smoot

Montauk K + S

2010-04-01T00:45:00.002-04:00

India sunset + Delhi cool cab

2010-04-01T00:35:00.002-04:00

valentine's day idea

2010-02-12T15:09:00.005-05:00

seth and i have been working for aol's holidash blog for ahwhile now. they asked me to create a series of how-to videos for valentine's day. please ignore the uninspired title "crafts with kendra", i'm working on something a little more creative, promise.

the idea of a how-to video was a little overwhelming.....they are usually so cheesy! but, i had some great collaborators (zack + hadleigh) and together we pitched a stop-motion treatment. i'm so happy with how they turned out, except the bit where i'm talking. if you can't tell i was totally nervous. the last time i worked on some videos i got an angry phone call from my former boss (starts with an "m", ends with an "artha stewart").

there are 4 videos featuring 4 cute homemade gift ideas. this one was my favorite. big props to reagan for the best blow-out i've ever had. she's a hair genius. oh, and the crayon craft was inspired by my friend liz.

how stella falls asleep

2010-01-11T00:16:00.002-05:00

with all of her stuffed animals gathered around. cute.

bike ride!

2009-06-19T11:26:00.004-04:00

blah

2009-06-19T02:32:00.004-04:00

seth and i have been shooting some stuff together. we just finished up a big book project that will be published in september. details soon! and some more for the aol holiday blog. yeah. it has been very cool to work together. when we used to shoot together it was bad news......but now there is just a very cozy collaboration. i feel really lucky to shoot with seth- he has an amazing eye and is very patient.

anywho, our place has been turned upside down and inside out. we have just enough time to clean up the last stuff before we start again next week. stella is getting very good at finding things to do to entertain herself. like turn on the dvd player and putting in a movie. just kidding! ok, kind of just kidding, she can actually do that all by herself. she's also learned how to open the fridge and get out a snack. she's not as good at closing the door as she is at opening it. but really, she is growing up so much. we have a singer and dancer on our hands. anytime there is music playing she is jiving. she is also into naming people. if she's saying a blessing at meal time it can get quite involved....something like "blah blah blah (indecipherible) mommy, daddy, stella, bear, grandma, grandpa, anne, allie, kisses, blanket, blah blah blah, amy, sock, megan, sophie, noah, addie, baby (maebe), cole, aubrey, avery.......". she is also really into the playground. we go once or twice a day. she loves to climb up the big slide, then hurry and come right back down on her tummy. she is afraid of the big twisty slide now. and the swings are still a favorite. when i push her from the front she'll count to 3 or 5 or any other random number and then say "go mommy" which is my cue to do an under-doggy. we are kind of experimenting with a nanny share with a friend who lives in our building. stella has been going about once a week all day and loves it. we love it too- she gets to play with a buddy all day and because we drop her off at someone else's apartment it is nice to be able to come back to our place and be really productive and get a lot of work done. hmmm, can't think of anything else to update except for her huge crush on diego.

so here's my favorite thing we did for aol, it was on summer drinks:

evening walk

2009-05-20T23:36:00.001-04:00

i've had an amazing week with this kiddo. i love my birdy!

cutie pies

2009-04-23T22:43:00.005-04:00

maebe, penelope, stella, and adeline

happy birfday

2009-04-21T22:24:00.002-04:00

stella is TWO! you can even ask her (we've been practicing for a couple of months) how old she is and she'll tell you- TWO! she'll only hold up one finger, but we're cutting her a little slack.

she got her first haircut the weekend before. seth and i made her an awesome homemade play kitchen. the kitchen is still missing a sink faucet and isn't screwed together, but she doesn't seem to mind.

we celebrated with her two best girlfriends and piles of pancakes. wish you all could have been here. when we move into a penthouse apartment i promise you'll all get invited. i think seth has some photos from the party somewhere on his camera, hopefully he'll post them soon (hint hint).

self-explanatory

haircut

kitchen

national aquarium, baltimore

2009-04-07T23:52:00.001-04:00

Giant Artists group show

2009-04-07T16:08:00.005-04:00

Anyone in the LA area should go check out the Giant Artists group show, starting this Thursday night April 9th, 6-9 pm. Our images will be projected, along with some short films, DJ's, etc.

