First of all, the weather was basically heaven. This fact makes it sting a bit more that I was feeling under the weather for the entire weekend (and still am today). But I’ll take the beautiful weather, sick or not. We went kind of crazy with the photos this weekend. I’m not really sure why. Above: walking to our car to go visit PJ on Saturday. Below: Piper got her hair did.

Sunday was, of course, mothers’ day. So I started off the day taking Reagan to the Donut Plant, on the LES. They have some seriously crazy donuts there. Reagan, was going nuts. I won’t say how many she ordered (and ate, hehe).

Walking back to the car, Reagan saw these rubber bouncy horse-like things hanging from a Chinatown bodega awning and asked if we could get one for Piper.

We picked the green one. Piper was pretty stoked about her little horse. I think that she is still getting used to it. But she definitely appreciates both the practical fun aspect, as well as the humor.

After she had a chance to give her green pony a ride or two, we packed up and headed outside.

And just when you thought this post couldn’t get any more photo-heavy, here is one more fave from the weekend (ps, plenty more over here).

These are shots of just a few of the awesome mothers who have been a part of my life.

Happy Mothers’ Day!

Saturday, Piper and I had a nice little visit. She was a in a great mood, and played until she was all tuckered out and fell asleep on my lap. Reagan returned home late Saturday night. We woke up early Sunday and visited Piper. I suppose that I should mention, the weather was beautiful all weekend long. So, we took Piper outside. Unfortunately, we were only out there for about 10 minutes before the battery started to die on the vent. Such a bummer. So we took her back inside and plugged in the vent in one of her favorite little nooks, to mess around for a while. Reagan got most of the good pics on Sunday. Probably because Piper spent most of the time climbing around on me, hahaha.

“Oh, hey. Just hanging out on dad’s shoulders”

After a while, sitting on the shoulders wasn’t cutting it. She needed to stand on my shoulders (then head).

And, there was a little dancing with Reag.

I’m so glad that spring has finally showed up in NYC. I even went for a nice run on Saturday. It was the first time all year that I have broken the 10 mile threshold. It felt pretty good, even though I ended up with a blister. I hope that everyone else had a fantastic weekend.

Piper was in a really mellow mood last weekend. On Saturday, we watched movies for a bit, then she fell asleep. Sunday, it was the same story (substitute walking for watching movies).

The weather was pretty nice all weekend, and I feel like a total slob for not taking advantage and getting up early for a run. It is supposed to be warmish for the rest of the week though. So, I really don’t have an excuse to get out at least once or twice before our race this weekend.

Here are a couple of additional randoms–

Above: waiting for Reagan in the parking lot at the Bronx Target. Below: Tulips from Trader Joes.

Reagan decided to switch up her hair a bit this week. It is now bright red, and I really like it. We were out last night for the opening of the new Agnes B. Store in Soho, so I thought it was a perfect opportunity to get a shot of it.

Switching gears completely: April is Autism awareness month. How do I know this? One of Reagan’s friends who happens to have a little guy with autism wrote this yesterday. As is so happens, my family growing up was also affected by Autism (and still is). My younger sister suffers from the disorder. It has been a difficult thing, even as her sibling. But the things that I have seen my parents to through is seriously next-level. I have so much respect for parents and families of people who suffer from autism. I also have massive respect for the professionals who have devoted their lives to working with people who suffer from the disorder. Anyway, as part of Autism awareness month, prominent landmarks will be lit up in blue. When I read on Talia’s page that the Empire State Building was going to be lit up blue for the cause, I knew I had to get a shot of it. If you are interested more in the Light it up Blue organization, you can check out the site, here.

I hope that everyone is having a great Saturday. In NYC, the snow is gone, and the sun is out. I feel like it is going to be a good one!

Check out this awesome video that my sister sent me of my little niece Maya singing (Beastie Boys’) Paul Revere during breakfast. Apparently when she isn’t skating, she is spitting hip hop. This girl know the formula for awesome.

