Doesn't a Royal Wedding Day make you feel all sparkly?

My beloved wears a stately crown

of truth and virtue all his own.

His loving eye cast just on me,

His princess ever shall I be.

Mother's Day is fast approaching! Allow me to gush about my new find...

Predicament: Mother's Day is on the way, and I still haven't nailed down my gift and card ideas yet. But I know I want something special and personal.
Settle for: Target, 1:00pm, past lunch and nap time, crowded Mother's Day card aisle, kids in tow. 
Happening this year? I think NOT!
Perfect Solution: Tiny Prints!
Do you know about Tiny Prints? I just had the most blissful experience ordering Mother's Day cards and gifts from their site (plus more, actually). I was able to customize all of the photos and text. It really made my cards special this year, for the same price (if not less) than I would have paid in that crowded, over-picked card aisle. I can't tell you how excited I am about my order! I'm full of warm fuzzies. I'll be following up once I receive the cards and products to let you know how the Moms and Dads liked them.
Here are some samples of their current Mom's Day card designs: (not the ones I ordered, of course, to keep it a surprise...but cute nonetheless.)

I always think of Tiny Prints for baby announcements and holiday cards. But it's SO much more than that:• To die for designs• Mother's Day cards and gifts• Father's Day cards and gifts• Graduation announcements, cards, and gifts (Ah ha! That's coming up soon, too!)• Photo books & gifts (I didn't realize they had these until today)• Personalized stationary (which I snatched up for someone I love)• Baby announcements• Self-inking personalized stamps (I am drooling over these)• Holiday Cards• Greeting Cards• Wedding invites & stationary (makes me want to have a second wedding just for the design aspect)• Business cards & Mommy cards• Thank You cards• Calendars• Invites for anything you can imagine • And so many other little details I can't even list them (gift tags, labels, favor tins, notebooks...)
Other perks:• amazing service• live chat for questions• free eco-conscious paper options• free envelope addressing• and you can even add a postage stamp!

Right now Tiny Prints has all these crazy discounts, like 15% off store-wide until May 5, with code sale15. And if you spend more than $59, you can have free rush shipping with code FREESHIP. AND their Mother's Day Cards are all only $1.99 each with code mdsale. It's such a great deal!! I can't believe I haven't done this sooner. Head over there now and get your cards in time for Mother's Day. They'll even ship directly to your mom! While I was there I ordered for Father's Day, as well. And I drooled over all of their beautiful spring designs. I wish I was graduating from High School. Or had a summer birthday in my family. Or had a baby to announce. Or endless funds to purchase myself the perfect stationary set... OK, I have to stop thinking about it. Trust me. It's the only way to send cards!

A Day in the Life

I've been asked a few times by various people what I do all day. So here it is—my super glam life:


8am: Wake up to the worst dirty diaper from Maya in a long time. Change and immediate quick bath, then shower with mama. I get dressed, do quick make-up, let my hair air-dry (oof).

9am: Start Laundry, Breakfast.

10 am: Fold Laundry, start new load.

10:12 am: Talk with Emily via phone about poster design. Kids throw "phone time tantrums."

10:30 am: Go through emails, pay online bills.

10:45 am: Feed snackish children.

11:00 am: Research emergency preparedness plans/books/supplies (order some long-burning candles), make mental note to have Wes show me where everything is, and consolidate in one spot/learn how to use all of it, in case he's away when an earthquake happens.

11:30 am: Start design work for the day (quite the workload). Commence freak-out over how long it takes for my internet to work, my computer software issues, and camera file problems.

12:30 pm: Stop for lunch. Cook mac-n-cheese, which both kids refuse to do anything but nibble on. Super huge salad for me. I eat it straight out of the mixing bowl. Work on blog critique for the Blog Guidebook as I eat. Really lovely blog: http://www.houseofhawthornes.com/

1:30 pm: Try to open photo files to no avail, research Adobe software, install trial programs, install camera software. Nothing works. Blog about pulling my hair out. Answer more emails. Text Wes with my technology woes.

