2015: Week 5

This week was a medical marathon. I had a check-up and Lucy had hers in preparation for Kindergarten registration (!!!). We both passed with flying colors and Lucy got a sticker, lollipop and frozen yogurt for being such a brave girl.

Sir Guaps-a-Lot also went into the vet this week. Since Norman died we had noticed his weight dropping. I assumed it was the stress of losing him, but I took him in just to be sure. It turns out his thyroid is out of wack, so he will be on medication from here on out. As an older cat, he's also showing signs if kidney disease, so we need to keep an eye on his hydration levels. All of this news simply means he's getting older. We're lucky he's such an easy-going boy, takes pills well and is forever a snuggle monkey.

I was on a secret mission this week and I wore my power blazer. After the mission is de-classified I can't wait to tell you about it!

And then on a whim, just for fun, I did a "Day in the Life Photo Challenge." Dave was out for the day enjoying the Super Bowl, so me and Lucy had some fun adventures.

We made some itty bitty pom poms...

Cleaned up the bedrooms (note the new pom pom on her head)...

we set up our fairy garden...

Watched Super Bowl commercials and the half time show... (Missy Elliott stole the show!)...

And just had some clean, plain, fun...

xo

Becky

Martha's List of "Six Things to Do Every Day"

As promised I am updating my attempt to make my way through Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook.

Today I will share with you my modified version of Martha's daily "to do" list.

My slight modification for our family is that I swapped out "4. Clean as you cook" and "5. Wipe up fresh spills" to something that addresses the actual daily problems in our specific kitchen:

Seems simple enough, right? Let's see if the whole family can do it for an ENTIRE WEEK! Do you think we can?

Mwahahahahahahahahahaha....

xo

Becky

2015: Week 4

Well is was my BIRTHDAY last week. Yay me! I took the day off from work and enjoyed pancakes and mimosas for breakfast, followed by a trip to IKEA! It was a really nice day and great to have a well-deserved three-day weekend. I was really moved that several of my family members decided to make donations to my Pediatric Cancer Fundraising Page in honor of my birthday. Dragonflies are the symbol for Unravel Pediatric Cancer, the non-profit we are working to support. The meaning of the dragonflies is deep amongst the Unravel community. My mom gave Lucy and I matching lockets for my birthday in honor of the work we are doing. So beautiful.

We had lunch at The Duke following a Skype call with my grandmother, Lucy's GREAT Granny. She insisted on wearing two different colored boots that day. Punky Brewster lives on!

Peeping in during dance class.

Grump face.

I've seen this before!

The face that launched a thousand ships...

Post dance class snuggles.

A giant THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to our fundraiser this past week. We are at 82% of our goal!

xo

Becky

2015: Week 3

I'm late to post again this week, but I am sticking to my resolution to post weekly. I'll give myself credit where it's due—high five, me! We have entered the birthday zone! In the Parker family we have four birthdays smack within just weeks of each other, that means lots of yummy dinners and celebrations. We are going global this year, starting with an Italian dinner, followed by Chinese, ending this coming weekend with Cuban.

The week was mainly a blur of work in the middle with a well-deserved long birthday weekend.

We played a lot of "Stuff on Spencer."

We've been seeing a bit more of Uncle Simon lately, which we all love, especially Lucy.

We got some lovely donations this week from Lucy's teachers and many family members. We are at 45% of our goal! I'll be taking an updated picture today after work.

In preparation for the race I attempted to begin the Couch 2 5K program, but my busted hips and back quickly told me NO. I'm trying to turn that no into a YES by focusing more on walking and maintaining my Fitbit program. I'd love some friends to join me for motivation if you're up for it!

I need to take more, more, more photos. I got a LensBaby for my birthday and I'm very excited to learn how to shoot well with it. More about my birthday later... I've got a list challenge I'm going to torture myself with that I'll share shortly.

I'm currently working on several creative side projects. I'm really excited to share more Martha posts soon as well as some crafts and projects we have brewing!

I hope you had a lovely week.

xo

Becky

2015: Week 2

The big events this week all circulated around Miss Lucy Loo. On Saturday she was invited to TWO birthday parties. The first was all the girls from her preschool at Build-a-Bear. Before we even got there she had made her mind up that she wanted to make something for Grampy. All the girls picked pink teddy bears and Lucy, ever the rebel, chose a brown puppy. Later she joined all her boyfriends at Safari Run. It was really cool! The place is very clean and spacious. They even had plushy couches and lounge chairs for the parents to relax in. It was NOT the indoor playground experience I was dreading--I highly recommend the place!

