five things, september 14th edition

1. I think I love blogging. Meeting Theresa and Teri when we were in California. Meeing Erin this weekend (And I can't believe I forgot to link to her in Wednesday's post! Sorry Ducks!). As we sat at lunch at Parc, she looked around at us all and said simply, "Blogging." If it weren't for blogging, this amazing world of new friends would never have opened up to me. And then, earlier this week, we came home to this (pictured above). Tina, at colourliving saw on Instagram that Callum liked some patches she'd posted a photo of and she touched base with me to offer to surprise him with some. When I told her that his birthday was coming up, she went to great lengths (literally!) to spirit some goodies to him. The extent of the goodies surprised and delighted even me, and I knew they were coming! Callum loved the London patches, but he especially loved the personal touches that Tina put in the gift. London stickers, a personalized card. One more delight after another unfolded, and Tina, we can't thank you enough!

2. I think sometimes I hate blogging. Yeah, I said it. I'm not hating my own blogging necessarily, but just wondering if all of your amazing blogs are setting me up for the cycle of dissatisfaction I've been trapped in lately. Hmmm. We've had those conversations about keeping it real and telling the whole story, and I'm not sure that's exactly what I'm talking about. I'm not sure we're required to tell the whole story. Face it, some things are private. Not meant for public consumption. But everywhere I read, people are doing big and bold things with there lives, and here I sit, feeling stuck.

3. I think instead of blaming blogging, I should probably just blame myself! I've been in a funk lately, no lie. And it's funny, because I've talked with so many friends who feel the same way. Just three this week. So what's up with that? September should be better than this! I had a wonderful chat with my friend Megan yesterday and she was 100 kinds of supportive and inspirational. She inspired me to keep on keepin' on (if I could only be a better self-promoter!) and made me want to include some house tours on the blog (But I'd have to travel to Nantucket! Oh well!) and just generally lovingly tried to push me out of my comfort zone. I think it's time I started paying better attention to things around here.

4. Speaking of Megan and her sage advice....I think I'm hoping my new Erin Condren planner will whip my butt into shape. I did it. I totally splurged and got one. It came yesterday, so I'll have to spend some time getting adjusted to it. I'll pop a picture of it on Monday Mash Up because, if I do say so myself, it's beautiful.

5. I think I've missed you guys lately. I know I've been AWOL. This time of year is hell at our house. That's no lie either. Start of school, birthdays, back to school nights, busy husbands, busy kids, new schedules and routines. Add to that my general feeling blue, and there you are. I had lunch with Neel this week and just started crying at the table. That almost always happens at some point in August or September. I had a rough project on my plate this week that I'd been putting off and it was weighing me down too. I can dust my hands of it a bit, and focus on the fun stuff. Like commenting on your blogs and responding to your comments here. I simply haven't had the time to do that and I've missed you. Every single one of you means the world to me. And when I do get down? Well, you lift me up. Each of you. xo

streets of philadelphia {life}

As much as I love our neighborhood, I often feel hemmed in by suburbia. We go back and forth about what we'd like, the solitary silence of nature or the vibrant pace of city life? Cities feel so alive, don't they? Teeming with humanity. I love the idea of living downtown in some metropolis and walking everywhere we need to go. This weekend, visiting our friends Erin and Boyfriend (and I'm proud to call them "friends" not "creepy stalkers we met on the internet"), gave us a sample of that. As soon as we pulled into town, we dumped our car at the hotel and didn't lay eyes on it again until it was time to leave.

Meeting Erin was nothing short of amazing. We quickly left our bags in the hotel and paced around outside waiting for her to arrive. Now that's an interesting moment, isn't it? Meeting someone you've never really seen before, but can't wait to? We took bets on which direction she'd come from, and Callum called it. He saw her first and as soon as he pointed her out (she was unmistakable!), I darted off down the street like someone in a cheesy movie. I promptly stepped on her foot, but she didn't seem to hold that against me. As for Neel and Callum, no introductions were necessary. I don't think we stopped talking for the rest of the night.

Erin suggested a wonderful diner for breakfast the next morning that was right across the street from our hotel, but sadly we had to bypass it. I love me some diner food, but we knew we'd be having a big lunch (hello, Parc!) and ball park food that night. We opted for pastries and coffee at Miel, just a door or two down from our hotel. And this is why city life is so nice. Walk to pastries? Not shabby.

Our hotel was located around the corner from Rittenhouse Square, named after a famed astronomer in the early 1800s. By the second half of the 19th century Rittenhouse was home to the fashionable elite of Philadelphia, which, I'm sure is why Neel's parents lived here for a bit when they were first married. Many years later, though. The square still teems with life. A farmer's market was set up on Saturday with Amish farmers selling gorgeous flowers. There are kids playing, people running and walking, sitting and talking. All manners of doggies sit and walk or bark at squirrels. It's not at all a bad place to spend a weekend morning. Or any morning really. Except perhaps a sleety, cold Pennsylvania morning when you're late for work and your dog won't pee damnit.

I, too can take photos of people when they aren't looking! Erin is a wonderful host in her beloved city. She bought us bus tokens and zipped us around town with ease. Part of why I love traveling to visit people in their spaces is how relaxing it is. I didn't have to worry about a thing. Erin had the tokens. Erin knew which bus to take and when to get off. She knew where to hop into the gift shop for Independence Hall and how to time our tours. We certainly felt well tended to. And besides, Philly is fun! We met up with Boyfriend for lunch at Parc, and I didn't take many photos because we were too busy having fun. We shared some mussels and pommes frites, and we laughed and talked the whole time. You'd never, ever know we'd just met BF. Ever! And you'd never have known he was feeling crummy either. Poor guy. What a trooper.

After naps all around, we were escorted to the ball park with more of Erin's mad skills. You can see how dark the skies are. No more on this shall be spoken. We're still sad.

Oh, but nothing some doggie love can't cure! Brunch with Erin, Boyfriend and Fitz was the perfect cap to our weekend. Their city condo is so charming, and I can attest that the guest room project continues apace. It's going to be an amazing space...it already is! Boyfriend made an amazing quiche and having Fitz around was like some kind of interactive dinner theater! He and Callum got along famously! We felt welcomed beyond belief and it was hard to tear ourselves away.

I should probably go on the record here and say that Cal (and Neel, but really, Cal) just loved Erin (and Boyfriend, but really, Erin). Meeting her and spending time with her was just about the only thing that could make up for that-which-shall-not-be-spoken-of. He had a wonderful time. I think she's probably his first celebrity crush! I We can't wait to go back.

streets of philadelphia {still}

Monday Mash Up, Birthday Weekend Edition

1. Birthday cupcake, later eaten by the dastardly Violet. Bad dog! | 2. Cheasapeake Bay Bridge | 3. One of my favorite bridges | 4. Eastern Shore church | 5. Philadelphia Skyline | 6. Our room number AND Callum's birth weight! | 7. Cal reading all your sweet comments on his birthday blog post | 8. Dinner at the Midtown Continental | 9. Coffee | 10. Rittenhouse Square | 11. Liberty Bell! | 12. Independence Hall | 13. A little piece of Paris in the middle of Philadelphia | 14. Phillies Game | 15. The gang, assembled | 16. Rain out, :( | 17. Fitz does tricks! | 18. Brunch with friends.

Thirteen is a biggie, isn't it? For a long while, our plan for Callum's birthday was to try to do something that he really loved. Something BIG. What more would our baseball-loving boy want to do than to see his beloved team in their home ballpark? Not much, we figured. So on Friday morning, we brought a cupcake up to his room and brought along the dogs to sing "Happy Birthday." In his card we asked if he might want to go to a game the next night. That question was deliberately baffling, so we had him read a birthday email from the lovely Erin that clarified "Hey! Let's go see the Phillies!" I'm not sure I've seen him smile so bright.

He had half a day at school, so there was still a lot of rushing around, during which Violet (with, we think, Lucy as an accomplice) ate that birthday cupcake. Bad dog! That cupcake was as big as her head!

But then noon came and out from school he bolted, grin wide as the world, and we were off. The drive from our house to Philadelphia takes just over five hours and we travel up the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Maryland. It's beautiful. Our true starting point is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, which is a 20-mile long bridge tunnel system crossing the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. It's considered one of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the World. I'll have more photos on Wednesday, but I just love it and love this drive.

We stayed at the Radisson Warwick in Rittenhouse Square, which made for easy walking everywhere. On Friday night we met Erin for an amazing birthday dinner at the Continental Midtown. If Callum loves anything as much as the Phillies, it's staying at nice hotels and eating in nice restaurants (are we raising him right or wrong?!), so this felt like the start to a perfect birthday weekend.

Saturday was very patriotic. We hit the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, the real birthplace of our country. And can I just pause for a moment and give a shoutout to the park rangers in our national parks and at our national monuments? Most recently we've been at Fort Sumter and Independence Hall, and they've been simply amazing. Our ranger this weekend pointed out that the founding fathers of our country labored in a small room with windows sealed shut (so the press couldn't snoop!) in the heat of summer and STILL managed to compromise. Our politicians these days could do well to take a lesson.

After Indepencene Hall, we traveled across the ocean to France where we had an amazing lunch at Parc with Erin and Boyfriend, proof positive that he does exist, he's just as delightful as you'd imagine (as is she, of course), and she really does love France. Parc was amazing, lunch was amazing, we had so much to eat and talk about that afterwards we all needed naps.

And here our story turns tragic. Perhaps you've heard about the massive cold front and line of storms that traveled along the northeast? Tornadoes in NYC? Nasty weather in our nation's capital? Steady drizzly rain in Philadelphia? Yes. It started to rain right as we left the hotel and hopped the subway to the ball park and was drizzly when we got there. As long as they didn't call the game, we stayed there, and the only bonus was that our seats were under cover (good job Erin!), but it didn't go well. We had some beer and some cheesesteaks and we watched the drizzle fall. After a few hours, that was that. Game called due to rain. Cal was devastated. We were all heartbroken for him. He was worried that he'd made a fool out of himself in front of Erin and Boyfriend, but oh, Little Man. Sometimes 13 is still a kid. I feel weepy simply writing this.

On Sunday, Erin and Boyfriend invited us to a simply amazing brunch with fresh New Jersey tomatoes and a gorgeous quiche and bagels and delicious coffee...and of course the incomparable Fitz. Fitz really felt like we'd brought him a boy for a present, and he was quite pleased with us. He thinks we can come and visit any time.

And we plan to go back. I'll download my photos and write more about Philadelphia for Wednesday, but we had an amazing weekend, despite the sad finale. It's such a quick trip and Callum and Neel both love it so. We're working out what to do about the missed game, but the season is short at this point. I just hate to see my sweet boy so sad. And all of your comments over the weekend meant so much to him! He even got a tweet (on my feed) from an ESPN analyst that he loves! All was not lost, not by any means. Thirteen is a biggie, you know. xo

now he's thirteen {still + life}

Callum turns 13 today.

Sit with that a moment. I'm having to. I'm the mother of a teenager. We're parents of a teenager.

But this is not about me. Not at all. I thought about telling you a bit about his birth, which to us of course, is a remarkable story, and I thought about drawing you through the past 13 years of our life with this kid. In the end, I settled on the now. The here and now and the who of Callum. He's always been my funny little bug. He loves dressing up. He always has. He wears a tie to school every day now that he's in middle school, and we joke that he dresses better than his dad. He loves playing video games, like any 13 year old: Madden, MLB, something I don't understand called Minecraft (???). He loves all of these, but interestingly, not too much. I'm amazed at his ability to self regulate. Oh sure, we have to pry his fingers from the controller from time to time, but more often than not, I hear the thud of his feet hitting the floor and the squeal of the storm door as he pushes his way outside. He loves the ocean. He and I could go there every day; Neel, not as much. He loves travel, and we're getting chastized quite regularly for the fact that we haven't been on a big trip in awhile. We're working on it. He loves dogs and adores his own pups. Last year, on his birthday Lucy (the beagle) managed to escape her crate, and she was the first to wake him up. We made sure the dogs got him up this morning!

A native San Diegan, he loves California. Of course he's a Chargers fan. He's a Phillies fan too. He'll watch Project Runway and House Hunters with me, but he loves King of the Hill and Storage Wars.

He loves history and science and is quite good at languages. We're curious to see how each of his academic interests will shake out. Patton? Yes. Spanish? Yes. Cell biology? Yes, as well. There's baseball too. A new love and one he's (as you well know) passionate about. And now there's cross country. And friends. Good friends here on the block and new ones over the past months. We love all of his friends, and we're glad to see him branching out. He's unfailingly polite. As an only child, he's used to being around adults and he handles himself well with them. We were recently in a group of people that included someone who is considering running for office in the future. We saw Callum talking with this person for quite some time, and when we asked they talked about (and if this person was going to run) he said, "I just told them to follow their heart."

He's a worrier. We're working on that. He's a homebody too. He likes the idea of sleepovers better than the actuality of them, but he doesn't like being left out. We have a lot to navigate in the years ahead, and I'm working hard to be a better mother to him.

He loves buffalo wings and hot sauce (he'd put it on everything if he could). He loves all spicy food, really. And, well, just food. He's never been a picky eater, and teenage-hood has made him simply an eater! His feet are bigger than mine and he's nearly taller than me too. At moments, this realization is bittersweet as I wonder where did my baby go, but you know? That baby is still in there. But as I keep telling him, it's a delight to watch him grow up.

He's on the cusp of something great.

We put the first lines from this song on his birth announcement. Thirteen years ago. It still brings me to tears. You gotta love Van Morrison.

I saw you standing with the wind and the rain in your face
And you were thinking 'bout the wisdom of the leaves and their grace
When the leaves come falling down
In September when the leaves, come falling down

In September, when the leaves come falling down

river walk {life}

I've been trying hard lately to bloom where I'm planted. This was advice given to my dear (not old!) friend Sarah during a rough Freshman year in college, and it stuck with me. Bloom where you're planted. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't. I love so much about this place where we live, and a large part of what I love is the water that surrounds us. I know I've told you that before. Sure there's the Atlantic ocean (!) and the Chesapeake Bay (!), but this area is criss-crossed with rivers and tidal marshes as well. Those tidal rivers are part of why my street floods so regularly, and sometimes when we step outside you can smell that fecund, marshy smell; the air is heavy with it, and I love it.

I took my iphone with me on my walk on Monday. Partly because Callum was doing homework, and partly because I thought I could capture a shot for FatMumSlim's September Photo-a-Day which I thought I'd try this month. I got lucky. Whether I take a quick half hour walk, the water is there, and for my longer hour-long walks, the water is there too. We're bookended by two rivers (The Elizabeth and the Lafayette), and our flat, curvy roads give us lovely vistas of each. Next time, I'll take Big Daddy out and climb the bridge to give you another view. Oh, and there are geese too.

Isn't the sky beautiful? Once I headed home, the breeze inexplicably turned cool. And then, of course, it started to rain.

river walk {still}

Monday Mash Up, Labor Day 2012 Edition

1. Friday night party food | 2. Much-needed down time | 3. Annie's most favorite instagram photo ever | 4. FatMumSlim's Photo-a-day, every Saturday at baseball | 5. Waiting for Dinner | 6. No Frill Grill | 7. Norfolk @ Night, we took a drive (and it's not all tattoo parlors, really!) | 8. They take Callum for the night AND give us carrot cake? Really? | 9. Why do the dogs always come lie on the rug the second I've finished vacuuming? | 10. Better him than me on the roller coaster | 11. FatMumSlim's Photo-a-day, Father | 12. Finish off the night with ice cream (and another flooding rain storm, of course.)

So we've had a pretty nice weekend, all things being equal. Callum's weekend was pretty awesome-sauce, actually. Not at all shabby for the first weekend of the school year. We had a neighborhood get together on Friday night. Just a super-casual front yard gathering. My next-door bestie put it together when we realized that we've had a lot of turn over in the past several months and we barely recognize half of our neighbors these days. It was quite perfect actually. Although maybe a wee bit hot. Practically everyone on our block showed up at some point, and there were kids everywhere! The older kids played badminton and sardines and the littler kids rode their scooters up and down the sidewalks.

I took pictures, with the thought toward a blog post, but let's face it that kind of photography is simply not my strong point. Oh, how I wish it were. I had such high hopes. I haven't looked at my photos yet, but if there's anything good, I'll pop them on for Wednesday. Or maybe I'll do plums.

While I vacuumed and cleaned out the fridge, Callum had a sleepover, went paddle boarding, to an end of summer beach concert and then to Busch Gardens with Neel. See him there on the Alpengeist? More power to him; totally not my scene!

Neel has two grants due on Wednesday so this Labor Day weekend has been much about labor for him, for sure. If you've known me for any length of time, you know that this late-August/early-September time frame is always a rough one for us. Starting school, birthdays, I'm generally in the thick of headaches (although this year has not been that bad), and Neel is oftentimes totally snowed under at work. It's almost always hard. Are there any times of year that are like that for you? It's now for us, and January a bit too. Every year, we sink a little. But we'll pull it back from the brink. I've learned this much for sure. We always do.

