Hi.

The other day, while on the phone with my mom, she asked me if it was time to bury the blog. To be honest, I'm not really sure what to do about this little corner of the internet. When I started this little space, we had just moved to Belgium and it was a way to document our adventures abroad and keep in touch with friends and family back home. Then, after we returned and settled in here in LA, it was a way to share pictures of a rapidly growing baby... But now, the mundane details of our day to day life seem too boring to share (we went to the park! we took a nap! we ate broccoli! we went to the park again!) and any photos I'm able to snap of the little tornado are on my iphone, which are easily uploaded to Instagram while on the go. And if my options during the only free moments I have (during Ina's nap) are: write a blog post or take a shower... shower trumps blog every time. Plus, there's dishes and cleaning and laundry and... all those other things that never seem to come up in blog/insta/social media world.

So friends. Here we are. I'm not ready to be done with it completely. But I'm not inspired enough to dedicate extra energy to it right now. Maybe it will make a big come-back? Maybe as I start drawing and painting and creating again I'll want to share what I'm working on? Maybe as Ina can entertain herself for more than 30 seconds at a time I'll have more spare moments to spend here? I'm not sure yet.

So no, mom. It's not time to bury the blog just yet. I'll let you know if/when it is. Sorry to leave you hanging since the new year, and just bear with me until I figure out what to do...

Happy February!

2014

Last night Ina got to ring in the New Year with her two favorite guys:

She stayed up way past bedtime, made a mess with a whole lot of spaghetti and an even bigger mess with confetti (sorry, Brigs, we can come by later to help you clean up...)

This morning we went out for pancakes (and a lot of coffee), and we'll continue the fun at the park, and then a much needed nap.

Hope your year is off to a great start, too!

Happy New Year!

Looking back over the past year, it's pretty incredible to see how much has changed in our lives: we left Belgium (we still miss it daily), landed in Toronto, bounced around between the grandparents' homes for a couple months, and finally settled down in LA. We spent many hours at the beach, many hours eating fish tacos, many hours at the park. We caught up with old friends and made new ones. Our sweet little baby turned one, started walking, and developed an attitude that can rival most 16 year old girls. 

We're so thankful to have had the love and support of our family and friends throughout the year (especially during those rocky months last spring when we didn't know what the heck we were doing with our lives)... And we're so glad to share our adventures (even the mundane day-to-day ones) with you here. 

We'll drink a glass of bubbly and cheers to YOU tonight... and then go to bed at 9pm :) 

Happy New Year! xo

Weekend Bits

Ina made a new BFF this weekend: Hank the Dog.

She also went to the Farmer's Market with her boyfriend, played at the playground on the beach, stayed home with Didz while mama drank margaritas with her lady-friends, had her first taste of ice cream, and rode a horsey...

It was a good weekend. I hope yours was just as fun!

Christmas in Palm Springs

I grew up in California, but for the past 6 years I've lived in places where winters are long and cold. My self-diagnosed Seasonal Affective Disorder would kick in, and I'd be cold and grumpy for months. Didz would tell me to toughen up, I'd tell him to go suck an egg. We'd bicker on and on like this. He'd try to convince me to embrace the winter - white fluffy snow! hot chocolate! bundling up! - and I'd translate that to mean: nasty, slushy, slippery sidewalks! scalding hot liquid burning my tongue! wearing a million layers to go outside, but then sweating profusely indoors where the heat was blasting to a gajillion degrees!

This year, we decided to skip the holiday travel, the snowy cityscapes, the ice storms and power outages, the flight delays and long lines... and enjoy wearing flip flops and t-shirts for Christmas. We made a spontaneous, last minute decision to drive to Palm Springs and spend a few days here:

We missed our families, and wished we could've all been together... but our little gettaway was warm and wonderful and I think Didz is coming around to understanding how magical living in California really is.

We splashed around in the pool, we ran around on the grass, we woke up all our neighbors with early morning bocce, we ate tacos and drank beer, we chased Ina around the lobby (we spent HOURS in that lobby) and we opened Christmas presents (who knew a pair of mittens could bring SO MUCH JOY) and played in our room until we were all completely exhausted.

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Sending lots of hugs and sunshine to you all... and BIG BIG LOVE to our good buddy TK and his darling girl, Vija, who got engaged yesterday. Love you guys! xo

Ina's Hideout

The other evening we jumped the gun on Christmas a little bit and let Ina open one of her gifts (and by that I mean, Didz and I have no self-control and we wanted to play with it, so we opened it and assembled it for her)...

It's awesome. 

Yesterday was a gray, rainy day, so we brought some blankets, pillows, stuffed animals and books and spent the entire morning hiding out. I have a feeling we'll be spending a large portion of our weekend in there, too.

Thank you, Santa!

Weekend Bits

Saturday was Mama's Day Out. Didz kicked me out of the house and took the bug for the whole day. It was wonderful and relaxing and I'm so grateful to him for giving me the day to go play with my darling friend Allyson. We brunched at The Black Cat and then spent the afternoon browsing and buying and meeting wonderful and inspirational people at the Echo Park Craft Fair. (There was also an incident involving me nearly shoplifting a ring that I tried on and walked away with... I was halfway across the room when I realized I was still wearing it. I was mortified and apologized a million times when I brought it back... Didz told me he wouldn't have been so quick to bail me out of jail, and would've left me in there for a day or two to think about what I'd done. Thanks for the love and support, husband.)

Sunday morning was straight out of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and nothing was going my way. It was just one of those days, and when I didn't think it could get any worse, I burned my thumb on a hot cookie sheet. I cried, and then laughed, and then hugged Didz and told him I'm moving to Australia. Luckily, I was able to shake myself off, and we all had a fantastic afternoon and evening, wounded thumb and all. A gingerbread house making party, followed by an evening at a BAR (!!!) without the BABY (!!!) listening to some of my favorite people perform.

We'll be spending this week enjoying this glorious weather (I'm in shorts and a t-shirt today), and going to the park, and wrapping presents and taking lots of naps.

Have a wonderful week!