happy birthday wolfgang!!!!!!!!

Real Life : Alix

Today is the day. The day that my little boy takes another step into “big kid” territory. Little Wolfie, you have brought so much sunshine and laughter into our lives! I can’t believe you are EIGHT. Wow. How did time fly so quickly??

How did this cutie:

….become this little coolie??

Friends, allow me to indulge in a little nostalgic mommy show boatin’…..as I was looking through all these old photos last night I got totally verklempt!

CUTIE BOY

Aw, the best lil chewy cheeks in the biz! I still love to smooch on them….even at a young age my little bunny had the CURLS and those little eyebrows. Killers, I tell ya!

My little Wolf, people would stop me everywhere I went to comment on how adorable you were. I think they were drawn to your curls, but truly it was your face that won them over. Not because you are so handsome (which, of course, I think you are!) but because whenever you smiled you had such pure joy and happiness radiating out of you. You are one of those people who smiles with a twinkle in their eyes. As I was looking through all these photos I was struck by what a HAPPY little guy you were! Always grinning and smiling and laughing! You really are our sunshine boy and seem to always find the joy in every situation. I hope you never lose that….

HAPPY BOY

SILLY BOY

On the rare occasion when you aren’t smiling, you are making a myriad of other awesome faces….sometimes this very serious “blue steel” look (that makes me think, “Dang, I shoulda had you be a little kiddo model!”) and then other times…well. Take a look for yourself!

SWEET BOY

Wolfie my little boy. You are, in a word, AWESOME. You are our little animal lover who is kind and gentle to all (cats! dogs! horses! cheetahs!). You never cease to amaze us with your quirky personality and ideas (like your amazing halloween costume this year!).

You have always been my gentle little soul, but recently you have become so much more active! Swimming! Soccer! Little League! Archery! WOW! It’s so fun to watch you leap and soar.

As you grow, I love seeing you develop your own tastes and opinions. (And you have SO many opinions!) You still love video games and computers. You are a whiz at math. You love singing, playing the drums and Queen is one of your top favorite bands. Your favorite movies are Harry Potter, the Narnia movies, and you have become intrigued by Pirates, thanks to a recent viewing of Pirates of the Caribbean! You love playing Monopoly Jr., Trouble and Uno. Even though you are somewhat picky, you love to cook and watching shows like Top Chef and Cupcake Wars. You just started watching The Regular Show (which daddy lets you watch and is probably inappropriate, although very funny) but you still love watching Peppa Pig. You have a great sense of humor, love joking around and we have a lot of laughter in our house thanks to you! Your favorite foods are pizza and onion bagels and you still really dislike most sweets. (Your teacher told me the other day you all went around the class room and were sharing something that “made you angry or frustrated you”. Your answer? “I am frustrated when people try to give me chocolate.”). You have your own little sense of style and you aren’t afraid to wear purple skinny jeans to school. In short, you are one cool little dude, my boy.

But ultimately, you are so kind and loving, my little blue green-eyed boy. Thoughtful, sweet and always a good friend to your classmates and buddies and ready with a big hug. I’m so happy you still hold mama’s hand when we walk to school. I know soon you’ll be too cool for things like that, but I’m holding on to that hand while I can!

You’ve been such a joy to watch grow, little Wolfgang. I can’t wait to see what this next year brings!

Vintage Video :: Gay Purr-ee!

Vintage Movies

Whenever I think about wonderful, colorful movies, the first movie that comes to mind is always Gay Purr-ee.

Last weekend, the nasty cold that hindered me over the past couple of weeks took out both Eric and the Peach.  Plus, it was raining raining raining.  And the Peach was coughing and sniffling and didn’t want to do much of anything except watch  Yo Gabba Gabba until she didn’t. She was ready for something different.

A movie perhaps?  I’ve been waiting so long to watch a movie with her!  But what?  The Internet was spotty and I couldn’t stream Netflix so I tried to see what was available on Demand.  Then I found that wonderful gem I remember watching on TV when I was a kid. GAY PURR-EE!

How you can you say no to Judy Garland and Robert Goulet? And a whole cast of wonderfully actors, like Red Buttons and Gigi’s Hermoine Gingold!

This cartoon gem from 1962 focuses on Mewsette, the beautiful country cat from Provence inspired to go to Paris, leaving her mouse chasing boyfriend Jean Tom behind.

