a month later

August 11, 2011 by Jane

Hi, I know, I need to get it together and update more frequently blah blah blah. I’ve been kinda busy.

Still not terribly summery here, unless you like your summers SF-style, cool and cloudy every morning and partly sunny in the afternoon. This seems like the worst summer yet since we’ve moved here, and I was saying that last summer too, which was noticeably not-hot. Oh well, at least it stopped raining.

But enough boring weather chat. My baby is making sentences! Kona stay here! Mommy broke the crayon! More muffin! You have to hang out with her a lot to really understand her unique baby dialect, but it’s there. She also sings many songs, especially the Sesame Street theme, particularly the line “On my way to where the air is sweet”, which she pronounces “Ah mah way, da doo ah weeeee.” It’s of course adorable. Really need to make some videos this week. That’s long overdue.

We’ve also been to the beach a number of times, to the parks, and I got some art supplies so I can start showing her how to paint with a brush. We’re going to skip finger-painting altogether. She loves holding the paint brush. I bought a plain wood bird house at Michael’s, gave it a solid coat of paint as a “canvas” and let her apply her own strokes to it in the colors of her choosing.

I was also writing a bit last month, but now seem a bit stuck, and came to a realization that I won’t get anything done until I can count on two to three hours of uninterrupted time to focus. And that means no baby monitor on my desk listening to Freya sleep, either. Fortunately my awesome amazing friend Christina has actually offered to take Freya one afternoon a week starting at the end of this month, to go play with her and her son Evan, so I can have a couple hours to myself to write, or run errands, or get a haircut, whatever. I think Freya being such an easy and sweet little girl has a lot to do with this offer 🙂

She’ll be two years old in a couple months. That’s a little mind-blowing.

Here she is in the car on the way to the zoo last week. Click to enlarge.

More pictures… we replaced the shitty window blinds in our bedroom with gorgeous shutters.

I sold a bunch of bags and other stuff on eBay, then found this beauty for $50. It’s in like-new condition. It’s a limited edition Coach satchel from 2004, which retailed new for $348. Yeah, I win.

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brick red

July 11, 2011 by Jane

They don’t make ’em like this anymore…

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the baxter

July 10, 2011 by Jane

That’s the name of the next vintage Coach I’m getting. It will be delivered tomorrow. It’s an absolute stunner, and most amazingly, it is almost twenty years old and still has the original Marshall Field’s dept store tags attached. It has NEVER been used. And, it’s a rare style, and a rare color (burgundy). I am pretty much over the moon.

My other vintage finds have been much cheaper, like, $15. That’s what I paid for an old brown leather Court Bag, which I intend to rehab and then resell. I think I will probably also resell the Willis bag I bought — it’s too small for my needs. It’s a fun hobby, rehabilitating old classic Coach bags, but I wish it were cheaper. These babies can be found in thrift shops and at yard sales for less than $20 all the time. Just need to be watchful. A couple summers back I found an authentic Bottega Veneta woven bag at a yard sale on my street, for $15. Bottega Veneta bags sell for thousands of dollars. This one was small though, and not in that great shape. It also had a smoky smell, so I gave it to someone I know who smokes.

Anyway, Freya needs me, gotta go. Sleepy time!!

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tapas ahoy

July 9, 2011 by Jane

I was out the door at 7:00 this morning for a quick jog. The sun was already fairly high in the sky, but the whole neighborhood was still, aside from the chirps of the birds who had been up for a couple of hours already. I haven’t run at all for a few weeks; Brian was in SF for a week, then I had a sore foot for a while. I need to get into it again though, and as I am a morning person, daybreak is the best time for me, while Brian and Freya are still in bed. So I did my usual course, but did a lot more walking than usual, as I am still getting back into the swing of things. Legs felt heavy. I loved the fresh clean morning air, though, and the long shadows on the sidewalk. I made it back in 30 minutes, terrible compared to my earlier best of 21. Oh well.

