August 1, 2016

Around the Home: Laundry Closet Makeover

We finally updated our laundry room closet! This small narrow space was driving me absolutely BONKERS because it was so disorganized and cramped. We all had some bad habits of shoving stuff in that corner when we didn’t want to deal with it. Actually…it was mostly me.

When we first moved into my childhood home, we used my parent’s washer & dryer (washer from my childhood!) until they stopped working. We bought ourselves front loaders and stacked them in this little closet instead of having them side-by-side. We wanted to put shelving in and paint the inside but didn’t have enough momentum so I put a super cheap IKEA shelf from our old house in the small/narrow space and called it done “for now.” Shelf was too narrow and a poor use of space. It’s gone and a new organizing system is in place. Let me show you!

my everyday life, Photography

July 30, 2016

My Everyday Life: Week 30

Here’s what My Everyday Life – Week 30 looked like:

Party at my house!

We celebrated my dad’s 70th birthday!!

I made him a blueberry crumble.

So tall.

Minecraft party.

Prism rainbow on my tie dye.

Rosie and I hanging out on the kitchen floor.

Playing around with my brush pen.

My favorite kind of play.

RAWR.

July 29, 2016

I love lists

Welcome to I love Lists! Let’s surf the internet together:

This is such good news for us!
PEP TALK GENERATOR!
End times
I used to have reoccurring dreams (nightmares) I was falling off one of these.
This makes me want to go through my whole house and organize.
I want a butcher block kitchen island!
These make me want to paint…
Thank you for the graffiti translation.
Got them all right.
For my birthday.
Pizza Cat is my favorite.
How to Eat a Lobster. I’d like to eat one this summer, please.
Check out the set design of the Parent Trap- 1961.
This makes me want to host a cocktail party.
What’s your hot dog style?! I just like mustard and onions.
Urgency Importance Matrix?
Guess what we’re putting in the waffle iron this weekend?!!
Check out these rare historical photos.
If you have tomatoes to use up, this salad looks excellent.
Oh goodness. This is like candy for my brain.
This apartment in London is mega charming.
Are you sorry about wasting food? I hate it so much.
Oh I love this DIY Neon Marbling project!

Books to Inspire:

July 27, 2016

Currently July 2016

Currently I am:

Hoping that my Mom is OK. She had to go to the hospital this week. Please keep her in your thoughts!

Cooper has poison oak ALL OVER his body right now. It’s so bad. We are on day 5.

Btw, he’s been with me for almost 3 weeks straight. It’s been fun/interesting/awesome/crazy. Figured out day 2 that we needed structure. Like…..SO BAD. We made a calendar. We’ve revised it a million times since. We have a loose structure. But, it’s been good. We both thrive on structure….but I’m reeeeeeeally trying hard to find a good balance of getting my work done and it’s not been easy. As a result, I’ve been drinking more coffee and pondering how there are people out there who have the patience to homeschool their children. Like… with more than one child! Homeschoolers, I salute you. I am enjoying waking up later in the mornings, though. Silver lining times 1000. Also….how am I ever going to wake up early for school next year?

Watching Chef’s Table while I work at night. It’s been a really good thing to have on in the background. Sometimes music stresses me out when I’m trying to write. Wait. Everything stresses me out when I’m trying to write. Meanwhile, Casey’s been working with episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 in the background. I’m not sure how he’s getting anything done. #donnamartingraduates

Googling/researching/watching youtube videos how to make my own raw cat food. The only thing that’s been working for both Ella & Rosie is Rad Cat but between the two of them that is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much money. Does anyone out there make their own raw cat food? Please tell me what you do!

Amazed at how loving Cooper is with the cats. He’s learning how to be patient. Still unsure about picking them up. We’re working on it. Though, he keeps telling me how he prefers Rosie over Ella and I tried to tell him, “Well, sometimes that just happens, but it’s not something you need to talk about (ALL THE TIME). Like, I’m sure people have a favorite child but they don’t say anything because that would hurt someone’s feelings. His response,”You don’t have a favorite child. You just have me.” That’s when I blurted out, “YOU’RE MY FAVORITE CHILD!” I thought that was the end of the discussion until he told me five minutes later that Rosie will always be his favorite. Ok, then.

Dipping my toe back into the bullet journal system. I gave it up for a few years back because I got distracted with a binder system that I couldn’t keep up. Now I need something new…. UGH. But now I am struggling with the size. Do I want my journal to be 7.5×10 or 5×8.25? Do I want it to be ruled, have graph paper, dots or just be plain white paper? What’s your favorite size? Also, I realize that I have so many dang notebooks that I’ve never finished. Notebooks and lipsticks are both things I have too many of…but I think I gave up my hope of ever turning into a lipstick fan because I’m not even sure when the last time I bought lipstick was. #carmexbeforebedandthatsit

Went through Cooper’s closet like I had planned to on my Summer Bucket List. this month. He’s keeping it clean. We’re working on it together. This is good. This is really good. I hope we keep it up.

Eating a version of this salad all summer. It’s too hot to cook.

Painting our laundry closet right now. It’s going to be a dark gray (big surprise!) with white accessories. I hope to have it done so I can show you next week. Meanwhile, I’m compiling images on Pinterest to help me figure out our master bedroom.

Been looking for an in between tote bag & a pouch/clutch. I ordered this one on Etsy. It had been on my wishlist for years. IT IS AWESOME! I love the pouch because it’s good to grip onto, but sometimes when I’m out shopping and I have things in my hands, I can’t easily put my phone in my bag and it’s all a clustercuss. So I’m loving this one. Although, just watch. It won’t be big enough one day and then a new search starts.

Resisted Pokemon Go for awhile. Downloaded it and then freaked out the whole time that my kid was going to drop my phone. We haven’t opened the app (that takes FOREVER TO LOAD) in a week. Does that mean I can delete it now?

Thinking about getting a travel steamer. I blame Joy.

Daydreaming about our Tahoe trip soon. I think we’re going horseback riding this year. I hope my horse’s name is Buttercup.

Crafting my summer playlist. I still can do that, right? We have all of August to enjoy it. Here’s the thing about me and music. I don’t listen to music like most people do. To me, I find great comfort in listening to a song over and over and OVER again until I get sick of it. Then I don’t want to hear it again for another 5 years. Current songs I have on repeat: Disparate Youth | Eyes | One Dance | My House (do those links even work?) (I think you have to have spotify) What are you listening to?

-JULY 2016

Feel free to type up your currently stream of consciousness in the comments.

It feels good…like a nice brain massage for people who love lists.

July 26, 2016

Spicy Mango Chile Wraps

A few years ago, my friend Laura put together a wonderful raw/vegan dinner in San Francisco. I helped out a bit and during that event I was introduced to these amazing Spicy Mango Chile Wraps. I was sad that I could only have 1!

I’m so glad they made their way into Laura’s book- Raw Vegan Not Gross!

Now I can have as many as I want…which is all of them.

Each cabbage leaf carries a few spoonfuls of an amazing crunchy/spicy/sweet almond walnut spread as well as carrots, red peppers, jicama mango and cilantro. My meat eating husband was surprise how good/filling these were. The best part is that I didn’t have to turn my oven on and everything is so incredibly fresh, satisfying and most importantly- healthy! That nut spread is definitely going in my meal prep rotation.