A SHOWER FOR LAURA

One of the really helpful things that I had when I got pregnant were the friends around me who encouraged me with their support and enthusiasm. I learned so much from friends who were experienced in the ways of the pregnant/motherhood life, but I also got so much love from ladies like Laura, who wasn’t yet a mama, but had so much love in her heart for all babies and children. Her genuine love for little ones is contagious and I definitely caught some of what she had during my pregnancy by just being around her.  Her encouragement for me and excitement for the baby to come was a huge help in helping me feel at peace, and I am so happy that she was a part of my life when I became pregnant with Sloane. 

We were all obviously thrilled to learn about the news of her little one and we got to celebrate the baby with a shower this past weekend.  I love and respect this lady a ton and I cannot wait to see how all of her wonderfulness is going to translate into motherhood.

Here are some photos from the shower, thrown by the lovely ladies, Martha and Elise:

These ladies inspire me:

We love you Laura!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO KEN

one of the songs that appeases Sloane when she is cranky in the car is "bingo".
you know, "there was a farmer, who had a dog..."

on our way to brunch today, after i dutifully sang a round, i told ken to take it away. and he proceeded with,

"there was a cat who scratched a lot and ...sam was his name-o.
s-a-m....m-m
s-a-m-m-m
s-a-m-m-m
and sammm was his name-o"


ken and i are new at this papa and mama thing, and we are learning as we go, but i have to say that we both love our new roles and we are both, 'hee hee our first mother's/father's day!' because of the novelty of it.  i love having front row seats to see my friend and husband grow in this role, and i'm glad for sloane that she gets to have such a man for a father.

and now, a papa for all seasons (from our brunch today):

a papa to protect her, a papa to have dance parties with

a papa to feed her

a papa to make her laugh

a papa to color with. although, she hasn't quite grasped the concept yet.

 a papa to hold her tight (they look especially alike when they are wearing their serious faces.)

 a papa to look up to. 

A FEW OF MY RECENT FAVORITE THINGS

* The day after the rain. The storm scrubs everything to its shiny-est, even the trees and the clouds, and the air is infused with refreshments.

*Best-of music lists. Check out NPR’s best of 2013, so far.

*Freezing food. It’s an art, and I’m into it. At the least, trying to learn how to do it better.

*Our new deck. Thinking about hanging out with friends on this deck, in the outdoors, hurrahing summer.

*Any excuse for more outdoor activities. Friday Cheers.

*Holding hands with my baby. Giving each other face smooshing hugs.

GALETTE FOR BREAKFAST

i hope it's clear by now how much i love breakfast.

"put an egg on it!"

no, but really, put an egg on it.

i am flouncing around in my love for pie-like things by experimenting with different types of toppings for galettes. it was just a matter of time before i got to an egg and called it breakfast. it's not that difficult putting together a pie crust, but Pepperidge Farm's puff pastry sheets (found in the frozen aisle) is the magician's assistant, especially in a time crunch, and that's me, crunched. it does get pricey though, so i need to get into the mode of making a bunch of pie crust and freezing it in order to feed this frenzy of mine.

but if you take two (thawed) puff pastry sheets and roll them out on a floured surface and top them with a list of things starting with cheese, you cannot go wrong. load up the toppings up until about an inch away from the edge of the dough, and then fold the edges over, making a pleat. exhibit 1 is a sheet topped with ricotta cheese & shredded mozzerella cheese, which went into the oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. it was then was taken out after the cheese and pastry had time to bake, to add cooked bacon pieces, egg yolks, and spinach, which doesnt need as much baking time. then thrown back into the oven for about 3 more minutes.  exhibit 2 is a a topping of mixed goat cheese + shredded mozzerella + grated parmesan cheese + olive oil, as well as a asparagus and black forest ham pieces. i minced some garlic, mixed it in some more olive oil and spread that over everything, like a drizzle, after which it was sent into the oven to bake for 25-30 minutes. And if you want the golden sheen, make sure to brush the folded edges with a beaten egg (note: you can bake both galettes in the oven at 400 degrees, for 25-30 minutes, without having to double or increase the length of time, as long as they are on the same level rack.)

this seems like it would be an excellent weekend morning activity, especially if you have things in your refrigerator that need to be used up - throw them on a pie sheet and call it a galette. I suspect that one topped with a ton of ricotta, mozzarella, and a load of tomato slices and basil would be so delicious. i also recommend that you listen to this playlist while you roam about your kitchen putting this together, it's great company.

with the leftover ricotta cheese i have now in my fridge, i'm dreaming of a creamy ricotta cheese + chocolate or nutella combo atop a pastry sheet drizzled with melted dark chocolate....

BABES IN A POOL

When I started noticing the phrase, ‘building our deck’ was popping up frequently in conversations, it made me feel terribly grownup, in that same way you might feel when you have put on your mom's heels as a 8 year old.  I can’t help it, I’ve always associated home owning as something grownups do, and obviously in my mind, I still haven't accepted my entrance into this world. Membership, questionable. Having a baby is wild, but seems natural, and owning a home seems all of wild, a little unnatural, and firmly planted in the universe of grownups. Some may say it’s the opposite, but we each have our backstory. I’m not resisting it, I’m just commenting on how it’s strange.  Until I got married (and specifically until I got married to Ken), I actually never thought about owning a home. I thought about traveling and having babies, but the idea of buying a house never entered my brain, and it took me a while to come around to the idea. One year later, I realized that I have settled into the idea because the home that we have right now allows us to have people over and gives us a space to have community and build relationships. I really like that K. and I are on the same page about this; we previously talked about how we want our home to be a place where people feel like they can comfortably come into and hang out. I learned this past year that I really do like hosting people and I always so grateful that our home provides us a place to do so. 

I guess that’s how I feel about this deck going up? And it seems appropriate that the deck-building was successful through the willing and able-bodied friends who had the experience and/or volunteered the time to make it come together.  It was one of the coolest things to see it getting built, can I say, like magic? I have this fascination with seeing houses getting built from the ground up, so this was similarly amazing. And now we finally have a deck! We adore the fact that we have some outdoor space, the grill can now move out of our garage onto the deck, and it makes me appreciate the trees in our backyard even more.

The inaugural use of the deck lived up to the hype. We picked up a smallish (but it turns out, I can fit in it too!) inflatable kiddie pool ($10) and miniature Adirondack chairs ($5 each) at Walmart and voila, lifestyles of the rich and the famous, baby style.  We had our friends Joe, Alicia, and their little one, Bryson, over for lunch to break in the new deck with us, and really, could I not have gotten to these photos fast enough? 

MIMI'S BABY SHOWER

Fact: I have been eating way too much pie recently.  Most of it has to do with this pie themed baby shower that I threw this past Saturday. Some of it has to do with all the leftover pizza (pie!) from the deck-building activities from that very same day.  I will not tell you exactly how much pie I've been eating because that is just embarrassing, but I will share some photos from the shower. 

Mimi was the lady of the hour, and we are so excited to meet her little girl. We asked guests to sign children's books instead of a card, so I wanted to keep that in the theme, but thought it would be fun to be even more specific with the food, so I went with a pie bar.  Let's be real, I love pie. I was so into this. There was savory ham and cheese pie, galettes, different kinds of fruit pies, and chocolate whoopie pies.  My sister helped me round up a bunch of children's books from the library about pies (there are so many! and I had such a good time reading them). For refreshments, I cored and pureed two halves of a watermelon, filled the empty halves back with the puree and set out soda water, ginger ale, lemonade and mint so that each guest could make their own watermelon (virgin) cocktails. Those drinks were refreshing! 

And now...for the cutest pictures ever....

I MEAN......