hollywood housewife

valentine making party

Last week Mommy Monday became Marriage Monday, and this week I wanted to talk about the infamous heart holiday.  I promise that next Monday I'll return to all things Mommy.

On Friday I threw an old-fashioned Valentine-making party for a group of my girlfriends.  I'm not sure if women used to get together and craft Valentines in the olden days, but in the age of evite and sexting, it certainly felt old-fashioned to spend the evening with glitter and glue.

My good friend Cyndi owns Artworks, a studio and art school, and among other things you can rent the place for a night or afternoon and have crafting parties.  Adults or kids!  Last year Cyndi threw a Valentines-making party there and I swore that this year I was going to do one myself. 

I invited a handful of girlfriends and told everyone to bring a bottle of wine to share.  Artworks provided the snacks and all the art supplies, so we poured ourselves a glass of bubbly and I used a glue stick for the first time since kindergarten. 

It was so therapuetic to get creative and messy and tipsy with friends.

Some of us were overly chatty (me) and some of us hunkered down and really cranked out some seriously beautiful valentines (not me).  But the method didn't really matter.

It was all about the process. 

And the process led to some darn great handmade Valentines.

Such a fun night.  It makes me want to do a crafty night with friends for any occasion, not just Valentines.  You should try it yourself. 

Good conversation flows when you're looking down at your own glue-stained fingers.

Happy Valentines Day!!

framing a t-shirt and an instagram collage

I've been working on adding some color and interest to my home office mantel.  I've held onto this Blood Is The New Black t-shirt for years, long after I've stopped wearing it, because I love the design of a little boy wheeling a heart in a barrel.  But it wasn't doing much good folded in a drawer for months on end, so I decided to display it more promimently. 

friday links - the best day edition

While we were traveling, one of the best holiday cards in recent memory arrived.  The beautiful calligraphy on kraft paper adhered with metallic stickers caught my eye as I was sifting through piles of mail.

I immediately knew it was from a blog friend.

I love just about everything about this card.  The colors, the style, the meaning.  All of these little things have something to do with Alex from Alexandra Wrote.  You might also remember her as the one who created my current bloggy cards.

My absolute favorite part of the whole thing is that the quote comes off as a card by itself, but is also on the actual card, so peeling it off doesn't ruin the look or anything.  Now I have the whole card on my inspiration board and the quote in my wallet.  

So clever, so heartfelt.

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This week has been full of readjusting to real life after nearly three weeks of travel.  To be honest, I don't quite feel like myself.  As much as I embraced it coming, I haven't settled into 2012 yet.

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For your weekend reading pleasure:

IHeart Organizing is one of my favorite home blogs.  If you haven't read her yet, her year-end wrap up post is full of great information and links to helpful posts. 

This is week too late for you judging by the title, but I thought the message was good to hear.  I have more to say on this general subject soon, once I can put my thoughts together coherently.  What I want to say won't be popular. How to Get Ahead During the Holiday Season by Jeff Goins.

Now THIS is a great beauty tip: How To Stretch Too-Small Shoes. (The Hairpin)

Well, now this is just funny.  Clever.  God-as-boyfriend, hahahahahaha.  (The New Yorker)

I really liked this home featured on Design Sponge.  I think I liked it because it was stylish, but still very real.  I could live there with my kids and not be afraid I was going to break anything.

Last but definitely not least, this video from Mama Knows It All has had me cracking up all weekend.  It's possible you have to be a blogger to see why this is so funny.  I think I've said all of these before.  "Can you take my picture while I bake this bread?"

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We're hoping to relax a little this weekend, maybe do something a little crafty to get the creative juices flowing.

Speaking of creativity, don't forget that today is your last chance to enter the Typepad giveaway!  Spread the word.

Happy weekend, HH readers!

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week in the life book

I'm terribly behind on documenting my child(ren).  I'm still floundering a little with exactly how I want to keep up with our family memories, but I'm trying a few things right now to see how they fit.  You'd think between my meticulous photo organization and my life in increments philosophy that I would be able to pull this together.  Hopefully what I've landed on will work with my life and style, but I'm going to give it a few more months to see if it sticks before I share it with you.

friday links - holiday are here edition

Using a coupon code from The Mom Creative, I designed a memory keeper box from Paper Coterie and it arrived this week. 

I had several things I thought such a box would be good for: Christmas cards, one for each of the kids, one for cards and love notes from my husband.  In the end I decided to do a really plain one with this picture from last year's Christmas card shoot.  (It was not the picture we ended up using, but I've always liked it.)  We're wearing 3D glasses as a nod to my husband's 3D movie that came out last fall.  I decided I could use the box for all the stuff we have around from that movie.  Glasses, ticket stubbs, press. 

