birthday wishes, a cupcake and a TWO for ONE special!

Vegan Birthday Cupcake, on my favorite plate. Yum....

First off - a treat for YOU!
I'm giving a TWO FOR ONE special for anyone who wants to take the Soul*Full eCourse. Just for today - my Birthday. So hop on over and register! Space is limited - don't miss it.
Grab a friend and split the cost of one. What a dealio!

Here is the link.
http://www.soulfullphoto.com

In the Paypal notes just write the name and email address of the friend you want to take the course with you. done.

Go register - then eat a cupcake - then hop back over here and read the rest of this post. k?

Did you register? ok good

Yes - today is my birthday. How am I spending it? I'm here in the house alone while the fellas head out all day so I can just "BE". I must say it's REALLY nice. I needed it. I have my favorite candle lit and my incense burning,  I spent a long time talking to my favorite friend Amy on the phone. I'm editing the interview with Miguel Ruiz today for my Soul*Full eCourse, and working on the text for the Aqua Nicaragua Soul*Full Women's retreat .
What else?

I wrote out 43 things I'd like to accomplish in my 43rd year:
ready?

1. take photos of Max swinging in the backyard as many days as possible. ( it's his favorite thing to do right now. he signs " swing swing swing please " all day long.
2. take Max on more mini adventures - Zoo, Red Butte Gardens, Thanksgiving Point, etc.
3. Plant Black Eyed Susan in my yard
4. Visit Amy in Minneapolis ( I get to do this in September HOORAY!!!! )
5. Lay in the hammock in the backyard and read for hours and sip my favorite iced tea.
6. Video and Audio interview 43 inspiring life leaders and post them on my blog
7. Update / Revamp my blog ( getting started in about a month )
8. Paint the walls in our bedroom a rich gray color to compliment the intense turquoise wall behind our bed.
9. Visit Chings Animal Sanctuary
10. Strip the paint off the kitchen table 
11. Wear a dress.
12. Get a reading with Cindy Dale
13. Lose those last 5 points and keep them OFF
14. Learn Wet Plate Collodion Process
15. Print and Frame "Nap" series and have a show.
16. Meet more artists in SLC ( take art classes here, get involved in art scene here )
17. Visit Zion,
18. Visit Moab
19. Teach Soul*Full eCourse and Soul*Full Women's retreats
20. Team up with Flora Bowley ( in the works! )
21. Meet Susannah Conway ( in NYC in June?)
22. Meet Andrea Scher ( In San Fran in Sept? )
23. Meet Beth Nicholls ( in Sept in Mpls? )
24. Create the "year 24" project - complete it by 8-18-12
25. Get up earlier and take a walk in the morning
26. Learn Encaustic Painting
27. Go see a movie.... or two. 
28. Make my favorite green tea more often
29. Go on more dates with my husband
30. finger paint with Max
31. Grill outside and eat meals out back with the family
32. Take more naps with Max
33. Visit Park City often
34. Be barefoot in the grass more often.
35. Go on a picnic with my family
36. Go to more outdoor concerts
37. Visit the Wheeler Farm Farmer's Market on Sunday mornings
38. Go to Alt design summit 
39. How about a little family vacation....to Hawaii? Napili Bay, Sea Turtles, perfection
40. Focus my attention on my spiritual practice in the every day moments. Shift.
41. Get help with Max so that I can dedicate more time to my business and artwork
42. Less judgement and more love all around - inside and out.
43. Be true, authentic and real. Speak from the heart. 

Can I do all of this??

Y.E.S!!

Why? Because I want to!

I'm excited to get started on this years adventures. So much is already going on and so many things to be grateful for.

So I'm off to GET TO IT..

Tonight - we are grilling dinner outback and hanging in the hammock and pushing Max in the swing. I say it's a perfect way to celebrate. I used to try to have big parties but felt overwhelmed and stressed out - didn't really get to connect with anyone at the party and felt exhausted after wards. I'm learning to be true to who I am and do things that fill me up rather than make me feel dizzy.

