Weekend in Photos: An All Kids Weekend

I had the kids all to myself this weekend, and I decided I'd test my Mom skills by taking them to places we've never been before. First up - Governor's Island. Or in our case, all the playgrounds that distracted us from even getting on the ferry to Governors Island. The only thing that took Griff away from this awesome "spiderweb" contraption was the Ample Hills Ice Cream stand. Then, just before we got to the ferry dock, with chocolate ice cream dripping down his chin and arms, we passed the most incredible water playground - "The Water Lab." As soon as we laid eyes on this magical spot, the ferry didn't stand a chance. We were there for hours & I already can't wait to go back. 

We also hung out under the Manhattan Bridge, threw rocks into the water & played at the nearby playground. New playgrounds are like new little worlds, and I get so stupidly happy seeing Griffin explore these new-to-him spaces. 

At the end of one day, while enjoying his good boy treat (the carrot I dangle in front of him all day long), he says, "Mommy take a picture of my mad face" (above) and I say, "Okay, but now show me your happy face." (below)

Mommy had both mad & happy faces this weekend too. They looked just like this.

Sorry I didn't take any pics of you, Louise. Mommy loves you for being so portable & easy-going :)

Swedish Egg Candle

John's Swedish cousin Anna makes the most beautiful candles and brought us this one as a gift when she came to visit. It's is about 5" tall and feels so smooth & weighty - I'd imagine what an ostrich egg or even a little dinosaur egg would feel like. I absolutely love it. She says it will burn for about 50-60 hours! I feel like I'm going to treat it like paper goods and never want to use it. But she says it's better to use it :) 

Eating Oysters

I wouldn't touch an oyster. Okay, I'd touch it. With my fingertip. But I will not eat it. No interest. Not even dressed up in hot sauce or baked with breadcrumbs. My dad used to say that you could dunk a dirty sock in cocktail sauce & it would taste great. I'm not buying it. But Griffin loves oysters. Here, he & Daddy sprinkle on the breadcrumbs before baking them. At almost two & a half, he's a more mature eater than his wuss mommy :)

Birthday Boy

Griffin turns two later this week & we had a little party for him over the weekend. It was so fun seeing him better understand the concept of his birthday. Last year, he gagged on his cake & this year, he was so excited, he ate a candle. (The other kids were licking the icing off theirs, but he really went for it.) Last year, he didn't really understand presents or have much interest in opening them. This year, he was suuuper excited about them (see below), save for a brief pause when a gift included a gigantic lollipop that was so enticing, he up & left the gift-opening to try to eat it through the plastic. I have no idea where he gets that from.

PS - 

Two things: First, birthdays should always include balloons. They're the happiest & simplest decoration - big bang for the buck. Secondly, collared shirts on little boys age them by years! He looks so big.

New Chairs

With the help of a talented friend and Chairloom, we recently recovered a pair of sitting chairs. As long as we don't have a Harry and the Purple Crayon situation, I'll love these chairs forever.

Hurricane Evac

Hindsight is 20/20. We fled Brooklyn late Friday, shivering with memories of last fall's tornado when the trees looked & sounded like they would crash through the windows. Turns out, nothing happened here & were surrounded by heavy winds, failing power & falling trees up north. The silver lining was Griffin getting to spend time with his Farmor (grandmother in Swedish) and Nonno (grandfather in Italian). We hunkered down, lit candles, played cards, and baked cookies. And thankfully, returned to a dry home. Hope your hurricane experience was as mild as ours.

Goodbye Home

One of my best friends left New York this week. I know it's the start of bigger & better things for her, and I try to focus on that to make myself feel better, but I miss her already. And terribly. We've shared several homes over the past 16 years - Pennsylvania, Maine and New York - and I feel a little lost knowing she's no longer a walk down the hall, a stroll across the quad or a quick subway ride uptown. I'm not sure what I'm going to do without her, but I think it involves being better at talking on the phone.

She recently posted some of her favorite New York snapshots & I'm re-posting a few of them here. Such great New York moments.

I miss you Miss Lizzy!!!! Go get em sister.

[All photos taken by Lizzy Sall.]

Griffin's Room

I finally got around to hanging some things on Griffin's walls this weekend.  I'm so slow to commit to the walls of a room, but it always makes the biggest impact.  These flags, in particular, make me (and Griffin) so happy!

Above, two framed prints: a balloon "L" (a gift for baby Libre from Lizzy, who knows I love balloons) and a Sharon Montrose goose.  I picked up the flags and marquee "G" at Gifted - both from The Great Middle West.  And a little stuffed Giraffe from Patty peeking out at the bottom - Oh, hello Mr. Giraffe.

Famille Summerbelle Wallpaper

How gorg are these wallpapers from Famille Summerbelle?!  I'm picturing them in a powder room or a childrens room or a hallway.  Perfection.  I have yet to wallpaper a room in our apartment, but I'm dying to & these are high up on the list.

Home Improvements: Ceiling Fans

Do you like ceiling fans?

When Lizzy suggested adding ceiling fans in two rooms of our apartment, John & I had completely different opinions on them.  Ceiling fans remind me of summers at the beach - windows open, the smell & sound of the ocean, lazy days at the beach - what could be better?  They remind John of dingy & dusty old cabins that lack any sort of modern updates.  Somehow, (maybe it was my enormous belly!) I was able to strong arm him into getting the ceiling fans & he's quickly joined my team.  The air circulation sans air conditioner or boxed fan is amazing.  But it's funny to think that we both had such strong & opposing feelings towards a fan!  Do you have any associations with ceiling fans that make you like or dislike them?

Home Improvements: Light Fixtures

For nearly a year, we've had more light bulbs hanging out of holes in the ceiling than you can count on one hand.  We were overwhelmed with choosing so many light fixtures & just got lazy about it.  It's the flour bag thing again from yesterday's post - if the bulb hanging from a wire works, why fix it?  Well, because it's unfinished, unsightly and unsafe. 

In steps Lizzy, who suggests using the same fixture for several of them.  But isn't that redundant or boring - or wrong?!  It turns out, it doesn't have to be.  When you choose the right fixture, it can create a little theme throughout the apartment.  From the hallway, to the bathroom, to the kitchen & the office, the Franklin Cage works everywhere for our place - without being chandelier-overwhelming or statement-making, or bank-breaking - all concerns of ours in choosing light fixtures in the first place.  And with a couple different bulb options, you can create different lighting moods, too.  Who knew?  Well, apparently, miss Lizzy did:)

Home Improvements: Kitchen Shelves

Sorry for delayed post.  I was in the ER last night because I cut my finger slicing an eggplant!  Four hours later, all I got was a band aid.  How embarrassing!  Anyway, I slept in a little later this morning & went straight to my doctor's appointment, where we discussed how this baby is definitely coming out within the next week!  Eeeeeeeee. 

But back to my home improvement projects... 

Inspired by Emersonmade's pantry as well as Martha's kitchen, my friend Lizzy recommended putting in some open shelves on our blank kitchen wall.  She suggested white shelves & Ikea brackets that allow the jars & their contents to shine, while the shelves themselves almost disappear.  For containers, we used some large jars from our wedding candy bar, repurposed food containers & purchased some new Weck jars.  John was skeptical about the whole thing (What's the point of transferring flour to a jar when it works in the bag?), but ultimately trusted Lizzy.  The result is heaven.  I love the airiness of it, John has been snacking on almonds more than usual, and we now have drawer space for bottles & bibs.  All around, a big improvement!

Waiting Game = Projects at Home

 Waiting for Baby to arrive is both incredibly exciting & totally nerve-wracking.  I can't wait to finally hold this little peanut in my arms, but I'm nervous about the delivery and all the unknowns that follow.  Distracting me from these highs & lows are the home-improvement projects we've recently taken on.  With the help from a friend, we've made some changes to our place, which I hope to share with you this week. 

