R + G + B

there is typhoid in my fridge.

2010-07-20T20:25:00.000-07:00

literally. Ben's getting ready to set off on some great adventures, and.. some of those adventures warrant the suggestion of typhoid pills by our doctor. He's pretty pumped for what's ahead, but i think it will be something that just can't set in for a while. More to come though...

Things at home are in full tilt. Work for both Ben and I is incredibly busy, and just never seems to slow down. But, we're trying to carve out as much time as we can to hang out as a family, and enjoy summer with Ruby. We have a new roommate too. Auntie Mae is now a permanent resident, and she has her own sweet "bachelorette pad" in the basement. it's awesome. And it didn't take more than a couple of days for Ruby to figure it out, so she loves to knock on the door to the stairs and yell "Mae!". She knows just how to make her auntie melt into a puddle of goo.

We've been trying to work in as much sweet corn into our dinners as humanly possible lately, since we realized how much Ruby likes it :) (but, it's always served along WITH other things, ha ha) Apparently when you've got Klingler genes, the ability to eat corn on the cob is innate.

We spent the fourth of July weekend with my parents in Granville, which was great. Ruby loved the little street fair they have every year, even if it did feel like an armpit outside. But, my parents got Ruby a SWEET kiddie pool that had a slide and a giraffe-head-sprinkler, and boy did she love it! Don't you remember that feeling of trying to go down the slide, and getting "stuck"? This video brought back memories.

For now we're really focusing on finally getting our new place just the way we want it, so we've been keeping ourselves really busy. But, it's paying off, and it feels great to check things off of our to do list! We're also doing LOTS of reading these days. Ruby is semi-obsessed with books, but... only certain ones. There are a handful of books she will read over, and over, and others.. she just has no patience for. So, "BOOK!!" is one of her favorite words right now. We're also learning lots of new words. News ones pop out of her mouth pretty much every day. One of our favorites is when she says "YEAH!", she says it so much that occasionally she gets it in the right spot, and its hilarious. Another of our favorites is when she baa-aa-aa's like a sheep. its very realistic :)

Butterflies and Boston

2010-06-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

Life is good. This weekend we were visiting with the grandparents this weekend, since a work trip for Grace's job ended up being in Providence, RI. So, we decided to pack up the family and go up early to get in some time with the relatives :) We've had fun getting Ruby together with her cousin, and hanging with the family at large. We've been doing the circuit with trips to the petting zoo, the mcdonalds playland, playing with the baby pool in the backyard, wagon rides and lots of playtime. whew~ it's been exhausting in a good way :)

Here are some recent highlights...
A few weeks ago we went to the Butterfly Show at the Krohn Conservatory with Auntie Mae on her birthday, it was fun!

one of the trees with the orchids growing in/on it

the room with the japanese paper bird sculptures

Ruby had the best time running around in the crowds of people inside the actual butterfly room, although she was almost completely oblivious to the butterflies themselves.

the birthday photo with Auntie Mae!

Before our trip to Boston we got Ruby some new shades, they've had very mixed results... but, we managed to snap a shot of her enjoying them

We also went to a very cute and VERY smelly petting zoo nearby. I'm not sure we've decided whether the cuteness outweighed the smelliness, the giant emus were not cute, and they were the worst offenders.

There was a great trail for walking...

Ruby loved playing with Sydney in the baby pool, but wasn't sure about dipping her face in the water..

Ruby discovered the sliding doors while Gramps was grilling, and was super-excited when he waved back at her...

This is Ruby's idea of "smiling for the camera", we're working on that one...

And, Grams finally got her updated photo with the little ladies!

hello blog, it's been awhile

2010-05-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

We've been busy :) we moved into our first HOUSE!! (yipee!) SO, the process of puttin gour old place on the market, getting it sold, packing it up, getting the new place ready, moving in, and unpacking has kept us PRETTY tied up. But, we love the new place, and all of us are enjoying the extra space and especially the yard and the back deck (almost the best parts of the house, okay.. definitely the best parts, ha ha!)

But, first, we've got some pictures from Easter (a while back, i know). We had such a fun time this year! Ruby even got to "hunt" for easter eggs :)

IT's getting a LOT harder to get pictures with our little monkey, because she just doesn't like to sit still too often. She keeps herself quite busy :) But, we managed to snap a few on Easter.

She loved the hard boiled colored eggs. She loved them even more when she realized that she could squeeze them in her hand and they would crumble into smithereens ;)

so... our new house :) we're officially ohioans now.

This was taken before we actually moved in, but now the trees in the front yard are in bloom, and the plants in front are green and getting ready to pop with color when the buds open. It's lovely, though.. it's caused Ben to have the worst series of allergy attacks ever. Like, a several week long series. it wasnt' pleasant, but it seems that the third time to the doctor is the charm, and he's finally got some medecine that's helping

Our kitchen:

We painted chalkboard paint on one wall, so we're having lots of fun with that ;) I love to cook (when i'm not exhausted from work or baby-chasing that is) so the extra space is awesome. we're having a good time cooking and baking in here.

So, for inspiration's sake, here's one of my latest favorite concoctions:

I call it Thai Noodles. Here's how i make it:
I use boxed thai noodles in the "Thai Ginger" flavor. Then i cook some chicken strips and mushrooms in garlic and ginger. I cook the noodles in the microwave, and then pour on top of the chicken and mushrooms. Top with cilantro, green onions and chopped peanuts. We love it because it's quick, easy and it tastes really good. almost just like thai take out.

more pictures of the new house and Ruby to come :) Someone's up from their nap, so it's time to sign out.

ruby-doo. people, we have a 1 year old..

2010-02-25T19:19:00.000-08:00

that just sounds weird! but.. we do. we've got a toddling, curious, hilarious, mischevious, industrious little girl on our hands. she is into EVERYTHING now. there's almost no stopping her. Except that we're the big people, so we can. and she hates it. we've entered the "if-you-take-it-away-or-make-me-stop-i'll-be-really-really-mad-days". yeah. but, we're learning to work with it, and survive the strong will of our little lady :)
Plus, she is hilarious now. most things become a game very quickly, which we are thoroughly enjoying. IT's incredible to watch her learn things so quickly, and to watch her sense of humor develop, and sometimes a little weird to see what she actually thinks is "funny". She loves to ask what lots of things are now. And has a little vocabulary of her own with some words in sign language (though she's been doing that for about 4 months now) and some real words (like diaper, doggie, car, something that we think means keys-her main obsession, mama, dada, uh-oh, and her new favorite.. hi).

to say the least. its incredible. and now we know why people have tons of babies. they just make you want more :)

anyway, in life outside of "Ruby-ville", things are good. We've decided to sell our condo, so when we're not playing with Ruby or at work we've been cleaning like mad men, and fixing little things that needed touch-ups or just some maintenance-related attention. We went on the market this week, and our 2nd interested party came through the house tonite. So, we're encouraged by the interest generated, and we're praying for a quick sale. Since, keeping the house perpetually ready for a showing, with a 1 year old in tow is NOT something we're hoping to do for long... (read: put all giant toys in garage, store tiny toys in shelves/bins/bags/wherever we can find a spot, have showing, then remove all giant toys from the garage, and un-pack all small toys from every nook-and-cranny (if you can remember where you stashed them). then, get the call from the realtor and repeat the whole thing). haha..

here are some recent pictures of our little love :)

she's into climbing inside of things right now...

