View Marion’s book here.

From GRO’s site:

Gracie is the newest GRO Team Rider. She is young, but full of spirit and potential. Check out Gracie’s Team Page.

Update(from GRO):

Gracie has picked up Mad Cow Skateboards as her board sponsor alongside being on the GRO and JPSkateshop teams.

Previously:
Gracie Bails 9 Year Old Skater

This coming Tuesday, November 24th is the third and final CR Transit Study open house where we will see the big reveal! Your feedback has been combined and now it’s time to see how CR Transit interpreted it. Even though this is the final open house for this study, I want to be very clear. This is NOT the last opportunity to share feedback. This is just one round of, in what should be many more, changes to the CR Transit system. Things still won’t be perfect, but I do hope we’ll see tangible improvements. Please show up for this open house to cheer or jeer changes that will be made this time and continue the conversation to make our public transit better.

The open house will be held at the African American Museum from 1 to 3:00 pm, and the Crowne Plaza from 6 to 8:00 pm. NTS will again provide rides for free after the evening open house. Please call them at 319-286-5725 by Monday at 4 pm to set up a ride.

The full press release can be found on the Corridor MPO website.

Found this one while going through a heap of CDs last night…

Click on image to order prints or note cards on Redbubble.

Dinghies

On Saturday, November 14 we had the honor of photographing the wedding of Teresa Welsh and Josh Gorman.  Josh is a friend of mine from back home and it is always an honor to photograph a friends wedding.  Teresa is a gorgeous and sweet person and I am so happy for them.  Their wedding party and families were wonderful to work with and we had so much fun photographing their day!

Josh and Teresa’s ceremony was held at Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines with the reception following at the Holiday Inn.  Their were a lot of great spots to photograph in and around the church, and the ceremony was perfect.

The reception was gorgeous.  They had an elegant beach theme with huge glass vases with sand and shells as center pieces.  They had lighting that was the color of a sunset to give the room a beautiful glow. 

One of my favorite things was their cake.  They had a rice crispie cake.  Teresa and her friends and family had made all of the rice crispie treats the day before and she made a three layer cake decorated with ribbon and a cake topper.  It was so unique and so cute!

Congratulations Josh and Teresa!!! Thank you so much for letting me photograph your perfect day!!!  I hope that you love your pictures.  All of the pictures will be available online on Wednesday, December 2.  To view them go to my website www.friendphotography.net click on online proofing, click on Gorman Wedding.

Today, I’m thankful for my fourteen month old baby girl

Letters to my daughter, letter 1.2

And I’m stealing this idea from a friend who has monthly “conversations” with her daughter

Such a cheater post, I know, but again, when you put it out there that you’re bound and determined to be thankful and joyful, you get tested on that!

So to back up a little bit, when Marion had her ear infection a few months ago it started with a fever that wouldn’t go down with medicine on a Friday night. Saturday we took her to the pediatrician and they checked her ears and said they were fine. Only to go home that night and have one of her ear drums rupture. You can understand then, why when she had a fever on Thursday that wouldn’t go down with Tylenol, I took her to the pediatrician for a late afternoon appointment. I’ll spare you how irritated I got (thankfully, it was with another doctor, not our regular pediatrician) and just say that we left with a “diagnosis” of just some sort of a virus that would just run it’s course but if her fever went up over 103 after a night of medication to bring her back in the morning.

The only problem? We were leaving town in the morning. The doctor said that was okay, because there was nothing they could do about it anyway. After a bad night of sleep, we packed up and headed out to San Antonio Friday morning for the Rock n Roll San Antonio Half Marathon (the same race Josh did last year.) The drive over was rocky, the night of sleep was non-existent, and Saturday morning, we woke up to a baby covered in a rash.

Hand, foot and mouth disease.

Fun, right?

At least it wasn’t chicken pox. And not HOOF and mouth disease like Josh keeps wanting to call it.

With some quick help from Dr Google we found out there’s nothing that can be done for it and so we went on with our plans.

Remember this from last year?

It looks like this, this year

This …

Is now this. What a difference a year makes!

Taking a break on the riverwalk

Marion takes a dancing break

This is how we stroll

We stopped at the same Starbucks where Marion took a little snooze last year

This year, not so much napping

There was, however, a lot more investigating of the birds that built their nests off the balcony

A classic Widget face

Grandparents, this is a lot safer than it looks.

She ate like this last year

And like this, this year

Look at those cheeks!

More investigating of the birds (she’s kind of obsessed with them now)

And this year, there was a whole lot of scampering off!

Mr Brown Dog came along this year; he’s her constant companion these days

Dada taught her the fun of wind chimes

Exploring the leaves with mama

Enjoying some wall sitting

Please meet the official greeter of the Alamo

Silly, silly girl

More birds!

Peek

A

Boo

Sweet baby

Mr Brown Dog, are you having as much fun as I am?

Wheeeeeeeee!

Those flowers are as big as my head!

Don’t let them eat me!

Mr Brown Dog will keep me safe

Our typical self portrait (you can see some of the spots on her face)

After her nap, we went back to feed the duckies

And oh yes, the t-shirts made the trip with us too

After a slightly better night’s sleep, Sunday morning was the big race. Hot, humid and early. I’m not sure who had a harder time, Dada running 13.1 miles or Mama chasing a Widget for that duration!

First to go by were the wheelchair racers

There are few people in the world that I find more admirable than wheelchair athletes. They’re just amazing!

The lead pack

These two guys won the half with an identical time of 1:05:24

The lead women of the marathon

Wow!

They were fast!

Did you see that?

Woah!!

Here comes dada!

And then the camera froze up on me. Of course!

Josh finished in a very respectable time of 1:44:25. Way to go!

Then we packed up and came home. The end.

Almost.

Monday morning found us back at the pediatrician (our regular guy this time) who congratulated me on my superb diagnostic skills and confirmed it was a case of hand, foot and mouth disease. Unusual this time of year, but of course, Marion wouldn’t actually get something when you expect her to get it. He said that she was healing well and we should expect her to be back to normal (i.e., rash free) in just a few more days.

So here’s what I’m thankful for:

Thursday (Day 27) – the ability to get a last minute appointment with our pediatric group (I won’t be mean and say for all the good it did us…)

Friday (Day 28) – this is a hard one. I’m thankful to have an amazing husband who if I have to go through rough patches with our baby, there is no one else I’d rather go through it with than him.

Saturday (Day 29) – I’m so thankful and joyful for being able to go back and revisit a place where we had such a fun time last year and this year, get to see Marion actually enjoy it too. She was such a good little sport, even if she wasn’t feeling her best.

Sunday (Day 30) – an amazingly athletic husband who never fails to amaze me with his dedication to his training plans and his races. I’m in such awe of what he can do.

Monday (Day 31) – thankful for being able to see our normal pediatrician and told Marion is getting better!

Today (Day 32) – beyond joyful to have our wonderful, funny, normal, widgety, squidgety girl back!

Etienne, assis derrière son bureau, ruminait.

C’était l’automne et il détestait cette saison, pas vraiment pour ce qu’elle était mais plutôt pour ce qu’elle annonçait : l’hiver.

L’hiver et tous ses inconvénients. De toute sa vie, jamais il n’avait vécu une période aussi triste que l’hiver. Les couleurs s’en allaient, emmenant avec elles la chaleur et le soleil.

Depuis qu’il avait décrété détester cette saison, il trouvait sans cesse de nouveaux prétexte à ce sentiment négatif. Il n’aimait pas mettre des pulls : la laine le démangeait. Il n’aimait pas le froid : il fallait mettre le chauffage et la dépense d’électricité grimpait en flèche. Il faisait nuit plus tôt : impossible de rester trop longtemps dehors. Il neigeait : et là en général tous les déplacements devenaient synonyme de galère, que ce soit à pied ou en voiture. Il y avait bien le métro, mais bon…

Comme dirait l’autre, quand on veut faire quelque chose, on trouve un moyen, et quand on ne veut pas, on trouve une excuse.

Et Etienne ne voulait pas, mais vraiment pas aimer l’hiver.

Cependant, le changement de saison -qui n’était d’ailleurs pas si récent que cela- n’était pas la seule cause à cet air grognon qui avait pris place sur son visage depuis quelques jours.

C’était simple : Paul le tracassait.

Au début, ce qui datait de leur rencontre quelque peu mouvementée, ce n’était pas gênant, puisqu’il pensait à lui deux à trois fois par jour. Puis, il avait commencé à s’inquiéter car il ne voulait pas laisser leur relation -si l’on pouvait appeler ce qui les liait une relation- dans un tel état d’animosité, mais aussi parce que le jeune homme l’intriguait et parce qu’il voulait le connaître un peu plus.

Mais maintenant, c’était beaucoup plus grave. Depuis qu’ils avaient passé une soirée ensemble, il ne pensait plus qu’à lui, et c’en devenait handicapant, puisqu’il n’arrivait plus à se concentrer au travail, il était incapable de tenir une conversation correcte sans qu’au beau milieu d’une phrase un mot ne lui rappelle une phrase que Paul avait prononcée, une pensée qu’il avait eu à son sujet ou encore leur différend initial, ce qui n’était vraiment pas un bon souvenir pour lui.

Bref, le jeune homme et tout ce qui le touchait devenait pour lui une obsession, à en avoir mal au ventre toute la journée où à se coller des migraines incroyables.

Il faisait cauchemar sur cauchemar, et lorsqu’il se réveillait d’un rêve agréable où Paul apparaissait, les images tournaient en boucle dans son esprit jusqu’à ce qu’un autre songe ne vienne remplacer le précédent.

Et à cette heure avancée de l’après-midi, enfermé seul -Loïc était en arrêt maladie- dans un bureau sombre et déprimant à souhait, il se rendait compte qu’il n’avait pratiquement rien fait de sa journée et qu’il n’aurait probablement pas le loisir d’avancer dans son travail car il était dix-sept heures et que son patron bouclait les locaux une heure plus tard.

Il fit donc de son mieux pour se concentrer durant le peu de temps qu’il lui restait, et pour faire le maximum de ce qu’il avait planifié pour cette journée, et il s’énerva tant sur son clavier qu’en une heure il avait pratiquement achevé toutes les tâches qu’il devait réaliser ce jour-là.

Quand à dix-sept heures cinquante cinq il jeta un coup d’œil à la feuille volante qui lui servait de planning, il haussa les sourcils et se dit que jamais il n’avait travaillé aussi vite, et qu’il avait certainement sous-estimé ses capacités, du moins sa vitesse d’exécution. Il espérait néanmoins que le travail qu’il avait effectué serait bien fait, et non pas bâclé.

Enfin, alors qu’il faisait déjà nuit et que les lampadaires amenaient un semblant d’éclairage à la pièce, il éteignit sa lampe de bureau et ordonna un minimum tous les papiers qui encombraient ce dernier, puis enfila son manteau et quitta leurs locaux pour ressortir dans la rue. Un vent violent secoua ses cheveux et l’obligea à fermer sa veste.

Regardant tristement les feuilles, emportées par des bourrasques, voler puis lentement descendre pour aller joncher le sol d’un tapis de cadavres oranges, rouges et marrons, il se mit en marche pour rentrer chez lui, faisant rageusement craquer les feuilles sous ses pas.

Le voyage du retour lui parut étonnamment long, comparé aux cinq minutes seulement que sa montre lui assurait qu’il avait passées dehors.

Il poussa la porte de chez lui, étonné d’avoir marché si vite et vérifiant tout de même que la pile de sa montre n’était pas morte.

Mais non. Il semblerait que depuis son regain d’énergie au bureau, il agisse en accéléré.

Enfin, il se traîna jusque dans la cuisine et tira une chaise pour s’asseoir dessus et marteler la table du bout de ses doigts. Nerveusement.

Marion, qui était aux fourneaux comme à son habitude, se retourna vers lui quand ce bruit devint trop agaçant.

-Qu’est-ce qu’il y a encore ?

Ce qu’il avait ? Mais la même chose que d’habitude.

Encore. Toujours. Encore et toujours.

-Paul.

Mais boire de l’eau nous fait aussi faire des choses stupides. L’insolite d’aujourd’hui se passe de commentaires. ( vous aurez peut-etre reconnu Marion )

Studio sessions don’t have to be boring!  Check these out….

Brand, showing off his power game

Remember when the Raptors took some heat for bringing in an injury-plagued Jermaine O’Neal prior to last season? I found it pretty funny, because nobody seemed to blink an eye when the Sixers gave a five-year, $80 million contract to Elton Brand, who missed 74 games the prior season due to a torn ACL. Sure, O’Neal didn’t pan out in Toronto, but the Raps were able to ship him to the Heat for Shawn Marion, who Bryan Colangelo rather nicely turned into Hedo Turkoglu this past summer. The Sixers? Well, they’re still stuck with Brand.

Brand, who failed to mesh with Andre Iguodala early last season in Philly before bowing to shoulder surgery in January, has been an absolute trainwreck: In last night’s 119-115 loss to the Suns, the big man spent the entire fourth quarter on the bench, finishing with 10 points and two boards. In seven games, he’s averaged 10.1 and 5.6 and 0.9 blocks, down from career averages of 19.9, 10.1 and 2.1.

I forget where I read it, but when Toronto picked up O’Neal last year, someone mentioned that historically, once the numbers of a big start declining, they’re finished. J.O. is a fine example, though Brand looks to be poster boy for that theory. And Philly is on the hook for that contract.

Of course, this just adds Brand to the growing list of NBA players with bad contracts. Every team has a couple, I suppose. Still, next time you sit and complain about Marcus Banks contract at the end of the Raptors bench, just remember, it could be worse.

So not only did SJP and Matthew Broderick have twins, they’ve generated double the press with their name choices.

First came the announcement that the girls were named Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge.  Which was followed by chatter about how Marion and Tabitha were mismatched, and wasn’t it unfair that poor Tabitha had just two given names?

Now we learn that  SJP and Matthew Broderick call their girls Loretta and Tabitha - and that firstborn James Wilkie was responsible for choosing the name Marion.  And he was wily enough to insist that it be legal, which is why the parents put Marion first, rather than tucking her in the middle.  (Weigh in on Yea or Nay: Loretta here.  So far, opinion is split pretty evenly.)

When I asked Aly what he wanted to name his pterodactyl (no, not a real one.  This isn’t Torchwood), he told me December.  Which I find strangely appealing.  Nonetheless, I’m glad we didn’t let him (seriously) weigh in on his sister’s name.

In other starbaby news:

• Jane Carrey has announced that her dad, funnyman Jim Carrey is about to be a grandpa. Apparently, Jane and boyfriend Alex Santana have already settled on the name Jackson Riley;
• Alicia Minshew of All My Children welcomed a daughter, Willow Lenora;
• Layla Kayleigh, host of America’s Best Dance Crew, and Steve Corvino, of Sirius Radio, announced the birth of a daughter, Melody Rain;
• Model Karolina Kurkova is new mom to son Tobin Jack;
• Footballer Wayne Rooney and wife Colleen are the parents of a son, Kai Wayne;
• And, of course, Mel Gibson is a father for the EIGHTH time.  He and girlfriend welcomed daughter Lucia.  Mel’s first seven kids are Hannah, Edward, Christian, William, Louis, Milo and Thomas.

Elsewhere online:

• I love the Nymbler stats!  October’s Top Ten is as follows: Charlotte, Ava, Amelia, Benjamin, Ella, Grace, Jack, Finn, Oliver and Abigail.  And the Top Five brand new names?  It’s quite the celeb-driven list: Sparrow, Anniston, Huckleberry, October and Pixie;
• Remind me to take Nancy along the next time I’m facing a long drive somewhere.  She’s traveling the highways and by-ways of Mississippi while reading the phone book to spot unusual real names!  Her lists are fascinating – check out the sixth in the series here, and follow the links back.  You just know there are stories behind names like Jaston, Tavarius and Hacksaw.  Plus she’s discovered several people with the name Toxie;
• Wladimir Lyra of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg is pushing to give names to the known exoplanets.  (Hat tip to Language Log.)  Scientists are discovering planets outside of the solar system at a gallop – they’re at 400 and counting.  The sage fonts of wisdom at the International Astronomical Union feel that it would be impractical to name them all.  Instead, they assign strings of numbers and letters.  Too bad – I know we could all put our heads together and name 400 planets in no time – Jaston, Tavarius and Hacksaw are all available;
• Over at For Real Baby Names, there’s mention of a British Minne Jane Snoo.  Please, please, please let Snoo be a family name and not a clever twist on Boo.  In happier news, her list also includes a Hero Charlotte Moranna and a Flora Isabella Minette;
• While I’m spotting trends that trouble me, Bewildertrix brings us Xzavia Paul William.  But there’s also a Serena Alice Louisa, little sister to Verity.  And I’ve seen Verity in a few other BAs recently;
• Lastly, check out Elisabeth’s post on Country baby names over at You Can’t Call It “It”.  While not all of these conjure up haystacks and John Deere for me, maybe that’s because I’m already hearing them on kids inside the DC Beltway – Clio has classmates called Mabel and Ida, and I know fashion-forward urbaniste parents with offspring answering to Polly, Earl and Roscoe;
• A year ago, I wrote about Matilda and Luke.

That’s all for this week – as always, thanks for reading.

Mon travail m’a obligee a beaucoup voyager ces dernieres semaines alors ce WE j’ai decide d’emmener les filles a Galveston afin de leur reserver une journee speciale.

Nous avons passe une magnifique journee, temperature de l’air a 26 degres, l’eau a 24 degres et beaucoup de rigolades, de chateaux de sable, de baignades…Ca fait du bien de retrouver ses petites briquettes. Ellynn et Marion ont adore sauter dans les vagues. Ellynn a ramasse tous les coquillages de la plage et Marion quant a elle a mange tout le sable. 

Malheureusement Stephane etait coince au travail donc c’etait une journee 100% filles.

Marion pas encore ensablee

Ellynn en plein travail

Happy Halloween! Dans la famille Zebriquet, je demande le pirate, la sorciere, la princesse et la fee.

Pour le premier Trick or Treat d’Ellynn et de Marion, ca a ete un grand succes. Ellynn etait enchantee de faire du porte a porte avec ses copains et surtout de nous montrer tous les bonbons qu’elle a recoltes.

Trick or Treat

Remember when SJP and Matthew Broderick named their twins Marion and Tabitha and name fans everywhere went huh?  Plus, Marion had two middles (Loretta Elwell) and Tabitha just one (Hodge)?

Turns out that there’s an explanation: Marion was chosen by big brother James Wilkie.  The girls are called Tabitha and Loretta.

As it happens, my aunt was very nearly named Loretta – or so says family legend.

And so I just have to ask: Loretta, Yea or Nay?

Music of the Day: A Fine Frenzy (The Beacon)

I should be NaNoWriMo-ing right now.
So of course I am NOT doing that and writing a blogpost instead.

I want to start with some important news: I washed my sheets. Okay mom, can you please leave my conscience alone now? It would be greatly appreciated.

This morning started with a presentation at International Club. Marita, an international student from Norway, gave a presentation about her country. (For you Americans, pull up Google Maps rite noa) She lives allll the way up in the north. The part that is inside the arctic circle. The part where you get days with no sunlight at all and nights where the sun never goes down. AND she has seen the Northern Lights countless times.

She also told us that healthcare is completely FREE and so are all the schools and even universities.
She lives in a small town, it’s really hard to get to ‘civilization’, it’s extremely cold, but it’s so pretty! Even her backyard is gorgeous!
I don’t think I could live with all the snow and in the middle of nowhere. I’m strangely fond of big cities.

Now ’bout that NaNoWriMo. So far I have 1300 words. I’ve only written one scene (with a flashback), and I was afraid to keep writing because I hadn’t found a name for the main character’s future boyfriend yet (I’m trying really REALLY hard to make sure that this doesn’t turn out to be some girly, whiny novel. I hate those! But it’s so easy to fall into the pattern of ‘I hate my life, I’m ugly, omg that guy is so handsome, he will never like me, now I hate my life even more, oh wait he loves me, nevermind, I guess my live isn’t that bad after all’. Ya know.)

Want to hear some of the names? (Like you can answer me before I write this…)

Protagonist: Gwen (last name unknown for now, suggestions are always welcome!)
Bad guy (who seems to be the good guy at first): Arthur Collins
Good guy: William Leonardo Knight (I know I know I know, obviously I won’t be using that entire name. The protagonist won’t even know him as anything but ‘Leo ‘ for the biggest part of the novel. Trust me. He has crazy parents: an artist + an English teacher. It will all make sense in the end, I promise).

Gwen has a tendency to judge guys by their name. She’ll lose interest in a guy, before she even gets to know him, when she doesn’t like his name. She’ll also overlook obvious flaws in a guy if she falls in love with his name. Her love for books is a huge part of this, she relates people to characters with the same name). But that’s only a part of the storyline.

I also really want to visit the beautiful, old public library in Chicago, because that is where a large part of the story will take place.
To get more motivated to write I challenged Marion (marionhoney) to a Word War! We’re fighting to write 5K words by midnight tomorrow. Should be fun… and torture. I need to get this thing started ARGH!

Okay, I didn’t plan on write more than 3 lines about NaNoWriMo. Let me know if you’re interested in hearing more about it.

Some good news: They now sell HUUUUUGE bottles of Naked Juice at the Caf. Mighty Mango here I come!
I also had a lucky moment while I was buying my lunch this afternoon. I walked out of a huge line and got to the other side, where there was no line. The guy behind the counter winks at me, says: “Thanks for coming to my line!” and then proceeds to only make me pay for my bagel (not the cream cheese or the banana. “See, it pays off to come here!” is the last thing he called after me, while I walked to the exit with a half confused/ half smiling face.

Weird stuff:
There was a girl knitting a black and neon green scarf in my History and Structure of English class. Right in front of the professor.

That is all the interesting information I have to offer today. Auf wiedersehen, I have 3700 words that need to go from my brain to my computer screen.

Two days of thanks for two good friends, Tareen and Paige, who took great pictures of our party, including some of Marion. Which means I’m not the worst mom in the world for not having pictures of her first Halloween party!

Before things got totally crazy

William (Paige’s son) learns no one touches Mr Brown Dog

Marion schooling William on proper Brown Dog behavior. (He’s her boyfriend, so it’s okay for her to boss him around)

Taking control of the situation

William was very sad about the loss

Don’t tell Marion!

Marions cheesy grin

Tutu butt

Princess Candy Corn

The NBA: Where Chris Paul Happens. Lifted by Paul’s 23 points and huge defensive role, the Hornets extended their lead to 5 in the end of the 3rd. He just took the game over and there’s nothing Dallas can do about it.

For the Mavericks, Nowitzki has been ineffective because of the double teams he has suffered with the main idea to take the ball out of his hand. He’s also taking a beating on the defense event; he just can’t guard David West, too physical. Marion turned the ball over way too many times, another reason why the Mavericks felt a little bit behind in the third.

New Orleans have played better in the second half however they are not being able to take advantage of a night when Dallas is not playing its premier basketball. The Mavericks keep hanging in there and at some point, because they are more talented, they may take this game over.

Mon coups de Coeur du jour  !! Plus qu’une photo !

Par Marion :  http://mweishard.smugmug.com/

This weekend, I’m so thankful for quiet family time! This is our last weekend alone and at home before January 2010 and we made the best of it by doing absolutely nothing!

So we tried to capture some of the quiet times with photos

Of course, with two dogs and a toddler, quiet times and photos don’t really go together

You try to get all three to look at the camera together!

Two out of three …

Well all three are looking…just not happy about it

A little better!

And we’re done!