Friday, November 22, 2013

Lately


I haven't been taking my camera out with me very often, since it's significantly easier to pull out my iphone and snap a quick pic. I've noticed, however, that I miss taking real photos. So I'm hoping to strike a better balance between occasionally bringing my camera out with me and using my phone a little less (and hopefully untraining the ever-engrained square-shaped view finder of my Instagram-obsessed eye). 

Here's a few photos from this week:





My parents are coming into town tomorrow for a week full of Thanksgiving celebrations. I can't wait to plan our Thanksgiving feast with my mom, drink some beer with my dad, and maybe sneak out for a date night or two with Didz while my parents babysit. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Monday, November 18, 2013

Weekend Bits

Krupnikas, a Lithuanian honey liquor, is a staple in our household - we put it in tea when we're sick, we take shots of it during parties, we sip on it after a big meal as a digestif. There was a bottle of it at every table at our wedding, as well as a few full barrels of it by the dance floor for refills. It's potent. It's delicious. It's a no-brainer that when my best friend (and honorary Lithuanian) asked if we could make some for her wedding next year, we jumped at the opportunity to brew a batch.

Our Saturday consisted of making (and tasting) Krupnikas, and our Sunday was spent recovering with a drive up the coast and into Topanga Canyon for lunch and margaritas.

It was a good weekend, and we look forward to toasting the happy couple with a finely aged shot of Krupnikas next year.










   

The bug is 13 months old today... I think we'll bake some cookies to celebrate. Have a happy week!

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

For you, Babs

This morning my mother complained about my lack of blog updates lately... Sorry, Babs. This one is for you:

This afternoon we went down to our favorite spot along the bluffs, overlooking the ocean, and hung out on our picnic blanket until the sun went down... The sunset was perfect, with just enough clouds in the sky to explode in pinks and purples, but not so many to hide the sunset altogether. The water was calm. The air was crisp. Ina practiced walking in the grass while Didz and I watched, refusing to believe our little baby girl can walk. We hung out until the sun went down, went out for a bite for dinner, and came home to drink a big bottle of wine...

It was a good day, Babs. When you're in town we'll duplicate it... just with more fun, and double the wine :)






Goodnight, LA. Thanks for another beautiful day.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Weekend Bits

We had a full, and very fun weekend, complete with playdates and fort building, picnics at the park and a drive down the coast to visit my childhood home. Going down to Palos Verdes was a trip down memory lane, and though it all seemed very familiar, it didn't feel like home. It made me grateful for the super awesome childhood I had in one of the most beautiful places on earth, but also grateful that we moved away when I was 13 and got to experience so much more in so many other amazing places.

When we drove down the long driveway to see the old house, bits and pieces of memories came back to me - the tree by the mailbox that I was terrified of because my brothers told me the axe murderer lived there, and every time I had to walk the dog I would sprint as fast as I could past the tree so he wouldn't kill me... or the bump in the driveway I hit while racing down the hill on my bicycle, causing me to fly off over the front of the handlebars and scrape up my entire face and hands and knees... or the front of the house where our old Basset Hound lived, protecting us and alerting us of any visitors... or the spectacular view we had from up on our hill...

It was fun to reminisce, but I was happy to come home with Iny and Didz and create our own memories...


 ...and build forts.

The time change has really kicked our butts the past couple mornings - Iny didn't get the memo about sleeping in an extra hour and has been waking us up at 5. So........ let's all just take it easy this week and ease into the new month, and new time change.

Naps are encouraged.

Friday, November 1, 2013

ugh



Hey Iny.

Today is not our day. We went for our daily walk to get my coffee and you were fine. But once we came home nothing was going your way. You refused to eat your breakfast, choosing to throw everything on the floor instead. You didn't want to sit in your high-chair. You just wanted to be held. You cried when I tried to give you a toy to play with. You cried when I tried to give you snacks. No matter what I did you just screamed. And screamed. And screamed. Nothing I did worked. You were inconsolable.

So I put you down for a nap a little early and went to take a shower. The rumbling garbage truck must've woken you up, because within minutes of going down, you were up and screaming again. Trying to finish showering in a hurry, I lathered my face with conditioner instead of face wash. I turned the water off, got out of the shower... and just stood there. Dripping. Unable to muster the energy to go soothe you. Instead, I cried.

When your father called to check in, I cried some more. He told me to open the bottle of champagne that's sitting in the fridge and drink it.

Tempting.

But it's only 10am and we still have a lot of day ahead of us.... So now, you're crawling around the living room, destroying everything in sight. Pulling all the pillows off the couch, scattering your toys and books and my shoes all over the place. There's shopping bags and wrapping paper, sweaters and cheerios littering the floor. And I'm not doing a damn thing about it. Because as long as you're not screaming, we're ok.

We're ok.

Let's go for a walk. Some fresh air and sunshine will do us both good. Plus, Mama needs another coffee.