watch her grow

Emma's approaching an age where she might actually stand still long enough for us to mark her height on a growth chart, so I've been scouring the Internet looking for just the right one. I want something that has a clean look and that can be easily moved to our next home in a couple of years. Here are my favorites:

 This one is a little more than I want to spend, but I love how fun and unique it is.

This one is simple and cute, and would be really easy to DIY.

Measure Me Stick from Studio 1am

This is my favorite among the wooden ruler variety, but I'm still not sure it's the best fit for our decor.

Embroidered growth chart on Apartment Therapy

This one is easily my favorite of the bunch... I have plenty of scrap fabric I could use, and it has both an heirloom and modern feel to it. It's nice enough to keep out if we want, but can also be easily rolled up if we want to keep it stored. I'm determined to make it before the end of the year. Or at least before Emma's like 5 feet tall. :-)

link love - 8.17.12

I can't believe it's been almost 4 months since my last link love post! Ack! Well I'm happy to be getting back into my blogging groove a bit, and to share with you some of the things I've loved this week...

{Life} I've been obsessed with the photography series, Humans of New York. NYC is so energizing, if for no reason more than its people... the fashion, the personalities - you can't help but get caught up in it, and Brandon's portraits capture that energy so perfectly.

{Food} You know those food tips that are so simple and brilliant you can't imagine how you ever got along without them? This strawberry trick is one of those, courtesy of my friend Susan (I like to call her the nicest person I've never met, because - well - that's what she is!) I'm sure it's been all over Pinterest and I've managed to miss it, but I'm going to give Susan all the credit anyway.

 {DIY} Okay, so this is more beauty than DIY but I just had to share it. The lovely gals at The Beauty Department are my go to resource for all things pretty, and they just may change some lives with this latest tip. Apparently, swiping your mascara wand on a tissue before each coat is the key to clump-free, soft looking lashes. Who knew? Well, they did obviously, but now we do too! And I'm here to say it works like a charm.

 {Sewing} Even though I haven't touched my sewing machine in months (tear!) I still accumulate post after post of stuff I want to make - this top especially! The cut, the fabric... just perfect.

{Shopping} I added this ring to my Wish List the moment I saw it. It's a wee bit pricey (okay, a lot pricey) but that's why it's called a wish list, right?

{Laughter} This made my whole day. I love this kid. I love any kid who has a Madonna themed Bar Mitzvah, especially one who does the whole Vogue dance in front of all of his friends, wearing what might be the most amazing white button down shirt that has ever existed. No way was I even remotely this brave or self-confident at 13. I'm not that brave or self-confident now. Job well done, Shaun's parents!

http://youtu.be/I8XDo4lsa10

the new digs

As promised, here are some photos of our new house in Frederick! The first thing you'll notice is that it's very different from our house in Portland. But in all honesty, there are some up sides to living in beige-ville. First of all, it's so nice being able to check on Emma when she's sleeping without having to navigate around the creaks in our old hardwoods. 100 year old houses are quite charming, but also quite loud. And even though we live in a planned community, the walkability is surprisingly great... there's a pool and tennis courts about 100 yards from our house, and we can walk to the grocery store, liquor store, a fantastic county park, and a really great library. (You know, a little something for us - a little something for the kid.) Plus the library has a little farmer's market in its parking lot on Sundays. So even though we're in the burbs, it could be a whole lot worse. Ha, okay - enough with my cynical attitude. The truth is, it's a really nice house, in a really great neighborhood, and I'm glad we ended up here.

So there you have it... oh! I forgot to add that it's 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms so we have plenty of room for visitors. :-) I'll add more photos as we get the decor nailed down. We're through the big push of unpacking, now we just need a second wind so we can add those little touches that make it feel like home. Maybe by Thanksgiving? You know, no pressure.

greetings from Maryland...

Hello my lovely blog readers! I'm so sorry for the prolonged absence. This move has taken its toll on me and I tend to retreat when I'm trying to work through something (that something being adjusting to life in Maryland.) The truth is, for as hard as I thought the move was going to be - it's unfortunately been about 100 times harder. I think I've cried more in the past two months than I have in the past two years. First it was about leaving Portland... I didn't just cry for my beloved Rose City - I wept, I sobbed, I ugly cried good and hard when it was time to say goodbye. In short, it sucked. And then we arrived in Maryland and it has been one thing after another since we got here... we found a really nice rental house, but a string of really crappy luck has left us without power, AC, hot water, and a refrigerator at various points over the past month. And don't even get me started on the day care situation for Emma... it's way more expensive here and the quality can't even hold a candle to where she was in Portland. It's immensely frustrating sending your kid off to a place every day that you don't like. So yeah... see why I haven't been blogging? I'm a downer! But I really am trying, despite all the hurdles that keep getting thrown my way. We're here now and I do still believe that this will be the best thing for Emma in the long run. And every time I start to question that, I look at this picture...

That's my mom a few weeks ago on her birthday with Emma and my nephew, Zachary. The happiness on the faces of people I love most in this world makes this all worth it. And for as much as I've struggled with this move, I do know that I can be happy here. It's just going to take a bit of time to work out the kinks.

I know I keep saying it, but I really am going to get back to regular blogging this week. I have photos of our new house to share with you, the big before and after post about our old house, and some funny "before" photos of my post-baby body to shame me into sticking with my new weight loss & workout regime. Okay, I might not do that last post. We'll see how brave / crazy I'm feeling. :-)

10 years

It's hard to believe that 10 years ago today I arrived in London and began what would be one of the best experiences of my life... 6 weeks studying abroad in the UK. I met some of my closest friends to this day on that trip, and will always be immensely grateful to my parents for giving me the opportunity to go abroad - particularly since there was pretty much no studying involved and whole lot of partying. Thanks mom and dad! Love ya! Here are some of my favorite photos (scanned because nothing was digital back then... man, we're getting old!)

Happy anniversary, friends! Especially to my boo, my BFF extraordinaire, Lindsey... the first day we met we stayed up all night drinking cheap wine out of Nalgene bottles and playing cards and I knew we'd be friends forever. May there always be a Burger King with a pay toilet nearby when we need one. Love you to pieces.

XO,

reflections on Emma's first year

A year ago at this time we were in the throes of new parenthood... in complete awe of this tiny person we'd created, but struggling with nursing, naps and everything in between. Emma was not an easy newborn... she's never been a cuddler, never one to just fall asleep on your shoulder. Getting her to sleep in those early months could have been an Olympic event. Bounce, bounce, bounce... bigger more elaborate bouncing, small quick bouncing, bouncing on the exercise ball, bouncing while walking, bouncing while shooshing, bouncing while singing... bounce, bounce, bounce. We were both seeing a chiropractor by the time she turned 3 months old. Once we figured out that she was milk protein intolerant and I cut out dairy things got almost immediately easier. She wasn't feeling like crap all the time, we regained some of our hearing loss. Everyone was happier...

Months 4-8 were nothing short of awesome... it seemed like every week there was a new "thing" she could do: laughing, rolling, solids, first words, sitting up, crawling. She was on a developmental tear and we were happily along for the ride.

And then we hit 9 months... and everything that could fall apart did. Ear infections, food rebellions, teething, sleep regressions - we were all pretty miserable and the lack of sleep was making everything that much harder. She was waking up every 2 hours, standing at the edge of her crib and screaming... and nothing soothed her - not bouncing, shooshing, singing, or nursing. We knew we were in trouble when nursing stopped soothing her. We desperately sought the advice of our pediatrician, who recommended what we feared was coming - sleep training. We'd been so anti... we never felt like she "needed" to be sleeping through the night at a certain point. Prior to her regression she'd been waking once, maybe twice a night to nurse and immediately went back down. It worked. Until it didn't. CIO, extinction - these are not words I ever wanted to be part of our parenting repertoire. But we were desperate... she was screaming with us trying to soothe her, was it really that much worse to let her scream while she tried to self-soothe? You have to tell yourself no to get through it, so we did, and it worked. She never cried for more than 20 minutes, and after 3 nights we were all sleeping much better. I wish it hadn't needed to come to that, but I have no regrets... we let her tell us when she was ready for a different approach, we didn't try to force a sleep schedule on her. It felt right at the time and I'm glad we did it.

As for the ear infections - our trusty Nose Frida has been helping keep them at bay. And her food rebellion was helped a ton when we discovered that she's okay being fed if she also has something to feed herself at the same time... so now if we give her a puree we make sure there are also steamed veggies or Os, puffs, raisins, etc. on her tray. Otherwise the dog, chair, my jeans, my hair, end up with a whole lot more puree than her tummy. It never ceases to amaze me how such a small person can create such a huge mess.

With the exception of a few weeks of intense separation anxiety, months 10-12 were pretty fantastic... Emma started cruising, then walking, and it's been a blast trying to keep up with her. (Okay, it's also been super tiring.) Once she started walking she was done with crawling. She'd rather walk and fall on her tush 8 times trying to get somewhere than crawl. I just have no idea where she gets this stubbornness from! And after 6 months of working at it, she finally mastered her roll and float in swim survival class, and we were super stoked for her. We had been telling her it was okay that she wasn't the best swimmer in her class, that she could get by on her looks if she needed to, but it was a huge relief when it finally clicked for her. (If you haven't looked into swim survival I highly recommend it. It's a little terrifying and kinda pricey but it's so worth it.)

One year later and we're still so in awe of our little girl... for all the ups and downs of parenthood, it's just so insanely worth it.

an update!

Hellooooo! How are you? I'm good... exhausted, but good. The baby and dog are asleep, my tummy is full of dark chocolate coconut ice cream, and I'm laying in bed happy as a clam that I actually have a few minutes to spend on my poor deserted blog. Here's the gist of what's been going on lately...

We put our house on the market... and were under contract in less than 48 hours! It was a whirlwind, and we feel very very fortunate to have fared so well in this economy. More details coming soon, including loads of before and after pics.

Our sweet Emma turned 1 year old last week! I can't believe how quickly this first year flew by, and how much she's changed and grown. Our tiny screaming newborn has turned into this happy little toddler... so curious about her world and with a smile and laugh that melt away even the worst days. I know I'm biased, but she's pretty much the best baby ever. Oh, and we did throw a little 1st birthday bash for her... I'll have more on that soon, too. (Are you noticing a pattern yet?)

Jared left for Maryland last week. Before he left we knocked a bunch of stuff off of our "Before we leave Portland bucket list." It'll get it's own post, too, but one of my favorite things we did was to go back to the place where we got married and take a family photo in the same spot where we said our vows nearly 3 years ago. It was such a special day (Father's Day, actually) and I'm so glad we were able to get up to the mountain one last time.

Life without him here has been a tough adjustment... parenting is just flat-out easier with 2 people, especially when that 2nd person is as hands-on (and awesome) as Jared is, but I'm doing my best and (knock on wood) have yet to have any major parenting fails. As tired as I am, in a weird way it's the time I'm getting one-on-one with Emma that's pulling me through. I live for the moment I walk into her classroom after work and she comes bounding toward me, arms outstretched and grinning from ear to ear... there's no amount of exhaustion that makes that feel any less awesome. That being said, we're heading to Maryland this weekend to look at houses, and I'll be very very glad to be a family of 3 again - even if it's just for a few days.

In other news, I've actually been making progress on my Life List! Again, a post is in the works... but to give you a preview, I've dyed my hair it's natural color (and 3 months later am now happily back to blonde), we're up to #91 on AFI's Top 100 movie list, I had a photo shoot with my mom and sister and our babies, and - miracle of all miracles - I've kept a plant alive for more than 3 months! And now that we're moving back east I have a whole bunch more things I want to add to the list... like having a girls theater weekend in NYC (Newsies, anyone??), and taking a little getaway with Jared to Savannah.

So, let's see... that's at least 4 blog posts I owe you. Guess I better get cracking - er, typing.

XO,

love letter to a house

Our house officially goes on the market tomorrow. We've worked so hard at getting it ready the past few weeks... it has been decluttered, staged, and cleaned within an inch of its life. We are tired. But we're really happy with how it looks, and are crossing everything we've got that all our effort pays off. As part of going on the market, our agent (the amazing Linda Muter... if you're selling or buying in Portland I can't recommend her more highly) asked us to write a letter for potential buyers to read when they come to tour our house. I put it off as long as I could, afraid of the emotion it might unleash, but I'm happy to say I got it done with exactly zero tears shed... perhaps I'm just too exhausted at this point to cry, or my trusty detachment coping mechanism is finally kicking in. Anyway, here it is...

Dear Potential Buyer,

Welcome, and thank you for touring our house!

