We finally have WordPress (and our 'Out and About' WordPress template) up and running!

Check out our new blog at: http://familyblog.spritzerleyba.com/

Please update your bookmarks and feeds accordingly!
(I will set up a redirect here soon.)

One of the projects that has been on the back burner, but that I have strongly wanted to complete, is an updated photography portfolio. It's been mostly done for over a year, needing just those final touches and corrections before the final upload. So, after an evening of coding and adding an events section, my new photography portfolio is live. Please check it out and let me know what you think!

As always, it's a work in progress. (Though who knows when I'll get around to updating it again once the baby gets here!)

When will our baby arrive? I was born three weeks early, David almost two weeks late. We each arrived when it was the right time for us and were perfectly healthy.

Please leave a comment and guess the baby's birthday! My due date is February 3rd.

(We need to work out some prizes for the person who guesses the closest date!)

Window texture at sunset. We tacked up this beautiful paper on our front door.
Little decorating details like this are slowly making our rental feel like home...

We are slowly unpacking and turning this house into our home. The first thing we did when we moved in (after unpacking basic kitchen and bathroom supplies) was unpack our books. I feel like this somehow provides brilliant insight into who David and I are and what we value, but I am not quite sure what it is other than the fact that it shows how we love to read and missed our books at our last place (we only unpacked around 5 of the 20 boxes there).

The rest of the unpacking has been slow and steady. We've been here over a month and we still haven't unpacked our clothes -- we've been washing the same two weeks worth of shirts/pants, etc. over and over again since we moved in. That's one of the projects I plan to tackle this week: sort, purge, wash, put away. (For example, I've decided that I really don't need to still be wearing shirts from middle school. You think I am kidding?!) I also want to set aside my favorite pre-maternity clothes, so I have some cozy and loved things to wear after the baby comes.

Because my belly is so in the way now, I tend to drop food on it all the time. David says this is just a preview of our life to come with the kids: we will be wearing stained clothes for the next few years... unless a miracle occurs and we can suddenly afford to dress like those girls on Sex and the City and only wear our outfits once. Ha!

28 weeks pregnant -- arms crossed, posing in front of our new bedroom curtains

and the only time you'll catch me lying flat on my back...

Today I got up at 5am so I could spend some time with David before he headed off to Colorado (for a business trip), replied to some emails and tried to troubleshoot Wordpress errors on my Audrey Hepburn Tribute website, headed out to yoga, ran into my friend Chelsea (and got to say bon voyage before she heads off to Mexico for a friends wedding), hung out with lots of pregnant women, checked out organic baby clothes at the local consignment store, picked up a treat at Whole Foods, and headed home, made lunch (and burned my finger for the third time this week on our new convection oven -- bleh!), chatted with David, took some belly photos, and updated this blog. All before 2pm. It's nice to have a busy day. Keeps me distracted and not thinking about how my honey is away for the week.

Good thing I have the baby to keep me company. ;)

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+ Updated: Baby has the hiccups! (We now know that our little one has already turned and is in position! All right, little Leyba!)
+ Had a great visit with my mom last week! The baby wishlist is now almost ready to go online.
+ So upset that I can't go help with the San Francisco Bay cleanup efforts. One of the downsides of being pregnant.
+ On the upside, my skin is the clearest its been in over a decade. (I need to take comfort in the small things. Pregnancy, while rewarding and totally worth it, can be ass-kicking.)

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Recent flickr favorites:

Click above to view more.

In our house David and I each have our own way of getting ready for the baby. While I'm reading The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, David is reading Calvin and Hobbs collections. I think they are equally valid (and could be a good commentary on differences between the sexes).

Before we hit month seven of the pregnancy, I thought it would be fun to post monthly polls about the baby. Take your best guess!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Now that I am an adult I couldn't care less about dressing up or gorging on candy. But I still love all the witch stuff and Halloween movies. In October I always want to watch episodes of Charmed and my favorite witch movies like Practical Magic, and of course the Harry Potter films (the last couple anyhow!). Now I also enjoy seeing the kids dressed up. This year we spent the holiday with friends and their children. It was a blast:

When I was a child I loved decorating the house for Halloween even though we'd only have a handful of trick or treaters (I lived on a very small street where we were the only children for most of my childhood). Instead of the usual filling up a pillowcase with candy like my friends did in the big development neighborhoods nearby, I would spend the evening visiting my fifteen or so neighbors and chatting with each for 15 to 20 minutes at their home. I used to love the fires in the fireplaces and spending quality time with these diverse and interesting people who I had known my whole life. Even today, years later, I feel a bit sentimental about the whole thing. During this time of year, I always feel a little bit sad that I can't visit with my beloved neighbors from Manning Lane: Natalie, Madeline, and Margaret, who have all passed away (in their upper 90s). (It even makes me sad that my children won't get to know them. Ah, I am so pregnant and extra-sentimental!) I feel lucky to have such warm childhood Halloween memories.

For me this holiday is still about good friends and that extra element of magic that's missing from every other day...

Okay, I also have a thing for candy corn.

So this past weekend my engagement and wedding ring came off. It's official: my ring finger is no longer a size 4. I found the whole experience rather crushing -- not so much over my fingers being larger, but the idea that I had to take the rings for the first time since we got married with the understanding that I couldn't wear them for at least three more months. I like having David not just in my heart, but on my finger, thank you very much. I'm just too sentimental.

Today I felt a little bit better when I noticed that about half of the pregnant women at my yoga class were without their rings as well. Now I feel like the whole thing is more of a pregnant woman right of passage, than just another addition to the crappy pregnancy symptoms checklist. Big sigh of relief.

My belly is getting big! Trust me, these pictures don't really show just how gigantic my tummy is right now.

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+ From the New York Times: Five Easy Ways to Go Organic

Lemon tree in our backyard

Crisp evenings, gorgeous downright hot days: these California seasons are so strange! We're talking about a 40 degree temperature difference! Amazing. Reminds me of the desert.

The unpacking activities continue...

And I'm now 25 weeks along. Suddenly my appetite has increased, my belly grows noticeably every week, and getting up out of bed is surprising difficult. I can't even begin to imagine how hard moving around is going to be in three months...

We've discovered the baby likes Euro dance music: picture lots of dancing around and kicking Mommy to the beat! I guess we shouldn't be too surprised as David's brother and my uncle are musicians. Let the rhythm move you, baby!

I can't wait to meet our little one.

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Loving these sites:
+ My cousin Michael's awesome new music blog
+ Geninne's beautiful illustrations at her art blog -- check out her mini biosphere
+ Creative Thursday with playful daily paintings
+ Updated our links page

And some gorgeous flickr finds:

I'm gearing up to overwhelm you with baby photos.

Where have I been? Moving!

What have I been up to? Packing, cleaning, and unpacking!

I'm also getting to know the new neighborhood (just a few blocks away from the old), regularly attending prenatal yoga classes, starting up at the local chiropractor (life changing for a pregnant woman!), hanging out at my friend Chelsea's house, baking all sorts of yummy fruit treats -- baked apples, strawberry pie -- and drinking lots of decaf English Breakfast tea. It's this fall weather; I can't help myself.

Now that the computer is set up, we have internet access, and I've located my camera card reader, hopefully I will get this blog up and rolling again.

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Some links for you:
+ I love the idea of a doctor making house calls
+ Video on homebirths via Wannabe Hippie (note: this is definitely not g rated!)
+ Decorating ideas with awesome room inspiration galleries
+ Great book for every woman planning on giving birth in America (thanks, Ranni!)
+ Fun, inspirational, very orange blog

Right now I am savoring the first rain of the fall. With the window cracked open, I can hear the sound of raindrops landing on the ivy outside. It's cool and crisp and overcast. I just love fall here in California, how it stretches on and on and we barely see winter and then finally spring arrives again.

