weekly lp love

i decided to start a consistent 'what-we-have-been-listening-to-lately' post. music is such a huge part of our life and yet i rarely blog about it which i found sorta sad. plus i just like the idea of having a music journal of sorts. so here goes...this weeks lp love:

their 3rd album father, son, holy ghost still smells of that lonesome weariness-- yet still innocent, beachy, catchy, san francisco
'pop' rock and we keep loving the scent.

mushroom ragu with polenta

found this recipe and wanted to try it out. we both love polenta but i honestly think i have cooked with it once (i made polenta croutons and i don't remember it going so well as i am never very good at frying things). but i think what sold me on it the most was that it gave a suggestion of wine to pair with it, and it just so happens that we had that exact wine! good enough reason as any right? anyway it turned out great and the husband approved--always a good thing.

below is the original recipe. i adjusted it to make the meal a vegetarian one. so i will note that as needed.

Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil,
divided 8 ounces hot turkey Italian sausage  **i used tofurky italian sausage from TJ's
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 pound cremini mushrooms,
sliced 2 large garlic cloves,
minced 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
2 1/2 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth **here i just omitted the broth altogether, although a friend of mine recently brought it to my attention that fry's now carries 'no-chicken broth' (uh-mazing)
1 1/2 cups water 1 cup uncooked polenta
4 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese **i also omitted the cream cheese to keep it somewhat healthier
1 tablespoon butter

Preparation
1. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Remove sausage from casings. Add sausage to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove sausage from pan.

2. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion; sauté 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in sausage, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and tomatoes; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium; simmer gently for 15 minutes.

3. Bring broth and 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add polenta, stirring well. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer 20 minutes or until thick, stirring occasionally. Stir in remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt, cheese, and butter. Serve with sausage mixture.

***the wine is a tempranillo called La Granja and is $3.99. don't be fooled by the price, embrace it. it is actually one of our go-to wines. it is really good!

Happy 29th to my love!

i dreamt that it would be amazing and romantic and fun and adventurous, but i just had no idea how much better-than-that it would really be.

so cheers to being 29 and to being the most wonderful husband and daddy these 2 girls could ever ask for.
we love you so much.

(and in honor of jeremiah's birthday, i made him his birthday breakfast which consists of roasted sweet potato pancakes topped with mascarpone, crushed pecans, and real maple syrup. it is the recipe from what used to be the best breakfast place in town, palatte, until it sadly closed. we both helped open the place and worked there for a while.)

as my camera is still dead, i took this pic from christine's (the owner and chef of palatte)
amazing blog. there you will also find the recipe.
 mine looked sort of like that only not so perfectly round ;-)
these are the most incredible pancakes and perfect for fall!

today

today you fell asleep on my chest as we were lying on our yellow couch. you haven't done that since you were a newborn. i didn't realize how much i had missed it. you were so precious with your eyes closed and your sweet little breath. and i laid there watching the light come through the window and your dad, on the other side, sat reading a book of short stories. and we both looked at you and at each other and shed a few tears. tears for the happiness you have brought to our life. tears for how quickly you have grown but how strong and perfect and beautiful you have become. tears for the overwhelming love inside us that needed to escape.

grow, our darling little girl. but just not too fast please.

a review and slight makeover

after doing some research, i had decided on the joovy high chair to match our play yard. but at the last minute i changed my mind. we have some friends who use the $20 one from ikea and love it. so i did some more research because $20 is certainly better than $120. my biggest concern was obviously quality...i mean $20 is such a ridiculous price. upon reading, i found that it has gotten rave reviews. so we went for it...and haven't looked back since. it's simple, easy to assemble and disassemble (in case you want to bring it anywhere), the tray can fit in the dishwasher (super plus!), and most of all it is quite sturdy. i cannot tell you how nice it is to have her sit at our level during her dinner and ours.

they tray is sold separately but it is only $5 and you also have the option of buying a cushion to fit inside which is also $5. clémence is pretty petite so we bought that as well. so a total of $30!

this is the cushion. there is nothing wrong with this as is, but for me the sort of 'sesame street-colored stripes' weren't
really doin anything and not really my taste at all. so i decided to re-cover it in a fabric that i like.  again, i went to our discount fabric store and again came upon some amy butler fabric. there, it is $3.99 a yard which is way better than $10 a yard anywhere else.

soooo, here's what i did...

i cut the original fabric from the batting.

measured and pinned my new fabric. i just folded it over so i would only have to sew 3 sides
instead of 4.

sewed it together on the long side and then turned it right-side-out. then
i inserted the batting the same way you stuff a pillow in a pillow case.

next, i folded in the edges on both sides and pinned them together.

lastly, i sewed them up and voila!

much better in my opinion!!

(and in case you are wondering, i read the washing directions on the original tag and this baby can just go right in the washer! perfect!

ladies and gents...we have a crawler!

(i had to use my phone because my camera is dead so

 it isn't super clear but so fun anyway)

missoni for target

my convictions about high-end fashion designers doing affordable limited edition lines for the general mass at places like target and h&m was totally put to the test yesterday...and i lost. or i should say that the excitement i had when my mom came over and brought a bag full of missoni in clémence's size totally contradicted where i said i stood on the subject.

right or wrong, i felt like designers who make lines for these stores, do it solely for a quick buck, and in my opinion, (in a non-literal sense) it sort of cheapens it. isn't the fact that these clothes are unattainable for most of us somehow part of the appeal? or when you do get crazy and invest in an amazing piece or find it somewhere (like last chance or even goodwill) there is an immense satisfaction that emerges. but even in a less superficial way, one of the most frustrating things about the idea is that most of the people getting to these stores at 3am to wait for the doors to open aren't doing it for the love of the designer or the art that they make in clothing, they are doing it to slap it back up on ebay to, again, make a quick buck.

that all being said, i couldn't help going against my own view on the subject and gladly accepted my mom's amazing gift for clémence. because after all, i have got to start her early right?!?

diy crossover pinafore

i found a tutorial a few months back on how to make a crossover pinafore for the babe. well of course i pinned it with every intention of making it, but it only ended up sitting there. until my dear friend, hannah, saw it and had the right amount of enthusiasm to get us both to make one. her daughter, isla, is just a few weeks older than clémence so it was a perfect project for us to work on together.

i went to our local discount fabric store, SAS, and was able to walk out of there with some good finds. one of them was a few yards of amy butler's fresh poppies in ivory from her midwest modern collection. so that's what i chose to use.

this was the first thing i have made from a pattern since 8th grade home EC, but the tutorial which you can find here, came with the printable pattern (for free!) and super clear instructions. it was so much fun and i am really pleased with the result.

i cut out the fabric before going over to hannah's to save some time
and stagger our process a little so we wouldn't be at the same place.

after sewing the front piece and back piece, i did a little ironing of
the seams.



our girls entertaining each other and being so good while we work.



both sides are finished and are pinned and ready to be sewn together!



my lil' nugget got tired in the process.



below is the finished product...yay!! it is far from perfect, but in my opinion, looks so cute on my little model!

front

back

i have her in some shorts here, but do have plans to make some bloomers, in a different pattern.

and here it is with some tights for slightly colder weather (which we don't have yet)
and i think it would be adorable with a long sleeve underneath to transition it to fall.

while you were sleeping...

To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour.

-William Blake

a word on humanity

farewell summer

we just returned from our last beach trip of the year with jeremiah's side of the family. it was so nice to dodge the heat one last time and enjoy the 72 degree weather. and it just doesn't get any better than waking up to the ocean. we had a really great time and alas are ready for fall.



stopped in yuma on our way and little sleepyhead woke up to give
us a couple of giggles.



next day, toes are back in the sand and she's lovin it!

below is a video of clem playin in the water...

chillin with gramps!

got a little windy so we put on a sweater and she snuggled up
with grammy.

with grammy and gramps

such a sweet photo of them together!

love this shot.

hangin out with aunt tanja and aunt tarah

saying her goodbyes before we head home.