Monthly Archive for March, 2008

David Holland’s GREENhouse

The house that David Holland built in Southside was the cover story for yesterday’s Home & Garden section of the Times. I designed the cover, which you can see in the portfolio as part of April’s illustration of the month.

David Holland Design Build is in the Court Street District, a block from the Moxie, so David pops in and chats with Kris every so often. After one of these chats, Kris and I had this conversation:

Kris: “Hey, David’s wife Natalie went to Southside High School, too. Did you know here?”

Me: “I don’t know; what was her maiden name?”

“Davis, I think.”

“Natalie Davis. Hmm. Maybe. I’m picturing a brunette 11th grader who had a top locker when I was a freshman.”

Kris and I went to the open house the Hollands had yesterday, and yes, his wife Natalie is a brunette and I’m 90% certain her locker was across from Mrs. Henderson’s class during her junior year.

I asked them if they seen the Home & Garden section. They had and were pleasantly surprised because they didn’t know the house was the cover story. Kris and I were surprised that the open house was full of old people. Apparently, the idea of an energy-efficient home is very appealing to senior citizens.

Kris and I close on our house two weeks from today!

by
LBC
on 31Mar08
in blog
. 2 Comments

Apr08 illustration of the month


For the cover of this year’s Home & Garden section of The Times, my editor wanted a photo package with teasers to the main story, as well as the accompanying web content.

I started by picking the photo that I thought had the most visual pop. As I placed more and more photos on the page, I knew what I was shooting for. I wanted the grouping of the photos to have a modern feel.

More info on architect David Holland at his site: www.davidjholland.com

Inside the section, I made the color wheel to go with Tamara’s story.

by
LBC
on 31Mar08
in Portfolio
. 1 Comment

Bless His Heart

There’s been a paperback copy of this book at The Times for quite awhile. I picked it up yesterday to have something to read over my Lean Cuisine.

From the intro:

If you’re living and breathing in this country, chances are you know a GRITS (Gentlemen Raised in the South), and if you’re Southern yourself (or just wish you were), chances are you love him. He’s chivalrous, kind, and moral, but he can also be messy, hog-wild, inattentive, and just plain frustrating. You love him, bless his heart, but you sure don’t understand him. If any of the following are true of your man, you might need this book:

• Does he know every single word to his school’s fight song?
• Does he sing it at two a.m. on the lawn of the opposing team’s coach?
• Does he think nothing of driving twenty miles to help a friend fix his roof, even though he can’t make it twenty feet to take out the garbage to the curb?
• Does he own ten pairs of work pants but not a single tuxedo?
• When he comes home, is he often as muddy as the dog trailing behind him?
• Does he love MoonPies, RC Cola, and GooGoo Clusters?
• Does he still think Mama can do no wrong, even though he’s got grandchildren of his own?

My thoughts were as such:

No.
Hell no.
Sure, wait, no.
Who owns a tuxedo?
We don’t have a dog.
I wouldn’t say love.
Grandchildren?

I clearly do not need this book. And according to this list, I can’t think of anybody who would.

by
LBC
on 28Mar08
in Uncategorized
. 5 Comments

Doc report

Ben had his 1 year doctor’s appointment yesterday. He got all his big immunizations. They had him stand on the scales, but he was holding on, so I don’t believe he really weighs 23 pounds. That would mean he’s only gained half a pound since getting the tubes in his ears, and as someone who carries the kid every day, I am telling you he weighs significantly more than he did at tube-time.

I do believe they got the correct length at 33” long, because when I place him on the changing table, there is but an inch to spare at his head and at his feet. The changing table is 36” long.

I expected more fussiness what with all the big shots, but a morning and evening dose of Motrin did the trick.

I’ve noticed at daycare that they keep taking him over to Nursery B for more and more visits. There’s another little boy who is three months older who should move up first, but I told Kris this morning that I bet they hold him back a little and push Ben forward a bit so they can transition at the same time.

Kris called me after dropping Ben off to say that’s exactly what they plan to do. Their goal is to have both boys in Nursery B (toddlers, as opposed to the bed babies in Nursery A) by June. A month after his home changes, too! I hope the kid handles change well.

