today the father of my children is having a BIG birthday. out of respect for his privacy, i won’t say which one, but it is a DOOZY and it falls somewhere between fifty-nine and sixty-one… so please join me in celebrating him for reaching this special, well-earned, new decade. HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY adam! wishing you everything wonderful! x0x0x
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i really LOVE new orleans! x0x0x
i just can’t get enough of new orleans. i planned a trip in march because i didn’t think theo was coming home for spring break and not seeing him for a whole semester was too upsetting… but then he DID come home and it was a bonus visit!
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recap of the eggy holidays! x0x0xx
this is one of those years that passover and easter were right on top of each other, which can be exhausting for the mama in a family that celebrates everything. we made the decision not to host a big seder like we usually do… partly because the big kid couldn’t come home from college and partly because the littler kid and i were going to be in the mountains until the evening before the seder and it’s too hard to pull together with so little time. so we ordered in a lot of the meal from saul’s and i really only made the seder plate and the charoset. i was worried that it would feel sad, but it was actually super calm and easy. we all fit at the round table and we facetimed theo in. i am still getting used to celebrating some things without him. he wasn’t here for either valentine’s day or st. patrick’s… although i heard that both cupid and the leprechauns found him in new orleans.
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HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY lucy lu! x0x0x0x
my baby girl is “SWEET” SIXTEEN today! but she is so much more than that… she is hilarious and ferocious and silly and unpredictable and empathetic and giant-hearted and completely OUT OF THE BOX. i am continually flabbergasted by her because my natural state is pretty deep IN the box. i follow rules and recipes and traditions and norms and google maps and i keep lists and agendas and spreadsheets and plans. that’s not really how she operates. and after SIXTEEN years of living with her, i am just beginning to understand that. it’s not like she hasn’t been clear her entire life… she’s always expressed herself. i have just been slow to recognize that my organized, efficient, strategic and “proper” (boring?) path is not the one she’s on. hers is much more exciting and curvy and creative and i’m finally realizing that i’ve just got to let her go and hope that every once and a while she will need a water break and i will be able catch up with her for a bit.
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thrilled to be designing in my home town! x0xx
(beautiful bay view from tilden park! x0x)
april's FEATURED QUILT of the month by my mother, ann rhode! x0x0x
in quilts
(tulip bouquet 2018 by ann rhode, 44W x 46L”)
ann was given a beautiful bouquet of long stemmed tulips and each day they would dip and change their position in the vase. she captured them daily in photos and recreated them in fabric.
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REPOST: easter comfort food
* in anticipation of easter i am reposting my mother’s easter brunch recipes, in case you are headed to the market soon for your holiday shop. i will only have one of my little duckies home this year as the other one decided to go to college. i AM grateful that he made it to university, but i MISS him so much and will probably be stuffing my face with far too many of my mama’s easter buns to sooth myself… HAPPY, HAPPY EASTER! x0x0x
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REPOST: the order of a seder
* i first posted this story during the pandemic when things felt super OUT of order… while the pandemic has passed and i CAN have guests this year for a seder, the world feels even more upside down than ever. every day i hope that america will start to “right itself” and put energy into supporting our democracy and celebrating ALL of our people. one small way to begin that is to appreciate the value of ORDER. happiest passover all! x00xx
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so HAPPY to be back in california! x0x0x
MAYO- FREE egg salad! x0x0x
(my yummy egg salad on toasted sour dough!)
now that the eggy holidays are approaching and you may have lots of hard boiled eggs around, i am going to share my MAYO-FREE egg salad that i have recently (dare i say?) perfected! as someone who really loves egg salad (i have serious mid-western roots!) and who absolutely canNOT consume mayo (not even when it’s called “aioli,” not when it’s in a california roll, certainly not on a sandwich…) this has been a challenge. over the years i have tried different ways of making it and generally my egg salad was okay. but recently, i read how martha stewart made it for lunch on set one day when she was filming her show and now my egg salad is tip top.
