I read a study once that said that staring out at the line where sea meets sky produces an endorphin effect in the brain that stimulates feelings of relaxation and peace. I figure that after working our way up and down the Outer Banks last week, J., A. and I must be the most peaceful and relaxed people on the planet. Because there was a lot of sitting, staring, and relaxing.

Our OBX trip -- Anouk's first -- began with a weekend in Kitty Hawk with our friends M. and A. Of course the beach was the star -- specifically, the public beach across from the Kitty Hawk Bath House, which I highly recommend for beachgoers with kids. Not only is it beautiful and great for swimming, it features both lifeguard stands and outdoor showers. Fighting sand in your car is always a losing battle, but it still feels good to make the effort.



As soon as we set her down on the sand, Anouk ran headlong for the ocean, not knowing yet how much more powerful the OBX waves are than the ones at our local beaches. After the first one knocked her flat, she made sure to keep her distance for the rest of our stay. But she still found plenty to do on the beach -- building sand castles, watching the surfers, and leaving a trail of "pinthetheth" everywhere she went.




We also made time to explore the newly reopened Bodie Island Light Station in Nags Head. The lighthouse completed its years-long renovations in April, with the tower open to the public for the first time since 1872. Anouk was pretty impressed even with the view from the ground -- she kept pointing at the lighthouse and saying, "Wow! That's BIG!"





^^ And to take a (tiny) family portrait. We don't remember to get enough of these.

Another highlight of our trip was stopping by the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center in the afternoon to check out the day's catch. Around 3:00 or so, the fishing boats start rolling in and unloading their hauls. Some had pretty impressive catches (including one group who'd hooked a cobia that was about as big as Anouk). We also had a lot of fun looking at the names painted on the backs of the boats and decided what we would call our boats if we had them (mine isn't kid-friendly so I won't write it here. But think of Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction and you'll get it).






And of course, there was the food. We did some serious eating while we were in town. There's nothing like sea air to work up an appetite and the Kitty Hawk/Kill Devil Hills area offers some of the best restaurants in the Banks. Breakfast from Max's Real Bagels, fresh fish for dinner from the Austin Seafood Company, sweet potato biscuits from Dune's, lunch by the sea at Beachside Bistro... I'm sure I gained three pounds in the three days we were there. But you know it was worth every ounce.

Even with all this running around, there's still a ton on Bodie Island that we didn't get to. Jockey's Ridge, the Wright Brothers Memorial, the Children at Play Museum... I guess we'll just have to plan to go back really soon.

Stay tuned for our adventures in Hatteras and points south. Happy Monday!

This blueberry flaxseed smoothie has been mine and Anouk's go-to breakfast pretty much every day for the past few weeks. If you had told me a while ago that one day soon my preferred breakfast would have included something like flax, I would have made this face at you. But it turns out flax is delicious! And also one of the best things you can eat, healthfully speaking.

Studies have shown that flaxseed can lower bad cholesterol levels, prevent heart disease and diabetes, and even inhibit tumor growth. Most things I've read recommend stirring it into things like oatmeal or yogurt, but A. doesn't eat either of those things, and while it's fun to bake with, I don't always have time to devote to baking on a regular basis. After some tinkering, we devised a smoothie recipe that gives us our daily dose of flax and is addictingly delicious to boot.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Smoothie

1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup blueberries
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
1 scoop of vanilla whey protein (optional)

Blend all ingredients in a blender. Pour into glass. Serve with a straw (it's better that way).

This is a really dense smoothie, so you might want to add more water or coconut milk if you find it's too thick.

The taste really is a lot like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and who doesn't like that? We've subbed almond butter for the peanut, and while it's fine, it just doesn't have the same deliciousness. I'm not going to lie, this smoothie is so good that it gets me out of bed in the morning faster than the thought of a cup of coffee.

For Anouk's part, at first, she balked at the grittiness of the flaxseed, but then we upped the amount of berries, which helps mask it, and now it goes down fine. A whole smoothie is a lot for a little kid to drink at once, so I usually give Anouk just half, with a hardboiled egg or two, and then she's set until snacktime.

Happy Monday!

