NAT THE FAT RAT

DUMBO IS STILL A SILLY NAME

2013-06-18T19:34:00.004-04:00

over the weekend we took advantage of a supremely gorgeous sunny saturday afternoon and walked across the brooklyn bridge, along with all two million of the tourists here in new york city, but oh hey! it was actually rather nice. i'm slowly getting over my impatience with crowds. slowly but surely. this is real personal growth here, people.

once we were across the bridge and after we made our usual stops for ice cream at the brooklyn ice cream factory and a ride or two around jane's carousel, we decided to wander around DUMBO for a bit, to see what all it was about.

DUMBO stands for Down Under The Manhattan Bridge Overpass, and it's basically the sliver of neighborhood under the manhattan bridge between brooklyn heights and downtown brooklyn. it's just a handful of streets, it's probably the smallest neighborhood in all of new york city that has its own silly acronym name (maybe TriBeCa comes a close second). when DUMBO first started "gentrifying" (really it was a rather quick metamorphosis from a bunch of old warehouses and jehovas witness watchtower buildings into the loft residences and trendy cafés you have there now), we were living in brooklyn heights just a few blocks up. we used to always scoff at how silly "DUMBO" sounded and "but there are no trains up there!" and "oh, that'll never take off..." and then there you have it. we're a bunch of idiots, and the previously sketchy brooklyn waterfront has now become the perfect little getaway for young families and bridal parties needing a good backdrop for their wedding photos. ;) shows what we know!

anyway. and now for the photo portion of this blog post:

△△△ i couldn't pass up taking this photo of my twin boys and their twin green drinks. however. i WOULD like it known, just for the record, that huck is drinking water. and how gross is mountain dew, really. i just can't do it.

△△△ of all the water towers in new york city, this water tower has got to be my favorite. and that's saying something, as i tend to fall in love with every water tower i ever come across. i'm a water tower floozy.

△△△ in one of my grander parenting moments, i taught huck the official ins and outs of flashing the peace sign in situationally appropriate . . . situations(?). i was so proud. i'd been trying to get him to say "you got it, dude!" a la michelle tanner for weeks but apparently he doesn't consider that culturally relevant enough and therefore refuses to cooperate. how rude!

△△△ would you just . . . ugh. what am i supposed to do with that boy! i might have to eat him, he's that cute.

△△△ those are mine! ALL MINE! what a world.

△△△ the other day i was talking to a friend who has twin baby boys. she was telling me, "i don't care if their individual personalities are squashed, i just want them to wear matching smocked bubble suits, okay?" to which i agreed, "i know what you mean! i just want huck to grow up to be the buster to my lucille, is there really something so wrong with that?" and the thing is . . . . yes there is and no i'm only kidding but yeah okay i stand by what i said. anyway. henryboy.

(yes i am kidding! gosh!)

the end.

oh! except to say . . . if you're watching season four of arrested development on netflix, it only gets really good in the last two episodes and then you are just left hanging. hanging like a motherboy ball if you know what i mean. but it's WORTH IT. my eternal crush on buster bluth just keeps on getting stronger.

p.s. jane's carousel last year,

the official holbrooklyn tour, for those in need,

the tourists tour of nyc i posted once a million years ago,

and two random babble posts i forgot to link last week on account of forgetfulness:

forever 21 yadda yadda

and great fourth of july beach party ideas

happy tuesday!

TO MY BABY DADDY

2013-06-17T00:27:00.000-04:00

happy father's day to the dead sexiest red headed dad i know.

it's a pleasure making babies with you, b.

here's to ten more! ;)

FROM THE AROUND-HERE-LATELY DEPARTMENT

2013-06-13T17:54:00.003-04:00

a lot of photos of absolutely nothing at all are coming at you right now because that's what it is, kids.

▲▲▲ up first, big bird in central park and sargent huck, reporting for playground duty! i took these photos on the first warm day of the entire year (shorts! my baby in shorts!) and i swear the sunshine was powerful enough that day to turn my solar power back on. there was a literal bounce in my step. since then the weather been acting all confused and disoriented. mother nature, should we be worried about you? have you had a stroke? it is june outside and today i needed a sweater.

▲▲▲ this boy is really, really loved.

▲▲▲ boys in the dirt. too many of our good friends are moving out of the city these days and it's really got to stop.

▲▲▲ huck! ohhh huck. these days with huck are the greatest, he is the light of everybody's life in this whole city it seems, he is just the coolest kid ever. two has been so much fun. he's on a major pirate kick lately, always on the lookout for enemy ships and slices of pizza to pillage and plunder. he is also singing. ALL. DAY. LONG. he has an amazing memory for song lyrics and his favorite thing is singing with his mama as we stroll down the sidewalk. oh the looks we get. he makes even the hardest new yorkers smile. every night when i'm putting him to bed he says, "snuggle?" which is huck for "i'd like to put my arm down your shirt while i fall asleep, please." and so i let him! because you are only two once.

▲▲▲ five dogs in that stroller. f-i-v-e.

▲▲▲ the hat guy is out! i love that hat guy but he is too pricey.

▲▲▲ chelsea on a sunny afternoon, and riding turtles, as you do.

▲▲▲ i've only worn those pink suede wedges once, but dang if i didn't feel like an amazon warrior woman the entire time. worth remembering: stupid shoes are fine for walking in, but the minute you have to brave the stairs down to the subway you are sca-rewed.

▲▲▲ cute.

▲▲▲ SPEAKING OF CUTE! so, huck is big into having his daddy sing "god bless america" while he runs through this little kid-sized flag over and over like a bull. i don't know where that one came from, but the way he informs brandon that he'd like to play it is by shouting, "BLESS A ERICA?" and it is just beyond my wildest dreams.

▲▲▲ we had roberta's pizza at madison square eats a couple of weeks ago and it has been haunting me ever since. OH MAH GOSH. apparently roberta's is in bushwick and the lines get crazy. and i just want it written here for time and all eternity that roberta's IS the best pizza in ALL of the city and that is all there is to it. and so it is written.

▲▲▲ this was a LONG time ago, but while we're on the subject: we finally went to georgetown cupcake in soho and they are better than, like, all of the cupcakes of ever put together. look at this! best pizza and best cupcake in one post! this is turning into such a serviceable blog, who'd have seen that one coming?

▲▲▲ lastly, in case you are wondering what an eight-day sinus headache looks like, it looks like this. sitting down in the middle of every day tasks in case your head is going to fall off. (i've been to a doctor, there's no infection, but i have a prescription for antibiotics for just-in-case.) and i'm wearing my rain boots in the house because?

▲▲▲ huck! the end.

THE BIG APPLE BBQ + THE IRRESPONSIBLE SUMMER OF MY SOUL

2013-06-11T14:50:00.003-04:00

i'm crazy in the middle of the irresponsible summer of my soul just now.

oh you know what i mean.

i've never been a gemini, i have no way of knowing, but lately i am wondering if this is what it might feel like to be a gemini? i am talking inner conflict here! there's the one side of me that dislikes smiling politely at people and making small talk in grocery store check out lines (that would be my city side), and then there's this other side of me that just wants some danged wheat fields already. the sundress, the unbrushed hair, the farm house with the blue pick-up, and all those old horses and chickens and fresh eggs and the day's menu planned around whatever's ripe in the garden out back. the whole thing. long stalks of wheat that drag through my fingers while i'm out on thoughtful walks to nowhere, and sunlight! ohhhh sunlight for ages, endless quiet sunlight on my face and arms and no tall buildings for interruption anywhere in sight! freckles for days. and lemonade! there's lots of lemonade in this pastoral vision. and plenty of room in my head for these thoughts that otherwise get pushed to the side to actually develop into sentences for once, maybe even one day whole paragraphs! aprons dusted in flour. what am i baking, it really doesn't matter, just . . . why not, mason jars too. shall i keep going?

i'm also realizing just how much my ornery side needs to be fed in order for it to be kept in check so i can keep on being a "good girl." if you know what i mean.

like, i really want a tattoo. i know, i know. but that's the point! it's haunting me. i want something stupid and borderline meaningless and very permanent, and i want it somewhere really, really obvious. like right on my forearm, impossible to miss. that would be so dumb. it's such a bad idea. but oh isn't that the point! i am a thirty-year-old and i want to be making decisions like i'm sixteen. i want to do potentially dumb things. not too potentially dumb, but just level-2 kind of dumb, maybe. nothing i'll really regret but something i'll regret just enough to shake things up a bit. it's really not the end of the world if i do get a tattoo and so it's tempting me in that kind of empty way you know what i mean? oh how sad the rebel fantasies of a (not always so) good mormon. ;) so maybe i should just pierce my nose instead. oh wouldn't that just be really stupid and grand?! an "eff you!" to all my stupid worries already about my poor sad nose . . . oh i'd like that. that's such a really bad awesomely good idea.

"i'm just feeling boxed in!" i exclaimed to brandon one warm evening over the weekend while joni mitchell popped and fizzed on the record player. "hey, you don't have to tell me!" brandon said back. because that brandon, he always knows. ever the poet in tax attorney's clothing, that's my husband for you.

i am just itchy. for things rather unimportant both in the long run and in the short run, but that's why i like it. it's the irresponsible summer of my soul! just like i said. i do think it's leading to good things. i'll take it as a sign that i'm still "on" in here at least, and maybe just remembering that will be enough. it feels really damn good, in an itchy type of way.

over the weekend we stopped in at the big apple bbq, which goes on once a summer at madison square park. it's so much barbecue. soooo much blasted barbecue! and it was such a metaphor FOR MY LIFE. (i am being uncharacteristically silly about things!) (hah!) my southern friend from louisiana with her big southern drawl was there and there was all this pulled pork and pickles and the summer sun in the middle of the big city, but if you squinted real hard it could very well have been someone's back yard in the middle of nowhere off a dusty side road and in some cosmic way it was exactly what i needed.

i can't have it all. except for sometimes. when i can.

(i'm pretty sure anyway.)

a special thank you to the checketts who let us come and mooch off their bbq passes. WE LOVE YOU, CHECKETTS! in all caps that one because it is truth. and i'm sorry again mary martha that your louisiana drawl always brings out my latent paternal south carolina drawl, i swear i'm not doing it on purpose, it's so sad and embarrassing. my inner pretentious madonna accent-sponge just happens to be an ozark hillbilly, that's all. ;)

SATURDAYS AT THE SMORG!

2013-06-10T11:10:00.001-04:00

a quick note on the weekend: this weekend i practically ate my entire body weight in barbecue. or rather, huck's body weight in barbecue, at the very least. and coleslaw! i forget how much i love coleslaw. now, i do not want to love coleslaw, because coleslaw makes me nervous (mayonnaise). but such is life.

and speaking of huck! i'll have you know that that huck-child awoke on saturday morning with the spirit of the devil in his eyes, ready to stir up all sorts of trouble. seriously, you could see it, that little flicker of mischief. if you looked close enough you'd actually see satan himself waving back at you. "terrible twos!" this is a real thing? holy . . . for once in huck's life he was just bad. for no apparent reason other than a pure love of being naughty. i sort of loved it. he'd do something wicked and we'd just marvel. are children like this? on the regular? he seems to be back to his normal cherub self this morning (he woke himself up by giggling in his sleep, now that's more like the huck i'm used to . . . ) but i suppose i really don't have much room to complain. because the fact is, and luckily for huck, huck's father is used to dealing with the spirit of the devil, usually coming from me, his charming wife, who is ornery on the daily. and so, yes. we still love him. (in fact i sort of enjoyed him a little toothy; now that's a language i understand!)

so on saturday we hit up the smorgasburg. i'm always surprised when i introduce brandon to overly trendy things and he loves them without reservation. i think in my head i sort of expect him to be this bastion of trend resistance. constant and sure, unswayed by artisanal vegan tacos. but then he decides to really love peoples pops and i'm all, who are you? he is such a mysetery, that red bearded fellow.

not related: we watched warm bodies on friday night and i loved it so much that i had to keep nudging brandon during the good parts . . . seriously. that was kristen stewart's twin, wasn't it? like, the bizarro kristen stewart? who can actually act and isn't at all obnoxious, am i right?

but yes related: i accidentally bought a record player the other day (i put it in my cart never intending to actually buy it but somehow i did and then i even made it home with it--so strange) and now i am on a mission for good, inexpensive vinyl to play on it. at artists + fleas after the smorg i picked up a bowie album (that cover! drool) and a real cheap joni mitchell because nobody appreciates the joni mitchell like they should . . . but i want to know: any must-own-on-vinyl records you recommend for me? already on my list is some simon + garfunkel and a ray lamontagne because i have this theory about that ray lamontagne . . .

so.

△△△ filippino spring rolls, definitely a highlight.

△△△ brandon waited on line for these massive sandwiches for a full 30 minutes.

△△△ corn from the la esquina truck, new favorite.

△△△ work it, huck!

△△△ pie shakes or not, i just always want a doughnut from dough (toasted coconut is best but they were out, dulce de leche is a good back up plan). and above is the famous people's pop. vaguely communist undertones or no, that is one tasty popsicle.

△△△ throwing rocks in the river. i see people fishing in these rivers and even sometimes in the manmade ponds in central park and yeah, i mean i get it. sometimes you just really need to feel like tom sawyer for a second, you know?

hope you had a lovely weekend!

A VERY RAINY DAY + HAPPY WEEKEND

2013-06-07T20:33:00.002-04:00

it hasn't really been the best of weeks. nothing serious, nothing worth saving for time and all interneternity in this blog or anything, it's just the blahs. you know. adding a rainy day like today to the mix certainly might not help things, maybe, but then i sort of thought about it a bit and decided that this rainy day was precisely what i needed. a city-wide shower to scrub off the grime.

huck and i met a friend for some tortas at brandon's and my new favorite taco shop this afternoon, and then we caught a cab in the rain for a quick run to target for a work thing and to costco for some mother effing dried mangos. as the rain tapped on the roof of our cab and streaked in great drizzles down the window panes next to our faces, i thought about how a good rain can be a fresh start. wash it clean, is what huck says when he has peanut butter on his hands and wants me to take a fresh wet wipe to his palms and then plant a fat kiss on those chubby cheeks of his. wash it clean, you old rain.

costco didn't have any dang dried mangoes. and how does a person deal with this kind of disappointment!? but i did find a record player i could use a gift card on, and there was a giant soda full of fizzing diet coke for me at the food court on the way out, and drowsy with samples, huck fell asleep on my lap for the long ride home, those sweet chubby cheeks bobbing and bouncing against my arm as the rain fell steadily out the window and the wipers wiped methodically across the windshield. you know that rubber on glass sound and the tapping of the rain on the roof of the car and the empty, glossy streets and the air thick with green and wet and this isn't the third grade anymore and there is more to me than what i let on to myself. i know that i can do this. i've done so much more and you ain't seen nothing yet.

wash it clean, and plant a fat kiss on those sweet chubby cheeks. off we go.

a few in-my-dreams rainy day splurges:

01. a warm candle
02. something spicy simmering for dinner
03. filled to the brim with soft blankets for snuggling
04. for braving the downpour
05. and keeping your tootsies dry
06. i could never justify buying these, but aren't they pretty?
07. is the quality any good? does it matter? it's cute.
08. carole is the very best on a rainy day. (or on any day, for that matter.)

and on babble this week:
what YOU should be buying at forever 21 RIGHT NOW

THIS BOY IS CUTE

2013-06-06T23:34:00.000-04:00

that is all.

A QUICK TRIP TO DC!

2013-06-05T22:50:00.002-04:00

where have i been? WELL I WILL TELL YOU!

on monday morning, verrrrry early, henny and i caught a train to dc so we could crash dad's business conference at the four seasons in georgetown. we are talking 8AM early! hen acted sort of drugged-out the entire ride down, and extra snuggly too. it was extremely lovely. (my editor laughed at me this morning when i told her i had to set an alarm to get up in time for our 9:30 phone call . . . but look, we believe in late mornings around these parts and i refuse to feel bad about it! morning people make me feel suspicious.)

because dad was busy being business-y, huck and i sort of just did whatever happened to come along. liiiiike . . . run around in the fountains at the georgetown waterfront, beg some friends to meet us in the virginia suburbs for cafe rio (more on this later), walk through the national portrait gallery and its neighboring american art museum (amazingly wonderful), wander georgetown aimlessly, and visit the old stone house on pennsylvania avenue for a little revolution-era self-guided tour. (these sorts of things kill me! i love american history to the tips of my toes and the nerdy touristy stuff always makes me so happy.) it was the perfect reset we needed. we were also lucky enough to get to spend some time with a few of our favorite dc residents, the taylors and the hamills (minus a robbie, who was traveling). i know the taylors thanks to the blogging world and our mutual friend jess, and i know the hamills thanks to the blogging world and the international incident known as the run on missoni for target. gosh i love the internet! sooooome of the time?

as always, dc gets me sort of itchy for clean, small towns. dc isn't at all a small town. but those row houses! stop it! those row houses give me dangerous daydreams.

when all was said and done, and after the four seasons upgraded us to a suite for no real reason and i got to watch big on one giant screen tv while brandon watched the basketball game on another giant screen tv (the american experience!), all three of us train-ed home to the dirty big city and breathed a sigh of relief to be back where the subways are grimy and the streets are hectic and cabbies take debit cards and the pork salads are nowhere to be seen (MORE ON THIS LATER!).

so thanks for having us, dc! next time i'm stripping naked on the mall for something political and then getting a toasted marshmallow shake after FOR SURE.

i wish i'd gotten some photos when we were out with our friends, i was just too distracted by their glory to remember to bust out the camera. but here are some disjointed photos anyway, because you've come to expect that from me by now:

▲▲▲ huck dominates those georgetown fountains . . . with his bagel, obviously.

▲▲▲ not creepy at allllllllll, american art musuem.

▲▲▲ charm! antiques! i know! georgetown, you cute little old thing, you!

▲▲▲ look. not to be a dork or anything but this was the best.

▲▲▲ huck is the cutest, sweetest, most patient little exploring buddy there ever was on the earth. he was down for anything, not to mention super fun to kick around with. i sure lucked out with this boy. oh geez.

past trips to dc HERE and HERE.

ZOO DAY SICK DAY MEMORIAL DAY, THE SECOND DAY

2013-05-30T18:15:00.002-04:00

yes yes we've been enjoying our nice forty degree temperature swing this week. such a treat! fifties and freezing on friday, 70s and swampy on tuesday, 90s and baking today . . . tomorrow it could start snowing and i wouldn't even bat an eyelash. watch out for raining toads next! things and stuff!

so, the zoo.

my husband is this constant mystery to me. seriously, nearly ten years in and there are all sorts of things about him that still make no sense to me. for instance. he claims his favorite food is spaghetti, but he never wants to eat at italian places?

but there exists this magical pocket of brandon-ness wherein i've got it made. i know i can do right by him, if only it involves: conversations about the merits of high rises with a balcony over brownstones with a green space // sunflower seeds // eddie vedder // letting him feel morally superior to me due to the fact that i possibly missed the cutoff to being a "gen x-er" by maaaaybe one year // any new flavor of chip or soda made by dorito or mt dew // discussing however many floors tall the new construction in our neighborhood has gotten to that day // going to the bronx zoo.

and so! on friday we took the long train up to the bronx to check out the bronx zoo. brandon's first time! he'd only been talking about the bronx zoo since we first lived in brooklyn seven years ago, and as luck would have it we finally made it there on the coldest, lousiest day of the memorial day weekend. drizzly, dreary, wet, and freezing. and we were under. dressed. oh gosh, even looking at these photos makes my toes feel numb. (the next day my cough went full-on 90-year-old smoker too, so crap.) but we stuck it out! because the bronx zoo, even in lousy weather, now that is a fun afternoon. and because for that brandon of mine i would count the floors on sky scrapers and listen to grunge rock and dump shelled sunflower seeds out of glasses until my dying day.

a few photos from our zoo day (sick day) the second day, the bronx zoo edition.

▲▲▲ this boy and his "pack pack." thank you laura for our fresh summer kankens!

▲▲▲ behold! my derp face doing my best dudley dursley impression. (the bird displays didn't have no glass!) after brandon took this photo he went, "meh." SERIOUSLY. i'm pulling out all the stops here! ;)

▲▲▲ the tiger exhibit at the bronx zoo is balls to the wall. i couldn't believe those gorgeous animals, right there, mere feet from our faces! we were there right at lunch time, so they were just hanging out on the rocks, i suppose waiting for their antelope drumsticks. this was worth the train ride right here, full stop.

▲▲▲ these sweet snuggling monkeys made my mama heart about burst.

▲▲▲ we spent about a half hour longer than necessary in the jungle room just warming up and snacking on some alphabet crackers. each of these fish are bigger than huck, and the tank is at toddler eye-level. he about lost it, he was so thrilled.

▲▲▲ all the antelope (antelope?) hanging out under the eaves to stay out of the rain. something i can't get over about the bronx zoo is how cooperative all the animals seem to be. without fail they were all just chilling in the viewing area. we never had to search for them or squint to make out animals in the distance, they were just right. there.

▲▲▲ the butterfly room!

▲▲▲ this cold wet toddler was a trooper. you know how well-intentioned people like to declare a kid's future based on whatever random thing he's into at the time? ("he's going to be a fire fighter!") if i were that sort i'd peg this boy as a future zoologist, this boy loves him some animals. buuuuut i'm not. because that's silly. we'd be a country of princesses and truck drivers if two-year-olds were any indication of things. taaaaangent!

p.s. we've always loved our kanken for holding huck's diapers and snacks, so when laura sent us a matching mama/baby set for the summer from her online shop johan's-son, we felt pretty misty-eyed. she specializes in swedish goods of all types, and she has a great eye. you can see all her kankens HERE, and she's stocking some new swedish sunglasses this week, i've been refreshing the site like a dork over here. thanks, doll!

p.s. my romper is from anthropologie and huck's tee is from cute attack.

APRIL SHOWERS . . . BRING MAY FLOWERS

2013-05-29T15:07:00.004-04:00

we've had a lot of interest in our little play school group so i figured i would answer a few of your questions before launching into the last two play schools we hosted. and so!

we hold our play school during the school months (september through june) for the kids aged 2-3. we meet every tuesday from 10:30 till about noon, and each mom takes hosting duties one month at a time, which makes it easier for us to remember who is in charge when. those of us who have studio apartments host in the warmer months at the park. there are usually eight kids in attendance, give or take a vacation or a runny nose. ;) and babies and big siblings who aren't in school yet usually come too, they just know all the answers that much faster. (they are so helpful at keeping the little kids interested and focused!)

the basic layout is: free play as everyone arrives (usually 15 minutes or so), a quick 5-10 minute lesson (this can be a book, a quick discussion, even short educational videos), then craft time. then we usually have an activity, something physical to get some wiggles out, and then another craft, or another short story book, depending on time. lunch is served around 11:30, and then free play goes down until the moms have to leave to get naps started or errands run.

when i hosted i generally worried over planning for about two hours on monday nights before finally getting started on the thing around midnight. i can generally get a play school planned in about twenty minutes, the trick is having the right supplies on hand. (we have a box of craft supplies we all went in on together that we've passed around as each mom takes on hosting duties. it's got glue, washable markers, safety scissors, construction paper, a few stickers . . . your basic toddler crafting supplies.)

so, for our second to last play school we learned about april showers.

▲▲▲ our craft project was an umbrella made from paper plates (oh paper plates you genius craft medium you), craft paper and yarn for the rain drops, and paper straws for the handle, because paper straws aren't really for drinking from, are they? they have such a funky texture.

▲▲▲ we talked about rain and weather and what we wear on rainy days (here in the city, rain gear is a ne-ces-si-ty), and then i had each child make and decorate a few raindrops for playing a little game of "pin the rain drop under the rain cloud." evan's mom had the genius idea to add a lightning bolt at the end, it's cuuuute.

▲▲▲ lunch! and then free play. and then our apartment was sad and empty. we love having all of huck's friends over! this apartment was made for a party.

▲▲▲ this would have been our ". . . brings may flowers" follow up craft for the last week of play school (hmm, paper plates and a paper straw, aren't i sooo predictable? p.s. smash on in the background, rude that it got canceled just when i was getting into it!), but 6/8ths of our class called in sick that morning so we decided to cancel. whiiiich was just as well, because after three play schools i was fully intending on skipping the lesson anyway and just ordering a pizza for lunch ;).

i'd love to know what all you moms of preschoolers do with your small dudes when you don't have access to preschool for whatever reason!

ZOO DAY SICK DAY MEMORIAL DAY, THE FIRST DAY

2013-05-28T13:17:00.000-04:00

do you like huck's strategically placed chocolate milk spill from lunch? he's a master with that chocolate milk, he hardly has two sips but manages to make a work of it, what an artist!

and so it came to pass that brandon had himself a super extended holiday weekend, thanks to the past few weeks of bonkers billing hours and a very nice boss who basically kicked him out of the office for a bit. he's back at work today and i barely know what to do with myself! i don't get to sleep till 11 anymore? (actually, huck slept in till 11:30 today, so i take that back. thanks, huck!)

brandon requested a full weekend of zoo trips for our huck the animal lover, because brandon's gift of the spirit is definitely being the fun dad/good cop. you know. i'd been battling a chest cold/allergy fest all week so it was kind of a slow motion zoo day for me, but it was still a lovely afternoon. i have this magical body where after two days of allergies it all gets trapped in my chest and i sound like a 90-year-old smoker slash barking seal. it's really pretty.

and now, here is what we saw on our zoo day (sick day) memorial day the first day, at the central park zoo.

▲▲▲ we rolled in just in time to watch the sea lions eat their dinner and perform a few tricks. it was quite thrilling! it was also rather misty and soupy out. i am just giving you the background info here.

▲▲▲ party down in the jungle room! so the jungle room is a dream on a cold day, but when it's warm out it's straight hellish in there. even on the hottest, most humid-est day, it always feels almost air conditioned outside once you've been in the jungle room for a few minutes.

▲▲▲ this red panda, he's sort of adorable i kiiiiind of want to snuggle him.

▲▲▲ my two stinkers and the snow leopard! the snow leopard was out! i've never been to the zoo and actually seen the snow leopard, so this was exciting. brandon got these shots, can you get over them?

▲▲▲ ducks . . . . and tasty toddlers! seriously, snack on that curly hair.

▲▲▲ i will never see a polar bear and not instantly think of LOST. #teamsawyer

▲▲▲ super rare leopard sandals! rawr! derp derp.

▲▲▲ these twin gingers with their funny twin walks, spotted cruising around in their natural habitat.

▲▲▲ plaster turtles! a hatching baby! i tell you, between the pink shirt and his painted toe nails, this little boy was skirting along the wrong edge of the gender neutral spectrum today. has this not been THE most thrilling blog post of your lifetime? i know, and it just keeps going!

▲▲▲ another stop with the sea lions, this time for some deep contemplation . . . dippin dots? or a mister softee?

▲▲▲ mister softee it is. and have a good day, kids!

past cpzoo trips, for the sake of whatever:

does anybody care? i enjoyed them anyway.

and many special thanks to sir holbrook the photog.

he got some mighty fine shots that day.

he's also sort of a hottie.

update: for everyone who's asked, my dress is an oldie but goodie from forever 21 (three years and running!), and the shoes are zara, fairly recent!

A FRIDAY POST ON A MONDAY (+ HAPPY WEEKEND)

2013-05-27T23:10:00.000-04:00

i've been dreaming about gold jewelry lately, specifically the kind that manages to be both dainty and masculine at the same time. i just want for my hands and arms to be filled with bangly, geometric, stackable rings and bracelets this summer. doesn't that seem like the best counterpoint to a very sparse summer wardrobe? (see: my inner minimalist and maximalist at war yet again!) maybe i'd throw in a straw hat or two. ;) for the first time in a long time, i'm even wearing earrings. i don't love wearing earrings, but those brvtvs vectis studs haven't left my ears since they arrived in the mail, they've completely made my life. (i own another brvtvs piece, the constantine iii bracelet, and oh man. it doesn't hurt that i know the owner and cretaor, she's stinking rad, she is. the knees on my bees, caroline!)

know of any good sources for spare, bold, angry, delicate gold jewelry? i'm on the hunt! pictured above, jewels from the shops odette ny, brvtvs, and another feather.

(i'm trying out some editorial calendar nonsense these days and planning to do a style or home post every friday along with my usual babble links for the next little bit . . . i promise the usual nonsense the rest of the week! bear with me if you hate it, let me know if you like it. i love seeing what other people are into, so i figured, derp derp. maybe i shouldn't be so nervous to try that here?)

and now! the good, the bad, the babble:

what YOU should be buying at forever 21 RIGHT NOW

and its red headed step child,

what NO ONE should be buying at forever 21 . . . EVER

hope your weekend was lovely. photo heavy posts coming tomorrow! ;)

IT'D BE A SHAME TO MISS NEW YORK IN THE SPRING

2013-05-22T23:51:00.004-04:00

bonus points to you if you know on who's stoop i am sitting without reading the post below.

today was really rather funny.

it started with the type of sinus headache that could split a skull in two. these trees and i . . . we aren't getting along too well. i'm a sneezing, miserable mess these days. somehow i peeled myself off the couch and pulled on some proper clothes, stuffed my toddler in his stroller, that sort of thing. after all, adventures aren't going to have themselves, you know.

and then it was so soupy out. my hair went pfffft and that's when you learn what you're really made of, when the hair you've just carefully brushed into place goes all rogue on you in an instant and all you're left with is your pretty face ;). and i blame the weather for this next part, too: i'm not much for trendy food things, but i spent nine dollars anyway this morning--NINE DOLLARS, MIND YOU--on a bottle of green junk from organic avenue and, once i'd downed it all (while pulling all my most attractive faces, seriously, yuck), i suddenly turned into a freaking superhero! holy the what, kale juice! i felt like i could scale super tall stuff and leap over junk in a single whatever, or however that goes! i am telling you i was unstoppable. lest you think i'm soooo healthy, i very quickly thereafter inhaled a large-ish bagel from barney greengrass, heavy on the cream cheese, and also there was an extra large diet dr pepper chaser involved too from mcdonalds, so i mean . . . but still. YIKES. three thumbs up plus a big toe! but nine dollars really? now my soul is all conflicted.

so anyway.

i went on to have a very you've got mail-y type afternoon.

was it the green juice?!? no probably it wasn't.

first there was that bagel from barney greengrass (this is where birdie and kathleen have the discussion about the "book district" and the "vice versa" and also that very crunchy sounding tuna sandwich or whatever that was) . . .

and then i bought an enormous bouquet of lilacs plus two peonies (not daisies, but i feel impulse flower purchases of all types are a very kathleen kelly thing to do, as is getting a manicure and forgetting to vote) . . .

i took my kid to riverside park for his afternoon playground date and got to walk past that sweet little flower garden at 91st street . . .

and then by sheer accident we walked down 89th street--that would be kathleen's street--on our way home. and no the construction dudes renovating the brownstone next door did not think my self-timer app situation was weird at aaaaaaaallllll i am surrrrre.

to make things even nuttier, i remembered on the way home that some of brandon's shirts needed to be picked up from the dry cleaners. and this is where we come full circle, are you ready? our dry cleaner dude used to be on columbus avenue but recently moved into a new location, in the space that used to be cafe sonatina, which before that used to be maya's cheese shop, which before that used to be . . . brace yourself . . . theeeeee shop around the corner. no i am NOT kidding you would i kid about something like this?

all of this to say!

sometimes in my life i feel like i am such a cliché of myself. i love bagels! i love marshmallows! i love babies! i love lilacs! i love forever 21 and saltwater sandals and i love you've got mail and other assorted meg ryan films! (not all meg ryan films let's not get carried away with ourselves, i mean, i saw in the land of women, that movie was dumb.) but today i just felt so grateful for them. even here in this big huge city, where it can sometimes feel like it's just me and my ginger husband and my ginger baby against the world, where i sometimes feel so off my game and grouchy and doubtful, there are these little pockets of "me" that seem to be waiting for me around every corner. little pockets that remind me that i matter. that this big place is mine, too.

i hope that we all have little pockets like that, where ever we may live. ;)

a few photos from our afternoon at the park. my kid is a giant.

JUST BECAUSE IT'S TUESDAY!

2013-05-21T22:22:00.000-04:00

you know it might be time to write a blog post when your husband texts you in the middle of the day out of nowhere and asks, "gonna write a post any time soon?!?!?!"

well then, baby. this one's for you.

so the first thing you should know is, i am possibly dying of allergies. lest you think i am exaggerating . . . well, i am always exaggerating.

in other news. i've started to keep a list of some of my favorite words. just for hells bells and things. very near the top of the list is the word "ache." don't say your throat hurts, say it aches! it's much more poetic. not to mention terribly melodramatic and somewhat lovely. isn't it lovely? four little letters, such a big meaning. it's practically an onomatopoeia, if you take the time to consider it. (also on my list: onomatopoeia).

and now for some random photos! right?

▲▲▲ a few weeks ago our holbs the intrepid bought huck a kite. five dollars, it was a penguin, brandon had that look in his eye like some major father-son bonding type stuff was about to go down, i swear it was the most beautiful thing. after a successful first run one windy saturday we decided to invite a few friends to join us for a sunday evening reprise. huck brought his favorite toys of the moment and a few of us met up at pier 1 on the hudson, which is the windiest spot in the city, seriously it will blow your clothes off down there.

we had a great time and huck was in heaven. i taught him to sing "let's go fly a kite," which, WELL. ovaries were spontaneously combusting all over the place, let's put it that way. the kite performed majestically and then i got the idea like i wanted a try at it and so of course the wind blew extra hard and snatched that kite right out of my hands, and off it went into the breeze, flying off toward the city, before crashing into the hudson. its fate in a watery grave.

as we watched it sink we paid our respects. we told huck the penguin kite was swimming back to his family at the south pole . . . really the kite is just swimming with the fishes, down at the bottom of the stinky hudson river, just like who even knows how many other dead bodies . . . wait--is it the hudson or the east river where you dump people wearing concrete shoes? brandon has epic plans of replacing it with a kite that costs at least ten dollars this time. also i've probably lost kite privileges for a little while. ;)

rest in peace, penguin kite. rest in peace.

▲▲▲ i do a lot of atrocious things in the name of rice krispy treats but this might have been my most brilliant. from left to right we have: peanut butter chips, some melted, some preserved in their virgin state; nutella (not my favorite combo, why don't i love nutella like i'm supposed to?); white chocolate with sprinkles; and then naked, which is how i usually like my RKTs. spoiler alert! peanut butter chips are beyond amazing on a krispy. and here's a pro tip from me to you: keep them in the fridge and you're like, *mind blown.*

and now, here is my deep dark secret: i stuff a plate worth of rice krispy treats into my face like a cave woman every sunday afternoon. it's the only thing that gets me through three hours of church. i have a system. are you ready for it? it goes: 2 handfuls of mini marshmallows in a bowl, for 30 seconds in the microwave, you stir in juuuust enough rice krispies to make it mostly marshmallowy but still somewhat rice-y (coat yer spoon in pam spray, genius!), then yo smush it out on a plate and let it sit in the fridge for about 5 minutes. it makes enough for two people if you're not me (i do sometimes share), but the deal of it is, butter is for the unenlightened. a good rice krispy treat should be chewy, not pillowy! i mean, but have it your way.

▲▲▲ i want to french kiss whomever invented korean tacos and korean hot dogs. i mean, really. get over here and let me make out with you. the dogs above are from the asia dog stand over at madison square eats, which is going on through the end of the may at the base of the flat iron and is totally worth a visit, though that kimchi hot dog is not for the faint of heart. props to me for only maybe successfully using the word "whomever" up there. i mean . . . i have no idea.

▲▲▲ hen plucked a twenty dollar bill out of brandon's cash stash the other day like the masterful pickpocket he is and decided on the spot that it was a treasure map and that he was a pirate. he carried it around for days, rolling it up and clutching it in his chubby little fist, then unrolling it and pointing at various spots here and there, all while shouting, "arrrrr!" and, "mama, i a pirate!" and, "buwwy tweasure!" he finally got bored with it after about two days. that's some stamina! it was really cute while it lasted but heavens, twenty bucks! that's a lot of street pretzels!

▲▲▲ a few unnecessary photos from our stop at the playground on the promenade this weekend to take us out. (this same playground this time last year, oh my baby's so grown up!). this boy plays hard and negotiates hard and can charm the pants off any person he sees. it's funny when your kid becomes people, and not just that, but people you like. i'm just really into the way his little brain works. two and a half is so. so. good. i'll keep him, by golly!

xo and happy tuesday!

OUR SATURDAY ACROSS THE EAST

2013-05-18T21:58:00.000-04:00

every now and then our old borough will call to us from across the east river. "come to meeeeee! come to meeee," she calls. it's really rather poetic of her. but no, mostly i just get a real good craving for sushi every now and then and since we're too lazy to find a decent place on the uws, a sushi date necessitates a brooklyn bound express train. you know what i mean?

but we do love any excuse to barrel under the east river. it's just so quiet and comfortable in our old hood. and sometimes i feel so nostalgic for the old days, for that old brandon and that old me (and that old stinker peter pan), and since a trek to idaho is out of the question right now (oh what i wouldn't give for a session with some giant lilac bushes in my face), brooklyn is the next best thing. and it really is. sometimes i think i'll bump into 23-year-old natalie while we're out wandering around those old fruit streets. i think i'd like that. i'd like to give her a hug.

▲▲▲ the matching toenails, i'll have you know, were totally huck's idea. the matching saltwaters . . . okay, that was mine.

▲▲▲ while poking around those old familiar brownstones and narrow streets we happened to walk right next to lena dunham. theeee lena duhman! my heart skipped a beat. my heart skipped five beats! i lo-oove lena dunham. we were, like, three feet from her, waiting with her for the light to change, and oh my goodness i was thiiiiis close to walking up to her and touching her shoulder and being that person, that completely silly person falling all over myself to tell her what a huge fan i am, and how lovely i think she is, and how much her obituary for nora ephron meant to me. oh i was totally going to lead with the nora ephron angle, you better believe it. obviously we would have become best friends on the spot, i mean us nora fans are a tribe, man. i even gave myself a pep talk first. but then the light changed i completely chickened out. like, frozen on the spot like a statue completely chickened out. and ahhhh regret! the only other time i've felt that star struck was when i bumped into ben affleck and his family on central park west while hugely pregnant because in case you guys didn't know, that man is GARGEOUS.

▲▲▲ one monkey roll for these two monkey rolls, please.

▲▲▲ so, okay. this is cheesy. BUT. so we've been coming to this little sushi place in brooklyn heights since we lived there in 2005, and this same lovely lady is always there waiting tables, every time. (she may even own the joint for all i know!) before our move to idaho we came here for our last meal, and when we told her we were moving it was sort of an emotional experience for me? i can't explain it but she'd somehow become like a mom to me. like my sushi mom. anyway, i've always wondered if she remembered us from those old days way back when, and then today out of nowhere she mentioned that i look exactly the same as i looked 8 years ago when we first started coming in and it was like a moment of triumph for us. oh hey! she loves us too! (and oh hey, thanks for those great genes, real-mom!) oh it was a good moment. so obviously we forced her to stop for a photo with us out front because she's officially part of the family now. totally wild. (ps THANK YOU to the heavens above that they finally have an A for sanitation! crap. it was always a crisis of conscience for me every time we'd walk in there and i'd have to pass that big old blue B in the window. but now, an A! dreams do come true!)

▲▲▲ next comes a slow stroll down the promenade, as per official holbrook brooklyn tour rules. and i may be ovulating right now but dang, that husband of mine is dead sexy. ;)

▲▲▲ we also stopped at the playground but that is a post for another day.

▲▲▲ spotting boats and helicopters and lady liberty out on the harbor.

brooklyn heights this time last year

and not for nothing but i happened to have instagrammed the very best instagram of my life today, right HERE.

(it's almost as good as THIS ONE from last week, huh!)

p.s. thank you sonnet james for the play dress!

SUMMER FACES AND HAPPY WEEKEND!

2013-05-17T13:42:00.002-04:00

▲▲▲

△△△

hello and happy friday! it's a stay-in-my-pajamas-and-write-while-huck-watches-sesame-street friday! babble babble babble, etc etc etc.

we had our first sunny-day-over-75-degrees of the year yesterday, and oh boy was it wonderful! we stayed out all day, we got our first mister softee of the season, and somehow i already have a tan line on my arm from my watch. (sunscreen time!) summer! yesssss!

it got me to thinking about the upcoming summer. summer in the city is this blessed event, we all look forward to it, it's this epic payoff for our long NYC winters . . . but it's also kind of disgusting. it always makes me laugh how quickly i forget how yucky it can get here in the summer. the humidity of the east coast is something to be reckoned with, especially for this dry-bones arizona native. there always comes this inevitable moment for me late in august when the oppressively swampy heat and my own awful sweatiness have reached their apex of nastiness and i am forced to just really embrace it. revel in it! it's a very zen-like moment, actually. it's gross. it's also sort of life affirming.

all of this to say! i wrote a post over at babble featuring my favorite summer make up and their drugstore counterparts. but i'll tell you up front, budget or no, the only eyeliner that stays on through the worst of summer for me is THIS stila eye liner. other sources and links and a more in-depth review of each product are over at my babble beauty blog RIGHT HERE.

OTHER BABBLE STUFF AREN'T YOU THRILLED:

what would huck wear?

forever 21 etc etc etc

now that that's done, i'm off to take my cute kid to the playground. i miiiiight put on some clothes first.

happy weekend and enjoy the last of these spring temps!

LITTLE BOYS IN NYC + THE BUSINESS OF MAKING DREAMS COME TRUE

2013-05-14T20:30:00.001-04:00

this is my theory in the making: it's gotta be pretty dang rad to be a two-year-old boy. talk about a decent way to live! you get to wake up when you feel like it, watch any mickey mouse cartoon your fingers can find on the ipad while you eat your morning yogurt, you receive excessive praise for using the potty effectively, and once you're dressed and strapped into your stroller (carrying whatever assortment of toy cars and planes and space rangers you deem acceptable for that day), you get to go outside where the world is positively filled with all of your favorite things: trucks, airplanes, helicopters, taxi cabs, subway trains . . . all the street pretzels and hotdogs you could ever eat at two dollars a pop . . . playgrounds positively filled with all these disgusting germs you can roll around in . . . paradise! this world is a little boy's paradise!

we took the kids to one of the local fire departments this morning for a play school field trip and huck's little boy mind was blown. open. his eyes nearly bugged out of his head in excitement. "wow, cool!" he kept shouting as he ran from one end of the engine to the other, touching every shiny red inch of the thing and only stopping to peer intently into the deep black of all the firefighter's boots. "cool, mom! wow!!"

tangential aside: whoever thought to teach huck to say "wow, cool!" was clearly thinking straight. the level of cuteness in there today was straight up fatal.

the firemen up in our neck of the upper west side are so great. they always smile and wave at huck as they ride past us on the street, even with sirens blaring. we're always careful to move out of their way as quickly as we can and i always tell huck what important work they're doing, putting out fires, saving lives, rescuing little kitty cats from tall tree branches . . . the other day we were walking home from the grocery store when a fire truck pulled up onto the curb in front of us. five firemen hopped out wielding axes and raced into the building next to us, but first, one stopped in his tracks to give huck a little salute. and i swear to you. huck must have grown three inches right there, on the spot. three inches of little boy pride.

new york city is like a giant theme park for little boys. dreams coming true around every corner! just ask my husband. there's this new building under construction in the area, and every time we walk past it he likes to tell me just how many floors they've gotten up to that day. and the excitement in his face, i tell you.

"fifty one floors today! do you think they'll make it to fifty-two?!"

oh, boys.

a few fuzzy photos from our morning below, and a giant thank you to FDNY engine 40 for being so full of rad every stinking day. it's my job as the mama of this army of silly boys to make as many of these little boy dreams come true while i'm in charge of them, so thanks for helping me check off "ride in a fire truck" today. (and especially thank you to my friend marisa for making it happen!)

▲▲▲ "get a bra" and "do nothing." haha.

p.s. another thank you to eddie bauer for my springy yellow trench coat. too many thank yous, what is this, the oscars?

but it's been in constant rotation this week and i lurve it.