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just DELIGHTED to be back in california! x00x
(amazing sunset from hank’s southside dog park!)
HAPPIEST st. patrick's day! x0x0x
in holiday
(photo: vintage leprechaun postcard)
i am a classic american mish mosh…on my father’s side i am german and norwegian and on my mother’s side i am english, irish, scottish and i don’t know what else. i am unclear on the percentages (i have never done “23 and me”) so i am not sure how MUCH irish i have. i know i have enough for pink skin that burns easily and does NOT tan, but not enough to like soda bread with raisins (WHY add raisins?) or corned beef and cabbage (smelly!) my mother loves those things so i know she has just enough irish to tip her into that food palette.
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i'm really thriled to be back in my hometown! x0x
the adventures of hank's two little teeth! x0x0x
(hank and his two special teeth recently)
these days there’s a lot of talk about “nepo babies” and how the pressure to live up to famous parents can be crushing. also, that anything these nepos accomplish isn’t really theirs to claim because they couldn’t possibly have reached that level of success without the tremendous access afforded them by their superstar parents. i am just a “regular baby” (as are my human kids) so i have never had to deal with this kind of problem myself. hank, however, is a different story. his bio father, copper cooper, is a well known champion, awarded many times over in AKC championships. as he is described in the press:
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LOVE bringing my design business to the bay area! x0x
(south berkeley roses! x0x0x)
march's FEATURED QUILT of the month by my mother, ann rhode! x0x0x
(autumn wood 2013 by ann rhode, 62W x 67L”)
in this quilt, ann wanted to see how much depth could be created by the use of contrasting values. the block is triangle made up of two pieces with differing color tones. by using the same fabric in a diagonal row, strong diagonal movement is created. the stripes also added to this upward direction.
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i LOVE being back in california! x0x0x
MOVING from boulder to berkeley... x00xx
in family room, family, art, hank, kitchen, living room, quilts, residential interior
in the fall of 2023, my son was a senior in high school and my daughter was in her last year of middle school. we knew we would be facing big transitions for both of them the following year as theo would begin college and lucy would start high school. after fourteen years in colorado, we decided to make those transitions from my hometown of berkeley, california. i am eternally grateful to my first husband and to my children (hank needed no convincing - he LOVES the temperate weather of northern california - boulder got both too hot and too cold for his liking) for supporting this move as it allowed me to spend so much more time with my father in his last, sweet chapter and to finally reground myself in the bay area, where my heart feels best.
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thrilled to be back in the bay area! x0x0x
(pagoda in the japanese tea garden in golden gate park! x0x)
my new house in BERKELEY! x0x0x
when i returned to my hometown of berkeley, california after living in a variety of cities over thirty years, i wanted to create a home that represented all of the adventures i shared with my family across the globe. this 1880s farmhouse in southwest berkeley, that was completely renovated and modernized, felt like the perfect canvas.
a wooden staircase leads to the home’s main entrance on the second floor, which includes the living room, dining area and kitchen, the primary bedroom and ensuite bath and another upstairs bedroom and bathroom. a long deck extends off the back of the house and is accessible from sliding glass doors in both the primary bedroom and the kitchen. the downstairs has an office, which doubles as a guest room, a third bathroom and a lounge area with floor to ceiling cabinetry and bookshelves. the third floor is a long, wide library with access to the roof deck that has views of the bay bridge and san francisco.
the exterior of the home is painted a deep charcoal with navy undertones and white trim. cedar siding centers the staircase and the front door. the interior palette includes clean white walls throughout, white oak flooring, cool grays in the tile and blond wood kitchen and bathroom cabinets all punctuated with matte black hardware, lighting fixtures and black steel railings. texture and color pops are brought in with the art pieces, rugs and textiles, giving the home vibrancy and warmth. the fifteen foot ceilings on the main floor give the space an open, gallery-like feel. we had fun playing with art placement, hanging pieces at various, sometimes unexpected heights.
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