Lifestyle & Home – kathysisson.com

January 27, 2019 Lifestyle & Home

The Last Night in the Nursery – A Lilac & Sparkle Big Girl Room Makeover

It’s time.
For a last night in the nursery.
Like Wendy, my Darling,
You are already flying.
With my feet on the ground.
Eyes towards the sky.
I want to see you soar.
While wishing for just one night more.
In Neverland.

Ahhh my heart. My little girls are growing and while I've entered this wonderful sweet spot where diapers are done and they still love to cuddle, it's difficult to say goodbye to the nursery forever.

So I'm dealing with this change by getting excited about a creative project. One that my girls actually helped with while my husband was on a hiking trip with my brothers out west. It was a labor-intensive collaboration with plenty of tears, screaming, and excitement - familiar hallmarks of parenthood.

My three-year-old is very sure of herself and her opinions, so her creative design brief for the room was: purple, pink, unicorns, kitties, and a white bed.

November 1, 2018 Lifestyle & Home

Beyond the Family Photo Session: Insta-Inspired Family Artwork

If you missed the window for a sunkissed summer family photography session, you may now find yourself, like me, frantically trying to book a mini-session to have something suitable for this year's Christmas card.

Maybe it’s the Midwesterner in me, but I certainly feel compelled to capture my littles picking apples or wobbling amongst pumpkins at the orchard, sitting on a tartan blanket against a wall of fall colors, or bundled up among evergreens at the Christmas tree farm (or all of the above).

With holidays on the horizon, family photo sessions are a great way to knock out the Christmas cards and grandparent gifts. But sometimes it’s fun to explore other ways to capture your family at this moment in time. Last year, I gifted myself a custom watercolor of our family, including the dog, and I love it! So if you’re looking for some alternates or complements to this year’s family photo session, or for a unique personalized gift, these options can add a little something extra to your family gallery, in your own personal style.

December 5, 2017 Lifestyle & Home, Published Work

Will Your Family History Survive the Digital Dark Age?

Tips to Help Your Family History Survive the Digital Dark Age

In college, I worked as an archives assistant in the basement of the university library for $5.55 and hour. It was one of my favorite jobs ever. At the time, we were scanning and uploading the collection so it could be accessed online. The work was essentially data entry, but I loved feeling connected to the people who’d passed through my campus before me.

This love of history runs a level deeper when it comes to my own family. I’m the self-appointed family archivist and cherish tangible artifacts from generations past. From the engraved necklace of a great great aunt who shared my name to the handwritten valentine from my grandpa to my grandma. I peruse thousands of family photos and sometimes gather some for a timely Facebook post.

Now that I have kids of my own, I feel constantly torn between living in the moment and capturing the moment in my own little family history. Maybe that’s just part of parenting today, but if you’re the family archivist (and there’s one in every family), see if any of this also sounds familiar: