hello_sunshine

Week in Pictures: 2.12.12

2012-02-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

Another great week in pictures. Sadie's not hiding in this shot but I thought it was a good follow up to her hide-n-seek pics. And then her with her BFF on the swings. Lotta love this week!

Mommydom: The iPhone Dilemna

2012-02-16T11:00:00.000-05:00

Well, you didn't hear it here first.

It's been a growing problem since the blackberry made it's debut. And now, even when we don't work at an office, we are tethered to our smart phones. They are so convenient. So handy. So easy to use. The problem is, we use them all the time. Too much. Just short of using them in the shower. We eat with them next to us. We play games while using the loo. Some of us tweet our labor and delivery. They are almost never out of our hands and certainly always in sight and within arms reach.

The iPhone.

I wanted to make a policy about the iPhone in our house. No iPhones at the dinner table. (I also wanted to have family dinners every night, but that didn't work out so well). When the Mister is working late (which is often, and by late I mean home after dinner), and I'm so worn out from not having a break all day (woe is me), it's nice to have the iPhone handy.

But, it's bad. It's so bad. I'll look at my phone for the silliest of reasons. Why do I need to know RIGHT NOW what the weather is going to be like tomorrow? Who lives in Texas, Sadie? I can look that up too. Why hasn't my infant pooped in 4 days? iPhone. Did I just get a new email? iPhone.

I'm addicted. The Mister is addicted. The only person not yet addicted is the little lady... but slowly and surely...

I'm open to suggestion here. What do you do with your smart phone when you're supposed to be having quality time?

Craftyness: Glitter & Glue

2012-02-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

Another incredibly easy, albeit messy, craft for you and your little ones.

Supplies needed:

glitter,

Elmer's glue

construction paper

Sadie is obsessed with Elmer's white glue. Whenever she sees the bottle, she instantaneously wants to unscrew it and turn it upside down and watch all the glue pour out. So taking that cue from her, I put some construction paper down and told her that while she was upending the Elmer's, to move her arms around. After there was a significant amount of glue and pattern on the page, we used different colored glitter and colored sugar sprinkles and poured them over the glue. I then shimmied the glitter around to make sure we got full coverage - and poured the excess off the page and into a bowl to be used later.

Glitter is messy, but it's so much fun!

pink iridescent glitter

blue sugar crystals - gives at matte effect

black glitter - this is Sadie's gingerbread man - can you see him?

black sugar crystals - originally for Halloween baking that never came to pass

Tasty Treats: Valentine's Anytime's Cookies

2012-02-14T15:00:00.000-05:00

Baking day with Sadie! It's my favorite day of the week. Sadie likes it too... for obvious reasons, although, I think it would be awesome if she grew up and loved baking as much as we do now. Luckily for us, it's Valentine's Day. The perfect excuse to make Valentine's cookies, but these could be anytime cookies as well. I found this recipe over at Two Tarts, and it's a good one. A keeper. It may make a reappearance at every holiday.

Sadie helped roll out the dough, and then I gave her a hunk of it to play with on her own. Our dough was the right consistency but it got warm too quickly, so was a little bit hard to transfer from cut shape to baking sheet.

The cookies baked perfectly. Then I just filled some cupcake liners with toppings, iced the cookie and had Sadie do the decorating. It was easy for her to upend the cookies into the various sprinkles. She had so much fun, we did it twice!

These cookies are based on shortbread recipe. And they taste fantastic dipped in coffee.

Enjoy!

Craftyness: Hallmark or Handmade?

2012-02-14T13:00:00.000-05:00

Let's talk about Valentine's Day.

At my daughter's school, the administration goes out of it's way to make sure that parents know that the school's policy on "Hallmark" holidays are strict.

1. If you want to give out Valentine's, make sure every child gets one.... Well, duh. What parent of a 3, 4 and 5 year old is going to exclude children from getting a Valentine? Maybe I'm naive, but I think most parents realize that everyone should be included. I get this rule, for older kids, but for the little ones...?

