photoshoot Lucky Fish!

with a 10 year old it's inevitable you are going to get one of these! haha!

visit LUCKY FISH on nonchalant mom here...

Palm Springs / LA (winter school break)

We realized that many schools do not have a winter school break in California, but WE did! So we took off to one of MY favorite places (I got to choose this time), but mostly because my husband needed to attend an Art show there as well (two birds with one stone or one flight as in this case). So we invited his whole family who live in California -- we rented an iconic 'Modern' home and had a BLAST! (just like we were kids again...) I got to see the Modernism show, visit the Frey House and all the terrific Modern shops. While my husband got to see a very nice Art show which was going on at the same time (his work happened to be in the show as well so that's always fun!). The kids... well the POOL was the big draw and we had PERFECT weather! I pulled together some quick photos of the trip... I had so many boxes of New SPRING collections when we returned I am sorry but this is going to be a quick blog because I have TONS of work to do!

photos clockwise from top left: we brought our scooters so the kids we ALWAYS entertained!, the GIRLs out on the town included NEON always! (those are my NEW hasbeens!! bottom center), always the most astonishingly elegant people in Palm Springs... everywhere!, my favorite car and the car show, where to get coffee in PS = koffi!, monderism show! - delightful and franny doing some lounging on the streets of PS

still in PS photos clockwise from top left: the car show at the modernism show in PS and ANOTHER handsome man!!, The Parker (my favorite place in Palm Springs!) lounge, entrance, lunch at Norma's, path through the gardens at Parker, two of my favorite guys at my favorite shop in Palm Springs: Studio One Palm Springs, a fun and busy courtyard in the center (near koffi)

now we are in LA, I dashed off to - Abbott Kinney! photos clockwise from top left: abbott kinney street, my FAVORITE place to eat in the WHOLE world Axe, my delicious plate! amazing, aviation nation (you will see more of them in my shop soon - stay tuned!), Huset (swedish shop - hint: online too!), and always my favorite TORTOISE and Tortoise General Store

We stayed in Huntington Beach a great place for kids and beach fun! bike riding right on the beach (for miles and miles!), franny sporting a bit of Aviation Nation, flying in and out of Long Beach you get to load on the plane the old fashioned way!, just too tired! (fell asleep mid-pencil sharpening), the BEACH at Huntington Beach!

If I can find the time later I will give you more details on where to stay and what to do....

Surf's UP!

Bringing Up Bébé

The byline helps even more... One American Mother Discovers The Wisdom Of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman - she is an American living in Paris! and yes, she discovered some things along the way, and I think we have to THANK GOD she decided to delightfully share these things with us. I am sure that there are some parents that are going to find this book irritating and probably somehow 'wrong' but that is only if you are short-sided and know it all! In my opinion, I LOVE to hear what other people are doing as far as parenting. There is ALWAYS something that you can learn, there is always some kind of tid-bit of information that you can use to become a better parent and I don't know... I'm going to read it!

The interview I heard was on NPR, and it was a terrific short quip on the book, and a little QandA with the Author (you can hear it here). Somehow I felt that it was the antithesis of the Tiger Mom but possibly with similar results. Wherever Pamela looked in Paris, the locals seemed to be employing a certain je ne sais quoi that was making their kids behave better than typical American children. One of my favorite points was this; one key to this cultivation of tastes appears to be exposure. Druckerman points out that in France, "there is no category of food called kids' food. Kids and adults, from the start, eat the same thing." She went further to say "the French view on food is the parent must educate their child and that appreciation for different food is something you cultivate over time," Druckerman says.

You know I am going to glom onto the food thing but the other points in French life seem equally interesting and talked about with a viewpoint of delight and not scorn. She goes on to say "The French view is really one of balance, I think. ... What French women would tell me over and over is, it's very important that no part of your life — not being a mom, not being a worker, not being a wife — overwhelms the other part," Druckerman says. I'm going to have to read more on that, but I can't wait!

I love the idea of this book and you can bet it will be on my sidetable! thank you Pamela for having the idea to write this book...

Bringing Up Bébé - get it at your LOCAL bookstore (or if you HAVE to go online here)

birth announcements - color quarry (and much more!)

I found these amazing custom designed birth announcements... and come to find out these guys are in my own back yard! Colorquarry was a delightful little idea of a talented graphic designer (RISD grad no less...) who had a child, made an amazing birth announcement and said WHoA.. I'd like to do MORE of these! So it was something born out of LOVE, and don't these kind of things always give the best results!

