There's something about the waning days of summer that always strikes a little melancholy into my heart: all those lazy days I should have taken full advantage of, gone for another year. All those long golden afternoons I should have fallen asleep with a trashy paperback splayed open on my chest, instead of working. All those dripping vanilla swirl cones and tall, sweating glasses of lemonade I had yet to consume. All those sparkling turquoise afternoons by the pool. All those tender, butter-drenched lobster rolls I had yet to eat.
Read moreCOFFEE + CHOCOLATE GRANOLA
I remember Count Chocula. I remember Toucan Sam, the Trix Rabbit, and the fact that the Flintstones were the spokestoons for the Pebbles cereals (both Fruity AND Cocoa). Why? Genius marketing. I do not, however, recall the actual taste of any of these in any sort of Proustian way from my childhood......because I grew up in one of those families. You know. Healthy cereal families. Muesli and cornflakes and, maybe just for fun, plain round Kix cereal (they're Kid-Tested, Mother-Approved, y'all).
Read moreLemon Garlic Roasted Chicken
I'm a dreamer, always have been. Inside my head are a thousand photographs I have yet to take, a hundred books I have yet to write--and of course, about a million daydreams about family, love, creating, exploring and sharing. I think I've been dreaming of serving dinners like this to my family since long before I actually started a family of my own--it's the kind of warm-from-the-oven, hearty but healthy meal that magical food memories are made of.
Read moreDEVILED PINK EASTER EGGS, AKA EASTER BASKET SALAD
Easter has me straight up flummoxed this year, y'all. On the list of "things you don't have to think about until you have a kid, and then suddenly YOU JUST DO," holidays rank pretty high. When was the last time I even celebrated Easter? When I think back on all the previous Easters of my life, there are some dim memories of stiff and lacy Sunday dresses, straw hats, running in patent leather shoes, salty ham slices, Dixie cups of saccharine after-church lemonade that burned your throat with sweetness, plastic eggs. Jelly beans, of course. A frenzy of chocolate and gold foil and pastel plush animals that made Easter seem....almost like Spring Christmas? In a way that was always bewildering and somewhat overwhelming, though. Why are there presents? Who is this shady Easter Bunny character? What's in a marshmallow Peep, anyway? No one needs Spring Christmas. We're not churchgoing people, and I'd rather leave the orgy of candy and goodies out of the picture for Henry while he's still so young. So how, then, to celebrate Easter?
Read moreMOTHERHOOD IS A MIRROR
(Photo by Emily Wilson)
Two years ago, I had that cinematic bathroom moment everyone knows by heart. You know, the one where the girl pees on a small plastic stick and thereby uncovers one tiny truth that will snowball into something huge enough to change several lives--she's about to become someone's mother. That was my literal first thought after seeing the positive result, the idea that someday, someone is going to say 'Mom, come here'...and they're going to mean ME. I remember studying my face closely in the bathroom mirror, examining every crease and pore, waiting for the mother within to reveal herself. Impending parenthood wasn't a surprise (we had recently decided we were 'trying,' or at least not not-trying), but it was a shock to every cell of my being nonetheless.
Read moreDIY FAUX CEMENT TILE WITH CHALK PAINT: MASTER BATH MAKEOVER:
Welcome to the great master bath makeover of 2018! Huge results for under a hundred bucks? Yeah, that's our comfort zone over here. First of all, I won't call this an "after" reveal per se (let's call it a "during"), because as you can clearly see, our little ugly duckling of a master bathroom still does have some transformation ahead of her. In a perfect world, I'd go full HGTV Hulk on this room, sledgehammering out the yellowing cultured marble slabs and the 80s motel-chic mirrored cabinet and Hollywood strip light all in one righteous blow. But because we live in the real world (HGTV producers, call me!), other rooms in the house have taken precedence in our renovation so far, leaving our bedroom and bathroom mostly untouched--until now! Eventually we'd like to come up with a whole new concept for the room that turns our sad, windowless master bath into a tiny, flawless oasis, but until that day, our solution is a mini makeover that involves paint.
Lots and lots of paint.
To understand where we started when we bought this house two and a half years ago, though, let me state that this bathroom started out painted a high-gloss, vibrant orchid purple, so in a sense we've already conquered one visual demon. But the tile is cheap ceramic, and the vanity is a particleboard and laminate builder-basic cube, slightly warped from water damage and topped with old-fashioned cultured marble. It needed a lot of help, even if (for now), that beauty is only skin-deep. Ready for the "before" pics? Brace yourselves.
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