The Little Paris Kitchen

I've discovered a new favorite show that my husband can hate. And he does. A lot. Although to be fair Rachel Khoo never stood a chance since he hears the french music playing and bee lines it out of the room. That man seriously has issues with the French. It's not right. Also, anyone want to visit Paris with me? He claims to never return. London? London he loves and will visit any time.

... Anyway, I love The Little Paris Kitchen on the Cooking Channel and can't wait for the cookbook The Little Paris Kitchen: 120 Simple But Classic French Recipes to come out. I may, in the interest of frugality and minor torture, make it my Valentine's Day present request. So far the recipes look relatively easy but fancy enough for a nice dinner if you use the good china. Also, being on the frugality train I love the Paris eye candy to help nip in the travel bug. It doesn't really work but I still like the eye candy. 

So far, there have been a few new offerings for the late winter that look pretty good. I'm really looking forward to Danielle Bryk's new show on DIY. I loved what she did with her house on Family Under Construction. House and Home has a gallery of a few finished rooms. Luckily, the husband loved this one so we can both watch. I'm hoping it will help keep the home organization and improvement momentum going. Additionally, I want to paint everything white - another hated of the husband's. For the love of God, never bring up Sarah Richards. He'll lose his poop. 

Anything else new I can't miss?

Getting My Creative Inspiration Going

I've been lamenting my lack of lettering and decided to see what I could find for some help. You can only longingly gaze at pretty pictures on Pinterest for so long. I found an e-workshop from Teresa McFayden. I've mentioned my love of e-courses, especially with Sophy Bear at home, now I can watch the videos and work on my journals at my own pace after someone goes to bed. Someone who seems to be sleep regressing and refusing to go to sleep at her normal bedtime. Ugh. Anyway, back to the wonders of the intranet.


It's incredibly reasonable and I am determined to get some good lettering going. Well, tolerable since it's driving me crazy in my art journals. Who knew you could have a typography crush?! Oy.

I also signed up for Blissdom - see the fancy badge over on the right - and am super excited but a little nervous with all of the networking, new people, etc. It's a  two day event held here in Dallas so it will be awesome to be with a group of creative minded people. I love, love, love art retreats and workshops but have been on a serious hiatus lately. This one is awesome in that I can come home every night!

As if that weren't enough creative goodness, I'm doing a creative pay it forward after signing up for a friend's posting. If you're interested, check it out via Facebook.  I've seen several friends who are doing it at the same time and I love the feeling of creativity that's floating through the New Year. If nothing else, this will be the year of glitter!

Camera Love Continues

Continuing with my camera love I now want to go here. Instead I had to settle with this purchase Instant Love: How to Make Magic and Memories with Polaroids since it is a little more budget and baby friendly.

 

I'm making the most of my instant camera love and can't wait to find some creative uses for pictures of this little cutie.

HA! Not what you expected, sometimes she resists photos and is not an angelic little creature who poos silk. Nope, that poo is stinky and gross. Additionally, she has taken to screaming. For no reason. Just 'cause. Forcing you to distract her with something sparkly. ...  I'm starting to become uncomfortable with the turn of the conversation and where she may have gotten the sparkly distraction gene. You have to admit, that pigtail and tantrum is cute as hell.

Moving on! We had an incredibly relaxing Wednesday for my final vacation day yesterday. We wisely used our time and caught up on Top Chef watching all 8 episodes (maybe 9) on our DVR. So now let me say that John Tesar is a little ferret and I'm happy he's off my TV.  Also, I'm loving Stefan this time around. Much less irritating to me than on his previous season. Now, off to watch Selling New York and heading to bed early. This working stuff seriously cuts into my play time!

Random Wednesday

It's been super relaxing so far in 2013 but we are making progress on the organization. Kitchen clean out and clean up is still going forward with only 2 cabinets left. Lower cabinets have all been Sophy proofed and we swapped out the heavy Le Creuset pots with the much lighter weight baking pans on our island so when she pulls on them down like she did the other day she isn't immediately at risk for a concussion. The loud crash did scare the hell out of her for about 5 minutes and then she was right back it. I may or may not have giggled a little and gotten a pretty dirty look from a disgruntled 10 month old. She is an adventurous little girl. Greatness. I hope she never loses it.