This story is about Amanda McCorkle, who has a passion for letterpress, but not only that she has a passion for making these delightful cards that make you laugh and sing a bit! I thought they were terrific and I hope you do to... She makes each card as a collaboration, so they are all 100% unique and personal to YOU.

She also makes these fun linocut block prints that will delight you! I used them for valentines day cards, but they are great for anything! Amanda makes Wedding invites and Birth announcements or just about anything you want her to do in her signature style! But really, you can see in her examples, each card will reflect YOU, that that makes them wonderful...

visit her etsy site to see more examples and send her an email to get more information!

last chance to enter the Wovenplay/BoboChoses cape giveaway!

This is IT we are going to draw for the winner tomorrow for the Wovenplay/Bobo Choses collaboration cape giveaway! Purchase at least ONE item from the Wovenplay OR the Bobo Choses collection and you have a chance to win this FANTASTIC one of a kind cape! (size 6) - I'm sorry to make you purchase something but it's the only way that we can get the TRUE Wovenplay fanatics! (I know there are MANY of you out there!) This super cute cape is made with a print by Bobo Choses on one side and then a print from Wovenplay on the other... and hand made (as usual) by Wovenplay in USA.

Now that we have Bobo Choses IN STORE.. you can shop there too!!

Look-ing Go-od!!

shop nonchalantmom - wovenplay here
shop nonchalantmom - bobo choses here

did you know that tomorrow is Valentines Day!?

9pm cram gluing photos to handcrafted paper and then writing the names on them... not highly creative but we got it done...

Somehow I had in my mind that Valentines Day was Wednesday, I thought I had another whole DAY to make cards with my kids and take our time and have some fun... but NO, there we were at 9pm cramming to get our cards done, Franny who is just start to write was powering through her cards at the speed of... glue drying, molasses dripping... or something like that, I pictured us at MIDNIGHT writing down the names of each kid in her class, but somehow we made it... the clock struck 9:30 and we were done! YAY! another year.. another sort-of-uncreative but looks good valentine card!

We managed this project over the weekend, I thought it looked great but all that the kids are really able to help with is shaving the crayons! I had to do pretty much everything else... but we LOVED how it came out and it kept the house very festive all weekend! We added the letters VALENTINE inside the wax paper bags. The tutorial is amazing and it's from a very cute blog called 'Hellobee' where a guest blogger Jenny of Hank + Hunt came up with the delightful DIY project, step by step instructions will help you make this beautiful garland!

Jenny's gorgeous mess, ours was a bit messier!

don't they look beautiful!

ours is not such a good photo but I like the way it turned out!

Whatever your project it's such a great day to do anything PINK or RED and just have a great time with it!!

visit Hellobee and the step by step DIY project here!

Bobo Choses - Les Vacances de Monsieur Leon

Here is the inspiration behind the Bobo Choses Spring 2012 collection, it is a delightful tale of fun and secrets and camping and ice cream...

Monsieur Leon cycles around the campsite.
It’s part of the summer, just like the heat, the mosquitoes, and the afternoon siesta.
Monsieur Leon also has the habit of whistling contentedly. Indeed, he is so good at it
that the larks prefer to listen to him, and the roosters refuse to
greet the break of day because they cannot compete
with Monsieur Leon’s dawn whistling. He starts on a low note, like a timid violin
seeping in with the first sunbeams among the tents and the caravans,
among the pine branches and the dew that the night drops before retiring…
Bit by bit, Monsieur Leon’s whistling warms up and changes colour,
enhanced by new notes of the voices of children just awakened from slumber.
So begin the long happy summer days at the campsite,
and so they go on, with no clocks to mark the hours passing by.

When night falls once more, and Monsieur Leon thinks
that everybody has gone to bed,
he takes out his ukulele and there, on the steps of his caravan,
plays songs that he learned from his grandmother, songs that are
as old as this old world of ours. Or even older.
And then all around him, in time with his beat,
the crickets crick and the owls owl, and together they play
the lullaby that sends us off to sleep
and into a land of dreams as sweet
as the salt of the sea in summertime,
as the tickling of the grass under our bare feet…

Tale by Felipe Cano

These are the images that Bobo Choses made for their Spring 2012 campaign! They were so beautiful that I wanted you to see them too!! (and not always my boring straight forward photos...)

visit the collection at Nonchalantmom here

Lucky Fish just marked down...

 Get a jump on the Lucky Fish SALE this weekend! I won't announce it until my Monday emailer so get your good deals fast!! Both kids and adult collections are marked down to make room for the new collection (which should be here very SOON!) So get your t-shirt fix now!!

 

shop lucky fish and NONCHALANTMOM!!