emigre decided to grow a moustache for the winter, to keep her lip warm.

this one's for you, aunt Sheree:

Ruby's Birthday Album

2010-02-22T19:28:00.000-08:00

Whether you've been rocking out to Ruby's birthday album or trying to get one of the tracks out of your head, now you can be an informed listener. Here is the track list:
1. Hap, Hap, Hap, Happy Birthday-Parry Gripp
2. Ruby Soho - Rancid
3. Peanut Butter Jelly Time - Chip-Man & The Buckwheat Boyz
4. Drop It Like It's Hot - Snoop Dogg & Pharrell Williams
5. The Hampster Dance Song - Hampton the Hampster
6. I Can Sing - Barenaked Ladies
7. Single Ladies - Beyonce
8. Ruby Tuesday - The Rolling Stones
9. Drawing - Bareaked Ladies
10. All Is Love - Karen O and the Kids
11. Clap Your Hands - They Might Be Giants
12. 7 8 9 - Barenaked Ladies
13. I Feel It All - Feist
14. The Ninjas - Barenaked Ladies
15. Gamma Ray - Beck
16. Everybody Dance - Paul McCartney
17. Do You Like Waffles? - Parry Gripp
18. Ruby - Kaiser Chiefs

Album Art Bonus:
You can download the album art below. To add it to the album in iTunes do the following:

-Save the picture to your computer.
-Select all of the songs in Ruby's Birthday Album in iTunes and choose File>Get Info
-Check the box for artwork and drag the file into the window.
-Click OK

Let them eat cake...

2010-02-15T12:29:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Ruby! (cake and presents) from Ben Saunders on Vimeo.

we were cracking up at her eating birthday cake! and my favorite part is the "cake dancing" near the end...
more birthday fun to share soon.

Happy Birthday Ruby!

2010-02-09T19:33:00.000-08:00

(brace yourself for gratuitous praise and prolific first birthday footage from a very proud mommy)

Today Ruby turned 1. neither of us can believe it. Now that she is walking EVERYWHERE life is different, but it's also tons of fun. Her personality has developed so much in the last 3 months, it's unbelieveable. There is no mistaking what she wants or doesn't want, and she has no trouble deciding which way she feels about it either :) She says "hi" and waves now.. to everyone, which is adorable. And she wants to know what everything is. Her favorite games are 1) opening and closing doors—especially if someone is on the other side, and 2) opening and closing drawers, and exploring what's inside them. Apparently our blue travel toothbrush holder has more value than we ever imagined. She's also developed what we affectionately refer to as her "maniacal laugh", which we both believe comes from the opposite side of the family.

We had lots of fun celebrating her birthday today, it was a pseudo snow day, so she was at home all day, part of the time with mommy, and then later mom and dad switched, and mommy went to work and daddy stayed home with Ruby. But, we had a blast waking her up in the morning, check it out:

Untitled from Ben Saunders on Vimeo.

and, we had a delicious birthday smoothie for breakfast. it's a new favorite. THen we opened a few gifts, and played. Ruby got some really fun looking bath toys from her auntie rachel, uncle chad and cousin Syd, they know she looooooves bath time :) and some sweet sweats from her great gramps and great grams. Ben is SO happy any time he can dress her in sweats :)
Later on in the day there was cake eating as well. We were incredibly proud and dumb-founded at the same time by what we witnessed. it was like it was destiny for ruby and the cake to meet. videos from that soon :)
it was a great day. and even though i've been a little weepy the last few days thinking about how i'm grieving the end of Ruby as a baby, i'm also incredibly grateful for the amazing year that God gifted to us with Ruby. And I'm super-excited for the next year!!! I can't wait to see how she'll surprise us, delight us, challenge us and humor us :)

and the first word is....

2010-01-29T12:26:00.000-08:00

Diaper. Yep, that's Ruby-doo's first word. Diaper. she loves to play with the diapers, and try to dismantle them. And the other night she started saying "diaper" while playing with it.. Ben and I could hardly believe it, so we kept repeating it, and she said it over and over!! and AGAIN that next morning :) So, apparently it wasn't a fluke, ha ha.
Ruby has always loved her bath time, but the other night, she got so excited when she heard the water running (meaning it was tubby-time) that she could hardly stand it. So, we got her undressed right there by the tub, so that she could watch it fill up.. she was in heaven. and couldn't WAIT to get in..

role reversal

2010-01-10T08:55:00.000-08:00

Ruby recently decided to read to ME at bedtime. and i happily let her :)

reading to mommy from Grace Saunders on Vimeo.

it's here...

2010-01-10T07:56:00.000-08:00

we're walking!! here's the proof:

walking!! from Grace Saunders on Vimeo.

we're SO proud of our little Ruby! She took these first steps on New Year's Day. Starting off the year right. I guess that was a good preview for us of what the rest of this year will look like :)

We had a great time over the holidays, even with all of the travelling. We saw grandparents, aunts, uncles, great-grandparents, and cousins too! We celebrated Christmas 3 times, in addition to our 5-year anniversary, AND New Year's Eve!! (even though Ben and i weret the only ones to see the ball drop) It was definitely a whirlwind.

There is a video in progress, with but we are crazy busy right now, so it's delayed for the time being. Afterall, we've got a first birthday party to plan!!!

Ruby went on her first plane ride too, and she was a champ! Although, on the way home Delta held everyone on the plane, on the tarmack for about 2 hours before they let us leave, and everyone was kind of fried. Ruby did great for THOSE two hours, but then once we took off, it was melt-down city. I guess she was only saying out loud what we were all feeling :)

So, we had fun, but we're glad to be home now :)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-16T18:33:00.000-08:00

Things in the casa de Saunders have been in typical "holiday-whirlwind" mode :) Crossroads is running the AWAITED show this year, get there. it. is. awesome. And Mae has a cameo in it with a FAN-FREEKING-TASTIC song that she wrote. And there are holiday parties, baby's first christmas, decorating, baking, wrapping, shopping, and general merry-making a plenty. We got our family pictures taken a couple of weeks ago, at Jon Willis' as part of the simple portrait project. We were pretty jazzed about the results:

Hard to believe that in less than one week our Holiday travelling begins. We'll be with the Klinglers on Christmas Eve, and then at our house with Grace's family on Christmas day. We did this last year, and it was great, so we're looking forward to "hosting" again, with our big brunch in the morning, and plenty of time to play with baby on her first Christmas... how the heck is that here already?!?! Then the day after we head to Boston for a week to hang with Ben's family, which will be great too. We're planning on betting on races between Ruby, her cousin Sydney, and the Roomba :)

Hope you're having a great holiday season too!

Ruby the Houdini

2009-11-19T17:21:00.000-08:00

Ruby had a little boo-boo on her toe last night, so we put a tiny band-aid on it, and then her Pajamas on, so that she couldn't get at it. When we woke her up this morning, somehow she had removed the band-aid from on her toe inside her pajamas and discarded it in the crib. houdini

This is late...

2009-11-11T16:42:00.001-08:00

but, better late than never. A few weekends ago we had a blast celebrating fall, and i only NOW have time to share :)

we went to the pumpkin patch with friends, and saw some farm animals, picked our own pumpkin, and went on a hayride. The highlight was petting baby chicks though.

meet "Pork Chop"

I made an apple crisp, and this is what happens when i make apple crisp from a recipe on the internet: i end up with 3 LARGE pans of it. Apparently the recipe i stumbled upon must have been made for a family of giants.

