It's Loverly

I spent yesterday afternoon at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. It’s just up the road in Amherst, sitting on a beautiful spot next to Hampshire College, in the middle of an apple orchard. The architecture of the museum is breathtaking and its contents are lovely. If you’ve never been there, I recommend a trip, with or without kids (and when you go, don’t miss the hands-on art studio).

WAMC‘s The Roundtable is broadcasting from the museum this morning– I’m listening while I work right now. Word has it that Carle himself will be on later in the morning. While no longer a Valley resident, Eric Carle’s influence is strong around here. Many people I know have personal and/or professional connections to the museum, the author/artist, and his work.

And guess what I just learned? Eric Carle has a blog! (I’m sure at least one of you reading knew this- Hi Meg!) There isn’t much there yet, but even online his words are gentle and his stories sweet. You can check it out here.

Have a happy, sunny weekend!

Last night, walking up the steps into the elementary school, I spotted four green bursts poking through the ground next to the building. Nature’s first green, right there, standing proud. I called to the 13-year-old girls walking in with me to come look. They dropped their aloof coolness for a moment to squeal with me: Spring!

The snow has retreated to just a few murky patches.
The light and shadows say brighter seasons are coming, hold on a little longer, we’re almost there.

*****
photo by me, taken one year ago.

Time for a little plug on behalf of some folks I really like– our wedding photographers recently revamped their blog. For some mid-rainy-day prettiness, check out the new look of Upstate Photographers. I adore Paul and Brenda. Wrapping up our book layout and final products is bittersweet– I’ll miss them! I’m sure we’ll be calling on them a couple years down the line for family portraits!

Cabin fever or spring fever or just a need for something new– whatever it is I’ve been mighty restless lately. In addition to letting out the occasional “argh!”, the antses in my pants have led me to:

• Sign up for an art class. Starting in a couple weeks, Julia and I will be channeling our inner Van Goghs at Art Always. We’re taking an eight-week course in which we’ll have the chance to explore drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, fabric arts and who knows what else. Divine.

  

• Write. I don’t know what’s been keeping me from this, but it’s time to just do it, no matter how crappy it is. This project was a good jump start.
• Daydream about volunteer vacations. Habitat for Humanity’s Global Village program looks amazing. Not to mention the hundreds listed on Charity Channel. Reforesting, building schools, organic farming, trail preservation– there are so many amazing opportunities out there. I’d love to do one of these with the husband.

  

• Researching which bike to buy this spring. I am so done with my too-big, second-hand men’s mountain bike and I’ve been promising myself a new one for years. I’m currently drooling over this baby (the one in the photo above). I can’t wait to find out what it’s like to ride a bike that’s actually the right size for me. Here’s hoping there will be some extremely good spring sales on bicycles…

Along with the change in seasons, I’m hopeful that a little daydreaming and an injection of creativity will help me get over this fidgety feeling. If not, it may be time to think bigger.

photo by pat, delicious funfetti cookies by julia.

There are five minutes left of my 28th birthday. A Wednesday birthday (and Ash Wednesday at that) is never as fun-filled as a weekend birthday, but today was very sweet. There was a nice lunch with my co-workers, a birthday éclair the size of my head, funny voicemails and serenades, cute phone calls, nice emails, a couple of fun packages, and a plethora of Facebook greetings. My Girl Scout troop sang an enthusiastic round of Happy Birthday, Julia baked funfetti cookies (if you like funfetti cake you need to try these cookies), Patrick picked up sushi, and Lost was extra awesome. I felt loved, and there’s no better way to start off another year in the life.

*”Just like the day before, we waited together/Goddamn what a beautiful day” –Ash Wednesday, the Kamikaze Hearts

We have tickets to see Sarah Vowell at the Calvin on Friday! Can’t wait!

It is so easy to get lazy about food. If we don’t plan, we eat a lot of pasta and take out, and then feel bad about it (well, I do anyway). So last week I did the thing I plan to do every weekend, but rarely get to: I planned the week’s meals and I shopped based on the menus. And last week, we ate better than we have in a long time.

Over the course of the week, we made four new-to-us recipes. Nothing too fancy, just some new combinations. Our Week in Recipes went like this:

Sunday- zesty roasted chicken and potatoes (recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook) and steamed broccoli with garlic oil (from the January/February Everyday Food)

Monday- lemony shrimp with white beans and cous cous (February Real Simple). Here’s what it looked like (this was one of my favorites of the week):

Photo by Patrick. Forgive us for having red wine with seafood, that’s what was open.

Tuesday– crispy chicken (February Real Simple) and sauteed spinach with red onion (Giada De Laurentiis’ Everyday Pasta)

Wednesday- we ditched our planned meal of orecchiette with roasted broccoli and walnuts (February Real Simple) in favor of making pizza with Julia and Seth.

Thursday- Our weekly trivia night, so we scheduled leftover night. Despite planing this, we still have a bunch of tasty leftovers– great for lunches and dinners during this busy week.

Friday- baked pastina and chicken casserole (Everyday Pasta). I’m a sucker for anything involving pastina, a staple of my childhood diet.

Saturday- taco and game night at a friends’ house (ok, technically this wasn’t part of New Recipe Week, but it rounded out our week of home-cooked meals nicely!)

My favorite of the new recipes was Monday’s lemony shrimp with cous cous, followed closely by the baked pastina. Tasty tasty. This week was a bit heavy on the chicken recipes, but we had some to use up, and in addition to trying new recipes, I wanted to make use of things we had. I also planned some ingredient overlap to save a little cash.

When things got busy and crazy last summer (moving, family stuff, wedding), deliberately planned meals went out the window. We’re finally getting back on track. It’s overly ambitious for us to make four new recipes every week, but I hope that last week jump-started us on more consistent meal-planning and healthier dinners. The Extended Adolescence Meal Plan is out. It’s time to take a little more control over this part of life.