little black journal

I got off to a slow start in 2014 but breezed through a lot of fun reads the last couple of months, bringing my reading tally to 20 books.  Last year’s bookshelf contains my usual eclectic mix – a lot of memoirs, a couple of self-help books, a little poetry, some teen fiction…  The year in review:

The Sleepeasy Solution by Jennifer Waldburger

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith

Help Thanks Wow by Anne Lamott

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Daring Greatly by Brene Brown

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

Le Divorce by Diane Johnson

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Love Poems by Nikki Giovanni

Operating Instructions by Anne Lamott

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Best books of 2014:  I just finished Operating Instructions and have once again been wowed by Anne Lamott’s ability to speak to my soul – this journal of her first year of motherhood in all its ups and downs was so poignant and so familiar.  One moment her son is the light of her life, the sweetest, most beautiful creature ever to exist, the next moment he is the devil incarnate (love you, Jules!).  Honorable mention to Bossypants for being hilarious and engaging and exactly the kind of thing I was wanting to read on rainy December afternoons.  I should also give a shout-out to The Sleepeasy Solution for saving us from those late-night marathon baby-bouncing sessions as we “trained” the baby to get to sleep on her own (seriously, I love you, Jules!).

Worst book of 2014:  There are a few duds up there, but particularly wish I hadn’t wasted my time on Le Divorce.  I picked this one up because it’s set in Paris and the review I read promised the perfect mix of tragedy and comedy, but even the Parisian scenery wasn’t enough to get me on board.  Unbelievable, slooooow, and without a single likable character.

On the docket for 2015:  Last year was a little light on classics – going to make up for it this year by tackling The Brothers Karamazov and Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  I’d like to delve deeper into poetry as well, maybe pick up Wendell Berry or Maya Angelou.  And for balance, I’ll probably throw in a little Lena Dunham and Mindy Kaling, to stay well-rounded, of course…

Yesterday was my birthday, but we did the bulk of our celebrating today, with brunch and two park visits and a little me-time and then dinner with friends.  It was a great day.  Such a great day, in fact, that I couldn’t limit my snapshots to just 10 favorites…thus, here’s 16 on 10!

Volunteer Park Cafe might be a new go-to breakfast spot – such a cozy vibe in there.  Juliette was clearly a fan!

Who’s that guy out there?

Fall is in full-swing.  And I love it.

Park fix.

Buddies!

Her hair matches these autumn leaves so perfectly.

Walkin’.

I slipped away this afternoon for a little treat.

Such a luxury these days…

Liking this color combo.

Kubota love.

SERIOUS Kubota love.

Higher, dad, higher!

First-ever ride on papa’s shoulders.

No hands!

Dinner with the gang.

With that, I’ve got a salted caramel macaron and a cup of mint tea calling my name…  Over and out.

Another ten on ten (which is actually nine on ten this month, as I came up one photo short!):

Breakfast at our favorite neighborhood joint.

Followed by swinging and teeter-tottering at the playground.

Shane’s training for a 100-mile bike ride and spent the morning giving his Trek some extra love.

Beach baby.

The water was warm today! (photo by Shane)

Back porch lounging during afternoon nap.

Evening trek to Jefferson Park.

Pull-ups.

Sun going down on a perfect day.

The ten on ten challenge slipped my mind last month, but today was a great day to have my camera in hand!

I pulled out all my tricks to get Jules to hang out in bed with me as late as possible today.  Late, as in 7:15 am.

It’s Bakery Thursday!

Bright, bright blue.

Snack time with her best bud.

Beach baby.

Blue part two.

Totally tuckered out.

Dining al fresco.

Summer dessert.

Camera shy.

I felt the art itch last week and pulled out my nail polish and paper scraps during Jules’ afternoon nap for a quick project.  This marbling technique is super-fast and easy.  Results are unpredictable and a little hard to control, but that’s part of the fun.

You can check out a full tutorial here.  A couple of tips:  I had better luck layering colors on top of one another in multiple “dips” (like the pink and gold image above), rather than trying to swirl colors together in the water.  I tried several different kinds of paper and found that anything too absorbent didn’t work well – my best results were with watercolor paper.

I’ve already used a couple of these for recent special occasions, adding doodles or bits of collage for extra personalization.  Art itch scratched, for now!

Another ten on ten – ten photos over ten hours on the tenth of the month…

Best bedhead ever.

Embracing the baby clutter that usually drives me crazy…

Our yard has exploded with springtime color this month.  Shane thinks our planters are an overgrown jungle – I’m calling them “perfectly lush”.

These two blue-eyed pig-tailed girlies enjoyed a snack together at Brian and Nicole’s garage sale fundraiser.

Gryff was pretty stoked about his 50-cent ball cap.  Looks so good on you, bud!

Stopping to strike a pose on our way inside.

Nap-time craft-time (more on this one later!).

Post-nap swing-time.

Gray day.

Baby in bed, dinner eaten, table cleared, day is done…

Time for another ten on ten!

Now that Jules is eating more solid food, I’m loving the fact that we can have a meal together.  But I’m seeing now that her carrots with oatmeal look a little sad next to my tea, eggs, brussel sprouts, and yogurt…  At least she doesn’t know what she’s missing yet?

Morning stories.

Naptime (for both of us)!

Post-nap walk in the sun.  So thankful when the stars align and we get weather like this on my days off.

Favorite walking buddy.

Playtime at the park – we spread out a blanket and I unpacked my bag full of books and toys, but Jules was much more interested in watching the big kids run wild on the lawn.

Coffee, cookies, and Colbert during nap #2.  I’ve really missed this extra me-time since returning to work.

Had a boba craving and was excited to discover that Ambrosia opened a store just one lightrail stop away from us.  We shot out the door on a milk tea mission the minute Jules woke from her nap.  I sent La Verne a “boba?” text and she and Nico were also there in a flash.

On our walk home from Ambrosia – the way these dandelions glowed in the evening light made me feel like we’re on the cusp of summer (I know, I’m foolishly getting my hopes up).

The joyous nightly reunion.

Giving the ten on ten challenge another go – ten photos over ten consecutive hours:

Thankful for the extra daylight in the evening, but dang, it’s hard to get out of bed on these dark, gray mornings.

Realizing it will soon be time to pack away Juliette’s 3-6 month clothes.  I’ll miss that bunny onesie.

Taking a tea break while my mom attends to the should-be-napping baby upstairs…

Calling naptime a bust and hopping on lightrail to head downtown for lunch.

And, in the midst of bustling Pike Place Market, she sleeps.

Good coffee shop weather.

Signs of Spring in the midst of all this gray!

A flower for Juliette from a very thoughtful friend.

Sweet potatoes for dinner.

And pork stew for our dinner, prepared by my mom from a box o’ meat shipped to us from Shane’s mom and dad.  We have the best parents.

Goooooood night, folks.  This was fun.

I am still plugging away at that lovely loop scarf I started back in 2012.  It’s been slow goin’ – I’ve knitted through an entire season of House of Cards and still have quite a ways to go.  So I set that pattern aside (again) for a more instantly gratifying project and whipped up the simplest scarf ever, in less time than it takes to watch the latest episode of New Girl.

Most people are surprised to learn that I went through a wannabe skater phase in my early teens, but it’s true.  When I was a freshman in high school, I plastered my binders with Sub Pop stickers and dressed in men’s jeans that were far too large for me and second hand t-shirts bearing random logos like “Mid-Eastern Parachute Association, 1978”.  My friend Megan and I would head to Salvation Army after school and spend hours scouring the racks in search of the perfectly ironic t-shirt; the more obscure the image or text, the older the date on the logo, the better.  I’ve hung on to a number of these gems over the years, mostly for sentimental reasons, as they’re hardly even suitable for a workout anymore.  In a wave of naptime inspiration last week, I decided to pull up a tutorial I pinned awhile ago and breathe new life in these ratty old T’s.

Take a knit cotton shirt without side seams and cut horizontally below the armpits and above the hem.

Make snip marks across one edge, spaced about 1 inch apart.

Cut along the snip marks to the other side.  Leave about 1 inch of uncut area along that edge.

Give each strand a tug to curl in the edges, and voila!  You have yourself a 10-minute scarf.

You can use a piece of the hem remnant to gather and tie the scarf at the uncut portion (at the back of the neck), but this isn’t necessary.  I like it to lay a little flatter, so I opted to skip this step.

Double or triple up if you want a little extra bulk (I’m wearing three separate scarves below).  And pair with a preppy black blazer if you really want to dismay your former grunge-loving self…

Juliette has been making good progress in the art of napping well, which has left me with some decent chunks of time to fill in the morning and afternoon.  These longer naps are well-timed (as if there’s a bad time for longer naps), since I’ve recently been feeling the itch to start making stuff again, to pick up my knitting needles and think about my next print project and flex my creative muscles.  Knowing that Juliette’s sleep schedule can turn on a dime, that she might decide tomorrow that 35-minute naps are back in fashion, I decided to start with something small.  I printed out the pattern for this cute stuffed bunny and cranked it out in a couple of hours, just in time to gift it to the baby for Valentines Day.

His head is a little misshapen, and one arm is a little higher than the other, but he’s still pretty cute, and Juliette has been happily cuddling (errrr…devouring) him all weekend.

Next up: time to finish the scarf I’ve had on my knitting needles since 2012!