Off she goes to 1895 Belle Epoque Paris and is charmed by Meowrice, the villain of the story who has other plans for Mewsette, with the help of a very fluffy pink madame voiced by the always wonderful Hermoine Gingold! Sigh! But don’t worry, Jean Tom is close behind.

Weaved throughout this delicious movie are gloriously technicolor nods to the beautiful Belle Epoque wonders and artists. And just such glorious colors too..

Oh, and a little nod to a certain famous artist…

Speaking of Toulouse Latrec, one of the best parts of movie is when Meowrice had Mewsette’s portrait painted by some of the best impressionist painters of the time, like our friend, Mr. Latrec.

I think this would be a terrific movie to watch this weekend with your kiddos!  Think of it as a little lesson in French and art history to boot!

Have you seen it?

 

The Colorful World of Alexander Girard.

Art + Design, Best of Alix, Month of Color, Vintage Graphics

Graphic, bold, playful, fun….we are big fans of Alexander Girard over here! His work has a childlike simpleness but is also rather sophisticated. As we embark on our Month of Color, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of his awesomeness.

Alexander (“Sandro”) Girard was born in New York City in 1907 and was an influential figure in post-war American design. Girard was head of textile division at the renowned Herman Miller furniture company and worked closely with his dear friends Charles & Ray Eames and George Nelson. (Now *there’s* a dinner party I’d love to be invited to!)

Alexander Girard’s playful patterns and bright colors were a breath of fresh air into the otherwise stodgy and often colorless domestic world of post-war America. Drawing inspiration from folk art — Girard’s personal collection reached some 100,000 items — he brought a dimension of taste and color to his work with Herman Miller and their other design leaders, George Nelson and Charles Eames. Today, Girard’s fabric designs are timeless expressions of charm, wit, and originality.

(from Herman Miller.com)

An avid world traveler, Girard’s designs always reflected his love of festive colours and patterns and influences from around the globe. You might remember this post I did a while back on airlines of the 1960s. Alexander Girard was responsible for revamping Braniff Airlines, launching an amazing campaign called the “End of the Plain Plane.”

He redid their entire identity…from airport lounges and plane interiors (orange and pink seats, anyone?) and even painted all the jets in bright candy colors. He also infamously hired Emilio Pucci to redesign all the flight attendants uniforms!

Yep. This was a man who had a fine appreciation for color! Sadly he passed away in 1993, but his legacy and passion lives on! There have been many awesome re-releases of his artwork. Here’s how you can add a little Alexander Girard into you (and your kiddo’s!) life.

MEMORY GAME + BLOCKS

The always awesome House Industries has partnered with the Girard Estate and released some amazing pieces featuring Alexander Girard’s artwork. The memory game is one of my favorites! He originally created the colorful images as environmental “enrichment panels” that were designed to spice up the Herman Miller offices. Each game comes with 72 pieces and a limited-edition wooden box. Buy one here. The building blocks are also colorful and fun (and printed with non-toxic, kiddo-safe inks). AND then a little something for mama…..they also have an amazing collection of Gerard-inspired fonts. Me want!

THE CUTEST GROWTH CHART.

Pincushion has taken some of his most iconic designs and put them on five fantastic growth charts! These are so great and would look pretty fab in any wall on your house. {They won’t be for sale til June/July, but you can pre-order one here.)

SIMPLY AWESOME TRAY.

The Vitra Museum has released some of his artwork on these super snazzy serving trays. Score this sweet Alexander Girard Mother + Child Serving Tray here.

ADORABLE BOARD BOOK….ABOUT COLOR!


image: alison moore

This adorable chunky board book celebrates the vivid, playful, and sophisticated world of Alexander Girard (the cover features the vintage 1972 illustration “Girls” and there are 26 other classic Girard designs inside). Get a copy of Alexander Girard Color, here.

So there you have it. His work just makes me smile! And has me dreaming of a more colorful and fun airport….

 

green is good :: method clean like a mother

Sponsored Post

So color. Let’s talk about green. Not only a favorite color, but a lifestyle mantra for we modern kiddo mamas.