2. Do not hand out Valentine's in view of the children. The reason they give for this is that some of the children might feel bad that they didn't give out Valentine's. What? I don't get it. My child might be sensitive if she didn't GET one, but if she didn't give them out? Maybe there would be kids who would feel bad if they didn't give Valentine's but got some... not any kids I know. But I guess it's possible.

However, despite the school saying it takes a "low-key" approach to holidays (which I think is great), when you send out a policy like the one above, it scares people off. It nets (in a class of 14 kids), 2 kids bringing Valentine's. Now who's going to feel awkward? The kids who did bring or the kids who didn't?? That low-key policy is really turning into something else entirely.

As a young child, I loved Valentine's Day. Then as I got older I was taught that Valentine's Day was a Hallmark holiday. I learned that at school. I don't recall my parents being one way or another about the day. My dad always gave me and my Mom something. I don't know if he gave anything to my brothers. It was a quietly special day at home and a generally fun day at school.

But maybe my daughters school has a point about kids feeling bad about not giving out Valentine's. Maybe they should feel bad... I happen to think Valentine's day is a GREAT holiday for kids. I don't care if Hallmark created it to sell more cards or not. In fact, I'm going to stop calling it a "hallmark holiday". I don't buy cards anymore anyway. I make them. Valentine's Day is the perfect HANDMADE holiday. Sadie collage'd cards and she used paint to "stamp" cards. We baked cookies. We didn't buy anything commercial, even though it's a commercial holiday. Everyone one of her friends is getting something. It's the perfect way to teach our children that it's just as nice (maybe better) to give rather than to receive.

Obviously, Valentine's Day is never going away. So if we don't like the hallmark aspect of it, why not just make it our own. I love this holiday. I love making things for it. So if we want to continue to rebel against a holiday that is here to stay, let's change our thinking. Change our children's thinking. Call it a handmade holiday. Our kids know we love them everyday (at least we hope they do and I'm sure most of us tell them this). This is just one extra special day. Need an excuse to go crafting crazy? Valentine's day. An excuse to give our friends and family something special that we made. Valentine's Day. A way to teach your children about giving? Valentine's Day.

Happy Valentine's Day. My favorite handmade holiday.

La Casa: Heartastic

2012-02-14T09:00:00.001-05:00

Up until very recently there was only one item that I had owned with hearts on it, that I absolutely loved. A necklace my Mom gave me, it was possibly my grandmothers at one point. It was very plain. A gold chain with 3 gold heart outlines with a little diamond at the center point of the heart.
Sadly, I lost that necklace. It fell off while I was at a party and it was never recovered. Other than that, I wasn't really into hearts on things. But my tastes come and go. Like when I used to absolutely refuse to wear pink, but now love it... Without further ado, I give you hearts.

From top:
Tiny Hearts Paper Garland, Blue Caravan
Heart Clips, Omiyage
Red Heart Doily, Omiyage
Little Vintage Hearts, Sarah and Bendrix
Charm Chain, Looka Jewelry
Open Heart Stud Earrings, Michelle Chang
Harriet Heart Print Sticky Tape, Zeena Printed Textiles

Tongue in Chic: Imaginary Valentine

2012-02-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

Oh, the Valentine holiday is upon us! The Mister and I have never made a huge deal about this day for each other. Last year we had brunch with our little lady. This year, I'm pretty sure we won't be doing anything at all. Sadie and I are working on her Valentine's for friends and family. We are making cookies (photos forth-coming). We will probably have a very normal night followed by said cookie. We do have a new baby at home afterall - there will definitely be a ton of love going around our house.

But... It never hurts to have a fantasy...In my wildly out-of-character dream world, the Mister and I will be sitting at the bar here, I'll be sipping some kind of fantastic cocktail, eating yummy food. I'll be wearing this outfit, while our two little people are home safe and snug and cuddled up in their beds.

I hope you and your family have a home filled with extra love on this Valentine's Day!

French Connection twist dress, $251
H M zip jacket, £30
L.A.M.B. leather platform shoes, $200
Chan Luu onyx bangle, $270
Ban do hair accessory, $35

Dear Diary: When did food become so important?

2012-02-10T17:00:00.000-05:00

Dear Diary,

I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd be a sort of foodie blogger. But it looks like food has become very important to us - well, this week anyway. While pregnant with Ollie, I was obsesssed with food. I loved eating and eating well.