As I mentioned in my last post, we hosted some friends this past weekend. I really love it when we have guests -- I love showing off our town and I spend the days leading up to the visit playing logistical Tetris to try and fit as much as we can into the time allotted. This trip, I think we really succeeded in finding things for all of us to enjoy. The tourist season is in full swing in Hampton Roads, and so I thought I'd post what we did each day in case anybody out there needs ideas of how to pack a weekend full of fun.

Saturday AM: Our friends J. and P. and their kiddo arrived late Friday night. In the morning, we celebrated their arrival with breakfast at Yorgo's Bageldashery in Norfolk. Yorgo's is always bustling on the weekends, thanks to its location near Ghent and the ODU campus. But still, we've never had any problems finding a table by the window to spread out with a paper and a latte to relax before a busy day. Yorgo's offers a whole host of vegan, Paleo, and vegetarian options, which is nice for our family, with our food allergy situations. Driving there from our house takes us through some of the prettiest parts of Norfolk, and gives us the chance to show off some of the prettiest places in the heart of the city.

Saturday PM: an afternoon of swimming and sunbathing at the North End beaches.

Saturday night: a blue crab feast on our back deck. We picked up three dozen blue crabs (about half a bushel) from Margie and Ray's in Pungo. Bonney's and Sons is another favorite, but we really like Margie and Ray's because of the spicy rub they use. Paired with some corn on the cob and fresh rolls, and you have a simple feast that feels like something special.

Sunday AM: the moms took the babies to the Virginia Zoo and had some fun visiting animals, playing in fountains, and riding the train.

The dads spent the morning on a kayaking expedition. They used SouthEast Expeditions, an outfit that launches from a variety of locations on the Eastern Shore. The guys launched from a location just over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (across the peninsula from Kiptopeke State Park) and spent the morning paddling through the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge. They crossed Blackbeard's Creek and wound up exploring Smith Island, an uninhabited barrier island off the eastern shore with a remote, pristine beach. They were both big fans of the experience (but a little tired out by the time they got back).

Sunday PM: a late lunch at Genghis Khan Mongolian BBQ, a family favorite. Whenever our friends visit they ask to eat there, and we are all too happy to oblige because we love it. Yum.

We always have a great time when our friends come to town -- we can't wait until they come back. Area readers, can you offer any other must-sees to add to the list for their next visit?

Have a great weekend, everyone! Try to stay out of the rain if you can...

^^ Molly haggling with a vendor -- she ended up getting the three metal bins in the foreground for craft-room storage.

 ^^ I was a fan of this mirror but a bigger fan of the vintage trunk behind it.

^^ A pair of truly awesome 70s era side tables.

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, it might be because it's a really free-form, unrestricted activity -- there really are no limits, no rules.

I used to buy a lot of gift-wrapping stuff, and dedicated a good amount of space in our tiny apartment to wrapping paper, gift bags, boxes, and bows, which was all pretty bad for the environment. But these days my wrapping paper stash takes up approximately 1% of what it used to. A roll of (recyclable, compostable) craft paper, some dot markers, and a couple of stamps are all we need. The results are always festive, if not professionally perfect. It feels nice to give our gifts a personal touch and to know we're not creating a lot of extra waste.

A couple of our favorite finds are the to/from stamp we bought from Etsy to use in place of tags, and rolls of colorful baker's twine to add a little pizzazz to our designs. Do you create your own wrapping paper or cards? What are some of the supplies you use?



Have a happy weekend, all! And happy birthday to all the birthday boys and girls we've celebrated with recently. :)

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 -- to visit the mossy churchyard. A lot about the surrounding downtown Norfolk area has changed since I graduated in 1999, but St. Paul's itself is just the same as I remember it, comfortingly so.

An 18th-century church might not seem like the most exciting place for playgroup, but A. and her friends had a blast exploring. They ran up and down the brick pathways and even peeked inside the church, exclaiming over the massive pipe organ and the intricate stained-glass windows. Of course we visited the cannonball lodged in the church's south wall, a souvenir of the Battle of Great Bridge during the first days of the Revoluntionary War. (Little Zeke thought it had been fired by pirates, and was very interested to see it.) There was even a tiny playground, and the shady magnolia trees adjacent were the perfect spot to spread our picnic blankets and sit awhile.







