7.24.2013

currently | in a world without calories


Currently is a weekly link-up with the lovely  Randalin of Harvesting Kale and I am her happy co-host each week. I hope that you can participate by writing your own Currently post (using the provided themes or your own) and please join us by linking up. What have you been reviewing, wishing, eating, carrying, running this week? Over here, we have been...

Reviewing the feelings. There have been a lot of feelings this week, not yay! Maybe it's the summer heat or the fact that our schedules are all kind of thrown or I don't know what but it's just been a reviewing the feelings and surfing the feelings kind of week. There has been a lot of "grouchy grouchy! can I hit people?!?!" at work and a lot of "grouchy! grouchy! where are the mashed potatoes and why am I crying?!?!" at home. I am hoping the fact that Project Runway started up again will do some sort of magic mood confetti thing to the universe and reverse this feelings spiral I'm in and replace it with parachute gowns of fabulousness. Tim Gunn take me away!

Wishing for some truly unscheduled quiet time, like days and days of it, to spend with my little nuclear family. I feel like we have life a.d.d. right now. I just want like a solid week someplace clean (as in I don't have to clean it) and breezy to spend outside with my kids taking naps in sunbeams and eating tamales and playing games and chilling together with no distractions or interruptions but lots of cold ocean water and hot sand. Anyone have a Mexico beach house and a private jet they want to lend me for a week or two?

Eating the feelings and they taste like mashed potatoes. Question: If you could only eat 1 food for a month what would you pick? I'm 99% sure I'd pick mashed potatoes. Note: This is a stranded on a desert island with George Clooney in a world without calories scenario.

Carrying paint from the front porch where it was finally delivered to the kitchen table where it will be used to paint my kitchen table! Chalk paint better be all that everyone has made it out to be and more. I guess I will find out tomorrow night. Yip!

Running on a treadmill in my mind. Otherwise, not. Well... also kind of running (shuffling?) after my bruiser of a daughter as she smashes her way through life. She's ridonc and has the most scraped up knees and collection of booboos I've ever seen on a precious little angel 16 month old girly girl. And Otto, well he has been running around not saying please or thank you. If I have to remind this child one more time to be polite I am going to be running to the Gin, Apricot Ale, and Hot Mashed Potatoes store (ps. oh why is this not a real store?!) because I. Just. Can't.    

That was this week. Here are next week's themes: 
watching, listening, writing, loving, creating


Currently

7.18.2013

currently | sharknado!


Currently is a weekly link-up with the lovely  Randalin of Harvesting Kale and I am her happy co-host each week. I hope that you can participate by writing your own Currently post (using the provided themes or your own) and please join us by linking up. What have you been loving, losing, remembering, clearing, picking this week? Over here, we have been...

Loving a bunch of the things. If I could I would just jam my whole post into this category this week. So much to love! Anyways, here is a barfed out list of some of the things I've been loving this week: really sweet Happy Mail from Kate including that British wonder treacle which I thought JK Rowling invented but it is a real thing and a yummy thing at that, Sharknado!, Otto's delightful illustrations and adventure plans written in words he sounds out himself, the way Etta says "yeah", french toast muffins, and playing Uno!

Losing my nights. I've passed out at 7pm at Otto's bedtime almost every night this week. It must be all the excitement from having so much to love. Or the fact that I wake up at 4-stupid-am every day. I love sleep, though, so it's no big deal.

Remembering to join the gym yesterday. I finally did it! And I jogged for twenty minutes during my lunch break while watching General Hospital. Man, I feel like a woman! ::air guitar::

Clearing my kitchen table so I can paint it this weekend. Ordered my "primer red" Annie Sloane chalk paint and wax over the weekend (I wanted English Yellow but Rob trumped that but he is being a freaking sport about letting me paint our table at all and primer red is really pretty) sooooo if the supplies get here in time it'll be a Saturday project. Yeek, excited!

Picking to spend my one awake night this week watching Sharknado! You guys. Seriously. This movie is good. It's on SyFy this week. It is stupid like whoa. And I loved it.   

That was this week. Here are next week's themes: 
reviewing, wishing, eating, carrying, running


Currently

7.16.2013

little magical sea creatures


On Saturday we finally made it to the coast, a short and windy 2 hour trip from home. 1/2 dramamine seemed to keep Otto's motion sickness at bay for the drive and by the time we ate lunch at our go-to cafe and found our favorite beach, he wasn't even a little bit sleepy anymore. Loretta wasn't too sure about the wind, the sand, or the sandy wind. She camped out on the blanket for most of the afternoon with Rob or I keeping her company. Towards the end Rob just plopped her in the sand and she decided it was good after all, good enough to eat! Ugh, that girl is a funny one. She really is. I can't believe she is nearly 1 1/2 and Otto is 4 1/2 already. What a great time in our lives we are at with these two little magical animals!

And can I just say that taking pictures at the beach becomes a thing of fear when you have a "real" camera. Sand. Sand! Everywhere! My poor old heart was in a tizzy the whole time, wrapping the camera in baby pants and tucking it deep in the beach bag between any pics. I don't know how we ended up with any photos at all. Thank goodness we did, though. What a pretty, perfect day with the ones I love.

ps. Etta's sparkly head wrap (pretty much made for a day at the beach with a camera-toting mama) and both kids' shorts are c/o the lovely Stacie Lucas of Duchess & Lion Etsy shop.

7.13.2013

Kate Quinn Organics Semi-Annual $10 Sale ♥

Heads up that it's semi-annual $10 Sale time over at Kate Quinn Organics. It is no secret that we are big fans at my house. I love them. The silhouettes are always sweet and pretty and the clothes super comfy to live and play in for my little firecracker.
Etta in some of our favorite Kate Quinn and Violet + Moss designs. If you haven't checked out Kate Quinn yet it is darling children's fashion focused on pure, natural luxury. Their brands include Kate Quinn, Plum Bunny, and Violet + Moss.

*this post sponsored by Kate Quinn Organics, the opinions are my own.

7.11.2013

currently | blurred lines


Currently is a weekly link-up with the lovely  Randalin of Harvesting Kale and I am her happy co-host each week. I hope that you can participate by writing your own Currently post (using the provided themes or your own) and please join us by linking up. What have you been trying, wearing, choosing, laughing, tasting this week? Over here, we have been...

Trying a candy for the first time. Loretta took one little taste of a lollipop yesterday afternoon, insta-chomped down on that sugary explosion, turned away from Rob (the culprit who gave her a sweet), and started heading for the hills. I think she knew she was in immediate danger of having this goodie taken away. She just started walkin, ha! Lollipops are serious business, people. She'll shank a punk who tries to steal her lolly.

Wearing a lot of skirts with flats and bare (glowing, white) legs. Tanks with thin cardigans or paper thin button-up shirts over them. Sunglasses. Almost, almost a legitimate looking ponytail so that is a weekend hairdo. Otto has been wearing cutoff shorts which is my f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-favorite(!) on that little guy. Etta has been wearing summer dresses with little cotton bloomers underneath. She has been wearing her PINK shoes because she does not want to wear her BLUE shoes. Who is this child? She plays dressup for long stretches, putting on hats and accessories and smiling at that stylish baby in the mirror. She cares what shoes I put on her and will take her shoes off almost immediately after asking me to put them on, then go to the basket and grab a different shoe to put on. How long do I have before she's insisting on picking out her own clothes? Because I thought I had a few years to dress her up however I wanted? Shoe demands at 16 months. I'm in trouble.

Choosing to join the gym today. Wish me luck that I don't come up with an excuse since this is like month two of me saying this every few days!

