Spring

New front door, new house numbers. Just in time for our Easter brunch. It made a much better backdrop for the group shot of all the kiddos after their egg hunt. 

Baby Margot is almost 9 months and has a great sense of humor. She plays peekaboo (she prefers to hide), looks like she's getting a bunch of teeth any day now, and manages to scoot backwards when she's in a crawling position. 

Her big sister is becoming the sweetest lover of life you'll ever meet. She radiates joy, is honest and kind and wickedly smart. 

Very blessed around here. 

Punkin Pay-atch

There is a little farm off 537 in Colts Neck called Brook Slope Farm… It's family owned and never swarmed. The perfect place to pick pumpkins with a toddler and get a free ride around the patch on a wagon pulled by a tractor. This is our second year there and it didn't disappoint!

Running for pumpkins.

Took a stroll through the corn… no maze necessary.

MDW

Happy Memorial Day from the Jersey Shore. We're not quite at the beach yet but it feels like we'll get there soon.

Brought my first mixed berry pie (blueberry/blackberry/strawberry) to Lobsterfest. Stole the pie crust star topper from Martha Stewart. It's a crowd pleaser and you'll be seeing it again on the 4th of July, no doubt.

Speaking of tarts (badum ching) I finally started reading Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch. It's extremely long but after 150 pages I can say that so far it is living up to the hype.

I'm currently blogging from under the umbrella on my deck while Lil SP naps on the couch inside. She's all tuckered out from a visit to the Mount Mitchell Scenic Overlook and lunch in Atlantic Highlands. It's a perfect day and I can't wait to read some more of my book before heading to my mom's for lobster rolls. 

This is what I thought motherhood was going to be like before it happened to me - easy breezy afternoons spent satisfying my spiritual and intellectual needs, waiting for my angelic baby to wake up and coo. It may be slightly different in actuality.

Oh, and if you're a Masterpiece Mystery person like myself, Mrs. Fisher's Mysteries is the new hot property on Netflix. 

Enjoy!

Bonne Annee!

We celebrated by sneaking up to one of our favorite old Brooklyn haunts, Bar Tabac. They had a sweet little prix fixe, awesome 70s/80s tunes, and the foxiest French servers. The perfect place to wear your sequin mini skirt like it's no big deal. 

Fulfilling on my birthday resolution to get to the city more often! Why wait til January?

Happy new year wherever you are! 

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

After a whirlwind fall of European business trips and Hurricane Sandy/Early Snowfall, we packed up the car to the gills and took our yearly Thanksgiving roadtrip to Maine. Thanksgiving came early this year and we felt it. As much as we felt like we hadn't been home as family in our own house for more than a few days at a time, packing up the ole suitcases felt like business as usual so off we went.

And it was great.

First we had Thanksgiving.























Then my birthday!





















And now Christmas is a'coming.
(As signalled by my newly acquired vintage Christmas candles.)
Cheers to you.

What's Going On?

Please excuse my absence. Lots of soul searching and life living going on. And stomach bugs. Spring has sprung and all this sunshine has been inspiring me to walk around SoHo and take pictures of things other than my incredibly adorable 8 month old. 

Cherry blossoms on Bleecker, my office building all the way on the right.

Mini Pies, $10, Dean & Deluca.

I identify with these caged daffodils. Too dramatic?

Enjoy your spring holiday weekend. I am a pagan but the ideas of rebirth (Easter) and freedom (Passover) are really speaking to me this year. I seem to have a complete nervous breakdown every March (always for different reasons), and I am I starting to think I should anticipate it and commemorate it like some sort of religious holiday. All my self-torment inevitably leads to incredible personal insights. Breakdown to breakthrough, as they say.