try red velvet cake

2009-03-24T23:35:00.006-04:00

cake man raven: 708-a Fulton St. Fort Greene, NY

pic one
pic two

another saturday night in queens

2009-03-16T03:40:00.003-04:00

for the second week in a row, we spent saturday night exploring a queens neighborhood. last week was the paraguayan cafe, this week we found a greek neighborhood and had a good old fashioned greek dinner. stella wasn't too pumped about the drive out there, but she loved the pink balloon that our server tied to a straw...... check it out

street style

2009-03-09T01:18:00.006-04:00

this pic was taken as we were making our way to the i love paraguay cafe in sunnyside, queens. we've been searching for 5 years for the best empanadas in nyc and the search finally ended on 42nd street and greenpoint ave. stella wasn't directed to pose all sassy like that, i swear it.

stella's shanty

2009-03-09T01:08:00.004-04:00

dear container store,

thank you for the ginormous box.

love,

stella

cheerios with your sugar

2009-03-03T14:03:00.003-05:00

i left stella alone for a minute in the kitchen; when i came back she had created this:

she had poured all of the sugar out of the sugar jar into a bowl, and sprinkled a few cheerios over it.

'helping'

2009-02-23T23:39:00.005-05:00

these days its hard to get any dishes done without stella dragging over her trusty stool to help (aka use the bottle brush to splash water all over her + me). have they come up with waterproof pjs yet?

2009-02-21T15:31:00.002-05:00

this picture has been sitting on my desktop for ahwhile now and every time i see it i have to laugh. i don't know if its how perfectly round stella's face is, or how her lower lip is disappearing, or that sweet little hair-do, but there is something so so CUTE about this photo to me!

messy, messy

2009-02-20T17:28:00.002-05:00

does anyone else's desktop look like this? i'm feeling a little slovenly and just hope that i'm not the only one.

evening walk

2009-02-15T00:44:00.001-05:00

cold and crisp

2009-01-30T22:54:00.002-05:00

stella and her pigtails just about kill me

new year's resolution

2009-01-15T22:41:00.004-05:00

following in the steps of other inspirational photographers (like seth and these 2 ladies), alpha + anne + i are doing a little blog where we post a picture each day. it's been something i've loved doing so far and i look forward to seeing what they've posted every day. they are real pros so i'm just trying to keep up. here are my first pictures:

next week!

2009-01-15T22:38:00.002-05:00

p.s. pepsi- go and get your own logo

mae + stella

2009-01-04T15:29:00.003-05:00

i wish everyone could have heard these two girls giggle as they flew down the hill.

jen!

2008-12-18T16:57:00.002-05:00

a great interview with a great friend, seth's rep jen jenkins

classic

2008-12-18T16:48:00.001-05:00

stuffed like a turkey

2008-11-28T17:23:00.005-05:00

isn't thanksgiving the best holiday of the year? it's my favorite (seth's is the 4th of july, usually he just refers to it as "the fourth"). this year was one of the best. we spent it kind of quietly with my sis and her family. on wednesday we went to check out the macy's parade balloons getting blown up at the museum of natural history. on thursday we went to their house in philadelphia for an amazing meal. my brother in law is a a doctor but really he is the best cook i know. let me tell you, dinner was SO delicious, BUT.....dessert was incredible- homemade baklava (scott says it takes 3 hours just to put together all of the layers), bread pudding with toffee syrup, pumpkin roll, peach pie, chocolate mousse pie and pumpkin cheesecake. i think i'm leaving something out but you get the idea. here is a pic of the table-setting (each person's place card had a little personalized note of gratitude on the back):

and some family photos:

hope everyone else's turkey days were as fun as ours!

last two days

2008-10-23T23:50:00.009-04:00

sleepy-head slept until 9:30

the daily battle to get dressed

she tried out the chair on the wall

loves her peas and corn

alpha's pics

2008-10-12T00:17:00.004-04:00

cutie pie aunt allie + stella lou

two of my favs

buckin' bronco (not too sure about it)

lovely anne

phone pic-of-the-day

2008-10-07T21:45:00.002-04:00

sunny september day

2008-10-03T21:06:00.003-04:00

i like this photo for a lot of reasons. it was spontaneous....we were just playing in pretty light when seth came in and snapped a few pics. it was one of those lovely weekdays when we were both home together and i remember thinking how much i adore freelance. and...i miss my hair. it is now short and dark and be-banged (like be-dazzled but not).

apple picking + sleepy hollow

2008-09-23T09:34:00.004-04:00

my mom and sisters are in town for the week. we went upstate to do some apple picking and check out sleepy hollow cemetery

a week with stella

2008-09-20T00:47:00.003-04:00

i miss you summer

2008-09-10T23:41:00.005-04:00

the summer went by way too quickly. it was a great couple of months- lots of beach time and park time and friends time. here are a couple of pics.over labor day weekend we went to bucks county, PA with some friends. we walked around quaint little towns and ate lots of ice cream.