We also used up all the chicken stock in the freezer in 2012 so Rolland made some on New Year's Eve. Glamorous. We did have on our dress pajamas...not true. Totally regular pj's. But going into the New Year with a tasty batch of chicken stock does make me happier than a drunken revelry. Also, I don't drink so there you go. After the chicken stock we had some tasty chicken left over and I made enchiladas for our New Year's lunch. We usually have Central Market tamales but no one wanted to get all scrappy with the other shoppers to get them. CM for the New Year's tamale rush is madness. For reals. But, we had our tasty chicken enchiladas stuffed with black beans, chicken and cheese with Trader Joe's enchilada sauce and more cheese on top to keep the Mexican food tradition alive. There was also black eye pea salsa for luck. The tortilla soup not tasty and was a giant disappointment although I'm not a major fan of them anyway. The tortillas are from CM and super tasty. I'm hoarding butter tortillas in the freezer for an emergency, zombies or what not.

Besides improved home keeping, I do want 2013 to be a little more art filled. Rolland got me a much coveted flex shaft (pics in the future!) with the fancy pink limited edition shaft that will require some studio rework. It was already on the reorganize list anyway. I have big plans for some soldering projects, jewelry pieces and more frequent journaling. The journal pages are great since they're easy to do when Sophy's sleeping and I get a little creative outlet. This one was a super New Year's Eve quickie page but I love the colors and got in some drawing that I usually don't do. I really need to work on my lettering, I find it tricky and intimidating. I have no idea why but am adding it to the art goals for the list.

Tomorrow is back to the mines. I'm totally not ready but am already contemplating my outfit so there is that. This partial week of doing nothing has been awesome. With a plan for a more frugal 2013 I'm hoping to get more of them in. Happy Wednesday!

Documenting 2013

I'm already starting my goals for 2013. Blog more - woo hoo, I'm on it! Another one is to take daily Sophy pics with my fun Fujifilm Instax MINI 7s White Instant Film Camera. Rolland bought it for me a couple of years ago and I use it off and on but I really want to have more fun with it. I seriously struggle with being spontaneous (shocker) with the pics and have to fight not to drive everyone crazy with the posing to get the perfect pic on the first try. This little baby doesn't really allow for that. It's point, shot, print and you get what you get. But some of those can be the best, I just need to embrace those imperfect shots and love them.

He got me this Polaroid Z2300 10MP Digital Instant Print Camera (White) for Christmas. Another great little instant camera but this one saves the digital images so I can print as many as I want and save them for future sharing. This also takes a bit of the edge off to get the perfect shot immediately. HA, I can work on my OCD slowly. LOVE IT!

With all the fancy new pics, he got this album, which is what really inspired the daily pic challenge. Although I probably take a picture everyday, I post it to Facebook then forget about them until the end of the year album creation freak out. I still can't talk about it. Seriously traumatized by that whole thing. Ugh.

I already look back and can't believe how small she was. How different and it's only been 10 months! These little reminders are awesome and I can't wait to see what's new for 2013.

p.s. no one paid me or gave me anything to pimp out these products. I just really love them and decided to pimp them on my own.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from all of us: Rolland, Amy and Sophy -  The best damn thing about 2012 or any other year. We love you cutie bear.

Sophy at 10 Months!

Sophy Jane Huff is 10 months old today!

I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. I know everyone says it, but for reals, it's like I was hugely pregnant and arranging her closet for the 10th time. Well, I'm still arranging her closet. This kid will need to start multiple costume changes while the cold snap is still here to get all the cold weather options in. Already with the digressing...

This little girl is ready for the world. She's chatting and pulling up on all of the furniture. She crawls and is super speedy. So far she would really like to be in the kitchen with Mommy and has a lot of interest in the pots and pans. This is kicking of the kitchen reorganization this weekend. We're in desperate need of a scrub and sort with a massive rearranging. We'll put some things at her level that she can play with since I want to encourage her kitchen love. I can't wait until she can pull up her step stool and help out with the cooking and baking. If she's like Daddy, she'll have a love of stirring and mixing. 

Speaking of cooking and food, she's not a fan of the eating. Or at least actual food, she loves all of her melts, cheerios (Joe O's since we love the Trader Joe's), and all the baby food options that are crunchy but anything else is a big "no, thank you". We've talked to a few friends who also had this issue with their kids and it was a texture thing. She wants crunchy not mushy and with her new bottom teeth, she's on her way to big girl crackers soon!

We've also pretty much got the sleeping down. She prefers an earlier 7pm bedtime which is awesome to get stuff done but sucks since I don't get home until 6 or after and I miss her. Look at her, who wouldn't miss her?! We've had a few regression nights but mostly because there was too much daytime excitement to stick with her regular bottle schedule and she was hungry. Seems reasonable but hard on Daddy since he does the nightly feedings.

All in all, it's been an incredible 10 months and I've loved all of it - except that giant poop in the back woods of Missouri because that was just ick - she's the best baby we could've had and it's such a joy and privilege to be her Mommy. I love you Sophy bear, I can't wait to see what the next 10 months bring!

Merry, Merry

Santa brought some serious goodies to Sophy although she was showered with presents from friends and family. Her favorite was the cardboard box from Grandma and Granddad with her super cute coats. She did play with everything and has a few favorites - future photo ops!

Sophy and Santa - Northpark Santa is definitely THE BEST Santa. We did the legwork.

Merry Christmas from the Huff's - Rolland, Amy and Sophy!

So grateful for this Christmas with our family in town and our first with Sophy. She's definitely the best gift we've ever gotten and love her more everyday. Also, cute alert since she got lots of new clothes for Christmas. Happy Christmas - hope yours was also glorious on this White Christmas!

Little of this little of that

It's been crazy at our house. Everyone's been sick off and on with Sophy's ear infections finally reaching the breaking point. We had tubes put in last Thurs and it seems to have helped. She's also officially teething with two tiny little teeth on the bottom row. It's pretty adorable except for the crying because it hurts part but baby Tylenol works wonders. I've also been sick with some weird flu/bronchitis combo that finally seems to be letting up slightly. Thankfully in time for Christmas or I was going to lose my mind. We're almost completely done shopping in our house with only a couple of straggler gifts coming in the mail. There was time to squeeze in some officially family photos and I'm loving them. I think I've filled every frame I've collected in the house and looking at adding some more to the collection. It's a pyramid scheme this cute baby. First the super cute clothes, then the toys and accessories then the photos for documenting cute outfits next photo display options, never ending! In case you don't believe me. Here's proof of the cuteness of said baby.

Cute Gift Idea

My Target love has a rival. Trader Joe's. Love, love, love Trader Joe's and it's a grocery store the husband and I can agree on which makes it perfect. They also shower lots of attention on Sophy so more bonus points.

I picked up this little chocolate set on our visit yesterday and am thinking this would make a cute little gift for her teacher's at school with a few other goodies in a holiday bag. Also good for a little something for co-workers and especially awesome since it's less than $5 bucks. Greatness.

Target Love

I'm pretty sure that if you've ever spent 5 minutes with me I would wax poetic about my love of Target. It would come up, somehow, in nearly any conversation that I'm fairly certain I can find anything at Target (and Costco) (and Trader Joe's) but all things pretty and good live at Target. My husband does not agree but humors me. 

I was up early, even earlier than reasonable for the mama of a 9 month old, showered dressed and a few items perused online (with one purchase for the gold pouch seen below) all by 6 am. Yep, I AM CRAZY! I couldn't wait to check out the Neiman Marcus/Target collaboration. After all the build up and hype I was there at 8:01 while Rolland and baby picked up breakfast tacos. Helpful store employees pointed the way (nothing like the Missoni nightmare of 2011) and there were only a few of us there getting first pick.  I ended up sticking with my favorite Marc Jacobs and getting another pouch (rosegold and super pretty) and a scarf. All of which was still pretty pricey.

They had a couple more interesting items and I was all set to pick up a Jason Yu Christmas dress for Sophy and decided it was just too frivolous even for me! The bar sets were also interesting but a $50 and up price point was a non-starter. See, I'm being fiscally responsible right there.

