Getting Real

Dear Diary,

This week was not the easiest. "Momma said there'd be days like this, they'll be days like this my momma said." But really, that's real life. The days can't always be good because we would never ever appreciate anything. We'd be walking around and not knowing that we should be grateful because we've always had it all.

There were plenty of good moments this week though. There are good moments in EVERY week if we really think about it. Some weeks we can just coast, other weeks we cling to the extra good moments, and stay thankful. Today I'm a little extra thankful for our nightly family dance parties in the living room.

In other news, I made a little resolution this week to drink more water... Is it just me or is it extra hard to drink plenty of water when it's raining a lot? It's like this water overkill, you know? I run for the coffee and hot chocolate, and totally avoid water...

There are a lot of giveaways out there on this Internet lately. Sometimes I enter giveaways-- I go in streaks-- but I do this weird thing when I enter and I get pretty positive I'm about to win. Only the big ones, of course. For some reason, I'm never confident on the little ones, but if it's like a $5000 prize, I get so confident. I say to my husband "Bri, just so you know, I'm about to win all new furniture from West Elm... I mean it ends Friday, but I'm feeling really good about this one." I never ever ever win. I think that's why I have it in my head that when I finally do win something, it's going to be huge.

I'm glad it's Friday. I'm glad the sun is shining. Happy Weekend!

Favorite Reads this Week:

The simplest way to wrap gifts is with giftbags, and here's how I plan to spruce them up and make them more pretty and personal (I'm obv a big fan of five-minute DIYs).

I'm in love with the idea of a new little sock exchange tradition.

Be sure your fruit & veggies are nice & clean.

If you're going to be a houseguest this holiday season, here's a sweet way to thank your hosts!

I think these are just the prettiest ornaments, and so simple to make.

Set your kids' holiday table perfectly with some of our simple little tips.

Xoxo,
Kate

Real Life

This week was pretty great in real life.

We spent the holidays with my husband's family in Pennsylvania, which was festive and relaxing and cold. My husband and I had to fly back separately because of flight/miles restrictions, so he took Maggie with him and I kept Sophie an extra two days. The girls have never been separated that long, so I was a little nervous about the whole thing. It ended up being amazing for both girls to have a little one-on-one time. Both just seemed to bask in their own extra attention and we realized that maybe we should get little dates with each more often!

So here are some highlights:

Sophie & I woke up to snow our last full day in Pennsylvania, aka her last full day of being three. It was the perfect way to say goodbye to our best year together yet. Seriously, three years old is such a sweet time of life. I'm excited about four because I hear it only gets better, but I can't imagine that being possible. We had a good time outside in the freezing cold throwing snow around and running to make footprints everywhere.

We also went and grabbed some Blue Bottle Coffee (ahh, I LOVE it) in this perfect little cafe in P.A. called The Baker's Table. It opened recently and it is such the right mix of classic and modern decor, and they serve some of the best baked goods around... and I repeat: Blue Bottle coffee; need I say more? If you're in the area, get over there!

Got home to rain and storms. I don't mind rain so much, actually. We have a cozy home with a nice heater, and we can go outside in our rain boots with umbrellas, so it's not so bad. My husband's cousin is staying with us, so today we got our "tourist" on and stopped at Boudin's for clam chowder in a bread bowl. I will use any excuse to stop there. I've tried making the same thing with the same ingredients at home, but Boudin's makes it best 100% of the time.

They also make bread in the shape of animals, which is a hit with the little ones.
































Also a big deal with the kiddos is the Christmas setup. We ate soup and admired the giant plush animals and Christmas lights. They insisted we sit as close as we possibly could to them. And oh gosh, I can't get enough of winter hats on little kids. Puff balls on the top? Little rosy cheeks and cozy ears? So much cuteness.

Sophie jumped in every puddle on our walk to the bus stop, so she looked like she had fallen in a swimming pool. She was fine with that because she had her "brella" and that's all she needed.

So to sum it all up, it was a wintery blissful & chaotic week, and we're beyond happy it's almost the weekend! 

*Kate

Memories

After a big day of travel across the country yesterday, and celebrating the best little four year old I've ever met, today I am simply going to write.

Christmas is coming. I've always loved this time of year. In my adult life, it became much about specialty coffees and nostalgic music, but my kids have started making it feel magical. Rather than reminiscing about good old days when I made lasting memories, we're instead making new memories that last. Rather than looking behind, I'm enjoying the time simply being.

