Category Archives: Real Life : Alix

Alexandra and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Real Life : Alix

Friends, have you ever had one of “those days”? Where nothing seems to go right? I had one of those days yesterday. Lemme tell ya, EVERYTHING was off. From big things (our car battery died and had to be completely replaced, greg had an emergency at work and was really late due to battery dramatics) to little things (I knocked my head on the car trunk, trying to find jumper cables) to  frustrating things (I came home to find that Sam doggy had pulled our little composting/food scraps bin down from the counter….leaving a mess…AND knocked down my vintage Starburst butter dish, shattering it, and eating half a stick of butter. Blergh.). Then there were a myriad of little things, like I walked into our bedroom and some how bumped into my dresser and sent all kinds of stuff crashing to the floor, shattering a vintage 1920s rhinestone/celluloid bracelet. Spilling my ice coffee. The capper was in the evening, when the dad of one of Wolfie’s friends dropped him off at home, but then proceeding to bitch at me for something that didn’t involve me at all (he needed to chat with Greg about some Little League issue) and was completely rude. Having his awful negative energy thrown at me was the last straw. I felt like shouting, “OK Day! I give up! You win!! I’m waving a white flag over here!!”

*sigh*

Oh yeah, and the capper? Our internet went out last night as I was trying to post. Go figure. So rather than what I had planned, I thought I’d share some fun stuff that went down last week. Let’s end things on a positive note!

1. WHITE ELEPHANT SALE.

Dottie and I and our pals The Dames went to the Oakland Museum’s huge benefit jumble sale. SO much good loot was scored, and all for a good cause. I think it needs its own post….stay tuned!

2. WOLFIE’s SAVING HIS ALLOWANCE.

Wolfie has been doing chores around the house to earn his allowance. He is so cute about it, helping with laundry and asking if he can sweep and water plants. He FINALLY saved up enough to get a special game for his 3DS and was literally dancing down the aisles of Target!

3. SWIMMING CHAMP!

In other Wolfie new, he passed into the next level of his swimming class. Hurray! He was so proud of himself.

4. SAM IS STILL CUTE.

Despite the butta issue, Sam is still the cutest dog ever. We looooove him. Even when he tries to hog my side of the bed.

5. THE CAT’S ARE STILL ANNOYED BY SAM.

But we love them anyway.

SO there you have it. I’m sure this won’t be the last day that gives me a little unexpected bump in the road. I think they key is to let yourself be bummed/annoyed/sad….but then move on. Even when you realize in the chaos you didn’t get a chance to shower and your hair is so tangled it’s starting to dred.


The Dames Turn Calendar Girls, with Snapfish!

Real Life : Alix, Real Life : Dottie


Oh friends. We love a good party. And we are kind of obsessed with taking photos. So when we had the opportunity to host a Snapfish Photo Party, well….we were pretty excited. We decided to invite our gal pals, The Dames over for a little brunchie and to share them with some super duper cute calendars we made….starring all of them! Our friends are a bunch of hams (glamorous hams, of course!) and we love a good photo booth.

First up? A fabulous breakfast. Lots of yummy treats (including Dottie’s famous homemade quiche—SO GOOD!).

Snapfish gave us some fun decor that Dottie used to make a sassy little banner. We hung it over a simple pink tablecloth and voila! Instant photobooth! Snapfish also sent along some really adorable little props for our photobooth, as well. Let’s just say they were a hit!

But then it was time for the piece de resistance, the calendars! Here are some of the girls with their little pink totebags. They were dying to know what was inside….

The looks on their faces when they saw the calendars were priceless. They were a smash! Each month had 2-3 photos of all of us at various restaurants around San Francisco. We were even able to add special mini photos on specific dates on the calendar, which was super cool. It was reeeeally easy to make, I have to say.

As the ladies flipped through the pages, laughing and grinning, discussion quickly turned to, “I totally need to make one of these for my parents!” and “These are so cute, I can’t decide between a photo book or this for the kids!”

Yes, taking pictures of people taking pictures….of pictures. Ahem.

The Dames were brimming with ideas for photobooks! Dame Lynn is thinking about making a photo book of her recent trip to New Orleans! Dame Doe is planning on making a photo book for a co-worker who is moving away. Shona, our resident teacher was thinking a photo book of her classroom would be a cute way to commemorate the year! I have to add that I was so transfixed by our old photo albums, my mom once made me a Snapfish calendar featuring pictures of her and my Tante Maria in all their groovy 60s best! It was so special and cool—the possibilities are really endless!