We carved pumpkins at our annual carving party! SO much fun

Someone got her first pair of shoes. I think they've actually been on her feet for all of about 7 minutes since we got them :)

Ben was out of town last week for work so it was just "Aunt Mae" and i and Ruby. Us girls managed to keep ourselves out of trouble, for the most part... but we SURE DID have fun!! But, ofcourse we were glad when Ben finally got back home. The munchkin gifted him with a GIANT grin when he walked in.

the laughter button...

2009-11-03T06:20:00.000-08:00

we finally found it! and boy have we been pressing it. we didn't each much halloween candy this weekend, because this was sweet enough!!! this was the total highlight of our weekend. enjoy!

the laughter button from Grace Saunders on Vimeo.

a collective work of art...

2009-11-01T12:15:00.001-08:00

Mae's halloween costume!

why is the weekend always SO short?

2009-10-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

we had a great weekend, and ended up getting to spend some time with Grams and Gramps, so Ruby had a great time (minus trying to remove her hat). It finally got chilly here, so we had fun digging out all the hats we got for Ruby. Since we discovered the swing it's been a weekend staple. This weekend we even tried out the slide, it was even better than i remembered ;) Here are some pictures from the weekend. Hope yours was great!

Sunday afternoon

2009-10-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

at the park! enjoying the first of the fall weather, and the swings of course.

apparently we weren't the only ones who thought it was a good idea. We passed about 5 other couples/families with photographers on our way out. i guess it was pretty much a perfect day for it :)

crawling and pulling up. all for the remote

2009-09-17T19:29:00.000-07:00

Ruby started to crawl! from Grace Saunders on Vimeo.

here she is crawling. like i said, hilarious!! and she's starting to want to pull up on things too. And, yes.. the reward? the remote control. she loves that thing :) we have no idea why.

live vicariously much?

2009-09-17T19:11:00.001-07:00

Tonite we bought Ruby these pajamas that we found when we were out, that sport her name on them. Growing up i always wanted to find items that were pre-fabricated with MY NAME, but.. they didn't exist. And every time i'd see some cheesy display of name magnets, name t-shirts, name mugs.. you name it, i'd look for my name. But, nobody was selling pre-fab stuff with my name at that time. So, when i saw these pajamas, i immediately thought of that. And, we had to get them. Also, they're ridiculous-cute, and make her look even more like a kiddo, and less of a baby. Which, i can't decide if i'm alright with or not. ANyway, here they are.

this one is Ruby in the middle of an arm-flapping explosion of happiness:

Work has been a bit overwhelming since we got back into town, so i haven't made much time to update the blog. But, things are good. Ruby continues to grow like a weed. Her biggest recent milestone is that she's crawling now. It's hilarious, and makes me crack up almost every time she does it. It's like watching someone who has limbs with minds of their own attached to them, and they can't figure out really how they work, but they're SO glad that they DO work. We have some video that we'll get up here soon. So, she wants to crawl around and explore everything now, of course. Especially dog toys, and the actual dog. Those two are fast becoming best buddies. Here she's decided to crawl over my leg to get to.. SOMEthing.

it's unclear...

2009-08-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

...whether Ben is trying to impart his fashion sense to Ruby here, or just to begin teaching her about which teams she ought to root for. either way it is stinking adorable :)

6 months ago today...

2009-08-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

it seems impossible that we were less than 24 hours into our parenthood adventure :) and still getting used to the idea that our "peanut" was actually a baby girl. (not to mention marveling at how much hair the child was born with) Not to get too "gooshy" but, having Ruby and being parents really is the most amazing thing ever. Trying to fathom that we ARE her mom and dad.. and that one day she'll call us that, ... still difficult sometimes. I think we're learning that being parents is full of those "i can't believe (fill in the blank)" moments. Like, we still can't believe all the things Ruby can do now, as opposed to when she was 18 hours old (like she was exactly 6 months ago, this moment). She can smile, and has the most adorable sense of humor. She has all KINDS of different cries and other noises, all meaning very different things, from "i'm FREEKIN' HUNGRY, hurry up the mashing of my homemade baby food people!!!", to "I NEED my pink bunny to snuggle if i'm EVER going to fall asleep", to the sweet, sweet coos she makes to say good morning when we walk in to get her after she wakes up, like "i am SO happy to see you! I missed you while i was asleep!". She KNOWS what she wants, that's for sure :) it's awesome. that's pretty much it. and we're amazed by her every. single. day.
(and by her hair)

...Cause a Ruby Saunders Party Don't Stop.

2009-07-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Ruby from our most recent trip to Babies 'R Us. Aside from the fact that she is riding in a shopping cart, please note that she has both hands on toys despite being asleep.

all sorts of adventures

2009-07-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

So, first, our culinary adventures. this weekend we decided to take the plunge with Ruby, and become her personal chefs. Since she's ready for the new adventures of veggies and fruit, we decided to make her baby food ourselves. It should be a fun adventure. I spent most of the afternoon making Ruby sweet potatoes for the first half of the week, and apples for the second half. We tried out the sweet potatoes for dinner tonite. She gobbled them up :)

We also had aquatic adventures this weekend. We tried out the pool with Ruby for the first time, and we invited some friends along to play with us. the Armstrongs came over and really livened up the pool party. We were thrilled that Ruby loved the water so much, since we'll have lots of access to water next month at the beach with Ben's family :) we took some video we'll post soon.

and, ofcourse, it wouldn't be the weekend around here without a little photo shoot action!
hope you had a great weekend too!

our growing gal

2009-07-18T15:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some new photos of our growing little gal. She is changing SO much! She actually scooted herself backwards on the changing table today. Pretty soon she'll be moon-walking. (ben demonstrated how it works for her today).

What happens when Auntie Mae babysits...

2009-07-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

Aunt Mae babysat for Ruby last night, so that we could go on a legitimate date. Out to an awesome dinner, and some fireworks by the river, and a walk. The weather was GREAT, and it was beautiful outside.
We returned home to a little surprise Mae had cooked up for us. You can see for yourself here. Though, it wasn't that surprising, considering what happened before we left for the evening...

she was posing for an impromptu photo shoot with a belt she found in my room.

Ruby loves her cereal!

2009-07-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

Ruby loves her cereal! from Grace Saunders on Vimeo.

our little cereal eater!

Dinner time just got interesting

2009-07-15T17:36:00.000-07:00

In the last week or so Ruby has started not just eating rice cereal for dinner, but demanding it. Here's the proof:

Video forthcoming...

a guest blog. By Mae Klingler. Photography by Grace E. Saunders

2009-07-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

The four of us (Ben, Grace, Ruby and Mae) went to Pergola, the new place on the square in Fort Thomas. We wanted to like it. We really did. That's why we gave it a second chance after the Father's Day debacle (when we went and waited to be seated only to be told they were closed. At 1:30. And they were supposed to be until 2:00. It's cool. Panera always satisfies. Especially Ben.)

We felt pretty forgiving and optimistic when we decided to try it again after the screening of our entry for the 48 Hour Film Festival. We sat down and, strike one, the waiter didn't laugh when Mae tried to tell a joke. Dude. Lesson one in servery: laugh at the blond chick...even when the joke isn't funny.