The box showed up and it looks amazing!  It's WAY bigger than I was imagining, there's plenty of room for the stuff I want to keep in it.  I'm definitely going to make a few more.  This would be a fabulous gift, by the way, especially if you already had some of the items to go inside. 

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On the HH Facebook Page this week: We had a good discussion on my love for The Dry Bar (including pictures of my hair) and I reminded everyone that the Google Next button changed my life.  You can like HH on Facebook for links to my posts and original discussions and content.  There might even be a FB followers-only giveaway coming up.  If I can figure out if that's legal.

On the blog this week: WOW you guys really love a pretty bag!  A record number of entries in my giveaway.  Leave a comment on this post to enter if you haven't already.  I also really appreciated all the thoughts on potty-training from Monday.  I've thought about it a lot and have decided that we're just not going to push it right now.  We will talk about it, we will probably buy the Elmo potty DVD, and then we'll see what she comes up with herself.  I'll keep you posted on that very important breaking news.

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For your weekend reading pleasure:

I was pretty shocked by how many people in the giveaway comments have either finished or were close to finishing their Christmas shopping.  Overachievers!  For the rest of you who might need some inspiration, here is Emily Henderson's Holiday Guide.

I don't want to get graphic and weird on you, but this post from Mommy Nani Boo Boo (also with a newborn) made me laugh out loud.  I relate, oh, how I relate. (Mommy Nani Boo Boo) 

I'm a fan of Jenna Lyons, creative director of J.Crew, and what she has done with that company.  I happened upon this old post from Habitually Chic with lots of pictures of her home.  Fact: her nursery was featured in several magazines with its yellow striped ceiling, and soon after I did a yellow striped ceiling in Pigtail's original nursery.  Everyone thought I was copying her.  I swear I didn't see it until after!  No one ever believes me.  (Habitually Chic)

These are about the cutest little Thanksgiving desserts or placecard settings I've ever seen.  (Our Best Bites)

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Things will probably be spotty around here next week, if I'm around at all (don't worry, I will announce the winner of the Nixon bag).  I'm looking forward to spending lots of time with family and friends and regrouping a little bit before the whirlwind of December hits. 

Happy Thanksgiving, HH readers!

Subscribe to HH and get my posts in your email inbox or feed reader.  More the facebook type?  "Like" HH on FB and get my posts and more original content in your live stream. 

digital photo organization

After I wrote about my insane nesting spree last month, several readers requested that I give a more detailed account of how I organize and store my digital photos.  While I don't consider myself an expert in this arena, I am pretty anal about it and over the years have devised a system that works for me. 

WEEKLY

Since I take hundreds and hundreds of pictures each month (of my babies, and for this blog, or because I'm bored and holding an iPhone), if I didn't stay sort of on top of it I would be drowning in digital images. For that reason, I upload photos from both cameras and my phone at least once a week, but usually more than that. 

They upload directly into my iPhoto library, where I immediately sort them and do a quick run through deleting the blurry/bad/duplicate shots.  My sorting process is a mix of actual events (Halloween, Birthday Party, Hawaii trip) and time (Pigtail at 15 months, Lake in July '11).  Sort them in a way that you can find something when you need to, but don't over sort.  "Hawaii Vacay, Day 4" will just clutter your photo library and isn't necessary.

Immediately going through and deleting the obvious bad shots will also keep you from feeling overwhelmed.  I also take a few minutes to fix red eyes and whatnot, but I don't do any serious editing.  I'm not ruthless with my delete button, but I don't ponder over each shot, either.  Go with your gut and when in doubt, keep it. 

The uploading and sorting process may seem overwhelming if you're starting from scratch or way behind, but once you make it a habit, it's very quick.  I spend no more than a half hour (and sometimes much less) each time.  If you don't take as many pictures as I do, I would just try and do it after every picture-worthy event so you don't get too far behind.

MONTHLY

At least once a month I back up my photos to a hard drive and print out hard copies.  I back up photos three different ways.  This sounds a little obsessive, but of all things I don't want to lose these memories. 

First I manually drag and drop to an external hard drive.  Since my photos are already sorted in my photo library, this takes just minutes.  On my hard drive I already have general folders where most fit, but if I need to create a special folder, I do.  Try not to get bogged down in the organizational tree, what matters is that you're backing them up and that they're listed in a way that makes sense to you.  My hard drive back up folders are more general than my computer's photo library folders.  I use "Family 2010" and "Good Times 2010," etc.  I've found that when I'm looking back for something, I'll generally remember the year but don't need to know if it was Spring or Winter or whatever. 

