I know that most of the world sees laundry as a chore and that many a mom has complained about the piles and piles that never seem to end. I am not one of these moms. I LOVE doing the laundry. Our laundry basket hardly gets full before I’m putting it through the cycles. And then the fluffliness! The soft, warm, clean piles of clothes and towels to fold into neat stacks-they get my heart pumping! Tiny socks to match, the husbands tees to make into tight jelly rolls (military style), and my own fluffy pj pants to fold into thirds- it’s one of my favorite domestic activities! I love sitting down at the end of the night on my bed watching a movie and surrounding myself with tiny piles of the clothes that my family lives in. Sometimes I like to leave the basket of clean laundry on top of the dryer and fold the items one at a time while I walk to their respective homes to put them away- I can draw it out that way and enjoy it a little more. It’s sort of a sacred responsability to me- and the uber-sentimental part of me loves tending to something as intimate as the clothes that my children and husband wear. Just so that you don’t think I’m nuts- I’m with you on the dishes. I can’t hardly tolerate washing dishes. I make Garth do it most of the time.

But back to laundry. Our newly purchased Maytag started making a strange sound. We called the repair man and he found nothing wrong. We called another repair man and he “fixed” it in 5 minutes. After he left it would not spin or agitate. Repair man #1 came back and replaced a belt and told me that we were loading it too full. I put a tiny load in after he “fixed” it and it still didn’t spin. We’re having our fourth in-home washing machine fix-it party tomorrow and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to leave out the quotation marks with job #4. Perhaps I could plead with the repair man and let him know how sad my nights are without those full baskets of toasty undies? This has got to be some sort of welcome-to-home-ownership prank, right? For reals.

In the meantime we’ve been driving our dirties to the local laundrette and then bringing them home to dry. iPhone documentation follows.

Life is one big treat folks.

xox
elle

I took some time out the other night to sit on my fanny and draw some cameras for the spoonflower contest outdated technology. I drew them on tracing paper, using photogrpahs as guides, and then scanned them in and tweaked them a little. The left is the original file- the right is the fabric design. I am totally an ameteur when it comes to fabric design and I have no doubt that I will look back on this design and think, “oh my goodness, I was proud of that? This is horrendous for so many reasons!”. In fact, I know that I will say that, but proud I am. I think that it’s adorable. A swatch is speedily on it’s way to me to proof and I’m pumped to see it. I know that this’ll be sort of a new obsession with me.

Also:
-wishing that I was at alt summit, which is silly since I’m not a serious blogger.
-just did a little happy dance to celebrate the first ever year of bow ties box having a new owner (like really, just 15 seconds ago).
-have been compiling videos of the kiddos for inclusion in the Hawker family yearbook and holy smokes my kids have grown!
-made chocolate covered rice crispy treats last night and they were all gone as of 11:30 this morning.
-wishing that this awesome camera was really for sale and not just a design students project.

and that is all for now.

loves.

We celebrated the new year the classic way- fondue (cheese for dinner and chocolate for dessert) and sparklers. That was pretty much it. The kids went to bed at the normal time and Garth and I probably would have retired early if it were any other night. Here’s a little of our front yard popper and sparkler fest.

A few days later we celebrated Garth’s 33rd by going on our first date of the year while the kids were at school. We just had lunch and went to a movie but it was so sweet and nice and it sorta felt like it did when we were dating/newly married. We were even able to drive around with the top down since Jack wasn’t in the back to complain. We were sure excited to see them later that afternoon though! Cutest. kids. Ever.

There are some crazy exciting things happening in the xoelle bow tie world right now- but nothing that can be spilled just yet- and of course, crazy awesome things happening in real life too (like a dishwasher!!!! after a year of handwashing in hotel rooms and bathroom sinks we have a dishwasher! I just got a few extra hours each week!).

I can share with you the awesomeness that is the xoelle swatchbook though- they’ve been in the works since last summers Indie Wed, when my parents skipped almost an entire night of sleep to help me assemble them. They have been fine-tuned and tweaked and are now in the shop to delight and seduce potential bow-tie-owners. I lub dem.

ecks oh.

elle

The kiddos are in bed after a long day of movie watching, ornament & cookie making, trampoline jumping, and late night light tour bike riding. The Mr. and I are soaking in the Christmas eve magic in the living room, waiting for Santa. Christmas Eve is the best. From our rainy little hideaway to you- merry Christmas- hope it’s lovely & awesome.

…a little bit like Christmas. Although it’s warm/rainy/sunny here everyday and we never close our windows and it’s just about always too warm for hot chocolate. We picked out a tree the other day at Helemano farms, just down the road from our house and brought it home with the top down. It is decorated and in the living room (that is ALMOST a real living room- we have a couch and everything!!) and the flocked deer and budding Christmas star collection is out. And there’s a wreath or two up. Most of our holiday decorations will remain in their sweet little totes since our house is inches away from chaos (who’s idea was it to try to renovate so many rooms at once?) and I am all but alone in the day-to-day tasks.

