Curious Bird

oh, honey

I finished my first big knitting project, the honey cowl from madeline tosh. And by big I mean something that took me longer than a week to complete (this took me almost two months!). It was a fairly simple project once I got going, but it took what seemed like forever, something about knitting that I am still getting used to --sewing has definitely spoiled me and made me come to expect every project to take only hours, or a day or two at most.

As I suspected, I have worn my new cowl nearly every day since completing it -- I love how soft it is and the deep mossy green color is one of my favorites. Overall, I highly recommend this cowl project...and I'm certain it would go a lot faster if you have a little time. Time isn't all that available in my world right now.

After finishing this project, I decided immediately that my next knitting project needs to be something quick. I need some instant gratification.
Any ideas?

Be well,

Leya

daily ritual: hydrate

lemons are added, or sometimes limes.
either way, I try to drink the whole thing by bedtime.
sometimes I fail miserably.

more daily rituals can be found here. join in if you like. 

curiousbird is flying south (in a while)

Hi there,

Hope your weekend was fun.  I had a blast. Friday was girls night, which involved a lovely dinner with some hilarious fellow mamas from my 'hood. And if that wasn't already a treat, Dustin and I had a real life date night on Saturday. We joined one of our favorite couples for dinner at  Jose Garces' awesome new restaurant, JG Domestic. It was loads of fun to get kinda dressed up and go out for a nice dinner in a beautiful space. Not that I don't love watching Felix smear peas all over his face during dinner, because I do. But you get what I'm sayin'.

Moving right along...

On Friday I did a little giveaway to the first person who could guess where we're moving and was thrilled there were so many spot-on guesses. Congrats again, Jodi. Your vintage linens are shipping out soon.  And to think I thought people might be stumped by my clues. No way, you guys know your stuff.

So, yeah, after it being up in the air for a while, we finally got everything sorted out and are moving to North Carolina sometime in August. We were almost headed West, but that wasn't in the cards and I'm really excited about not having to move everything back across the country. Moves like that are crazy expensive. Anyway,  Dustin will be working primarily at Duke University. He will be in Chapel Hill at UNC weekly too, but after talking it over and hearing from friends who have lived in the area, we have decided to land in Durham.  We're excited about the area (loved seeing it on this list) and look forward to having a "real" yard (can't get that in the city) for Felix to tromp around in. Also,  I've been thinking about doing this for a while, so it cool to know it's possible.   Of course we're going to miss tons of things about Philly (friends! bikeability! food! public transportation! friends!). We have loved living here for the last five years and I'm already making a list of Phillycentric things I/we must do before leaving. Perhaps I'll post the list sometime soon?

Okay, so here's the part where I start to blush and say that although we've lived in North Carolina before, we have never lived in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area. If you live there and want to clue us in about living there or, um,  make friends, please send me a shout. I have made some of my best Philly friends from this here blog, so I'm not shy about giving it a go for friend-makin' down South. More on our future move sometime down the road. For now, we've got school to finish, a baby to raise, and lots more living in the City of Brotherly Love to do. 

Be well,
L.

love

Just stumbled upon Pigeon Toe Ceramics. So glad I did.

Brain dump

Hello Friday!

This week passed quick, and hooray(!),  the allergies or whatever was bugging me have left me alone for now. Thank goodness because I'm such a miserable sick person. Full disclosure: I'm a whiner when I'm sick.  A total whiner.

Other than feeling sorry for myself midweek, I had a pretty good week overall.

Felix and I built a huge paper nest out of old New Yorkers yesterday. He was beside himself with joy and the nest stayed in the middle of the floor for hours allowing us to revisit it at least a few times throughout the day. Paper is top dog in Felix's world currently. No question.

I also had tea and pastries with a good friend who showed me how to finish the knitting project I've been working on forever. I CAN NOT believe I am finally finished with it (photos soon). I'll get into the specifics when I post about the project, but I'll go ahead and admit that I learned a lot while completinig this project. I made several rookie mistakes, which I'm pretty sure won't happen down the road. Learning something new is good for me, albeit it frustrating at times.

This week I have found myself thinking a lot about Spring cleaning. I have plans to go through everything and get rid of all the excess stuff. I got through half of our sideboard yesterday during one of F's naps and it felt so dang good. More cleaning to come.

