A Day In The Doldrums

We begin every day with Chex. And coffee.

I had grand intentions of doing a "day in the life" photo post, imagining myself carrying my 50 pound Nikon around all day snapping beautifully composed pictures of my children doing their everyday normal things. Well, it was a beautiful dream. Things get too crazy around here for me to focus on that kind of a project all day, but here's what I did get over the last couple of days. Pieced together they give you an idea of what a normal day looks like around here...

Drive Olive to school.

Throw together a crock pot meal. Stare at dirty counters and dishes for 10 minutes.

Get dressed. 2 minutes later Silas walks by and uses the scarf as a tissue. Ditch the scarf. 

Hi Daniel Tiger. Thanks for giving me 5 minutes to use the bathroom in peace.

Hang some more Instagram pics on my wall.

Someone starts screaming...walk in on this scene.

Time for more coffee.

Naptime for Oona.

Silas pretends he doesn't see or hear me telling him it's nap time for him.

Time to go pick up Olive.

Hi Olive!

Time to get everyone outside to play!

*Not shown: the daily dinnertime routine where someone always hates and complains about what I made (unless it's pizza or hot dogs, which you'll be proud to know I don't do every day to save the peace, though it IS tempting...) 

Also not shown: getting everyone bathed and in bed, which seems to take 500 hours and leaves Matt and I hunched over, shaky and pale. 

Also not shown: Me lying prostrate on the floor in melodramatic exhaustion, begging Matt to go pick me up an ice cream sundae because "I deserrrrrrve iiiiiiiit."

Also not shown: Matt stepping over me saying "no, you'll complain about getting fat tomorrow." He's a wise man, that husband. Dang it.

Go to bed. Repeat all over again the next day. :) 

The Littles' First Concert

Fact: Olive is in love with our city's librarian and story time leader, Miss Eileen. She draws her pictures, and talks lovingly of her all week long.

So last week, when Miss Eileen let me know about a children's pipe organ concert of "Peter and the Wolf" that she was narrating today, we decided to throw caution to the wind and take the kids.

Silas, not so surprisingly, couldn't take it and had to endure the better half of the concert in the church foyer. Olive, though, loved it! I'm glad we decided to take her. Miss Eileen and the organist made it very engaging and entertaining. The acoustics of the old church were amazing, and it was fun to listen to such a huge, old instrument in person.

Afterwards we got coffee (and a hot chocolate) at JP's. It was a nice afternoon. 

41 / 365

A very sweet Sunday. A nice, pre-church Italian cappucino at Lemonjello's, 

a good church service with both children well behaved, relaxing together at home, 

a family walk... Couldn't ask for more.

Hello Saugatuck!

Saugatuck is a waterfront town just a few miles south of Holland. We had heard it was really cute and artsy, and you guys... it's flippin' adorable. It reminded us so much of Shepherdstown, WV (one of our favorite spots back in WV) that it made us feel a little homesick. I'm so excited we only live about 10 minutes from its downtown! Though I don't think we'll be able to really fully enjoy it until spring and summer roll around. The wind coming off Lake Michigan is so, so cold.

The best place to go when it's too cold to be outside is a great coffee shop (actually, if you know Matt and I, anytime is a great time to visit a coffee shop. We're coffee shop nerds. It's the first thing we look for in a new town, and our judgement of a town is usually as good as their coffee shop is! So be prepared to see lots of redundant pictures of coffees, lattes and roasting machines, etc.)

We found "Uncommon Grounds" in downtown Saugatuck and it was so nice (though really crowded. I guess everyone wanted somewhere warm and cozy to hang out in the cold!) They offer 2 hour classes for $15 that teach how to do latte art, roast beans and distinguish between different origins and roasts. One day when/if we find a babysitter, Matt and I would love to attend.

The Art of Traveling

This weekend my family is hitting the road yet again, for a long road trip to Hilton Head Island in SC where we'll be hanging out with family for a week.

I feel like since Matt and I got married in 2006 we have earned the titles of "professional travelers." Since being married we have hopped planes, trains and automobiles galore (several times with our very young children, which let me tell you is no easy feat.) I love to travel, though I hate the work (packing, ugh...UNpacking, double ugh.)

Road trips I think are the hardest, especially with kids, because they drag on such a long time and it's easy for everyone to get bored. (And boredom inevitably leads to crankiness.)

We've learned some tricks along the way to make long road trips easier (and dare I say, fun?) So I thought I'd share.

Travel Comforts [For the Kids]

In the past we've downloaded movies or kids shows onto my iPhone for Olive to watch in the car, but then that leaves me without my phone (no fun) so for this trip we invested in an affordable portable DVD player. We got this one off Amazon and it looks very kid friendly and durable. (LOVE that the screen folds down over the buttons! We could probably even mount it in the car eventually.) 

We also bought this volume of Looney Tunes (we hardly own any DVDs since we don't watch much tv, and when we do we just use Netflix) and I'm excited to relive my childhood watching them with the kids. I mean, I just love those ridiculously violent, politcally incorrect guys, don't you?

[For Him]

Nothing makes a long car ride pass more quickly than a good audio book. For this trip we downloaded an Elizabeth Peters mystery to try out, and the first book of Ralph Moody's "Little Britches" series. 

Some other great audio books we've enjoyed over the years are:

1. Anything by Agatha Christie (The Miss Marple books read by Joan Hickson are the BEST.)

2. Killing Lincoln by/read by Bill O'Reilly (love him or hate him, the guy wrote a fascinating book about one of the most fascinating presidents ever. We loved this book so much that we took a trip to Washington DC just to visit Ford's Theater.) 

3. A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snickett. (These are ridiculous, hilarious, and great for all ages. The ones read by the author himself, are of course, superb.)

[For Me]

I love a good, girly magazine (Lucky, Vogue and Nylon are my favorites) but when do I have time to read them? Never. Oh wait, except when I have to sit in the car for several hours! 

The funny thing is, I cannot read a book in the car without getting horribly car sick, but I have no trouble with magazines. (Yay!) A good, thick magazine makes hours in the car just whizz by. 

Music

Good music is a MUST for any road trip. The hard part is getting everyone to agree on what to listen to. We love old Christian greats like Keith Green, Don Francisco and Rich Mullins. We also love "The Buena Vista Social Club" album. (Never gets old.) 

I have been working hard lately trying to get Matt to become a Beirut fan. (I think I'm slowly starting to sway him over. He really likes "Gulag Orkestar.") I am also loving Devotchka lately and am hoping to get to listen to them a little this weekend. 

Last but not least, you must remember the most important element needed for an enjoyable road trip:

Coffee. Lots of it.

You can guarantee I'll get my pumpkin spice latte fix this weekend. Probably more than once if I'm lucky.

What things do you do to make a long car trip fun? I always love new ideas!

August Favorites

(Forgive my sloppy first attempt at a product collage. I'm still learning very slowly how to use Photoshop Elements!)

So I wanted to talk about some of the fun things I tried in August (most of which I really liked!) 

1. Cover Girl Blast Flipsticks

Ok let me just begin with this disclaimer - I know nothing (I mean, no-thing) about makeup. But I'm trying to learn. I've been experimenting with different products and while a lot of them have been a waste of money some have gotten me super excited. These lipsticks (excuse me, flipsticks) have gotten me realllly excited. They're basically 2 complementing lipsticks in one tube, that you can wear individually or layered together (basically three colors for the price of one!) I love them so much that I'm planning on devoting a whole post to them sometime soon. So far I have the shades "whisper" (really pretty, everyday, natural color) and "stunner" (a super fun, gold/pink duo that make me feel summery and daring.)

2. The Twilight books by Stephanie Meyers

I am so late to this party, that the fact that I'm blogging my thoughts about these books is pretty ridiculous (and slightly humiliating.) But here goes. Yes, they're addicting, though (no offense, Ms. Meyers,) I'm pretty disappointed in the quality of writing. I was really pleasantly surprised at how well Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games" books were written and by the intelligence of their story lines. In comparison, the "Twilight" series just seems...dumb. YET, despite those feelings, I'm still flying through the books, staying up till 2 in the morning and destroying my eyes by reading by the light of my iPhone under my sheets (even though my infant son wakes up every morning at 5 for an early breakfast) so, yeah, I get all you "Twi-hards" now. And I've got some pretty insane dark circles under my eyes lately from the lack of sleep. (Oh, and if you're interested, and I know you're not, I'm kind of on Team Mike. Someone's got to stand up for the boring, plain, human guy, right?)

3. Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain (In "Rendezvous.")

Yes, another lipstick. (Maybe I'm a little more than "mildly" obsessed.) First - the color. It's the closest I've come to finding the "perfect red lipstick" except it's not really red - it's actually orange, but it's really flattering. And the shape of the stick is genius - sort of like a pencil, it works as a liner and a lipstick so it's really easy to keep it looking neat. The color lasts a long time. I have these in a few other shades, but this has been the one that gets worn most. I'm working up the courage to try it in a darker red shade, "Romantic."

4. Donut Shop "Coconut Mocha" K-cups

We love our Keurig, and since I've recently become a fan of flavored coffees (since giving up all forms of sweeteners in my drinks) I was excited about trying these. Now they're my favorite. Such a nice afternoon treat (I tell you, I LIVE for my afternoon coffee break while the kids are napping.)

5. September Issue of Vogue

I started subscribing to Vogue for the first time this year, and was really excited about my first "September Issue." Gosh, was it huge! Almost 1,000 pages (of mostly advertisements, granted, but some of those advertisements were admittedly really provocative and great.) I saved opening this magazine for our quick Labor Day trip to OH and it made the car trip really enjoyable. I feel kind of "meh" about the obvious liberal slant of the writers, but appreciate the quality of the writing and the wide array of subjects their writers cover. I really love the interviews in Vogue, and enjoyed this issue's story on Chelsea Clinton a lot.

6. Revlon Colorstay Nail Polish in "Delicious"

Can you tell that I'm really into the color red these days? I think it's because I told myself for years that I could NOT wear red cosmetics, because they just seemed to clash with my skin tone, but I've come to learn that the right shade makes a world of difference. This IS the perfect shade of red nailpolish. (My husband agrees.) And I love that it only takes one coat and drys really quickly. AND it's much more affordable than Essie.

What were some of your favorite things this summer? I'd love to hear them!

zucchini and coffee

we got our first fully grown zucchini off the vine yesterday. i had been eyeing a recipe in my favorite gluten free cookbook for "zucchini cake" for weeks, so i knew exactly what i wanted to do with my first zucc. :) i frosted the cake with a light cream cheese frosting, and it is deeee-vine.

speaking of all things divine...

we have fallen hard for iced coffee. we love it so much that we're making our own at home. (at least a gallon a week. i can't believe i just admitted that.) i try to justify the indulgence by making our iced coffee decaf, and i've learned to drink it with cream or milk only, no sweeteners. but it's still pretty over the top. (i love the way it looks the minute you add milk. so pretty!)