I also love how autumn is already becoming a part of my morning routine. I wake up bundled warm in a crisp room, enjoy cups of (decaf) English breakfast tea with milk, and do yoga. I wear a sweatshirt in the mornings and put on layers of clothing for my daily walk. I've been baking nearly every day -- banana bread, Brazilian cheese bread, baked apples. The trees are just starting to change colors and leaves litter the path.

I adore this time of year. I so like the idea of bundling up for winter and feeling cozy.

We are in the process of moving. We've rented a darling little house in the same part of town as where we now live. It was built in the 1940s, so it has wood floors, big windows, and loads of charm. Slowly we have been organizing and updating addresses and beginning the packing process. We have almost three weeks to move all our stuff over, so it should be as sane a moving experience as one can wish for. So many exciting things going on...

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Some autumn flavored, beautiful photos:
+ Autumn breakfast
+ Fall preview
+ A little gift of autumn

You know you want to try this out. All the cool people are doing it.

Today my midwives told me I'm allowed to have a little bit of chocolate every day. They were shocked I was eating it just once a week.

I am the luckiest woman alive.

Reading up on baby bath time in the fabulous Baby Book by William and Martha Sears.

I've been slowly working my way through all the pregnancy/parenting books at the library... This one is heads and tales above the others I've read recently. (Let's just say that I don't see eye to eye with the AAP, for example!) Other books I've loved: Pregnancy the Natural Way and Raise a Smarter Child by Kindergarten (intuitive, basic stuff that every parent should do!). I cannot wait to apply all this knowledge! We're pretty much half way there now...

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It's amazing how fast this blog has transitioned from a grown-up blog to a baby blog. Sorry, guys! I have a feeling it's only going to get worse.

Where have we been the past week? We've been covered in straw, clay, and sand up in Hopland where we took a fantastic class in natural building techniques. Now we are really excited about building a home with our own two hands.

After a week of being with like-minded folks, camping, using an outdoor shower, away from the computer and email, and being outside every day, we've been in culture shock since arriving at home. We want to go back! We miss our new friends!

View photos from the workshop here.

These "Estrogen To-Do Pads" are just so brilliant. Yuni and I saw them a few weeks ago when we were cruising baby shops in Berkeley.

See, there is this great scientific explanation for why I forget everything now that I'm pregnant.

David likes to call this my "estrogen excuse."

I'm loving my early morning walks. It starts off cloudy and cool and then slowly the clouds burn off and the sun and bright blue sky arrive. I feel invigorated by the beautiful scenery, not to mention the endorphins. I really love working out.

Here are some photos of my breasts and I taking my tummy for a walk. (I swear my baby bulge isn't quite that big yet -- it's just distorted by my camera phone and the fact that my shirt kept inching its way up my belly!).

I wrote this back in July and forgot to post it... Whoops!

This summer I've stumbled on a number of articles and useful websites rating chemical additives in basic everyday products: make-up, cleaners, sunscreens, and even toothpaste. Even products that sound green can be unsafe. For example, Simple Green All Purpose Cleaner contains additives that are hazardous to women's reproductive health.

One of my favorite sites is the The Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database, which scores and ranks personal care products based on a synthesis of known and suspected hazards from databases of scientific literature. Search for your toothpaste, moisturizer, contact lens solutions, shampoo, deodorant, mouthwash, make-up, sunscreen, and more to identify unsafe chemicals. (If your particular brand isn't listed you can search by ingredient instead.) I've already switched our sunscreen and daily moisturizer to avoid known cancer causing agents from seeping into our skin. I find it terrifying reading about what we put in our cosmetic products.

The best part of the Skin Deep site is that they rank products, so it's fairly easy finding alternatives to our household favorites. Of course, just because they are natural doesn't mean they are affordable. I've found that has been the most trying aspect of this whole thing: finding affordable and safe cosmetic products. You'd think it would cost more to process all those chemicals, but evidently not so much.