Then...flat Coke. No biggie. But the best part of the evening (at least my favorite part) was when they brought the dinners. Personal size pizzas were on the menu so Grace and I split one and Ben got one for his dinner. When the waiter brought them out, some of the toppings were mixed up. No problem. We're pretty forgiving people. But when he came back and told us that The Kitchen said there was no mix-up: "They said the roasted garlic is underneath the cheese. And they've chopped it up REALLY small."

Okay.

Sure.

So small we can't see it.

Or taste it.

Right.

All of this can be overlooked. But when we got the bill and were charged for the flat Cokes that were returned after one sip AND the invisible toppings, Pergola was dead to us.

So our diagnosis: Sure, try it. We dare you. But only for the pizza (carry-out, for your sake). And make sure they don't use any of those "invisible" toppings.

comments: (1)

-Yeah, Tell 'em you're only paying for the toppings you can SEE.

say cheese.

2009-06-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

Ben calls these Ruby's tastefully nude photos. and, as always Emigre makes a cameo appearance near the end. For the full "show" you can go to our Flickr page, but here's a little appetizer...
Tonite is the screening for Ben's team's film for the 48 hour film festival. So, we're gathering our posse to get as many votes as possible for the "audience category". It turned out SO great!!
And tomorrow, burritos in the park, plus frisbee :) yea!!

photostream

2009-06-20T21:07:00.001-07:00

there are new pictures up on our flickr page :)

Doin' Work in the Exersaucer

2009-06-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

Exersaucer from Grace Saunders on Vimeo.

weekend warrior project

2009-06-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

Ruby—June 2009 from Grace Saunders on Vimeo.

here's my (grace's)first attempt at video editing. enjoy!

Documentary evidence of the existence of the Rat Tail

2009-06-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

The rat-tail in its natural habitat. Since we live in Kentucky it actually improves street cred.

first date

2009-06-09T18:21:00.000-07:00

ben and i were able to go on our first date together since Ruby was born (exactly 4 months ago today) on Sunday afternoon. We've been fairly successful at going places with her, but this was our first time out TOGETHER without the little lady. My sister and parents were over for the afternoon, so we slipped out for a quick trip. We went to Graeter's and grocery shopping, heh. How romantic :) it was nice though. a little strange at first, .. but we enjoyed it! a little anti-climactic since she's been at co-op for almost a month now, ha ha.

adventures in parenthood...

2009-06-05T18:58:00.000-07:00

we learned a memorable parenthood lesson tonite. we decided to go for thai food and some new baby toys tonite. So, we found a new place we were ready to try, and sat down, ordered, in the middle of some pleasant conversation and a very happy, content baby. then, a little fuss, and i caught a whiff of what she'd been working on, a full diaper. SO, i check out the restroom only to discover that it's not baby-changing-friendly. So, i pick her up out of the car carrier seat, to head outside to change her in the back seat. And then i spot a giant poop-stain on her side... As i walk out to the car i think " i hope we didn't take those extra clothes out of the bag"... somehow knowing that we did. And wondering what that would mean since she was wearing a one-piece. and i was right. So, after i get her into a clean diaper in the parking lot i just sort of stood there staring at my little naked baby on the backseat of the car, smiling up at me.. hoping that if i thought hard enough i'd remember somewhere we had stashed some extra clothes. Since the only other clothing in her bag was a jacket i put that on first, still hoping for genius to strike. and then i found that my only other option (Aside from walking a half-naked baby into a somewhat nice restaurant, and past nice people eating their dinners-which i couldn't bring myself to do) was to wrap my nursing cover around her, and hope it looked like she was just bundled in a blanket. As, i had also left her blanket in the restaurant with her carrier seat. As soon as we walked back in Ben looked at my smirk and knew exactly what had transpired. So, once we sat down, i popped her back into her carrier seat, and just covered her up with her blanket. No big deal.

or so i thought. THen i realized that Ruby refused to keep our little secret-that i was a poorly-prepared mom, and she was ready to out me to the world. That little stinker thought it was hilarious to kick her leg until she got the blanket off over and over. WHenever we watched her she would pretend she couldn't get it off, and as soon as i'd look away to eat, POOF! there was her diaper and bare legs showing again. along with a really funny little grin on her face. I read that her sense of humor is beginning to develop now that she's almost 4 months old, and tonite was evidence of that :)
the lesson is: always, ALWAYS make sure you're prepared for blowouts.

This little piggy went to market...

2009-05-31T07:39:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning at Findlay Market with Auntie M.

Ruby learned how to laugh

2009-05-24T17:16:00.000-07:00

1st Laugh from Grace Saunders on Vimeo.

The best ones are toward the end.

RGB

2009-05-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

But, with the addition of our gal Ruby, our family initials spell out RGB. (i get a HUGE kick out of this!!) I promise that was not a factor in choosing her name.. honestly. but i (grace) got REALLY excited when i realized it!

RGB= Red, Blue, Green. a term used by design/video geeks to refer to the colorspace used by an image or video.

we know. we're geeks, and proud of it :)

another day, another photo shoot

2009-05-23T11:43:00.000-07:00

yeah... i can't help myself!!!
3-day weekends are always good for a random photoshoot or two :)
we created a flickr photostream (click the link on the right) for more photos, so that we can share more of them than we can put on here.

A BIG week

2009-05-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

this was a week of firsts for our family. First mother's day. First week back to work for Grace. First week at co-op daycare and first roll-overs for Ruby.
Last weekend we had 3 days all-together, and we did lots of fun family stuff. It was great hang time. Sunday we went to brunch:
Then we went to the zoo. Ruby slept almost entirely through the zoo, except for (literally) the last 10 minutes, which we knew might happen. Still, we had fun.
Then we had a picnic dinner:THe next day was the first day back to work and leaving Ruby at co-op daycare. THere were lots of tears, though i don't think any of them were Ruby's :) But, we survived, she seems to be having a great time during the day with Miss Megan and her new baby friends. For now she's the littlest one, so she's getting a lot of attention for that.
Ruby's even been helping Grace with her work :)
And, she's got a new favorite toy, her super-soft bunny. loves it!!

i'm ready for my close up...

2009-05-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

can never have enough baby photos!!!

a few new pics

2009-05-06T18:16:00.000-07:00

a few new things Ruby likes to do. She enjoys sitting, playing with AUnt Mae, eating her hand, and more eating of the hand.

We found this...

2009-05-06T18:06:00.000-07:00

on the baby. Thank you #61 for making sure we got such a great baby!

the gift of gab

2009-04-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

Our gal has recently started talking up a storm, so we thought we ought to share what she's been up to. It's hilariously cute :)

Ruby Talking from Grace Saunders on Vimeo.

Baby's 1st iPod

2009-04-19T18:57:00.001-07:00

We dug up Grace's old iPod and wiped it clean and put Ruby's music on it. Now she can listen to 'Drop it like its hot' whenever she wants.

a 15-minute snippet of Ruby's day

2009-04-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

12:45
12:47
(daddy walked past in front of her)

12:50
(Emigre tries to sniff her sweet baby smell)

12:55
(mommy's making faces at her)
1:00
(lunchtime)

my amazingly talented sister...

2009-04-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

and if you don't believe me, here's the proof.
She wrote all the songs herself, and i think they... are... awesome! The only thing that's possibly better than the songs themselves, is getting to watch her "perform" them in the videos. enjoy!

tough as nails

2009-04-10T09:17:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Ruby's 2-month birthday (hard to believe), and for her birthday she got an arsenal of shots, bummer. There was crying, but also some really cool band-aids. My favorite is the pink camo band-aid. She's okay today though, she doesn't even remember it, thank goodness :)
this weekend we'll be trekking up to my family's for Easter, so it's our first road trip, yipee! ...and her first easter basket :)

we're RRRrrrready for the family beach week this summer...

