Live A Little - Take A Picture; It'll Last Longer

One of the funny things about blogging is that sometimes it stops you from living life, even as you're trying to document how you're living life. My husband rolls his eyes whenever I pause to take a picture of my meal before we start eating and the kids alternate between wanting me to blog about their every move and running away from the camera.

My obaasan takes a zillion pictures at family gatherings. It's a bit of a joke among our relatives since it seems to take forever to get everyone in the same place and all smiling while she frets over taking the shot. And someone's head inevitably gets cut out. But you know what? It's really, really cool to look at those pictures later on. Roo found an an album she made for me with lots of pictures from my childhood and high school graduation and was totally fascinated because I looked so much like her. Quite possibly with the same disdainful eye-rolling!

I have a nice DSLR but I take more pictures with my phone. The quality is not as good but I love being able to whip it out on a whim. Of course, digital photography occasionally gives digital snafus, as evidenced by the weird color variations in the pictures below.

We're not a family portrait kind of family. Never have been. Our stories are silly and snapshotty and I love it that way.

How do you Live A Little on camera?

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You can also use the image below by getting the code, and link to our Pinterest board. If you would like to contribute to our Live a Little board on Pinterest, let me know and we'll add you.

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Live A Little - Embrace the Old Fashioned

Technology keeps updating at a dizzying pace. Personal computers were just starting to be introduced when I was little but in the eight years since Roo was born, iPods and all their Apple-y brethren have completely reshaped not only the computer industry but also music and telecommunications. We live in an increasingly smart and interconnected world, although sometimes it's easy to feel disconnected from other people when mass media is encroaching on all fronts.

On occasion, it's nice to step away from all the progress. Do something simple and time-consuming with your family. Unplug and focus on what's right in front of you instead of what's all around you.

This weekend, we co-hosted a Halloween party at our neighbors' house. We invited kids from school and the neighborhood. They bobbed for apples and sat around a campfire and jumped in a rented bouncy house. (I can't claim any credit for that; the neighbors procured it- it was the biggest one I ever saw!) To prepare, we gathered up all of our Halloween accoutrements and carted them down the street. Bob painted some panels to make bean bag toss games and sewed a zillion bean bags.

I baked several dozen cupcakes, using homemade pumpkin butter instead of oil and eggs. I made cream cheese frosting from scratch. We dipped marshmallow pops in tinted white chocolate and the kids decorated them.

I'm not usually the sort of mom who goes overboard on holiday decorating. I didn't grow up with that stuff and the cynic in me still thinks it's a little silly. But how awesome is it to celebrate the everyday stuff? Roo and Jasper had so much fun putting sprinkles and icing on the treats. They don't look quite as adorable as something on Pinterest but they're still pretty cute. 

I'm going to have to drop perfection and futuristic for some homespun fun this season. Get back to basics a little bit. Live a Little by living in the moment instead of trying to stay ahead.

How do you embrace the old fashioned?

Join us!

Participate in the weekly Live a Little blog hop! Write a blog post how you “live a little,” what’s your small way of living life to the fullest and add your blog post to the InLinkz widget above. Rules: Link to bit.ly/livelittle, and if you want, add the get the InLinkz code for your post. If you post the widget in your blog post, please add these rules as well.




You can also use the image below by getting the code, and link to our Pinterest board. If you would like to contribute to our Live a Little board on Pinterest, let me know and we'll add you.

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Live A Little - Take It Outside

We've had bizarre weather here in Kansas lately, which is pretty much par for the course. It's been unseasonably cold, then crisp and sunny, then crazy hot. Our summer was so hot that we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time outside. And just the other day, there was a massive dust storm that blew over the city. It left a fine layer of dust all over everything. Truly strange stuff. It was the first time I've ever really been able to imagine what the dustbowl years of the Great Depression must have been like.

Lately, though, I've been wanting to get outside. We finally had some friends over last night and ate on the patio, letting the kids run amok while we sat and chatted. One of our friends even dragged his guitar out, which made for an especially pleasant time.

It was too hot to have a campfire but I'm looking forward to having some quality outdoor time before the weather gets really cold. It's nice to breathe fresh air and just sit back and unwind.

Join us!

Participate in the weekly Live a Little blog hop! Write a blog post how you “live a little,” what’s your small way of living life to the fullest and add your blog post to the InLinkz widget above. Rules: Link to bit.ly/livelittle, and if you want, add the get the InLinkz code for your post. If you post the widget in your blog post, please add these rules as well.




You can also use the image below by getting the code, and link to our Pinterest board. If you would like to contribute to our Live a Little board on Pinterest, let me know and we'll add you.

<a href="http://pinterest.com/skimbaco/live-a-little/"><img src="http://www.skimbacolifestyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/live-a-little-banner.jpg" alt="" title="Live a little banner" width="300" height="99" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-25264" /></a>

Live A Little - Make Healthy Choices

I'm trying to make better choices in my life. Case in point: I was having the urge to make something new and decided to try one of the recipes I've been drooling over on Pinterest. While I was tempted to try the homemade peanut butter cups or 3-ingredient Nutella cookies (!), I opted for this instead:

And it was good. But better yet, it made me feel good. And I got Jasper to drink one, too. See how easy it is to make healthier choices? 

Green smoothie: one cup Greek nonfat yogurt, two handfuls of spinach, one cup of pineapple chunks in juice, 2 T flaxseeds, one frozen banana. Blend. Nom, nom. 

What healthy choices have you made to help you Live A Little?

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Live A Little - Making Me Time

It's a little ironic that I'm writing today's Live A Little post on a Tuesday, since Monday was Labor Day and was spent having a craft party with Roo and a bunch of her friends. It's about finding time for yourself and recharging your independent soul. 

It's easy to lose sight of our personal identities while we learn to be parents. Babies add a whole new dynamic to our lives and I think it's pretty natural to throw yourself into your new role wholeheartedly. When we had Roo, our lives shifted so we could focus on her. We mostly did baby-centric things, eating out at kid-friendly restaurants, doing activities that would include her. We stopped having our own hobbies. Probably me more than Bob. I embraced my mommydom, even as I started feeling kind of trapped by it. 

By the time Jasper was born, we realized that it was important to try and carve out some couple time to do things together sans kids but I still didn't really feel comfortable wanting to get out by myself. I still feel like it's an imposition, that I have to ask for permission to go out with a friend and be on a timetable. In a way, it's like being in high school again.

What's super weird about it is that these restrictions are totally in my own head. Bob doesn't stop me from going out on occasion, I do. I've been making a real effort to do things that interest me without having to justify it to myself. To that end, I've been taking bellydancing once a week and working out almost every day. I'm making sure I read things that aren't directly child or blog-related. I'm trying to mellow out and find me again. 

How do you retain your sense of self in motherhood?

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Live A Little - Education Never Ends

I've never understood people who think learning ends when you get out of school. When I stop learning, I'll be dead! The opportunity to learn new things is the most compelling reason to get out of bed in the morning, as far as I'm concerned. It's probably why I love the internet so much: all that information floating around, just waiting to be discovered.

Of course, information overload is inevitable these days. You can easily get sidetracked by some bit of data and click through to something else… and before you know it, you've spent an hour reading about something that might not be pertinent to your original search. Sometimes this is a lot of fun, admittedly, but sometimes you want your content to be curated a little more– especially if you're actually trying to learn something specific.

I love finding knowledgeable mentors on sites like Pinterest and Learnist and following specific boards about archaeology or medieval jewelry. They're like digital sherpas, showing you cool stuff without all the extraneous stuff. I love it when people think I'm worth following, too. It makes me feel like I'm passing the torch, somehow.

P.S. The Learnist link above might be broken. I am hoping they get their site back up and running- it's like Pinterest's brainy older sister, with targeted tutorials and academic chops. I got early access via Klout and have only one board thus far, to help me practice bellydancing.

Share your Live a Little suggestions with the Skimbaco every Monday by adding the link to your Live a Little blog post in the InLinkz widget below. Rules: Link either to Skimbacolifestyle.com OR grab the InLinkz code for your blog post – or do both! If you post the widget in your blog post, please add the rules as well.

Live A Little - Savor Summer

Wichita has a fabulous zoo so we've been frequent visitors since before Roo was born. This summer, our patronage has been a little spotty since it's been so stinking hot. Yesterday was beautiful– with a slight breeze, even!– so we headed out to the zoo bright and early. The animals seemed excited at the break in the heatwave. It seemed like a fitting end to the summer, since Roo starts school on Wednesday and Jasper starts next Monday.

What better way to Live a Little than by fraternizing with goats and taking crazy iPhone photos? 

Share your Live a Little suggestions with the Skimbaco every Monday by adding the link to your Live a Little blog post in the InLinkz widget below. Rules: Link either to Skimbacolifestyle.com OR grab the InLinkz code for your blog post – or do both! If you post the widget in your blog post, please add the rules as well. This week's topic: savor summer. Next week's topic: educate (yourself or others).

Live A Little - Share Joy

I've been pretty down in the dumps lately. This summer has been way too hot and the kids don't even want to go outside most days, which means they're on top of each other and my head is pounding with the constant echo of "Mom! Mom!" Worries about money (I've been looking for a job, not my favorite thing to do), losing weight, getting organized, etc. were enough and then I backed over one of our semi-feral cats. She ran under the wheels as I was backing out of the driveway.

If you know me, you know how much I love our animals. Even though Neko never let us touch her, we had rescued her as a stray kitten and gotten her spayed and she's been a constant presence in our yard for years. I would never, ever hurt her on purpose. I cried and cried. We buried her in the yard and the kids said goodbye. Roo lay flowers on her marker and drew pictures of her. Jasper said "we can just get a new kitten!" Heartbreaking.

