Birthday season is officially upon us, which means that lately, A. and I have been wrapping lots of gifts for friends of all ages. I've mentioned before that Anne isn't the craftiest kid, but something she's always up for is making some DIY wrapping paper to use for our presents. It might be because it's always more fun to make something for someone,...
When I was a student at the Virginia Governor's School for the Arts, years ago, the churchyard at St. Paul's was one of my favorite places to go after rehearsal, to sit and read and go over lines and discuss all the gossip of the day with a classmate or two. Yesterday, Anouk and I took some friends -- and a picnic lunch...
It's been rainy off and on these past few weeks -- the type of intermittent rain that allows just enough sun in between spells to lure you outside before sending you running back in again. The kind of rain that makes you turn to Pinterest in desperation for something, anything, to make the hours go a little faster. And that's how Anouk and...
The Norfolk Greek Festival holds a special place in mine and James's hearts -- during his first visit home with me at the end of freshman year of college, I took him to Greek Fest and plied him with food in hopes of creating a positive association with my hometown (I think it worked). Since then, we've done our best to hit it...
I can't say enough good things about TowneBank Park as a place to play in Downtown Norfolk. Tucked away between Waterside and Nauticus on the Elizabeth River waterfront, the park offers pretty much everything you need to appreciate warm summer weather and while away a sunny afternoon. Being at Towne Bank Park is something akin to chilling on an enormous backyard patio. There...
I'm guest posting today over at My Active Child! Click on over to read about our visit to see the Norfolk Botanical Garden's "Reflections of Nature" sculpted glass exhibit. P.S.: Google Reader is closing soon -- don't forget to follow Where the Watermelons Grow on Bloglovin' instead. Have a great weekend, all! ...
Anouk has been working on outgrowing her crib for a while. A few months ago, she learned to climb over the crib rail, which necessitated all sorts of baby-wrangling on our parts to keep her from falling and hurting herself, mainly involving an XL-size sleepsack, a hair elastic, and a little bit of luck. More recently, she started to show a definite preference...
One of my all-time favorite cookbooks is The Virginia Housewife, written in 1825 by Mary Randolph, a cousin of Thomas Jefferson's. It's considered to be the very first American cookbook, and despite a few idiosyncrasies of the time (like instructions on what to do with a leftover calf's head?), it's amazing how much of the information in the book is still useful today....
Nothing says summertime is almost here! in Virginia Beach more than strawberry picking down in Pungo. I've been dreaming about it since the cold gray days of February and so when James asked me what I wanted to do for Mother's Day, that's what I picked (get it???). On Saturday, we (finally!) got our chance and drove down to Cullipher Farms to pick...
Last night after dinner, we went for a walk at the Sarah Constant Beach Park in Willoughby. When I was growing up, the park had kind of a dicey reputation and was really overgrown and scrubby, and I guess that impression stuck, because the thought of writing about it for the blog didn't even cross my mind. I didn't even bring my camera,...
A. and I had a bad day earlier in the week. We don't have many, but when we do get one it tends to go sour pretty fast. It was one of those days when you haven't gotten enough sleep (me) or else the sleep you got wasn't good (her) and you keep taking off your diaper and hiding it in inconvenient places...
