My go-to mom uniform is some sort of denim (dress, skirt, jeans), basket, and clogs. I’m not one to do errands in workout gear. My workout gear is just a sports bra and short shorts, so I hope I don’t go out like that. When we go thrifting, my girls know I beeline to all the denim sticking out in the racks. I saw this dress (vintage label and made in the USA), but I debated about it a little. It has some stains and was a tad too big. After doing some serious stain attacking, most of it came out, and my sewing skills came to the rescue again, and now it’s perfect! I’m so glad I brought it home. It’s lightweight too, so I know this will be one of my go-tos this summer.
I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was working on a special project. Well, I will be opening an online shop that specializes in baskets. My love for these woven beauties needed a place, so I have a nice collection to share with you soon. I have been sourcing vintage baskets and plan to stock different handmade ones from around the world. With all the busyness of family life, I’m a bit behind schedule in getting it up and running, but I will share more details soon. I hope you love baskets because I have lots of pretty ones coming for you!
We went on a family adventure to The Broad a couple weekends ago. We started viewing all the art downstairs first, and we are glad we did that first because the art was more serious and political downstairs. Once upstairs, everything felt more lighthearted and surreal. As we walked around downstairs, some of the art freaked out the girls and it led to good discussions on how artist use their art to send a message and bring out feelings. They were like, “I can’t just make something because I like it?!” True and Brave are slowly going into the logic and analytical way of thinking, but they’re also very much in the give me all the facts stage. It was interesting to look at the art and have they try to decipher the messages and feelings the artist was trying to convey. Downstairs was filled with a lot of heaviness, and some parts we had them look down as they walked by, but it was good for them to experience art that really produced a strong reaction in them.
Once we went upstairs, everything was definitely more lighthearted and playful. Of course, the girls all loved Jeff Koons’ artwork, and Ben and I loved Jean-Michel Basquiat. The girls enjoyed looking at the art upstairs, and in their words, “There was nothing freaky.” We saved the Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room for last. All of us were excitedly anticipating our turn to go in. I went in first with the two middles, and Ben took the bookends. As small as the room was, it did kind of feel like we were in a galaxy far, far away. There’s something quite mesmerizing (and peaceful) about those hanging lights in a small room of mirrors.
In total, we spent a little over 3 hours at the museum, but we definitely could have spent more time. If you’re in LA, you should definitely stop by for a visit, especially since it’s free. Just be sure to book your tickets ahead of time; tickets are released online on the first of every month. We all loved it so much, so we will most certainly find time to go back again.
In the middle of last summer, our AC decided to quit, so it set us back about $1500 to fix. #ohthejoysofhomeownership Ben took a look at how high our electrical bill was, so he decided to keep the AC at a higher temp (84), and we mainly relied on oscillating fans to keep us cool. Ben is a researcher, so he researched lots of reviews for many fans, and so he settled on getting us this Vornado. We went with white and it worked well in getting us through our hot summer. Our electric bill stayed under a hundred during the hottest months of the year, which helped take a small bite of the cost to fix our AC. Don’t you love the irony though? We pay to get it fixed, only to no longer use it. I did complain many times during the heat because my fingers and feet would swell, so it wasn’t the most comfortable, but sometimes you have to sacrifice to save.
Now, I’m not a fan of how bulky fans look (pun intended), and I’m not really into the modern ones (like this) either. When Ben was researching, he was trying to find one that had solid reviews, but also looked decent and would blend with our style. I think the Vornado does a decent job at checking off all our boxes. Then, as I was going through my IG feed last summer, I spotted a good looking fan in this picture by @hidinginhere. I asked her about it, but she was staying in an Airbnb, and didn’t know where the fan was from. I did a lot snooping online to see if I could find it, but wasn’t sure if it was the one, so I contacted the Airbnb owner to find out. She was kind enough to answer my question and shared that she bought it several years ago from Restoration Hardware. After finding that out, Ben and I went to the site, and lo and behold, they had an updated version of the fan. Bad news though… it’s an online-only item and was almost $4o0 not including shipping, so we said, “No bueno.” Once we knew what brand the fan was, we started looking up ratings and reviews on it, and all of them said good things about the Allaire fans, but we definitely didn’t want to pay that price.