Laughing at how much I love the song Blurred Lines. You guys should see me dance to this song! It is like my soul grows roller skates and I am on a Soul Train dance line and I'm the STAR! Except I'm in my kitchen getting side-eyed by Otto while he requests the Star Wars score for the five thousandth time. But for reals, this song is the best song in the history of the world AND has ruined every drive in my awesome minivan because I spend the whole time worried I am missing this song on some other station and I can't stop changing the channel like a freak hoping I'll catch it and get to have a car dance party. Maybe it's time for me to join the 90s and get an ipod? Or probably this is something I could/should do with my phone? But then I would be the dork with a single song on her playlist, which right now would be fine by me. Because repeat, repeat, repeat! #Thicke ♥ 

Tasting the homemade, baked chicken nuggets I finally made and they are awesome! I found a bag of organic chicken breasts at CostCo and used 4 of them to make a large-ish batch. For the crunchy fake-n-bake I mixed crushed Annie's cheddar crackers, ground flax, whole wheat flour, ground garlic, salt, pepper, corn starch. Defrost, cut, and dip each piece in a mix of egg & olive oil, dredge in seasoning mix, and bake on a wire rack over a cookie sheet at 425' for 20 minutes. I combined about 10 recipes I found online to come up with this recipe and it was a smashing success. We froze most of them and use them just like you would store-bought pre-baked nuggets. Guess what song I listened to on repeat while baking? Every nugget get up! Hey hey hey hey hey! 

That was this week. Here are next week's themes: 
loving, losing, remembering, clearing, picking


HK

7.07.2013

making the most

On Saturday we were all set to visit the Oregon Coast. We have a routine we love to repeat whenever we make this drive. We head up to a tiny little coast town call Yachats that's about two hours from our house. Once we arrive, we eat at the same charming cafe every time. Then we drive back down the coast for about ten minutes and stop at a beautiful little piece of beach that has tide pools and boulders and a sick view of both the ocean and, behind you, the dense Oregon forest that grows right up to the cliffs that lead down to the beach. Oregon beaches aren't like the So Cal beaches we always vacationed at when I was young. The Coast is rocky and windy and cold. Somehow kids are impervious to the cold and willing to wade through the water (holding a hand, of course) and search out nature specimens in the water pools and dig in the sand and just have the time of their life. After the beach we make the drive back home and stop in a town called Florence for homemade ice cream at a little parlor named, of all stupid things, BJ's. Then we cross our fingers the kids will nap while we make our way home and as with any road trip, we play a little radio game where you try to guess the artist before the other person. I know my 80s power balladists like whoa. Rob's super good at telling the difference between Nickelback, 3 Doors Down, and Matchbox 20. He wins life?

So you can see why Otto was so excited for our trip to the beach yesterday.
Sadly it was not to be. About 30 minutes outside of town our poor hero came down with motion sickness and we had to head home. We were all a bit disappointed and vowed to try again next weekend with Dramamine on board. So yesterday turned into a day of yard fun instead. We whipped out the credit card for an important purchase we've been putting off for a while: a long hose that would lead all the way to the back and a sprinkler. We cleaned out the kiddie pool and, after an early afternoon nap, we sunscreened the moppets and headed out back for a really great afternoon.


Our yard pool party was followed by a summertime blanket picnic (also in the yard) of local organic sweet corn (hard to find!) and watermelon. We tried the new Tofurkey chicken/apple flavor sausages and they were a hit. And on the beverage front I am living on lemons lately. I've been putting jam jars of water with lemon in the freezer lately to get super cold and having glass after glass of icy lemon water. And in the evenings, it's all about Twilight summer ale with a wedge of lemon.

It ended up being an amazing day despite the morning setback. And can this mama just say that it is wonderful to see Otto loosening up around water. Just a year ago he would have never, never EVER, run through a sprinkler. This year he is a sprinkler maniac! Hopefully this means swim lessons this year will be more productive as well, since last year he just opted out of each lesson, ha.

ps. Otto's adorable shorts in first pic are c/o Duchess and Lion Etsy shop.

7.04.2013

currently | hot hot heat

Currently is a weekly link-up with the lovely  Randalin of Harvesting Kale and I am her happy co-host each week. I hope that you can participate by writing your own Currently post (using the provided themes or your own) and please join us by linking up. What have you been loving, craving, missing, listening, wishing this week? Over here, we have been...