2009-04-04T12:45:00.001-07:00

see the proof.

Watching golf with Dad

2009-03-29T19:29:00.000-07:00

Ruby Saunders, Girl About Town

2009-03-21T21:40:00.001-07:00

We decided to get out of the house, and Ruby made her first trip to church and the mall all in one evening.

Pumping Iron

2009-03-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

It may not seem like that big of a milestone, but this afternoon was the first time that Ruby held something. Next week we're going to start working on her lats and delts. Does anyone know where we can find a baby-sized bench press?

a sneak peek...

2009-03-11T19:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a sneak peek at some of the photos we had taken a couple weeks ago of Ruby. The photographer is great, we love Carmen. You can take a look at them on her BLOG. I heart these photos, and i'm so happy to have these beautiful little keepsakes from those first couple of days at home with Ruby. i think these are my two favorites

But it's almost impossible to choose, because i love all these images so much!

She had her 1 month check-up this week, and she's doing splendid. She's almost 9 lbs now, and has grown by 2 inches! We can't believe it.

Last weekend was also her first meeting with Ben's side of the family. Grams and Gramps Saunders as well as Great-Grams and Great-Gramps came for a visit, and i think it's safe to say it was love at first sight :) everyone enjoyed the visit, and Ruby pretty much got passed around from one lap to the next most of the weekend, but she didn't mind.
A few pics from what we affectionately refer to as "the circus":
4 generations here!!
We even got out for a walk yesterday, which was AWESOME. It was 75 degrees, and Ruby is big enough to carry in the front-pack now, so we celebrated a good doctor's appointment by taking a walk together, and we invited Emigre too. Now we're hungry for more of that spring weather!!!!

Plus, it's a common opinion that Ruby looks a lot like Ben, but look at these baby pics of Ben... we didn't know she was actually a female CLONE of him... (ha ha)
the only way we can tell the pictures apart from the pictures of Ruby is by Betty's hair :)

she drizank that bizottle

2009-03-03T19:47:00.000-08:00

We discovered late in the pregnancy that Ruby apparently likes Snoop Dogg. Actually, her favorite song is "Drop it like it's hot." The first time she heard it she went nuts inside the belly, shimmy-shaking all over the place. The next time we played it for her, same thing. So, we still play it for her occasionally. Tonite, as our sleepy eater began to drift off mid-dinner, we decided to play it and see if it helped. And of course, it did. Ruby, we're sure this is only one of the first of many things you'll surprise us with :)

baby chick hair

2009-03-02T16:49:00.000-08:00

Ruby had another enjoyable bath last night, and Auntie Mae was around to help out. So, she got to enjoy the baby chick hair that follows bath time. we always get a good laugh out of that. it's one of Ruby's classic schticks.
And here's a new schtick we just discovered, ruby with her shirt open. THis is her first pair of pants, her first time wearing an actual "ensemble", or clothes that aren't all one piece. So, we open up her clothes when we feed her to keep her awake, as she is a very sleepy eater.. and we realized how funny it looks when she wears pants. so we had to share :)

life with Ruby

2009-02-24T14:53:00.000-08:00

is pretty great.
She is an incredibly good baby. not to mention beautiful :)

our little family is getting adjusted to life with the newest member more and more each day. For now Ruby pretty much only cries when something is wrong, she is usually very pleasant, and happy to chill with mom and dad.

we may be a little goofy from sleep deprivation, but we're doing well.
Even Emigre is getting a little more used to having someone smaller than her around.

baby photo shoot

2009-02-12T14:19:00.000-08:00

i just... couldn't... help myself. a sunny day, a new hair bow, and big, bright eyes. we had fun this afternoon.

Emigre doesn't waste any opportunities to smell as much of Ruby as she can get to. I think Ruby is suspicious of her.

and, i just thought that this was funny.

All three of us are doing great. We got home from the hospital yesterday afternoon, and though we were sort of nervous to leave the hospital (where everyone has answers) to go home (where we're just 2 newbie parents with this precious baby they somehow let us take home from the hospital)... but once we got home, got showered and sort-of settled... we were incredibly glad to be here. So, we're slowly getting used to the new schedule with eating, sleeping, and the strange excitement that comes with a poopy diaper. (we can hardly believe that we feel that way, hah!)

Emigre is doing well, rather needy right now, but being a good dog. She is MUCH more cuddly than she normally wants to be, so we think she's just trying to make sure she's still the top dog. And, while that's true... our definition of "dog" is just more realistic.. hah ha. sorry pooch.

A couple more before we head home

2009-02-10T17:49:00.001-08:00

Here are a couple more pics from last night when Ruby got to meet some of our friends. Thanks to Timmy for taking them. Everyone is still doing really well and we'll be heading home from the hospital on Wednesday morning.

30.. and now a baby

2009-02-09T09:55:00.000-08:00

We are very pleased to introduce Ruby Inez Saunders. She was born at 4:13 this morning at 19 inches long and 6lbs 7oz. Delivery went smoothly and everyone is doing just fine. Here are a couple of pics to tide you over (it might take a while to compile everything from all 3 cameras that we have with us).

30.. and still no baby

2009-02-07T09:02:00.001-08:00

We're one day past our due date now. Baby peanut was due yesterday, on my 30th birthday, but apparently bunking our timeline. i guess Peanut wanted to have an individual birthday, as opposed to sharing with mommy, AND likes to do what he/she wants. i wonder if this is a window into starting to get to know this little one. (ha ha)
so, we're just... waiting. not something i'm good at, admittedly. Hopefully this little bambino won't make us wait much longer. My official response to all the phone calls asking if the baby has been born yet is that we want to "get this show on the road".
And, no. 30 doesn't feel any different than 29. but it did come with some fun balloons and chocolates from our buddies yesterday evening. who can complain about that!!

iBaby

2009-02-03T14:32:00.001-08:00

here we are faced with the "white death" (okay, admittedly Ohio's definition of the white death) as we wait for Peanut to decide to be born... I can't decide whether to hope the baby comes tonite or not.. i'm really torn at this point. I'm ready to get this party started please.
Ben, being the ever prepared new daddy that he is downloaded a new "app" to my iPhone today. it's called "iContraction" (that made me laugh), so we can use it to time them once they start coming... it even counts down to your due date (as if we aren't already "painfully" aware of how close it is)—only 2 days to go! (we'll see)

who knew the iPhone would even help us give birth... now if we can just get the iPhone to let Emigre outside to do her business.. then we'll be good to go.

Holy costume party, Batman!

2009-01-25T17:05:00.000-08:00

We ended up babysitting for our friends Arian and Daniel's two little guys (Hudson and Jude) yesterday. I hope the boys enjoyed it as much as we did :)
Besides dressing up in bat-gear, we made milk tea, and played a winnie-the-pooh "memory-esque" game... which we totally lost. Hudson was A LOT better at that game than we were. We knew we'd have to change Jude's diaper at least once during the afternoon, so i decided that Ben should do it, just to make sure he knows how... before we bring home our own little diaper-dirtier. (which could literally be ANY time now) Success. He did it, and Jude (or Thunder Thighs as we like to call him) was a very patient test-subject :)

polka dots a-plenty

2009-01-18T14:03:00.000-08:00

We've been working on Peanut's room for months now, and it's finally come together. We love it, and we're excited that it actually feels sort of like the vision we set out with :) always fun when that happens. Anyway, here are pictures of Peanut's room:

This is Ben's creation for Peanut, it was his idea when we saw these vintage Alphabet cards with animals on them one day. He did an AWESOME job figuring out how to display them all, and hang them up. though, a few of the animal choices are a little... odd.

so for the most part, Peanut's room is done. Now all we need is Peanut, ... and some diapers.

