My mom had the foresight to save a few precious books from my childhood. A few months ago she brought me my old copy of "The Little Engine That Could." It still has a lovely inscription in it wishing me a Merry Christmas from 1979. I wasn't sure if Hank would like this book just yet. There's a lot going on and the passages are a bit verbose for a 20-month-old. But who knew? He actually adored it from the first time we read it. He often requests that we reread it several times in a row. My husband and I often summarize the passages or pick and choose which parts to read but he loves, loves, loves this book. The illustrations are so wonderful. I particularly remember pouring over this page, which Hank also loves.
Don't the oranges and apples look so enticing? He yells "apple, apple." I highly recommend this book for little ones. It's a classic. Plus have you ever noticed that all of the engines that say no are male but the little engine that saves the day is female! Just saying. Perhaps Watty Piper was an early feminist?
I have been using carriers forever with Hank. I love the Ergo but now that Hank is almost two and close to 30 pounds this doesn't seem like a good choice anymore. I learned so much about slings and carriers in the beginning but I know nothing about the backpack carriers that I think come next. Before Hank was born we hiked a lot around Los Angeles. I am ashamed to admit that I haven't been on one single hike since I've had Hank. Does anyone know what is the best kind of backpack carrier to get? Kelty? REI?
Last night my husband had an almost unheard of Tuesday night dinner date night. It felt very decadent like it was five years ago and we were childless because we never ever go out during the week these days unless Hank tags along. We went to our absolute favorite restaurantOsteria Mozza.While we were there we talked about what makes a great restaurant. Yes, there are a ton of amazing restaurants in Los Angeles - dazzling over the top places like Providence or Ink where many of the dishes are mind blowing while others fall a little flat perhaps because the are trying to reach such a high level, there are also wonderful ethnic restaurants that amaze, and even other great Italian restaurants like Angelini Osteria or Georgio Baldi but none of them are quite like Osteria. Every single time we eat here it is just as delicious as the first time. They are so consistent and we fall in love with the dishes all over again. We have tried lots of things on the menu but we almost always get the same things. We basically never order entrees. We share a salad and the to die for grilled octopus and then we get some pastas.
I cannot go here and not get the orrechiette with fennel sausage. This is definitely my death row last meal request. Last night I asked my husband why don't they know us and love us at Mozza yet. We come a lot for us but this isn't an inexpensive restaurant so we aren't here every day. The truth is we are not alone in our love for this place. It's so so so good. If you live in Los Angeles and have not been here you need to go immediately. If you are planning on visiting Los Angeles do not miss this place. Last night we sat next to a family with a serious midwestern twang that warmed my heart. I am pretty sure that they too fell in love.
I struggle often with the idea of when to capture moments with Hank. I want to archive as much of this time as possible so that I can remember the bits and details. He is on the brink of really talking but so much of what he says is only understood by him. I want to make sure I have evidence of this lovely time period but at the same time I don't want to be the parent who has her head constantly in their phone or camera, capturing moments but not really being present in the moment. Between facebook and instagram much of what I see on these sights are beautiful moments of people's kids. I often wonder how did they steal those moments and manage to be present at the same time. I think it's easier when your kids are babies. They don't notice your head in a phone. My son is obsessed with the Iphone so if he sees it when we are outside enjoying the day he immediately gets distracted. I think I am pretty good about taking photos but I often forget to take videos which are important to capture the moments and personality of every stage. This weekend I tried to take some videos. I took two, neither are all that full of action but I guess they capture the spirit of where Hank is at right now. P.s. I am not just working on when to capture moments but my skills in taking pictures and videos. It's a work in progress.
This weekend we are going to celebrate Father's day one week late since I was away last weekend. I think the greatest gift to give a parent of a little one is sleep and lots of it. My husband is a bit of a sleep connoisseur. I will have to resist my tendency to say, "hey it's 7:00" or "hey it's 8:00." No one wants to hear that on their special day. There will probably be breakfast in bed and a delicious dinner as well. Maybe this? I am also looking forward to enjoying fun Los Angeles stuff with Hank. We live right next to Griffith Park so we check out the trains there almost every weekend.
Speaking of Griffith Park my husband plays tennis there every weekend with a group of guys. They have done this every weekend since they've moved to Los Angeles. The courts they plan on are sun kissed and surrounded by hills and hikers. I think it's pretty amazing that he has kept this tradition going for over eight years now. I wish I had something like that myself. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.
