the haystack needle

drygoods design

2012-05-24T12:31:53-04:00

I stumbled on the webshop Drygoods Design when Juniper was a newborn and I was looking for a cute playmat on the affordable side. The site sells a wide selection of fabrics (with some well-known designer names, like Amy Butler) that you can buy by the yard for your own project. Since I haven't mastered sewing, my favorite section to browse is the custom handmade goods. I had a custom playmat made for Juniper for $35 (in the forest animal pattern, above.)

Now that she's motoring all around, we were in need of another solution. The floor under her highchair is a constant mess — her dropped bits of food seem to instantly stick on our tile floor. So I just ordered a splat mat from Drygoods Design. They're having a sale right now through May 28th (discount code is DDANNIV30), so I got this green chevron mat for less than $30. I love their fabric choices! Never thought I'd be buying a splat mat, but if I have to bring one in to our apartment, it might as well be a cute chevron pattern that goes with our space. And for those of you not addicted to shopping for baby things (like me), Drygoods Design sells pillows and tea towels and other home goods.

A peek at some of my favorite fabrics. Images via Drygoods Design.

starting fresh

2012-05-10T23:19:52-04:00

This Sunday is Mother's Day, my first as a mama. What I didn't see coming before Juniper Claire entered my life: she has become my guide. There is so much I've learned in these last 10+ months from my amazing baby girl (who's hardly a baby anymore now that she's getting close to walking and wants to hold her spoon all by herself.) One of the greatest gifts she's given me is a better understanding of how to start fresh. Being the type A person that I am, it's easy for me to dwell on what's not getting checked off on my daily mental list: the backup of laundry, the dining table that can never stay clear, the thank you cards that I was supposed to write in January and it's now almost June, the art project I imagined for our walls, the many blog posts I've not had time to pull together, the email inbox that is almost too terrifying to tackle, and the list goes on. And all of these to-dos that don't get done just add up to me feeling very often like I'm not making it work as a working mom in this big city. It's that big F word we're drawn to as new mothers learning the ropes of everything at once from feeding your child to how to do a back carry with your carrier — failure. And I've learned that labeling your misses as failing doesn't help you get it right the next go around.

Juniper works through things in such a different way than my default method of tallying what I've accomplished in a given day. Every day is a fresh start. In fact, even her naps are like a reboot. She goes to sleep and wakes up and goes at it again, exploring her toys and working on her movement and speech. Right now she's working on standing all on her own. She pulls herself up, balances, then lets go with both hands, and stands for a minute with this look of sheer wonder in her eyes, and then falls back and plops on her butt. And then she does it again, like 20 times in a row. It's both hilarious and endearing to watch how she doesn't get discouraged even when she can't fully stand for more than a second after 20 plops on her tush. Even after a day's worth of attempts to stand. She goes to bed, and then the next day it's like a fresh start. One day soon she'll be standing, but until then she'll have fun with standing up and reaching the knobs on every dresser. She can't quite get the wood disks onto the pegs, but she keeps at it. I watch her expressions and can see how she doesn't let her misses get in the way of enjoying the moment. Babies are such little buddhas because they really live for the now. And they are fearless.

So last week, I tried to be a little fearless myself and stop focusing on what I haven't done and try to work on just one thing. I asked my friend Adriane at Caribou Baby to show me how to put Juniper in a back carry in our Ergo, something I've been wanting to figure out for a couple months. But all the "that will take so long to learn, you don't have time" mental junk had gotten in the way of me doing the first thing you must do to succeed in anything: try it. And you know what, she showed me how to put Juni in a back carry once and it clicked. It was so much easier than I thought! Juniper loves her new piggyback ride perspective and likes to hug me like a monkey, which is so cute. It felt so empowering to walk home with her on my back. It was a fresh start. I love this photo of us in our first back carry, even though the bed is a mess. Maybe next week, I'll find a moment to make the bed. But in the meantime, I'm ok with where I am.

