EVERLANE FOR SPRING

for the past few months, i have been trying to buy all my clothes strictly from thrift stores or second hand (yes even work clothes!) and have been finding a lot of great things.  i'm hoping to keep this up as much as possible, for the purposes of 1) budgeting, 2) minimizing general waste, 3) and minimizing my closet.  if i don't buy things second-hand, i want to try to make it things that i really love, that were produced ethically, and that i will cherish for years and year to come.  these things are usually more expensive (thus, the thrifting) but as i come across them, i'll share them here.

everlane is a brand i probably already talked about here because i love them! they partner with the best, ethical factories around the world and are super transparent about their costs. plus, their items are lovely and so well-made.  i have a plain white t-shirt from here that i love and the weekender bag that i have been using for years and love passionately.

all that to say! a couple of things have popped up on their website recently that i put on my wishlist for spring and summer. i love a low block heel, and those red ones up there are so fun and seem comfortable to wear around for any occasion .they have lots of other colors, i think a neutral or pink one would be a great one, but this red one caught my eye. it reminds me of what a simple red lip can do for the whole look.

i also am very intrigued about these kick crop jeans. they are high-wasted, make your legs look longer, and has some stretch. plus, these denims are made in the "world's cleanest denim factory" - a place that recycles 98% of their water, uses solar power, air dries their jeans, and then even transforms their sludge into bricks to build affordable homes. you can read about it more here, it's really interesting!

VALENTINE'S

happy valentine's day! one week late.  is everyone doing ok? surviving february? we've had some mild-weathered days over here, and i'm revived in my hope, but admittedly also being swept along by this fast-moving current of time, work, and full calendars, without really being able to take stock of this in-between feeling.

i'm going to write a post soon to give an update on how i'm doing with my resolution, but i wanted to say here that strangely and a little bit sadly, one of the big things that have changed with the new year is that i'm not getting to exercise as much.  it sort of feels like a necessity though, and it's giving me room to breathe in a way that i didn't know i needed. i'm still trying to figure out how exactly to orient my schedule for this but for now, i desperately need every waking moment that is not consumed with work to spend with my kids or with friends or just with myself reading. 

case in point, i had a small window of time this sunday to do something like work out, but instead, i wanted to make chocolate-dipped strawberries with sloane because she was SO excited to make something for her dad for valentine's day, and it was worth every moment. we went ahead and made a bunch of valentine's for other friends we knew we would see that day and it was a really easy and fun project to do together.  since the girls and i love fruit so much, maybe we'll make this a valentine's tradition - dipping fruit into melted chocolate for a special treat?

taste testing. 

logan approved.

here are a few photos from valentine's day! (all the photos that my phone takes is so grainy these days.)  it was an exciting day for everyone. sloane got to do two sets of valentine exchanges (one from school, one from after school) and then she got the sweetest packet of cards from her friends who had a palentine's event earlier that day that she couldn't attend.

i mentioned this in my previous post, but when i picked logan up that day, i discovered that she had received some treats as well. when i asked if i could see what she had, she refused, saying she wanted to show sloane first. when we picked up sloane, the first thing out of sloane's mouth was: "logan, i want to show you what i got. we can share everything!!"

SLOANE AND LOGAN THESE DAYS

happy we-are-halfway-through-february!

i am just over this cold weather. over it. i'm not even trying to have a good attitude about it anymore. i held on to it for as long as i could, and now i'm done.  is it sad that my anticipation of spring and summer is laced with the dread that i am going to have to do winter again after that? sad.

it's been hard to post as often, and not for lack of trying. there is a lot going on mentally and creatively and i realized recently that it's taking up my bandwith and capacity for things like posting on my blog or even my instagram. i think there is an adjustment period that i need to factor in here and i'm trying to figure out the balance to doing what i really want to do (which includes this blog!)

sometimes in the middle of parenting i think: am i a monster? other times i think: am i the best? and then other times: i am the luckiest.

i saw this quote the other day and immediately saved it: "the obligation for working mothers is a very precise one: the feeling that one ought to work as if one did not have children, while raising one's children as if one did not have a job." - annabel crabb

amen.

now! onto some things that sloane and logan have been saying and doing recently.



we have this huge box in the playroom right now and it serves as so many forms of play. it's a vehicle, it's a house, it's a canvas for art, and it also serves as a place in which to sit while watching some cartoons.

speaking of play, my favorite thing in the world is watching these two girls play together.




sloane loves kindergarten, but after a few months we noticed her having these emotional outbursts that seemed to come out of nowhere. i think it was a combination of her trying out things she had seen other kids do at school, and having a surplus of feelings that she didn't know what to do with. once we figured out that we should not be reactive when this happens and that we should instead just hold her, and then talk through her feelings a little bit later, things started settling down. i am just amazed at how much she is learning and maturing these days.

when talking about how she would be going back to school after her winter break (it had been one week): "I'm a little worried because I feel like when I go back to school, I won't know anyone."


i found her splayed across her bed, sniffling and quietly saying: "please God, please help me not cry ever again." (we've been working on self-control, but i feel like this took a dark turn. don't worry, we always encourage her that it's ok to cry!)


"you know what I like about daddy? i like that he sleeps alot...actually, no i don't like that about him. hm. i like how his beard is tickly, and i like his car."


i was having a moment where i was sadly reflecting that when she grows up she might move away, and she said:"if you move away and your house as a house next to it, i can just move into that house!"  i then asked her, "do you want kids when you grow up?" and she said, " i don't know, i'm not sure yet." i also asked what she wants to do when she's a grown up. Her response: "a teacher! and I want to work in a nail salon (she had gotten a manicure for the first time recently), and i want to play trumpet in a band, i want to play piano, and i want to be in an obstacle course."

sloane picked up a piece of paper that Logan had scribbled on. "mom, I like this one...I like it when she uses many different colors together like this." i responded in agreement, but then she said, "no mom, i mean it, i really DO like it."... as opposed to the other times she pretends she likes something that logan draws for the sake of encouraging her.


me (out of the blue): "your feelings matter, sloane"
sloane: "mom, all things are made out of matter."

sloane was telling me about a show she had watched and when I asked about a particular part, she elbowed me (!) with a self-satisfied smile and said, "oh you'll just have to wait and see until i finish telling you". it reminded me of a grandpa relishing the anticipation of a child wanting to hear more.

this girl is always down to hang out.  anytime either ken or i go out somewhere, even if it's just to run errand, she wants to come along.  she knows what she wants and makes a decision immediately (as opposed to her older sister who takes her time deliberating). 

she's talking a lot, but it's not even just what she says, it's how she says it. she is filled with enthusiasm and mirth and angst, sometimes one right after the other. i wish i could record how she says things because it's hilarious but as soon as i try, it takes her out of the moment. so i'm trying to store as many as i can in my memory. 

this ball of energy has also been giving me a run for my money, and by that i mean she can wear me down like i didn't even know was possible. it's amazing how different my two girls are - with sloane, i'm always trying to be sensitive and tune into her feelings because all her intensity brews inside and with logan, i'm always trying help direct her outward intense energy that spews out of her. 

before bed, she frequently asks me if we are going to eat in the morning, and what we are going to eat (the girl loves eating).  one night, after i told her, she asked that i sing the next day's breakfast menu as her bedtime song. 

whenever she asks for something, she requests that it be BIG. big applesauce, big sandwich, big pear. she also asks for 5 of everything.  she can count to 20, but she must think 5 is really big number, because she holds her hands up with five fingers outstretched, eyes huge, and says "not one mom, FIVE."

she loves her sister and always wants to snuggle up in sloane's bed with her. when i picked logan up on valentine's day, she had a bag of cards and treats that she had gotten at daycare from friends. i asked if i could see it, and she refused, insisting that she had to show sloane first.  

logan loves her a la croix. it's really hard to get a good photo of the kids these days because they are constantly on the move, much less a picture with the dog! here is me trying. 

WHAT I'M READING V. 31

Here we have a round of all non-fiction! The first three of these are ones that I read for work - which has been an unexpected perk of this new job. The company has a book study every quarter or so and go through a book together, which I like because I think it speaks to a company culture of being open to learn.  Bonus points that these are books that I would probably not have picked up on my own.


The Myth of Multi-Tasking by Dave Crenshaw 

This was a fascinating read for me, who admittedly has always proclaimed myself to be a multi-tasker, as if it were a great thing.  I still think that there is a certain type of positive energy that is really useful to me when I do several things at once, which builds on itself and keeps me moving, but I agree with the premise of this book that people can't really multi-task; what they are doing when do many things at once is "switch-tasking".  The author makes a distinction between "switch-tasking" and "background-tasking" - the latter being when you do something that takes up your main form of concentration, while you do something that takes up less focus, like watching a movie, listening to podcast, etc.  This concept has made me think more carefully about which activities I switch-task and which ones I need to make sure I fully focus on. I think this has applications in creative work too in ways that I'm still thinking about.

The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann

This is the book study that we are doing now.  I love the concept of this book, which talks about how the secret to business success is giving.  It is written like an allegory, with the main character being guided by a "Chairman" who introduces him to principles like "Your worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment." and "Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people's interests first." It's a shift in mindset when it comes to the business world, and potentially a really effective one.

StoryBrand by Donald Miller

Do you guys remember Donald Miller? I've read nearly all his books, but didn't know that he wrote another one about marketing until a few months ago. Apparently, Donald Miller is now helping businesses clarify their marketing messages through his company, StoryBrand, which uses the seven elements of storytelling to grow their business. I'm a believer in the concept that the elements of storytelling naturally resonates with people, so I was really interested to see how Miller has fleshed this out for his business. A lot of things I knew, but I also learned a lot of things reading this one and are in the process of implementing these strategies for our own.

The Child Whisperer by Carol Tuttle

I picked this up based on a couple of recommendations. Carol Tuttle talks about working with children based on Energy Profiling, which is an assessment tool that considers body language, communication, learning proceses, personality, physical characteristics, etc to provide parents with understanding about how their children see the world and need to express themselves. It's all about learning your child's true nature and speaking to that as your parent them according to their individual needs. Looking at the movement and tendencies of your child makes a lot of sense to me, but i was a little wary of the parts where she also uses physical characteristics to categorize into types. There may be something to that, but i'm just wary of assigning traits based on physical appearance....sniffs of eugenics. Anyways, it's good for the way it highlights the differences between children in detail.  Consistency is key, but also i realized over the past year that I can't use the exact same parenting style for my two kids.  I figured out what "types" my kids were (Type 3 and Type 2 I think) and found the tips for each type when dealing with various situations really helpful.

SLOANE AND LOGAN'S CAR TRIP

look at these photos I found! they are from last october, which was three months ago, and it's a batch of photos i never got around to posting. i think they were from a saturday morning that was a scheduled "home" morning (meaning i wasn't allowed to schedule anything else that day so we could enjoy being home together).  i peeked in on the girls playing happily and contentedly on their own, which always makes me so very happy because it feels like i am getting to witness a friendship blossoming between my two girls.

this particular morning, they were going on road trips in their "car" (the sofa), with Logan tucked in the back, as well as their special friends, and Sloane in the driver's seat. they were at this for almost an hour, driving to various places, getting out of the car, getting back in the car, driving to the next destination, etc.  sloane was the director and logan was such a happy and willing participant.

you guys! we made it out of january, and now we are hacking our way through february. i hit a wall this past weekend with the cold, where i felt like i could not live one more day in this weather, but here i am, living and surviving.  this past weekend was busy, but i got to spend some great time with our girls and i missed them terribly when i got to work this morning. i heard someone say that their dad told them his favorite moments in life where when his kids were little, and it made me feel emotional hearing that because i do think that to myself all the time - how we are living the best days of our lives right now with these precious little ones - and i know how fleeting all of this is.  even through the winter, i will remember this and work on savoring each of these days.