this is me in front of an aspen tree that we carved our names in......in 1996!!! this was the first time we said i love you.
even though we were busy having fun stella still was able to get some work done.

a funny picture to find on my laptop

2008-08-10T00:53:00.004-04:00

i love these two guys so early in the morning. and check out all those teeth!

time for some summer reading

2008-08-07T03:54:00.004-04:00

august is usually slow for photography in nyc- everyone takes off for their place in the hamptons. i think that i may have just had my last job of the month until september and i'm REALLY looking forward to some stellie time and getting some good reading in. there was a great review for the zookeeper's wife here. any other summer reading recommends out there?

playground + adeline

2008-07-24T00:02:00.002-04:00

stella's wild ride

2008-07-23T23:42:00.002-04:00

summer urban baby

2008-07-18T01:20:00.004-04:00

dirty bird

2008-06-29T17:16:00.002-04:00

14 month old + camping + rain =

happiness is........

2008-06-26T22:27:00.004-04:00

.......my morning walk with stella through fort tryon park. its about a two mile loop from our apartment to the cloisters and back. sometimes we even see the baby skunks. stella makes sure to wave to every dog that we pass.

florida storm

2008-06-18T22:24:00.003-04:00

poor kisses

2008-06-16T23:35:00.003-04:00

we left kisses (stella's best buddy) in the hotel room while we explored Charleston today; when we got back to our room kisses looked so sad laying on the bed

road tripping

2008-06-16T14:01:00.003-04:00

the US of A is amazing! we've had such a great road trip so far (soon to come to an end). so far we've hit:

MOAB
SANTE FE
AUSTIN
NEW ORLEANS
GULF COAST
SAVANNAH
CHARLESTON

and a couple of pics:

lunch stop in mancos

our little road warrior

beautiful texas skies

french quarter

after enjoying beignets at cafe du monde, new orleans

close encounters

2008-06-12T05:39:00.008-04:00

this is what we learned today at the UFO museum in Roswell
just incase anyone had confused their encounters:

my name

2008-06-09T05:32:00.004-04:00

So I just read on Shnnn's blog about how she figured out how many people have her name in the US. I'll link to the site below so you can do it to. I always knew there was a guy in the mid-west with my name; he's a pig farmer of some sort because he's always winning prizes for his pigs in various competitions across Indiana. I just found out that there's a third Seth Smoot out there, besides me and the pig farmer. Let me know if you run into number three, I'd like to know this guys story.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
3
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

zooUtah

2008-06-04T02:16:00.007-04:00

unfortunately stella's attitude didn't measure up. but she came around for the albino alligator.

stella helping grandma

2008-06-01T04:52:00.002-04:00

stella loves grandpa and the scooter

2008-06-01T03:46:00.003-04:00

and bunny's doing her best to tolerate stella

burger baby

2008-06-01T02:49:00.004-04:00

and today grandma did stella's hair like a fundie

bubble buddies

2008-06-01T02:46:00.004-04:00

greenhouse helmet

2008-05-31T03:20:00.002-04:00

oh yea, i forgot greenhouse helmet, kissing shield, and ski uphill.

hijacker injection

2008-05-30T02:26:00.006-04:00

i found this rad site with failed inventions. the illustrations are magical

if a hijacker sits back down he gets injected in the butt

neck fannypack

asthma telephone, for teenagers who like to talk on the phone

accordian man

bunny syringe to make shots more fun for kids

driving bib

check your own breath

rain poncho

bubble beard

2008-05-27T02:04:00.002-04:00

cheerio

2008-05-19T13:10:00.003-04:00

le ballon blanc

2008-05-14T13:18:00.006-04:00

someday i want to make a film featuring stella in this jumper chasing this balloon all over paris.

well, shoot

2008-05-09T02:07:00.006-04:00

hi::...
i started a little blog of my own. the idea is that i take a picture every day to represent where i was, or what i did, or something i witnessed during that day.

check it ladies and gents:

www.smootshoot.blogspot.com

not so lady-like

2008-05-06T22:03:00.003-04:00

just wanted to tell ya....

me and stella are sitting here having dinner pour deux (tortilla soup for me YUM 'n peas for her) and not only is she shoving food into her face with both hands but she's also tooting up a storm and cracking up everytime she does. one year olds!

wish we were with you

2008-05-02T01:19:00.002-04:00

for t.h.
we love you so

gone missing!