On Sunday Dave turned thirty-something, so we showered him with everything he loves. Kisses and lots of meat to BBQ.

Birthday coffee...

Chalk drawing...

I miss my Normikins...

Work was back in full swing after the holidays. During the later part of the week I was assigned to a new manager and changed cubicles AGAIN, but I'm pretty happy about the change. I'm with a team again and it feels nice to not be so isolated all day.

My girl also made me really proud. She was sharing with her teachers at school about fundraising for "sick kids." They asked to know more and even all chipped in to make a donation. You can read all about our fundraiser here.

Hope you all had a good week!

xo

Becky

The Past Few Weeks

Man, I am in awe of my sister. How do you churn out so much amazing writing and photos?! I've fallen behind again so bear with me as we catch up on our photos from the past few weeks... In BIG news, Dave's brother Dan got married to the beautiful Meredith. Dave was Best Man and Lucy was a Flower Girl.

Here we are at the rehearsal. Lucy and Emma were SO well-behaved and excited for their big job.

Dan and Meredith were pretty excited, too (note how serious the girls are in the background).

The Queen of Sheeba fans herself before the big show. The photo is out of focus, but I thought this was so funny.

We arrived for photos and Lucy couldn't take her eyes off herself.

And then it was time for the big show! The girls were beautiful.

And so were the happy bride and groom.

It was so cute to see Lucy instinctually lifting her dress to walk in her "high heels." She was so dainty the whole night and insisted on not changing clothes.

And we basically had to tear her off the dance floor (go Uncle Simon!).

And now to steal a line from Dave's Best Man speech...

"This is what's known as a transition."

Looking for something fun to do in the South Bay? There's a new Exploratorium Shop and mini interactive museum in Los Altos that's really fun. There are all sorts of activities to do--we spent well over an hour playing and Lucy could have stayed much longer if I hadn't forced her to leave and eat lunch.

Magnetic sand is the ONE thing I remember about the Exploratorium as a kid.

This was a clever use of sliding panels teaching kids about color blending.

There are also lots of things to make your kids stand in front of for a nice picture.

Or of yourself!

I bought myself a present there. This is peacock ore.

And a present for my husband. The small print reads, Emily froze. The distressing sound as she sat down could neither be described as "pleasant" nor, more worryingly, "dry."

Lucy got her first library card this month. She consumes books so quickly this will be a regular spot for us.

And Lucy helped me Flitter my office. Before making the dragonflies I had her watch Jennifer's Mom and little brothers talk about the fundraiser on the news. I told her that some kids are very, very sick. And the doctors want to help, but there's not enough money for them to make medicine. I told her that if we made beautiful dragonflies maybe we could get some of my friends to help give some money to the doctors. She was really excited and asked to keep one dragonfly for herself.

Being a part of this fundraiser was both difficult and rewarding. With each push I gave, a blog post, a Facebook post, Flittering the office... I would get ONE donation. While it would make me sad that more weren't compelled to donate, I was brought to tears each time my phone alerted me that I had received a donation. The campaigning I did "Flittering" was the lightweight counterpart to a bigger campaign called "Fluttering." 350 families volunteered to post dragonflies and signs each night at a person's home, hoping to inspire donations. There were heartbreaking stories of dragonflies being stolen and signs thrown in the trash. But also amazing stories of courage and awareness. I am so very proud to have been part of this.

There are still a few more hours left in September to donate!

xo Becky

Our Week in Pictures

It finally feels like we are getting somewhat of a schedule going again with school in full-swing. I really can't believe this time next year I will have a Kindergartener!

Pretty soon she won't have training wheels, sniff.

On our walk back from the park I challenged Lucy to find everything yellow. It distracted her from complaining about how tired she was wonderfully!

And these are the bugs we spied.

Always play with your food. Always.

Boom boom, pow! New kicks from Target.

And here is Lucy as a teenager.

She's my sunshine.

And if you can, please considering making a small donation to my Flittering fundraising page. I'm raising money for Pediatric Awareness Month in honor of my friend's daughter, Jennifer. The facts about the lack of funding for helping our babies is heartbreaking. Consider even a $7 donation for the 7 families who will lose theirs today.

xo Becky

The August Break: Week 4 (Plus a special message)

I can't believe August is really over and we're headed into Fall. Jerks keep posting things on Facebook reminding us there's only 17 more Fridays until Christmas. Yipes! Here are my photos from the final week of The August Break.

Here's a sneak peek at a gift I made for my baby nephew, Logan. After several failed attempts I discovered a new technique for doing lettering by pinning down twine and then shellacking it into a semi-solid form. I think I'm onto something!

