MommyCoddle

a few notes

While I was away, I kept a few notes of the things I had been doing, tucked in my back pocket. I....

...cleaned the house. And watched it get dirty again.
...filled the bird feeders. Twice.
...thought about sewing. But didn't.
...watched Emma on ice skates on my grandparents' pond.
...had habit withdrawal.
...played a game of memory.
...cooked in my dutch oven. Three times.
...nursed a black eye.
...made soup.
...bought new books. And fell in love with homeschooling again.
...got a better internet connection.
...thanked my husband for a freshly painted pantry.
...administered Tylenol.

...mourned the end of a favorite magazine.
...fussed with my camera settings.
...thought about writing that children's book.
...told my girls the story.
...took a nap. Or two. Or three.
...made spring rolls.
...confiscated angry notes to little sisters.

...gave everyone in the family a haircut.
...started a new book .
...finished a project.

...knit.
...paid bills.
...bought a wing in the library in library fines.

...removed peanuts from nostrils.
...created and shipped out ten valentine crafts for babycenter.
...baked granola.

...made ambitious garden plans. Extremely ambitious.
...turned a fridge door into a dry erase board.
...got overwhelmed by messes. And then recovered.

...fixed a woodstove door that fell off in my hands. Again.
...watched a heron fly low across the yard.
...nursed a rooster with a sore toe.

...ignored the laundry and watched a movie with the girls.
...enjoyed empty moments in my day.
...missed all of YOU!

Hi! I'm back. Yay.

A Forced Vacation

Maybe God was trying to tell me something, but last Friday, as I was checking emails, my computer went 'pop' and then went black. Perhaps I should have been listening to the voices in my head, that for the last week or so, have been telling me that it's really time I did another backup of my hard drive.

The computer has been off to the doctor and the report is not good today. A busted hard drive, and a sadly overworked system. So now, I'm left to crunch numbers and decide whether to fix what was or replace the whole thing.

I'm trying desperately to not think about the things that are lost. Fortunately, I have been diligently uploading most of my most-loved photos to flickr and I somewhat recently dumped most of my photos onto an external hard drive. So, for now, the thing that worries me most is the oodles of lost emails and contacts.

Date recovery isn't cheap, let me tell you. So I'll probably muddle my way through rebuilding my contact list. So if you've emailed me and haven't heard anything in reply, that's probably the reason.

Meanwhile, if you really want to know, the forced break is kind of nice. I'm baking way too many things, giving my kids way too much school work and making way too much progress on my Fall (as in projects I wanted to finish in fall '08) knitting projects.

But I know I'll be ready to come back. Soon. Refreshed. Recharged. And backed up.

Show&Tell: Little Bird Tees

One of the wonders of the online community, and in this case, flickr is that you get the opportunities to meet people and make friends from all over the world. I don't recall how Joanna and I became connected on flickr, but I have been admiring her photos and designs for quite some time.

Several months ago when she said she was working on a logo for her new online shop and sending out tees with the new logo, I jumped at the chance to get one for our family. The next thing I knew Joanna had sent one of her organic cotton tees to each of the girls along with a whole bunch of other little goodies thrown in for fun.

The tees are the ones my girls snatch straight from the dryer. I've yet to see them make it from the laundry pile into a drawer. And when you see her logo, I think you'll recognize seeing them in several of the photos on my blog. The tees are soft, comfortable and our first foray into the world of organic clothing. They are lovely.

Here are a few words about Joanna and her journey to opening the shop, Little Bird by Post, some great deals for MommyCoddle readers (on the tees and shipping across the pond)....and a VERY generous giveaway!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Little Bird is a British family-run company that was born from a desire to create beautiful tee shirts that are a cut above the usual slogan tee shirts and instead are gentle and respectful and celebrate children's lives and loves.

When their daughter was born, Joanna and Richard found it difficult to source ethically produced clothes and even harder to find clothing that didn't brand their daughter with adult-centric humorous slogans. The idea for Little Bird was sown and is very much a whole family venture with Joanna, an illustrator and lecturer in art & design, working on the tee shirt designs; her partner Richard who is a graphic designer, working on the branding and their four year old daughter Olivia Mae as a (very) reluctant model.

