On finding some peace

Just a quick note to say hello. We spent a day at Half Moon Bay over the weekend and soaked up as much sea air has humanly possible. I discovered a few bits of important information during my week of semi-unplugged. First, I'm desperate for quiet in my life. The amount of noise pollution in my neighborhood and my home (I'm looking at you, Matt Lauer and your gang of Today Show fear mongers) is simply too much for me to handle these days. 

And second, I'm spending far too much time in my car, with my phone and in front of my TV. That last admission is a touchy one as I have a longtime love affair with my old friend, TV. But enough is enough. My life has changed and now I need equal parts fresh air and quiet to balance out the screaming three year old and the chorus of leaf blowers that seem to follow my every move. 

For now, I can't help where I live so I'm starting to make small steps to help me find peace everyday in the crazy-making Silicon Valley and at least once a week I'm working to get myself (and my family) in nature. I'm convinced the negative ions will bring us some positive change. Here's hoping.

I'm curious if you have any tried and true tips for balancing, recharging or just relaxing. I'm sort of astonished at how bad I am at the whole thing and would love to know your tricks of the trade.

Deep breaths, say it with me

Don't mind me while I take a little self-imposed time out. It seems I have over scheduled myself to a point of mental breakdown and every few minutes I find myself relating more closely to the meltdowns of my three year-old than that of a grown woman who really ought to know better than to scream and cry and pout her way out of every frustrating encounter.

So I'm checking out for few days for the sole purpose of taking care of myself. It's a wild and crazy experiment on my part. Do wish me luck. Unplugging and checking out for the sake of sanity and health is not normally my thing. But it's either that, or start breaking shit because I can't access the photos I just downloaded to my computer for now clear reason. And the pacifist in me says that violence is not the answer here. So I'm just going to back. away. from. the. computer.

Wishing you all a lovely, rage-free week.

Back to basics in the kitchen

Veggies from the Napa Farmer's market.

I just ordered this book for some much-needed inspiration in the kitchen. Mostly, because I listened to Forum yesterday on my local NPR station which was entirely focused on the 40th anniversary of Chez Panisse and my head about exploded with enthusiasm for all things food. It's an hour's worth of Alice Waters' alumni and Bay Area food lovers who have been influenced by the Chez Panisse ethos. It was energizing to say the very least and had me itching for a farmer's market and some quality kitchen time.

And next Wednesday, if I didn't have another rockin dentist appointment you know I'd be heading up to Maiden Lane in San Francisco where Ms. Waters, Sofia Coppola and Dave Eggers will be handing out free, organic boxed lunches. Sounds so fun. Someone really ought to go and tell me all about it. In the meantime, let's talk about preparing something tasty this weekend. Preferably something that originated in a local-to-you and organic farm.

Citrus cake and the summer list

Major progress on the summer list to report here. I can tell you that Appolina's citrus cake is crazy good. Highly recommended with one extra tip. I cannot stress enough the importance of the step that involves chilling the cake for 30 minutes after adding the lemon curd filling. Behold the epic puddle of lemon curd that was my cake since I could not be bothered with the chilling process last night. No matter, we simply scooped up piles of the filling onto each slice. It was good stuff.

This weekend I plan on giving Bi-Rite ice cream a go while my ladyfriends and I eat and drink our way through 7x7 magazine's annual Big List. We'll follow that glutenous challenge up with a 10k on Sunday morning. So that should be interesting and if I'm being honest, ugly. Expect a few updates on these adventures next week.

I'd love to hear about your summer goals. Are you making the most of the sunshine? 

P.S. Yesterday the lovely ladies of Tipsy Society featured my favorite summer cocktail. Check it out if you're looking for the perfect outdoor happy hour drink.

Better days

There are so many days I hope to revisit before this one. Rather than regale you will details of my oral surgery, or the panic attack I had while choosing music to accompany said surgery (I chose wrong and somehow managed to set my playlist on repeat - one song, over and over and over again), the sound of my neighbor's roof being replaced while I tried to sleep it all off, or the sound of their four dogs barking alongside the work, I will tell you I'm really happy that most of today is behind me and that I did not commit any heinous acts against humanity. That's a win, considering.

I'm looking forward to chewing food sometime soon. Can you tell? Behold: a few things that sound good from my past. In no particular order. But basically, I want some cake and I want some coffee.

Oh yeah, and Blogger sucks. These the are only photos that would actually upload and I'm too disgusted to start over. Peace out, friends. Here's hoping there is processed sugar in my immediate future.

Weekend survival juice

While visiting Colorado last weekend, Danielle and I were treated to a lovely (new to me) cocktail. Our girlfriend's husband mixed them up through our stay upon request. Such hospitality was much appreciated as we managed the madness of four crazy small people (and four beat-down big people). I've been daydreaming of this refreshing mix of sweetness and tart for days. I'm guessing this drink has a name but for our purposes let's just call is Sweet Nectar of the Traveling Toddler Parenting Gods.

Shot of St. Germaine Liquor (Elderflower Liquor)

Club Soda

Prosecco (although dry white wine worked well in a pinch)

Generous squeeze of fresh lime

Lemon Sweet & Sour (optional)

More about me at Elleinad Spir

I spent the weekend in Colorado with Danielle and our friend Melissa and all our kids. It's an every-other-year tradition and while it was great to reconnect with two old and dear friends and watch our kids become fast friends, the altitude kicked my ass. It's good to be back at sea level but I'm convinced it's going to take the rest of the week to catch up on home life, sleep and email.

Thank you so much for all the support and encouragement and kind words about the shop. I'll be shipping out orders on Thursday and sewing many more little items in the coming days. "New" vintage trim arrived while I was away and I cannot wait to get my hand on it.

For now, please visit me over at Elleinad Spir for a fun little guest series she's hosting.

Introducing Shop Pink Moon

Well, friends. There she is. My own little shop. It feels as though I've been holding my breath for the past month and the truth is, I could put this day off for another few weeks or even months. I could continue to make little tweaks. Sew a few more little dresses, source a bit more vintage trim. Rewrite my bio four hundred times. But I'm learning that this endeavor is and probably always will be, a work in progress. So, I'm letting her fly, pushing her out of the comfy nest. And yes, by her I really mean me. Because that shop is sort of like looking at my insides.

That's all I have today. I'm a little messy and actually heading out of town for a long awaited reunion with two great friends and all of our collective kids. Wish us luck. Two of us are flying solo with littles.

P.S. A big thank you is owed to Shari of Little Blue Deer for my lovely shop banner and button. She's such a delight to work with (she also designed my blog banner). Happy weekend, my loves.

My town, my people

California Cafe view from the bar. Small town fun facts: President Clinton ate there while in office. Also, the Doobie Brothers used to live in the mountains above town, Juice Newton used to sing every week at a piano bar and Olivia De Haviland went to my high school.

I live just a few miles from the town I grew up in but it may as well be the other side of the world. It's a bit of an alternate universe that is littered with old California charm, new Silicon Valley money and pure natural beauty. It's a special place. Walking down its streets brings an easy and strange comfort - both the morning and afternoon light is spectacular and every corner is haunted with memories from early childhood to my early 20s. There are people I'd pay good money never to see again and yet, I happily risk  run-in reunions at the chance to soak up just a bit of my own nostalgia. It's as storied a place for me as I'm sure anyone's home town would be.

It's doubtful I'll ever live there again, but twice this past summer I've "vacationed" at a local hotel. Waking up a tourist in your hometown is something everyone might want to try. The most recent getaway was with three of my best girlfriends (minus Megan, who will make her annual trek from New Zealand in a matter of days, not that I'm counting).

I have a tendency to wax on about my girls. I can't help it. Much like my hometown, they are a part of my DNA. They are my comfort food, my living scrapbooks, my entertainment, my truth-tellers, they are steady and constant lights in my life and they are so much more than I could ever write in a blog post.

My girlfriends - all of them - make me proud and thankful to be a woman. So here's a little lady light for your Wednesday.

Go fly a kite

We checked out the Annual Kite Festival in Berkeley over the weekend and even though the sun did not make an appearance, the kites were complete show-stoppers. I'm not usually one for a festival of any sort. Large gatherings of strangers and forced fun are usually a recipe for unwarranted anxiety but this was different.

The activities were spread across miles of rolling hills and the emphasis was on strolling and occasionally looking up in the sky.  And the sky was littered with an ever-changing art installation of color. Literally hundreds of various shapes dancing in every direction. It was equal parts crazy and magical.

I loved overhearing conversations led by seriously passionate kite flyers. These people were not playing. For instance, I had no idea there was such a thing as kite ballet? Yeah, it's a thing.

There were also ponies. Much to my own surprise, Emerson showed some real interest and got to take her own turn on one very gentle guy named Ernie. I'm pretty sure his name alone had a lot to do with her courage as we are experiencing a bit of a Sesame Street renaissance around our house.

And yes, we are in public and those are Cars slippers she has paired with her Minikin tutu. We are classy like that. Before you judge me, know that I've been single-parenting since Wednesday and sometimes you just have to suck it up and leave the house. I totally won this battle since she's not actually wearing the nightie she slept in.