I was sort of hoping my obsession would wane once I popped the little guy out.

Obviously it hasn't.

See you in the bright and shiny!

Jen

New Tag* Week in Pictures

2012-02-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

I take a load of photos during the week - often they are terrible. As a matter of fact, I'm certain I've got focus issues, because I can hardly ever snap a shot without it being out-of-focus. I'll try and cull the best of the worst and post them here once a week. Fair warning, they'll likely be kid-centered for awhile, but I'll try to branch out, once I feel more confident.

As an ongoing project - inspired by this first shot, I'll be cataloging all of my daughters "best" hiding places. The hide-n-seek photos, should prove to be pretty funny.

Sadie's Room: On Eating

2012-02-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

As anyone with a preschooler may attest - feeding kids is hard work! I don't mean the cooking part, I mean actually getting the darn little things to eat! Sadie is a snacker. And by a snacker, I mean she likes snacks; goldfish, graham crackers, veggie chips, yogurt, applesauce. Sounds healthy, right... Recently, she's been snacking so much and skipping dinner. Duh, Mommy. Should have seen that one coming. I've made an effort to give her whole snacks at least once a day. She had goldfish in the morning, so in the afternoon she can have an apple or carrots with hummus.

Today we made a very special treat (to be posted about later) involving chocolate chips and graham crackers. It was our no-bake baking day. As I've mentioned, Sadie loves being my helper. But I think today took the cake (no pun intended). When it came to the chocolate chip portion of our treat making, Sadie asked if I could put some in a bowl for her to eat. I said I would do that. But she got all excited, and instead of repeating the "can you put some in a bowl for me" she said, "can you put some in my belly?!!"

The little snacking monster.

What the Crock?!: Orange Barley Casserole... a side dish

2012-02-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

This week I made an Orange Pecan Barley Casserole. The recipe looked interesting and I had most of the ingredients in my kitchen, so what the hell, right? I served it alongside some fish. I thought it was pretty good; a tad sweet, and definitely not for the texturephobe.

Barley is new to me. My mom made a mushroom barley soup recently and left about 3 cups of pearl barley here. My first dish (yet to be posted about) was a barley risotto (absolutely so good). This is dish number two. As I said, it's very sweet because it's got dried apricots, raisins, dates and apples. The recipe called for currants, but I just didn't have those in the cupboard - raisins were used instead. It was good alongside the Lemon Butter Fillet that I posted about but I might even consider this a better breakfast dish.

Craftyness: #2 Stamp Art

2012-02-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

Darling daughter loves doing arts and crafts. The only pitfall of doing As&Cs with her is that she has the attention span of a 3 year old (because in fact, she is a three year old). In my wanderings on Pinterest, I found this project which I thought looked like a lot of fun and possibly engaging for Sadie.

All you need is a stamp pad, some #2 pencils (for their erasers), some blank paper or note cards and a marker.

We started out by stamping large pictures that I just drew out on paper. Sadie lasted all of 3 minutes, like a good 3 year old. Then it was bedtime. This morning, we had some time to kill. I cut up some card stock - and drew up some cards.* Sadie helped me decorate them, but quickly moved on to doing a different project on her own.

So turns out doing Arts & Crafts is fun for Sadie, but it might be slightly more fun for me. The crafty side of me wants her to make perfect pretty pictures, so much so that I think I might enforce it a tad too much. I don't want to stifle her creative side, and I fear I'm doing that. I'll have to work on it. I think there's a fine line between guidance and forcing a hand. Hopefully, I can learn to balance.

** I used to have a custom invitation studio. I designed cards and wedding invitations. When I stopped, I wanted to really STOP. I bought cards for a bit, but then realized how expensive they were. With this project I can make a ton of cards with some card stock, ink stamps and a pencil or two. The cards we made today are for an engagement congratulations and for an anniversary. Easily we could do Valentines, birthdays, or just because. And isn't a little handmade greeting worth more than that $5 card?

