1.31.2012

Keep Calm, Zombie On Poster - Contest Reminder



Just a reminder that the contest to win a KEEP CALM, ZOMBIE ON poster is quickly coming to an end.  You have until February 12th to enter.  In honour of all things that the Papa and I love, I am hosting a NEW YEAR, NEW (ZOMBIE) LOVE CONTEST.  The winner will win a poster from LovelyMPLS.  The poster is a take on the KEEP CALM series but is so much better with actual bullet holes and reference to zombies. 


To win you must:

1.  Follow this blog.  Do this by visiting bloglovin and searching themessinmessenger and then following.  The link on the side of the blog will take you there as well.  email if you are having probs.

2.  Comment on this post (if you commented on the initial post...don't worry I will still include you) about your fave zombie flick...or show...i'll give it to you
3.  You can put extra posts for liking themess on facebook OR getting a friend to follow the blog

The Paper Mama Self Portrait Challenge



















I recently started following The Paper Mama.  From what I can tell Chelsey is a great mom, creative, and a great wife.  She recently blogged about the negativity of comments on a blog.  Although it may be easy to say that disregarding such nonsense, it can be hard.  Especially when those comments are directed at your physical appearance.  I personally think that we are all beautiful and special, regardless of how much of a cliche you might all think that is.

I have decided to participate in Chelsey's Self-Portrait Challenge.  At one time I thought that it may be perceived as narcissistic to post photos of myself.  But the blog is a part of me and reflection of me.  How could I not?

So here is my Self- Portrait Challenge Entry:





























I love this photo taken in my kitchen as the sun was passing the window.  I like how I am mostly in the light and the darkness is vanishing ( a metaphor of how I like to live life ).  My smile is present and I am looking straight into the camera which symbolizes a sense of confidence.


Obsessing over…
Geometric shapes
Working on…
listening to The Great Courses on Philosophical Thinkers, Montessori games for my girls, drawing and crafting
Thinking about…
Hot Air Balloons & Coffee
Anticipating…
The Growth of my Children but relishing in the Now
Listening to…
Florence and the Machine
Eating…
Scrambled eggs with green onion, English Muffins and strawberries.
Wishing…
I could see my friends more often.

Blogger Gift Exchange!


 This year I decided to participate in a 2012 Blogger Gift Exchange.  Now I have done this before with sad results.  I participated in a cookie exchange online.  After spending a whopping amount of time and money for shipping, I received no package in return.  Just a sad email saying "oh, I thought I sent it but forgot" two months after the fact.  So with hesitation, I signed on for a 2012 New Year gift exchange and was partnered with Stephanie Caruso, new blogger, at Pop Goes my Culture.



Although, we have never met face to face, I can honestly say that I would really like this girl.  She is in to fashion, videography, blogging and pop culture - all things I adore!  Her blog is so catchy visually.  I love it.  Right now, she is a documentary filmmaker working on her M.F.A. in Documentary Studies and Production in New York.  Makes me wonder what the heck I've been doing all my life!  Ha!

So onto the gift exchange...









So by email we were paired randomly.  The goal was to get to know each other and then find a gift for the blogger.  I sent her a handmade lace necklace.  It was from my line.  I figured that working on a Masters and having a love for fashion that maybe she would enjoy something special for herself.  You can find her post of my exchange here.

As for me, Stephanie hit the nail on the head.  Recognizing my love of mustaches...she sent me these cute little mustache straw clips.  They are going to be endless party fun!

So Thanks Stephanie!

EASILY DUNN Sponsor Feature





























Jamie from Easily Dunn is an amazing person.  Her writing is exceptional, her blog personal and she has another babe in her belly!  This month I was a sponsor of Jamie's blog and she asked us each interview questions.  Please check out Jamie's blog and my post here explaining all things about The Mess in Messenger.

1.25.2012

Tat.Tues.: Inspiration










































Browsing weheartit.com I searched for tattoos that calm the spirit and were focused in nature.  My mind has been drawn to elements of nature.  I desperately await the coming spring, new growth, REBIRTH.

1.24.2012

The End of Her Second Revolution



























Little feet at my bed.
Day of birth wishes greeted with a tiny voice saying "thank you".
Vintage toys to excite.
An incarnate faery meeting with best wishes, sparkles and treats waiting in her wings.
The clapping of old hands at the little life, while celebrating, simultaneously the long life of an old friend.
Smiles in sunlit snow and ice slides.
Two candles burning to represent the sun with which you have revolved twice.
Kisses goodnight.  Wishes come true.