After Dottie took these shots of her little Peach hanging out in the kitchen and with her sweet grandad, she came up with the idea of doing a photo book of family recipes as well as pictures. Such a great idea!

Of course, theeeeeen we all went a little crazy with the props and the photos taking…

All in all it was such a fun get together! Have you made a photo book or calendar for someone? Its such a personal present to give to someone. We give it a big ol thumbs up!


To learn more about Snapfish photo books and their entire line of groovy products visit snapfish.com, friend ’em at the snapfish facebook fan page or follow snapfish on twitter.

 

**Disclosure: This post is sponsored. Snapfish provided use with a Snapfish store credit to create the special prezzies. As always, all thoughts and opinions are our own.**

ALT SUMMIT // The Recap

Real Life, Real Life : Alix, Real Life : Dottie, , ,

ALIX: So. Our Alt recap. Are we ready??

DOTTIE: Lady, I don’t even know where to start. My mind is still swirling!

ALIX:  I know! There was so much awesome crammed into such a short period, you really need a few days to just process it all. For those of you who are new to the party, the Altitude Design Summit is basically a big fat glorious summer camp for  bloggers.

DOTTIE: The days are packed full of speaker/panel sessions and roundtables. The evenings are filled with parties and loads of “getting to know you” moments.

ALIX: I can’t believe it was our third ALT Summit! When we went to the first one, we had just launched Modern Kiddo and didn’t know a single person there. I remember being a tad nervous….not knowing what to expect. What would we learn? Ultimately it was so inspiring. I know we came away from that first session determined to turn Modern Kiddo into something special.

DOTTIE: In a lot of ways, we’ve grown up along with Alt. We’ve learned so much along the way—at the conference and beyond. Every year we glean new information and come away with our heads swimming with ideas. It’s just such a positive environment!

ALIX: One of the things that makes Alt so lovely, is the attention to detail. This is a design-lovin’ crowd, friends, and you can totally tell!

DOTTIE: From the amazing gift boxes brimming with cool swag, to the sponsored lounges. Everywhere you turn is something cool and colorful.

ALIX: I was OBSESSED with the Cottonelle Lounge…..adorable, colorful teensy cupcakes and these Jonathan Adler toilet paper cover holders (who knew??) that I’ll be storing makeup or tights inside! I maaaay have smuggled three in my bag. Ahem.

DOTTIE: You know, even the food looked fabulous. I think my favorite meal was the first keynote luncheon. The lovely people at Cargoh had these wonderful little boxes at every place setting—all different sizes and each containing something different.

ALIX: I know, it was such a charming and personal way to “meet” them.


top photos via moss + isaac

ALIX: But besides being a visual treat, let’s not forget there is a lot of substance to Alt. There are so many ways to learn and grow.

DOTTIE: If I could summarize Alt, I would say it all came down to the 3 P’s—The Panels, The People, and The Parties.

ALIX: That’s perfect! I couldn’t agree more.

DOTTIE: Shall we start with The Panels?

ALIX: Yes, lets!


photos via: alt flickr

ALIX: The panels are the heart of the ALT. They cover a wide range of topics, and you always have three different sessions to choose from. This is where you can delve a little deeper into the world of blogging. It’s so helpful to  hear different blogger’s perspectives on challenges and triumphs. And hopefully you walk away with some new insights or inspirations.

DOTTIE: I appreciated hearing from well-known bloggers discussing not only their successes but the smart strategies and investments they made to take their blogs to another level. Great lessons that can be appreciated even outside of the design and fashion blog world.

ALIX: Yes! And interesting you mention fashion. This year marked a bit of a shift at ALT. It’s always been a very stylish conference, but typically it was very design-centric—with some craft and lifestyle bloggers in the mix. I have to say we saw SO many more fashion and style bloggers this year. It really upped the fashion quota!

DOTTIE:  I’m tickled pink that we both had a chance to speak once again this year. Alix was part of the ever popular Up & Coming Blogs panel, with such lovely ladies as Rachel from Black Eiffel, Nat the Fat Rat and Meg from MIMI + MEG. You guys picked some really fantastic blogs, lady.

ALIX: Thank you! It was such a fun experience. And you seriously worked the room on that fantastic PR panel! It was filled with PR rock stars like Erin from Apartment 34, Jess Chamberlain from Sunset Magazine and super girl Miz Mayes from Blog Con Queso. I was really bummed our panels were at the same time, so I missed out. Friends, people were raving!

DOTTIE: And then there was the key note with Ben Silbermann, the mastermind behind Pinterest. He told his very heartfelt story behind launching Pinterest and it was incredibly fascinating.