"The next Harry Potter movie comes out in November 2008. We'd better make sure we line up a babysitter so we can go see it."

Thank you to our loving and supportive friends and family who have written and called us over the last few days offering congratulations! We love hearing from you and have been thrilled with your response!

Our company left on Friday, so now we are trying to get back to each and every one of you (over 70 people!), so please be patient with us. As we wrote in our family email, we're trying to spend as little time as possible on the computer/phone and doing email at this time in our lives. What can we say?! We have other things going on.

In the meantime, we wanted to send out an enormous thank you and let you know how much we appreciate your well-wishes!

We're into the second trimester now, so it's time to share our news: yep, we're having a baby! Finally, the news you have all been waiting for. As you can imagine, David and I are thrilled!

We're planning on having a natural, at-home birth (under the guidance of two fantastic, very experienced midwives), so we won't know the gender until our little one arrives in late January/early February.

So, here's what I have really been up to this summer: Growing our peanut. Taking naps. Watching my belly grow. Developing porn star boobs (and the corresponding constant backaches). Wearing maternity clothes (shopping for some in the above picture). Going for lots of walks. Craving kiwi fruit and string cheese. Researching baby names. Feeling our little one move around.

Bliss.

Where have we been? We've had house guests. Many, many house guests. Only one more this week and then that's it for the rest of the summer.

Driving to the airport, we came to a complete standstill on the highway. Was it a serious accident? Construction? No, it turned out to be rubbernecking because of a photo op. Two car loads of tourists (who else could they be?!) who were in a minor fender bender, took turns posing for photographs with the very tall and distinguished local policeman in front of their cars. I've never seen anything like it.

We're thinking about buying a digital camcorder and we'd appreciate any suggestions that you may have about brands, models, specs, etc. We're primarily planning on taking videos to post on this website, but would like the option of making dvds for our families too (so the resolution would have to be fairly high). We are already fans of Canon and Sony digital cameras, but are open to just about anything compatible with our PC computers. Oh, and our budget is modest. Any thoughts? Thanks for your help!

Earlier this month we celebrated our wedding anniversary and David's birthday. We baked one amazing strawberry shortcake (David's choice! My favorite!), half of which is now in the freezer. David worked from home and then had holiday, so we spent three super chill, relaxing days together. And in typical Spritzer Leyba fashion, we celebrated with great food (Vietnamese and Japanese) and no presents or cards. It was so us and just perfect.

This week I've been out of commission with a head cold. Yesterday I started to feel more energized and am no longer blowing my nose every 10 minutes, so I think I am on the mend (just in time for David to catch it, poor guy). On the flip side, the perks of being sick include lots of yummy comfort food, catching the episode of Voyager where Seven becomes part of the crew (!), and reading several books cover to cover. It's been restful, it's been relaxing, and now that I am totally bored out of my mind, I am ready to feel good already and get back to normal life! I mean, who has ever heard of getting a cold in July?! Sheesh. I want to get out and exercise already! Now that is true dedication.

It's almost the weekend of Harry Potter. Who else is totally pumped?! (Btw, David and I both felt that the new Order of the Phoenix movie was a dud --- I could go on and on about it's shortfalls, but perhaps that will be a post for a later time. Back to the couch, I go! Stay healthy, everyone!)

Maybe I just needed to post once to get my posting-groove back on. Inspiration abounds!

Reading about Mary Beth's kitchen renovation project made me chuckle. She writes, "[her husband] Iain has 10 days to get this done, because then the last Harry Potter will arrive and he won't be doing anything but breathing and reading until he's finished it." I can totally relate. We have our calender cleared for next weekend and that's a feat in itself.

As we have with the last few Harry Potter books, David and I plan to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) aloud to each other, taking turns as our voices start to go. We love this ritual: sharing the book together and really savoring it, because reading aloud forces us to absorb each and every word (we can't skim ahead!).