So far, I’d say he does. Well, except for the time change.

by
LBC
on 27Mar08
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

House talk, Part II

Continued from previous post.

For the past several years, I have been saving money for a down payment on a house. I didn’t know if we would be keeping the duplexes or what, but I knew we’d want to move eventually and that we’d need money to do so.

I put the funds in a money market because (a) it gains more interest than a regular savings account and (b) it’s harder to get to the cash quickly, making it less likely that we would use it for last minute bills. (Also making it harder to make sure a check to say, Rooms To Go, doesn’t bounce!)

When we did end up selling the duplexes, it meant that the money I had saved could go toward the house itself. Closing costs come out first, followed by appliances and a mattress. If there’s still moolah for refinishing the living room floor and tile for the bathrooms, awesome! If not, hey, there’s still duct tape in the shower at 204.

We could move into the house as it is perfectly well, but I think you all know we are not those people. Nay, we are the types that must change something to make our mark on it. We are not alone in that – the Wilborns and the Jones did the same to the houses they bought last year. (I’m not even gonna put what Dad and Patsy did to theirs in the same ballpark.)

Knowing that we plan to do some stuff to the house before we move in, I’m trying to devise a schedule. I’ve picked Memorial Day weekend for the move, what with it being a 3-day weekend. So I know what things happen last. I’m just not sure what stuff should be tackled first. Sort of depends on the floor, I guess.

But oh! What exciting problems to have.

by
LBC
on 26Mar08
in blog
. 0 Comments

House talk, Part I

We are three weeks from closing on our new home, but I don’t feel like I’d be jinxing it to blog about it. We have a contract with the seller, we have financing, she’s throwing her law books on the curb as she packs…

Not that it was a big secret, but we’re buying Donna McCurley’s house (a.k.a. Nathan’s mom). Nathan says he comes with the house, but we’re kicking him to the curb as well so that Ben can have his room.

Five years ago, Kris and I were newlyweds (I know! FIVE YEARS!) and he was working late in Trussville on Tuesdays. On those nights, Nathan hosted “game nights” – usually D&D – and I’d walk over and hang out. (I tried D&D like twice, but I lack the gene for it.)

For some reason, on visits to the McCurley house, I decided I’d like to own it someday. Kris, however, hadn’t paid much attention to the house because he’d only been to it for a birthday party here and there.

But last spring (following our unsuccessful attempts to buy the house on Peachtree), we dropped by for the McCurleys’ yard sale (baby Ben bundled in tow) and after we left, Kris commented “I want to live there.”

Flash forward to this January, when we put the duplexes on the market and were floored when they sold within the week. We scrambled to come up with where did we want to live.

We looked at a renovated house in Whorton Bend. Beautiful, but too far out there for us.

We looked at a foreclosure in Country Club. Great location, pretty house in need of far too many man hours and too much money and we’re tired of being workaholics.

We called about a house that we love downtown, because we knew the owner had thought about selling. He does mean to sell… in three to five years.

We contemplated building a house, but I’m pretty sure we couldn’t afford the house we’d like to build.

Finally, we decided to just wait until we closed on the ‘plexes.

And then Nathan called and said he knew how many bags of money it would take for his mom to sell her house. Oddly enough, we were about to make 20% of those money bags on the sale of the duplexes. FYI, 20% is the magic number when it comes to down payments to avoid PMI.

We went over to look at their house with new eyes, the eyes that ask “okay, does this home have what I’m looking for?”

Kris knew that the answer was yes before he even went upstairs. I dutifully trudged all over the place, taking pics, and I found more than I could have hoped for.

We are beyond excited. As impatient as I am, I’m also at peace. There is no rush. I still have three weeks to pack before we even close. And then we have over a month to get in there and paint and decide if we want to refinish the living room floor or retile the bathrooms.

Which is another cool thing, but I’m tired of blogging right now. To be continued tomorrow…

by
LBC
on 26Mar08
in blog
. 1 Comment

How was Ben’s first birthday?


That���s been the question from friends and coworkers today. And the answer is good. Perhaps the better answer is that he didn���t have just one day to celebrate, but a whole birthday weekend.

