*visitas

Tamara came to visit this weekend!! I cannot tell you how happy it was to see her!!!! We're tragically averaging 24 hours/year since leaving San Diego. It was so wonderful to just sit and talk and drink mate all day. Also special for me, of course, to see these two girls getting along so well...

My brother George [she called him "uncle" - very cute] was also visiting this weekend [here mostly for the snow :)], so we got some good family time in as well, both here and down at my other brother's:

*il lavoro

You may have heard that I got a job! I could not be more excited and I will tell you why:

So there's this most amazing Italian cheese shop/deli that I have wanted to work at since the day I stepped inside several years ago. They're opening a new dinner-only restaurant and I get to be a server Friday and Saturday nights only!! So I have to work only on the busiest nights, don't ever have to worry about a lunch shift and will mostly be away from little V during sleeping hours. Everyone involved is so passionate and knowledgeable about food [as well as friendly and down-to-earth] and I just can't believe I get to be a part of it!! It's a very established establishment and they are really into the "family aspect of business" as well as supporting and utilizing as many small-time producers as possible - everything from cheese to lamb to wine. The past couple days we've had wine tastings, where I get to sit with some serious food+wine people - learning so so much.

I'm just happy to have a little outlet to look forward to. As you may know, Ben studies a lot. My evenings are often spent on the internet or watching + re-watching Arrested Development or other not so worthy shows such as.... the Bachelor. So to be out learning, talking about, eating, selling, being excited about good, real, Italian cheeses, handmade pastas, delicious wines ... all while getting paid??? All I could think today was, seriously??? God is good.

*citrus

Ben's parents sent 2 boxes of these amazingly delicious tangerines from their backyard. I'd say 1/2 dozen didn't even make it past the front door. I still can't wrap my high-desert mind around the fact that in some places people have their very own tangerine/orange/lemon trees! Pretty amazing. Thank you M+R!!

*a blustery day

Earlier today Vera found an umbrella in the closet - I don't know how she knew what it was all folded up, but apparently [she was with Ben] she freaked out. For the next 40 or so minutes she frantically repeated these words over and over and over: pooh! pooh! mud! bees! ta-ta [as in tut, tut it looks like rain..]! pooh! bees! rah [christopher robin]! mud! bees! ta-ta! We're definitely in that repeating and repeating stage we've heard about. Cute, but ... well we won't be leaving the umbrella out anywhere for her to see :)

*and it was an extremely blustery day! Ben's holding on so she doesn't blow away..

*moves

We think this video is hilarious. Obviously we're biased thinking everything she does is cute... but I just love her subtle little moves and non-chalant straight face - of course combined with the sweet little outfit.

*azul

Look what someone had hiding in her pocket during naptime... I don't think she slept the whole hour she was in there, and as I picked her up she was already saying no-no and sorry :) Hard not to laugh. Can you imagine the satisfaction of seeing those bold blue lines?

*just what i need

... one more amazing blog to check with a hundred more ideas to add to the ones I keep forgetting. I just found *lovelydesign* through the already favorite angrychicken. I've already starred* the first dozen or so posts - really beautiful, crisp, fun, stylish ideas!!! There is so much creativity out there: me duele la cabeza!! I have a favorite quote from another favorite blog píntame el día* :

***

{{no cuesta que las ideas tomen forma, lo que cuesta es coser las ideas para que no se escapen}}

{it's not hard for the ideas to take form, the hard part is sewing them together so they don't escape}

***


*i searched and searched for when she wrote it without luck - I may have the first part slightly worded differently, as well as my own translation :(

*el mate

I took this picture back in September. She had been reaching and reaching for my mate, and so I gave her some knowing she'd never ask for it again. I didn't even capture the full repugnance on her face as she shook her head back and forth spewing green tea all over. It was pretty great :) [by the way, it wasn't hot] A couple months ago though she wanted to try again. I made sure it was a nasty, cold, bitter one and she took a sip. She twisted her face a little in surprise and then covered it up and said mmmmmm, more? I couldn't believe it. I let her try once or twice, making sure they were strong and sure to be foul-tasting. She'd give a start, pucker her lips, hide her disgust and keep at it! So no more tries for Vera. She loves to point it out though and will often devise her own little mate with a cup and a straw. Sometimes I let her drink water out of the gourd and it's just too cute - mi chiquita argentina :)

*afuera

It was a beautiful, cool, fresh, windy, warm [and later cold and rainy] day. We made it to the park in the morning and our friends' fun backyard in the afternoon...

[.fun to be had indoors too of course.]

*

We've started the pre-spring warming trend around here, and it's just so so wonderful. I like seasons and all, but .. well .. Winter is my least favorite and I cannot wait for Spring!!! I've seen a few crocus shoots peeking out of the ground and will be sure to post pictures when my favorite --tulips-- appear. Sadly, we didn't get to take much advantage of the warm day today, but at least we took Bunny for his daily walk up and down the sidewalk:


..and unrelated, but this was pretty cute: tonight Vera brought a couple chairs over and sat everyone down to watch Mommy make dinner :)

*happy birthday 'Desta'!!

We can't believe you're 1! I started watching Stella when she was 6 months - it's hard to believe that much time has gone by! I wish you could see how excited Vera gets when she and her mom pull up in the driveway. Also, any time I say, "guess who's coming over??" she exclaims, "Des-ta!" She's really a sweet little thing - loving, cuddly and with the cutest little lisp :)

*

So last week we read a little book where the character stood on his head at one point. Afterwards, I asked Vera, "can you stand on your head?" and she immediately did it! I love to test and see what she's understanding - and am amazed still every time she does. Have I mentioned that watching a little one grow is about the most wonderful thing ever???

*I ♥ bloomers

I really do. In this day of dressing your baby like she's already a teenager - which I probably do sometimes, I guess I just love it as something so perfectly baby. I actually started a post back in June that I never got around to finishing, and took the above pictures today before I got an email saying I had won a pair of classic bloomers! Maybe you're familiar with the blogging world 'giveaways.'.. Yesterday I was reading through the new issue of the online SMALL magazine - one page had a bundle of companies offering giveaways to the 10th person to contact them. Lo and behold, I was the 10th! on the only one I responded to! I am floored: I don't think I've ever won anything!* A happy little surprise this Sunday :)

***

[ [wait... I am remembering winning The Simpsons Sing the Blues (my first cd!) at a KWNZ thing at Carson Jr. High. 5th grade?] ]

*funny stuff

...at least Vera thinks so..

{{volume up}}

*

These beautiful Chinese pajamas were a gift from Ben's parents when I was pregnant - I remember imagining my little dark-haired, dark-eyed daughter wearing them someday. I can tell you it took me a while to get used to the little blondie who surprised us all! When Ben's Granny first met Vera she kept exclaiming over the howlie boy :)

I love to think of all the different backgrounds that came together in little Vera - Ben's grandfather growing up in the Phillipines speaking a language I know nothing about, his Chinese Granny growing up as basically an indentured servant in Hawaii, another grandfather hopping the train from Oklahoma to California Steinbeck style, my dad's dad growing up on hop farms in Washington, one grandmother of mine adopted out to a family who needed help in their restaurant in Yerrington, Nevada. Imagine them meeting up back in the 40s - hey our descendents will have children together! It's truly amazing, really, where we all come from.

Later on, snuggled in bed - like a little princess in her fancy jammies.

*abuela

While everyone else skied today, we hung out at home with Grandma Sheila. After a semi-disastrous walk to Coffee Garden [it was a beautiful day!!!] and a failed nap we played on the bed and made/shared some *soup* before meeting everyone else for dinner. a good time :)

this is the newest/latest game: make mommy sit on the stool and finish her soup!
and use her spoon!

*enfoque

I'm not feeling the words coming tonight [I've tried to start this like 3 times], but I've wanted to remember these little activities we've been doing. I've been reading a couple books and blogs on the Montessori method for early childhood and find it all so so interesting [and am so thankful to Jenny for introducing me to it all! Seriously, I'd be a dud of a mom without her. well not really, but kind of!]. I'd been anxious to have Vera try some of the little activites that encourage the child to focus and develop fine-motor skills, but you could tell that she's just not quite ready to sit for too long following a Mommy-directed activity [her tea set, pots+noodles+spoons, playing in her kitchen and with Bunny/Dollie are another story] :) These are a start...

We've had these wooden beads for a few months and she's now able to do it on her own - though she still likes to do it together sometimes :) If she's in the right mood, she'll do it a couple times over and over. It's been cute to see her slowly learn to do it all by herself.



Another little activity that I got from this blog post. She was into it when we had a mini-Montessori date at Sam+Amelia's [I'm thinking mainly because it was what Sam wanted to do], but gets impatient quickly and wants to do her own thing, ie. throw the pins across the room or shake the bottle, or try to stuff bunny's paws through the top. I took a video after we tried it the first time - she does 2 of my favorite things in this video: how she says "see??" to Bunny and her adorable little pleased-with-herself laugh.

She really loves this one - painting with water on a chalkboard. I'm going to be careful to keep it a special activity, so she won't lose interest. She likes to paint "dots" and will do a cat too, if I ask her to :)

[sorry, re-reading this I feel like it's all super-awkwardly written. I think I need to go to bed]

***
So far, these are the books I've read: Montessori from the Start, Raising an Amazing Child the Montessori Way and Mommy, Teach Me! I don't feel like searching out the links, do you mind?

The blogs on my googleReader: Chasing Cheerios and The Wonder Years.

*la holga

Do you have stacks of random pictures hanging around that you don't know what to do with? I have all these old Holga photos that I love, but just don't know where to put. They don't really fit in the middle of my family vacation albums and I can never remember to buy frames this size ... so I scanned them. I love my Holga - a boxy, cheap, plastic camera held together with tape. Basically it takes charming - ie. poor quality- pictures. The only thing is that both the film and the developing are pretty expensive [besides, now you can just go to picnik.com to make your pictures look old + crappy!] Anyway here's some of my favorites...

paris - 2004 : just before I got married. sipping tea and writing in my journal.

ben on our honeymoon : eating at a cafe from sleepless in seattle.

tulip, iris and dafodil bulbs my mom sent from the beds around our old house. i planted them at ben's and my first rental and wish i'd dug them up before we left :(

my adorable and very photogenic niece, olivia - now 8!

boone was the cutest puppy ever!!

*ponytails!

...kind of... you might not be able to tell in pictures, but Vera has - what some people have told me - a reverse mullet. It's growing all long by her ears, but not in the back or on top. How cute is it to see her in mini pigtails?? I can imagine her traipsing off to kindergarten...

*

One of my favorite things - a nice, neat stack of packages and/or letters ready to go:

:especially nice because its preparation usually involves this:

***

It's pretty obvious that this blog is my project, so I've decided to make it officially so [notice the "posted by" - that's how I made it official :)]. Ben is my biggest fan anyway, and he has enough writing to do on his own:


I feel freer this way to post about whatever I want and not feel constricted to this being a "family blog." I like how my sister put it as being a moleskin of sorts - a place to write all those ideas, remember those things you see/do, etc. Pretty much nothing will change, just under my name now. So I can still fill the blog with pictures like these - because this is the kind of thing I see/do every day: