knitting betty

Beginnings

2010-01-03T16:56:00.002-06:00

According to Pantone, the color of 2010 is turquoise. This makes me happy. Turquoise (and its close cousin teal) is fastly becoming a favorite hue for me, only second to my all-time favorite color of red. And boy, do I love me some combination of the two colors together.

I've picked up the needles again. I sorted through the mess of yarn and knitting supplies to find some Schaefer Little Lola and some metal Addi 8s. Funny how it's been awhile since there has been any sort of knitting, but I still remember Size 8 needles are my go to for worsted. The pattern I am knitting is Not Quite Straight Scarf by Nicole Hindes. Ravelers - her is the pattern page on Ravelry.

I'm going to set a goal to be more creative. I'll attempt to do something each day that engages right brain activity. Anything is actually an improvement from last year. I don't want to call this a resolution. Saying "I resolve..." seems so absolute and sets you up for failure and disappointment.

To borrow something funny I heard in the past couple of days....Happy Numbering Change, All!

Sigh

2009-12-29T11:00:00.001-06:00

Don't. Want. To. Leave.

It's been a great week here in warm Kauai. Seriously one of my favorite places on Earth. We leave tonight on the red eye. Two hops to get home to BNA - one in LAX and one in DFW. That's Nashville, Los Angeles and Dallas-Ft. Worth in airport code speak.

It's been great to spend the holidays with family. If you stalk my Flickr photos, you've been seeing the pictures and videos.

Young Man's two cousins are pretty cute. These are my sister and brother-in-law's girls. We used to call the older one Baby Cousin, but she's already 2 years old, so she's been promoted to just Cousin. We can call the younger girl Baby Cousin now.

Young Man loves the water. We had plenty of beach time. He enjoyed it immensely.

Young Man did not believe me when I said there were waterfalls in Hawaii. I showed him!

Island eats were quite tasty. Eggbert's - great breakfast.

Shaved ice. AKA snow cone. AKA island delicacy.

Bubba's burgers - delicious!

Well, time for one last visit to the beach!

Aloha!

An A-Maze-ing New Interest

2009-12-05T06:05:00.002-06:00

Starting about 2-3 months ago, Young Man started working on mazes in those kids activity books. It did appear as though he enjoyed figuring out what to do when his crayon would meet a dead end. I was browsing the best toy store ever Philips Toy Mart a couple weeks ago for Xmas gift ideas and came across an activity book that was just mazes. It was purchased along with several other items.

After helping me set up the tree yesterday evening, he wanted to play in his activity books. He found and worked on all of the one-off mazes interspersed among the coloring pages. No more mazes, he thought and seemed disappointed.

Mom to the rescue. I was impressed how speedily his marker worked in between the jumble of lines. Dead ends were followed with backtracking and seeking other paths to the end.

"Go past the cities." "We made it!"

This video was taken with my iPhone. Not bad.

It's Hot

2009-08-08T17:27:00.002-06:00

We went on an outing to Nashville Shores to get cool. I felt bad for Young Man. He really wanted to go on the water slides. There are plenty, and they are all fun. Alas, he is not tall enough for most of them, except for the one called The Hippo, which is essentially a huge inflatable slide. We went down together. It was so great!

Normally, Young Man is adept at taking pictures, but I think the sun prevented him from being able to see me through the camera viewfinder.

He LOVED the mini golf. We played it twice. Most of the time, he deliberately placed his ball near the hole for a tap in.

Three hours later, sunned, tired, and hungry, we departed for pizza and gelato at Whole Foods.

Desert Debrief

2009-07-30T07:30:00.001-06:00

I don't care that Arizona is hot without the humidity. Hot is hot. I could barely be outside for more than 10 minutes at a time without feeling completely worn out and sweaty. I'm just getting back from Scottsdale, AZ from a college friend's wedding. Having just been there for the first time ever, I would have to say certainly that most sane people would travel there during the winter and be somewhere else for the summer months. I learned this is what Frank Lloyd Wright did back in the day.

If you ever travel to the Phoenix area (Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, etc.), I would really highly recommend visiting Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesen West. He lived in Chicago for quite some time, so there is that connection with me, having visited his home and studio in Oak Park, IL. At Taliesen West in Scottsdale, even though we spent a lot of time outside walking between buildings, it was worth it. I learned something quite interesting about Mr. Wright that I did not know before. He is known for use of geometric shapes, such as triangles and hexagons, in all of his work. That part I knew. This is drawn from what he saw in nature. This part I did not know. I instantly thought of a certain celebrated knitter Norah Gaughan is quite known for her nature inspired designs.

