Picnic

Stenciled Toy Bins

We recently made a family outing to The Container Store, a favorite in this household.  It was Bijou's first time to The Container Store and we were pleased to find that she shared our enthusiasm for the place.  Between twirling the tops in the trash can aisle, to spinning around on the office chairs, she was easily entertained.  According to Doug, she was especially enthusiastic about the collapsible cup she discovered in aisle 5.  When we left she said, "can we go back to that toy store some time?"  I said, "it's not a toy store, it's called The Container Store."  She said, "but it's like a toy store!"

We were on a hunt for some simple toy storage to hide the toy clutter I've been hoarding over the years.  We decided on these simple canvas bins which I spruced up with some number stencils using a freezer paper technique.

 
 

Composting for the garden

We are lucky to live in a environmentally conscience area of our country where our city provides us with a community compost program.  Each kitchen in our city is supplied with a small green bin to discard food scraps and recyclable food containers with food waste.  When it becomes full, you just empty it in your large green bin along with your yard waste and the city picks it up once a week and composts it for you.  The only problem with this system is Ants + El Nino = Composting Hell.  Since it's been a rainy winter we had to take a break from collecting our food scraps because we had no interest in sharing our home with hundreds of ants.

With Spring on the horizon, I've been starting to think about our veggie garden.  It's been pretty lousy the past 2 years and I think a lot of it has to do with the clay like soil.  If we started to compost at home I think it would be much more successful.  When I saw this lovely set-up in Body + Soul magazine and realized I didn't even have to add worms ( I HATE worms!) I decided to take the plunge.

 

 

Heart Garland

To Make:

1. Draw 1/2 a heart on a piece of paper bag.  Fold it over and trace it on the other side creating a symmetrical heart.  Cut it out.  This is your heart pattern.
2. Cut 11 hearts from red felt and 11 hearts from a matching printed cotton.
3. Top stitch the felt and cotton together, wrong sides facing each other.
4. Using zig-zag scissors trim both layers around the edge of the heart.  Do not cut your stitch.
5. Thread an embroidery needle with red embroidery floss and hand stitch the hearts together, alternating fabrics (see above photo).
6. Space the hearts the way you like and trim the embroidery floss to your desired length.

  

Tree Farm

My preferred method for choosing a tree is to go out into the woods and chop one down ourselves. (When I say "ourselves," I mean that I watch Doug cut one down.)  Unfortunately, that would require an hour and a half drive outside the city and we just didn't have the time for that this year.  The next best thing, according to Bijou, was a tree lot with carnival rides.  She lucked out!  Just 15 minutes from our house was just that.  Trees and "Paris wheels" (we didn't correct her).

Back at the house, we decorated it with vintage pink ornaments and a few wooden ornaments by Go Play.

Vintage Key Ornament by Go Play, $6 

Urban Homestead

I snapped this photo this morning of a deer and her fawn from my office window.  The baby even had white spots on his/her back, just like Bambi!  Since they are so darn cute, I'll forgive them for coming over to our yard to feast on our fauna.  The front yard always looks a bit sparse to me, now I know why.  I know we can spray deer repellent but that stuff smells like ass, seriously.  A few weeks ago, our neighbor was spraying it on their plants just when I happened to be out on a walk with Bijou.  She turned to me and said, "Mommy, it smells like butt."  Don't ask me how she knows what butt smells like.

We also get wild turkeys walking around our hood.  My husband witnessed the turkeys being police escorted across the road one morning during the morning commute.  So cute.  

I love living with all this wildlife, all the while being a 20 minute drive to Bloomingdale's.

Succulent Garden

Living in Berkeley, you see a lot of "dry gardens."  In fact, we even have a nursery called The Dry Garden.  We are all about conserving water around here.  And freeing Leonard Peltier. And keeping your laws off my body. And Yes We Can! And thinking globally and acting locally.  And the list goes on and on and on.  Ahh, I really do love living amongst such spirited and passionate people.  Berkeley had its equivalent of the harmonic convergence this past Saturday with a visit by the Dalai Lama, a raucous Earth Day festival and special farmers' market celebrating the elimination of plastic bags!

Nature's beauty.

Our new table decor for outside dining this summer.