My baby is one!

I started to write a letter to my little guy but it got so personal and I started getting so emotional and it is just too late at night for that right now that I had to stop. So, I will just say a few things about this little boy and how much I love him and leave it at that. My little Henry is wild. He doesn't sleep. He screams a lot and now he is running and climbing on everything! He is also the most loving little spirit you will ever come in contact with. He just radiates LOVE. For everyone and everything! I can see it when he meets new people - especially other little kids. The first thing he wants to do is give them a hug and touch forheads with them. It is the funniest thing to watch him do it too. He loves to touch people, wave at people, play with people. He loves to run and scream and climb and play. I can tell that for his whole life he will be one big whirlwind of adventure and happiness and bring so much joy to all the people he meets. There will never be a dull moment as long as he is around. He is simply amazing and I am so proud of him!.... oh gosh! I just woke Conor up with my loud mommy blubbering. HAHA! Words just can't describe the love I have for this little boy. I am so happy to be his momma. Henry- I love you so much that sometimes I really feel like my heart will burst! Love always, Mom

A Christmas Tradition

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Growing up every year my mom would get me and my sister an ornament for the tree. It was always something that would remind of us what we had been doing that year. The year I started culinary school (I never finished) my mom got me a blender ornament. The year we took a road trip across Germany together my mom got us little stars from Berlin. We always opened them on Christmas Eve (along with our matching pajamas) and hung them on the tree before we went to bed. We never really went to sleep. We always stayed in the same bed on Christmas Eve. We would stay up giggling and talking about the next morning. My mom would always come in and in a very thick southern Idaho accent and pointing in two different directions yell,"Yerda face that wall and yerda face that wall!" ...Yerda? Who is Yerda? We would laugh hysterically and roll away from each other only to be eye to eye, giggling and talking the second she shut the door. Those are some of my favorite memories. We are carrying on the tradition in our house. Trying to find the most perfect ornament for my two boyfriends is the highlight of my season. I already bought the best ornament for Conor but I am still in search of the most perfect ornament for Henry. It's gotta be really special because that's what he is. So sweet and so cuh-razzzzy!! 

Need Read Greed

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This weeks Need/Read/Greed is by Joanna Waterfall (and yes, her last name really is Waterfall, aswesome right?). I met Joanna in Palm springs in September. She is genuinly sweet and enthusiastic. I remember the first night there she walked right up to me and introduced herself and was just so nice! I'm so glad I got to meet so many wonderful girls but Joanna is defenitly at the top of the list! Joanna lives in Los Angeles with her husband where she works as a freelance graphic designer. She also blogs here.

Joanna has a little series going on on her blog called Design Journey where she interviews different creative professionals and asks them about how they got to where they are. You can read mine here! It was so fun, thanks for having me Joanna! and thanks for taking part in Need Read Greed! 

THANKSGIVING 2012

This was our first Thanksgiving alone. Well, I guess I shouldn't say alone, we had each other. But it was our first Thanksgiving with no friends and no family. Just the three of us. We made a nice table and we had a feast but to be quite honest we were a little down all day because we miss our people a lot right now. We have quite a bit to be thankful for and our people are at the top of that list. We did our best to celebrate but the day was long and we had a hard time filling it without thinking of what we might be doing if only we were home.

At the table Conor decided he was too hot and took his shirt off. Then he decided Henry was also too hot and took his shirt off as well. It made me laugh and think back to the good old days in Hawaii where shirts were always optional - even at thanksgiving dinner - and I felt happy again in that moment. I love my boys and I am the most most most thankful for them! 

Modern Thanksgiving

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This last week Dwell Studio put together a little contest. The challenge was to create a pin board on Pinterest that captured your ideal modern Thanksgiving scene. I thought it would be fun to put one together - you can see mine here. 

What are your Thanksgiving plans? We are staying home and spending the day as a little family of three in this big new city. Today, we gathered some fun ingrediants to use on some new recipes (including the butternut squash tart above). We are going to buck the traditional turkey and sweet potatoes this year and make some new creations. I really hope everything turns out alright. Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving with loved ones and eats all their favorite foods! 

