MY M-DAY WEEKEND AND AN ODE TO MY BOYS

some days i feel like i need to pinch myself. these days i'm, like, smack in the middle of all of the good stuff i ever had the presence of mind to wish for.  

some days are brutally good that they hurt. i'm constantly aware that these are the best days, and that all these moments are the moments i'll spend the rest of my life wishing i could have back. sometimes i wish i could open my eyes WIDER--like, really pull them open--so i can take of it in at once, and not miss a single drop of it. i am just so in love with being this boy's mama, being this man's wife, doing what i do and living where i live and loving these boys that i love so much.

on saturday morning we set out in the misty air for an early mother's day brunch at bubby's. we love bubby's, it's one of our favorite spots in the city, and while we were there we got to try ramps, the "it" vegetable of the season. so ramps are actually pretty amazing. we even remembered to hit the photo booth in the basement.

we took a few slices of pie for the road and took off on a a good walk to nowhere. after a bit we found ourselves at washington square park, which happens to be my favorite of all the parks, and while we were there, stealing bites of each others' peanut butter and banoffee pies and taking turns pushing huck on the swings, the skies turned straight ominous on us. the leaves on the concrete started swirling and scattering, and the hairs on my arms started to stand up in just that certain way . . .

yesssssss!

monsoon! no it wasn't a monsoon. the skies opened up on us while we were walking up fifth avenue and it was cosmic. the rain was enormous. it felt like the whole of earth was about to swallow us up in its fury, it was loud and thrilling with blinding lightning and echoing thunder, . . . we were drenched by the first second it started and laughing so hard we could barely breathe. 

we found refuge in a taco bell! lucky you brandon! obviously acid colored mountain dew and some tacos locos doritos were called for. it was like it was fate. and hey, thumbs up cool ranch. (brandon prefers the nacho cheese. gross.) 

the rain stopped and we went home for some warm baths and footie pajimjams and an enormous bunch of fresh peonies with mama's name on 'em. 

MOTHER'S DAY. i hope you all had a lovely one. especially you mamas-of-furbabies and even most especially you mamas-in-waiting. i think this holiday really belongs to those who yearn, because you are doing the hardest work. your hearts are loving the biggest love, fighting the hardest fight, and taking the biggest, scariest leaps. my thoughts and my prayers and all of my love have been with each of you this weekend. i hope you took the good chocolate and had the longest and most luxurious afternoon nap of your life. fist bumps. and hang in there. 

hang. in. there. 

xoxoxo

update: my dress is ace & jig
i found it at shop pretty mommy.com

FROM THE MISCELLANEOUS DRAWER

▲▲▲ i was looking through old photos yesterday, trying to find this one in particular from when huck was fat and delicious for my editors for a book thing, when i came across the saddest photographic evidence of post baby hair loss that probably ever existed. behold! before and after the great exodus. it's like . . . it's like don't fear the baby weight, because that will come off. fear the baby hair. because that comes off too and it's baaaad.

▲▲▲ and here's a photo of the after-after when you get a mom hair cut because it's just so thin and sad and you're like, well what else am i going to do? for whatever reason (seasonal stuff i'm sure) i'm itching to lob it all off again and go for clavicle length. this is a fascinating blog post so far i know, you're really impressed. 

▲▲▲ things i have youtubed today, per my two-year-old's request: pirates, rhinos, choo choo trains, choo choo planes. that last one doesn't exist but not for lack of trying.

▲▲▲ i wrote some posts for babble, aaaaaand i'm linking them now: favorite lipsticks for spring, best non-smudge drugstore eyeliner (follow up on the best of all time non-smudge eyeliner to come, no it is NOT from a drugstore), and a forever 21 post too. 

we are off to brave the rain for a few errands. it's supposed to thunder all day--i love me a good thunder storm so i am hoping for a good one!

xo

MOTHER'S DAY GIFTS FOR MAMA LOVERS

▲▲▲tote // necklace // booties // case // perfume // ring // shoes // ring // tee ▲▲▲ 

say you're shopping for the mom or mom-to-be or fur-baby mama in your life. well here are some ideas for what i'd consider a top notch gift. some are a little bit ridiculous but hey! mother's day is ridiculous.

past mother's day posts, see mother's day and i haven't always gotten along:
2009, 2010, 2011, 2012

mother's day, i'm still giving you the wonk-eye . . .

A LITTLE NEEDLEWORK IN THE BEDROOM

sadly i'm not much for crafting. it such a perpetual source of disappointment in my life! there are a million reasons why crafting is dumb but it mostly comes down to i'm not much of a perfectionist so whatever i make ends up looking sad and rumply, and getting craft supplies is sort of tragic when there isn't any room to put anything. 

oh but i doooo love needlework. like a very old granny, my favorite thing is an evening at home with blanket over my tootsies, a needle in my hands, and a hoop of fabric in my lap. and a good strong head lamp. one time i very seriously considered buying some of those fabulous old man magnifying glasses from the drugstore to wear while doing counted cross stitch but luckily for my poor dear husband i'm not quite that far gone. almost. but not quite yet. 

one of my more ambitious dreams is to someday needlework a whole tapestry. like a full-on medieval tapestry huge-ass wall hanging. pardon my french. 

i'm running out of conceivable wall space for any future projects, but here is one that i finally finished that i've been enjoying lately. i hatched up the idea randomly when i was searching for a good excuse to need more deer antlers for my apartment (there aren't any good reasons) and i realized i could probably cross stitch one instead, somehow. like that would be any better.

so i google-imaged a deer and i eyed it into cross-stitch replica of sorts it and it was very idaho-y and then i realized i should do one for the time we spent living in portland as newlyweds. a series!

same process as before, and my little rain clouds came out so cute and i loved them so much that i needed one for our utah time. we were only in utah for about four months as very newly-newlyweds and already it was four months too many, but such as. (just kidding, utah!) (OR AM I.)

it's a beehive obviously please tell me you love it. ;)

the one that took me the longest to conceptualize and the one that i finished in the most slipshod way was the one for our times in new york city. i used a photo i took from the 5th floor of abc carpet & home for inspiration. water towers! i have a thing for water towers these days. hey guess what you can see all the dark threads through the back and it's super rumply, but perfectionism isn't really my jam.

they live on the wall in the bedroom and every night as i climb into bed i like to look at them and smile. 

i also spend a lot of time rehanging them. huck seems to delight in sneaking them off the wall and leaving them for me on my pillow. a little needlework surprise. ;)

there! 

WE JUMP... THE ELEVATOR THINKS IT'S EMPTY... AND IT OPENS!

so, the following is a true story.

so, the other day we got trapped in an elevator on the subway on our way down to williamsburg. we were going to visit a friend, we were stuck for forty-five minutes, it was quite the caper. even though i DID remember to say "rabbit rabbit" that morning! those of you who follow me on twitter loved my terribly exciting live tweeting of the episode. i am sure. 

in other news, i spent an hour surfing apartment listings online last night, which is what i usually do when i have writer's block, which is what led me to attend a very depressing "3 bedroom" apartment open house up on 80th street today, except it wasn't a three bedroom so much as a very long hallway wherein one could stash three queen sized mattresses in a row, separated by shower curtains. but i digress. 

there was a lady trapped with us in the elevator, she was wearing a purple snowsuit. she was very nice. together we rode that elevator up and down, uuuup and dowwwwwn, and those doors, i tell you, never once did they open, even though i willed them to with my eyeballs. they finally called the elevator company and then two very nice dudes wrenched the doors apart for us and then freedom! we were freed! 

but on the plus side! i got to fulfill a lifelong dream of hitting the elevator alarm button. i've always wondered what that would feel like and now i know. the alarm bells echo through the platform in a rather nice way. thankfully the elevator did not smell like pee! what are the odds you'd get yourself stuck in a freshly cleaned elevator? hash tag tender mercy.

all of this to say . . . if you ask me, williamsburg looks a lot like portland. 

incidentally, i really want to start a "moms of williamsburg" tumblr. the people-watching over there is subliiiiiime.

other things completely unrelated to this post entirely:

huck was invited to martha stewart's "take your kid to work day" (even though neither of his parents officially work there). he makes a cute little guest appearance in the video they made HERE. and he's adorable, so there.

i get a lot of questions about my pink overalls from ASOS (which have long since sold out) and i noticed yesterday that ASOS has a very similar pair of pink overalls happening right now. you can get them HERE! public service announcement!

this post has been all over the place. the end.