working lots of late nights this week.

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Lisa asked me for a sweet little corsage for her 50′s-inspired wedding and I had never made anything like it–the red wooden heart button and black and white tweed are my favorite parts. The felt petals are pointed too which ended up beautiful.

Lisa’s wedding invitations featured a tattoo/swallow theme and she wanted the boys to have swallow boutonnieres. Since creating them a few of my friends have asked for some too and we plan to upload some soon to the Princess Lasertron online store!

We also made Lisa a handful of different petite little posie pins.

Congratulations again and thank you for giving me such a fun challenge!
xo
meg

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I wear three kinds of perfume. The first, Lolita Lempicka, I bought in college around the time I started dating my last boyfriend before I met my husband. I wanted something to commit to, and the expensive apple-shaped bottle represented a definite decision–”This is my perfume.” “This will be the scent that makes people think of me.” When I wear it now it reminds me of my exciting, spontaneous single years–at a different party every night, being led through back hallways by friends who snuck me into 21 and over shows, laying awake with my friend Hollie texting the boys I liked. I felt grown-up wearing good perfume. When I pick it off my shelf today to spritz through my hair, I still get a rush of that feeling of freedom and potential.

The second, Viktor and Rolf’s Flowerbomb, I first saw in a gigantic beautiful display in a window at Kaufhaus des Westens in Berlin. I embarked on that trip to Europe a few days after I first met my husband. It was love at first sight and I thought about him every day just as I walked by that Flowerbomb window display every day. The day I got home, June 15th, I met up with him straight from the airport and we haven’t been apart since. On our first vacation together that year, to Chicago, I bought a bottle of Flowerbomb and carried it in my shoulder bag (given to me by that previous boyfriend), wrapped in tissue paper, as a treasured souvenir of two vacations. The scent reminds me of our excitement and passion in those early months of being together and the security and happiness of being married to my soulmate.

Yesterday I bought the third scent I wear–Marigold by Royal Apothic. It is less expensive, simpler, and lighter than the other perfumes I have worn in the past. Today I was holding the thin bottle in my hand, reading the beautiful black and white label, and I realized that this scent is meaningful for this time in my life just as my others have been. Everything from the simple, singular, delicate fragrance to the diminutive bottle and light yellow striped box represents the natural, trusting, unaffected relationship with my daughter, my first months as a mother. It’s a scent that is uncomplicated and lovely and fresh. It connotes youth and pure curiosity and I hope it will always bring me back to sitting in my rocking chair in the presence of my baby.

Three is a magic number.
xo
meg

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Dear Alice:

Today you are ten months old. I don’t have as many photos from this month, but I have lots of videos of you doing things like walking, laughing, carrying armfuls of heavy things around the room, and making loud declarations with your arm stretched to the sky. That’s one of my favorite of your funny little behaviors–you raise your hand up in the air, Shakespearean actor-style, and let out the longest, loudest string of babbling. Like “I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY.”

Last week your dad and I talked about how we think your personality is shaping out–who we think you are, deep down. We think you are a showoff like me. You always yell “MAM. MAM. MAM. MAM.” for me to watch you. When you do one of your cool tricks you wait for us to praise you. Like me, you are unceasingly persistent and determined to finish every project. But like your dad, you are patient and thoughtful and you like to see how things work. Creating an independent human is absolutely the best thing about being a parent, but it is fun to see a little but of myself in you too.

Almost like how I got a “nesting” bug in me this time last year, I’m starting to get a little bit of a “homemaker” bug right now. I change our sheets all the time, and you sit in the middle of the big bed while I shake out the sheets over you like a tent and you fall backwards, laughing maniacally. You sit in your high chair and pick up cheerios from your tray in the kitchen while I wash dishes. When we fold laundry, I always give you a pile of washcloths to “fold” while I do the rest of the clothes. We work on folding each washcloth in half and piling them up. You know not to knock the pile over, but sometimes we do for fun. You will be able to fold a washcloth yourself soon I think!

What else is new?
…You love dancing to music or playing along with one of your instruments whenever a song is playing. You don’t have the beat yet, but you sure love to sing and hit your drum!
…You stop when we say “no.”
…Whenever I am on the phone you yell constantly, like “oh, are we all talking now?” You are so conversational. We talk to each other all day.
…Pushing your tiny shopping cart that you have stuffed full of your animals and toys around our living room is your favorite way to get around.
…We put up baby gates to keep you from going in the kitchen where Turbo’s cat food is. We realized you had hidden a stash of his food and were going to it throughout the day and eating it.
…On a related note, you will eat anything.
…You have stopped putting every single thing in your mouth–you can look with your eyes and hands, not just with your tongue.
…You share a bowl of cheerios every morning with me.
…You imitate everything we say in intonation and meter.
…You can climb all the way up the stairs.
…Kindermusik is still kind of hard for you, but you get better and more comfortable there every week.
…You can look through books by yourself, turning the pages and looking at each page.
…SOMETIMES you fall asleep by yourself. Maybe just a handful of times. But before this month that never happened.

Your dad and I see your body grow and your mind develop with every passing day. All of the interactions you have and all of the words you hear and pictures you see and people you meet shape you and help you bloom into an individual with your own voice, opinions, likes, dislikes. You are becoming part of existence and the earth is better for having been touched by your soul.

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One of my bookshelves at home

At CAMP we have an ever-growing library of inspirational books that people can curl up with on one of our comfy chairs when they want to take a break. There are five particular books that have been so influential to me that we give them out for free to CAMP visitors who are looking for some motivation. Here are those books and my words about why they are the greatest.

The Martha Rules by Martha Stewart
Martha is truly the original H.B.I.C. and in our modern times one of true revolutionaries in business. The Martha Rules is a book targeted toward entrepreneurs, but Martha’s wisdom is equally applicable for anybody seeking to identify their passions, turn on their creativity, and live a more beautiful life.

The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau
Chris Guillebeau is a friend to me who inspires me by living an unexpected, unconventional life that brings him joy, happiness, and success. In his book he reminds us that nobody is going to give us permission to live our best lives, and nobody is going to tell us what that life is. The hard part about being happy is that you have to figure out what it is for yourself. But the easy part about process is that nobody else can tell you that you can’t have it. I love the common sense, practical advice, and the friendly voice.

Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
Rework is a great book to pick up when you need a quick espresso shot of motivation, or a reminder of how to do the damn thing after a hard day at work. There are cute ink illustrations that begin each new section, and the table of contents makes it easy to browse through the short chapters. There is a great sense of humor and emphasis on new business axioms like “meetings are toxic” and “the longer something takes, the less likely it is that you’re going to finish it.” It’s a great book to read if you are into working lean and feel yourself being bogged down with day-to-day minutia.

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
This is the first book I read when I decided to start a business in 2005. It was recommended to me by my creative writing professor who now owns a cat hospital with his wife in Arizona (of all things). The E-Myth is a classic, popular business book that serves as a practical guide to business problem solving and finding your strengths at work. The most important and practical point Gerber makes–the “E-Myth”–is that entrepreneurs often discover that running a business doing what they love is often not what they expected as far as workload and responsibility. Reading The E-Myth helped me consider my business plan realistically before diving in.

Poke the Box by Seth Godin
This is the newest book on my recommendations list and it’s all about what has been intuitive to me since I started my business–that we all want to fit in but to be more successful than your wildest dreams you have to do something different. This book addresses your fears and excuses that are keeping you from taking the first step, and then takes your initiative and shows you how to carry through your actions to a meaningful conclusion–hard work and a rewarding life.

“What books do you recommend for students?” and “Are there any books that influenced you as an entrepreneur?” are some of the most common questions I get. So, here they are. If you have any others that you recommend I’d love to hear about them!

xo
meg

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