On Good Friday, the daycare was closed, so I took a vacation day and Ben and I made some rounds. We went over and snagged Jaimie and then went to RealtyBid and snagged several more chicas, including Cookie and Angie and went to lunch at El Tapatio.

After we dropped Jaimie off, we drove out to Glencoe to meet Kristie and Elias and have Ben���s footprints done on a plate by some peeps called Painting Memories. Post-footpainting, we dropped by the Moxie.

On Saturday, I baked his cake and we jetted over to Mama Juanita���s for lunch with my grandparents, Dad and Patsy and my Uncle John. We snapped a gazillion pics.

In the late afternoon, we took GJ some leftovers from his birthday lunch and hung out awhile. We walked to her house and Ben rode in his new Radio Flyer wagon, a gift from his grandparents.

For dinner, we met up with the Abercrombies at Mater���s. After dinner, Kris and I reminisced about going into labor.

���I was getting off work about this time,��� he started to say.

���Yeah, and you went to the Woods��� thinking I���d still be there for Girl���s Night and it took you forever to realize I���d already gone home!���

Sunday morning, we went to church, where he got happy birthday wishes from Danny and Patti and Scott and Amanda.

After church, we drove him to Fultondale to celebrate Easter with Kris��� grandparents. Mike and Raygen and Bonnie were there. We left him there with Ron and Jan so we could come home and pack some more boxes. But then I got all maudlin about ditching the kid on his first birthday, so instead I worked up a bunch of the 200+ photos we took.

Ron and Jan took him by the Great Paw Paw���s house on the way home, so he saw all grands and great-grands over the weekend. For the first time, when Ron and Jan departed, Ben followed them to the door and cried after they left.

Today, we sent him to daycare with his first sippy cup of whole milk.

Ladies and gents, we���ve entered toddlerhood!

by
LBC
on 24Mar08
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

It finally happened.

I bounced a check.

Kris and I went to Rooms to Go on Monday to pick out a couch, dining room table and entertainment center. We only meant to look, but we liked what we found and decided to go ahead and make the purchase so we wouldn’t have to make another trip. (I know, right? Because Birmingham is so far away.)

We’ll be financing the furniture itself, but I had to go ahead and write a check for the tax and delivery. All my house funds are in a money market, and I didn’t have that checkbook with me. The salesperson assured me the check would take 5 to 9 days to clear.

Ha. It cleared in 2 days. It takes 3 business days for a transfer to complete between the money market account and my bank. So the money will be there tomorrow, but the damage has already been done.

by
LBC
on 20Mar08
in blog
. 1 Comment

3rd annual Girlfriend Gala

I made the half page ad in today’s paper, but it didn’t get to run in color, so I’m puttin’ on the blog:

I didn’t do the drawing, though. It came from this:

I did sort of tone it up and clean the scan in Photoshop a bit. I added the Success By 6 flag in Illustrator.

by
LBC
on 20Mar08
in blog
. 0 Comments

Baby no more

In less than a week, Ben will be a year old and then he���s no longer a ���baby��� but a ���toddler.��� But the change has already taken place. I look at him these days and marvel at how different he is and how quickly it happened.

He walks. Kris and I watched him walk, unassisted, at least seven feet last night. He does it best without thinking. He loses his balance when he thinks about what he���s doing.

He talks with pointing and expressions. We went to Mater���s on Monday and he pointed and grunted. I handed him his sippy cup, and instead of taking it, he made a face and pointed more emphatically. (I still don’t know what he really wanted.)

And there are so many other small changes, like how he plays with his toys or waves goodbye more often or wants to share what he has with us.

I am not a video camera gal, but I wish I had moving memories of the expressions he���s leaving by the wayside as he grows. He used to open his mouth like a baby bird to let me brush his teeth. And then I���d brush mine and he would think it was the greatest thing.

He���s over that now. These days, he hands me his little book Flicker Firefly because he likes when I pretend to gobble it up.

I���m glad he hasn���t tired of us singing him to sleep or playing outside or visiting with his grands or all the other ways we enjoy time with him.

by
LBC
on 19Mar08
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment