getting there

coming home to a 7 x 5 ft hole in our livingroom wall was never such a thrill.

food truck wednesday

we danced to really bad top 40 radio
ate banh mi and filipino tacos
and watched the sun set in the parking lot of d's old high school.

out and about

spring has arrived in full force. we grab our jumpropes and dart to the driveway as soon as the dinner dishes find their way to the dishwasher.



trying hard to post more regularly over at the 'house blog'. i thought of combining everything here - but d likes the idea of a separate record. what do you think? lots of things getting checked off the list this spring. come see :)

also i am thrilled - beyond thrilled actually - to have been invited back over to habit for april. i love that space and the inspiration it brings.

see you around!

let the sunshine in

no doubt i love the rain.



but yellow-orange thrifted napkins
and california poppies taking over our front yard
make me happy too.



oh shari how i love your manifesto!

and while i really am much more of an autumn girl, spring is built for new beginnings, so here we go:

spring manifesto 2011

i will open the windows wide and breathe deeply.

i will thrift the perfect jar for sun tea.

i will join my girls and go barefoot for the walk home.

i will perfect my jumprope skills.

i will worry less.

i will set the dining room table with the "good dishes" every sunday.

i will stargaze on a blanket in the backyard with my love.

i will take my coffee outside.

i will find the beauty in each day. and count my blessings.

a little late.... but happy spring!

homework this weekend

the poppies really swung into bloom. did some weeding.


attended tomatomania with j. purchased chika; red pear heirlooms; and yellow brandywine varieties. thought about clearing the garden beds - but so loving all the greens gone to seed. the ground is too wet still anyway. should be perfect to plant this weekend.


last of the new windows and doors arrived. did a happy dance! (this has been a labour of love. started by d with the kitchen redo in 2006. we are half-way through five years later with custom mulled aluminium windows on the front-side of the house. the original windows were wood framed bottoms with aluminium tops. cheap and easy off-the-shelf circa 1955. we said no-way to vinyl. so glad. these are beautiful. so excited to be finishing this project up.)

::

enjoying the morning light as it arrives a little earlier.

{insert thoughtful sentence here regarding over-scheduled weekend}

hope you have a good one ;)

1 / 7

moxie turned one on saturday. or seven.
depending on how you look at it.

and now she is the "middle sister". or not.
depending on how you look at it.

it is a topic of ongoing discussion. and the idea that next year she will become the "big sister". and at 7 years she will be older than me. (great math problem solving girls!)

in any case. she is the best dog ever.

her well-planned party was postponed on account of the weather.
we will keep you posted :)

::

‎"Whatever space and time mean, place and occasion mean more."
- Aldo van Eyck

inspiration on our bookshelf.

Artists' Studios by M.J. Long



Vera by Susan Seid, Jen Renzi and The Vera Company


Undecorate by Christiane Lemieux

today.

quiet. perfect.

how to green a schoolyard. step 1*

tear out acres of asphalt.  ACRES!  you can do this by hand with a committed and crazy group of friends and neighbors or you can contract someone else to do it.  or you can - as we did - do a combination of both.





it is extremely satisfying!



*in all honesty this is more like step 101.

but i am tired of the money raising and hoop jumping and placating and bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo that got us here.  along with that went some really wonderful brainstorming sessions.  community building.  and the kind of work that makes you smile so much your face hurts.  it has been a wonderful learning experience in ways i never imagined.  and have i mentioned how this couldn't have happened without my amazing neighbors and how much i love them?   yes you have heard it before...

but i like beginnings.  so i like the idea of starting again.  at 1.

more (lots more) to come.

field trip

visited this inspiring garden at micheltorena elementary school on saturday. so amazing to have witnessed its transformation from parking lot to garden in a few short months - and to have worked alongside this amazing community. apples and cucumbers grow along sunset blvd.

we break ground on our own school garden this week. it has been such a process. i have learned so very much. i can not wait to see that first piece of asphalt carted away!

(thinking about community and neighborhoods - found this great image - and installed it in the kitchen this weekend.)

(thinking about community and neighborhoods and the devastation in japan.  we edit the media very carefully in this house.  but we have been watching this unfold.  thoughts and prayers.  inspiration from ruth reichl via molly:  "So eat a good breakfast. Be grateful for what you’ve got. Enjoy the sunshine while you've got it.  Then go out and save the world. ")

we live here.

we've been looking for quite some time for a work to hang in the kitchen. i had originally planned to enlarge a photograph - but this is a very sunny corner - and the cost of an enlargement coupled with the inevitable fading that would take place, put that idea to rest. when i saw this poster (also available as a screenprint) i knew we had found a perfect fit. (and the price couldn't be beat!) d put together a frame, and we sprung for UV plexi. we will see how it lasts.

the girls love finding home on it. i love that it includes all these neighborhoods that i have recently discovered (after living here 12 years!).

ork posters has a whole series around this concept. fun stuff.

my plan to paint the kitchen myself has also been waylaid. april.

hanging this on our puttied and unpainted wall might be putting the cart before the horse, but we couldn't resist.

"Eating 'Green' - Family Style"

We hope you will come out this Thursday, March 10 at 6:30 for a fun-filled yummy evening with our farm friends! Calvert's Community Supported Agriculture program - Join the Farm! - will be at school to share tips for family-friendly healthy meals! Kids welcome - there will be a class just for them! You do not need to be a CSA subscriber to participate in this event!

Presented by our CSA :: Join the Farm
Thursday, March 10, 6:30 - 7:30 pm

Join the Farm Registered Dietitian Alise Echele, and Join the Farm Educator, Erynn Smith will facilitate two simultaneous classes, one for adults and one for children. Both interactive sessions will explore benefits of eating local and organic, balanced nutrition in harmony with the environment, and demonstrate how to select and prepare family-friendly foods that will nourish our bodies, and our community. The classes, which engage all five senses, will include taste testing for the kids and an opportunity for the adults to win a box of farm-fresh organic produce from Join the Farm!

We hope to see you there!

To learn more about Calvert's CSA program, visit www.jointhefarm.com

signs of spring

it is certainly in the air.

the weekend was full. "family" in town. homemade lemonade. a neighborhood-style baby shower. tennis. quercus agrifolia. soccer. and the perfect weather for a trip to the park.

best.

friends like family.







we miss you already. xo