Simplicity Parenting Book Club {preview}

I just wanted to post a little reminder that Monday is the first day of our virtual book club. I decided that each chapter has so much in it that next week I am going to dedicate 6 days to discussing the book. Each day we will focus on a chapter and I have invited 6 lovely ladies to be my co-hosts. Even though we are all reading the same book our interpretations of the book are all going to be different and the way we impliment change in our families is going to be unique. For this reason I am beyond excited to see what my co-hosts come up with and can not wait to hear your comments. If you haven't started reading just work on Chapter one this weekend. If you plan on reading it later, you can always come back and reference the posts for next week.

I can't wait to hear what you all think. ox, Alexis

Monday, 5/7 - "Why Simplify" - Melissa, Reverie-Daydream
Tuesday, 5/8 - "Soul Fever" - Torrie, A Place to Share
Wednesday, 5/9 - "Environment" - Jennifer - The Humble Buttery
Thursday, 5/10 - "Rhythm" - Haydee - Happenstance
Friday, 5/11 - "Schedules" - Erin - Such Small Steps
Monday, 5/14 - "Filtering Out the Adult World" - Jora - Domestic Reflections

Parsley Pesto

Ingredients:
2 bunches of Italian Parsley, de-stemmed leaves only
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese {Ross and I haven't been eating dairy so this ingredient has been eliminated as of late, it is still super yummy and creamy}
3 cloves of garlic minced {I like it really garlicky}
olive oil {when I turn on my food processor I just slowly pour the olive oil in until it gets creamy, you can add less or more, it really is a personal preference}
1/4 cup Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar from Trader Joe's {this is a new addition to the recipe. I am loving it but I also love it without. Not crucial but especially good over fish}
sea salt to taste
Add all the ingredients to your food processor, except the olive oil and salt. Turn the processor on and slowly add the olive oil. Once the mixture looks mostly chopped/ combined take off the lid and scrap the sides. Turn on and add more olive oil to your desired consistency. Add salt and put that spread on EVERYTHING: fish, tacos, sandwiches, polenta, roasted veggies {ridiculously good}, brown rice....... enjoy.

and the winner is...

h to the eather.

H to the Eather please send me your mailing address and I will get the garland in the mail for you.

Thank you all for playing.

F&F sewing class

June 2nd I will be teaching my second class at Summerland Mercantile, making Market Totes. Check out my first class here & here. I so hope some of you can join me. It is such a special venue and I'm hoping it will be a wonderful class.

house keeping + DIY + giveaway

House Keeping: Thanks to the absolutely, amazingly fabulous Ana of Blog Milk I am 100% up and running on my new blog. All of my links work perfectly now {it only took me a month to get my act together and Ana 30 minutes to set it up}. I even have a button so that you all can get a F&F app on your phone and a new link to Instagram.

So I just jumped on the Instagram bandwagon and WOW! it is much fun. Even if you don't feel like posting photos I highly suggest getting an account. In a lot of ways it is like blogging but just on a smaller, quicker scale. I feel like I take photos of all the little things that I think, "I should post that", but never get around to. I love it. I also highly suggest following my sister V {vblackblack}. Her photos are so much fun. I am living vicariously through her as she travels the world with her super cute {Jude Law body double} boyfriend.

DIY: I had so much fun making these banners for our blogger resource party. All you need is felt, twine, a sewing machine {although hot glue would totally work} and scissors. I cut zillions of circles in all sort of colors and at random sewed them on the string about 5-8 inches apart.

Giveaway: I decorated Henry's room with some of this banner flair but I have about 7 yards left and would love to share it with one of you. Leave a comment by Sunday night and I will announce a winner {at random} on Monday.

Disney + a thought on Simplicity Parenting

Last week was Henry's second trip to Disneyland. It was such a magical day. It really was the Happiest Place on Earth last Tuesday. There is something so amazingly awesome about riding a roller coaster with your kiddo. The look on Henry's face was pure joy mixed with a little terror. I was laughing so hard I couldn't stop and when we got off Thunder Mountain I think Henry was at least an inch taller.

