dinner

Last night I made a favorite in our household and wanted to share.  My sister in law actually sent me this recipe when she discovered awhile back about the goodness of quinoa.  We have been making it for awhile and love it; even for leftovers wrapped in a tortilla as a burrito!  And Oliver, since day one has loved it - hands down it is the night he eats the most!
  For the Vegans out there, you could easily alter this recipe to suit you. 

  We serve it over chips with fresh avocado, cheese, and sour cream - which can all be left out.  It is really good after that wrapped in tortillas.  Yum!

Southwestern Quinoa Casserole:

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup quinoa
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tsp of cumin
• 1 tsp of garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp of coriander
• salt and pepper to taste (about a 1/4 tsp each should do it for most)
• shredded cheddar, Monterey Jack, or Mexican cheese
• sour cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Rinse the quinoa in a mesh strainer.

2. Except for the cheese and sour cream, throw all ingredients in a 2 qt casserole dish and mix up evenly.

3. Cover with foil and cook for about 30 minutes

4. Remove foil and stir.

5. Cook uncovered for an additional 20 minutes, until all liquid is absorbed.

6. Cover the top with a nice layer of cheese.  Cook/broil until cheese is melted (just a few minutes).

7. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and some chips!

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

things I am loving...

It's been awhile since I have done one of these posts, but there are some pictures accumulating on my desktop that I want to clean off, so here are some things I am into right now:

This pullover, and this cardigan (both from Madewell, and on sale!)

This picture of the rosebowl from SFgirlbybay.  There are just so many good things in that picture.  It makes me miss those pilgrimages up to Pasadena, and the pure excitement of never knowing what you are going to find.  One of the closest things to feeling like a kid.

image via sfgirlbybay

This top (as well as the skirt!) from Lotta Jansdotter.  She has many wonderful things in her shop right now!

image via Lotta Jansdotter

And last but not least, this take on the whole Time Magazine/mom controversy.  I think you will feel better reading it - I know I did!

image via momsinmaine

beautiful and functionable

Yes, this is rare I know.  But how cute is this Kuretake envelope maker?  I first saw this on Pugly Pixel (which by the way is a whole other blog post in itself - pugly pixel is AWESOME!).  With the re-usable template you can make envelopes out of virtually any paper you have on hand, creating beautiful, one-of-a-kind envelopes - and it's only six bucks!  Since letter writing is a dying art, this might help give you the kick in the pants you need to write that thank you note ;)

image via jetpens

bottom two images via pugly pixel

The Beach

Our little family spends a lot of time at the beach.  And in our daily life, we recycle and re-use what we can.  But one thing I have to admit is that we still do not go without plastic bags.  If we forget our re-usable shopping bags, we take plastic and use them to pick up after our dogs.
One thing we have definitely noticed is that it seems people are much more aware of trash, beach clean-ups, and just the environment in general out west.  Here, I have to carve out a little space on the sand, often times raking away cigarette butts and other trash.  Gag.
But it still didn't seem as bad as this.  Two artists, successful in their own right, have gone to picking up the beach and creating installations and wearable art out of all the trash they found.  Richard and Judith Lang collect obscene amounts of plastic and create.  Like Richard says in te video, people are oftern like "cool!" and then "ooooohhh" when they realize what it is and where it came from.It is disgusting and thought provoking.  Watch the clip about them below, and here are just a few examples of their work.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

all images via beachplastic.com

CA love

I have had San Diego on the brain lately!
Chris sent me a t-shirt and the subject line said "for ollie"....so then I started looking at all the awesome items out there where the artists profess their love for California :)  I picked a few, and what's more, many of these artists make prints, clothing, etc for your state of choice.  I highly recommend perusing etsy when you get some time.

