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I’m on vacation! As you read this, I’m in Spain with my little family drinking vino, tasting tapas, and taking siestas. Life is very good.

My cousin Emma is officially in charge at Good Stock, so if you need anything these next 2 weeks, she’s your gal.

Also, I scheduled some blog posts of recent book projects I’ve been meaning to share, so check back here even though I’m out.

And finally…I have a teaser for some exciting news! We shipped some books on Friday that you will see in December on newsstands! That’s all I can say right now, but we’re very excited about it.

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OK, so now I know what it feels like. Now I really get why parents want to preserve the moments and memories of their child’s first year! So here is my plan for Ruthie’s year one.

We want to… 1) make something we can give her someday that captures her first year, and 2) keep it simple and doable, so we actually get it done! (I have slight fears she will be the bookmaker’s daughter with no books of her own.)

So the first thing we did is stamped her name and birth date on a Moleskine we’ve been keeping for her. Steven and I both write in it - not daily (not realistic!) but just enough.

Now we're working on a companion custom Moleskine that will contain photos from her first year. We'll probably put a small square photo of her on the front with stamping that says "year one."

I will definitely keep you posted on our progress. It’s so fun to make this for my own little girl!

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Wrapping up a busy but productive week. We shipped these 3 books yesterday and loved how they all turned out. A wedding accordion, a fortieth birthday book, and an 80th birthday book. Can’t show you the insides of the birthday ones - they’re surprises!

Happy weekend, everyone.

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If you are on facebook you can now find Good Stock Press + Bindery and become a fan!

We’ll be adding some more books pics there and you can write on our wall and say hello.

Why? Because facebook is fun.

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Highlights of 2008:

* getting to see my grandma almost every day
* celebrating my first wedding anniversary
* working with amazing people to tell their stories + honor their families
* buying a house
* getting pregnant! (baby due april/may 2009!)

This photo is from a memoir I did last year. We didn’t end up including it in the book because we didn’t know whose legs these were! But I love love this image and it captures exactly how I feel heading into 2009….

I can see the path ahead of me and I’m excited for the journey. I might approach said path a bit crooked and in my own unique way, but my arms are swinging and I am very happy.

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[thanksgiving 2008]

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Today you can find a guest post I wrote at the blog Shades of the Departed, a site devoted to all things old photography. Yes, it’s a bit dreamy.

I love this quote from their site, about where their name comes from.

You can go check out my post here.

Thank you, Linda, for the opportunity!

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[ me & liz in our booth ]

It has taken me a bit to recover from being away for a week. But here’s a bit of a wrap up from my first-ever genealogy conference and trade show.

I’m so happy I went to the show. It was long and exhausting, but overall very worthwhile. My highlights:

- Fun Liz. She’s as fun in person as over the phone, and to say we hit it off is an understatement. Having a real client helping sell my books was amazing - thank you, Liz!

- The response from attendees when I asked how long they’d been researching their families, “Oh, not that long…only 10 years now.” (!!!) Apparently unless you’ve been researching for 40 years you can’t claim longevity in the world of genealogy.

- Hearing people rave about my books. I never tire of that. And meeting people I can’t wait to make books for!

- Meeting the Photo Detective, Maureen Taylor. She can tell you the story of an old photograph, just by looking at it. This lady is a veritable database of historical facts and references, from fashion to architecture to photography itself. Besides which, she is totally fun and was recently on the Today Show!!

It was great to meet everyone! Here’s one last booth shot…

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Last week I participated in The Lab, a monthly gathering of Seattle’s creative community hosted by Velocity Art and Design.

Each month The Lab hosts a speaker discussing a theme. In this month’s case, there were a few of us speakers with a very simple theme - Bring & Brag! You can see the list of speakers who brought their creative work and bragged - it was quite the eclectic bunch and very fun.

Even better, you can download and listen to the podcast. There were some very entertaining presenters, especially right at the beginning. You’ll find me at the very end - time stamp 1:02 or so. I talk about how I started my business, the moment I became a designer, my first big custom project (complete with a tear-filled night in my workshop!), and a few of the books I’ve done.

Thank you to John and the Velocity team for a very fun night! I had a blast!

(Oh, and thank you to Megan from Not Martha, for your kind words about my brag session! Martha Stewart Weddings? Sign me up!)

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I’ve been a bit quiet on the posts this week but it has been anything but quiet around here. So here’s a bit of an update.

I met with a lovely local photographer yesterday about working on wedding books together. I feel like weddings are all around me these days! I handed off my first wedding book Tuesday (to a local client so I got to hand off in person…a rare treat!) and am itching to share photos of the book here. But I’m refraining. For now.

Instead (drumroll please) you can see it here during Wedding Book Week this September/ October! (exact date tbd) I’ll feature a wedding book a day - all very different styles - to get the creative juices flowing for brides past and present. I’ll even have my own wedding book done by then! (My husband says he’ll believe it when he sees it….) But really, I will.

Oh, and another fun book in the works…a 50th anniversary book. The family is making it for their parents, and we’re keeping it simple. The concept is 50 favorite memories + 50 photos. Simple and sweet. Very doable, even for a busy family.

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