Cancer.

Cancer has in some way affected most people. My mom has now been cancer-free for 10 years - Praise God! But others are not as fortunate as her.

Custom Climbers is honored to be contributing to an auction to benefit Valerie Koop. She's a mother of two young kids who very recently lost her husband to cancer. I don't know her personally, but her blog entries touched my heart. I don't often dwell on what life would be like without Matt, but Valerie's words gave insight into that anguish and a renewed gratitude for this charmed life I lead.

You can read Valerie's blog here and view the auction here. 

Auction ends at 4pm PST tomorrow (March 2) so go bid, donate, or at least allow her words to freshen your perspective too.

Monet in the Making

Mommy showers for 10 minutes + curious kid + red nail polish = 1 ruined shirt, 1 stained carpet, & 1 proud artist.

New Creativeness

Most of my creative efforts lately have been directed into my Custom Climber business. I even put together a dedicated website for them: www.customclimbers.com. Feel free to share it with friends. :)

It surprises me just how much fun I have putting those silly little steps together. A lot of it probably has to do with the process combining both computer graphic work with hands on artsy-feeling stuff. Plus, I like that the end result doesn't take forever like a painting can sometimes.

Speaking of painting... I had to keep this work a secret for awhile, because it was a surprise birthday gift, but here's a little pup-art project I had the pleasure of creating for one of my fabulous cousins!

2010 in a 23 minute nutshell

I know you all have been gripping your computer screens, anxiously awaiting our 2010 Annual McNeil Family Video (ha! yeah right). Well, my friends, it's finally complete... enjoy!

2010 from The McNeils on Vimeo.
Favorite memories from this year, set to great tunage!
Runtime: 23 min.

Previous annual videos can be found HERE

Car Conversation

Mommy

Avery

What's your favorite color?

Blue........  and pink.

What's your favorite song?

Happy Birthday to You

What's your favorite thing to eat?

Scrambled Eggs

What's your favorite book?

Fish book 

What's your favorite thing to watch on TV?

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

What's your favorite shape? 

Circle and triangle

What's your favorite animal?

(Long pause)... Animal crackers 

(hahaha)

The End of 20Ten

Welcome to 20eleven! 

The last couple weeks of 20ten were a cozy time of family and friends. We spent Christmas here in San Diego, just the 3 of us. Avery enjoyed opening her gifts, talking about Santa, and made us smile with her daily renditions of "Happy Birthday Baby Jesus." 

Two days after Christmas, Opa & Oma came to SD to spend time with Avery. So, Matt and I did the only logical thing in that situation - got the heck outta dodge for some quality couple time. We met up with our good friends Stef and Ed in Northern Arizona for some hiking and snow play.

We hiked 12.4 miles roundtrip down into and back out of the Grand Canyon. With an elevation change of 3,000 feet in both directions and hiking continuously for over 6 hours, it was admittedly the most difficult physical thing I've ever done.

But the views were astonishingly worth every step...

We almost got snowed-in in Flagstaff with overnight blizzards dropping 24" of powder. Can you believe this is in Arizona???

Rarely can I recall a New Years Eve that I made it to midnight; this year was no exception. When you live in California, watching the ball drop in New York at 9pm Pacific time usually suffices. I, after all, have a child that is happy to meet the day at 6am, regardless of whether or not I am. Oma & Opa joined us Jan 1 for our new New Years Day tradition - a brunch of homemade Ebelskivers (filled pancakes)!

"C" is for Cookie

New Venture!

In the event you are not my "friend" on Facebook, you may not have heard about the launch of my new business! Custom Climbers was born from a desire to see modern, kid-friendly furniture that not only empowers children, but gets their adults grinning too. 

Search "Custom Climbers" on FB or visit www.customclimbers.etsy.com to check it out!

I love photoshop

In four years of college, hands-down the most useful class I took was a semester of Intro to Graphic Design. 1/3 of the course was an overview of Adobe Photoshop. ~ Best. Program. Ever. ~  Now if I could only find a job where people paid me to beautify their pics!

Before: Pretty normal. Red-eyes, stroller in the corner, nothing fancy.

After: Cropped. No vampire eyes. Remove stroller. Gorgeous color effects.

'Tis the Season