June 2015

What a crazy and exciting month! Both my sister Annelise and my childhood bff Danielle got married, and I was honored to be in both weddings. Annelise's bachelorette party was covered in May's month-end post, but for Danielle, we spent a special weekend at the Silverstrand beach house and I added another worth-visiting-again bar to my list (who am I?!), the Tavern in Ventura. I finished my 5th class at APUS toward the end of the month, my sister Julia graduated from 8th grade, and my car officially died for good. That's been an adjustment, but I hope that managing with 1 will help us save more money.

In noteworthy media: I finally watched Fruitvale Station, and even though it's an older incident, it felt even more powerful and poignant in light of the police brutality and massacres hanging heavy over our nation right now. I also started watching the Astronaut's Wives Club, which is good, but not amazing, and might appeal to fans of Mad Men. Musically, Melody Gardot caught my attention (sorry I'm getting so boring in my musical tastes). At this point, I listen to a lot of Sesame Street, and other music just ends up being background noise. I like the collage artwork of Xochi Solis, above.



I renamed my Facebook business page since I'm no longer selling the Pampered Chef. It is now "The Black Ram Snack Emporium", and while I'm still working on turning it in to something more than a name, the page is currently a place for me to share recipes I'm trying, general cooking tips, etc. I was especially pleased with a batch of Mango-Lemongrass ice cream I made, and my family loved this eggplant parmesan. I'm also officially a coffee drinker, because children. I have yet to be snobby about what kind of coffee I drink or how it's made, just put lots of cream in it, please.

Some favorite links from June included...

63 things taken from my son's mouth.

The "two kinds of people" tumblr. I didn't even know some people ate their pizza crust down?!

Kids failing painfully adorably. Uncontrollable laughter at some of these.

How sweet are the effects of love?! I sucked the eyes off a stuffed turtle out of love as a child.

A potentially safer way for children to report abuse.

{summer sandals}

Ishmael's favorite phrases in June were, "are you kiddin' me??" and "don't kill me!" (don't ask me why, we never threaten him like that). He was pretty difficult this month, getting in to trouble every time I turn my back. I think it's especially difficult for him when there are people living here for the summer who have stashes of exciting things that aren't toddler-proofed. As it would with any toddler I suppose, our crazy and unusual schedule this month has thrown him for a loop, I think. He has suddenly become a very picky eater (which I hope is just a phase), though he really likes tomatoes and cucumbers.

Ira can say "bow", "dada", and "mama". It's so strange and wonderful how their babbling becomes intelligible all of a sudden, though it can be hard to tell when he's simply imitating and when he understands the meaning of what he's saying. When we say "no" (don't hug the oven, don't put your fingers in the electrical sockets) he thinks it's freakin' hilarious, gives you a giant grin, and does whatever thing 10 times more enthusiastically. He is quite a force to keep up with. Some of his recent nicknames are "thugbert" and "Putin" (he looks remarkably like Putin with his shirt off), which sometimes morphs into "Putey". He now has 8 BIG  (Welch) teeth, which are impossibly cute, especially given all his dimples. He seems sturdier than Ishmael in his build. He makes a ton of funny scrunchy faces and enjoys neighing like a horse (Ishmael's first animal noise was a wolf). He was born in the year of the Horse, so it seems fitting. He can stand up with no support, but isn't walking yet. He loves to dance, and I think he is my true book lover! He will sit all by himself for a long time, flipping pages, where as Ishmael wasn't interested in sitting through a story until he was about 2 and a half, and he never seemed interested in looking at them on his own.

All my friends are traveling without me this summer in Hong Kong, Italy, Greece, France, and all across the US. Lame. At least they bring me back stuff. ;) It has me pondering though, do I go on a mini vacation because I'd really like to go on vacation before the next several years go by, or save up for a big one? For now, I'm staying home with my very colorful walls, even if they aren't as soaring as these ones. ;) What are your strategies to pay for vacation?

I'm SO HAPPY it's summer time. :D

April & May 2015

April and May were filled with pre-wedding planning and doing and stressing for my sister Annelise's wedding. It was a lovely wedding, and I so much enjoyed getting to see old friends who flew in, and how happy Annelise and Andrew looked on that day. On the gloomier side, the whole planning process (even though I had way fewer responsibilities than my parents!) reinforced to me how ridiculous the wedding industry and expectations have become, especially if you're trying to DIY things and you're not a professional crafter. I'm going to encourage my kids to go on destination elopements (with their closest friends and family, of course).

Annelise's dress was perfection. Hearts for eyes! I'm STILL not sure what my dream dress is, but of course the retro looks often beckon to me. {image} I need to figure out how to do massive lashes like that. By the way, Annelise's official wedding hashtag is #thewondersears, in case you want to go stalking, but we neglected to tell that to guests, so there aren't many photos up. There are a few of the photographer's photos up though, and they are so magical, I'm on tip toes to see more.

One of my favorite things about weddings, as I mentioned above, is getting to see old friends again, and making new friends. I was dead-tired by the time the bachelorette party came around, but we still had such a fun time in Santa Barbara, laughing our heads off at dinner over conversations that eventually devolved into poop-flinging stories, I kid you not. One of my favorite parts of the evening was discovering this AMAZING local bar/lounge called the Imperial. I say "discovered", but my friend Janae who works there sometimes, has been trying to get me there forever! I want to go there all the time, now. I also like that weddings give you several parties in a row for which you can dress up.

On spring break, before the wedding, Annelise and Andrew came up and spent the week to knock out as much wedding stuff as possible. I was happy to be able to get to know Andrew a little bit more during that time, and am so thrilled that he's the guy that my sister married.

My main jam recently has been this song, but I must caution you that there are some lines that have some "questionable content"....No one can resist this level of catchyness, though.




Easter, Mother's Day, my mom's birthday, and a visit from Genna were all lovely, but are kind of a blur amidst everything else going on. I must say that Jonas outdid himself with gifts this year, getting me an amazing book that I asked for (it's been a long time since I've loved a book cover to cover this much! Or maybe just a long time since I've been able to look at a whole book, haha...) AND really fun socks that he picked out by himself!

As for what the boys have been up to these last two months....

Ishmael is talking in full sentences, which is pretty awesome, and sometimes hilarious. He also likes to ask what everyone's age is. He seems to have a really difficult time controlling his temper in matters concerning Ira, and I have a difficult time trying to figure out how to handle that. Ira is quite resilient, thank goodness.

Ira is crawling like a champ, pulling himself up and climbing on things, and cruising up the stairs. He has 6 teeth, and likes to eat his food with his hands as opposed to you feeding it to him. He likes to blow raspberries with his mouth, he bounces to music, and perhaps my favorite, he gets so snuggly when you read to him! He giggles every time you turn a page.

I can't remember when this plan solidified or if I've written about it before, but it looks like we will try and move to Whittier within the next year (I'm already dreaming of decorating a space {image}, but trying not to get too excited because we're broke as a joke). Jonas will commute to Otis (near LAX) to finish school, and hopefully work at the In-N-Out office in Baldwin Park. There are a lot of big logistical things yet to be done or figured out (money???, housing, school for Ishmael, work for me?, applying to school, applying to transfer to the office job, etc. etc.), but it feels realistic enough to be something we can really work toward achieving.

Meanwhile, here in Santa Maria, I've enjoyed planting a veggie garden, and I've begun to go to estate sales regularly, which I love doing, especially as I fall ever-deeper in love with the 70s. I watched Before Midnight with Michelle, which I loved, and watched Chef with Genna, which was good too. I liked how realistic the dialogue was. I'm working through Mad Men as well, which can be so depressing, but is worth it for the outfits.

Some of my favorite finds on the internet that didn't get shared on Facebook were:

The discovery of Frida Kahlo's wardrobe.

How can you NOT smile at this hamster tiki bar?!

Fancy junkfood prepared by chefs made me laugh, and was beautiful at the same time.

My "keeper" recipes from April and May were this complex and feisty salad, and this show-stopping rhubarb freezer cake.

Looking forward to a slightly more relaxed summer. :) Ciao! 

March 2015

Watched: Boyhood (cool concept, but didn't blow me away), Big Hero 6 (which I'm watching for the second time, as I type this - I want to live in that world!), Birdman (I understand the artsyness appeal, but it was not enjoyable to watch), Hannibal season 2 (continues to be the prettiest, most mind-bending show, season 3 is going to be amazing!!!).

Tasted: This melon agua fresca is num num! // I also enjoyed this quote of Anthony Bourdain's, "There's nothing professional writers like more than free food." True dat, even if I'm not a professional!

How amazzzzing, does this tropical fruit and ice cream tart look/sound?

Experienced:

• I started back to school in order to utilize the "free money" available to me. It feels great to be making progress, but it is stressful to add to my daily schedule. 
• I quit the Pampered Chef because it was becoming more stressful than helpful. I'm enjoying putting more work into my online shop, which I can do almost exclusively from home. 
• I got to attend my friend Danielle's wedding shower, can't wait for her wedding!

Heard: New singles from Active Child (eeee!), Alabama Shakes, and a Sam Smith/John Legend collaboration, "Lay Me Down". Mainly, Jose Gonzalez's new album is great.

Boys: Ira was dedicated at church this month, began army crawling (sitting up? that's for babies!) and then for-real crawling!, and landed in the ER for stitches on his forehead after launching off the couch on to a wooden block. He loves to sit on people's shoulders and grab their hair - he gets the biggest grin on his face! He also tries to grab the water streams in the shower, which is pretty funny and cute. He's not nearly as interested in solid food as Ishmael was at his age, but he still does alright. He's not as interested in nursing as he used to be either.He likes to bounce to music, and tries to be louder than the blender, or whatever noises his brother is making. He enjoys clapping (sometimes while nursing), throwing things on the ground, and he really likes cheerios.

Ishmael is obsessed with the song, "the Tiki Tiki Room." The rest of us are less enchanted... He also likes "Pop the Wease" (Pop Goes the Weasel), "Under Sea-Sea" (Under the Sea), and he can sing "Twinkle Twinkle" fairly well on his own! His is learning left from right (?!!!), is crazy about trash trucks, and likes to go down the slide "on his belly button". At breakfast one morning, Ishmael asked me for some cheerios after he'd had fruit, milk, an egg, and toast. I said no, and he leaned his head back on his chair and said, "oh maaan!! why not?!" So yeah, the 'tude has already made an appearance. He also says, "I don't really want it..." when we put him to bed. He thinks many things are scary (he's quite sensitive!), and his favorite book is his encyclopedia. When you do something sweet with Ira, he informs you that, "he likes you". But more impressive than any of this... ISHMAEL IS POTTYTRAINED. We still have an accident here and there, but there have been periods of a week with no accidents, so that is pretty fantabulous.

Loved: Watching the little bird that runs across the fence in our backyard, that my car passed its smog test, and that for the first time, I was struck by how glad I am to have two kidlets. And spring colors. :) 

February 2015

Ugh, so behind! Here we go, February.

Heard: I love Diana Krall, and the new record is no exception. This song has been in my head a lot. I love to sing it while I drive. We also listened to the entire season 1 of the podcast Serial. It's worth a listen for sure, but I'm tense about there being no answer yet. Glad there's a second season in the works! I've heard reviews of it saying it's "revolutionizing radio" - betchya didn't think you were going to hear that from the millenials, huh? ;) It makes me very happy!



Tasted: Trader Joe's has this amazing new "fireworks" chocolate that has chili and poprocks in it. Everyone we've given it to has loved it so far, we can't stop gobbling it up! The best things I made were these easy baked scallops (I'm so nervous of messing up seafood, especially since it's so expensive, but these turned out great!) and chocolate dipped fresh oranges and kumquats. Oh, and a killer and EASY recipe for brownies from scratch, even for a baking dummy like me! Can't stop thinking about coconut chai lemonade either.

Browsed: 

• I plan to be a cool mom who builds Hogwarts out of legos. 
• Last month I had a link for dirty car art, this month is snow car art!
• Some of you know that capybaras are my favorite animal. Well, did you know that they like to soak in hot tubs?! EEEEeeeee, I can hardly handle the cuteness (and they're so blase about it!). 

Experienced: Let's see here...

• I finally got to meet my highschool bff Manny when he and his wife Katya and brother Nick came to Santa Barbara. We had a wonderful time talking about all kinds of things, laughing at our baby boys, and we ate at Freebird's for the first time (YUM). I seriously forgot the beauty of reuniting with old friends, particularly TCKs. 
• We celebrated Valentine's day at home with my parents, making a fun meal (fondue, my first time) and playing a "how well do you know your spouse" game which was really fun. 
• Jonas turned 25 on the 20th! We didn't do anything too fancy because we spent monies on traveling this month. 
• First, we went down to LA to visit OTIS as a potential school for J to transfer to. We stayed with our siblings in law, played an alcohol enhanced game of Cards Against Humanity (hilarious), went to a brewery, went to our first anti-mall (and you think WE are hipster!), met our new nephew Jude for the first time since he was adopted (we met him once a few years ago) and listened to a lot of NPR, as usual. 
• Our car broke the night before we were going to leave for Oregon, so my parents very kindly lent us their van, which was a dream. We got to visit another brother in law in Oregon and met his girlfriend and daughter for the first time, too! I got some major thrifting scores in with Morgan (BIL's gf), and got to meet up with an old China friend, Lily. We made it to the coast for a few days to visit both of our grandparents (what are the odds that they live 20 minutes apart!?), and were in awe of the beauty continuously. 

Boys: Ishmael wants to do everything by himself and says, "I got it!" when you try and help him do things. Sorry I totally spaced on writing down more details about him this month. He seems to be kind of an emotionally fragile guy. Sometimes very cuddly and sweet, sometimes sort of terrifying melt downs, and sometimes end-of-the-world crying over apparently nothing. Maybe he got the sensitive artist genes? // Ira hit the 6 month mark, cut his first 2 teeth (bottom center), says "da da da", blows spit splutters, and does this great thing that I call "velocity face" where he braces his hands on something in front of him (his chair or your body) and makes this face like he's bracing for something. It's not a scared face, but I googled "worried scared face", and this comes closest. It's quite funny, but one of those things that only lasted a few days and I never got a great photo of. // I guess I keep posting articles about how to relate to your friends without kids because I keep needing help in this area.

Loved: Beautiful Oregon rain and trees and abandoned houses (though they break my heart too) and getting a breather from our normal life. 

January 2015

Listened: Kat Dahlia finally released her full length album. I wasn't stunned, but there are a few good tracks. I like her voice, but I wish she wouldn't rely so heavily on that guttural raspy thing she does, because it starts to sound gimmicky to me. Jose Gonzales is also leaking singles here and there, brilliant as always, so I'm anticipating a new record from him.



Watched: I wasn't really planning to, but I got sucked in to watching Nebraska when my dad put it on. It was better than I expected, despite it being critically acclaimed. Parts of it were very Nebraska-esque given my two trips there for friends' weddings, but what surprised me most was that it was sentimental, and actually wrapped up as a story. I expected it to be only a really harsh character profile. It reminded me of my favorite kinds of books to read, such as Ayn Rand's work.

Tasted: THIS. So easy, so delicious.

Browsed:
Next time you're tempted to write "wash me!" (or even better, "saving water!") on your dirty car, just challenge yourself a little bit with this.

The smell of rain, explained!

My favorite kind of dino is the sweet kind.

Zoo Tycoon is back, baby. I downloaded it just because it makes me happy. Nevermind that I will probably never play it due to the 20 other things that come first if I have any free time to spare.

This weather map of wind in the USA is mesmerizing.

Only in Japan. 1950s rockabilly gangs. So awesome.

In case you needed another reason to adore Gemma Correll, she has made a January paint palette that is the very best thing.

Experienced: 
My parents got us tickets to see the Peking Acrobats for Christmas, and they were so awesome! And awesomely Chinese. Some of the feats were truly harrowing, and I was not at all convinced that they were going to survive the act. I did get to "talk" with some of the performers before the show, but my Chinese has gone down the toilet even more than I suspected, which was pretty sad. Even so, I loved having an evening that was very Chinese, in many ways.

We went on a family day out to Morro Bay which was SO fun. I made some great thrift finds, saw an amazing sunset, and had dinner in SLO where we met up with friends for the farmer's market. It was just a perfect day, and it got me thinking about how expecting Christmas to be a perfect day so often leads to Christmas being easily ruined by any little thing.

Jonas and I celebrated 3 years of marriage on the 14th, and 6 years of being a couple! Our schedule got messed up on the day of our date and we had to cancel reservations at our favorite dinner spot, but we ended up having a great evening anyway, even though Ira through up in the middle of dinner.

Boys: Ishmael is humming right along with his sentence building. Some of his favorite phrases are, "I found mew!" (his combination of me/you), "One second..." (particularly if he doesn't want to do what you've told him to do", "Actually, ...", "I'll get it", "'Hine you" (behind you), and "Dats... crazy!" He has a funny cadence to his speech where he often pauses between compound words, as in, "hot... chocolate". Not exactly sure why he does this. He continues to be Ira's favorite person, but is beginning to have trouble sharing and understanding what sorts of play are dangerous or painful toward Ira. He "dances" with Ira and pokes his cheeks, and somehow Ira loves it, though it drives me crazy because I'm not sure when to discourage him (the line is so fine between Ira loving and hating it). Ishmael doesn't listen well at this point (on most days), even as I step up my disciplining game to let him know I mean what I say. He getting more crafty with disobeying, and I often find myself at the end of my rope with him. // Ira started his first bites of solid food this month! Avacado was his first solid food. He loves to suck on oranges, too. He's a very manipulative cryer, and my dad calls him "light switch" for his ability to cease his crying the instant you pick him up or give him what he wants. He's a champ at sitting up, which I think has made him significantly more agreeable as he is probably much less bored now and content without being constantly held. It's amazing to watch him reach for deliberate things within his arm span. He is cooing and spluttering. // Both my kids belong on the NYT 3 under 3, wouldn't you say?

Loved: Warm summer nights. There weren't any in January, but I was thinking about them and loving them none the less! 

December 2014

I try not to take this blog too seriously. I've been blogging for about 8 years now, and I've certainly hoped at times that it would make me wildly popular and famous (it's ok, I'm laughing too), but ain't nobody got time for the amount of effort that takes. I find I get the most out of blogging when it's an available platform for me to play with or share through, but it becomes stressful and stiff when I try and force it to advance my "career" or otherwise glorify myself. I would love to hone my professional writing skills further by practicing here, but I'm also really trying to focus on my real life. Taking care of real people, working hard in real life so that I don't just have to dream about a dream job falling in my lap because of my bloggy-hobby. I'm not going to make any official statements about how much I'm going to be blogging in the future (it seems to go in seasonal waves), but I haven't felt a big need to inhabit this space recently, thus the relative radio silence. Anyway, I greatly appreciate all of you that encourage me when I write, and keep coming back. With the exception of #7, I've found this list of reasons to blog to be pretty accurate, and as I learn to give blogging the proper amount of weight in my life, I'm even more excited about it. And who knows? Maybe, just maybe, it will become something even more exciting somewhere down the road. :)

Now, on to a December recap...

Heard: This song, all the way. "Georgia" is definitely on my girl-name list, for many reasons, but this song is only helping its place.



Watched: Apparently my family likes to watch movies during the holidays. I saw so many that I'm just going to rate them rather than review each. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zussou (2.5 - too disjointed, but at least there was Cate Blanchett), ABC's Hannibal (5 - Obsessed. So beautiful, and I can't figure it out, which is a huge plus to me), American Horror Story: Coven (3.5 - Better than the other seasons, but over the top in the last few episodes), Netflix's Marco Polo (2.5 for lack of energy and awful accents, but 5+ for the opening sequence!!!) , How to Train Your Dragon 2 (3 - "Meh" compared to the first, but not your average sequel storyline), Guardians of the Galaxy (4 - Rockit forever! But the nemesis part of the story was weak, IMO), Joyride (4 - awesome if you don't know anything about it going in!), Labyrinth (2 - maybe you had to have grown up on this?!). // Also, Ayn Rand reviews children's movies. My favorite.




Tasted: I bought some sunflower sprouts at the SB farmer's market and really enjoyed them on sandwiches and in salads. I'd like to try and grow some! The best recipe I made was this cranberry cream cheese pound cake. Hearts for eyes!! Although I'm not a huge fan of drinking eggnog straight, I really like to put it in pancakes and coffee during the holidays. 

Browsed:
My eyes glaze over (in happiness) at things like this underwater Victorian ballroom. 

If you didn't already see these, check out junk food wastelands. 

Migrations creating patterns takes my breath away. 

Several of these cleverly staged photos are pretty impressive. 

This book looks very sweet - I still have some much loved (if ragged) items from childhood. I have a beanie-baby (but before that was a brand) turtle whose eyes are flat and scratched because I used to suck on its head. 

A fascinating article about how pronunciation changes. Did you realize that we all pronounce "skiing" incorrectly? I just eat this stuff up... 

Experienced: I was very, very busy in December, making gifts to sell and give away. I think I saved a lot of money, but it was pretty stressful. Jonas and I took the boys down to LA to spend the weekend with our sister-in-law and nephew while their husband/dad was away in Ukraine picking up their second adopted son. It was a fun little trip, and we especially enjoyed getting to know our nephew a little bit better. Christmas was pretty low-key, but spent with loved ones. My favorite part was seeing Ishmael so excited by gifts and enjoying having everyone home. We spent NYE with friends watching 80s and 90s movies in sweat pants (which I'm still grumpy about because I wanted to dress up ;)) and drinking some pretty darn good gin. 

Boys: Ishmael's leg hair is bristly now. I didn't expect this kind of thing to happen so early. He also swears like a sailor, though unintentionally. F-bombs right and left, which is both hilarious and embarrassing because we can not figure out what it is that he is actually trying to say or if he just came up with that sound on his own?! I love how uninhibited he is, he claps and dances in church (even if it's not a clapping song), claps wildly for everyone at Pampered Chef meetings, waves at Julia even if she doesn't wave back (because she didn't see him). He has quite the fake laugh, accompanied by exaggerated knee slapping, head thrown back, and the whole nine yards. He's also big into saying "n-n-n-n-nooooo!" and "stop!" if you do something he doesn't like. // Ira is growing in to some unique nicknames, including "cherub" (Annelise's name for him), "bean dip" and "virgil" (my mom's names for him), and "weebsie", which is what I call him (after weeble wobbles!). He's very drooly (pre-teething?) and grabbing at food. He flaps his arms wildly (but in unison, which I kind of remember Ishmael doing too), screeches loudly to let us all know that he exists, and stares intently at the stuffed pig I put in his seat with him. He has a deep "voice", which I like. // I tried to pick just a sentence to quote from this excellent article about why it's so hard to make mom friends, but the whole paragraph is just a big "yep..." from me. 

"Most of these women are cool individually. One woman at story time had these great sparkly shoes. Another is a midwife. One woman started her own company and is really funny. Another writes for the Times. Collectively, though, they are mothers. They park their goddamn strollers everywhere and they are alternately dressed like shit or way overdressed for someone who has nowhere to be at all. They’re either miserable or fake happy or smug. They’re lost, too, scrambling for affirmation that they’re doing things the right way, that their kid is going to be okay. Okay or a genius. They’re knee-jerk judgmental, compensating for their own lack of conviction, a little defensive, hiding their deep fear just below the surface. They’re tired. Their clothes don’t fit. They miss work, miss people, miss drinking. They have no idea what they’re doing and have spent way too much time reading about it on the internet. They are, I’m sorry to say, just like me."

Loved: Cranberries in everything, Christmas shopping. 

Reflections and Resolutions, 20014-2015 Ed.

The years are starting to fly by me... 

New Year's is probably my favorite major holiday other than Christmas, though it's not one that I usually celebrate with much fanfare. I just really like reflecting on the past and imaging what the next year might have in store. I'm forever enticed by the promise of a new start, but as I was thinking about it recently, I don't know why we can't make a fresh start on any day of the year! Even so, there's something about the official new year, and I'm working on trying not to set my expectations so high that regular life "ruins" things. 

Here are some of my favorite Instagram moments from the year (at least, what looked nice in sets of 9!). 

This year, we celebrated New Year's Eve with our friends the Gees and the Heucharts, eating finger foods and watching 80s and 90s movies in our sweats. I drank an entire bottle of martinellis by myself (oops) and we watched the ball drop in NYC, except we watched the 1999 into 2000 edition. Oh, and lots of kissing our significant others, of course!

I did a pretty lame job fulfilling my 2014 resolutions, but I also ended up accomplishing some pretty cool stuff that I hasn't resolved to do.

2014 goals:

• Complete 2013's painting. (made more progress...)
• Hang art and hardware in our home. (I never did do that, but we moved....). 
• Learn how to buy and prepare different kinds of fish in at least 3 ways, including raw. 
• Learn to be (or be intentional about being) open, obvious, and proud about/of Jesus as a pillar of my life. 
• Visit the V.S.R. (that's a private one at this point, but I have to write it down to keep myself accountable. As you may recall, Toad - from Frog and Toad - can not even chase after his lost to-do list if that was not on his list of things to do). (lost the conviction for this, wondering if it will return)
• Make my blog pretty. (ha.... anyone want to do it for free? -.- ) 

2015 goals:

• Earn the Pampered Chef incentive trip to the Bahamas. 
• Complete at least 3 more classes at APUS. 
• Make progress with Jonas's school/our future situation. 
• Build up a nest egg - have more in the bank at this time next year than we do now. 
• Not let other's opinions be my standard - not that I don't care about other people's opinion at all, but not let my goals be molded to their goals for me. 
• Focus on being a good listener.
• Yoga 1x/week.
• Visit a museum I've never been to before.
• Have friends over for dinner once a month.
• Cook something I've never cooked before from a hard-copy cookbook, once a month. 

And in very brief, non-exclusive form...

Best of 2014:

• Tasted: Green Minestrone 
• Watched: Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown
• Read: The Cleaver Quarterly (I was published in print for the first time this year! :))
• Heard [will remind me of 2014]: Jessie Ware's "Say You Love Me", King Cresote and Jon Hopkins, TV on the Radio's "Seeds" album, Beck's "Morning Phase" album, Lily Allen's bonus tracks on the album "Sheezus", Pharrell William's "Happy", MAGIC!'s "Rude", Jetta's "Take it Easy", Ana Carolina
• Browsed: The Longest Shortest Time podcast/pages/community. 
• Favorite instagram account: @justinablakeney 
• Experienced: Ira's birth, 8/4/14/ 

May 2015 grow and stretch you, and be full of many joys, great and small. 

November 2014

I take notes throughout the month so that I don't forget anything important when I look back on my month, and November had so much packed in to it! Some of it feels like it already happened a long time ago. Parenting has had some rough patches this month, and it can be hard to get even the simplest tasks completed, thus the lull in general blogging. I always make sure to do these end-of-the-month posts though, because if nothing else, this blog is my journal.

[winter sketchbook image, even though it's been in the 70s here]

Heard: I am crazy about TV on the Radio's new album, but pretty much everyone is. Here's one of my favorite songs.



Watched: I managed to watch a lot of things this month! Before I forget, the documentary Fruit Hunters is now available on Netflix, and you should go watch it. I watched it in parts on Youtube last year, that's how much I love it. // We got "A Million Ways to Die in the West" from Redbox because the trailer looked hilarious, but it was a total dud. The humor was so low-brow, that is just wasn't funny enough - we didn't even make it half way though the movie. // I watched The Rabbi's Cat, which I quite enjoyed! It's based on some comic books, which helps explain some plot jumps in the movie that were a little abrupt. One of my favorite parts was when one of the characters, a painter, explains to the cat that "painting nature feels like eating a bird: the original was better, but you can't help yourself". This movie has a lot of cultural, relational, and spiritual (as well as cat-ty :)) topics that is incorporates. I liked how it showed friendship between people of so many different backgrounds in a tumultuous part of the world (at least, we in the west think of it as tumultuous, rather than realizing that most days are normal there, most likely). The cat itself cracked me up. // Similar to Chicago, and adapted from Broadway, I bought the movie Nine because I love parts of the soundtrack, but the story was a little bit slow. Marion Cotillard was as stunning as ever, Kate Hudson can't sing, and Sophia Loren looks quite elderly. // Edge of Tomorrow: Live, Die, Repeat almost lost me in the first 10 minutes, but then it suddenly got remarkably entertaining, and stayed unpredictable enough throughout the entire film. In the last minute or so, they wrap everything up in a way that makes absolutely no sense, but the majority of the film was good enough to merit a watch if you haven't seen it before.

Tasted: For Thanksgiving, we cooked an Indian feast! Instead of mashed potatoes, we had samosa. Instead of stuffing, we had biryani, etc. It was a fun twist on things. I made a cranberry pavlova for dessert, which was a little tricky, but I'm hooked on the idea of pavlovas in general! The best new recipe of the month was this creamy ham and rice soup, all the better for being very easy to make. I'm also helping my sister Annelise plan her wedding menu, which I love. I went to a Pampered Chef dinner and had an amazing fall risotto as well as a pepper-pecan brie dip.

Browsed:

• How to draw a perfect free-hand circle. Mind. Blown.
• Beyond the usual "common grammar mistakes."
• Hamsters in miniature Japanese kitchens. Don't ask me why, I just love this kind of stuff.

Experienced:

• On the 9th, we celebrated Ira being 100 days old (a Chinese tradition) with friends, family, food, and a pinata. It was lovely. 
• A friend from church commissioned me to make some Christmas decorations in Hebrew and Arabic for her, and I ended up selling some more to help raise money for my classes as well. 
• I almost got scammed on Craigslist by someone trying to buy my parent's pool table, but figured it out in time! Beware of cashier's checks, that's the take away. 
• I voted for the second time in my life, though I didn't have particularly strong opinions about anything this time around. 
• I started a second-hand shop on Instagram called Retro Riot. Follow me to see all the cool stuff I'm selling. It's also my favorite way to buy awesome clothes for my boys. 

Boys: Ishmael loves bugs to death, quite literally. He calls them "cuuuuute!" when he finds them, but they end up squished from all the love. He's starting to say his own name sometimes, but it can sounds more like "acho" than anything else, at times. He calls Ira's binky the "pink", and when you play hide and seek with him and he pops out of the blanket, he says, "I found me!". I realized that I often ask him to do things rather than tell him to, because he now says "no" (so I have to rephrase it as a non-negotiable). Potty training has basically failed. // Ira now imitates people when they blow bubbles or make some other shapes with their mouths. He's very ticklish, enjoys playing with over-hanging toys in his play pen and the singing mobile, and likes peek-a-boo. He's fascinated by anything flavored that you put on your hand to let him suck on. 

Loved: Having multiple occasions on which to guzzle Martinelli's, having my siblings home from school, and being able to eat dairy again (especially since we're in to the holidays now!). 

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.

September 2014

Oh September, you really dragged me through the dirt. It felt like there were a lot of days where I just wanted that day to be over whether it was because Ishmael was being extra testy or we were in the middle of moving. But I think we're coming out on the other side finally, thus my late month-end post.

Heard: I am loving Jessie Ware. I hope the few singles she's released recently mean a new album is on the way. I love that background echo-y(?) guitar.



Read: A great list of business-growing tactics for introverts. I'm in the middle of like 10 actual books (and have been for a long time...), so one of these days I'll have an real book to report on.

Watched: I'm really enjoying the show, "The Mind of a Chef" (PBS) on Netflix. It's been following David Chang of Momofuku as he learns about different fermented foods, introduces people to the many types of ramen, and shares his recipes for gnocchi made from instant ramen (!) and the ssam burrito, which I started making at home and love! I really love how willing to learn Chang is, and in turn how innovative he is. He doesn't have a big head from being such a successful chef. // I also started watching the new show "Forever" with my welsh-crush Ioan Gruffed starring, but it remains to be seen whether it's actually a good show.

Tasted: Other the ssam burrito, I think the only thing of note that I made was this gumbo and my sister-in-law Gina's pasta salad, but you're gonna have to wait for my someday-cookbook for that recipe. ;)

Browsed:
Clouds from space; doesn't get prettier than this.

A subscription goodie box for your period! What a lovely idea.

In other awesome girl news, Rejected Princesses - badass ladies from history who are too edgy to be Disney-famous. Both Boudica and Hypatia were recently featured. If you don't know who those ladies are, educate yourself!

Introverted cat lady forever. Check it. (p.s. I want this bag)

I'm rooting for my beloved HK these days. These are some beautiful vintage photos from my favorite city.

Experienced: 

• My first neice, Bree, was born on the 18th! Love, love, love. 
• I  took Ira to a Dr.s appointment in LA to get his hernia checked out. Turns out he probably doesn't have one (yah!) so I got to enjoy some time with sister Annelise in LA. We meandered through a Korean market, laughed our butts off about funny habits our fiancee/husbands have, and all around had a great time. Every time I'm in LA, I fall a little more in love. 

Boys: Ishmael got to go to Disneyland with our friends the Youngbloods, and loved it (yah!)! He knows a ton of words (new ones every day) and even asks "what's this" for the ones he doesn't know. He says "go!" when he wants you to get out of his space, but is generally very, very polite. He loves to play "ping pong" with any ball and any two remotely oblong objects (plastic banana, anyone? Or plastic horseshoe, perhaps?) and drums on everything. He spent a lot of time this month testing all boundaries and throwing tantrums (I'm sure the craziness of us moving hasn't helped his little world), but generally he knows who's boss and does a good job listening. // Ira has no hernia (hooray!), says "goo" and smiles his little dimples off any time someone gets close to his face. He's sleeping through the night more often than not now, and half the time cries bitterly when you put him down after holding him. // Links: 1. Definitely feeling some hive-pride about this hilarious tumblr started by a woman in a mom FB group I'm a part of. 2. A beautiful poem about motherhood by Billy Collins. 3. Major cryfest over these pictures of births. 4. I liked these guidelines for talking about sex with your kids. Number 3 seemed particularly novel - don't encourage daughters to hide their crushes or feel ashamed of what is natural by all the "daddy with a shotgun" talk. 5. A great reminder that American parenting isn't as effortless as French parenting can appear to be. Can you believe that the U.S. is one of the only countries in the world that doesn't guarantee some kind of maternity leave?! That puts us on par with Swaziland, for God's sake (no offense, Swaziland). I expect this to change ASAP, and I hope I get to be a part of it.

Loved: Brunch with my best friend and a thoughtful gift for Ira from another friend at church. 

August 2014

So much amazing stuff happened this month, but it's also been a hard month as we adjust to life with an infant again, gear up for returning to school and work, and start packing for a move. This month has flown by, and yet I'm still looking forward to a time when I'm not exhausted or trying to hold tears of frustration in. It's kind of a cruel dichotomy to not love the challenges of having an infant, yet know that once this time is gone, I will miss the good parts and never be able to relive them. // I have so many links to share this month, I'm going to add them to the end of each category instead of all in one category.

Heard: Crushing hard on Paul Simon's rendition of "Surfer Girl", perfect for the end of summer. Also loving Imogen Heap's new album (duh), particularly "Entanglement" and "Telemiscommunications" (previously released).




Tasted: Not as much as I wanted due to my dairy-free diet. SAD FACE. But there were still good times - we tried Raku Ramen in SLO which was worth going back to, especially for the curry gyoza. We had a mediocre brunch at Marisol at the Cliffs (though I always thing their salmon is great) and I decided I'd rather just have orange juice than a mimosa, haha. We also had decent (if overpriced) sandwiches at Woodstone Marketplace in Avila, which we didn't even know existed previously - they had some fun cheeses and ice creams that I wanted to try. We got to have dinner with the Gees twice this month, including an amazing spread that Michelle made for my birthday. // How to pick a watermelon by smell. // Finally, the internet is working on helping restaurants and stores waste less food, and dumpster divers take fewer showers. // Kale sucks. "Kale tastes like scorned exes feel and ya'll be making green smoothies with it. NO MA’AMS AND SIRS! Keep your radioactive juice. I’m on to you."

Browsed:
I missed Burning Man once again, and these photos are only making me want to go more.

The Phantom of the Opera is only partly fictional, say whaaat?!

16 of the world's most beautiful trees, which is your favorite?

Beautiful remains of "old Shanghai".

Psychedelic planetary soap bubbles.

And this cool website let's you choose which stores you like and then emails you promo codes for them. The only one I tried so far (Forever 21) didn't work (I tried in store and the coupon was for online), but the site and concept seem legit and I'm willing to try a few more times.

Experienced: SO MUCH went down this month.

• I got to attend the wedding of my sweet friend Amber, which I'm so grateful for. Wishing her and her new husband John many years of joy and growth together. 
• On the same day, my sister Annelise got engaged to my future-brother Andrew, and I couldn't be happier for them. I'm really excited for their life together, and that I get to be in on the wedding planning. 
• Two days later, I had my second son, no big deal. He's a very smiley baby, which is so sweet. 
• My mama threw me a baby shower with many of my dear gal-pals in attendance, a boba tea bar, and a private sushi chef (who taught me some skills) - I loved it! 
• My husband started back to school after 3 years off, to finish his AA in art so he can move on to finishing his BA. Very, very proud of him! 
• I got to celebrate with my friend Bri at her lemon-themed bridal shower, can't wait for her wedding in October! 
• My youngest brother Jonathan moved away to San Diego to start his studies in Kinesiology at SD State. Proud of him, but we really miss him around here. 
• And last but not least, I turned 23 years old. And drank some booze, CAUSE I'M FINALLY NOT PREGNANT! 

Boys: Ishmael got his first big-boy haircut, and manages to be even cuter (and less annoying?!?) than before. He's figured out how to unscrew lids and lock doors (oh my stars...) and likes to give "squeezies", which are extra tight hugs. He loves to play catch, especially if he can do it laying on his back in bed. His vocabularly continues to sky rocket, but I've noticed that his articulation is quite sloppy recently. Hopefully just a phase... // Ira was born, so that's good! Many of my recent posts have been about him, so I'll sum things up here by saying I still feel like I barely know him, but he's generally a good (often smiley!) baby, though he seems to have a sensitive tummy which makes him grunt a lot, and I'm attempting not to eat dairy to keep him from vomiting so much. He's a sweet little guy, and my biggest challenge, really, is just adjusting to having 2 kids instead of 1. // I love this day-in-life in pictures of an actress I like, Jemima Kirke, especially her thoughts on not being part of a mommy group (cause it's how I feel too!). // I also like this mom's ideas on not patrolling her kids' activity online, though I imagine it will be really hard for me (extra points for her blog name)! // The Huffington Post collects their favorite tweets from parents each week, some of which are pure gold. One of my favorites, "I'm such a badass dad that I just glare at the crust on bread and it comes off by itself and gets in the trash."

Loved: Fresh flowers, summer fruits, the worship at church recently, and summer . Summer, you are my favorite, and I'll be missing you until next year. 

July 2014

July has been full of fun. And waiting. Being a stay-at-home-mom has begun to require some creativity, too. One of the hardest parts for me is not making money AND having time to shop. I'm a thrifty shopper, but even so...

Heard: My brothers make fun of me for liking Neon Hitch because Spotify associates her with the Beebs, Nicki Minaj, etc., but I feel like she's way more funky and niche than those cats. I mean, Neon is her real name, she grew up in the circus, and there's a sitar in this song. Definitely feeling it. "Bad Dog" is probably my favorite song of hers, but it's a tad filthy. This song mentions head wraps and Bonnie and Clyde, which is cool with me.



Read: I finally finished reading Lolita (by Vladimir Nabokov) after starting it last fall. I read most of it right away and then got distracted, I guess - all this after beginning to read it years ago and being completely blown away with the writing, but too creeped out by the story. This time, I wasn't as struck with the writing and the plot was still difficult, but I made it through. In fact, I do think it's excellent writing (but not unconditionally the best I've ever read, like I'd previously held it to be), partly because the story is from the point of view of a child molester and yet, there are times when you find yourself in his shoes - I would tend to think that was impossible, thus why I have to credit Nabokov's extremely skilled mind and pen. It's so human that it's kind of uncanny - you realize that in some moments, HH really does love Lolita, and you realize what an unpleasant, but pitiful and broken and precious, person Lolita is. The writing style itself made me feel distinctly that there are people in the world much smarter than I - much of the text is the ramblings of HH's mind, jumping from thought to thought without bridges in between, and I wasn't able to make many of the jumps without further explanations. Many parts of the book simply went over my head. When I was more in touch with the tumblr and Swedish street style blog scene (haha) a few years ago, there was definitely this idolization of Lolita in that sub-set of pop culture. The book to some extent, but the character mostly, I think. After reading the book, I'm troubled that some young woman want to be associated with her. I get it in a way, but also not really. I actually ripped the cover off my copy because I was unsettled by the cover art, but in general, Lolita has some of the best designed covers I've ever seen. I think this one is my favorite.

Tasted:
Jonas and I went on a date to Crawdaddy's in SLO which was a fun experience! I'm excited to have a Cajun place near by and would like to try other stuff on their menu besides the crawfish boil we got last time. I cooked a LOT this month. Some of my favorites: Grilled Zucchini and Leeks with Walnuts and Herbs, Grilled Moroccan Chicken, Watermelon-Strawberry-Mint Salad, Coconut Milk Shrimp Ceviche, Meatballs in Cream Sauce, and Passion Fruit Truffles.

Browsed: With food on the brain so much, stumbling across EatWith and KitchenSurfing was extra fun and mouth watering, and got my brain wheels turning about working up to being a private chef and/or hosting monthly themed dinners and/or teaching small cooking classes. We'll see if that ever develops into more than a seed in my mind. In a similar vein, I REALLY hope The League of Kitchens branches out to California.

I can't wait to get my hands on a cocktail umbrella so I can check for a secret message!

Every time I hear about Kowloon Walled City, I'm bummed it was demolished before I had a chance to see it. At least the internet is awesome and I can see it in a virtual sense. If you've ever played Half Life (my husband has, I think), one of the versions is set in KWC, which has generated some cool artwork and is another way to virtually explore the city. I saw that world-building refereed to as "nerdvana", which delights me. Greg Grirard is kind of THE photographer of KWC, that I know of, and his photos, especially this one, are pretty amazing. This post has some more incredible artwork of KWC, and if you want to get crafty, THIS!

I've been around long enough to realize that even when I can find a bra that feels comfortable (once in a blue moon), I'm probably still in that 90% wearing the wrong size. Well, hello Pinterest link. There is a LOT of information here, and even more if you follow her links (all the ones I linked to were yet more info that I found useful), but I'm definitely on the right path to a better fit now. Several of the links include photos and videos which are very helpful, but NSFW.

Experienced: We found a stray kitten, rescued it from a busy intersection, and my mother-in-law ended up adopting it. Adorableness abounded, and it was sad to not be able to keep it ourselves! [image]

Ishmael and I spent a weekend at our old stomping grounds at the beach house in Silverstrand, Oxnard, to celebrate my mom's Masters in Social Work and my brother Jonathan's graduation from high school. 

Jonas wasn't able to attend the beach weekend because he was at work, earning his level 6 raise! We've been waiting for that for a long, long time, and I'm so proud of him. 

One of my best friends, Emily, married her dream guy in Chicago. I was sad I couldn't be in or even go to the wedding (due to being hugely pregnant), but the couple stopped by for lunch on their honeymoon road trip. 

I also got to go to a fun bachelorette party for my friend Amber, in which we encountered a stranger who advised her not to get married. I, on the other hand, love love.

Boys: It was interesting to watch Ishmael interact with the kitten we had for a day - at first he was thrilled, then indifferent, than a little jealous, which is exactly how I imagine he will feel about a new brother. He was pretty gentle over all, so I'm grateful for that. His stuffed kitty gets shared with everyone he meets, which is pretty sweet. We'll see how long the good sharing lasts with a sibling. He loves to listen to music on headphones (and pause and un-pause the music every 1/2 second), which is convenient for us when he crawls in to our bed around 7 in the morning. He experienced his first quarter in a candy machine and about lost his mind with excitement, it totally made my day. He also loves to flush the toilet, and when he saw me use toilet paper to wipe my nose, he said, "NO! Pee-pee!" I thought baby-brother would be here in July, but he decided to be an August baby. We got his bed ready, pulled out some itty bitty clothes, and I hand-dyed him some swaddling blankets. I even have the blog post about his name all ready to go.

Loved: Feeling rested and having time to finish projects before Mr. Baby 2, spending time with Ishmael, fresh flowers, ocean water in the summer, all the amazing produce at farmer's markets, finding stuff I was looking for at thrift stores. And this chair. 

June 2014

I went on maternity leave on the 26th, and I am LOVING IT! Chilling with Ishmael before his world is turned upside down, extra time to cook, catching up on writing projects, staying up later than usual to watch shows, being free to make day trips, even doing some cleaning - it's a sweet time before a different kind of sweet (and exhausting) time with a new baby. Plus, it's summer time. :) I can't get enough. [image]

Watched: I saw that Bram Stoker's Dracula was available on Hulu the night it was going to expire, so I stayed up late and watched it by myself. I'd never really sought it out before, despite my love of Dracula, because, well, it was the 90s, but I thought it was pretty good! Although some key story elements were different (such as Meena being in love with Dracula), I was delighted at how closely the movie followed the book for the most part. I was surprised at how demonic and sexual parts of the movie were, though. Still, pretty impressive! // Jonas and I started watching the new show Crossbones about Blackbeard. It's decent and still has my interest, so that's something! We also watched season two of Orange is the New Black, which started out weak, I thought, but by the end of the season, it was back in all it's incredibly-written and acted glory. We're 2/3 of the way through season 3 of Sherlock (so yummy), and I've just started watching Anthony Bordain's Parts Unknown, which is better than I expected. It's a pretty amazing look into some places in the world that aren't known well in the West, or perhaps known for only one [often violent] thing, such as Columbia for drugs or Libya for Qaddafi and Benghazi. Although Bordain strikes me as somewhat of a d-bag (sorry, mom), he's game for just about anything and is good about being culturally sensitive, which not all travel show hosts are. His crew filmed a camel being butchered, which I managed to never see during my time in China, and was kind of shocking. The show is a little less food-centric than I expected, but I don't really mind.

Heard: Although not totally fitting with the summer mood in general, I've been listening to King Creosote and Jon Hopkins' album "Diamond Mine" every chance I get.



Tasted: This months hits were this shrimp and dill pasta salad, sweet potato fries with sriracha mayo, and green gazpacho (Jonas loved it, I wasn't blown away). I also made ebelskivers and dutch babies which were pretty yummy, but no special recipes. This seven-layer lasagna was also not too shabby, but it took SO long to make (days), that I question whether it's really worth it. It left me thinking I'd let other people who make killer lasagna make it and go to them when I want some, and stick with things I love to cook that are amazing and less frustrating. Similarly, I made this chocolate and candied kumquat tart, which was very time consuming. I get it in my head to make these things, despite not having much of a sweet tooth! It wasn't thrilling at first, but I left it at my parents after I'd made it and when I went back a few days later, the chocolate part had really set and chilled properly, and it was kind of amazing. // Right next to a place I love to shop for Thai ingredients in North Hollywood (Seafood City), we found this incredible noodle shop that recently changed its name or Ras Noodle. It is the real deal, and you should definitely go get their noodle soups, which you won't commonly find at other Thai restaurants. // We spent the day at Avila with our dear friends the Gees, and stopped at Avila Barn for lunch. I was really impressed with what their little deli/ice cream shop had to offer - it seems bulked up from previous seasons. I didn't get anything (except tastes of Irish Cream and Swiss Orange Chocolate ice creams, both delicious - I was quite impressed with their whole ice cream selection, and I am a great critic of most ice cream menus), but I eyed the Banh Mi sandwhich on their menu, the Ollaleberry Cake shake, and the Peaches N' Cream dessert (your choice of ice cream topped with fresh peaches, whipped cream, and pecan crumble). Yeah, they haven't seen the last of me....

Browsed:

• Did you know Google has a patent search function?
• This photo essay is a really interesting look in to how beauty is defined the world over. One woman sent her photo to photoshop artists in different countries and asked them to make her look beautiful. The results vary wildly (some are kind of hilarious to me). 
• This list of the crazy things we find ourselves doing as parents had me guffawing on my bed. I haven't yet let someone pull my eyelashes out in order to keep them quiet on a plane, but I DO understand a situation in which that scenario could arise. 
• A fun blog post about a mama who decided to say "yes" all day to her kids instead of no on top of no, as usual. "Yes you can ride a roller coaster that will probably make you vomit. In fact, you can ride it twice." 
• On the banks of a river in Thailand, fireflies light up en masse, in sync. It looks both gorgeous and alien.

Experienced:

• My brother Jonathan graduated from high school, one of the only members of his class to have held a 4.0 GPA or higher for all 4 years! Proud of him, and I'm really going to miss him when he moves to San Diego for school. 
• We spent a few days in North Hollywood with extended family to celebrate the life of my great grandma Peggy and help sort through her things. It was great to see family, and a very interesting time in general. 
• Ishmael and I got to go to our little friend Birdie's 3rd birthday, which was incredible because her mom Kenna is a professional party planner. Ishmael went straight for the adult desserts (macaroons) and loved riding all the trikes, wagons, and scooters in the driveway. 

Check out my instagram to see some personal photos from the month.

Boys: Ishmael is not a kid short on personality. He likes to beat box (who taught him that?!), dance with his hips, look at people out of the corner of his eyes, make animals noises, and drum with bamboo sticks on everything. He loves when we pray before meals and always throws his hands up and says "hooray!" (or his equivalent) at the end of the prayer, which is a habit I'm loving adopting. He hates to have his sleeves rolled up and he is inexplicably quite agitated if anyone tried to clean their toenails around him. He loves to start the dishwasher for us, and congratulates himself about all things well done ("good boy!").  He also says "thank you" for everything, but in a kind of flippant way (it's strange and eye opening to have your own voice parroted back to you), like a teacher might say to a kid who did something that was required, regardless of how the child handled it, "thank you!" (with an uptick in tone on the "you"). We went through a rough patch with discipline this month, where he wouldn't listen about anything, but we seem to have gotten over that for the time being, and everyone is happier. He also seems very clingy and wimpery (but in a fakey, "please cuddle me" way), which the doctor confirmed is him reacting to the pheromones I'm putting out as I gear up to have another baby, even though Ishmael has no idea what that all means! Our bodies are crazy and amazing. We've had a few instances of poop smearing after waking up from a nap this month, but hoping that will right itself once we wrap up potty training with real undies and access to the toilet from his new big-boy bed, which he stays in overnight (and for naps!) like a total champ. There's no way our next kid is going to be this easy. Ishmael fell off the kitchen counter this month, which was pretty scary for everyone, but seems completely fine. // Baby #2 is kicking me hard enough to cause pain, but it's all good, I'm still looking forward to meeting him. He's projected to be another big boy (at least 8lbs) and apparently it's likely that I'll have to be induced again, but only time will tell. We're still waffling about his second middle name, so hopefully we can nail that down soon. I've been thinking a lot about different styles of childbirth, and though I respect some aspects of the ultra-natural childbirth movement, I found this article refreshing.

Loved: Being close to my due date and still feeling great (and my favorite Instagrammer liking some of my #maternitystyle photos), and an excellent, powerful, and moving sermon about divorce at our church. // In case you're not up on my favorite color of the moment, it's been pink, hard-core, lately. [image]