The name game

I was reading my friend Ali's blog the other day. She always posts hilarious snippets about being a mom—short and sweet. And a recent post was about what she is going to name Baby Boy #2, soon to arrive. But she would not disclose the new name. I was also talking to some friends last night who are having Baby Boy #1, and are giving him 7 names (the mother is Ukrainian, and it is customary in that country). She told us all of the names, and added that everyone has a negative reaction to this (I thought it sounded like kind of a cool custom, actually). And yet again, our other friends who are welcoming Baby Girl #1, Luthien, into their family possibly next week, made us practically swear an oath of silence when telling us Luthien Lee's name. And at little Luthien's shower, another mom disclosed the name of their future baby to be Atreyu (yes, like from Never Ending Story—that's how she had to explain it). You could practically hear people judging her, not even listening to the meaning of the name ("warrior"), not to mention the fact that she was also taking cultural influences into account. SO. Why mention all of this? Well, with "Huckleberry Finn," "The Finnster," "Finneman," "Finnigan," and "Finneus" topping the charts of Finn's name game, I thought I would stick up for baby names everywhere. Mom's get criticized if they name thier child simply Jane, much less something that can't be pronounced easily in the U.S.of A. And I can't even tell you how many times I was offered other name ideas when I spilled the beans that we were naming our baby Finn. "Just Finn." Not short for anyhting, just good ol' Scandinavian Finn. Wes has Danish roots and ties. So why shouldn't Finn, too? And Finn's middle name? Gaven. Oh wait! Not Gavin? Nope, it means "the gift" in Danish. Oh my, here we go with the names that mean something again. As far as I know, Wes and I don't have a baby on the way at the moment, but when the day comes that we have another son, we are naming him—are you ready? BRACE FOR THIS...Aksel. Sounds like Axle. Axle Rose. Axle of a Car. I know, and it has been brought to my attention that it sounds like a bad word. All of which are valid points, however moot they may be. But the truth is that Wes and I think this name is super cool. And my only hesitance was that I thought people would judge me. So silly. I am not even worried about the kid being made fun of. Do you know why? Because EVERY kid gets made fun of. Even if you are Lyndsay Ward Beauchamp. Do you mean Lyndsay "Wart" Beauchamp? Uh, no that's my mom's maiden name, and Lyndsay is spelled with 2 y's. I like it that way—it sets me apart. It's not pronounced "LynSAY" or "LInDsAY" or anything other than regular "Linzee." And don't get me started on Beauchamp ("Beechum", not "Beechnut" or "Bootcamp"). So you see, everyone has their own preferences. We all do it—secretly judge our friends' choice in baby names, because OF COURSE our own ideas are the best! :) For the same reasons that our kids are the cutest, smartest, cleverest... It's only natural, and I am guilty of it, too. Let this be my repentance. So here is a long advanced period to warm to "Aksel." And when we introduce little Aksel Johnson one day, just say "Oh he's so super cute, and smart, and clever!" And that'll do.

Shea butter is where it's at

Finn has decided that he LOVES my new mango mandarin hand cream from Bath and Body Works. But he doesn't try to eat it (which is surprising, because I think I might have even tried to lick it off my fingers the first time I used it, it smells THAT good). Instead, he comes running at me with his little hand stretched out saying his signature "Aahh? Aahh?" (If you know Finn personally, you know exactly what sound that is.) So I squeeze a little pearl onto his palm, and rub it in. He continues to rub his little hands together contentedly for a minute or two, and then stretches out his hand to repeat the whole process again...and again...and again... But if I am not quick to rub it in, he looks at me like I just squeezed alien guts on his hand, and he wipes it off on the nearest convenient surface (his shirt, the leather couch, the dog). It reminds me of the time I went out to eat with my parents, and Finn got a green bean on his finger (oh, the horror). He freaked out and started trying to shake it off, while alerting me (and the rest of the table) to the problem at a high decibel. He's a pretty particular little fella!

