i am back!

wow, i took a really long bloggin' break. there is so much to catch up on! well, right now i am 28 weeks pregnant with my third girlie! i know, i know, crazy but we are so happy and so blessed that everything is going well. a little while after my last post in march is when we found out and i probably had about a week until the mother of all morning sickness gave me a visit. holy moly i was a mess! for all those mamas out there who know what i am talking about, it's a rough existence. and it lasted over 16 weeks! anyway, that is mainly the reason for such a long hiatus.

so, what's new? well, i have put design work on hold and maybe for a long while because i graduated from integrative nutrition last month. woo hoo! it was truly a great year and i actually miss my classes. after the baby is born and things settle, i am going to put my focus towards this next venture. until then i am looking forward to nesting, cooking away, being creative, blogging and maybe even catching up on some reading. it is going to be a peaceful autumn. aaahhh.

here's a little recap of our spring and summer. peace + love.

washington square park

one more time at moomah

buttermilk falls

serendipity frozen hot chocolate

a rare occurance

natural egg dying

tea party

lounging in the dandelions

liberty school garden

baseball

 school play

 strawberry picking out east

 our japanese cucs

 4 years old - mermaid party

 sweet girl

 rockland feis

 baby "girl"

 a harvest

 mermaids

 long beach island

 gramp's pyramid

 salt dough shell mosaics

 we found a starfish! we put him back, too.

 liberty garden's legit pumpkin patch

 stone barns center

 our bountiful garden this year!

a unique autumn

hello all! (i'm not sure how many is 'all' so if you read my blog, let me know! i bet it would inspire me to post more often ;) anyway, this crazy fall is flying by me. i have been super busy with my nutrition studies and design work and kids! it's interesting sometimes but i am loving it actually.

for us, this fall has been filled with the old familiar activities. harvest festivals, apple picking, haunted hayrides, pumpkin carving, halloween costume planning... but oh my, this fall seemed so strange! first of all, hurricane irene kind of wiped out our little harvest but we did seem to get some goodness out of our efforts (see pics above), then we found ourselves apple picking in almost 90 degrees! wha? there was a bunch of wining as you can imagine. october came with a boat load of rain which seemed to make the pumpkins mushy and then as you know, halloween weekend got topped off with a crazy insane snow storm that wreaked havoc on our trees and subsequently most of the power in the tristate area. a snow day on halloween! weird i tell you. global warming issues anyone?

ANYway, we always seem to have fun nonetheless.


a few weeks back, we visited a farm that i grew up around the block from - benner's farm in east setauket, long island. it was so nice to bring the girls there. it's a quaint little farm run by the nicest of families. we fed the animals, got a peck from a rooster, and the most fun was swinging on the big swing! we might go back later in the winter to witness the tapping of the maple trees.

i've been kind of slacking in the crafting area due to the lack of time on my part. (feeling a bit guilty) but we did make some playdoh monsters. easy + simple. pull out the playdoh (we used halloweenie colors) and random craft supplies - googly eyes, buttons, etc. then, create your monsters. you can let them dry out over a few days if you wish. here's ours:

i also came across this AWESOME idea. sensory boxes! hours of play that stimulate the senses (not really taste though). i got the idea, here, from pinkandgreenmama as well. i LOVE this idea. basically, you fill a small scale bin with filler of your choice. dried beans, fish tank gravel, cotton balls, popcorn kernels, rice, easter grass....whatever! then coordinate everything to a theme. i started with a fall/halloween theme. i used dried green peas, fake pumpkins, fake leaves, halloween trinkets and some real cinnamin sticks. my three year old truly enjoys playing with her sensory box (and so does my 9 year old - shhh). she brings her other little toys into it like her littlest pet shop animals and she pretends this is their habitat. and i give her spoons and cups, too. it's a tad messy sometimes (my husband took one look at it and rolled his eyes at me) but i keep it in the kitchen only (which really helps keep her occupied while i am cooking dinner) and she is responsible for cleaning any beans off the floor which she has really been good about. she gets out her little broom. i can't wait until we change it to a holiday theme and then winter wonderland! i know, i am enjoying this way too much...but don't you just love it?!

i've been reading a lot these days. mainly nutrition subjects. the first book that i actually bought is "the family dinner" by laurie david. 

this cookbook slash encyclopedia of why and how to bring back the family meal is jam packed with anecdotes and recipes. i am obsessed with this book. i love just flipping through it for ideas. in a society where things just seem to be going faster and faster, the family meal is taking the back seat and we are losing those precious moments of connecting with each other. after school activities, work and overscheduling is a reality and laurie david lends sweet ideas and reasons why we should bring the sit down family dinner back. it's so so so important! check it out!

the other book i am reading is "lunch wars: how to start a school food revolution and win the battle for our children's health," by amy kalafa from angrymoms.org and the documentary, two angry moms. I am starting to try to get involved with school food so that by the time my three year old is at the elementary school that my nine year old is now, i can help make real positive changes. my goodness, the area of school food reform is insane. there is sooo much bureaucracy and politics involved that it really requires some serious study to even present ideas to any such authority. i understand the basics but boy, are we all in the dark. don't even get me started!!!! anyway, if you are interested in changing things at your child's school, i think start with this book. i am only in the beginning chapters but it is looking like the bible of school food reform (especially in ny state). other authors to check out if you are interested in this subject is alice waters - theedibleschoolyard.org and ann cooper - the renegade lunch lady at chefann.com. 

my other pursuit this spring is bringing back the school garden to my daughter's elementary school. hopefully, cornell cooperative extension can help us out. i'm sure i will be blogging away about this adventure to come. wish me luck!

i have been trying tons of new recipes. i am currently in love with cooking. although, i'm going to save them up for my 2011 holiday cookbook - recipes & tidbits vol. 6! - which will be posted around the december holidays with all the past cookbooks i put together, to the right. check back for that. for now, why not try a smoothie for lunch? i am one of those people who reserve smoothies for the summer months because i am chronically cold but about once a week it's a great way to get your daily fruits or veggies when produce is sparse in the cold months. i buy a lot of frozen organic berries for this purpose. they are picked and immediately froze which means they still have all of that yummy nutrition. my girls and i like the standard blueberry smoothie:

frozen organic blueberries

rice or coconut milk

plain yogurt

flax meal (optional)

blueberry whey protein powder (optional)

another one they slurp up and is a great source of protein is the monkey smoothie:

nut butter

frozen or not organic banana

milk

plain or vanilla yogurt

flax meal (optional)

vanilla whey protein powder (optional)

of course, you don't need a recipe for smoothies, anything you feel like putting in works, but i just included this in my post as a reminder that smoothies are "ok" to drink in the colder months! you'll be surprised at the burst of energy this will give you mid day. and let's not forget juicing - just make sure you are getting your fresh organic produce from somewhere you can trust.

until next time! ciao!

beachy wisdom

 i went from this....

to this, in 24 hours.

we had a glorious time at the shore this year. we really just absorbed the beach from sun up to sundown. the girls were happy because they both love the sand and the water and mom and dad were equally happy because there wasn't an ounce of bickering while we were on that shore. 

being a california girl and then raised on long island, the beach has always been well, right there. a spiritual resource for me to tap into when needed. but after moving out of daily driving distance to the ocean (or the sound) i definitely miss it in my life. i do live on a river now thank goodness. at least i can sit at the waters edge an feel it's flowing energy but to "go to the shore" on vacation is still so funny to me. in order to store up some ocean time, i spend as much time sitting on the beach as possible. 

my annual ritual at the shore is to get up every morning before everyone else and head to the ocean - ALONE. i walk long and far or sometimes just sit and stare at the grounding horizon line while listening to my ipod. (i always create a new little playlist just for this ritual) sometimes i just read - a whole chapter! it's something i truly look forward to all summer to recharge my spirit and my energy for the upcoming school year. it is my special time to press pause, look within, contemplate new paths, and store some inspiring energy. i highly recommend the whole insisting on "me time." at the shore or wherever you may be. it may require some finagling but it's so necessary.  

a few weeks before our vacation i came to a realization (one of those moments when you think, this has been here all along, but NOW is the time.) i have been feeling a bit unfulfilled with my design work over the past few years. although i love being creative and visual for a living, and i am blessed with steady work, the passion just isn't there anymore. maybe it's because i do not have sufficient 'creative' time anymore or maybe it's because the work space and time just isn't working for our family. for a long time now, i have been feeling like i need to make more of a difference in this world. i want to help others in some way but i just never could think of what exactly i wanted to do or was passionate about. but the answer it seems has been right in front of me the whole time. what am i passionate about? well, i thought, i am passionate about family and keeping them healthy by feeding them wholesome foods, creating new recipes, sharing my thoughts about keeping life simple, the list goes on... but, but, but... so one night i just fell into the integrative nutrition website and it all just clicked. even my husband said it sounds so perfect for you. soooo i'm a student now and on my way to becoming a certified health counselor. there are so many paths to take after graduation but i believe it will be women & family nutrition. from fertility to postpartum to feeding your kids and teens to school cafeterias. i'm so excited!!! i have already started and i love it. so that was a long rant but it was on those morning "me" walks that i meditated on it and came to a decision that this was my next step in life and that this is what my spirit wants. 


now comes the hard part...balance
family, work, school, oh my

so back to the beach for a minute. i'd like to share this easy and super fun beach craft. sand casts! i used the directions here. this is actually the second year we did this but this year was by far more successful.
first, we chose our shells, next we made 1-2" imprints in damp smooth sand. we had a foot print, a heart, a peace sign... (we did a hand last year but the fingers are difficult). 

then, we arrange our shells, face down, in desired design. 

i mixed up the plaster and then poured it on top of the shell design and filling up the imprint. when the plaster is almost dry, we wrote our names and the year on the back with a stick. 

before we knew it, they were hardened and we lifted them out of the sand. viola! a beautiful momento of your beach trip! let dry overnight to truly harden and dry.

oh and be careful where you start your sand cast. we had to make a sand wall because the tide was coming in.

i want to share my august reading as well. an all time favorite beach read, "gift from the sea," by anne morrow lindbergh (wife of charles and mother to i think five). a wise and insightful book addressing the age old question of balance in a woman's life. i love this book and could read it over and over. if you haven't read this yet and you are a woman who feels at home on a beach, then it's must read for you.

i also got a copy of amada blake soule's new book, "the rhythm of family." the gorgeous and cozy book goes through each month of the year with insights, ideas, recipes, crafts, etc. that makes the most of that month and that season. this book illustrates how the simple life is fulfilling and meaningful. amanda, her husband and their five children live on a farm in western maine and blog everyday. this is the blog i have been following the longest. check it out if you haven't yet. 

i am off to soak up the very last goodies of summer. still daylight at dinnertime, an abundance of fresh tasty produce, flip-flops, short sleeves and skirts, the smell of cut grass, the sound of birds outside our windows...