2:00 pm: "Watch" Dino Dan with Finn while I work on changes for Funky Vintage Lovely. Maya plays with puzzles happily, and dresses me up like a pirate.

2:30 pm: Put Maya down for a nap way late.

3:00 pm: Remember to fold laundry and start a new load.

3:30 pm: Feed a snackish Finn, then fight with him over how he's sick and needs to nap. He ends up refusing to nap at all.

4:00 pm: Maya wakes up. More snacks. We head outside to play and retake photos since I can't get the others off my camera, and I have to have them by tonight.

5:00 pm: Maya has weird near-fainting episode outside. We head inside for snuggles, close monitoring, and dinner. Kids have chicken nuggets, corn, and mashed potatoes, which both kids refuse to do anything but nibble on. I read more emails, but don't reply to any because my email has quit sending (which is why I haven't responded yet to many of you—sorry!).

6:00 pm: Kids play while I start working on what I'm hoping is the last new custom blog design project I'll take on in a while. Oh wait, I have like 2 more... Emily stops by to drop off Maya's backpack, kids escape outside to slide in the front yard again. We chat for  few minutes. All of our kids have meltdowns. Head inside again.

6:30 pm: Continue to work on my design work, while the TV craps out. Maya and Finn commence climbing on me. Give up, and go fold more laundry and start yet another new load (it's teetering dangerously on the dryer by now).

7:30 pm: Finn and I read Peter Pan until Maya steals the book. Meltdowns. Send kids to play in their room and discover/destroy my new organizational efforts. I continue to work more than I want to. I never put the folded laundry away, or clean up after any of my meals the entire day. This always happens on a "work" day.

9:00 pm: "Dada!" (home after a long day on set)

10:00 pm: Kids still awake. Wes feeds a starving Maya cereal with fruit, then cleans the kitchen and takes out trash! I realize I still have a product review and critiques to do. Download new photos onto computer. Realize I really need to head to bed before midnight because the cable guy is coming at 8 am. I make mental note to take Maya to bed with me once I do go to bed, so that I can keep an eye on her throughout the night.

The end. 

Losing my techie mind

I have been stuck in technology hell lately. And it wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have a job as a, oh, say, blog designer. Our new internet service is so S-L-O-W (but only on my computer), that it's been making me say strings of bad words in my head while I get an infuriating tingle running through my body. Then I have my ailing computer that's taken quite a beating over the years, with painfully outdated software. And I now have a load of RAW photo files I can't open due to the previous sentence (I was shooting in RAW + JPEG, and am really angry for making the switch to just RAW this weekend). So please stand by until I can convert all of my Easter photos (and so many other amazing moments we managed to catch of the kids) to a format I can work with on my Apple IIe. Just kidding. It feels like it lately, though.
Dear Apple,Please send me a new MacBookPro, and I will review it with gusto! We can even hold a giveaway...Sincerely yours,Lyndsay the crazed designer
(During this whole post I've ben trying to load Google in another browser window, and it's still not loaded. Good thing my hair's not long enough to rip out. And this is even after I switched to Google Chrome, the fastest around! Deep breaths...)

Loving these three things found out in cyberland:

All of these would be very fitting in my home.

A happy home is but an early heaven...

This one can count past 10, recognizes quite a few letters by sight, knows her shapes, and can sing the last word in every line of every song we sing right on cue. But only if she feels like it. So you may never know it.

This one can recreate the most realistic dinosaur sounds I've ever heard, tells the sweetest stories, looks you straight in the eye when he's talking, and is learning the art of creative manipulation. Sometimes he tells a fib. But only if he feels like it. So you may never know it.

Here's what I know:

I love my family and they love me.

My Savior lives and he loves me.

Wishing everyone a blessed Easter with family!

Love My Family

I got this sweet idea from a friend's blog. I showed this picture to Finn, and asked a few questions. Then typed the answer verbatim (with a little goading...haha).

