What Ana Does

A few years ago, I decided that we would start a new holiday called "Strawberry Day" and while I've not been super-great at observing each year, I still love fresh-picked strawberries any day.  You don't have to observe it on the same day each year, since the strawberry season shifts depending on weather. All you need to do is find a morning and a farm and pick a few buckets of these little gems. Then, when you bring them home and wash them ... eat as many as you can until you get tummy aches. Maybe whip up fresh cream to dip them in. Or some yogurt. Or find a good homemade ice cream recipe. And when you've eaten all that you can, freeze the rest for the best smoothies you'll have all year. This year, we got to the farm to pick strawberries and I was in my glory. The sky was dramatic, the berries were huge and I got pink stains on my shoes and it all made me so happy.  Nothing tastes better than fresh strawberries in July.  Happy Str...

You might not get a holiday card from us this year. Sorry. This Year's "New Year's" Holiday Card  I wasn't even planning to do holiday cards, because I wasn't going to cover the expense of doing them in Paris in late November, when I normally get them done. But... on Christmas Day I was clicking around Snapfish in a cookie-sugar-haze and found a 70% promo code. PLUS, they'll 2-day ship. So I ignored all the other activities in the house and created our annual card. But I only ordered a limited amount and decided NOT to kill myself and send them to the entire list. We're in the States for such a short time, so I'm only willing to commit a few hours to these suckers, not two days or a full week. Are holiday cards even still a thing? Especially in the age of Facebook and Instagram. The number of cards we received this year was much fewer than in previous years. And, sustainably-speaking, they are a large use of resources for something th...

With the holidays fast approaching, I'm of course doing some online shopping, as I do every year (although with a lot less vigor considering our nomadic state and not seeing my siblings, boo). So, for your clicking pleasure, here's a round-up of really worthy gifts for the people on your list. Tentree is a company that plants 10 trees with every item you order. And my lucky number is 10. So. Win-win. Last year I ordered this sweatshirt from Wholesome Culture , another eco brand, and have it on steady rotation. 4Ocean sells bracelets for $20 and for each sold, they pull a pound of plastic out of the ocean. I got them for everyone in my family to thank them for putting up with my plastic reduction efforts this year and the sacrifices they make because "Mom won't buy it because it's wrapped in too much plastic." I love the journals from this small business called Letterfolk . They have pretty letterboards, too but the journals are beautifully made and you ...

Another Foggy, Misty Day in Paris 9:00am - coffee with some of the ladies from school -- including one other American. We discuss what kind of dinner we'll be creating tonight to simulate Thanksgiving. We gush about the smart friends who drove 45 minutes to the Paris Costco to buy stuffing and a few large pies. Why didn't we think about that?! My plan is to look for a pumpkin pie in some of the bakeries and international food shops in my neighborhood. Turkey is out, as they don't eat that bird here, but maybe chicken? 10:30am - a trip to three markets and nothing at all. Christmas food is everywhere, though. So I've changed to hamburgers -- because what's more American than hamburgers!? I thought briefly about buying a rotisserie chicken, but we're leaving tomorrow for the weekend in London and I didn't want to deal with all the leftovers. 11:00am - realizing that I haven't made really anything for Thanksgiving is years, as this is my mother-...

I love all the round-ups bloggers and websites do about the things they are shopping for this holiday season, so I thought I'd make my own. Picture Gifts - For Fans of Your Instagram Feed The Young House Love folks just mentioned this amazing daily photo calendar from the nice folks at Social Print Studio  on their podcast and I had to share it. I've been using this small business studio for years to print out my Instagram masterpieces and this year I had a poster printed for David's birthday to decorate our apartment in Paris. Instagram prints are great to print out because you've already edited them, picked them as favorites (because you shared them) and are a pretty little square. Gilmore Girls Again - For Late Fans For whatever reason, this was the year two of my sisters decided to get on the Gilmore Girls bandwagon and binge all the shows. Years late to the party, girls, but I'm cheering you on. I watched it religiously (except for that last season, let...

