Queen of Wonder

          Today we walked out the front door and down the street to the hippy and fun Fairfax Festival . Gotta love a parade that features more tie dye than not, spawning salmon float and lessons about landfill. Yes people, this is Marin County and we are teaching our kids to be GREEN. Sat by this cute dog at the parade and loved the Star Trek finale. Trekkies made a little play about how there were alien life forces coming to Fairfax and then, instead of offering to blast them to smithereens, they proposed befriending the aliens. PC and hilarious.     We stopped...

Sam had his last day of school today but Alex had his first day off,  so I am declaring this the first official day of Summer Vacation. Wahoo! I am so ready for a break from constant carpooling, homework, making school lunches, rushing around with nearly non-stop days. My wish for my kids (and myself!) is to have an old fashioned, old school, low key, lazy, fun, relaxed SUMMER. We started the day off with french toast and strawberries. The boys loved it. Sam calling it FRUNCH TOAST. I shuttled Sam off to school while Alex played with his Jenga Blocks making a  fortress for all his Star...

Even though the sun has been playing coy, and it sort of feels like Winter , things are happening in the garden. The best picks of today were the strawberries, the salad greens and the sweet peas. Who needs the 3 tenors, I have the three S’s!  I know, I know, 7 strawberries is not a bounty, but there were only seven dwarves and look at all   the attention they got....

        Turns out that skipping yoga and not racing all over town has it’s benefits. Today, I took in the calming benefits of picking some things from the garden. The main things I picked were some mixed greens (left) mustard and arugula (center) and carrots (right). Sam loves to help pick things in the garden. He followed me along and we picked these goodies. That Sam loves to help slays me about as much as the gorgeous vegetables that we pulled from the soil. Soon we will have pears,  strawberries, more greens,and green beans I hope. In even more time, we will hopefully...

I usually get my eyebrows waxed once a month. They start looking a little scruffy and so I head to a little shop that I don’t need an appointment for and they usually take me right away.  Unfortunately, the last few times I have gone to this  particular shop my brows have been a little uneven. Not a big, glaring, obvious difference but I notice it. Last time I went in, and mentioned it, she tried harder but it still was not completely even in the end. So, I contemplated going to a new place. I called two places – one was not open (on a Wednesday? who is closed on Wednesday?) and the other...

I have been feeling very blocked when it comes to writing lately. I have been discovering lots of cool blogs like http://themommyblog.net/ and http://crabmommy.blogspot.com/ and http://jordanferney.blogspot.com/.   Unfortunately, I have been having so much fun reading other blogs that I have somehow slipped into blogblackholedom and am finding it difficult to find my way out to write in my own. One unfortunate side effect of slipping down this hole, is that I somehow have decided other people’s writing and experiences are much wiser and creative than mine-  I could never possibly write...

This past weekend, it was sweltering. Not 80 degrees, just warm, but HOT like Calcutta.  Even though it was hot, the family needed dinner. I rifled through the fridge and found zucchini, peppers, and just harvested baby carrots from the garden. I chopped up the vegetables, drizzled with olive oil and mixed in some crushed garlic… then, I fittingly pulled some Madras Curry Powder from the pantry, and generously sprinkled on the veggies and grilled. That was the best move of the day.  This amazing Sun Brand Madras Curry Powder rocks! I served the vegetables with Pork Tenderloin marinated...

The daffodils in the front yard have bloomed and withered. Tulips and lilac are finishing up their posing. Spring is here! It feels like a switch has been flicked in me. New energy and excitement for what awaits. Life feels fresh. Sun beautiful sun. I came across a wonderful article about Holi , the festival of colors in India. I had never heard of this tradition before. Check it out, it looks very cool. I would love to get my hands on some of that colorful dust! Viva!

Um, something remarkable has happened around here. Alex and Sam are fighting less. The boys are able to go longer stretches at a time without needing Michael or I to referee. This is a tremendous relief. Sam has calmed down a little and they can actually hang out together. This morning I think I was able to sleep until 7:45am when their first argument broke out. To some this may not seem very remarkable, but to me sleeping past 7 is an absolute luxury . This morning they were able to get their own yogurt and play while, so we got a little extra sleep. I don't know, but something feels a little...