skid makes his mark

beav (bubba.  skids. binks.  stinky-minks.  minks.) is loving the park nowadays.  the weather went from 102 earlier this week to 70 today and the neighborhood went nuts.  there were people EVERYWHERE.  kids galore.  so skids and I went playground hopping, as we often do when we are blessed with cloud cover or (brief) drops in temperature.

our first discovery was that he loves the slide.  the second was that he only goes face first, on his tummy.  sitting down takes too long, and why wouldn't you throw your body down the shoot as fast as possible?  it wasn't quite third, but maybe our fifth discovery that he had the tendency to put his hands down in front of him.  hands stopped moving, rest of the body didn't.  after numerous attempts and more than a few mother freak-out moments (because I thought he broke his back), I couldn't take it anymore and avoided the slide like the plague.

and then, a moment of mothering genius.

I asked skids if he wanted to go the park.  to the slides.  and show them who's boss.

aaaaand now we're back to the beginning of this post.  playground hopping.  in nothing else but...

hyeeeee-ya!  mittens.

(I know this picture is totally blown out but I just couldn't help myself.)

and now I'm traumatized that our newfound invention results in shooting off the end of the slide like a rocket.  you win some, you lose some, right?

this was a win.

 this is him laughing.  not screaming for help because he's rocketing off the slide.  promise.

plastics

Here are some before and afters of plastic surgery.  try as I might, I can't seem to shake my opinion about it.  maybe its because I've still got a few years to think about it.  but one of these little ladies had her first adjustment at fifteen!  yowza!

meg ryan

 Dyan Cannon

 Lisa Rinna

okay, okay, okay, here are some extremes.  it just breaks my heart.  really.

Amanda Lepore

Hunger Games anyone?

Daryl Hannah

here are a couple celebrities that claim to have never received any plastic surgery.

Brad Pitt

Helen Mirren

I just think natural aging is so beautiful.  not to say I haven't seen beautiful face lifts, but I've rarely seen it stop with just one.  next thing you know you turn into this.

Jocelyn Wildenstein

okay okay, all extremes aside, what do you think about plastic surgery?  yes or no?  I'm not going to go as far as to say you shouldn't adjust your look (ie makeup), but it seems like a slippery slope.

am I alone on this one?

reality is: i'm beautiful.

still haven't decided on a name for this series yet.

so we'll switch back and forth until we decide.

me, that is.

unless of course you have an opinion you'd like to share with the class?

(but in a good way, not like the way your teacher made you tell your secrets out loud)

okay, but for reals, here she is.  the beautiful, the talented, the swimmer that just shaved a minute off of her time, the absolutely stunning.

SABRINA.

seriously though, can you even handle that smile?  those eyes?  that beauty?  it's ridiculous, really.  and its also the reason I asked her if she'd be part of this series.

Sabrina is a senior and swimming her little heart out right now on the swim team for her school. photographing beauty has never been so easy.

I thought at first I would get to know them, or have people nominate who would be next on the series (which may still happen), but I thought it would be more meaningful, more REAL, for the beauties that I photograph to discover for themselves what makes them beautiful.  wouldn't that change so much about how we feel about ourselves?  if we just spent some time each day thinking about what makes us beautiful?

so without further ado, meet the wonderful Sabrina.

well.... What I love about myself is that Im positive and love to smile. I have learned that the more you smile the more you can shine and help others day by just smiling at them. I laugh at anything at any moment (my friends make fun, but I know thats why they love me) and I just love that Im happy! It took a long time to figure out how much of a beautiful person I am, and everyone who is around me. Heavenly Father - I believe - helped a lot and because of Him I am this person today... trials and hardship he gave unto me because I know he loves me, and because of that Im beautiful. 

What makes me REAL is that Im responsible (I know... borriinnnggg) but I am totally mature - 60% of the time... gotta leave some room for sooommmeee immaturity! Also, I know whats around me, my surrounds are always in my peripheral. Im not naive... my spirit has grown so much in these last 5 years, and I know that with these experiences Im supposed to help others; thats why I want to be a nurse but its also what makes me an easy-going friend. 

MY WEAKNESSES!!!!! Im quite emotional haha but seriously... I am the world worst direction giver ever! No one listens to me anymore because of it. I have had tooo many incidents where I have given the wrong directions but swear up and down that they are right. So now when I tell someone to go left, they will go right. 

Blonde Moments aka Sabrina Moments as my friends might say!