Happy Thanksgiving, folks! We're ONE MONTH and a few days away from the big move! Holy Turkeys! Today, I'm out walking off the vast quanitities of food I ate on Thursday (and hopefully avoiding malls and shops, but who knows, it's New Jersey!) but I'll be thinking about the list of what I need to do to get my ducks in a row for the next month.  Here are some upcoming milestones:  Dec. 1 - Dave goes on an apartment search. And it will be very much like House Hunters, as we only have a finite amount of places to look at available now, in our target neighorhood that meet our criteria.  Dec. 12 - Packing Day! With any luck, we'll be successful with the apartment hunt and we'll know what the heck we need to take with us (furniture-wise, mostly). We'll have about two weeks to strategize and pile up those items so the movers can take them away on this day.  Hanukkah and Christmas are thrown in here. Very inconvient. Think we can get these hol...

If there's one thing I take away from this little sabbatical as a stay at home mom it's this: I really enjoy creating things with my hands. When I was a working full-time, driving kids around, stressing about dinner and passing out at the end of each day, crafting was very low on my daily priority list. Weekends were about spending time with family, maybe painting a wall and reading. Not much else to cram in there. But now that I'm home all day and have gotten some really big house projects done, I'm able to indulge in just crafting to craft. And with the holidays, I have the best excuse to create holiday decor things for family members and to pretty-up the house. I forgot how much I love to make things. I have bins and bins of crafting supplies that I've been collecting here and there but never had time to sort through and create. Now free time is finally here and I'm totally indulging in it ... and feeling sincerely grateful for it. Anyway, here's ...

While we were in New York City on Monday, we hit two of the fabulous holiday markets; Bryant Park and Union Square. Of course the girls found EVERYTHING they've EVER WANTED EVER and asked for everything. And, of course, we said no about 200 times. And we asked for cards from some of the shops we liked, in case we changed our minds after we got home. For those not able to get to New York City this holiday season, here's our favorites: No Chewing Allowed  - insanely-good truffles. We got a few boxes for teacher holiday gifts. One box *might not make it* to the holidays. ;) Hazel's Village - adorable handmade dollies with matching outfits. Leah loved the little green frog. Pop Chart Lab - an art shop that sells creative and hip charts, such as the Charted Sandwich or a cool diagram of Broadway costumes. Whoops! - a colorful and lovely macaron shop. We tasted the dark chocolate, strawberry milkshake, pumpkin and raspberry. Yum! Three Blue Birds - I had seen thes...

Berries By the Barrel I have started a new tradition this year ... Strawberry Day. Here in the midwest, strawberry season is about 3 weeks max -- that's it. It's not a lot of time to celebrate my favorite fruit. And there is nothing like the taste of a strawberry at peak of the season, picked fresh from the plant on a sunny June day. Nothing.  A whole series of poetry could be written about fresh-picked strawberries.  So, when I got wind this weekend was the peak of the peak, I declared it Strawberry Day! In a nutshell, the day is like this: We head to the strawberry patch as early in the morning as possible -- can't let the best strawberries get picked. Then, back to my house to make all the glorious things from strawberries: shortcake, waffles with whipped cream, angel food cake with strawberry sauce and ... fresh strawberry ice cream. And freeze a good portion for smoothies and cobblers later.  A brief aside: if you have not sampled fresh, homemade ...

Super deck and the new grill got a lot of use this weekend. There was a soccer tournament, a birthday party and get-together at a friend's house -- but it was all about spending time in the beautiful backyard. And all the chores therein, of course. Our First Meal on the Super Deck! Water Games

With Lots of Butter

I love the start of a new year. The concept of shedding the old and welcoming the new. A pin that separates the past from the future. Like everyone I'm making all kinds of goals and plans and promises for this new year. I'm optimistic about what's to come. And grateful about the many wonderful things that happened in the last 12 months. Happy 2016!!  The Stars in My Pretty Dining Room Related posts: More about my pretty dining room

It's been a fantastic eight crazy nights of Hanukkah. Lots of gifts, smiles and laughter exchanged. And I just love the glow of the menorah with all of the candles lit.