We knew this was the house for us – our first house – within minutes of walking in the door and we hope you have the same reaction. That was two and a half years ago, and we’ve only grown to love it more with time. From the built-ins, to the molding, to the original doors… the little details of this house give it so much character and have really made it feel like home for us. We love decorating it for the holidays, stringing lights around the trees out front, and hanging stockings over the fireplace. And in the summer we love sitting on the front porch with some home brew, or spending lazy Sunday mornings eating pancakes in the sun room.

But for as much as we love this house, what we’ll miss most about living here is the neighborhood, and especially the neighbors. Within days of us moving in they brought wine, beer, and cookies and made us feel so welcome. We get together for BBQs and holidays… an egg hunt at Easter and a pretty epic 4th of July block party complete with a bounce house and bike parade for the kids.

And being so close to Fremont means that we’re within walking distance of restaurants, coffee, shops, and a market. It’s a rare weekend we aren’t up at Bumblekiss for french toast or at Cha Cha Cha! for burritos. (We can even walk to the Hollywood Library and Whole Foods thanks to a handy shortcut on Alameda.)

We feel like we really lucked out moving into this house, on this street, and we can only hope that the new buyers (maybe you!) love it as much as we have.

Best of luck in your search for a new home.

Sincerely,

Allison & Jared

So that's it... tomorrow we officially take the plunge into selling our beloved first home. I will miss our house and neighborhood more than I can say, but I'm (mostly) ready to see what our new east coast adventure has in store for us. Who knows... maybe we'll find an even better house with just as cool neighbors. I'm nothing if not optimistic. :-)

never say never

Jared and I were Portlanders long before we ever moved here... our liberal, DIY, eco ways made us feel right at home in a city that's as weird and wonderful as it is wet. Portland has become so much a part of who we are - as people, as a couple, as parents - and I can honestly say that there's no city in the country I'd rather live than right here. That's why what I'm about to tell you is really really really bittersweet...

We're moving.

And not only are we moving, we're moving back to the east coast. To Frederick, MD to be exact. Whoever said having kids changes everything could not have been more right... before Emma was born I couldn't have imagined anything pulling us away from this area. Portland was our forever home... everything we imagined for our future as a family was in the context of living here. But in February Jared was contacted by a recruiter for a job in Frederick (45 minutes away from my family in Northern Virginia) and after initially dismissing the idea, we started thinking about what living there would mean...

First of all, we'd have family nearby. We'd have support. And Emma would get to have close relationships with her grandparents, aunts and uncles, and her cousin who is only 3 months younger than her. As of now, every time we see family she has to relearn who they all are... it's only by the end of the trip that she warms up to them and it kills me. From family vacations to date nights to spending holidays together, the family aspect of all this was a huge draw.

Secondly, the schools there are MUCH better than in Portland. The high school she would have gone to here has a 79% graduation rate... and it's one of the better high schools in Portland. Our house is considered to be in an excellent school district. It's baffling. Jared and I both went to excellent public schools, where far greater than 79% not only graduated but went on to 4 year universities. We want the same or even better for Emma, which we'll be able to provide her in Frederick. The only downside is that in order to do so, we may end up having to cross over the dark side of new construction suburbia... a thought that currently pains me, but perhaps I'll come around to.

Thirdly, the cost of living is even better in Frederick than it is in Portland (which is pretty affordable compared to other cities we've lived in.) We'll be able to get more house for our money and be able to more easily afford a bigger family. Frederick is an old city with loads of historic homes... I'd be lying if I said I hadn't already planned out my dream renovation of a big 1900s colonial. :-)

There are plenty of other draws as well... being within driving distance of the cabin, being able to go to Phillies games, taking trips up to NY to see friends, the culture, art, eats in DC and Baltimore, and still having both great hiking and beaches nearby. There's very little that we have here that we can't have there, which is why we decided to accept when Jared was ultimately offered the job.

But... as certain as we are that this move is the best thing for Emma, I do worry about how Jared and I will fit in there. I grew up in Northern Virginia and had one foot out the door as soon as I hit high school. It wasn't me, and has become increasingly less so as I've gotten older and the area has continued to change. Frederick is different... removed from many of the things I don't like about NoVa. I'm hoping that Jared and I can still be "us" there and not feel like total outsiders. There must be other people in Frederick who homebrew, compost, cloth diaper, grow their own hops, and have stellar taste in music, right? Maybe? I guess we'll find out.

So that's the news... that's why I've been so stressed and absent from blogging the past couple of months. On top of all the anxiety about moving, work has been crazy busy. And now we're faced with getting our house sold. Jared's actually going to move out there before me while I stay back with the kiddo and the dog until we can sell the house. Just thinking about that separation is heartbreaking and terrifying, so I'm trying to settle into a blissful state of denial. (Getting the house ready to go on the market has proved a nice, albeit overwhelming distraction.) I'll try my best to keep you posted on all the happenings in the next couple of months. Blogging (and wine) just may be the only thing that keeps me sane while Jared is gone.

Oh, and if anyone reading this lives in the Frederick/DC/Baltimore area, please contact me! I'm very much looking forward to reconnecting with old friends, and maybe even connecting with some fellow crafters/bloggers/ice cream connoisseurs/banjo lovers.

the cabin

Jared and I just got back from a long weekend at our friends' cabin in North Central Pennsylvania, and the trip was exactly what we needed. You may have noticed I've been a little absent from my dear blog lately (and that will sadly continue as the next couple months are likely to be some of the craziest of our lives.) We've been stressed beyond belief, but for now we're recharged... 4 days in the woods, no phones, no internet. It was perfect. We even got to break in our new "our backpacking days are over " tent. (Yeah, it has two rooms. That's apparently how we roll now.) This was my 5th year going to the cabin and while it's different now that most of us have kids, it's still one of my favorite weekends of the year...

 

link love - 4.27.12

Hello! Long time no see. I decided it was time to come up for air to share some of the things that caught my eye this week. Life has continued to be completely crazy, but I'm only 6 days away from vacation and I can. not. wait. By this time next week, I'll be in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania with no phone, no laptop - just my family, great friends, good tunes, and plenty of Yuengling. I can't think of anything better. :-)

{life} I <3 Portland, and this amazing stop-motion video...

chocolate chip perfection

If you're on Pinterest, you've likely seen a pin floating around for what is supposed to be "the BEST" chocolate chip cookie recipe. It was first published in the New York Times about 4 years ago, and has taken on near legendary status since then. (Fun fact about me: if you put the words the best in front of something, I will nearly always say back to you challenge accepted. Best mac 'n cheese, ice cream, cupcake, chicken parm? I'll be the judge of that, thank you very much.) So I decided to finally try out this famous recipe for myself last weekend, and I'm pleased to report that it very much lived up to the hype. The secret? You let the dough rest for at least 24 hours. This apparently enables the egg to fully saturate the dough and therefore the cookies bake more evenly, and well - perfectly.

In full disclosure, I'm a loyal fan of the chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back of the Tollhouse chip bag. It's a classic, and hard to beat in my opinion. But this recipe is like the adult version of the Tollhouse recipe... the Big to Tollhouse's Aidan. They're classier, more substantial, and worth the wait.

The part of the recipe that really blew my mind was this "Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day." You mean I can just make enough for myself and Jared? I don't have to make them all at once, inevitably taking the extras to work so that they can be enjoyed before going stale? Sorry, coworkers. They're all for me! (Okay, me and Jared.)

New York Times' Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling

Ingredients:

• 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
• 1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter (or Vegan Buttery Sticks if making dairy-free)
• 1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)
• Sea salt.

Directions:

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

Note: Disks are sold at Jacques Torres Chocolate; Valrhona fèves, oval-shaped chocolate pieces, are at Whole Foods.

Recipe from The New York Times

in defense of crafty moms

If you're a mom on Facebook, you very likely saw this blog post going around last week. And while I agree with some of what the author had to say, it also made me feel a little defensive. Mostly because Pinterest is my happy place, and it threw me for a loop that it caused anyone to feel pressured and discouraged. You mean not everyone logs into Pinterest and gets lost for hours in seemingly endless inspiration?? I guess the difference between me and the author is that I craft because it's who I am... I was a maker long before I was a mama. Second only to my family, crafting is my raison d'etre. So while yes my child wants ME and I want her, I can't just be "mama." Being a maker is what nurtures me. And if I don't make time for that, then I'd feel like I lost part of my identity. So as much as the author doesn't want to be made to feel bad for struggling to do a fancy braid in her daughters' hair, I don't want to be made to feel bad for sewing my daughter a Christmas dress or looking forward to her birthday as an excuse to give my Silhouette a workout. I don't do any of this to make other moms feel inadequate, nor do I feel peer pressure to go overboard at pretty much every crafting opportunity - I do it because I simply can't help myself.

So anyway, back to Pinterest... fellow moms, I beg you, please don't turn my happy place into the latest thing that's wrong with modern motherhood. One of the things I've always loved most about the design/DIY/sewing community online is how insanely supportive and encouraging everyone is toward one another, and until that article, I thought Pinterest worked the same way. Yes, there are things about it I could do without. I avoid the Popular page like the plague because it's the Internet equivalent of Top 40 radio... it exists only to remind me how little I have in common with the masses. And I scan past people's fitness pins like salads on a restaurant menu - we all know that's not why I'm here... give me a pulled pork sandwich and let me be on my way. But, that's the beauty of Pinterest - it can be whatever you want it to be. If you like the recipes but the crafts make you feel like a lazy mama, just unfollow your friends' crafting boards. Why set yourself up to feel bad? That's just silly.

Trust me, I have plenty of imperfections that Emma will likely remind me of daily when she's a teenager, so for now - let me have my homemade ice cream and personalized quilts. Those are the things I'm good at. Do I think they make me a good mother? Of course not. But on those days when Emma has eaten nothing but Os and raisins, only managed 2 twenty minute naps, and is in her 3rd outfit of the day, I can lay her down to sleep for the night in a room filled with stuff that I made her and feel just a little better about myself.

link love - 4.13.12

Not much doing this weekend, but it's supposed to be gorgeous so I'm hoping we'll get lots of outdoor time. We're usually well into our 7th straight month of rain this time of year, so nice weather - especially on the weekend - feels like you're cheating time. And I love it. Wow, I'm talking about the weather. I guess life was pretty boring this week! Here are some not so boring things from my rather boring week...

{life and family} If you haven't seen this video yet, stop what you're doing and watch it immediately. It made my whole week.

{food} This month's Food Network Magazine took the guess work out of food coloring with this super handy guide to get any color you want...

{DIY} DIY Anthropologie flats? Yes please. So perfect for spring.

{sewing} i just love these little play tea bags on Little Blue Boo.

{shopping} What's that you say? You want to take me to Palm Springs for the weekend, making the purchase of this tote of summer perfection totally justifiable? Okay!

{laughter} Because sometimes you just need to see Bill Murray in an ascot...

Have a great weekend, everyone! :-)

Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites

Jared has been searching for the perfect soft pretzel recipe for at least two years, and after combining a couple of recipes, he finally found it. Yes, my husband likes to do things like make us homemade soft pretzel bites on the weekend. He's kind of awesome. Anyway, these little puppies are perfect for a party, sports get together, or random Sunday. And I love them. Here's the recipe...

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 cups warm water
• 1 cup flour
• 4 cups flour , mixed with
• 1 tablespoon salt , more flour if needed
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• coarse salt

Directions:

1. In large bowl, stir yeast, sugar and warm water.
2. Let rest til yeast is dissolved and is a little foamy.
3. Stir in 1 cup flour. Then rest of flour mixed with the 1 Tbl salt.
4. Knead on lightly floured surface til smooth.
5. Place in oiled bowl, rolling around til all oiled. Cover and let rise till doubled in size.
6. Divide dough into eight balls. Roll each into a 20-in. rope; cut into 1 inch pieces.
7. In a saucepan, bring water and baking soda to a boil. Drop pretzels into boiling water, two at a time; boil for 10-15 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon; drain on paper towels.
8. Place pretzels on greased baking sheets. Bake at 425 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with salt.

I prefer them with honey mustard, while Jared is more of a French's Yellow kind of guy. Either way, they're excellent plain, but even better with any kind of mustard. Enjoy!!

{craft fail} natural egg dyes

I try hard to be a green mama, but sometimes it ends up being more trouble than it's worth. I mentioned on Friday how we were planning to dye our Easter eggs using natural dyes. It was great in theory, and I was looking forward to seeing the effect of the different ingredients. I picked up a variety of veggies from Whole Foods, and even bought these cute little canning jars from Sur la Table. I followed the instructions on this site to make the following dyes:

• Yellow (tumeric)
• Blue (red cabbage)
• Pink (beets)
• Green (red cabbage and tumeric)

See, look how cute they are in their little jars. I felt like Super Eco Mom. I let them sit in their dyes overnight, and when I took them out in the morning...

Wah waaaaahhh. I'm grateful Emma's too young to remember her first Easter eggs, because no kid would get excited about these. They're the Easter equivalent of handing out raisins at Halloween. I've seen photos of other people's naturally dyed eggs, and they look great - so I have no idea why mine were such a bust. But they really really were. Looks like we'll be trying Kool-Aid to dye them next year!

PS... It wasn't actually a total bust. I used the leftover beets to make a puree for Emma which she liked but was a complete and utter mess, and the leftover cabbage to make a crazy delicious coleslaw. I used this recipe (minus the celery), and highly recommend it if you like vinegar based coleslaws (which are far superior to mayonnaise slaws, IMO.)

bunny butt cupcakes

I'll be the first to admit, I may have overdone it a bit this Easter. :-) But if there's one thing you should know about me it's that when I get an idea to do something, there's pretty much nothing that will stop me from at least attempting it. (Do I need to remind you about the weekender bags?) So when I saw these little bunny butts on Pinterest I knew they needed to be on top of my Easter cupcakes. I mean, come on. They're so stinking cute. Yes, I was sick. Yes, Emma is in the middle of a major sleep regression and I don't remember the last time we got a good night's sleep. But these little tushes were calling me. I had to make them.

I followed the instructions on Hungry Happenings nearly exactly... she used modeling chocolate, but since I'm still off dairy, I used fondant. I followed this recipe to whip up some homemade marshmallow fondant, and was relieved to find it easier than I thought it would be. The only hiccup came when I ended up needing to transfer the mixture back into a glass bowl (from the mixer bowl) so I could microwave it a smidge more in order to get the last of the mini marshmallows to melt. I also used Crisco instead of butter, as several reviewers suggested.

The bunny butts were easy enough to assemble... just time consuming. I hadn't worked with fondant before, and it felt very similar to working with clay or play-doh.

Now all that was left was to make the actual cupcakes. I decided to make strawberry cupcakes but had to use box mix because it's dairy free and sooo much better than trying to make vegan cupcakes from scratch. I also used store-bought vanilla frosting for the same reason. I hate cheating, but given how much time went into making the bunny butts, I didn't feel too bad about it. Anyway, I dyed the frosting green with gel color and used Wilton's grass piping tip (#233) to make it look like the bunny butts were sitting on a bed of grass.

Oh look at those cute little tushes! Thankfully, they were just as tasty as they were cute (the cupcake part anyway... fondant is kinda meh.) I'd love to make them again with the modeling chocolate from the original recipe and with chocolate cake so it looks like dirt underneath the grass. How many days until next Easter? :-)

Funny enough, after all that hard work I decided I couldn't bear to toss the leftover green frosting, so I whipped up a half batch of Annie's Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies. (Don't judge me.) The verdict? Deeeelicious. Maybe even better than the grocery store bakery kind she was trying to replicate. I highly recommend them if you need to use up some frosting. Or if you want to make sure those last few pounds of pregnancy weight stay right where they are. These are really good for that. Trust me.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend!

link love - 4.6.12

Happy weekend! We are deep in the throes of ear infections and Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease (thanks, daycare!) so my crafty ambitions for this weekend might not take flight. Thankfully I got all the stuff for Emma's Easter basket earlier in the week. Cross your fingers that today is the worst of it and I can still make the cutest cupcakes ever for Sunday (seriously, if I can pull them off they're going to be epic. Epic!) I hope you guys have a happy (and healthy!) Easter!!

Here's some stuff that wet my whistle this week...

{life & family} I hope Emma has a lot of moments like this...

{food} I've had a soft spot (savory tooth?) for empanadas since my post-college days in DC when I'd get Julia's Empanadas after a late night in Adams Morgan. Sweet sweet Julia's. I miss that place. (If you go, and you should, I recommend the turkey.) I haven't had them since but have been itching to attempt making my own. This recipe is supposed to be amazing.

{DIY} In our never-ending quest to become as cliche Portlanders as possible, we're going to dye our eggs the all natural way this weekend. I've been looking up a bunch of recipes and particularly like the ones here and here.