Fall: Home and About

Pumpkins on the stoop! My favorite way to showcase pumpkins, inspired by Katy Elliot's documentation of pumpkins above the door in Marblehead. Halloween is epic in my town, so I like to make sure the house is sending signals to potential trick-or-treaters (and there are A LOT of them) that our door is open. 
And this morning -- this very very warm morning -- I completed my first race post baby, a 5K in my favorite shore town. I had very low expectations since I've been taking it easy out there, but I managed to break 30 minutes, which I was pretty excited about, considering it means I ran 3 miles at about a 9:30 pace and I'm quite sure I that's about a minute faster than any mile I'd run in preparation. Later this month is the Trik-or-Trot, then November brings the Turkey Trot. Love all the local fall races, and so happy to be back in the mix! (Even if it is harder to get to the starting line in time with little P).

Will You Be My Valentine?

This year I rallied and made valentines. 
Somehow I think the impulse indicates a good year ahead. 

The theme this year was sprinkles. Sprinkles of love? 

No, just sprinkles.

Don't they make everyone happy?

Happy Valentine's Day to one and all!

Two Thousand Eleven

I'm sad this week is over, I've really been enjoying saying "happy new year!" to people, it's such a hopeful greeting to friends and strangers alike. One of my intentions for the new year was to be friendlier to strangers, so it's been nice to have a greeting in my pocket.

Charlie Brown tree #2

The Christmas tree came down on Friday. All the holiday decorations are packed away and the house is spotless. It'd been a while since every room in the house got a thorough scrub down, and I forgot how good it feels. I am loving my house right now, and only wish it would stay this way forever. Our cat Sonny, however, prefers a mess.

I got an email from the Sketchbook Project people. They were just reminding me that my sketchbook has to be postdated in less than two weeks. Meanwhile it hasn't seen the light of day since November. Whoops. I am going to try and fill some more pages this weekend.


I did manage to make this drawing for my niece's bedroom. Framed it in a big white Ikea frame and I'm told it's going above her bed, the ultimate honor. In case you're wondering, her name is Georgia. (We all live in NJ.)

My brother informed me this week that Georgia brought it to school with her on Wednesday, for show and tell, because the letter of the day was G! I nearly cried. 


And my friend and I are in talks to open a pop-up shop in Asbury Park... That's all you get for right now. Stay tuned for more details!


Promise to post more frequently! The holidays really got the best of me this year.

Stuck A Feather In His Hat

I was compelled to make place cards for our Thanksgiving table. Thanksgiving turkeys always lead me to feathers.

They will be immortalized in our Thankful Book. Every year we all write what we are thankful for on slips of paper and stick them in a pitcher, then after dinner (but before dessert) we pass the pitcher around, reading the entries aloud and trying to guess who wrote what. Looking back through the years always causes a few chuckles, as well as a catalog of who made the pilgrimage and who stayed home. (Brownie points distributed accordingly.)

The Black Apple

Kitten Bandit.

Just ordered two Christmas presents from Emily Martin's Etsy shop The Black Apple. I'm excited because one of them gets to stay in my house!


She does such cool work. Seeing work by artists such as Emily, and Sophie Blackall of Missed Connections fame — who's coming out with a book soon! — is incredibly inspiring to me, but at the same time it makes me think that maybe I should retire my colored pencils. Then I think that if I just worked at my art harder, and spent more time on it, maybe I could really get something going. And open up my own Etsy shop! How cool would that be? I would love to do commisions of other people's favorite objects (since I can't really draw people).


Maybe after this marathon is over I'll turn my attention to the creative side of things. I do have to finish my sketchook by mid-January, yikes!


This is a portrait I would love to get for my sister-in-law, who's birthday it is today, but she lives in South America, and it's not worth sending it in the mail on the 20% chance that it would arrive in tact. Her family used to have an owl named Neruda who loved to perch on her daughter's shoulder. Then the staring contests would commence. It was the cutest/strangest thing ever.

Violaine.

Reusing Is Where It's At

Took home a bunch of old Dolphin Studio calendars from work a few months ago when we were cleaning out a closet. They are nice enough that you don't want to get rid of them at the end of the year, but unless you are particularly attached to a month that you want to hang up on its own, what do you do with them?

You reuse the pages as wrapping paper! 


Awesome since I love paper gift wrappings and adornments but won't let myself go crazy spending a lot of money on dreamy gift wrap since it all gets ripped up and thrown out. This is the best of both worlds. 

Now That It's Officially Fall...

I'm allowed to get pumpkins. Mr. SevPrez thought it was a little early, but I reminded him that it'll be October on Friday! Not to mention he's been in a candy corn frenzy for at least a week, so he's not one to talk. 


We are supposed to be cutting costs, but it was love at first sight when I spotted this 25 pound, $13 pumpkin. It was worth every penny. I think I'll make him a jack-o-lantern the week of Halloween. My fellow pumpkin picker noted that I could make pumpkin pie with the contents (pumpkin is tied with plum for my favorite pie filling), but I've only ever made it from a can of pumpkin goodness. I'll have to look into it. 

We also went apple picking. It was glorious. These guys were the ones we had leftover after we made an apple crumb pie! Not sure if it comes through in the photos, but one of the apples on the counter is about as big as a grapefruit!

Next on the agenda, haunted hayrides. They're not up and running yet, but I'll let you know when the Headless Horseman comes back in town, in case you want to come down and say hello!

Summer Day of Fun 2010

My mother and I have a tradition going back to the mid 90s, the Summer (and Winter, which was added around 2003) Day of Fun, in which mother and daughter come together and take time out from their regularly scheduled lives to do something that they have always been meaning to do, or would do if they led lives of leisure, which they are destined not to because of their genetic makeup. (Mom is busy with exciting work opportunities, museum stewardship, and grammy-ship since she retired; I have a full time job in which I commute to, a personal blog in which to maintain, and a marathon to train for. It's who we are.)


This year Mom met me in midtown Manhattan and we had lunch at Sarabeth's on Central Park South before visiting the American Folk Art Museum. Originally the plan was to go to MoMA to see the Matisse exhibit, but we'd been to MoMA together before, and it promised to be packed. I just happened to read a great piece on the Folk Art Museum in the New Yorker, and had always admired the flag outside their building, so we changed plans. And boy were we glad we did. Here's a photo of part of the line (that went all the way around the block) to get into MoMA, taken from the top floor of the Folk Art Museum, which is right next door.

We saw some truly inspiring things. I'm still not quite sure what folk art is exactly, but I think it amounts to Art-by-artists-who-are-not-Artists, that is people who did not go to school to be artists. They can be artisans, or craftsman, or, in the 20th and 21st centuries, just plain crazy people who are compelled by their imprisonment or mental illness to make art. It's somewhat unclear. But I still enjoyed all the exhibits. 

We saw some stuff by Henry Darger, who was clearly mentally ill and made some disturbing art (which I did not take photos of). Sad thing is, the Henry Dargers of today are probably too overmedicated to make compelling art. 

I was tickled by his filing system for images he clipped out of magazines, coloring books, and other printed material — all clippings he used to teach himself how to illustrate his magnus opus. This file was called "Only Trees Trees Not Bees."


But by far my favorite thing in the place was the Pieties Quilt, made by Maria Cadman Hubbard, aged 79, and completed in 1848.


See for yourselves. 

Besides this amazing quilt, there were also excellent weathervanes, a braided rug made out of Wonder Bread bags, a cafe run by a very nice pastry chef who baked all the goods, and live music. 


If you are ever about to get in line for MoMA, I highly suggest finding respite in the AFAM.

The Pie Piper

On Memorial Day we attended my aunt's Lobsterfest again. More good times were had and lobsters were eaten, even despite a few thundershowers. 


This year I really wanted to show my enthusiasm for the party and my gratitude for being on the guest list, so I brought two pies, one peach and one strawberry-rhubarb. Last year there was a duel for the last piece of peach pie, which is very flattering, but there's nothing worse than having to box people out in order to get some dessert. After cutting the pies into 12 pieces, I encouraged people to have a small piece of each. Then I encouraged seconds. And then they were gone. I will always enable people's sweet teeth when it comes to my homemade desserts. Like life, homebaked delciousness is fleeting. Seize the dessert cart.

