organic wooden toys & teethers

i think my isaiah michigan needs this.

little michigan state teether

sure, he's almost done teething, but this clever thing would be much better than the car remote, no?

but if i get that, how can i resist the bird?

little bird teether

perhaps i should just settle on what he would use the most -- a lovely set of blocks?

walnut, cherry & maple organic building blocks

it's impossible to decide.

drool over more wooden goodies here at little sapling toys.

images 1, 2, 3

the mousey diner: eggplant coconut curry

i'm branching out, my dears. i'm sharing a recipe without any of my usual go-to ingredients -- that is, tomato, basil and sautéed bell peppers.

eggplant, baby bellas

things i love about this recipe:

1. i had most of the ingredients in the kitchen already. no scouring the aisles for odds & ends during a special trip to the grocery store. i just grabbed eggplant & a can of coconut milk.

2. only two saucepans involved. three, if you count the rice.

3. it involves coconut.

ingredients:

eggplant, diced -- i used 4 smallish-medium

baby bella mushrooms -- about half a pint

onion, diced

butter

coconut milk, 1 can -- check to make sure it doesn't have a lot of added sugar

vegetable broth

shredded coconut -- optional, but i happened to have some in the freezer

curry powder -- i use mccormick's since i was short a couple of individual spices to make my own

yum

in a large saucepan, sauté onion with a pat of butter & curry powder. add baby bellas. when the mushrooms are soft, add the coconut milk & an equal amount of vegetable broth. add more curry powder & shredded coconut. bring to a simmer for about 15 min to allow the sauce to reduce a bit.

in a separate saucepan, sauté the eggplant with a pat of butter until the eggplant is tender and changes color. add to the large saucepan with the other ingredients and let simmer another 5-10 minutes. serve with basmati rice.

18 months

isaiah, 18 months old, trying on size 12 months levi's

isaiah, you turned 18 months old on sunday, and i still can't believe it.

on the way home from church that evening, you were playing with the car keys. i reminded you not to put them in your mouth. at first, you just held them to your lips, but eventually, you popped in the car remote.

it's hard to blame you for doing it -- after all, your eye teeth are coming in these days. "isaiah!" i said, "no bite!" you took the keys out of your mouth, and paused for a moment. daddy predicted: "he's gonna sparkle-eye you."

that's when you use your cuteness powers to get away with something. that's when you look at me with your big, brown sparkle eyes and say, "hi!" as innocently and sweetly as can be. and, daddy was right. you did sparkle-eye me.

and i melted, as always.

love, mama

weekend report

a big spend-the-night at grandmom's... and walking lucy around the entire house

enjoying the opportunity to carry a teeny tiny clutch... instead of a diaper bag

a theological coffee house at urban standard

a lovely get-together at sarah margaret's

{click here for her amazing cobbler recipe}

playing music for a wedding of the most wonderful & gracious couple

{congrats, erica & hunter!}

hanging out...

...with uncle tommy & cousin sophie

smallwoods cinema: sorry, wrong number

sorry, wrong number (1948) was originally a radio play by lucille fletcher. it was quite a success, being reproduced several times on the radio, written as a novel and as a stage play. fletcher also wrote the screenplay for the movie, directed by anatole litvak and starring barbara stanwyck.

barbara stanwyck as leona stevenson

image here

this film noir is a bit of a nail-biter. the frequent change of narrators keeps the story all the more interesting.

stanwyck, lancaster & ann richards

image here

stanwyck is great, but i must say that i was more impressed with her in her earlier role in double indemnity (1944). that said, sorry, wrong number is a fantastic thriller and is certainly not to be missed.

cheers!

shopping lately

i haven't done a whole lot shopping lately, but i have picked up a couple of useful little items along the way...

a much-needed basket for toiletries found at hobby lobby

price paid: $9.99

a luxuriously light cardigan from gap

originally marked as $49.99

price paid, after using my $10 gift card: $2.18

the basket is a lovely relief from the eyesore of a box that we were previously using as a caddy in our bathroom. and i've already gotten great use out of the cardigan -- wearing it with this dress on last weekend's date night.

a refrigerator confession

my dears, i am a walking contradiction. i have an embarrassing secret, and it's time to come clean.

as you know, i claim to be a tea snob... but lately, i've been drinking an awful lot of this:

bolthouse farms "perfectly protein vanilla chai tea"

for starters, does it bother anyone else that it's labelled "chai tea"?

