The Man of my Dreams

This is on our honeymoon in the Napa Valley of South Africa

Although I frequently mention my husband on these pages I am not sure I have really given my readers a true sense of who I am married to. First of all he is a very talented reality show writer/producer whose new show Wicked Tuna just happens to be debuting this weekend (Sunday night) so here is my plug to check it out. He is not only smart,  funny, a great friend and a wonderful dad to our son Hank but he also is not afraid to be silly when it comes to taking pictures. In five years that we have been together we have been to lots of places - Argentina, South Africa, Spain, Mauritius, etc and everywhere we go he wants to take the silliest photos. Hopefully he won't mind me posting some of them.

Moccasins for summer

On Wednesday afternoons I take Hank to Parent and Me (not mommy and me!) at a local preschool where we might want to send him. So far it's been a really great experience for us. Hank was tentative at first but now he is pretty into having a snack, washing his hands, singing songs and playing with the parachute (well he isn't quite convinced of the parachute yet but hopefully we will get there.) There is one mom in the group who has the best style. For some reason it's always a bit of a relief to me to see parents that seem interesting and original. I don't know if this makes me shallow, it might but sometimes I worry that all of the thirty-something parenting somehow nullifies the interesting things you sought out in your twenties. I am constantly reminded that this isn't true of course. That there are all sorts of examples of interesting parents who manage to still have adventures, find time for culture and their spouse, and even put together a cute outfit (which for better or worse still means something to me). But I digress, back to the mom in my Parent and Me. She is always a style maven but this week she was wearing the moccasins above, along with cute jeans and this amazing Navajoesque big sweater. She told me the moccasins were this company manimals from Brooklyn. Unfortunately that cute style is sold out but I am obsessed by this site. I feel like a lot of the current styles would be cute for spring, a spring moccasin if you will. 

 She also always rocks this Claire Vivier tote that I also have and love. She is way more chic though.

Boot Camp

When I was on maternity leave and sporting a bit of extra weight I joined a friend for two months in a Mommy boot camp. It was really great. We met at a woman's house in my old neighborhood and there was even a babysitter there so I could bring Hank. We would do everything from boxing, to pulling a giant tire up a hill, to Pilates and yoga. I was able to reach a level of fitness that I wasn't even at before I had Hank, and then I returned to work and well it was hard to find time for much of anything beyond my family and work. Recently I decided that I have to find time for fitness. It makes such a difference in my overall mood. Going to the gym once a week isn't enough. So an old boot-camp friend decided to start an Atwater Village group and it's on. I've been going now for only two weeks but I already feel stronger. This morning we had fitness tests - how many push-ups can you do in three minutes, how many sit-ups can you do in three minutes, how long does it take you to run the mile, etc. They even measure your waist, arms, butt, etc all so that hopefully next month you are slimmer, fitter and can run faster than you did when you started. There was a woman there today who has been going to boot-camp for one year. When she started she couldn't do one push-up and today she left us all in the dust. If you live in Los Angeles I highly recommend checking out this bootcamp.  

p.s. we don't really do any sort of human pyramid exercises but I wouldn't put it past the trainers.   

Old Love

I think if you read lots of blogs you are probably familiar with old love. If you aren't, you should check it out pronto because you can lose a good twenty-minutes just perusing all the photos of couples that used to be in love, and it isn't just your run of the mill celebrities either. There is something fascinating about seeing people who used to be so enamored with each other, especially when it feels so far away from where the person currently is.

Chopped

Things have been busy for me lately so I haven't had much time to post of late. I did want to tell you that I took a personal day last Thursday and did a bunch of things I never get to do - took a boot camp class, got a manicure/pedicure (I am pretty sure the women doing my hands was telling the woman doing my toes that my nails frightened them) and got my hair cut. I didn't walk in planning to cut off five inches but I am so glad I did. This is a cut I used to rock a lot in high school and college and then somewhere along the way my hair got pretty long. I enjoyed having it long but it is really fun having it short and easy again.

My Little Ham

When I was in Chicago we took my son to a well known Chicago photographer. Marc Hauser actually took pictures of me and my siblings when we were little. My Mom saw a groupon coupon for him recently and quickly snatched it up so we could take pictures of Hank. I wasn't quite sure how Hank would do. It's strange to be placed in front of a big camera and lots of lights but wow, he did great. In fact the folks who worked there remarked that usually kids freak out, but that Hank was quite the ham. Here are some of the best pics:

I think he might even be smizing in some of these. Tyra would be impressed.

Summer Movies

This all used to be concrete

It has been so cold in Los Angeles this past week. There is nothing I hate more than hearing my family and friends tell me it's warmer in Chicago. I know I should be happy for them, and I sort of am, but also I am not. A day or two of cold, brisk weather is fun here because it's so novel, but I am ready for warm weather to return. In order to get through this cold spell I am dreaming of warm weather gatherings in our backyard. When we purchased our home our big project was tackling the backyard which had one of the ugliest screened in porches I have ever seen and a concrete yard. I still don't know why anyone would want a concrete yard. We demoed the concrete, planted flowers, trees and even a little vegetable box. And we had a good friend build us a beautiful porch that we are currently trying to grow wisteria and bougainvillea on.

When we looked at the house (getting our house was no small task) we would dream about what our finished yard would look like. I would picture Hank romping around outside but I would also dream of watching outdoor movies all summer long. I have always loved this idea of gathering your friends and family in your back yard, throwing down some blankets and watching a movie under the stars. I still haven't gotten a projector but I hope we do this once it warms up here and I can report about it here. Here are some of my inspiration photos for this (I found most of them on Pinterest).  

This one is from Domestic Reflections