Eat Play Love

After climbing three flights of stairs, the last being much tighter and steeper than the previous, I arrived at the open balcony of the Wheeler Opera House. As you would imagine, the spring loaded seats are velvet covered, the balcony railing is serpentine shaped rich wood, most likely a mahogany. I couldn't help but reflect upon the history of the space I was occupying, as my eyes were drawn to the beautiful chandelier hanging overhead. The walls are intricately painted with stencil detailing, the mahogany runs in lovely organic curves through out the entire theater. There's no denying it's a very special place.

I wasn't in the Opera House for a live theatrical performance, I was there to catch the latest release of Warren Miller's annual feature length ski movie, this year aptly titled ... Like There's No Tomorrow. The ellipsis is a part of the title, allowing one to fill in the blank with how they would like to seize the moment. For some reason my first thou…

Camera Girl Credit: Miss GL

The title of this post is facetious. At some point the number of times I went hiking just got replaced with, I want to go out for a hike. My desire to take photos varies, sometimes my phone or camera is always in my hand and other days I like to hike with no stopping or distractions. Yesterday we received a nice snowstorm and today the sun was out in full force. I was drawn to the trails, to get out there and crunch around on the ice pack and get a little rush of blood to my cheeks.

It was delightful.

This is in my backyard. The view from the start of the trail.


As I was walking back down the trail, the sun was blazing in my face. I was looking down off the trail on the right and the magnificent beauty of the snow sparkling from the sunshine was breathtaking. I tried to capture a photo, but it's hard when the sun is so bright to see exactly what is being captured.

Here's my attempt at remembering the moment, sparkle snow in all it's glory.

Please see updated link from May 2013 at the bottom of this post! 

As I sit to write this post,  I am conflicted by what I need to say. While I could instantly take the straight forward fact stance and simply publish the response I received from Chipotle in regards to my inquiry, I feel like it's just not that easy.

In my family food matters. Nourishing my daughter's growing bodies in a way that is wholesome and void of additives, chemicals, preservatives, antibiotics, genetically modified organisms, and other laboratory created substances is a tough job. But a job I embrace. I'm the first line of defense and I wholeheartedly understand that every dollar I spend in the market or at a restaurant drives what items that market will in turn choose to sell me. Consumers drive supply, it's a simple proven fact. Convincing everyone of this fact is a different story, but again I often take on the conversation with friends and acquaintances convincing them their dollar has powe…

The neighborhood my husband and I purchased a home in was originally built in the early 60's. The footprint of our home when it was built was a 950 +/- square foot home, 3 bedrooms, one full and one half bathroom. The half bath is in our bedroom, making it an official "master suite". Since the 60's our home has been added onto and our square footage has doubled. But interestingly enough, the people we purchased the home from didn't do much updating in the two decades they lived here. Our half bath when we moved in contained all 1960's original components (sink, mirrored cabinet, light fixture, toilet, light switch, and towel bar).

As you can see from the photo below, our 16 square foot half bath (which I am truly grateful for) is basically a closet with a toilet and sink in it. It gets the job done, I was adamant about having a second toilet when looking at houses. The bathroom isn't just open to our bedroom, we installed French Doors, in the photo I have…

Dearest Chipotle,
  I desperately need some clarification on your stance on serving particular ingredients to your consumers (including myself and my children). I am a mother of two young girls and quite frankly I've adored the Chipotle "front", sustainability, hug a farmer, know where your food comes from. The Willie Nelson video was at the crux of beauty! Right after that kumbaya moment, this awful feeling crept into my mind. Something I had never questioned before.

I was standing at the counter last week, this thought came over me. Intuitively I recognized that there are no claims as to what type of corn you use in your tortillas and chips. I am not referring to the whole sweet corn in your salsa.  I wondered if the corn was the exact opposite of natural, but rather LABRATORY CREATED GM corn?

I avoid Genetically Modified food products and crops at all costs. I can rattle the % of GM soy, corn, and cotton that has taken over the agriculture landscape in the USA. We all…

I'm huge on sandwich alternative bentos. Sandwiches day in and day out just get boring to pack, not to mention to eat! We made egg rolls last night for dinner, so I just heated it up a bit and added it to the bento. In the small container above it is some Organic Tamari (wheat free soy sauce).

To make the egg rolls, we buy the pre-made egg roll wrappers in the refrigerated section of the grocery store, typically near where you'll find tofu. We shred carrots, purple cabbage, saute some Shiitake mushrooms with tofu, fresh ginger, garlic, salt and pepper, add sesame oil and tamari, and then use the filling to stuff the egg rolls. The best part of home made egg rolls, you can bake them in the oven, they get nice and crisp and it's easier to do a big batch that way! Tip, brush the outside with a little sesame oil, then they bake up wonderfully.

This is what my workspace looks like, which I typically don't show!
Egg Rolls: vegetables and tofu. Tamari in small container. Strawber…

Did you know the average American spends 90% of their time indoors and that indoor air quality is the 4th greatest contributor to a person's health? While I would love to have my windows open year round, I just don't live in a climate which makes that possible. There are many houseplants which have been proven to remove pollutants such as VOC's or Volatile Organic Compounds from the air.

