play date at West Shore Park in the Harbor

The fabulous creator of (cool)progeny hosts play dates and mom's only nights in and around Baltimore. We went to her recent play date downtown and had a blast! Be sure to visit her site and check out the great calendar listing of activities for kids under the age of five. She's got some (cool) guest bloggers AHEM as well!

natural backyard play space

Visit (cool)progeny to see my latest guest blog post! It's full of ideas for you to create a natural backyard play space for your cutie pie. Here's a dreamy sketch of mine:

Believe me, I'm fully aware of the fact that my dream space will be different than this idealized sketch. But hey - a girl's gotta start somewhere!

And since you're looking for reasons to play outside, why not turn an egg carton into a scavenger hunt? This is my version after I was inspired by someone else's egg carton on Pinterest.

my bloggiversary! I'm one!

Another new year is about to ring in. This is a time of reflection for me, so I can't help but think about where my head was at the same time last year.

It was this time last year I had the incurable urge to begin this blog. I don't know what my main goal was. I knew I wanted to share details about raising my son and life with my hubby like so many other mommy bloggers I admire. But I didn't realize how many other petals of my life were waiting to unfurl. Recipes, outings, arts and crafts, gardening - and all kinds of other "hot mess" topics - all right there to share.

So go ahead and laugh at my expense, offer up your advice or, well, just acknowledge that you get where I'm coming from. It helps me keep both feet on the ground.

I love polar bears! I'll give this one a kiss!
(Thanks to our neighbors for the amusement all month!)

Looks like these snow people could use some kissing, too.

Ethan shoots some hoops... Thanks for the b-ball hoop, Gram and Pop!

Santa brought this wooden choo-choo set for Ethan. He stares at the wheels, mesmerized.

Ethan loves his new kitchen set! Thanks to Gram, Pop and assorted aunts and uncles,
our house is overrun with wonderful toys! What a lucky little boy...

Happy one-year bloggiversary to me!

tweet boom bang: musical guest post on (cool)progeny today

I love the sounds of nature in every season. But summer is especially noisy with cicadas, frogs, woodpeckers, birds, and crickets going about their business. We love to listen to animals and try to spy where the sounds are coming from. That's a daily occurance in our yard. It's just something we naturally do.

But all this bustling sound is busy and full of energy, too. It makes me want to do something and make my own noise.

This, combined with recent research I've been doing, has me thinking about natural, musical spaces for children outdoors. My guest post is on (cool)progeny's blog today - it's full of ideas on how you can create your own space with household items and recyclables. If you've set up something fun in your backyard or at your school, I'd love to hear about it!

So now I've got one more item to add to my ever-growing to-do list. I will be sure to post photos when our musical outdoor space is complete!

tres chic! the versatile blogger award now graces this blog

Can you believe it? Emily from Naptime is My Time has honored my voice by giving me "The Versatile Blogger" award. I'm excited to accept! I read and comment on Emily's blog a lot - after all she's chasing her dream of eco-friendly domestic bliss like myself. Emily, it was awesome of you to choose me and flattering to know you like my blog!

Anyone receiving the Versatile Blogger Award must follow the rules to pay it forward, if you will. The rules are as follows:

• Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post.
• Tell your readers seven (7) things about yourself.
• Give this award to fifteen (15) recently discovered bloggers. 
• Contact those bloggers and let them in on the exciting news!

Seven things about me:

1. I love to garden with native plants. I am a total native wildflower NERD, complete with Latin names to back it up.

2. I took private voice lessons for 8 years. As a teen I used to sing at weddings, funerals, and everything in between. Now I save my singing for lullabies with E or campfire sing-alongs at the Nature Center.

3. I want to do my part to help kick our nation's plastic addiction. I've got a huge stash of re-usable totes and baskets that I take to the grocery store religiously. I'm doing my best to take them into EVERY store (not just groceries) since plastic bags are unavoidable.

4. Again on the plastic, I avoid eating from (and definitely NOT heating up) any plastic ware for food. There are weird chemicals in the plastic that I don't trust...and I don't want to ingest them. Yes, even the BPA and pthalate-free stuff contains wild-card chemicals that science doesn't fully understand. It grosses me out just thinking about it.

5.I learned some of my most important lessons about working with children through volunteer work at the Maryland School for the Blind and RICA (a lock-down facility for emotionally disturbed teens). You don't know what trouble is until you've walked a mile in their shoes.

6. I was an artist-in-residence for a fantastic organization called Young Audiences of Maryland. I worked with Baltimore City youth to create large-scale art installations to teach about the Chesapeake Bay. I am an enthusiastic supporter of community arts programs.

7. In my spare time (when there's time to spare) I'm a visual artist. I create non-objective paintings. These are selfishly my own abstract expressions. I've exhibited all over, but not so much in the last year. Now that E is getting older, I am longing to do more of my personal art. (I love painting owls and turtles, but that's not really for me, now is it?!)

I feel bad going on and on about myself like this - I hope you don't think I'm obnoxious! I just really wanted to share interesting things that hadn't come up in any of my posts yet. Them's the rules - share seven things - and I did it.

