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Hey Jordan,
Hope you're well! I just saw Kendrick's gift guide, which reminded me that I need to buy presents for my brothers, which reminded me that one of them is about to move out of the house and in with his girlfriend for the first time. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on a good gift to get a couple just starting out?
Trader Joe's is such a joy in my life. Putting aside the wine selection for a moment (but omg the wine selection), can we please talk about those samples? They are literally what give me the ability to wander through the aisles unaccompanied by the sounds of budding sibling rivalry in the form of simultaneous desire for the exact. same. banana.
The unfortunate thing about the fact that the samples must immediately be dispensed into tiny hands if we are to maintain any semblance of peace is that I rarely get a chance to try them. I guess I could pick up a third little sample plate for myself, but I become so excited by the fact that my children are paralyzed by the sight of herb-scented quinoa mounds placed atop teeny little crackers that I just start rocketing around the store in search of the aged gouda that is my other joy in life.
But the other day I went to Trader Joe's and made my customary stop at the counter to pick up samples for Indy and Goldie, and Goldie decided that she didn't like hers (and said decision, in toddler-speak, translates to I Will Throw This Dramatically Onto The Floor If You Do Not Remove It From My Hands RIGHT NOW). So, in the grand tradition of mothers everywhere, I ate my child's partially-masticated leftovers. (If you think this is the grossest thing I did all week, you would be very, very wrong.)
{ Christmas candy! }
OK SOOOOO my new book comes out in just a couple of weeks, and I'm having all the flutters. If you'd like to pick up a copy as a holiday gift for the mom-to-be or new mom in your life, you can preorder it here.
Aaaah this sweater looks like the coziest (and simultaneously most elegant) thing ever.
You know what's fun about Palomas (besides everything)? They're light and fruity - so you'd imagine they'd be a strictly-for-summer cocktail - but the deep pink color and snowy (or, to be specific, sugary-salty) rim and general fabulousness make them perfect for the holidays.
(MAN that sugar-salt rim is good. I've never tried doing this before, and for real: you have to give it a shot.)
Tequila hasn't really been my beverage of choice for...oh, maybe a decade now (due in large part to a couple of tequila-inclusive incidents during my college years that turned me off the stuff for awhile), but I've recently rediscovered it. Not the bottom-shelf swill that we used to drink straight from the bottle during our dorm room dance parties - ohhhh god, I get a headache just thinking about that - but rather the good (or at least pretty good) stuff. When it comes to tequila, it's always worth spending a little extra money, because bad tequila is a bad time. And good tequila? Whee.
You know those little charms that you can hook onto your wineglass so that everyone at a party can tell which glass is theirs? I've always thought they sounded like a nice idea, but there are two problems with this: 1) Most of the charms I've seen around are a little on the cheesy side (although these are kind of cute); and 2) I usually use tumblers for wine instead of traditional glasses, and wine charms are made to hook around the stem of a glass.
Those aren't the biggest problem, though; the biggest problem is that owning something like wine charms requires forethought, and forethought is not something that I typically possess. The only times that it has ever occurred to me that I might like to own some wine charms has been when I am mid-party and suddenly discover that I have no idea which glass is mine. Over Thanksgiving weekend, this is exactly what happened, and so do you know what I did?
Broke out my crafting box, of course. A little twine, some jewelry clasps that I have hanging around from a bracelet project I did with Michael's, and a few fake berry branches leftover from a photo shoot, and BOOM. For real, if you have some string (twine, Christmas ribbon, cooking string, etc) laying around, you can do this...and you can use anything as an identifier - a couple of beads, a dried flower, a leaf, whatever. It's totally something you can do in five seconds. And it's fun. And free.
glam | camp Sweatshirt | Stella McCartney Sunglasses | DIY-ed cutoffs
I've mentioned this sweatshirt before, but since I wore it 100% of the time that I was in LA (which was quite a bit colder than I expected it to be) I thought I'd put up some shots here. It would have been hard not to if I wanted to put up any photos from our quick visit at all, because not only did I wear it all day long; I also wore it all night long (because in the past few weeks, more often than not, I have been "sleeping" - a.k.a. "not sleeping" - topped with a sweaty toddler who insists on being planted on Mama's chest in order to fall asleep). I slept in the sweatshirt in LA because what happened was my daughter passed out on top of me, and despite the fact that I was fully dressed with unbrushed teeth, a full face of makeup, and an arm that had fallen asleep...I passed out too. Like, immediately. At 7:30PM. (It was as raucous of a visit as it sounds like it was.)
I've thought a lot about this particular sweatshirt over the past few weeks, since Erin wrote her post about what her body means to her now that she's a mother and since I wrote this, about my own struggle with my body over the years. Writing that post cored me for a minute, you know. Sometimes writing feels like pulling letters out of thin air, and other times it feels like you're using brute force to remove a thing that's already sitting there, fully formed, inside your head. For a couple of weeks after I wrote that post I felt done with words; tired of thinking about what happened and ready to think about what's happening now.
Tell me this isn't the coolest family photo you've ever seen.
You may have noticed in the credits at the bottom of some posts that I've been working with a new photographer (who I happened to find on Thumbtack, actually - that company is like the gift that keeps on giving), Sue Hudelson. I wanted to show you a few of the family portraits she does through her company, Su Casa Portraits, both because if you're in the Bay Area you may be in the market for this kind of thing, and also just for straight-up inspiration, because the holiday season is a good time to gather everybody up and force them to stand in front of a camera. (And if you let them wear Batman costumes and hold chickens, it may take a little less convincing, just saying.)
Posted a few more fun shots below. Love them.
Father Of The Year 2015
by Kendrick
Maybe I'm getting old. I mean, not in the semi-facetious way that makes people say, "Who you? Not hardly!" but rather in the curmudgeonly way that can't reconcile today's world - where each day ends, more often than not, with the words "Retrieve Lost Password" flashing across my screen - with the bygone one full of fantasies and laserbeams.
{ Thanksgiving Eve with my girls (and a boy) }
I have to tell you: when you've lived in New York City, Westchester, and Boston for the majority of your years, it is extremely difficult to get into the holiday spirit while literally sweating (and not because you're wearing your wooly Ugly Christmas Sweater; because it is 75 degrees outside).
Now, to be clear, I'm not complaining; I'm pretty excited about the fact that this winter will most likely not include death-defying highway trips, gnome-slaying trees and frantic Googling of the words "How To Unfreeze Your Pipes." REALLY psyched about all of that. But still: I need my Christmas to feel cozy and wintry. Fortunately, one of the little oddities of our house is that the living room is kind of small and dark (made to feel way larger by the office conversion, but still), and has these amazing exposed beams, so the overall effect is kind of Aspen cabin-y. And while the vibe is mildly disconcerting in the context of a California summer, once you add a Christmas tree and a fireplace, it's totally the Holiday House of my dreams.