I love house plants, I once went through a phase where I bought a plant every time I went to the hardware store. Once we moved into our house, I had the pictures hung on the walls, the curtains up, but something was missing. I had yet to buy houseplants. I only have plants from the list below because I love that they not only add softness to my house, but they work very hard to help keep our indoor air quality healthier! It truly motivates me to keep my plants healthy, knowing they are helping me keep the air in my home cleaner.

Here's a list of 7 plants with photos and which pollutants…

A bunny sandwich was requested today, with nori. I didn't have any strips of nori, so I just toasted a big sheet and cut it up for the sandwich to sit on, so it didn't get wet and mushy. We don't like mushy nori.



A sheet of nori, under the bunny sandwich, other 1/2 is a moon.
Sandwich is applegate ham, sharp cheddar, organic ww bread, mustard.
Red plum, grapes.

In our family, I control the finances. By control, I mean, I pay the bills and make sure we have enough money in our account to cover our spending. Lately, I haven't wanted to log into our bank account to get a sense of our money flow. In translation that boils down to, we haven't been doing the best job managing our money. The biggest problem for me is that we've been unconsciously spending the past couple of months.

Going out to eat? Sure, what time should we meet? Where do you want to go? 
Nights out with friends, I'll be there. 
Stop by Anthropologie, oh that dress on clearance sure is a great deal.
Anthropologie is right next door to Target. Just a quick run in for dishsoap and leave with clothes for the girls, not to mention a bag or two of non essentials. 
Cupcakes after lunch, why not, the bakery is just steps away.
Pop by the farm stand, leave $40 lighter. 
Books from the Scholastic book club flyer, ah pick out a few books. 
A new table for our kitchen would be awesom…

The wedding invitations are far and few between these days. We've lapsed into that phase of our lives when weddings are once a year, maybe every year and a half. Now that I think of it, I'm rarely being invited to baby showers anymore. I suppose you could say we are all grown up. The milestones are changing, I hesitantly anticipate the arrival of graduation party invitations of children I once changed their diapers.

The joy of having a wedding to attend these days, is how special they are. I cherished the moment because I can reflect upon the beauty of maturing in a way in which you allow yourself the confidence to choose the people you want to be a part of your life. I find the people I surround myself with are the ones that have big hearts, are mutually open and caring, and whom I truly adore. This weekend one of those special people in our lives finally tied the knot. I must clarify when I say finally, I hardly mean it in a negative way, finally is just how life unfolded. …

My eight year old is one of those girls that fluidly bounces from the world of a traditional ballet dress code to letting down her bun to hit jumps on her mountain bike at our city's bicycle park. I feel fortunate to have a girl that loves being grounded in a world that allows her to explore new things, no matter which direction that may be.

She isn't shy when it comes to video games or online gaming worlds. When I was asked to check out Mechatars, which combines the online gaming world with RC robotic toys, I jumped at the opportunity. Just as I assumed, my girl, was thrilled to be able to preview Alpha.

As fast as we could get Alpha from the box, I felt like it was up and running. I don't remember a time now when Alpha wasn't one of her go to toys after school. We sat down together to navigate the online world, Alpha plugs into the computer with a USB, and we created an account with a username. Each time she logs in, Alpha is able to participate in epic battles in th…

We all have them, sometimes I chose not to share, but I am today.


Bagel with cheddar and mustard, lightly toasted cucumber slices, strawberries Kid's ZBar

My youngest walked in the door from school, her head was hung a little low. It was obvious that something was up. J picked her up that morning and proceeded to tell me why the long face. Apparently as they were walking home from school he overheard a little girl in G's class tell her nanny, "That's the girl that hates me." She pointed to my daughter. When I heard those words from my husband, my heart sank.

HATE?

My 4 year old used the term HATE loosely with a classmate? Of course a discussion and reasoning is sometimes difficult with a 4 year old, the conversation turned into a complete tear filled meltdown. Allowing G many moments to think and an incredible amount of patience, I tried to gather insight into why such harsh words were exchanged at school.

Unfortunately my daughter has a very friendly personality and can be quite the charmer, but also very distinctly craves personal space. She went through a phase when she was 2 or 3 years old, when she wouldn't …

A special request from the birthday girl, a vegetable sushi roll for lunch. Unfortunately it was not home made, my morning consisted of preparing for a sleepover and baking a cake, so it was store bought. I'm not ashamed!


Vegetable roll, brown rice, avocado, carrots, cucumbers. Strawberries, almonds. Birthday treat, a Hershey's Kiss.

Nearly one year ago when Kirby's Epic Yarn was released, my oldest daughter simply fell for Kirby. She quickly became very confident playing Kirby and at some point this summer, she finished the game completely on her own. Of course I was one proud Mama, knowing that feeling, having been a fanatic for the original Super Mario Brothers. I became so well versed in "saving the Princess" that I would often be asked to put on a show when playing Nintendo with friends. Honestly, I loved being the girl known to perform just as well as the boys when it came to video games.

Back in August, a friend updated on Twitter, that her daughter needed some help playing Kirby. She was very frustrated in the Hot Land- Cool Cave section. I casually asked Sj about that part of Kirby's Epic Yarn and she agreed it was rather difficult, but she was able to finally get through it. So we did what any friend would do, we shot a quick video of Sj completing the section, uploaded it to Twitter an…