Making it WORK – Part UNO

As Emily told you yesterday, we were at a super-fab fabric care event in Cincinnati hosted by Procter & Gamble over the past couple of days.  When first invited to said event, we were SO EXCITED because

A) P&G is in Cincy, only an hour away.

B) P&G is a GIANT business but it’s also a LOCAL business to us which we LOVE.

C) P&G makes about 4700 bajilllion products which we use and can’t live without. Specifically, in fabric care, Tide and Bounce!  But there are sooo many others.

D) We got to hang out with Tim Gunn!!!

E) We got to spend the night in a nice Westin hotel heavenly bed!! With no baby monitors or tiny children interrupting our sleep!

SO!  I packed Katie, Andrea and our junk in my car and headed down to the ‘Nati Monday afternoon.  There we hooked up with Amy, and Emily joined us later in the evening.

Of course, there were loads of other fab bloggers there like Danielle, Audrey, Colleen, and Sarah.  And I met some great ladies for the first time like Stacie, Toni, and Felicia.

First, we took a tour of the P&G archives.  It was a super-cool mini-museum with tons of stuff in it, as P&G has been around since 1837.  That’s right. EIGHTEENthirtyseven!  So, Ed, the P&G Archives guy, pretty much has the coolest job ever.  Since I am a total nerd, I was way into this part!

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(Oh and check out that old NCR cash register to the right. NCR was founded in Dayton and can you guess which history nerd has the SAME cash register? I will give you a hint! It’s NOT Emily!)

ANYhoo, on to the exciting part!  After our tour, we were whisked away in large vans to the Weston Art Gallery at the Aronoff Center in downtown Cincy to have hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, and a little Project Runway-esque design contest with Tim Gunn!!!

I had met Tim Gunn briefly at Blogher and he was soooo nice.  So I was excited to meet him again.  I also interviewed him via email last year for this article and he was just so thorough in his answers, I was super-impressed. He has proudly been working with the Tide brand for two years, and was really enbthusiastic about spending time with all of us bloggin’ ladies.

Naturally, Emily and I were FAH-reaking out about what to wear.  I don’t know what Emily’s problem was because she looks totally fab but I on the other hand am 11 weeks pregnant and was trying to look neither pregnant nor fat.

But more on that later. Now may I present to you, Tim Gunn!

Em Tim and Jen
(Thanks Amy for the previous two photos!)

Here’s a pic of us and our fabulous Dayton-Cincy crew, you know, so you can see our OUTFITS!

my girls!

Emily, Katie, Amy, me,  and Andrea
(Notice despite my efforts you CAN tell that I’m pregnant. But not by looking at my stomach. Geeeeezzzz {that was for you Andrea!})

After we had our pics taken with TG (as I like to call him), we had a fashion competition!! We had to take a plain white tee and a bag full of stuff they gave us and we had 30 minutes to MAKE IT WORK.  I was a *little* scared since I do not have a creative bone in my body, but then when I realized Audrey was on my team, I was sure we’d win. (And I DID want to win!)

Here’s Audrey in action w/ our design:

Audrey with our fashion creation

Andrea was on our team, also. Which was good, because then I had someone to stand with me and be USELESS!!

Here’s Emily and Amy’s team’s design:

And here’s Katie with her team’s design…which WON!!

After the contest, we had drinks and yummy hors d’oeuvres and talked and talked and talked! Amy and Katie were totes hogging Tim ALL NIGHT but that was ok because Em, Andrea, and I really enjoyed hanging with the other fab bloggers there and the WONDERFUL ladies from DeVries and P&G who worked so hard to put on a fabulous event.

And it WAS, truly, truly fabulous.  They knocked it out of the park!  After the party, we headed out, just the 5 of us Ohio girls, to get some dinner and enjoy each other, which was of course, totally wonderful. I LOVE those girls!!

Then we headed off to a Heavenly Bed at the Westin so we could rest up for PART DEUX – Fabric Care University – at P&G the next day.  So this, my dears, is to be continued…

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The Graduate

Last night my little tiny baby boy graduated from kindergarten.

I was a little nervous about the ceremony – not nervous about how Joshua would do, but nervous that it would be, you know, torture for all involved.

But, set your expectations low, and they will be exceeded.  It was so good.  All 60-odd kindergartners did great!  They sang, they played handbells, they walked across the stage and got their diplomas – and every part was adorable.  Nobody cried, peed, disrobed, or even picked their nose.  It was like, perfect.  I am sure the teachers breathed a big sigh of relief!

And I got a little weepy more than once.  How could I not?  I am this child’s mother:
the graduate!

Here he is walking toward his principal, Mrs. Hines, to get his diploma:

gettin' his diploma

What’s super-special about this is that “Mrs. Hines” is better known as “Rita” to me, because she is my mom’s BFF and has known me since I was born. It is really cool for me that she is Joshua’s principal!

Joshua has changed so much this year – almost all for the better – and I am so proud of him! I couldn’t be any prouder. I’m so thankful to be his mommy and excited about what his next years of learning and growing at school will bring!

mommy's big boy

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Beloved

My beloved is mine and I am hers.”

– Song of Solomon 2:16

As you may remember, Bobby and  I recently celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Months before this, I got the idea that I’d like to have our pictures taken to commemorate this event.  After all, the last time Bobby and I had our pictures taken together was…at our wedding! Sure, we’d had a couple of so-so family pics taken once the kids came along, but nothing together.  And I thought, we really needed to do it to take notice of our 10 years of love and work.

When I got the idea, I knew I wanted our friends Shannon and David Perlow of Locke Innovations Photography to take them.  We are privileged to be in house church with them, and our kids are good buddies, too! I’d seen and admired their work, plus I love to support people I love!  Especially when they have a small, local business.

As “luck” would have it, Shannon and David had just decided to start doing a new kind of photo session with married couples, called a “Beloved” session.  (We got to be their first Beloveds!) Here’s what Shannon writes on their blog about a Beloved shoot:

“First off, it’s not a photo shoot. It’s an experience for a married couple to walk through together…you are given different ideas to think about, things to walk through together, memories to create and to remember.

All of the “experiences” are to help focus you, and invite you to those thoughts, feelings, and emotions that are ALREADY inside you….and bring them to the surface for you to experience. Some are fun and silly, some are lovey & romantic, some are serious and contemplative, and some are for healing.

Why photograph it? Next time, you have a horrible day at work, or the house is a wreck, or the kids are driving you crazy, and your ‘to do’ list is a mile long, or your in-laws are getting under your skin, and your spouse just says or does the wrong thing… wouldn’t it be great to have a canvas on your wall….that has a photograph or two of you and your spouse having a real authentic moment and experience…to REMIND you of what’s really inside of you? To Remind you of your love?”

The Beloved Session was a great experience for Bobby and me. I will confess that I think my hubby had a few reservations about it, but he ended up really enjoying it!  We had a great time, and to be honest, even though David and Shannon asked us some questions and gave us things to think about – we hardly even noticed they were there! We had a great time just being together and focusing on each other – and now we have some AMAZING pictures to remind us of why we love and to celebrate that we do. Because what is our family, without our marriage? It needs to be celebrated, focused on, and venerated.

If you are in Dayton, Cincinnati, or Columbus and are looking for some beautiful portraits for family, wedding, maternity, newborn, or BELOVED I highly recommend Locke Innovations. Not because they are my friends, but because they are pros! (and you should totally “like” them on Facebook, by the way!) We just did a family shoot with them also and I can’t wait to share those pics with you as well.

Thanks Shannon and David for an awesome experience and the beautiful memories!

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Disclosure: Bobby and I paid for this photo session and these photos with our OWN money!   True story.  And it was totally worth every penny!

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