For ollie :) via Thalia Surf Shop

via loose petals - eco friendly prints and you can pick any city!

letter press via 1 canoe 2

beach photos via myan soffia

typography print via CApow

I love you California print from 3 Fish Studios

You guys, there 250 pages of love on Etsy! What is your favorite?

rain

Right now it is pouring folks.  I can hear it on the roof and there is a hint of thunder far off in the distance.  Something kind of nice about it (if you don't have to be out in it. right?).  Earlier today I was fighting the losing battle of trying to get Wyatt to sleep in his crib for his morning nap.  yikes.  Then Oliver started crying over something and I just said get dressed we are going OUT to eat.  Just kidding, that's from A Christmas Story.  But I did say Oliver get your shoes we are going bye bye.  Close enough.

I had heard of a park on the other side of town so I decided to go explore.  It is actually very cool since there is a nice new pier and park there, under the bridge.  I saw in the distance a huge container ship headed under the bridge with a tug boat chugging along to meet it.  As Oliver is waaay  into any boats/cars/planes/excavators/backhoe/trains/dumptrucks/garbagetrucks/etc I thought it would be fun for him to get an up close view.  We hurried to the end of the pier and watched the tugboat meet the ship and guide it under the bridge.  Pretty cool.  I looked across the water at the cruise ship - but where was it?  I had just seen it? 
Oh no I thought to myself - rain!  Wyatt!  Oliver!  My iphone!  I put on makeup!  My sandals!  I started jogging, pushing two babies and in sandals.  Did I make it?  Nope.  I was soaked.  But here are some iphone shots from before  :)

cheerful

Something about this picture stuck with me - I can't decide if it was because of these cheerful yellow pants or the perfect muscle tee.  Either way, I would love to recreate it, maybe with a pair of cat eyes and some flats.

via the man repeller

wyatt 5 months

Here's something I remember contemplating with Oliver and I find myself equally curious about with Wyatt:  Mama's, at one point do you switch from measuring your babe's age in weeks to measuring it in months?  Because there comes a point when the age will be different if you are saying it in weeks versus months.
For example; Wyatt was born Dec 6th (2011).  So on (counting from every Tuesday, since that's the day he was born on) Jan 3rd he was 4 weeks, on Jan 31 he was 8 weeks, and if you continue on the weekly count, he would be 5 months and one week or 21 weeks right now.  But if you switch to months (i.e. the 6th of every month) he would be 5 months on May 6th.  There's roughly a 2 week difference - follow me?    Either way, here is his 5 month photo ;)

Some things about Wyatt at 5 months:
~He is a complete and total ham.  He smiles like this at anyone that will look at him.
~He screams his head off when I leave the room.
 ~He belly laughs when you make dumb noises!
 ~He reaches for everything now so I have to carefully hold my water when I have him on my other hip
~He rolls over!
~He is not sleeping through the night anymore.  blerg.  Hopefully this is just a temporary thing and he is going through a growth spurt or something.

the evolution of cool: preppy?

It can be argued that men's fashion isn't as interesting or cool as women's. 
Fit and cuts don't change as often and really you have a basic set of pieces that just change every few years.  Within that you have different types of styles that people categorize - hipster, hippie, nerdy, you get the idea.  One that I have never really thought much of is preppy.  As a matter of fact, when people say the word preppy, it's something I would pretty much shy away from.  Having grown up the in the south, guys dressing in khaki's, croakies, collared golf shirts in the color pink, boat shoes and ties would not illicit a double take from me.  They were a dime a dozen. 
So you can imagine my surprise that I am actually appreciating the history of preppy-ness by way of the original cool guy himself, Miles Davis (and by my dad who sent me the article). 

Miles stocked up on tweed and madras jackets with a natural shoulder and narrow lapel; chino and flannel trousers; button-down shirts; knit and regimental striped ties; and Bass Weejun penny loafers. "It was a look that redefined cool," writes Miles biographer John Szwed, "and shook those who thought they were in the know."

yes

miles in a button down, trousers and leather slip ons via last.fm

 no

via fratatat

Interesting how many in the music industry, specifically hip hop and rap have followed Miles' steps in recent years.
Read the article here!