Trusty nikita was uber useful on my trip. The GPS in the iPhone is genius. I used it to drive all over Scottsdale and not get lost. I found my way to Whole Foods for some snacks and to a yoga studio for my practice. I tried to scope out possible areas to strike a yoga pose in front of a cactus, but decided that it wasn't worth the effort relative to the heat I have to endure. Instead, I took my yoga mat indoors to a lovely studio near my hotel At One Yoga. I wasn't supposed to get the $25 all-you-can-yoga-for-two-weeks deal for locals, but the receptionist was nice and that allowed me to avoid the $20 per class drop-in fee. $25 vs. $60 for the 3 classes I took - not bad.

Feeling Accomplished

2009-07-24T06:41:00.003-06:00

Not sure what is with me lately. Seems like I've been participating in a lot of athletic competitions lately.

A few weeks ago, a few of my co-workers gathered together to measure our physical fitness according to Army. The test is measured on 3 dimensions: the number of pushups in 2 minutes, number of situps in 2 minutes, and time on a 2-mile run. The scoring is equalized for gender and age, meaning, I, a 35-year-old female can be compared against a male in his early 20s. I scored 269 points out of a possible 300. My nearest competitor scored 236. I pretty much smoked the competition of mainly men. I think what really helped me was my upper body strength; I did the required pushups for the max 100 points before the 2 minutes were up. My prize? Bragging rights.

And then more recently, I participated in the triathlon relay with two of the co-workers that participated in the aforementioned Army Physical Fitness Test. We all performed the legs where we were the strongest. I did the swim portion of 880 yards, being the one on our team who competitively swam through the majority of my pre-college years. I didn't really train that much. I just made sure I could swim the distance by practicing in my local pool. I wasn't worried about finishing. I have to say, I was not prepared for lake swimming. Allergens in the water caused me to wheeze. The seemingly harmless waters were much more choppy when trying to swim piled on top of each other. After trying to swim with front crawl, I switched to breaststroke, deciding that swimming with low visibility was not good for me.

After all the participants finished, they started the awards ceremony. They awarded trophies to gender/age group divisions. We won 2nd place in the coed relay division. Yay! After a several awards, they'd give out door prizes. One of them was $120 trail running shoes. The announcer said we'd have to participate in a pushup contest. (You know where this is going.) I'm in. Co-workers barely uttered, "Betty, you have to do this..." when I was already peeling off my track jacket and sprinting to the contest area. I beat out 3 other ladies. Now I gotta find some trails to run, I am thinking about running a trail race!

I'm so 2000 and late...

2009-07-19T21:34:00.000-06:00

A new toy came into my possession a few days ago. I wasn't purposely holding back for any particular reason. I told myself a year ago that I'd upgrade to one of these babies when my current phone died. And that time arrived a few weeks ago. My trusty Motorola Razr of over 4 years met its demise when I accidentally threw it into a trash can at work. When I fished it out from the bottom, it was soaked with whatever liquid was inside. Yuck! I cleaned it as best as I could and pulled out the battery to dry. Since that day, the battery would not hold a charge for longer than half a day. It was time to get current.

Other than exuding 1000 ways awesomeness, it is quite practical. I really dig the GPS functionality. It helps with not getting lost or finding alternate routes. Many of the iPhone apps work with the GPS - weather, restaurants, and even bathrooms.

Summer

2009-06-13T16:05:00.002-06:00

I love Las Paletas. If you live in Nashville, you know what I'm talking about. Last year for a work gathering, they brought in Las Paletas as one of the food items. It had the hugest line. We showed up today 5 minutes before opening. Young Man did the standard young child press-face-and-hands-on-window-looking-in and wondered when we get to go inside. He got distracted by the gravel area and when I said "they're opening the door," he darted inside with this other young girl about his age.

He opted for strawberry blackberry. He was down with the flavor, yo.

B.K. / A.K.

2009-03-25T05:20:00.000-06:00

Long lines at the airport. Wait time in the doctor's office. El or bus ride into work. Before Knitting - I used to read 1-2 books a month. Sometimes it was mindless, fast-paced, formulaic fiction. Sometimes it was more intellectual. The last book I read until recently was Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves.