We also FINALLY took some pictures of the new flooring we had installed just before Christmas. long overdue (the pictures AND the flooring).

It totally changes the feel of the space, we're really happy with it.
in other news, Emigre has warmed up to "the belly". we think she and Peanut will be best buds.

survival mode

2009-01-09T15:14:00.000-08:00

this week was all about the survival. luckily we did, ...survive. I got some kind of stomach virus or food poisoning on tuesday night in the wee hours, which was horrible. putting me out of commission for a full day of production week at work, which upped the craziness factor. but, in the end i lived, the baby is fine, and the magazine went out. And we'll all live happily ever after.
We also had our last (most likely) ultrasound of Peanut yesterday, lookin' good. currently 4.5 lbs, and about 17.5 inches "tall". The doctor's exact words were "Well, it certainly won't be the BIGGEST baby in the nursery". we didn't get to see nearly as much as we would have liked, mostly just kidneys, heart, and other organs, and the heart is the only one we could recognize. But it was really workin', and it was really cool to be able to see it so much more developed, before it looked like a blip on the screen, but now you can see the two separate chambers and everything. But we did get a cute "profile" picture of Peanut's face. Ben's convinced we only saw organs so that our gender surprise didn't get ruined. But we did also get to watch Peanut trying really hard to suck its thumb, except the aim's a little off... no thumb in the mouth yet. but sucking motion = check.

enjoying a post-holiday coma-like state.

2009-01-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

We've had a whirlwind couple of weeks... literally. two weeks ago we finally made the decision to rip out the flooring in our home and replace it. We're SO glad we did, though it ended up meaning that (due to previously scheduled committments) we had to move all the furniture out of our office-on-its-way-to-being-Peanut's-room, and our great room/living room/dining room on Sunday December 21st. That way the construction (or rather the initial "destruction") could start on that Monday at 7am, and be done the following day at 9pm. This had to happen because we had Christmas at our house this year. SO, we had to move all the furniture BACK in on Tuesday night late (THANKS to Amy and Ben's help) and clean up an inch or so of thick dust from cutting all the flooring, not to mention putting up our tree and other christmas decor, and then grocery shopping for Christmas day festivities, and wrapping our gifts. We were exhasusted by the time Christmas was over.
However, Christmas day was GREAT. Mae and the Klinglers came over, and we made a big Christmas brunch, as is our tradition. then we hung out, opened gifts, cooked, talked. We LOVED having the family over for the holiday. We'll definitely want to do that again.
Then, we had a few days of "Rest" to set up baby's room more, and put together some more furniture. It's definitely starting to look the way we envisioned it now, but we still have some more decorating to do in there before we're ready to show it off to the cyber-world.
Ben's parents came to town on Tuesday, and i had a baby shower with all our friends in town, which was SO much fun. Several of my friends live out of town now (and some out of North America), but it was a HUGE blessing that everyone was able to come and celebrate. It was SUPER cute, and i had the BEST time. Mae took our nursery "theme" (we're not theme people, but we get asked what our theme for the room is all the time-i guess circles/polka dots is as close to a theme as we'd want to get) literally, and here is the cake she made. As stylish as it was tasty.
All the guests chipped in to buy us our stroller, which we are SO excited about, so here it is:

It is pretty much the cadillac of strollers, this thing really does turn on a dime. We tested it briefly with Emigre the dog in it, and it is one... smooth... ride. Though, she looked kind of freaked out.
ANyway, it was a great time. We also thoroughly enjoyed having Ben's parents in town for as long as we could get them. They bee-bopped around town with us while we:
- visited Arian and Daniels new digs (which are only FIVE minutes from us-yipeee!!!)
- checked out the long-awaited skyline chili fountain which debuted at Amy and Ben's on New Year's Day. that was... well, something you HAVE to see. (and smell) hah!
- they gave us our car seat and crib bedding for Christmas, so we all got those things set up
- did a little shopping
- and we took them to dinner at one of our favorite chinese spots. Yum!
- there was also a rousing game of Cranium, a tight race. But we found that I (Grace) and Robb had an eery connection, and pulled out a win.

It's been an incredibly busy couple of weeks, but we have had a blast. Just a few more finishing touches to Peanut's room now, and then we'll post photos, and show everyone our new floors soon.

Who's ready to party?

2008-11-26T20:01:00.000-08:00

A typical night for Emigre.

Annie Liebowitz we might not be...

2008-11-26T19:50:00.000-08:00

But we did get a little inspired tonite, and took some updated family pics with the belly. Peanut is quite a little kicker these days. Grace can feel the baby moving all around like crazy. The other night she woke up in the middle of the night and yelled at Ben "STOP poking me!!". Then we thought about it for a minute and Ben reminded her... why would he do that? and we realized that the poke came from Peanut. Anyway, enjoy the new pics :)

cleveland rocks

2008-11-10T18:17:00.000-08:00

we went up to cleveland with friends several weekends ago, it was just like a college road trip. We had a great time. So, we're finally getting around to posting a couple of pics from the trip.

this is Ben G. climbing the FREE stamp statue downtown. we were amazed at how fast he scaled that stamp.. it really was a big stamp.

this was the kind of italian family restaurant that you dream about finding in a hole in the wall... it was a TOTALLY cool place. We could tell that almost all of the tables around us were "regulars".

I just liked this picture, and wanted to include it because, how often do you see something like this? by the way, Greg has vowed never to squeeze back into that tiny little space again.
anyways, it was a great weekend.

post halloween

2008-11-04T15:25:00.000-08:00

We tried playing some more tunes for Peanut, this time we went with an assortment of U2, the Fray, Cold Play, and some Derek Webb. We got the best response to U2 and Cold Play. We pretty much decided that anything upbeat and happy sounding is the most popular. It was so fun, Peanut was having a regular dance party and kicking like crazy!

We had a great Halloween. We passed out (some) candy at our friends' place in Pleasant Ridge, we also ate some... :) It was a great night outside though, perfect for trick-or-treating. Our pumpkins were a hit. Then we headed to Chipotle for free burritos...

We found out that if you "dress like a burrito" (AKA: put some miniscule amount of tin foil somewhere on yourself) you get a free burrito on Halloween. All of us share a deep appreciation for burritos, so we were all over that. As you can see, we went a little further than maybe we HAD to with the foil...
Ben chose a more traditional ensemble: a canadian mountie's hat and a very fahionable neck tie. Foil is the new black.
AND we got some practice in for the big day while we were at it...

