HOLDING ON TO JULY FOR DEAR LIFE

One of the things I am resolved to do one of these years is to put on my big girl pants and grow some of my own vegetables and fruit. Ken and I keep talking about it but we can't seem to find a spare moment. In the meanwhile, I will gratefully take gorgeous vegetables grown in other people's gardens. Those cucumbers up there are going to be turned into a cuke and onion salad, if you were wondering. 

I've told Ken that a grand and romantic gesture he can do for me one day is to plant me an apple tree. He came back with something about how I don't ever want to live in one place long enough for us to grow an apple tree. The man gets practical, real quick. 

I'm turning 31 in two days and in the spirit of embracing my 30s, I'm making a list of things I want to accomplish in the next five years, including things like growing vegetables and paying off one of my most horrendous student loans. Growing and growing up, I'm excited about the list!  

And for the sake of posting some random photos waiting patiently in my phone to be shared:

These days in the car, Sloane sings songs by herself with great aplomb.  It's the most adorable thing ever. It's a little bit of pride, a gush of love, a cup of appreciating the sheer adorableness, and a dash of sadness that this is a fleeting time. 

During our nighttime rituals tonight, wherein I sing her several songs, she told me to shush and elected to sing herself the songs that I usually sing to her.

My dear friend Hilary came to visit last week from California with her boyfriend, who I got to meet for the very first time. Both of them are absolute gems. 



I especially love a breakfast that is roasted vegetables with a fried egg on top. Washed down with a protein shake and I am superwoman ready to go take on the world! At the very least, my day.

So there was this band that I really wanted to go see the other night, and we had big plans to make a date night out of it. Due to several factors, we had to put the kibosh on it and instead, a night of crossfit made special because we got to do it together! Followed by sushi and ending with thoughts of we must do this more often. 

And last but not least: you guys, I'm on my way to reaching my goal of handstand push ups by the end of the summer!

CONGRATULATIONS ITS FRIDAY

Hey! It's friday + a few lovely things I've been pinning these days:

Fresh fruit mimosas should probably happen as soon as possible.

Gorgeous cakes with flowers from here and and here

I love the idea of these Shipping containers for your backyard for extra space

Teepees in kids' rooms seemed a little too elaborate, but now that Sloane is older and I know she would love one, they keep catching my eye..like this one and this.

Download fun desktop wallpapers from DesignLoveFest.

Lovely installations from the street artist, Escif 

TEXAS BEACH

A thing that is making me supremely happy these days: the tub of perfectly ripe watermelon sitting in my fridge. Ken has been really upping his watermelon-selecting game this summer. He is at about 5 for 1 at this point, and I'm really impressed.  "You did it again!" I yelled yesterday as I cracked into a giant watermelon to reveal a smooth surface of red and ripe goodness. 

Just for the record, and because I had a sort of tough day at work today, let me list a few other things that got me feeling happy these past couple of days:

+ Working out at the crossfit gym and in our garage gym. All that sweating and pushing myself and getting stronger and being aware of what my body can do? Love it. Love it even more that I can do it with Ken.

+ Scooping up my daughter in the mornings and having her be so happy to see me. It's like a reset button every morning.
+ Freshly vacuumed carpet. I was that lady wife who eyeballed her husband real good because he looked so sexy vacuuming all of the carpet this past weekend. 
+ Having kinda conversations with Sloane. Ohhhhh you guys, it's the best. More on this later. 

+ Friends visiting us... like this past weekend! And going to the river. Finally.  

I've been trying to get us over to the river for months now, and we finally did it, with our friends in tow. These friends of ours also have an adorable two-ish year old and the grownups had the best time watching the kids having the best time.  Sloane has talked about how she went to the 'water' and played with Jameson everyday so far since. 

Texas Beach is probably my favorite river spot. It's a sort of hike to get there and there are stairs and some mud spots and such, but it is lush and green and gorgeous. 

These two. 

And these two! 

This little gentlemen found his way to the ladies and was showing off his alphabet skills.

Hey Texas Beach, we'll be back...especially if Sloane has anything to say about it! 

AROUND THESE PARTS

First of all, watermelon. All day! Everyday! The bounty of fruit and vegetables in season during the summer makes my heart sing. 

My cousin, Chris, visited us last week! He lives in Seoul but he was in Peru teaching for the past two years and stopped by on his way back to Korea. I haven't seen him in about 10 years, so it was wondrous to have him in town and see him with my baby.  This is like a thing I collect now, moments of my daughter interacting with all the various people in my life, it brings me such joy. 

Bath crayons means I spend most of bath time drawing "big fishies!" during bath time. "Big! Big!" she keeps insisting. 

She is amazed by so many things these days, and that in turn, makes me become re-amazed at all the little things. We are forever gasping at things together.

I've been on a bourbon cocktail kick lately, but then I made this pear and ginger margarita the other day and heavens, it's one of my favorites. Also, I feel so pleased with myself when I'm making a pie. It's a process, but there is so much satisfaction derived from making a pie crust and then filling it up with fruity goods!  Lastly, I'm working on a sea salt spray concoction for my hair. I was contemplating purchasing one to try, but liked the idea of mixing up my own. I've taken the basics from this tutorial, but I'm working on the perfect combination of these things for my particular mane. 

With that, adieu! And hup hup for a week of work and rest - may you have both. 

BLOODLINES BY MIMICKING BIRDS

Gasping a little bit as I cross the finish line of this weekday. My eyeballs feel worn but I wanted to check in here real quick to share this lovely gem of a song. Sweetness in your ears, all the way down to the tingles on your skin.

BLUEBERRY PICKING

Last night, I was in the thick of it. I had just gotten home from the gym. It was late. I had lunches to make and pack, dishes to do, and a pie crust to whip up. In the flurry of it all, I noticed that I was checking my phone a lot. To respond to emails, but also to look at recipes, check Instagram, Facebook, the whole gamut. My brain was feeling a bit like sludge and I felt I might be channeling a robot. So I slammed on the brakes. 

I do this thing sometimes where I say to myself, 'I am here." It's even more effective if it's said aloud. There is something about saying it which makes me stop in my tracks. Yes, I think to myself, I AM here; alive, well, aware.  Then I make an effort to be super conscious of my hands: the presence and use of them, the ability of my hands to stir the pot, wash a plate, wipe the counter. I imagine what those activities would be like if one of my hands were missing. I think about how my hands, my arms, my body, are not in pain. Then I focus on colors, shapes and textures in front of me. I marvel at my sight and sense of touch.  I stay away from my phone.

This is a sort of meditation through the menial tasks. Sometimes, it takes more energy to think this way. But otherwise, I find myself in sort of a haze at the end of the night, inflated by the sense of a completed to-do list, but already stressed and preoccupied about tomorrow. It's not the turn of a hamster wheel that tells the worth of my day, it's these moments of awareness.

There is something about picking fruit that puts me into a similar sort of meditation. It makes me aware of my eyes, scanning the shrubs for a ripe fruit. It makes me aware of hands, the ability to pick fruit off a branch. It makes me think about the wind and sun skimming the tress and my skin, the health of my body, the promise of a sweet fruit in my mouth.

I look hard at my daughter, who is wide-eyed and probably going through some of these thoughts realizations herself, and think, "I am here."

We would hand sloane blueberries to put in the bucket and tell her which ones she could eat and which ones she should put in the bucket. This is her face after Ken handed her a few berries and told her to put it in the bucket. Obviously, she wanted to hear something different.

FOURTH OF JULY

I tried to make watching fireworks happen this year, I really did. I was super motivated because Sloane is at an age where she can appreciate (or be scared of?) the wonder that is fireworks and I was telling her all about it and we were yelling, 'fireworks!' 'fireworks!' over and over again to each other in the car, but then the ones that we were going to go see on Thursday night got cancelled because of the rain. Then we made a valiant attempt on Saturday night for the rescheduled show, but we didn't make it until dark. We did, however, visit the Blue Bee Cider brewery in the old Manchester district in the meanwhile, took in some good cider and hup hupped around the parking lot until we left.  

Sloane reeeally wanted to try some of the cider and used every ounce of charm that she has to try to get me to let her have some. At one point she kept saying that she just wanted to smell it, and so would take a really deep sniff and then look at me with sparkly eyes and a big smile that was all, 'come on, mom, just a sip?'

This large parking lot (?) space in front of the brewery had great views of the city skyline and is just the sort of space that I imagine would be the perfect location to practice all my street dancing moves with my street dancing friends. This is what Step Up, the movie, all four of them, has taught me.  And if you too are interested in B-level (C-level?) movies about dancing, Step Up 5 (yes, FIVE!) called, 'Step Up All In' is coming out this August. It looks TERRIBLE, but I have been known to watch worse. Anything that has any sort of dancing + dance competition + comeback story in it, I'm in.

This whole weekend was a good one.  I got a lot of work done and  we even got to see some family who came into town. At the end of these weekends, Sloane and I like to snuggle in the armchair together and recount all the things we did, usually in the form of a story that I tell about a girl named Sloane who has a mommy and a papa and a dog named Rusty....we both love these stories.