Fortune Cookies

Ralph and I flew home from San Francisco Saturday night. We had a wonderful time. Really, just fantastic. Ralph is a great kid to travel with. Enthusiastic about whatever is on the schedule. Kind, helpful and he doesn't complain.

On Sunday, Ralph shared the trip souvenirs with his siblings. One of my very favorites was the fortune cookies we picked up in Chinatown. Jordan, who knows every cool source in every corner of the city, took us to this tiny hole-in-the-wall shop where two women were making fortune cookies one-by-one.



It was kind of a crazy thing to witness. They were sitting next to two good size machines which produced flat dough circles. In front of them was a small table with a stack of fortunes. While the circle cookies were still hot, the women would grab them and fold them neatly over a fortune. One by one. They were super speedy. I will think of those ladies every time I have takeout Chinese food for the rest of my life.



Jordan knew that if you drop by the shop they have little slips of paper where you can write your own fortunes and they'll put them into a fresh cookie then and there. So Jordan and Ralph wrote up some awesome fortunes and we brought them home for Maude, Olive, Oscar and Betty.

We bought 5 custom cookies — made to order right in front us — and the cost was $2.50. They say fortune cookies were invented in San Francisco — seems like a really good souvenir.

Edit: My brother, Jared just sent me a link to this (short) video about fortune cookies not being recognized in China.
2nd Edit: You can find more info about this shop (including location) here.

Decoupaged Chair

I'm digging this decoupaged chair. Find instructions (and 8 how-to photos) at DIY.

found via How About Orange

Word Book

My sister-in-law, Liz, made an adorable book for her son Henry, filled with photos of his favorite things. I would highly recommend bookmarking this project — it's a really good idea for a baby gift.

Giveaway — $200 Cambria Cove Shopping Spree

Well hello, friends! I'm posting from San Francisco today. I'm here with Ralph and we're having a great time. Last night we were able to hang out with Jordan & Paul and Jared & Liz (how lucky am I to have relatives in this fantastic town?). We ate Bi-rite ice cream. Visited the Ferney Art Studio on Valencia Street. Basically we did our best to blend in with the beautiful San Francisco hipsters all evening long.

Because all Design Mom Readers are completely and utterly beautiful as well (of course), here's your chance to win a $200 shopping spree to Cambria Cove. The perfect place to up your beauty quotient with something really lovely.




$200 to spend on anything you please. You could use it to buy a gift for someone you love — Cambria Cove has mastered the art of gift-giving — they have gorgeous items for every conceivable occasion. On the other hand, they also offer a whole section called Gifts For You, which might be a better way to spend the prize. : ) Either way, you'll have a wonderful time browsing their collection.

Some of my favorites: this gorgeous leatherbound journal, the most elegant laptop cover evah, Portuguese soaps (I adore Portuguese soap packaging!), which would go perfect with these handsome bath accessories. Oh. And there's delightful jewelry. And dozens upon dozens of other perfectly chosen items.

Leave a comment to enter. I'll announce a winner when I'm back on Monday. Yay for generous giveaways!

——————————

Congratulations, k a t y!! You are the lucky winner of this generous gift certificate from Cambria Cove. Happy shopping!

Book of the Week: Rose and the Bald Headed Elephant

This is a story about Rose and the Bald-Headed Elephant. With some of the funkiest illustrations I've come across in a long time. I like what Your Heart Out had to say about it. "Rose tries to help Mr. Elephant past his self-consciousness by showing him all the wonderful things she sees in him. We all need a friend like Rose: someone to bring us up when we’re down—and talk us down from getting a toupee."

My kids love it.

You can find a sweet, simple (brief) video about the endearing book below.

Clementine Art Products

The eating of crayons/playdough/art supplies at our house isn't too frequent. But it has been known to happen. I wonder if I'd mind the tasting if my kids were using Clementine art products. Non-toxic, environmentally friendly ingredients, in fully recycled packaging. It's not meant to be eaten, but the Citrus Dough sounds delish.

Pool Party Display

Mmmmm. Makes me want to hang pretty things from trees. More images here.

School Pictures

A new company called Stomping Ground has set out to reinvent school pictures. Their sample portraits are adorable!