 
 

The first collection of long sleeved tees reflects the changing of seasons and the autumnal interests and imaginings of little ones. Among the designs you will find "Carmen Miranda of the Allotment", a tee to celebrate green-fingered achievements at autumn harvest time, "The Acorn Boys" who look like a pair of boy scouts preparing field notes and one for the star gazers, "The North Star Child" an astronaut constellation in the winter night sky.

The tees are bespoke made in organic cotton and screen-printed with water-based organic inks. Both the cotton and the prints are wonderfully soft, the screen-printed designs ensure that the tee shirts will last the endless laundry cycles and can eventually be passed on to siblings, friends and cousins. The cut of the tee shirts have been designed to be neither too baggy and flappy nor too skinny and restrictive, it is important that children can hide in dens, climb trees, and chase cats in Little Bird tees, they are designed for playing not posing.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Little Bird autumn/winter long sleeved tees are currently on sale at $18.50 and available to buy from www.littlebirdbypost.co.uk. As part of the MommyCoddle giveaway, LittleBird is offereing half price postage and packaging on all orders to North America, for just $5. The offer lasts until February 14th. A little Valentine's gift from across the pond! All tee shirts come with a selection of free goodies especially for your children.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Joanna is generously offering one lucky MommyCoddle reader the chance to win one of each of her six autumn/winter designs show above, in the size of your choosing. Leave a comment in order to be entered in the contest, but Joanna would like to hear your opinion. She uses her flickr account to showcase her tee design ideas and get feedback from her flickr contacts to refine her work until they are ready to be printed on tees. Here is a sneaky peek at a few of the spring/summer collection designs based on the Great British seaside. Please leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway and help Joanna decide which of her summer designs you would most like to see on your child's tee shirt.

You can also help spread the word about Joanna's shop by leaving a link to this giveaway on your blog. (It will earn you an extra entry, of course! Just come back to the comments to let me know you've posted!)

GIVEAWAY ENDS FRIDAY.
 
You can also help spread the word about Joanna's shop by leaving a link to this giveaway on your blog. (It will earn you an extra entry, of course! Just come back to the comments to let me know you've posted!)

Joanna also blogs at Little Bird Twitterings.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And one last, important note...I would be remiss in not mentioning a big thanks to Ryan, the man (and dad/technical/design guru) behind MomAdvice. He created that snazzy little logo for my Show&Tell posts. I'm so glad his wife let me borrow his talents. Thanks Amy! (and of course, thank you, Ryan.) If you haven't discovered MomAdvice, be sure to take a few moments to check it out.

Show&Tell: Little Bird Tees

One of the wonders of the online community, and in this case, flickr is that you get the opportunities to meet people and make friends from all over the world. I don't recall how Joanna and I became connected on flickr, but I have been admiring her photos and designs for quite some time.

Several months ago when she said she was working on a logo for her new online shop and sending out tees with the new logo, I jumped at the chance to get one for our family. The next thing I knew Joanna had sent one of her organic cotton tees to each of the girls along with a whole bunch of other little goodies thrown in for fun.

The tees are the ones my girls snatch straight from the dryer. I've yet to see them make it from the laundry pile into a drawer. And when you see her logo, I think you'll recognize seeing them in several of the photos on my blog. The tees are soft, comfortable and our first foray into the world of organic clothing. They are lovely.

Here are a few words about Joanna and her journey to opening the shop, Little Bird by Post, some great deals for MommyCoddle readers (on the tees and shipping across the pond)....and a VERY generous giveaway!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Little Bird is a British family-run company that was born from a desire to create beautiful tee shirts that are a cut above the usual slogan tee shirts and instead are gentle and respectful and celebrate children's lives and loves.

When their daughter was born, Joanna and Richard found it difficult to source ethically produced clothes and even harder to find clothing that didn't brand their daughter with adult-centric humorous slogans. The idea for Little Bird was sown and is very much a whole family venture with Joanna, an illustrator and lecturer in art & design, working on the tee shirt designs; her partner Richard who is a graphic designer, working on the branding and their four year old daughter Olivia Mae as a (very) reluctant model.

 
 

The first collection of long sleeved tees reflects the changing of seasons and the autumnal interests and imaginings of little ones. Among the designs you will find "Carmen Miranda of the Allotment", a tee to celebrate green-fingered achievements at autumn harvest time, "The Acorn Boys" who look like a pair of boy scouts preparing field notes and one for the star gazers, "The North Star Child" an astronaut constellation in the winter night sky.

The tees are bespoke made in organic cotton and screen-printed with water-based organic inks. Both the cotton and the prints are wonderfully soft, the screen-printed designs ensure that the tee shirts will last the endless laundry cycles and can eventually be passed on to siblings, friends and cousins. The cut of the tee shirts have been designed to be neither too baggy and flappy nor too skinny and restrictive, it is important that children can hide in dens, climb trees, and chase cats in Little Bird tees, they are designed for playing not posing.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Little Bird autumn/winter long sleeved tees are currently on sale at $18.50 and available to buy from www.littlebirdbypost.co.uk. As part of the MommyCoddle giveaway, LittleBird is offereing half price postage and packaging on all orders to North America, for just $5. The offer lasts until February 14th. A little Valentine's gift from across the pond! All tee shirts come with a selection of free goodies especially for your children.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Joanna is generously offering one lucky MommyCoddle reader the chance to win one of each of her six autumn/winter designs show above, in the size of your choosing. Leave a comment in order to be entered in the contest, but Joanna would like to hear your opinion. She uses her flickr account to showcase her tee design ideas and get feedback from her flickr contacts to refine her work until they are ready to be printed on tees. Below is a sneaky peek at a few of the spring/summer collection designs based on the Great British seaside. Please leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway and help Joanna decide which of her summer designs you would most like to see on your child's tee shirt.

You can also help spread the word about Joanna's shop by leaving a link to this giveaway on your blog. (It will earn you an extra entry, of course! Just come back to the comments to let me know you've posted!)

GIVEAWAY ENDS FRIDAY.
 
You can also help spread the word about Joanna's shop by leaving a link to this giveaway on your blog. (It will earn you an extra entry, of course! Just come back to the comments to let me know you've posted!)

Joanna also blogs at Little Bird Twitterings.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And one last, important note...I would be remiss in not mentioning a big thanks to Ryan, the man (and dad/technical/design guru) behind MomAdvice. He created that snazzy little logo for my Show&Tell posts. I'm so glad his wife let me borrow his talents. Thanks Amy! (and of course, thank you, Ryan.) If you haven't discovered MomAdvice, be sure to take a few moments to check it out.

Farm Girl Friday: Befriending a Rooster

I've got this thing with roosters. It goes back to my childhood, growing up on a farm.

There was the rooster Friendly, who did not live up to his name. I distinctly remember being "treed" in the Lilac,  scrambling up the thin branches to escape his sharp beak that pecked at my bare shins and ankles. Friendly wasn't so friendly and he tortured me.

On days when it was my turn to feed the sheep, I'd have to map out his location from inside the house. When I determined that he was nowhere near, I'd race up the path to the barn, where I was safe from his head down, wings spread, waddling attacks.

Then there was Ronald Reagan. He was quite protective of his wife, Nancy.  I remember that he was nasty, just like Friendly, but unfortunately he chose to be nasty to the wrong man--my father.

I remember walking across the yard one Sunday morning, when Ronald Reagan decided to launch an attack on my father's legs.  I recall that a cup of hot coffee was thrown in his direction, and I recall that Ronald Reagan was mysteriously missing from the farm when we returned from church that afternoon.

So when our six Rhode Island hens revealed themselves to be five hens plus one rooster, my childhood memories forced a tightness in my stomach.

Would I once again be plagued by a nasty rooster?

Would he torture my own children sending them hysterically scrambling for the Walnut Tree?

The girls have named him Hedgie and he's oddly become the tamest of the brood. But I worry that this domestication could eventually become our (or his) downfall. When I swing open the coop door each morning, he's standing there, in the doorway, waiting. The coop sits up off the ground and when he stands in the doorway he's almost eye level. I find it intimidating.

When my arms are reaching deep into the feed bag to bring out a scoop of grain, he stands quite close to me, his beak practically brushing against my legs, his head tilted to look up at me.

When I walk away from the coop, over the small wooden bridge and back to the yard, I often sense him in a scurrying waddle, racing to catch up to me. I turn and there he is on my heels. I tell myself he's just wondering what good things I have for him. And that he's such a sweet rooster. A sweet, sweet rooster.

