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| Day 111: Si, Muchos Gracias! |
This is a sticker from my new favorite restaurant, Gracias Madre. On the down side, it's in San Francisco. On the upside, it's another reason to get my ass to San Francisco! Stay tuned for a full review of the restaurant in a future post!
Days 112 and 113: Photos to come in a separate post, the contents of which I cannot disclose at this juncture. Oh my, isn't the suspense just killing you?? (Don't let it. I'm only trying to get you to keep reading my blog. My ego depends on you!)
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| Day 114: Remnants of Kid Dinner |
Day 114 was my mother's birthday, her 60th in fact. I knew that she was struggling with this number a bit and decided that while we were at my parents' house for dinner that night, I would take a beautiful candid portrait of her and then write a heart-felt blog post tribute to her. Aaannd...then, life happened. Amidst the typical chaos involved in the process of leaving the house with children, I forgot to even bring my camera. And then I neglected to realize I forgot it. Beautiful candid portrait of Mom? Didn't happen. After a lovely, but tiring, dinner (see: kids), we came home and put the little ones to bed. Bleary-eyed and thirsty, I headed to the kitchen to fill my water bottle. It was there that I saw a) my camera, which reminded me that I had not yet taken a "photo of the day" and b) the sad plate of food pictured above which quickly, and without much thought, became my photo subject. Heart-felt blog post tribute to the woman who birthed me? Sorry, Mom. Maybe the one I wrote last year can suffice?
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| Day 115: "Look What I Found, Mom!" |
A little backyard treasure, discovered by my daughter. Our neighbors have a peach tree; I assume that's where this came from. Isn't it beautiful? So simple and yet, so complex: the potential for an entire tree, contained in the palm of a small child's hand. Miraculous!
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| Day 116: For The Birds |
A bird house, a preschool craft, decorated by my beautiful, sweet, incredibly creative son. The birds have yet to inhabit it, but it is still one of my favorite things in the back yard.
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| Day 117: Confounding Creepy Crawly |
As I was picking aphids off of my beloved green babies (aka, my vegetable garden) the other night, I came across this strange little creature. As I'd hate to dispose of a possibly beneficial insect, I let the little guy be. Still, for future purposes, I'd like to know: do any of you know WTF it is? Is it going to suck the life out of my plants?? I need to KNOW, people!
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| Day 118: Cinco de Mayo Feast |
My husband loooooves to eat Mexican food and, lucky me, he also finds great pleasure in cooking the stuff! This past Thursday, he channeled that love into a delicious Cinco de Mayo feast. To drink: margaritas. Side dishes: homemade (spicy!) Mexican rice and mashed pinto beans. Main course: vegan "carnitas" tacos topped with tomatoes, avocado, spinach, and homemade salsa. YUM! (For the carnitas, Stephen followed (roughly) this recipe from the awesome blog, Vegan Dad. It was super tasty!) Thanks, Hubby!
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| Day 119: Date Night, Miyagi Sushi |
Stephen and I had the best date night on Friday, starting out with dinner at Miyagi and finishing off with an incredibly entertaining comedy show at Laughs Unlimited. Above is the salad we consumed, feverishly (ohmygoditwassogoooood!), during dinner. Cucumbers, strawberries, seaweed, carrots, sesame seeds, and sunflower sprouts in some sort of vinegar based HEAVEN. Give. Me. More.
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| Bonus Photo! |
The above photo is a bonus (how exciting!); I simply had to share how incredibly awesome these sushi rolls were. The roll on the left is the "Vegan Roll," filled with all sorts of yummy vegetables and wrapped in some fancy paper-thin soy thingy. Result? Deliciousness! The one on the left is called the "Tricky Nicky" or something along those lines. It's got asparagus tempura and sweet potato inside and is topped with avocado and some seriously tasty sauces. Need I say more? Get me back to Miyagi!
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| Day 120: This Photo Makes My Heart Feel All Bursty |
The above photo was taken at Farm Sanctuary, located in Orland, CA. A full review of our trip to this beautiful farm is forth coming! Best Mother's Day ever!!! (Stephen had to work on the actual Mother's Day, so we celebrated on Saturday instead.)
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| Day 121: So Lucky To Be A Mama! |
I snapped this photo with my camera phone* on the couch with my kiddos today. Gosh, those little monsters can drive me absolutely bonkers sometimes, but I wouldn't trade 'em for nothin'. Being a mom is the best thing that ever happened to me, hands down.
*Yes, my phone is ANCIENT, which explains the stellar quality of this photo.
Loved catching-up with you here...the photo of Ev's birdhouse is striking! He did a great job decorating the birdies' little home. The meal Stephen prepared for you looks scrumptious, indeed. Those strawberries look sinfully refreshing...whenever we'd got to our not-so-local video store we'd end up parking in Miyage's parking lot and my eye was always drawn to the lucky people sitting on the patio enjoying their meal. What a fun little place. Stephen looks like a full-fledged farmer in the pic at the farm. I see property in your distant future. You look gorgeous in the last photo even if your phone is ancient. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, and I have an inkling about what the kid plate is all about...I'll have to wait and see if I'm close.;)
My kids have been finding hazelnuts in our backyard, must be the squirrels. It's fun to crack 'em open and see the condition the hazelnuts are in. :)
ReplyDeleteIt was fun to catch up with you...and get a little window into your life like this. I'm always sad when I get to the last photo. :-)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your upcoming blog posts.
Your new nickname is Alison, Woman of Intrigue!
P.S. You and your kids take the best smushy face photos!
I've been waiting, what a great Monday am surprise.
ReplyDeleteAre you growing collards? Or is that an eggplant leaf?
My grandpa lives on a ranch in Orland, and I told Mark that next time we visit I want to go to the animal sactuary, so impressed you guys made it up there! How absolutely fun!
Stephen's cinco de mayo meal looks fabulous! Lucky!!
Definitely intrigued about your day 112 & 113! Get on that ;)
Ha! I thought the kid plate photo went with your caption about contents that have yet to be disclosed...I thought the kids ate a huge pile of rare and exotic vegetables, but left the grilled sandwich. Now I finally understand there are 2 photos we havn't seen. Gotcha!;)
ReplyDeleteMel, not growing eggplants or collards (at the moment). The plant in the bug photo is a bell pepper, Canary Yellow.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, ladies!