You'd never know that Biz hasn't delivered squillions of babies from her professional performance :)
this week: back to reality. Grace is on deadline, and Ben's busy as usual at work. But we DID get started on the paint job in the baby's room. So, even though home is a bit of a construction zone in the midst of painting and working on baby furniture, it feels great to be making progress.

the weekend that EVERYTHING happened

2008-10-26T18:29:00.000-07:00

This was pretty much the weekend that everything happened. At least that's been our name for it. Thursday night was a bachelorette party for my friend Steph, then Friday night was the long awaited live tour of So You Think You Can Dance (which was A-MAZ-ING). Saturday was errands, then a wedding at 1pm, then a bonfire at our friends' house. Today we had church, then we tried to do stuff around the house for a couple hours, and then a pumpkin carving contest at our friends' house... you can see the fruits of our labor. Grace's is the "POW!" pumpkin, and you can see Ben hard at work on his.

The belly continues to grow... and grow :) and Peanut is kicking more and more. Apparently the baby has a taste for root beer. We had another doctor's appointment this week, and everything is going just as it should be. Here is Ben's latest obsession: artsy belly photos.

We continue to make slow progress on the baby's room... Moving our whole office/studio out of there and condensing it into a corner of the living room has been more of a project than either of us has much energy for after 10-hour work days, but it's on it's way. It's hard to believe that it's only about 2 weeks until our hospital classes start... Peanut will be here before we know it!!!

Here's one more photo for you to enjoy, complements of Ben.

peanut

2008-10-17T18:36:00.000-07:00

We have been totally lame about updating our blog lately... Probably because we've been getting ready to welcome another little saunders into our house!!! yahoo!! Yep, we've got a bun in the oven! and, the baby belly has ARRIVED. check out this photo. Emigre seems to have noticed something is different :)
We are BESIDE OURSELVES excited about little "Peanut's" arrival. We're busy working on rearranging home to get Peanut's room ready. (that's our name for baby saunders, since we've decided to be surprised by the baby's gender once he or she is born. We get so few huge surprises in life, we're going to milk it for all it's worth) The due date is February 6th. We thought the doctor was joking when he said that was the due date, since that also happens to be Grace's 30th birthday. We'll see when the little one decides to ACTUALLY grace us with his or her presence :)

Right now we're right at the 6 month mark. Peanut is kicking lots, and wiggling around, some times it's enough for Ben to feel too, which he is PUMPED about. Below, Ben has decided that it is VERY important for PEanut to have exposure to Led Zeppelin as early as possible.

We got a new camera to be ready to snap all kinds of photos of every move the PEanut makes, and we've been taking turns playing the role of Annie Liebowitz around the house. So naturally the belly and the dog are favorite subjects :)

burritos and bowling

2008-08-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

I've accomplished something i wasn't sure would ever work. I pulled off a mini surprise party for Ben, and he actually enjoyed it!! this is a serious coup for me, an admitted "teller". I am HORRIBLE at keeping secrets, not to mention i hate having to do it anyways. And Ben, being your sneakier than average hubby, is usually incredibly good at foiling my schemes. Here are a couple of photos. I decided to pair up his two favorite things: burritos and bowling. Above are some of our buddies who joined us for the festivities, and the custom t-shirt i designed for the occasion :) (check out the exclamation mark made out of a burrito and a bowling ball, sorry for the sub-par photo of it) it sure was a great time!

life has been and continues to be ultra-crazy for both of as at work. Ben is working on setting up all the new equipment and systems at work, as well as all of his video projects, and learning all that new equipment to boot this week. I am still in the process of redesigning the magazine, though i can finally say that we are nearing the end of the process, which is a great feeling since this has been a huge project and i've been working on it now for almost 5 months, along with the regular issues of the magazine. Someone share a great analogy that fits perfectly "it's kind of like changing a tire on a car that's still moving".
well, that's our update for now!

A Sign From Above

2008-06-25T15:22:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the double rainbow that appeared in Chicago on the 22nd as the Cubs completed a sweep of the White Sox. I don't want to jinx anything, but it looks like the Cubbies might have a fan upstairs this year.

And another thing

2008-06-25T15:19:00.001-07:00

I also just realized that the dog can handle hotter salsa than I can. Sad.

The case of the disappearing burrito...

2008-06-23T19:22:00.000-07:00

So earlier this evening we enjoyed Chipotle for dinner and, as usual, Grace had about two and a half inches of burrito left over. The leftovers were on the coffee table when we went into the office for a matter of minutes. We returned to find a solitary piece of foil and a very content puppy. What is most disturbing (aside from how upset Emi's stomach is going to be) is the fact that there was no evidence of a struggle. Not even a stray grain of rice remains. She managed to completely devour about a third of a burrito on the coffee table and make less of a mess than I usually do.

Craziest wedding album ever.

2008-06-02T20:42:00.000-07:00

This is a picture from a wedding in China. Apparently they were taking the post ceremony pictures when the earthquake hit and the photographer kept shooting. Some of the images are pretty crazy, you can see them on the photographer's site HERE. Amazingly everyone survived.

This is why its on ESPN

2008-06-02T14:47:00.000-07:00

The best part is that he went on to win the whole thing.

hockey husband

2008-05-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

i discovered a new side to the love of my life a few nights ago. we've dubbed him "hockey husband" (referred to as "HH" from this point on). HH is kind of like Ben's loud opposite twin. We went to a CYCLONES game on Sunday night, since they are having a GREAT season, and are in the finals for the tournaments, game 2. We decided to to go with some friends since we could stay up late. We bought our tickets and sat down, all jumbled up in the row, so Ben ended up a few seats down from me. once the game started i heard an unusual amount of SCREAMING, and wondered which of our friends that was. I looked down only to be shocked that it was my own husband. I have never seen anything at all, not even remotely close, to this come out of Ben's mouth. My friend leaned over and said, winking, "that's your husband", and i had to ask myself... "is it???". i was so surprised at HH's behavior that i couldn't help but stare and giggle almost the whole time, in disbelief ofcourse. Now, you may wonder, has she never been to a sports event with him?? YES. i have. But, this has never happened before.

Unfortunately the cyclones (though they won game 1) lost game 2. Despite HH's incredibly loud (we're talking screaming at the VERY top of his lungs) heckling of the opposing team's goaley... the Las Vegas team scored one goal in the last 3-4 minutes of the game.

but still, we all had a good time, and i learned a little more about my special man.

back from costa rica...

2008-05-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

finally.
we'll post about it as soon as we can get our life a little bit caught up. with 2 extra days we didn't expect to be gone, it might take us a couple more days than we had hoped. but, we're FINALLY back in cincy. wa-Hooo!

The official pictures from wedding weekend

2008-04-24T23:10:00.001-07:00

Grace posted our pictures from the Baker wedding in D.C. on shutterfly. In the event you weren't included in the email, just follow these links:
Wedding Photos Part 1
Wedding Photos Part 2

snapped this on the way home from Maryland

2008-04-23T18:38:00.001-07:00

I spotted this in the airport on the way home from Maryland. I made Ben pretend to pose for a photo in front of our snoozing friend, so that i could get this shot. how peaceful...

This one is from last weekend

2008-04-23T18:33:00.001-07:00

Not from this weekend, but still awesome...

2008-04-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

I just came across this picture of what is definitely in the running for best wedding cake ever. You'll find it is quite operational...

Please tell me where I can buy one of these...

2008-03-17T15:25:00.001-07:00

Part of me hates to post this and bump the picture of the swat team, but it's for a good cause.

fun news in Communication Arts magazine

2008-03-16T14:19:00.000-07:00

I've always hoped that someday my name would appear in Communication Arts magazine. I've been drooling over the pages of this magazine since i was a freshman in college in the library. One of the illustrators i contracted to create artwork for the August issue of the magazine has been recognized as an up and coming talent. Since working on the illustrations in our magazine last summer, she has worked on illustrations for LOTS of other magazines, like WIRED. Anyway, what especially exciting to me is that she included two of the pieces she worked on for me on the pages allocated to her in the March/April issue. So that means that my name is in the magazine in teeny-tiny type not only once, but TWICE ! goal #352 is now crossed off my list. To take a look, click here. She really is a frighteningly talented gal.

Nothing says Bible study like...

2008-03-16T11:14:00.001-07:00

When we pulled into Amy's street for our small group meeting on Friday night, it seemed odd that there were a handful of police cars at the end of the street but we didn't think much of it. We finished eating dinner just in time to watch 2 swat teams load their weapons and surround the house at the end of the street (about 5 houses down). They parked their APC in the driveway, hit the windows with spotlights and started using a loudspeaker. After an hour or two of politely asking Bruce to come out peacefully they went in and got him. Thankfully no one was hurt, and we still managed to have our small group meeting.

the blizzard

2008-03-09T19:05:00.001-07:00

we just got through the blizzard. the most snow in something like 10 years here. We had about a foot. IT just kept on snowing and SNOWING. Everyone pretty much was trapped in doors friday and saturday, but life as we know it is back to normal now. Oh, except for the mountain of snow that got dumped by our garage, since.. there's really nowhere else to put it.
Luckily, even though we were in the midst of the "white death" our new furniture still got delivered. FINALLY. It seems like forever ago that we ordered our christmas present, but we're thrilled that it's finally here, and we finally have a couch WITH back legs :)
But one thing we didn't count on was how much the littlest member of the family would love the new rug. Now, to be fair, it really DOES feel like you're walking on marshamallows... but, she LOVES to lay on this thing. unfortunately it sheds more than her right now.And, this is just a cute picture of Emigre the wonder dog.She had just been to the doggy spa and they gave her a cute little pink bandana.

a new hobby

2008-03-03T18:23:00.001-08:00

I've developed a new hobby over the last few months. although i'm pretty much self-taught at this point (which has it's drawbacks) i'm really enjoying having a different outlet for my creativity, that isn't exactly what i do all day at work. I've made a few different pieces, some as gifts, and some as my own little experimental trophies. Mostly it's just for fun though. Although i have had a few people ask me to make them some custom pieces. If I ever find time i'm thinking about putting a few things up on etsy.com. we'll see what happens.

check out our newest linked blog

2008-02-28T18:11:00.000-08:00

Now you can link to Joanna's "african diaries" blog with the link to the right. Definitely take a look at the video on her site, VERY exciting!! And i've heard that Rachel and Chad have just started a blog too, so we'll add them soon as well.
by the way, here is something i saw while driving through downtown at 8:30 am on my way to work the other day. A woman in a very large, very elaborate fur coat, and a fur handbag, riding a bike down the street in the rain. P.s. her fur handbag was perched in the basket on the front of the bike. it required a double take. i had to be sure of what my eyes were seeing...

Haircut Day!

2008-02-27T15:51:00.001-08:00

Finally, Haircut day is here! I love my new 'do. I've been hearing about this guy (my new permanent hair go-to guy) from everyone i know it seems. So, today was finally the day for my first appointment with him. Wow, this guy knows hair. it's exactly what i wanted :) So, now i'm sure i'll be getting mistaken for Posh spice all the time, again. ha ha Emigre may have gotten a pink bandana the last time she went to the spa, but i got the good haircut, i just hope i can make it look like this every day.

Christmas a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

2007-12-16T14:44:00.000-08:00

A couple of Star Wars related things to share:
This is our friend's son, who looks eerily similar to emperor palpatine.

Apparently Santa was recently arrested by a group of stormtroopers at a mall.

You know what I mean...

2007-11-29T19:43:00.000-08:00

Humorous youtube clip. Bonus points for anyone who can identify the schools.

A Milestone

2007-11-26T20:01:00.001-08:00

That's right, the volvo reached an important milestone earlier this evening. Don't worry, we'll post the video later this week so you can experience the moment as if you were there.

There's a bunch of other stuff that we've been too lazy to post, so get ready. Here's a little taste:
Trashcat! That's the neighborhood trashcat hanging out on top of a neighbor's truck. He may eat trash, but he also has over a 5 foot vertical. Impressive.

Sweet storm footage

2007-11-09T21:28:00.000-08:00

This is a little belated, but I wanted to post this footage of the massive storm we had a couple of weeks ago. Though I do feel compelled to mention that it wasn't worth the 2 straight hours of breaking storm team coverage on the news. They were telling people to put helmets on. Talk about sensationalism. It didn't even rain on us, though it was quite a show. Enjoy.

yes, there is other news in our lives besides funny video posts

2007-10-28T14:39:00.000-07:00

about a month ago we got some great news, that we had been anxiously awaiting for about 4-5 months. I am very proud to be the new Art Director at Cincinnati Magazine. SO, we're still on a little high from that great news. I even got to move into a little bigger and more private "office" which is wonderful :)
It's hard to believe the transitions my career has been through in the last year, but we're very grateful that i am lucky enough to be in such a great place now, and enjoying it so much.
So, the next time you pick up a magazine, look for my name, it's moved up a bit in the masthead :)

this urban legend has probably already spread to your town...but just to set the record straight...

2007-10-28T14:30:00.000-07:00

Yes. it's true, i DID in fact get "surprise-felt up" by a child we were babysitting. Maybe you're thinking "What?! you can't blame such things on children, they don't understand". I would beg to differ. Little Lucy was sitting next to me at the dinner table while Ben and I ate with the whole family, before her parents left for a night out. While i was happily munching on my delicious pork, she looks over and before i could figure out what was happening, she was "milking" me, and then laughing histerically. If she hadn't been so cute, it would have been easy to react more sternly. But she IS so cute, and all i could do was laugh. Ben of course took the opportunity to make a joke about her getting second base on the first date (thanks honey), and her dad pretty much wanted to crawl under the table and die. Hopefully this isn't a new trend.. haha. Since then, we ran into mutual friends at Crossroads, who had already heard the story. not a good sign.

An apology to all the Geary fans out there

2007-09-24T19:02:00.001-07:00

Well, it seems I lied in the last post. It turns out I am familiar with Anthony Geary, he played Milo in one of the best old-school comedies of all time-UHF (also featuring the comedic genius of a young Michael Richards and Weird Al Yankovic). My mom also informs me that he is a soap star.

At any rate, here are the videos I promised.

Turn your speakers up for one of the best jingles ever.

This guy is the king.

One just isn't enough.

Just getting warmed up...

2007-09-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

Here are few commercials to brighten your weekend.

Creepy.

Chloroform is really underutilized in commercials today.

I used to have one of these, though I don't recall wearing it with a tuxedo. I also have to admit that I have no idea who Anthony Geary is, but anyone who can pull that look off is o.k. by me.

There's more to come, including what might be the best commercial jingle ever written...

Get Ready

2007-09-21T22:14:00.001-07:00

I've recently stumbled on a trove of terrific videos, they'll be posted this weekend.

Take a guess

2007-09-21T22:04:00.000-07:00

Any ideas about what this is?

Crazy ashtray?
Futuristic concept car?
Its actually a tub.
Don't believe me?

Its from Tetsuya Nakamura, and he didn't stop there...here's the sink: