Radio Silence

03/03/2011

I am still here. Or back, rather. It’s been a whirlwind week and family emergencies have taken priority over blogging, work, paying bills, doing laundry, etc.—as they should. The dust is settling now but it’ll take me a few days to get back to normal. Thanks for checking in here everyday. I will be back next week!

A brief synopsis of the past 7 days if you’re interested:

Found out niece would be born by emergency C-section. Hurried to the hospital to wait. Delighted in amazing new addition to our family! Crazy storm. Tired. Irritable. Home late after swerving around many downed trees. Dog had accident while we were gone. Grocery store run. Grocery store closed due to power outage. Sneak into my parents house to steal their laundry detergent. Wake up after a few hours of sleep to a phone call that Jason’s grandmother passed away. Go to work like a zombie. Visit new parents and baby with dinner. (Yay!) Sleep hard. Scramble around to get errands and obligations done on Saturday so we could head out of town. Drive 10 hours up to Erie, PA (our former hometown) with Jason’s parents. Visit family. Attend funeral. Eat funeral food (including homemade ranch dressing … I call it “funeral ranch”. It’s good.) Visit family. Sort through grandma’s house. Scan lots of old family pictures. Buy sponge candy and prenzels at Wegmans. Visit our dear friends for yummy dinner. Wish they would move to Nashville. More family visiting, including a stop to visit Jason’s other grandma, our last remaining grandparent. Let her know that we intend to name our daughter after her one day. She laughs and says she never liked her name. (Also my grandmother’s name. She never liked it either!) Drive 10+ hours back to Nashville. It’s so good to be home. It’s sunny and 70º outside today. I have a lot of work to catch up on and much to be thankful for today.

7 Comments | Family, Family: Jason, Family: Me | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Phone Photo Friday

02/25/2011

My niece was born yesterday afternoon! Her name is Eliza Kiley. Not the most flattering photo…she was still pretty fresh. I have better ones in my camera. But it is Phone Photo Friday after all. Eliza is absolutely adorable and I am totally smitten. She has soft, fuzzy brown hair and stunning, big blue eyes. I already LOVE being her aunt. We’re going to have lots of fun together. Uncle Jason and I even got to change a poopy diaper last night.

4 Comments | Art, Art: Phone Photo Friday, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends, Family: Jason | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Metal Deck Railings

02/23/2011

My creative and handy husband surprised me the other day with an outdoor project. He took the vertical wooden posts/pickets off of our deck (I don’t have a before picture but you probably know what I mean) and replaced them with modern, stylish metal railings. I don’t have any DIY instructions to share since Jason did this all himself but I know he used electrical conduit (the metal pipes) and drilled holes in the wood posts the same diameter as the conduit. If you want more information than that, let me know. 🙂

I love the new look! (And I love my smart, hard-working husband!)

19 Comments | Art, Art: modern design, Family, Family: Jason | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

CBB 3.0 – Update

02/17/2011

From here on out, I’m going to refer to our friend’s house (the one needed painted, then was destroyed by a flood, then knocked down, and now has started to be rebuilt) as CBB 3.0. Why? Because that’s their nickname for their house. They have called their home Camp B_name-of-their-street_ Bottoms since they bought it. The original was version 1.0, completely renovated it into version 2.0 and now they’re building version 3.0. (Search for CBB for anything about this house, CBB 3.0 for the rebuild.)

Jeremy and Leila gave me the OK to share their progress with you. Their new home will be modern with some mid-century influence to fit it with the other 1950’s-1970’s houses in the neighborhood. The biggest challenge has been fitting a design into FEMA’s strict regulations. This had a major influence on the overall design of the house because the foundation had to be raised 4 feet from where it was before but the space below that foundation can not be living space. The solution was to make a garage and storage space under the house … kind of like an above ground basement. Here are some pictures of the recent progress:

The foundation is 2/3 concrete block and 1/3 wood frame.

The large opening is for the garage door at the back of the house.

Flat roof graded toward the front of the house:

The build is moving so quickly, I can’t keep up with pictures. (Hopefully J is OK with me stealing pics off his facebook for now…it’s still dark in evening when I get home from work.) The roof should be complete by the end of this week. Target completion date: 1 year anniversary of the flood, May 1st.

2 Comments | Art, Art: CBB 3.0, Art: interior design, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

The Post-Valentine’s Day Anti-Valentine’s Day Post

02/16/2011

Jason and I decided to not celebrate Valentine’s Day this year. It’s one of those commercial holidays that really rubs us the wrong way. People in relationships are obligated to demonstrate their love through sweets, gifts and fancy dinners. It can seem really forced. Then, all the single people, ladies mostly, tend to feel unloved.

We decided to let each other off the hook this year. I much prefer surprises and random gifts and date nights, anyway. I do like chocolates and flowers so I bought a bouquet of white mums at the grocery store on Sunday (which I do occasionally) and Jason snagged some leftover chocolates and heart candies at the store yesterday—50% off! You know we like a bargain.

The real reason we’re anti-Valentine’s Day is because while dates and gifts and cards have their place, real love is displayed in day to day interactions with each other. Monday turned out to be a perfect example of how Jason demonstrates that loves me. We took my car in to the shop in the morning and my sweet man drove me to work and dealt with the mechanic for me. He picked me up from work early to take me to my eye doctor appointment. I knew I wouldn’t be able to see to drive home on a bright sunny day with dilated eyes so he happily drove me. There was a giant mocha Frappaccino waiting for me when I hopped in the car. Once we got home Jason made tacos for dinner and did most of the clean up. All without a single complaint. That, more than any flowers or chocolates ever could, shows me how much my husband cares for me. He proves it to me all the time. I feel very blessed.

(Sorry about the lousy picture. I got a new phone and I haven’t figured out how to get the pictures to my computer yet.)

1 Comment | Family, Family: Jason | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Tea on my Doorstep!

02/14/2011

One of my favorite blog readers read about my trouble finding my favorite tea and sent me a canister as a surprise. I am so blessed! Thanks Mama, for making my cubicle time a little more fruitful!

1 Comment | Art, Art: Cooking, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Prayer Shower

02/10/2011

Last Monday Jason and I gathered around his brother Dan and his wife Ginger along with 7 of their closet friends to give them a baby shower. Not the gift kind of baby shower—we’ve already done that—this was a prayer shower. We all went around and prayed blessings over their baby girl, the upcoming birth, the new parents, their home and gave thanks for the gift she is and will be to our community of friends and family. It was relaxed and informal but a really special time for the parents-to-be. (I didn’t take any pictures that night but here’s another one from the maternity shoot two days before.)

Have you ever hosted a prayer shower or been to one?

5 Comments | Faith, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends, Family: Jason | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Update on the MCM Post-Flood Rebuild

02/08/2011

At the beginning of the year, our friends’ house was torn down. (Remember, it had been destroyed in the May 2010 Nashville Flood after having standing water 4 ft. above the foundation level.) The new house must be built up off the ground and follow all sorts of ridiculous FEMA regulations. Construction started last week:

The house basically has an above-ground unfinished basement. They’re not allowed to use this space for any habitable living space. Half of it is graveled and the other half is paved for a garage and storage area. And possibly a roller rink?

If I can get their permission to do so, I’ll keep you posted with the design and interior development. If not, I’ll just kept tabs on the exterior changes.

(CBB 3.0)

3 Comments | Art, Art: CBB 3.0, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Expecting

02/02/2011

On Saturday I had the privilege of snapping some last minute pregnancy pictures of my brother- and sister-in-law. They were going to have a photographer friend of ours do some portraits but it never worked out and we’re down to the wire (2.5 weeks to due today) so I offered my free but mediocre photography skills. I was happy to try out my new Nikon in a portrait setting and I’m pleased that a few good ones emerged. Not bad for a point and shoot.

I played with some different photo treatments in Photoshop. Mama-to-be requested some black & white and some without her face in the shot. (Full term pregnant women are always a bit self-conscious about looking puffy in the face. I think Ginger looks radiant!) Photographer friends – feel free to offer your constructive criticism on my skillz (or lack of skills).

I think she looks so lovely in this one:

They’re silly. I’m glad I captured this moment because I don’t think it could be reproduced. Their house is always full of laughs and I know they’ll be super fun parents.

This is one of my favorite shots because Dan didn’t know I was taking it. I was setting up for the next shot while Ginger when to change clothes.

This is the only shot that I actually had a vision of creating the night before. I think it works and captures them fairly well. Daddy Dan, the thinker, a man of few words, a planner. Mama Ginger, always rubbing her baby bump and speaking sweetly to her daughter, lovely and content.

Marty can’t wait to have another master to lick…

Jason and I are so excited for them and excited to meet our niece. It’s been really cool to see how Dan and Ginger have grown so much the past 9 months in maturity and spiritually. I know that they will be great parents. I’ve been so encouraged and inspired by how positive Ginger has been through the entire pregnancy. She hasn’t had any complaints and has enjoyed every moment of carrying a baby (except maybe for that couple of hours early on when the mid-wife said she couldn’t find the heartbeat, but that all worked out). Her pure love and joy for their baby girl is contagious. Or maybe it’s just that as her auntie, I already have a lot of love and joy for her, too.

We love you guys and are looking forward to walking with you into this new adventure!

7 Comments | Art, Art: graphic design, Art: modern design, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

January Spring

01/31/2011

This weekend was January Spring! What’s January Spring, you ask? That’s what Jason and I call the weekend we seem to get every winter, usually in January, where we get a preview of spring and a respite from winter. This past Saturday and Sunday were sunny with highs of 65º. A glorious change from all the snow we’ve had in Nashville this year. (We had 4.5 inches in December and I think it’s been more than that in January.) I left the doors hanging open hoping to lure the warm sunshine into the house!

Here’s a little weekend recap:

Friday night I had dinner with my parents and we saw 127 Hours. It was intense and disturbing so be forewarned if you go. It is inspiring to see how Aron Ralston went through what he did and survived. Talk about a will to live.

Saturday I had the privilege of snapping some last minute maternity pictures of my brother- and sister-in-law. More on that later this week. After that: grocery shopping, lunch outside, a Vanderbilt – University of Arkansas basketball game, and a movie with friends.

Sunday Jason got home—if you’ve been reading this blog for the past 6 months you know how much I love homecomings!—and we enjoyed the warm weather with breakfast outside, weeding the garden (Jason) and a walk with Lucy. After that his family came over to hang out for the evening. We ate tortilla soup and berry delight and played Apples to Apples. Jason and I topped the night off with catching up on the past couple episodes of Modern Family. It was a wonderful weekend!

—–

By the way… sorry for the unannounced blog hiatus the past couple weeks. I was feeling uninspired after weeks of cold, snowy winter and decided I needed a break. Five posts a week is a big time commitment and though I enjoy it, sometimes I feel like I put too much pressure on myself. So I’m back. I’m not sure if I’m 5-days-a-week back, but I’m here.

2 Comments | Art, Art: God's creation, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends, Family: Jason, Family: Me | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

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