Simplicity is a tricky thing in our world these days. We have the ability to communicate with people across the world and often, our next door neighbors are the last people we call when we need anything.  We can hop on a plane and get across the country in a few hours, but sometimes when our friends have babies, we find it very difficult to drive 45 minutes to visit them. We have so much luxury, but sometimes I skew my priorities and miss what's right in front of me.

When I first had Sophie, four delightful years ago, I really had no friends in the same boat as me. Everyone had day jobs, and Sophie and I were basically on our own during the day. I didn't have a car (still don't), so I wasn't driving to get from here to there. Although I often felt lonely for friends my own age, the two of us had such a sweet time together making memories. We weren't in any hurry to get anywhere. We had all the time in the world to go to the grocery store and home, and we'd walk to the bay and picnic and play in the grass with a ball or toy more days than not. Simplicity.

As kids get older, they obviously become more social. It takes me being deliberate not to over-schedule and make our lives too hurried. I like taking them to activities, but I also really want my kids to be able to just be kids, playing their little hearts out with their imaginations. And here's the trickiest part of the whole simplifying thing: I want to imagine with them.

How easy it is to just build a tent and let them play and kind of watch or go clean the house... but how many more memories I'll make if I stay and crawl inside those tents and turn on the flashlight and we take turns telling stories together. How easy it is to just bake the cookies while they're taking naps, but how much more fun if we all make a mess together.

I don't want to live my life constantly looking for the next thing. I want to make memories today...

...and today, we will make our home look like Christmas is coming!

LOVE,
Kate

Real Life, Episode 3

Ahh you thought I wouldn't get my post in before the day ended, but here I am! In slow-motion vacation mode! I love Thanksgiving week. It wins for best all-around holiday weekend for me. I love that it makes for a definite 4-day weekend, and when it's over, we still have plenty to look forward to.

Today we shopped a little. I always go shop on Black Friday, but rarely spend much. My theory is that stores mark up to full price anything so they have wiggle room to mark "way down." I have better luck hitting regular clearance. That said, I absolutely love the vibe while being out and about. People-watching at its finest!

So here's the rest of the week in review:

We're loving ourself some brisk cold weather over here in the east. Maggie is in bliss mode because jackets are her favorite thing in the world. This whole thing with jackets started about two weeks ago... (Well earlier, but before it was only with jean jackets): she sees a jacket and wants to put it on immediately. She picks it up and brings it to the nearest adult and starts making yell noises until they help her put it on. When she gets in carseats or sits to eat dinner, jackets come off and crying begins. It's so crazy! This age is hilarious.

Sophie did some baking with my mother-in-law for Thanksgiving. She seriously helped! She rolled the dough, pinched the pie crust and basted the turkey. Maybe she can teach me her kitchen skills. :) The girls got chef hats as early Christmas gifts too, so those have been worn plenty.

Mornings have been frosty around here... And gorgeous.

Maggie got the pigtail treatment for Thanksgiving, which is always a hit with everyone (except her)!

My little sunshine kid.

S absolutely loves doing silly pictures. We had a little "photo booth" session the other day... She's green, I'm blue. So fun!

Vacations are amazing. Nobody has to leave for work, kids get tons of attention, and we get a break for the norm, so we get refreshed... Hope you enjoyed your week as much as we did!

Love,

Kate

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Thankful Giving

The holiday season begins today, and there are so many sweet memories to be made. Something I dearly appreciate when the holidays come is the beautiful spirit of giving. It is so fitting that a day has been created to celebrate thankfulness as the kickstart to a season filled with joy and memories.

One holiday comes to mind every year for me, with so much gratefulness. As a young teenager, my brother spent three years battling cancer. During one holiday celebration, he was rushed to the hospital for an infection. My family spent that Christmas at his bedside in a dismal hospital room, rather than in a warm and comfortable home filled with laughter and cheer.

BUT, what I remember about that day is not sadness or stress; rather, I recall the visitors he had to the hospital: generous people that we had never met came bearing gifts and songs, and lighting the pediatrics wing of the hospital with joy. These incredibly sick children received board games and stuffed animals and toys... and most importantly, smiles and love.

Those people are the kind of people you do not ever forget. They are the people who realize that thankfulness is more than simply enjoying their time with loved ones; it is also about sharing joy with those who may not have people there to love them. These lovely human beings took time from their cozy festivities to share with others who needed them more.

I am thankful. I am thankful for those I love and I am thankful for those that came into our lives that day, and made joyful memories from what could be incredibly painful moments, right when we needed them most.

I would be most grateful this year if my family and I can spend our holiday season with a deliberate selflessness, and that we would spend our time creating similar poignant and joyful moments for those who especially need that extra dose of love in their lives.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kate

 

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Real Life

Ahh, a Friday has come again. What sweet relief.

Do you ever find that the week before a holiday is one of the hardest? It's like the last hill on a run... you're saying to yourself "ohhh I think I can, I think I can," and you're not quite convinced that you actually can... yes, that's me the week before a holiday. Somehow I mentally go on vacation when I truly have plenty of castles to build, portraits to paint, and dances to dance with two energetic little girls.

All that said, it's FRIDAY. Next week is Thanksgiving and I really cannot express quite how thankful I am. So, so much.

Here are some glimpses into real life:

Sophie got to hang out with the fun crew at Oh Happy Day... for her it meant playing with big fluffy letter pillows, eating apples and jelly beans, and skipping nap time, so it was a win on all counts for her, obviously.

Maggie was there with us too. And in case you wondered, it took her an hour to eat her apple.

Both girls spent a lot of time convincing family members to read a lot of books to them. Big blue eyes and happy smiles make it incredibly difficult to say no to "one more story." Right? Could you refuse this little girl? I want to read a story to her right now because I'm looking at that hopeful little face!

On Saturday when I was prepping for my sister's shower, I chose to take Sophie with me to the store. I thought taking my older child would be the quicker route, but I learned my lesson: I should have taken Maggie. S needed to shop with her own cart, stop for samples- and finish them before moving again, go potty, pass everything to the cashier by herself... it was a blast, don't get me wrong, but it took for-ev-er.

The winning meal of the week for me was this Vietnamese perfection with my friend Nicole. It was so good to get out of the house and hang with someone older than three for an evening, and Vietnamese is my second favorite type of food in the world (the Mexican in me prefers a good Mexican meal to anything else). I got to eat rolls, noodles, and chicken and eat the entire meal without interruption. Yes, life is good.... and it's really funny the things I consider luxury these days! This is a very bad picture of a very beautiful meal.










































While I'm at this "getting personal" stuff, I may as well confess that my home was epic messy more than usual this week too. I mean, of course I'm admitting this after the fact because that's what we do as people, right? I cleaned it today, so now I feel that my messy self is behind me, so I am quite comfortable confessing at this point.

In general, when people come to my house, it's pretty darn clean. Not perfect, but definitely not cluttered and freshly vacuumed. BUT if someone were to drop by unexpectedly at - say 11am on a Thursday- they may think a little differently. Especially if we were searching far and wide for a certain ballerina's slippers and decided- while we're at it- to clean not one, but two closets to find them... only to realize they've been in my purse ready to go all the time. My big great idea is that my friends and I all send our husbands to one another's homes at random times mid-week so they can all see a normal day at other homes and don't think everyone has a perfectly picked-up home every day. That's to make me feel better about this terribly untidy home I've been keeping. I think it would be most memorable and effective for them... I'd just hope no one would send anyone to mine. :)

Links for your weekend:

If you're hosting friends and family next week, you may want to consider one of these stylish oven mitts to pull hot food out of the oven. I'm always "considering" new oven mitts because they're such a simple way to spice things up a bit... like "oh, I'm just going to take this dinner out of the oven" in the most stylish way possible. No biggie.

San Francisco rain has gotten me looking at cozy blankets and new hot chocolate recipes. For the most part, I just look at those recipes and hope someone will make them for me, then go grab my hot chocolate from the canister of SwissMiss. I'm only a recently converted domestic who does domestic things for survival, not luxuries. BUT if you're the type that thinks it sounds fantastic to make it homemade, I think it looks amazing.

We've also eaten more soup in the last two weeks than ever- so much that Sophie said to me last night that she just had chicken and soup and would not be convinced when I assured her it actually is a different type with basically the same ingredients. Anyway, the one soup we couldn't get enough of (I'm talking fourths for both girls!) was this one. I pinned it ages ago, and keep going back for more.

Happy weekend to you all!

Love,
Kate