Confession, before I knew that Hank was indeed a boy I made my Mom go to Target in Chicago and buy several Liberty of London rompers, ruffly bloomers and things of that nature. They were all the rage that summer. I couldn't quite bring myself to purchase them in LA because there may have been a stampede (people were going crazy for this stuff) and I didn't want to scare my husband (I was not that far along yet). Of course I ended up having a boy. Unfortunately rompers and bloomers are not available yet for baby boys. I suppose I could start a trend but I think my son is just old enough that this might be too much? I love having a boy more than anything in the world but if I had a girl I would be stocking up on these sorts of things for the summer. Alas, Liberty of London at Target is long gone but these versions from Rikshaw Design are pretty amazing:
Amanda Peet's house was one of my all time favorites ever featured in my long lost Domino Magazine (yes they came out with a special edition recently but I have to say it didn't quite have the soul of the original). I was so excited when I found her home once again featured in a magazine, this time on the pages of Vogue. I actually went to the Vogue website several times to see if they had photos yet of the house tour so I could post them and pin them, but they didn't. After a while I gave up and forgot about it. Thank goodness today I somehow remembered how much I love every inch of this house and eureka, it is finally on-line. I felt compelled to share it here in case you didn't see it. It's very California and boy are her two daughters cute. I've seen her out and about and she is lovely in person as well.
It is officially summer now which means some of my favorite fruits and veggies are finally here: fresh corn, stone fruits, green beans, avocados (we are spoiled in California and get them all year round but they are especially delicious of late), and tomatoes. We are currently trying to grow tomatoes and shisito peppers in our little garden. They are doing OK but aren't yet yielding much of anything. Cross your fingers on that one. In more positive backyard growing news, the fig tree and a peach tree that we planted last summer are doing great!. The fig tree is a dream come true for me. They are so good just plucked from the tree or with a good cheese. Last summer we got some figs so I am not surprised we are getting a bunch more but I never dreamed we would get peaches so soon. They aren't quite ripe yet but as we prepare for the abundance of summer I am looking for inspiration from this place.
Ottolenghi
Several years ago I spent nearly two months in London for work. For the bulk of the time I stayed near the High Street Kensington tube stop in West London. This was an amazing location because of it's proximity to the park and the lovely shops nearby. One of my favorite places was Ottolenghi. I would go here far too often (because it was not cheap especially when you are still being paid in dollars) to score different combinations of amazing fresh salads and veggies. Now there is a cookbook.
If you haven't seen "Plenty" yet I highly recommend it. It's a lovely cookbook and everything looks amazing in it. There are tons of recipes for summer fruit and vegetable inspiration. It is serious eye candy that I have spent more than one quiet afternoon perusing.
Another favorite film genre of mine is just a good old Hollywood classic film (does this count as a genre? I realize it's a bit sweeping). For me this could mean screwball comedies, sprawling musicals, and of course a suspense film by Alfred Hitchcock. My parents showed me lots of these movies growing up. One of my favorites was "Rebecca." It has a really different feel than many of Hitchcock's famous later films like "Rear Window" or "North by Northwest." The movie begins in glamorous Monte Carlo. The awkward Joan Fontaine somehow manages to land the wealthy and glamorous Laurence Olivier. They return to Olivier's English mansion, Manderley, where they are haunted by the past, his past. It's a great movie, and one that I truly found frightening when I was little. That is why I am a bit surprised that this movie is going to become a Broadway musical? What? I mean I guess there is stranger material out there that is now a show, but it seems an odd choice. Whether or not you take in the musical it's worth checking out the movie if you haven't seen it.
I am pretty excited to see "Anna Karenina" when it comes out. I read it a long time ago but the first line remains imprinted in my brain:
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
Without giving too much away because I have a lovely family and so many people who love me, but for whatever reason I connected with that line when I was an angsty teenager.
Beyond my connection to the book, I just love a good costume film. I own and have watched the six-hour long BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice" many, many times. I like the Keira Knightly one as well. I loved last year's "Jane Eyre." I think my favorite films are a good, sprawling costume movie.
My favorite one of all I think will always remains this one:
When I was in high school and a devoted reader of Sassy magazine (who wasn't?) they often had quizes about what kind of girl you were. I think one of the questions was always are you the girl who loves "A Room with a View." I can't remember what kind of girl that meant you are but I think it's safe to say that I am that girl.
Suddenly summer begins tomorrow! I feel like I just blinked and spring began. There's a lot of things I want to do this summer. I wish it included a jaunt to some exotic locale, next year perhaps? In the meantime some time at home with my favorite two guys and home projects will have to suffice. I also hope we can have a long overdue housewarming party this summer (is a year in a home beyond the statue of limitations for housewarmings?).
One of the first projects I am dying to tackle is in our family room/playroom. We have these great windows that are crying out for a window seat. I love the idea of curling up with a book by the window, and creating some much needed storage for Hank's toy clutter. We need cushions as well. I have been looking at pinterest for window seat inspiration. Here are a couple nice ones:
Another home project I hope to tackle is simple adding some more furniture to our home (not too much Mike don't worry). We have taken our time, but we are missing some vital elements like lighting in our living room.
There is only one sad lamp in our living room at the moment
Speaking of Mike I haven't spent a single weekend with my husband in the last month. Either I was travelling or he was travelling. So I can't wait for a long overdue date night and a chance to just hang this weekend. Hope everyone has a lovely first day of summer.
Josie giving Hank some love when he was less than two months old
I just returned from a whirlwind trip for work that meant 3:00 am wake up calls and very little sleep. In fact I wound up catching a horrible cold. The one highlight was getting to see an old friend or two and enjoying a delicious meal. One of the highlights was catching up with my friend Josie. We have known each other for eons. We grew up just a few blocks from each other in Chicago. We both even attended the same gymnastics day camp (she was in the advanced group and I was not in case you were wondering). Always a stylish lady back then she had a buzz cut and rocked a cute gym outfit. These days she no longer sports the buzz cut but is just as stylish as she was in third grade. Josie is an incredible photographer and teaches photo as well in New York. I caught her before she was heading to the Berkshires to shoot a wedding and then to Istanbul, Turkey to shoot another! She still shoots on film which I love. She has a beautiful eye. If you are ever in need of a talented wedding photographer who will give you unique, gorgeous shots that capture the spirit and energy of the day then Josie if your gal. She has also shot lots of fashion spreads and has other fine art works. You can find her work and information here.And here some of her gorgeous wedding shots:
At any given time I will have seven to ten episodes of "House Hunters International" sitting on my DVR. If the number starts to dwindle too low I panic and immediately browse HGTV so that I can start recording and always have ample episodes waiting for me. I love this show. I have even been known to save a great episode, like that couple in Paris whose budget for apartments was four-million-dollars! If you haven't seen the show, go watch it. I found this show and HGTV in general when I was nursing my son when he was so little and you spend hours upon hours nursing. I think the network executives might be aiming for the nursing mother perhaps. I couldn't get enough back then.
Now I am not sure if I have shared this here yet but my husband actually works in reality television. He has even worked on a real estate show so I should know better than to believe that this is actual reality here, but somehow I ignore his comments during the show and choose to believe that the crew actually returned six-months later to see what couple X's life is like now in Malaysia or wherever it may be (sure it's an incredibly expensive production cost but I want to believe people). So I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised when I came across this and this. Now to be fair these posts are about "House Hunters" and not my beloved International version but I have a sinking suspicion that things are similar on my show, and that perhaps my husband was right. Even if it's augmented reality I think I will still tune in.
Here is what the quilt squares looked like when they were placed together for my friend Dana to see. I entertained a lot of different ideas for my square. I thought about making one out of a scarf that I had, Dana had a matching one, but at the last minute I decided to visit this store called the Needle Shop in Chicago. The store was full of gorgeous fabric and all sorts of kits. While there I stumbled across these lovely embroidery designs and decided to try my hand at embroidery despite the fact that I only had twenty-four hours and little experience. I found a kit kind of like this:
It ended up being really fun and not that hard although I kind of made it up as I went. I found a really cute design and used transfer paper to trace it onto the fabric. It turned out pretty cute. Who knows maybe embroidery will become my new thing. Here is my first attempt:
It's hard to see in this photo but there is a mother bird in her nest surrounded by baby birds.
Dana and I have been friends since the fourth grade. I think it would take several posts to explain our friendship. She is just someone who knows me inside and out. We both lived in New York together in our twenties. We have seen each other through heartbreak and jobs and dramas (and not just adult dramas but middle school dramas which we all know are intense!). She makes me laugh harder than anyone. Suffice it to say she is an amazing person and she will be an incredible mother. Recently I helped her sister throw her a baby shower. By the way she and her sister are both having babies within a week of each other which is beyond amazing.
Dana and me in Palm Springs enduring 100 plus temperatures
There was delicious food, lovely flowers and so many friends who came from far and wide just to help Dana savor this beautiful moment. It says a lot about a person when their friends will fly in for, in some cases, only five hours just to be there for your baby shower. The one thing we did ask of guests was to create a quilt square and bring it to the shower. While the party was happening Dana's sister Leigh quietly laid out the squares into a mock quilt and took Dana to see it. The tears were flowing. She was overwhelmed and touched. There were squares that were embroidered and bits of fabric that had meaning to her and her friends. It was such a lovely way to commemorate a baby shower, and I have to confess initially this project kind of overwhelmed me, but the results were amazing. If you have a baby shower to throw I highly recommend this idea.
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