Thoughts: Can school pictures be saved? Should our own children be subjected to the tacky school photos of our youth? Would you push your school to hire Stomping Ground vs. Lifetouch (or whoever handles your school photos)?

One last note. Ralph had school pictures taken a few days before school even started. One of the options we could pick: pay an extra fee to have zits photoshopped. Blessed middle school.

Slurpees

What a full happy week! Yesterday was Olive's birthday. Today is Ralph's birthday. That means breakfast in bed, wrapping presents and making cupcakes two days in a row.

On Monday night, Maude had a wonderful suggestion: "How about for Family Night [Monday nights are family nights at our house], we go to 7-11 because Olive is 7 and Ralph is 11 and on Tuesday & Wednesday they won't be any more."

So to 7-11 we went. And shared a couple of Slurpees among us.

And now Olive is 8 and Ralph is 12. I can hardly believe it.

Sewn Packaging

How cute is this creative packaging? Made from pages of a vintage reading book. And sewn with a simple zigzag on 3 sides. Filled with something sweet of course. What a fun gift to receive!

Olive's Turn

Dip-dye dress by Kandy Kiss. Leggings by Old Navy. Shoes by Salt Water Sandals. Floral headband by Gymboree.

Of course (of course!) Olive wanted (and rightly deserved) a chance to model her back to school clothes. Olive is 7. She is starting to phase out of her pink addiction and on to more sophisticated shades — even some occasional brown.

I'm sure you are tiring of wardrobe posts, so I promise this will be the last for awhile. As with Ralph and Maude, many of these items were already in Olive's closet. I'll list sources where available. More pics of Olive's photoshoot here.


Plaid shirt and roll-up cargo pants by Target. Turquoise tee by Old Navy. Sneakers by Adidas. Western cut floral top by Ralph Lauren. Corduroy mini by Old Navy. Cable-knit tights by H&M. Brown Maryjane's by Payless.


Stripe top by Old Navy. Floral top by Osh Kosh. Capris by Gymboree. Blue layering tee by Mini Boden. Sweater vest by GapKids. Brown velour-ish trousers by H&M. Slip-on sneakers by Airwalk for Payless.


Tie-back dress by Mossimo for Target. Skinny jeans by H&M. Embroidered top by Lulu and Scooter. Embroidered skirt by Children's Place.


Plaid top by Gymboree. Red cardigan by Target. Jeans by GapKids.


Floral top by Peek Aren't You Curious. Screened tee by Old Navy. Purple cropped cargo pants by Peek.


Possibly the greatest pair of kid sneakers ever made! We found ours at Zappos.

Fun things at Cookie

Don't miss a couple of my latest posts at Cookie's Nesting Blog. Like a custom print made in Nie Nie's honor. And and sleek way to glam your gadgets.

Also. Cookie has a fun creative cake contest going on. Win a KitchenAid stand mixer and $125 worth of cake-decorating supplies from Wilton. You can send in pics of your own or see submissions here.

Also. Also. I loved this post by Sarah Engler about lids for tins cans: "Just peel off the label of your soup and snap on one of the seven useful varieties." So smart!

images via Design Vagabond

DownEast Basics Giveaway

I'm on my way to New York in a few minutes. I'm being filmed/interviewed/auditioned for something with HGTV. Sort of a vague description. And yet. It's all the info I have. Basically, I read an email with words like: New York, HGTV, and video, and said: Yes, please. I have no idea if or how many other bloggers are involved but won't it be fun to find out? It's a super short trip — I'll be home tomorrow night. I keep thinking I'll get to hold still for a bit and I keep being wrong. This weekend it's the East Coast. Next weekend it's San Francisco. Gosh. I'm not feeling that glamorous right now, but typing out my travel schedule makes my life sound pretty cosmopolitan, no?

Anyway. To help us all feel a little more glamorous and cosmopolitan, I've got a great giveaway today. It's a $150 gift certificate to the lovely DownEast Basics. Nice.




