LOUISIANA SNO BALLS AND GOOD FRIENDS IN THE CITY

first of all i am in denial that the summer is ending and so let's not go there. 

second of all is sno balls. 

there's a sno ball cart that's parked on gansevoort in the meatpacking district for the summer, imperial wood-pecker sno balls. it's the "real deal," according to a friend who hails from the south and knows about these things. and even though cold things aren't my jam (give me the carbs i can chew!), i'd been dying to try it out, and latonya and river were able to meet us, and now here comes the third of all.

third of all is i had a lovely realization tonight, about being old and having friends. 

i moved around a lot as a kid and so while i always had good friends, i rarely ever had close friends. a few here and there, but there was always another move looming. it wasn't until we moved back to the city that i started making the kind of friendships that i felt could really become life-long. a lot of this had to do with blogging--blogging has a way of helping you find your tribe in such a neat way--and a lot of it was due to the fact that here in the city, you sort of bond extra hard with the women you live near and go to church with, since none of us have family close. we all sort of become each others' families, which has been really lovely. 

by and large, the ladies i've met in the last few years through blogging and living in the city have been fiercely amazing. but because i didn't start making these kinds of friends until i was, like, 28, i'd never learned the hard way that sometimes it doesn't work out. sometimes you give your trust too easily to the wrong people. sometimes you're the idiot for trying too hard, or being too vulnerable in all the wrong situations. (if there is anything i'm ever likely to be, it is mostly always "too vulnerable in the wrong situations." i'm ace at that.) i suppose i will gladly always be that idiot, it's better than being the alternative. 

it's weird to be this old having these experiences, finally, but i guess that's what's made it all the sweeter that i've been able to find the real deal and when that happens it makes it all worth it. so that was my lovely realization tonight. i have had such good luck making friends here in this city. fun friends and see-you-around friends, sure. but even close friends too. i don't stop and feel grateful for that enough. 

one such lady, of course, is miss latonya. she's a good one.

anyway, sno balls. derp derp. 

brandon was there too but he was feeling strictly-behind-the-camera tonight. and please to appreciate how amazing his skills are! proud wife.

right, and then because we were there and the sun was setting so nicely for us we decided to cap it off with a walk on the highline. aaaand take a million photos because it's practically impossible to walk the highline and not take a million photos. 

p.s. huck is such a ladies man. 

these are a few hideously funny faces going on, so of course i had to post them. that there is what i look like when i am telling you something. really. spectacular. you-will-not-believe. latonya is reacting exactly as one should in such a situation, as you can see. 

completely unrelated now: near the middle of the highline there's an artist who's set up this giant mini public art gallery. he invites passersby to stop and paint a tile, which you can then take with you or leave behind for him to add to the gallery. huck and riv were total naturals, we were very proud. 

anyway anyway. we had a lovely evening, i love having brandon home on staycation (staycation!), and other things by way of wrapping this up.

also i'm going to have to hit the farmers market tomorrow and buy ALL of the fruit and remind myself that it is still august. IT IS STILL AUGUST! 

loves to all of you from all of us. over and out.

p.s. on me

hat: madewell (similar HERE)

pants c/o LOFT

tee: forever 21

shoes: rachel comey

on huck:

tee: american apparel

pants: zara kids

shoes: salwtater sandals

KITCHEN SINK QUINOA

the kitchen sink quinoa is a trick i stole from becca baust (all my good tricks come from becca baust), because nobody wants egg and cheese on a bagel every night. becca has a million recipes on her blog for clever grains salads, you should go peruse. my go-to has always been this quinoa/arugula/beet/goat cheese number i invented after ordering an insane beet salad at patsy's a few years ago, but the one i've been knocking out lately is quickly becoming a favorite, simply because it requires zero brain cells and almost no planning whatsoever.

