October 2014

With 4 birthdays in the space of 1 week in our family, October really kicks off a fun time of year for us. Plus, people stop focusing on fall and start talking about Christmas - fine by me! ;)

Heard: I love a creative cellist.



Read: I'm attempting to read every children's book we have (many, many) to Ishmael, and reviewing them here as we go along. I also had my first article published in print in the Cleaver Quarterly! Honestly, I think it's far from my best work, but I'm so honored to be a part of the magazine and I'm already working on bettering the process so that my next piece will be stronger. Here's a picture of the cover of my issue (Issue 2). Can you guess which of the stories at the bottom is mine (click the image to enlarge)?

Watched: I'd been wanting to watch Belle ever since I saw the trailer months ago, and while I'm glad the story is out there, it wasn't all that entertaining as a movie. It was very Pride and Predjudice-y, which will make many of you want to run and go see it (and you should! :)), but sometimes those movies leave me rolling my eyes that I just spent 2 and half hours watching conflict over whether a woman is going to marry for love or money. I at least appreciated the added aspect of abolition in Belle. // I also started watching the new show "How to Get Away with Murder" and I love it! It's been quite a while since I binge watched anything out of excitement, and then I dreamed about the show all night! I'm really enjoying the way they're showing you strands of several story lines at once without revealing how they're all related yet.

Tasted: Of course we only discovered this the day before we moved away, but the tacos at El Taco de Mexico on Broadway (near the corner of Jones street) are BOMB. The staff and pricing less so, but I'd still go again just for those tacos. // We also did a DIY Korean BBQ night for the first time with the Gees which was a lot of fun.

Browsed: 
1. These photos of the underground railroad route at night make that journey seem so much more real to me. Look at them slowly, and imagine yourself in the scene.

2. I love the way ink dropped in water, chocolate stirred into batter, or barely mixed paint looks. Feast your eyes!

Experienced: This month, it's kind of like, what didn't happen in our lives? At least I feel like I'm getting into a routine again though, which feels great.

• First of all, we moved out of our apartment of two years and back in with my parents to save money to finish school. No big deal. The move was pretty stressful, but the living situation is great. 
• Shortly there after, I quit my office job of 5-ish years to stay home with the boys, though I continue to do small jobs from home. 
• I got to be a part of my sister and her fiance checking out a venue for their wedding in the Santa Barbara area that they decided to go with in the end, so that's exciting! Annelise also found a wedding dress she really likes on that day. 
• I met a new mom-friend, Heather, from a Facebook group we're both in for fans of a parenting podcast we listen to. She just moved up here from LA and I'm really enjoying her company and insight. Yah, the internet age! 
• I attended my first PCPA costume sale. Wasn't quite as wonderous as I was expecting, but I bought a coat that is in the wash after a DIY dye job as I type this - we'll see how it goes. 
• I road-tripped with some Pampered Chef ladies to a meeting in Oxnard and got pretty jazzed up for a new kind of show we're doing. I've been working on getting back in to the swing of the business after having Ira. 
• Halloween got rained out, but no one minded too much because it was our first rain in over 6 months. I saw some great costumes on Facebook and was secretly happy to have an excuse not to have to dress up or dress my boys up. There's so much pressure to have an amazing costume and I'm never into it, even though I like to dress up in general. 
• My dad turned 50 and Annelise turned 22! 
• Ishmael turned 2, and it was such a wonderful day. We took him to the zoo which he seemed to enjoy, but cake and presents that night were a total joy-fest all around. I made him french onion soup and grilled cheese for dinner (so he could dip all he wanted), watermelon, and a popcorn cake. He was so thrilled about the candles and kept asking us to relight them so he could blow them out again. Punch balloons were also a hit. My heart melted all evening. Jonas bought him a drum which he plays excruciatingly loudly quite early in the morning, and I got him a backpack, which he likes to put on and then say goodbye to me. I had been planning a watermelon themed party for next year, but something better came up, so I used the watermelon stuff I'd already collected this year. I'll have a picture of the table set with all the watermelon stuff, but lest it go to waste, here's a little inspiration board of the watermelon themed things I'd been collecting. I think it's a really cute theme, especially for a kid who loves watermelon, like Ishmael! 

Image credits: watermelon vans, watermelon favors (brilliant craft, I want one), watermelon pinata, watermelon (or strawberry?) balloons, frozen watermelon on a stick (I want to try this), adorable cake-pops. Oh, and of course you'd want to have a watermelon eating contest too. :D 

Boys: Ishmael address everyone by name now ("mom! mom! mom! mom!.... ball" when he wants me to play ball with him). He loves watching hockey on TV with my dad and the other day he came downstairs, still groggy in the morning, went up to my dad and whispered in his ear "hockey...". I giggle every time I think about it! He sometimes asks to hold Ira and then puts a blanket over both their heads, mimicking me situating my nursing cover-up. When Ira was crying the other day, he ran upstairs and got Ira's binky. Potty training isn't going great, but it will eventually happen, right?! When he's upset, he runs funny - either he gallops or crab-steps away from you. He's as sweet and rambunctious as ever. // Ira went through another pretty fussy phase, but had/has the most amiable personality on either end of that spell. He hiccups when he laughs, and I love the shape of his nostrils, like little commas. He was sleeping through the night for a while, but we're back to some middle of the night feedings. // 1. One of my favorite foodie companies, Mouth, launched a collection for moms! What a great gift idea! 2. 50 reasons your toddler is awake right now is pretty hilarious.

Loved: The heat wave, followed by the first rain.