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