Fall Fashion Preview

A sneak preview of what will be big this Fall: Oranges, Corals and texture will dominate the fashion scene. Items that evoke an "eccentric, old lady from the Upper East Side" are hot for Fall. Also big this coming season are silk scarves, retro patterns, and vintage-Victorian velvet shoes.

A "thank you" is owed to our willing model and to Aunt Whitny for coining the term for the "Upper East Side look".

First Foods

So far Riley has only tried a few foods. A tiny bite of homemade apple sauce and pureed carrots, a little vanilla frozen yogurt, a taste of watermelon, and last weekend, she helped herself to a lemon. Despite her mixed reviews, she kept putting the tart lemon in her mouth.

Cooking with Mitt! Cooking lessons by Dad.

Step #1, Make sure to use a proper cooking oil and large skillet, and add one large Mitt!


















Step #2, Cook your mitt in the wok or skillet until she's thoroughly bored of dad's antic.


















Step #3, swirl pan to mix.


















Step #4, Remove from the stove, ensuring thorough cooking.














Step #5, Enjoy your perfectly braised mitt.











Step #6, Admire that adorable foot dangling below.

Mitt Trade

Way cuter than that vomiting baby on the e*trade commercials. Riley sat next to me while I worked yesterday. She was set up with an old laptop for practice and her cellphone, which is actually an old cell phone we washed, de-batteried and gave to her. She is a pro typist and devourers my mightymouse at any opportunity.

Mitt Feet and the Beach

Almost as cute as Gus' paws. Her little feet are in need of a pedicure.

Sandy Gus Feet

Here's Gus relaxing at the beach last weekend. His paws are sandy and oh, so cute!

Big Lake, Little Mitt

Ri's aunt and uncle invited us to South Lake Tahoe to stay in a cabin for the weekend. We've been sick for over a week so we weren't able to go up as early as we would have liked.

Friday was picturesque, the lake wasn't crowded, the water was cool and clear. We went kayaking and Riley was able to see the largest lake in California (well not all of it is in California, for those of you who are keeping track). Thanks to uncle-Michael for capturing this photo of Ri and dad testing the waters!

Ready for Her Close Up

Thank you Whitny for sending these ridiculous close-ups! They almost look like self portraits. These photos come close to capturing the signature dark spot in Mitt's right eye.

The Genesis of a Crawl

From start....to the exhausting end.

Mitt Fortress

With the speed at which Riley is crawling these days, it has become helpful to corral her. At first the Mitt fortress started small, a circle of bed pillow on the living room rug. Now that she is faster and not as easily placated with a small space, her mini-fort has expanded into a full-fledged Fortress, spilling into the hallway, bathroom and office.

Her fortress allows for maximized exploration while keeping her away from what she usually makes a beeline for: the dog's food dishes and anything plugged into electrical outlets. Now our house looks as if 5-year-olds have taken over a college dorm room!

Bathroom Remodeling

When we first moved in there was brown paint. We installed wainscoting, new fixtures and went with a bright yellow color to complement the black and white. Now the bathroom is a retro-dessert-diner pink, black and white.

This last weekend I painted our bathroom. It occured to me after painting that the pink I chose is reminiscent of the Illy espresso machine pink color. (I don't believe they make it in this color any longer). Below are photos of our bathroom project.

Weekend Update

Riley's aunt Whitny came to town to visit her, with Whitny's help, we've discovered that Mittster has quite a bit of Scottish and English heritage, but also some Czech Jew genes.

Tracing her lineage back to the Norman invasion of England or perhaps just 100 years (If I don't get some additional information on my side of the family), is in the works.

Espresso cup design

I love how these Illy espresso cups are incredibly simple, yet use the mirror images from the ink illustrations on the saucers. So clever! Makes me wish I had unlimited space for storing and using such things.

I will miss those gums.

Riley sits in her room in front of one of the canvas paintings above her changing table. This photo shows off her little mowaky-patch of hair and her adorable toothless gums. I love the way babies look with their gummy smiles. I think I will sorely miss that look once those first teeth come in. Too big, too quickly.

I love these photos, especially the first interior. Lovely combination of warm lavenders, patterns, textures and subtle white shades. This is borrowed from desiretoinspire.net - photos by Toronto photographer Angus Fergusson.

Never too much duckie!

The pink rubber duckie is all the rage for bath time now. Today she flipped over in the tub and began some beginning swimming to get the duck. Her focus is intense.

Shopping for lighting

I have been looking for additional living room lighting for at least a year. I have looked at all the usual places, everything from Target to Restoration Hardware. Since our house is eclectic (a nice way of saying that we have a total lack of planning with our decorating), I wanted something fairly traditional, but not too mundane. Here are some of my favorite shopping finds, all from lumens, ranging from $66 to over $600.