We incorporated many personal things at our wedding. Jelly Bellies are big a hit with us at home so we thought it'd be perfect to have them as our favors. And they were easy to make! We got a mix in our wedding colors (turquoise, yellows, and oranges) delivered from Jelly Belly. They were sorted and poured into envelopes. I made stickers that said "Life is sweet" and "Love is sweet" on kraft paper and sealed the envelopes! They were soooo tasty... voila!

I want to go here. Ten lovely little cabins sit high above the beach in Mount Tamalpais State Park (just north of San Francisco) and available for a mere $75 per night! It's hard to find info on these little gems... official site, 3 reviews from TripAdvisor, and Google image search results.

The cabins are in high demand; reservations open up 7 months in advance. Book July 1 at 8am for January 2010. I can't wait 7 months; I want to go now.

Beautiful night photo of cabin #10 by Emily Hoyer, via Flickr

My old friend Parker (that's him over there... I took the photo & he added the carnival) used to have an amazing website for photos from the olden days, called Mirror World. They were mostly found images. I used to have them rotate on my desktop, but since joining the ranks of motherhood, I've replaced them with photos of my baby.

My collection of Parker's found photos is homeless and lonely. So I've created a gallery and they once again get to see the light of day. You'll recognize a Sally Mann, a Picasso, Stirling Moss an Abe Linc or two, but most are probably new to you. If you're like me, however, you'll feel a connection to them even if you've never seen them before. I hope to include more, and possibly convince Parker to put the site back up, so we can look at our favorite unknowns whenever we'd like.

One day I'll splurge on a perfect, pretty umbrella. This one is so sweet, but I just can't stomach paying $95 for an umbrella. Maybe if attached to the baby stroller and covered us both! Go get it, before someone else beats you to the punch. Animal Head Vintage describes it as "Argh. The cutest umbrella you will ever own" and "The unique pagoda shape is pretty much to die for."

Father's Day in the future will look like this!! Our boy is way too young for this, but I love how simple yet pretty it is!! I don't care if Chris doesn't really use paper, we're definitely doing this project in few years.

From Martha Stewart: Let kids redo this basic office staple as a gift for Dad -- their messages will last well beyond Father's Day.

Wrap a rubber band around a notepad cube and have kids write greetings and make drawings on two sides with a broad, pointy marker. (Fine tips will get caught between the pages.) Move band, and decorate the other two sides. Tie the notepad with a colorful ribbon. As an added gift, slide in a pen.

Sources:Blank note cubes, $4.95 for three, from Oriental Trading, 800-228-2269 or orientaltrading.com.

I've known Liz for 12 years and am thrilled to be a part of her wedding celebration! I did her save the date cards and invitations. We letterpressed the invitations and adhered them to a perfect turquoise pocket folder. The insert cards were staggered so that all the info was easy for guests to find. Liz & Geoff are getting married in Connecticut, but live in Atlanta, Georgia so we used vintage Georgia stamps for the reply envelope.

I have this paisley swirl design that I've been using a lot lately. I change the colors around every time and new life is brought to the design!

These cards are a dark & hearty purple with a warm sunshine yellow which say "Birthday Wishes." I've paired them up with the curry colored envelope. They are flat (not folded) cards measuring 4.25" x 5.5" and I hope you love them as much as I do! If you'd like to purchase them, visit the JetKat Design Etsy Shop.

One of my favorite bloggers, Jordan Ferney (Oh Happy Day!), is based right here in SF and she's offering letterpress workshops! I took her first class a few months ago and it was so great! Jordan has a few spots left in upcoming letterpress classes and I highly recommend you sign up this instant! You'll really like her!

We learned all the basics of letterpress and I got to meet several fabulous local ladies in the process. At the end of the class, I had new business cards (left).I printed them a few weeks before I got married, so I was torn about the last name. I surely didn't need 250 that said "Kate Zimmerman," but was hesitant to write "Kate Skogen" before the wedding; surely that would have been bad luck. So I just did Kate, plain and simple. What do you think?

Last weekend, I went back to the Ferney Art Studio for a screenprinting class with Andy Kane... more about that later. Check out their studio site about all of their upcoming classes.

