Taylor Made designs

:: Y is for…

Y is for…

YOGURT – I love vanilla yogurt with fresh strawberries. Sometimes I'll get on a kick and eat this for my lunch for a week at a time. I just love it. William has taken to eating this for lunch too whenever he doesn't want a sandwich. We're big on those drinkable yogurt drinks too.

YOLKS – I don't know why, but I dislike yolks and won't eat them. The only time I will, is in a deviled egg... but other than that, I'll pick out yolks from hard boiled eggs, or use 1/3 of it in an egg salad. I mainly buy liquid egg whites to eat.

YARN – I have a bunch of yarn that I've bought for all these knitting projects that I've started, but haven't finished :( I wish i was a good knitter like my sister Nicole, but I'm just not. Maybe this fall/winter I"ll be able to make something other than a scarf!

YAHOO – I am almost done with the alphabet!

Right now, I'm sick. I have a fever, headache, nausea and feel overall crappy so I've been upstairs in bed since yesterday. I happen to have a doctor's appointment yesterday, but we didn't really talk about what I had...but how I've been feeling with the nephrotic syndrome etc. Hoping to feel better today. I've taken more aspirin, I've checked my email, and now I'm going back upstairs to see if I can feel better. Have a good Thursday! 

:: w + x is for…

W is for…

WILLIAM – my baby boy. I just love that little man.

WATER – I love to drink water. I love to be in the water. I love everything to do with the water. {except fish... did i mention my phobia about fish? I don't like fish – to eat or be swimming with them ... freak me out!}

WALK – one of our favorite things to do as a family is to take walks. It's relaxing + good for you :)

WONTONS – not a big fan of chinese food, but I love wonton soup or spicy ginger wontons in a peanut sauce. YUM.

WHISTLE – I hate when people whistle. I had to sit next to a gosh darn whistler for one of my very first jobs out of college – and just recalling the memory annnoys me!

WONKY – I just like the sound of this word :)

X is for…

X–RAY – I don't think I've had more than five in my whole life.

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Guess what? See those beautiful bags above? Mine, all mine! My two favorite bloggers, Amandajean + Beki sent me presents for my birthday! Can you believe it? And not just some little presents, they sent me packages with the very best stuff!

Amandajean sent me the beautifullly made blue bag with a matching tissue holder, handmade flowerette pin, and a little zip tote bag to hold all of Davis's hair accessories. I wish you could see the stitching and craftmanship for each piece. In the words of my sister, who knows her way around a sewing machine, "this girl can sew!" we were both blown away with her talent. The bag has the most amazing pattern through it. How do you do that? Then she remembered my love of salty things and sent me some cornchips + some gummyworms which I have no pictures of because we, (meaning the kids + I) ate them before I could take photos. Beki sent me an adorable flower designed pouch that she made. It's perfect for holding the kid's colour pencils. Again, ''this girl can sew too!" Look at how cute it is!! So creative with the different ric-rac and fabrics. She also loaded me up with swedish fish + gummy bears!

I can't say it enough, but I am blow away by how generous in spirit bloggers are, especially these guys! Thank you so much Amandajean + Beki! You guys are so talented + inspire me everyday with your creations! Thank you for thinking of me  on my birthday – you made my day even more special!

:: Q, R, S, T, U, V…

Q is for …

QUIET – a rarity in our house. Usually I need to be in the car to experience it. But every now and then the kids will fall asleep early and I can tuck myself upstairs in bed and read my book in complete silence.

QUOTES – I love quotes. I have a huge collection of quotes for my TAYLOR BOOKS. I've been collecting them for over 10 years.

QUIT – I normally won't quit something. If I start something, I'll persevere. If this ABC encyclopedia of Me isn't a testament to that fact, I'm not sure what is!

R is for…

RENÉE – my youngest sister. She is the most adventurous of us all. She's funny as hell and I think she could have been a stand-up comedian. I envy her fearlessness. She has skydived! I wish I had the guts to try it... alas, I don't :)

RED – One of my favorite colours. My front door is red. {good feng shui since my front door is North facing} and my first car was cherry red. And I look good in red :)

REDESIGN – I'm often asked to help redesign a companies literature which I love to do. It's great to see the before + after.

