May 28, 2018

Intentions for the Week

Happy Monday! Happy Memorial Day! I hope you’re taking a moment to remember everyone who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. I also hope you have a grilling situation happening in your neck of the woods. Summer isn’t too far no, isn’t it? I can almost taste it.

This weekend we were away for baseball tournaments. The whole weekend was spent with boys and my brain is mush. We have a short week coming up and I’m (almost) ready to get my head in the game and knock out a bunch of things on my to-do list.

Let’s start off with some Intentions for the Week to get our heads in the game.

Intentions for the Week:

unpack bags from weekend
eat healthy- make a reset button salad
make kombucha
stay on top of laundry
pack baseball bag for the week
work on/post currently May post
clean car inside and out
write letters/send letters
straighten up garage
shoot two recipes for One Potato
share a cookie recipe here
catch up on social media
work out/go for a hike
self care: give myself a manicure
work on Summer Bucket List
cancel plane flight
post a few things on Poshmark
work on my painting practice #100daysartbeforebreakfast
shoot new items for The Handwriting Club
wash out my water bottle & drink more water

Last week’s Intentions:

~~laundry~~
~~grocery shop~~
~~shoot salad for magazine~~
~~get Cooper packed for baseball trip~~
prep/style/shoot recipes for One Potato
~~deep clean kitchen~~
shoot new items for The Handwriting Club
send out orders from The Handwriting Club (thank you!)
put aside things to sell on Poshmark
~~make kombucha~~
~~stay on top of email/continue sorting emails~~
workout/walk with Casey
do a face mask & paint nails (didn’t!!!)
vacuum inside of my car (desperately need to)
~~work on my painting practice #100daysartbeforebreakfast~~ (behind on posting but I’ve done it!)
~~wash out my water bottle & drink more water~~
eat to nourish, not to NUMB (was good until weekend!)
~~spent less time on my phone in the morning~~

Mantra for the Week:

Have a great week and don’t forget to write down your Intentions each week!

It helps keep you focused and on track.

my everyday life, Photography

May 27, 2018

My Everyday Life: Week 21

Here’s what this past week looked like- My Everyday Life Week 21

We put up a hammock (FINALLY) and I am so dang happy about it.

I diverted a panic attack this week by hanging out in it. YAY.

Home Depot makes really good breakfast burritos. I spent last Sunday morning there with my brother-in-law and niece.

Casey’s brother James helped me plant some things. James! If you’re reading this, THANK YOU and I need you to come back down because you’re very helpful and I like that in a brother. LB!

Hummingbird food.

Slowly filling this area in.

This tree is glowing!

Went to my parent’s house. Do I say Dad’s house now??

My Dad has his laptop on the kitchen table most of the time. It used to be filled with my mom’s papers.

He also plays music in the house (constantly) and I like it. Sets a good mood. YAY DAD!

Not sure where these came from but I like them!

I did some meal prep for my Dad!

Cousin time!

We ordered pizza and it was GOOOOD.

The colors on these wildflowers were AMAZING. That blue!

Ella in her custom blanket thanks to a reader named Lindsey!!!

We have these on our retaining wall (my parents never planted them! they’re wild!) and they’re lush!

Shooting recipes for One Potato this week!

TACO FEST.

Seriously so many tacos this week. Not complaining! My family was so happy.

I heart my Prismacolor pencils except I’m missing three somewhere in my house 🙁

I think two of them are black and purple.

Adventure in the city.

Went to Souvla for dinner with my friend Gaby!

I asked to take the cashier’s picture. I liked her witchy vibes.

UMMMM YUMMMMM.

You must go! The frozen Greek yogurt is BOMB.com

I know someone I’d like to send this to.

So many fun things to see on the streets when you’re visiting SF.

Detour on the way home. What a view!

This is why we work so hard to be here.

Letter from my friend Christina.

Ran into my friend Pam at the grocery store. Got to hang out with her and her daughter, Frankie.

Isn’t she cute??

Checking out books at the thrift store. I always enjoy reading people’s inscriptions.

Work lunch.

Prolonged eye contact with a deer.

Like a deer in headlights but…in the day…with no headlights. LOL.

Coloring club! So much baseball this week. The season is winding down and it’s playoff time!

My buddy Lila is a Gemini.

The baseball game was COLD so we got ramen after our win! YAY.

Working on art with my niece. You can read more about it here!

Juicy watercolors.

These were fun. I should probably do the whole alphabet, huh?

Work/paint/lunch.

Trying to be good, salad.

Quesadilla for husband.

Cream cheese frosting at 9pm.

Up late at night making chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for Cooper’s school Bake Sale.

They went fast, he said.

I’m glad I saved two because my friend Lisa stopped by for a spontaneous coffee date and I was able to share.

Spending Friday night working in the garden, introverting.

I am happy that these planters are now full of goodness. I didn’t have to buy any plants! I just used moved things around and grabbed from my propagation hoard!

Denise— if you’re reading this, did you give this to my Mom?

Is that you? Don’t you just love the inside of this book???! The orange is gorgeous.

Also, Rosie is quite the photobomber.

No shoes allowed in my house because SHOES ARE DIRTY AF.

Also, this face reminds me of my niece.

Week 21 in 2017

Week 21 in 2016

Week 21 in 2015

Week 21 in 2014

Week 21 in 2013

Week 21 in 2012

Week 21 in 2011

LISTS

May 25, 2018

I LOVE LISTS

I LOVE LISTS:

I got Julie Taylor
Savory beignets! YES PLEASE.
Kitchen tools to bring to your weekend rental. We used to bring our espresso machine!
Some pretty cool elevators (to get stuck in)
The cake I want for my birthday this year.
I always love reading about food waste solutions. How about you?
Why you’re getting all those privacy emails this week.
Parenting goals
What it means to live a slower life.
I find it fascinating to look at what’s on the McDonald’s menus around the world.
Some of these yearbook quotes are unbelievable.
Yay! Necco is still alive!
Fingers crossed.
Skincare as a coping mechanism
These printable planners are so cool. Gonna play with some soon.
Can you catch up on sleep during the weekend?
Women who are changing the world
How I learned to make friends with my anxiety (currently working on this)
I am not sure if I remember Bonkers candy…
All my favorite strawberry recipes in case you missed it!
How Japanese soy sauce has been made over the last 750 years.
Moleskine makes an app. Great, another thing for me to try and still have a paper calendar.
If you’ve never been to one of David Sedaris’ readings, you’re missing out!
This dress with these shoes and a cute denim jacket please.

Reading Inventing Joy (really into it so far)

Licorice chips– my grandpa used to have these on his nightstand when I was a kid and I brought them back into my life. They’re an amazing coping mechanism.

I’ve been using my mom’s coach bag for the past week. Every time I open it, it smells like my childhood. Scent is a really powerful thing.

around the home, Inspiration

May 23, 2018

Make Art with Kids on Skillshare

My niece Abby is an incredible artist at 9 years old! I was excited to have her spend the night this weekend because I never get girl time in my house of boys AND I knew she would be happy to do a few art classes on Skillshare with me. Armed with snacks & watercolor supplies, we went through the course catalog and decided on taking two classes.

By the way, if you have kids at home this summer, Skillshare is a GREAT resource for you. If you’re not familiar with Skillshare, it’s an online community for learning & teaching creative skills. Skillshare connects expert practitioners with students around the world who collaborate on everyday skills from culinary arts, photography to design.

They have kindly offered my readers TWO MONTHS free of Skillshare Premium!

You can basically set up your own Summer Art Camp using their workshops!

OK So let me show you what our afternoon art date looked like!

recipes

May 22, 2018

Favorite Strawberry Recipes

Right now in California, juicy strawberries are showing up in the farmer’s markets. I figured it’s time for me to look in the archives (11 year’s worth!) and find all of my Favorite Strawberry Recipes. Cooper LOVE strawberries so we’re sometimes swimming in them here!

If you’re also looking to do something fun with strawberries this season, HERE! Let me inspire you:

LISTS

May 21, 2018

Intentions for the Week:

Hello Friends! Happy Monday. This is week 21 of 2018!

This weekend we had my brother-in-law and niece over. During that time, we had baseball, I shot photos, edited photos, planted plants, went to Home Depot and hung out with my Dad (did some meal prep for him!). I’ve spent so much time on the computer every night for the past few weeks, so I’m hoping to make that less of a habit soon because it’s messing up my sleep.

This week I’m working on styling/photographing the recipe cards for One Potato (a meal delivery box subscription!). My kitchen will be trashed by Wednesday, no doubt. Is it weird to say that I can’t wait to have an empty fridge? Taking photos of food I make (for a living!) is awesome but it also really messes up my fridge mojo. Could definitely be worse! 😉

Let’s figure out what my Intentions for the Week are:

Intentions for the Week:

laundry
grocery shop
shoot salad for magazine
get Cooper packed for baseball trip
prep/style/shoot recipes for One Potato
deep clean kitchen
shoot new items for The Handwriting Club
send out orders from The Handwriting Club (thank you!)
put aside things to sell on Poshmark
make kombucha
stay on top of email/continue sorting emails
workout/walk with Casey
do a face mask & paint nails
vacuum inside of my car
work on my painting practice #100daysartbeforebreakfast
wash out my water bottle & drink more water
eat to nourish, not to NUMB
spent less time on my phone in the morning

Cleaning out the fridge tonight turned into an impromptu #shutterbeanmealprep ! Rice, carrots, pasta, arugula, arugula pesto, trail mix (I used whatever is left in my pantry) carrot coconut soup (on the blog) energy bars, mint simple syrup, strawberries, cashews soaking for cashew cream, & mint iced tea! This should help us make a few things before I go grocery shopping this week. #mealprep

A post shared by Tracy Benjamin (@shutterbean) on May 14, 2018 at 6:07pm PDT

Last Week’s Intentions:

~~stay on top of the laundry~~
vacuum inside of my car
clean out fridge (I did but then I had a photoshoot so it was short-lived)
~~work on my painting practice #100daysartbeforebreakfast~~
~~meet with the bank~~
~~workout/hike with Casey~~
~~finish planting new plants~~ (almost done. I have clematis to plant)
~~do meal prep~~
~~make kombucha~~
make banana bread (used the bananas for smoothies instead)
~~put clothes away in guest bedroom~~
restock pantry with supplies
~~clean up office~~
~~make a new recipe~~ (see stuffed peppers!)
~~write thank you notes~~
~~catch up on social media~~
figure out where to get my camera fixed (I used another camera instead of doing this)
~~clean out baseball bag/refill (I need to do this weekly now)~~
~~keep the kitchen clean- have a no dishes in sink daily challenge~~ (YAY!!)
~~wash out my water bottle & drink more water~~
try to be better about using my bullet journal. I’ve been lax and it really shows. (used a clipboard instead)
~~send out orders from The Handwriting Club (thank you!)~~
get enough sleep – stop staying up late working! (worked late every night this week!! DANGIT)
~~make more family meals this week~~