I feel bittersweet about this final book. I cannot wait to hang out with my favorite characters, yet dread the end of the series and saying goodbye to this wonderful world.

"Honey, I don't think they sell Trader Joe's brand beans here." Really, you think?! They were a darling older couple and it just cracked me up.

By the way, I have been much more aware of price differences lately between stores here. Organic items such as sprouted bread, cheese, cereal, cottage cheese, rice pasta, and jam are MUCH cheaper at Trader Joe's. Things like nuts, dried fruit, and omega-3 fortified eggs are cheaper at Whole Foods. For our veggies and fruits, we pretty much stick to the Farmer's Market, which is now in full swing (thank goodness!). We've been eating a total of about 10 pounds of peaches, plums, and nectarines weekly. We just can't resist prices less than two dollars a pound for pesticide-free fruit (versus over four dollars a pound at Whole Paycheck). It's Spritzer Leyba heaven!

For the last few weeks I have been even more flakey than usual. Day after day I've forgotten to do any of the items on my to-do list (basic things too, like cook dinner). Earlier this month we missed David's parents' thirtieth anniversary and then his mother's birthday five days later. And on Sunday I forgot about Heidi's book signing that I have been eagerly anticipating since her book came out in March (I had even emailed her a few days earlier telling her how excited we were!).

Yep, that's a bad track record.

It makes me wonder what other things I've forgotten about.

I've been spending next to no time on the computer and it's been lovely. Sorry for my silence, I'll try to post more in the next few days. Right now life is full of fresh fruit, good friends, lots of walks, favorite books, and little adventures.

David and I love going on movie dates. Indie films, blockbusters, documentaries, you name it. We like it. We like going out, we like the big screen and surround sound, we like the experience of being at the movies together.

This summer should be great for movie dates. There are so many movies that we want to see. Here is our list of films to catch, with release dates, and links to summaries and trailers.

May:
Fay Grim (now in theaters) -- I am a huge Parker Posey fan. This one looks hysterical: she plays a normal person thrown in an Alias-type situation.

Shrek the Third (now in theaters) -- one of many, many movie sequels this summer.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (now in theaters) -- thoroughly enjoyed the previous two films, mostly indifferent to this one though I believe we'll enjoy ourselves.

June:
Ocean's Thirteen (now in theaters) -- loved the first, hated the second, might be willing to give the third a try.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (June 15, 2007) -- we'll probably wait for the reviews before seeing this one.

You Kill Me (June 22, 2007) -- we are so looking forward to this Ben Kingsley mob comedy. Read the synopsis and watch the trailer.

Evan Almighty (June 22, 2007) -- looks SO much more clever and fun than the first one. Starring Steve Carell as the modern-day Noah.

ADDED: Live Free or Die Hard (June 27, 2007) -- Die Hard with a Vengeance is one of my favorite action movies. Can't tell if I'll like this one from the trailers, but it certainly looks action-packed.

ADDED: Sicko (June 29, 2007) -- Michael Moore's latest documentary about the American healthcare system.

ADDED: Ratatouille (June 29, 2007) -- The most recent trailer finally explains what this Pixar film is about: a rat dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family's wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession.

July:
Transformers (July 4, 2007) -- David can't wait to this one. (He insists that I missed out never seeing the original show when we were kids.)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (July 13, 2007) -- 48 28 days away. I cannot freaking wait.

ADDED: Talk to Me (July 13, 2007) -- The story of Washington D.C. radio personality Ralph "Petey" Greene, an ex-con who became a popular talk show host and community activist in the 1960s. Trailers look fantastic. Cami and I are going to this one together.

ADDED: I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (July 20, 2007) -- I laughed so hard at the trailer for this Adam Sandler and Kevin James comedy about two straight, single Brooklyn firefighters who pretend to be a gay couple in order to receive domestic partner benefits.

August:
Becoming Jane (August 3, 2007) -- the jury is out as to whether we'll see this one. I'm a HUGE Jane Austen fan, so I'm not sure I'll be willing to put up with the fiction they are weaving into this biographical piece.