Babe I love you.

xoxoxo

1.23.2012

BABE PHRASE OF THE MOMENT



"My Dad makes beautiful pancakes."

1.21.2012

LITTLEST BABE'S SECOND REVOLUTION AROUND THE SUN




Today is her last day of being one.  The Papa reminded me.  As midnight approached past evening, a bittersweetness rushed over my body.  The Littlest Babe would no longer be technically a babe.  Her independence has been progressing for the past little while, but part of me has had difficulty letting go.  Although she is the more confident and strong-willed of the two babes, there has recently been an overwhelming desire within my heart to protect and preserve her innocence.  Her clothes and toys have always been loved by others and passed to her.  Her experiences and accomplishments, have been experienced and accomplished before by the Eldest Babe (although she has seemed to meet and pass milestones quicker than her sibling).  I see her at play groups clinging to her sister, mostly because they are the best of friends, but on the other hand, she is all she knows as friend.  This Mama just wants to hold her and wishes she still nursed her.  This Mama wishes she could be her entire source of comfort.  But I can't...and with that realization on the eve of her birth, came sadness.

The overwhelming desire to protect her extends beyond her fragility as second born, but my fragility after her birth.  The story is riddled with memories of my lack of confidence, medical discouragement, potential of loss and physical failure.  It still haunts me.

Luckily, images of her emerging self are stronger.  As a tiny babe, she was of the most serious disposition.  A smile was difficult to acquire.  A laugh seemed to be an impossibility.  She was a winter child.  A move to Montreal was quick on the heels of her arrival.  It was a long last bit of the cold season.  She had never seen the outdoors, nature.  But I remember her awakening.  Slung to my chest, she tilted her tiny head so far back that I feared it would snap.  Leaves.  Birds. Clouds.  Life.

With the spring came the love for her sister.  Her immobile self made it easy for Eldest Babe to capitalize on her big sis position.  She would teach her how to dance in the saucer, cover her head with cotton balls, show her the world.  It was blissful until the release...the release of the Littlest Babe from her sling.  Her personality seemed to release itself as well.

Her kindness overcame her crazies (silly voices, maniacal laughter).  At any moment her Eldest Babe was upset, mostly due to her hesitation to accept the inevitable progression and mobility of her sister - much like myself, this little one would give her anything, do anything to make her happy.  The constant struggle continues, but their play has evolved.  Their friendship overshadows any feeling of hierarchical disruption.

*************

Running into my Arms.

Excitement.

Spinning freely while requesting Mary Poppins.

*************

She has completed her second revolution around the sun.  She has experienced the Earth as fully as she can.  She has felt its warmth.  She has cozied in its cold.  She has known love.  She has laughed.  She has evolved.

As I look into her baby blues, oh so much of her visage reminding me of the man who made her, I see her eventualities, possibilities, potential and imaginings.  Although I want to preserve so much that is so innocent, I must also preserve that which makes innocence...pure experience, pure emotion untainted by Mama's interference.

To my Babe on your birthday,

The Mama


xoxoxo


1.19.2012

TWO LITTLE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED


Energy seems to burst in the half hour before bed time.  It results in the sheets being ripped from my bed, pillows strewn about, blinds pulled to open so that the Eldest monkey can catch some air.  And boy does she!  Here is photographic evidence of her exploits.

1.18.2012

What The Mama Wore Wednesdays

Although this is how i felt the past few days (no reason at all for dizziness, nausea and muscle numbness), I pulled off my sheep pyjamees and pulled it together, to wear the outfit below and take a pic of it.   Luckily the Papa is here to help me.



I have started to take a different approach to my dressing.  I am feeling more mature and have an overwhelming desire to erase all clothes from my wardrobe that hint at a university past.  I love modcloth and knowing that they have a Cabin Fever Sale with 70 % off, I had to order a few more items (think vintage librarian).  

This particular dress I purchased as a Christmas present to myself, for super cheap...now it is included in the sale and is even cheaper.



1.17.2012

TAT.TUES.

Today I am not feeling my most jolly.  I am mainly cold in my bones, wanting to vomit and have difficulty closing my fist for some reason.  A little dizziness accompanies it.  So after I get some groceries done and accompanying everyone to the library because I desperately need to return some overdue books, I will be heading back to bed.  I am also determined to get better because last year, because of an illness I had to cancel the Littlest Babes birthday party.

  On to the tat...On Saturday I met with Jimmy Gobeil, tattoo artist and friend, to have him sketch the above and tattoo me.  The entire process took all of 30 minutes.  It is funny how you forget the pain (minimal) but how instantly it all comes flowing back.

