love links

Here’s some things around the web I have found inspiring:

-Cakies-Aaron just made this oven baked fried chicken and it was delicious. And of course so much healthier than actually frying chicken in any oils. Highly recommend, and super easy ingredients, we didn’t even have to make a trip to the store for a single ingredient.

-A Beautiful Mess-Elsie shared such a simple tutorial for a simple cotton top that is inspiring to give my sewing machine a go again. I really really REALLY need to take a class, but until I find the time for that I still would love to experiment with easy and beginner things. This looks just up my alley.

-All for the Boys-such a great and easy idea for mini tents/forts for Lego guys. Which we have a ton of this house, lego guys every.where.

Other inspiration I’m finding at the moment?

-The need for green. Aaron and I have been having green smoothies for dinner a few nights each week, and we both are feeling great. Tonight he paired it with quinoa with almonds, pomegranate seeds, green bell pepper, and green onions. delish

-Sore muscles. Yes, the soreness is inspiring for me. I’m back to regular exercising and I love that stiff feeling in the morning til I stretch and get going.

-Caffeine. Back on caffeine a little. A few lattes a week is all I’m allowing myself, but it’s oh so good.

wednesday- happiness is….

Our Week In Instagrams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.after 3 fun weeks of winter break, the backpacks came out again 2.my mode of transportation for a few days, my feet 3.library volunteer 4.new fun blog/business cards 5.she finally outgrew some 4T clothes 6.found this eucalyptus she snipped from my dining room arrangement sitting in my good crystal on her window sill 7.my very appropriate reading material for the long wait at the post office 8.lady in black 9.aaron’s sprained ankle from snowboarding 10.school clothes 11.car detailing in prep for selling 12.making videos 13.business taxes complete, now on to personal taxes 14.yummy dinner of rainbow pasta, chicken sausage and fresh broccoli 15.vintage floral 16.picking out school clothes the night before 17.and wearing them 18.he’s pretty proud to be compost captain this week at school 19.torture 20.lunch with my grandparents 21.preparing my favorite black bean salsa 22.homemade pizza night 23.with toppings 24.somebody is a fan 25.the game of life 26.my pirate/fishing boots 27.a very empty keychain after selling our yukon 28.more yummy black bean salsa 29.fondue present(thanks peter and heather!) 30.new keys to replace old ones 31.more torture 32.snacks for golden globe watching

week 4 in instagrams

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 1.aftermath of chili night, not bad 2. shoes i have been hiding from greta 3. she found them 4. beginning of our family playdate 5. miniature golfing 6. with Jane 7. go kart racing 8. korean market field trip 9. mini potatoes 10. crafting 11. korean dinner 12. wii dance 13. pedi 14. aaron came bearing gifts 15. muffins 16. blog post 17. lazy morning 18. popcorn for 6 kids 19. lentil soup 20. bath time 21. movie 22. i only went for toothpaste 23. dinner 24. greta’s hair 25. 9am greta face 26. sawyer/mama special date 27. he made a list 28. hot chocolate. check! 29. and bought his sister a present 30. babysitting 31. dinner 32. he enjoyed it immensely 33. new read aloud book for the boys 34. good morning 35. palisades 36. his and hers 37. fuse bead saturday night party 38. lots of fuse beads, i should be thankful it wasn’t a cross right? 39. Treasure Island 40. partying it up nye on the couch 41. lunch date 42. at The Lobster 43. with my parents 44. spiny lobster for this kid 45. Runyon Canyon 46. our brave hiking group 47. don’t let that smile fool you, hardest hike of my life 48. see that mountain ahead, yeah to get down you keep going on the other side of it 49. lots of rock climbing 50. some smiles at the top 51. still have to get down though 52. you don’t go to Sprinkles after your hikes?

homemade prezzies

Last year I was quite adventurous and made homemade peppermint bark, which was unbelievable but time consuming. But with only 2 days to go before winter break, and 3 kids’ classroom parties to volunteer in, I was crunched for time. So I simplified the bark making process and did only 1 layer, and did two options for toppings. One was classic peppermint, the other was crushed almonds and sea salt. The process was super super simple. We’re talking 30 minutes tops for the whole thing. I was inspired by this easy tutorial(she has such great ideas for gifts and packaging and parties), but since I didn’t have pistachios on hand, I decided to experiment a little. I ended up using some leftover mason jars as containers, and labeled with what I had on hand. I’m telling you this was time crunch people! I used card stock, a hole puncher and some washi tape. This little batch filled 7 mason jars worth. I passed them out to clients I had that day and some staff at the kids’ school. The one thing I would change is use chunkier salt. Probably the rock/Himalayan salt and crush it myself. The salt I used just wasn’t big enough. But everyone loved it, so I say that’s a success.

week 2 instagram

I’m going to try to keep up with posting my Instagrams once a week while I take a break from this space. Instagram is like my little secret network. I absolutely love sharing my day with a small percentage compared with Facebook. When I do return to this space I have catching up to do. With things like homemade staff presents for our favorite people at the kids’ school, more Ojai photos, Romeo’s 10 month shoot, and other goodness. For now, my week in review.

1.  1.location for my last photo shoot 2. rainy day activity for a girly with a cold 3. he’s messy 4. dinner 5. new mousepad thanks to a school art fundraiser 6. thighs post pure barre 7. he was mesmerized at his cousin’s winter concert 8. party city line, what was i thinking?? 9. baking for one class party 10. and another 11. legos end up everywhere 12. decided to grow my bangs out 13. kindergarten gingerbread goodness 14. some lunch dates i need nothing else 15. last day of school celebration at yogurtland 16. snowflake crafting with the kids 17. decorating with our snowflakes 18. and some more 19. day one assembly handsomeness 20. modcloth dress ecstasy 21. day two handsomeness 22. family photo

bits & pieces of our weekend

1. sometimes you need to give someone a gift for no reason at all, just because.

2. Bananagrams with Greta.

3. Bananagrams with the boys too because they can’t resist a game.

4. A card from one brother to another, expressing his apologies for the tonsillitis one brother was recovering from.

5. An afternoon project all 3 kids decided to do together. Still not sure exactly what the project was but it involved making books out of paper and staples and lots of drawings.

6. During said project (#5) an afternoon nap and reading time for the adults.

7. Sunday morning ritual of making something with daddy, this particular morning it was sugar cookies from a set of Hello Kitty cookie cutters that Peter and Heather gifted Greta.

8. Dinner with my girl and my parents at The Lobster.

9. Evening fires because it’s that cold.

november

bring it on november. we are ready for you. i closed out October throwing two kids their class fall celebrations, three back to back teacher conferences, and one second grader who is almost finished with his first official book report. and we’re talking all this in the course of 3 days. throw in there a foot ball game for gunnar and a field day for the two littles and a successful trip to the flea market, and there you have our weekend.

this fall project for sawyer’s class was a huge hit. parents were oohing and aahing over their kids’ awesome artwork and this is definitely a frame worthy project. and super cheap and easy to do. i didn’t have time to take photos during the art project because I was leading, but basically it’s easy peasy.

supplies are:

crushed leaves

straws

black watercolor

watercolor paper

That’s it. You start with a half a spoonful of the black watercolor. I poured it in bowls and had spoons for the kids to use. One half spoonful was plenty. Pour it near the bottom of the page in a tiny puddle. Then use the straws to blow the watercolor upward and outward. This creates the trunk and the branches. Once you are satisfied with your tree, follow with white glue and leaves. You can make the leaves on the branches, falling from the tree, gathered on the ground near the base of the tree, etc. It’s really cool and kids can get really creative. Here’s Sawyer’s fall tree.

We had a delicious feast picnic style outside. Fall dishes that were a huge hit: apple cider, pumpkin muffins, zucchini bread, pumpkin cookies, sliced melon. We decided to do it as eco friendly as possible. We used melamine plates instead of paper goods, and toothpicks and finger foods instead of forks. It was very fun and the kids loved it.

Greta’s fall celebration thankfully was on a different day because there is no way I could do both in the same day. For Greta’s class, another mom led the craft which was very sweet. They painted wooden picture frames with leaves in seasonal colors. Then they came outside to enjoy a similar picnic style feast. Another mom snapped this photo because I was busy prepping the food table, but how happy does my girl look? Boy does she love school. And she sure looked forward to this class party all month long.

Hits of the day were the carrots with pea eye balls on top. Guacamole with homemade tortilla chips in the shapes of pumpkins, pumpkin bread, more apple cider, and apple slices dipped in caramel.

obsession

It has been SO long since I’ve been able to do any style posts or wish lists. But I assure you, my head is not in the clouds. I am just barely having enough time to shower these days. Between swim dates and bike rides, painting and crafting with the kids, who has time to shop. There are a few things I definitely have kept my eye out for lately. One are these Vintage Camp Blankets by Beacon and Esmond Mills. Pretty much you pay through the nose if you find them vintage (used). But Three Potato Four got their hands on a lot of them. Well, not there’s like one left. But they are selling them for almost $400. Grandparents, friends of grandparents, great aunts and uncles, can you check your linen stash for these. I’m dying to get my hands on a few of them. You can find them on ebay and Etsy ranging from $50-300, but it’d be cool to have one passed down from someone you know. These are definitely going on my flea market list for future trips.

The next thing that has recently caught my eye is a bread box. We bake bread several times a week over here, and zip lock baggies are just not pretty. But they are practical. Until I came across Nigella Lawson’s line. Check out her beautiful bread box. The lid doubles as a cutting board. I love the stream lined look, and no zip locks needed! It’s not cheap so I will be adding this to my anniversary wish list for sure.

 

In other news, Greta is officially enrolled for Kindergarten and this morning I was the one trying to calm the nerves of the other kindergarten parents at orientation. Yeah! Me! Trying to be calm and reassuring. However I did notify them not to talk to me next Wednesday as I will be bawling and not helpful at all to ease their anxieties. Next Wednesday is looming ever closer, but I think I’m prepared. Or that’s what I’m telling myself. I think she is totally ready and will love it. I think I will adjust to a quiet house. And I think I will be extremely excited to pick them up each day. I look forward to carving out time for each of them to have some one on one time with me. Daily I don’t think is practical, but definitely more often than it’s been in the past. I think it has helped that everyone and their mother has already started school this year, and we are the last. I feel like I’ve had an extra present having these last few weeks with them all to myself.

wordless wednesday- some days it’s just too hot to eat our veggies, so instead we drink them