Lots of new arrivals (my favorites are the collegiate sweater and the bees knees skirt). Even a sweet new line for girls (love those skirts!). Thanks to DownEast Basics for sponsoring this great giveaway. Have fun browsing the pretty clothes — imaging how chic and sophisticated (and oh so cosmopolitan!) you'll look. Leave a comment to enter. I'll announce a winner when I'm back at my desk on Monday.

–––––––––––––––––

Congratulations, Anne! You are the lucky winner. Have so much fun spending your $150 at DownEast Basics!!

Anniversaries

It's our fourteenth wedding anniversary today. It feels good. Really good.

As I mentioned last week, to celebrate, Ben Blair and I climbed a 14er. 14,270 feet in elevation to be exact. I was warned how hard it would be, but I guess I didn't really believe it, because the difficulty kept surprising me. The higher you get, the harder it is to breath. Headaches begin. Nausea visits. Dizzyness warns. During the last thousand feet of elevation, I had to fight my instinct to lie down and take a little nap on the freezing cold mountain.




Ben Blair, who is in much better shape than I, coached me gently to the top. The hike from beginning to end took us 3 hours and 15 minutes. I can't remember ever pushing my heart that hard for that long. I found when it was really difficult, if I would just focus on progressing a few feet in front of me, I was fine. And when I needed to stop and rest and let my heart rate try to reach some sort of normal, I was greeted by tremendous views every where I looked.

As luck would have it, at the top, views were completely obstructed by thick fog. But it didn't matter a bit. The high was still a high. And happily, my iphone had perfect reception (possibly the one spot on earth with good AT&T coverage) and I could tweet that we had made the summit. Tweet until my fingers were threatening frostbite and we headed back down on rubbery legs.



On our hike (when I still had breath enough to carry on a conversation) Ben Blair and I talked about some of the milestones of our marriage so far. Fourteen years ago we hadn't even graduated from college. (I laugh when I remember how young we married.) Some of the highlights in no particular order: We graduated from college. We bought a house, then gutted it and refinished it. We moved to Greece. We moved to New York. We moved to Colorado. We went through several job hunts and landed great jobs. Ben Blair finished a masters and doctorate degree. We started several businesses. We closed several businesses. We sold our house. We built a ginormous table. We had 5 children.

It is a wonderful thing to take part in a happy marriage. My relationship with Ben Blair is the very best thing in my life. Period.

On Sunday night, I was wandering through the blogosphere and was reminded of another anniversary — a miraculous one. Sunday was the one-year mark of Stephanie Nielson's plane crash. To celebrate, Nie and Christian also climbed a mountain — a tougher climb than I could ever hope to attempt. Because they are total rock stars.



I was thinking about last year. About the auctions and fundraising. About seeing the blogging world come together in a mind-blowing way. And I had myself a little daydream. At the BlogHer conference each July, there is a Community Keynote. At the keynote, a group of bloggers gleaned by Eden Kennedy, each reads one of their significant blog posts. It is, without hesitation, the best part of the conference. How wonderful would it be to see Stephanie and her wonderful sister Courtney (who chronicled Stephanie's journey when Nie couldn't do it for herself) speak at the next BlogHer Community Keynote?

The conference is far away from their home. And of course, Stepanie can't fly to New York. In my little daydream, a sponsor provided a retro styled Airstream Camper (wouldn't that be perfect for Stephanie's super-hip style?), and the whole family made their way leisurely across the country. Stopping at vintage diners along the way. Shopping for souvenirs. With Stephanie's fans coming out to meet her, cheer her on, and thank her for living a inspiring life.

Of course, it was only a daydream. I have no idea if Stephanie and Courtney would even be interested. I don't even know if Nie's treatment regimen would allow it. (And really, as big as the BlogHer conference is, I know there are still thousands of bloggers out there who aren't really aware of it — I believe Cjane and Nie fall in that category.) But I think the blogging community would love to hear from them in that sort of setting. To hear in person what it was like to wake up and find out you'd missed a few months of your life. To look in the mirror and see a face you don't recognize. To find out thousands of people you've never met have rallied on your behalf and are hanging on your every word.

Dear Stephanie, congratulations on reaching your significant and magnificent goal. You did it! You climbed the mountain. I tear up just thinking how hard you worked to get there. I think you're amazing.