But I still worry.

So far, Hedgie's been a gentleman. Perhaps, a slightly cocky gentleman. (no pun intended) He finds the guineas more entertaining than the hens and stays close to them. Sometimes he invades my space, my comfort zone and I give him a little nudge with my leg, just to let him know who's boss. Sometimes he puffs up his chest and moves in a little closer. And sometimes, he turns and walks away, completely disinterested.

And I haven't told the girls my rooster tales from childhood. I think it's better that way. So that they're looking for the good in Hedgie, not the bad.

Meanwhile, I'll scout out the best trees for escape-climbing and think about investing in some ping-pong-ball-shooting guns for the girls to wear in their waistbands. To ward off the chicken hawks and potentially grumpy roosters, of course.

**I realize all these pictures are of the hens, except for the first. Hedgie's always the first out the door. He doesn't stick around for photoshoots.**

Glimpses of Reality, Followed by Inspiration

I believe a few glimpses of reality are nice every once in awhile. Healthy, even. Here are a few glimpses of reality from my day:

I am making grilled cheese sandwiches while I write this post. My laptop is sitting on the counter beside the stove.

My girls are watching a movie about penguins. And I'm okay with that. Because our morning was full or play and creativity.

I'm listening to Diana Krall on the radio show Art of The Song which reminds me of a boyfriend in college. Which I didn't think of until just this instant. (this is a new-found favorite on the radio and gets my inner singer, songwriter stirred up.)

This is where the girls spent most of the morning. A secret club meets under there. In order to get in, you must be wearing a tee shirt with the name of your favorite sport on it. Mary's says horseback riding. Emma's says soccer. And you must bring a sketch book. If I could fit, I'd be in that club, too.

Later, the girls commandeered the bathroom. Which, when the door is shut, is the warmest spot in the house--when the furnace is working, of course. Which isn't something you can count on.

That's Elizabeth, trying to get into the club. Yes, she's wearing underwear, over her clothes, which is another post to come. Yes, you'd break an ankle trying to get into that room. You should try to navigate it in the middle of the night. Yes, their beds are unmade. Morning "chores" were postponed this morning.

That's my kitchen table yesterday, about thirty minutes after I should have been elbow-deep in dinner prep. Instead I'm up to my elbows in red and pink and hearts and cupids and fancy paper and pipe cleaners. I'm working on some crafts for a new section on babycenter's website. They need 10 crafts, designed, instructions written out, and shipped to be professionally photographed in 7 days. Am I crazy? My deadline is tomorrow.

And now some inspiration to balance out my reality:

**Molly's photography in this post about her new restaurant, Delancy.
**Ali Edward's office tour. I'm getting Dan to build me some of those wooden bins on the wall, asap!
**Kristin's handmade doll clothes, which I think would be great to make for the girls' new dolls. I've already reserved the book from the library.
**This peek at Heather's new work. Stunning.
**Cassi's button clips.
**This post over at Ordinary Courage. It's actually her take on Oprah's latest magazine cover, but her thoughts on addiction, body image are really eye-opening. I'm not sure anyone could read the post without taking something positive away from it.

And back to reality......I burned the second side of the grilled cheese. Bummer.

Cue the Doves

Yesterday afternoon I stood in my upstairs bathroom folding and sorting laundry and as I moved back and forth between the washer and the dryer, I stepped delicately.

And I thought to myself, "I wonder if I am the only woman on earth at this moment who is folding laundry with a white ring-neck dove pecking around on her bathroom floor."

This morning in a sleepy stupor, I heard the rustling of children downstairs. Moments later, I awoke to hushed giggles beside my bed, and opened my eyes to a dove preening her feathers on my pillow.

And I thought to myself, "I wonder if I am the only woman on earth waking up to a white ring-neck dove nesting on her pillow."

So before you begin to think that I've started smoking strange substances, I should probably back up and explain myself.

On Saturday, the girls and I made a quick roadtrip to my sister's house for the final leg of this on-going Christmas celebration. (Am I the only one with a few lingering Christmas gifts still to give?) My sister and I have been coordinating this giving of doves for awhile.

She works in a vet office and often comes home with the odd animal that needs some rehabilitation or extra care and Chloe the dove has been in her charge for awhile. It was at Thanksgiving that I mentioned Emma was saving up for a dove and she said she had one and wanted to give it to Emma for Christmas.