What do you feel when you see this picture?

I feel like happy. 

What do you like about this picture?

It's so great. Because I love it because Finn, Me, Dada, Him, Maya, Her, Mama. That's why I like it. And because the mountains and the light. (Wes would be so proud.)

What do you love about your family?

Because the family takes care of us. 

What do you like to do with your family?

Play and chase them. Hug them. Kiss them. And be happy for them. And high five and say, "Oh yeah!" 

Where do you like to go with your family?

To church. Go to Grandma's house and see the horses. To Granny Wink's house. And go to Granny and Grandad's house to play with a lizard.

What do you love about:

Dada: He smiles at me. He picks me up and hugs me when I'm sad.

Mama: Hugs me, and Maya, and Dada. 

Maya: She loves me back. I love to kiss her on the cheek. (Anything else?) Nope! 

Finn: I play. And I am a child of God. (melt my heart)

"Mama, this is too much talking!" :)

Tiffany + Maya

If I hadn't definitely birthed that little kiddo on the right, I'd swear she was 100% Johnson... (she has my spleen)
Dear Aunt Tiff, Maya saw this and said, "Teefee!" :)

The tale of the flaming couch and how water damage might have been welcomed in that instance.

This is a very lengthy post written out of cathartic necessity. So I've added a page break so that it isn't ALL CONSUMING on my blog. If you're up for it, settle in for a long read and a peek into my soul (woe is me). There are, spiders, flames, tractors, treasure, and an astonishing number of storage units mentioned. Good times.

***

Wes woke up early last Tuesday to be at our house in Mesa by 7am. The papers signed, the locks changed, we were done with the sale (finally). Now we only needed to clear out the storage unit attached to the house. Wes and company spent the morning loading a trailer full of our belongings that can't fit in our itty bitty California living space. Then we would spend the afternoon unloading into another storage space (sheesh). I showed up on the scene mid-morning in a chipper mood to help with the "donate vs. keep" decision making. Wes quickly came over whispering something in a calming tone that worried me. He took me over to our king-sized mattress (part of the king-sized bed frame that won't fit in said itty bitty living space). It was covered in mold, even inside the plastic cover. Apparently, water had leaked in through the floor. We (and by we I mean Wes) had expertly reinforced the roof to prevent leaks. We never considered the floor would leak. The mattress was horrible. But it's just a mattress, and wondered why Wes was making such a big deal about it. So I marveled at the science experiment that had been growing in the storage room these past 2 years, and moved on.

But that wasn't all. Wes pulled me aside, and in a voice akin to a doctor delivering a grim prognosis, explained that my portfolio was also on the floor of the storage room. I'm sorry, WHAT?! The portfolio full of all of my artistic endeavors from middle school on up? The portfolio full of undergrad and grad school printmaking editions? The portfolio with watercolors, slides, charcoal drawings, photographs painstakingly developed in the UNT darkroom, the undergrad and grad school printmaking editions?! I could care less about anything else in that room getting damaged past the point of no return. But my creations? I felt faint. I asked to see the large black canvas portfolio that I had lugged all over campus for three years in undergrad. Wes said he wouldn't let me see it. It was that bad. He had also lost a portfolio of original photographic prints of his own. Then he handed me a large box full of my grandmother's watercolors which had also been on the ground. I ripped off the tape. Through tears I rifled through the artwork in a frantic haste. THANKFULLY most of the contents of the box were in good shape. I tried to regulate my breathing as I started to remember everything I had put in the black portfolio just before the move. I had consolidated so much of my artwork into that case. And with every realization, I suffered a new blow. I immediately started to make a mental list of everyone I had given prints to over time. At least I could ask them to take photos of the prints, so that I could remember them. There were two in particular: a mixed media lithograph of a dress on a hanger (both mom and mom-in-law have one), and a print from undergrad of a tree with typographic leaves, owned by possibly two college friends (would they still have them?). But everything else was a lost cause. (By the way, if you are reading this and own any of my artwork or prints pre 2003, please email me!!) I tried to think of the upside. All of my graduate thesis work was safe. My portfolio of recent professional work was probably safe, though unnaccounted for. And everything else post 2003 was most likely saved digitally.