So a thought on Simplicity Parenting. Ross has been listening to the book on his commutes to work so we have been able to talk a lot about our desire to simplify. When Ross's parents so graciously offered to take us to Disneyland we asked them to honor our wishes to keep it simple. This is hard when everywhere you turn there is something any child would want. Every single attraction dumps you out at a new gift store. Ross's parents were totally on board for us to make the "gift" our trip to Disneyland. Henry might of had the best day of his life {I mean really it felt like that}. Of course I am not saying that he would have had less fun if he had gotten a toy but I do feel like something about the experience changes. Last year we had a great time, although there was a huge focus on finding the "perfect" toy. Henry knew that he was going to get a toy so he spent a lot of the day looking at every single option in every single store. Which really isn't the point, right?

Henry got the attention of 2 grandparents, 2 parents, ride after ride, ice cream, cotton candy, a hug from Donald and he left singing the entire way home. I think it was a success. Have you tried anything that the books suggests? What do you think?

resource party {+ name tags}

This weekend Julia and I hosted a resource party. So the idea is that everyone brings a goal that they want to share. At the beginning of the party everyone tells the group what their goal is and then throughout the night you talk to people who you think you may be able to help, give ideas too and basically just encourage. Julia and I put together a list of local bloggers and there was an amazing turn out of 25 girls. I highly recommend doing this. I learned very quickly that you don't need a blog and you don't need to have a business. Your goal could be to help a non-profit or to start to go to Yoga, whatever. The huge take away for me is that there are no goals too big or too small and we are all here to encourage each other {which I know everyone needs}. I had a happy hangover the next morning, everyone's energy was so good. Could you imagine most girls didn't know anyone. I think I only knew half the group and everyone felt comfortable being vulnerable telling the group their dreams.
My house was filled with so much radiant talent... these were our guests...

Alex - Rustic Rooster
Bethany & Tere - MOM
Karen - Karin Grow
Kara - Verse Jewelry
Ashley - Little Presidents {adorable monogrammed goodies for you and baby... website to come}
Brandi - Not Your Average Ordinary
Summer - Modernhaus
Raluca - What Would Gwenyth Do
Bianca - Bink & Boo
Theresa - Inspiration Co Op
Samantha - Vintage is for Lovers
Jennie Corti - The White Barn
Heather Feemster - La Feem & The Post Social
Grace Sorenson - Grace Happens
Amber Haldane - The Girl is Craftee
Brandis Rodriguez - Little Rabbit Print
Haydee Sentianin - Happenstance & The Post Social
Julia Wheeler - San Diego Songbird & The Post Social
Nicole - Coastal Family Living
Nicole - Paper Boat {amazing shoes... coming soon}
Venus - Anthology Collection
Erin - Such Small Steps
Greta - Ott Creative

So for name tags I thought I would do something a little jazzier then just "Hello my name is." So I got mailing labels from Paper Source, cut out fabric, punched out paper from the dictionary and made a "fresh" stamp {our theme was Fresh food and Fresh ideas}. I hot glued them all together and there you go... a fun twist on name tags {which are so nice to wear especially someone like me who gets nervous and forgets good friends names}.

Wait! one more thing I forgot to say... today marks the first day of Jeanne Oliver's, Building a Creatively Made Business e-course. You can hop on and join in at anytime and registration is open until April 23. On top of the course all registered people are entered to win a Beginning Business Kit. This is blog design, web design, postcard design, business card design and one on one consulting with Jeanne. I am super excited! Please email me if you have any questions... I have no doubt that it will be great.

roasted {everything}

My current obsession is roasted everything. I have been roasting brussel sprouts, zucchini, sweat potatoes, butternut squash, cabbage, eggplant, carrots, parsnips, asparagus {you get the picture}. There are two notable things about this excessive roasting; one- how to do it, two - what to put with it.
one. I have been roasting everything the exact same way and each thing that comes out of the oven is so yummy. I practically burn my mouth every time. Here is how I prep each vegetable. Brussel sprouts, zucchini, carrots and parsnips, are all cut down the middle. I even like to leave a little bit of the stem {just because it looks pretty}. Sweat Potatoes, Butternut squash, cabbage {this is shockingly good} and eggplant; for these veggies I cut them like thick steaks or thick pieces of bread {cabbage I cut about 1 inch think, all the others about 1/2 inch}. Then in a little ramekin I add 2 cloves of minced garlic, half a lemon, 2 tbs olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. Then with one of these brushes paint the mixture all over the veggies {top to bottom}. Roast at 400 until the vegetables are cooked through and has a little bit of a dark edge {it depends on the veggie but anywhere between 10-20 minutes}.
two. Once my veggies are roasted I have been putting them with lentils, quinoa, and arugula or lettuce {I especially love the Herb Lettuce Mix at Trader Joe's}. Next add whatever else you like on your salads tomatoes, avocado, English peas, hearts of palm, parsley and then drizzle with a simple balsamic and olive oil {or if you're like me olive oil and Bragg}.