Vegan Gravy

We are not vegan. We aren't vegetarian either. I used to be a vegetarian for about 8 years but I let my love of all things edible get in the way of that. Anyway, we have a lot of friends and family members that are so I'm always looking for ways to make recipes vegan friendly. And after 8 years it is sort of habit. In my experience the vegetarian version often ends up tasting better. Last year my sister passed this vegan gravy recipe on to me for our vegetarian friendly thanksgiving. It was so good. I made it with real butter because I couldn't find Earth Balance out in Hawaii and our friends were not vegan. Everyone loved it and couldn't stop raving about it. I have since made it several times for guests (non meat eaters as well as meat eaters) and everyone comments on how good it is. I think the secret is getting it nice and thick but not globby, using plenty of butter and just the right amount of sage. I just thought I'd share this winning recipe in case you are cooking for Vegetarians this year or you yourself are looking for a good alternative. Enjoy!

Henry's Taco Truck, Dallas TX

To make a Taco Truck (or any food truck) for your own little:

YOU WILL NEED:

1 small box, 1 tall box, box cutter, paint, tape, scissors

TO MAKE IT:

First, remove all tape or staples from boxes. Then, make your small box even smaller by cutting off the top half. Paint both boxes entirely one color. Because we just painted our walls white we just used that paint but you could also use spray paint if you want. Wait for your boxes to dry. Cut a window into the bigger box and then a flap for the "food" window.  Tape one end of the taller box closed and the remaining half of the smaller box closed. Tape your smaller box to the taller box as shown in the picture. We used regular clear packing tape. Using another color of paint to paint a logo on the "food window" and details on the front part of the truck. You can't see it in any of these photos but we painted two squares for the windshield, a grill, headlights and windshield wipers. When the paint is dry present your little one with his or her new food truck and let them go wild. Henry loved playing hide and seek through the window, passing toys and food through the food window and just hanging out in his box.

In other news - we are slowly slowly slowly getting used to it here in Texas. People are really friendly and there is a lot to do. Henry is sick tonight so we are playing doctor with him and getting prepared for one sleepless night. He just has a cold but the boy is so dramatic you would think his arm is falling off. Oh how I love him! If you end up making a food truck for your little one I would LOVE to see it! If you instagram it be sure to let me know @janereaction !! Or leave a comment here and link to a picture. 

Need Read Greed

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It's been a while since I posted a Need/Read/Greed here on the blog so I thought I would bring it back with some new designers/artists/bloggers. Today we have Cassie from the blog The Veda House. I met Cassie in Palm Springs at Design Life 2012. I love her blog and she is a very interesting, fun, genuine person as well!!  

Cassie is an art director at an advertising agency by day and freelance graphic designer/blogger by night. She currently lives in St. Louis Missouri with her fiancé, where they are slowly collecting vintage and hand made furniture pieces. You most likely won't see Cassie without her camera by her side and a piece of candy in her pocket.

Etsy - PDX Photo Styling Workshop

While in Portland a week ago I attendied an Etsy sponsered photo styling workshop hosted by Chelsea Fuss from Frolic. My friend Chelsey from Type A Press was attending and I thought it would be fun to get together with her and photograph some of our work together. I've also been toying with the idea of making more of these hand dipped antlers below and maybe selling them online somewhere? Not sure yet... they were just fun to make and now I have a bunch laying around my house. 

Thanksgiving of my dreams

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I keep thinking back to last year at this time. I was so unaware of what lay ahead of me - the good and the bad. What a difference a year can make huh? It's been a whirl wind for sure. And even with everything I have to be thankful for this year (and I really am thankful, I swear) I just can't help but want to go back. So, while this above little round-up is definitly a dream, my real dream is that I am back in Hawaii with my dear friends. My friend Caitlin, my other friend Paige and myself were all pregnant that year. We were on the brink of the greatest adventures of our lives (parenthood) and everything was exciting and new, and we knew nothing of loss. So this year a new dining room table would be nice, and that dress would be a lot of fun to wear but I'm really just thinking of friendship and the experiences that connect us forever. And I am thankful for that.