Some Scenes From The Weekend...

The weekend was filled with all sorts of crazy goodness -- cool, sunny spring-like days, leprechaun traps, sleep-overs, baby cuddling, camel rides, hidden lagoons.

It was a bit magical even.

But now we're back into the grind of the week, and it's not off to the best of starts... (think nasty head-colds and laundry threatening to take over the house). Boo for Monday.

I think Tuesday will be better. I can feel it.

Some Scenes From The Weekend...

It seems like our weekend consisted largely of thwarted plans...

We were all set to host a little dinner at our place for a few friends on Friday but had to cancel at the last minute upon the discovery that the Millster had strep throat (which we somehow missed despite her constant grumpiness and frequent declarations that it hurt to swallow...umm yes, stellar parenting). So Friday evening quickly morphed into "cozy movie night on the couch", and it was pretty delightful, I have to say.

On Sunday, I was supposed to do another little shoot for Chakra but was thwarted by the gloomy, cloudy weather (sunlight just makes for much prettier photos). Bryan and the girlies had already planned a day-trip to visit his folks, so all of the sudden I found myself with the better part of the day totally and completely free. This is a pretty rare phenomenon... so rare in fact that I spent the first 30 minutes wandering around aimlessly trying to figure out what to do with myself. (I did immediately shut down my computer for fear of squandering my freedom getting sucked into the interwebs.)

After a bit of mulling, I ended up tearing through the house cleaning out drawers and cabinets and closets. I was a tornado of productivity. It was a pretty impressive scene, resulting in six (big!) bags of stuff delivered to the Goodwill. (Is it odd that I find taking stuff to the Goodwill a total rush?)

But wait, there's more...I also conjured up a hefty pile of clothes to bequeath to my sister and unearthed a few more goodies from my closet to offer up over here in the next week or so (speaking of which, that swell A.P.C Madras dress is still up for grabs!) I capped my ultra-productive day off by watching the Oscars in their entirety. I was up (at least) two hours past my bedtime. I'm living large here friends.

So... did you notice that I skipped over Saturday? Well that's because I may have attended Audrey's school fundraiser/auction dressed as Sarah Palin from Sarah Palin's Alaska (the auction theme was "Reality TV") and Bryan may have been dressed as a moose (that I shot). I also may have had a couple of cocktails, which may have resulted in someone bidding for court-side seats to a Dallas Mavericks game...and winning.

Yes, all that may have happened, but I'm not saying for sure.

Hope your weekend was fantastic (and that you didn't attend any fundraisers sporting an updo, glasses, a parka and a button that said "grizzly mama"...hypothetically of course).

Some Scenes From The Weekend...

Snaps of Millie's utter melancholy over the golden pig courtesy of the splendid Lucia...

OK...check the sheer loveliness of lovely cousin erin...and her hair (!!!); it rocks, yes?

We were seriously coveting this random stranger's shirt...after a little courage (and some stalking her through the mall) we asked her about it's origins. Tucker last fall. Sigh.

Audrey and Bryan went on a father/daughter camping trip this weekend, so Millie and I were left to our own devices and managed to have a pretty rockin' go of it.

We had a girlie dinner with lovely cousin Erin + our friends Sara and Ava (and Sara's major trooper of a hubby, Todd) at La Duni where the littles frolicked in the lawn in the crazy lovely spring-esque evening.

Afterward we cruised through the mall a bit where I discovered that Millie is a natural shopper. She would scan racks and lovingly pick out her selections and insist on a "try on" in the dressing room. We had a weekend packed full of fun and when I asked her before bed last night what her favorite part was, without missing a beat, she answered, "buying those beautiful shirts at the mall". (For the record the "beautiful shirts" were two cotton, short sleeve t-shirts from H&M...one white and one light pink, totally embellishment free).

She scares me a little, I'm not gonna lie.

Saturday we had our respective ballet classes (more on my ballet progress later) and then got a lesson in making pie crust from scratch from our buddy Nicole. Yes, I had never made a pie crust from scratch. Shameful, I know. It was a revelation...so easy and satisfying. I am now a homemade pie crust convert. Just thought you should know.

After our culinary adventures, we went out for another great meal, this time at Park with Lucia and Pete and baby Oliver (and lovely cousin Erin who joined in on our antics all weekend) and then a quick jaunt to see an exhibit at Bows and Arrows where we fell into some serious melancholy over "the golden pig" (pictured above). I want that pig...I've coveted it for some time in fact. But when I casually mentioned my desire to Erin, Millie went, well...sort of ballistic (calmly ballistic). She did not want me to have the pig. No matter what. After quizzing her a bit on what was bothering her about the pig, the only explanation she could come up with was that Bows and Arrows was not a "buying store" (not sure where she got that notion, and hope that it didn't somehow put bad juju on Alicia and Adam's genius establishment).

I still want the golden pig. She and I are working through it.

Hope your weekend was fantastic friends!

More living room newness...I am feeling much love for the blue pillows.

Some Scenes From The Weekend...

Some poster newness courtesy of the lovely Alexis (thank you, thank you, thank you!) + a new lamp...operation living room revamp is in full swing friends...

Remember those icicles from last week's "scenes" post? Well I barely do. They feel like some sort of figment, some imaginary happening, as this weekend was all about sunshine and windows down and bare legs (!) in February.

What a difference a week makes.

Along with the sunshine came an altogether fab weekend, I have to say... The two highlights hands-down were date night with hubby on Saturday at our favorite restaurant and taking my first ballet class with my buddy Sara earlier that day. I've been wanting to take an adult beginner ballet class for over a year and finally summonsed the courage to give it a whirl (taking a class + embracing some fear = tackling two resolutions at once in case you're keeping count). It was hard, but I LOVED it...I'm going to start going every Saturday, as it's conveniently at the same exact time as the girlie's classes. I'm pretty excited about this development.

Other weekend happenings of note include: Friday dinner with some of our favorite people of all-time, Lucia and Peter (and sweet Ava and Felicity), finally finishing the girl's class Valentines (an epic accomplishment), some lounging outside in the sunshine and another little CHAKRA shoot...

Goodness all around for sure.

Hope your weekend was fantastic and your Valentine's Day is full of all sorts of sweetness!

Some Scenes From The Weekend...

Audrey's instructions for making a proper s'more (just in case you've forgotten)

Holy ice and snow...

After four consecutive days of being essentially housebound, rife with cabin fever, attempting to work from home with two nutty girlies underfoot, we made it to the weekend intact.

Barely.

I don't think I've ever been so happy for Saturday to arrive. We snapped the computers shut and tried to recover a bit from the chaos of the previous few days. Mainly we ate...

First we made fireplace s'mores (so much better with cinnamon graham crackers and sea salt laced dark chocolate), then there were the homemade spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and finally I whipped up some (criminally good) brownies. Never fear, we tempered our considerable sugar intake with ample living room dance parties.

I also re-thought "Operation Valentine 2011" after I realized my original approach was going to take about 20 minutes per card (Japanese masking tape "bunting" is time consuming) and, between both girls, we had to make 56 cards... I was not digging the math on that one. So, inspired by these genius valentines, I pulled out the red, pink and white paint, some brushes and a stack of paper, and the girlies set to work making a few masterpieces. We picked two favorites, scanned them into the computer and printed out our own little homemade cards. We'll tuck each one into a glassine bag along with a sucker, seal with a little heart shaped sticker, and voilà, done and done.

How was your weekend? What do you guys do when the weather has you stuck indoors?

p.s. don't forget the lovely Satsuma Press/Earth & Sky necklace giveaway ends tonight!

Some Scenes From The Weekend...

pots in the window by my friend (the amazing potter) jonathan cross...

So I think we're finally getting the hang of this "lazy weekend" thing.

After several weeks of fewer plans and the abolishment of back-to-back commitments, the thing I had hoped would happen has happened... Our creative juices are flowing.

It's amazing what can surface after allowing yourself some empty space to meander in for a while. You feel refreshed, inspired (or at least I do). Sure we did plenty of futzing around (it was a blissful 70 degrees for most of the weekend, so we had to loll around outside a bit), but we also spontaneously made a super deluxe "taco bar" for lunch (when normally weekend lunches are hastily put together sandwiches) complete with flank steak, sauteed onions, fresh cilantro and blue cheese, thrifted with lovely cousin Erin, read, worked on the living room "refresh" and were inspired to eat chocolate chip pancakes for dinner. I also started really thinking through a couple of projects I want to put more time into this year...reasoning through them and planning in a way that wouldn't have been possible during one of our previously typical jam-packed weekends.

Now here's the only downside of the new approach -- I'm now getting the Monday blues. Bad. Before, the weekends were so busy that Monday was a bit of a respite...I looked forward to it. But now I'm transported back to junior high, all depressed and melancholy on Sunday night.

It's a small price to pay I suppose. Hope your weekend was splendid!

some fruits of our thrifiting...a groovy "candelabra" and an etching from the 1930s...