Loving ice cream and oscillating fans. Our 101 year old house is not the coolest during a heat wave, especially the upstairs, and this week Eugene had record breaking highs which meant lots of trips to Prince Pucklers and lots of sleeping in underoos with the blankets kicked to the floor. I love that we can walk for homemade ice cream from a real little shoppe. It's one of my favorite things about our neighborhood. Loretta is just like, "shut up and give me the cold stuff."

Craving a four day weekend and then bam! Here it is. I suspect this week will have a small number of linkups due to Canada Day and the 4th of July and hope you are all having safe and lovely holidays this week! I am also craving mashed potatoes which is stupid.

Missing my good hair and side-eyeing my current hair. During pregnancy with Otto my hair got thicker and curlier and I started taking for granted that I just had thick, curly hair and that was that. I think the thick/curly-ness peaked while I was pregnant with Etta (I was so pregnant with her!). Then after she was born I lost my mind and cut it all off with a steak knife, Joan of Arc style (not really) and now it's growing out again but seems really dull and thinner and just kind of meh. Maybe I need a haircut? I bought a box of color to darken it up a bit. I'm impatient and just want it long again! And that is the incredibly short and interesting story of me, missing my good hair. The end.

Listening to Otto make me laugh and to Loretta say "hat!" and "hi!" and blow kisses.

Wishing this long weekend will be filled with tidying up the house, eating picnic foods, gardening, playing in the yard, and ice cold beers.

That was this week. Here are next week's themes: 
trying, wearing, choosing, laughing, tasting


HK

7.01.2013

the project-per-month PROJECT month 4

Here we are with the Project-Per-Month Project, take freaking FOUR! I really love the effect this project of projects is having on my home. Slowly but surely the problem areas are being replaced with tidy, put-together areas and I look around my house and instead of feeling overwhelmed I just like it here more. If I see something I don't like I think I'll get to that! Taking on manageable to-dos and getting them done, go us!

Project-Per-Month Project HOW IT WORKS... If you want to join in the fun, you totally should! Here are the rules...
Pick a single, manageable project off your to-do list, just one.
- Decide, "I can do it!" ps. You really can. Yes you can!
- Give yourself goals.
- Give yourself a deadline: the end of the month.
- Give yourself a budget.
- Do it. Do it.

I can't wait to see what everyone accomplished in June. I did three micro-projects: replace the pulls on the kids' dresser, finally hang a picture I'd thrifted months ago, and set up a Montessori-at-home inspired tooth brushing station for Otto in the bathroom. I didn't give myself a budget but since almost all the materials were shopped from items already around my house, except the pulls, so the cost of all three came to a whopping $23. That's the kind of price tag I like-a a lot.

Rob and I agree that the new drawer pulls, $1.87/each cheapies, look even better than the originals did (even back before the originals started to crumble to pieces and we lost one). And here's the picture I finally got around to hanging up...
And a few pics of the room and how it's all coming together.
And an awkward one of me thumbs upping a job well done.
The other part of June's projects was setting up a toothbrush station for Otto. I wanted him to have easy access to his toothbrushing supplies and a mirror at his height. The results...

We framed some of Otto's recent art to go with the set up. Yoda, Vader, and Crocopile 

June was a handful of quick and easy projects and I love that they're done and off the list. For July I am going to take on a monster, refinishing our kitchen table...
From a distance it is great, but up close...
Everything from nicks and scratches to a big spot where I spilled nail polish remover (yay me!) and the grooves always look dirty even when I've scrubbed them like mad, which, let's be honest, I don't usually do. I've seen a lot of people singing the praises of chalk paint recently because it's thick and doesn't require priming so I am going to refinish this guy. I just can't decide if I want to stick with black, or do something bold. Part of me wants to do a wham bam color like English Yellow. So at this point, color is tbd. Budget is $70 based on hardly any research so far, but I got the inspiration to do my table this way from the before and after post on I Rock So What where Jess refinished a smaller table using one can of paint, one of wax, and she had leftovers so I'm guessing that should do me too.

What projects have you been up to or are thinking about taking on for July? High five, you! ps. What color should I pick? Our house is pretty Torkleson-y so I can get away with anything but is sticking with black better?