happy valentine’s to you and yours! much love from the powerdriver clan and all our creatures. we hope your day is filled w lots of snuggles, sweets, surprises, and smooches.
family portrait by paul michel of mountain vs plains, sent to friends and family enclosed in a homemade card inspired by this one. see other valentines from years past: 2012, 2011, & 2010.
shadow puppets. sometimes silly things happen before bed. glad i married my best friend.
in case you missed it:
- i’m having so much fun with jodi’s 52 project. are you participating? send me the link!
- my favorite “base layer” toiletries
- jp and i (and ramona too!) love uncle, a tasty noodle bar in denver.
- i can’t wait to send out our annual valentine’s day cards to friends and family next week.
and other awesome things:
- i love guests posts! here i talk (a lot) about motherhood.
- some girlfriends and i are having a mini grammy party. we’re rooting for our friend neyla, who plays cello and sings for this lovely denver band. cross your fingers she goes home with a grammy (or two!).
- p.s. the chinese new year is on sunday. inspired by chinese new year tradition, i made these envelopes to give little good luck notes to friends.
- it’s not too late to do fun crafts to celebrate valentine’s day on thursday. check out my valentine’s pinterest board for all things hearts.
- i’m inspired by this denver blogger to get our family out of debt. jp and i are on a spending fast. last paycheck alone we had more extra cash than i thought possible to put towards debt — it makes me wonder what the hell we were doing w all that dough before we were being vigilant! (i’ll do a more detailed post later as we get into this more).
this weekend we’re having a pizza and game party with a small gathering of some of our dear friends. we’ve nailed down the pizza toppings and beverages (food and libations are always the easy part for JP and me) but what we’re not decided on are games for the group of ten. we’ve got catchphrase and taboo as options but we’re open to other suggestions. readers, what games for large groups do you enjoy?
while you’re thinking of that, here are some interesting links from this past week:
- i had a lot of fun making DIY heart garlands to decorate our windows for valentine’s day.
- this video, denver by hand, features amazing work from some great craftsman in our community.
- a must read NYT article about marriage: that loving feeling takes a lot of work.
- amanda from the petrichor posted cute polka dot desktop downloads.
- an iPhone contract from your mom? seems to me more parents should be following her lead.
- eery behind-the-walls at chicago’s fulton market. via glotalot.
- check out these lullabies for a cause by danielle decosmo. proceeds go to an Arts in Medicine program in florida. brought to my attention by this denver blogger.
- print out heart templates from here (print on cover stock or trace computer paper cut-outs onto a heavier paper and cut out).
- trace hearts on sheets of felt. cut out. (i used 12 paper sized sheets i bought from fancy tiger).
- sew hearts together in a color pattern (or random like me) of your choice. tip: sew from top down not from point up.
- hang with tape (or tie around small nails or pushpins) from windows or mantle or framed prints or blank wall. whatever you prefer!
tip: i would suggest sewing one long garland and then cutting-to-size as you decorate so you can have more control over length. i just sewed 10 on each strand without much thought to length and now they are all different lengths. this is fine and i’m happy about how it turned out but if i was to do it again i would try to make them a little more uniform.
what valentine’s projects are you working on? do you have posts or photos? send me the link! i’d love to check them out.
jp and i are trying to watch less tv and do more activities that allow us to chat and flex our brains. he recently taught me chess and i beat his butt the first time around. a new monday night (our weekend) tradition.
- i cannot stop listening to this hauntingly beautiful song: chris garneau, baby’s romance
- summer of 2005 i found myself in paris at the same time as the end of the tour de france. i was there on the Champs-Élysées when armstrong crossed the finish line and made history and i was elated. i am so saddened now that a sport i love, cycling, has such a disgraceful culture. the point of lance armstrong.
- still haven’t gotten organized for the new year? make your own mini calendar notebooks to carry around with you in your purse
- valentine’s day (my favorite holiday!) is coming up. here are free downloadable printable hearts for valentine’s activities
- ballots are out for westword’s best of denver 2013. fill it out and don’t forget to vote for your favorite locally owned small businesses.
welcome