As you can see from Annie's favorite instagram photo ever (!), our bathroom reno continues apace. Sort of. We've hit a bit of a snag. A snag besides the fact that the guys showed up and caught me and Callum in our jammies again. (To be fair, they'd apparently called the night before but because we were out with the neighbors we never knew.) I think we can work it out, but frustrating.

We did manage a nice dinner out while Callum was at his friend's house. Took some work to figure out what we wanted. For a small(ish) town, Norfolk has a lot of great restaurant options, and when you add in the beach there is plenty of wonderful food to choose from. We were too beat to head to the oceanfront and not really hungry enough to be in the mood for anything. We landed on an old standby where I was good and didn't order some of what I consider to be the best crinkle fries in the city! Neel and I never run out of things to talk about and there's been a lot going on lately, but we had a great talk at dinner Saturday night. Not just about what had been going on but how we were doing. Remember that whole busy vs. fulfillled thing I was talking about? Well, we're a bit of both, and it's not often we get to talk like this. We made some kinda big decisions. Ones I'm excited about.  As usual, Neel didn't talk enough and we're on different timelines (right Neel?!), but all these things we'll get worked out. I'm ready to do something big. And I love how you think you can know someone so well, be so lock step with them in so many ways and think you'll know how they'll react to something and then poof! They surprise you! Marriage is crazytown sometimes.

It was so nice to have Callum back home. They got rained out of the park and came home in a rainstorm. He has a love hate relationship with sleepovers. He does love going, but my boy is a homebody at heart. It's hard not to love that about him.

We have a big week coming up. I hope you guys are off relaxing today. Poor Callum will be doing homework and Neel will be writing. Happy Labor Day to us! We'll (finally) do Callum's back to school dinner tonight. We always take him out to dinner for back to school. He always picks hibachi. What do you guys have going on? xo

five things, august 31 edition

1. I think re-entry is hard. I'm not gonna lie people, this week has been rough. I think if you asked Callum to describe middle school he'd say "fun, good, exciting, stressful, scary, fun, stressful, good, stressful and fun." It's a whole different world. Shifting schedules, extra free time, bookstore privileges, ties (!) and sports. This has been the biggest shift, I think, but ultimately a good one. Callum has decided to run cross country for his school this fall. This is a wonderful thing, but his day is two hours longer, and that shift is taking some adjusting to. When he's feeling stressed about homework and getting home later than before he says to us, "I feel happy when I'm running." It'll all shake out, but we're not there yet.

2. I think I love it that one of Neel's favorite things to do is demolition. When our bathroom guys stopped by on Saturday (catching me all of us in our jammies), we worked out a plan which meant that everything would commence once Neel got the room demolished. So what do you think Neel did after work in the evenings this week? After his first cross country practice, Callum wanted nothing more than a bath, so Neel chipped away at tiles while our boy was in the tub. The next night, Callum was doing homework in the kitchen when he and I heard loud crashes from upstairs. More tile coming out. Last night we lost the vanity and almost the toilet. Don't worry. I'm documenting all of it. Blog post(s) coming soon. And Neel's actually thinking about heated floors!

3. I think I was able to get my weather geek on this week while watching the progress and landfall of Hurricane Isaac. Can something be both devastating and thrilling at the same time? I've been fascinated with hurricanes for years (starting with this storm which wiped out a much-loved vacation spot from my childhood, and this as well, which showed me how truly destructive these storms could be), and we now live in a part of the world that makes watching out for them a little more personal. Bottom line though, is that as fascinating as they are to me, these big storms are no joke, and the devastation they cause is terrible to witness. My heart breaks to see these flooded out homes and families. And there's just no getting around it, the weather is getting weirder. Even on a local level, our weather is getting weirder. I think I've mentioned that my home city is second only to New Orleans in the US for flooding issues, and it's getting worse. Sea levels are rising, and the city, quite literally, is sinking. We see evidence of this with every storm. If you follow me on instagram, you'll have seen the photos I took of our street flooding from a late-summer storm we had earlier this week. Our street sometimes floods when it storms. This used to happen once a season...maybe. Now it happens nearly every storm. We live up the street from a tidal river, and in the past these street floods were influenced by the tides. Now they seem to happen nearly every storm. In the past, when the street flooded, the waters came mainly up to our driveway but not much farther. Now the flooding reaches far past our house. So in the near-decade that we've lived here, we flood more often, higher and take longer to recede. Lest you worry, let me reassure. This is street flooding. All of the houses on our block are set back from the street and may get water to the sidewalk, but rarely, if ever, into the yard. Our house in particular is on a bit of a rise and is unlikely to flood. These floods are an interesting inconvenience, and at this point not much more. Still. We're not required to carry flood insurance, but Neel and I've decided that we think we will.

4. I think I still adore this book. I can't wait to read Happier at Home. I'm thinking I might need to make these books more of an affirmation in my life, a way to better tend to myself (and therefore better tend to my family and my other relationships). Maybe give them a quick glance every morning. I don't know. Who has time for that? All I know is that I've been focusing on this blog post for some support all week.

5. I think I am oh so very happy that we have a long weekend this first weekend of school. We're having a neighborhood party this evening, Cal has a sleepover tomorrow, and he and Neel have some great plans for Sunday. What should I do with my day? Oh! The possibilities! Monday's wide open too. Rest, rest, rest. Which reminds me. I know I saw something on the interwebs a few weeks ago about the difference between being busy and being fulfilled. Do you guys remember what I'm talking about? Where was it? It really resonated with me. We're so quick to say "Oh! I'm so busy," and we want people to think we're so fulfilled. I'm not a fan. I'm not such a fan of busy either, for that matter. I don't know. Something to pay attention to, I guess. Full is good. A full life is what a want. A busy life isn't the same thing.