Easter 2012

This Easter was such a blessing for me. It was the first holiday - in my life - that I told my family what I was going to do and invited them to come, rather then driving all over town, being stressed out, making people upset with me and not enjoying the day. I have a very "modern" family, my parents were divorced when I was very young, then my parents were both remarried. Then 25 years later both sets of parents divorced. I adore my step parents so I have 4 separate sets of parents to see on holidays {plus Ross's family}. Luckily my mom and step mom are close, that is a gift. I guess the reason I am telling you all of this is because I wish someone would have told me that the best way to deal with this is to invite everyone and then they can decide {maybe people did suggest it, this was just the first year I really felt brave}. This year we sent an email to our families explaining our plan for the day, hike in the morning, hunt, brunch etc... and told them how much we want them to be a part of it, then it was up to them to figure out when and if they could come. From my perspective I think it was successful, I didn't have the anxiety of making everyone happy {of course I had a little}, being late or not giving everyone enough time {I had a little of that too but much less then normal}. It was a bit of a break through for me.

Simplicity Parenting

This book was suggested by Jora after my post on choice. After reading the title Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier and More Secure Kids, I couldn't wait to start reading. After our first week of soccer - pretty sure I heard a guy tell his wife "if {insert child's name} keeps this up I am thinking scholarship". barf. they're three - I feel like Ross and I need to take a pause and make sure that we are on the right track with our kids and our parenting. So I thought I would see who's in for a virtual book club. Not sure the best way to do this but I am thinking that I will post some thoughts/questions in one month Monday, May 7th and we can talk amongst ourselves via 'comments.'
1- get the book
2- read
3- check in 5/7 & let's discuss!
I have no idea if this will work but even if only a couple of us read, I have a feeling that this book has the potential to make a difference in the lives of our precious children.

artichokes

If I had to make a list of all the reason that I love spring one of those reasons would be artichokes. Here is how I like to do them...

Ingredients for cooking the artichokes {this is for one artichoke}:
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 tbs oyster sauce
couple shakes of garlic salt

Ingredients for dipping sauce:
horseradish {just a tiny bit or a lot depending on how horsey you like it}
juice from half a lemon
two spoon fulls of mayo
pepper

Get a big pot fill it with water about 1-2" deep. Put a vegetable steamer in your pot and bring to a boil. Cut off the top of the artichoke and trim all the pokey leaves off. Place your artichokes in the steamer and add soy sauce, olive oil, oyster sauce and garlic salt. They usually take about 30-40 minutes to cook. If you are unsure if they are done just pull on one of the leaves with some tongs, if the leave easily falls off they are ready. Mix up your sauce and dive in. yum.

fresh start

500 posts with my old look and today marks my new look at post 501. If you knew me you would know that I have a weird thing with the number 5 and that this must mean I am on the right path {not planned but exactly how it should be}.

Ana from Blog Milk helped me redecorate. I am not really sure how to give her professionalism, creativity and lickety splicketiness justice. But she is wonderful, brilliant and totally awesome. I want to sing it from the roof top. Thank you Ana. You listened to my every request and I am a very happy lady.

one more thing.

We planted our raised beds this weekend. The sweet peas and swiss chard were pulled out to make room for tomatoes, a few kinds of squashes and lots of herbs. Last year was a royal flop which after reading this post I decided was the fault of the soil. After a bag full of chicken poop, veggie food and gypsum I am hopeful.

Here is to starting fresh.

fabric covered eggs

supplies:
* one styrofoam egg
* straight pins
* fabric scraps from a friend

choice

Just a thought on choice.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Are lots of choices good? Well after a little research {mostly observing my 3 and a half year old son} I would say no. I hate to admit it, my child is a total and complete consumer. The exact opposite of what I dreamed about rubbing my tummy 4 years ago.

