it's on

February 28, 2014 by all aflutter

WE HAVE A PERMIT!!! xo

i dream of art

February 21, 2014 by all aflutter

Since my oldest was born I wished we had an art room. A place where we could squirt and brush and glue and splatter and glitter to our heart's content with no splat mat or fear of ruining the couch. Where "keep the brush at the table" wasn't a necessary interruption to their creative flow. There is no such spare room in either our old or new house. But today I discovered this inspired loveliness...

This is the dreamiest thing I've seen. Meri Cherry, an art teacher in LA, created this unreal art studio in her yard for her girls. It's gorgeous. A place where "mess" is not a word or a worry. I love it. I'm so inspired. Does any one else have a brilliant idea for creating a truly "no worries" art space for their kids? I'd love to hear them all... xo

making lemonade

February 16, 2014 by all aflutter

We were in Telluride when The Flood came. Some friends took refuge at our house after being trapped in their Lyons home for 4 days and subsequently saved us from imminent severe damage. They spent 24 round-the-clock hours bailing water out of our basement so that there was only relatively minimal damage. We still haven't replaced the flooring where the carpet was ripped up + my husband spent the better part of 3 weekends replacing moldy drywall by watching how-to videos on YouTube. But we fared much better than many. We were very lucky.

That was in September. This weekend my in-laws came down from the mountains so that my father-in-law could help with the demo. A is doing it himself, partly to save money and partly, I think, because it's sort of fun and pretty gratifying. Plus he got new tools. So they demoed the plumbing, counter tops and vanities in the two bathrooms upstairs. It was hard work, but they had fun and were feeling very satisfied with their accomplishment. Looks good, right?

They went back the next day to finish up and... it was raining from the master bath down two levels into the family room and basement. Yep. My reaction wasn't becoming of a lady... I'm sure we're not the first DIYers to screw a valve a bit too far, but it was pretty shocking to discover.
A BFF who's basement had severe flooding in September (and knows just about everything about everything...) came over to help mitigate the damage. Fortunately we were ripping out the yuck carpet anyway, but weren't really planning on replacing half the ceiling...

In the end, it's really no biggie. Our contractor was compassionate and didn't laugh at us. He loaned us some fans and buckets to help dry the place out. So while the men hauled away drywall and drenched carpet, the boys and I enjoyed an absolutely spectacular sunny day. There was just a little patch of snow left so they used the $.99 hardware store buckets the contractor gave us to make our new foundation. When life gives you lemons, right? xo

carrot mango smoothie

February 12, 2014 by all aflutter in Recipes

I am a huge fan of smoothies. I make one nearly every morning for my boys (I'm actually designing a space in my new kitchen just for the Vitamix...). There's just no better way to get a fantastic power punch of nutrients into them with such ease - spinach, carrots, avocado, oats. I'll try anything on them once. This is my go-to carrot recipe. It's fresh and energizing and a really nice way to start your day, or boost it mid-way. If your blender can't quite handle raw carrots, use a 1/2 to 1 cup carrot juice (depending on whether you're trying to be sneaky or parading your carrot-love in plain site) and ease up on the water. I use both fresh and frozen fruit in my smoothies - if you use all fresh, you'll want to add some ice to make it nice and cold. I'm not much for measuring these things, so just adjust for your family's tastes - if they prefer strawberries to mango, adjust the levels accordingly. I also mix the baby's probiotics right in (shhh!). My kids slurp this up - hope yours do, too. Do you have a favorite smoothie recipe? I'm always looking for a new candidate for the rotation. xo

Carrot Mango Smoothie
2-3 handfuls of baby carrots or 1 giant regular carrot, roughly chopped
1 banana
2 handfuls of mango
1 big handful of strawberries
1 to 1 1/2 cups water
blend well + serve with a kiss on the head

inspiration: boys' bath

February 09, 2014 by all aflutter

My brain is a bit out of practice. Two pregnancies can do that to a gal, even a smart one. But given the time crunch we've created for ourselves, I'm forced to think about the design and materials for the whole house all at once. It's fun, but exhausting. Don't worry, friends, I won't overwhelm you with a picture of what's in my head when I can't sleep at 3:30 in the morning...

I'm getting really close to having the boys' bathroom put together. I want it to be super functional and clean since they're little, but masculine and mature enough to grow with them. It's gut-wrenching to think about, but they won't be babies forever and someday they'll be inspecting their first chin whiskers in the mirror I choose. Here's a little peek at what we're working with...

And here's my inspiration for a new clean, masculine but with a little whimsy bathroom... Can you see where I'm headed? xo