Today is the big day.... the greatest spectacle in racing, the Indianapolis 500.

Growing up in Indianapolis, this has always been a big weekend. Actually, the whole month of May is all about the track, who has qualified, and what celebrities are in town.

I have many memories of Race Day growing up. We were always outside swimming with the radio on listing to the race in the background. (in indy the race is not on TV until that evening). I have gone to the race twice, which is QUITE an experience (I think the people watching is just as fun as the actual race). It's a huge event, and lots of fun.

Our family has a special connection to the track and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as my great-great-great uncle, James Allison, was one of the founding fathers of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (he was my grandma conner's great uncle).

Quite the Business Man, Allison quit school and joined his father's business Allison Coupon Company at the age of 12 in 1884. When his father passed away a few years later he took over the business at the age of 18.

In 1904, By the age of 32 he was the owner of two companies, Allison Coupon and Allison Perfection Fountain Pens, and was drawn into forming yet another with friend Carl G. Fisher called Prest-O-Lite. The new company would prove to be the biggest yet, the producer of the first viable headlight for automobiles.

Allison and Fisher continued to build businesses together throughout their lives. Their styles complemented each other famously. Fisher was the fountain of ideas, but impetuous. Allison was the steady hand and an outstanding manager. Lem Trotter, a mutual business colleague, said of Allison, "Fisher was the dreamer but Allison had the most brilliant mind of any man I ever knew. He was the industrialist."

The two men were the senior partners in establishing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with junior partners Arthur C. Newby and Frank H. Wheeler. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation was formed Feb. 9, 1909, when 328 acres of farmland northwest of Downtown Indianapolis was purchased by Fisher and his partners Jim Allison, Frank Wheeler and Arthur Newby. You can read the full history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's founding fathers here

Founders of the Speedway, with Henry Ford. From left: Henry Ford, Arthur Newby, Frank Wheeler, Carl Fisher and James Allison. - Indianapolis Motor Speedway archive.

Allison formed the Indianapolis Speedway Team Company later known as the Allison Experimental Company, and later as the Allison Engine Company which was eventually purchased by General Motors after Allison’s death becoming the Allison Division of General Motors, a manufacturer of automotive transmissions (Allison Transmission), aircraft engines (Allison Engine Company), truck engines, and other products.

My grandma's "Uncle Jim" died at the age of 56 in 1928. Although our family is no longer affiliated with any ownership of the track or the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I think it's a pretty neat and amazing story. I admire him for not only being a founding father of the Motor Speedway, but for his deep interest in business and his entrepreneur heart.

Thanks for stopping by and reading our story. And today, I hope you enjoy the 94th running of the GREATEST spectacle in Racing, the Indianapolis 500.

ETA: I took this picture today while swimming at my mom and dads. It's an Indy 500 ticket from 1916- the 6th annual running! WOW, and it only cost $2.50 to go to the Race... imagine that!

Reminded

I am reminded how much, YET, how little can change in one year.

How she can be sitting in front of the same flowers, giving me that same mischievous smile...

yet, look so different.

How she can go from having short, whispy, baby hair and not many teeth,

to a little girl in pig-tails with a sweet, toothy grin.

My sweet girl is growing up little by little every day.

It makes my heart ache and thrilled all at the same time. I very much enjoy this stage she is at- so spunky and full of life. She and Jonah are so much fun right now... they are wonderful playmates and friends. (for the most part;). Here's to a wonderful summer!

PS. Jordan is wearing another one of Mommy's dresses. I wore this dress to my uncle and aunts wedding when I was her age. :)

Lily Bee Lovely

Good Morning!

Today I am blogging over at the Lily Bee but wanted to share my layout here as well! :)

When I saw the Lily Bee Lovely Collection for the first time, I immediately thought of this photo from our recent Caribbean cruise. I knew the Lovely Collection would perfectly compliment the deep ocean colors in the photo.

Interestingly enough, the idea for the design came from a wall display at my favorite store, Anthropologie. If you are anything like me, there are times when a little creative boost and some extra inspiration is needed. When I am in need of some inspiration, I love visiting my favorite scrapbook galleries (like the Lily Bee Ning site:), and I have also found that some of my favorite stores like Anthropologie, Crate and Barrel, and Pottery Barn, have great designs in their catalogues and wall displays. It is so much fun to find design inspiration in unexpected places!

In order to create this "mosaic look", I used a 1 inch square punch, and began punching many different squares from the patterned paper in the Lovely Collection. I then positioned the squares as a diamond mosaic, and trimmed the edge pieces in half to create a large square. I incorporated some kraft squares as my journaling spot. I used Helmar's Quick Fix Adhesive Runner to adhere all the squares in place. The Lovely chipboard, die cut, and the beautiful brown tulle flower from the French Couture collection completed the look.

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to head over to the Lily Bee Blog and Ning site for some amazing inspiration!

Last day of preschool and what it taught me about scrapbooking

Yesterday was Jonah's last day of his 3 year old morning preschool class. (the AM preschool is his "regular" preschool and the afternoon is for speech therapy).

He has had his preschool teacher, Mrs. D, for a full year now (she was his summer camp teacher last summer), so the fact that this was his last day in her class was so sad to me. Mrs. D has been a wonderful teacher to Jonah and he completely adores her. She has come along side us and taken such a personal interest in Jonah regarding the journey we have been on with his speech delay- so it's particularly hard to say goodbye.

Mrs. D asked all the parents to come a little bit early to pick up the children and when we got into the classroom, she said goodbyes and gave each child a huge scrapbook binder she made for each of them. It included pictures, artwork, and milestones from their year in preschool.

That is when I about melted.

I was seriously fighting back the tears as I was sitting with Jonah and looking through this book. Page after page, he was captivated with the pictures and was telling me in great detail who was in each picture and what he was doing.

I realized many things about scrapbooking while I was sitting there with Jonah.

First, I realized that I don't look through our scrapbooks with my children nearly enough. I feel awful and guilty saying that. What's the point of making these great pages if you don't look at it with your children? What am I afraid of-- that pages will be crumpled and torn? (that's why there are page protectors:). I don't make these to ONLY post on a gallery, or put in a book on the shelf. I make them to shared with my family and loved ones. (need to remember that.)

Secondly, I realized that scrapbooks are a great springboard for conversation- which I could see clearly when Jonah was jabbering away when looking at the pictures. For a child who struggles with speech and communication, this could be a huge tool for us during the summer months.

Third, I LOVE scrapbooking products as much as anyone out there (lets be honet, it has a very very special place in my heart:) but let's face it, he did.not.care.at.all about design, products, etc as he was looking through this book. I came to the realization it's OKAY for me love the aspect of design and product, but (at least right now at the ages of my children) it is something that is totally for me, while the stories/memories/photos are what matter most to them. I need to balance to focus of the two appropriately.

Finally, it reminded me of what a GIFT scrapbooking and documentation truly is. I was so very touched about the amount of time Mrs. D put into this book and it really meant so very much to me that I have this - and I know it does to jonah too.

So, that in a nutshell is how the last day of preschool turned me into a bowl of mush. Thankfully his afternoon speech preschool doesn't end until next week, so we can space these last days apart!! I never thought i would be so mushy when it came to these things! I am just so thankful for the amazing teachers he had this year, and for how FAR he has come, and that we survived this crazy schedule! It will be a great summer!

Elle's Studio May Gallery

It's time for another round of the Elle's Studio Inspiration Gallery! Here are the projects I created for the Month of May:

"Nick Names"

Elle's Products Used: Sweet Summer Mini Papers, Sweet Summer Scallop Tags, Pieces of Life Note tags, Full of Color Scallop Journal Tags, Vintage Love Flashcards, Chic Note and Date Stamp. Other Products: Pink Flower Ribbon: Dear Lizzy by American Crafts, Black Alpha Stickers: K & Company, Blue Alpha: October Afternoon. Yellow Alpha: Dear Lizzy by American Crafts. Brads: KI Memories. Pearls: Hero Arts. Mist: Tattered Angels, Paint: Making Memories. Card Stock: Bazzill.

This layout was REALLY fun to make. For the majority of the layout, I used Elle's new products and layered them to make somewhat of a frame around the picture. I also added areas of journaling and titles giving the background to all of Jordan's funny nicknames. And of course, the Dear Lizzy rose ribbon is just to die for.

I have to say, I love how you can create a soft, pastel-y theme layout OR a bold and bright layout with Elle's new products. Very versatile and you can play up so many different colors. Love.

"Green Screen"

So this title ("The World is your Green Screen") may be super-cheesy, however, I felt like the journaling/title (which of course is a spin off of Shakespear's "The World is your Oyster") perfectly matched the picture in that I want to always remind my children they can accomplish anything they put there minds to, and that Todd and I are always behind them and will always love and support them. (besides, i think green screens are alot more modern and fun than oysters, huh??? ;)

Elle's Products Used: Triple Scallop Large Journaling Tags, Chic Note and Date Stamp, Sweet Summer Mini Papers , Pieces of Life Note Tags. Other Products: Bazzill Cardstock. Studio Calico Patterned Paper, and fabRips, K&Compant Black Frames, K&Company Black Alphas, American Crafts yellow and white alphas.

"For You"

Elle's Products Used: Sweet Summer Mini Papers, Country Fair Journaling Tags. Other Products Used: Tattered Angels Mist, Maya Road Banner Chipboard, Making Memories Paint, American Crafts alphas (yellow), Jenni Bowlin circle alphas.

This fun little card is my final project! Quick and Easy, It's just a little banner that corners the mini papers- it could be re-created as a birthday card, thank you card... just about anything! :)

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my projects! Make sure you see all the fabulous projects in the May Gallery at Elle's Studio. I have one month left for this six month term on the Elle's Studio Team. I have LOVED every second of it- Elle creates such fabulous products. And I have REALLY enjoyed getting to know the other sweet girls on this team! If you are a scrapper, I would highly recommend trying out for the new Elle's Studio Design Team for July- December. The details can be found here. Good luck!!!

Kids and iphones

What is it with Kids and iphones?

It's like they have this innate ability to navigate the iphone and all it's apps. A touch screen? Can't get more kid friendly than that. For the longest time I NEVER let me kids touch my phone... until I downloaded the apps for kids. Then it was fair game (my bad.). I can't tell you how many times I have had an app deleted from my phone by one of my kids. OR, how about the time I was sitting in church and I opened up my Bible App and everything was in CHINESE. Yes my friends, Jonah sucessfully changed my Bible to Chinese, and for the life of me, I was unable to translate it back to English. He has also sent out tweets without my knowledge. All of this has really given me a good laugh. (and taught me to utilize the airplane mode when I allow him to play the kids games).

His new favorite thing to do is to take pictures. For awhile he just enjoyed looking through my iphone pictures (which he would delete some of those too). But within the last week he has become quite the photographer. Without my knowledge.

Last Friday he took 93 photos on my iphone. I about died laughing when I was going through my pictures and saw some of the images he took.

Watching Clifford at Breakfast.
(or maybe this one is of his empty juice glass? who knows!)

Jor

Jor's Cup

The remote control.

And there were MANY MANY more.... i just loved looking through my pictures and seeing life through his little eyes. It's so interesting to see what he chose to take pictures of, and what is important in his little world... definitely need to remember to "let him" do this more often :).

Thank you Lizzy for such a great post idea. : )

NYC: Day 3 and a little kill-joy

So, by Day three my shoulder and back were completely out of alignment from carrying around my camera and 2 extra lens. Wow, how pathetic. :) So, I opted to leave the camera in the hotel room (hence the iphone pics) as we ventured out for a few hours before our 3pm flight home.

The last day we spent in New York was Mothers Day. I am so thankful for my mom and for the fact that I could spend that day with her and my sister. We woke up to find that it was really cold in the city, but we decided to go out for breakfast, stop by Rockerfeller Plaza for a few pictures (it was really close to our hotel), and go to the American Girl store!

I remember for my 8th birthday I got the Samantha Doll from American Girl. I LOVED Samantha, and I loved all the American Girl Books (which at that time was only Kirstin, Samantha, and Molly).

Now? There are about 23283 different American Girl Dolls and books. It's a little crazy, but super fun! The store is incredible too! There is even a hair salon for the dolls- are you kidding!? I have been to the Chicago store once, but it was before I had Jordan... seeing it through the eyes of a mother is a little different :) I was so excited to buy her first American Girl that day. There is a Bitty Baby Collection, where you can basically pick out a doll that looks like your child (there are boy dolls too:). And I found one that looks JUST like her.....

Do you agree? :) She named her doll "Baby Jor" then later in the day she changed it to "Baby Claire" (her best friend). And keeps going back and forth. Too sweet!

Anyway, back to New York.... So after American Girl we went back to the hotel BUT i HAD to stop by Crumbs Bakery, which was right next door. We had Magnolia Cupcakes the day before, and I was determined to make an official decision on which cupcake I liked the best...

Heaven, isn't it??? Just the smells and sights are enough to make any girl deliriously happy. Until...

Wait a minute. What is that?? WHAT is that?

Is that what I think it is?

Um.....OH NO they didn't. Surely that isn't the CALORIE CONTENT?? I mean, what insane cupcake would be 500 calories? If you look closely you will see a 490 and a 430 and even 560... and that's not the price we are talking here. you have got to be kidding me. I came all the way to new york to find out how fat their cupcakes will make me? Yes , i know, it's a new NY thing to put the calories on to the menus, but i SWEAR i didn't see it anywhere else the whole weekend we were there... only at Crumbs! Talk about a major kill-joy.

So I ordered a boring 330 Classic Vanilla.

But it was good. Really good.

But if I had to choose between Magnolia and Crumbs... hmmmm Crumbs wins on taste.... but at least i didn't feel SO guilty after leaving Magnolia!!!!

New York- Day 2

We woke up Saturday morning, bandaged our blistered feet while humming our favorite Wicked tunes, and headed out for our second day in New York City.

What a day. I think i can sum it up in one word... Shopping.

I mean, what girl goes to the Big Apple and doesn't shop? Especially when you have a tour guide cousin who is a buyer for a major department store.

We started off the day just me, mom, and Annie doing a little sight seeing and window shopping. And of course we had to walk by this building...

I remember when we visited Trump Towers six years ago on Mom's Day weekend- it was at the end of the very first season of the Apprentice. crazy!

We met Aunt Jana and Brittany in the meat-packing district for brunch at Pastis. Oh. my. word. SO amazing. The CUTEST little French Bistro (which apparently is famous for celebrity sitings!??!?!?)
We had a wonderful brunch and great conversation... and wouldn't you know it, Paul Shaffer from the David Letterman Show, got up and walked right past our table.... And i totally geeked out. As he walked RIGHT past me, i stared up at him and was totally cheesing. How embarrasing. I always thought i would play it cool when seeing celebrities... but, ummmm no. Guess not. heeeee!!!! It was so fun!

I was loving all the antiqued mirrors at Pastis. The decor was amazing. Had to snap a few pictures. The food was so wonderful!

After I geeked out at brunch, we decided to go shopping in the meat-packing district and then at the Chelsea Market. Apparently, THIS STORE opened a few weeks prior in the Chelsea Market. I love visiting all the designer stores... but Anthro will always have a special place in this girls heart.

I mean, seriously, are you kidding me??? Everytime I visit Anthro I think my creative heart will explode. Not only do I love their clothes and home-decor, but their displays are simply amazing. A dress made of paper? Yes, please.

Anthropologie was connected to the Chelsea Market, which was a big food market- so cool. Cupcakes, Breads, Meats, Fish... everything was there. I kind of reminded me of the Seattle Fish Market. We then walked to Soho and Washington Square Park. More shopping. More bandaids on our feed.

After our day of shopping, we ended the day with dinner at Dos Caminos. Yummy guac. By this time we were completely exhausted and took a cab back to our hotel (this was the second scariest cab ride of our trip). Before calling it a day, we had a fun dessert at our hotel restaurant- homemade donut holes and a little charcoal fireside on our table to roast marshmallows and make smores. Quite a wonderful way to end a fabulous day. :)

New York- Day 1

Our whirlwind Mothers Day weekend in NYC has come and gone-- but what an awesome get-away we experienced!

Mom, Annie, and I got in to NYC late thursday night and braved our first cab ride of the weekend-- and only one of us barfed. I count that as a victory considering he drove like a bat out of you know where. I have been to NYC a handful of times, but for this particular trip, the cabbies were out.of.control.every.time. Craziness!

Friday morning i got up early and took a cab by myself (scary! but no barfing!) and met up with sweet Keshet for breakfast. She is a scrapbook friend of mine; we have gotten to know each other recently through our blogs and over at Studio Calico message boards. It was SO fun to meet her in real life!

I really enjoyed our time together- so much to talk about!!! We talked about scrapbooking, marriage, struggles, our faiths-- I SO enjoyed meeting you, Keshet! Hopefully we can meet up again soon!

After breakfast I headed over to my cousin Brittany's apartment. She has been living in the City for almost three years now and this was my first time to visit since she moved. My favorite quote of the day was when she was showing us her lil apartment she said, "everything is barbie sized!" love it. I loved seeing her downtown apartment and her "neighborhood". She was a great hostess all weekend!

We then headed to Alice's Tea Cup for a little tea party and scones. Oh my, the cuteness. It made me want to come back and bring Jordan. It was such a sweet girly place where little girls could wear fairy wings, and of course, everything was modeled after Alice in Wonderland.

Annie, mom, brittany, aunt jana, and me

After lunch, we all walked over to the Met. Mom, annie, and I wanted to check it out so we explored for a bit.

My favorite part was the new American Woman exhibit (by Gap) and the bamboo garden on the rooftop. Amazing.

They view on the Met rooftop was amazing. A wonderful view of the city and Central Park...

which is where we headed next. I just love Central Park. If i lived in NYC i think i would spend lots of time there. There is so much to see and so much space (which is what i would miss the most!). It's easy to kill a few hours in the Park, and we did just that!

After the park, we walked back to our hotel, changed, went out to eat, and then saw... WICKED!

Oh how I love this musical! It's the second time I have seen it, and it's just as fabulous and exciting as the first time. The story is incredible- how it's a prequel to Wizard of Oz, and how the weave the two stories together in the end... so creative. I have a hard time deciding my favorite song- it's between "What is this Feeling (loathing)", "Gravity", and "Popular". (ETA: Ok now that i have listened to all three again i would have to choose "gravity"- it seriously gives me chills. I could listen to it on repeat all day!) It's an all around great musical. Annie and I were dying laughing at the fact that her hat looked just *a tad* like Elphaba's! Couldn't pass up this picture!

Even though we did so much, the day went by SO FAST! Oh and apparently, Times Square was closed for awhile on Friday due to another bomb scare- we had no clue until later that evening! Scary!

Check back tomorrow for Day 2 recap! :)

New York, New York!

It's been a tradition for a few years now that my mom, my sister Annie, and myself will spend Mother's Day weekend together. We took a year off here and there, but for the most part, we do something fun and exciting over Mother's Day weekend.

It all started in 2004 when we went to NYC for the weekend. We saw Aida, shopped for knock-off purses in Greenwich Village (where my sister about gave my mom a heart-attack when she went into one of the "black-market back rooms" for the REALLY good purses- you know, the "cheap-ah for you" purses), spent half a day trying to find Magnolia Bakery (was worth it), watched the Series Finale of "Friends" in our Times Square hotel room, and had Mother's Day Brunch at Tavern on the Green.

me, mom, and annie at tavern on the green. Mothers Day, 2004

Yes, I would have to say that was a pretty spectacular weekend.

Since that trip in 2004, we have visited Ikea in Ohio, and Pottery Barn Outlet Trips (i remember taking Jordan 2 years ago when she was 3 months old!) Those were amazing trips as well... just being together is what is special. These trips all started before I was a mother myself. I now know how special and dear these weekends are through the eyes of a mother.

Well.... this weekend.... it's BACK to NYC for the Conner girls.... and i. just.can't.wait. Planning to meet up with family, and some new and old friends, see "Wicked", eat great food... and lots more I am sure. My sweet, loving husband is staying home and caring for the kiddos while i am away. i am so thankful for his willingness to take over at the homestead, and let me have a fun weekend away with my mom and sister. thanks love.

annie and I in 2004. (dang i had long hair)

So, however you spend this weekend, I hope it's a great one!

I'll be back in a few days!

Wordless Wednesday

Blog Challenge at Elle's Studio!

Hi Everyone! I realize there is a lot of scrappiness going on at my blog recently :) But I don't want you to miss this AWESOME opportunity to win some lovely Elle's Studio products!

Every month Elle hosts a BLOG CHALLENGE. May's blog challenge was posted today... here it is:
Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to create a layout featuring your favorite part of Spring. You must use at least one Elle's Studio item. Send your layout to Elle (or link it to this post) by May 25th, and Elle will then choose a winner based on a random drawing to win a $30 gift card to her Shop. (and don't forget the new summer line is available- a great way to score some of these goodies!). Check out more Blog Challenge details here.

Paige and I both created layouts for this challenge. Here is mine:

Elle's Studio Items Used: Sweet Summer Mini Papers, Sweet Summer Journaling Tags, Sweet Summer Note Tags, Sweet Summer Stamp, Date and Place Strips (Pastel), Pieces of Life Note Tags, Triple Scallop Large Circle Journaling Tags, Sweet Summer Scallop Journaling Tags, Vintage Spring Flashcards Other Items Used: Fabric Flowers : K & Company. "Grow" and Fence Chipboard: Dear Lizzy by American Crafts. Decorative Paper Clips: Melissa Frances, Wood Letters: Harmonie. Teal Letters: American Crafts. Pen: American Crafts. Paper Clips: Supply Store.

I decided to highlight my love for Easter and for blooming flowers (ok i realize one is definitely more important than the other) but i touched on the fact that I think God is so cool in how He makes everything new and the flowers bloom right around the time of Easter - a physical reminder every year of what He did for us on the cross-- He makes us new.

I used Elle's mini papers and made little "vingettes" adding pictures of Easter from this year and last year, and also some flowers in bloom. That tree blossom is from a tree at my neighborhood Starbucks- isn't it amazing?!?

So check out the Blog Challenge Post here and make sure you enter for a chance to win that awesome $30 gift card!!! Good Luck! :)

It's National Scrapbook Day!!!

Wooo hooo! It's National Scrapbook Day! There are lots of fun things going on all over the web in celebration of this great hobby-- BUT, you won't want to miss the special giveaway going on at Elle's Studio! Elle is giving away a kit of NEW ITEMS to two lucky winners. Head over to this post on Elle's Blog to enter and find out two other ways you can win!! Also don't forget she is having a huge sale this weekend only. Take advantage of the savings and stock up on the new items!!! You will LOVE them. Sale details here.

This layout was created with many of Elle's new products. I love the colors combination of this summer line. Very sweet and very vintage-y. I knew this line would be perfect for the pictures I have of Jordan tasting her first cupcake. Let's face it, that's a very important day in a girl's life. Can you see the pure excitement on her face? She's a *little bit* like her mama. :)

Elle's Studio Supplies Used: Sweet Summer Mini Papers, Sweet Summer Large Journaling Tags, Sweet Summer Journaling Tags, Sweet Summer Scallop Circle Tags, Sweet Summer Stamp,Birthday Journaling Tags, Sweet Summer Note Tags. Other Supplies: Cardstock by Core'dinations. Scallop Circle Punch by Marvy. Ink by Close to my Heart. Alphabet Stickers by American Crafts. Wood letters by Harmonie. Rhinestones by American Crafts. Pearls by Hero Arts. Pen by American Crafts. Staples from Supply Store. Cupcake Sticker by Jolee's. Photography by Carpenter Photography and Design.

I have to say, I am truly thankful for this hobby. For many reasons.

First, to document and retell the stories of our lives. Sure I love the product, but it's the story and memories that I want to preserve and tell to my children (and to remind myself! there are so many funny things that i would just forget about if i didn't scrapbook them). The documentation of my Grandfather's Story has reconfirmed my strong belief that this is a GIFT. Second, I love creating with my hands. It's so much fun for me to combine my love of art, with storytelling, with photography... it's the perfect storm of creative happiness for me. Third, I am really enjoying photography. I feel like this is quickly becoming a second hobby for me and i am enjoying learning from great online resources such as PhotoMommas. And finally (although there are many more things I could mention) I love the scrapbooking community out there and the chance to make friendships with other girls who "get it" and totally understand and relate to my love for this hobby.

So that is my ODE to scrapbooking!!! ha! Thanks for stopping by today. And don't forget to stop by Elle's Studio to enter the giveaway. And don't forget to take some time to get crafty this weekend! :)