Odd Fellows

This last Saturday was such a treat. Just a simple day spent with my family eating out, exploring our city, cleaning up our little house and meeting friends at the park. It's been quiet on the blog lately because the last month has not been such a treat. Well, not that it hasn't been sweet - it's just been chaotic and busy...

After accepting the art director position at Verily I quickly realized I had a lot to learn! and there is a lot more that goes in to directing a magazine than I previously thought! I've had to learn so much about communication. Working on a team with 5 other women forces you to learn everyone else's communication styles in order to work harmoniously together. It also forces you to be way more direct than you ever (EVER) wanted to be. I find myself writing 2 sentence emails with no punctuation and pushing send with out thinking twice about it. Before, in my freelance career, I used to vacillate over every word, every use of punctuation.. wondering if the recipient would get the wrong idea, wondering if they would think I was angry or not understand that I actually was angry but trying to be polite! ha! Now? I just write the damn thing and push send! No time for second guessing!

I've also had to learn how to manage people. I have a graphic designer who helps me layout the magazine and I just recently hired an intern to help me run the visual content on the Verily website (the website I've been re-designing for the past month, you'll see it soon!) I've never been anyone's boss or mentor before so this is a totally new ball game for me. I'm finding that I enjoy it a lot more than I thought I would. The girls I work with are incredible! But this is not to say that learning how to MANAGE has not been CA-RAZY!

Aside from my busy new job - Conor recently quit his job which moved us to Texas in the first place and accepted a new position at a new company. We are staying in Dallas which is good but him changing jobs was scary and hectic. In the end it turns out it is so much better for our family. Conor is so much happier at his new job and it makes all the difference in our home. We now have a nanny working for us 5 mornings a week (who by the way is the reason I can wake up in the morning, god bless her!) And all of this is why we are now able to spend Saturdays lazily brunching at places like Odd Fellows and exploring Dallas - a city that we have lived in for 6 months and until this past week I saw very little of. We weren't spending much time together because Conor's job forced him to work 24/7 and any free time he had to watch Henry I spent working on my freelance projects. I think we are glad those days are behind us.

I hope to be blogging more moving forward but I am finding that a lot of my energy is going in to staying organized for work and taking care of my two boys. I mean just take a look at that tired daddy (up above) and that happy lime munching baby and tell me you wouldn't want to skip everything else in life to hang out with them too!?  And then there is this gem of a photo (below) that I somehow snapped accidentally. I know it is blurry but it reminds me of something I would pull out of an old Polaroid land camera... the colors, the sun spots... that tiny little face peeking over his daddy's shoulder! It's everything. 

We are pizza people

We decided that we wanted to find the best pizza place in Dallas. Every weekend we have been going to a new pizza place and trying it out. So far I think our favorite place is Serious. The pictures above were taken at Eno's which was pretty good too but we liked Eno's more for the ambiance than the pizza. Pizza is also a pretty affordable date night for families trying to save money - you know, pay the bills, buy diapers, save for your kid's college?! We usually order one pizza for the three of us to share and an appetizer. We don't drink so water is just fine for us. Our bill has been less than $20 every weekend! What's your favorite pizza date?

Short bread with Ganache and sea salt

SHORT BREAD: 2 cups flour, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1 cup butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In one bowl whisk together flour and salt. In another bowl beat together butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Fold flour mixture in gently. Roll dough out to about 1/4 an inch thick. Place in refrigerator for about 30 minutes. Cut out shapes. Place on cookie sheet and bake in oven for about 7 minutes or until golden. 

GANACHE: In large sauce pan melt half bag of semi sweet chocolate chip cookies. Add 2 tbs butter and 3/4 tsp corn syrup. Stirg until smooth. Drizzle or dip your cookies and then sprinkle with sea salt. 

I had a lot of fun making these cookies with Henry before the holidays and giving them to our neighbors. He loved it, way more than I thought he could or would. He now loves making cookies with me. It is one of our new favorite things to do. This weekend we had the flu so we are still taking it easy today. Hope everyone has a great week planned! 

Eating Dallas

I started a new feed on Instagram called #eatingdallas. If you are in the Metroplex and you happen to be eating something really tasty share it with the rest of us! I've said it before and I'll say it again - I am here for the food. "Here" being pretty much wherever I am. I love eating out and trying new restaurants! So, let me know where and what is the best in Dallas! I plan on periodically doing some instagram mash ups of people's photos as they start to tag them.

Also - I just can't not say anything on my blog about this last Friday's tragedy. It's got me in a real funk. I know I need to continue to look for the beauty in the world and not give in to despair but that really made my heart hurt. Something that I learned from my best friend after she lost her baby to Cystic Fibrosis is that you cannot compare grief. While this situation is definitely very horrible and more visible than a lot of other situations - everyone is fighting a hard battle and we need to remember to be kind to others. Love. Love and forgive as much as we can. That is where the beauty is. And that is how we can do our small part to help in the healing process after such sadness. That is what I will be working on this week. More than I'd like to admit I need to forgive and forget and let the tiny beautiful things that life has to offer shine. And just love.  

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! 

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!

food Favorites: The Art of the Donut

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I figured it has been a while since I shared some of my food favorites with you. I am so craving donuts right now. Also, this weekend was a blast. I got to meet so many creative and talented ladies at a design retreat in Palm Springs...I'll be sharing more about that later this week. Happy Monday! 

Healthy Meals

So a while ago I blogged about trying to eat healthier. Well this was one of my attempts at making up a healthy recipe. It's quite simple really! You only really need about 5 things to make this and WAM your done-zo! (or as we like to say Done-zo Washington) You will need:

1. 1 Red Pepper (cubed)

2. 1 Mango (cubed)

3. Marinated and grilled Chicken Breast 

4. 1 Avacado (cubed)

5. Blue Cheese or Feta Cheese Crumbles

Marinate your chicken for a day in honey dijon or lemon herb marinade sauce. Set your chicken on the grill while you cut up your fruit and vegetables. Soak you fruit and veggies in lime juice; pour mixture over grilled chicken and then add cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. Done, done and EAT!

Food Favorites: Diet Food

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I hate diets. I have never really been on one. I think they are boring. But, I did just have a baby and I am attempting to lose that last 10 pounds that I just can't seem to shed with my normal "one milk shake a night" diet. So, I am dieting (aka just eating healthy). Here are some recipes I am going to try out this week.

Food Favorites: Pie

Lemon Merinque, Chocolate Chip Cookie, Orange Flower with Coconut Cream, Blueberry Rhubarb, Goat Cheese and Fig, and Banana Cream Pie

I'm not much of a pie lover but I have to admit I am dying to try out these recipes. I also have to admit that once while lunching with my mom and sister in Salt Lake City at The Dodo we (and I really mean I) ordered 5 servings of pie and we (again I mean I) ate just about every bite ourselves (myself). If you are ever in Salt Lake eat at that restaurant and order lots of pie! 

Also while we are on the subject of food and stuffing ourselves silly - I stumbled across a new food/photography blog this morning that had me drooling in my Peanut Butter Captain Crunch. 

PS - I was featured on The Everygirl this morning. Check it out here and leave a comment!