Tasty Treats: Lemon Butter Fillet

2012-02-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

One of the dishes that makes a regular appearance on my table is this awesome Lemon Butter Fillet. I found it over at Allrecipes and have been making it ever since. It's simple and tasty. I doubt it's the healthiest meal, but you can make it healthy with the right substitutes. Personally, I LOVE the butter and lemon.

Now, if you're like me you are not that fond of white fish. I find it to be totally bland and gross, however the lemon butter sauce makes the fish so yummy (probably because you're eating lemon butter). I've cooked this with cod, tilapia and lemon sole. Lemon Sole is so delicious. For lack of better words, it's a "meatier" white fish. The texture when cooked just feels more substantial than the other fish... But they work too. I cooked this most recently with wild-caught cod (as shown below).

Another great thing about this dish is that my daughter will eat it (when she is not on a hunger strike or throwing a tantrum). If I can get her to eat fish... wow. Now, if I could get her to have the same enthusiasm about vegetables (aside from the Kale chips of course).

Fantastic Lemon Butter Fillet

1/2 cup butter
1 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley (or thyme, etc...)
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 (4 ounce) fillets cod (or sole or tilapia...)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Mix in lemon juice, salt, pepper, parsley flakes, and garlic. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir about 10 minutes, until thickened.
Arrange cod fillets in a single layer on a medium baking sheet. Cover with 1/2 the butter mixture, and sprinkle with lemon pepper. Cover with foil.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until fish is easily flaked with a fork. Pour the remaining butter mixture over the fish to serve.

Voila!

Tonight it was served with Orange Barley Casserole from the slow cooker.

Tasty Treats: Salted Peanut Butter Cups

2012-02-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, who isn't coming up with tasty treats for all to eat? Today, my little chefette and I made these ridiculous Peanut Butter Cups. No baking required... all fun! I came across the recipe over at A House in the Hills, a stunningly gorgeous blog that I just started reading. The recipe is for vegan peanut butter cups, but I didn't have any of the required vegan ingredients, so I used what I had, which included the hands of my willing preschooler.

The chefette had a blast smashing our graham crackers.

Then, in a fit of insanity, I let my 3 year old stir the hot, bubbling butter, peanut butter mixture.

(I don't recommend allowing your little ones to do this part)

We mixed the chocolate up (notice where the chocolate chips are going in the above picture), and sprinkled sea salt on top.

Now, sea salt is all fine and good for mature palates.

It looks pretty and it's sophisticated. I happen to love it.

But it's not that fun when you're three.

So, Sadie had the brilliant idea to add rainbow sprinkles.

And, what doesn't taste good with rainbow sprinkles???

Now we've got 6 dozen mini peanut butter cups waiting to be eaten in our freezer.

I highly recommend making these. And then eating them.

**Some recipe notes: as I said this is a vegan recipe, but I made it, well, not vegan. I used regular unsalted butter, white sugar, Skippy creamy peanut butter (glamorous, I know), Toll House milk chocolate chips. I did use almond milk instead of cows milk and I used the whole foods brand graham crackers for our first batch, then switched to Honey Maid Chocolate grahams for the second batch.

Dear Diary: Down days are often followed by high up ones...

2012-02-03T18:00:00.000-05:00

Dear Diary-

This week was a little tough. I think both kiddos were going through growth spurts. The little lady decided (and just for a few days, thankfully) that a full on "crying-in-a-heap-on-the-floor" tantrum was just what would help her get what she wanted. And when the crying fits didn't help, she stopped sleeping and stopped waking up to go pee in the potty. My little guy is growing and you know how those infant growth spurts can be... quick but painful.

After all that (read: Monday - Thursday), I had a really down day. I felt like Sisyphus and that stupid boulder. And it made me wonder if Mommy's (and Daddy's) can't still have growth spurts? I spent all day Thursday alternating between feeling sorry for myself and arguing with myself. The Mister came home and told me that it was ok to phone it in once in awhile. And that was nice, but I still felt crummy.

And then, Sadie woke up to go pee in the potty and Ollie slept through the night. I woke up and I felt better. Sadie spent the morning playing WITH Oliver while I prepped dinner. And Oliver rolled from his side - back to his tummy. And I had a plan for the day. And I was going to just take it as it came. Thankfully, it all ended up good. So, was that a Mommy growth spurt? Did I realize that my life isn't necessarily my own, but I could still push it and prod it a little that way?