This child could fill a cart at Office Depot. He wants and "needs" everything. How did that happen? Well maybe because he has tons of grandparents, great grandparents and lots of aunts and uncles... all of which want to spoil him. He is a lucky little guy. Ross and I are guilty of this spoiling thing too, a "treat" here and there is fun... but wait when does the "treat" stop being a "treat" and start being expected?

Last night I heard of a 12 year old girl who was grounded for a week because she wasn't content. Wow. How do we teach our kids to be contented with what they have; nothing more, nothing less?

The other day I took the boys to the park. As we were running out the door I threw an orange, some pistachios and water in a bag {quite honestly I knew they wouldn't be on the top of Henry's favorite snack items but I was hungry too}. We sang a ridiculous song on our way, found a tree to sit under and had a late afternoon outing at the park. After swinging, scooting, sliding and climbing, Henry asked for a snack. I showed him what we had and he gladly sat and ate. I had offered the same snack the day before but because there are a million other choices at home this one did not seem very good. But at the park with only 3 choices {one of those being water} Henry was happy and most of all content.

Yesterday morning Henry, Ross, Conrad and I were all in our closet {not sure why} but Ross found a box that he forgot about. Inside were a bunch of Roark stickers. Henry said he wanted them. Ross said he could have one {this is when the craziness started}, Henry insisted on two, Ross had very little patience for this, Henry started to loose his mind, Ross took all the stickers away, closed up the box and our 3.5 year old was purple screaming his head off. It happened so fast. Ten seconds earlier, he didn't even know the stickers existed. Happy, contented. Next second, the possibilities of having any sticker he wanted ruined his {at the moment} life.

One last story.

I had a neighbor growing up who apparently had tons of money... I think his family was in the oil business or something. But he lived in a very normal house, had a garden in the back, wife who went to garage sales and he seemed really happy. I remember neighbors saying that he was a bit nuts... "he could buy a plane but he doesn't even have a garbage disposal." Looking back I think the joke was on all of those neighbors. He didn't let all of his choices dictate his life. He was contented.

bread making.

I am reading this book right now called Make the Bread, Buy the Butter. It has inspired me to make things from scratch; peanut butter, granola and bread {so far}. A bucket list goal of mine has been to make my own bread. It has always seemed so scary and hard... but my friends it's not! Mixing those 4 simple ingredients is kind of magic, you watch it grow, stick it in the oven and it is totally delish.
Here is the recipe that I tried, it was so silly easy.
Also if you are a bread maker I have some questions...
- What are your favorite brands for stuff {flower, yeast, etc}?

- How do you store your bread once you make it?

- What is your favorite recipe for sweet breakfast type bread?
- How do you make bread in a pan, without greasing it?

happy bread making

baby food ideas.

Conrad is 8 months and just now loving to eat. Which is so much fun for me because I really enjoyed making Henry's food. Of course I use store bought all the time; if we are on the go it is much easier to take out a jar. But while we are home, making his food has been super easy and so much less expensive. Every few weeks I make a huge batch, freeze and then defrost as I need it. When I make my big batches I usually come up with two concoctions. Then when it comes time to eat I can add a fresh banana, avocado, apple sauce {you can make your own but I just get a big unsweetened Organic jar which works great}, cereal {loving Happy Baby cereal}, probiotics or nothing at all. Also I highly recommend getting a baby food mill; they are great for mashing up anything that you want to add to the pre-made mixture {beans, fish, chicken...}. Here are two recipes, again I have never made the same batch twice so if you are missing something add something else. I guess that is why I think baby food is so much fun, there are no rules. Plus you can spend an hour cooking and make meals for weeks.