If you’ve been following here awhile, you know we can be patient and tend to internet stalk things we like until they go on super sale. Later in the fall, the fan price finally went down, but not nearly significant enough to what we were willing to pay. Then, the price went lower after that, but still not low enough. That happened a couple more times (ironically, with holidays having zero impact on when the discounts occurred), until earlier this month, where it finally dropped to a price that was closer to our budget. Ben still debated holding out to see if it would go lower, but customer service did let him know that if at any point it did go lower within 3o days of our purchase, they would do a price adjustment. We finally bit the bullet, and ordered a floor and table fan, and after using it for a few weeks now, we are very happy with our purchase. They are heavy duty fans (emphasis on heavy) made to last and the lowest speed on the 16″ is still higher than the highest on our Vornado. It definitely cools a room down and it’s not bad to look at either.
We started to look at the possibility of getting solar, but we aren’t quite ready to make the leap yet as we still have much research to do on it. For now though, we will be getting through the coming warmer temperatures with our Vornado on my side of the room and the Allaire on his. Even in the winter, we have a fan on for white noise. I wish we could sleep with the windows open to take advantage of the cool air, but Ben is very sensitive when he sleeps, so the outdoor noise (dogs barking all around) would hinder a good night’s rest for him.
Ben did his research and read plenty of reviews of fans last summer, so I’m glad to share our choices and our thoughts about it here, so in case you’re looking for a good fan for when the temps heat up, I think you’ll like the ones we chose. Get our Vornado fan here, and our Allaire floor fan here (we have the 16″) and the table fan here. We also purchased this small one for one of the girls’ room (had great reviews) and it indeed works well too. We also considered this Vornado, but decided it looked too retro for our home. Ben has always liked ceiling fans, but since I’d rather have vintage or modern light fixtures, there is no space on our ceilings for fans!
The girls were off at their grandparents this weekend, so Ben and I had some time to ourselves. We had a memorial to go to Saturday morning, after which, we went on a little foodie date. One of my favorite Instagram food accounts is @HungryHugh and I drool over most of his food posts.
Our first stop was to Project Poke. Ben ordered a bowl and I got the sushi donut; we loved both and the spicy ponzu sauce was the perfect amount of spice. We were impressed with the sushi donut because it’s not a bad value for the price. It’s $5.25 for the donut, and besides the toppings you see in the photo above, it’s also stuffed with spicy tuna inside. I’m definitely going to make my own version of this at home. I will gladly take a sushi donut over a regular donut any day.
I love seafood, so when I saw the lobster fries from Dos Chinos pop up on @Hungryhugh’s feed awhile back, I knew I had to try that sometime. I knew Ben wouldn’t be much of a fan because 1) he doesn’t eat fries, and 2) he doesn’t eat fried food, but like all smart fellas, he wanted to make his wife happy, so he was up to try it. After Project Poke (he got a bowl because he knew he wouldn’t eat much lobster fries), we made our way to downtown Santa Ana. We paid meter and thought 24 minutes was enough to get our lobster fries, eat a little, and take it on the road to go, but 24 minutes was definitely not enough.
It wasn’t a sit down restaurant (more food court style), so we were a bit surprised how long it took to get our lobster. I think we waited for about 35 minutes. Also, prior to that, I had been telling Ben it costs about $20 for the lobster fries, so we had a bit of sticker shock when we got up to order and pay, and found out market value was $37.45 (or $35.47, can’t remember). Of course, we ordered any way since we were already there. After the long wait, and shelling out some pretty pennies, we finally received our lobster fries in all its fried goodness (badness to the dietitian, or he’d correct me and say “low nutrition-ess”). I immediately dove right into it and loved the lobster meat; it was absolutely delicious. The fries were good too, but nothing extraordinary. All the deliciousness was in the lobster meat. Ben was not impressed, but he doesn’t eat fried food, so he’s kind of biased. If you love fried food, fries, and lobster, I think you should definitely try this place. Just call before you head over to find out what market value is. My parents went a month or so ago and the price was in the $20s, so I think that’s why $20 got stuck in my head.
Since the lobster took so long to cook (and then eat), the rest of our plans for the day kind of got ruined. We had planned to go further south to a plant nursery, but it would have been closed by the time we got there. We had a little tiff (he was crankier than me, maybe cause I was high on lobster and oil). Thankfully (a little later), he came to his senses and lovingly apologized, I happily accepted, then all was well again in Bratcher Loveland. That’s marriage for you… sometimes love abounds, and then sometimes bad attitudes get thrown in for good measure and we grow from it. We spent the rest of the day with him working on things in the garden and I was able to do some cleaning while the girls were gone. I loved our little foodie Saturday date, even though we had some cranky hearts involved.
Thankful that Ben and I got to go on a date this weekend. Also, we are thankful for grandparent weekends that allow us time to go on dates and get things done at home in peace.
Grateful for modern appliances that make life easier, but our washing machine decided it didn’t want to work, so hoping it doesn’t cost a lot to fix. Oye!
This pair of slides and this heel sandal are both perfect for spring and summer.
Now that taxes are almost done, I’m ready to get in spring cleaning and decorating mode. I don’t redecorate often, but I’ve got an itch right now.
Excited to work on some fun art projects with the girls this week!
So inspired by the transformation of this home. If I had extra cash lying around and great vision (with a large dose of patience), I think a project like this would be fun to work on.
If you’re looking for a denim duster, this one on ebay is pretty cool.
My go-to vintage shop, Ms. Tips, is having a 40% sale for her 7th shop anniversary! Someone get this basket please (or this one); both are so good.
I did better at my goal of waking up to read first thing this week. I woke up 3 out of 5 days at 5am, did my Bible reading, prayed, and then worked out once Ben woke up. I’m going to keep trying to improve this week. My soul desperately needs the Word and prayer.
This week felt really long. I’ve been working on taxes (ugh!) and feeling really tired (in case you’re wondering, I’m not pregnant), so things have been kind of off here. There were no fun adventures under the glorious spring sun. There also hasn’t been much cleaning either, so my house is upside down. The girls have been researching their favorite artists from our trip to The Broad and working on reports about them. I’m hoping next week we can actually create art inspired by our visit. Also, I have plans this coming week to get out and enjoy the sunshine. Taxes are almost done (should be turned in by the end of the weekend) and I will have a weight lifted off my chest. It definitely is a lesson to my girls that life isn’t always fun and adventure, sometimes you have to hunker down and do the grown up stuff. Through the craziness of this week, I’ve had these couple lines of a hymn stuck in my head…”Come thou font of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace.” My heart needs major calibrating every day, so I’ve been letting those words really ruminate in my heart, so that hopefully it will come out in my action. In the fun and chaos, may my heart always be in tune to sing His grace.
I have a large growing pile of fabric scraps. I refuse to throw them away because I am sure they can be used for something. I have been seeing different types of interesting necklaces made of buttons, beads, and fabric. Then, I figured why not make one out of my scraps...
I think it made my white shirt a little less boring. This was so quick and easy to make.
How to make a recycled scraps necklace (which is very similar to the straps on my braided tablecloth bag):
1. Take your scrap fabric, I cut a .5''-1'' snip and tear the rest of the fabric down for a nice frayed edge. Used 3 different fabrics for each strand.
2. Take 3 of the torn pieces and tie the ends together with a rubber band.
3. Braid the 3 pieces together and tie ends together with rubber band when done.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for more strands. Remember you can make the strands any length you want, if run out of fabric, just weave more into the braid.
5. Once all the strands you want are braided, gather one end of each strand together and straight stitch together with sewing machine. Repeat for the other ends of the strands. Snip off any excess.
6. Gather ends of the necklace and sew together (snip excess) or a ribbon can be sewn at the ends to be able to tie the necklace closed, but I just sewed both ends together.
7. Voila! A nice way to make use of all your lovely scraps.
Sorry if the directions get you a little lost, but it really is easy. I promise. Maybe I should put some in the shop. Please share any other good ideas you may have of things that can be made with scraps. I would love to hear (read) them!
My go-to mom uniform is some sort of denim (dress, skirt, jeans), basket, and clogs. I’m not one to do errands in workout gear. My workout gear is just a sports bra and short shorts, so I hope I don’t go out like that. When we go thrifting, my girls know I beeline to all the denim sticking out in the racks. I saw this dress (vintage label and made in the USA), but I debated about it a little. It has some stains and was a tad too big. After doing some serious stain attacking, most of it came out, and my sewing skills came to the rescue again, and now it’s perfect! I’m so glad I brought it home. It’s lightweight too, so I know this will be one of my go-tos this summer.