As far as selecting 15 bloggers to pass the award on to, I decided to consult the enormous list of blogs that I subscribe to. It was very difficult to decide on my faves! Without any further adieu (drum roll please) here are my highly deserving, wonderful recipients of the Most Versatile Blogger award:

1. http://www.mybabysgreenblog.com/
2. http://www.natural-kids.blogspot.com/
3. http://jenandjoeygogreen.blogspot.com/
4. http://www.coolprogeny.blogspot.com/
5. http://mummysdress.blogspot.com/
6. http://sprout5.blogspot.com/
7. http://gizelleandchris.blogspot.com/
8. http://crazygreenmommy.blogspot.com/
9. http://ourdailygreenlife.blogspot.com/
10. http://granolamommyof2.blogspot.com/
11. http://ricochetdreamer.blogspot.com/
12. http://madebynicole.blogspot.com/
13. http://projectsbyjess.blogspot.com/
14. http://twigandtoadstool.blogspot.com/
15. http://greensheenblogger.blogspot.com/

Congratulations new honorees! You deserve this award, so shout it from the roof tops! Yay for fabulous bloggers everywhere!

Hey - you talkin' to me? Did I win an award for my cuteness?

I am the perfect parent*

*I had a conversation yesterday with someone who said "I'm just not into reading blogs. Who would be self-centered enough to write a blog and think people actual care what they are doing? Everyone just talks about how perfect they are and it's such crap."

Point taken.

So it behooved me to go back to my blog and scan all 34 posts to date. Was I the braggy blogger she was referring to? GULP. Guilty as charged. Well, sort of...

That got me thinking. Now, wait a minute: blogs are about so much more than boasty moms. In case you hadn't caught on, the title of today's post is OBVIOUSLY not true. I'm not a perfect parent - no one is. My blog is not dedicated to my "perfection". But you know what? I'm proud of my efforts at parenting. Yes, proud. Because it's NOT EASY being a mom. And if other people find inspiration, humor, or useful ideas in my posts, then my mission is accomplished.

I love to celebrate the amazing moments of life with my family and this blog will serve as a tangible record long after I'm gone. Will anyone care then? Maybe not, but at least my son will know how much he is adored and loved by his mama.

Besides my personal reasons for blogging as a record me and a fun pit stop for followers, the larger blogging community is a great sounding board for feedback and advice. I know that if I have a question, I can throw it out on a post and get honest comments from people (though strangers) who care.

I don't think of other people's blogs as "crap". When I read other blogs, I laugh out loud, sob uncontrollably, raise an eyebrow, or just go "wow!". Your blogs enrich my life, and I mean that. When I read about other families and how they spend their time, it makes me think about my own family and what we value. Some posts even call my ideals into question. I really love those posts!

It's true, I spend lots of time bragging about my adorable child and my awesome husband on this blog. But for me, blogging is about sharing and connecting. It's important to me to be expressive as an artist and pragmatic as an educator. As a blogger, well, let this be my own little tell all. Take it for what it's worth.

And to the bahumbug that doesn't want to read my blog, this is for you. Ignore as you will.

play date with (cool)progeny!

I'd like to thank Heather from (cool)progeny for hosting a great play date today! I contribute to her blog about once a month because it's such a fantastic resource for families in the greater Baltimore area. Her play date (the first of many to come) was an invitation for families to meet up and play!

We had never been to the Great Kids Village in Columbia but it was clearly an imaginary wonderland for kids ages 1 - 10. E seemed to have the most fun in the cooking and grocery area, but he also enjoyed playing in the huge sand pit, examining the real fire truck, and climbing on the dinosaur slide.

We can't wait for our next outing!

scary new endeavor

So, the more I think about the idea of regularly writing this blog, the more excited I am about the whole adventure. I know almost nothing about blogs. Seriously. I have been a guest writer on two blogs for about six months now and I regularly write content for my job, but in terms of "blogging", it's an entirely new thing for me.

I decided to start this blog mostly because I love to write and I always have a ton to say. I am overly opinionated, to my detriment at times! (A dear friend once sarcastically quipped, "just tell me what you're thinking because you know what's best for EVERYONE, right?".)

But opinions aside, I am an avid journaler (pretty sure that's not a real word). Although, these days it seems like I only write in my journal once a month at best. I must confess, typing is way faster than writing with a felt pen and my laptop is always near. The journal, well, that stays in my car for the rare moments I have fifteen minutes alone in a coffee shop to savor some "me time". Plus the journal feels so personal that I don't want it lying around the house for visitors to find.

I've been torn about blogging because I'm so sentimental about having a tangible journal that I can hold and physically pass down. But what I'm beginning to realize is that technology is giving me an amazing opportunity to share and trade thoughts with an enormous community of "powerhouse mommies". It feels like an extended support system, which is very comforting to me.

Take all these mommy blogs, for starters. Once I started looking around online, I was gobsmacked by the quantity (and quality) of the mommy blogs out there! I am learning so much from all of you! Like Scary Mommy, for example, also based here in Baltimore, MD. When I read her blogging tips, I thought "wow, I hope I can be knowledgeable enough to share tips with others some day!" And Little Miss Mommy, another sassy, fun mom with tons of life lessons to share. There's way too many to name, but I am happy to share virtual space with empowered women such as these.

For now, I'm going to get my bearings on this whole 'blog thing' and try to navigate my way around the crazy blogosphere that I now call home.

I created this image some time ago using ink, markers, and colored pencil. There's text embedded in the image, which is something I love to do in my paintings.