Ironically on "lines" day both Lucy and I ended up wearing stripes.

On "nature" day for some reason I really wanted to photograph a dandelion, but I couldn't find one and Lucy wasn't in the mood to go hunting. I settled for the sun setting over our front yard.

Look what I found on "soft" day!

Goooooooood morning. We were all out of real milk at work again and I just cannot bring myself to use the powdered creamer.

And the final day was "love." I love that they put up with me and all my photo shenanigans.

The photo prompt this week for my self portrait class was "my heart." Here she is with chocolate on her chin.

And I can't enter September without mentioning its significance and why so many more people need to know... September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month. I know it is an unbelievably sad topic, but that's nothing compared to the sadness experienced by the families touched by it.

The thing people need to know is that pediatric cancer is in desperate need of research funding. Like so many others I always turned away from what was too sad until I couldn't. It was no longer a St. Jude's ad I had no connection to. The flaming wrecking ball that is pediatric cancer hit the beautiful daughter of a former co-worker of mine. Jennifer was diagnosed on her 6th birthday and died just three and a half months later. What I dug out of the ashes was glitter. Facts that stuck to me in Jennifer's honor and because of my heart, my Lucy.

• Cancer is the #1 cause of death by disease for children in the US.
• Pharmaceutical Companies fund 60% of all adult cancer research, but less than 1% for childhood cancer BECAUSE IT'S NOT PROFITABLE.
• In the past 20 years, only two new cancer drugs have been specifically approved for pediatric use. By contrast, in one year (2012), a total of 23 drugs were approved for adults.
• The American Cancer Society only gives one cent of every dollar raised for pediatric cancer.
• Less than 4% of the NIH cancer research budget goes towards pediatric cancer.
• The average age for a child diagnosed with cancer is 6. For breast cancer, it’s 61, and for prostate cancer, it’s 63. Average number of years lost for the adults that die is 15 years… for the children that die, it’s 69 years.
• 46 children a day are diagnosed with pediatric cancer
• 7 children a day die from pediatric cancer

If you are still reading, if you haven't looked away because it is "too sad," please help. I'm not asking you to dump a bucket of glitter on your head. If you have the means, donate. Perhaps if more funding goes toward finding cures for the most difficult to treat cancers--pediatric cancers--perhaps all cancers might unravel.

Spread the glitter.

xo Becky

Much of the private funding comes from parents and family members grass root efforts

The August Break: Week 3 (plus more!)

I'm really loving the photo prompts for The August Break. I've also connected with some really talented photographers on Instagram the past few weeks. I think I've really been testing myself creatively through these prompts, and for that I think I'll have to send Susannah my own love letter. So let's start with the cute right off the bat.

As hard as she tried, this was the most impressive jump shot I could get. I need to teach her to kick her heels up, like in the old Toyota commercials.

This shot was fun. I wish those nail decals had lasted longer...

My phone is full of these amazing sunrise pictures from my morning walks (which lately have involved bursts of jogging and running up and down stairs).

Treasures: Rocks, shells and beads. I took this with the same method used to shoot my nail polish last week.

Can't resist those morning shadows.

It's fun to say "adornment."

She's building memories every day. I hope I'm making them colorful for her.

Appreciating the small details.

In other news Lulu started back at preschool this week!

As a special treat I did her nails with Jamberry Juniors. (I used the rice application method if anyone is interested, it worked really well!)

My bub has grown!

XO Becky

The August Break: Week 2

The week's first prompt was "handwriting." Lucy has been practicing her letters and is getting very close to writing them all correctly.

Daddy made a special dinner. I think it looks like a monkey.

I was really happy how this picture tuned out even though my neighbors think I'm crazy. I know glitter is hard to photograph, so I brought a desk outside and set this up where we get some really nice light as the the sun goes down.

I took this while on a walk during work, alone with my thoughts.

For "blue" day I went into the movie theater at work and let the details from The Wizard of Oz project onto me.

Looking down at my bub in the bath.

My bookshelf model.

This year I'm also taking part in 52 of You. Last week's theme was negative space. I love my new shoes from Target!!!

xo Becky

The August Break: Week 1

Here's my photos for the week!

2014: Week 19

Well, last week was a bit of a haze. It still lingers this week as I try to wrap my brain around a new reality. While I wish it were easy for me to compartmentalize work and life, I'm hopelessly compassionate and can't NOT form an attachment to the people I spend 40+ hours a week with. Unfortunately we had a staff reduction this week and it hit HARD. I was just walking around looking at the already grey aisles of cubicles feeling beyond lonely. I know I should be happy that I made it through, but it's just so strange.