dear bolthouse farms:

the word chai -- all by itself -- means indian tea, so you pretty much labeled this stuff tea tea. and that's just silly.

sincerely, tammy

the stuff is seriously sweet. so sweet, that i add a ton of milk... like, it's half "chai tea" and half milk. ...so, perhaps, while i'm neglecting my inner snob, i'm loading up on protein and calcium?

that doesn't sound quite so bad now.

weekend report

a lovely, grey weekend

a fantastic date night... dinner at do di yo's and then inception -- both highly recommended

jamie, working on a new portrait, which i'm really excited about

isaiah, using crayons for the first time

feeling quite accomplished about mastering a blind hem stitch

more coloring at the chalkboard table

sunday bubble tea

anniversary flowers

from mom...

hydrangeas & glads from her garden

and much to my surprise...

these pretties...

...waiting for me...

...as i arrived home.

have a lovely weekend!

diy: bunting

have you noticed all of the wonderful little triangle garlands that seem to be sprinkled all over the design blogosphere?

whimsical bunting

image here

i love them. i love that they say, "celebrate everyday." they are so happy, no?

photos & trinkets pinned -- and taped! -- to the wall

image here

well, at home, i wanted to brighten up a couple of blank walls. i wanted to make my own version of these lovely things, and throw in a few photos & drawings that jamie had done for me. i'm not sure i could pull off just taping the photos to the wall, but i was going for something as simple as that.

materials

for the garland, you just need ribbon, scissors (a paper cutter is handy!), craft paper, and a hole punch. make a triangle pattern and cut out as many as you like.

bunting

punch holes in the top corners of each triangle, and weave the ribbon in and behind them. tap two nails in the wall and tie the ribbon on.

photos, carefully hung

i wanted to make sure not to damage the photos & drawings in hanging them. so i folded a little square of cardstock underneath the binder clip to protect the photo from getting creased. hang the clip on a tiny nail, and you're done.

a happy wall

diana update

i finally used up that roll of film and got some prints made. here are my favorites.

taking the subway

if some of these scenes look familiar, well, i have a confession: i took practically all of these shots twice -- once with the diana, and then with the nikon... which shows how much confidence i still lack with the diana.

naptime in the middle of times square

i blame one sad experience with one of the last rolls i got developed, where an entire string of shots didn't turn out at all because i had accidentally set the camera to the pinhole setting. but i'm happy to report that all 16 shots came out on this roll, so perhaps i've learned my lesson.

times square

i used the wide angle lens for all the shots, small frame for 16 images, and the film is ilford xp2 for quick processing.

the flight home

just by the looks of the prints, i can't tell any difference between the quick processing stuff and the true black and white. i've got another roll of it, so we'll see how that one goes.

annual mcleod family reunion in harmony, mississippi

cheers!

weekend report

crafting

an art show at the firehouse (not sure what happened with this photo)

at the park...

...for an ultimate frisbee game

spaghetti, made with homegrown tomatoes

catching up on photo albums

shopping, flower pots

this week, jamie & isaiah surprised me with a tiny plant in celebration of our anniversary: four years on the 15th.

little flowerpot from walgreens

price paid: $1.00

so, of course, i had to find a little flowerpot. and i did, at walgreens of all places, for one dollar.

i got two of them...

medium flowerpot from walgreens

price paid: $2.00

...and i got two bigger ones... so, four in all. the bigger ones were two dollars apiece. i'm using one of them to hold some calla lillies that jamie got me for mother's day. they're still lovely.

so, while it might seem like a sale splurge, i did walk out of the store with items that i actually wanted. so, i think it's safe to say that it was six dollars well-spent.

have a lovely weekend!

the mousey diner: caprese pasta

one of my favorite summer dishes is a simple caprese salad: vine-ripe tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, and a little olive oil & balsamic vinegar.

home-grown tomatoes, basil

this week, we threw in a few more ingredients to make a meal of it.

yum

sauté onion and bell pepper in a bit of olive oil, and cook up some pasta. when the pasta is al denté, drain but don't bother rinsing with cold water. just toss it in a bowl, add onion and bell pepper, and of course, all your caprese ingredients: tomato, mozzarella, basil, and balsamic vinegar. add fresh ground pepper and enjoy.