Do you remember a favorite birthday?? Share it with me here. I would love to hear what made it special.

xo
*c


 

Lucky Me!!

 August 3rd nap, 5:26pm

 August 4th, 12:58pm

 August 5th, 1:40pm

 August 8th, 12:37pm

August 9th 1:57pm



Yep - still happily taking these iphone photos of our nap time together. Someone asked me if I was mounting a camera above us to take these - and the answer is no - not that complicated. I have my iphone shoved under my leg until Max falls asleep. When he is snoozing - I pull the phone out - and hold the camera up above us and close my eyes and take the photo. that's it. Then I go to my handy dandy instragram app. and turn them into old fashion looking photos and sometimes do a little tilt shift action on them.

In other news - we went to Lagoon this weekend for the first time. It's an amusement park. And you know how much I Love those! It was for Jerry's work so I left my " I don't wanna go " face in the car and decided that I'd make the best of it. The best part for me was taking Max on his first Merry-Go-Round ride. And on a train ride...( here we are on the train )

where we saw sleeping tigers, jaguars, and other sleeping caged animals. The cages just made me sad actually. And Max didn't see the animals. He doesn't see them unless they are moving...so - zonked out tigers just look like part of the landscape to him.

here's the one photo I took from the train.

It's a keeper. I'm going to post it over at the Superhero Photo eCourse right now. Did I tell you I'm taking that class right now? Andrea Scher is leading the eCourse and since I ADORE her I just HAD to sign up.

wanna see Max enjoying a little time in his swing?




And one more thing.....My Soul*Full eCourse is just about ready to LAUNCH! The website is almost finished and I am SO EXCITED to share it with all of you! If you'd like to get the details you can sign up for my newsletter which is coming out on Thursday.
Click HERE to sign up.

xo
*c

 Nap August 2nd 11:59

yes he is literally pushing his foot into my face. Actually he was doing this over and over again. After I took this photo I moved him, I'm not that into torture. But you will see over the span of the nap photos that this happens to be one of his favorite positions,,,,foot on my face.

Yesterday was a rough one. He wasn't feeling well. I'd go into it but you might be sorry I explained in detail. So we will just leave it at that.

He is feeling much better today but still not eating much if anything at all. We have him on a diet of Pedialite and anything else he will eat.

No fever so we are just letting this thing / bug work itself out. Poor fella.

 Nap August 1st 4:16pm

My parents came to visit us over the weekend. We did so much in 3 days it made all of our heads spin.
I think I might need a mini vacation in our hammock to just chill for a bit and get refreshed! I hope they come back soon! I'll post photos in the next day or two.

Right now I'm thinking about my upcoming 43rd birthday. After reading Andrea Scher's post yesterday ( her August 1st post ) I started to think about how I would want to celebrate that day and to really consider who I really am instead of doing what I think I should be doing.

I know I'm not as into having big parties as I wish I was. I much prefer taking mini travel dates - even if it's just to a part of town I've never been to, a picnic, finding a photobooth for the three of us to cram into, taking a new self portrait, going to a restaurant I've wanted to try out, or do some favorite things that remind me of my favorite people - like sip a decaf soy latte ( Amy ), Visit Manzanita, Oregon ( Amanda, Lori, Dara, and the other friends I made on my photo retreat ) or travel to Paris, France ( although I am in LOVE with the idea of actually living there for a year with my family like this girl is doing now ), a trip to Napili Bay, Maui, Hawaii to swim with the turtles, or just hang out in the backyard with my son and husband and sip lemonade and swing in the swingset with my son.......or go visit Minneapolis so I can play with my friend Amy, sip decaf latte's with her, watch sex in the city DVD's, power lounge and find a vegan cupcake and stick a candle in it.

I also like the idea of rituals, Like going to have a reading done with a psychic, or creating a wish jar and putting all of my wishes for my 43rd year on strips of decerative paper and putting them in the jar and seeing what the universe brings, or get a tattoo ( I've wanted a particular design on my arm for the past 15 years )

Do you have favorite ways you like to celebrate your birthday?

I'd love to hear your rituals - celebrations - favorite birthday memories - or what you'd like to do for your next birthday.