To explain further.... On day in history class we were watching a video of the settlers here in America. On the screen it says, "10,000 bison roam free," and they show the image of these animals running across the plains. I lean over to my friend, Trenton, and ask, "They're extinct... right?" He gives me the weirdest look and answers back, "No, buffalo still exist." My smart little self tells him they arent talking about buffalo... He just laughs and says "Ohhhh Sabrina". 

Now that Im in swim... When I get home I mostly sleep or finish up with homework or even read a book. But I love to draw and hair and stuff (girlie things haha) Im just a multi-colorful person inside and out!

thank you sabrina!

this is seriously the best.

miracles and home makeovers

last week we sent off our youngest brother to college.  thank heaven for facebook and for girls that post a zillion pictures of every cute boy they come in contact with, otherwise we'd think he'd fallen off the face of the earth.

i loved college.  I especially loved college in idaho, which I never in a million years would have thought I would love.  i think one of the main reasons i loved college so much was because of the constant experiment of cramming 6 completely different girls from completely different backgrounds into small quarters and watching to see what happened.  my roommates thought I was nuts and sometimes called me Buddy the Elf.

one of my favorite habits from college was writing down three miracles that happened each day, no matter how small.  no matter what kind of day I had, I realized every day that miracles were happening all around me, and more specifically, and most importantly, FOR me.  i was a grateful goose those days, and man did it affect the daughter/friend/student/sister I was!

so a few days ago i longed for that attitude, for that gratitude, and my first miracle was that I remembered that habit I loved so and that I had stopped doing it.  it's pretty simple, my list.  but it most definitely changes everything.  

Today's miracles: (yesterday)

•  little man said please.  It was actually pah-leesh. you see, my son talks like sean connery.  but i'm almost positive it wasn't accidental.  
• the three of us went on a bike ride and I brought my camera to capture this weekday rarity.  even though rain was immanent I got all my pictures in and camera safely stowed before the first raindrop!
• the library!  this is embarrassing to admit, but after years of hearing how amazing the public library is from my sisters and always wanting to make it a tradition ourselves, we finally did it!  little man loved that he could open every kitchen cabinet and turn on all the faucets in the toy kitchen without me telling him not to.  standing atop the leggo table was also an instant hit.  thank you library, for making my little boy so happy.  and for saving my sanity today.

also: my sister was featured on Design Mom today!  this is big.  huge.  and their post today on what to do when two people try to mesh their styles together to create the perfect space is an absolute dream.  check it out here.

just to set the record straight

true or false: 

the SECOND you find a good hiding spot in hide and go seek, you have to go to the bathroom.

thank you for your participation in this survey.

salma hayek on beauty

something beautiful: me.

psyche!  this isn't me.  it's my sister.  and yes, she's smokin' hot.

when we were little everyone always said she looked just like mk&a (serious props to those of you cool enough to know EXACTLY who I'm talking about without clicking)

I used to think she was a pest.
I think its because I was jealous I didn't look like I could solve any crime by dinner time.

when we were in college she conducted an experiment wherein she joined the likes of Blossom, complete with giant sunflower straw hats and socks with floppy animal ears to see if everyone would treat her the same.

I think that's when she discovered her love for fashion and/or design because that experiment KILLED her.

now she's in Northern California livin' it up in the most beautiful place I've ever been.

this picture was taken 4 months after she had her second little boy.

she makes a stand for what she believes in,

and she's passionate.

so passionate that sometimes she could be considered stubborn.

Now she's an interior designer with an eye like NOTHING I've ever seen before.  She's absolutely, positively gifted. you know, like bobby fischer was at playing chess? but at design.  

she's got that eye.

she's strong.

and she's stunningly beautiful.

and so she inspired me.

I'm starting..... 

(drum roll please)

..........................

a new blog series!

called:

therealityis: i'm beautiful

or maybe I'll stick with

something beautiful: me.

what say ye?

I'll pretty much do what I just did.  spotlight a beautiful person, take a picture of them, and tell you what makes them imperfectly real and perfectly beautiful.

and I couldn't be more psyched about it.

reality is: it's hot. dang hot.

