This Memorial Day, we decided to have some friends over for a casual potluck party. The weather was perfectly warm — not too hot, with an occasional cool breeze — and a clear blue sky overhead. It was a good time with good friends and good food. Here are some of the dishes we enjoyed that day, starting with a beautiful fruit salad above. You may also find a recipe or two in this post. :)
Posted in chicken, dessert, food, friends, grill, party, pasta
Tagged fruit salad, memorial day, potluck, s'mores on a stick, whoopie pies
Oh yes, yes you are! 
New greeting card design available here.
Supplies used:
- cardstock base in “pool” by Paper Source, cut from 8.5″ x 11″ sheet to two 4″ x 5.25″ rectangles, then joined together along the left edge with a staple-less stapler and red embroidery floss
- “smokey shadow” cardstock by Papertrey Ink
- corner rounder tool
- graph paper
- mini silver brads
- red coloring pencil
- “true black” ink pad by Papertrey Ink
- “riding by” acrylic stamps by Market Street Stamps
- teal transparent tapes purchased at Target
When I was in elementary school, I remember being asked (probably once each year), “Where do you see yourself 5 years from now? 10? 20?” And it’s funny because I think I almost always said, “Married with children.”
Fast forward to high school and thinking about what I “wanted” to be when I grew up. At one time I wanted to be a marine biologist because I loved dolphins. I wanted to be a lawyer because someone told me that I was good at arguing (I think that was one of my parents … or both!). I ended up eventually getting my degree in Sociology which was admittedly, the easiest degree for me to obtain with my transfer credits, etc. Hey, I never said I liked school!
But the entire time — ever since I can remember — I always knew that I wanted to be a mom. I wanted 7 children at one point in my naive life! (That was before I knew anything about how babies were born, and things like finances.)
And here I am today: married and a mommy. I guess you can say I got everything I wished for. And more.
Becoming a mom has made my perspective and level of respect for moms all around the world – and most especially my own mom — escalate by the millions. I get it now. I understand what it means to completely sacrifice yourself and your time for one other being. I understand what it means to love someone that relies on you for their very existence so much that it hurts inside. I understand how life changing becoming a parent can be.
I think back to the days when my little sister and I would cause so much trouble for our parents: wrestling on the ground in public places; hiding in circular clothing racks and jumping out at each other to scare the bejeezus out of each other only realizing that oh no! that’s not my sister!; and unbuckling our seat belts once we got past the security gates on the Air Force base to beat each other up in the backseat which resulted in a ticket for our poor mom. I cringe to think of how much our parents must’ve thought that we appreciated them.
I think about being a mom now while our little one is almost six months old. Only six months! And yet we’ve learned so much along the way in her little life already. Her hunger cues. Her favorite toys. That she laughs and smiles every time I sing and do “Head, Shoulder, Knees, and Toes” with her. All these little things that I’m so afraid we’re going to forget about as she gets older.
But the one thing that I will cherish the most is that feeling of her falling asleep in my arms. All that trust that she puts in us to keep her in a safe place. I love that feeling of complete relaxation and rest that we see in her closed eyelids, pursed lips, and tiny breathing nose. I love how everything about her goes limp as she succumbs to slumber. And mostly, I love holding her hand while she snoozes.
I know there will be a day where she will think I’m the most embarrassing person to be around. When she won’t want me to walk her to school anymore. Where she will probably say something like, “You’re ruining my life, mom!” So for now I will cherish these little peaceful moments with her while I can, and praise all the mothers out there for doing what some people (like me!) might consider the toughest job in the world.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms of both yesterday and today! This is my first Mother’s Day and I look forward to a hundred more. :)
I got a phone call from my sister one day asking for a favor: she wanted to know if she could send my nephew, Evan’s, Flat Stanley project to me. I was vaguely familiar with the scope of the project and agreed to take on the task of photographing Evan’s Flat Stanley in some places around Boston. ”Just a couple of pictures is fine,” she says. Of course, the shutter bug in me couldn’t resist going over and above the call of duty. And 25 pictures later – along with a homemade suitcase in tow – Flat Stanley made his way back home to Oakley, California with some memories and souvenirs to share.
Luckily for us, the weather was gorgeous so we kind of used the project as an excuse to head over to Boston one day. We took him to the Boston Public Garden, Harvard University (in Cambridge), Fenway Park and more. It was funny because I heard so many comments while shooting the photos of people saying things like, “Oh! It’s Flat Stanley!” and “I remember Flat Stanley!” I even had one woman offer to take my photo with him at the Paul Revere statue.
If you’d like to see the other photos from Flat Stanley’s adventures in Boston, click here.
And yes, I took the original cut out drawing that my nephew made to Kinko’s and made a color copy of it and then laminated it. I know, I’m a little crazy. :)
Posted in Boston, cambridge, harvard square
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who made it out to check out some part of this year’s Somerville Open Studios event and to support local independent artists! A special thanks again to everyone who came out to see me and my friend Rebecca of Jewelsfabulous at the Joy Street Studios this weekend. It is always great to see old friends and to make new ones at these events!
I received an email from a friend showing me how her son immediately put the two magnets he picked out from my table onto his toy refrigerator at home – too cute!
Looking forward to doing more craft shows this year. And I’m so glad to be back into a crafting groove after so long. New card designs to come soon, and the shelves at Davis Squared will hopefully be replenished soon too! Stay tuned folks!
There was a point about a year ago now where I fell into quite a crafting funk. I mean, I just couldn’t put two and two together to create a card to save my life. I don’t really know why that happened but after conversing with some of my artsy friends, it seems to happen to everyone now and then. Luckily for me, the best thing about doing a craft show has been gaining the motivation back to create new and fun card designs. Alas, with a newborn it can get tricky. You know, with this whole lack of time to oneself and all. (I laugh as I type this and I’m sure anyone with a baby/kid will understand my sarcastic tone here.) So before I show you some of the newest card designs I thought I’d show you what my work space looked like one evening when I did have a few quiet minutes to myself, complete with the baby monitor in full view.
I am really loving these new “celebrate” cards! I made some for ‘mom’, ‘dad’, ‘you’, and ‘us’ for SOS and they have been a big hit so far after day one. And yes, those squares are all individually cut with a paper trimmer. And yes, those letters are all individually hand stamped by moi. I’ll admit, it’s one of the most time consuming designs I’ve made in a long time but I think the overall design and how the message just pops out made it all worth it.
One might think that after having a baby recently enter our lives that my husband and I would jump on the take-out [dinner] train. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: I don’t think we’ve done take-out once since our little one has arrived. And as crazy as it might sound, I actually still enjoy cooking dinner almost every night. Yes, sometimes with baby in one arm too. :)
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