v-day decor.

With the fear of being compared to the crazy-lady who leaves her christmas lights out all-year round - I've decided to pro-actively take down the v-day decor.

Last year I put ZERO energy into decorating with HEARTS. This year, I had the heartfelt motivation to make some FUN, simple, and cheap Valentine's Day decorations.

I put my WWMD (what-would-martha-do) hat on AND read her magazine for inspiration. Check out my project page for details!

christmas in Feb!

Two weekends ago, I celebrated christmas with Jon and Lisa because we didn't cross paths at the holidays. (BOO to Jon getting sick)

They know how much I HEART presents. And they were truly creative with the BEVERAGE BASKET gift. I'd never seen one before!!


It came filled with beverage goodies!! Starbuck's coffee, various teas, hot cocoa mix, sugar cubes, marshmallows, mexican beer, Starbucks frappucino, powerade, bloody mary mix, a teapot, and SO MUCH MORE.

Thank you Jon and Lisa so much for our FUN filled gift. I can't wait to consume it ALL!!

fave shoes.

i HEART pumas.

my green suede ones are my favorite pair of shoes. I wore them to work today, with my new pink socks that I got for v-DAY.

(that ugly carpet is my OFFICE!)

V-DAY!

happy valentine's!!

quick fix.

I found the Listerine container BORING.

So I took a cruet and turned it into a nice looking MOUTHWASH container. It's much prettier now on the sink.

to TAG, or not to TAG?

That is the question. For those of us that love DATA and INFORMATION, tagging gives us a way to easily CATEGORIZE and ORGANIZE the massive content on the web.

So long keyword searches. TAGGING enables us to organize web material in a very personalized way, rather than relying on pre-existing formats of classifying information. (goodbye dewey decimal) Tagging is great because it's USEFUL to the tagger, making the mose sense of organization given the organizer is in charge of the system.

Just look @ the popularity of flickr, youtube, and del.icio.us. I've been using del.icio.us for awhile... the benefit, access 2 my categorized BOOKMARKS - anytime, anywhere. aka: any computer, any browser.

I found this article really interesting. Especially when Weinberger was talking about the potential intersection between tagging and our social networks. WOW. The power of data.

our kitchen cherries.

Recently I bought a canvas-mounted print, from the artist - Rodney White. This was tough for me, as the piece was BIG and wall space is precious for us PHOTO JUNKIES. I was introduced to White through Ballard Designs, a store suggested to me from my close friend Jenn b/c of my affiliation with Pottery Barn.

White is a young, self-taught artist who typically creates his art on canvas. I just HEART his style. He uses amazing TYPOGRAPHY to convey SIMPLE sayings that are so MEANINGFUL. He also has great COLOR combinations and his pieces have such a retro, VINTAGE feel. (This coming from someone who loves OLD things, a self-professing flea market/junk lover).

White named the print I purchased 'The Hardest of Easy Choices'. I'll admit, I was first drawn to the piece b/c of the colors (hello - my new kitchen?!!) and the cherries (as those who know me know, cherries are symbolic given my other half grew up on a cherry orchard). However, I'm quite happy to report these are my new favorite CHERRIES of all time!!

Happiness is truly a choice, and sometimes the hardest of easy choices. The print's 2 short weeks of life in our home have already been been extremely influential to me. It's crazy how a visual concept can produce something so powerful. These cherries and I already have an unique bond (well, we DO have coffee together each morning).

That said, I'd suggest a quick browse of White's Gallery, as you too may find something that strikes your inspiration fancy!!

paris.

We LOVED Paris. We took some extra time making sure we got just the right photos (MEMORIES) of Paris, with a lot of emphasis on the EIFFEL TOWER. If you haven't seen our photos, make sure to check 'em out!

What will I do with all these photos?!!? Besides coasters, a new mousepad for work, and a large photo gallery of our whole TRIP in our bedroom (we're running out of wall space for photos) - today I'm thinking I'll create some notecards at the Kodak Gallery. Notecards are much more thoughtful and special when using homeade STOCK photography images!

Now my only dilemma is which photo to choose!

Sadie says HELLO WORLD.

Newest addition to the family = Sadie Cunha.

Lucy said she can't WAIT to meet her... or maybe she said EAT her.... I can't remember now.

greetings that provoke!

I HEART MikWright Cards. I've spent much time lingering in the aisles of Wegmans & Parkleigh laughing ALOUD to their provocative humor and old photographs which makes these cards so unique. They remind me of old photographs that you might find when looking through old albums with Grandma.