ROCKS – I love collecting rocks. If you came to my house you'd see a bunch of rocks sitting on windowsills that we've picked up from the beach.

S is for…

SEWING – I have a decent sewing machine, I just need to learn to use it properly! I am so inspired to sew things. Right now I am making new tab curtains for my bedroom and I have a tote bags in the works.

SHORT – I guess you could say I'm on the "short" side. I'm almost 5' 2". Is that short? :)

SHOPPING – I'm not a big shopper. I enjoy shopping when I need to get something, but I'm not someone who will be sitting at home and think, hey, I'm going to go out and just shop. I usually have something in mind when I go out to the stores.

T is for…

TAYLOR – my maiden name, which I love.

TYPEFACES –  oh how I love all the typefaces/fonts available. I have my favorites, but it's so good to have choices :)

U is for…

UMBRELLA – I never seem to have one in the car when it's raining.  So I really need to  buy one of those small ones that will fit into my bag.

UNDERDOG – I always seem to root for the underdog.

V is for…

VEGETABLES – I love veggies. I didn't always. When I was younger I was picky picky. But now, I try to eat at least two to three veggies at dinner.

VIOLENCE – I can't stand violent movies or scary movies. I just don't watch them.

VISUALIZE – I have a good ability to visualize things in my head.

:: l, m, n o, p is for...."

Here we go...

L is for…

LOTTERY – I want to win big, but I guess I have to play, huh? {we don't}

LAUNDRY – I love to do laundry. Seriously. How sad is that? Ever since we bought our super duper deluxe washer + dryer last year, I love to do laundry. We put in new shelving next to the washer + dryer {which are stackable} and I just find it so easy + pleasant. There is a button and cycle for everything which makes every load a dream. Ahhh, laundry nirvana :)

LAUGHING – I love a good laugh + joke. And in my family, there are plenty of comedians to keep me laughing.

LOGOS – My favorite design project to work on. 

M is for…

MONEY – show me the money :) There never seems to be enough to do all the grand things we want to do... I think this is a universal view!

MUM – The most important thing I will be and do in my life. My own mum is one of the most talented women I know. All my artistic traits I got from her. My love to organize, again from her. I don't know how she managed with five kids  – but she did it. She set a great example for my sisters, brother + myself of how a family should be. To this day she has more energy to tackle any project. We all got our "can-do-it yourself" attitude from her. And for that we love her for it!

MICHELLE – my older sister who lives in New Orleans. Fun-loving + always up for a good time! We miss her and wish she would move back east... but she's been living down there for over 15 years now so chances are slim she'll be moving back here anytime soon.

MUSIC – I love to listen to music especially my iPod... but lately I have been listening to an online radio station called, "Pandora". You can put in a favorite artist and they will play like-minded other artists. It's pretty cool. I now need better speakers for my G5!

N is for…

NICOLE – the middle child of our family. She's so good to my kids! She's the one who will babysit for us, take the kids to the park, or pick up the cutest outfits for them. {all my sisters do this, but NIcole especially} I do the most with Nicole – shop and hang out. 

NORWAY – Neal's sister lives in Norway with her family. It's beautiful there and we can't wait to visit them again.

NEAL – my husband, my best friend.

O is for…

OPERATION – I have only had two. The first one was an emergency c-section at 1:00am in the morning when I had William. The second was a nicely scheduled c-section for Davis. Totally night and day operations.

OPERA – I really like listening to opera and have quite a few CDs. My favorite is La Bohemé.

OCEAN – I absolutely love being at the ocean. Perhaps my favorite place to hang out. Before I die, I really want to own a property right on the ocean.

ORGANIC – We've been trying to eat organic for a few years now. With Neal's background in chemistry + all the things he tells me about the environment, you'd be eating organically too if you knew what kind of chemicals are really used!

P is for…

PAINT – I love to paint of any kind. I enjoy doing abstract + collage painting. I also don't mind painting the walls and trim of our house. By no means is it a favorite activity of mine, but I get great satisfaction  prepping + painting a room. I think it's that instant gratification feeling you get. 

PHOTOGRAPHY – I wish I was a good photographer. I've been told I'm a good photo editor. (I once had to edit 500 photos for a project) I have taken a few good photos that surprise even me... but it's due to luck, not skill! This is something I want to work on!

PRACTICAL – I wish I could say I was practical, but sometimes, I'm just not. The older I get, the more practical I am getting. But sometimes I just want to have fun or just wing it, than be practical about something. Life is too short.

PROCESS – I love hearing about other people's design process. For me, a lot of what I do is just innate... it just happens. I don't think too much about it, I just go with my gut, do what feels right. In the end I'll reflect on my decisions – but during the process, I just let things unfold + happen.

:: the marshmellow fair ::

This week I was either crazy busy with work, or I took days off to play with the kids. (I guess taking off for a few days made me so crazy!) Since we couldn't really go on vacation this summer because I have been sick – Neal and I just want to enjoy the last few weeks of summer taking the kids on day trips and doing fun things with them.

This week we went to the Marshfield Fair, which William has renamed, "The Marshmellow Fair." The kids had an absolute blast. But as I told Shona, from lala dex press, the fair is a breeding ground for David Lynch like characters. Really, have you seen the people who go to fairs? Have they seen mirrors :) Some people are really crazy!

Regardless, it's a fun time. We went in the late afternoon and left before all the real crazies came out. Then went out for some food at this cute pub called "poopsies" near us. 

I actually have lots of stuff to show you all... it's just finding the time to take the photos and then upload and write a post! And I haven't forgotten the ABC alphabet of me. I'll start that up again... I know you're thrilled huh! Thanks for bearing with me. I'll try to post more often next week! Till then, thanks for stopping by and have a terrific weekend!

:: k is for…

K is for…

KRISTEN
How crazy is it that today is for K, my name is Kristen AND it's my birthday? I use my initials a lot when signing stuff. KAT which stands for Kristen Alexandra Taylor. Mainly my sisters + some friends call me kat. I now go with Kristen Taylor Yarranton.

KITES
We love to fly kits on the beach. We have a couple of them and have so much fun.

KARMA
I do believe in karma...I'm just waiting for it to kick in :)

KIND
I try to be kind. You never know what other people are dealing with. And how hard is it to be kind?

KNEE
I have a chip in my knee from the time I fell while I was a waitress at a very posh country club. I had a tray of dirty dishes on my shoulder, and I was stepping up some stairs and there was a nail poking out. I tripped on it in the middle of some dude's big speech. Oh good times. Whenever the pressure gets low it hurts more than you can imagine.

Saturday night we decided for my birthday to go to this new japanese restaurant in Plymouth called New Toyko. They have a hibachi and we thought the kids would get a kick out of sitting at the grill and having our meals cooked in front of them. And we were right. It was sooo much fun. The food was really great. We did order tempura chicken for the kids – which they absolutely loved. Another couple sat next to us with their three kids and it was just a blast. It turns out 11 years ago they looked at our house to buy. How crazy is that? Overall, a super evening and the kids declared they wanted to eat there again next week :) 

:: j is for…

J is for…

JEWELRY – I'm a big fan of jewelry. I have a friend who owns a beautiful store on Newbury Street called MATSU, and she has the best line of jewelry by Me & Ro, Jeannine Payer, Margo Morrison + Rebecca Lankford. So I have a really nice collection of necklaces, earrings + rings. I'm not a fan of bracelets –  they get in my way when I work.

JAPANESE – oh how sweet are all those craft books + wonderful fabrics from Japan? And of course they brought us the GOCCO my all time favorite export :)

JUSTIN – My brother, who is the youngest in  our family of five. (how tough is it having four older sisters?) He's cute, athletic + single {I think he's dating} and is a really great guy. I think any woman would be lucky to have him.

JUGGLE – what I do everyday... not literally :)  I juggle being a mum + a business owner. It's not easy, but nothing ever is. I have a good routine down which helps + the kids love to draw and paint and as long as I keep the activities coming I can get stuff done.

Have a great weekend everyone! Thanks for visiting this week and for all the lovely comments. I really appreciate it. Next week I am doubling up on the letters. I don't think I can do 16 more days of this :) I'm sure you'd all be bored to tears! I have some good things to show you too. Till then have fun!

 

:: I is for…

I is for…

ICE CREAM – mmmm homemade ice cream. Vanilla with chocolate chips + homemade chocolate sauce. Something we don't indulge in a lot, except for the summer months. I gave Neal an ice cream maker for Father's Day a few years ago and he has perfected a vanilla ice cream that is dreamy. I've made sorbet in it, and it's just as yummy {ok, it's not really}...  but it's nice, especially on a hot hot night.

INSTRUMENTS – I played the flute + the oboe growing up. Yeah, i said oboe. Stop snickering. I got to make my own reeds...and as a girl who liked to craft things, that was a real selling point :)

INDECISIVE – I'm getting better, but when we go out to dinner, I all the sudden don't know what I like or what I want and become very indecisive. I alway ask Neal what I should order. He always knows what would be good and what I will like. For some reason I'll think something sounds really exotic or different and want to try it, and he will know that it's something I just won't like. I'm not that indecisive on work stuff, or even when it comes to clothing, or home decor. Just food. Weird I know.

IDLE – I don't like to be idle. I like to be busy. I guess that's why I have a hard time watching movies at home. I  always think about the half dozen other things I could be doing. Unless it's late, after 10:30 or so I can shut down without feeling guilty.

OK so tell me – are you all getting bored reading about me me me? Got to tell ya, I'm getting bored with writing about me me me. The only good thing about this ABC Encyclopedia of Meme? I'll finally finish these illustrations! Which I am really happy with so far. Thanks so much for the kind + sweet comments on them. It really is so nice to hear :)

Some of you have written saying you want me to make the illustrations available... but wondering...how? As a poster? As individual pieces? Let me know. If there is enough interest then I might do something with them. Thanks to everyone who has left me a comment... tomorrow is J, which means day 10, and only 16 more freaking days left!

:: H is for...

H is for…

HUSBAND – Not only do I love Neal, my husband, I actually really like him + would rather spend time with him than with anyone else :)

HANDBAGS – ahhh, my second real love! I've established this fact already, I'm sucker for a handbag.

HAPPY – Life is too short not to be happy.

HANDMADE – I love the quality of handmade... the details, the quality, the passion + love that is evident in handmade products.

HAWAII – Where Neal and I honeymooned. We stayed for two glorious weeks in Maui and I have to say it was the best vacation we ever had. This is another place we dream of living. I can still recall the feeling of the warm tropical air on my face. Such a beautiful, relaxing feeling. I want to feel that again! 

:: g is for ::

GARRULOUS GIRL – that is who I am. Yup. I am a talker, able to keep up with the best of them. But I also know when to shut my mouth. It's taken me years to know when, but boy am I glad I now know when to!

GRANDPARENTS – William + Davis are blessed to have the best grandparents alive. They are showered with love + support. My parents take our kids every Wednesday for us. It's part of our routine and they love going to Nana + Papa's house. I think it's wonderful that they have such a great relationship with them. Neal's parent's do not live so close so they don't see them as much, but they are wonderful to the kids and we really feel fortunate :)

GENEROUS – I like to think I am :) But I have to say I am overwhelmed by the generous nature of the blogging community. People sharing ideas + stories, exchanging tips + tricks. The world seem just that much smaller + cozier, doesn't it :)

GOOD-NATURED – I'm pretty easy-going and try to be good-natured. No one gets anywhere with a scowl on their face and being rude. Seriously, wouldn't you help the person who has the more good-natured attitude than the crab?

GUMMY BEARS – I'm not a big candy girl, but if I had to chose a candy, Gummy Bears and Swedish Fish would be right up there as a treat for me :)