We at barley&birch read a TON of parenting/design/life blogs every day. So when we find a new one, one that we are OBSESSED with, we have to share it with our friends.
Meet Ohdeardrea. She is cool, she is funny, she is a vegan, she is a single mom, she lives near palm trees, she has a really cool life, and she takes awesome pictures.
We look forward to reading her blog every day and are pretty sure that you will too.
Its no secret that we are huge fans of the Dear Baby blog. So when we saw this adorable video of Everly (wearing her Bridge Lapneck Tee) singing along with her father’s wonderful strumming, we just had to share it with you.
Melissa notes,
“In the video above he managed to squeeze her 21 pound little body into a size 3-6 month shirt (And a true testament to the super stretch organic cotton from our favey faves over at Barley and Birch). After I stopped laughing, I shot this video of her adding in her own verses to daddy’s new tune. (And I’m happy to report that shirt is now tucked away in the attic.)”
It takes literally 15 seconds! You can vote here.
A great friend of barley&birch, Dear Baby, and its darling writer Melissa (evidence pictured below) are up for the Best Baby Journal at TheBump.com! Its such an awesome opportunity and we would love nothing more than to see a great person given the award.
Melissa’s blog is refreshing, inspiring, cool, charming, and, did I say inspiring? It inspires us to be happy, it inspires us to be in love, it inspires us to enjoy our lives. She is precisely what we want to be when we grow up, is what we are saying
Go check out her blog. And, I’d bet you a buck that you are racing to vote for her and tell your friends by page 2.
You can vote once a day through the 15th. Because she is so humble, she just found out she was even in the running. So we have 4 days to get her to the top. (:
As barley&birch grows, we meet lots of really awesome and inspiring people. And by ‘meet’, I mean ‘Tweet, Facebook, blog comment, and e-mail with.’
Now, with barley&birch at age almost 2, Jodie and I (Kyle) have both made more meaningful virtual connections than we could have imagined.
And then…. sometimes we get to meet them in real life. And its basically mind blowing.
So last week I invited myself on an afternoon with Emily, of the awesome DesignHER Momma.
We went to the park with her kids, her three notably gorgeous, brilliant kids. (Photo above from our day of fun. Yeah, like, how can one family get so much pretty, right?) Her son, the youngest, never stopped smiling. Like, actually. I’m pretty sure that her 3 year-old little girl is Evel Knievel reincarnated, saying, “Momma push me hiiiiiigher,” when her little body was already swinging well over our heads, “all the way over the sun!” Wild woman. And her eldest, Piper, of whom my first impression was “What an incredibly articulate, polite, kind, darling little girl who is so smart and so funny and so helpful and SO cool.”
Well, after the park, we had a snack, chatted, and Piper started laying out a game of Memory. She asked if I would play with her. I of course said “Yesssss!!!” Emily said, “Watch out, Piper has a great memory…” I figured she meant “…for a 5 year old.” But NO, she meant “…for a PhD Physicist, champion chess player, and the person who taught Mark Zuckerburg all he knows all rolled into one.”
Yes, you see where I am going with this. I was schooled by Piper in Memory. I tried SO hard. Final score was something along the lines of 24 (Piper) to 8 (Kyle). And 2 of my points were from my 3 year old assistant. BUT…. I swear I am smart. Really smart! Miss Piper is just a notch above…
(** ALSO– today is her 6th birthday– HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PIPER! I hope I can come play Memory with you soon, once I’ve had some practice….)
ANYWAY, what I am trying to say is that being able to put faces/voices to online connections is just…. unreal for me. Meeting Emily and hugging a real live human (and then hugging some tiny little humans) really drove home that even though I don’t get to have weekend brunch or Thursday happy hour with the amazing people that I chat with all the time, the connections are still real and that I am not insane for admitting that they enrich my existence more than 90% of my real life interactions do. (If you understand law school, you will know I am not exaggerating.)
SO– they/you each mean the world to me and barley&birch as a whole. We can’t wait to hug you each in real life!!! <3
Love,
Kyle
UPDATE: I forgot to mention HOW WONDERFUL EMILY IS. As you can see, the loss at Memory is really affecting my emotions and tends to stand out in my recollection of events. Emily ALLOWED ME to tag along on her day. (I did actually invite myself into her day.) She has raised three amazing kids that were beyond welcoming to a stranger. She is so warm and so sweet and just awesome. And it was THAT part of the day that made me think “Wow, I feel lucky to have started a company that caused our paths to cross.” And I just needed to add that. (:
We read a lot of blogs. Like, MA-JOR amounts of blog readings happen over here at b&b.
So we were tickled that one of our most beloved blogs wrote such a sweet review of our clothing line here! We read Dear Baby religiously and love Melissa and her family, so reading her review was a huge treat for us.