It's been a rough week this week as the temperatures climb the charts at 116.  It's really rough when its 7PM and its still 110 outside.  pretty much on house arrest until the fall.

so when the sun is covered by clouds for a while, we go crazy in this house....or rather, outside of this house.  It's amazing how much better it feels when the sun isn't beating directly down on you.  So the beav and I hopped on our bike and went for a much needed outdoor adventure.  normally the playground is off limits until the end of October because if you touch the sand, or stairs, or slide, you get third degree burns, but today those blessed clouds were our ticket to hit it!

we could have been out there for hours if we would have brought snacks.

tomorrow is supposed to bring intermittent storms.  bring it on.  we've got at least five playgrounds in the community and we're packing a lunch.

reality is: I'm thirteen.

My favorite channel is Disney, my favorite movie is 17 Again, and when I'm not watching Disney I'm watching the Cosby Show, so do you really think I'd be too old for planking atop a dog waste station?

absolutely not.

People my age were walking by with looks of either disgust (see dog waste center for clarification) or horror.

I don't pretend that one day I might not succumb to the peer pressure of adulthood and become a safety steve like our onlookers, but for now I'm living in my youth for as long as I possibly can.  So plank we shall!

and what's planking without some friends as immature/totally as fun as you are to do it with?
thanks goes to julie and michael.  planking's just not as fun alone.

don't be fooled people, the back of this bench was paper thin, so what is lacking in plank-like stiffness was made up for in superhuman balance.

and guys.  planking is TOUGH.  don't laugh.  I was dripping in sweat by the time we saw people we knew and couldn't avoid talking to them.  maybe the 110 degree temps contributed.

and since planking only goes so far before the novelty wears off, Julie researched what very well could be the next teen craze.

horsemanning.

well, either the next teen craze or the next craze for really disturbed people.

thanks for the pictures Jules!  see more on her blog here.

reality is: I'm loving my new hobby.

I found this photographer the other day and her philosophy really rang true to me.  this is absolutely, positively, what I want to capture in my photographs.

{via tarawhitney.com}

so here's a few that are spot on with each personality.

 (my amazing sister edited this one.  she also featured me 

yesterday on her blog.  check her out here.)

I'm pretty downright pleased.
(I speak in a southern accent when I get excited)

if you want christmas photos of your family wrangling a cow or flying in your swim goggles, I'm your girl.

also! more photos on my pinterest page.  check them out here.

best things this week

this week has been pretty rough.  borderline awful.  so, in attempt to round house kick this bad attitude in the face, I'm going to tell you some of the awkward and awesome happenings this week, to steal a phrase that couldn't be more perfect.

AWESOME
hubs got his refill of cindy crawford's meaningful beauty products in the mail yesterday.  two fold funny because 1: it reminded me of when he got sucked into that infomercial like a cheerio into a vacuum cleaner and tried to tell me about how I would have too. "its this melon that's only found in one place on EARTH with a shelf life of 16 years!", and 2:  he's obviously not the one who orders things online normally because he totally didn't know that they automatically sign you up for shipments every month for the rest of your life.

AWKWARD
standing in one side of my in-laws sink wearing hubs oversized flip flops while madly plunging the other side (with a TOILET plunger...ugh) to unstop the overflowing sink that was caused by hubs juicing beets the night before.  after letting it (the plunger) drip dry, I carried it across the floor where it almost immediately dumped nasty poop/sink water on the floor.  the beav immediately ran over, slipped in it, and nearly concussed himself (plural for concussion) he hit his head so hard.  what. a. day.

AWESOME
I was asked to photograph a PAYING client yesterday.  this is monumental.  and no, it's not my mom.  but almost.

AWKWARD
turning on the oven to bake some cookies and not remembering until I nearly burn the house down that the oven is where my mother-in-law keeps her PACKAGED bread goods.  TWICE.  I've now ruined approximately 5 english muffins, ten croissants, three loaves of bread, three biscuits, and quite possibly, and oven.  hubs hurried and destroyed the evidence to save me from embarrassment.

how does that song go?  fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me?

AWESOME
family has mad skills.  my brother decided to BUILD copies of this and this.  check it.
ps. these are the copies.  He measured, bought, stained, and affixed all the wood (and metal) to create the items below.

mad skills?  most definitely.

AWESOME
the beav is starting to learn how to dribble.  a ball, not saliva.  hubs bounces it while he tries to imitate him and dances around the room.  so cute.  Have I told you his first word was CATCH?  should I just get a minivan now and get it over with?

AWESOME

taking these pictures of my brother.  hot off the press.  and really, could he get any better looking?  He litterally ROLLED out of bed and threw on a shirt. ridiculous.


everyone should make an awesome and awkward, it really changes your day!  thanks for the idea syd.