OUR MORNING AT THE BEACH

There is this thing happening with our floors at home and it's become a giant ordeal and pain in the behind and there isn't a single thing I can do about it except wait, and try not to be dramatic about all the delays, and try to focus on the positives even though I have been driven out of my home with two kids and I haven't seen Ken all week, and I miss my bed and I've had to put all my nesting instincts on hold, blah blah blah. 

Because there are these positives, like being Virginia beach during the weekday is kind of nice (we had a snow cone on a Monday night!) and all the extra time we get to spend with my in-laws (thank God Ken's family is wonderful)...and each time Ken's grandma comes over to coo and talk to Logan in Chinese and Logan smiles and coos back at her, it's kind of amazing. 

Plus, we didn't think we were going to make it to the beach this year, especially with the newborn, but with all the extra time down here and the extra hands, we thought, why not? Ken came down last weekend and we made it happen. I was a little nervous about being out there with the baby being so little but we rolled the stroller out on the beach, rented some shade, and kept our stay to a couple of hours and it was fine.

Ken and I kept high-fiving each other - "we're doing it!" ...."we made it!"....."we did it!" You could say we were pleasantly surprised. Logan got a nursing session on the beach ( I did it!), Ken caught some waves and Sloane got to play with her bucket and shovel - she had been talking about it for weeks - so we were all pretty proud of ourselves. Beach trip as a family of four, check!

MY COLLECTION THESE DAYS

We're in Virginia Beach this week but here are a few photos from a few weeks ago....of early mornings, bed time snuggles, tutus and pandas, hugs and kisses, grandparents, selfies, weekends, card games, family walks and solo walks. 

Once in a while I like to throw these photos all up here so that there is a single place where these all go. I resolve several times a year that I'll get around to organizing all my photos and printing books out of them one of these days....but until then. 

Here's something that I've learned recently: I'm really never going to have luxurious, ample, uninterrupted time to write.  That's a fantasy that I've given up on long ago, and in a way, maybe that's ok. Maybe I write better in little bits and pieces, in bursts here and there, on scraps of paper and on my Notes app on the iPhone. Anyway, that's how I can write these days, and that's how I will write.  Here I am, doing it.  

I'm (finally) reading the book, "Steal Like an Artist" and there is a page in it that describes how artists are collectors: "The artist is a collector. Not a hoarder, mind you, there's a difference. hoarders collect indiscriminately, artists collect selectively. They only collect things that they really love...Your job is to collect good ideas. The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by."  

And then this quote, by Jim Jarmusch, "Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic."  

This really resonates with me. That's what I'm doing, as I hungrily sniff out things in this life - through reading, conversing, walking, traveling, pinning, exploring, looking, listening....and on and on.  I'm collecting, partly for the sake of collecting, but mostly in the hopes of creating.

And here is one of the types of collecting I do, I snap photos of a moment in the day, and I try to write some words down in this blog thing of mine.  I'm collecting moments, moments that speak to me, and images that I find moving.  It's documentation, and it's material and inspiration for more.  

I now see why tulle was invented.  It is for little girls who dream of ballerinas, and there is no better use or place for it than on twirling three year olds. 

At each stage of Sloane's life, as I encounter my strengths and weaknesses as a parent, I see my own parents in a new light. It's enlightening.

I hope I never get over the thrill of referring to them as "my girls".

I'm giddy every time I pick up this newborn. I'm floored every time Sloane acts like a much older kid than I think she is. I pinch myself about how lucky I am to have a husband like mine.

I'm working up a sweat with my walks, but I'm counting the days when I can get in the gym again.  This body has been good to me, I'm trying to be good back.

WHAT I'M READING V. 7 (POST PARTUM EDITION 2)

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

My sister recommended this book and I loved it. The whole thing has a darkly witty, almost snarky, yet smart and charming tone to it that I found very enjoyable. Once you realize how much the author trusts you as the reader to play out the stories in the theater of your mind, you are in for a ride. It was a delicious read.

