Blame it on: Cousins, Ice Cream, and Sunshine!

Hello, friends. I think it's been about a week since I've last made your acquaintance. And so I play the blame game, namely: cousins, ice cream, sunshine.

Freida and I touched down in Chicago O'hare last Sunday afternoon, and have been relishing in summertime ever since. Our flight was seamless (in partial thanks to a simple, yet just-tricky-enough activity I brought along for the ride), and we headed straight from the airport into full-on Independence Day backyard-barbecue-land at my aunts house (thank you Finkels!!). That evening, after baths and bedtimes, we sat outside in our jammies on my parent's porch watching the Skokie firework display. It was perfect.

Since then, it's been a week of trying to get on Central Standard Time, amidst frolicking in the sunshine, post-pool ice creams, and trips to the Lake Michigan shoreline. Freida has been immensely enjoying the extra attention, and she's been palling with her cousins non-stop!!

It's so amazing to be all together, and I'm so grateful that my folks have the space to put us all up with out families, and provide us with this prime vacation spot each summer! It's simply divine.

Anyways, I'll definitely still be around... part of my relaxation is web browsing, which in turn translates to blogging and posting - it just may not turn out as often as usual. But I'll try and keep you all posted on our summer whereabouts, adventures, and discoveries! :)

Weekend Round-up!

Happy June weekend, ladies!! I'm feeling the season all around, and love getting gifts of weekly seasonal fresh flowers (thanks love!!). Gladiolus like these would make for a lovely buffet table arrangement by adding height and color to the food layout, don't you think? I'm sure you are all in a recipe/tablescape buzz right about now, getting ready to ring in the summer holiday via dairy deliciousness! Thought I'd take a minute to link some of my favorite things around the web this week...

- The most adorable kids craft/play idea for Shavuot!

- I need to remember this more often...

- My latest article for the Algemeiner: Born this Way?

- New on the Market: modern House Numbers @ Heath.

- Simple + Charming + Convenient DIY for Father's Day gift.

- HOTmilk Maternity/Nursing Bras ridiculously reduced at Zulily!

Some holiday-relative posts you may have missed:

- Cultivate social conversation at the table via big buds/low florals.

- Idyllic Ice Cream Sandwiches.

Also, for those of you who asked for a white cream sauce recipe when I posted this pasta dish, the most important part of any cream sauce is a good Roux for the Béchamel (white cream sauce). I learned this technique within the first few months of marriage (while watching much-too-much Food Network!), and it has come in so incredibly handy so far, and I've used it countless times since then. Here's the best step-by-step directions! I personally use that starter recipe + a cup of grated parmesan cheese and some crushed garlic cloves. From there you can add to what you'd like it to be (mushroom cream sauce, white wine reduction, salmon, pink sauce, florentine etc.) Enjoy!!

Memorial Monday

Happy Tuesday everyone! Hope you all enjoyed your extended Memorial Day weekend! Good luck cleaning up the grill, and getting back into the swing of things starting out the week a day late...

We spent Shabbos up in the mountains at Running Springs with many other fabulous young couples on the Young Chevra Shabbaton, and had the most incredibly outgoing, uplifting, and fantastic time!! The weekend was so inspiring that I'm now compelled to write about it... so you will be hearing more about the amazing weekend getaway soon enough! :)

Anyways, for some reason Memorial Day always makes me feel like it's finally Summer, and with yesterday's weather I was really getting excited! My sister drove up from Arizona with her family, and met up with us at our Long Beach community BBQ at the Hebrew Academy campus. Freida was so over-excited by their impending visit (and intensely overwhelmed from the whole weekend away), that it was the first time in her little life that I let her fully skip her nap! And surprisingly, she didn't seem to mind that much... Granted there was enough excitement (swimming, boon bounce, cousins etc.), but it was good to know that if I ever need to do that again, I can. I always thought she'd be so out-of-whack by 2pm that it wouldn't even be worth the effort of taking her out in the first place, but she was really great and well-behaved...!

And of course she didn't forget her best-buddy cousin Shlomo!! :)

While she fell asleep on the car ride home at 3pm, and I couldn't put her down until a while after her usual bedtime last night, it was still well worth a day out with family!! Maybe our Sunday visits to the beach this Summer won't look that bleak after all.... Always worth a try!

P.S. I am getting a serious kick out of the fact that Freida is wearing the same bikini for the 3rd summer of her life!! I know Freida is tiny, but am I alone in feeling like swimsuits just never fit any smaller??

Weekend Round-up!

This iLog totally made me smile. What do you know? Lag BaOmer meets 2011! (Humor aside, this wooden iPad charging dock would make for a fabulous Fathers Day gift, don't you think?)

Here are some other links from around the web that I have been meaning to share:

- A shocking and most fantabulous Target collaboration!!!

- Honest Pinocchio - most charming of classroom supplies.

- San Francisco audacity!

- Summer decorating tips from the pros via Anthropologie.

- Most awesome baby moccasins: gilded leather + neons stitching.

- H.D. Buttercup's "Almost-Giving-it-Away Sale"!

- Shout-out of thanks to those creative and childish minds at Classic-Play for the mention!! :)

Also, if you are in the greater Los Angeles area, my supermom of a sister-in-law's (Esther Schwartz) closest-to-homeschooling preschool, Gan Chai, is now open for 2011-2012 registration!! If you want the benefits of homeschooling + the social and developmental achievements of a preschool that will help instill independence and cultivate young jewish pride - visit Gan Chai online for more information. Freida is a die-hard fan! :)

Wishing you all a lovely weekend! Enjoy the food + fire festivities!!

two-nics

I'm currently obsessing over these free and flowy tunic designs from a new little shoppe called Two. I think these pieces are so freshly ethnic, and I'd love a few of these as summer loungewear.

Plus, they seem to be as versatile an investment as a good tee shirt (I'd love to belt a caftan and add a pair of strappy summer sandals, or slouchily tuck a baggy tunic into a skintight bondage skirt with sky-high heels)!

Also, their line of kids tee shirts feature the cutest graphics ever!!