Rant and Rave

Saturday, December 3, 2011

A Holiday Sleepover

The kids had a sleepover with their bestest of friends, Marinatha and Obidiah, this weekend. They decorated some wrapping paper and made tags in the morning. Our stop at the "electric" store would've made Steve Job's proud as all four lined up and started gaming with complete authority. Then we made the presumed mac-n-cheese for lunch and took the boys out to a cookie decorating party hosted by Noah's classmate Cole. Then it was time to head home and for the boys to play legos and for the girls to play dress up. After dinner, everyone squeezed into the tub for a bubble bath. It was not so long ago that our tub seemed much larger, now they barely fit!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Chloe and I went on her Montessori School field trip to see the Nutcracker performed by Stapleton ballet. Ethan went with us and we sat next to Zander and his mom Ann, and Cooper and his mom Lisa on the other. The mice were a big hit with all of the kids. The dragon got a mixed verdict of being both very cool, but kinda scary. I was impressed by the young dancers and the gorgeous costumes. Photography was ix-nayed, so I couldn't preserve any of the actual performance. However, it ended up being a gorgeous, blue sky kind of day with temperatures in the mid-70's. Not bad for December! So we snapped some shots and ran off some steam chasing the birds...

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Tree Lighting

Not ours though. That's happening this weekend. However, the local shopping court had a light up night with none other than Big Bad Vodoo Daddy providing some Christmas swing while Santa Claus made his appearance and lit up the tree. The whole event attracted a crowd. The kids had fun dashing about while dancing around and we ran into our friends Natalie and McKenzie and then Santa himself.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

All I want for Christmas...

I woke up this morning to walk down the hall to find that Noah had moved the stool over to face Elfie (or Ella-fee as Chloe says) and read off his Starwars Lego wish list. I could swear Elfie was listening attentively.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thankful Day

Happy Thanksgiving 2011! We celebrated with the Felsmanns this year in Huntington Beach. Juan and Lisa hosted at their house with an array of yummy food. Odily whipped up a brie and apricot spread that was amazing and I had more than my fair share. So much in fact that dessert for me was reserved to the following day! The turkey, squash soup, stuffing, sweet potatoe souffle (with pecans and coconut), sweet rolls, cranberries, mashed potatoes...were all scrumptious. The kids all had fun seeing exactly how well Gondola could really fetch and then broke out the Twister after dinner. Michael was the only adult to have a go on the dots with the kids. Greyson had his first "real food" dinner of sweet potatoes and had the same response as most babies to their first food. Utter confusion and bewilderment, combined with curiosity.

A traditional Thanksgiving Mentos and Soda Pop Geiser!

Aunt Mandi and Tio Joaquin gave the kids a goodie bag on Thanksgiving that included a "bottle rocket" that was activated by dropping Mentos candies into a 2L of soda. It was a blast. Literally. Figuratively.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Trick or Treat!

We joined up with our friends Arjun and Amrit to do some trick-or-treating in the flats near our house. The boys were off and running after the first house and the girls weren't far behind. We loved the houses that were decorated with spooky decor, dry ice or strobe lights. The streets turned pitch black after dusk and the only way to keep an eye on the kids was to watch for the glow rings around their necks. Note to self: sew on reflective tape and have them wear their light up shoes next year!

Knight in Shining Armor

Noah wanted to be a knight this year, probably a residual effect of our visit to Medieval Times months and months ago. We still had the vest so I sewed up some body "armor" and made as manly of a tunic as I could muster the night before. He was the most noble of knights although battle must have been epic, because I had to do triage on the entire costume before we headed out for trick-or-treat that night. The school had a parade through the nearby neighbor hood, complete with a firetruck and what appeared to be an authentic clone trooper that got lots of attention from the kids.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Spider Girl Princess

Chloe requested a spider girl princess costume. I love that she wanted to be an action figure, but not leave out any of the girlie-pretty side. I was a little clueless on how exactly to make it happen for her until I stumbled upon a cast off spider girl dress on the clearance rack. Bought some fabric, made a cape and hair sass, found some spiderweb nylons at Target and added some creepy crawlies to it all.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Friday, November 12, 2010

Caught in the Glare

It is that time of year again where the winter sun is at a low enough angle to stream directly into our house's southern morning exposure. While I love the light - it is positively glaring on a sunny morning like we had today. So I'm hunting down shades for our house. It's time - we've been here a year and a half.

I'm thinking clean lined, unobtrusive, light filtering, but not light blocking and transluscent enough to still be able to see the view!

Here's what I like so far:

Love the vibe of the glowing light, especially through the glass vases.

This would provide much more privacy, but I'm afraid the lack of light and our dark floors may make our tiny house look a little flat.

This may be it! There is a subtle, but very natural weave of white on transluscent white that may provide the perfect mix of transluscency and privacy and add a little texture to boot. I'm pricing it out!

I think these roman shades are very elegant, however are probably too heavy for our little space and not along the clean, bright lines that I'm after. But wanted to have a picture saved in case we choose super clean lined furniture that needs a little softness to take off the modern edge!

Today's action item: Measure windows and send off requests for quote and leadtime to the http://www.theshadestore.com/.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Kidsize Dreams

These are such fresh clean fun kids rooms that have me dreaming about starting all over on the kids rooms! For now, I'm just collecting images that I like and here are a few of my favorites below...

Just love the faux log pillows above and the wall paper below...and would work in the sad little cut logs in a piece of artwork somewhere, maybe countered with a happy old smiling face hidden in a gnarly tree trunk...

Love the double bunk beds, I'm on the fence whether it would be a good thing to have both kids share a room and free up a room for guests/playroom/office?

How about this color combination below? - so great for a boys room.

Ran across this bed that would be perfect Lego storage in Noah's room - with a slightly modified print.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

A Hui Hou

I figure a good way to get started with moving on is to acknowledge where I've been.

And I've realized that I never really did say goodbye to Hawaii. Our intention when we left for Sonoma was to drink alot of wine and then return again. We planned on keeping our house, keeping our friends, even keeping a little bit of the pigeon that we picked up. Noah still sometimes slips up and says "shi-shi" and introduced me as Auntie Jill instead of Mrs. X at school a few weeks ago (brought a bunch of blank stares from the kids, but tears to my eyes). I always thought we'd use the time on the mainland to get a bit ahead financially to figure out how to afford 12+ years of private school or for me to figure out how to wrap my head around possibly homeschooling.

Almost four years later, I'm finally wrapping my head instead around the fact that the Noah has entered kindergarten in a public school, we had another baby (I was a few months pregnant in our farewell picture below), sold our house in Kailua, bought and gutted a house here in Marin, and are likely planted in CA soil for a good long while.

(Bye to our house with tons of light and high ceilings and friends on everyside)

I have to admit this relocation has come more easily to the rest of the family than to me. Michael feels challenged and appreciated at his job here, loves commuting on a ferry every day and is totally onboard with the healthy Marin lifestyle. Noah barely remembers Hawaii other than a few friends and what he sees in pictures. Chloe would have made a perfect keiki with her olive complexion and absolute love of the water and sand, but doesn’t know any different. My soul, however, still longs to wake up in bed to the sounds of the birds (I even miss the rooster!), to live year round in flip-flops and shorts, to feel the warm trade winds and to walk on the beach with Kalapawai coffee and our salty wet dog by my side. But day by day, the new memories we’re making here challenge me to believe that I would miss our lives here too if we ever had to leave.

That said, one of the things I really miss our circle of Stroller Stride moms that grew up together with our kids during our workouts near the beach. I’ve moved around often enough to know that eventually an acquaintance moves beyond politeness and curiosity, to honesty and true friendship. In Hawaii that period seemed to happen in a matter of a few months, or split seconds - depending on the person, and before you knew it you were carrying a dish over for dinner or giving your kids baths together outside in some blow up swimming pool to steal a few more minutes of conversation before heading home. I’m not sure if it is because I’m older and maybe more reserved, or if the second child creates a time restraint on socialization and inhibits much possibility for deep conversation, or because Oahu is the epitome of small town, relaxed lifestyle where you run into one another constantly and is a truly unique place to make friends - but it is taking us much longer to form those kind of kick-back, drop in, help yourself to the frig type of relationships. Or, maybe this is just our time of life to drop our kids off at school, pick them up, hang out inside during afternoon naps and then make/eat dinner to get up and do it all again? It feels very solitary and empty sometimes.

Hence, I’ve created this reflection time of blogging to figure out how to make it all better. And I asked my mom for her input and what she remembers from her life during this period? We surmised that that’s when her soap opera addiction began. It was her way of peeking into another world (and Days of our Lives and Santa Barbara …) and enlarging her own while being cocooned in her own house.

(Can I mention that I'm pretty certain this is the same picture I used for my hair inspiration for my senior prom?)

Interestingly enough, I’m wondering if this current generation of moms is instead turning to blogging, forums or internet use to fulfill that same need? The mother’s forum I join each year is up over 1000 participants. Turns out a mom that I carpool with also randomly reads one of my favorite blogs, “Young House Love”. A classmate of Noah’s has a fun mom that started her own blog called “Modern Homestead”. My cousin is off in Ethiopia and keeps everyone updated about their missionary work. The list goes on and on. Blogs are great way to communicate and share a bunch of random information (I’m trying to grow my own SCOBY for kombucha from directions on a blog), but I’ve found that they’re filling a need for community and companionship for anyone living a solitary lifestyle (SAHM, work from home or the road professional, retireree, etc).

So, I’m raving about Blogging today and the therapeutic aspect of having to frame your thoughts into words with the accountability that someone out there might actually read them! I’m raving about the information that is at our fingertips because someone has taken the time to write out what they know or think. I’m raving about my experience reading blogs and feeling inspired or touched or amused by someone else’s thoughts, even if I’ve never met them. I’m also reaching out to anyone that loves the internet but also loves personal contact even more and to applaud you for it.

My plan of action from writing this post is: to take an exercise class again.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Fresh Post

I have not looked at my own blog in almost a year! I started this blog when we left Hawaii with the intention of posting what was happening in the our lives to stay in touch with old friends and family. Facebook and email have filled that gap instead.

I also noticed that post of my posts have centered around the kids and their activities (as is my life) and were geared to my "audience" of mainly grandma. And I realized that I've not really felt like raving about anything in my own life anymore. My life has been geared to playdates, trips to the park, the kids' activities and taxi'ing to and from. And alot of time spent cooking and cleaning - neither of which I would rave about!

Well, that's about to change! I really want my kids to know me as a person with skills and hobbies, passions and desires, adventures and travels. I want to know myself that way again! I plan to use this blog to develop and express my identity. To motivate myself to find those things that I enjoy full heartedly. To rediscover dreaming and to RAVE about life again. My "audience" is now going to be Me and anyone out there that may be trying to rediscover themselves. I'm regearing my blog to function as a public diary. A tangible place to hold myself accountable to numbering my days and as encouragement to train my eyes to look beyond the mundane to the brillance lurking inside of every person and every situation.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Merry Christmas!

Click here to view this photo book.