May 2011
1 post
life has been keeping me busy.
February 2011
4 posts
sleepovers.
We are on snow day three. My fair city does summers well, but ice storms tend to shut us down. We’ve been getting ahead on school projects, practicing math facts, and doing a lot of reading. And once that’s done, we’re indulging in movies and popcorn, pizza and cupcakes, and lots of lots of laughs. Last night, once we found out that school would be canceled again today, the...
January 2011
9 posts
inspiration rooms
The next big project for the house is painting the front door yellow. I love this one, in particular. I think we may change the color of our entry way to a similar gray, just to capture the look.
photo from Color Design & Art
And the original yellow front door that inspired the project…
from Martha Stewart
We’re also in the midst of redecorating the bedroom. It’s...
a fresh start
We’ve been working on the house lately. It’s a new year thing, I guess. A fresh coat of paint is like a fresh start.
This room is mostly done. We might add a rug or two, eventually.
And we need something for the back wall. Hey - Where’d that kid come from?
1 tag
eating well, january 18
Staying motivated to cook, keeping myself honest…
Tuesday: Roasted chicken, salad, mashed potatoes
Wednesday: We get home too late for anything fancy, so leftovers!
Thursday: Pork chops with dijon sauce, sauteed mushrooms, and roasted potatoes
Friday: Arroz con pollo
Saturday: Take out!
Sunday: Shrimp with grits and some kind of dessert. Carrot cake, maybe?
1 tag
eating well, january 10
Just to keep me motivated… A meal plan for this week:
Sunday: Pot roast and chocolate pie
Monday: Leftover pot roast with a salad and biscuits, leftover pie, too
Tuesday: Angel hair pasta with chicken and artichokes; pasta and chicken parmesan for the kids
Wednesday: It’s a late-activity night so we have DIY dinner
Thursday: Taco salad and nachos
Friday: Dinner out, I...
August 2010
2 posts
a few splendid things of late
Swimming in an honest-to-goodness swimming hole
A coffee cup to brighten my morning, given to me by two friends
A stack of new books to read
A wild parakeet in the Target parking lot
Fresh margaritas on a hot day
Spending time with my best girl
July 2010
3 posts
12 Big Ideas - The Road So Far
January - Launched my own website
February - Visited Big Bend with the family
March - Created two fabulous birthday parties
April - Took a photography class
May - Took a photo of myself (almost) every day
June - Relaxed and read
July - Create a month of happy memories for my kids
A month away
So I took a month off from my list of big ideas. Well, not really a month off, but I decided to make June a month of relaxing and catching up with my reading. Both of which I needed. A few of the things I read in June:
My big idea for July is to create happy memories for the kids. I know that as parents we do this every month, but I want to be more mindful of it this month - not let the...
June 2010
1 post
May 2010
7 posts
calling dorothy
a full double rainbow in our backyard
one side
and the other
wet feet from scampering outside - mine, my son’s, and the dog’s
Four of Twelve
So my goal for 2010 was to complete one Big Idea in each month. My progress so far:
January - Launch my own website. See QuentinFinch.
February - Visit Big Bend. Done! Proof is here. (Attending my first internet conference was a freebie!)
March - Learn how to bake my two favorite cakes: Texas sheet cake and some sort of lemon bundt thing. (Okay, so I missed this one. But I did throw two...
April 2010
9 posts
Ducks passing through my front yard
I don’t know where they went next, but I hope they all made it there safely. I frequently say that our yard is its own eco-system, but their appearance was a reminder that our mini-world is a bit bigger and more diverse than I realized.
date night
just hula
wildflowers.
I love spring in Texas.
He seemed to be enjoying spring, too.
Scenes from a birthday 2
My son loves Legos, so we threw a Lego party for his fifth birthday.
The “Lego” castle bounce house
Pigs in a blanket…on a stick
Everyone loves popcorn
Lego brick cakes with candy Lego men on top
Celebrating turning one whole hand
I wish I had taken pictures of the Lego table we set up. Such wonderful creations yesterday!
The first watermelon of the season
12 Big Ideas...
Okay, so I missed my scheduled March big idea. But, technically I did two in February, and since most of March was spent planning birthday parties for the kids, I feel as though I should get a pass… or at least a mulligan. So the plan was for me to learn how to bake my two favorite cakes last month, and I never got around to it. I’ll get back to it. Once the birthday season of 2010...
Scenes from a birthday
My daughter wanted a Quest for her 8th birthday — like something from a Percy Jackson book. So we invited a few friends over, and I sent them on their way to become heroes.
A clue from Hades
A minotaur to be slain
A reward from Athena
March 2010
10 posts
The world is beautiful
My son looked out the window and said, “Somehow, some things are beautiful.” I couldn’t agree more.
10 Green Things for St. Patrick
To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, we thought it would be fun to find ten green things to take a picture of. How did we do?
#1 at Whole Foods
#2 at the Starbucks Drive Thru
#3 at the LEGO store
#4 a series of Warhol prints
#5 a cactus
#6 a bright green shopping bag
#7 the Lacoste alligator
#8 at the Kate Spade store
#9 lots of kids wearing green
#10 a rabbit on...
It's a whole new world
My son has learned how to read. My baby. Once you learn how to read, you can’t stop, as my daughter says. Everywhere you look, you see words that make sense, words to read. This is the world that has opened for him.
When I walked in to my room to tell them breakfast was ready, this was what I saw. My son reading Green Eggs and Ham to his big sister. My heart swelled to three times...
This.
From the New Yorker about last night’s Oscars. I love this:
The one thing that none of us could have predicted was that our hearts, and our film-going habits of yore, should be stirred by a montage of old John Hughes movies. All of a sudden, folded and pasted together, as if in a yearbook or a photograph album, the clippings didn’t look dated, or tacky, or constrained by their setting....
Disco Queen
From last night’s 70s party…
Big Ideas
My goal? To do 12 things in 2010 that I’ve always wanted to do: the titular 12 big ideas. My progress thus far:
January - Launch my own website. See QuentinFinch.
February - Visit Big Bend. Done! Proof is here. (Attending my first internet conference was a freebie!)
March - Learn how to bake my two favorite cakes: Texas sheet cake and some sort of lemon bundt thing.
April - Take a...
February 2010
16 posts
Field Trip Time
I went with my daughter’s class to the science museum today.
We learned how to dissect a heart.
We listened to our own hearts too…
The experience was a big ball of science + wonder + mess + imagination + coolness, and I put on the gloves and jumped right in to help. No squeamishness, no ick, no carefully calculated distance between me and the kids. And I was pretty good...
Learning
I attended my first internet conference this weekend. I went alone, was very nervous walking in, but finally found my way. As I was looking through the pictures that I took, I realized that I didn’t take any of the friends that I connected with or the new people that I met. Just pictures of the people speaking to the sessions I attended. It’s very grad student of me.
...
Big Bend
The Window
Three deer who weren’t afraid of us at all
Junior Park Ranger hard at work
The Rio Grande and Mexico on the other side
Keeping an eye out
Cathedral Mountain and cows on the hillside
An amazing time, a beautiful part of my state, a time to re-connect with family. Another big idea crossed off my list.