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February 29, 2008

happy leap year!


DSC00063.JPG, originally uploaded by Daddy Shawn.

I love this photo because Finn is all like, "Mommy, take our photo." And Santos is like, "Uh, could you hurry up here? This kid seriously invading my personal space."

We've all be up in each others' personal space because it continues to snow. We're talking another two inches last night, and five the night before that. Of course it figures that this is a leap year, because February is the month that will not end. Seriously, it's got to be at least June by now, but no one told Chicago.

Who knows what treasures will be unearthed when the snow finally melts. A mysterious body? Perhaps. A winter's worth of dog poop? Most certainly.

Posted by lisa at 12:41 PM | Comments (0)

February 28, 2008

documentation


DSC00049.JPG, originally uploaded by Daddy Shawn.

My funny friend Danny, a longtime Baggermanic, wrote in and said the following:

It's good that you're with Finn so much and able to document his upbringing so thoroughly. This way, when he's a teenager and blames you guys for screwing him up, you can say "Oh, yeah? Show me where exactly. It's all on film and blog." Although my guess is that when in doubt, he can always go to the tankini/spacesuit thing.


You can hear more of Danny's comic stylings on his XM radio show, Static Beach.

Posted by lisa at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)

February 24, 2008

Like father, like son.


DSC00215.JPG
Originally uploaded by Daddy Shawn
Finn is turning into quite the goofball, just like dear ol' Dad...

Posted by shawn at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)

February 21, 2008

With Baby Matthew


IMG_5791.JPG, originally uploaded by lisabagg.

Here's Finn with Delilah's little brother, Matthew. Finn loves baby Matthew. He is constantly trying to engage him with toys and dolls, and trying to get him to smile. To be honest, this baby's smile is so wide and gleeful and toothless that when he does smile (which is so often), I swear the clouds part and I hear angels singing. It's pretty cute. Except when Delilah and Finn start scrapping over who gets to play with Matty and try to get him to smile. That can get ugly.

The only thing is that at four months, Matthew is HUGE. He's the most enormous four-month-old I've never seen. In a few months, I predict that Matthew will be steamrolling not just Finn, but his three older sisters, too.

I must end with yet another note on the weather. It's snowing again this morning. Much like the eskimos have countless words for snow, I do, too. Only mine are not suitable for mention in a baby blog. It's got to end soon, right?

Posted by lisa at 08:02 AM | Comments (0)

February 20, 2008

nice tie, kid



nice tie, kid from lisa hazen on Vimeo.

Posted by lisa at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)

February 18, 2008

What Lisa's been up to, January edition

Better late than never on my monthly updates. The first site is for Macali Communication, a Chicago-based golf marketing firm. The interesting thing about this site is that I built it in synergy with a service that provides an administrative interface that allows the users to modify any page on the site. (We in the biz call this a CMS.) It was really interesting to integrate this site with the CMS--it was a whole new way of thinking about Web design.

Also, Sara Paretsky's new novel, Bleeding Kansas just pubbed. So I made a bunch of changes to her site to support this new book. We updated the homepage with the book cover, added all the tour dates, a Q&A with Sara, personal photos, a newsletter heralding the release and more.

An article I wrote for HOW magazine months ago about design for the book industry finally came out in the April issue. (On newsstands now!) Obviously, this is a subject close to my heart. I interviewed incredibly talented designers from HarperCollins, Quirk Books, Picador, and (of course!) Chronicle. You can download and read the article here.

And you can also find an article I wrote for The Artist's Magazine about design for fine artists on newsstands now. You'd be surprised to see how many exceptional artists have sites that look like their junior high neighbor kid built their site. (In many cases, maybe he did.) Here, I interviewed five different artists with exceptional sites to determine what other artists could learn from them. You can read that article here.

And I wrote a new article for HOW magazine about productivity tips for creatives. Although we tend to have great ideas, those of us who are artistically inclined tend to be a little lax in actually seeing all our brilliant ideas through. In this article, I interviewed the folks from Behance, who have made it their personal mission to educate creative professionals so their projects live to see the light of day. And here's that article.