Here's some big news. The hubs is a superstar and has been awarded a fancy pants grant and a fellowship at not one, but two universities. We're definitely moving before Fall and it's bigtime exciting.  (I am going to post a dedicated "we're moving, wanna be my friend?" post soon)
Anyone want to take a guess at where we're going? Here's a hint: the schools are located close together and each place if fond of the color blue. Shoot, this is fun (and totally unplanned). The first person to guess both schools wins the lot of vintage linens I cleared out of my sideboard yesterday. There is a set of vintage Vera napkins involved ;).  *People who already know are not allowed to play... that means you, Heather, Sherri, Mary Beth, and anyone I am forgetting.

Holy smokes!! You guys are good. Duke and Carolina it is. Jodi got her comment in first, so she wins the loot. Congrats, Jodi.

Okay, back to work.

More very soon,
L.

I heart...

I have a nasty case of allergies or some such nonsense so I'm taking it easy for a couple of days.
Until I pop back in, I leave you with a photo and a list. Be well.

I heart...

books by dallas clayton
big dipper candles
perserved lemons
little jars of tulips and irises
glittery flats
fig cookies from Termini Bros.
completed taxes
homemade pizza with carmelized onions and gorgonzola
chambray shirts
and Spring. I really like Spring...even with the silly allergies that so often have to accompany it.

We had two different families visit this week -- it was great to spend some time with everyone and share my boy with both his aunt and uncle on his dad's side and his "nana" and aunt on my side. The weather cooperated (I love you, Spring!) allowing us to do lots of entertaining outside of the house -- there were trips to the amazing Italian bakery in our neighborhood, to our favorite swings in the park, and  lots and lots of stroller walks through the city. Felix and his feisty cousin Hazel played and snatched pacifers and squealed and rolled around endlessly. It was hilarious and exhausting. I don't know how people with twins do it!

It's friday and the weekend is supposed to be crazy beautiful. I see a picnic in the park in our future.

Hope you have a lovely time doing whatever you do.

xox,
L.

daily ritual: a bath for the little one

his bedtime routine begins with a bath; it has been this way since his very first days.  he loves it, but I'm certain I love it more.

join in on the daily ritual project if you like. and feel free to leave a comment linking to your post. you can also join in over here.

have a wonderful day!

Hazel comes to town

Felix's only cousin is in Philly for a visit. We are definitely keeping busy.

I'll be back soon,

L.

Happy Happy

Wow. Here we are at, as Dustin likes to say, .75, or as I like to say, that wacky age where Felix has been out in the world the same amount of time as he was cookin' in me. Still wrapping my brain around the fact that I walked around with him in there for so long. Time continues to fly and our love for him continues to grow. It's painful. In a good way.

As you can probably tell, these monthly photo shoots are getting harder and harder to pull off -- Felix could care less about holding up the sign properly. Gah! Only a few more months to go before I pull the plug on this monthly photo project...surely he will tolerate a little more sign holding, er, eating.

Now for the update: the last month has been tons of fun.  He is getting busier and busier and more enthusiastic about playing and exploring, but still no crawling as much as we can tell he wants to. Poor kid gets so frustrated when he can't get to something he has his eyes on. Last week, he managed to roll his way over to rip all the books off the lowest bookshelf, which I'm certain was only the tip of the iceberg of the destruction in our future. Crawling is going to make for a whole new ballgame, isn't it?

Some highlights from this month include:

Lots of good times when it comes to eating. He is getting much better with texture and much more excited to give new things a try.

Speaking of eating, he is clearly interested in sampling some of Mortimer's tail. So far we have blocked this, but Mort is not very good at keeping his distance or his tail from moving all around in an enticing manner, so it's only a matter of time before Felix takes a nibble. Good grief, I do not look forward to that day. Poor Mort.

The sound "Mah" (the beginning of Mama?!) is kinda sorta starting to happen. Usually when he's pissed. Go figure.

He's had lots of fun at the park on (in?) the swings lately. He's not sure how to pump his legs yet, but we continue to work on it ;)

Happy 9 month Birthday, Felix Augustus!

May the longtime sun shine upon you.

Love,

Mama and Daddy