Magic hour

 I'm taking on online eCourse called Superhero Photo. Andrea Scher who is leading the course is one of my all time favorite people I've never met. I've taken her Mondo Beyondo eCourse and when I found out about this one I signed up without blinking an eye. I love her blog, I love her authenticity, I love her caring, thoughtful and playful personality. She is a wise soul. If you get a chance to take an eCourse from her you will not regret it. The assignment here is to take photos during magic hour which is right before sunset. Today I took Max out in our backyard and took these photos. Had to blur his privates as I don't think he would appreciate being exposed like that without his permission.
I'm thinking his JOY is what's Magic here!

who can resist taking this photo! So adorable.

Cat Nap

Hi favorite kitty cat.

Summer Lovin

I'm LOVING a few iPhone apps these days:

First off - I love the ease of the iPhone 4
Then I love taking photos with the Hipstamatic App. I use the grainy black and white film option.
Then I use the Tilt Shift App to blurr some of the image
and then the Instaprint App to add this old fashion photo edge and the sepia tone

mmmmmmmmm. So yummy.
oh and this nap time with Max was pretty yummy as well!

Max Loves Pink Martini

Max loves Pink Martini! This was the first "real" concert we've taken him to. It was last night at Red Butte Gardens. So beautiful! I've been a fan on Pink Martini since my days living in Portland Oregon about 13 years or so ago. I named this blog Hang on little tomato after a song of theirs. I'm glad Max is a fan. This video proves it!


It's a Mondo Beyondo dream come true. Up on Stage with Pink Martini. Standing by the long haired trumpet player. He is SO very talented. Not my best video work.....but
at the end of this the drummer comes up and talks with Max!


yep - I'm a total geek! Dancing next to some of my favorite musicians of all time and all I can think to do is act goofy? Yep that's me.

Nap Tiiiiiiiiiiiime

Max has been transitioning from 2 naps a day to one nap a day - this has been going on for about a year. Everyone told us that as soon as they start to walk they tend to give up one nap. Well? Max started walking around 12 months old.....now Max is 2 and seems pretty tired around 10:30 and then again around 2pm. But lately - we've seen consistency in Max just taking one nap from about 11am until about 1 or 1:30 - sometimes until 2pm.  Everyone told me to nap when he naps. I rarely do because it's my chance to eat, catch up on e-mails, veg out, watch tv, talk on the phone with friends, read ( read facebook that is ! ), and pretend to clean ( haha! ). But - since Max sleeps in our bed I lay  with him and read him a book and then we snuggle as he falls to sleep. I've decided this past week to stay and nap with him and ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh the joys of NAPPING! I've been taking photos just as he falls asleep. Here is one of the two of us from yesterday. Oh the snuggling! So precious. He loves to put his hand on my face or tug on my ear when he is falling asleep. I love how affectionate he is. I don't want nap time to ever end! But I hear at some point these moments will all just be memories and my little guy will be a big guy and demand more play time and not nap again! Until then - I think I'm going to nap with him more, take more photos of the two of us snuggling and try to stay in the moment and not worry so much about checking my e-mails or chatting with my friends on facebook...I cannot believe that he is TWO and I hear that our babies just grow up so fast you barely have time to notice and then it's over and they are asking for the car keys. oh god!
On that note -
it's nap tiiiiiiiiiiiiime!

House in Cottonwood Heights...an update (!!!!)

I couldn't resist posting this photo that Jerry took of us last night before sleepy time. This is what it always looks like when it's time to go to bed. Lots of snuggling and sweetness. oh he is delicious!!

AND ....OK! Here are the photos of the house! And the reason I am sharing all of them with you is because the sellers came back with a counter offer today! So - we are MOVING FORWARD!
ohhhhhhh how we love this house! They didn't even take photos of the 3 other bedrooms. This house is really amazing. I think I'm dreaming. Of course we are at the very beginning of this process so anything can happen between here and the closing dates and I will keep you all posted as we go along. But right now we were thrilled to know that no one else got a bid in before us and that the counter offer is workable.
















and tonight is DATE night ! It's a great day in Salt Lake City !