I also back up my entire computer using Carbonite.  I highly recommend online backup.  Carbonite is $50/year and it backs up your computer online constantly.  I like this backup-in-the-sky idea because physical hard drives fail or would be lost in a robbery or fire, but online backups would not.  Years ago, my husband lost his external hard drives in an office theft, so we're especially sensitive to this.

Lastly, I print all my photos and store them in photo boxes.  I print my photos on matte paper with a thin white border (see where and how I print my photos here) and store them in black  Milano boxes from The Container Store.  (Strangely, after years of using them it appears that The Container Store is no longer carrying the Milano series and possibly that they're no longer making them.  Bummer.)

My categories within the photo boxes are also pretty general.  "Summer 2010," etc.  I don't go through these actual photos much, they're mainly a third way to ensure I have them should the internet ever fail us and in case I need something right away.  When I print pictures, I get duplicates of the best ones for the grandparents.  This satisfies everyone and are fun to send periodically throughout the year.

YEARLY

I used to make photo books more than once a year, but I happen to be behind on this step since my daughter was born (go figure!).  I compare the different photo books sites I've used here, but I'll be honest that as I'm catching up on them right now, iPhoto is just the easiest and most user friendly for me.  If you're not using iPhoto, there are tons of other options for user-friendly photo book making.

Whether you're the kind of person who just makes one large photo book documenting the year, or the type of person who makes a photo book for every individual event, they're such a good way to display your memories.  And since they're relatively inexpensive, they're also a fantastic and personal gift.  After our girls weekend at the lake last year, I made a small, soft cover photo book for all the attendees.  It took me less than two hours to put it together, and they loved it.  Now everyone has a little keepsake. 

In short my digital photo organization tips can be summed up like this:

1. Upload frequently

2. Sort Immediately

3. Backup Often

4. Print In Batches

5. Display

I feel like I get the most out of my pictures this way.  And again, once you start doing it, it's very quick.  If you did all the steps every time, it would be less than an hour a week.  Similar to any other regular cleaning or organizational task, but in a way more important.  Much more satisfying than, say, vacuuming. 

If you've got questions or your own tips, share them in the comments!

birth announcements plus a paper culture {giveaway}

**UPDATE** winner is announced at the end of this post.  Thanks everyone for participating!

At least once a year I have the same paper argument with myself:

In the world of internet overshare are Christmas cards and birth announcements redundant?

I mean, Christmas cards are a major pain.

And then, every year, I decide that I want to do them anyway.  It's my love of paper, mostly, and my love of the keepsake.  I still haven't decided if we're going to do Christmas cards this year (the time! the effort! the expense! the time!), but I thought I would regret it if I didn't do some sort of birth announcement for Pirate.

friday links - type a calligraphy edition

I first met Alexandra at a photography workshop held by Jules Bianchi.  Then we re-met on twitter, then I got to see her (briefly) at Blogher '11.  When she asked me if I had any need for bloggy business cards, I couldn't say yes fast enough.  

After tossing about some colors and ideas, these showed up in my mailbox in just days.  I love them!  Aren't they just right?  I love her hand-done touch on something of such good quality.  You can check out her other designs (including holiday cards!) here.

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In the last little while, I've had two different friends ask me for cute, functional, light travel bag advice.  And I've been at a loss at what to tell them.  Then last week Shanna over at My Favorite Everything posted about Halsea bags.  I love the look, and I love the function, especially the way it opens.  There's the weekender and the rolling duffle, and if I had any need for it at all, I'd scoop up this tennis racket cover.  (My Favorite Everything & Halsea)

We got some hilarious custom made onesies from friends when Pirate was born, so I was amused to see another way to achieve something cute and personal.  Freezer paper stencils.  So cute!  (Oh Joy!)

I met Jessica and Matthew Paul Turner via twitter a couple of years ago, and have had the pleasure of spending some time with Jessica in New York for Blogher '10.  This week was their anniversary and I just loved reading their love story from MPT's perspective.  It might be just me, but I felt like there was a definite *wink* to his version.  (Jesus Needs New PR)

This is absolutely the best thing I've seen on the internet in ages.  I must find a way to do this somewhere in the house.  What a genius business idea! (A la mode)

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More family time on our weekend horizon.  The best kind of days, don't you think?

Happy weekend, HH readers!

