Late Winter Stuff

Reading: Everything on the Floret site.  I've read a million books, blog posts, magazine articles...Erin's posts are the most helpful I've read anywhere and I can't wait to get her new book ! If you have any interest in flower farming or even just your own cutting garden, it's going to be such a gorgeous and useful resource.

Eating: Girl Scout cookies and this Stew

Drinking: Iced Earl Grey Lattes. My friend Chrissy shared these on Instagram and ever since I cannot get enough!

Making:  Embroidery flowers.  Since I can't plant and grow them yet, I've been stitching them.  It started as a distraction for me when I was feeling a lot of anxiety during the day, but I quickly finished my first project, then my second and I just want to do more!

Writing:  I'm trying.  It's feeling better to write a bit regularly again, but I still don't feel like I'm in a groove.  I'm trying, though, and right now that counts for a lot!

From Spring 2016

From last spring, written and never posted:

I feel self-conscious about my writing.  Like I'm going to come back later and cringe at what I've written like I do when I look at old photos.  But something funny happened.  My almost 9 year old requested a rainbow cake for her birthday, the same as she had on her 3rd birthday.  When Pinterest was only a fledgling.  But as I went back to look at my blog post from that birthday party and read the words, the only thing I felt was grateful.

It was the first thing that has made me feel like blogging or writing again in a really long time.  Being able to look back on her birthday, and the others, I fell down the rabbit hole to see more birthdays after that one.  Hearing my own voice about my kids when they were so much smaller made me cry.

And it makes me want to write a little more again.  At least about Ben.  Because this time when they're so tiny passes in such a flash and even though you know you were there and in it, it all just disappears.  But then I remember that I can come back and read what I wrote before and that I don't at all care if the photos were good or bad, I just care that they exist.  That's where blogging started, isn't it? The form that's basically dead now? I write bits and pieces on Instagram and that has to be enough for now, but there really is something about just sitting down to write out thoughts for the sake of thoughts that doesn't happen for me on my phone.

Fall Produce

I've been doing some small blog updates lately since I hadn't done much in a long time .  It made me realize that even though photography plays a huge part in my life, I haven't talked about it much on here.  I'd like to change that without getting all romanticized and hipster and too serious about it.  I just like it, it makes me happy to think of a photo and actually create that photo, which is the case with these. They're from a few falls ago (Novemberish of 2014, I think) and I never shared here (at least I don't think I did!) The colors were so intense and the light was so pretty that day and we had gone to our farmer's market.  I remember being in our old garage and using the top of our freezer first, then the top of a ladder to get them and shivering in the chilly air while I tried to capture the details of all of these veggies and fruit.  I don't even remember now what I made with them, probably some sort of soup or a sauté, to the point of crispy, with garlic for the chard and kale.  The apples probably disappeared within hours or days and the cabbage probably sat for far too long until I decided to do something with it.

All Over the Place

Baby stuff: 17 months. Which is basically 1.5.  Which is unreal.  We all know time flies, but GEEZ, it really does fly when they're little while the days can seem to just craaaaaawl by sometimes. He's starting to say stuff, but we're still learning his style and voice, so it always surprises us when he just copies a word exactly.  I love that Mia and Nick get to watch him grow, too, and especially that they enjoy it so much.

I'm playing with stop-motion videos this week and having a ton of fun.  I've always wanted to try making them and just decided to jump in this week.  You can see my first attempt here, the kids were clearly influential in my choices and now they're begging to make a Lego stop-motion.

Making me happy this week:

- Podcasts.  Pop Culture Happy Hour,  That's What She Said (Kristen Kalp is my favorite!),  Bon Appetit, The Splendid Table

- DIY Gel Manicures.  This American Classic Gelous nail polish is my favorite.  Paired with this color for Valentine's Day.  I vote against most advice and actually suggest thick layers and extra dry time.  It lasts at least a week for me.

- Almond Bundt Cake  - skip the glaze, it doesn't need anything on top!

Snow Day Morning

He was up at 4:30am to see if it snowed.  Thank goodness for movies and couch cushion forts and for neighbors to play and have fun and restaurants close enough to walk to for grilled cheese and burgers for lunch.  Plus, it just feels really good to be capturing things with more than just my phone again.