Album Chic

At the beginning of the year I had a goal to re-brand my business. I've honestly been wanting to do this for a while, like over a year. I've felt like the name of my business, "Fries the Moment Design", was hindering me. Although cute, and catchy with the play on words, it didn't describe anything about the main goal of my business. The name was also confusing with the fries/freeze pronunciation. When I started FTMD my goal was to market to professional photographers and primarily do album design. Over the years, it has morphed into several different areas of design. I've done some album design for photographers and some for individual brides. I've done greeting card design, logo and identity concept branding, marketing campaign design,  and dabbled in some website design. While all of these things are fun, and have sustained me, these were not directions I intended to split into.

So, I made the decision to officially re-brand and focus on professional photographers. Ultimately these are the clients I want to have and the business I want to have, and since I'm the boss, that is what I am going to do.   Working with this focus will give me the most potential for repeat business and it is something that I can fit into my life as a wife and mother.  I talked with one of my clients that has been with me from before the beginning and bounced ideas off of her. Then, I went through several new name ideas before landing on "Album Chic".  Over the last several weeks, I've invested in a new website, blog, Facebook page, email service, and business cards.  I've created a new business plan and I launched the new site last Friday, the 23rd. I am so excited about this new adventure.

FTMD was kind of the starter business for me. I've learned so much, and I feel ready to take on this business as a real job, and not a glorified hobby. For now, I will keep the Fries the Moment Design website, but I don't plan to renew the it this summer.  I will keep the Facebook page and the blog, but it will be largely unchanged at this point. My main focus will be Album Chic, now.   Wish me luck!

Check out the new site here.

Diapering Changes

I am so pleased to finally say that Cecilia is potty trained! She has been doing so good with going to the bathroom all by herself. We still have the occasional accident, but overall, she is doing great. It took a few weeks to get the hang of it, and bribery with suckers has worked well for us. She is only wearing a pull up at night time. I'm sure it will take a little longer before she is ready to go all night in big girl panties, but that's fine with me.  This, of course, means far fewer dipper changes for me with her. In fact, it means no diaper changes :) She is so big!  I'm so proud of her, and I love her tiny tushy sans diaper.

I've also decided to make another change with Lilly and diapers. She's potty trained! Just kidding. Ha! Actually, I decided to move to cloth inserts for the gDiapers that we already use. My decision for this was financial. Frankly, I am tired of spending money on diapers. The cloth inserts are working so well! I really like them, and it hasn't even added to my laundry loads because I wash them with my midweek napkin/rag/towel load. Between Cecilia being potty trained, and switching to cloth, out diaper expense of $85/ month has been reduced to maybe $15/ month. Yay!

Making Use of Space

We have this weird little shelf space in the entry way to the kitchen.  I've really never known what to do with it.  When we moved in, it became the "junk drawer" and I stored my cook books there.  Then, we had Cecilia, and when she was about 8 months old, the shelves quickly became empty space.

The problem I've been having now, is that I would really like to have that space for storing things that have now been taking up valuable counter space: my purse, the camera bag, Jon's stuff, etc.  However, we couldn't just put this stuff within children's reach, it has to be secured.  That's when it hit me: doors!  I had the idea to make this space into a mini mud room-ish storage.  Hooks and a shelf, with doors that close and are secured by strong magnets.  YES!  So, I put Jon to work.  We set out to the Orange Box for wood, molding, hinges, paint, and hardware.  It has taken about 3 weekends to get it finished, but I am loving the result.  Finally, useful space, and its pretty :)

 

Some Happenings

The day to day around here has been relatively normal. Nothing big to report. The girls are growing so fast. We are in limbo of what to do with the tax return, and a refinance. I've got tons of ideas swirling about my business and what direction to take it. We've started of a minor home improvement project to make use of currently unused space. Potty training is accelerating. For the most part, we are just enjoying our time together.

Cecilia is a spunky two and a half now, and Lilly's personality is really starting to show. Here are some things that I want to remember about them right now.

• If the sun is out, Cecilia is out too. She loves to be outside playing, usually without a coat and sometimes without shoes, and even if it's only 35* outside. She loves to scoop the dirt into a bucket and take it to her little house to make "taktes" (cakes).
• Cecilia's most commonly used phrases are "Mine!", "My turn!", and "I do it!".
• Cecilia's favorite show is "Juge" or George, for Curious George. She also likes "Hat Tat", or Cat in the Hat. Toy Story 3 is her favorite movie. We stream it on the Wii. I think she has a crush on Buzz.
• Cecilia has recently started calling me Mommy. I have always been Mom, but now I am Mommy. It's very sweet.
• Cecilia is talking in short phrases now; 3-4 words at a time.
• Lilly is the sweetest little cuddle bug. I love that she loves to snuggle. I really love when I pick her up and she pats my back. It melts me.
• Lilly is standing unassisted now. She will push herself up to a stand if she has a leg or a toy or bench to help her. If she is holding a toy she will stand for longer.
• Lilly calls for me, saying "Mamamama!". She will also mimic sounds that she hears, everything from a belch to a song.
• Lilly is learning all sorts of tricks: peak-a-boo, waving bye-bye, blowing kisses, so big!, and clapping. The other day Cecilia taught Lilly how to clap, it was priceless.
• Lilly is laughing all the time now. She laughs at her sister mostly.
• Lilly still has no hair. I'd like to say that it is starting to come in in the back, but I'm not yet convinced.
• Lilly is learning the art of throwing a tantrum. I think she's been watching her sister...
• Lilly is the fastest crawler in the west! She will follow us around the house on all fours faster than Cecilia on two.
• According to Cecilia, all horses are named Max. The horse in Tangled is named Max, therefore, so is her stick horse, the penny horse at King Soopers, and any other horse. Also, all monkeys are named George.
• Cecilia has discovered my shoes. She loves to stomp around the house in my heels. At least some one is wearing them.
• Lilly loves to eat paper. Seriously, it's a problem. She will seek it out, tear it up, and chew it. It s gross, and I am tired of doing the finger sweep to get it out of her mouth.
• Cecilia had a rough few nights of not sleeping.  The result was falling asleep at the table during lunch.  
• Cecilia is starting to do pretend play all the time.  It is so cute to watch.  For example, the other day, we were playing down stairs.  She "made" cupcakes in her kitchen and announced "Party! Party! Party!"  I asked her who she was going to have at her party?  She picked up her play cell phone, dialed and proceeded to say "Um, hi, Emma?  Emma! Hi!  Party, tatkes (cakes)?  Otay.  House, Party!  Bye."  She repeated the same thing for Domdom, Ba-ee, and Mraama (Dominick, Baylee, and Grandma).
•  Bath time around here has become much more colorful.  I could not find bath bubbles at Target, so I bought some color tablet things.  The girls love them!  Cecilia is mesmerized by them.
• Lilly is finally starting to master a sippy cup.
• Pops bought Cecilia a Buzz Lightyear cup.  It is her absolute favorite cup.
• Lilly has reached the age, and mobility, where the dishwasher is the most fun thing ever. Oh, and folded laundry.
• I am *this* close to throwing out all of the toys and replacing them with old cell phones and remote controls.  These are the hot ticket items in our house for both girls.  I'm surprised Lilly hasn't killed my phone yet.