Reality Check

OK, since this is technically my "blournal," I need to do some real-world documentation. That way, when Finn looks back on my life and reads my "blournal" there will be some references to what was going on in the world at that time (other than sleepless nights and a work-a-holic Mom). So, Future Finn, here is what is going on in the world we live in today:

P.S. Mommy drives you around in a Diesel. Each gallon is almost $5 a pop. So I hope you appreciate that cushy car seat I tote you all over town in... ;)

Prisoner in my own home

Last night I stayed up into the Wee Hours of the morning finishing up Glitz Season 3 ("But Lyndsay, you are finishing up Glitz every day!" And yes, I am still finishing up Glitz tonight. But it's the last night—I swear.) Anyhoo, Wee Hours. Finn decided, yet again, to sleep ONLY in the Big Bed with Dad. He also decided to go to bed at 11:30pm (what kind of parents ARE we?!). And to top it off, Wes had to lock Finn in our bedroom so that he wouldn't try to escape and come bang on my keyboard while I was trying to work. So Wes essentially locked himself and Finn into the bedroom for the night...without my knowledge. Yeah, well, that means I was locked OUT. And no amount of not-too-quiet and not-to-loud knocking and calling would do anything about the situation. So I had to sleep in my guest room!! It's a good thing I am such a good hostess that I have extra new toothbrushes, floss, and toothpaste in my guest bathroom. Alas, my contacts had to go straight into the trash. It is HOT in our guest room this time of year. So I felt sorry for myself a little bit for being generally warm and without my favorite Pillow (yes, Pillow is his name...and yes, I guess Pillow is a "him," even though he's a "him" in that generic way that my panda bear growing up was a "him" because he couldn't quite be a "her"). So after 30 minutes of self-pity and aloneness on a strange pillow, I drifted off to sleep, only to be FRIGHTENED awake by Wes at 4:30 am. He was wondering why I didn't knock to get into the room. !! News flash, I am married to, and apparently bear, Very Sound Sleepers. They are in there as I type, all snuggly and asleep. I made sure to rig the door tonight.

Element of Danger

This is Wes's sister, Tiffany. Look closely at this picture. Tiff is wearing little stiletto heels and holding a tea cup. She DROVE to my house with that tea cup...full of tea. Very Tiffany. Tiffany is a librarian. But much like the librarian heroine in the movie The Mummy (also Tiffany's favorite movie), she is a librarian that craves a little action and adventure. My favorite quote form Tiffany came recently when she was wearing what I consider dangerously high heels for a day at work. I asked how she could wear heels like that all day, to which she replied, "I like wearing heels to work—it adds an element of danger to the workplace!" :) Whatever gets you through the workday! My Mom is also a librarian (albeit a little more prone to sensible foot wear). And between Tiffany and my Mom, I have had some great recommendations for books that have a healthy "element of danger." They are all young adult lit, and here they are:

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

So if you, like Tiffany, crave a little excitement, pick them up.
(Cue Reading Rainbow theme song.)

"That's just me"

I keep changing my profile picture. I thought I wanted to update it, but then Wes said to me, "I liked your old one better." And I said, "What—the one with the flower in my hair?" And he said, "Yes—but that's just me. It's just a professional photographer's opinion...." (long silence). So, uh, yeah. Back to the flower picture.

It's a toaster!

Went swimming today...

6 and counting

Um...I think we might have a situation on our hands.

Sneak Peeks and Sound Picks

Here is a sneak peek at one of the new lines from Glitz Design Season 3. It's only one layout I did on a whim, but gives you a feel for the new "Basic" line. Check out the Glitz blog to see more! We have a new designer this season, Katye Witt out of Cali. She is super talented, and designed Gigi, Glam, and some of the Hot Mama line this season. I worked on the Basic, Kringle, Hallow, and some of the Angst and Hot Mama lines (among other things). Fun stuff!

.....

The new Coldplay album is out! I have been living on the single, and title track, Viva La Vida, for a month now. (I am crazy about that single.) And I have to say the whole album does not disappoint! I won't attempt to give a full-fledged review. Coldplay albums, for me, take a while to fully process. It's not as easy as throwing it in the CD player, taking one spin, and saying "I love this whole album!" as I sing along to each track. And I think that's what makes Coldplay better than a lot of bands. Every song is layered (musically and lyrically), so it takes a while for me to sift through and come out with a clear idea of what the album is trying to say. I've listened to it 3 times through, and really enjoy Lost!, Yes, and Strawberry Swing. So that's it. Take a listen for yourself and see what it does for you.

Rockin' Out

Last night Wes was good enough to send Tiff and me off to a Jimmy Eat World concert, with great seats! It was a rockin' good time. I have seen Jimmy Eat World a few other times, and this was definitely the most all-out, big-concert, should-have-had-earplugs, mosh-pit-in-the-front performances of the lot. It was awesome.




So these are all kinda fuzzy b/c I had to use my iPhone (they were really tight on regular camera security, so I was glad I left mine at home, safe and sound). But they still get the job done.

Around the set of 'What Goes Around'

Our friend Bryan Babich was good enough to photograph some of the big night on set. He also made the stellar carousel signs. He's a rad guy—super talented.

Mad props go to:
• Tiffany for making a cameo as a Hot Dog gal and sewing Max's righteous purple vest by hand.
• Max for being the coolest carousel attendant ever (Wes said you looked the best on set by far).
• Little Ayla for being so dang cute and talented.
• Crazy Rocky for dropping your cash right where it needed to fall.
• Bryan (see above).
• Kohl Glass for keeping Wes sane.
• Red, for flying all the way here to be Wes's first AD (right? AD, not AAA, AB, or AC...), and for putting up with the thought that I was only half a house length away, puking all night and not being any sort of hostess whatsoever.
• Anyone else who helped Wes make this night happen.
• WES for being generally awesome, and gutsy enough to take on such an ambitious project and not have it fall apart, but rather come together quite nicely (from what I hear).

Enjoy the shots.






Wrap.

Happy Daddy Day

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads!

Today is the Day

Today is a significant day for 2 reasons. The first reason is that Wes is shooting a Short. What is that? It's a little mini film with a great big production. It is part of the application he will be submitting to AFI (American Film Institute). I am sure I mentioned at some point that even though Wes is a talented photographer, he wants to become a talented cinematographer. So it's off to Hollywood, it seems, by way of graduate school. And this school requires you to submit a short film on which the applicant has been the Director of Photography. It is a huge production for only 4 minutes of plot line (and a quite good plot line, at that—more on that later). So Wes wrote, is directing, and will also be the director of photography on this film that is being shot tonight at the Phoenix Zoo. As I type I can hear him calling the over 30, 7-year-old extras to confirm that they will, in fact, be there to ride on the glitzy carousel into the late hours of the night. So, of course, I have REALLY been looking forward to this production for quite a while. I have been excited to be on an actual film set with bright lights and bull horns yelling "ACTION!" Which leads me to the other reason today is the day...


Today is the day the circus came to town in the form of a stomach bug. Just for little me. I have totaled 2.5 hours of sleep in the last 15. You can only imagine what the other 12.5 hours were spent doing. So while I wasn't sleeping, Finn was waking up crying, and Wes was tending to Finn. Then at one point, while I was sleeping (or trying to) on the cold tile floor of the bathroom, Finn toddles in to find me there, and assumes the worst. So he starts scream crying, and the only comfort Wes can offer Finn is to hold him while they both watch me puke my guts out. Greeeeaaaat. This was a first for Wes—I have never thrown up in front of him. "Babe, do you feel so much closer now that we have bonded over this new and wondrous experience?" Here are 2 quotes to be heard coming out of Wes's mouth at 4 am: "What the hell is happening?!" and "This is a nightmare." (To which I just whimpered.) Poor Wes only got maybe 2 hours of sleep before he was up at 8 am to tend to baby Finn. Luckily Grandma Johnson has come to sweep Finn away for the day while I lie pitifully in my sick bed sipping chicken broth. Wes leaves at 3 to shoot until Midnight. And I have to miss the whole thing! POUT POUT I think my super-concentrated anti-nausea medication is kicking in. So it's time for a nap. I'll be back when I'm on the mend. (Coincidentally, Wes has a really funny story about Campbell's Soup that happened 2 days ago. I'll share it in another post.)

Combined hours put into 'What Goes Around': Hundreds
Number of extras on set: more than 30
Number of minutes of final short: 4
Number of hours in which to film at the Zoo: 4.5
Dollars it takes to put on such a production: Thousands
Missing the biggest production of Wes's career to date due to the first stomach virus I've had in 5 years: PRICELESS (dripping with sarcasm)

A little vanity, please

Thanks for re-doing my do, Kimmy! I love love love it.

(Oh man—Wes is SO going to make fun of me for this picture...
you probably will, too.)

This is the Palmyra, NY LDS Temple. Families are sealed together forever in these Temples. It is a wonderful blessing that I can be with my family forever. I am grateful for the knowledge that no matter what happens in this lifetime, we have the opportunity to be with our loved ones throughout the eternities.

We were sad to learn that some of our dearest friends lost their new baby this week. But it is comforting knowing that they will be reunited again one day.

The purpose of Temples

When I have a few exta minutes at 2 am when I am done with a days work I try to do this...

Any one else on this band wagon?
























(Oh, and when you type "The Host" into Google image search,
this is NOT what you get....haha)

Next up, this:

Say it ain't so

What tha...

"Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country."
- Marion Barry, Washing, D.C. Mayor

"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."
- Dan Quayle, U.S. Vice President

"It is wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago"
- Dan Quayle, former U.S. Vice-President


"The Internet is a great way to get on the Net."
-Bob Dole

"I think that the film 'Clueless' was very deep. I think it was deep in the way that it was very light. I think lightness has to come from a very deep place if it's true lightness.
-Alicia Silverstone

"I can't really remember the names of the clubs that we went to."
- Shaquille O'Neal, basketball player, on whether he had visited the Parthenon during his visit to Greece

"I've never really wanted to go to Japan. Simply because I don't like eating fish. And I know it's very popular out there in Africa."
- Britney Spears

"I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people."
- Dan Quayle

"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."
- Hillary Clinton (Ah-HAH!)

Hands down

I found this on Wes's desktop today when I was getting a file off of

his computer. So sweet—they must have been scanning something together.

Who feels like hanging out in their PJs all day?!

"I do!" says Finn.
"Me too, me too!" says Lyndsay.

Where's Lyndsay?

"Ugh....Lyndsay hasn't posted since Monday? Where IS she?" (Jenny..."Where IS the Wrigley Mansion??")
I'll tell you where she's been—working, working, working!! It's Glitz season again. (Don't know what Glitz is? See HERE.) So I am busy creating new and fun things for the scrapbooker in you. Although Ginger—one of the founders—would want it to be the "scrapbooker in me," too, I am sure. :) Anyhoo, I cannot show you what I have been creating, since the whole wide scrapbooking world might steal our ideas. But I can show you some fun projects created (by other talented people) with Glitz products, all of which I had the pleasure of designing:


These little doozies are called roller doodles, and are featured in this high-falutin' magazine. The genius Glitz girls thought they would be a fun blast from the past (remember 3rd grade?!). They are little roller stamps, and last night I had a dream that we made a huge one that required both hands just to hold. Roller doodles are something I can really see myself using. They are super fun and super pink (just the handle, of course).

The two designs above are from last season's (or do I say the "current season in stores") Rhapsody line.

This one is created using the Camelot line.

Now go be creative!!

My big baby

Tonight Finn ate his whole bowl of spaghetti and meatballs with a big fork...

And then he begged me to rock and sing him to sleep, cradling him like a little baby. 

Consider these heart strings tugged.

A few things I am loathed to admit

1. Last night, in a rush, I washed my face with Softsoap—the antibacterial pump kind we all have in the second bathroom with sea turtles on the bottle. Oh the horror.

2. Also last night, I accidentally frisbeed (is that a verb?) a round, cardboard coaster right into Finn's unscathed—but now scathed—forehead. It was accidental. I have a witness (Reachel?!). It was right out of The Office episode when Pam footballs Meredith in the face at 5 ft.

3. I didn't start preparing my Sunday School lesson for church today until 10:30 last night. (Can we say High School term paper?)

4. I was actually studious (nerdy) enough to NEVER procrastinate any term paper until 10:30 the night before it was due. So I must be in decline.

5. Finn has been sleeping in our bed, and last night I let him go to sleep without brushing his teeth. (There was screaming involved, and I was trying to prepare aforementioned lesson.)

6. I currently have cookie dough (2 raw eggs, and all) in my freezer, being chiseled (that's not a word you type everyday) away at by me and me alone.

7. I don't own place mats or cloth napkins. GASP! (Reachel is unfortunately privy to this, as well.)

8. I am a horrible sketch artist (but don't tell anyone who actually thinks I am creatively gifted).

9. Remember that broken washing machine I blogged about a week or so ago? Well after I took it all apart and fixed it, I put it all back together and acted like I never touched it so that our home warranty people would still fund the fixing of the deeper issues that it has (because technically me touching it voided the whole thing). *Ding* (that was my halo glinting in the sun)

10. As I type this Finn has woken up from a nap in his crib, and I am letting him hang out in there while I finish typing this. "I'm coming, buddy! Momma's gotta blog for goodness sake!!" ;)