September 30, 2010

Little Shop & Tollbooth is finished!

Ta-da! The newest cardboard creation, the Little Shop & Tollbooth is now finished! (And, hey, thanks, Ohdeedoh, for the anticipatory hype!)

Jakey in Little Shop window

I'm so happy with how this toy came out - and best of all, it's a transformer! First, Jakey is peeking out of the window of a shop... but, wait, what's this?

Jakey playing with Little Tollbooth

Now, through the magic addition of a turnstile, he's playing Go-Stop with a tollbooth!

Little Shop & Tollbooth assembled

Here it is fully assembled in all its glory. Windows with counters on all three sides, a shelf running along the inside for the shopkeeper/tollboothster, an open-and-close removable stile - what's not to like!

Instructions now available in the forty-two roads Etsy shop!

September 29, 2010

Jakey at 16 months



Check out the dancing! I love that Jakey already dances at right about my level of skill.

September 20, 2010

Almost done...

Cardboard Cutouts

The new cardboard project is coming along quite nicely! As is its companion instruction booklet. Soon, my friends, you'll be able to feast your eyes on this combination storefront and tollbooth (with detachable stopping gate)! Now, what to do about all the kids growing up with EZ Pass who will never have the visceral pleasure of throwing coins into one of those white plastic bins?

September 13, 2010

Paper Bag Skirt

(That's what this is called, right?)

red paper bag skirt from dress

I finally got a chance to rework a terrible, ill-fitting, oddly-conceived dress in a phenomenal color into this fun skirt. It's comfy and twirly and pretty, and even - as the Project Runway judges would put it - on trend! Too bad we are quickly winding down the season of weather-appropriateness. Next summer awaits!

September 12, 2010

On the Farm

Check out the authentic biker scowl!



One of the few moments Jakey spent not chasing a rooster around, and then ducking behind my leg any time the rooster glanced in his direction.



Who lives in the pen? A horse and some ducks!

September 8, 2010

Say Cheese!









A fun mini photo shoot of the fam. We (still) have almost no pictures of the four of us together... but how cute is that picture of Jakey and Lara in the double stroller?

September 4, 2010

Outstanding in the Field

Yesterday, we had the most amazing, beautiful, delicious, romantic, fun, and just generally wonderful dinner with Outstanding in the Field, a traveling cross-country feast that sets up tables in farm fields and asks local chefs to prepare meals that highlight local produce. I am not exaggerating when I say that it was the best food that I have ever eaten in my life.

Yesterday's feast was held at Tim Stark's farm, a gorgeous spread that is known for its heirloom tomatoes (over a hundred varieties! Did you even know that there were a hundred varieties of tomatoes? Crazy.)

A three hundred year old ash tree (16 feet circumference!) lives on Tim's farm and anchors the division between the tomato fields and the barns:



The meal is set up as one very, very long table (for our dinner, there were about 150 people!), and the people you end up sitting next to are your dinner companions. We really lucked out in the dinner neighbor department, and had a blast with everyone around us. You can just barely make out me waiving my arm in the air in this photo that Misha took (from a ladder they had set up expressedly for this purpose - brilliant!).



The view from our hillside table was incredible.



Everyone was asked to bring their own plates, which added a really cute country touch.



Ok, ok, and finally - the food.

The winner of the passed hors d'oeuvres (well, if we were playing it Top Chef style... which we were) were these gazpacho water shots. What is gazpacho water? We couldn't figure it out, but we couldn't stop downing these. They were cool, slightly spicy, extremely flavorful, and completely addictive.



The four course dinner started with this smoked heirloom tomato and goat cheese salad. The pictures make it look simple, but it was dressed with some kind of tomato reduction that was out of this world. No one could get enough of this stuff.



Next, trout. And when I say trout, I mean the best prepared fish I have ever tasted. I don't even really like fish all that much, and I was trying as politely as possible to fight off other to get seconds (ok, more like fourths or fifths...). The trout was on a bed of fingerling potatoes, sorrels, quail eggs, marinated mushrooms, and onions prepared in some heavenly way that I can't begin to guess at.



The main course was chicken two ways - white meat done to perfection with herbs, and dark meat made into a crispy confit. Unbelievable. We got to meet the farmer whose chickens these were - the hilarious, gruff-voiced Tom Colbaugh from Happy Farm.



Really, just a perfect, perfect, perfect day.



P.S. Thanks, Mom, for being with the kids while we had the time of our lives!