Right now Freya is out in the yard with her daddy, playing in the wading pool. It’s too cold to sit in, but she likes splashing at it with her hands. I am about to get ready for Ladies Night ™. Going out to tapas with six of my girls, planning on lots of amazing little plates of food and a mango mojito. We didn’t get it together in June; usually we all have dinner the second Saturday of the month. I am inordinately excited. I am going to wear my new Etsy earrings, they are absolutely divine.

I have a large number of ripe strawberries that need to be used. I’ve decided on a strawberry sour cream coffee cake, baked in a bundt pan. So basically, I want to run every day so I can still eat stuff like that every once in a while.

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vintage

July 7, 2011 by Jane

I scored this little black leather Coach bag from Etsy today. It was relatively cheap (I’ve seen them go for even less, but I’ve also seen them sell for a LOT more) for a somewhat unusual bag. Two annoying things though: the seller of course described the bag as “vintage”, which is supposed to mean it is over twenty years old. No, this bag was made in 1999. I can do math, and a few minutes of research told me what the serial codes mean. Also, the bag does not have the little Coach hang tag attached, and the seller didn’t disclose that bit of info. Lame. OH WELL. It’s a very sweet, definitely authentic, soft and smooshy leather bag. I plan to rehab it. That is, give it a good bath and conditioning, a process that takes about a week to complete, but you end up with a like-new purse at the end.


The Coach Willis City bag 9153

We went to the beach yesterday morning. Freya ran around in the sand and put her toes in the water and had a good time with Evan as always.

Earlier in the week we went over to Christina’s place because it was very hot and sprinkler fun was warranted. It was Freya’s very first time. She loved it.

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july third

July 3, 2011 by Jane

Our town has its fireworks show on July 3rd every year, presumably so that people can also go to the Seattle one, if they want. Or, just to be all different. We are going to watch the show from Christina’s front yard tonight — she has a perfect view of the bay below her street. I am bringing strawberries and fresh whipped cream to the party.

This morning we took Freya with us to run a couple errands. Petco for cat and dog food, Target for a kiddie pool for our backyard. We also ended up at Gymboree, where I bought her this outfit on clearance. Darn cute. On the way home, she of course zonked out in her car seat, and I was able to make a seamless transfer to bed. So she’ll nap early, then wake up for lunch. It actually isn’t that great that she is napping early, since tonight we are hoping to keep her up past ten for the show. Oh well. I expect she will fall asleep while the fireworks explode overhead, and that’s fine, too.

Yesterday we had a glorious sunny hot day, finally. In the morning we walked the Clear Creek Trail and used our new backpack carrier for the first time.

Freya absolutely loved it. The ride is extremely comfortable for both her and Brian, the canopy provides shade, she can see everything from her high vantage point, and we love the multiple pockets on the pack for things like cameras, hats, sunglasses. It’s so rad. Go Deuter!

This morning I woke up early to the sound of rain falling outside, but it seems to have petered out and allegedly we’ll get some sunshine and warmth in a couple hours. The plan until we go to the barbecue is to let Freya sleep, and get some housework done that was unfortunately left not done yesterday due to the great weather and fun times being had. I would mostly like to get Freya’s room cleaned up and baby proofed. Don’t know if there’s time for that…

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microlist

June 28, 2011 by Jane

There is so much shit to do around the house. The only way I feel like I can motivate myself, or not feel overwhelmed, is to make a micro list.

A regular to-do list would say things like “clean the kitchen,” or worse, “clean the house.” That’s too nebulous. A micro list breaks it up into small, achievable tasks. This can actually apply to any project.

So on my list, I have the following

+ vacuum living room
+ sweep kitchen floor
+ wipe down the dining table
+ install curtain rods in office
+ clean off my desk
+ dust front room tables and bookshelves

Plus a lot more. Makes it more fun to check things off when they are broken down into five or ten minute chores.

In other news, I finally ordered custom drapes for my office. The fabric I picked is a mustard yellow and natural zigzag chevron pattern. It’s going to look very cheerful. Found them on Etsy of course. The woman making them is doing four panels total, fully lined, plus throwing in two free square pillow covers. Free shipping and no sales tax are a nice bonus.

Just now I was looking around on my desk for a notebook where I can keep my to-do lists. I found my old lovely lime green Russel and Hazel mini binder. Love love love this company. I used to use this binder every single day when I still worked at Gap. Anyway I opened it up and found three journal entries I made when Freya was only fifteen weeks old. Talking about how I would hold her all day, nurse her every few hours, how she would nap three times a day, and we would have activity mat time and tummy time. She still wasn’t even rolling over. My little wee one. It’s good to look back on that time, how naive I was, heh.

Anyway, I best get cracking on this list. Fifteen items remaining…

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noise

June 28, 2011 by Jane

Construction on the road behind our back fence has begun and will continue all summer. Chainsaws. They chopped down a row of trees next to the soccer field. Not sure why they had to do that just to build a sidewalk — there was more than enough space. Now I hear them shouting and throwing stuff, as usual.

June is nearly at an end and we have yet to experience a heat wave this year. A few isolated days in the mid-70s is about it. Yesterday was rainy, today, too. Who knows if it will ever end. Freya’s summer clothes hang still and unworn in her closet.

Sunday night she did something she hasn’t done before: slept from 11pm until the sky was light at 6:30 or so. It was a long and tough day for her, and she stayed up late to greet Daddy at the ferry when he came back from SF. So I suppose she *~*slept through the night*~* , an event that most American parents obsess over needlessly and try to force on their babies at far too young an age. The infant brain is designed to wake frequently to eat. It’s also designed to wake frequently to remain safe at night. Babies trained to sleep all night as tiny infants are probably more prone to SIDS, especially in a crib (they used to call it crib death, you know).

Our backpack carrier is here and it is stunning. Already planning to take Freya on a little hike in it this Saturday.

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baby time all the time

June 25, 2011 by Jane

Well I got those glasses yesterday and decided to exchange them for a different pair, a pair I tried on at the optometrist and liked a lot. They are slightly more expensive, but only by $50. Here’s a pic. Still black plastic Fendis, just a different shape and the stems are different, too. Blah blah eyewear.

Brian has been out of town since Wednesday, returning tomorrow thank goodness. Freya and I are having fun together of course but it does get a wee bit exhausting. Last night was great, though — we went to a dinner party playdate at Courtney’s. Four mamas and six kids (though Miles is only three months so he wasn’t included as much in the fun times), and Freya had such a ball running around the house and checking out Ella’s toys and trying to kiss Tiffany’s one-year-old boy, hee hee. Freya thinks “kissing” is to just kind of touch foreheads, though, because every time I ask for a kiss, I just kiss her forehead or her cheek.

She’s still in bed now, and of course it’s cool and gray outside. I’m thinking once she is up and fed, she can go in the stroller and we can scout out local yard sales. It’s not SUPPOSED to rain today. It better not.

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specs

June 21, 2011 by Jane

I ordered these glasses today. I found them on eBay for $125. At the optometrist’s today, trying them on, I was looking at paying over $300, as my insurance only covers frames every two years. So I opted to save two hundred bucks. My lenses are partially covered, so when it’s all said and done I’ll be paying $200 instead of like $450, and get some totally sweet Fendi eyeglasses. Nerd!

It’s a sunny and beautiful solstice. Freya is napping, which is amazing because construction on the road behind our back fence started today and it is pretty freaking loud. They are just crashing around and throwing heavy things as hard as they can etc etc. This will go on all summer long. We get a sidewalk out of the deal, but I guess I’ll have to close the bedroom window during Freya’s nap, even if it does get up to 90 out there. That’s a big if; the hot weather has yet to really materialize even though today we’ve finally hit the mid-70s.

Had another good run yesterday but today I’m a little sore. And tomorrow morning I’ll be busy, so I don’t know if I will get to a run. Brian’s going to SF for work, too, and won’t be back until Sunday. Boo. Running with that jogging stroller… I donut like this.

When baby gets up she will be begging to go outside again. Maybe the park is in order. We also have a park playdate to go to tomorrow afternoon, though I’ll be in Seattle part of the morning. Busy day. Then Thursday we are going to Port Townsend with Christina and Evan. Hope the weather cooperates.

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