2008-04-24T19:35:00.010-04:00

i know, i know. i owe you a big apology. thanks for keeping the faith and checking in on us. i'm sorry it's been a ghost town around here. seth has to take the laptop to set each day, and who wants to blog on the weekend when you only get 48 hours with the love of your life? but i've been dying to post some pics of birdie and tell you what a great time we are having out in utah and how much we miss new york (especially our friends!).

1st of all, stella turned one! whoot whoot, she's such a big girl. it was weird having her party, i guess just because that was an event that i had always day dreamed about and it was actually happening! here are some pics. julia (seth's mom) made this aws charlie the crocodile cake for anne (seth's older sister) when she was 5, and had kept the instructions. it was so cool i wanted to make the same one for stel.

stella was surprisingly (she is my daughter, right????) not into the cake and needed a little help from her cousin mae. mae didn't need any help digging in at all.

getting cleaned up afterwards. she didn't get that messy, which again is surprising considering she's related to me. it was a perfect day, thanks so much to everyone who made it and for all of the lovely gifts.

here's some of what we've been doing in utah:

spending LOADS of time at grandma and grandpa smoots. i have possibly the best in-laws in the world. they happily watched stella while i was away on jobs for a couple of weeks. they think that everything she does is completely adorable and will even let her sleep over so seth and i can go on a date. it is a feast of babysitting and i feel like i am completely taking advantage but am loving seeing her bond with them. stella's first favorite thing to do there is tease the dog while she's eating in her highchair (the most beautiful highchair i've seen and undoubtedly some sweet antique thing they found in the attic) and the second is to scoot around in the walker in the drive way. we get a good laugh every time she takes a spin- she always guns it but the old thing has no steering so it only takes a few seconds before she's run into something and its SO loud (imagine a bucket of bolts rolling down a hill). but it is really great for photo ops!

bathing (but mostly playing) in the sink

spending lots of quality time with christie. she might possibly love stella as much as i do. if i have an untimely death i've requested that seth marry christie (which he should have no problem with- she's so gorg!!!) because i know that she would take care of stel as if she were her own! she is also the perfect friend. everyone should have a christie in their lives.

spending even more quality time with mae. luckily mae is usually accompanied by her mom/my awesome sis heidi who i love to pieces and have such a good time hanging out with. even at a butt-busting gym class. and that says a lot.

showing baby hank the ropes of being a grown up kid (pics to come soon of stella wearing the super sweet dress liz made for stella's birthday). i also got to meet liz's sister- in-law jordan who confirmed my belief that the stanleys are one of the coolest families ever.

i was showing off this pic at a photo shoot and the photographer asked jokingly if i had hired a male model to hold stella. he's still got it, oh yea. bonus question. which hollywood actress thinks seth is total hottie?

trying on her party hat

this last pic is from the day that i left new york. i had a list of things to do a mile long and was letting stella get into all sorts of mischief. luckily my amazing friend tamara showed up to save the day and take the curious bebe off my hands. then tamara pulled a dirty deed and decided to move to california while we've been gone. we'll miss you guys so much!

more to come soon.

xoxo

kendra

birdy and ducky

2008-04-13T13:24:00.003-04:00

Stella's aunt Alpha got a baby duck this week; here are a few snaps from their first encounter

happy easter (and happy birthday grandma smoot!)

2008-03-25T05:51:00.003-04:00

she has us wrapped (literally) around her little fingers!

my parents rock

2008-03-25T05:47:00.002-04:00

this picture is from a recent trip they took to luputa in the middle of africa.

waiting for the tow truck

2008-03-07T14:55:00.002-05:00

after some epic dying-in-not-very-safe-places (i.e., harlem at night alone with the baby), we decided to donate the jeep.

sublet available asap

2008-02-22T23:42:00.002-05:00

remember how cool nyc is (see post below)? wouldn't it be fun to live here for a little bit? well lucky you! we're taking off in the beginning of march and will be gone through mid-may and we'd love to sublet our place. it's a large, sunny, quiet one bedroom apartment in the super charming neighborhood of hudson heights in manhattan. it's a part-time doorman/elevator building/with laundry in the building and is right off the A train (20 min to midtown). the neighborhood is amazing- organic grocers and lots of good take out and fort tryon park/the cloisters are among the highlights. please email kendralivingstone@mac.com if you or anyone you know is interested.

so in other news, we're headed to utah 'till may! hooray

our city is cooler (colder) than yours

2008-02-22T17:53:00.003-05:00

that's because when there's a giant snow storm our mayor has a press conference and announces (among other important things) that hot chocolate and sleds will be handed out for free in central park.

rockets!