But I couldn't get over the fact that so many of my defining moments in artistic realization were gone. Hours spent painting in my room as a teenager, discovering who I was becoming as a creative individual were gone. Why didn't I photograph them? Why oh why did I not store things in plastic covers? Why were they stored on the GROUND? Once the initial shock wore off and the stages of grief began to set in, I started to think about my reaction to other things that I've lost in years past.

Which brings me to the flaming couch. 
Click "read more" just below to read the whole tale:

Have you been to California?

Mindy Gledhill - California MP3 Download

Mindy Gledhill is playing TONIGHT in downtown L.A. So if you live in the area, and need a sweet date (or a hot date, or any date at all, or a girl night, or some alone time for that matter), go to this concert!!!! I want to go so badly. But I am truly bummed because I am on my second cold of the month (yes, I take vitamin C, it's just resistant). And Finn has this really offensive cough, and I just can't leave the boy with a sitter at night with the level of "Mama, I need you" going on around here. So I have to sit this one out (pout, sigh, complain). But if you are able, I know this will be a really special concert.

For more info, read Mindy's post about the concert HERE.
And to go straight to the ticket-purchasing stage, visit HERE.

 

Freshen Up

Spring dictated a little change in weather—outside and on my blog. Now I'm off to plant some herbs and water my kids.

Miss Maya in Mesa

Sorry I've been M.I.A. We made a quick trip to AZ to finalize the sale of our house there, and spend some time with grandparents. We all ended up with colds, but Maya was determined to make the most of it! 

Here's the proof:

Off we go, into the wild blue yonder...

Did your mom ever sing that song jubilantly as you left the driveway each day? In conjunction with "Buckle up for safety, buckle up, do-doodle-looooooo!"  And then the magic words, "Open Sesame!" to get the garage door to open upon returning, echoed by "home again home again, jiggety jog." No? Oh come on. While you're at it, ask your dad to sing the Ipana toothpaste commercial sometime...

I digress. I am leaving for a jaunt to the ole' southwest. I know technically I already live IN the west (manifest destiny and all that), but we're headed back east to the southwest. Mesa, to be exact. So I'll be reporting from the Sonoran Desert for the next week. If you happen to be up for a park playdate in Mesa, let me know! Although, it has to be a partially (if not fully) contained park, lest I spend the entire time rescuing Maya from oncoming traffic. And the swings. Although that's unavoidable at every park.

See you soon! We're loading up the wagon and turning up the theme song from A Summer Place.

"Janie and the Monkey" by Finn Gaven Johnson, age 4

Janie lives on a mountain and rides a train. She doesn't have a house, so some people are building her a house. She lives on Nabee Hill Mountain. She didn't have a house because she was riding the train for many times. When the train stopped, she got a new house. Down-hill lives a monkey. His house has a sign that says "Monkey's Home." He's a mean monkey. He is bad because he's a taking monkey. He climbs the hill with his hands, on the grass. But they grabbed the monkey and rolled him back down the hill. Then he bonks hisself and gets really mad. But he would be happy if he got a cookie. But at Janie's house they don't have a cookie. So they have to make some with powdered sugar. They walk down the hill, go to the monkey on the grass, and hold out a cookie. The monkey is mad and says, "I don't want a cookie." So they say, "Will you please have a cookie?" And he says "NO! I'll take your cookie and throw it really far away and you'll never get it back." He took the cookie and ran away. They came back again and gave him a whole huge cookie. Then the monkey got happy. They gave him the big giant cookie so the monkey can be happy. They said, "Monkey, can you come to our home?" And he said, "Yes!" And they lived happily after after.

Guess what came next? The big giant T-Rex-Tyrannor-Monkey!  
The sequel? Maybe...or is it "Nabee?"

 

source