Anyway, Bob knew I'd been having trouble getting anything accomplished so he took the kids downtown to splash around in a fountain. And he posted these pics to Facebook:

And they made me smile. Jasper looks like Bruce Lee and Roo like a tiny teenager. My goofballs.

Even in times of adversity, there is something to be happy about. Find your happy spot and nourish it. Share joy whenever you can.

Share your Live a Little suggestions with the Skimbaco every Monday by adding the link to your Live a Little blog post in the InLinkz widget below. Rules: Link either to Skimbacolifestyle.com OR grab the InLinkz code for your blog post – or do both! If you post the widget in your blog post, please add the rules as well.

Live A Little - Sometimes You Have to Splurge

I'm a bargain hunter. While I would never classify myself as frugal, necessarily, I always scour the sale racks first and look for the best deals. That being said, I appreciate quality and craft so when I say "bargain" I don't always mean "cheap." And sometimes you've got to suck it up and fork over the big bucks to get what you want.

My mom taught me that lesson when I was little, when she was working three jobs but still making time to do something really special every month, like taking me to see Nureyev dance or sharing a meal at a fancy restaurant. She still goes on and on about the importance of exposing kids to culture and new things and though I like to roll my eyes, I know she's right.

We never had extra cash for buying clothes. My school wardrobe usually consisted of things my grandmother bought for me while I was visiting New Jersey in the summertime. She never could figure out why I didn't want to buy corduroys! Aside from the charming vip-vip sound my always chunky thighs made, no one in Hawaii EVER wore cords. Or socks, for that matter. I had a totally weird east coast preppy look for years until I started thrift shopping in junior high. Then I was just plain weird…

Anyway, Guess jeans and Esprit coordinates were not typically in our budget. Neither was formalwear, which was not a big deal until I was asked to a prom. I ended up finding a really gorgeous '30s black satin floor-length gown at a vintage shop but I had no suitable shoes. My thrift store stilettos sort of cheesed out the look. My mom was pretty appalled that I was going to wear a second-hand dress but she did offer to take me to Ala Moana to look for shoes. I was assuming I would end up with dyed-to-match satin pumps but my mom took me to Carol & Mary and bought me my very first pair of designer shoes. Colorblocked red and black slingback kitten heels by Yves Saint Laurent. They cost $145 but mom assured me they were timeless.

Almost thirty years later and I have to agree, they've aged well. It's hard to admit I'm old enough to see things come back into style but these actually look pretty current for Fall 2012. And maybe they'll work when Roo gets asked to prom. Some splurges are worth it.

What have you splurged on?

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Live A Little - High Tea (No Boys Allowed!)

I didn't watch the royal wedding and I'm not all that crazy about dressing up but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to host a High Tea with funny hats while all of our relatives were in town for the 4th of July. What better way to spend time with a houseful of girls?!

The girls had a blast being silly and trying on my mom's formalwear and high heels and Roo's cousins instructed her in the fine art of glittery makeup. And we cracked each other up with the fascinator hats and opera ball masks. No boys allowed!

We received the tea set and party supplies courtesy of MomSelect as part of their MommyParties program. Also several boxes of Cadbury Ice Cream Bars in different flavors. (My personal favorite was the Chocolate Almond but Roo preferred the Double Chocolate.) In accordance to the FTC Guidelines and the WOMMA Code of Ethics, I am disclosing that we received the hats, tea set and ice cream bars shown to facilitate this review. No compensation was provided and all opinions are, as usual, entirely my own.

I think we're going to have to make this a regular event at our family reunions- kick all the boys out (admittedly not hard to do when there are golf courses around) and have a tea party. I might have to adapt it to regular girlfriend get-togethers, too. Make everyone wear something ridiculous. It definitely lightens the mood!

Share your Live a Little suggestions with the Skimbaco every Monday by adding the link to your Live a Little blog post in the InLinkz widget below. Rules: Link either to Skimbacolifestyle.com OR grab the InLinkz code for your blog post – or do both! If you post the widget in your blog post, please add the rules as well.

Live A Little - Get Moving

I loathe sweating. This is one of the reasons I have always clutched to when I try to weasel my way out of exercise. I hate rivulets of sweat dripping down my face, into my eyes. I hate it leaving damp marks across my bra line and butt crack. I hate feeling red-faced and out of breath.

Okay. That said, I have to admit that the aftermath of sweating is good. Post-shower, glowing skin, pumping heart rate, building muscle, losing weight. So for this week's Live A Little, I encourage you to find your own way to be active: take a walk, do an exercise video, try that yoga class. You might dread it but I swear you will feel better afterwards. And you'll be showing your kids how to live a little more healthfully, too!

I took my gym shoes and a resistance band out of town with me last week so I could work out in my hotel room.

Shocking.

Share your Live a Little suggestions with the Skimbaco every Monday by adding the link to your Live a Little blog post in the InLinkz widget below. Rules: Link either to Skimbacolifestyle.com OR grab the InLinkz code for your blog post – or do both! If you post the widget in your blog post, please add the rules as well.