Of course we didn't want to leave Mary out, so we found another friend, and Chloe and Snowflake have now taken up residence in my kitchen.

The girls are obsessed, which may be an understatement. The doves spend more time out of their cage than in. Chloe rides around the house in Mary's arms like a queen, nestled down on a soft pillow. This morning I checked emails while she sat on my chest, preening her feathers and pecking at my buttons.

I've decided that I am now all about the menagerie. The chickens, the guineas, the finches, the doves. Bring on the turtles, the sheep, the ponies, the hamsters. What's childhood without a little animal kingdom craziness? right? anyone?

And the winner is...

If only I had 403 printers! Thank you everyone for your comments. And hello to those of you that are visiting here through links from the Habit project and for those of you that have come here by way of Katie's link at Designer Digitals. I hope you'll pop in again!

The lucky winner of the Epson printer is...... Jande!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I put a link on my blog. oooo I hope I win:)

Posted by: Jande | January 09, 2009 at 05:55 PM

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jande, please contact me (you can find my email address on the About Molly page) so I can pass your mailing address onto Epson.

Thanks again everyone.
I hope you'll keep checking in because more fun giveaways are coming!

Show & Tell: Epson Artisan 800

There's a lot of creative energy that swirls around this house in a day. Ideas come in all forms from sewing to knitting to drawing to pretending. And generally, we have everything on hand that we need for these ideas--a fabric scrap basket, needles, thread, stacks of papers and pencils and markers, a suitcase overflowing with an odd assortment of dress-up disguises.

But until about a month ago, there was one thing that has been missing from our creative supplies--a good printer.  We've quickly adopted one into our repertoire, and now I'm not sure we could live without it.

I have had the privilege, thanks to the generous people at Epson, to have an Epson Artisan 800 all-in-one printer come to take up residence in my home. Our previous printer was an economical laser printer that decided the move from our old apartment to this house was too much for it, and we haven't been doing any home printing ever since.

The Epson Artisan 800 is packed with features which I haven't even begun to uncover, I'm sure. But it has opened a whole new realm of creative possibility in our home. I'm finally making and printing things I've always wanted to do--like getting the girls' artwork on to cards and gift tags, I'm scanning tear sheets of inspiration and dropping them into little organized folders on my computer, I'm designing activites and printables for the girls for school and finding amazing activities to print online. And, I'm taking my favorite photographs and finally printing them out. I'm one of those people who is guilty of never printing her digital photographs. But now I'm getting better.

I can never cover all the amazing things this printer can do, but you can read all the details on the Epson website. However, here are several things that get me all giddy about this printer:

• It has a touch panel LCD screen. It's easy to use and well, fun!
• I can print wirelessly. Seriously. No cords to hook up, no carrying the laptop up to the office. I can sit in my living room, hit print or scan, and hear it humming along upstairs. (Then I send the girls to get it. A perk of being the mother.)
• It scans--and at a variety of settings--a quick once over for my magazine tear sheets that I want to plow through, more detailed, high quality scanning for old photos and artwork.
• It's a fax. (no more running up to my dad's for the fax machine.)
• It copies--and quickly, too. This has been great for the girls school workbooks, when I want to be able to use a page again, or it's easier for them to work on a page when it's not inside a bulky book.
• The quality of the digital prints is phenomenal. The colors were beautiful, and the printing was crisp.
• It makes coloring pages! (This will really awe your children. Mine were speechless.) Take a photograph. Hit a button on the touch screen, out pops a coloring page of that photograph. I love it!!
• It prints lined paper (college ruled, or wide ruled) and graph paper. Fabulous.
• It prints directly onto a CD or DVD label--as long as it is one of those ink jet printable ones, of course.
• It holds two different sized papers. No switching between regular paper and photo papers.
• It can scan and save directly into pdf.
• It can print from a memory card.
• It can print a sheet of preview photos.
• You can adjust images before printing on the touch screen.

So you can tell I'm pretty enthusiastic about this printer. It has been invaluable to me for school work with the girls and it has allowed me to finally follow through on some of these creative ideas that have been floating around in my head. It is helping me stay organized by minimizing the paper clutter on my desk, which I can scan and then file away or toss, and I love the fact that I can bring a lot of the girls' creative ideas and artwork to fruition--whether it be creating little books, their own personal thank you notes, or pictures of horses they want to hang on their bulletin boards. (their priorities still haven't changed.)

