Special Orders

Special orders are super...and I do mean special. Our very good family friend, Angie, has sent so many special order projects our way and we have been thrilled that she allows us to experiment and try new and different designs on her!

Here are a few examples of special orders for gifts and for her own precious bundle of joy...thanks Angie!

Giddy for Gifts

Our very sweet "Mother Goose", not a secretary mind you but our coordinator and moderator ordered these for a friend of theirs with a newborn baby girl.

They are precious (what an awesome gift), monogrammed with the "Curly" font we offer...fabric print: Flower Power

Go, Go, Go RV-ing

Okay, I admit the RVing trend does not typically apply to me. I always joke with my sweet husband that one day we will have an RV and go "leaf watching".
This weekend, we went RVing (okay horse trailer with live-in quarters is almost the same thing)with our friends to a park located on a beautiful lake with tall trees and nature surrounding us. I didn't really want to pack up and go because...well let's be honest, I am famous for list making and planning ahead (way ahead). Robin on the other hand is "give me five minutes and I will be ready"...fly by the seat of her pants is an understatement. It took me two days to decide if I really wanted to go and I finally caved when my darling children (mine and my niece) begged me to go.
As if the greatest decision of my life was looming...I packed (cringed that my bags were not coordinated by person) and jumped in the vehicle. Keep in mind Robin was packed, loaded, and hooked up to the trailer before I packed the first thing.
It was a great get away with beautiful scenery and fun with friends and unexpected family joining us (I say family because Robin's husband and his family have sort of adopted us). I encourage everyone to visit their own state parks as it is a cheap trip and some of the most wonderful memories are made on spur of the moment occassions...no color coordination needed!

Christmas in July

Did I fall asleep for like six months? Stores are already putting out Christmas goodies. I am just remembering our quiet beach vacation with great fondness and precise clarity (just a few weeks ago) and now I have visions of sugarplums dancing in my head, and bows and wrapping and ornaments...

Robin and I are the ultimate Christmas fanatics. We love the season and the reason, the time with our families and awesome friends, Kylee's birthday cookie baking tradition, cooking, decorating, celebrating...we love it all (bear with us Diddi)

However, can't we get through summer first? I want to enjoy the smell of crayons and never sharpend pencils...I love new school supplies and getting ready for a fresh new year (the teacher in me). So, I welcome the fact that we have a few more weeks left of summer and the highly anticipated new year where our kiddos will grow beyond expectations. I will savor this time of year and wait for pumpkins, rodeo, turkey dinner and Christams when the time comes!

Bejeweled...Bedazzled

We have a very sweet friend who is so very talented making jewelry. She is quite a bit younger than we are...nope, not giving anything away on age (she is the daughter of our super great friends)! Her youth makes her a huge asset to Doodle Designs because she is in tune with what younger people want in jewelry; what colors are hip, what styles are all the rage. Our, lets say, distinguished maturity helps give her input into what our age and more distinguished ages are gushing about...sounds better than most marriages!

We are totally excited about offering this unique line through Doodle Designs. We should have sneak peaks up in a few days...remember the mutual dislike me and photo lab? We are ultra excited about this and can't wait to show them off to you for her!

***Side note, this chic is the real deal...dedicted, motivated and of course hip!

Stay tuned...

Much Fun

Last week, we were asked by my very dear friend Amanda Key to help her with a new adventure. Our kiddos love "Miss Amanda" and always have so much fun taking pictures with her so they were full speed ahead.

She has captured so much of our childrens' lives over the past few years and because of these moments documented 4 or 5 times a year...we are huge advocates of the new Limited Edition Sessions she will be offering. Yes, we can all take pictures of our children doing silly things or nothing at all and we treasure them. I promise it is not the same.

The Limited Edition Sessions are whymsical and so different. Side Bonus...our kids listen to her. If we say, "Can you look across the street and smile" ours look right at us and frown! Take a look at the first example at: www.amandakey.com and check out the "blog"!

Think, Think, Think

"Think, Think, Think" (as spoken so brilliantly by Winnie the Pooh himself). We are always thinking.

We are currently gathering a few product lines for an in-home party of sorts. Robin's wonderful...as in we love her and her funny sense of life itself...sister-in-law has opened her home to host a party. We are hoping to get it all together by the end of August, notice I said hoping! This party will allow us girls to get together to do none other than eat, drink, be merry and browse all things beautiful and funky. We are so excited about the new products we will offer!

So, we have been thinking that not only are in-home parties for no reason at all fun, but so are parties for special occassions. Brides, babies and graduation are all reasons to celebrate! These occassions typically have parties or "showers" to shower the honoree with gifts and good will. The products we will have will be perfect for those oh so exciting times and we would love to help make these events uniquely special.

And with that, I am thinking about a special little girl fun night...lots of fluff, photos, fun and glamour. Ooh-La-La I wish I was a little girl again. Stay tuned as this has a hint of "can't miss" drama!

Good Stuff

As you can tell...I had a mixed bag of emotions on my 4th of July holiday. Over-all it was awesome and our kiddos loved it!

Good Stuff from Doodle Designs...we are way excited to show some off some of our new items. We will be on the look out for new items next month and cannot wait to find some cool new treasures to share.

Also...we have new items waiting to be photographed (maybe the photo lab eats my pictures at night...) and should be up soon (with our awesome friend at Polka Dot Dandy heading up the mission)!

Too Much

Too much of anything has proven devastating throughout history. Too much power, too much greed, too much hate, too much tax, too much fear...and the list goes on and on.
While we were celebrating the 4th of July holiday, we saw too much of many things. While this beach community is building back better and nicer than ever before too many people left too much trash. How have we become this nation of careless invaders of all that is pretty and fun. The beach is for family fun and while I am not by any means a fanatic about Save the Earth and Recycle all of my family posessions...I am a responsible individual who is trying to teach my family about the importance of protecting what we have been given for a short amount of time. Many of the people on the beach stayed all weekend...tents, trucks, cars, and even poles with beach towels. Seriously? They left the beach in such a mess, we were totally offended and I would even say disgusted. How do Americans treat their own Country this way? People take care and leave places nicer than when you found them.

Recovery

For the 4th of July we have always caught up with family members at a huge reunion of sorts. However, since having our own children we decided to begin our own tradition during this most patriotic holiday. Three years ago we began going with our family to the beach. What could be more American than the beach; waves, sand, fun and massive amounts of fireworks...it is awesome.
This year was so much more than just celebrating the 4th of July. For the people of this beach community devestated by Hurricane Ike less than a year ago, this year was a celebration of recovery. The strength and endurance of a community was never better expressed. Their resilience to build back and build back stronger was evident this weekend. They do have a long road ahead to get things back to some sense of "normal", but they are doing a fantastic job so far and people came out if force.
So, we celebrated with our family and hoped to teach our kiddos not only about this holiday of Freedom, but that belief in family and strength to thrive resolve people to this day to press forward!