Seeing that rainbow line up of happy bottles makes us smile. Who wouldn’t want that on your countertop? But as much as we love color….is it safe to spray color all over the place when you’re cleaning? Which brings us to today’s Monthly Method: the All Purpose Cleaner. It’s true we love the beautiful colors and the wonderful smells (lime+ sea salt? amazing. french lavender? gorgeous. ginger yuzu? ahhhh) but what truly makes our hearts sing for Method is its eco friendly green goodness. “Non toxic” are two of our favorite words to read on labels. We remember hearing stories of toddlers that accidentally got into the cleaning supplies and were rushed to hospital or worse. Horrors! Part of the Method humanifesto says, “We see ingredients that come from plants, not chemical plants” which always makes us breathe a sigh of relief as mamas. Thanks to the good folks at Method, we can still have pretty, SAFE colors in our eco-friendly products.

But we had to ask: HOW DOES IT CLEAN? I’ve used it to spritz down counter tops, but how about a real deep cleaning? To test it out, Dottie decided to put it up against some grody vintage Fisher Price little people and furniture that she recently scored—and that probably hadn’t been cleaned since the seventies. Ms. Dottie, take it away!

Yep it’s true, we love vintage goodies over here. But who knows where some of those thrift scores have been?? I grabbed my handy bottle of yummy green cucumber-scented Method All Purpose Cleaner and got to work.

With a spritz here and a spray there (plus a few brisk scrubs) voila! Clean happy toys in an instant. Our friends at Method told us that the All Purpose Cleaner delivers a mighty cleaning punch with naturally derived, biodegradable ingredients. The cleaners are derived from corn + coconut, breaking down dirt naturally, so they remove the dirt and leave nothing behind but a lovely scent. For tougher (and older/more suspicous) dirt, they also make an all-natural Anti-Bacterial Kitchen Cleaner that kills 99.9% of household germs. I admit, it doesn’t smell quite as pretty as my cucumber, but when we’re talking about gettin’ rid of salmonella enterica and E. coli, I don’t mind if we’re not quite as gentle. Knowwhatimean?

The best part is knowing that these are toys that the Peach can happily (and healthily) play with. Here is my sweet girl, kissing and manhandling her toys with joy— and I can rest easy knowing she won’t accidentally get sick on any residual cleaning product. Ahh.


As part of our Method madness, we’re giving you a new way to Clean Happy each month, including a cool, “get yer green clean on” video. This one stars Noah, the official “spokesinger” of Method. We had the pleasure of getting a serenade from him when we were at Method headquarters and he’s a really cool dude. PS The cast of the video is all Method employees and their kiddos. Sweet!

As an added bonus, Method is offering a $1.00 off coupon, good for any of their products thru April 30th. Print it out right on the Method Facebook page (check under the “Perks” tab). If you’ve never tried Method before, this $1 off  coupon gives you the perfect excuse to try ’em out. Let us know what you think! Seriously….Ginger Yuzu. SMELLS. SO. GOOD.

 

sponsored post: brought to you by:

 but all opinions are, of course, always our own. To read more on Method’s green practices, ingredients and philosophy, go here.

It’s all about RED!

Kiddo Style: Vintage, , , ,

Let’s kick off the wonders of this gloriously colorful month with a Vintage Kiddo Retro Round Up dedicated to the first color of the rainbow–RED!  I spend the weekend looking for some richly red rewards on Etsy!  Hope you enjoy it!

I expected to see some hearts since I’m doing red, but I like my hearts small and sweet–like these little heart buttons on this ruffly little pinafore dressie. From Etsy seller Sweet Shop Vintage. 

I love this little light elephant in a hot air balloon! Hee! From Etsy seller, Audrey Blissful. 

I guess elephants and red must go together! Because they certainly look adorable on this sweater! From Etsy seller, Happy Kristen. 

Hart & Sew has some of the snazziest stuff out there–and this grand little reversible jacket is certainly one of them. Sigh!

I love these vintage knit tops with their cute little designs! And these sailboats are so jaunty! From Etsy seller,  Bird Avenue Baby. 

These little piggies are from Marimekko! And I. Magnin.  Yes, please! From Etsy seller, The Culture Queen. 

This cape. Oh, this cape!  WANT! In my size, please! From Etsy seller, Silver Screen Vintage. 

This little baby outfit does things to me, it is so darn cute!  A duck with a hat? Fabulous! From Etsy seller, Halushka.

Nothing says red as much as a nice red apple on a shirt! And the gingham is just a cuteness bonus! From Etsy seller, Wayfaring Magnolia Vintage. 

And this nautical romper of cuteness is only $10!  Someone buy it, please! From Etsy seller, BabyByrd Vintage.

May your Monday be as colorful as you!