Upon the recommendation of a friend, I started reading again. My friend actually took the time to think about what I might enjoy and procured it for me. At the time, I did feel a sense of obligation to read it, but not in bad way, of course. That book was 1984 and I am all the better for reading it. It would seem a lot of today's references relate to 1984, such as the term "Big Brother."

And since then, I've engaged myself in other titles. Even with the mindless reading, it does require the brain to work in a different way than other activities that one might spend time participating in. Before Knitting - it was just books. And then came Knitting - the period where it was just knitting, and only knitting. After Knitting - the phase where I can find a good balance between the two.

Yes, that is some recent knitting in the photo. More on that a bit later.

The Long and the Short of It

2009-03-22T13:21:00.005-06:00

Once upon a time, there was a girl with super long hair.

Then one day, this girl was watching one of her favorite TV shows and noticed the main character chopped off her long locks in favor of a graduated bob.

Girl wondered if her face was suitable for a shorter style. Girl texted her hairstylist of 5 years: "Would Kate Walsh's bob work on me?" Super Boy Wonder Hairstylist replied: "Definitely."

A few weeks later, Super Boy Wonder Hairstylist called in a panic. "Betty, do you still want to do the bob? I would cut your hair for free. I need to videotape it for an audition." (For Bravo TV's Shear Genius reality competition!) Girl decided she would do it. Girl was nervous when she arrived at the salon for the audition haircut. Girl was very attached to her long hair and worried that she might hate it and cry, and that would certainly not be good for an audition tape.

Girl smiled at her shorter hair in the mirror after cutting and before the blow out. She already knew she loved. All smiles.

Guess I need to update my cartoon picture to reflect my sleeker, shorter hair.

Real Snow

2009-03-11T06:07:00.000-06:00

I may have snarked before about "snow" in Tennessee. It does snow here in Nashville, but it's usually only an inch or two, and the ground is usually warm that it melts almost immediately. Nothing like what I am used to in Chicago. And certainly nothing like where Young Man and I just got home from.

We traveled to Whistler, BC, two hours north of Vancouver, site of 2010 Winter Olympics. And the special occasion was my brother's wedding. I consider Young Man a seasoned pro at traveling. His passport is well stamped. He's been all over the world - Taiwan, Indonesia, Canada - and all over the United States. It shouldn't surprise anyone how completely laid back he is about traveling such long distances. Even when tired and hungry, he can be reasoned with: "when we get off the plane, we'll find you something to eat."

There isn't too much to do for smaller children if they don't want to hit the slopes. There is 3 year old ski school but Young Man wasn't interested. We were able to at least watch the skiers and riders by riding the gondola up the mountain. The Whistler/Blackcomb Peak 2 Peak gondola that connects the peaks of the two mountains. Truly awesome.

My niece, my Sister's baby girl, is the cutest niece ever. She is so happy and very photogenic. I think I got really lucky in the lighting. It was slightly overcast but still bright, and the gondola is surrounded by windows all around.

It it pretty rare to have my immediate family all together - Mom, Dad, Brother and Sister. Some of my first cousins made the journey to British Columbia as well. Sometimes I feel so isolated here in Nashville. It was great to be surrounded by family for a celebratory occasion.

Creative Mind at Work

2009-02-22T17:31:00.001-06:00

Young Man had some arts and crafts homework this weekend. The focus at school this week are the letters P and C. He was instructed to decorate cardboard letters at will. I did help with certain parts, such as the snowflake-esque cutouts, but otherwise, Young Man did his own thing. He wouldn't let me touch his letters!

Phuture Photog

2009-02-09T05:45:00.001-06:00

It was a warm and sunny day. Young Man chose to go to Dragon Park over the zoo. Young Man grabbed his Mom's DSLR and ran around taking photos. This is no small feat.

Canon Rebel XTi is heavy and bulky for 3-1/2 year old.
No large preview pane. You have to look through the smaller viewfinder.
You have to obviously aim properly and click.

I think the results are pretty good.

Me on the swing.

Ignore my slouchy posture. I was ducking down because I could tell the lens was not at the proper height.

Good aim! I did not crop these.

Look at someone's trash on the ground.

Seems like someone needs an upgrade from the kiddie camera he received over a year ago.

Zeitgeist

2008-09-26T04:32:00.001-06:00

Back at the beginning of 2008, I had made an observation. Being green was becoming so commonplace. Every store I knew had "buy these reusable bags for $1 and be eco-conscious" bags. It was starting to disgust me in that it seemed the idea of being less wasteful was trendy. I put myself in the proverbial corporations' shoes and thought, well, if they didn't do what everyone else is doing, they would look like they don't care. Okay, I can buy that.

Still, I was annoyed with the pervasive trendiness of it all, that I had a thought that I would revert back to extreme wastefulness and consumerism. Stuff, stuff, and more stuff. I was going to make my dent into landfills. I did, of course, grow up in the days of Material Girl.

But then I thought about why I needed to be so counterculture. Just because it's popular and trendy, doesn't make it wrong. I generally tend to be against the grain. If it's the in thing, it's generally not my thang. Vox populi says this is IT. And I end up being against IT.

But is that always true? Sheepishly, I admit, not always. I think about a time where I really wanted something, but my anti-popularity self said it's a highly desirable brand so I must not get it. Angel meet Devil. Angel is the voice of reason and says it's nice looking, made well, is not splashed with company's logo, and will look great with everything you already own. I still carry that Coach bag to this day.

Sometimes my anti-ness can be detrimental.

I think back to the beginning of 2008 and it's been 8-9 months since my observation at the beginning of the year. Maybe the trendiness isn't bad after all. Seems like people are making long-term changes that are permanent and impactful and that just become part of normal daily operations of life. This would be akin to someone losing a lot of weight, breaking out of the cycle of yo-yo gains and losses, and making exercise and nutritional changes for long-term health and well-being.

By the way, I am down to just one bag of actual trash per week. And it's actually about 1/2 bag. Mostly food stuffs, coffee grains, etc. That does make me smile.

“What I say today everybody will say tomorrow, though they will not remember who put it into their heads. Indeed they will be right for I never remember who puts things into my head : it is the Zeitgeist.” - George Bernard Shaw

Attention Span

2008-09-21T14:24:00.000-06:00

We were in a store and there was this huge stuffed yellow lab. Friendly looking. Pretty cute. Much, much bigger than Young Man. The store had a collar and leash on the stuffed pooch and Young Man walked (read: dragged) the dog around the store. It seemed like he was really enjoying the dog. We left the store, without the dog at this point, and we went to grab dinner and do some grocery shopping. We went back to the store. Young Man went straight to the dog.

He seemed pretty engaged with his dog fun. I crouched down to have a little discussion. "Do you really want this? Are you going to be bored with it in 2 hours after we get it home? No? Okay, you really want Mommy to buy this? Are you sure? Yes?" I could see the "yes Mom please" gleam in his eyes. It wasn't just words coming out of his mouth.

Meet Jake.

Feeling Vindicated

2008-09-08T05:41:00.003-06:00

You know that big time professional sports event I attended a year and half ago? I still reminisce about seeing Prince performing Purple Rain in the rain during halftime.

Heading back to the office after Superbowl XLI, I suffered the embarrassment that only a sole Bears fan in the state of Tennessee could understand. The one presumed to be almighty reigns supreme here in Volunteerland. Even when the Colts come to Nashville to play the hometown Titans, half the crowd cheers for their UT hero.

Seems like QB Almighty couldn't even pull his team out of a loss on the Colts' new field, even though he did have a solid outing. Seems like the Bears D was clicking on all fronts. Takeaways (vs. turnovers) are good. Points scored by the D are good. There will be excuses aplenty from the Colts faithful.

Yes, it is back. Football, that is.

Old Friend

2008-09-04T04:38:00.002-06:00

I stopped by my tailor to get some new pants hemmed. I walked in and immediately Houri said "Old friend, how are you doing? Nice to see you!" It's been at least 2 years, maybe more, since I have brought anything in for her to adjust. It felt great for her to recognize me. And who am I? Houri makes custom couture gowns for the likes of Dolly Parton and the Judds.

Houri @ Fashion Alterations
2120 Crestmoor Roadd
Nashville, TN 37215
(615) 383-9558

Speaking of old friend...yes, it's been stale around here. Old. Not making any promises here, but I'll try to update more.

$9.99 of Old School Fun

2008-07-06T07:40:00.000-06:00

I feel like Snoopy Sno-Cone has been around forever. It was the one of the coolest toys when I was growing up. Nothing beats ice and sugary syrup on a hot day. My arms got a workout from pushing down the ice and turning the handle. I expended many joules to produce a golf-ball size of shaved ice. Funny - I don't remember this toy being exercise.