  The tattoo quote is something that the Eldest Babe started saying to me.  It was the misinterpretation of me saying something similar, but it stuck and we say it to each other all the time.  She whispers it in my ear as she's falling asleep.  She often says it just because.

  I never want to represent any living person on my body with a portrait but rather in words and concepts.  That way it seems more personal for me.

1.16.2012

12 Dates Of 2012: Date 1






































This weekend our first date of 2012 occurred (see 12 Dates of 2012 post).  It was so satisfying to know that we have made this commitment to each other for a year.  Regardless of how busy our lives might get and the demands of the Babes, we will get 12 designated times to reconnect.

Our first date was chosen by Allen:  a movie at the good ol' Mayfair - the theatre where we got married.  Pretty romantic.  For a week we scoured the Mayfair schedule to decide on a filme.  But settled on one that was happening the same day that I was getting my fourth tattoo (checkmark "get a tattoo" off my 29 before 30 list).

We settled on DragonSlayer, a skateboarding documentary that we thought, based on the trailer, which you can view in this post, was going to centre on living against the government's prescribed way of living.  Wasn't like it at all.

But anyways, to start with the date.  I completed my tat in less than 15 minutes.  Rather than call him to head back downtown to pick me up after he had just left me, I headed over to the downtown mall to check out some shops, browse a book store and pick up a birthday gift for Littlest Babe.  The Papa picked me up about an hour later to go to our fave restaurant - So Good - it's so good!  We indulged in Pepper Salt Tofu, General Tao Tofu, Malaysian Fried Rice and Flat Noodles in Spicy So Good Sauce. This restaurant also holds a little special place in our hearts because it is where we went on our first date ever.

With two hours before the movie began, we went for coffee, well Green Tea and a Soy Chai Latte, at Bridgehead.  It was here that I revealed the tat and we discussed all the other tattoos that we were going to get.  Our concepts were endless.  Our muscles clenched and winter gear on, we headed into the -20 degree weather (possibly - 40 with the windchill) to the Theatre.  It was so cozy.  A Movie-sized firelog was on the big screen of the heavenly warmed theatre.  We sat in the comfy couches...the couches where we sat to watch Abbott & Costello at our wedding.

It was perfect, relaxing and so nice to just enjoy an evening so simple.  When the movie ended, we headed to the G-Unit house to tell of our date and listen to tales about our Babes.  It was magical.

To the next date....

xoxox  The Mama

P.S. Tattoo to be revealed tomorrow.


1.14.2012

NEW PRODUCTS IN STORE


 This past winter I worked on creating more applique necklaces for my Bad Little Spice vintage & geeky musing line.  The "key to my heart" necklace is a beautiful lace applique with vintage inspired chain and pearl.  Really can be worn for any occasion.  Simple and elegant.

The "embrace the moustachio" coffee cozy is a fave of mine.  Upcycled from a sweater sleeve and needle-felted.  I am just in love with the moustache.  How could you not be.

REMEMBER:  free shipping if you live in Ottawa or Perth

xoxoxo

The Mama



1.13.2012

CARLY KMYTA'S BEAUTY PROJECT



















This past week I participated in Carly Kmyta's "Beauty Project".  Carly asked women to submit a picture and note which physical feature they love the most (and why) and a non-physical feature.  Check out my post here.

Carly was inspired after being on Pinterest and noticing that women were pinning pictures of what they aspired to look like.  She didn't understand the tendency to want to change oneself.  While it is obvious that our culture (media and otherwise) creates a climate where women are to look anything but real and impressionable young women fall easily to this manufactured beauty, it was welcoming and freshening that she embarked on such a project.  Her goal, is to inspire others to love themselves by showing her followers the depth of beauty.

1.11.2012

WHAT THE MAMA WORE WEDNESDAY: PINK PETTICOAT HAT (for BUYING at BADLITTLESPICE)






















Although I am presently working on a new line of babe and mama accessories, several items are available in store for purchase.  This "pink petticoat hat" is simply elegant and perfect for a ride on un bicyclette, possiblement en Paris. J'adore cette piece.

Head on over to badlittlespice to get it.  Also, if you live in Perth or Ottawa, shipping is always free.

xoxox  The Mama

1.10.2012

PAINTING MAGIC WANDS




BABE PHRASE OF THE MOMENT


Mama:  "How about tomorrow we make chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with icing?"
Littlest Babe:  "Oooooooh"!