- this beautiful dress I finished

- taking some really great pics of Olivia

- the rain

- only 28 days until I get to see my family and husband.  WOOHoo!

I promise I have not been hiding.  I have been busy trying to set up a website.  I am tired of having my blog in one place, my pictures in another, and my shop in another.  It is time to group them together under one name, and it has been a lot of work.  My advice to anyone thinking about it, pay someone.  I bought my website at Photocrati (http://www.photocrati.com), but it is a tedious and time consuming set-up.  I don't recommend it to anyone who does not know what they are doing.  I have been on the phone for days talking to people.  One of the reasons I wanted to undertake this long journey by myself is because I am so picky about what I want everything to look like, and what I want to portray to my readers and customers.  The main thing is that you will be able to find me at Kinder Kouture (http://www.kinderkouture.net or http://www.kinder-kouture.com) no matter what.

On another note, I have been trying to play catch-up after being sick last week.  The above dress - July 4th Party Dress (http://kinderkouture.etsy.com) has been in the back of my mind for weeks.  It was sitting on my cutting board just wanting to be sewn up.  I finally got to it yesterday.  I had 2 hours before Nicolas came home, and I was determined to finish it and post it to my new website as soon as I went live, but not everything can go as planned.  So here are the pictures of Olivia modeling.  

It is a simple pattern, made out of red and white seersucker.  The white satin ribbon holds the dress up.  The reason behind this choice of pattern was simple.  On July 4th, we are headed to a huge 4th of July neighborhood party.  They have watersides and make-up artists for the kids, and of course we will be grilling.  I bought her a cute red and white polka dot bikini, which she can put underneath the dress.  So she will look great for the first part of the day, and later on she is free to take it off and run around the water games.  Add a little bit of blue to the outfit, and it is perfect.  As you can see from the top picture, she can wear it during any other time of the summer season as well.  Seersucker is the choice fabric for the south.  It is so light and easy to care for.

Ok, now I am off to clean my house, because tomorrow I want to start on my next sewing project, and hopefully get caught up before the weekend begins.

- HAPPY KIDS

- Poohsticks

- spending the morning at the park with friends, who just happened to buy donuts......yes....that is what friends are all about

- a major project that I am working on

- talking to my hubby

- knowing that my mom is going to Carmel for her birthday

It was an awesome weekend.  A little bit of this, and a lot of happiness.  My friend jumpstarted my day at 8:15am by calling me.  Yes, I immediately jumped because I thought it was Lance, and I was getting an early phone call this weekend.  She pretty much made me smile when she told me that she was headed to the park with the kids, and some donuts, and invited us to join her.  I am so glad that she got us out there early, because it was hot, and it was humid.  By the time we got home around noonish, I could not get my body to cool down.  It was at that moment that I decided that we were not going to the beach this weekend.    The thought of sitting in that hot sand for several hours with no relief was too much too bare.

So, I spent the afternoon setting up the pool, and the kids had a grand time playing outside all afternoon.  They never stopped.  They played zoo, and Olivia was a dolphin, and Nicolas was an alligator.  They filled up buckets with water and leaves, in which the leaves represented turtles.  A rainboot was a Lion, and another an Elephant.  I knew that they would be incredibly exhausted at night, so I cooked dinner early, and at 5:45pm, Olivia was fast asleep in her bed, with Nicolas close behind.  I enjoyed spending the weekend with them, and I was hoping to have a little more me time, but oh well I will have to wait until Olivia gets a bit older before she can do things without mommy.  I just know that after listening to my son whine after our park date, that we were going to have such a boring weekend at home, tonight his only words were "AWESOME Mom"  "I have  not had this much fun in a long time".

Here I was practicing my shutter speed and trying to freeze the action.  I am pretty amazed at how well this picture turned out.  Yes, this is my little devil in action.  I had originally asked Nicolas to jump in and while I was setting my camera, she got up on the stool and said Mommy Look.  LOL.  She did start off with a bathing suit, but hey you know how 3-year olds can be.

1.  Corrected the white balance in PS using the Image ~ Adjustment ~ Curves tool.

     That pretty much did away with the red color cast.

2.  Ran MCP Actions Peek A Boo and Oops I Blew It.

3.  Ran a new Adjustment Layer Color Channel to correct skin tones

4. Ran Magical Clarity and Magical Contrast

5. Adjusted Overexposed skin area.

6. Applied Gaussian Blur and reduced opacity to 20%.

7. Ran Darker and Richer MCP Action.

8. Ran Noiseware.

I did the best I could.  The eyes are not perfect.  However, the picture was in pretty bad shape.

My last and final edit

Although yesterday was the perfect day, it ended on a sour note, when my stomach decided to give me a few problems throughout the night.  I assume I got some kind of adult version of the stomach bug, and up until about an hour ago, I was incapable of doing anything that did not cause some kind of nauseating feeling inside of my body.  Oh well, it is over, and I managed to eat some soup and crackers, so I am moving on.  Food still tastes and smells yucky, but hey I have been trying to lose five pounds, and maybe this will prove to be the ultimate diet yet.  I told the kids that I was incapable of cooking anything with a smell or texture for tonight's dinner, but they were fine.  Olivia agreed to share my soup and Nicolas settled with Spagetti O's. We all had a banana for dessert, and read a few books before heading to bed.

I wanted to tell everyone that I registered my domain name with Blogger.  This means that my blog is located at http://www.kinderkouture.net.  I had no idea whether or not Blogger would post a page stating that my blog can now be located at this new page, but since I have received a few comments regarding this issue I thought I better post about the change.  It humbles me to know that so many people really enjoy my life and my pictures.  I enjoy them too.

I spent the other day watching Jasmin Star on Escalate Live. http://www.jasminestarblog.com/.  It was so much fun to listen to her talk.  She has a wonderful blog, and she has such a fun personality.  I love her photography, and all the information she gives to others.  The important message she was trying to send out to others is that blogging helped her to connect to an audience.  This audience in turn helps her to gain customers.  She blogs about whatever she wants, and has fun doing it.  That is always how I felt about my blog.  Sometimes I blog about my family, my fears, my anger and frustration, my sewing projects, my store, my cooking or my life.  Whatever I blog about, it reflects what i am thinking and doing.  There are times, when I go back and read some of the things I blogged about and I laugh.  I even printed out last years blog as a pdf file to give to the kids one day.  A blog is supposed to be fun and about you.  There is no right way or wrong way to maintain a blog.  It's a reflection of me.  It is whatever I want it to be.  It is special.

Today, my uncle got his new camera a Canon 5D Mark II. http://www.mmoraskiphoto.com/  He is a professional photographer, and for as long as I can remember he has had a camera in his hand.  I wish I showed some interest in it back when I lived with my grandmother.  He could have taught me a few things.  I know he is going to be extremely excited in the next few days, because although that camera is extremely expensive, it is awesome.  I, on the other hand, only got to calibrate my monitor today.  For all the non-photographers out there, it basically consists of a software and a device that is attached to your monitor and adjusts colors and lighting.  It does this so that you can see color casts as they actually appear.  Please by all means, feel free to critique my pictures if you see a purple skinned little boy on your monitor.  LOL.  The Mac is very bright, and the first thing I noticed is how it adjusted my brightness.  It will be interesting to look at some of my pics and see if my mac calibration did a good job.  I have a funny feeling it did.

Ok, it is time to disengage.  Grey's Anatomy is on, and I can barely breathe.  I cannot concentrate on writing anymore, so here is wishing everyone a good night.

- spending time with Olivia

- hearing her say "Olivia can help make Nicolas' lunch"

- this gorgeous weather

WOW, what a gorgeous day.  My hydrangeas are in full bloom, and the sky is such a beautiful shade of blue, with not a drop of humidity anywhere.  Wonderful.  It could stay like this all summer. The temperatures are supposed to reach 90 today, but when the humidity is not there, it just feels a heck of a lot more comfortable.

I am so happy that my plan to do more sewing this week is really working.  I thought for sure, I would agonize over every little cookie crumb, but I have managed to keep the scales balanced.  Now all I need to do is work on getting more sleep.  I just cannot get myself into bed before midnight.  Frustrating.  I have to work on it.  The kids need me early in the morning, but I so love my time alone at night.  It is so peaceful and relaxing.  Of course, I want my cake and eat it too! HA.  The last ensemble was for my shop and not for Olivia.  I wanted to try something a bit more boutiquey!  Personally on Olivia I prefer "Less is best".  I do like the fit of this pattern, but it is a bit frilly for my taste.  However, there are a ton of customers out there that really like this sort of clothing, so why not cater to them.  I hope it sells, because I would like to save up some money and buy myself something nice.  The next project on my Sewing Worksheet is a 4th of July ensemble.  I cannot wait to get moving on that one.  It has been in my head for quite some time.  I will be making one for Olivia, and two size ranges for my shop.  I am getting anxious to finish them.   Going to pick up some supplies today with the kids.

On another note, I will be spending the summer with my family again in California.  I am taking my laptop, so hopefully I will find some time to blog.  My hubby will be coming home and will meet us in sunny CAL-I-Forn-I-Aaaaa!  We are very excited about our plans.  I guess you can tell.   This year has passed by so quickly, so it is important to take some time for yourself, and enjoy the moments.....

- finishing this outfit

- an unbelievably relaxing morning

- sticking to my guns

- a picnic dinner with the kids

- reading Winnie The Pooh as a bedtime story.

This week is really turning out to be great.  Yes, I had a bit of a meltdown yesterday, and yes I was not nice, but I know most other mothers have been there too.  The kids have a way of .......well you know......driving us crazy.  I sat down with both of them, and we tried to reach an agreement, however it did not last long.  Today they got in trouble again.  I am just taking their privileges away day by day.  Today we did not go to a playmate, and tomorrow there will be no tv.  The kids have to learn to respect this house, this family and my stuff.  

Other then that, I am making sure that no matter what I sew each day.  I am having a blast.  I really wanted to sew and not clean, and I am doing it.  Of course, the plan was that I spent the afternoons with the kids and clean the house at the same time, but ....haha...there has not been very much cleaning going on.  Oh well....I will take a day and make sure I get the house clean sometime this week.  So tada.....I finished the pants this morning....and now this beauty is finished.  I plan on selling it in my shop, and will list it first thing tomorrow morning.  It is a size 3T.  I love the colors.  It is perfect for a spring/summer outfit.  Everything is made out of 100% cotton, and the fabric I used for the pants is a crinkly white poly/cotton blend.  It is great for pants.  It never wrinkles.  Perfect for the summer weather.

- going grocery shopping without two fighting little kids

- deciding that sewing was more important then anything else

- listening into Escalate Live 2010 and hearing Becker and Jasmin Star speak.

- sleeping in

Wow, what a day.  I am afraid it was full of mixed feelings all day.  First of all, I could not decide whether I wanted to get out of bed. Then I did not feel like going grocery shopping.  I wanted to sew, and sleeping in cost me already two hours of my sewing time.  Third, I could not decide how I wanted to finish the sleeve on this top, as you can see above.  LOL.  Totally indecisive.  Then I spent the afternoon and evening getting mad at the kids, calming down, getting mad, and then calming down.  Maybe someone really does have control over me and they were using me to test their new Yo-Yo.  

The day started so good.  I was determined to get some sewing done no matter how much the kids had destroyed the house yesterday.  Seriously, I clean too much.  I needed some me time.  So this is the result.  I even made a little matching kerchief.  The fabric is from the Alexander Henry collection.  I love it.  I may just have to make a little spring skirt for myself out of it.  I could not decide how I wanted the sleeves to look, so I waited until Olivia got home before I made my decision.   I am still unsure.  It was just one of those days.

Finally the day had a bad ending.  The kids are driving me CRAZY!  C-R-A-Z-E-E-E-E-E!  Every two minutes, I hear "Mom" "Mommy"  "Mom".  They come to me for everything and anything.  I can never concentrate on anything.  When I finally do get 10 minutes to myself, I find that a sudden tornado has been launched in my house.  I put away Nicolas' shoes three times.  Found food laying all over the floor in the living room.  Olivia ripped up my pattern.  And the list goes on and on.  I have had enough.  I am tired of not being able to do anything without those two going bizerk!  I know I did not spell that correctly.  Whatever.  I cancelled our regular weekly trip to CFA tomorrow, and I intend to keep both of them in their room all day until they learn a little self control.  I need a good dose of it too.