The family room mantel is all done up for the season. We've got all of our Hanukkah laid out and ready for the next week of celebration. The girls continue to shake and sort their gifts; they can't keep their hands off of them. Family Room Mantel  The greenery above is sage and eucalyptus. I love the smell but it's drying out much faster than I thought it would. Memo to myself: Go with an evergreen next year. 

I take nothing away from the folks who have professional in-studio pictures taken of their families. Growing up that's exactly what my mother made us do. Every year. But I have a quality camera and a good sense of lightening, so I'd rather save the cash and do it myself. Am I the best? Oh no. Not even close. But I usually get what I'm looking for and the kids think it's hilarious to be silly in front of the camera for the 10 minutes shoot.  This year, we used the snow in the front yard as the background. I didn't even bother brushing their hair. Folks, this is what they look like ... crooked teeth and all.  Sisters! I just love these gals. Here are photo tips I put together during last year's photo shoot .

I detest the chandelier -- if you can even call it that -- in my dining room. It's dinky, underwhelming and sometimes it just refuses to turn on. It was the previous owner's attempt at modern, maybe? Someday I vow to replace it. But for now ... the only good thing about this chandelier is I can hang stuff from it. Which I do. A lot. I found these glorious silver stars at Target last weekend and they look amazing dangling from the hideous light fixture. Stars for the Holidays Related posts: You'll love my dining room stories

Last week I started my holiday shopping list ... I know, I know, I'm one of THOSE people. One of the reasons I make this list so early is to consider what I'm going to hand-make for my fortunate friends and family members. This year I'm planning on crafting a few pendents, a baby quilt, and some kitchen napkins. I made an attempt to hit my favorite quilting store, but they were closed on Saturday afternoon when I was out that way ... so, that evening after dinner with a cold bottle of Magner's hard cider (yummy!) I pulled out the laptop and did some fabric shopping at Etsy. A hard cider buzz and Etsy. This is a bad combination. Let's just say, more than enough fabric was purchased for holiday crafting. WAY more than enough. There should be a warning label on the side of my Magner's bottle that says "do not drink and shop on Etsy." The upshot is: a few days later I got two boxes in the mail of the most beautiful fabric and I'm completely i...

We got away for a week over Winter Break to celebrate Christmas with my family -- an annual extravaganza. This year we got a new edition to the family -- a baby boy Harper. So we all flew to him.  I'm not bragging but I got to hold him six times and he often farted on me. So, I'm that auntie.  Me and Baby Nephew We also got time at the beach and a heated pool, but unfortunately the weather was unusually cold for SoCal, so not as much beach as I'd hoped. I was ready for my first surf lesson -- but not if it meant teeth-rattling chills afterwards. Not that it bothered the girls. We also got out for a hike along the coast. And soo much playtime with all the cousins. Loved it.   Five Cousins!  The Girls at the Beach

I was thinking today that this is the absolute latest I've sent out our holidays cards in a long time. Usually I'm on it right after Thanksgiving and they're out before the first night of Hanukkah. But here we are. Given, I'm one of the only person who still writes personal greetings on my cards. And because I didn't want to haggle with label making this year, I'm hand-writing all the addresses on about 70 cards. So, yes, it takes time. But, still. Late Late Late.

I love this time of year because of all the cyber sales. There's just nothing I like more than saving a large percentage off ... and FREE SHIPPING. And this time of year, my inbox is FULL of emails with all kinds of enticing offers. Yours too, right? This is a great opportunity to shop for holidays, obviously, but also for MYSELF! There's usually a few things that I've been drooling over on some shopping site and I'm just waiting for the right excuse to get it. Sometimes, if it's not terribly expensive, I just need a stressful day and a new paycheck to make the purchase. OR, a really get offer. So, on the art.com website, I've been in love with this print for months. And thanks to their robust advertising, every time I'd visit it, it would follow me around to different site as a leave-behind ad. I'd be haunted by it for the whole day.  (You've seen this type of marketing, especially if you use Zappos. You look a shoes. Leave the site. Search Goog...