2008-02-19T12:22:00.003-05:00

one of our fave smoot family traditions is launching rockets in the desert.

s loves a good beard

the launch pad, including "the dude" (grandpa) and "the skywriter" (anne)

the two grandkids

hoping for spring... cleaning

2008-02-12T09:05:00.000-05:00

*image from flickr

seth and i have a problem. we live in a smallish nyc apartment, and we have lots of stuff. some of this stuff is near and dear to our hearts, but the majority of it is random stuff leftover from photo shoots. being raised by frugal parents i have a really hard time just throwing it out once i'm done (but that's $80 worth of sequins!), and i'm hoping you friends out there want some of it. i was thinking of freecycling it, but trying to find something on there is like trying to find something good to watch on tv on friday night. so over the next week or so i'll be posting pics of the items we need to get rid of and if anybody would like an item please just leave a comment or email me and i'll try to bring it by if you live in the area or ship it. one caveat, some of this stuff is good and some of it is really bizarre. like the first item, which is a piece 4'x7' astroturf. anyone? anyone?

a few more

2008-02-05T22:37:00.001-05:00

ok, maybe this is stella overload, but these pics were too cute to not post

daddy's girl

2008-02-02T23:03:00.000-05:00

this little girl also LOVES her dad (this pic is from a video we shot where stella stares googly-eyed at seth for about 15 minutes). i can't say i blame her.

rub a dub

2008-02-01T14:02:00.001-05:00

this is one little girl who loves her baths.

judge these books by their covers

2008-01-23T00:11:00.000-05:00

over the holiday break i read a couple of books. they were both good reads, and i loved both of the covers:

love the image, and the type, and the color

the real find was meredith frampton, who's painting adorned my copy of "the painted veil". i can hardly find any information about her beyond the facts that she is british and passed away in the 80's. who is this mysterious artist and where can i find a complete catalog of her work?

i bid you adieu

2008-01-18T15:10:00.000-05:00

today was the last blueprint mag segment on the today show. my old boss, editor in chief sarah humphreys, had a gig once a month of presenting one of the stories from the current issue and i was in charge of the sets and propping. it was a good time, hanging with al in the green room. but now its over. you can catch the last one here. the best part? they credited me as kendra "smooth". good times!

therapy

2008-01-17T23:26:00.000-05:00

seth and i are really into the idea of saving money this year. in order to do so, i need to curtail my late night online shopping habit. it would be too harsh to completely stop looking, but in lieu of buying, i figured i'd post what i wish i was purchasing here.

on sale at west elm

new kitchen table and chairs

beautiful poster

vintage bentwood coat rack (i'd love this in the kitchen to hang spoons and towels off of)

old mantle- this is only $80 and a 20 minute drive (and totally impractical- we don't even have a fireplace!) but i loved the scrappy condition its inantique silver soup spoons (*confession- i actually bought these, but with seth's stamp of approval. we finally bought some new flatware at the antique mall in utah but there weren't any spoons)

antique french linens

decoy print- i'd love to put the loon above birdy's crib

so next time you come over just pretend that our pad is decorated with all of these beauties. seth, you'll be happy to know that we saved $3023 with this exercise. thanks blog.

FOTC

2008-01-17T15:13:00.000-05:00

I know what you're thinking, it might be considered old news, me posting this comment about the hit series 'Flight of the Conchords', but I guess it's just to reiterate how flippin funny this show is. These guys are brilliant. I had plenty of people telling me about it, maybe almost a year ago even..... but I didn't listen. I think it was Cameron McNeil first, then a bunch of other people, then Stephen and Di in November. Then at Trish's house watching the pilot with everyone; on and on. I wish I had listened sooner.

Now, after watching each episode in the first season a few times, as well as every clip and interview I could find on Youtube: everything from Bret as an elf extra in Lord of the Rings (no joke, you should see it if you haven't already), to every one of Jemaine's 'Outback Steakhouse' commercials, (props to Hadleigh's company for producing those a few years ago).

This is the funniest show that's been made in a long time!

