Don't Bite Back

 My beloved nephew, I adore him with all my heart.  Really, I do.  But lately he's kinda a dangerous person to be around.  You see, when his teeth first started coming in he would nibble (read: bite)  whoever was carrying him, this left bruises on some and red marks on most (i really wish i was kidding about this). So I was pretty relieved when he kicked the habit.  Except that he didn't.  Lately he has decided to relive his infancy (13 months is technically a toddler, people).  

Case in point: today he repetitively ran to me, hugged my leg and then ran away, while I was sitting down trying to do a take home final.  Cute, I know. He just melts your heart like that.  So after hug 37 he transitioned from just plain old hugging to playing a game I'd like to call "hug-&-bite."  Yep, a hug followed by a fast, unpredictable, hearty BITE.  On the thigh, no less.  This game happened oh, I don't know, a few dozen times.  Luckily for me I was wearing loose fitting pants, so my leg was (mostly) spared.  Unfortunately I did not go uninjured.  While on one of his rampages I tried to predict the bite and literally slammed my elbow into the back of the wood chair I was sitting on.  Since I  don't normally flail my arms about, I blame him for the bruise.

So next time you're around a sweet little toddler, do not be fooled.  They smile, throw balls, babble, giggle, hug, and bite.  You have been warned.    

The feeling, not the brand

A splendid thing happened today.

You know how people ask if you could eat one food forever and ever and ever what would it be? Well for me it'd be Starbuck's Christmas Blend coffee.  I know for all you 'technical' people that coffee is something you drink, but i stand by my decision.  So today  I bought a 1lb bag of the 2011 Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee.  Now I can connect the IV  brew it's beans at home. 

 behold:

   

off topic, but for those of you who don't know, I have the most rad nephew EVER:

yep those are baby Toms!

he loves dog watching

Jack's Best Friend is in the Making

Clean and Contemporary Nursery

I know it has been ages since I last did a post on anything babies or children. I have been consumed with work over at Llorente Design. I promise to share more things in this arena, soon!  In the meantime, here is a beautiful and contemporary nursery, I found over on Spearmint Baby. Don't you just love the framed eyeglasses print?! I want it for my studio!

I'm not a bee

My dears, I have not forgotten about you.  The semester is zipping to a finish and I've been quite busy lately with Mr. Van der Rohe (an entirely fictional character I made up for class, yes we play make-believe...which is a nice change of pace) along with finishing a paper I still haven't properly footnoted.   Not to mention a few take-home finals I have yet to begin.

I promise, when I'm done with the bulk of my work I'll grace you with more of my presence unless of course something worth sharing happens before then. 

Ps. Christie speaks the truth, I have love for Herman Miller and all that emanates from them, in particular the Eames designs

suspense

Our absence is debilitating, I know.

Truth is, I've been working on a life-consuming paper (wish i was kidding), but don't fret, I have a draft of Jack's first birthday festivities saved for ya'll and once I polish it up and make it all sparkly and pretty it'll be worthy of your presence.

for now i leave you with the one and only...

 

Poster for Baby's First Year

For all you mom's out there, check out this super cute poster by Kalon Studios. This poster is a great way to show your baby's first year (while of course making you realize how quickly time goes by, and making you cry just a tiny little bit).

image via JolieJolie

Coming Soon: Children's Invitations by Llorente Design

Hi Everyone! I wanted to let everyone know that a NEW childrens invitation line is currently in the works over at Llorente Design.  Over the last few weeks, I have been researching different packaging methods, reading, designing and looking at a lot of inspiration. I just love packaging!

Make sure to keep an eye out for my new invitation line, coming out very soon! If you're good I'll post a few Sneak Peak photos of my work in progress. wink. wink.

Super cool vintage packaging from the 60s and 70s.

Here is some of the packaging inspiration I came across:

by oh hello friend

by Campbell Hay

by Family Design Co

by MinieCo

image via Design Mom

Bonjour Mademoiselle

Happy Wednesday Friends!  This week has really flown by so far..don't you think?

Today I am featuring, one of my absolute favorite illustrators, Blanca Gomez of Cosas Minimas.

Blanca lives and works in Madrid, Spain and has illustrated for Dwell, Honda, and Chronicle Books, among many other companies.

Her illustrations go great in a nursery, child's room, home office, and pretty much anywhere you can think of. I adore her work!! Here are a few of my favorite illustrations. If you are interested in purchasing her work, please go here.

Adventures of Christie and Jack

This past Friday, I had the lovely opportunity to meet with the wonderfully talented, Michelle March. I wanted to have Jack photographed in honor of his 1st birthday, coming up October 5th!! Michelle was also kind enough to shoot some photographs of me with Jack for a mini mother/son shoot. I loved every minute of it.  :)

All photographs were taken at the beautiful and historic Deering Estate.

Many thanks to my mom and sisters for helping with the shoot..

To see more of Michelle's super-fab work please click here.

Rachel Zoe: Baby Skyler's Room

O.M.G.!!!

When Rachel Zoe recently shared her new nursery for her baby boy, Skyler with ABC News, I literally jumped out of my seat!

R.Z.'s nursery is the epitome of all nurseries for any baby boy or girl.  I love the clean and open feel the nursery has, and not to mention the cool gray color palette (with subtle pops of color). Skyler's walk-in closet is to die for! Can we say, drool worthy?!

Despite what anyone says I heart Rachel Zoe. 

I love her style, dramatic attitude, and "fashion language." 

Check it out!

goal

Oh the importance of letting a baby make decisions! read closely or you could be scaring the hee-bee-gee-bees out of your baby (or nephew, in my case).

A few weeks back we took baby J to Toys R Us. In the stuffed animal isle we decided to show him a few fluffs to get a feel for what he likes and dislikes. If you're wondering, yes, at 9 months babies do have preferences and make decisions, if you don't believe me, go have a baby.

case in point:

yes please

no thank you
caused by a purple bear with a cupcakes and hearts motif

scared


get-me-out-of-here

clearly, the boy has preferences. knowing this, on a recent trip to ikea we wandered through the children's department and decided that baby J should have his choice of fluff (since toys r us was highly unsuccessful and maybe traumatic). I was unable to document the decision making process but I did catch a few photos of his fine selection, his very own soccer ball.

look at those cheeks, yum.

expression of the month

he eventually threw the ball and decided it was time to play with the camera

tired

moral of the story: next time you're out with baby let them choose their fluff to avoid putting the fear of god in their tiny souls (which purple bears can do)


until later....

(go gators!)