Recently, on the KODAK BLOG - one of my work colleagues contacted the founders of MikWright - and interviewed them:

Kodak: "What is your most popular photo/caption of all time?"
MK: "Our most popular cards have to do with liquor, hair, and subjects that people want to talk about but let us do the ice breaking. Number one is card 294 (a picture of a man holding a Daschund with the caption, "there he goes again showing off his wiener")

They're very funny & I highly recommend 'em! My fave is card #334, I have just the friend in mind.

meet pandora.

"Can you help me discover more music that I'll like?"

Introducing PANDORA.

Very cool. It's like a create-your-own-radio-station tool. You create 'stations' by selecting artists you like, and Pandora creates playlists of the artists as well as songs from other artists who have similar traits. You can scroll through the playlist, and decide whether you 'like it' or 'don't like it' and they work with your feedback.

It's like they study the DNA of a song, and suggest other songs on your station with similar DNA. The DNA consists of "everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony". I think they're on to something here, b/c it works for me - I can listen to a station for hours!

There you have it, try it out and let me know what you think!

winter is here.

Winter is officially here! Lucy, McAllister and I spent all weekend shovelling the driveway and playing in the SNOW.

the strip.

I just found out that I'm going to VEGAS for a business client meeting Feb 28 - Mar 3rd. We're staying at some fancy digs... the Wynn Hotel.

I've never been 2 Vegas, so I'm very excited. I can already see the crazy photos I'll take!

They are offering a FUN event - golf, a spa massage or a Helicopter Tour of the GRAND CANYON!! I totally picked the heli tour... so what if I'll need valium...

felt.

Last weekend, i sat in front of the fireplace and sewed some Valentine's inspired CRAFTS. They were so simple, and such a nice accent to our front door.

The project idea was in this month's Country Home magazine. While I'm not super skilled at a sewing machine, I can handle some basic hand-sewn stiches easily. Plus, it made a great use for WINSLOW's STUFFING.

You can see more at my PROJECT GALLERY.

stuffing.

Not the kind you eat on Turkey Day.
The kind that Lucy rips out of every stuffed animal toy her path crosses.

Meet WINSLOW, her bear friend that has been with us since Sept 2006. WINSLOW was not always this thin.


He once was a cute, plump little bear. Lucy would carry him around from room to room like her little puppy. Then one day, their relationship changed - and she nearly took his head off in order to remove every last bit of stuffing in him.

What makes a dog like stuffing?

what's new?

I've created a NEW subdirectory on my Kodak Gallery photo page.

It will house all our TRAVEL photos. It joins my other subdirectorys, LUCY and PROJECTS. The URL's are:
www.kodakgallery.com/nicky (general photos, including links to subpages)
www.kodakgallery.com/nicky/lucy (guest of honor being LUCY)
www.kodakgallery.com/nicky/projects (all our home-improvement and crafting projects)
www.kodakgallery.com/nicky/travel (all our travel adventures)

I'll still use the SHARE Albums feature to notify people of new photos being posted. But wanted to inform you for your BOOKMARKing pleasure.

Grindelwald.

In lieu of having all our photos up for public viewing, I thought I'd post some fun shots of our FAVORITE place on our trip. We had a lot of favorites.... favorite city - Paris, favorite country - Switzerland, favorite church - San Pietro, Rome Italy, and favorite Market - Portabello.

However, our favorite place overall that we enjoyed touring the most was GRINDELWALD, Switzerland. Grindelwald is a small village town located in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. It is in the very popular Jungfrau region and located right at the foot of Eiger North Face and Wetterhorn Mountains.

We decided that if we ever are fortunate to take a trip like that again - we'd go back and tour ALL of Switzerland. The pic below is us in front of Mount Wetterhorn and a little ski cafe in Grindelwald.

humid kitty.

i've been struggling with the air lately, or should I say - the lack of moisture in the air. my skin is crazy dry and i've been waking up in the middle of the night with a dry throat literally gasping for a sip of water.

hence my quest for a FUN humidifier for our bedroom. bed bath and beyond was OK, but I headed straight to my favorite store for silly, but practical items TARGET. i couldn't believe all my options.....

I think I've settled on HELLO KITTY but I found a penguin for Justine and a cow for Mom.

clean slate.

New year, fresh start, clean slate, whatever you want to call it. It caused me to change my BLOG background and font color selections.

I'm going for the simple, clean and fun look. Hopefully achieved!

ciao, niccunha

we're back.

it is true, we've made it back across the pond!

stay tuned for lots of stories and photos of our exciting european vacation.

unfortunately, so far - jet lag and a nasty cold has got the best of both of us. so I'm not on top of my photos as much as I want to be. there are LOTS of them, so best get prepared now!

thanks,
nic