This goofy girl keeps me going.

P.S. I love you... And other reminders the keep on keeping on.

My fur baby, Normikins gives the fluffiest snuggles.

Can you see the bunny?

We've been playing "restaurant" lately, which consists of making a menu, then dressing up fancy and being waited upon. Here is a menu from "Watercolor Café."

We also went to the Los Altos Pet Parade! Here's all the dogs watching.

Pug life.

This lady and her dog (omg her glasses and the dogs eyes!)

I was too close to get a full shot, but this guy's dog had dreadlocks :)

Pop Pop and Lucy cleaning strawberries.

I made something for you... Stay tuned.

I scored some quartz at the art faire. Time to make some magic.

xo Becky

Hello!

I was doing so well after the New Year keeping up with my weekly posts! I got derailed suddenly then one week led to another and soon it felt like I had dug a hole too deep. A self-made roadblock. I also noticed I'm several posts away from my 100th post to this blog. That got scary, too. WHAT DO I WRITE ABOUT??? It's spring cleaning time and a few months back I bought the mother of all books, Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home. This thing weights 4 1/2 pounds. I looked up a standard Bible on Amazon—they weigh about a pound and a half on average. To say I broke out the "big guns" would be completely accurate. As I open this behemoth, I know it's time for an-around kick in the pants.

So, without further adieu, here a quick photo roundup covering these past few weeks. And you better believe there is some more Life as Martha in your future!

I've been continuing on with my 52 of You class, exploring 52 self-portrait projects over the course of one year. Our recent assignments:

Week 18: "Hands"

Week 17: "Motion" (taken with a self-timer, camera on the floor at work)

Week 16: "Big World, Little Me"

Week 15: "Black and White"

We went on some family adventures during Spring Break, like to the zoo:

Lucy is finally not afraid to ride the carousel anymore.

We went to Gilroy Gardens and enjoyed cool plants and kiddie rides.

Visiting a book store. Is there a word for the wonderful smell of books?

We have been singing and acting out Frozen constantly. I'm always Elsa.

We experimented with liquid watercolor, glue and salt.

And then I took about five thousand pictures of this girl:

Here she is sitting through a three and a half hour dinner with a bunch of adults. She was amazing!

Snuggle bunny.

It was early in the morning and she stopped me and said, "take a picture of me with the sun." I love how sleepy she looks.

And then this past weekend I got spoiled for Mother's Day, as one should.

Ok, now that we got that out of the way we can resume our normal schedule.

I'm also wanting to get back into more crafting posts. Let me know if you have any projects you'd love to see!

xo Becky

2014: Week 12

The work week went by in a blink last week. Luckily we had a really fun weekend to make up for it. Still life at Target.

Birdhouses reflected.

Best friends forever.

On Friday night we headed to Oakland for dinner with Dave's band On Telegraph and all the lady wives.

Chalk painting.

MEGA BUBBLES.

Original MacBook.

We visited Harley Farms again over the weekend, a goat farm over in Pescadero. We went last year as well. Between the adorable piles of baby goats and the cheese, I think this will easily become a tradition.

CHEESE.

Farm kitty.

My big girl...

Last year at the farm...

And this year...

DEEP.FRIED.BRUSSEL.SPROUTS.

Gorgeous produce.

Afterwards we drove over to the beach.

Perfect weather, perfect weekend!

xo Becky

2014: Week 11

Eleven weeks into this wonderful year! Here's a T-Rex with a beard.

Spring hath sprung over at Pop Pop's house. Also it was 86 degrees at one point this weekend!

 

I've been very into this brown/silver combo lately.

I got my first Stitch Fix this week! I only kept one item this round, but am already super excited to se what I get next time. As a working mom who usually does all my clothing shopping while at Target getting cat food… it's nice to get some quality pieces as well as advice on how to dress like an awesome lady.

Too cool for school?

This week's photo assignment--DETAILS.

Speaking of details, here's a nice one from Lulu's room.

She's looking very grown up these days.

The blossoms are still thriving!

Playing outside until dinner because it's so warm!

My bulbs are almost ready to burst open.

And inside the house a pack of tigers have invited the plants.

All the kids got together for some water fun.

And then I busted out some shaving cream and the kids were stoked for some clean/messy fun.

And quickly this happened.

xo Becky

2014: Week 10

A regular week around these parts with the exception in the sudden burst of Spring. We've been having sunny 76 degree days and blossoms like crazy.

On Wednesdays my Mom takes Lucy to dance class. Here she is at Granny's in the early AM when I dropped her off on my way to work.