basically it's any grain you have in the pantry (this time it wasn't quinoa, it was: barley)

plus any vegetable you have in the fridge that looks interesting (this time: sweet corn on the cob, haricots verts, cherry tomato, beets, and carrots)

then two big old handfuls of raw almonds (crunch, very necessary)

aaand a crumbly cheese if you have any (i didn't)

i also added lentils (legumes!) and then snapped these ultra high quality photos on my cell phone because i like to live life on the wild side.

so you cook your grains and chop your veggies then mix them all together, it's not too tough. i like to nuke a bowlful for about 30 seconds till it's warm-ish, then add a little olive oil/vinegar dressing and salt and pepper to taste. it's terribly homemakey of me.

i'm working on getting henry holbrook thrilled about barley, because barley, let me assure you, is a particularly rad grain.

becca explains the concept better HERE. 

i have a testimony of the kitchen sink quinoa and i love my mom and dad amen.

if any of you know of any earth shattering ingredients i should be adding to these situations, please do let a girl know. or if you have advice for slicing corn from the cob without making a huge mess of yellow confetti all over the stove. because . . . 

xo!

DON'T CALL IT AN IPHONE PHOTO DUMP . . .

happy monday!

NYC IS RUN BY SATAN, AND OTHER CONFESSIONS OF A STREETEASY STALKER

blame it on the view . . .

so right, so our lease is up. we're in a failing school zone, we don't love our neighborhood, we got the renewal letter in the mail, we had about a week to decide before signatures are due, and brandon and i were like, this is it. we should move downtown! crazy bug eyes, slow nods, the whole thing.

i started nonchalantly browsing the listings. anyway, our apartment now is enormous, it'd have to be the dream location to make us leave, but also we're struggling to get pregnant, our toddler isn't going to be this chill for the rest of his life, and since it's just the three of us for a little while longer, why not have an adventure for a year? save the two bedroom for the next lease cycle when we (hopefully, by then) actually need it. thus it was decided: adventure time.

so right, so, that's how it happened. the downtown lofty studio apartment of our dreeaaaaaams. it was enormous! so sunny! views to make a person cry! in our price range! your basic unicorn.

but someone beat us to it and that was that.

obviously now that the itch had been noticed it was becoming excruciating. and, you know me. so, the west village happened.

oh, the west village! this apartment i found was the dream. small, but big enough we could make it work. it was an upgrade all around, except where it was also a downgrade, but henry would be getting a (real) bedroom, i'd be getting walking distance to where i spend the bulk of my time, and brandon would be getting a better commute and more apt surroundings for his inner hemingway. it was a win-win-win. there was a private backyard, you get the picture. i applied immediately even before i was sure it was a smart decision, based on past experience you know, fool me once and all of that. we were thrilled.

anyway, the short version goes: the apartment fell through. someone beat us to it, again, because the new york city rental market is run by satan. other rude things. 

but remind me to tell you the story of how i rode a citibike for the very first time through crowded union square traffic while following my broker on his scooter . . . cause that's a great story.

THE UPDATE FROM UPTOWN

and now for a holbrook update on this fine monday morning: 

the holbrooks have put an application in on a giant lofty studio downtown that will be really fun to spruce up but only if our application is accepted first. and only if i don't find something i like better first, too. it's all up in the air. 

what do you do when you think you've found "the one" but there's not much you can really do about it because it's a weekend and all of the management offices are closed? well, you obsessively weed out your closet, naturally.

i think there's a deep psychological thing at play here because if ever there's a woman who's feeling momentarily powerless, guaranteed she's taking it out on her closet and making drastic wardrobe decisions.

last one: huck and i met this very nice dragon fly gentleman at the playground the other day. it made me think of that one time i killed a dragon fly on my bed. luckily this one didn't seem to hold it against me.

