The Final Card

Just a quick fly by post to show off our final Christmas Card:

Totally the most adorable of the shoot. 

I also posted just in time to play along with this:

which is going on over at a A Mom Two Boys

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of my wonderful blog friends!  Thanks so much for being here this year through all of the sporadic posting and life changes!!!

Christmas Card Preview

So after doing something spectacular (and time consuming) for our Christmas card last year this year we decided to punt. Picture of the baby, premade card picked from a website, aaaaaand done. Besides, we figured, if we sent out anything other than a picture of the kid people would be all “Whaaaa? Where’s the baby? That is some crap.”

Should be easy, right?

So I set up my whole ghetto lightbox that I usually use for photographing yarn (did a big shop update today, btw), put the baby in something holiday and adorable and figured we’d be done in no time.

Silly, mommy.

Uh huh.  Almost 9 month olds are a lot wigglier then yarn.

Wheeeeee!

My first mistake was to put her in shoes she’d never seen before.

Hmmm what are those?

I wonder if I could put them in my mouth.

They are so awesome.

I understand that you are telling me not to do this but I really don’t care.

So then I tried leaning her back like a tiny baby for just a head shot.

Why would you do that to me! I was playing with the shoes!

Yeah that was a FAIL.

Not cool, mommy. Hey what’s this.

Ooooh this is fun to play with!

Mmmmmm… I’m going to tear apart your set now.

Look at those things!

Finally I brought in the big guns. I called Dexter into the room.

Hey it’s my doggie!

I go get him now.

Well, shit. So then I tried making her do some “So Big’s” thinking it would get her focused on me and I’d grab a shot inbetween the flailing arms.

So Big!

I said Soooo Big!

Soooo Big?

Well from there she got into the posing and made me wonder if perhaps we had watched a bit too many ANTM marathons in those early, sleep deprived weeks.

I’m fierce.

Am I Smizing?

Benny Ninja taught me this pose himself.

The whole operation wasn’t a total failure, though.

Sure about that, Mommy?

I did manage to get some cute shots where she didn’t look like a crazy baby.

I’m not crazy baby.

Not crazy at all.

I’m not going to post the final Christmas card shot just yet since that would spoil the surprise. But I will tell you that it’s even cuter than this one:

How can it be cuter? This is pretty stinking cute.

Merry Christmas!!!

Blog it Forward

So last night I went to the Blog it Forward organized by Chef's Widow over at the Greenhouse Tavern on W 4th. I have to admit that I was really nervous about going. I’ve never met bloggers in real life before that weren’t knit bloggers. With knitters it was never a big deal because no matter what you at least have something in common. One thing you can talk about. And there’s always the “so whatcha working on” icebreaker.

Not so much in this situation.

And worse because to be even more honest I hadn’t even heard of most of these bloggers (even the really big ones) until this week. The only ones that I had ever read before were Throwing Quarters, Cleveland’s a Plum, and Domestic Extraordinaire. So I wouldn’t even have that to talk about.

Throw in a few cocktails and potential to make an ass out of myself was extremely high.

But I “know” Anissa and I wanted to help out in some way. This seemed like a much, much nicer way to show support for her family than a random donation through their paypal account.

So I put on my big girl pants, grabbed my camera, and went.

I’m so, so glad that I did.

Everyone was very nice and welcoming. And I never felt as out of place as I expected to. Although this conversation between me and one of the Very Nice Cleveland Bloggers happened more than once:

Me: “I’m Life in Cleveland”
VNCB: “Never heard of you”
Me: “Yeah probably not. I’m a knit blog.”
VNCB: Blink.
Me: “Knitting? Like with yarn?” flails hands wildly in knitting motions
VNCB: Blink. Blink. (slowly backing away from the crazy)
Me: “I’m going to go find some more wine.”

I am a terrible life blogger, though, b/c my nervousness won out and I took exactly 3 pictures.

This one:

terrible.

This one of the best chicken wings I’ve ever had in my life:

I tried to eat them daintily and in an appropriate fashion for meeting new people but I pretty much wanted to dive in head first bones flying. They were that good.

And this one:

Of me and Michelle who were the “Last Bloggers Standing” By that point the wine had loosened my inhibitions enough that I was ok with taking pictures of people I had never met.

So yeah. Not a very good recap of what was an amazing event for an amazing cause.

Very Nice Cleveland Bloggers/Twitterers that I met: Chef's Widow, Throwing Quarters, Cleveland’s a Plum, All Lacquered Up, Domestic Extraordinaire, Snipermom, OHMommy, Rimarama, Kasey Crabtree, chefpallardy, KaKaty, Phil Dennison, My Managed Chaos,  Tony Ramos, Shawnee's Girl, West of Cleveland! (If I missed you I'm so sorry!  Please let me know and I"ll add your link!)

Behold the power of Blog

So I’ve been blogging for awhile now. 4 years in internet time is like a millennium in real time. But I’m still constantly amazed and floored at the power that these little DIY websites can have.

Last month a blogger that I “know” - Anissa of Aiming Low - suffered from a stoke.

She’s in her 30’s and a mother.

I can’t even imagine what her family has been going through these past few weeks as she has fought for her life in intensive care. And I keep thinking about her and them and wanting to help. Even though this is a woman who I’ve never met and who I wouldn’t ever even know existed if it weren’t for a pop culture blog. Tonight I’m going to a benefit for her family. If you want to join me here are the details:

And because this is a blog and therefore I have to talk about myself… another story:

Recently Destination Yarn was linked on by both Cookie A* and Anne Hanson** and the result was staggering. Cookie was knitting a pair of socks out of my Copenhagen colorway, and Anne said that she loved Harvest Moon and since then I’ve barely been able to keep either in stock. I mean I know they’re pretty:

But WOW. I had no idea. Well I kindof did… but I can’t tell you how amazing it felt to have so many knitters interested in my little business. It finally feels like I’ve made it as a legitimate indie dyer and that I’m not just some crazy lady with blue hands and a weird hobby.

All because of blogs.

I really do need to write more…

*Yes. That Cookie A. of Monkeys and Sunshine and all that is right with sock knitting. Also I clearly did not make too big of an ass out of myself at her sock design class. I tried not to be too fangirl but you know. It happens. Especially when Cookie A! Likes! My! Yarn! Squeeeeeeeeeeeee!

**Yes. The Anne Hanson of Knitspot and lace knitting and a garden that blows the doors off of my pathetic attempts at tomatoes.