{sewing} If you're looking for some last-minute cuteness to throw into an Easter basket, look no further.

{shopping} I absolutely adore this little embroidered dress from Zara. It would look especially adorable with the salt water sandals I'm planning on getting Emma for the summer.

{laughter} This Tumblr made me laugh out loud. You gotta admit, Hillary looks pretty badass in those shades.

easiest peanut butter cookies

I love a cookie that I can make with ingredients I already have on hand. Add to that a recipe that requires one bowl and takes 15 minutes from start to mouth, and I'm sold. Enter - the easiest peanut butter cookies ever. No flour, no butter, just peanut butter, two kinds of sugar, vanilla, baking soda, and an egg. They take only 10 minutes in the oven, and are ever so delicious served warm. (They're pretty good at room temperature, too, but it's just not the same.) Like pretty much every other peanut butter cookie recipe, these get crunchy after a day (fun fact - this is how my mom prefers them. What a weirdo.) So if you're more of a chewy fan, it's best to eat as many as possible the day you make them. Jared liked them so much he requested I make them again after Rocco ate the remainders of the first batch straight off the kitchen counter. I hope you enjoy them as much as my boys did!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup peanut butter (see note)
• 3/4 cup natural cane sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• additional sugar for rolling

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees°F.

Mix all the ingredients up in a bowl. Roll walnut-sized pieces into balls and roll balls in the additional sugar. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and flatten slightly with a fork in a crisscross pattern. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool before removing from baking sheet.

Note: Peanut butter comes in all kinds of configurations and the kind you choose will influence your outcome. Some peanut butters are very sweet, some have been hydrogenated, some have a whole lot more in them than peanuts! Then there is the chunky versus smooth debate. I used a natural chunky version (Safeway brand) for this recipe that wasn't too sweet although it did have added cane sugar in the ingredient list.

Recipe from The Kitchn

movie madness

Jared and I watched My Week With Marilyn this weekend (just okay, though Michelle Williams was flawless), after which he confessed that he'd never seen a Marilyn Monroe movie. We then got to chatting about classic films and basically concluded that there are a ton of great movies neither of us has ever seen. So, on a whim, we decided to challenge ourselves to watch all 100 of AFI's Top 100 films. Of this list, we've each seen 49 (though not all the same). Not bad between us, but there are a lot we don't really remember, and it's always different watching a movie later in life that you were forced to watch in school.

We decided we should probably start at the bottom of the list and work our way up to #1 (Citizen Kane), so that we don't lose steam as we get to the "less good" most amazing films of all time. It's going to take us a while. (Like multiple years.) But we're nerdily excited.

Things I'm looking forward to:

• Cary. Grant.
• "Well, he should have armed himself if he's going to decorate his saloon with my friend."
• Vivien Leigh's untouchable performance in Streetcar
• Finally being able to say that I've seen Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. (I know, I know.)
• Witnessing the genius that was Charlie Chaplin (I've only ever seen clips, never a whole movie.)
• Paul Newman and Robert Redford in their prime

Things I'm not looking forward to:

• Titanic and The Sixth Sense... I wholeheartedly object to these movies making the list. Mostly because I have a not fully justifiable intense dislike of both James Cameron and M. Knight Shyamalan.
• There's only 1 Paul Newman film (aside from my husband, there's no man that can hold a candle to Paul Newman in my book.) This seems far too few for such a great actor.
• Having to watch A Clockwork Orange again. I didn't like it the first time, and doubt I'll like it this time around.
• Sophie's Choice... One Sunday night a few weeks ago I gave Jared the option of washing bottles or putting the sheets on the bed (I would do the other) and he replied, "Uggghhh. Sophie's choice!" Neither of us knew what it meant, but we knew his use of it was likely ridiculous. Then we looked it up. I wanted to crawl into a corner and cry for hours just after reading the Wikipedia entry. I can't imagine how depressing the movie is going to be, but I'm certain it's going to scar me for life.

We're planning to start this weekend (with #100, Ben Hur). Not the most fun start, but the list is the list.

How many of these have you seen? Do you have a favorite? (I think my favorite on the list is The Philadelphia Story. I have a thing for Cary Grant, especially when paired with the always fantastic Katherine Hepburn.)

PS... I've added this little challenge to my life list!