Now I'm obsessing with the online furniture portion of the store and the Blu Dot collaboration. Loving some of those modern pieces and in turquoise. My poor husband. OY.

Thwack ....

Uhm, noted. Smack in the head from the universe in the form of a post by Anne Lamont. Go here for your own personal smack in the head.

Happy Thanksgiving

It's a quiet day at our house but with lots of tasty food planned and a little decking of the halls. I'm thankful for this little cutey everyday along with her Daddy who is also a cutey. I'm thankful for family and friends, that we have good jobs, house, cars, food and rarely consider the price of milk before purchasing. For a lot of people that's a huge luxury and easy for us to take for granted. During this holiday season help out when you can with whatever you can do. Happy Thanksgiving!

Austin day trip and a Wedding

We had a quick day in Austin last weekend and it was 50/50 in terms of super fan to pain in the ass. We had intended to get there on Friday evening for a rehearsal dinner, we went down for our friends Suzanne and Jairy who got married (woo hoo!), but a giant nail in the tire foiled that plan. We did finally make it to find our room was not what we hoped with an incredibly uncomfortable bed and a questionable pack and play with stains we ignored and covered in blankets.  The weather and wedding was beautiful and I have a few pics on the point and shot but so far it's been crazy busy so these are right now all you're getting are the few pics from my phone. Say what you want about smartphones taking over our lives, but without my iphone I would never have any pics in any kind of a reasonable time frame.

Sophy and Daddy getting ready to head out for breakfast. Sophy is pointing out the view of Austin. I also enjoy this one since you can't see the Movember (or the John Holmes tribute mustache) growth yet. It's for a good cause and all but seriously, hate Movember and Rolland loves how much I hate it. There may have been giggling. I'm sure this will be a thing they will both drive me crazy about when she's older and has expanded her come by it honest family taunting gene.

Snuggling at the Elizabeth Street Cafe which was fantastic! It was on a really lovely street with awesome cafe tables on the patio. I'm already plotting a pea gravel cafe area off our covered patio. As soon as we get gutters and a reasonable plan for backyard decorating. sigh.

She is a big girl and loves her sippy cup. I can't believe she is sitting in high chairs all on her own. Still refusing most food even the fancy glazed donuts.

Rolland's breakfast pho. He could eat pho everyday and be very very happy.

My daily breakfast of ham and cheese croissant and mexican coke. Seriously. Every morning and I love it! When I finally get croissant burn out it will be a sad day.

Fancy french glazed donuts that I wanted to love but they were just meh. They tasted doughy in a not done way vs a tasty uber tender kind of way. The glaze was sweet enough to immediately cause a toothache but was tasty.

Chewbeads are my new favorite thing and permanent go to baby gift. Pretty stylish for a rubber necklace and can entertain Sophy for a fair amount of time. At least to get most of your meal down.

Toy Joy in Austin! Love it and first visit where we could make Sophy purchases. We only selected two items on this visit. R2D2 lights for Daddy and Ice Bat with baby for Sophy. She's a fan.

This chair has dorm room written all over it and will not be coming home with us. Cute photo op though.

Oh my God tasty pizza from heaven! Seriously, this was soooo good I may have eaten all but 2 slices. Everything here looked good and unfortunately I don't remember the name. It was off of 2nd in Austin downtown across from the Wee baby store if that helps. How could you not find it with these clear and explicit directions?

Getting ready for wedding in dress my Mom made. There's also a jacket and super cute pics on the other camera.

Mommy and Sophy at lunch and at the wedding below.

The wedding was at Springdale Farm and totally magical. I made Suzanne's necklace that she wore and totally forgot to take pics. It was a lot of pressure since I wanted it to be perfect and ended up looking great. Her dress was incredible and the entire look was fantastic. They were both gorgeous and super cute.  No words for how happy I am for them and wish them nothing but love and happiness for a lifetime. Thanks for including us in your day!

Blue States Rule

and to that ... WOO HOO!

Love myself some Obamacare, Marriage Equality (not just civil unions but actual marriage equality), women's rights, and lots more democratic goodness.