Bed hog.

I got some liquid watercolors and we had fun trying out all the Pinterest ideas, like spray bottles in the bath...

Mixed with shaving cream...

And soaked into coffee filters...

We have weird square coffee filters because we use a Chemex...

Cut and folded into flowers...

And let's not ever forget these oldies but goodies.

Out for sushi.

Hope you had a nice week!

xo Becky

A Day in the Life...

On Monday I participated in another "Day in the Life" Photo Challenge, this time hosted by my sister's friend Rebecca (great name!). This one was interesting because it fell on a very nontraditional day. Every year we host an Oscar Party, and every year I take the following Monday off to clean the apartment (it's a huge ordeal; we decorate, move furniture, cook  a bunch of food…) This is why I slept in (!!!) and why Lucy is absent for a large portion of my morning.

For those interested, this series I chose to shoot entirely with my Samsung Galaxy III and many are edited using the VSCO app.

8:30 :: I woke up to only minor cleanup damage. The lingering dedication to PSH.

9:30 :: Editing photos from the night before. Amazing.

10:30 :: Snack as I continue to cleanup and straighten things out.

11:30 :: Picking up Lucy at my parent's house. She was a "good girl" spending the night AND got to go see Frozen again and eat a bag of popcorn with Grampy.

12:30 :: Next we went and had lunch together at Whole Foods.

1:30 :: Then, because it was Mommy's day off AND Target is next-door to Whole Foods, we went to Target.

2:30 :: Project planning with Lucy.

3:30 :: Playing with her new sentence reading cards.

4:30 :: Dinner prep.

5:30 :: Watering the plants. This one is a jungle.

6:30 :: Working on my bullet journal with a glass of wine as Dave cooks dinner and Lucy watches Diego.

7:30 :: Bath time! These two guys, "Billy and Joey," have seen many adventures in the ocean.

8:30 :: Editing the bloggy poo for my weekly look-back-in-photos.

9:30 :: Watching Walking Dead. OMG.

       

And then I went to sleep EARLY. BOOYA.

Hope you take a day off and  go to bed early one day soon. It's awesome. You're awesome.

xo Becky

2014: Week 9

Rainbows! I saw three this week! This one is over my parents house, the house I grew up in, the house Lucy spends her weekdays.

Rainbows means rain, which mean puddles, which means FUN.

This week's portrait assignment - EYES. I love that you can see the reflection of my camera.

Looks like it's time to clean out the desk… Seriously, cats will sleep anywhere.

We had our annual Oscar Party. Some of us dressed 70s themed in honor of American Hustle.

My BFF and her fiancé totally rocked it. We're definitely going to start some new traditions next year, starting with a Best Dressed Award!

Bradley Coop-cake, adorable!

Part of the awesome "Red Carpet Cupcakes" by our friends Drew & Michelle.

Dave and Lucy posed by the daffodils at Pop Pop's house. This is the third year in a row that we have done this. Last year Dave noticed he was wearing the same shirt as the year before, and so the gag has begun. He said he's already looking forward to doing this when she's an angry teenager.

xo Becky

2014: Week 8

Last week I didn't take very many photos. Weird how that happens sometimes. Here are my faves. Our theme this week in 52 of You was "props." I found these awesome glasses at Target.

I made Lucy heart-shaped french toast and strawberries, just cuz she's the awesomest.

She also painted this amazing picture of my parents dog Jack who died a few weeks ago, because she "wanted to remember him."

A co-worker made these adorable cupcakes at work. Someone asked if they were supposed to be Mount Rushmore. Um, no. MINIONS!

I get weird looks at work in the parking lot all the time in the morning taking pictures. I can't help it if the wet asphalt looks amazing bathed in golden sunlight!!!

Watching and listening to kids pretend play is so freaking cute.

Feets.

And Lucy got a hat, inspired by her cutie pie cousin, Lila who rocks hats like no other.

xo Becky

Family Date Photo Series

I took this first photo about a year ago. Seeing itty bitty toys juxtaposed with our "grown up" drinks just looked so sweet to me. Maybe because I love our "family dates" so much. Just the three of us out together having fun. Lala Loopsy and chardonnay.

Tiger brothers and chardonnay.

Prince Eric totally cheating on Ariel with Cinderella (and probably chardonnay).

Baby Norman, beer and sake.

Truck hauling markers, Daddy and beer.

Stickers and sake.

Bo-Jack and beer.

Half of the Calico Critters Buttercup Cat Twins and sake.

Crayons and chardonnay.

xo Becky