Nicolas came out of his bedroom at 9pm and I could tell that he was upset.  I explained everything very calmly to him, and what I would like to see.  We are a family, and we need to try and be nicer to each other.  That means that he has to show me a little more respect then what I have seen, or else I will have to get tougher with him.  Being mommy and daddy is tough on all of us.

- LADIES night with some really great friends

- a rainy day perfect for lots of family togetherness

- a clean house

- finding a gem

Granted, when I saw the rain and heard the thunder this morning, that would not allow me to sleep any longer, I was not a happy camper.  My backyard was flooded, and my terrace was full of baby frogs trying to escape the flood.  It was horribly humid, and I could not help but wonder what I was going to do with the kids all day.  I spent yesterday getting the house clean, so that our babysitter would not get the wrong impression, grateful that my Sunday was free to do other things.   I had planned on getting up to Target and buying the kids an ice cream, but those plans faded as the day wore on.  Instead we spent the day watching movies, eating popcorn, while I got some much needed ironing out of the way.  I even cut out my next project in the hopes that I could finally get a few sewing ideas out of the way.  

Yesterday, I got to spend the night out with some good friends.  We laughed and talked, had a few margaritas (frozen strawberry) and I really enjoyed it.  Although not everyone showed up, we found that we could have just as much fun without them.  Even though we did miss the other girls and I cannot wait for our next big reunion.  Never before have I met so many women at one time, as when Nicolas went to daycare.  Unlike the public schools where the parents wait in their cars, at daycare all the parents had to wait until 11:00pm in the lobby, and then we were able to fetch our kids.  We all waited in the lobby together until we were allowed to sign in, and pick the kids up.  After time, we got to meet each other, and several of us bonded and got together for play dates.  It was fun, and I am incredibly grateful to be surrounded by such a wonderful group of women.  Of course, in the meantime, several of my friends have moved away, and several moved on, but the memories are still there, and when we do get together and meet up it is always special and lots of fun. 

The perfect ending to this day came when I was looking for a DVD I recently burned.  I set out to find this DVD, and although I never did I found something even better.  Years ago, my father took his old 8mm video tapes to a professional who then burned them onto a Videocassette.  Those videocassette are gone.  Nobody knows where they are, but luckily my father had them burned onto DVD's and gave both my sister and myself a set.  I honestly had no recollection of any DVD's, but since I do not throw anything away, guess what I found this morning?  Yup, so I spent most of the morning, copying these DVD's onto my backup harddrive and copying more CD's for my parents.  I am looking forward to having a family night with them soon and watching these very old, very precious, and very special DVD's.  

- getting to know the neighborhood

- the trampoline, because it is the best thing we have ever bought for the kids

- my IMAC, I just love it.

I managed to get the house clean yesterday, and edit some pictures, but my sewing machine never got turned on.  I am struggling with finding "me" time lately.   Although photography is a lot of fun, and I spend way too much time staring at my lovely pictures, it is getting to be a bit frustrating.  I miss the companionship I had with sewing.  I made a ton of friends on different forums, and with every garment that I whipped up, these ladies were always willing to leave some nice words for me to smile at.  So many people shared their secrets, and taught others to do as "they do".  I am not finding this in the photography world, and even though all I want to do is take wonderful pictures of my kids, it seems as if I don't get the same satisfaction.  Oh don't get me wrong, my family does a great job of critiquing me, but it is hard to grow and learn when there are no teachers to guide you.  I will continue to teach myself as much I can, and maybe take a few courses to hopefully feel like I have progressed somewhat.   I just miss my sewing world.  Of course, if I look at this positively, now I can take wonderful pictures of my sewing garments and my children.  ☺  

- my new Steamdynamo machine (a powerful and environmentally great product)

- a good friend making me laugh until I cried

- a secret

- making the concrete on my balcony look like new

- losing 3 pounds

- my progress in photography

Yesterday was not the best day for me.  I felt fine, but things just got in the way of my happiness all day.  I won't go into the details, but the end of the day made it all worth it, when I met some friends, and laughed again - mostly at myself. 

 I am becoming a real beach bum, enjoying the pictures  of the kids at the beach.  Teaching myself new editing techniques.  It is a daily battle, but one that I enjoy.  Reading and taking pictures is an easy thing to do while watching the kids all day.  Hoping to get moving on some JULY 4th sewing soon.