MY M-DAY WEEKEND AND AN ODE TO MY BOYS

2013-05-13T21:35:00.002-04:00

do you ever feel like you just want to pinch yourself? like you're smack in the middle of all of the good things you'd ever had the presence of mind to wish for?

i have the best boys. with these boys, especially that boy that i married, i am one blessed little lady. sometimes i feel so brutally aware that these are the best days, that all these moments i'm breathing in are the moments i'll spend the rest of my life remembering with fondness, wishing to revisit. sometimes i catch myself wishing i could just open my eyes wider--like, really pull them open--so i could take it in all at once, and not miss a single drop of it. i am just so grateful for the chance i have to do this, to be this boy's mama, to be this man's wife, to do what i do and to live where i live and to love these boys that i love. i wonder what i must have done in a past life to deserve all this. like maybe i was abraham lincoln or something once, i don't know. that's possible, right? i don't know, that's all i can figure. ;)

on saturday morning we set out in the misty air for an early mother's day brunch at bubby's. we love bubby's, it's one of our favorite spots in the city. while we were there we got to try ramps, and oh ramps ramps ramps, the "it" vegetable of the season . . . they're actually pretty amazing. i hate to say it, what are you gonna do. we even remembered to hit the photo booth in the basement. i tell you the morning could not have been more divine.

with a few slices of pie for the road, we started walking to basically nowhere. i love a good walk to nowhere. even if it's through soho, which . . . as beautiful as soho is, both brandon and i came to the conclusion on our own but at the exact same moment on saturday that soho just isn't for us (too much of a certain inauthentic feeling, if you know what i mean). after a bit we found ourselves at washington square park, which happens to be my favorite of all the parks, and while we were there, stealing bites of each others' peanut butter and banoffee pies and taking turns pushing huck on the swings, the skies began to blacken and deepen, the leaves on the concrete started swirling and scattering, and the hairs on my arms started to stand up in just that certain way . . .

the skies finally opened up on us while we were walking up fifth avenue and i tell you, it was cosmic. the rains felt enormous. it felt like the whole being of the earth was about to swallow us up in its fury. it was electrifying and thrilling and the blinding lightning and the huge echoing thunder, bouncing in my chest and out through my arms as we ran screaming and laughing to find cover . . . we were drenched by the first three seconds and laughing so hard we could barely breathe. it was the most wonderful moment of the day.

we finally found refuge in a taco bell--maybe the only taco bell in all of manhattan--to wait out the last of the storm. (true story: when we lived in brooklyn we used to walk down to the hospital on atlantic avenue just because it had a taco bell in the food court, and because sometimes you just really need yourself some dang nachos bell grande.) as we stood there literally dripping from head to toe, brandon started wiggling his eyebrows at me in that certain way, you know, all . . . "you know what this means, right?!" obviously it means acid colored mountain dew and some tacos locos doritos, because we've only wanted to try those for FOREVER. and there we were! what were the odds? it was like it was fate. and hey, thumbs up cool ranch. thumbs. up. (brandon prefers the nacho cheese. gross.) (and it turns out my post-baby hair regrowth has gone curly--the things you learn?)

and then we headed home for some warm baths and footie pajimjams and that enormous bunch of fresh peonies with mama's name on 'em.

do you ever feel like you could just pinch yourself?

i did. all weekend.

i hope you all had a lovely weekend. especially you mamas-of-furbabies and even most especially you mamas-in-waiting. i feel so strongly that this holiday really belongs to you who yearn, because you are doing the hardest work. your hearts are loving the biggest love, are fighting the hardest fights, are taking the biggest, scariest leaps of faith. my thoughts and my prayers and all of my love have been with each of you this weekend. i hope you took the good chocolate from the deacons and had the longest and most satisfying of afternoon naps on sunday. fist bumps. and hang in there.

hang. in. there.

xoxoxo

update: my dress is made by ace & jig, for those who've asked!
it's sold out now, but i found it at shop pretty mommy.com

FROM THE MISCELLANEOUS DRAWER

2013-05-08T11:20:00.003-04:00

▲▲▲ i was looking through old photos yesterday, trying to find this one in particular from when huck was fat and delicious for my editors for a book thing, when i came across the saddest photographic evidence of post baby hair loss that probably ever existed. behold! before . . . and after. it's like . . . it's like don't fear the baby weight, because that will come off. fear the baby hair. because that comes off too and it's baaaad.

▲▲▲ and here's a photo of the after-after when you get a mom hair cut because it's just so thin and sad and you're like, well what else am i going to do? for whatever reason (seasonal stuff i'm sure) i'm fighting the itch to lob it all off again and go for a bob. i'm going to fight it! this is a fascinating blog post so far i know, you're really impressed.

▲▲▲ things i have youtubed today, per my two-year-old's request: pirates, rhinos, choo choo planes. that last one doesn't exist but not for lack of trying!

▲▲▲ i wrote some posts for babble, aaaaaand i'm linking them now: favorite lipsticks for spring, best non-smudge drugstore eyeliner (follow up on the best of all time non-smudge eyeliner to come, no it is NOT from a drugstore), and a forever 21 post too.

we are off to brave the rain for a few errands. it's supposed to thunder all day--and i love me a good thunder storm. hoping for a good one!

MOTHER'S DAY GIFTS FOR MAMA LOVERS

2013-05-06T11:07:00.001-04:00

▲▲▲tote // necklace // booties // case // perfume // ring // shoes // ring // tee ▲▲▲

say you're shopping for the mom or mom-to-be or fur-baby mama in your life. well here are some ideas for what i'd consider a top notch gift. some are a little bit ridiculous but hey! mother's day is ridiculous.

past mother's day posts, see mother's day and i haven't always gotten along:
2009, 2010, 2011, 2012

mother's day, i'm still giving you the wonk-eye . . .

NAT NESTS: A LITTLE NEEDLEWORK IN THE BEDROOM

2013-05-05T20:43:00.002-04:00

sadly i'm not much for crafting. it such a perpetual source of disappointment in my life! there are a million billion reasons why crafting is dumb but it mostly comes down to i'm not much of a perfectionist, whatever i make ends up looking sad and rumply, buying craft supplies is sort of a tragic hassle when you're on foot all the time, and there isn't any room up in here to store whatever i manage to cart home, anyway.

oh but i doooo love needlework. like a very old granny, my favorite thing is an evening at home with blanket over my tootsies, a needle in my hands, and a hoop of fabric in my lap. and a good strong head lamp. one time i very seriously considered buying some of those fabulous frump granny glasses from the drugstore to wear while doing counted cross stitch but luckily for my poor dear husband i'm not quite that far gone. no, almost. but not quite yet.

one of my dreams is someday doing my own tapestry. like a full-on medieval tapestry huge-ass wall hanging. pardon my french.

i'm running out of conceivable wall space for any future projects, but here is one that i finally finished up that i'm silly with happiness about. i hatched up the idea randomly when i was searching for a good excuse to need more deer antlers for my apartment (there aren't any good reasons) and i realized i could probably cross stitch one instead, somehow. like that would be any better.

so i did it and it was very idaho-y and then i realized i should do one for the time we spent living in portland as newlyweds. a series!

my little rain clouds came out so cute and i loved them so much that i needed one for our utah time. we were only in utah for about four months as very newly-newlyweds and already it was four months too many, but such as. (just kidding, utah!) (or am i?)

it's a beehive obviously please tell me you love it. ;)

the one that took me the longest to conceptualize and the one that i finished in the most slipshod way was the one i wanted to stitch to represent our time in new york city, both times, actually--in brooklyn in '05 and now on the uws. i used a photo i took from the 5th floor of abc carpet & home in the flat iron for inspiration. water towers are just so romantic, aren't they? hey guess what you can see all the dark threads through the back and it's super rumply, but perfectionism isn't really my jam.

they live on the wall in the bedroom and every night as i climb into bed i like to look at them and smile.

i also spend a lot of time rehanging them. huck seems to delight in sneaking them off the wall and leaving them for me on my pillow. a little needlework surprise. ;)

there!

WE JUMP... THE ELEVATOR THINKS IT'S EMPTY... AND IT OPENS!

2013-05-02T22:00:00.000-04:00

the following is a true story.

so, the other day we got trapped in an elevator on the subway on our way down to williamsburg. we were stuck for forty-five minutes. even though i DID remember to say "rabbit rabbit" that morning.

those of you who follow me on twitter saw my terribly exciting live tweeting of the episode. i am sure. and i hate to say it but i tried to write the story last night with any justice to its sheer poetry, and i failed miserably. was it writer's block? or was it just not that interesting? i'll go with writer's block, riiiiight? ;)

in other news, i spent an hour surfing apartment listings online last night, which is what i usually do when i have writer's block, which is what led me to a very depressing "3 bedroom" apartment open house up on 80th street today, except it wasn't a three bedroom so much as a very long hallway wherein one could stash three queen sized mattresses in a row, separated by shower curtains. but i digress.

there was a lady trapped with us in the elevator, she was wearing a purple snowsuit. she was very nice, if not totally pessimistic (she kept telling me we were going to be stuck in there for days, which . . . i mean at one point i started to believe her). together we rode that elevator up and down, uuuup and dowwwwwn, and those doors, i tell you, never once did they open.

they finally called the elevator company and then two very nice dudes wrenched the doors apart for us and then freedom! we were freed!

wait wait wait. this is feeling you've got mail-ey all of the sudden but you'll have to click to continue to get there (too many words, nat).

i ~~got home~~ went out yesterday and got into an elevator to go to ~~my apartment~~ brooklyn. an hour later i got out of the elevator, and ~~brinkley and i moved out~~ huck and i got on the train. suddenly everything had become clear. it's a long story, full of personal details ~~we avoid so carefully~~ i share terribly freely on this blog, like, all of the time. let me just say there was a ~~man~~ woman ~~sitting~~ standing in the elevator with me who ~~knew exactly what he wanted~~ was wearing a purple snowsuit, and i found myself wishing i ~~were as lucky as he~~ had thought to bring an extra diet coke with me.

but on the plus side! i got to fulfill a lifelong dream of hitting the elevator alarm button. haven't you always wondered what that would feel like? it feels sort of satisfying, the alarm bells echo through the platform in a really nice way . . . i rather enjoyed it!

and thankfully the elevator did not smell like pee. what are the odds you'd get yourself stuck in a freshly cleaned elevator? #tendermercy

all of this to say . . . if you ask me, williamsburg looks a lot like portland.

incidentally, i really want to start a "moms of williamsburg" tumblr. holy cow are those women stylish!

other things completely unrelated to this post entirely:

huck was invited to martha stewart's "take your kid to work day" (even though neither of his parents officially work there). he makes a cute little guest appearance in the video they made HERE. and . . . he's adorable. so.

i get a lot of questions about my pink overalls from ASOS (which have long since sold out). but i noticed yesterday that ASOS has a very similar pair of pink overalls happening right now . . . you can get them HERE. hurry!

the end.

NAT NESTS: ASTRONAUTS IN TRAINING PLAY SCHOOL

2013-04-29T17:31:00.000-04:00

as you may remember, we've been hosting play school for the month of april. is it almost over yet? oh gosh. leave it to me to pick the month that has five tuesdays . . . ;)

for our first week, we had a circus theme. for our second week, we cancelled due to illness (oh the poops). for our third week we had a rocket theme! and oh geez was huck thrilled out of his skin. it was a huge hit with all the kids, we had a really great time.

tomorrow is our last day hosting play school, and let me tell you . . . it's been really fun but i can't wait to be done! ;)

a little peek at what went down two (two?) tuesdays ago:

⩓⩓⩓ the evening before i made eight rocket pbjs, two disastrously ugly rockets out of toilet paper rolls (i gave up on that idea pretty quickly), and one last minute space landing photo "booth." i mean, it was actually a wall. i feel like all the time we're being really loose with this "photo booth" term. you know what i mean?

⩓⩓⩓ we read roaring rockets and learned how space rockets work (this is huck's favorite bed time book, we found it HERE), and then i had the recruits complete a little basic training to make sure they were all fit for space travel. you'll be pleased to know every recruit passed, so for craft time we made our very own, ultra official astronaut badges and personalized flags for planting on the moon.

⩓⩓⩓ a rocket shaped pbj means 100% more sandwich will be eaten than usual. the kids loved admiring caleb's real life space shuttle. thanks for bringing it for us, elise! ;) (we're lucky no one in our group has any peanut allergies, aren't we though?)

⩓⩓⩓ after lunch we held free play and had us a little photo booth time. here we have miss elsa on the left (i'm hoping one day huck and elsa will get married, shh), and on the right, space captain huck, claiming the moon on behalf of god, country, and his mother.

⩓⩓⩓ free play is what we really hold play school for. look at them! these children are practically teenagers.

⩓⩓⩓ a loaf and a half of rocket pbjs means i've been eating rocket-shaped toad-in-a-holes for lunch ever since. ;)

last tuesday our theme was april showers, and tomorrow we'll be completing the theme with a lesson on may flowers. i'll be sure to do another post once my brain has unscrambled and all the craft supplies have been successfully passed down to the next poor mother in charge. ;)

may! how did this happen!?

A #MIGHTYLOVE UPDATE

2013-04-29T17:01:00.002-04:00

everyone! i'm so excited to tell you that our #gomighty charity project was a big fat success, and that go mighty has completed the donation of $500 to sanctuary for families, the leading nonprofit in new york state dedicated exclusively to serving domestic violence victims, sex trafficking victims, and their children. all thanks to you, your support, and yes, your compliments. thank you!

when the girls at go mighty and i cooked up this idea for an online fundraiser, we had no idea what a wonderful response we'd get. it completely blew us away and made me feel all sorts of crazy emotions. :) we figured we'd hopefully get 500 compliments by the end of the week, but then we hit our target by the end of the first day and went on to more than double it by the end of the week! immediately that first evening we started to scramble for another backer so that we could make a donation worthy of all the women who were participating. it was a frustrating experience. these are sort of tricky, these public fundraisers. someone has to come up with the money, and the kinds of corporations that are able to make those kinds of donations take a lot of time to make it happen, needing time to hold the meetings, time to get the approvals, all of that business. so we weren't able to find anybody who could pump up the volume in time, and shoot our volume needed to be pumped. it made me sick to think that we couldn't do more. also, it was really important to me that this not seem like an if/then type of deal (you know, if you do something, then something will happen). that's not the spirit i intended at all. i wanted this to be a group effort, where everyone involved could make a difference. every compliment and everyone participating had to matter.

and this is tricky too because i don't want this to seem like some tacky announcement, because i believe the best charity is quiet charity, but i couldn't not let you know that after some discussion, brandon and i decided that each participant should count. so we dug in ourselves and made the additional donation so we could make sure that each of you did.

so to every one of you that pitched in with a tweet or an instagram or a blog post, thank you. plus a very personal thank your. ;) thank you for making a very real difference in the lives of abuse victimes here in new york.

new york state domestic abuse victims were first brought to my attention last christmas, when our relief society did a volunteer project for mentally ill abuse victims at a federally funded hospital in the bronx. unlike the women at sanctuary for families, these were women with little to no hope of ever recovering, of ever rebuilding, or of even living outside of those hospital walls. because it is a limited-funding hospital, and these women had come from literally nothing, many of the women there continued to live with nothing while in treatment. many had no shoes, most didn't have a change of clothing, and there was very little available in the way of personal hygiene. we held a clothing and toiletries drive that month, and a woman who worked with the group as part of her psychiatry phD program made the deliveries for us. she shared a few of their stories with us one evening and i realized then how very real this is, how what seems like so little can actually make such a huge difference. so i'm terribly honored and grateful that you all helped me to champion a cause i feel so passionately about. thank you for making this possible.

it's a dreary monday outside today, but we can all be a little bit of sunshine in each others' lives. let's never forget that. let's never forget how broad our reach can be when we put our minds and hearts to it. :)

xoxo!

natalie

ON A SPRING WEDNESDAY ON THE UPPER WEST SIDE

2013-04-24T22:00:00.000-04:00

no words necessary for this one . . . today was pretty good.