Subscribe to HH and get my posts in your email inbox or feed reader.  More the facebook type?  "Like" HH on FB and get my posts and more original content in your live stream.   

snapfish versus shutterfly versus mpix versus costco

I've been meaning to do this experiment forever, since I couldn't help but feel that my default picture printing at Costco was the less-than-desirable route for memory keeping.  Then last week so many of you responded to the photo organization element to my frantic nesting. 

In the next couple of weeks I'll lay out exactly how I manage the hundreds of pictures I take each month, but first I wanted to figure out the best way to print said photos.  Since storing them on your computer is nice, but holding them in your hand is better.

Here was what was important to me:

-Price

-Ease of website (uploading, ordering)

-White border option

-Matte/Lustre finish (as opposed to a glossy finish)

-Auto Correct option on or off

EXPERIMENT: I chose 8 photos that had been taken in the last year.  I chose pictures taken with different cameras, three of them from non-amateurs so that I couldn't blame myself for any strange color or focus issues.  I ordered the same 8 prints from these places on a Friday night, and selected the cheapest option for shipping.  Here's how it stacked up:

I was really impressed with the speed and ease of Snapfish.  I had a coupon, so I uploaded a huge chunk of pictures as a separate order from the experiment order.  We're talking 200 prints and they went up quickly and easily.

Autocorrect: Yes it let me turn it off

White thin border: Yes

Matte: Yes

Arrived: Wednesday

Cost: $.09 each, my total with 3-5 business day shipping was $1.48

Shutterfly was equally easy and quick to upload.

Autocorrect: No,  or I couldn't find it if it was an option.

White thin border: No

Matte: Yes

Arrived: Wednesday

Random pro: Gave me 30 minutes after I ordered to cancel

Cost: $.15 each, but it automatically applied a first time user credit.  Total with 3-7 business day shipping was $1.79

The uploading process at Costco photo seemed archaic in comparison to Snapfish and Shutterfly.  Once navigated, they loaded as quickly (under 2 minutes) but it was definitely not as smooth or intuitive.

Autocorrect: Yes

White Thin Border: Yes

Matte: Yes

Arrived: I picked them up at the location just a few minutes from my house.  So it was immediate (well, within the hour).

Cost: $.13 each, but without shipping charges.  My total was $1.10

MPix was definitely the most professional site I tried, recommended to me on twitter by several photographers I trust, including Miz Booshay. 

Not quite as user-friendly as Snapfish and Shutterfly, but easier than Costco.  At least it was after the upload plugin failed three times. 

Autocorrect: Yes

White thin border: Yes

Matte: Yes

Arrived: Friday (a full week after ordering)

Random pro: Gave me 30 minutes to cancel after ordering

Cost: A whopping $.73 each ($.44 of which was the lustre coating)

Shipping ranged from $3 for 1st Class USPS to Next Business Day for $10.75 (reasonable).  I chose the cheapest (and clearly slowest), so my total was $8.84.

And now for the proof of quality:

Right away, Shutterfly was out for two big reasons: no white border option and the colors looked significantly different than from the other places.  You can see it best in the black and white, where it has a yellow tinge that borders on light sepia. 

So that left the other three.  I could see (but just barely) that the colors from the Mpix prints were the most accurate. 

After weighing all the pros and cons, I had a clear winner for my everyday printing:

It was the cheapest, hit all my major points, and I liked the web interface the best.  It also offers frequent coupons (the one I took advantage of at the same time was 200 prints for $2!)  This outcome really surprised me.

For something immediate, Costco stood up just fine, so it will remain a decent option for me.

For large prints, gifts, or things deemed precious, I was glad to discover Mpix.  But for daily prints, the price difference is just too much to be ignored. 

Consider me a newly converted Snapfish customer!

scenes from the nesting trenches

In between bouts of extreme exhaustion and irrational weepiness, I've been a busy bee in the last few weeks preparing for baby.

I've caught up on my photo organization, which includes making sense of my iphoto library, backing up to a hard drive, and printing hard copies for the photo boxes. 

(This does not include making photo books, which is still a high priority.)

I've organized all the linen closets, finally ditching all the stray sheets and towels and storing sheet sets in pillowcases, labeled by size.

No closet was off limits.  But I was especially relieved to get Pigtail and Pirate's new closets sorted out.

I relocated my To Read pile from cluttering up my bedside table to a designated shelf in my office.

The gallery style picture frames are in position, even if every frame isn't quite filled.

I've even selected new candles, since I think that it's important that those first few weeks are helped along with as many peace-enhancing items as possible.

I'm not saying we're totally ready, but we're definitely getting close.  And after my doctor's appointment yesterday, it's a good thing.  All information leads us to be on a high alert. 

Any day now.  Any moment.  Exciting and terrifying and...