Oh golly. I have not mentioned that the mister is an invalid. He has been laying in bed or creeping very slowly around the house for almost 2 weeks now, recovering from a urethroplasty. Poor dude. He’s doing well, considering, but I know that he’s ready to get back to real life. You know, and pee like a regular guy. Hopefully he continues to heal and recover well and we can enjoy Christmas all cuddled together in jammies.

golly, I love this time of year. Hugs to all you, internet friends, real friends, and family that I adore!

elle

I know, I know. This is ridiculous and it’s a good thing that I don’t have sponsors on this blog, they’d be furious. I have been so busy in the thick of living and trying to keep my head above water that the little things like blogging and painting my toenails have completely gone out the window. Ok, and a gazillion other things. Here is our last 6 months by the numbers:

number of beds we’ve slept in: 11
number of states we’ve visited: 5
number of times I’ve set up a bow-tie-making studio: 3
number of Chicago-style stuffed pizza we’ve baked: 6
number of houses we’ve purchased: 1
number of rooms that Garth thought we could paint in a day: 3
number of days it took us to paint one room: 3
number of times we’ve had matsumoto’s shave ice on the north shore: 3

It has been a crazy 6 months. I may or may not be sharing stories from the life I’ve been living offline. It all depends on how well the sanding & painting & permit-getting & baby-watching & bow-tie-making happen in the near future.

Millions of good things,
elle

We are waiting. Hanging out in this house in this one room with one laundry basket, three air mattresses, and a half drawer full of socks that we never wear (except for Garth, he wears his all the time).

We made an offer on a house in February. It was a short sale and at the tippy top of our price range. We are in the last week or so of closing and have been hanging all of our hopes on this limbo sort of being over. When it’s official we will have a backyard! And a kitchen! And a kitchenaid! And lots and lots of renovating/restoring/redecorating/debugging/cleaning to do. We look forward to it.

I will keep you posted- it’s sort of a big deal- our first home purchase.

Big things coming and happening on all fronts.

loves yous people,
elle

and it was gooood ice cream.

I am in love with these red shoes for me (excuse the chippy green/naked toes please!). They are BC foorwear and were three bucks! The little black shoes are for Jack and the tiny flip flops we`re for Ging, but while I was taking this photo I noticed that it’s not a pair but two lefts. oh well.

giant plastic bunny. 50 cents. I have another one of these somewhere and I think that they are so charming!

lots o’ non-smelly towels. We only brought two towels with us and they would certainly have sufficed, but the washer and/or dryer in this temporary house makes all of our clothes smell bad coming out of the wash. The clothes are tolerable but the towels are awful! I have dreaded taking showers because I always feel like I’m drying off with a towel that’s been soaked in gross, even when it’s right out of the dryer! The landlord has sent several people out to check it out but nothing has gotten better so I bought us enough towels to make it through without washing them. Ha!

cutie cute mr cutiepants. he will probably end up in someone’s Easter basket.

mater! We have a little boy turning 2 this week and he is so into Cars. mater was thrifted for two dollars and he kept Jack happy as I shopped.

and you need a lightning to go with mater! this one will race when you shake him and he’s going to get wrapped up for Mr Jack’s birthday.

we also got tiny hawaiian bananas. awesome.

On black friday I purchased something big. And expensive. I am the let’s-see-how-little-I-can-spend variety so this was a big deal for me. It was shipping to me from Utah so I waited patiently the week or so for it to arrive and was so excited about it that I made sure that the dishes were clean and I was wearing stripey socks on the day it was scheduled to arrive (haven’t you ever noticed that you enjoy things more when the dishes are done?). That is how important this was. The box arrived and it was huge. H.U.G.E. We watched the delivery man dolly it into our driveway and then we went out to see if it was really that big. Yes, it was. Garth was home (and it was so chilly!) by the time that I finally got around to opening it. A few simple cuts of packing tape and there it was, all put together and ready to go: my new madsen bucket bike!!!! We took it out and Jack and I got all bundled up and took it for a spin around the block (even though it was getting dark).

And then Garth brought the box inside and put it in Jack’s playroom where it is still providing enjoyment.

We’ve had it less than a week and it’s already taken us to the post office (yes, we mailed cheese balls), the farmer’s market, and the Pensacola Christmas parade. Later today it’ll be taking us to the thrift store and maybe the grocery store (it’s 4 miles away and mama don’t ride too fast so that’s a loooooong trek). I love that I can take both of my kids out in it, especially since Ginger is not quite 4 months old and wouldn’t otherwise travel well in/on a bike (I can strap her carseat into the bucket as it has seatblets!). I love that it’s so freaking adorable and I love that Jack enjoys riding in it. It’s super fun to ride and I can’t hardly wait to get to Hawaii and use it often. Love, love, love this bicycle. And, it makes me want to dress cute so I match it while riding.

This is the start of something really amazing, I know it.

extra extra love and oooo’s

elle