Besides the obvious improvements we've made (lighting fixture instead of hanging bulb), I've found that the act of putting time & energy into our living space and sometimes laboring & debating over seemingly small decisions make the space that much more special & enjoyable - a place that really feels like home.  And maybe it's part of my nesting mode, but I've also found that I'm more motivated & excited to do things I've been putting off.  Over the weekend, one of those things was finally putting something on the wall above the mantel.  (It's been nearly a year!)  The beauty of this installation is that it isn't permanent, so it will buy me a little more time while the room still comes together, but it also gives me the satisfaction of having something up, without it just being anything.  I love that so many faces/memories/moments can be found in one place.  So simple & makes me so happy.

More sneak peeks into our home improvement projects to come.  Assuming Baby doesn't come first:)

Shanna Murray Decals

Whenever I hear, see or think of the song You are my Sunshine, I'm reminded of my mom - sitting on my bed at night, rubbing my back or smoothing my hair, singing me to sleep. So needlesstosay, it holds a very special place in my heart & is a song I will teach our children. This decal might just need a spot in my home.

Other cute decals from Shanna Murray here.

[photo courtesy of Shanna Murray]

And now... Pickles!

John turned some of our cucumbers into pickles. And they. are. delish!!

And pretty simple:
sliced cucumbers
apple cider vinegar
onions
sugar
salt & pepper

Next up is the tzatziki recipe sk recommended. I love tzatziki, but have never thought to make my own until now. Mmmm.

Our Very Own Vegetables!

The vegetable garden out back is exploding. Above is our harvest from yesterday. We have been giving a bunch away, but yesterday, we had so many cucumbers that John decided to try pickling half of them. If they taste as good as they look, I'll be sure to post.

And a couple weeks ago, we had a zucchini - or a zucchini baby as we called it:)

Anyone have any good cucumber recipes?

Project for a Rainy Day

It rained cats & dogs here in Brooklyn this weekend. Hail, thunder & wind gusts above 50mph added up to a cozy weekend spent mostly indoors. And for me, it meant finally recovering old Ikea pillows, whose original covers I'd tossed last year. The gray skies & sheets of rain made Saturday perfect for this little sewing project. This Liberty of London material was leftover from the table overlays we made for our wedding. I based my simple covers off of a pillow I already had and went to work, figuring it out as I went. They probably need a button in the back, but as a simple pillow cover that gets these off the shelf, they work just fine for me.

Home & Happy New Year!

We spent the last week enjoying the wintery wonderland of Vermont. Getting there (above) was a little hairy with an average speed of 20mph. But we made it!


We went cross country skiing every day with Kingsley - who pretty much had the best week of her little life. Downside to that: She no longer gets her trail snacks. And I think she resents us for living in a city:(


Wore my big snow boots that made my feet feel like they never left the fire.


And had lots of warm yummy food along the way. This place (above) was a little cabin tucked into the woods where you had to snow shoe or ski to get to. Could have hung out there all day - a fireplace, some soup and a magic bar - perfect.

Anyway - feels good to be back home & slowly getting back into the swing of things here at L&H. Hope you all had a nice holiday & happy happy new year!!

Weekend in Photos: Fish Wall

Besides driving to & from Vermont this weekend, I took on this little decoupaging project. Several owners ago, this room used to be a recording studio. (It even has one of those big double-paned windows that looks into our living room.) We're using it as our home office - mostly for John, since I "already have an office." :)

I decided to surprise him with this Charley Harper wall - not knowing how he'd react. (My friend asked me before I started, "Does he even like Charley Harper?" My answer: "I don't know, but I do." But it really was for you John, I swear.) I love Charley Harper's illustrations, so I color-copied six fish illustrations from Charley Harper, an Illustrated Life and glued them to the one wall. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I looked online for suggestions & figured it out pretty quickly. It's basically one big craft project - lots of cutting & gluing - and running out to the copy place when you run out. So fun and so instantly gratifying.

And best of all - he loves it. Hooray!

Mantel on the Mind

How great is this? My friend sent this image over to me via terrain. I think I could get the wooden pieces from the Christmas tree vendors near me. I'm not sure how I'll affix them without damaging the wall - maybe some Gorilla glue? - but I think I have to try it. Stay tuned!

[image courtesy of terrain]