What are the rest of you people up to? xoxo

traditional {life}

When we moved here for Neel's work nine years ago this week, Callum was three. I comforted myself from my sadness over leaving our beloved San Diego with the knowledge that we'd moved so near to another beloved ocean. Growing up, my summer family vacations were spent in the coastal Carolinas, and when we got here, the Atlantic felt comforting, familiar and beloved to me. I want Callum to feel the same way about it. I think he does about any ocean, really. Our actual move across the country was thrilling and somewhat tumultous (now that's a story!). We had Neel with us, in a month-to-month rented condo for a few days before he started work, and then in was just me and Callum on our own.

We just had one car, and it was a little disheartening to drop Neel off at work, but I had a plan. Playing tourist in our new hometown, I took Callum down to the oceanfront for a ride on the Rudee Flipper. We've gone at some point in the summer, usually right at the end, every year since.

It amazes me how many of my friends and neighbors haven't taken advantage of this oceanfront treat. Sometimes we go with friends and sometimes it's just the two of us. Sometimes we take the Rudee Rocket, which is the yellow boat pictured here and is a very different experience (read: fast and loud, but fun!). This year it was just us, and I liked it that way.

It was a little disconcerting to have the woman selling tickets to say immediately to me, "It's pretty choppy out there." before I'd even handed her my credit card.

"How choppy?"
"Really choppy."
"Really choppy?"
"Yeah, we're telling everyone that it's really choppy. So if you get seasick at all you may not want to go."
"Are you telling me not to go?"
"No! No! It's just really choppy. You might want to buy some dramamine."

Well, Callum and I don't get seasick, so we forged ahead, but when the woman who took our tickets again mentioned motion sickness pills, I bought a couple and some water on the boat. Rather than spending the trip worrying that we might get sick, Callum and I split an adult dose and that was that.

Once we got on the water, it was choppy for sure, but not that bad.

You definitely had to hold on.

It's wonderful to see your beach and "home" from a different perspective. King Neptune, the "mascot" of Virginia Beach.

The point of the Flipper tours is watching for Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin, and we hadn't made it far down the coastline before they showed up.

What I love about the Flipper is that it's not a "thrill" ride in the usual sense. The trill comes in seeing these magnificent creatures in their natural habitat. The Atlantic Bottlenose are naturally curious, and they love the boat. They come up to it and swim alongside. Now that's thrilling!

I've told you all summer how we've been seeing dolphins every time we've gone to the beach. Loads of them. Our trip up the coast took us right to the spot where Callum and I always park our beach chairs and sure enough, that's where the dolphins really came out to play.

The sky was gorgeous as we turned for home. See that band of rain in the middle of the shot? And I swear that's a waterspout trying to form.

Callum got soaked, which was just what he wanted. And we went together again, which was just what I wanted. What a way to end our vacation. I couldn't ask for more.

traditional {still}

Monday Mash Up, August 27 edition

1. books for school | 2. summer's end tradition | 3. complete with lunch | 4. neighborhood Friday night | 5. tornado warning | 6. lab day | 7. Neel and Cal make dinner | 8. baby shower | 9. homework ready | 10. high school football | 11. demo begins | 12. fish = brain food | 13. last summer vacay bike ride | 14. sunset | off to middle school

Guys. We did it. We got him off to middle school. I am so proud of this kid. Doesn't he look pretty cool? He was nervous, but ready. He usually rides in with friends but asked that we take him in this morning, and Neel and I were happy to oblige on this first day. It's a whole new routine, dropping him off in a whole new part of the school. The security guard who directs traffic recognized our car, and started to direct us to the Lower School, but his smile was wide when Neel's blinker indicated that we needed to turn right, not left. I won't deny that I got a little teary after we dropped him off, but they were mostly happy tears. Mostly.

And we had just the best weekend to finish off the summer. On Friday, Callum and I got his books at the book store (now that was daunting!) and headed off to our end-of-summer tradition. I'll leave that story for Wednesday, if it's okay with you. You might be able to guess that it involves a boat. And lunch. Lunch with the best shoestring fries EVER! Couldn't pass them up! The kids in the neighborhood are starting school in stages, with a chunk having started last week, a group today and then another batch after Labor Day. So we're all starting to gather on porches in the evening to see how everyone is faring with their fresh starts. It's an exciting time. The weather has been exciting too. I woke up Saturday morning to thunder and lightning (and a headache of course), and it's so muggy and damp that things feel decidedly tropical. Callum and Neel slowly wandered downstairs and we had a lazy morning as the rain beat down. Right up until the doorbell rang at 10. Nice. It was our bathroom guy. Yay! We were all still in our jammies. Boo. Um, yeah. That wasn't fun. Neither was the fact that Neel decided to show these guys both bathrooms without telling my so I had so dash ahead of them and make sure my bra was whisked out of the way. But the exciting news is that we have a plan, you may be able to see from one of these photos that demo might have actually started.

And then there was the tornado warning. Great. Nothing hinders your ability to get out the door like creepy dark clouds (see photo #5), swirling wind, and and EAS on the TV. Just as everything was starting to clear up, Callum and I stepped outside and saw huge bolts of lightning pierce the blue, blue sky. Crazytown. It was like that all weekend. The sun would be shining and you'd look out and suddenly it was pouring. None of us slept well last night (first day jitters, I suppose), and I'd wake up one time to lightning, one time to the moon shining in, and then to lightning again. Cities north of us had rain up to 6-8 inches in an hour. And of course as I was leaving the grocery store Sunday, it was pouring. Of course.

We dropped Callum at baseball and I got to sneak over to the lab with Neel for a bit. I never get to do this anymore. He never gets to do this anymore! Neel's rarely sitting at a lab bench these days, and weekend visits like this used to be our bread and butter. It was nice. He has a new lab space that I hadn't seen yet, and the medical school has been completely revamped and is gorgeous. I had fun going over there.

