Suburban Homestead

Denver Wrap Up

My trip to Denver this week offered a feast for the eyes and stomach. While my friend B. and I traveled for work, we were lucky enough to stay at a fun spot, and to find some great restaurants over the course of two days.

The Curtis Hotel offers just about as much fun as you can hope to have at a DoubleTree Hotel. (And yes, there were warm cookies waiting for us on arrival.) With a *fun and games* motif, along with some brilliant graphics that ran all the way down to the door hangers, this place offered up some colorful inspiration for our next project - revamping a family friendly apartment complex. :D

Wordless Wednesday

Apple Canister

How cute are these apple canisters? I just picked up a couple at The Container Store ($16) and filled them with new crayons for the kids of some of my garden loving gals. Happy birthday, kiddos!

The Secret Society

Last night, I was invited to attend the most inspirational awards ceremony. I went in support of a friend who’s hard work and commitment, of almost a decade, was being acknowledged.

He was one of many.

I felt humbled to be in the presence of such incredible people who, with great courage, had overcome massive hurdles and created such positive change.

Every seat was taken and people lined the walls.

Last night, I had tears in my eyes as I watched the women and men, girls and boys, walk down the isle when their number was called, 24 hours, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 1 year...

…and on up to 30.

30 years!!!

The first ones were nervous, apprehensive, and exhausted.

But each subsequent group shined brighter and even more proud, as they walked towards the stage, accompanied by the enthusiastic applause and cheers of their friends and family.

High-fives, hugs, kisses and flowers.  The mother in me wanted to squeeze every one of them and tell them how I proud I was!!!

I wished that the world could witness the beauty in that room.

Last night, I sat on a cold, folding metal chair under the bright fluorescent lighting of church rec room, and tried to stay warm while listening to the words of a survivor captivate several hundred people. His incredible story of immeasurable loss, strength and perseverance inspired us all.

What wonderful lessons for living, I thought.

And then I spotted an old, familiar face across the room and my heart just ached for the suffering he must have endured before bringing himself there. I went to say hello and to offer a hug.

He looked beaten down and broken, but with a half smile he remarked in wonder,

"Everyone here seems so happy. I’m excited.”

Last night, I went to an AA chip meeting.

Wordless Wednesday

Zucchini *Pasta*

I was recently speaking to a woman, swapping success stories in the garden and kitchen, and she shared a great idea for a no-pasta *pasta*.

She told me how to make an all vegetable *pasta* dish that I would swear tasted like a hearty bowl of meaty goodness. I listened, I committed, and then I made it for dinner.

I've already made this dish twice in the past four days. The first time I julienned four zucchinis by hand, which took some time. The second time, I used my Mandoline (duh) and the job was done in seconds. Following her instructions, I made sure to remove the center part of the vegetable as it doesn't hold up well when blanched.

I then prepared a sauce, simply using a jar of my favorite red, adding some onions and artichoke hearts.

Once my sauce was ready to go, I blanched the zucchini for 5 - 10 seconds, just until I started to notice it brighten in color. Then I quickly removed it and drained it, and immediately served it up topped with sauce and shredded cheese.

I'm really excited about this new dish because it's super healthful and the zucchini adds a great crunch. It also solves part of the 'what-do-we-do-with-all-this-frickin'-zucchini' issue.

Celebrating *40* with 150 Bouquets of Flowers

I need to keep this one short. It's late. Thirty images taken at last week's Bouquet to Arts exhibit at the de Young should be sufficient, and although I'd love to share my thoughts and what I learned about it all, I'm pretty sure no one actually cares. So I'm going to pass, and take the sleep instead. But here are shots of my most favorite bouquets, taken while celebrating my girlfriend's 40th birthday with a day in the city.

Rainbow Cakes in Jam Jars

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Personally, I'm on the lookout for a rainbow and hoping I get *lucky* with a call from the Genius Bar. I want my computer back!)

I made these little individual cakes last night to surprise the kids with today. Apparently, I *could have* done more. "Why didn't the leprechaun stop at our house last night?" "Why isn't our toilet water green, Mama?" "Why were there no green surprises left in my room last night?!"

Oh, brother.

Here I was, in all my delusion, thinking I was doing so well! ;-)

I fell in love with these desserts when my friend posted pics of this post on Pinterest. I modified mine and made them in 1/2 pint jars instead (I didn't think anyone in this house needed a whole pint of cake). I did use a white cake mix from a box, but drew the line at frosting and made a small batch of buttercream from scratch. Once the jars were fully cooled, I inserted little surprises into the cakes - chocolate gold coins, like I did with last years cake. The kids added their own sprinkles and coin to the top this morning.

I had high hopes for my Weck jam jars shaped like little pots of gold (see this shape, top left of first picture). Unfortunately, as the cake cooled it peeled back from that glass and didn't look so good - the straight jars worked better.

Happy St. Patrick's Day and don't forget to wear green!

This day last year: St. Patrick's Day Surprise Cake

Wordless Wednesday

Road Trip Itinerary

I'm operating without my favorite appendage this week. My computer is in the shop and won't be reattached for a couple days. So while we've been keeping busy trying to use up all the Meyer lemons that the five year old picked from our tree and filled her wheelbarrow with, I'll focus on something equally exciting - our next getaway.

I've been planning a road trip for us. We will be headed down south for no real reason other than we have the time off so why not?

We decided to head towards Palm Springs, a destination that none of us have ever been to.

Our first stop will be in Santa Barbara where I discovered El Capitan Canyon via Ciao Bambino, an incredible site for exploring how and where to travel with kids.  I booked us in one of their cedar cabins, although I would have loved one of their safari tents, had one still been available.

Discovering and booking El Capitan really set the tone for the rest of the trip. I now had my heart set on the unexpected. I wanted a unique, adventure infused with kitschy roadside stops and lots of greasy diner food.

Which brings me to our second stop, The Farmer's Daughter Hotel, in the heart of L.A.  Because, really - with a name like that, why would I put my family anywhere else?

Our original plans of hitting Palm Springs on day three were delayed a day when I went in search of the wild side by googling "PALM+SPRINGS+TRAILER+MOTEL".

I had no idea what would pop up, but I had my fingers crossed for some sort of Airstream trailer park where we could live out one of my our greatest fantasies of traveling in a silver bullet.

Instead, I found this.

(Cue the crickets)

And without a moment of hesitation, I had us signed up for a night in The New World. I can't wait to eat dinner here and to photograph our kids on the front steps of our trashed trailer, eating Twinkies for breakfast, their sweet faces kissed by the morning sun as it rises up over Joshua Tree.  I hope to also take in some arts and culture, either here, here or here.

OK, everyone back in the car, time to head into Palm Springs.

I'm most excited about this leg of the trip. As I researched where to stay and what to do, I kept feeling like I was looking into some sort of fantastical alternative lifestyle designed specifically for me. When I die and go to (my) heaven, it's going to look like Palm Springs.

In my mind, VRBO.com is really the only way to go when traveling with kids, and in this desert paradise, the nightly rental prices are very reasonable. I would be happy staying in any one of these three places. While there, I want to do so many things, like take the kids to this park, or to ride on this thing. I must spend an afternoon with just Daddy here, followed by dinner here. Needless to say, visiting Trina is a must, as well as all the surrounding mid-century home furnishings stores. Just for a look...

(Exhale.)

Last, but certainly not least, the long drive home... which we will break-up with a night at this funky spot.  I'm thinking either the Caveman for the boys or maybe Floral Fantasy for the girls. (Just for the record, we've actually already stayed in Old Mill and it was awesome, especially when we flipped the switch and all the waterfalls and mechanical people started moving around the room.)

I had so much fun throwing this last minute trip together. It was a great reminder that there is so much great stuff in all our backyards, you just need to do a little research and the payoff can be huge!

Sunday at the Farmers Market

We went to the farmers market late this morning with the idea of eating an awesome lunch and returning home to a clean kitchen.

We got a lot of resistance from the under-four-foot crowd when we told them they were going to spend the morning at the market "exploring seasonally accurate whole foods for purchase". Nothing like your own pizza and a pocket full of bouncy house tickets to turn a kid's attitude around!

I had my heart set on the Taco Guys before we were even able to effectively bribe the kids into getting out of the house and into the car. I've posted about these *guys* before and continue to follow their truck around town. If you ever happen to see it rolling down the highway, do yourself a favor and follow it - ideally with your sirens ON.

Surprisingly enough, moments of joy overcame us all and *some* of us got up to dance...

...some of us, more enthusiastically than others.

While Daddy took the kids down to the inflatable wonderland, I walked the isles and filled my bags with tangerines, grass-fed beef, kale, milk and six pounds of strawberries. The market was thinning out towards the end of the day, and while there may not have been the selection of produce there was earlier in the morning, there was still plenty, PLENTY to choose from. What's even better is that everyone was offering exceptional deals in the final minutes, throwing in extra of this here, further discounting that over there. It was great! I picked up the last chicken this man had to offer (check out his great shirt!) and we roasted it tonight with lemon, thyme and a slathering of butter, OO, salt and pepper. I served it with roasted potatoes, and an arugula salad with beets, goat cheese and pistachios. Strawberries with cream where for dessert.

Wordless Wednesday

My Babies

I know it's a wee bit early to have started my squash seeds, but for what it's worth, they are doing awesome! Fingers crossed this little experiment doesn't end in involuntary plantslaughter.

New Couch Pillows

This weekend, I dusted off my sewing machine, and stitched a bunch of pillows for a girlfriend who was looking to add some color and pop to her living room.

I love sewing. Once you master the invisable zipper, pillows are a relatively quick project that provide big returns. Needless to say, the whole experience opened up a can of worms for me, and now I want to sew all new pillows for my living room couch.

It was so easy and sewing is sooooo therapeutic...

Ooooommm....ooooommm...

I've since delivered these to their new home but am now on a mission to brighten our living room (just a couple notches ;) with some new and colorful, hand-sewn pillows.

It just never ends...

A Sunday at the Beach

 

What a Difference a Day Makes

Reclaimed water and southern facing light -- it's what for breakfast, kids!

I could go on and on all morning long, drawing comparisons between a child's delight on Christmas morning, and mine, waking each day to see what's new in my starter containers. But I won't, because then I wouldn't have enough time in the day to check my babies growth very fifteen minutes. I'm totally obsessed!

Starting Seeds

The best part of a spring vacation, is returning home, with great anticipation, to a garden in transformation.

BEET SPROUTS!!!

There are few things I love more than observing the incremental changes my garden reveals on a daily basis in the spring and summer months.

I planted four rows of gorgeous heirloom beets not long before we headed out to Mexico. We had so much fun last year with all the incredible beets we grew so easily. Unlike other albino varieties I've tried in the garden (squash, watermelon), white beets actually have the same great flavor of their purple and red siblings.

All the excitement of new sprouts caused me to temporarily lose my mind, and I then decided to start all my seeds, completely forgetting that it was still February. (Northern California has failed to deliver us a wet, cold or dark winter, and so we outdoor lovers are all a little *off* this season.)

I started tomatoes (which is OK), as well as chard, peas, broccoli, cauliflower. I'm not sure anything will happen with the flats of watermelon, squash, cantaloupe or pumpkin. However, I just spotted some black zucchini sprouts pushing up. :)