Juniper, you make me smile, laugh, and help me look at every day as an opportunity to try anything — and have fun with it. I love you so. xo Mama

To all you mamas out there, enjoy your special day and be kind to yourself. And to my mom, thank you for showing me so much love from day one.

ps. I am working on a few posts to share some of my mama must-haves with you in the coming month. As well as some of the things on my home wishlist.

reading and loving

2012-04-23T09:58:02-04:00

These days, most of the books I'm reading come from Juniper's library, but I did manage to finish one grownup book (that I didn't want to put down it was so good.) I loved the book Bringing Up Bébé. It has me thinking (still) about kids and autonomy, different ways to discipline (or educate), and about how sad it is that the United States does so little in the way of helping families with childcare costs. The book also highlighted many of the behaviors you so commonly see with American kids — like kids who never say hello or thank you to adults or won't try anything being served for dinner. And it made me take a step back to think about my views (and anxiety) about the idea of taking a vacation without little Juniper. I don't think there's one right way to parent, but the book definitely has me thinking that the terrible twos don't have to be so terrible.

We've been lucky in that Juniper has loved trying out new foods and it's incredible to watch her expressions and hear her make this "mmm" noise when she's eating something she likes. I picked up a second baby food cookbook, and I've been working through many of the recipes (all of which I've loved so far.) Tyler Florence's Start Fresh book shares unique combinations for purées (love how he incorporates olive oil and parmesan in some) and then he moves you into finger foods and recipes that work for the whole family. Juniper is happiest when she's eating what we're eating these days, and it felt very freeing to make his one-pan lasagna last night and have all three of us eat the same dish. The lasagna dish is probably my favorite recipe from the book, especially since it takes just 25 minutes to make! I also tried the peach rice pudding yesterday, which was a hit.

Speaking of food, we found out recently that Juniper has a peanut allergy. After a couple trips to a pediatric allergist, we've now determined that being a nut-free household is the best option for us. It feels scary to need to carry around an EpiPen everywhere, and while there's a small (20 percent) chance she'll outgrow the allergy, most likely Juniper will never get to experience Thai food or a simple PB&J, which feels so crazy to me. If any of you have dealt with peanut allergies, I'm looking for any great sites, books, or tips on raising a child with one. So far we've read a couple books including The Peanut Allergy Answer book, which we found really helpful.

And a few of our favorite bedtime reads: Petunia, Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late, and Freckleface Strawberry (by Julianne Moore — I found a signed copy at the John Derian shop.) The illustrations in these books are amazing. I don't mind at all reading them everyday to my sweet Juniper.

joining a CSA

2012-04-13T10:51:48-04:00

With Juniper eating solid foods like a rockstar, I'm constantly replenishing our stock of fresh produce. I try to buy organic when possible, which definitely can add up in cost when you're shopping with Fresh Direct or your local market here. I also never have the energy to head to our nearest farmer's market (which is a 15 minute walk from our place) on Saturdays morning. Shopping the farmer's market was a nice, chill way to start the weekend when I used to go by myself, but with a baby and a bag of stuff to cart everywhere, it feels far from relaxing.

That's why I'm excited for our CSA to begin in May. We've never joined a CSA before, and I'm really excited to see how it goes. I found out about this organic CSA through the Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative when I stopped in for lunch at one of my favorite sandwich shops, Eastern District. We'll be doing our pickups from Eastern District, and there are a few other places in Brooklyn where you can pick up your box of veggies. I liked the fact that you don't have to work for this CSA, something I didn't want to commit to over the summer when I hate to be tied down by schedules. I love that the fruits, veggies, and eggs we're getting are both organic and local. I'm hoping being a part of a CSA will help me get better at cooking with the food I have at hand, versus working off recipes. And I'm so excited to watch Juniper taste her first summer heirloom tomato.

There's still time to sign up for ours if you're in Brooklyn and looking for a CSA. Do you belong to a CSA? Do you finish that whole box of veggies each week?

Photograph via the Lancaster Fram Fresh Cooperative blog.

HGTVRemodels + dream kitchen

2012-04-06T07:43:19-04:00

I wanted to share one of my favorite projects that I've worked on recently. I'm freelancing for HGTVRemodels and had the pleasure of working with the talented stylist Chelsea Fuss of Frolic! and photographer Lisa Warninger of Urban Weeds on a kitchen remodel project in Portland, Oregon. This kitchen looks amazing, don't you think? It's pretty much my dream kitchen, right down to the backsplash made of antique tiles from Hungaria and the handmade wood dining table with the raw edges. And that sink!

Bryan Steelman and his wife Claire remodeled this kitchen in their 100-year-old house (that had never been updated — there wasn't even a shower in the home before!). They're the owners of two Mexican restaurants in Portland that are on my list to visit whenever I can make it out to that cool little city. Their kitchen is the perfect marriage of function and style in my book. So much of the design direction is rooted in the practicality that comes from Bryan's years of working in the restaurant business. (I'm sold on that sink with the wide basin.) And then Claire spent time scouting for all the unique, vintage, reclaimed accents and materials in the kitchen space that come together to make it feel like a home. And, I think it's so refreshing to see a kitchen that doesn't look like every other one you see. I'm so inspired by this kitchen.

Check out the feature on HGTVRemodels to see all the photos of this incredible kitchen remodel, along with all the details on how they created this look. A big thanks to Lisa and Chelsea — so fun working with you!

Photography by Lisa Warninger. Styling by Chelsea Fuss.

gingham plates + spring cleaning

2012-03-27T16:17:45-04:00

Just wanted to share that I'm selling the gingham enamelware plates we used at our lobster bake rehearsal dinner, in case if you're in the market for a cool set of plates. I added them to 100 Layer Cake's marketplace. These metal plates are large, dishwasher-safe, and perfect for summer parties. I'd found them through Pottery Barn, and they were the perfect dishes for the lobster bake we hosted at Dan's family camp in Maine. If you're interested, feel free to email me. Thanks!

Also, for those of you in the area, I'm clearing out some of the stuff in our apartment to make things easier for us now that Juniper gets into everything. I have a Jonathan Adler lamp with a wallpapered shade, a few vintage suitcases, a small vintage chalkboard, a Heineken Beertender (also used at our lobster bake!), a bunch of frames (mostly without glass), and some vintage accessories. If anything sounds interesting to you, email me and I can send you images. I'm pricing everything low — just would like to find homes for everything.

UPDATE: The gingham plates have sold! But the lamp and a few other items are still available.

Thanks! xo Jen

rainbow carrots

2012-03-19T13:55:13-04:00

Last week when Juniper and I ventured into the city, we popped into the Italian food megastore Eataly and browsed its impressive produce section. I stumbled upon rainbow carrots. I honestly was unaware that anything other than an orange carrot existed before then. But there on the shelves were pretty bunches of purple, orange, and yellow carrots. I decided that Juniper was going to enjoy some rainbow carrots for dinner. I made up a recipe, riffing off of a carrot puree in my go-to cookbook for making baby food. Basically, I steamed the carrots in the microwave in a bowl with a little water (I was rushed for time — you could also cook the carrots on your stovetop.) Then I put the cooked carrots in the blender with a big dollop of plain (full fat) yogurt and a tablespoon of butter. The result was a pink puree that tasted super yummy, rich, and creamy. Juniper loved it. Favorite dish she'd eaten in a month. I'm thinking of making a few batches of rainbow carrots to give out to Juniper's playdates in the neighborhood. It's the perfect Easter treat for babies, since the puree turns out pastel pink, but — unlike jelly beans — this is ok for babies to eat. For us grownups, I bet rainbow carrots would look so pretty in a big spring salad. I would also love to try the carrot puree paired with fish (a white fish, like grey sole, would be delicious).

ps. For anyone local, I've spotted rainbow carrots in Greenpoint's organic market, The Garden.

Photo from my iPhone.