berry manilow

last night, somewhere sometime a little after Ot and Et both went nicely to sleep around 7:30, i excused myself from the house for the most peaceful 20 minutes i've had in a while. blackberries grow unchecked up and down our street and we have two blueberry bushes in our front yard. so i went scavenging.

a bushel and a peck.

blackberry vines are mean things. they grab your clothes and have large and teeny thorns that really sting.

i would say that probably only 10% of the blackberries are ripe which means we'll be swimming in these guys for the rest of summer! now i just need to find some recipes to cook them into. i am thinking a cobbler for the weekend would be pretty ideal and i want to look into this making-your-own-icecream thing that everyone seems capable of doing these days.

cobbler and homemade icecream, heck yeah.

TGIF peoples!

Oregon's Enchanted Forest

we met up with our much-loved, much-missed Portland friends at The Enchanted Forest a weird/awesome theme park nestled nicely in between Eugene and PDX. Otto had the time of his life, and so did the rest of us.we went on rides. stepped inside our favorite fairy tales and nursery rhymes. were wowed by animatronics. ate ate ate! including some legit lemon meringue ice cream. and the laser light show was one of the sincerest things i have ever seen. more sincere than the Charles in Charge theme song. as if that were possible. in short: it was a stupendous day!

my gorgeous girls Loretta and Sarah getting photo-bombed :)

falling down the hill jack and jill style with my cutie

 there was a crooked Otto

love these people!

just when you think Oregon can't get any more Oregon-y you are wrong because it is the neverending story of Oregon-y-ness. and that ain't a bad thing! if only the summer weather lasted forever.

it's summertime and the living's easy

this evening we barbecued with some friends and, well people, this is what life's all about ♥ first there was running in the sprinklers... in our underpants :)

 oh no. it was too much! i developed perma smile from the too-much-awesome.

miss Loretta was all summery and snoozy. and me? well i should've worn a more figure-enhancing bra (oh my! oh ugh.). but whatever! there was pasta salad. and then there was watermelon eating and more sprinkler action.

 and a little s'mores action, Otto's first!

 and then (after borrowing some dry clothes) we were treated to the most clap-trap ballet.

which ended a little like Black Swan, with Otto leaping to a severe toe-stubbing that kind of ended the evening. dudes, i ate so much pasta salad tonight. and then i ate another huge bowl of it when i got home. because it is good, and Trader Joe's wasabi mayonnaise is the shit. 

dear Oregon, please stay summer, always. okay, thanks.

this time last weekend...

this time last weekend i had some serious stomach stuff happening, not gonna lie, but it was pre-gall stones attack so i was just rolling with the punches and we decided to road trip it to the Oregon Coast for a beach day. it was cold, windy, downright brisk! but it was also gorgeous and awesome and i wanted to share...

no feet!

found some driftwood. took his jacket off. i was like, "Otto, are you crazy? it's freezing!" but he wasn't havin it. meanwhile...

i put myself in charge of "minding" the picnic blanket by wrapping myself in it and not moving. ps. mama needs her hair did.

mama also needs a pedi. mama, lately, is a trainwreck. but it was totally worth passing gas while freezing on the beach, for this -->

a little bit of magic, right? and next time i won't be all secretly dying inside. also, next time i'm wearing pants instead of a skirt (read: comes from Arizona, wasn't prepared).

hope everyone's having happy weekends! eat an Oreo for me!
-lindsey

the new kitch, unchicken soup, and our new after-din tradition

happy sunday morning to you. i'm so freaking happy it's sunday morning!!!!! i get to "sleep in" today (so of course i'm using my time to do this post) but if feels really chilled out and relaxing. and in about an hour we're all going for a walk to a nearby cafe for breakfast. i'm still having a hard time finding my groove in our new life. i find myself taking thousands of naps and sleeping like 10 hours at night. i think it's all still catching up with me. i keep wanting to post, but then feel so overwhelmed by the idea that i go to bed early instead. it's a hard knock life, yo.

anyways, so here is our new kitchen!

it's teeny, but i think we made it cute and manageable. and my only real complaint is that there is carpet IN THE KITCHEN. What?!! Yep. We ordered this Mad Mat (in a smaller size) to go in there but i still fear the day my butterfingers drop a boiling pot of chocolate pudding or something <-- bound to happen --> doom.

one of the first meals i made our lil fam in the new kitch was my famous unchicken soup. i'm a chicken soup FREAK but the hubs is still a vegetarian (i stopped when i was trying to get pregnant with Otto and feel like someday i'll go back, but since we give Otto chicken and fish regularly, i've found it really hard to deny my chickeny fishy desires). anyways... during my vegetarian days i perfected this recipe for unchicken soup that tastes just like the real deal. no joke. so this was our dinner the other day...

organic carrots and onion from the farmers market ♥

Notes on the above... that Imagine "no chicken" broth is like a miracle! i drool! amazeballs! and i've found after trying lots of products that Quorn nuggets (because they're so dry i think) really soak everything up and make the best unchicken for soups.

after a hearty dinner we set out on our evening walk to the park (which has become a fast tradition already). it's so so so so so so so pretty here and we have this great park less than a half-mile from our house.

so there you have it. this is pretty much what we do after dinner every evening now. and because the local produce here is so killer, i've been inspired to cook fresher, more vegetable-powerhouse type dishes.

ok, off to breakfast. what do you think of the kitchen? too small? or manageable? so far we're making it work but i fear the day i attempt a tofurkey feast! doom.

-lindsey

wordless... after dinner strollin

two point five

Ot is just two days shy of 2 1/2 ♥ and everything about him that's always been there is suddenly magnified (humor, tenacity, sweetness, sourness, daring, just all of it). he's coming into his own so much, growing confident in his body and words. using words like "maybe" and "sometime" and "probably" in the right context and accusing us, "you're teasing me!" when we joke or say something that doesn't make sense to him.

"leave the door open just a little bit, mom"

for someone who changes his mind every three seconds he's also insanely demanding about what he wants. he loves his routines and i feel cruddy about how this move is already uprooting some of that. the boxes that are accumulating in the living room...and the general dissarray... he has Oregon on his mind constantly. and he's excited, like really excited, and wants to talk about the rain, grass, our new garden, the mountains, the beach, the university football team, and his big boy room.

Me: It NEVER rains in Oregon
Otto: You're teasing me. It rains a LOT!

but he's obviously also concerned. at bedtime now (a seventy-five step process these days) he's now added "let's talk about Oregon" to his delay tactics. and every night we talk for ten minutes or so about our new home and how while mommy and daddy drive our things up to Oregon,Otto will get to stay with his Nanas and Papas and then fly in an airplane to Oregon just a few days later.

in all the hub-bub of the move, i'm trying not to miss all the leaps and bounds of advances Otto is making as he continues on his journey through toddlerhood. a few things he's up to...

- on Monday he had a whole day at preschool in underpants with no accidents!
- he knows his ABCs (he loves the India Arie version so sings em kinda groovy) and can count to twenty
- he loves to do "pushups" and (to my horror) jumping off of pretty much everything
- he's memorized several of his favorite books and reads along with me
- he plays independently with his toys for long periods, playing store and circus and having the characters interact and talk
- he has a girlfriend at school who he "hugs her back" and he thinks she looks like a cowgirl (really? it starts this early?)
- and since he's two he's also a little batshit crazy most days, at least at some point.

rob and i try to lead by example and be strong, fun, sympathetic parents. sometimes though, we just have to run from the room so we can bust out laughing without Otto seeing. he's a trip. each and every day a trip. and honestly, just the most amazing, happy, wonderful little trip i could ever imagine.
-Lindsey

ps. i've really had it with my phone camera. i'm definitely getting a little point-and-click in the $200 range. a few of you suggested the Canon Powershot. anyone else out there have a suggestion? i'm going to start comparing what's out there later this week because i've had it with sub-par pictures! boo!

this old house...

so i have some really really really really big big news (and that's why they call it jum-bone!). we have a home lined up in Eugene! with our own yard! a washer/dryer room! on a quiet little street! and we're moving in july! july --> eek! ok, that's maybe a little sooner than we are maybe ready for, but we're excited! here, a little sneak peak of Otto's soon-to-be room.

i can't wait to get it all set up like a "big boy room" and share pictures with you! in fact, i'm really excited to decorate this new place with a more consistent and charming style than we ever did our current home. i think i finally have a better feeling for what i like. i credit you guys (your blogs, your pinterest pins, your etsy recommendations) for helping open my eyes to how charming and unique a home can be. even in this day and age of ikea and target-trying-to-be-ikea. don't get me wrong. i LOVE ikea and target-trying-to-be-ikea. but i'm also feeling really empowered to find or create some more personal, unique touches in our new pad.

wildflower-lined steps down to our private entrance...

it's a little duplex. i'm so thrilled. i can't wait. i love it already!

this old house
so i'm obviously mildly excited about this move from tucson to oregon. but i also wanted to take a second to nod in the direction of this old house we're leaving behind. Melissa got me thinking today about the fact that this old house holds my dearest memories. it's the house we brought Otto home to. the house where he's grown from baby to toddler to toddler-squared. it's this house...

ps. i want that moment back...

at the same time, this house has been the home of some of my darkest moments. years of unending sadness and cold fear that changed who i was and who i will be, forever (would i ever get pregnant? could i?). those years tested my relationships with everyone i'd ever known. aged my soul. brought me to my knees many many times. and yet.

this is the house that brought me my greatest joy. my Otto. my heart. my love.

this house has been the stage of so many milestones. so much change. so much love. and it's going to be hard to leave it, and the people i've grown to know and hold dear while we've camped out in tucson for the past five years. but i am also soooo ready to move forward. moving forward has been the goal all along. Rob finishes his phd, Otto starts on his path towards the US presidency, and i maybe learn to relax a little bit more, enjoy the rain and trees and flowers and sky, and start making new memories with my beautiful little family in a new home (that has organic garden beds, did i mention? hells yes!).

xo,
Lindsey

Guest Posting at Eisley Rae & Some Oregon Pics

First things first:

I... am... an asshat. My awesome friend Alyson (aka @EisleyRae) asked me to guest post for her one day while she's on vacation. She is so on top of it like that. But! I didn't realize the post was running today (Thursday) so I failed to plug it at all properly. So PLEASE swing over to Alyson's blog if you have a sec, it's a flashback illustrated post about a day that brought me so many belly laughs I wanted it to live on in the modern day...

Second things second:

Rob spent pretty much the whole day today exploring Eugene, OR (my maybe future hometown *she says with fingers crossed*) and I just wanted to share because these pictures have me droooooooling over this charming lil city up north...

While there is still a possibility that we'll be in Seattle (another rad town) instead, I think my heart may already belong to this lush lil Oregon town. Can you blame me? It's like pretty pretty paradise.

xo,
Lindsey