What a morning. It’s Olive’s 9th birthday today (and Ralph’s 13th birthday tomorrow). We have a tradition of breakfast in bed on birthdays, so I got up extra early to cook some bacon at Olive’s request. The house still smells bacon-y wonderful. Then it was time to get cupcakes ready for Olive’s class. Once the big kids were off to school, the little ones helped me wrap Olive’s presents. She’s obsessed with lime green right now, so we picked out lots of green things and wrapped them like this:
After the presents were wrapped, I started on a project for Ralph’s birthday. (It turned out super cool. I’ll share photos and DIY after Ralph opens the present.) Around 11:15 this morning, I stopped at my computer to check in and the first thing I saw was an email with some very fun news:
Design Mom made Time Magazine’s 50 Best Websites of 2010. (!!!)
Holy moly. I can’t even believe it. I’m completely honored to be listed with sites like Etsy and Babble (who I write for). Of course, Oscar and Betty are impressed that I was listed with Sesame Street. And frankly, I’m not-a-little-stunned to be on any list with sites and services I love and frequent, like The Onion, LinkedIn, Tumblr and TED.
Three big thank yous: 1) thank you to Leap Design for working so hard to make my site awesome, 2) thank you to Time Magazine for the acknowledgment, and 3) thank YOU for reading — your comments and emails always make my day.
kisses,
Gabrielle
P.S. — I shared the news with Ben Blair and he immediately wanted to celebrate. Happily, cake and ice cream are already on the schedule today.
Happy Birthday Ralph! My son, Kyle, turned 13 yesterday and everytime your birthday rolls around I remember how great it is that there is another boy out there who has a birthday at the very beginning (or sometimes prior to) the school year. We get a lot of flack about why Kyle isn’t a grade higher and it always makes me feel better to know there is another newly 13 year old eighth grader out there. Too bad we all don’t live closer!
Happy Birthday to Kyle!
Wow! Congratulations. A well-deserved recognition. Keep up the good work.
And Happy Birthday to your kids!
Thanks, Lizzie! I’m excited to share the news with my big kids when they get home from school.
Congratulations! Well-deserved. Yours is a site I visit almost daily, for good reason. It’s a happy place to visit! Enjoy your happy day!
Wow, Mary. What a kind thing to say. Thank you!
Good on you! I happen to agree with TIME!
Congratulations! What a tremendous validation of your work. And also a confirmation of what we, your readers, already knew :-)
Enjoy your many celebrations today!
hi gabielle – first i wanted to say congratulations on the Time nod, but also, belatedly to say that it was nice to meet you at Martha’s Circle party! I can’t believe you have 6 kids! That’s amazing!
It was nice to meet you too, Olga. The Martha folks were such great hostesses. They even found me a quiet place where I could feed Baby June. So nice!
Congrats! You deserve it!
TIME magazine! That is AWESOME Gabrielle! And just like Olive, lime green was my favorite color… through middle school AND high school. Happy birthday to Olive and Ralph!
Congrats, I love reading your site!
Congratulations!! Happy Birthday Olive and Ralph! So much to celebrate!
Congratulations! What a big honor for you and your work! And happy birthday to Olive adn Ralph. :)
Congratulations on this fantastic honor. It is so, so well-deserved. I’m single and childless and not particularly crafty but I still find your posts to be charming, edifying, and endlessly informative. You are such an inspiration!
Congratulations, Gabrielle! Very cool! I love your idea of choosing gifts for your daughter all in the same color palette. What a good idea! I will have to remember that for my own kids birthdays.
Congrats! What an exciting acknowledgment, well deserved for sure. Happy Birthday to Olive and Ralph!!
Congratulations!!! I’m so happy for you – I LOVE your site and you and your lovely family. So sorry I missed your blogher presentation this year, but this nursing momma had to hide in my room and pump. Hope your kids birthdays are awesome – and I just love the idea of color themed presents and wrapping paper! Ingenious, yet again!
I’m not at all surprised! Congrats to you and Happy Birthday to the kids…..
Congrats, I totally agree with Time. I “treat” myself to reading your blog usually mid point of every day after my kids have drifted off to naps and emails have been sent. It helps me feel like a good mom, and a great designer. Love it.
That is SO fabulous (the gifts, and your inclusion in Time- MUCH DESERVED.)
Many well wishes!!
Steph
Congratulations! What an honor! I am not at all surpsised though! You are fabulous!
