AROUND HERE

I like to start these off with the very best photos of us I can find. Here we have Huck looking thirty, Brandon looking all debonair with his beard growing in (hallelujah!), and, I can admit it, I look pretty sexy too. These might be my most flattering photos of all time.

Here we go! 

I took this photo on my phone from the D train as we crossed the Manhattan bridge a few weeks ago. It's a pretty lovely view, as far as views go. We've been loading and reloading our MetroCards all month, zipping back and forth from the UWS to Brooklyn, and here is what I love most about crossing the Manhattan bridge: If you sit on the south side of the train as it climbs from underground, you're treated to this (sort of ugly) view. A jumble of buildings to your left, the urban sprawl of Queens to your right, and the gray and brown chaos of the Queensboro bridge straight ahead. It's a cool view, I guess, but it's this depressing mix of flat colors and fighting patterns, it won't exactly inspire a sonnet or anything. I like to think about how, if all you ever did was sit on the south side of that train, and all you ever saw was that view to the north, then you'd have to conclude that it was the ugliest train ride probably of all time. But if you just turn around, BAM. You get THIS. And is this not a nice metaphor for something? Do you not feel super inspired and things? I do love me a good metaphor. Anyway, use it in your next motivational speaking engagement, I won't mind. ;)

This is of my favorite photos from our weekend in the Catskills. Does this couch make me look short?

Speaking of our weekend in the Catskills...

People of my blog, meet Barry. Barry is a handsome old feller I saved from a sad, lonely life in an antiques junkyard. He wasn't even inside! Poor friend! The shop owner told me he was 75 years old (plus however old he was when he was... well..), and I've taken it upon myself to make up for all those lost years of love by showering him with affection whenever I walk by (which is how I found a hidden cobweb on Thursday, just under his ear. Barry! The gift that keeps on giving!) He needed me, I needed him, we named after Barryville, the town where he grew up (???), or at least the town where we adopted him, but the more I get to know him the more I'm starting to think he might be Barry short for Barack Obama. You'd have to meet him to see it. I can't put my finger on it. He does seem like the type of guy to be friends with Beyonce. 

In my defense, this appears to be genetic, and I just don't know what else to tell you. My mom's got mounted pronghorn and a stuffed goose named Ferdinand Ralph Lauren, which she got to replace Alex and Blake, respectively, when they went off to college-slash-went on a mission... respectively. When Huck woke up our first morning back and saw Barry on the table, he said, "Aww. Barry's still dead." (He'd dreamed Barry came back to life and that they'd become best friends.)

Speaking of Huck.

We're teaching him all the important life skills. We're really good parents.

This week I got to hold two brand new babies, and I am telling you. Newborns! Nothing bad can exist when you're holding a newborn. This is a good time to be me, I love playing auntie when my closest friends have babies. I posted this photo to my Instagram the other day and there was a really great discussion in the comments about all of our favorite things to give brand new babies as gifts. I always give a pack of my favorite white onesies and a beautiful blanket, you can never get enough blankets. This one is from PlumStitch, it says "you are my sunshine" across the front in yellow thread. It's just about the most perfect. Not to mention it's gender neutral, which, let it be whatever but above all, let it be gender neutral. (What do you like to give to new mamas? I have a friend who goes over and does the dishes. Right?)

Huck offered to make cookies for us the other night, don't they look delicious? He created a very splendid mess in the process, but those cookies bought us a full Game of Thrones, and not to mention I'm fairly certain this is Montessori approved. ;) Best Parents Ever. In case you're interested, Huck's recipe seems to be about seven cups of flour, all of the sugar in the world, three bottles of stale sprinkles I'd forgotten we had, and a couple handfuls of oats. You know, so they're healthy.

We'd already decided not to take our dry goods with us to Brooklyn, since most of it is pretty old and I only seem to bake in the winter, and this brings us to, yes! Brooklyn!

We finally found ourselves a dream of a space in Brooklyn. Oh Brooklyn we've missed you! We are beside ourselves. We found it in the most cosmically beautiful kind of way. It's zoned in one of the very best elementary schools in all of the city, it's mere steps from a bagel shop, AND, dot dot dot .... Claw Foot Tub. (This deserves its own post, and it will have it.) It's pretty perfect, as though the Universe picked it out, wrapped it up, presented it with a trumpet cadence, then patted us softly on the head and sent us off with kisses from the skies. I walked in and, after uttering a slow motion cuss word, plunked down the deposit so fast you'd blink and you missed it. Truly, I'm a quick draw with a wallet, but this one was extra impressive.  

Huck will be getting his own bedroom (!!!!), his parents will be getting a spiffy lofted bed situation that I'm already nervous I'll fall off of (no no, there'll be guard rails, I'm sure), and I've got a good-sized pile of clothes going that I'm planning to sell on IG later this week (editing my closet's gotten addicting). 

Speaking of!

I got an email the other day about an app called FittingRoom that made me laugh so hard and then get kind of excited, and I instantly knew I had to share it with you. I love this idea. You know when you're in a fitting room (or even at home getting dressed), and you've put something on that you're not sure you're pulling off, so you take an awkward selfie of it then desperately text it your sister, all, "IS THIS AWFUL Y/N," and then you wait and wait and wait and hope she answers before you've been in there too long and the sales associate starts to get suspicious? Fitting rooms are the loneliest places, I've always said. So, this is an app where you take a photo of your outfit, then submit it for opinions from a group of people who are also sharing their outfits for feedback (so there's generally good karma in there). It's kind of like having a whole bunch of sisters to text that you don't happen to be related to. You'll never be alone in a dressing room again! I've been uploading photos of a few of the pieces I'm toying around with selling. It's kind of like Instagram meets Hot or Not, only with this one you can blur yo face, soooo. Someone finally came up with it. It makes me giddy. :)

HERE is the FittingRoom app, and HERE is my closet shop IG account. Look for some stuff starting Thursday ish. :)

P.S. Huck's Animal Trackers box came this month and it was all about zebras. Zebras, if you didn't know, make for pretty great grocery store buddies, I discovered.

Nat, over and out.