After the lab, Neel and Callum got cracking on dinner while I went to a baby shower for my dear friend Rebecca. What fun! It was at an adorable shop here in Norfolk that I hadn't tried yet. Sassi Cakes and Sweets offers amazing desserts and a full bar. Hello? A dessert bar? Can't go wrong with that. I've gone past it a gazillion times and never gone in, and on Saturday we were there late afternoon which was perfect for a baby shower. We had such fun, and the desserts are amazing. I'd love to take some photos of their stuff sometime. What do you think, should I drop by one of my business cards?

On Sunday we got Callum's room school-ready and settled in for just the best fun ever: seeing my old high school football team take the field in what has always been traditionally the biggest game of the season on ESPN2! How cool is that! My school was about four-five blocks from my house, and it was so fun to see the field and stadium where I spent so many happy Friday nights. On national TV! We had such fun watching the game, and of course our boys (they look so. young. was I ever that young?) pulled it out in the end. 42-24. Great victory for my alma mater and for high school foot ball every where.

I made two dishes from Dinner: A Love Story this weekend. Her Campfire Potatoes to go with Neel and Callum's steak, and last night, her Thai-ish Salmon. So far, can't recommend this book highly enough.

And finally, one last bike ride. Callum has decided to run cross country, so he's been getting up to run in the mornings. We mapped out a route for him to run this morning and ended up at the river. One of my favorite spots. Not a bad way to wrap things up, I'd say. Nothing but blue skies ahead.

five things, august 24 edition

Summer's last stand. And for the record, that's a dolphin fin, not a shark!

1. I guess I think it's time. It's helped that it's been cool and threatening rain all week, and having middle school orientation on Thursday helped us gear up too. But maybe, just maybe, I'm starting to get ready for structure and routines again. Noreen at beauty of everyday life gives her Top Five here, and she's right. She should know! So much will change for us on Monday, for all of us. But it's all good.

2. I think I'm thinking about investing in one of these planners. Anybody have any experience with them? My friend Megan told me about them, and I'm totally intrigued. As you may remember from my "My Monday With..." post over at InspirationCOOPERATIVE, I'm a sucker for a paper calendar. I also firmly believe that the proper materials will make me better organized, eat healther, exercise regularly, enjoy cleaning, look younger (and prettier!)... well, you get the picture. They're not cheap, but look! Aren't they dear? What think you?

3. I think I'm still searching for a tote I like. Most of the ones I've really fallen in love with are too pricey. Gah. As long as I'm asking your opinion on things, what think you of this, this or this? And which would go best with my new planner?

4. I think Neel and I had the best trip down memory lane, inspired by Wednesday's post about our trip to Ithaca and champagne grapes. We were reminiscing like old people. Wait. Maybe we are old people! It was so fun to pull up the memories of that long ago trip and see how our collective thoughts agree and diverge. He remembers things I don't. And I remember things that he doesn't. Some of the same funny things stand out. Like we both remember the guy who took us out for the sail (a salty old chap) and how he held up a cell phone and said, "If I have a heart attack, use this to call for help." Of course I thought, I have no idea how to use that thing. As you know, I remember the grocery store, but he remembers helping a couple who stayed at the B&B whose windshield shattered. We moved into their room when they left. What we both remember is being at a winery when one woman who was at a tasting with us said she liked her wine with ginger ale, and the person running the tasting said "As long as people are drinking wine, I'm happy." What we both learned is that we're not B&B people. We loved the baked french toast. We just didn't love talking to people so much. Give us a gorgeous old hotel anytime, such as this one. Which is where we stayed on our last night in Ithaca. I'd love to go back sometime. What's a 10 hour drive for gorgeous hotels, a stunning lake, waterfall hikes and wineries? Hmmmmm?

5. I think the best part of my week came yesterday afternoon, after many little aggravations (including a very minor fender bender, minor yes, but still). Driving three soon-to-be seventh graders to their middle school orientation, lined up like ducklings in my backseat, they played some game called Parking Mania on the iPad, and sang along to Call Me Maybe, summer still shining in their cheeks. I dropped them off at orientation and snuck in to sit in the back. I pulled in to drop them off, and said "Okay guys here you go." They all just sat there, watching their friends stream into the auditorium where they were supposed to meet. One was worried that he was over dressed, one that he was the only one in a tee shirt. Again I said "Okay guys." Still they didn't budge. Finally I had to say, "Guys, you're supposed to get out here." They're still so young.

At orientation, 14 students spoke to us about the middle school and all sorts of stuff from lockers to schedules to after-school activities and detentions. After the kids left, the director talked to the parents about how important it is to give kids the oppportunity to fail. And that seventh grade is a great time to do that. "And about those detentions," he said. "They're not always such a bad thing. Some of our closest factulty student relationships have stemmed from detentions." He laughed. "Half the trees planted on this campus are the result of detentions!" What is my hashtag for this? #thisismylife #I'mprettyhappyaboutthat.

summer sweetness {life}

For certain foods, I can remember the exact first time I sampled them. Guacamole. Asparagus. Artichokes.

And champagne grapes. When Neel was in graduate school in Pennsylvania we were poorer than, well, insert your cliche here. We were poor. Still, we managed to have a lot of fun, and one summer we took a trip to Ithaca, NY to enjoy the finger lakes and wine country. We stayed at a bed and breakfast that I picked because it boasted an AGA and that you could hear the falls from your window. Well, you could hear the falls from your room, sort of, but the bed and breakfast was dear and I was introduced to many wonderful things while we were there. Like baked french toast.

And champagne grapes.

Neel and hiked the falls. (Ithaca is Gorges!) We toured wineries. And we went sailing on Cayuga Lake. Anywhere we go that's near water, I want to get on a boat and my husband always obliges me. The man who gets seasick on porch swings always obliges me. So one of our days in Ithaca we booked a sail and took a picnic out on Cayuga Lake. As the proprietress of the bed and breakfast pointed us to the grocery store to pick up supplies, she suggested, "Look out for champagne grapes." I can still remember standing in the dim light of the produce section as we stumbled upon them and remembered her words. Champagne grapes! Not at all what I expected.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, exactly. A white grape maybe. With bubbles? Not these little darlings. Not these succulent beads of tender sweetness. Just yesterday, Callum suggested that I press one against the roof of my mouth and suck out the juice. It's heaven.

Oddly, the champagne grape is almost never used to make wine. However, if you've ever eaten a Zante currant, it started its life as a champagne grape. They are pearl sized, seedless and the flavor is described as well, intensely sweet. Apparently they get their name because the clusters of grapes look like bubbles in a glass of champagne.

Ah, yes.

I searched around for a recipe or two to test out for you and found some possibilities like this and this. But really, the best advice I can give is to eat them quick, straight out of the bowl.

summer sweetness {still}

Monday Mash Up, August 20

1. Pool time | 2. New Shades | 3. Greek Dinner | 4. Weekly chore | 5. Fun fortune | 6. New coffee shop | 7. Train shop | 8. Unexpected home project | 9. Sleepover | 10. Pizza mise en place | 11. Cal's pizza | 12. Doumar's

Hello my dears! It's a lovely rainy morning as I write this. I'm sure Callum won't like rain on his last week of summer vacation, but I love the sound of it against the window as the sky grows gradually lighter. We had a really nice weekend this past weekend. A good mix of family time and getting done all the things you need to get done. We met Neel at the pool Friday night. He's had a really stressful go at it at work for the last few weeks (August always turns out this way, it seems.), so it was nice just to toss the football in the water and hang out and figure out what to do for dinner. We picked Greek. Callum had his baseball session on Saturday morning (new bat!) and while he was there, Neel and I snuck out to try a new coffee shop around the corner. Cafe Stella in Norfolk (for my local peeps) doesn't have a web site, but we found it to be delightful. We bought some coffee and a can of beans, and I plan to go back. Might be a nice place to get some work done in the fall. I may not be hip enough, but I can fake it, right?

After baseball, we had some lunch, and bribed Callum to go to the tile shop with us by promising a jaunt to the train store. The tile shop was FUN. We coalesced some decisions for sure and are working on others. I heard words I never thought I'd hear my husband say: "I don't mind spending more money for it to look nice..." And then I dragged him directly to the diamond store. Ah, no. Seriously though, our main question now is white subway tile and a paint color on the wall or colored tile? What think you? I go back and forth. I worry that colored tile might get too dark in the shower/bath stall.

Sunday was a work day. After weeks of lovely company and eating out, it actually felt good to load up my grocery cart with food and staples to make meals for the coming week. And why is it when I decide last minute to rush to the grocery store to beat the rain (and leave the house in shorts, one of Neel's t-shirts, no make-up and hair a mess) that I run into so many people that I know? While I was gone, Neel worked on a little room in our kitchen hallway that we call the "back-back" that's become a junk room. It has some shelves and no door, so it's turned into a cluttered mess. We want to get a door on it, add some more shelves and move our wine rack in there, but the first step was a giant clean out. We got the space cleared yesterday and Neel got in two of the shelves. It already looks loads better, but I can't wait for that door! Callum had a friend sleepover last night and we had make-your-own pizzas and homemade sundaes. The boys put things like banana peppers, black olives, pepperoni and loads of cheese on theirs. Neel and I had olive oil, carmelized onions, cauliflower, prosciutto, and parm. I'm sure they thought it was boring! I wonder when they'll get up?

So what does your week hold? Poor Callum is soaking up every minute and he's understandably nervous about starting Middle School next week. We all are, I think. But enough of that! There's fun to be had! I have one eye on the tropics (it's hitting peak time of hurricane season) and one hand reaching for my swimsuit, hoping for a few more beach days.

And before I let you head out, I hope you'll drop over at Insideology today where I'm so honored to have written a guest post for the lovely Annie. I love her reviews and the way she spins her tales of life in London, so I wanted to tell a little bit about my world. We had lunch Saturday at Doumar's, home of the ice cream cone! How cool is that? Doumar's is an institution in my hometown with a wonderful history, and I hope you'll go check it out.

See you Wednesday, gang.

five things, august 17th edition

1. I think it's time for me (us) to come to terms with the fact that next week is the last week of summer vacation. Sob. It's true. I really, really think 7th grade will be awesome for Callum, but did it have to come so soon? Is summer really over? I'm reisiting this with every fibre of my being in a totally unhealthy denial-y kind of way. The fact that middle school orientation is next week should shock us all into submission. Until then, I want to soak up every single second.

2. I think, despite what happened to me yesterday, that this August has been better on the headache front. Yesterday was a total loss, but I remain hopeful that I'll make it through the rest of the month relatively unscathed. And that's the lastest dispatch on my health. I know you want to know.

3. I think we're gearing up for some fun days ahead. Callum and I have an end of summer tradition that is nine years old this year. We'll do that this week. And some other things too. Can't wait to tell you about them.

4. I think it's pretty much the pits to live in a battleground state right now. I have no intention of getting all political here at SPL. Snark-free, please. We are not undecided in our house. In fact, apparently very few people are. And yet the nasty, divisive bilge-spilling ads from both sides keep coming. It's a near-constant stream here in Virginia, and we're weeks away from the election. I would like to enjoy Project Runway in peace, but it seems that isn't going to happen anytime soon. Pffttt.

5. I think I'm hoping to get both some cooking and some photography in this weekend. And just hanging with my family. Oh, and I'm still digging my Clarisonic. And I still want a treat. I think the only good thing about school starting is the idea of back to school shopping. What are you guys up to this weekend?

velvet {life}

I might have mentioned that I made a cake.