Here is what she had to say:
“Ridiculously cute clothes and best of all – their entire line is carbon neutral – they use organic cotton, water based ink, and suppliers who use solar- powered energy. They’re big, big, big on keeping it clean and green and I love that… Effortlessly cool. I want to write love letters with big swirly hearts in the corners to this company because it’s just SO right. Sustainable, earth friendly clothing + beautiful design = Melissa’s dream come true.”
And as a former San Francisco resident, she enjoyed the Bridge Tee that we joyfully sent to her little one, saying
“That’s Everly’s bridge!! (Some folks call it the Golden Gate bridge.. but whatever). It’s so soft and comfortable and I put it on her whenever I’m feeling homesick for fog and mission burritos. It’s far and away the coolest San Francisco tee I’ve ever seen & you can find your own at one of my favorite SF baby boutiques, Sprout.”
We are so tickled and thrilled. (:
So you should be prepared to let out a continuous “awwwww…” that could go on for a few hours as you look through this blog.
Mila’s Daydreams is a series of photos taken of little darling as she sleeps soundly. All around her are various wonderful adventures as set up (brilliantly) by the little darling’s mother. We are talking some serious creativity here.
In the words of the creator, the geniusssss Adele, “This is my maternity leave hobby. While my baby is taking her nap, I try to imagine her dream and capture it.”
We are totally blown away by the creativity, the cuteness, and adventures, and the sweetness oozing from this blog.
You know those friends that always plan the most perfectly put together party with all the unexpected detail that just makes you feel so special and so envious at the same time? Yes, I figured you did.
Well, thanks to our friends at fawn&forest, we recently learned of Hip Hip Hooray, which happens to be an adorable blog about all things kids parties, from the invite to the decor. They are just an incredible resource to help you plan the most lovely of parties for your small one and their friends.
I mean, the jurassic themed party and invite? AMAZING. By the end of the post I was completely devestated that I wasn’t invited.
Maybe we should partner with them on a mega eco friendly party post?
We were featured on Natural Mommie yesterday! Wow! What an amazing blog and an amazing review of barley&birch. Look at what Amanda, the writer, had to say about our clothing!
“Aidan has been wearing his barley & birch tee and beanie for about 4 months now and it’s holding up like a champ. A definite “hand-me-down” for his little brother; this tee is quality. It keeps getting softer with every wash {which with a toddler, you know is a LOT of washes} and it’s kept his form. No cheap fabrics here that shrink up and turn boxy. And the dye/pigments seem to be a part of the shirt rather than just sit ON the shirt, therefore the print looks the same as the day we received it and it continues to feel soft and comfy, not cracked and hard. The beanie is a one size fits all which is great because Ethan my baby can wear the hat too! It’s lightweight organic cotton so it keep his little melon cool in the summer sun and works well as an added layer for when it’s chilly in the evenings and we’re out for a walk.”
Thanks to Natural Mommie for the wonderful feature and kind words!
We get asked to sponsor things and advertise at least once a day.
We always decline, as I fiercely guard our budget to ensure that we can donate as much money as we do yet still have the resources we need to continue our growth and expansion plans. (There will come a time when we sponsor and advertise all over the place, of course, its just not now.)
But then Sara Sophia, of our beloved tout-est-des-roses was looking for sponsors for Blissdom. Of course we had to say yes! We’ve connected with her so so deeply over the past year and want her to have all the opportunities to reach more people that she can. So we really didn’t give it a 2nd thought.
Well, until we did some checking up on all the zillions of people going to Blissdom. Wow, this was, like, a big conference. It wasn’t just some little thing she just wanted to do. Everyone is there in this blogging world (in which we are very much still getting our bearings.) There are people with like a trillion followers. Whoa, and that one is inspiringly, awesomely thrifty. Oh, and that lady has like a cult following. And that one is sort of crabby. Cool women!
And then all of the sudden a huge smile crept across my face and I was filled with this enormous sense of pride and gratefulness. Our sponsee, Sara Sophia, is the perfect person for us to sponsor and to represent us as a brand. We literally support every single facet of her life and thoughts and, seriously, who could not love her personality? I look to her for cheer and inspiration. I look forward to reading her posts and basking in her positive and own-beat-marching energy.
Like, this video, for example. I’ve watched it at least half a million times (like many of you!) Usually at 2am when I am just overwhelmed and disenchanted with life. And it makes me smile and kiss my puppy and be happy about the whole world. How can you not melt when you watch it? (Also love the cameo of the Gazelle onepiece.)
So, I guess what I am trying to say is that (1) by spending our first sponsorship/advertising dollar we took our first step to real business-ness (not just new-kids-on-the-block world changing) and (2) that we are so intensely proud of our sponsee that I can’t even express it. Its a new step for us and I couldn’t be happier.
TGIF! Hope you all have an amazing weekend!
Love,
Kyle