ALIX: He was smart, honest and totally adorable. I think many a crush was born that day!

ALIX: This was one of my favorite slides of his, on starting his own business:


photos via alt flickr

DOTTIE: OK, it’s time to chat about….


photos via: alt flickr and cute and delicious

DOTTIE:  So here’s the thing. If you are new to blogging, you will walk away with SO MUCH excellent knowledge. But to be honest, if you’ve been blogging for a long time, you might not really learn anything earth shatteringly new. But that’s OK! The real reason you go to a blogger conference is for the people! Hearing their amazing “real life” experiences and tales from the trenches is worth the ticket alone.

ALIX: Oh, I couldn’t agree more! Having people you respect and admire tell you about their success AND failures was amazing. Jordan (oh happy day), Liz (say yes to hoboken), Nicole (making it lovely) and Kelly (designcrush) in particular shared really honest insights. I could have listened to their stories all day.

DOTTIE: Another terrific thing is that it was great to finally put faces to names. Meeting in person really solidifies all these friendships you’ve forged via twitter, Instagram and blog.

ALIX: There is just something about being surrounded by like-minded people who “get it”. Who love blogging as much as we do—and don’t think you’re weird for obsessively taking photos of your food or shoes!

ALIX: The other astounding thing is that Alt is 99% women. And such NICE women! It’s an amazingly positive environment. Not that it’s all about compliments, but I can’t tell you how nice it was to have so many people come up and say “You don’t know me, but i know YOU! And I what you do!” Note to newbie blog conference goers….that’s a terrific way to approach someone! Especially if your twitter handle is something like KatieLikesColor but your real name is Elizabeth.

DOTTIE: Seriously, those moments were SO special. Blogging can be such a solitary  experience and we really appreciated all the people who told us they loved what we did.

ALIX: Pretty much everyone we met was fantastic…but there are a few stand out we have to name. These ladies were every bit as lovely in person as they are online! Let’s see, of course our favorite, ALT founder Gabrielle Blair—who rocked a sequin beret like she was 26, instead of the mother of 6!

DOTTIE: That woman has mad style. If I tried that, I’d look like Rerun from What’s Happening [Imagine Dottie doing Rerun dance moves…].


photos via: Alt Flickr

ALIX:  Hahaha, totally. And her sister Jordan Ferney was sweet and stylish and someone I’d love to see more of when she gets back to San Francisco. Also gotta send some love to our faves, The Girls with Glasses (Summer and Brooke are kind of mind blowingly stunning in person), Erin Loechner (the bubbliest girl ever!) and my new favorite, the glamorous but totally down-to-earth Rachelle from Kenzipoo!

DOTTIE:  Let me add to that spectacular list, Rachel from Handmade Charlotte (who is a hoot and a half), our vintage sistah, Pam from Retro Renovation and the divine hot pink tressed Gala Darling. Oh, and the Jealous Curator was charming as all get out!

ALIX: And of course we can’t forget our sassy little roomie, frecklewonder. Jenny is pretty much my oldest and dearest blog friend and we hadn’t seen each other in SEVEN years! So it was a super exciting reunion.

DOTTIE: You know I love that girl somethin’ fierce! I had heard you talk about her forever and now I see what all the fuss was about! I don’t think we’ve ever laughed that much in such a short period of time! Peeing in pants may or may not have happened…

ALIX:  Our late night slumber party recaps were the best! I was SO excited to get to spend a little time with her, but I have to say there was so much going on, I feel like we barely got to scratch the surface. I think I need to lure her out west again.

ALIX: Oh, and how fabulous to finally spend quality time with some other local Cali ladies: Tracy/shutterbean, Lisa Congdon, Rena Tom, the “other” Miss Alix/cute and delicious and the fabulous Victoria/sfgirlbybay!

DOTTIE: I confess I was a little sad not to be able to get more of our old Alt pals like Marie (Makes and Takes), Amy Turn Sharp (of the amazing wooden toy shop, Little Alouette) and the always awesome Alison (Petit Elefant). I love you girls!

ALIX: Seriously, I think I had a smile hangover by the time the whole thing was done!

DOTTIE: Which leads us to….

photos via: Alt Flickr

ALIX: Let it be known that the party started in our room! Girlfriend brought an entire bar with her—limes included! Dottie was the Isaac on this Bloggin’ Love Boat!

DOTTIE: What can I say? I travel in style. Heh. So I think it’s safe to say that at Alt people work very hard, but they also know how to unwind. Not to say it’s crazy partying or anything. We’re classy ladies, friends.