I've continued writing a number of reviews for MomFinds.com. I did my Best of 2007 Round-Up, which was fun to write, as I saw a ton of wonderful products come my way last year. Some of my favorite recent reviews include my article about the best yoga accessories for moms ("Put the 'Om' in Mom"), the Cosmedicine Spa-It-Yourself Kit, the customized polos from from Simply Colors, and my new favorite thing--the Triple Circle Necklace from Five Accessories.

Lastly, here's a placeholder for Fringe Home Design, a local interior design firm. I'm working with them on building their site next month. Stay tuned!

Posted by lisa at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2008

we're all a little sick of snow by this point


IMG_5819.JPG, originally uploaded by lisabagg.

I can only conclude that God is very angry with Chicago judging from the Winter we've had.

Posted by lisa at 06:30 PM | Comments (0)

February 14, 2008

happy valentine's day!



Here are some shots of Finn making Valentine's Day cookies that he took to daycare this week. I'm sure his caregivers totally want to get me back for providing their charges with sugar cookies with glazed sugar frosting topped with sugar sprinkles. When I arrived to pick him up, the kids were literally out of their minds. Spinning, chasing, giggling, and squawking like a bunch of college students who had just emptied a bottle of tequila.

But Finn really does love cooking. He has insisted to help make dinner every night. And since the weather is so cold, baking has been one of our activities. Finn's favorite part is tasting his good work. My favorite photo in this bunch is where he literally sticks his head inside the bowl, in an attempt to lick it clean.

Posted by lisa at 07:49 AM | Comments (0)

February 11, 2008

listen to the man with the badge


IMGP6499.JPG, originally uploaded by Daddy Shawn.

P.S. Get a load of those blue eyes!

Posted by lisa at 12:42 PM | Comments (0)

February 10, 2008

Playing with Cars


IMGP6429.JPG
Originally uploaded by Daddy Shawn
Finnie and Daddy went to the Chicago Auto Show yesterday. There was lots for both of us to "oooh" and "aaah" at, including (what Daddy hopes will soon be) Daddy's new car, the Dodge Challenger. Finn even got a little Matchbox version of the Challenger, which quickly became the most interesting car there. Another highlight was Finn's first Churro, which, unfortunately for Daddy, meant nap time was a bust.

Posted by shawn at 08:09 AM | Comments (0)

Welcome, Elizabeth (Ellie) Rose Weir!


Ellie, originally uploaded by lisabagg.

Big, huge congratulations to Amy and Steve on the arrival of Ellie this past Tuesday, February 5th. After a rather grueling (to say the least) labor and delivery, sweet Ellie arrived a little bumped and bruised, but otherwise thriving. Both mama and baby are healing quite nicely.

Here Finn and I are visiting the teeny tiny one on Friday. (It's so easy to forget how small newborns are!) This little eight pounds of love is just adorable. And although I was convinced they were going to have a boy, it's wonderful to see another girl for Amy and Steve. With nearly two-year-old Gracie as evidence, the Weirs really know how to make amazing little girls.

Posted by lisa at 07:41 AM | Comments (0)

February 07, 2008

ground control to major Finn



ground control to major finn from lisa hazen on Vimeo.

Here's Finn, donning my "tankini" and calling it his spacesuit. The laundry basket is his rocketship and pieces of his Thomas the Train Engine tracks are his "stuff" he's taking to the moon. Perhaps Uncle Clintie and Aunt Sudi could advise if this is how you train for spacecamp?

We are so showing this to his girlfriends when he's a teenager.

Posted by lisa at 06:48 PM | Comments (0)

February 05, 2008

obama, baby!


obama, originally uploaded by lisabagg.

Happy Super Tuesday, all!

Mama's got a crush on Obama.

Posted by lisa at 06:26 AM | Comments (0)

February 02, 2008

snow day

We got darn near a foot of snow Thursday night, so Friday a bunch of the neighborhood kids gathered at Delilah's house. These photos are deceiving in that you would think we spent the whole afternoon playing in the snow. In reality, Finn got cold after about 10 minutes and headed back inside. It was funny to see him in the snow--it was so deep that it looked like someone had planted him in the ground to the waist.

Posted by lisa at 05:14 PM | Comments (0)