Weekend Round-up!

What are you up to this weekend? I've been breathing in some fresh free air - I have a week or two in between work projects and it feels so good to have no deadlines this week and just to take it slow and easy... On the other hand, in my free time I've been thinking about and chalking up some "family goals" for the summertime (give Freida swimming lessons, start Hudi on solids, lose 10 pounds, sleep-train both girls etc.), and while it's lots like a bucket list - it's not nearly as much fun, and much, much more rewarding. While I take a break from thinking about goals, here are a few things I thought you might enjoy:

- Do you watch Parks and Recreation? I just love Amy Poehler!!

- This totally made me laugh!

- The cutest DIY play kitchen ever!!

- Taking color-wheels for granted...

- How genius are Tube toys?

- I'm smitten by dots.

- 50 shades of fabulous :)

- Hoping Freida goes for Gazpacho - summer lunch at it's best!

- What guy wouldn't love to entertain with these as cocktail kickers?

Anyways, enjoy your weekend - hope it's filled with heaps of summer-y promise!

P.S. There is no ice cream in town better than this guy's! I swear - you'll be in old-school creamery heaven!

The Sum of Summer

Happy summer, girls!! Can't quite believe it's already that time of year again!! As you well know by now, I love comparing growth at the start of each season... can't get over how much has changed! (This time last year I was newly pregnant, and my sweet baby girl is by far my greatest accomplishment of the year! :) Anyways, I've been summer-bucket-listing sporadically for a few weeks now, and I just want to reiterate just how helpful this method of list-making is! For instance, you know how when Sunday comes around it can take about an hour or more of bickering back-and-forth before settling on something everyone wants to do for the day? Bucket Lists nip that baby in the bud! Sunday comes around, you look at your list (of already agreed on fun and enjoyable trips and activities) and pick one that suits the time and weather. It's pie!

Anyways, I think yesterday was the perfect kick-start to the season: Camp Mom (plus the next-door-neighbor :) spent the entire afternoon in our backyard - swimming, fresh cherry-bombing, tricycling, gardening, and generally frolicking! Freida was so wiped out that she cried all the way through bath and dinner until I finally let her conk out in bed at 6:10pm! :)

But that's when the fun really started - and this is where "bucket listing" comes in to play; it was the first day of Summer and Manash and I were scheduled for a date night... We jumped head-in to that list of Summer-goodness and knocked off one of our want-to's: hiking Runyan Canyon together at sunset and going for sushi and drinks afterwards. It was a lovely start to the season, and I'm so looking forward to many, many more pre-determined moments with my kids, husband, family, and friends!

I'll be posting more about some of the things on my list this year, but I'd love to hear some of yours! Anything awesome or simply relaxing you have planned for this Summer?? Would love some more new ideas!!

P.S. Apologies for the instagram photos - my camera is busted after I jumped in a pool on Sunday with it still in hand. Drowning is a very real, very frightening, and hauntingly silent thing - please exert serious caution this summer!!!!

Together Alone

Little humans never cease to amaze me. They are so much smarter and more in-tune with their small world than we'd ever imagine...

On Shabbos the eruv in our city was down, and since my sister (thanks Rivkee!) was staying with me for the weekend I was able to leave Hudi at home with her and walk to Shul with Freida. As we were leaving she was a little perturbed as to why Hudi had to stay behind, but after asking a few questions about why her and Rivkee weren't coming along, she seemed satisfied that all was alright. We were walking about half a block when she stopped and said "Mommy I want to tell you something important. I really, really love doing something alone with you like this!", and flashed me the brightest, more hopeful smile ever.

Naturally, I melted. And suddenly realized just how seldom she and I get time alone together. And I mean alone (as in not with a napping baby that will wake any minute and a sink full of dishes calling my name). She completely opened my eyes as to how important this is for our relationship. The same way I make it a priority to spend time with my husband alone, I need to find the time to spend with my daughter alone. So! Today I am coming up with a little list of teeny-tiny one-on-one activities we can share together throughout the week (an evening tricycle ride around the block after dinner, a Sunday morning cartoon screening before dad and baby wake etc.), and I'm so looking forward to seeing how these small one-on-one snippets of time with her will enhance the development of the very complex mother/daughter relationship we share.

I smiled right back at her, squeezed her still-pudgy hand a little tighter than usual, and made a promise to share many more times like this with her - together, and alone.

Shaved Asparagus Pizza

Mmm! This is the perfect Summer Farmer's Market dinner! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Cxg-2O_gFqQ]

P.S. Here's a good pizza dough recipe. Plus, how cute and funny is Sara from Everyday Food? Great, right?

Mamaste!

I recently started having some mild back pain, and while it's pretty normal to have some posterior discomfort after having a baby (laboring positions,breast weight, carrying a child around, bad posture for breastfeeding etc.), I really think mine is in part due to the fact that I haven't been keeping up with all the Yoga I was doing while pregnant... I definitely feel a difference in my flexibility and my core strength, and it's resulting in a pain in the back! (I must get back onto the Tracy Anderson train!!!)

Anyways, while I scrounge around for my post-pregnancy DVD (Freida seems to have her hand in all the multi-media in this house!), I thought I'd let you all in on an interesting city-find - Yoga studios that cater directly to mothers!  I wish I would have heard about MaYoga while I was carrying Hudi! With studios in Beverly Hills, Costa Mesa, Hancock Park, and Sherman Oaks, it's pretty much a hop, skip, and a sun-salutation away from just about anyone in this city. They offer a free trial class, and I'm definitely looking forward to heading down there to give their post-natal Yoga a go. You can check out the assortment of classes and other information about them here.