Go Make This Right Now

We had our first taste of Pinkberry (a tart, really yummy frozen yogurt) not too long before we moved from New York, and we were instant fans. There's no Pinkberry in our new neighborhood, but our Sabey cousins hooked us up with FroYo during our first few days in Colorado and it's hit the spot nicely. As our addiction has developed, I've been curiouser and curiouser about making our own frozen yogurt. So Sunday night, I looked up a recipe, realized we had everything we needed in our kitchen (whole milk yogurt, cheesecloth and sugar), and went to work.

We prepped the yogurt Sunday evening, stirred the ingredients and chilled them Monday morning, and by 11:30 we were eating the best frozen yogurt I've ever tasted. Seriously. It was so good. Soooooooo good. Go make some right this minute. You're welcome in advance.

The recipe (and image) I found is at 101 Cookbooks, from an aptly titled blog post: A Frozen Yogurt Recipe to Rival Pinkberry's (FYI: the 101 Cookbooks author, Heidi, made some notes which I followed — skipping the vanilla and using only 2/3 cups sugar.)

---------------------

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt Recipe

Heidi notes: First off, remember it is important to use good-quality whole-milk yogurt. The version in David's book is Vanilla Frozen Yogurt. This time around I skipped out on the vanilla, opting for straight, bright white yogurt with the sweetness playing off the tang of the yogurt. I also used slightly less sugar than called for here, more like 2/3 cup - but you can go either way depending on what you like.

-3 cups (720g) strained yogurt (see below) or Greek-style yogurt
-3/4 cup (150g) sugar
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Mix together the yogurt, sugar, and vanilla (if using). Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

To make 1 cup (240g) of strained yogurt, line a mesh strainer with a few layers of cheese cloth. then scrape 16 ounces or 2 cups (480g) of plain whole-milk yogurt into the cheesecloth. Gather the ends and fold them over the yogurt, then refrigerate for at least 6 hours. So, for the above recipe start with and strain 6 cups of yogurt.

Makes about 1 quart.

Nesting Trays

I have a thing for serving trays. They're super versatile for entertaining and they're perfect for breakfast in bed. (We're big on breakfast in bed at our house — especially for birthdays.) I'm really pleased with my newest set of trays. They're generously sized. They nest, so as not too take up too much space. And each tray comes with it's own flannel bag to keep it scratch-free while in storage (note the black material you see folded in the top picture).

That said, I can't imagine these beauties will spend much time in the cupboard. They're too pretty to hide.

Behind the Scenes — Room to Grow

Assembling the crib. Duct taping the crib sheet to the mattress so it would be flat in the photos. The room full of assembled products for the shoot. The boxes and boxes that were unpacked and repacked over the 3-day photoshoot.

The Room To Grow article was a fantastic project to work on. Putting together a dream list of lovely items for a bedroom — it's as fun as it sounds. (And a great chance to feature products from vendors I love. Places like Via Toy Box, Oeuf, Zid Zid, Frazier & Wing, Fawn & Forest and a dozen others.) It was also fun because this is exactly the sort of thing I do in my own kids' rooms — transition them in small stages as my kids grow — so it was a comfortable project for me. Certainly the most fun thing was getting to work with a terrific team: Photographer Gemma Comas. Lili DiLallo the stylist. Amanda Kingloff the editor and Taryn Mohrman the assistant editor.

In addition to being fun for me professionally, it was also really fun personally, because the bedroom was shot in the gorgeous home of Erin and Ryan Wright, dear friends from New York. And each night I would sleep in the guest room of Megan and Ben Sibbett — more dear friends. And occasionally throughout the shoot, other dear friends would drop by the Wright's home to say hello. The photoshoot was in early June and I had just moved to Colorado a month previously. So this work trip to New York, combined with getting to spend time with people I love, went a long way to easing my homesickness.


Embroidery hoops and possible fabric choices. The dresser from a prop house sans drawer pulls. An email break. The fillable lamp.