And you know what else makes me really happy?

The wonderful people at Epson are giving me one to give away to one of you!!

Ack! I'm so excited to share this wonderful printer with one of you! And if you don't win, and your home is in need of a printer upgrade, I highly recommend you check out this Epson Artisan 800. For all it has to offer, I believe the price is fair and worth every penny. (There is even a step down model, the 700 which offers many of the same features, for a lower price.)

So how do you enter this little giveaway? Leave a comment, of course. But I have also tried to come up with a few ideas for you to earn yourself one extra entry... here are a few ideas:

***edited to add: to avoid confusion and keep it fair, each person can get one extra entry. if you already subscribe to my blog, then there are still two other options to choose from. Unless, of course, you want to do #4. (kidding. again.)***

1. Subscribe to this blog (there are links on the sidebar for bloglines, google, or others).
2. Link to this giveaway on your blog.
3. Subscribe to the mommycoddle email updates. (also linked in the sidebar)
4. Make me a quilt, queen size. I like blues, greens, and browns. (ha! ha!) I'm kidding! I do not take bribes. At least not for this....

And if you do any of the extra entries, please  be sure to come back and leave another comment, so I know you've earned an extra entry. And on Saturday afternoon, I will close the contest. I will use the random number generator and announce the winner on Monday.

Yeah! I'm excited! Good Luck! And THANK YOU, EPSON!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Show & Tell is a new series I'll be doing on mommycoddle in 2009. I'll tell you more about that snazzy logo and about the series next week. Stay tuned. More good stuff is coming.

New Year, New Look

Wow. I'm overwhelmed tonight. Thank you, friends, for your amazing response to the Habit project. I'm so glad it is as meaningful to so many of you, as it has been to me and Emily. And that you just 'get it'. Thank you.

There have been so many things that I've been wanting to share with all of you, so I'm really excited to be revealing all these things this week.

Along with my project with Emily, I've also been working to give this little blog a makeover. I've been wanting to make a bunch of changes for several months now--make things a little easier to navigate, put all the good stuff in one place, add some more elements to my blog...and finally it has all come together. After many hours working on my pathetic DSL (might as well be dial-up) connection and some good work sessions at the library (thank you, Dan), it's all in place. There are still a few more things I'd like to do, but there will always be things to do.....

A big thank you to my cousin, Katie, of Designer Digitals fame, who designed this banner for me, and captured what I was looking for, based on my all-over-the-place descriptions and ideas.

So, if you're viewing this in a reader, you might want to click over and poke around.

You can also get to my blog now with mommycoddle.com. It was necessity, primarily for my mom. Sorry, mom. But how many times have I gotten calls from her cell, "Okay, I sitting here with my friend _____ and I was telling her all about your blog. Now what is the address again? www dot mommycoddleblog dot blogpad dot com, or is it notepad?" Of course, now that I have a working, simple, web address, she's signed up for my email subscription...but it does make it easier for everyone, not just you, mother dear.

And tomorrow (Wednesday), to celebrate the new year, and the new look of things around here, I have something special planned. And then, I promise, I'll be done with all these secrets.....for now.

New Year, New Project

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you probably know that one of the things dear to me is acknowledging the beauty in life's every day tasks and moments.

Back in November, Emily and I sat together in a tacky Mexican restaurant, which has become our usual meeting place, and talked about some kind of project. We both knew we wanted to do something in the new year, something together, something we were passionate about. It was over that meal, and a long conversation sitting in her car in the parking lot, that we came up with the idea of Habit.

Habit was born out of our desire to capture little bits of our every day lives--nothing staged--but real life moments we experience every day. It was meant to stretch us photographically, and personally as we have given ourselves the limit of 30 words (or less) to capture each day.

And it was also meant to be about community, as each month we ask a few friends to join us in the project. This month, we are in good company. And we hope that Habit will capture the collective life of a community of women.

We will be there often. We've committed to at least three times each week--that's how habits are formed, and we hope you'll take  a few moments from your day to stop by and see what bits of life we're capturing each day.