Baby Advent Calendar

I'm mere weeks away from having another baby and can't believe how unprepared I'm feeling. Our master bedroom and bath are under construction and our bed is in the "baby's room." Our complete landscape demo has just begun and our lives are about to be turned upside down. 

In hopes of preparing for baby #2, I made an "advent calendar" full of activities with my 4 year old. Some are fun adventures while others are practical things that he can help with to get ready for the new baby. I hope it'll be fun for him and productive for me! We had so much fun with our Christmas advent calendar & I'm sure he'll love this one, too. Our son describes the advent calendar in this video. 

We started today, on the first of the month, as any good advent calendar does, and we'll see how far we get. A new surprise each day, leading up to the birth of our new baby! We don't know when he or she will make their debut, so I stopped a few days before my due date. Here are some of the things we have on the advent calendar:

Appointment with midwives & lunch with dad (today!!)
Trip to the San Francisco Zoo
Trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium
Trip to Safari West (this is the big surprise and it's going to blow his animal-loving mind!) DID IT!!
Pick up "big brother" type of books from the library
Make a mobile for above the baby's crib
Take the train to meet a friend for lunch & frozen yogurt
Help make sheets for the crib & makeshift bed
Choose a new book from the bookstore to give to the baby
Pick up tiny plant and plant it on the day the baby's born
Help make a care plan (instructions for grandparents with his routine, etc)

Whew- I feel better already. 

Easy Lemon Crepes

LEMON CREPES yields a lot because I doubled the recipe. This batch fed 2 grown men, 1 pregnant mama, and a hungry 4 year old boy (and we have two leftover!)

I love this recipe! It was so easy (and if I think it's easy...). I have always been intimidated by making crepes (I usually ask my pal Amanda to make them- she's a pro), but these turned out great and I didn't need any special crepe tools to do it (no fancy crepe pan or fancy spatula). Here's what I did:

• 2 cups almond milk (made my own based on the My New Roots recipe)
• 6 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups flour (we used organic all purpose)
• 4 tablespoons coconut palm sugar (low glycemic and not as sweet)
• 1/2 teaspon salt
• liberal sprinkles of cinnamon
• butter for pan
• a few lemons for squeezing (got ours from our tree)

Preparation

• Blend the milk, eggs, and vanilla together. Add the flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon on top of the liquid ingredients. Blend until all smooth. 
• I just used our 2 skillets (no fancy crepe pan or fancy spatula). Medium heat. Add a bit of butter once heated. Pour about 1/3 cup of the batter in the hot skillet. Cook for 2 or until bottom is lightly browned. 
• Fold the crepe in half, then fold in half again; transfer to a plate. Squeeze a bit of lemon and enjoy!!
• Our son preferred his with plain yogurt (full fat, goat's milk yogurt) instead of lemon. He was a member of the Clean Plate Club (see photo below)
  
  
  

Photographing the Everyday :: Athens Workshop

We're heading to Athens, GA! And while we're there, I'll be leading a workshop at my favorite store, TREEHOUSE.kid&craft on Wednesday, February 13 at 7pm. 

Spend the evening with me and you’ll learn how to take your camera off the automatic setting. We’ll cover lighting, composition, and getting those photos off your camera. You'll get in-depth look at digital photography so that you can begin taking photos you're excited to share! When we’re done, you’ll leave with a new understanding of your digital camera and will have the skills and confidence to start taking true creative control over your photographs.

You’ll benefit from a small workshop class size and an experienced teacher. I’ve been a professional photographer for almost 20 years and I’ve been teaching photography to kids and adults for over 10 years.

To register or for more information, click here, or on the image below. Can't wait to see you in Athens!

Heath Ceramics San Francisco

We had a wonderful day in San Francisco, despite the dreary weather. First things first, we went to a birthday party at House of Air. Our son had the best time ever jumping on their trampolines and we enjoyed delicious coffee and British tea sandwiches :) and cake! 

After the party, we went to CB2, H.D. Buttercup, and Heath Ceramics- and it was pretty clear: we love everything they have. CB2 (downtown SF) is having a great floor sample sale right now and H.D. Buttercup is having their half-yearly sale so get on it if you need anything! We picked up our new kitchen light. We spotted it months ago, but didn't buy it. Since then, we haven't found anything else we like better, so we bought it yesterday at 20% off- yay!! 

Everyone loves Heath Ceramics. My favorite place is their overstock room in Sausalito, where they sell boxes of their amazing tile for much less because they're second-quality. I wrote about our visit here. We did our kitchen backsplash with the overstock tile and we love it! You can see a little bit of the backsplash in this messy-house post. We didn't make it to Sausalito yesterday because Heath opened up a new factory and showroom in SF! And since they're smart & awesome, they asked Blue Bottle Coffee to share their space. Naturally we got warm drinks first before heading into the Heath shop. 

We're right in the middle of master bedroom and bathroom renovations and want to use some Heath tile in the shower. I love the triangle tile so much and am hoping we can get that for the shower. I also got to check out the new linens by Willow Ship and Alabama Chanin, two independent, female-run businesses that I admire greatly. Willow Ship is even based right here in San Francisco! Here are some photos from our visit to Heath. Have you been to their new shop?