Supplies needed:
a food processor {a blender will work too}
a huge pot
a strainer
ice cube trays {I have two but wish I had a couple more, I usually have to freeze in stages}

Gallon sized Ziplocs

Ingredients:

Red Mash-up
1 beet
1 large butternut squash
5 carrots
3 yams

Directions:
Use a big pot, fill with water, bring water to a boil, add all of your peeled and chopped vegetables. After 15-20 minutes check your veggies and see if they are soft. Once they are soft save about 2 cups of the water in the pot {it should be pretty bright with that beet}. Dump the pot of water into a strainer and put the veggies into your food processor. With this much you will probably need to do it in 2 parts. Start to pulse and add the liquid until the mixture looks like baby food. Spoon the mixture into ice cube trays and freeze. Once the cubes are frozen dump them in a Ziploc and store in your freezer.

Ingredients:
Green Mash-up
1 bag of Organic frozen peas
1 bunch of spinach
1 bunch of swish chard
2 cups of frozen blueberries

Directions:
Use a big pot, fill with water, bring water to a boil, add all of your vegetables {wash and chop the chard and spinach}. After 10-15 minutes check to see if the stems of your chard are pretty soft. Once they are soft save about a cup of the boiled water. Dump the pot of water into a strainer and put the veggies into your food processor. Start to pulse and add the liquid until the mixture looks like baby food. Spoon the mixture into ice cube trays and freeze. Once the cubes are frozen dump them in a Ziploc and store in your freezer.

bon appetite little one

my Nano

Today is my Nano's 80th birthday and since he is on my mind and since he is such a huge force in my life I can't resist but to tell you a story. When I graduated from college I was a bit of a mess. I spent 4 years in a small Jesuit University {having too much fun} working towards being a teacher and months before graduation I decided to 'jump ship'. I graduated but with very little direction. Eventually I moved to Boston with a one way ticket and $200 bucks but for the months between graduation and the move I explored everything from advertising, to holistic medicine, to....... {this is embarrassing}....... acting. So the first thing I was going to need was head shots. Once I figured out that my tips from Taco Surf were not going to cover the expense my Nano decided to take matters into his own hands. He asked me to come down to his house and he would do my head shots. He had taken a piece of astroturf and stapled it on to the side of his garage {back drop} and in front of it sat his exercise ball {prop}. Voila photo shoot. He took about 3 rolls of film, drove down to Walgreens, waited for the photos to be developed and brought them back to me. Those were my head shoots. They got me one call back for an Impala commercial and a lifetime of gratitude for my Nano. I love him. Happy Birthday Nano.

One more thing... how cute are these center pieces?! My aunt made these for my Nano's party on Sunday. He has a group of guys that he golfs with every Thursday some of them he has known since he was 17. Pretty amazing.

shower ideas

This weekend Julie and I had a little gathering for Cara to celebrate her second baby girl. She is working so hard on her dissertation - GO CARA GO - so it was such a blessing to pause and celebrate her sweet little love bug on the way.
Here are a couple fun ideas that came out of this shower
1- buy potted plants; they are a beautiful alternative to cut flowers and they make the perfect party favor. {pictured above are primroses}
2- Cara is in need of a name and loves old traditional names. So all the ladies went around and said their grandmother's names... Loving Nora and Fern.

let's create

Just a few {creative} things...
1- Tonight Jennie and I are hosting a craft night! Theme - stamp making... we are super excited.
2- Follow me over to Cresendoh this week while I am a guest curator on Jenny Doh's serious "Art Saves".
3- Have you been wanting to start a creative business or do you need help with the creative business that you have? If yes sign up for Jeanne Oliver's E- Course called "Building a Creatively Made Business." I met Jeanne while I was in France a couple summers ago and she is a little slice of heaven. I adore her and have so much admiration for all that she has done with her business. She has so much wisdom to share and is so gracious to have a class sharing all of her secrets. I am signed up.
4- I am so excited to be teaching another class at Summerland Merchantile June 2nd, we will be sewing markets totes with vintage table clothes... Check out my last class here.

San Elijo Campout

After 3 days of fevers it is hard for me to even believe that this happened this weekend. Poor little Conrad has had a super high fever since Sunday morning and finally after two trips to see a doctor has been diagnosed with an ear infection and teething. But before fever-ville we were at San Elijo Campgrounds having the best time. It couldn't have been more beautiful and it was so much fun to have friends get dirty around the camp fire with us.

*I keep meaning to tell you all that I am a Guest Curator over at Jenny Doh's site Crescendoh... she has asked me to tell how "Art Saves", I also am sharing 2 links a day that have inspired me for the next week...check it out.