Stardust (August 10, 2007) -- we haven't read the novel, but the trailer looks so fantastic and what a cast (Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ian McKellen, etc.)!

Opening this fall:
Martian Child (Oct. 12, 2007) -- the trailer looks cute and I like the premise.

The Golden Compass (December 7, 2007) -- while not a huge fan of the book, I adore Philip Pullman's other novels, and this preview makes the story seem much bigger than what I imagined while reading it...

Wow, what a list! Obviously, we won't make it to all of these, but I like knowing that when we're in the mood for a movie date, there will be many movies to choose from.

So, what are you looking forward to seeing this summer?

Originally posted May 24, 2007

"What are you up to, sweetie?"

"I'm reading trashy gossip."

"Trashy gossip? As opposed to classy gossip?!"

Yep, after I read the New York Times, I need something lighter to help me unwind.

What are some of your guilty pleasures?

We've had so many great days in a row. Charming movies, wonderful times with friends, super-awesome-fabulous birthday parties, and hours spent out of doors (gardening, biking, hiking...). I love this time of the year. It's perfect weather for BBQs, sitting on the grass, and drinking cool refreshing beverages. The little things that make us feel so relaxed and happy. It doesn't seem to take much to have a full life.

What do you love most about springtime?
What are your favorite warm-weather activities?

Our last ceramics class was on Wednesday.

This morning I stopped by the pottery studio and half our class was there working. I like how this is developing into a passion for all of us.

My first set of bowls and plates are fresh out of the kiln.
These are two of my favorites from this firing.

Can't wait to see how the others turn out.

Tomorrow we attend a tea ceremony at our professor's house. The last time we will all be together as a group. We've talked about organizing a summer pit firing on the beach--how wonderful that would be! I will miss my ceramics-class cohorts. We've had such a good time together.

+ Audiobooks for the drive north
+ Beautiful hill-covered vineyards
+ Lunch with a dear friend
+ A walk around town
+ California sunshine
+ Captured on camera

++ Check this out: Women In Art, 500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art, on YouTube.

We choose to learn how to build a house.

This summer David and I are forgoing the typical luxury vacation to take a course in alternative building techniques. A six-day intensive, we pay them to get ourselves covered in mud, stuck with straw, and up to our knees in alternative foundations. And even though the workshop is just 45 minutes away, we intend to camp on site for the whole week.

Trust me, this is so us.

Anytime we get annoyed with the California housing market, we talk about buying a little bit of land and erecting a yurt until we can afford to build a little cob house.

Our shared dream is to build a green-friendly home out of sustainable materials, off the grid, and with no septic system (opting instead for greywater reuse and composting toilets). I want to eat from our garden and orchards. I am so ready.

So, to David and I, this workshop as an important step in achieving our life goals.
We can't wait. It's going to be so fun!

(Above are Siobhan, Amanda, and David inside the cob cottage at the Kenyon College Environmental Center taken on our trip to Ohio earlier this month.)

I love listening to music. At home, in the car, on our iPod when walking around town... I frequently find myself humming. I often have songs stuck in my head and, as long as they are good songs, that makes me happy. I like surrounding myself with music.

Here are some female musicians that I am currently digging (with links to their sites and music samples).

Bebel Gilberto, Missy Higgins, Vienna Teng:

Imogen Heap, Colbie Caillat, Hope:

Tori Amos, Leela James, Regina Spektor:

I am a strawberry fiend. I love them just about every way: in fruit salad, with ice cream, yogurt, short cake, pancakes, lemonade, and baked with rhubarb. I like them fresh, frozen, stewed, freeze-dried, and baked. We serve them at special occasions. Strawberry short cake is always my birthday treat. At our wedding we served strawberries in spinach salad and also dipped in chocolate. As far as I'm concerned, there is no such thing as too many strawberries.

