What Ana Does

The very best thing about Fall is the arrival of a ton of new books that keep me up far past my bedtime and have me daydreaming about what will happen all day long! I'm such a book nerd. Here's my annual roundup of books I've been eagerly anticipating ... My very-favorite book of 2015 was  Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I can't gush enough about how totally blown away I was by the storytelling and characters. Six distinct characters pull off an impossible heist in a fictional world with a cliffhanger that nearly killed me ... INEJ!! At the end of September comes the sequel Crooked Kingdom and OHMYGOD I've been waiting long enough to find out the disastrous results of their heist and what will become of Kaz and his crew.  I picked up Ember in the Ashes audiobook last year and it was so intense I was stressed about listening to it for a whole week. But I couldn't stop. That sequel, A Torch Against the Night , is coming out on August 30 and I've b...

Here's a super simple project I did in the upstairs hallway that was inspired by Pinterest. And, best of all, it cost me NOTHING. Gratis! Problem: Way too many pieces of art came home from the kids after school got out and over the summer from day camps. Also a Problem: The wall in the upstairs hallway was a mess. I don't love the shelves -- they're too cluttered an undefined (and unstyled). And though I love the antique sofa (dubbed "The Reading Couch") that I got from my Grandmother-in-law, it's not all that well cared for, poor lady. After swiping through Pinterest I found a picture of an art gallery "board" that contained all the things I had around the house. Kinda. It would certainly have my own flair. Detail View! Materials: A pine board left over from the board and batten project in the entryway. Two eye hooks -- or more preciously " D-Ring Hangers " from a picture hanging kit. Two hooks I got to hang ferns from the fro...

Call me crazy, but I often forget that I live near Lake Michigan. And that looks a lot like the ocean. And there are plenty of days that I miss the ocean and a proper beach. I'm certainly not alone in this feeling -- as there are many people who find peace looking out over the vast, rolling waves of an ocean. It's healing. Climbing the Rocks So on the Sunday before school started, I tossed the kids and some supplies into the car and drove down to the first beach I found on the map. Well, it turns out you have to be a Lake Forest resident to park near their fancy-schmancy beach. And the 5 long-block walk from the free. church parking wasn't going to happen. So we drove to the next beach in Lake Bluff. Great parking, beautiful neighborhood but once we walked to the beach entrance they charged us $10 each to get on the beach!! I mean really! So fine, we paid it and were on the beach. And it was lovely. And they had complimentary beach chairs and toys. And clean ba...

Monday was the first day of school and it was a DOOZIE! Leah, my newly-minted 5th grader!, was excited to go ... but her bus was 30 minutes late! Luckily, the sun was shining and a light breeze was blowing. A lovely morning to wait around for the school bus. Waiting and Waiting At the Bus Stop!  The Bus Finally Arrived!  Then, Alice's bus was on time but she wasn't. Long story short: She ran back into the house to get a book and couldn't find it. I was left to hold the bus while she ran sobbing up the street and into the bus. SOBBING.  Crying In Every Picture ...  Crying in Every Single Picture Reminder to myself: For Alice's graduation party, find these pictures and blow them up into poster size. This falls under the "it will be funny someday" parenting category.  Update: She reportedly calmed down on the bus and had a rockstar first day of 2nd grade!  Alice Was All Smiles After School

What do 5th graders wear, is the question I got from Leah as we embarked on our back-to-school shopping ritual this year. I winced, as 1) I honestly have no idea. And 2) I envision the worst case scenario: Short shorts, half-shirts and cheap sandals? My worst nightmare. At this point, I initiated a short conversation about personal style. In a nutshell: Who the hell cares what other 5th graders are wearing, what clothes fit your own personal style? Of course, I'm going to GUIDE her decisions on clothes, 1) because I purchase and care for them, so I feel some ownership. And 2) a girl needs some guidance, right?! I made plenty of fashion faux pas. Let's start with Boden , because I LOVE this shop and given an infinite budget, I'd dress my kids in only Boden. Here are four favorites for the Fall. Fun Leggings - Boden Butterfly Logo Jersey Dress - Boden Super Soft Stripped Shirt - Boden Bunny Meadow Raincoat - Boden Then there's the indestru...

Calling this the 1.0 version of the canopy in Alice's room. It needs a few more layers. And I think to be lowered a bit. The Canopy I didn't follow a set of instructions -- because others were much smarter than I and used two window curtains. In hindsight, that is GENIUS. I bought yards of purple tulle from Jo-Ann's and a hula-hoop for the hoop at the top. It didn't take long to sew all the layers together and hang it from the hook. The other thing is you really need to imagine the daybed below to complete the look. More updates to follow ... 

The girls are constantly growing out of their shoes. Last year, Alice skipped two sizes -- it was crazy. I had size 10 and 11 shoes I'd been hanging on to from Leah for no reason. Anyway, to keep up with the phenomenal foot growth, I do a big shoe shop twice a year. I am usually very grumpy about the shoes at the stores near me. They're not great quality and they're sorta ugly. Let's just say I avoid the Sketchers store at the mall. Which means I go through Zappos. Here's a tip for Zappos shopping ... sometimes the plethora of choices can stymie the kids. They get all discombobulated and dizzy. SO. MANY. CHOICES. So here's what I do: I go through and save several different pairs to My Favorites, and have them look through that list. It cuts down the decisions to a handful. I also find if they have shoes that are kinda interesting and comfortable, the kids will keep wearing them. If they are boring, they get shoved to the back of the closet. BUT FIRST, I ...

The transition to Fall has begun, school starts next week and most of what I was wigging out about at the beginning of the month is getting settled. I'm now looking forward to being on a much more rigid schedule. No really! Deep breath! Soccer is underway and I'm only assistant coaching -- trying to take a smaller role on the team. This team has an active team manager (yay!) and the head coach is used to being in charge. All good. Leah needs to get used to me not being on the coach's bench. However, being back on the soccer field always feels like going home, so I'm thrilled to be out there. I signed up for an  Honest Company bundle shipments --  mostly because I can't find good organic shampoo/conditioner that isn't over $12. And I like most of their products and sometimes can't get them at Target. In the last few boxes we've gotten, I've added new stuff to try out, too. And building up a sufficient stockpile of items we really like -- su...

Two more updates to Alice's bedroom to discuss. The first is her new bed. Let's skip over the part about her current bed being MY childhood bed and all the history there ... and just say we would like her to have a new bed. Of course this was met with opposition, as Alice doesn't like change. But once we started showing her the options, she quickly got on board. Here are the top two choices: Jenny Lind Day Bed From Land of Nod . The Pricey Option The Dorel Living Vivienne Bed From Wayfair.com . The Risky Yet Inexpensive Option Given the large price difference, I think the choice is very clear. And the Wayfair bed is more along the lines of the style I was looking for. And it will transition to being a teenager's bed much better than the Jenny Lind bed, which looks tad juvenile. Because I can't see it and don't know the brand like I do Land of Nod, the Wayfair bed is also a bit of a risk. It's listed as "made of wood" but what if it...

So I guess I'm pretty persuasive because I talked her into painting the walls lavender. I even got her to agree to take down the shelves! Score for Mom! Before: The Yellow and Pink Walls Alice Said Looked Like the Sunset This was Saturday. By Sunday morning, the room looked like this:  After: The Soothing Lavender  Here's the long story about the color lavender: I'd been doing research on lavenders for months, picking up chips and looking through Pinterest. I was pretty sure I knew I wanted a very soft color that wasn't too purple or too pink. All the while, I didn't have her approval to paint anything. Little did she know I was planting the seeds of lavender in her little head (eg. "oh, Alice, look at this lavender bedroom in this catalog picture.") Last week she finally said, "hey, I think I want to paint my room." Green light GO!  On Saturday we picked up the fabric for the bed canopy (details coming soon) and walked into H...

Packing Up My Cup O Noodles for Work So all of a sudden I'm a trendy foodie, I guess. The big thing right now is using mason jars to transport food like salads, soups, cereal, etc. (Isn't it weird how popular mason jars have become?) And maybe because they use these trendy jars and they're super photogenic ( see here ), I've seen recipes pop-up in every magazine, food blog, new recipe book (like Gwyneth's) and Pinterest over and over again. If it's in Martha Stewart magazine, it's a THING. I've been using the cup o' soup recipe from Martha Stewart for the last week and it's been a total success, though I'm going to continue to experiment with other ingredients. What's inside: The noodles are a Chinese bean noodle, I add thinly sliced mushrooms, frozen corn and a few teaspoons of Miso paste. I want to add greens like scallions but I don't have any in the fridge, so today I took the last bite of spinach. Overall, very qu...

So, I listened and learned a little. Here are mini-reviews of the Podcasts I choose (spoiler alert: I enjoyed most of them): Young House Love has a Podcast  - A friendly podcast about homes and blogs and decorating, which I really enjoyed because John and Sherry are so delightful. I especially liked their concisely edited format, which made it easy to listen to. I'll likely subscribe to this one.  Stuff You Missed in History Class  - I listened to three scritped episodes, each about 30 minutes long, and each was interesting, informing and entertaining. The banter format between the two hosts annoyed people in the reviews, but I found it made it added a little charm.  TED Radio Hour  - These NPR-produced episodes pull together several TED talks around a subject into one well-produced 60-minute show. I listened to "The Meaning of Work" and it was thought-provoking and awesome. My one complaint is I wish they were a bit shorter, as one podcast doesn't fit...

OK, so I was trying to make a "Home on the Range" pun in the post headline but didn't come up with anything good. We'll blame it on the fumes from the new ovens. YES! They were delivered and installed and look amazing. And I can't wait to bake my first biscuits or pizza in the correct temperature. Hurray! New Range Doesn't the black top on the range just blend so nicely with the countertop?! For now, though, we have them turned on to burn off all the oils and whatnot that is inside the new ovens and BOY! does it smell in this house. Ugh. 

Not that kind of Viking! This Viking ... When we moved into our house four years ago, I was maybe a little swayed by the professional-looking Viking range in the kitchen. They're expensive and sought-after, right?! But we were soon brought down to reality when the 15-year-old appliance showed signs of not being well-cared for. The knob to the oven didn't function -- we could turn it on, but gave no indication of temperature. Also, the front left burner didn't ignite. I called a Viking-certified technician in that first year who was able to fix the burner but couldn't do much for the oven knob. Luckily, this kitchen also has a Jenn-Air wall oven located nearby. So over the years, the Viking oven was used to store large baking pans. But the range has been used daily. Lately, we started noting that our wall oven wasn't getting as hot as it used to. Upon moving the thermometer over to that oven, I confirmed it was heating 10 degrees lower than it reported...

I'm dying to redecorate Alice's room. She was three when we moved in and now at almost-8, I feel it needs a more sophisticated look. I also need to declutter the heck out of it. But she won't let me! "I love it the way it is!" she says. So I did a test. While she was out, I took down all the pictures from her walls -- including all her artwork. I thought that maybe this would kickstart the ideation process. "Yes, this does look better" she'd say. Not so much. In no uncertain terms she'd like it all put back the way it was. "Today, Mommy!" I liked it better when she was too small to care. In Her Room 2013! This might be a long campaign to update/clean-out this room. I'm prepared. Related: Here's what it looked like when we moved in . And  here's what it looked after I finished in 2012 .