I have a few things I'll be adding to the JetKat Design Etsy shop. They are leftover from a previous life, way back when I had a lot of time to print lovely stationery. I love these pieces so I brought them all the way to California just for you.

The first batch is this set of thank you cards with my bamboo illustration. They don't fit in standard envelopes. If I had lots of time on my hands, I'd totally make some sweet pink envelopes... but that's not going to happen, folks. So you can either make your own envelopes or just use them as notecards- stick them in lunches ("thank you for being the best person I know") or attach them to gifts ("thank you for having a birthday") or leave for a waiter -in addition to a monetary tip, of course.

For some reason, my bamboo wedding invitation turns up a lot of hits to this website... is bamboo popular? I suppose so. Look at me, hip without realizing it; I love when that happens. These cards are about 3" x 5"

Bamboo Hello Cards :: Same set up as the Bamboo Thank You Cards, except these lovelies say "Hello." They are also about 3" x 5" and do not come with envelopes. They can be purchased from the JetKat Design Etsy shop.

Sometimes, especially with a six-month old baby, things don't get done. In the last few months, my to-do list has looked pretty much the same:

•Write Baby & Wedding thank yous... I'm so far behind on this project it's embarrassing.

•Work on web & print stuff for Athens Wedding Professionals.

•Write in the baby book.

•Work on a logo design for Gardenia Floral Design's new, top-secret venture.

•Take the dog to the park.

•Take my vitamins, brush my teeth, and wash my face (a surprisingly great accomplishment if I do all 3 in a day!!)

•There are always dishes, laundry, and sweeping that need to be done. I'm so lucky that my husband does a stellar job with housekeeping duties! I highly recommend a husband like Chris; he's the best person I know.

Dishes, laundry, and sweeping are the only real things that get done around here (mostly because of Chris). The dog gets to go to the park sometimes, but I'm trying to get that done everyday because she's still a puppy and loves to run like a lunatic!

So, in order for me not to feel like a complete failure when it comes to my to-do list, I make a mental note of all the things I did do... changed 7 diapers (including 2 blowouts), changed the baby's clothes twice, had granola for breakfast and a bagel for lunch, read all of our Dr. Seuss books twice, fed the baby 4 times, practiced sitting up, sang songs, and played on the floor. Generally speaking, that's how my days go. I think my schedule may allow for a little more "me" time, as the babe starts to take legitimate naps.

I am loving the new clothes from ittikid. This jumpsuit with apple pockets makes me want my little boy to grow up a little bit just so that I can see him running around in it! I know time will pass quickly enough on it's own, so I'll shut up now about wanting the boy to grow up faster! Back to ittikids! All of their clothes are really fun- great colors and wild graphics... clouds, elephants, acrobats, and more! I've also got my eye on this adorable pair of red sailor pants. Luckily, they're on sale. Looks like they're based in Northern California... wonder if they need any new friends?!

According to their website... ittikid was started in 2007 by Danish born designer, Melanie Miller. After selling her Los Angeles based family lifestyle store yolk in 2006, Melanie, along with husband Hus, and son Oliver, moved to Northern California to be closer to family, and to try their hand at Country living! With beauty and tranquility comes inspiration, and ittikid was born shortly thereafter.

Now that we've recovered from our April wedding, I'd like to share some photos. We got hitched at Little Kings Shuffle Club, in Athens, Georgia, moments before the wildest thunderstorm I've ever seen.

We had a short and sweet ceremony with our immediate family. After the courtyard ceremony and photos in front of the kitschy turquoise trailer, we moved the party inside. Chris and his boys backlined the stage with amps and instruments. After the appetizers, we rocked!

We had a week in Athens, but it went by so quickly and I wish we could have spent a month! It was so amazing to see all of our friends and family who came to celebrate our new life together.

Here are a few photos from the lovely and talented ZoomWorks and their blog. I'm using their photos from their blog until I get them all on a disc. Flowers were arranged by the super swank Gardenia Floral Design.