St. Paul's is the only surviving colonial-era building in Norfolk, and unlike many of the other historical sites around the city, is still being put to its original use today. The parish at St. Paul's is vibrant and active, and as a result, the church is a bustle of activity throughout the day, people going in and out, tending the graves, and setting up for morning services. I like that -- it makes the church feel like a representation of the city itself, which has been through so much and is still standing. St. Paul's reminds me every time I visit of Norfolk's long and colorful history. The things the church has seen -- the Revolution, the Burning of Norfolk, the War of 1812, the Civil War and the Civil Rights Era! As we walked through the courtyard yesterday, I found myself wishing that those old stones could talk. Just think of all the things they'd have to say -- and I would sit right down and hang on every word.

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 I discovered rain painting.

The blog we read called for us to use plain white paper for this project but we started with some paper plates because they seemed more durable. Specifically, we recommend the uncoated kind, otherwise your colors won't soak into the paper but bead up and run right off. We couldn't stand for grinding up our nice Ikea watercolors (not with Ikea being a three-hour drive away) so we dabbed tempera paint, in primary colors, on our plates instead. Anouk is just starting to learn her colors, and I thought it would be a rudimentary lesson on how some colors combine to make others. Then we put on our rain gear and headed outside.


At first, there was only a light rain, so we walked around the backyard, holding our plates, watching the falling rain spatter the paint into new designs. Soon, though, it started to rain harder, so we left the plates on the deck and watched through the windows as the designs mixed and bled together.  And then it started to really rain -- and our neat splattery, blended designs became plates of rust-colored paint soup. Not very attractive.

But after it cleared up, we went out and emptied the water from our plates to find that the colored water had left behind a patterned, vaguely tie-dyed design.



I'm not entirely sure what we're going to do with them -- maybe make a mobile out of them? Or save them for collage making? -- but I do think the end result is worth saving, a nice spot of color in our rainy day.

Happy Memorial Day! Here's to some sunny weather for the holiday weekend.

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 up every year that we can, and last weekend, we took Anouk for the very first time.

Anouk enjoyed her first Greek Fest very much, especially the eating part of it (which, honestly, is most of it). Every single thing she ate, she loved, from dolmades to gyros to calamari. In fact, she enjoyed everything so much that we spent the rest of the weekend looking up Greek recipes we could make for her at home. Most of what we found looked pretty labor intensive but this simple recipe for Greek lemonade was so intriguing (and turned out to be so delicious) that I knew from the first sip that it was a keeper.

Lemonada

5-6 lemons
1 cup sugar (or to taste)
2 cups water (or to taste)
1 tsp orange blossom water (we got ours at Azars, in Ghent, but it's also available online)
3-4 mint sprigs

The secret that makes this lemonade taste so good seems to be in the juicing technique, which incorporates more of the oils and the rind than normal juicing procedures. Cut 5-6 large lemons into the thinnest slices possible. Place in a bowl, and pour 1/2 cup of the sugar over top. Let sit for 5 minutes, then use your hands to squish and squeeze the lemon slices. Strain the juice through a sieve into a pitcher. Repeat this process, using the rest of the lemons and sugar, until you can't get any more juice out of the lemons. (For us, 5-6 large lemons yielded about 2 cups of juice). The lemon pulp and peels should look pretty shredded by the time you're done.

Add water and additional sugar to taste (we added about 2 cups of water, but didn't add any more sugar). Add the orange blossom water to the lemonade, stir well. Crush 2-3 mint leaves, add to a glass with ice, and pour the lemonade over it. Garnish with an additional sprig of mint and some lemon slices.

This is the best lemonade I've ever had -- the orange blossom water adds a nice floral note and the mint spices everything up and makes it even more refreshing, somehow. Next time I make it, I'm toying with the idea of adding sparkling water for fizz. I also think it would be just swell with a jot of vodka in it, too. But that is an entry for another blog entirely.

Some more pictures from our Greek Fest experience: