jaimes

My house is a canvas for my children. Actually, so is my car, my furniture, a few books, and even a lampshade. My kids have tried to decorate nearly every surface of my house since they could hold a crayon. As toddlers, they once colored marker across an entire wall of my bedroom. It was like waves of color. I was pretty impressed once the anger wore off.

As much as I love my kids getting crafty, I’m not a fan of the chaos crafts create. I come from the school of “a place for everything, and everything in its place.” That’s probably why I was blessed with children – to completely challenge that part of my personality on a daily basis.

I figured out a pretty fun way to organize the kids’ art supplies. Since this idea gets compliments from moms who visit my house, I thought I’d share it with you. (more…)

It’s the first day of December, and you know what that means? People are getting batshit crazy already. I’ve been on the receiving end of angry, laser eyes from drivers – you know when a guy turns his head and raises his eyebrows to scream at you with his eyeballs? When your windows are up from the cold, your only choice is to go Italian on his ass and give him your best angry hand gesture. I’m hearing moms in the store talk through gritted teeth to their kids who are drooling over the toy aisles. “No, honey, we’re not here to buy toys, just toilet paper.”

It’s here, people. Holiday madness. How will we get through it? I’ll tell you how, alcohol. Joking. Not really. And music. (more…)

This is my very good friend Lynn Rivera. We met in Virginia Beach while working at the same hair salon called Wink. Lynn is from Atlanta and she recently moved back. I am beyond excited that she and her family are here, mostly because we get to hang out all the time. But also because she’s my hair stylist. My hair and I really, really missed her. (more…)

I’ve read that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master something. That breaks down to roughly 20 hours a week for 10 years. I just started playing drums over the summer, and I practice for a few hours a week. So, it looks like I’ll be a drum master in my 70s, which is fine by me. I’d rather do that than play bingo anyway.

Joe Morello – Master jazz drummer

Buddy Rich – Master drummer with a mean temper

Karen Carpenter – Great drummer. Who Knew? I didn’t until my friend showed me this clip of her.

Senri Kawaguchi – Japanese drummer, age 13. She started playing at 5, so I’m guessing she crammed those 10,000 hours into 8 years. She’s amazing and adorable.

Ok, well I’m off to practice. I only have 9,900 hours to go.

I am not the craftiest of mamas. I have some very crafty friends who have Etsy shops and handmade window treatments in their faux-finished living rooms, and I SO admire their skills. I’m just very lazy in the crafts department. But this morning when I looked at the growing by the second hole in my favorite pair of jeans, I decided to do something about it. I busted out the old sewing box my mom gave me years ago and fished around for a solution. And what did I find? A Led Zeppelin patch I got from the record store I worked in 15 YEARS AGO. Here’s what went through my head at this discovery…

Holy crap, I’m one of those old people with band patches from decades ago!

Would I look totally ridiculous if I sewed this patch on my jeans?

I don’t freaking care if I do look ridiculous. I have to act fast or my favorite jeans will be no more.

And then I looked at that nasty hole in my jeans and said, “I’m about to get crafty on your ass.”

And so I did. It’s not perfect, and if you look at the sewing from inside the jeans, it’s a hot mess. But, I’m proud of myself for being somewhat domestic. I even took a picture of myself with the end result. Notice the urban graffiti background to enhance the rock-n-roll jeans experience. This was taken near the infamous Krog Street tunnel in Atlanta.

dancer. model. actor. humanitarian. mother of sean and luca.

“I probably hold the distinction of being one movie star who, by all laws of logic, should never have made it. At each stage of my career, I lacked the experience.”

feeling audrey? check out this dress at ModCloth

retro make-up lesson