First Movie

2008-06-30T04:53:00.002-06:00

We saw WALL-E to mark the occasion. Prior to yesterday, I never really thought he was ready to sit still for the length of a movie. I was prepared to leave immediately if any restlessness developed, but Young Man was a champ. He sat still and was quiet the entire movie. I was so proud!

Lunch at La Paz. Young Man ate chips and queso, some quesadilla, and fries.

Then, shopping at Wild Oats. I have to say, the mini shopping carts are a really great idea. I allow Young Man to select his own goods. He's chosen eggs, milk and cheese on his own before. And some fruit. He's got a good knack for finding pantry basics. He loves pushing his cart around the store and putting the items on the conveyor belt at checkout.

Intrepidly Making Mistakes

2008-06-28T17:03:00.001-06:00

Em and I have been doing some bonding these past few weeks. I have had many small projects, so I have had lots of practice with bobbin winding. I have shortened the straps of both an Anthropologie top and a Catherine Malandrino top. I have repaired the busted seam near a pocket on a pair of one of my favorite pants. I have hemmed three pairs of pants to the desired lengths. My no-serger self loves the overcast stitch function on Em. With all these projects, I have had many opportunities to change out the presser feet.

I checked out the many decorative stitches that come with my machine. I also played with the blind hem stitch, which will be useful in repairing skirt and pant hems. I might have just made up the cost of Em.

I washed and dried the pink Joel Dewberry fabric that will become a shirt. Then I pinned and cut. Ugh - I cut by through the notches without making the notches. I'll just have to manually mark them on the fabric. I am a little anxious over the fit because while ease in sewing is the same discussion as it is in knitting, somehow I am feeling a little newbie-ish in proper garment fitting.

After buying a highly recommended sewing reference book - Reader's Digest New Complete Guide to Sewing - and reading some, I came to the realization that I should have placed the right sides facing together before pinning and cutting. Sure enough, I go back to my pattern and there it is - if you are doubling up the fabric, place right sides facing. However, I think I am okay. The pieces are symmetrical. I think the only thing I need to do is unpin and reverse my fabric. Then I can proceed with my tracing paper and wheel to make my markings.

I do like to just try things without fear of screwing up. The errors and failures I make along the way only help to learn from experience.

3

2008-06-21T08:14:00.001-06:00

Like last year, we ordered a cupcake cake. It shouldn't surprise any of you that the theme this year was dinosaurs. And like last year, he was the messiest eater.

Window of Opportunity

2008-06-16T04:18:00.003-06:00

When Husband yelled "Betty, come here quick and bring your camera," I instinctively grabbed my DSLR and not my point and shoot. I joined him on our deck out back and saw the beauty of one creature's work. It was really foggy (or "froggy" as Young Man put it) and my skin felt the heavy dampness of the dew, the same dew that had collected on the web to make it gloriously visible.

By late morning, the sun had come out. The strong rays burned off the haze and the visible web was no more.

Retention of Knowledge

2008-06-03T17:18:00.001-06:00

Have you ever gone to a training class where you felt so overwhelmed with information overload that when you leave, you can't possibly want to think about what you just learned? And then a week later, as you attempt to recall your training, you think, I can't remember a darn thing? One time, in a training class of all things, I learned that it is not likely a person can retain all that knowledge when a person's full body of knowledge is comprised of their entire life's worth of experiences - one week class vs. your life (however old you are at the time). I learned that the key is to take away 3 key points to add your knowledge foundation.

I had the opportunity to take a yoga workshop this weekend with Ramanand Patel. I decided to take this workshop a month ago to further my yoga practice. Most of the classes I've taken in various local yoga studios are flow classes where I am in constant movement. The workshop is more similar to what I practice at home. Staying in the postures for extended amount of time, taking breaks between intense work.

I went to the workshop with the intention of de-stressing and learning new postures. After 12 hours over 3 days, I came away with much more. During our postures, Yogi Rama would tell stories, dispense wisdom, or crack jokes. Back to my point about the 3 key takeaways. There was so much to learn during the workshop, that during the last day of the workshop, I thought about which things affected me the most. Instead of trying to retain all the knowledge, I focused on 3 things.

1. Strive to be 100% present.

Ramanand talked about people saying they miss things all the time. Missing people. Missing home. Missing long lost toy. He said try to be 100% present in your current situation so that there is no room for missing. Sometimes, "missing" is a result of being bored. Your brain receives so much stimuli each second that technically, it is impossible to be bored.

I realize you might be in a sticky situation if someone asks you if you missed them and if your response is that you were 100% present when you were away, that you had no room to miss, it could cause some issues. Use as appropriate. Your mileage may vary.

2. Strive to go from the unknown to the known constantly.

Ramanand spoke of seeing the impossible through his travels. If something is unknown, make it a known. I think the concept is pretty basic and useful. In yoga, it's reaching for another millimeter in your pose.

I was attempting to do stand up from wheel pose with assistance from Ramamand pulling downward to create downward force from my lower body. I was supposed to not lead with my head. I was supposed to go into a deeper backbend, straighten my legs, and use my lower body as the leverage to get up. My mind blocked my body from executing properly. Ramanand said "It's just fear." Yes, fear of the unknown.

3. Strive for internal validation.

Ramanand told a story of a class he was teaching one time. There was a woman, presumably the most beautiful woman in the room. When they got to talking, the woman did not perceive herself as beautiful. It turns out she needed constant affirmation. Being told you are doing a good job, etc. feels good. And we all need it once in awhile, but if you feel internally that everything is well, then it is.

This last nugget was the wisdom I needed this past weekend. I've been all in angst over something. I went to the workshop not looking for the answer to this and the answer stared me in the face. It was surreal.

On a different note, during our Saturday and Sunday sessions, we had 90 minute breaks. The workshop was at The Yoga Room in the Berry Hill area which is an eclectic neighborhood. I took a visit to Textile Fabrics which was very near the studio. I came away with fabric from the Serendipity Line by P&B Textiles, Kaffe Fassett fabric, and two Amy Butler sewing patterns.

The Torch Has Been Passed

2008-05-28T05:26:00.004-06:00

We took an extra couple of days off to bookend the Memorial Day holiday weekend to go "home." My brother still lives in the area, and I have plenty of college friends who are still there too. My friends asked if it was strange to be a visitor to Chicago, and I never really thought about it even when we returned to our hotel room instead of a residence. It seemed perfectly normal for some reason. We got a lot of use out of our Adventure Science Center (ASC) membership. The ASC belongs to the Association of Science-Technology Centers. Member museums offer reciprocity. We got into all the museums we wanted to visit in Chicago for free!

Every time I visit my most favorite museum of all time, Museum of Science and Industry, I have to see the baby chick hatchery. It is always the highlight of my visit, dating back to when my parents used to take us kids to the Chicago museums. I think Young Man has inherited my love of the baby chicks. When we walked up to the incubator, one happened to be in the process of poking itself out of its shell. What luck!

Of course, we visited dinosaur heaven - The Field Museum. They have a large room devoted to dinosaur skeletons. And let's not forget Sue, the largest and best preserved T. Rex of all time.

I think if we still lived in Chicago, we'd be visiting the Chicago Children's Museum a lot. Many hands on activities and exhibits, including a dinosaur dig. Fun stuff.

Millennium Park wasn't fully constructed when we left Chicago almost 5 years ago. It's really beautiful. I have to give due credit to Mayor Daley and the City of Chicago. There is great pride in keeping Chicago beautiful and with lots of public green space.

I am constantly afraid of Young Man jumping from great heights or across (relatively) great distances.

One evening, one of my college friends had a BBQ at her house. There were many other toddlers there for Young Man to play with. He loved their jumpy house!

We also had dinner with my brother and his girlfriend one evening. They still live in the area and it was good for Young Man to see his Uncle Brian. The weekend was very action packed and we enjoyed every bit of it!

Managing Art Work

2008-05-22T03:39:00.000-06:00

Every week, I come home with more of Young Man's artistic creations. What to do with the growing pile of art? Over the past few months, I let a plan formulate in my head as to how to display some of his artwork. It took some thoughtful planning and some gathering of supplies from a variety of shops.

I sprayed everything with acid-free mist. I use Krylon Make It Acid-Free from my art supply store. I used my paper trimmer to make smaller pieces from some of the art. I mounted them onto acid-free card stock.

The shadow box is from Pottery Barn. The fabric-covered push pins are from Dandee Designs.

The pretty floral wall hooks are from Anthropologie. And the curtain clips are from Bed, Bath & Beyond. The ceramics are Young Man's painted creations from Third Coast Clay.

Young Man sees his art on the wall and beams with pride that his mommy would prominently display his artwork. I have read somewhere that displaying a child's art helps them develop self-esteem and confidence. I'll be able to change it up whenever I am motivated to do so. I am extremely pleased with the results! Brilliant!