A big CONGRATULATIONS to you!!!! And by the way, I don’t hate you for being so perfect. I love your site because it’s so upbeat despite all the chaos involved with being a wife and a mother. Plus you introduce us to things and ideas that make us happy. I get so tired of the media trying to tell women that something is missing. Nothing is missing- we can be very happy with what we have around us- namely our children. And fyi- when I am feeling blue- I watch the “Kiki and Coco in Paris” video you linked on your site. I absolutely love it!! Thank you! Gracias! Merci!
well of course you were on the list! checking your blog is one of my favorite treats of the day. part of my nap-time mama recharge. :)
happy birthday to your kiddos… sounds like there will be a lot of celebratin’ these next few days.
Congratulations! Enjoy the cake and birthday celebrations!
Congratulations, very well deserved. And in good company, indeed.
Congrats to you and Happy Bday to Olive and Ralph!
I am hardly surprised that you made the top 50 in Time magazine…I love reading you and all the joy that comes with your very busy life!
Take care
xox
Freida
Congratulations! Amazing job!
That is so very, very exciting… not surprising at ALL… but exciting indeed.
CONGRATULATIONS:).
Happy birthday to both of your children and I love the green themed gifts. Can’t wait to read about the project tomorrow.
Wow! Congratulations to you!!
I LOVE the lime gifts – what a fun idea. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for Ralph. I hope you have a lovely celebration.
Congratulations Gabrielle!!! Of course we all know you rock, btu I’m so happy for you to get this recognition! Enjoy dessert!! :-)
Happy Birthday to Ralph and Olive! Loving the lime green gifts and can’t wait to see Ralph’s gift too!
Holy cats! You are totally famous and I almost know you.
Congratulations! I’m sure there is some scientific/study/evidence/data that would say this, but one of the reasons I think your blog is so lovely and appealing to so many is rooted in your generosity. You are generous with your sources, your personal life, your weaknesses, etc. You are obviously secure enough with yourself to not hold back where you found the “perfect find”. I think that is remarkable and refreshing. (Of course there are MANY other reasons your blog is lovely and appealing–flawless taste and humor being just two.) Celebrate big!
Happy Birthday to your kiddos – my brother and I are one day apart as well, I love getting to celebrate with him.
And congratulations on the Time honor!
NO surprise here!! YOU ROCK GABBY! Happiest of birthdays to both of your dear children.
Happy Birthday to both kiddos! My Gabrielle just LOVES lime green right now too!! She is 11… it must be the “new” color! Congrats on Time, I just love your blog, you deserve it!!!
So much fun for you! I’ve read your sister’s blog every day for over a year, but I’ll have to start frequenting yours as well. Big time congrats!
You go girl! I am so excited for you.
Hip, hip hoooooooray! Yay Design Mom!
Happy Birthday Olive & Ralph and CONGRATULATIONS to you!!! How HUGE and AWESOME is that recognition?!! And very well deserved. Enjoy! :)
YES YES YES,, excellent, congratulations!!!
Congratulations! It is well-deserved. Although, I expect there will now be a whole lot more people that know about your fake boob. ;)
Yay for you! Congrats and happy celebrating a well deserved honor!
What exciting news, and completely deserved! Congrats!! Happy Birthday to your kiddos!
Wow! Congratulations. I can see why though – you’ve become one of my favorite daily reads. Keep up the good work!
Happy Birthday to your little ones…I guess they are not so little now :) Also congratulations on your Time Magazine debute. Your posts always make my day.
Congratulations! And thank YOU for all your hard work. I love my daily dose of Design Mom almost as much as my first cup of coffee. And that, my friend, is a lot.
Cheers and hip hip hooray for the birthdays!
Congratulations! I know I don’t really “know” you, but I’m proud of you anyway :)
Congratulations! That’s an amazing accomplishment. You so deserve it – Design Mom is always an inspiration.
Yay for you! Love love love the lime-green, what a great idea! Congratulations!
HOLY COW! But of course! Babble, Etsy, Sesame Street and Design Mom. You should be there. I’m addicted to this site the most. :-)
Happy birthday to Miss Olive and an early hat tip to Master Ralph. Your life is certainly rich.
Happy Bday to the kiddies, and also a huge Congrats on the Time Magazine accolades. You are so deserving of it!
What an amazingly fun day for your family!
Nice to see that Time has some style and now knows what we’ve all known for a while. ;) Congrats to you!