I've pretty much let go of that pre-child self. But every once in a while, she shows up and demands that I respond to her. I don't think letting her go is entirely the right thing to do. I mean, us Mom's and Dad's need to have time to ourselves too! It can't be all diaper changes and doodling. But then again - when you get these, does it really matter?

See you in the bright and shiny!

Jen

Mommydom: A Trip Down Bad Memory Lane

2012-02-03T10:00:00.000-05:00

We had brunch this weekend with some dear friends of ours who are moving out of state. One of the conversations we had was about staying at home vs. working and some of the pitfalls of both. It actually reminded me of another conversation I had with a different dear friend many years ago.

I was in college, and it must have been my first senior year (yes, I took 5 years to graduate). I was already dating my now husband, whose best friend's girlfriend, was my high jump partner. Was that confusing? Long explanation shortened; my high jump partner and I became very good friends. So, the four of us were hanging out at my now husbands house when my good friend and I started discussing what we wanted to do in our "future".

Ok, future is such an obscure word. It points to this non-visible place in time, in the distance that you cannot see and cannot touch and cannot even conceive of... So, while we were talking about our "futures" respectively, we really were just talking at random.

My friend said she wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. At which my very opinionated, "say-what-you-will-no-matter-the-cost" back then self said, "What?! Why?!". I remember very distinctly being disgusted by this idea and let down and upset. How could my very smart, strong, dear friend have such low expectations for her life (don't yell at me just yet... this is what I mean by "bad memory". Not that I have a bad memory as in poor and can't remember. I remember very well. I mean, I was bad friend to have said that, wrong and all of that...)?

That hindsight will kick you right in the ass every time.

At the time, I was sure I was going to be successful in business. Although, now that I look back, I didn't have a very specific business in mind. Just a vague idea of working, successfully, in an office, somehow involving fashion. There was no way in hell I was going to be a stay-at-home Mom.

Now is a good time to take you aside and tell you that, while I was a child, my Mom did not stay-at-home. She went to work. I harbored zero resentment about that fact. I was emboldened by this and felt fortified in my resolve to be able to be both a great mother and successful business woman. It was a very mighty goal on my part, though I didn't know it at the time.

Let's fast forward. About 10 years have passed since that conversation. I am a stay at home Mom. It's really hard. I'm lucky that I can stay at home. It's hard work and it's also hard to resolve the conflict in my head that says I should be at work, working. It's hard for me to undo the thinking I had about stay-at-home mommyhood. My good friend? She went on to join the navy, train as a fighter pilot, became a combat helicopter pilot. She is still with the navy and has a beautiful new baby girl. I know she still wants to be at home with her baby. So I know it's hard for her too.

So what do we do? How do we resolve the working, staying at home thing? Certainly, women who work are still mothers. And certainly women who stay at home are doing work. Should you try to do something you love and try to be successful at it, but do it part-time, because you love your children and want to work equally as hard at raising them to be amazing human beings and you want to be successful at that too? Is it possible to do both and do both well?

I don't think there is an answer yet. Oh, motherhood. It's a very tricky place to be.

Tasty Treats: Thumbprint Cookies

2012-02-02T09:00:00.001-05:00

It's baking day with Sadie. Hooray! I thought thumbprint cookies would be the perfect project for me and a little 3 year old. Sadie loves to help out these days and she was ALL OVER baking these cookies. She helped me put the silpats in the pan, added most of the ingredients, rolled the dough into little balls (well, they were more like lumps but who cares?!), and add the jam. She sprinkled the cookies with "stars" - all her idea by the way. And of course wanted to eat them up as soon as they came out of the oven.

Check out Sunny Side Up in San Diego, where I found the recipe (part of the christmas cookie posts). These babies are so yummy and the great part is you can put any number of things in the thumbprint; jam, kisses, sprinkles, powdered sugar, etc. .

The recipe says it yields 48. I came out with 3 dozen minus a few for the chef and chefette.

Tongue in Chic: Mom Jeans!