Can't wait for season 2......

i miss you stella

2008-01-13T18:21:00.000-05:00

we are deep into our 2nd week of stella being sick/generally irritable. we're still not sure of the cause (teething, rotavirus, flu???) and our pediatrician didn't give us any solids ideas. stella seems to be on the mend and all i can say is thank goodness. i want my happy baby back. the troubles started while we were in utah, and as a result we didn't get to see a lot of you (you know who you are). our deepest apologies and please know that we would have much rather been dining on good rio with you than washing out the car seat for the third time that day. on a positive note stel has her first two teeth! hopefully we can wean her from this pedialyte diet soon so that she can use them on some real food. that will benefit us all- pedialyte has some not so pleasant side effects and stella's new name is sassy lass with lots of gas.

we have some great photos from utah- but seth has to clean off some hardware space before we can download them. here are a few i had on the computer- more to come. we had an amazing time hanging out with seth's family and my brothers and sisters. mom and dad, we missed you!!!

stella with papa smoot

stella at eight months and three days

the merry christmas elf

the best way to push a stroller

Cute pictures of Stellie + random thoughts

2007-12-01T00:05:00.001-05:00

I realize our blog is very feast or famine. It feels like I never have anything good to post and then all of the sudden there are about a hundred pictures I want to put on. The order is a little random- I can't figure out how to change it.

Uncle Drew came to visit for Thanksgiving. I don't know how I got such a great younger brother. He was the best guest ever.
Heidi, Jayson, and cousin Mae came too. Here they are rocking out on the keyboard from Big.
"Our" park. Fall is so amazing here.

I tell Seth on a daily basis that I want to crawl in with Stella and snuggle in this awesome sleeping bag contraption she has on her stroller. He thinks that I'm joking.
We tried on a couple of costumes in preparation for Halloween. This duck was from some neighbors we had never talked to and who just brought it over one day after Stella was born. Now we might live in their apartment when they move next fall. Weird.
Letting it all hang out in the new (well new to us anyway) highchair.
You better not pout, you better not cry. Stella actually spends a decent time of the day looking like this, but I like to keep up the facade of "happiest baby on the block" by posting only smiley pictures.
I made this hat! It is only a prototype because it doesn't fit that well and is falling apart, but it stays on better than any other hat she has and the fleece is super warm. And she looks like a little milkmaid. What more could you want in a hat?
Mae and Stella.
Enjoying fresh cider and fudge with the beautiful Alisia and Christie. There was a pig that I swear was just as big as Hogzilla (google this now if you haven't seen it!) about 20 feet to our left. Note Stella's outfit. She is often mistaken as a boy, which isn't surprising because she is always dressed like a boy (Seth had a "no pink" rule for the first few months of Stella's life). The thing is, when someone asks, "how old is he?" and they are just some random person in the grocery store, I don't really feel like going in to it, so I just say "he's blank months old." A couple of times I've gotten a little carried away and even told the person a made up name (Everett). Seth doesn't think this is healthy, but I don't see the harm.
We went on a road trip and had to stop at Wendys.
This is one of my fav pictures. Oh how I wish it was taken with the good camera. We were staying at a Hampton Inn in North Carolina. It reminds me of late nights and early mornings when Stella isn't sleeping and I want to be upset but she's so cute that I can't be mad. The other thing is that I LOVE Hampton Inns. We don't usually travel with an itinerary, which usually makes for some happy incidents but crappy motels. Hampton Inns are by far the best of the Holiday Inn crowd- the linens are nice, down comforters, and you can fit a portable crib in the bathroom!
We went with the Lion costume for Halloween, thanks to the lovely Design Mom who let us borrow it.

Apple picking. Have I mentioned how much I love fall in New England?
Melissa and Hadleigh accompanied us on an apple picking excursion. They are some of our best friends here in the city.

New Obsession

2007-11-29T01:26:00.000-05:00

I love a tv show. It's called Pushing Daisies, and I think that you should watch it. The set design, costumes, and casting are brilliant. One of the main characters, Chuck, wears an endless assortment of fabulous vintage frocks and hat/sunglass combinations and I want to own every single outfit. Every car driven in the show is my dream car. Its on Wednesdays at 8 or 9ish on ABC. You won't regret it.

The red and green combination- super saturated, I love it! The two women seated at the table are synchronize swimming sisters and one of them wears an eye patch. Argh! Where do they come up with this stuff??

Chuck, in a beautiful dress and a great haircut too.

stella in organize magazine!

2007-11-10T14:43:00.000-05:00

Lucky for us, she didn't charge much for her "modeling" fee.

roar........

2007-11-04T00:57:00.000-04:00

new website

2007-10-13T08:51:00.000-04:00

my new site just went live yesterday... huge thanks to jeremiah.
he's a champion of a guy.

for all of you oprah fans out there.....

2007-10-10T20:11:00.000-04:00

i'm giving style and organize tips on oprah radio with host peter walsh. hah! it's xm radio, but they gave me a link where you can sign in for free. once i find out what time it will be i'll add the link.

cutie pie

2007-10-10T00:45:00.000-04:00

kendra and i have a deal that whoever is home with stella for the day has to take a picture and email it to the person that's on a shoot that day. this was the picture kendra emailed me one day last week, it's definitely a favorite. what a little cutie pie, with her milky white skin and intoxicating smile. love this little bug! we're sad to see this new york indian summer end, but excited for stellie's first fall, and sweater weather... (the temperature finally dropped today)

seth's phone made some pictures

2007-10-06T00:30:00.000-04:00

In Delaware

Helping move the car for street cleaning

(no car seat required in nyc)

homeless or daddy

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

love this one

her favorite swing at the hidden playground

Bunny's new best friend

an august evening at the park

Hudson River from our park

Oh baby!

2007-10-01T22:43:00.001-04:00

Did you hear about the 17 pound baby girl born in Russia!! For those of you not in baby mode- Stella is almost six months old and weighs a whopping 15 pounds. Thats a whole lot of baby!
And for anyone that cares (grandma and grandpa), according to the pediatrician today, SLS is in the 97th percentile for height and 55th for weight.

This post is really for my pregnant girl friends who are wondering what to wear in these last few months of pregnancy. Since I pretty much worked until the day I had SLS (worked Friday, had her Monday morning) I had a couple of tricks up my sleeve for trying to look presentable but comfortable. Tops were super easy- its a very convenient time to be pregnant with all of the billowy blouses at Anthropologie and Forever 21 (which you probably buy telling yourself that you'll wear it after, and I can gurantee that you won't- there's some kind of mind block to wearing anything you wore while you were pregnant, trust me). One of my tricks was wearing Seth's button-up shirts. I'd roll the sleeves pretty high and use a thin colorful leather belt or funky tie between my belly and bust- this look got high marks from my coworkers. Pants are a bit trickier- I loved the bella band until about 8 months but couldn't make it work for the home stretch (I remember a shoot where I almost had my pants around my ankles). I bought a couple of pairs of maternity pants from h&m that I wore EVERY day. In retrospect, I had wished that I had ponied up and paid for a good looking pair of maternity jeans, because I still wore them for a couple of weeks after birth. My last trick was to jerry rig a coat- I had a 3/4 length navy wool double breasted coat that I "extended"- instead of buttoning it closed I pinned a line of large gold safety pins on the edge of the coat in line with the buttons, and slid the pins through the button holes of the other coat edge. The safety pins were skewampus when they weren't slid through the holes, but when the coat was "closed" the gold hardware looked super cool- very Sgt. Pepper. For dressier occasions I had one black target wrap dress that I wore to death- I'd just coordinate with colorful heels and jewelry and a fabulous pair of maternity black leggings. Good luck my ladies!!!

Anyone looking for an apartment?

2007-09-30T23:35:00.000-04:00

We're out of here Nov. 1st. If anyone knows someone who is looking for a place, it's a beautiful 1 bedroom in a great neighborhood. I can email pictures and give the lowdown on rent. It's a sublet in a coop building, and I think that you can sign a 1-3 year lease. No broker fee, but you'll probably have to tip the super.

We can't decide if we should stay in the neighborhood or make the move to Brooklyn. Lots of pros and cons either way. If anyone knows of any 2 bedrooms available, please let us know!

August-September Highlights

2007-09-17T00:49:00.003-04:00

At Winterthur mansion in Delaware

Central Park

Stella's favorite swing

Dog toy or kid toy???

she's gone organic

2007-09-06T22:51:00.000-04:00

today stella downed her first entire jar of organic apples..... she's really snobby like that. a few pictures shortly after the excitement.

The First Supper

2007-08-29T00:41:00.000-04:00

Stella tried a little rice cereal the other day. After gagging and tasting and moving the cereal around in her mouth we think that she might have swallowed about 1/16th of a teaspoon. Yum!

on her rocker

2007-08-17T18:15:00.001-04:00

Type 55s

2007-08-16T20:49:00.000-04:00

Thanks Alex for the beautiful photos.