World Down Syndrome Day!

Why is TODAY World Down syndrome day?
on 3/21 ?

Well..I'll tell you

because Down syndrome occurs when there are 3 copies of the 21st chromosome

Down syndrome is also called Trisomy 21.


Happy Day! It's World Down syndrome Day. I'm celebrating Max in every way. But wait - I ALREADY do! He is so Fabulous isn't he? Well - I know you already know that!
Some sweetness shared between Papa and Max...Or...Max is trying to escape...you decide.

Max hanging out at Vertical Diner with us. A new favorite place for me to eat healthy and get out of the condo with Max. On this occasion - we met up with my friend Nicole and her son Tyler. Max was enthralled with Tyler. Couldn't get enough of him. So fun to watch him study older boys and their ways of play.

Tyler brought along a few favorite Lego toys. Of course they had their own trophy's he could attached to the wings of the plane or the back of the speed boat. I think all of the mama's out there need some trophy's like this to attach to the wings of their superhero mama cape!
Nicole and Tyler sharing a moment

Caught them in the act of power lounging again!
Jerry and I took Max to Eggs in the City on Sunday. We usually do something called " Seiner Sunday" which is just a day of adventure. So our adventure consisted of trying out a new restaurant. I know - that doesn't seem thrilling but to us - it really is! We LOVED it there and even though the wait was over 25 minutes - we didn't mind. The people watching was great too! Max was studying the menu and it looks like he has his decision made - I'm guessing french toast. ( Side note - He's still not eating much food. But working on it! I WISH he would eat french toast - or ANYTHING ELSE on that menu! )

Max just LOVES to drink out of the grown-up cups - even when they are larger than his entire body. His sweatshirt became completely drenched in water - but he didn't care. He kept signing " Water- Water - Water" and wanted to try again and again. p.s. his sign for "water" looks like a gang sign. I'll have to get that on video for you.
here he is post water exploration - playing with my iphone. We were told by a friend about a cool app that has a cat that "talks". if you rub the cat it purrs. So here is Max rubbing the cat belly! SO cute to watch him learn how to interact with it. It's great for his fine motor skills, and communication and action / reaction learning. Plus it keeps him entertained while we wait for the check and he is starting to melt.

I started to hunt for Pods in SLC. Here was the first Pod I found while driving around Cottonwood Heights. Most of you know how I've been a bit in LOVE with pods for years now. If you don't know that about me - I think I have a portfolio of pods on my website at catherinejust.com
I'm also starting to look for signs of spring. It's amazing to watch things start to transform here.
Tiny bright green buds on trees, Daffodils, crocus, and still learning what Spring means here.

The other news is.......We put in an offer on a HOUSE today. Oh yes we did!
I'd tell you all about it - but I'm going to wait to tell you until TOMORROW. We hear back from them by 2pm tomorrow..........Please cross your fingers on this one! We LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. Not only is it 2700 square feet, 4 bedroom, 3.5 baths, large backyard, great kitchen, open floorplan, attached garage, quiet cul-de-sac, and totally finished basement which will be a GREAT playroom for Max and his buddy's on cold days...but it's in what we have heard is a very good school district for kids with Special needs. It's about a mile away from another friend who has a child with Ds, and we just found out there's another little boy with Ds who lives in the area as well. It's right by the mountains and I could walk to Whole Foods. It's also about 3 miles from that Farm I posted about a few days ago. um........Are you crossing your fingers yet????

Here is a sneak peek inside.







I'll share more photos......TOMORROW! Are you crossing your fingers?? If you're not into that - how about lighting a candle - sending up a prayer - sending good vibes - putting a wish under your pillow - or dancing around the house tossing star glitter in the air while laughing hysterically and listening to music that makes you feel pumped! ( like Kanye West, Eminem, Guns and Roses and mmmmmmmm how about a little Soul Coughing, Tenacious D, and of course NO Doubt mixed in. This selection cracks me up already!! )

You can bet I will be doing ALL of these options within the next 10 hours or so!