David's grandmother is also a strawberry enthusiast and this is a huge bonding point for us. She has strawberry prints, strawberry light switch covers, strawberry pillows, and other strawberry items all over her house. I like to add to her collection -- we've gotten her strawberry decorated drinking glasses and, of course, chocolate covered strawberries. Whenever I get a new catalog in the mail or discover a great online shop, I always check for strawberry items. This is exactly my kind of quirky.

You can imagine my delight that strawberries are now in season. We buy them in bulk every Wednesday and Saturday at our local Farmers' Market. Organic, sweet, juicy, and so delicious.

Ah, I love springtime in California.

Every couple of weeks I change my desktop image. Sometimes I download photos from National Geographic, post photos from my portfolio, make a collage of favorite images, or photos that friends have taken (from our wedding, for example). I try to pick images that elicit an emotional response: photos of the ocean when I feel hot and want to go swimming, photos of the mountains when I miss Boulder, photos of friends after we've talked on the phone. Above is my latest desktop image of artists/photos that inspire me (drop me an email if you'd like a copy for your desktop).

What sort of images do you post on your desktop?

When we moved here over a year ago, two ducks and their offspring were living in the water feature outside our apartment. This year, they are back. After weeks of waddling around, the mama duck has given birth. Look how cute her little ducklings are! I love that they follow her everywhere.

This was as close as I could get (the pictures are super zoomed in). Every time I would approach them the mother would turn everyone around and they would swim off in the opposite direction away from me (see picture on right).

I love having them here; I just hope the cats stay away. Last year, only a few ducklings survived.

Hang in there, guys!

Nature can be so heartbreaking.

My younger sister Laura graduated from college!

We had a fantastic long-weekend at Kenyon visiting with family and friends and celebrating my awesome sister! Congratulations, Laura! We are so proud of you.

I love this site: 2-views, where two artists interpret a word using photography and mixed-media. I've been a fan of Maditi's blog for a long time. Love those collaborative projects.

Oh, and I finally updated our about us page. Just little tweaks and a few photos:

above: our Boulder, Colorado wedding

and camping trip to the Great Sand Dunes in 2005

The other day David and I bought a Home Test pH Kit on a whim at Whole Foods. You know how they put good stuff by the register to suck you in. And we are total suckers for science stuff. Especially when there are experiments involved.

So, we've tested our pH levels and evidently David and I are both too acidic. Who knew that was even possible?! And it's not like we are eating a diet of soda and pop-tarts over here. (Just too much dairy and processed grains, I guess.)

Right now I am drinking lemon-spiked water to alkalinize. Yes, I am drinking an acid to be more basic. Evidently lemons, when digested, have a very alkalizing effect. I know this sounds crazy. You're going to have to trust me on this one.

Lately I've had a surge of creativity and it has been a blast. I've had such fun working on my ceramics homework. Yesterday and today I played around with using leaves to create different textures and patterns:

Clay and bits of leaf are now all over the house. So worth it.

Yesterday I finally saw The Queen (how fitting that her majesty visited the White House on the same day--total coincidence). Wow, the film was phenomenal. I was completely floored by Helen Mirren's performance, the breathtaking cinematography, and spectacular script. It was moving, interesting, and thought-provoking. I found my mind lingering over it hours afterwards and it was fresh on my mind this morning when I woke up. Now that is a good movie.

I find it interesting how certain memories are etched clearly in our minds. I remember exactly where I was the moment I learned of Princess Diana's car crash. Some things, often haunting things, really stay with us.

+ walking around barefoot
+ English breakfast tea with milk
+ blooming plants and deep greens
+ creating Japanese tea bowls:

+ pottery inspiration: 1, 2 & 3
+ hot summery days
+ coconut rice pudding as a Sunday treat
+ anticipation of trips to the beach
+ late night alumni on pandora
+ postcards from abroad from Kate-Robin!