The first red velvet cake I made was in high school for a long ago boyfriend. I doubt he appreciated my efforts. I don't remember much about the endeavor except my surprise that it was meant to be red. Cut me some slack, okay? I was young! I think I thought the red was for the icing or something. I made it in the evening, for Valentine's Day maybe. My dad was out of town and my mom painted our sunporch as I stood in the kitchen, my eyes moving from cookbook to measuring cup. I was never very confident about that guy in the first place, and I think that cake made me less so.

After that, I largely forgot about red velvet cake. I know I've mentioned before that I'm not much of a baker, and truth be told, we're not huge sweet tooths (sweet teeth?) around here either. But with my dad headed toward us for a weekend visit, Callum and I sat in the parking lot of the grocery store and got inspired.

Red velvet cake is considered a quintessentially southern cake, but in truth, its origins are murky. In the late 1800s many cakes were referred to as "velvet" to describe how moist they were or how fine their "crumb." And when cocoa powder is combined with buttermilk and vinegar (essential ingredients in these cakes), it can turn red, hence the combination of red(ish) + velvet = cake. In the 1920s, New York's Waldorf Astoria had red velvet cake on its menu, and in the middle of the 20th century, Adams Extracts really turned things around for red velvet cakes. A Depression-era sales promotion including vanilla extract, butter flavor and red food coloring turned families throughout the South and Midwest onto this beautiful cake, and a role as the groom's cake in Steel Magnolias cemented its significance as a southern dessert.

Dessert may be decadent in and of itself, but how glorious to eat a cake called Red Velvet?

Because we were sitting in the grocery store parking lot when we decided to make this cake, Callum and I didn't dig too deeply for recipes. We landed on this one from Joy of Baking. It was pretty awesome. There was a definite cocoa flavor, but not too much, and the cake itself was not overly sweet. It was stunningly moist with a deep red color which contrasted beautifully with the bright white icing. And here's the thing about the red in the red velvet. It is red food coloring. And everybody talks all the time about how awful the dyes in red food coloring can be. Of course. But we're not drinking the stuff around here. I've heard other alternatives, such as beets, being used, and I am totally on board with trying that sometime. But we were limited on time and baking is challenging enough for me. I'm not going to roast beets on top of icing a layer cake. Not this time. Besides, red food coloring is part of this cake's history and what works for James Beard, works for me. (Also, some recipes have called for up to 1/4 cup of food coloring! YIPES! Mine called for 2 tablespoons, but I think you could easily get by with less.)

Still, what made this cake for me was the icing. I am not the biggest icing fan on the planet (see: not a huge sweet tooth), but this icing? Ah-mazing. I will never say "no" to cream cheese icing, but how about cream cheese and Mascarpone icing? Think you can handle that? You can find the recipe for the cake and icing in the link I provided above, but I thought I'd share the icing here.

Cream Cheese Icing for Red Velvet Cake from Joy of Baking

1 8 oz tub package cream cheese (227 grams)
1 8 oz package Mascarpone (227 grams)
1 t vanilla extract
1 C confectioners sugar (115 grams)
1.5 C heavy whipping cream, cold (360 mil)

With cream cheese and Mascarpone at room tempertaure, beat together with elextric mixer until smooth. Add vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth. Switch to the whisk attachment and slowly add the cream until icing is of a consistency to spread. Add more sugar or cream as needed.

You're welcome.

velvet {still}

Monday Mash Up, August 13

1. Cake | 2. Harvest | 3. Kitchen Helper | 4. Hitting Lesson | 5. Bounty | 6. Last of the Summer Reading | 7. Figs | 8. Funky Lime Soda | 9. Hit and Pitch with Alfie | 10. World Market | 11. Alfie and Cal | 12. Norfolk Chop House | 13. A Wine named for my Dad | 14. Roasty Potatoes | 15. Sneak Peek

People. I made a cake. Red Freaking Velvet. This is such a huge deal, I still can't believe it. I'll tell you all about it on Wednesday, if there's enough left to photograph and there probably will be since Neel didn't have any for dessert Sunday night. I am so not a baker, but my dad came into town on Friday and for some reason whenever he comes I want to bake. When my mom comes, I want her to bake. That's different. We almost didn't do it, but Cal loves Red Velvet Cake so we went for it. More later.

So Alfie is here. Did you know he likes to shop? We did our usual "First-Night-of-a-Visit" dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, and then on Saturday morning he and I hit the mall. I may or may not have purchased some Mario Badescu at Nordstroms. Oh, who am I kidding. Of course I did! Also, I like aviator sunglasses on me more than I thought I would but I didn't get any. We have to go back. Callum had a hitting lesson Saturday afternoon that Alfie and I sat in on, and apparently Cal needs a new bat. Next stop, Dick's Sporting Goods. Did I mention that Alfie likes to shop?

Poor Neel has a chapter due that he's primary author on and he's been working all weekend, but he snuck away long enough to come to dinner with us at the Norfolk Chop House. This was a new-to-us restaurant and a newish to Norfolk one. We had a lovely time. Going out to dinner is one of the things our family does best.

We made our growing-famous Beer Butt Chicken for dinner last night, but not before Alfie and I braved miserable traffic and worse music on satellite radio for a quick and futile trip to World Market. Shopping is another thing we do pretty well too. We've been watching a lot of Olympics, and Alfie brought Callum an Olympics game for the Xbox which is awesome. They're breaking all sorts of world records. Oh, and we kept it simple with the potatoes. Olive oil, salt and a little balsamic vinegar. Homegrown potatoes are creamier somehow than store bought. They were heavenly. 

Alfie is here for a couple more days, one more than I thought actually, so we're going to have some fun. Hit the beach, make an emergency orthodontist run (snapped wire), a Project Runway marathon, and all manner of more food and drink. What did you guys get up to this weekend? And what's on tap for the week? Oh, and that Number 15 there? Go visit Theresa at InspirationCOOPERATIVE, I got to spend my Monday with her. Talk about an honor! I'm flattered beyond belief.