Sunday Stuff

1. 15 Food Blogger Trends of 2012 That Need to Go. Yes to #3 and #10. No to #1.

2. I'm barely a food blogger at this point, but I did make some tasty cookies, and take pretty pictures of them (without props), and I will post them. Soon.

3. 25 Reasons Why Beards Change Everything - Not gonna lie, I love that it's "winter beard" time around our house.

4. Why Do We Blink So Frequently? Fascinating.

5. Glove Love Rescues Single Mittens. I love this.

6. Any resolutions to share? I'm going to get back to sending snail mail. And I'm going to fill this out, and see what other goals bubble to the top of my brain. Happy (almost) New Year!

Sunday Stuff. On Monday.

1. Too many to wrap up into one New Year's Resolution perhaps. But still. 50 Things to Stop Doing Forever.

2. Can someone make my earbuds cozy and pretty for me?

(via)

3. Yes.

(Again, with thanks to my little bro.)

4. My credit card might burst into flames if I try and use it, so I need to enable someone else's shopping habit... Have you heard of TMRDNL?  It's the line designed by Tamar Daniel, an Israeli- British-American fashion designer who makes high end clothing that is also machine washable, scrunchable for packing and still looks good stuff. I've admired the line, but it was way out of my price range. But now, she's moving on, so it's all on sale, for non-crazy designer prices. AND you can get an extra 20% off. Read this blog post to see some of the pieces and get the code. Go forth and shop. 

Sunday Stuff

1. I love getting the Sunday paper. For as long as I can remember, I've always sorted the paper into two piles, the regular paper sections and the ads, and then I went back through and sorted again into the sections that I wanted to read. I'm sure my parents loved this... I still love sorting the paper, and I think Mike secretly does too, because I have to fight to get to the paper first to get the right to sort it.

2. Gawker's Fruits, Ranked is funny on its own, but the comments are great too. This one made me giggle.

3. Stunning. 2012: The Year in Photos (part one, part two, part three)

4. Sending Christmas cards? Want to fill your head with fun facts about them?

5. Cranky rant time. If you're a dog owner, please be responsible and use a leash. Like a lot of cities,  Ann Arbor has a lease law, which means if you are with your dog in a public space - the sidewalk, a park, a trail, downtown (pretty much anywhere other than your own lawn) - your dog is supposed to be on a leash. Our dog has been attacked multiple times, and we continue to have close call after close call. Today a large dog came charging at us while we were out running. Luckily, we saw it coming, and I had time to pick up our dog to get her out of harm's way, but I just had to hope that the other dog wasn't in the mood for a taste of human leg.

We've heard all of the excuses, and I'm tired of them.

"My dog has never done this before!!" and/or "My dog is really well-trained!!"

• Great, I'm sure it is, but there's a first time for everything. One of our dog's trips to the doggie emergency room was courtesy of "well-trained" dog who had "never acted like that before."

"Oh, I didn't think anyone was around."

• You're out in public!? This excuse is the lamest of them all.  

"My dog needs to run."

• Visit a dog park! Or start running with your dog (with a lease)!

You're making responsible law-abiding dog owners look bad, it's irresponsible, and can cause problems, not just with other dogs, but with small children, people who don't like or are scared of dogs, etc. Please, just stop. Thank you.

Sunday Stuff

1. Our tree is awesome. One of our best ever.


2. And now I'm a pile of Christmas-y mama mush. The truth about Santa.

3. It's not even my birthday yet, and I'm feeling ridiculously spoiled!  Beautiful new(ly thrifted) items to expand my wardrobe, including crazy awesome designer pieces, a new fragrance (Yes, it's a men's eau de toilette. Don't judge. It smells light and fresh, and not like a dude, promise.), and a couple of delightful dinners with a free dessert and a champagne toast for the table. Biiiiiirrrrthhhdaaaays!

4. - Pop Danthology 2012 – A mashup of 50+ pop songs from this year. (Props to my little brother, who posted this way before I saw it a bajillion other places.)

5. Happy December! 

Sunday Stuff

1. Cranberries are underrated. This was so good.

2. I heart Anne Lamott. On how to find time and create the rich life you deserve.

3. This makes my heart melt into a big pile of sappy mama mush.

4. Jellyfish rock. Do you think they have Powerball up in the North Pole? I hope Santa plays, because I've got a jellyfish tank on my fantasy wish list.

5. Twitter kills me. I just can't get into it. No surprise then that these might be my favorite tweeters (tweeties?).

Well, okay, this one isn't bad either.

(via Dooce.com. Heather finds the best tweets every week. One blog post, funny tweets found for me, time saved!)

6. I'm not ready for Monday.

Sunday Stuff

1. Jean-Georges' Ginger Fried Rice. This was named a Genius Recipe on Food52, and for darn good reason. You must make this. You won't break your egg yolk, so yours will look prettier. But it doesn't matter if you're a clumsy egg flipper like I am, you can't mess up a recipe this easy and this delicious. I used a rice blend from Trader Joe's with brown rice, black barley, and daikon seeds. The added texture interest was great, but any rice will do nicely.

2. This is my new favorite blog. I adore every word she highlights. And one of my dear friends wrote about vorfreude, a word which appeared with seemingly providential timing on said blog.

3. I've said this before, but it bears repeating, because I got a repeat visit this week. Why are you trying to sell your religion door-to-door? The Girl Scouts don't even try to sell cookies that way anymore. (Though I wish they did.) Honestly, I'd love to see statistics on how successful this strategy is. Perhaps the numbers don't matter. Maybe if you save one soul it's worth the hundreds of rejections. I need a standard gentle rejection response for solicitors. The door stickers seem too harsh, but I'm almost never in the mood for a sales pitch on politicians, religion, or basement systems (yes, they visited this week too), even when I agree with their position or spiel.

4. While I'm on a negative vibe, are you prepared for an emergency? I'm not. We should maybe do a bit more. If you're in the market to go overboard, you can always pick up a few tips from the Doomsday Preppers. Have you seen that show? It's crazypants. It makes me scared for humanity.

legendary & lame

 (Photo from Sian Zeng)

Legendary

+ Magnetic wallpaper! How fun is this?! Next house, this is going in a powder room (wallpaper like this transforms half-baths into powder rooms).

+ Etiquette and manners. If I had a posse, Emily Post would be in it. (Okay, so it's an imaginary posse of ghosts. Details.) I'm kind-of a stickler for them (I know, shocker, this doesn't fit with my personality at all), and I'm always impressed when other people display that they matter to them too. I believe I have my grandparents to thank for this in large part (parental units too of course), as I went to a lot of nice restaurants with them when I was young. We ate where they wanted to eat and we ate on their schedule. Was I always excited about that? Probably not, but it stuck with me, and I value the lessons I learned from them. No surprise then that I hope we can get manners to stick with Josephine too. This seems like a fun way to start.

+ Moms (and dads!) in the photos with their kids. This is especially relevant with the holidays - and photo card frenzy - right around the corner. I know, I know, your kids ARE cute, but I knew you before I knew your kids, and I happen to like seeing you too. So do it for your card recipients, but more importantly, do it for your kids.

+ This is the most beautiful food truck I've ever seen. Added to the to-do list for my next trip out to San Fran.

+ Cider mills, hot donuts, apple cider, and the explosion of color happening on the trees right now, almost makes colder weather bearable.

Lame

- Almost, but not quite. Cold weather stinks. If you need me, I'll be in front of a space heater until May.

- There is no pink (just to be clear, that's legendary, not lame), so why do baby clothes designers continuously put out little girl clothing that looks like a box of glitter/gang of Barbies/basket of fairies exploded on them. Enough already!

Belly Delight: Banana & Butternut Buttermilk Cake

The addition of butternut squash and warm spices (I used ginger instead of cardamon) give this cake a subtle, but delightful, autumn flavor. Despite its shape, this falls solidly in the banana bread category for me, however, add a drizzle of brown sugar icing or serve it with pumpkin ice cream (or both! go crazy!) and it becomes a dessert just right for cool fall days.

Even though critters consumed about two-thirds of the squash in our garden, we still have more than our fair share of butternut squash, so I'll be trying to find lots of butternut belly delights in the coming weeks!

legendary & lame

{legendary}

+ Real Time Farms Joins Food52 in New Partnership. Woop! As they said in their announcement, "we're like internet soulmates." Yes, yes we are. They have a video on the right way to load a dishwasher. This might be love. Clearly I'm now obviously completely justified in re-loading other people's dishwashers who are doing it wrong. No? Oh well then...

+ In honor of our brand spanking new partnership, I made my first Food52 recipe, Sweet & Savory Tomato Jam. This is so good, adjectives are failing me. It's like tomato crack (in the best possible sense).

+ Candy from another country. Yup, the way to my heart just might be through my belly.

+ This moment, the one that I was anticipating, I got it. We have a new giant pillow in the playroom, and today, when I flopped down on it, our daughter flopped her little head on my belly. It only lasted for a few seconds, before she was off and whirring with activity again, but it was one of the very best moments of my day.

{lame}

- These guys.

                          (via)

Cicada Killer Wasps. Yes, they are huge. And they've taken over our patio. Gah.

legendary & lame

{legendary}
+ Seven years of marriage with my amazing husband and celebrating with a good arm workout.

+ Being married to a man with wanton disregard for "no gift" discussions who spoils me rotten.
+ My favorite jewelry line, Odette New York, is not only stunningly beautiful, but it also is created by a super wonderful woman. (Many thanks Jennifer.)
+ The prettiest salad I've ever seen.
+ The company picnic we attended this weekend. Mike's newest employee, Tad*, strolls up to him, shakes his hand and blurts, "So the old lady let you out of the house, huh?" (Cue laughing from the surrounding dozen or so colleagues. ) Mike, without missing a beat, smiles broadly, and says, "Tad, I'd like you to meet my wife, Lindsay." ha.
+ The lovely Emily who inspired this post and the group of dudes who inspired the name
+ The Summer Olympics. They give me the goosebumps. I've decided I need to pick an obscure sport and master it by 2016. Suggestions? 

{lame}
- The Argo Cascades are closed due to low water flow. We have been staring at them all summer, Mike's parents were watching baby J, and we didn't get to go down them. Argh.

(via)

-  I hate it when I let other people make me feel bad for no good reason. Last night we were out on the town, reveling in a rare adult night out, and getting an early start on celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary. We'd finished dinner, and were driving home when a woman darted out mid-block, crossing the street in the dark carrying a baby. She screamed at the top of our lungs for us to slow down. We were going exactly 25 miles an hour (the speed limit). We weren't doing anything wrong, and yet it's a day later, the event has passed, and I'm still feeling icky and wishing I could go back in time to set her straight.

*name has been changed to protect the (not-so) innocent 

Mama Musings

1) Aren't unexpected gifts just the best?!

2) Baby jeans. I'm convinced they were invented by a dude. A dude without a kid. A dude who watched his lady hop around the bedroom trying to tug on a pair of too tight jeans and thought, "You know what would be great? If parents could wrestle stiff non-stretchy fabric onto infants." Yeah.

3) Dundee, Scotland just went up in my book. This is probably my favorite recent grocery store purchase. This is a BIG statement coming from a former ginger hater. (Nooo, not that kind-of ginger.) It looks a bit like marmalade, which is admittedly scary. Although I don't think I've tasted marmalade since I was about 12. Doesn't matter though. This is good stuff. Find it, buy it, and slather it on some peanut butter toast.

Chive Blossoms and Wet Egg Willies

One of my friends makes a mean frittata. His are always just perfectly set. Mine on the other hand are always slightly overcooked, because wet eggs give me the willies. It's not that I worry about eating raw eggs ('cuz I know my farmer), it's the texture of undercooked eggs that does me in.

During our last family trip to England it seemed that every B&B owner upon hearing that I was a vegetarian would eschew their standard breakfast. It was somehow not acceptable to serve me the standard English breakfast sans meat, they felt like that had to come up with something else. Now why not eating meat translates into not giving me a fried egg is beyond me, but they'd all exclaim, "Ooh, I'll make you scrambled eggs!" Nothing is worse than scrambled eggs so undercooked that they glisten and have jiggly white bits in it, which is how they always arrived. Shudder. I've never been happier that my step-dad is an indiscriminate eater.

Anywho. Frittatas. I made one recently and it was good. Asparagus, mozzarella and chive blossoms. No glistening eggs in sight, just a nice firm (slightly overcooked) frittata dotted with green and white morsels and topped with a scattering of tasty purple flecks. It was picture perfect. But it was also 8:30 pm, and I was really hungry. So you can get a glimpse of my chive blossom vinegar instead.

Purty, right? Easy too. Just pick a bunch of chive blossoms, soak them in water to get out any dirt or buggies, dry them and put them in a jar. Fill up the jar with a vinegar of your choice (a light colored one will highlight the subtle purple tint that the blossoms impart) and let it sit for a week or two in a cool dark spot. Then you can strain out the blossoms and enjoy your creation on salads or any other dish that could use livening up.

Not a vinegar lover? No problem, you can still put your chive blossoms to good use! Sprinkle those little blossoms on a pizza, some risotto, anything that would benefit from little chivey pick-me-up.

Anything other than wet eggs that is.

Mama Musings

{1} I am not the thinnest I've ever been. I'm not the most toned I've ever been. My body doesn't look like it did when I was in college. Yet I am the most comfortable in my own skin I've ever been. Learning what your body is capable does wonderful things for your body image. So much so that I even recently ran a race in tight running pants - the kind I swore would never grace my thighs. My running speed left a bit to be desired, but hey, I'm positive I beat my time from last year (when I ran it pregnant)!

{2} I am one of the world's worst nappers. This is unfortunate, especially during a string of 5am wake-ups. No matter how tired I am, I struggle with turning my brain off and allowing myself to believe that I deserve the gift of sleep without guilt.

{3} I finished reading a book last night. It was the first book I've finished this year. !?! Yup, at this pace, I'll read a whopping 2 books in 2012. That's a problem. I'm a reader. I love reading books, and generally read around 2 a month, but I have clearly not been making it a priority. One problem might be the ridiculous number of blogs I follow. 250. I know, I need help. I've whittled that number down under 100 this week, with the ultimate goal of getting down to 50. (PS - the book was "Dear Daughter" by Heather Armstrong, and I highly recommend it, especially if you're a mama, it was laugh out funny and really touching.)

{4} Does there ever come a point when the sounds your child makes aren't intoxicating? My husband's eyes crinkled with delight listening to the baby monitor the other night, and I immediately grabbed for it to join in on listening to the adorable sleep noises she was producing. Our baby girl's giggles and babbles fill up a room and make my heart ache with their cuteness. (Of course, when it is nap-time, I find myself wanting to marinate in the silence. The hum of the refrigerator has never sounded so soothing.)

Us vs. the Yard - Round 3

A new season, a new field of flowers in the backyard. Yup, we did dig a whole bucket of these bulbs out of the backyard last spring (along with a bucket of tulip bulbs). Mother nature, you win.

All of the peonies we transplanted look really happy, and some have already been blooming. I'm enjoying them so much, I think they might be my new favorite flower. I was hesitant to crown a new favorite, because I know that a number of people associate me with daisies, but they just haven't been resonating with me lately. Does it sound like a break-up? I'm sorry daisies, it's not you, it's me. You'll always have a special spot in my heart, but it's time to usher in a new flower era.

We doubled the size of our garden this spring, and so far everything is thriving. Fingers crossed that beginner's luck carries into a second season.

A Pretty Project

How cute are these? A short time before this photo was taken, these earrings were comprised of plain clear crystals.

I was inspired by this DIY - Colorblock Necklace project and coerced (it didn't actually take much coercing) a friend into playing along with me (yes, we picked up our earrings at Forever 21 too). It was quick and easy to paint our earrings with nail polish, and the only disappointing part about the project was that we each had only picked up one set of earrings to play with.

Selling Religion Like Cookies

Last week two men with softly colored collared shirts ("friendly, yet serious!") strode up to our front door clutching pamphlets. I did what any sane person would do. I hid.

What? You're a mature adult and would have answered the door? Good for you.

Call me crazy, but I'm not a big fan of discussing my religious/spiritual beliefs with strangers. It's personal, you know? And I don't like being told that unless I change them, I'll be headed to a place I don't believe exists.

After they left, I briefly flipped through the handout, and fixated on the multiple choice question "Which Jesus is the correct Jesus?" I was instantly disappointed that I hadn't answered the door and busted out my best Will Ferrell impression.

"Dear Tiny Infant Jesus.... Look, I like the Christmas Jesus best... When you say grace you can say it to Grown-Up Jesus, or Teenage Jesus, or Bearded Jesus or whoever you want."

I am a very neat, organized, and detail-oriented person. My closet is arranged first by type of clothing, and then by color within those categories. My spice rack is in alphabetical order (I contend that this one is not unusual, but I know at least one friend is going to disagree with me. Seriously, how do you quickly find the paprika if they are all jumbled together?!) I love editing, and delight in finding misuses of "it's." I will re-load dishwashers in order to get them more organized (there's a "right" way). 

As a type this though, there are piles of folded laundry at one end of the living room, another pile of clean, but neglected, laundry at the other end, and a variety of dog and baby toys strewn in between. Parenthood has brought a whole new level of disorder to my life, and I love it.

Growing Pangs

Last weekend we stopped swaddling our daughter and began sleep training (I know, it's controversial. It made sense to us, it might not be a good fit for you. I respect that.) all at one go. Due to a variety of boring reasons, we started all of this on an earlier night that we'd originally talked about. This meant that on my last night of putting our daughter to bed all wrapped up like a burrito, I didn't know it was the last night. The next day I had pangs of disappointment over not getting to "say goodbye" to the baby burrito.

It's hard to believe that at only 4.5 months, she's already leaving some stages and entering others. My camera just doesn't seem to be able to capture everything I want it to. Like the way she violently flings her head forward as she sneezes multiple times in a row, and then ends with a sneeze-less "Ah-hmmm." Or the way her eyes get bigger and her face lights up with pure, unadulterated glee right before she eats. Or my recent favorite, the way she puts her hands on my cheeks, closes her eyes, and lets out a little sigh when I lean in for an eskimo kiss.

I'm trying my best to take a moment every day to fully soak in her Josephine-ness of that day, because I know it will be different tomorrow. And then I just have to trust that my memory will do a better job of capturing these moments than an electronic device ever could.

Why is This Vintage?

I love this ad. So much.

(Image found on: CMYBacon)

Yes, it also rules because she's a redhead, but it is so refreshing so see a product advertised to girls without gobs of pink, princesses, pink, sparkles, pink, ruffles, pink, flowers, pink, butterflies, pink, bows, and a little more pink. Unfortunately the ad is decades old.

I happen to like all (okay, most) of the above, but hello moderation. I can't say I'm a big fan of the new line of girl LEGO sets (or all of the super specific LEGO sets for that matter - basic LEGO sets are awesome, and encourage creativity!). I think we're overdoing the explosion of gender-specific toys, clothing, and their corresponding advertising. I don't know what this little girl built, but she's certainly happy about it. Can't we get back to encouraging kids to just be kids?