Mod Apron

Aug 24

Here are a few highlights from today.

Maya had a great birthday. The very best part was the surprise party we threw after dinner with her friends and neighbors. It was a wild success and she LOVED it. Such a great party.

Unfortunately, I had a poorly tummy all day and I felt too sick to take any photos at the party. Looking back now, I really wished I had. I was just trying so hard not to throw up it was all I could think about at the time.

I hope she had a fantastic day. I think she did.

And tomorrow, the fun continues at the farm!

Aug 12

[click to enlarge]

Good morning, friends! And welcome to the first weekly Mod Apron Meal Plan - Sunday Edition!

Why am I posting this on Sundays now? Read all about it here!

So this promises to be a very interesting (read: crazy) week. First off, the husband is away from Wednesday to Monday. And, Maya is off on a 2-week break in between the end of summer camp and the commencement of the preschool year. So it’s just me and the kids at home all day for the better part of the week? Yup, you read that right!

It’s not so bad. I’m actually kinda looking forward to it. Specifically, I’m interested in implementing some new parenting tips and tricks that I’ve recently gleaned from the new book I’m reading. I think this will be easier to do starting with just one parent in the mix, in order to maintain consistency. I’ll debrief Dennis when he gets home.

Also, I’d like to get quite a bit of organizing accomplished while husband is away. I’m hoping his absence will afford me a bit of extra time around the house, as I won’t feel guilty for taking my time away from him. I can also stay up late blogging, which is a one of my favorite things to do. My best writing inspiration tends to strike at night, but Dennis always makes me come to bed. Ha!

In terms of the meal plan, this means that from Wednesday on, our dinners will be nice and simple. I’m not going to slave over a hot stove just for the kids and myself. They enjoy simpler meals much more anyway. So you’ll see some easy stuff - omelets, grilled cheese sandwiches, veggie corn dogs - on the dinner menu this week. (Notably, mama might just skip the kid fare altogether in favor of some more civilized steamed veggies and salads.)

Also, notice that this week’s meal plan features a lunch menu on Saturday. That’s because I have a friend from my old Seattle life coming into town, and I’ll be serving her and her friends a light lunch at my home on Saturday afternoon. It’ll be a very simple, light, “throw together” lunch but with the warm weather and my little kiddos afoot, I think it has to be this way.

Notably, we will be serving my Seattle friend Gâteau au Yaourt for dessert and to give Maya a fun project, I’m going to let her make this cake ALL BY HERSELF, with only my vocal instruction to guide her. She loves to cook (just like her mama!) and she’s really excited about baking this cake.

We’ve got several playdates lined up, as well as a new daily schedule (sans the preschool part) happening this week. Today, I’ll be stocking up on groceries and getting the house in order to prepare for the ~~insanity~~ full week that lies ahead.

Jul 30

As a San Franciscan for nearly a whole year now, the fact that I’d never been to Haight Ashbury was a cryin’ shame. Thank goodness, I have a good friend who helped me to remedy this blight yesterday!

I must admit, I had a total misconception about these famous streets. From everything I’d heard, I thought it’d be dirty and full of old hippies. Actually, Haight Ashbury is lovely, clean and super fun (albeit a tad touristy). And as for the hippies? Well, there were certainly a few colorful folks out and about, but I only saw one true hippie (see bottom right photo).

The Haight is full of AMAZING vintage clothing shops. Stuff you just can’t find anywhere else. I bought a really cute blouse, a bracelet and of course my obligatory Haight Asbury purchase - some incense for the house. It smells amazing!

Alison and I walked up and down the Haight, wandering in and out of shops. We stopped for lunch at this little diner and had some really yummy eats. I ordered a vegan burrito and man, that sucker was HUGE. I couldn’t even finish a third of it.

Such a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Thank you so much Alison, for showing me around. Peace and love, sister!

(All the pics were taken on my iPhone because my old camera is out of commission and my new one has not arrived yet! Apologies for the sub-par photo quality. I really wish I’d had my new camera because there were so many incredible photo ops on the Haight! I guess I’ll just have to go back again when this lady comes for a visit.)

Jul 11

This lovely lady came for a visit the other day. I threw together a couple of berry-cherry-yogurt-homemade granola parfaits for our brunching pleasure. And afterwards, we had hot tea and homemade bread and jam for dessert!

How civilized!

Jul 9

Love affair

Shhh. Don’t tell my husband. I’m having a love affair.

It’s wildly passionate and makes makes me feel happier than I have ever been in my life.

I’m madly in love. I love our home. I love our neighbors. I love our neighborhood. I love this city.

I love my family. I love my friends. I love being a mama. I love my job.

Moving to San Francisco has been a game changer. Maybe it’s the blue skies. There is something so magical about this city, it’s hard not to be deliciously happy here all the time. And when we bought our townhouse in February, that’s when everything really fell into place. We found the loveliest little corner of SF to call our very own and we planted our family and our roots right here, and dug them in nice and deep.

I count myself ~~extremely~~ EXTREMELY lucky that I am able to stay at home with my kids. I never really had any real career aspirations, but the moment I decided I wanted to be a mama was the first time I ever felt passionate about something that I really wanted to do. And since having my kids, that passion has intensified. I take such incredible pleasure in spending my days with them. There is so much joy in the milestones and even more in quiet, ordinary moments, like tying little shoes and goodnight kisses. I am truly living my dream.

I’m already thinking about the holidays. I cannot wait to celebrate our first Christmas with my whole family in our new home, in our new community, in the most amazing city on earth. I’m thrilled that my kids will get to grow up here, with neighbors, parks, shops and bustling tree-lined sidewalks right at their front door. I’m excited for visits from dear friends and family, opening our doors wide and sharing this magical place with everyone we love. There is just so much to be happy about. Every day.

I called my mom a few days ago just to tell her how happy I am. I told her that while I miss having her and dad so close, moving to San Francisco is the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I told her how Maya is thriving at school, Dennis is enjoying his work, and how life feels pretty perfect these days. She said she misses us, but knows that moving was the right thing to do.

Every morning I wake up so excited to spend another day living this life. I don’t know what I ever did to be so lucky as to end up here. I am truly grateful for every precious minute. This is the good stuff. I am head over heels in love.

<3 <3 <3

Jun 12

Transplendent

My blogging has been on the back-burner lately! I have been remiss!

Not because I’ve been lazy, mind you. Quite the opposite.

It’s finally the last week of preschool (thank goodness) and there’ve been “end of year” festivities almost every day. Tomorrow, in fact, the whole class is going on a special field trip to the San Francisco Zoo and I have volunteered to be one of the class chaperones. Plus, there’s an Ice Cream Social on Thursday and an End of School concert on Friday. Oh for crappin’ out loud, can we just end the school year already please? Sheesh.

I’ve also been Spring cleaning the everlovin’ crap out of the house. The scrubbing, polishing, decluttering and reorganizing has been quite something. Perhaps “epic” is the word I’m looking for. Or possibly “transplendent”. Either way, it’s beautiful and it brings a tear to my eye just typing about it.

I’m super behind on a bunch of HOA work, and it’s really bugging me. I seriously need to get caught up. Did I mention I’m officially the Treasurer now? Yup, it’s true. Impressed? Don’t be; “Treasurer” is really just a fancy name for “Sucker Who Does All The Legwork For The Association That No One Else Wants To Do.” At least I’m organized and task-oriented by nature, which seems to help my cause immensely. My goal is to have everything done and dusted before my parents arrive on Saturday so I can really enjoy their visit.

And now that Hen is feeling better, we’ve hosted several playdates (and mommy dates), and wandered to the park or taken long sunny walks every day. I’ve been keeping the windows and doors wide open, making lemonade, doing yoga, reading books, eating homemade popsicles, listening to Cuban music and drinking lots and lots of tea. Spring has sprung, the San Fran skies are cornflower blue and we’re all buzzing around like busy little bees. People are smiling, the city is humming, and happy is in the air. Life is ~~good~~ ~~great~~ transplendent.

May 30

Oh, farmers’ market. How I have missed you.

Folks, it was even better than I remembered. Cherries, berries, citrus, peaches, nectarines, herbs, nuts…glorious fresh food.

Kendall, Maya, Hen and I spent this lovely sunny day strolling the market from booth to booth. Wandering around. Tasting all kinds of samples. Chatting with the farmers. The Cali strawberries were so fresh and ripe, they perfumed the air all over the market. I have no doubt you could smell them from blocks away.

This was the only photo Maya would let me take of her today. I think she’s getting tired of me taking so many pictures of her all the time. “No mama, no camera today!”

Beautiful Maya

When we got home, we were so ready to dig into our market haul. We made huge overstuffed hummus-tomato-cucumber sandwiches and dove into the berries head first.

Here’s what I bought today:

Market Haul

giant box of HUGE blueberries (see photo below)
purple cabbage
roughly 3 pounds of cherries (no joke)
broccoli
4 cukes
2 plums
bag of oyster mushrooms
3 baskets of strawberries
3 baskets of raspberries
container of cilantro & jalapeño hummus

I would have loved more veggies and greens, but I think I was so excited by my berries and cherries, I kinda forgot about the practical stuff. Everything cost me exactly $23, which means I’ve gone over my budget by 69 cents. But I could seriously care less. I mean, c’mon. Just look at these blueberries!

Huge blueberries

So worth it. Viva la berries!

My dear friend Kendall came over for breakfast this morning. I made us a special treat - fancy parfaits made with fresh Cali strawberries, plain Greek yogurt and my homemade granola. So simple and so delicious.

I’m 100% sure there is no better way to start the day than this.

May 23

Well now. I had the most wonderful afternoon with this lovely lady today. Lunch, browsing the city’s best bookstore, and sipping coffee in the sunshine. Glorious.

And what a treat - she gave me a bouquet of fresh herbs from her garden! Oregano, mint and lavender. My kitchen smells amazing. I seriously cannot wait to see what sort of culinary shenaniganary I get up to with this beautiful bunch. So excited.

Mod Apron

Modern homemaking for the frugal urban mama.

Love affair

Transplendent