I'm so excited that Cubes&Crayons is opening a new branch in San Francisco on June 1. According to their website, Cubes&Crayons provides flexible office space with onsite childcare. Cubes&Crayons offers a unique combination of services to the self–employed or freelance worker with young children. Both office space and child development services are available during regular business hours on a full–time, part–time or drop–in basis. 

I checked out their Mountain View campus about 2 weeks ago and really liked their set up! I can't wait to use the new facilities in SF. I love the idea of being able to work while the babe plays nearby- I might actually be worry free! 

My friend Rinne Allen is a mighty talented photographer based in Athens, Georgia. She just finished shooting for blabla kids and one of the sweet models is my best pal's son, Basil. Here is one of the photos they're using on the site of Basil. Rinne also shoots for fabulous companies like Hable Construction and R. Wood Studio.

Our nursery has been a constant work in progress since we moved into this house last October. It's a rental so we couldn't paint and we didn't have much time to get everything together before the boy arrived in November. The room is about 7x11 and doubles as a guest bedroom. Here are a few photos of the current version. Hopefully we'll get some curtains & artwork hung super soon.

I really wanted to enter the Ohdeedoh's nursery contest, but couldn't get my ducks in a row before last week's deadline. There were only 14 entrants, so I may have had a shot! Maybe they'll run the contest again next year- should have the room all set by then!

The matted poster is by Lonny Hurley for last year's Clem Snide & Liz Durrett show in Atlanta

In the detail shot, the skinned knees artwork is an original by Stephanie Dotson, the sad hippo is a painting by Rizzie Gallego, and I won the Deidre, the hen, from Babble. The Jellycat mouse is a house favorite.

Spring is here and I'm trying to dig my way out of the clutter that's accumulated. We've only been here for 6 months, but yet I'm still surrounded by things I don't need. Time for a little Spring Cleaning...even though Chris does way more of the cleaning around here. I'm talking about my closet. When I'm done, I'm going to donate everything to SF's amazing organization, the Homeless Prenatal Program! Being pregnant is hard enough... can you imagine being homeless?!! Here is their wishlist! Once the baby is a bit older, I'd love to start doing some volunteer work... this one tops my list! 

My favorite kid clothiers is having a pretty cool sale. Cotton Sheep, in San Francisco (Hayes Valley), carries this ridiculously awesome Japanese brand called FITH. The clothes are wildly expensive ($100 for a pair of kid pants... seriously off the charts here). Someone tipped me off that they're having a "value pack" sale. They have 7-8 pieces packaged up (sorted by size and gender) and the whole pack is $100. I got a great pack for my boy. 2 pairs of pants, a zippy, 2 tshirts, a button down shirt, a hat, and a pair of socks!! I was hoping to find something for him to wear to the wedding, but no such luck. Everything is too big, and it'll probably be awhile until anything fits. 

I wish they had an online retailer, but I haven't been able to find one. It's hard to find any info at all on this company. I found a tiny bit of info, but it appears to be in Japanese!

The photo of their window display doesn't do the shop or the clothes justice, but it's all I could sneak since they don't allow photos to be taken inside. 

I've been trying to get our wedding invitations mailed, but Zero has different plans for them.

We don't have much of a garden here in SF, but there are a few blooms to be seen. After our walk through Glen Park Canyon, I decided to bring a few of those blooms inside for us to enjoy. The pretty flowers almost make up for the hour we lost to Daylight Saving Time (note: it's not Savings). Here are a few photos.

There are so many things I miss about Athens (at the top of the list are our wonderful & amazing friends). Just below friends, though, is The National restaurant. As described on their website, "The idea behind The National is simple: to provide a casual neighborhood gathering spot reminiscent of the bars and cafés we’ve enjoyed on travels to Europe. Mediterranean inspired food and wine is served for lunch and dinner in the dining room and throughout the day at the bar. While our menu points to culinary traditions from abroad, we value our local farmers and our dishes reflect the changing seasons in Northeast Georgia."

I did their logo and design identity, so I'm extra proud of them! They got a great lil write-up in the NY Times yesterday, making me miss them even more... didn't know that was possible! Photo by Emily Hall.