NOBODY HERE BUT US CHICKENS

huck and i just took these photos right this very second for this post. you should know i am not wearing any pants. thank you happy goat designs for huck's new shirts!

i went to bed last night with a house full of loved ones, and then i woke up this morning to the echoing quiet of a sadly empty house. sparkling kitchen, peaceful living room, the bathroom all to myself . . . all the throw pillows sitting at attention, positively no slouching.

it made me frown. 

my aunt and uncle left very early this morning. and then brandon caught a later-early flight out to utah so he could be there for his nephew's priesthood ordination and eat all the cafe rio pork salad without me. 

huck and i are here holding down the fort. it takes a lot of work to hold down this fort, someone has to make sure these mini marshmallows get eaten. 

i promised brandon i wouldn't make any rash decisions about apartments while he was away. but craaaaap. i'm looking at a few lofts in soho tomorrow, so, you know, pray for him.

i think re-watching felicity the past few weeks has done bad things to my downtown sickness (it's an autoimmune disease). i've got the itch! it itches!

this photo was taken at the playground today after huck was informed that he had to share that spinning rod of death thing with some other little boy. 

don't i know it, double H.

READ THIS WITH A SODA

and what would you know, it's been five million years! wait, let me make sure my blogging fingers are still working . . . ooh barely! should we get this party started with a giiiiiant selfie? oh good. onward! 

so this week we have family in town, my uncle dennis and his wife sharon and their daughter samantha. sam is reporting for duty as a college freshman at ASU at the end of the week. in between moments of wildly writing down any coherent thought that pops into my head in case it decides to become something elegant later, i've been playing tour guide, which in case you didn't know is my very favorite thing to play. 

i had a moment this afternoon on the steps of the new york public library when i was gazing down fifth avenue and the sky was crisp with that special just-rained air. i was noticing i could barely see the flat iron building peeking out behind the sky scrapers when i thought, oh my gosh i love it here. 

tomorrow we're taking the family on the official holbrooklyn tour, which means i have pizza looming in my future. i could probably think of something better if i tried really hard, but why?

i feel like i'll get a handle on all that i'm juggling fairly soon. maybe. i'll figure out when my most fertile writing hours are going to happen and maybe arrange a sitter in advance, and make sure huck gets out of the house and onto a playground, maybe even put a healthy dinner on the table too. but right now i'm real happy with this chaos. it's kind of fun to see how many plates i can spin at once.  

(we'll see if i still feel this way next week, you never know.)

until then, here are some crummy cell phone photos. i call it: stuff we've been up to. you can enjoy it or not, whatever floats your boat.

△△△ we've been working on henry holbrook's sleeping schedule, the dude is on a time zone all his own, i swear he lives a 32-hour day. it's an experiment fraught with peril. over the weekend huck fell asleep in my arms and i tell you my mushy mom tank is good to go for the next five days.

△△△ churching on sunday and an impromtpu photo with some of my ladies.

△△△ and not to alarm you or anything but the shake shack is doing away with their crinkle cut fries. did you hear? they're replacing them with something called "fresh fries" and i just want to say, i am offended. how are flat fries going to hold my cheese sauce? 

this is huck playing a game our friends introduced us to, wherein you lay on your back with your mouth wide open while your dad pours water from a water bottle at you from five feet up. huck was a real big fan. you know. 

△△△ you've got mail number three has arrived! and huck on the subway. you can't tell but his eyes are completely crossed. peace signs take a lot of focus.

△△△ after nursery on sunday huck decided to come down with a glorious fever that seemed to last for about forever. he's fine now. once the fever broke he promptly took a five hour nap, then woke up requesting spaghetti.

△△△ we spent a very rainy afternoon at tiffany picking out a graduation gift for samantha. she chose a rather lovely blue pen for journaling with. i made us all go up to the third floor to look at the china so i could recite that one scene in sleepless in seattle. 

"eight is too few, twelve is . . . too many." 

△△△ we ducked in the other day to see st patrick's cathedral. if you want a more reverent/less commercial cathedral experience i recommend st thomas just a couple blocks north.

△△△i snuck in a few moments at the abc of it exhibit at the new york public library this afternoon and it was some of the most inspiring moments a girl could sneak.

oh hey you made it to the end! where's your cookie?!