Orphan Train, by Christina Baker Kline

I found this one mostly interesting in regards to the historical piece of how orphans used to be sent west on trains to be given to families, basically for labor, which apparently really happened. I wasn't crazy about how this one wrapped up, but it was a fun and quick read in the meanwhile. 

I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron

I had never read Nora Ephron before (enjoyed her movies, but hadn't encountered her books) - but decided to pick up this memoir because I always heard her name brought up when smart memoirs by women are discussed. I was all in, after reading the first essay. Her voice is clear and she is instantly relatable. I get now how and why she was influential and it makes me want to read everything else she's ever written.

Night Waking, by Sarah Moss

I'm reading this with a few other frirends , and at first, I had a hard time getting into it. The narrator is sleep deprived and it was stressful to read about the difficulty of balancing motherhood and work in real time from what appeared to be an unreliable narrator. But I stuck with it and several threads appeared - elements of history, mystery and child psychology - which kept me interested and I think it makes it a good book to discuss. I'm a chapter away from the end and I'm glad I pressed on.

PINNED RECIPES

It's been a crazy week over here- Ken went back to work, our hardwood floors need to be replaced due to flooding, and Sloane, Logan and I are being evacuated for a week to avoid the demolition work that's going to be happening on our first floor. We'll be staying with my MIL for the time being and I'm hoping to think of it as a vacation...with a toddler, and a 5 week old....wish me luck!

In the meanwhile this here is going to be a brief recipes-I-pinned update. Like this Baked Eggs with Mushrooms and Parmesan - Sloane loves mushrooms and I've been sautéing them with some soy sauce for her to gobble up, but I'm going to try this version with baked eggs for variation.

I tried making this crispy potato and garlic cake the other day and it wasn't anything special, but maybe it's because I didn't use the duck fat, which seems like it might turn the whole thing around. I'm gonna give it one more go when I get my hands on some duck fat.

Another baked egg atop some vegetables, because it makes a simple meal and it makes me happy: Baked Eggs with Spinach, Ricotta, Leek and Chargrilled Pepper

My favorite homemade Popsicle is vanilla yogurt with grapes so I made thesehoney yogurt covered frozen grapes and we happily snacked on them. I've also forayed into the world of homemade protein/energy bars and want to try making these banana protein bars next.

I love pine, I like whiskey, I feel like this Mountain Pine Whiskey Cooler could be a winner....As soon as this house debacle is over, I'm going to make one to celebrate.

RICHMOND ZOO

We went to the zoo!

The build up and hype for this zoo trip was tremendous. Ken and I talked about it all the time in the days leading up to the event, and we had an easy and willing audience because Sloane loves animals. We're all benefiting from this love; turns out, it's a chance for us to appreciate them all over again.  In the week before, we watched planet earth episodes, talked about the upcoming outing at least a couple of times a day and even studied the zoo map to get ourselves acquainted with the animals we would get to see. 

Ken and I, we love getting excited for things together, and now that we can include Sloane in our adventures, it just compounds the joy and anticipation leading up to things (and us annoyingly asking her over and over again, "are you excited??" somehow doesn't get old, and she readily responds with a "yes!" each time). In that regard, we were all excited for the zoo, and we were not disappointed. 

I felt like a kid myself walking through the zoo; we were all, "Wow look at that!" "Come here, look there!" There is something about animals that are magical, especially ones that we don't usually get to see, and during this trip it was even more amazing because all of us saw them through Sloane's eyes. 

Sloane studying the zoo map.

We were able to get so close to the giraffes, it was amazing.

It was so darn special to have this experience with all these family members - my parents, Ken's mom and sister and Ken's cousin that we hadn't seen ken a while.

After the zoo, we came back to our house, sang Sloane a rousing rendition of happy birthday and opened presents together with the family. She seemed overwhelmed by all the attention but look at that face!

And look...the four of us!