A LITTLE LUNCH AT JACOB'S PICKLES

we met brandon for lunch at jacob's pickles this afternoon, which was a personal victory for me because let me tell you, i'd only been telling brandon i wanted him to take me to jacob's pickles for about a million years. 

neither of us actually ordered anything involving pickles, which is tricky. so now we have a reason to go back. 

on another note, tonight in the shower i finally used the deep cleaning mask i picked up at the bliss spa over the summer. it's supposed to sit for 15 minutes while you shave your legs in super slow motion or something? i don't know. i used to take 15-minute showers when i was in high school, but now, any more than three minutes in and i start to get real bored. tonight i discovered a trick to surviving your 15-minute face mask. it is singing "a little fall of rain" from les mis in your most pathetic voice while watching water droplets streak dramatically down the shower curtain. it's almost a zen experience, and a highly satisfying moment in my evening.

get the chicken egg and cheese on a biscuit sandwich though, if you know what's good for you.

A WEEKEND WITH NEMO (AND SYDNEY TOO!)

this weekend i got to play host to one of my favorite girls.  oh sydney my sydney! she landed in nyc only a few hours before old nemo. and nemo nemo nemo blah blah blah with a side of i-am-rolling-my-eyes-at-you, east coast. nemo in idaho would've been called "tuesday." see? i am grouchier than usual this weekend you'll just have to excuse me. 

i love new york in the snow. i love new yorkers awkwardly hopping over slush piles at cross walks. sometimes you come across a slush pile that is deceptively deep and you lose half your pants to it, so the hopping is really necessary but always goofy looking. and i love the shops that suddenly sell stacks and stacks of sleds and i love the parents of the kids who buy those sleds to take them to the park, only to most likely throw them out at the end of the day because who has room to store sleds in their apartment? i especially love the snowmen that pop up after it snows. they're built by the romantics. shout out to the very upper west side-y snowlady at 72nd, with her little bouquets of tulips hanging out of her fancy trash bag just-so. 

pushing our strollers through the meatpacking district in the middle of a blizzard was probably the funnest and most definitely the stupidest thing sydney and i have ever done together. and we manage to find stupid things to do together frequently. but we found the sweetest little place for dinner, all cozy inside with snow falling out the window in the twinkle lights, nearly abandoned inside due to the weather, and truly that sydney poulton is a gem of a human being. having syd in town is a nice reminder that, while there is a lot of junk on the internet, there are still some good ones. syd is one of the good ones. thumbs up, sister.

also that pulled pork waffle with the spicy cole slaw at sugar and plumm was out. of. this. worrrrrrld. 

love to you, you poultons.

(more from our weekend on instagram doobiedoo @natthefatrat)

BITS OF MOSTLY NOTHING

hello from the holbrook house! natalie reporting! 

not much over here. the days are finally starting to blur together again into a steady rhythm and for that i am grateful. january was such a jerk. january you have been demoted!

brandon works and comes home, huck is all big boy with a heart of gold, and i've been loving spending my days with him. he makes a real fun side kick, not to mention a good sugar snack when you need a quick hit.

i've slowly been making my way through on the road. i picked it up at the airport in salt lake after the new year and it has taken me forever to get through, just because i keep rereading whole paragraphs over and over and then kind of sitting in them in a very nerdy way. i keep getting caught up in the words of the thing. those worrrrds! they keep rolling around in my head, they're such perfect words.

the other day while i was putting away the laundry, huck waltzed into the bedroom and reclined against the bed with his arms behind his head. he sort of crossed and uncrossed his legs while i replaced messy stacks of clothes with neat stacks of clothes, and then he stood up and very loudly requested some chocolate milk. he's at this stage where the minute he wants something it is CODE RED. he asks for things the way you might ask for things the on fifth or sixth time you've ask for things. THIS IS URGENT. COME ON MOM. which i find kind of funny. i've started answering with my arms in the air, OKAYYYYY! which makes him giggle. oh, two.

WINTER WEEKENDS // OF RUGS AND BANANA BREAD

scarf c/o white plum boutique, huck's leggings c/o carlymegan 

it was a quiet, cold weekend for us holbrooks. doesn't that sound like the beginning of a fabulous story? well, here's this instead.

the holbrooks have been on a sort of a rug odyssey. first there was much talk of rugs. brandon wanted a rug that would swallow him whole when he stepped on it. like, padded. i just wanted something pretty to look at. he wanted a rug in the living room and in the dining room, but i was sure the living room was too oddly-shaped. talk of rugs at our house almost always end at a spousal impasse. you want to start a holbrook argument? your best bets are rugs, and how many vine videos is appropriate for a person to post in a day. (what does "too many" even mean? it's so relative .... ;)

a few saturdays ago we wandered into west elm and found their mira rug floor model on stupid clearance, so we bought it for the dining room. and then it got stuck in the living room on the way to the dining room because WOAH THE LIVING ROOM LOOKS SO GOOD WITH A RUG. and there was this one time on monday when a kilim i wanted on ebay had ten minutes left on the sale and i was texting brandon at work saying "should i do it?" and "text me back!" and "eight minutes left text me text me!" and finally "I AM SO BUYING THIS IF YOU DON'T TEXT ME RIGHT NOW" and long story short . . .

so on saturday we needed a rug pad for our new kilim rug.

wow wasn't that a thrilling story?

first i made brandon take me to chipotle. can i tell you something? i live in new york city. the best food in the world is right at my fingertips. do you know what i want to eat every day? every stinking day. 

i baked a truly impressive banana bread on saturday night. henny made valentines for all of his favorite small friends. we split a chocolate peanut butter levain three ways, and then brandon convinced me to watch the first half of the superbowl with him. 

i'm a good wife, you can tell me so if you want to.

oh hey banana bread recipe:

1/4 c melted butter
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c mashed banana (or shredded zucchini, or canned pumpkin . . . the possibilities!)
1 egg
1/4 c sour cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c flour (back in my super healthy idaho days i'd do 1/2 c whole wheat flour and 1/4 c bran flour)

bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes

*update: now that i think about it, i usually double the fruit portion to a full cup. i'm lazy and never actually measure the banana, just chuck it in there till it's gloopy ;).

P.S.

hey, we've been nominated for apartment therapy's the homies!

in case you'd like to vote for us (hey why not?) you can vote HERE.

DAY IN THE LIFE // WEDNESDAY EDITION

wednesday, january 30

// the high today is 57, alternating between bright + sunny and misty + soupy. i take my coat off.

//we meet up with a girlfriend and her small dude in central park when we realize we are both in the area  at the same time.

// bizarre highlight of the morning: a sweet tourist from japan asks if she can have a photo with huck (this happens . . . often). i say sure! huck is like . . . whatever, i'm chasing pigeons. so this girl chases huck all over while huck chases pigeons all over, while her boyfriend attempts dutifully to get a clean shot. eventually, this draws a crowd. nobody is sure what is going on, but they all seem to need to take a few photos of it in case whatever it us turns out to be something important. my friend elise (who is a day overdue with her baby--get out of there, baby!) and i sort of scratch our heads and enjoy the moment. 

// a ham + cheese crepe for lunch, followed by these mini bomboloni and that enormous hunk of a levain cookie (indulging my pregnant friend . . . right?). blammo.

// i always think i can eek one more day out of a shampoo before it's time to wash it again. tonight, shampoo. you and me. 

// no nap today. a little nemo instead.

// dream baby.

// we check the weather forecast in the afternoon. snow and rain and gunk. bring it on, mother nature!

// little bits around the house making me smile today. my surfaces need dusting. that candle is from notre dame in paris, it was a christmas gift from my mother. one of these days when i need an extra prayer, i think i'll light it. 

// fried rice with a little scrambled egg for dinner. and then the rest of that cookie, too. blammo.

p.s. i've fallen hard for the new #vineapp these days--have you tried it? (it seems to be available only on iphones for now). i have a goal of somehow finagling brandon into waving awkwardly in a vine with me, you know, like a photo you'd see at hogwarts or something. it's a genius idea. it'll never happen. my username is natthefatrat. you know.