We've been busy

2007-08-14T21:43:00.001-04:00

On shoots for The Today Show, Anthropologie, and Oprah Magazine. Stella has been keeping busy hanging out in her new pod chair. She's really proud of how she can sit up. And I guess that she can see farther these days, because we keep waking up to find her smiling at us from across the room in her crib. Yep, we're still in a one bedroom. Our lease is up in October, only problem is we can't decide if we want to stay in our neighborhood or make the seemingly inevitable move to Brooklyn. Anyone know of any 2 bedrooms in a brown stone in Carrol Gardens? That's all for now.

Strange But True

2007-08-04T15:14:00.000-04:00

There is a limited edition bag out called mega m&m's: BIGGER m&m's in Rich Colors. Not only is the size great- more chocolatey goodness per bite, but the colors are Beautiful. Seriously. They are all of my favorite hues, just take one look at my closet or our apartment. The only thing I'd change about the m&m's is the maroon. If it were my absolute dream bag it would be a super pale peony pink, and just a few of them as an accent. But they got it pretty darn close.

Check it out: gold, teal, maroon, brown, and blue-grey. Gawgeous!

quilted

2007-08-01T15:39:00.000-04:00

2007-07-30T23:32:00.001-04:00

beautiful morning w/stella

2007-07-30T20:50:00.001-04:00

stella is definitely at best form bright and early in the morning. unlike either kendra or myself, she's a morning person through and through. which, as dissapointing as it may sound, it's hard to stay upset for long with this little munchkin.... considering her bright and cheery morning attitude. she normally wakes up with a giant grin on her face; legs already engaged in her daily exercise of kicking sporadically, as if she's riding an invisible unicycle, arms punching in every direction. so if you want to see a happy stella, stop by anytime between 4 - 7 am

My next project

2007-07-28T01:13:00.001-04:00

Of course there are lots of beautiful pictures of Seth and his sisters growing up. One of my favorites is of his older sis, Anne when she's about 1 or 2, scooting around in a little walker, peering into the fridge. I was lamenting the fact that it's hard to find things that are as simply designed as that walker these days. Lucky for us, there's ebay:

These cute little spider walkers from the 70's have been going for between 15-20 bucks + about 20 bucks for shipping. The best news is that they fold totally flat for storage. I'm thinking about replacing the fabric seat with one of these Amy Butler fabrics:

I'm also trying to finish up a crib bumper, mobile, and daybed pillows. Will let you know how it goes!

More pics of Stella

2007-07-26T15:05:00.000-04:00

Part of an ongoing series of Stella with a calendar page. I saw this idea in Martha Stewart Kids, oh how I wish they still made that magazine!

With her best friend, cousin Mae.

Super Stella to the rescue.

On the porch, watching the 4th of July parade.

Future partner in crime, Robby Kate.

Showers

2007-07-20T08:08:00.000-04:00

I don't mean to brag, but Stella and I were really spoiled by three AMAZING baby showers. The first was one thrown by my good and incredibly stylish friend Becca. It was coed which I loved, fun to have Seth and all of our guy friends there to celebrate. Becca, whose a graphic designer for Aveda, sent out white onesies as part of the invite, with the request to decorate it for the baby. This is an especially good idea when most of your friends are super talented artists! As the guests came they pinned up their onesie on a wash line Becca had up in her apartment. Stella is finally big enough to start wearing the killer handmade items that feature things like cross-stitched skull and bones, flowers made with buttons, and screenprinted animals.

The second shower, and kind of the reason for this post, was thrown by my coworkers and is featured in the July/August issue of Blueprint. AND, my old boss, Sarah Humphreys, is on the Today Show today showing how to throw a similar shower. If you miss it you can usually watch it online for about a day afterwards.

The last lovely shower was thrown by my mom and sis-in-laws. Seth's best friend Jon Canlas came and shot some beautiful pics, which you can catch on his blog (the post is on June 20th and is titled "Stella's baby shower"). If anyone ever needs a photographer you HAVE to use this guy. Not only is he crazy talented, he and his wife Callie are probably the nicest people we know. This shower had a garden theme and the food was so delish- be sure to check out the cake with it's mini rhubarb!

Happy Birthday Seth!

2007-07-20T00:17:00.001-04:00

What was supposed to be a nice day off for the both of us turned into a day of work. Still, we managed to dine on Seth's favorite foods- Subway sandwiches and local Dominican takeout from Malecon. A few snaps from the day:

The birthday table

"Cake" made out of tape and nailpolish, yum!

Baskin Robbins ice cream cake, purchased on a whim, didn't live up to nostalgic expectations.