The main behind-the-scenes aspect I wanted to share is how it's all about what the camera sees. End of story. When putting the room together for the photoshoot, even if something looks really good in real life — say the placement of a certain rug or proportion of a stuffed animal — if it doesn't look good through the camera lens, it has to be changed. How furniture is placed, the angles of pretty much every item, are all determined and adjusted depending on what we see in early images of the space. It's always interesting to see the perfect order of what's shown in the shot contrasted with the chaos at the edges of the frame that doesn't show up.

This also means that you have to choose and order many more items than you'll actually need in the photo — because until you see actual images, it's hard to tell which products will look good in the space and which won't. Sometimes a beloved product just doesn't fit in the scheme and has to be replaced. Since timing is tight during the photoshoot, products are over-ordered just in case.


The stylist putting fabric in hoops. A darling prop bag made from coffee bag burlap (it's a smaller version of the one my niece Sierra gave me). Adorable toys from Persimmon & Pink, waiting on a little wood chair (the chair didn't make the photos). Vinyl decals custom ordered from Graffiti Chic.

Have you ever had felt like our real homes never seem to look quite as perfect as the photos in the magazines? There's a good reason — a decent amount of fudging happens at a photoshoot to make things work. For example, the gorgeous bedskirt we featured on the crib, from Serena & Lily, wasn't the exact right size for the Ikea crib. If it was really my baby's bedroom, and I wanted to use that bedskirt, I would have a seamstress make adjustments to the bedskirt for me. At the photoshoot, we just jimmied the cribskirt with duct tape as needed.


A possible artwork combo on the wall — including pieces from a prop house, from personal collections, from Sarah Jane Studios and Ida Pearle. The crew behind the camera. A bed full of clothing for the baby models. A closeup of the darling desk.

There is real physical work at a photoshoot. And lots of it. Building the crib. Hanging artwork. Disassembling and reassembling the existing bedroom. Then assembling and disassembling the fake bedroom — all 3 versions of it. It also takes a surprising number of people. Our crew was: two editors plus an intern. A stylist and her assistant. The photographer and her handful of assistants. Plus me, the designer. Fun trivia: it was a very international group. Conversation slipped from English to French to Italian pretty seamlessly.



Other fun trivia: we asked my gorgeous friends Jill and Greg to bring their gorgeous twins (one girl, one boy) to the photoshoot to be baby models. We wanted the option of a few shots with an actual baby in the room. The shots turned out beautifully, but (total bummer) didn't end up working when the article was laid out for print. (The upside for me was that I still got to spend a morning hanging out with Jill and Greg.)

I think that about wraps up my behind the scenes tour. Thanks for all your positive feedback about the article. I'm so glad you liked it! For those of you who really liked it (as in those of you coveting the pretty items in the room) here's something cool: Parents Magazine is hosting a contest where you can win it all — $1700 in prizes. For reals. See details here.

What to Wear to 6th Grade

Button down by Peek. Tee by Old Navy. Jeans by H&M. Red sneakers by Adidas.

At your request, here is 11-year-old Ralph showing off his back-to-school wardrobe. Today is his first day of middle school (gulp). We've spent the last 24 hours practicing the right-left-skip-the-number-right-padlock-unlocking-method so he won't get frustrated when he encounters his locker combination. Oh man! I hope he loves school this year.

I've included source links where applicable. As with Maude, much of the wardrobe pictured here was already in Ralph's closet. But boy clothes are pretty easy — I'm betting you can find similar items to the ones shown here at a dozen different stores.

You can see more of Ralph's photo shoot here. (Also. I'll post Olive's B2S wardrobe in the next couple of days.)


Button down by Mossimo for Target. Ringer tee by Old Navy. Jeans by GapKids. Backpack by Ekco. Tie-dye tee by Maude Blair. Cargo shorts by Mossimo for Target. Black Sneakers by Adidas.


Printed polo by Wes & Willy from Juvie. Plaid shorts by Gymboree. Superman tee by Old Navy. Brown herringbone trousers by GapKids.


Tee by Old Navy. Track jacket by Peek Aren't You Curious. Screened tee by Peek. Khakis by GapKids.


Green polo by Lacoste. Denim cargo shorts by Mossimo for Target. Batman tee by Old Navy. Jeans by H&M.