just before christmas i worked on a post for well rounded x artifact uprising, giving away one of au’s layflat photo books. artifact gifted me a book in return, and it was perfect timing because steven and i had just decided not to buy gifts for each other this year — and we had never had our wedding photos printed.
the importance of a good mama friend
people say all the time it takes a village to raise a kid. i think, instead, it takes a village to raise a mama. we need other moms to bounce ideas off of, complain to about our babies sleeping habits and celebrate little milestones with. it definitely helps if their baby is the same age as yours.
the carousel on the mall
friday it was 67 degrees. on january 12! how is that even possible?!
we took mila downtown to walk around the mall and stopped for a ride on the carousel. she’s totally a little thrill seeker — she was having so much fun even though the carousel went just a little too fast and the horses went probably a tiny bit too high. steven, on the other hand, almost lost his lunch.
mila, you’re eleven months old!
hi sweet girl!
man, you’re precious. if you could sleep later than 7 am that’d be great, but otherwise, you’re a true gem of a baby. you’ve been sleeping through the night for a couple months now and that is sooo amazing. so i’ll take what i can get ;).
colorado for christmas
by far, this was the best christmas. mila’s first! she loved the tree and the ornaments; she even loved ripping open the paper on her presents.
mila’s first christmas photos
it’s mila’s first christmas, and if we’re being honest, she’s a little oblivious to the whole thing. but having a little thing crawling around the house has certainly really gotten us in the spirit of the holidays… we have actual christmas decorations this year! i barely recognize myself.
our friend, and incredible photographer kelci came over the other day and shared some of her time and amazing gift… giving us these photos i know we’ll treasure forever: mila’s first christmas in our first house!
here are my favorites.
purple produce takeover + potato tart recipe
millennial pink might be the color of the year when it comes to styling your home, but purple is definitely the hue for your tablescape. purple produce is everywhere. whole foods even named it one of the top food trends of 2017. i wrote a little about the trend in this weekend’s herald-dispatch — and it gave me an excuse to whip up these super cute, personal-sized savory purple potato + mushroom tarts.
Continue reading purple produce takeover + potato tart recipe
thanksgiving recipe roundup
this year, the chef and i are staying in dc for thanksgiving and we’ve invited some of his neurology co-residents for dinner. the big meal is one week from today, and we haven’t even discussed the menu. i’m hoping to create a super colorful meal using Japanese ube instead of standard sweet potatoes, heirloom carrots instead of the plain old orange ones, and swiss chard for a splash of color in our stuffing. but i’m sure steven has his own ideas. he’s much more of a traditionalist on this day than i am.
here are some recipes i’m considering:
dear mila: you’re nine months old!
oh, my mila!
nine months is so silly and wiggly and sometimes temper-tantrumy, but the best i could ever imagine. your dad and i always debate what your best age is: he says whatever age you are right now is the best, while i tend to prefer the newborn days (i could snuggle you as much as i wanted back then; now i’m lucky if you stay still to nurse for a few minutes). but i finally think he’s right. so far, nothing tops nine months.
modern baby food and the “flavor window”
man, there are some really inventive baby food companies out there. startups that are marketing things like caviar, bone broth and quinoa to six-month-olds. i was introduced to one of the more innovative baby food services through well rounded, a digital magazine i contribute to. on their menu were things like salmon roe and falafel. cool, i thought — but do babies really need this?
a quick google search showed me a dozen other baby food start ups with similar menus. i wondered: is this just fancy, flavor-forward labeling that’s really designed to tempt the hip parent into buying, or do babies really benefit from these complex flavor blends.
chef meets girl 