gusto. May stood beside me on a chair and observed.

May: Is that chicken?

Me: Nope. It's pork.

May: What's pork?

Me: It's pig.

(May got an odd look on her face.)

Me: What's up, May May?

May: You're touching death!

I'm Grateful for the Opportunity to Post on This Beautiful Sabbath Morning

I didn't know Ted Gibson was LDS!

I know this painting looks as though Ted is teaching something from the scriptures,
but I'm pretty sure he's saying
"Well, what I want to do first is put some highlights in the front to really make those eyes pop.
And you have amazing skin that I'd really like to showcase
so we're then going to give you lots of fun short layers
that will frame that face and amazing skin.
How does that sound?"

For Post #960

Olive's first word other than Mama, Dada, Bee (Ruby), May, ba-ba, uh-oh and ni-ni:

POO.

Friday Photo: Two Peas in a Pod

I Knew What He Was When I Picked Him Up

If you've read this blog for any length of time, you'll know I developed a crush on my husband before we had even met. He caught my eye because he was different. His hair, his clothes, the way he carried himself, the way he was a total goofball in class with his brothers and friends but still managed to ace every test. He was intimidating. He was aloof. When I met him officially two years later, I took him and his aloofness on as a personal challenge, a habit I developed while at BYU which sometimes was good, other times was not good, depending on my target. In this case obviously: good.

The thing I liked best about him from the start: he was unique in every way.

I'm happy to report that in almost a decade of knowing him, he's still as weird as ever.

Our conversation this afternoon:

Go: Let's live in the middle of nowhere.
Me: How about a place that seems in the middle of nowhere but isn't. Like somewhere that's empty but close to stuff.
Go: Yah. That'd be good.
Me: Like 30 tops minutes away from the beach and a good mall. In a community that does a lot of things.
Go: And I want an eco-house.
Me: With an art studio
Go: Yah and a green house. You've always wanted a green house.
Me: Yah, I have.
Go: Live completely off the grid.
Me: Hmmm...
Go: And raise goats.
Me: Goats?
Go: Yah. We'll make goat cheese.
Me: Hm. Well, I just want to live where there's stuff to do.
Go: There will be. They'll be goats to milk.

Yes, just what I always dreamed of.
Marrying a doctor.
Raising a family.
Having a house with an art studio.
Milking goats.

Listen.

I've sat down to do this post about 20 times over the past year but never felt my words quite fit what I felt. I've been at this for an hour now and find myself in the same predicament as usual, so I'm deleting everything I wrote and am just going to try to keep it short and sweet.

There is a band you need to check out: Imagine Dragons. Don't judge them on their name. Just move past it. You'll be glad you did. This is the latest picture of the band--I think this picture was scanned from an article in a Vegas newspaper a couple of weeks ago.

My darling and talented BIL Dan, (the brooding young man in the center) who I have all kinds of mushy sisterly feelings for, is the lead singer/keys for Imagine Dragons. Mushy feelings aside, this band is good. Really good. And when you see them live, well, they just blow your pants off. Thank you Jimmy Fallon for that most appropriate phrase. My highly-critical-in-all-things-but-especially-live-music brothers John and Joe have both seen them several times and sing their praises. They're seriously good. I'm not messing around here.

People of Las Vegas: this weekend they are playing at Caesar's Palace with Jet and Crash Kings. They have shows all around town every weekend just about--check out their calendar on myspace.

If you live in the Utah area, their EP release show is being held at Club Velour Friday, April 9th at 8 pm. You can hear tracks of the EP Hell and Silence on their myspace. They have a couple of tracks on there you can get for FREE!

You can buy their first self titled EP on iTunes. I'm assuming Hell and Silence will be on iTunes some time soon.

Anyway, these songs, especially the new ones, have become the soundtrack of our house lately. So good.

The band just got back from playing at SXSW, have opened for Kelly Clarkson, played with Train, Blue October and a bunch of other bands they are way way way better than. They're getting all kinds of buzz. If you want to feel cool because you were into a band before they went big, now is the time because it won't be long until you hear them everywhere.

We love you Dan and are so, so proud of you.
Well.
Most of the time.

TMI

If you live in Pennsylvania, you no doubt have found yourself
behind one of these trucks at least three times a week.

Seriously, could they not think of a different name for their company?
Like if your name was Gary Kegel
and you wanted to start up a produce distribution company,
wouldn't you just go with "Gary's Produce?"
Perhaps Gary was just trying to offer some sort of public service announcement.
Hm.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Our president's name:

According to May: Barack Obumbum

According to Ruby: Barack Obottom

Also

Pilot caps for boys are now available.
Any shape can be appliqued
but in the shop so far, you'll find and a guitar and a fox.
There are also more choices for the little ladies.

One more thing:

She looks so much like my Dad in the picture, it totally freaks me out. Especially with this glazed expression on her face, one that says "I've-been-watching-sixteen-hours-of-nothing-but-cowboy-movies-and-early-Seventh-Heaven-episodes." Well hello there, Tom Garlock.

Friday Photo: Reverse Psychology on Ruby

Hey Rubes, don't smile.


Good, good.

Uh-uh-oh.

I think see a smile. Don't you dare smile!



You're smiling! You're in so much trouble!



That's it. You're grounded from school today. Go in the house and eat some ice cream.

Daddy Went a Walkin'

Easter Garb

We broke out the Easter dresses and accessories early this year.





And I'm selling their hair accessories in the shop.

Happy Birthday Olive

Like the matching onesie, high chair banner and wall banner?
My pal Beth, of Love, September made them and you can find them here.

"But where are the baby-covered-in-cake pictures?" you may be asking. There are none.
Olive doesn't like to be dirty, so she just sort of patted her piece of carrot cake.
Good, cakey. Nice, cakey. That's a good cake.

Scarred for Life

When I was about 13 or 14, an Olympic swimming coach came to my Dad's health club and taught a swimming workshop for teens. I wasn't the fastest swimmer and always the last one off the block ("but always the farthest one out once she did jump off the block," my Mom is always quick to add. Thanks, viking quads!) so I took the opportunity and went. My Dad swam laps on one side of the pool while I "workshopped" with the coach.
"My, what viking-like quads you have, miss."
"Why, thank you, Olympic Coach!"
After I swam and the coach stood around stating the obvious, I got out of the pool and dried off. My Dad was already done and inside the gym at this point. I remember looking at the back of the building and seeing four unmarked doors--I swear they were unmarked. It was like the health club was so pretentious that you should just KNOW what door to go through because you are apart of the elite. If you didn't know what door to go through, you shouldn't be there in the first place. Be gone, day-pass street urchins. I decided to go through the door on the far left. That was SO the wrong door to open. It was the door to the men's locker room. I stood there in the doorway, stunned for about 10 seconds, my mouth agape at the sight of 4 elderly naked men, toweling off in a cloud of steam. All of a sudden, my Dad appeared right in front of me. "What are you doing in here?" and he sort of turned me around and led me and my viking quads out the door and pointed me towards the next door over--the ladies locker room. Unfortunately, the scene is forever seared into my retinas. I've stated that there was a time in college that I never wanted to get married--this experience may had something to do with that.
Today, my girls had a similar experience. We were at Costco and they had to use the restroom. I had a cart full of stuff and Olive strapped in the front, so I parked right outside of the bathroom and let the girls go in by themselves. I don't know how it's set up at your Costco, but at ours, it's like one big main entrance, with the women's side on the left, the men's on the right. It took me a couple of minutes and several bewildered men walking quickly out of the bathroom, checking the sign and heading back in to realize that my girls were indeed doing their business in the men's room. Not a proud parenting moment. Thankfully, they were secured inside a stall, with their retinas protected from the reality on the other side of the door at the urinals.

Song of the Day by May

(sung to the tune to Neil Diamond's Coming to America:)

"We're allergic to other people!"

over
and
over
and
over
and
over...

Week 51

Tomorrow Olive turns one!
sigh.

She really is this squishy, even in real life.

I can't believe how quickly this year has gone by.
I feel like it has just slipped through my fingers, just like her babyhood is this very second.
She's entering into toddlerhood at full force and there's nothing I can do to stop it.
I'm having a hard time with this.
You would, too.
Just look at this face.

This post is also a shameless plug
for my cute Hanna Andersson-inspired pilot caps
that will be up in the shop shortly.

Ok. Down to business: Olive's first year is basically over. My mom has asked several times if I will continue the Friday photo of Olive and up until this point, I had always said I'd stop after she was a year. I'm rethinking my position and have decided that I will continue to post pictures every Friday but not necessarily of Olive. I'm opening up the Friday photos to any member of our family--whoever strikes my fancy on that particular Friday. Seems like a good compromise.

A Couple of Things

1. The night I put up my shop it was featured on a blog doing a segment called "Look!" giving exposure to shops who had yet to have their first sales, but in this etsy shop owner/blogger's eyes, should have had sales. What an honor! AiClay, based out of Singapore, makes really cool miniature food out of clay, much of which is wearable. Rad, huh?

2. The next thing I'll be putting it in the shop...that is if I can figure out how to do it correctly...

3. MAY.

How do you like her outfit? She concocted it herself: a too-small froggy t underneath a pink leotard with an attached skirt over backwards striped tights. Smashing.
She's an odd little thing. Even though she's four and a half, she still has such a funny way of speaking.

Do you see the vertical, kind of c-shaped ridge in the middle of her ear?

According to Go, it's a deformity. We just noticed it for the first time the other day. She calls it her "tiki wiggles."
Other silly things she says that I can think of off the top of my head--
"Cinnamon Crunch Crunch" - Cinnamon Toast Crunch
"squib" - squid
"mud puzzles" - mud puddles
"plick-nick" - picnic
"It's so froggy outside" - It's so foggy outside.
"Valen-times" - Valentines
"Was you doing?" - What are you doing?
"My foot is busy." - Her foot is asleep
"blink-it"- blanket
"peer"- pear
"beer" - bear
We so love our kooky May May.

Bam.

Whew! It's done. That was a lot of work. No wonder I've been putting it off for so long.

The Olives on a String shop is officially open. What did I put in there? Oh, so many wonderful random things:

Illustrations on plates like these.

Custom illustrations on paper like this. (More of those to come.)

Hair things.
For the little ladies.

And for the big ladies, too.

Accessories that can be made into clips, headbands or broaches.

Graphic design offerings. Banners, headers--that type of thing.

Insulin Pump Cases.

...and whatever I feel like making whenever! Randomness, glorious randomness. Yay!

Go and check it out: olivesonastring.etsy.com

And hey--if you're my friend but can't/don't want to buy anything, don't be all shifty eyed and awkward with me the next time we see each other. It's cool, man. But if you do want to buy something, that's cool too.