2012-02-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'm just kidding. But today's look of the day is inspired by the fact that I'm a MOM now. And while I'd like to look effortlessly chic everyday, for the love of all that is fashion, I just can't get it together. I know now that I am very concerned about what my little darling wears out of the house (thankfully, she is not that interested in picking out her own clothes yet). She is always wearing a well thought out ensemble unless of course someone else dresses her (in which case, if she does look a little funny, I'll always be blaming "someone else"). So, without further ado. One for her, half of one for me:

American Eagle Outfitters dolman sleeve top, $30
Levi Strauss & Co straight leg jeans, $35
Lace shoes, $45
Little Ella 'Lucy' Dress (Toddler) | Nordstrom, $62
noro baby alpaca grey hat with visor and ponpon - hats - accessories -..., €60
Girls Clothing | Clothes | Jackets & Vests | ShopJustice.com, $40
Converse Girls' CTAS Velcro® Strap Sneakers, $32
Kids Shiny Legging, $20
77 Sun Washed City Bodysuit, $17

What the Crock?!: Caribbean Jerked Chicken

2012-01-31T09:00:00.000-05:00

Can we talk about why there is a dish called "Jerked" Chicken? What does that mean? I guess the sauce is the jerk but I'm not sure I get how they are connected. Up until writing that very sentence, I just called it Jerked Chicken (that's actually a lie, I have always called it "jerk" chicken). Never once thought to question it's name. Well a quick Internet search should help me with that.

So here goes; Wikipedia (the oh-so-useful yet, should-I-believe-this-stuff resource) states:

Jerk is a style of cooking native to Jamaica in which meat is dry-rubbed or wet marinated with a very hot spice mixture called Jamaican jerk spice.

And there you have it.

So I pulsed together some Jerk sauce based on a recipe I found in my "Not your Mother's Slower Cooker Cookbook", painted it on chicken parts and stuck it in the crock for 6 hours. The result was, surprisingly, delicious. It wasn't nearly as hot (spicy) as I expected it to be and it retained a lot of nice flavor from the allspice. I'm definitely making this again - the only thing I would change is maybe adding a little more salt next time.

I served this over wild rice and added some clementine segments. Mmm, mmm, mmmmmm....

gathering my thoughts

blood, sweat & tears, folks

the whole shebang in a pot

the final outcome

La Casa: Gone All Spotty

2012-01-30T09:00:00.000-05:00

I admit it. I love polka-dots. No. I really love polka-dots. I didn't know this about myself until 2 years ago when I asked a friend what she thought I'd pick out to buy for myself of the collection we were selling. She nailed everything.

How did she know?

She told me that I always picked prints with polka dots in them. I was floored. I didn't do this on purpose. In fact, after having worn polka-dotted dresses to both my 6th grade culmination and my 8th grade graduation, I was hell bent on NOT wearing polka dots again. I associated polka-dots with the geeky, glasses wearing, perm haired little girl that I once was. So when my friend told me this, I just didn't believe her.

Until I went home and looked through my closet. And found an alarmingly large amount of my printed clothing was polka dotted.

Now, I accept it. I love polka-dots. I love being geeky. I am exactly that little girl I once was with few exceptions; I dress a little better and I wear cooler glasses. And no, there is no perm.

Clockwise from top:

Tulips & Dots Note, Anemone Lettepress

Polka Dot Pencils, Cath Kidston

Upholstered Bar Stool, In Detail Interiors

Le Pavillion iPhone 4 Case, Kate Spade

Polka Dot Paper Straws, Cute Tape

Black & Cream Ribbons Blouse, Emersonmade

Polka Dot Cereal Bowl, Fish's Eddy

Dot Pattern Fabric Tape, Cute Tape

Polka Dot Ombre Socks, Scoop NYC

Dear Diary

2012-01-27T18:00:00.000-05:00

Dear Diary,

It's raining out with a projected high of 60 degrees in New York today. This weather is so strange. It may be contributing to the preschool flu that has felled our household. The little darling went back last week and wouldn't you know it, just 7 days later, she has a cold. The next day, husband and Ollie are sick. And after telling everyone that "I better not" get sick because who would take care of me blah, blah, blah... I'm sick too. The funny thing about having kids is, you are not really allowed to be sick. And I speak only for the Mom's out there because we all know how the Dad's act when they are sick. So, we head into the weekend - I'll be taking care of my 3 babies and myself. What will you be doing?