Giving Back To (And For) Mom

I hope you've already taken care of your Mother's Day shopping already, but if you haven't, I have just the thing. If your mother is anything like mine, she has a lot of stuff. Shopping for her can be tough, so I always try for something meaningful. This year I was truly stumped until I received a timely email from Doctors Without Borders (or Medicins Sans Frontieres, as they are known internationally). The SevPrez family donated to them during the Haitian Earthquake disaster, as they were one of the first international aid organizations on the ground to be up and running. But they do really amazing work all around the globe, natural disaster or not. 


They have a great idea: donate in the name of your mother. Your mom will be so impressed that she raised such a magnanimous and thoughtful global citizen, you will feel good about yourself that you are not just contributing to your mom's mug collection, and a mother and child somewhere on this planet will benefit from your small (or large donation.) Win win win.

They even have these really sweet eCards to choose from. Maybe you should consider this option, even if you already bought the #1 Mom mug. 

Eggsellent

Let me just say that I have never made a recipe authored by Martha Rose Shulman that I didn't love. To boot the end product is always both delicious and healthy, as she writes "Recipes for Health" for the New York Times. Her Greek Baked Squash Omelet (it's really a fritatta) was no exception.


(This is the perfect time of year for fritatta recipes, if you have any plans to decorate Easter eggs. More on that next week!)


I want to go out on a limb and say this recipe is un-mess-up-able. I ad-libbed to make it a one skillet recipe and it still turned out well. I did all my vegetable sautéing in the same cast iron skillet that I added the egg mixture to and popped into the oven. Realizing it was a much bigger skillet than she called for, I used a dozen eggs instead of eight, since I had them ready anyway from my easter egg project, and threw in about a quarter cup more greek yogurt. I was a little nervous that it was going to be too thin but after checking it in the oven and seeing it all fluffy, I felt triumphant. 


It's good reheated in the microwave, but nothing compares to how it tastes and smells right out of the oven.

Snowed In and Loving It

The snow did not derail my weekend plans and good times were had and art was made! Here's the magnificent chair to prove it.

Of course I don't have a magenta floor, but a girl can dream, can't she?


Then, on Sunday, to my great surprise and delight I got to play host to my two nieces. They helped me figure out how to make this year's felt valentine. They know what they're doing, wouldn't you agree?

New Goals For the New Year

It's hard to believe it is the end of the year, never mind the end of the decade. It didn't even occur to me until I started noticing all the "best of the 00s" lists going around... Sheesh. So much for the decade of my adulthood, which, as the New Yorker pointed out, still doesn't even have a convincing name. 


Anyway, as much as I don't think it makes very compelling reading, I am posting my list of endeavors for 2010 because I just looked back on my list for 2009 and I can honestly say I followed through on every one, and am a much happier, complete person as a result. So feel free to stop reading, my motivations are completely selfish!


Here, in a list of no particular order, are my big things to do in 2010:


1. Get my Spanish back. I used to be fluent. I used to dream in Spanish, and write papers and poetry in it. Now I can't get to two sentences with my brother-in-law (damn verbs!). And since the Venezuelan contingent is growing once more, and we are about to be outnumbered, and I figure it's wise to relearn the language of our conquerers. My approach will be to listen to Pimsleur tapes while I commute in the morning. Burning the CDs now. After that, maybe I'll get the entire Almodovar canon on Netflix. Subtitles off.


2. Appreciate my body. Love it because it keeps me alive. Feed it good food and water. Keep it strong and limber. This includes continuing my Saturday visits to the Power Center with Mr. SevPrez, and stopping at Whole Foods on our way home and to give them our Whole Paycheck. Bust through whatever health "situations" may or may not be going on with me right now with the help of my naturopath, my regular doctor, a healthy lifestyle, and a positive outlook.


3. Successfully organize and complete a grueling 20 plus mile run through Monmouth County. Have every participant finish, give them all cool t-shirts. More on Rule #1 Run to come. Also, do some more duathlons.


4. Re-caulk the tub, finish the trim upstairs (a project now going into it's 2nd year... sigh.)


5. Concentrate on family, however that shows up.

6. Keep writing, and keep sharing.

A Tree To Make Charlie Brown Proud

All the way from the woods of Maine to my living room!