gocco initiation

well we used our new gocco machine over the weekend for the first time.

it was quite the adventure but a lot of fun. working with the inks reminded me of the many hours spent in the letterpress lab during colledge. working with Daniel on this project brought back memories of working well into the night on our wedding invitations, setting type, mixing inks and finagling with type no end. i find it hard to believe that we are going on five years this August. it always takes a bit of time familiarize ones self with a new product. we had a lot of fun working on this together and are now moving on to fabrics. there are just so many fun things you can do with the Gocco.

but for now i guess i should keep my focus on the party planning for now. my biggest hang up is not the decorations but the food. if any of you have suggestions as to food for a one year birthday i would love to hear them.

on a more random photo fit in of the girl who love to swing.

::color week::red

a basket of road side diner fries never tasted so good as when they are presented to you on red and white checkered paper. i love fries, they are my weaknesses, yet the amount of time they are good are far few and in between. why is that? it is like fish-n-chips. i would order them all the time when going to pubs and bars and they were never as good as they sounded. now we had a pact if i want to buy fish-n-chips Daniel will remind me that i only like them at select places and that i should not set myself up for disappointment. why has it taken me so long to realize this?

::color week::blue

army of men on the horizon or at least that is what it always looks like to me. this was taken on our road trip to visit family in Montana this past April.

::color week::black/gray

a photo montage compiled of photos of New York::Portland::Eugene. adhered to sections of steal tubing.

our old Royal that saw more use in years past but still makes a wonderful object to look at.

the old Monophone purchased five years ago on our honeymoon. no longer used because we are a cell phone only family now. gone are the days of sitting down and having a conversation on the phone. being made to just enjoy the moment of talking with another person without doing anything else. maybe we will revert back to this one day we also have a vintage Bell wall phone in the basement somewhere just waiting to be unearthed.

cornstarch/water entertainment

one of our new favorite pastimes is to play with a bowl of cornstarch and water. Ms. A had quite a bit of fun with this one the other day. i got this idea from Such Small Hands and we are going to be playing with this a lot more.

she was very excited not only to play with the stuff but i guess she thought it tasted good as well. i am thinking that there is little harm in a bit of the old starch and water getting into the system.

she was quite content until she got distracted by the other things around the house but the good news is that it is easy to clean up.

::color week::brown

::brown::
Originally uploaded by devinemom. our remnants of dinner, Cajun rubbed stakes with something else on the side. this was such a wonderful sight of the coagulating fat as water was running over it. we just had to grab the camera with Lensebaby and document it.

the invitations are coming along. last night Daniel worked on the images being used and we may be doing a bit of the Gocco this evening if all goes as planned.

::color week:: white

this week i will be participating in Little Birds color week challenge. i am looking forward to it because it give me subject matter for my blog and it keeps my eyes open for new things. this weekend we were out quite a bit and were able to take some wonderful photos. this image of 'white' is from a wonderful coffee shop in Hood River, OR. we traveled there on Sunday for the day. this chair is from our favorite little coffee shop there that has some amazing modern design furniture.

monday :: white
tuesday :: brown
wednesday :: black/gray (a color, not a black & white photo)
thursday :: blue
friday :: red

i know it has been quite some time since i last wrote and i am sorry for that. things around here have been quite busy with guests, projects and little Ms. A. we are busy trying to plan her birthday and make her invitations. it is always quite a production when there is a graphic designer in the house, nothing is ever simple. i know they are going to look wonderful but it is just all the steps that go into designing them. i am quite excited to use my Gocco machine for the first time it will be quite a change from letterpress which we have used in the past.

for this week i am going to focus on posting my color week photos and working on my many projects around the house. i will try to post more often these next few weeks.

month 11

11 months
Originally uploaded by devinemom.

It is amazing for me to think that Ms. A was born eleven months ago. Life has changes so much for us this past year and it is all for the better. She started out so small and needy and has grown into quite the independent child already. Now being mobile she is ready to get out on her own and discover all there is. Her keen sense of observation makes us wonder what it is she is truly planning in that little mind of hers. Since the day she was born she has had a furrowed brow, something inherited from Daniel. Many say she looks worried but we believe that it is her pensive observation of the world. We can only imagine what the following eleven months will bring.