When we lived in Boulder, we ate out several times a week and frequently met up with friends at local bars or restaurants. David and I used to go out on dates all the time. In our three years there, had tried nearly every restaurant in town and had our favorite places. The waiters knew us. The owners would stop by. Our friends would know where to find us.

Since moving here we haven't really gone to happy hour or eaten outside or found tons of fabulous restaurants. Yes, we live in California with beautiful weather, but we don't eat out that much because everything is so darn expensive, and most of our friends aren't around the corner and able to meet at a moments notice.

So, yesterday was a treat. After a lovely drive in the country (scouting towns to move to with absolutely no luck), we ended up in beautiful Healdsburg, a smaller, more expensive, and less hippy Boulder, but lovely nonetheless. We found the local brew pub, sat on the back patio, and savored the sunshine and yummy pub fare.

Sitting there we realized that we were having a Boulder date. It felt so normal. It felt so right. We had missed it so much. And now we know that we need to do this way more often... Happy hour, anyone?

Where have I been? What have I been up to?

Gardening at our house (as opposed to Luther Burbank's house), making leaf plates for my ceramics class, paring down and throwing out and organizing our stuff that is taking over the apartment, cooking Thai food, reading (up to a couple hours a day now!), and doing some hard-core running. We seem to have finally developed a routine here in California: yoga, arts and crafts, garden, run, eat, read, sleep, and repeat. We've been here a year now.

p.s. Check out HepburnTribute.com -- that's been a real source of time suckage lately.
Still lots of things to adjust and tweak, but it's on its way.

Evidently, David and I are even hotter than we thought because we're ecosexuals.

"Ecosexual: n. A person who's into hybrid cars, low energy lightbulbs, and recycling. Now that environmentalism is hot, ecosexuals are getting increasingly fashionable." (Defined by Wired Magazine; learn more at Treehugger and SF Magazine.)

+ Bring your own grocery bags
Many grocery stores will even credit you 5 cents for each bag you bring in!
"This is common practice in virtually every other country but our own. The U.S. uses 100 billion plastic bags annually, consuming about 12 million barrels of oil [with] less than 1% of plastic bags are ever recycled, using a sturdy reusable bag will eliminate hundreds to thousands of plastic bags over its lifetime." [via link]

+ Encourage plants to clean up
Certain plants can help remove air pollutants like formaldehyde, benzene, and carbon monoxide and are excellent at cleaning up indoor air pollution. The top 10 plants most effective in removing these toxins from the air are: Bamboo Palm (Chamaedorea Seifritzii), Chinese Evergreen (Aglaonema Modestum), English Ivy (Hedera Helix), Gerbera Daisy (Gerbera Jamesonii), Janet Craig (Dracaena "Janet Craig"), Marginata (Dracaena Marginata), Mass Cane/Corn Plant (Dracaena Massangeana), Mother-in-Law's Tongue (Sansevieria Laurentii), Pot Mum (Chrysantheium morifolium), Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum "Mauna Loa"), and Warneckii (Dracaena "Warneckii"). [via link]
Don't have a green thumb? Golden pothos, English ivy, and peace lilies are all easy-to-grow toxin fighters.

+ Double up on printing
Configure your printer so that it prints on both sides of the page or simply put your printed pages back in the printer to reuse the other side. Download these signs to post in your office around copiers and printers to help reduce paper use.

+ Unplug it
Unplug your cell phone charger and hairdryer when not in use. They continue to guzzle energy even when plugged in and turned off. Alternatively, plug everything on a power strip and use the switch to turn it off instead of manually plugging and unplugging things).
"If 10 percent of the world's cell phone owners did this, it would reduce energy consumption by an amount equivalent to that used by 60,000 European homes per year." [via link]

+ 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth
+ Save Our Planet: 750 Everyday Ways You Can Help Clean Up the Earth/25th Anniversary
I was ten years old when I read these books and they changed my life. Through them I learned that being environmentally aware is easy and that it doesn't take much to make a difference on a local scale. They also set the stage for my decision to become an environmental scientist... If you haven't already, read them!

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