ALIX: Absolutely. But you really do need that down time to decompress and process all the lovely people you’ve met and all the info flooding your brain.

DOTTIE: This is where I think Alt truly separates themselves from the rest. This ain’t no sheet cake and soda party. These ladies do a party up right. They manage to get great sponsors like Method, WilsonArt, Kirtsy and HP who created clever and fun themed rooms.

ALIX: This is the perfect time to introduce yourself to people, pass out business cards and unwind. I found it hilarious (and AWESOME) that pretty much every room had a photobooth—including SMILEBOOTH in the Method room! Shout out to bleubird‘s hubby Aubrey! It was so great to see him there….

DOTTIE: Can we talk for a moment about the Winter Wonderland Party? AKA Dinner en Blanc. They asked everyone to dress in shades of white and initially it was the source of much stress and chatter online.

ALIX: Ah yes, the infamous “white party!” I must confess, my initial reaction was, “Is P.Diddy sponsoring this thang?” But I have to give a huge tip of the hat to the ladies because that party was STUNNING. Snowflakes hanging from the ceiling, tasty food, an alpine-themed photo booth AND snow cones served in little silver cups. Brilliant!

photo via moss + isaac

DOTTIE: I know so many people were nervous about what to wear. We pushed the rules a little with some vintage silvery blue numbers. I loved that Kate Spade cardigan you got from your mama.

ALIX: It was kind of perfect for the night! And you debuted those new snazzy vintage specks! They were so pretty! I think I want you to have an enormous collection of them. Or should I say, an even more enormous collection.

DOTTIE: The quality of sponsors is so impressive and shows that Madison Avenue is taking the powerful influence of bloggers very seriously. I especially appreciated the Rue LaLa champagne room. I could have stayed there all night! A girl can never get enough champagne!

ALIX: I think our overall takeaway is that ALT is smart, stylish and supportive—just like your best girl friend.

DOTTIE: I couldn’t have said it better myself. Alright lady, shall we bring this recap to an end?

ALIX: Absolutely! In fact, I think our ALT experience can best be summed up like this:

THANK YOU FOR A FABULOUS TIME, ALT! Friends, will we be seeing you there next year?? We sure hope so!

Home for the Holidays.

Real Life : Alix

We are back from Michigan and we had a terrific time. BUT it wasn’t our usual winter vacation. For starters:

In the past two years we have had a winter wonderland of fluffy flakes. I mean really. Lotsa snow! See?

This year it was like a crisp autumn day. A bite to the air, but lots of sunshine. Not bad really. But still….we wanted to walk on the lake. We wanted to wear our snow boots. We wanted snow.

I have to say it was kind of a hilarious Comedy of Errors this holiday. We had an amazingly wonderful time, but I gotta tell ya folks, we had SO many calamities happen too. Here’s a little taste of our crazy holidaze:

1) Much to our dismay, Wolfie was extremely sick right before we left—high fever and just not himself. That’s him up there. And before you think I spend my days taking photos of my sick boy, we were waiting at the doctor’s office and I said “Oh Wolfie your little cheeks are so flushed!” and he said “Take a picture and put it on Instagram so everyone can see.” haha. Ahh, the modern child. So anyway, we went to the doctor to check him out and they said that on the plus side it wasn’t strep or an ear infection, but on the down side it would just have to work its way through his system. No fun flying with a listless kiddo. Wolfie was a champ and did really well. He had a bit of a relapse once we were in Michigan that had us all crossing fingers for a healthy boy by the time Christmas Eve rolled around.  2) Because airline tickets are so expensive these days, I agreed to take on a freelance project for three days over the holidays. BAD idea. Who wants to work on vacation?? I love the client, which is partly why I said yes. But still. It was pretty rough having to hunker down at Starbucks while the family was out having fun. Sigh. [cue: Donna Summer’s She Works Hard for the Money]  3) When I finally finished work, Greg and I went out on an afternoon date alone. Thrifting! I was so excited. Until while walking out of a shop, I didn’t see this cracked step and twisted my ankle, collapsing in a heap of pain and biting back tears. Friends, I was a MESS. I couldn’t stand. My right knee was ripped open and bloody. My left ankle swollen. Horrible! Greg wanted to take me home but I was so embarrassed/annoyed/sad I said “I am NOT going to let this ruin our day!” So we bought some bandages and an ankle brace and I hobbled around the thrifts anyway (having a blast too). Greg threatened to buy me a hot pink granny cane at the Rite Aid, which I semi considered.


Thrifting was so fun and Greg and I always love our drives around the lake side. But the craziness wasn’t over because 4) At 3 am that night my cell phone rings. It’s our alarm company telling us that the burglar alarm/motion sensor at our house is going off. AHHHHH! Seriously?? It was awful. We kind of deduced it was *probably* the cats. But we weren’t sure. Our super kind neighbors were feeding the kitties and we called them the next day and got it all sorted out. Stressy! 5) The heat in my parents house died. Thank goodness it wasn’t the snowy cold winter we were dreaming of because it wasn’t too bad. But just another thing to worry about. In another stroke of luck, the repair man was at a house in the area so he scooted on over and fixed it, and didn’t charge us for the house call since he was out there anyway. Holiday Spirit lives! Despite all my tales of woe, we really had a fantastic time and everything turned out well. With calamities behind us, let’s get to Christmas!

We found a giant “Santa’s Mailbox” in the sweet little downtown and Wolfie knew he had to get in one last letter to Santa with a plea for a Nintendo 3DS. As he was mailing it, the town clock chimes starting ringing—playing carols. It was so charming and awesome.

That night was Christmas Eve and we read Twas the Night Before Christmas, had an awesome dinner buffet and then sang Christmas carols. (Wolfie’s pick? Twelve Days of Christmas. Which is officially the longest christmas song EVER!!!)


My younger brother Karl was visiting too and Wolfie totally adores him….Karl makes Wolfie laugh like no one else, and watching them make cookies for Santa was the sweetest thing. Wolfie wrote his note to Santa and as per tradition, he left him chips (because he worries Santa might be like him and not really like cookies) and a cup of ice cubes for the reindeer (“because they will be very thirsty mama!”).

Christmas morning is always amazing. Wolfie gets that thrilled look of wonder at ALLLLL the presents under the tree. We hid his very last present which was a Nintendo 3DS that he has been *dying* for. That was his “big” prezzie. He shrieked with happiness….”I knew it! I knew it!! He knew!!” haha. He also got smaller things like Pokemon softies, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, a stuffed animal with a big “W” on his belly and a sweet photo album filled with pictures from our vacation in Hawaii (which he really loved!).

My mom surprised me with several really thoughtful/cool gifts. She reads Modern Kiddo and has been scoping out my Friday Link Hootenanny posts and got me a few things from there! Including that sweet camera up there, a dress from Bonnie and Buttermilk AND she hand crocheted that awesome zig zag throw that I featured in my Missoni post! I was so touched. She’s the best!

My favorite part of vacation is always the relaxing, reading (I’m reading the Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray which is an awesome YA book about a spooky boarding school in 1875. The first book is called A Great and Terrible Beauty which sounds “meh” but trust me, it’s awesome!) and movie watching (Hugo: TWO THUMBS WAY UP!! It’s so good. We Bought a Zoo: THUMBS DOWN. Not a holiday film. It’s being marketing totally wrong. I was expecting a fun-filled family film and it’s very heavy for littles and over-acted and cheesey).

On our very last day, we woke up to this:

Hurray! It was so pretty and we were happy. We got our white christmas afterall.

All in all it was a terrific holiday. I hope you guys had an amazing one too!

My boy still believes.

Real Life : Alix

Wolfie is in second grade. Age seven. Such a transitional year. My little guy is growing up, there’s no denying it. He is becoming so mature and smart, with opinions galore! I mean just look at him, this is a “big boy” now:

BUT….he’s also still my little boy. The same little cutie who loves cuddle time with mama. Bedtime stories sitting on daddy’s lap. Sleeping with an army of stuffed animals. And who still believes in the tooth fairy (he was quite concerned about the size of the piece of tape I put on the envelope containing his tooth. “She’s very little, you know. What if she can’t open it??”) And to date, he still believes in Santa Claus. I know Santa isn’t for everyone, but to me Santa is all about the childhood innocence of believing in magic—and celebrating the spirit of giving/goodwill/cheer/happiness that is much a part of the holiday.

A few of his classmates are already starting to move into “Santa doesn’t exist” territory. And because of this, I worry that this will be the last year Wolfie believes too. I hope not. It seems awfully soon…I’d love just one more year. Nothing beats that sense of wonder and delight when he wakes up oh-so-early Christmas morning and comes racing into our bedroom to whisper loudly, “He was here mama! Oh you have to see! There are so many presents under the tree!!!” It makes me so happy. And you can bet that this year I make sure to really take it all in and enjoy that sweet twinkle in his eye as he grins happily and gives everyone hugs.