We have had a tough couple of days around the B-holt residence. I’m sure that I’ll eventually get to that in a later post. But we have definitely been staying busy. I shot some pretty interesting stuff (to me) on Friday and Saturday. I come from a family with a strong quilting heritage. I don’t know to what extent is has carried over to my generation. But, it seems like there was always some quilt that my mom (and usually at least one of her sisters) was working on, when I was growing up. My grandmother on my father’s side (who just turned 90 on Saturday), still makes a quilt for every new great-grandkid in the family (FYI, there are more than I can count on 50 fingers). If that’s not enough, we get it from Reagan’s side too. Both of our mom’s always run into each other at state quilt guild conventions. Yes, both of our mom’s are active members of the Utah State Quilt Guild. I personally think that is pure awesome. So, it is safe to say that I was raised to appreciate the art of quilting and the significance in American heritage and Culture. I’ll be honest though, I never thought I would be shooting or blogging about quilts. Buuuuuttttt, it just so happens that the American Folk Art Museum is currently holding an exhibition of American red and white quilts at the Park Avenue Armory. I ended up shooting it for Curated Mag. I was blown away. Not saying that these photos do it any justice, but scroll down for a couple of more looks.

Ok, if you made it this far down the post, then maybe you will be interested in what I shot on Saturday morning. HS teamed up with Nike for an editorial story featuring the new Kobe collection, at a little league soccer game in the Bronx. The game was at 11:30 and I was worried that everything would be washed out with the sun that high in the sky. I guess it is lucky (for me) that we are still in early spring, because I don’t feel like the images came out that bad. I just hope that the people whose opinion matters, feel the same. Here are a few–

This last one had nothing to do with the product, but I just like the wide shot with the green turf and blue sky.

What up, interwebz? I just wanted to bring your attention to something that I thought was pretty cool. My sister who lives in Alaska is quite the seamstress. And, in light of current events is putting her skills to work for a good cause. Read her description of the project below, for the details:

I woke up this morning to a phone call from a concerned family member telling me about the tsunami warning. It quickly became clear that there was no real concern for the area where I live, but I could not get back to sleep, could not stop thinking of the people who woke up this morning to disaster. It really caused me to examine the fine line I walk between complacency, and compassion. I know that there are tragic things happening everyday everywhere in the world. There is no way for me to know about or know how to help with every one of them. But that is not an excuse to do nothing anymore. I thought of one tiny something I can do today:

My favorite fabric designer, Etsuko Furuya, happens to be Japanese. I have some small pieces of her beautiful fabric in my collection that I am going to make into zipper pouches and list in the “for Japan” section of my shop. For any of the pouches purchased from that section (or with “for Japan” in the title), I will donate 100% of the proceeds to the American Red Cross for Japan earthquake relief. If they all sell, I will make more for for the same cause until the fabric runs out…

Thank you!

Here is a link her her shop Bodhihandmade

The images below are a few of the items that she has made, which I lifted from her Etsy Page.

We got Friday night started by taking Sam out for some Italian food before waltzing down to Korea town and firing up some Karaoke. We first went to a place on 32nd, until they kicked us out. Then we went to a place on 35th. At the second place we stayed until 4:30. Yeah, 4:30 AM. That is after last call at the bars. Apparently the place is open until 6 AM. Amazing. Above: Amanda and Reagan rocking out. Below: Sam enjoying his b-day celebration.

Before we left the house, Reagan decided that she was going to whip up a batch of her own custom girl scout style Samoas. Here she is working away in the kitchen. The cookies came out impressively well.

Saturday morning we woke up and had brunch before heading up to kick it with Piper. She was kind of grouchy when she first woke up from her nap. But, we had a very long and pleasant visit, and were able to get some smiles out of her before giving her a bath and getting her all dressed up in her PJs.

Here is a shot of Sam and myself trying to look like the Black Keys.

Then this

and this happened.

I did eventually shave of the rest of my handlebar stache. Sam looks sharp with his new haircut.

Tomorrow morning: First running club race of the season. I am in no way ready. Thank goodness that it is just a 5k.