NEW BLOG

it has been created.
we have moved.
i have quit blogger.
please edit your link for us:
http://teamus614.wordpress.com
come on over, friends!
wish us luck...

i AGAIN do not heart technology

oscar night fashion post: done. but blogger is having some attitude problems right now and doesn't want to post.

lindsay: a wee bit frustrated... and now in the process of finding another blog host.

readers: any advice or blog wisdom=helpful (any thoughts on wordpress? typepad?)

sincerely,
team us management

my favorite night in march

stay tuned this afternoon...

for i shall post my fashion favorites from the oscars last night!

i am julia roberts

ok, so i love to take quizzes and fill out forms. the form-thing, i know, is a little odd (i am counting down the minutes until our census 2010 packet arrives!) but it's the quizzes that i could do for hours.

i stumbled upon a new one this weekend (when i was clearly vulnerable and way too open to looking at semi-spam emails):

which classic beauty icon are you? from dailyglow.com

these quizzes always getcha by making you feel so gloriously good about yourself, comparing your personality & characteristics to the incomparable likes of julia, audrey or gwyneth. oh how i love them.

would love to know which beauty icon you are... or did you take more than one quiz on dailyglow.com??

in between "before" and "after"

see the progress?!?

click HERE to see the "before" shots.

it's starting to look like my house again...

the exodus has begun...

the move-out/move-in has begun!

the faithful assistant, The Mahm, is back in town (yes, for the second time in about one month) helping me move my client out of my house and into her own. i posted the "before" pictures a little over a month ago (click here to see them) - of my house in complete, embarassing disarray - and now we are in the middle of making it look good again (and hopefully will come to resemble MY HOUSE again).

this week has been gloriously and breathlessly insane with the move-out/move-in and i will soon have updated, "after" pictures of all the work we will have done!

and now everyone, let's hear it for The Mahm!!!!

stay tuned...

MEXICO 2010

i do not heart technology

i am working on getting our slideshow from mexico onto our blog, and with no avail so far.
in the meantime, you can see the slideshow here:
http://s924.photobucket.com/albums/ad87/lindsaybtodd/mazatlan%202010/
enjoy!
(please leave a comment if the link isn't working either.)

goodbye sun, hello cold...

we are home

we are tan

we are happy

(full vacation post coming tuesday!)

so long suckas...

we are off to sunny mexico first thing tomorrow morning and will be neglecting the blog until we get back next weekend. so stay tuned for lots of post-vacation pics!

miss us!
team us OUT.

dreaming a little

these are some photos from one of geoff's and my favorite trips to mexico, when we went to cabo san lucas in 2006. was looking through these this evening and got a little wistful about that trip and got even more excited about our trip (IN 3 DAYS!!)... mainly because i get to spend a lot of time in my happy place: me + my camera + the beach.

just a few more reminiscing shots...

love of mine

it describes a passionate love many of us experience.
it describes a treasured enslavement that may be hard to describe sometimes.
a relationship that can be tumultuous and at the same time, pure joy & delight.
this swoon-inducing sonnet was written several years ago (long before i began blogging) by a dear friend of mine, anne. i hope you appreciate it as much as i do.


Coffee
by anne caggiano


you're warm and black, and you got my back.
you're Coffee.


your smell strikes a chord as i spend time with the Lord.
you're my morning Coffee.


you're spanish by descent, but i can't hear your accent.
eres mi cafe.


you greet me from the cup and ask me "sup?"
you're my ghetto Coffee. word.


i drink you after dinner and pretend you make me slimmer,
Dear Coffee.


it just doesn't seem you used to be a bean,
fresh Coffee.


they drink you in egypt, japan, and belize.
you're my friend, Coffee, beverage of world peace.


people who drink tea don't make sense to me,
but you do, Coffee.

the beach is calling...

i almost thought it wouldn't happen.

our schedules are crazy. LOCO. geoff travels a lot, my work project is not finished yet, we are out of town a lot of weekends...
but it is going to happen.

amigos, we are taking a "babymoon", as some might call it.

my husband and i are fleeing the country in search of some warm, sandy quietude and a respite from our crazy lives, hoping to find some time together. just the two of us. enjoying one another and sleeping in as much as possible. because after may 23, 2010, we won't sleep in again (or be alone) for the rest of our earthly lives.

how are we able to do this? you might ask.

wellll.... we are just really blessed, to be honest with you.

for christmas, geoff's aunt carladyne gave us a week of her timeshare for us to go on a vacation - so our hotel is totally covered. and i have mucho points on my business credit card that we were able to cash in to cover our flights - so transportation is totally covered. big costs here, amigos.
thus... on february 21st, we are getting on a plane that will take us to mazatlan, mexico.

we will sunbathe.
we will be lazy.
we will have dinner out on this patio in the evenings:

we will enjoy each other.
we will go to the spa and get massages.
we will walk hand in hand down the streets of old town. and we will enjoy the very best (and my favorite) thing about mexico: their margaritas!! VIVA MARGARITAS!

