WWFD

Yesterday was the perfect late summer day to bake, cool and cloudy. No hot kitchens or remorse for staying inside. I picked up my baking lieutenant and we made pies (after going grocery shopping in the play kitchen and checking out on our new very fancy play cash register). Peach crumb and mixed berry with the same star crust I made for Memorial Day.

My daughter takes after my husband in the sense that she gets very upset that when the pie is done she can't have a piece, which always makes me think of this Cosby show episode.

I also baked chicken for the first time last night, inspired by my friend and coworker Freddi. She was diagnosed with celiac disease earlier this year and now cooks amazingly nutritious meals for herself and others for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We work from her beautiful historic row home once a week where I am benefactor of her lunches and snacks. It's turned into one of the highlights of my week.

So yesterday when we were at the grocery store and I was asking myself what we should make for dinner, I asked myself WWFD? Thus Mr. SevPrez was overjoyed to be eating baked chicken thighs on the bone (I have been scared of baking poultry all my life). I just threw them in a pan with olive oil and butter, salt and pepper, fresh thyme and lemon juice and wedges. We had baked yams (also a Freddi thing) and a fennel salad (learned from Blue Apron). It was so easy! I'm so excited to have a new answer to the most dreaded question in my life, "What should we have for dinner?"

It's BLT Season

Wednesdays

Got the chance to go to NYC today for a business meeting with my brother. It was a privilege to spend the day with him. We got to share our Fishbird work with someone new, who was a star and totally got it: I'm chomping at the bit to work with her. 

Our meeting was downtown on Broadway and 9th Street, my old stomping grounds. We got a bite at 'witchcraft (because I love Tom Colicchio and his fried egg & frisee sandwich) drove past my old office, and proceeded down the canyon of capitalism known as Broadway in Soho. It has such an effect on people that we actually stopped the car and got out to shop. Uniqlo had the gall to be closed for inventory, so we popped into Balthazar for coffee and roamed around. 

We went to Saturdays, where they sell surfboards, coffee, duffel bags, and other dude stuff. We walked by a hip barber shop, Fellow Barber, which reminded my brother that he wanted a haircut. They had no openings so we ended up at a Korean or Japanese place on the corner. He got a haircut and I got a chair massage by the strongest 100-pound woman in the world. Ouch. But also, yes! 

We waited for our car to pick us up in front of Madewell where I had just enough time to run in and get a life changing bag, inspired by Jenna at Sweet Fine Day. On Monday we met with a fancy new PR firm that had me thinking I should get a better purse. I didn't think I was serious until, in getting ready for our meeting today, I realized that I need to get a better bag. 

So I did! What a lovely day.

Three!

We celebrated the Little One's 3rd birthday with a big birthday/housewarming party at our new house. We had about 35 men women and children over, and thankfully the weather cooperated, again! Three years in a row. We are really testing fate with the late July birthday parties.

I had my baking apprentice niece come sleep over to help me decorate and power bake. We got some fun banners at Target (which I plan on keeping up in lieu of window treatments, for now) and made balloon garlands for outside, inspired by Pinterest. We tried to stay with theme colors from the Paperless Post invite but the selection at the store really threw us off. Pippa wanted green plates, surprisingly, and we ended up just buying what inspired us and having a multi-colorful party that was no shortage of festive.


The birthday girl had asked for a "SPRINKLE CAKE WITH SPRINKLES!!!" (shouted loudly, always). So we baked a funfetti cake from scratch -- turns out you just add a cup of sprinkles to your cake batter -- and made a buttercream icing with a massive amount of sprinkles on top that just happen to reveal a 3.

It was sooo awesome to have everyone we love together in our new home, especially since having a big birthday party in our big new house was the thing that finally got our little girl excited about our move. It was also very strategic timing, as the party really motivated us to get the house to a "showable" state. That said, I've definitely been in overdrive for two weeks, so much so that today when I got home from work the day after the party, it felt like our first night. I had something like house amnesia. I don't really remember what our nights were last week… But I'm really glad to be able to take a breath and make memories together.

Photos by the lovely and talented Amanda Kane! That's what friends are for!

All Is Well

I was talking to a close advisor of mine about the sensation of tuning into truths that have always been there. 

Lately I have been experiencing a sense of inner peace that I don't believe I've ever felt -- certainly not as an adult, or without the aid of any substances. Not joy, not contentment, not accomplishment, not mania. What it feels like is this: I am going to be OK, no matter what anybody says or does or what happens. I am going to be OK.

On the "You Made It Weird" podcast with Pete Holmes, which is usually quite bawdy and funny, Deepak Chopra said something that I can't stop thinking about. When he said it, it was like it infected me, and I'm grateful that I'm at a place where wise messages can get inside and transform me, rather than just be something to intellectualize. He said: "I don't have bad days or grumpy days because, essentially, I don't mind what happens. I mean, I don't control the total universe. And yet every moment is a conspiracy of the total universe. So why would I fight the whole universe? Once you've let go of your idea of how things should be, nothing ever goes wrong. So in my world, nothing ever goes wrong."

Hillary Clinton said "Take criticism seriously, but not personally." Yes.

Lou Reed wrote, in "Magic and Loss" (which I personally believe is more powerful as prose than song):

They say no one person can do it all,
But you want to in your head.
But you can't be Joyce
so what is left instead.
You're stuck with yourself
and a rage that can hurt you.
You have to start at the beginning again.
And just this moment
This wonderful fire started up again.

When you pass through humble,
When you pas through sickly,
When you pass through
I'm better than you all,
When you pass through
anger and self deprecation,
and have the strength to acknowledge it all,
When the past makes you laugh
and you can savor the magic
That let you survive your own war,
You find that there is a passion
and there's a door up ahead not a wall.

Resonant messages from those who have passed through this thing before me. I share them here in case my future self needs reminding. I share them here with you.