See you in the bright and shiny!

Jen

Mommydom: 3 months!

2012-01-27T17:30:00.000-05:00

Ollie is 3 months old today! I love it. I love him. Can't. believe. it's. been. three. months.

The first three months with Sadie was LOOONG. I talked, read and played with her all day. We were up all night. We didn't realize. We thought she was a pretty easy baby. And then we had Ollie. Look, I know comparing kids is bad. I know Sadie and Ollie will be very different and very much the same - depending on the milestone, topic, etc. . . I'm going to try not to compare them on their achievements in a negative manner. But I can't help but compare my experience with the two.

Ollie has basically slept through the night since he was a month old. He likes to eat and sleep and smile. He LOVES tummy time. I think he will be crawling, walking and running much faster than Sadie did. But, I don't get to talk, read or even play with him all that much. I've got a 3 year old to keep up with and I'm trying my best to make her feel valued and loved just as much as I love and value her brother. I think she gets it. The teachers at her school told me just the other day that she talks about her brother a LOT. And I see she includes him at home too.

So.

Happy 3 month Birthday, Oliver. Mommy & Daddy love you more than we can say. And Sadie loves you just as much as she can say.

La Casa: Fancy a Cup o' Tea?

2012-01-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

Fancy a cup of tea? I sure do, join me in all things tea-worthy.

From top:

Cup of Tea Valentine Card, The Wallaroo

Tea Drinkers Sidekick Mug, Angela Ingram

With a Twist Tea Cups, Anthropologie

Tea Cup Stack Illustration, Holly Over the Moon

Stig Lindberg Swedish Tea Time print, Handz ReStyleshop

Modern Mustard Handprinted Tea Towel, Amy Sullivan

Tongue in Chic: Inspired by...dessert?

2012-01-26T09:00:00.000-05:00

Is it silly to create an outfit based on a dessert?

Panna Cotta & Raspberry Jelly Parfait

Bottega Veneta silk chiffon dress, $3,100
Ivanka Trump Kyra 2, $145
French Connection Fan Clutch, $72
Emerald earrings, from 1stdibs.com

What the Crock?!: "Japanese Style" Beef Curry Rice

2012-01-25T09:43:00.000-05:00

We are crocking this week! Two recipes on the agenda, the first of which is Japanese Curry Beef Rice, found in Not your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook.

Did I mention that I love my crock pot? It makes my life a lot easier. And I think I've gotten a schedule of crocking on the days my darling dear is in school. I take her to school, come home, prep dinner, pin a few things and then go pick her up from school. The one thing I didn't expect from my crock pot was the amount of pre-cooking I'd have to do, or cooking the accompaniments. That may have been ignorance on my part (as it usually is). I don't know why I thought I could magically throw some things in the pot and have a beautiful fully cooked meal 8 hours later.

Yesterday, I made the "Japanese Style" Beef Curry Rice as mentioned above. You may notice the quotation marks... Well, funny story. I prepared the dish had it in the crock pot. Towards the end of cooking I had to thicken the broth with flour and curry powder. I followed the instructions, added the thickener to the crock pot, stirred and cooked for a few more minutes... Then I had an epiphany of sorts.

I used Curry Powder. Indian Curry powder, and not the Japanese style as suggested in the notes I was supposed to read before preparing the meal. Do you get it yet? Traditionally, Indian people don't eat beef, in fact, they worship cows... Hmmm...

Oh well! I had to hope that the indian curry spice would blend well with the beef in the pot. Additionally, the recipe says to serve over rice but went with quinoa because, why not? Well, I'll tell you why. This stew is pretty hardy, and they last thing you want is to add a hardy grain to a hefty meal. If I were to make this again, I'd use plain white rice. One good thing I did do was add some deliciously sweet sugar snap peas (cold from the fridge) to make the "slowness" of the meal feel a little fresher.

It was on the up-side of ok. It was comforting as stew is supposed to be. It had a little heat from the curry that lingered in my mouth. Although it didn't evoke any Japanese style flavors that I recognize, it did provoke a very interesting discussion with my little girl about how humans eat animals - and what kind of "animals" we were eating for dinner.

And we have leftovers, which means, I don't have to cook tonight...

potatoes and carrots into the crock

chopped onion and garlic to saute

browning the beef

add to pot

sauteing the onions and garlic

the final product

Sale Rack! Lands End Canvas

2012-01-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

I'm always on the hunt for a good bargain! I just discovered Land's End Canvas (might be a little late to the game on that). This is a more contemporary (read: slightly cooler) line of clothing from the Land's End brand. They are having a huge sale and I've picked a few items out. Happy Shopping!

Cunky Multi-rib Scarf, $29.99

Softest Turtleneck Sweater, $19.99

Pintuck Shirtdress, $34.99

Canvas Bucket Bag, $69.99

Hook and Eye Henley, $14.99

Cable Brim Cap, $12.99

La Casa: I have a paper crush

2012-01-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

I love letterpress cards. Each one is like a special gift. And receiving a note or greeting written on a beautifully designed letterpress card is a delight!

Clockwise from top:

Hello Baby by Vertallee Letterpress

Beetle Note by Smock Paper

Happily Ever After by Parrot Design Studio

Pencil Note by Paper Lovely Press

Heart and Arrows by Tella Press

Mommydom: A Worthy Cause

2012-01-23T16:28:00.003-05:00

One of the people I follow on Facebook is a preschool teacher and designer of cute hair clips for little ones. She recently found out that her daughter's best friend was diagnosed with leukemia and is undergoing treatment. As a very nice gesture, she created a series of 12 different hair clips (on sale for $5) and barrettes, the purchase of which will go directly to the preschooler and her family. Her shop is on Etsy, they've raised $90 so far... Well, $95, since I just bought Sadie a hair clip.

I can't help but think of what I would do if Sadie or Oliver or any little one we know and love got sick like this. I just think it is an extremely nice thing for one person to do. So if you know any little girls who are in need of some hair maintenance, head over to her shop, Emma Lee's Boutique. Or you can donate directly to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Sale Rack: Sometimes the discount is more trouble than it's worth.

2012-01-23T08:27:00.000-05:00

Our little guy is growing at a much faster rate than Sadie did at the same age. So we graduated from newborn diapers to number 1's fairly quickly. Quickly enough to still be in the waking a lot in the middle of the night still. We were running out of newborns diapers and I logged onto Diapers.com to order some number 1's and in a bit of a haze the "quick add" convenience bar on the site was confusing for me. I ordered my diapers. Pampers. When they arrived, we opened the box and put them in Oliver's room. In the middle of the night feeding, husband changed Ollie's diaper. He ripped open the sleeve of diapers and slapped one on... it was a newborn size. And there we were. Too small diapers.

Off to Costco we went. They don't carry Pampers (our go to brand). And for some reason, they didn't have number 1's in Huggies in stock (gasp). So we bought Kirkland brand. We thought, "cool!" these are half the price of our usual Pampers, we would always buy diapers at Costco from now on.

NOT. SO. MUCH. They are 1/2 the price of Pampers. But I've thrown 1/2 of the diapers away unused. I've been living knee deep in baby poop for a month now. And 1/2 of it has been OUTSIDE of the diapers. The problem stemming from Kirkland's defective interior belt closure (not sure if that's what it's actually called but that seems appropriate). Every other diaper I open to use on Oliver, has a twisted closure belt which causes the "belt" to tear away from the wall of the diaper. Every. other. diaper. I'm not kidding. So if I put that diaper on, it gapes in the back (like ill fitting jeans), leaving me open to a whole host of troubles.

You can see from the above photo, what I'm dealing with exactly. I can fit much more than a pen through the gaping "belt". And if you're a parent, then you'll know that a whole lot of baby poop will pour right out of that hole!

So, I say, go ahead and buy diapers on sale but make sure you buy GOOD DIAPERS on sale. I like Pampers but I'm not brand loyal. Huggies would work for us too. But I will never buy these Kirkland diapers again.