oops, wait.
well, no margaritas for me. i got a little carried away...
maybe next year, slugger.

i cannot tell you how excited we are. and i don't think it has even really hit me yet. i have been so busy with work (and my pregnant self, really) that i have barely begun to realize that we leave for LA PLAYA! EL MAR! in just ONE WEEK.

we will be staying at el cid marina beach, but all of the el cid resorts in mazatlan (i think there are 4 total) will be our playground during our stay.

so MUCHAS GRACIAS goes out to dear aunt carladyne and i guess my business credit card company for making this dream "babymoon" possible.

cheers to mexico! here we come...

letter from daddy

we have this really cute journal that i am keeping track of my pregnancy in called the belly book. it has sections for each week so i can record how i am feeling, what the baby is doing, my food aversions... things like that. at the end of each trimester, there is a part where you can share your "final thoughts". geoff wrote in it the other night and i wanted to share what this new daddy wrote...

february 9, 2010
WOW...
i forgot how quickly 6 months flies by. engagement & now 1st and 2nd trimester. by the way now that those initial trimesters are over and we're changing the name... we're done "tri-ing", we're "due-ing"... OH OH OH . (here i must insert, for readers that may be wondering, that this is geoff's laugh). that's right, we have entered the "mester" where our future Miss Messer is due to arrive on the scene. man, will we ever be ready when she's ready? nursery, diapers, clothes, crib, name... OH SNAP... a name. what a huge responsibility. it's not like picking out a shirt she doesn't like that she can toss in the back of her closet or a cd she'll return to best buy. this will be a title that helps define who she is and who she will be referred to as for the entirety of her life. (no pressure... breathe man, BREATHE). one false step and we could scar her pshyche forever. example: we thought of the name honor - great name, noble, beautiful - right? that's what we thought until my superdad protective skills kicked in and i reverted back to the junior high locker room where i would overhear scrubby little thugs talking about wanting to get "on her", thus ruling out a seemingly wonderful name with therapy written all over it... WHEW! we have to think of every nickname, initials combination, sound-alike, and slang usage possible. my under armor efforts begin now, "i will protect this house!" which now includes my baby girl. so like i said, "tri-mester"... uh uh... it's "due-mester" and in due time our baby girl, the player to be named later, will join Team Us and whatever room she sleeps in, clothes she wears, diapers she messes, or name she has on her jersey it will all be done with great care.
baby girl, i can't wait to meet you! just know that until then, your momma and i will continue to pray for you daily to be filled with the joy of the lord, consumed with his compassion for others, and health and safety over your life.
i love you!
daddy

why i get excited about gaining 14 pounds

goodbye second trimester!
hello achiness and welcome to uncomfortable-land.
weight gain: 14 pounds so far (gained 5 1/2 since last visit)
tummy: 38 inches (gained 2 inches)

uterus: 25 inches (just in case you wanted to know)

baby moves: i'm not the only one who can feel them anymore... and last night, we could actually see her move!

mental health: mushy & forgetful. and don't even ask me to remember anything. oh and i'm really forgetful lately. on tuesday we had a doctor's appointment for our 25 week checkup. all is well! LL's hearbeat is at a solid 160 - the doc said that was great - and i have gained almost 6 more pounds since the last time i was weighed. i am relishing this time in my life that i get enthusiastic about gaining weight... how weird is that?! i eat the donuts for you, Little Lady.

and you know geoff had to take his 25 week pic at the doctor's office too...

something i am particularly proud of

http://lindsaytodddesign.blogspot.com
i had another "first" this month with my job.
and i think it turned out pretty great...
bear with me as i brag a little.

my mother the assistant

for all of you who are wondering what kind of progress the mahm and i made while she was here last week, you're kind of looking at it. (although this particular pic was taken on a girls weekend trip to eureka springs, arkansas for the jazz festival in 2008 - i just thought it was pertinent.)
we got a lot of organizing done which felt great, but not a lot of move-out-my-client's-stuff progress was made. i thought we would be able to do more but the house is simply not ready yet. although things are organized enough and ready to be loaded into the car the moment the house is ready...
then, and only then, will you see the "after" photos.

isn't she lovely

this weekend i got to hang out with my sister (in-law), sarah, and my niece, hannah in lawrence KS while our boys were in colorado skiing for geoff's birthday. we had a grand time being girls, eating fondue for dessert one night and enjoying lawrence - which is a pretty cool town that i have not really gotten to experience until now.

one of the days i was there, we went to the natural science museum on KU's campus - and in a photo-op posed just for grandma nancy, here is your soon-to-be favorite pic of your first grandchild:

the contest

thanks to all of you who voted for geoff in the louisiana hot sauce commercial contest! at the close of voting on the final day, he was in the lead with the most votes! we don't know yet if he won the contest - the company reviews all of the entries and then we will find out who the overall winner will be. (but seriously, how could they not select geoff's video??? it was by far the best...)
we'll let you know what the outcome is.
thanks again, friends!

Help put diapers on our future baby girl

YouTube - 2nd Annual $5,000 Louisiana Hot Sauce Video Contest

help GT win the LA Hot Sauce Video Contest by voting before Jan. 31st

http://www.youtube.com/group/LAHotSauce5KContest#p/a/3/5UEs0nMz6J4

So, my buddy Tim (who just so happens to be the last winner of American Gladiators) has mad skillz when it comes to video editing. So, he enlisted me to act in a video for a contest advertising LA Hot Sauce. Voting ends on Jan. 31st and every vote counts. Please help us out by following these directions and the link (the voting process is way more confusing than it needs to be but it is what it is) Thanks and here's the skinny...

Click on the link and it will take you to YouTube and the contest site. Even though my video will show up right away you actually have to go over to the right and select it from amongst all the others. It's called "Don't Forget". You'll need to go above the video and click on "join group" which may or may not require you to be signed in to Gmail or YouTube (not sure). Once you play the video you can go under it to the "Discussion" tab and there will be a place to click "i love it". That's huge b/c that's how a vote is counted.

Y'all are awesome and if you feel compelled to pass this on we'd appreciate it. I've also attached a link to the Facebook event that has all the details as well for you to pass on to your Facebook friends

-Geoff

what interior design looks like

yes, folks.

this is what owning your own interior design business run out of your home looks like.

our house has become a storage unit for all of my client's orders that cannot be housed in a basement or garage (upholstery, sheets & towels, accessories and the like).

so in turn, my house is quite embarassing in some places.

but i have decided to make it public, to put it all out there because, praise jesus, these will soon be "before" photos.

(big grin)

above you will see exhibit a is our laundry room: stocked with box upon box of a large towel and bedding order.

exhibits b and c are my office: one wonders how i work in there at all. there are some sexy little hip moves i have to execute in order to make it to my desk around all the crap...
and note the fabulous stroller - our "baby gift" stuff has had to go in my office too, since the poor Little Lady (LL) doesn't have a room yet.

but tomorrow is a good day.

tomorrow The Mahm arrives.

(for new readers/friends of team us, The Mahm is my mom, the one the only the fabulous, pat chapman.)

The Mahm will be employed this week and part of next week as a design assistant of lindsay todd design, llc.
she will be helping me move my clients in to their new house (see my design blog, link on the right)...

and out of mine!

it will be a fantastic week and my home will start to feel like my own again.

no more boxes stacked on boxes (boxen? anyone?), no more stacks of coffee table books as tall as i am, no more pathways that have to be carved out for guests to reach their bed...

and the LL will have the beginnings of a room of her own.
wish us luck!

my life would suck without you... an ode.

dear oreos, mountain dew and sweet clementines,
i am overflowing with gratitude for all you do for me.
the joy you bring me in my life is inexplicable.
you ease discomfort, calm frustration and make me a delight to be around.
you are crunchy, delicious, bubbly, and juicy.
you are good for me but sometimes not so good for me.
you put a smile on my face and excitement in my tummy.
and i know you are making my Little Lady happy, too.
with love
always and forever,
lindsay

how sweet it is

my dear friend, missy stopped by today with her oldest, lilly anne.it was fun to see how our bellies are different but yet the same... we are both 23 weeks today! what a blessing to have a close friend to go through pregnancy with. even though we live 537 miles apart...lilly and i just got done making snowflakes out of coffee filters , so we were rewarding ourselves with fruit snacks...

23 weeks OMG!

what this kid is getting into

i was looking through some wedding photos today and got a huge smile on my face and warm fuzzies inside...
what a bunch of fun people this kid will be getting as grandparents!
i found multiple pictures of both sets of parents having a blast on the dance floor at our awesome wedding (am i right folks? was it not the best/funnest wedding ever?) and looking great doing it. geoff and i have been so blessed by the parents we have and we are both so excited to see what grandparenting our child will bring out in our parents.
(geoff's parents are already in the "grand" role but it will be my parents' first gig.)
so cheers to you,

grandpa terry

grandma nancy

gigi pat

budrocks winn

(we'll see how all these nicknames turn out...)

may our child learn to dance by your example and learn to love by the way you care for us.

there's a first time for everything

this, my friends, is a momentous event you are witnessing.
every single time i have attempted to make cornbread in the last, well lifetime, i have ended up with another FAIL mark on my cooking career.
BUT last night was a first. it was not a FAIL.
it was an "I WON"! i BEAT the cornbread, the recipe and my oven!
and my cornbread was awesome, peeps.
melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
perfectly soft.
right amount of sweet.
gorgeous green jalapeno chunks.
it will now be known as "lindsay's cornbread recipe" and i will never stray again.