the last week of summer 2025... x00xx

August 19, 2025 in family, hank

(hank and rosie getting used to each other and sitting on the same rug!)

this was a big week in our house… lucy started her second year of high school, theo left for his sophomore year of college AND rosie is staying with us (my mom is at quilt camp with her friends making pretty new quilts and gin and tonics!) there’s been lots of flurry, loads and loads of laundry, last minute target runs, tons of take out, MANY extra hugs and of course, some tears (NOT as many as last year, thank goodness!) as i write this, i am nestled between two sleeping dogs and it is quiet for the first time all summer (except for hank’s snoring, which sea saws between soft whistles and full on freight train.) even this new girl, alexa is quiet. i am not sure when she moved in, but she is kind of driving me crazy. she is very bossy and she needs so MUCH attention. she starts chatting around 6:30 am, even on the weekends. she doesn’t respond well to niceties… i have to be really direct and say, “alexa, STOP!” she pipes down for a minute or two and then she starts telling me the weather. i don’t really care about the weather because i have lots of windows. also, berkeley is pretty temperate and i don’t even like to go outside too much. again, i have to firmly say, “alexa, STOP!” and then (just to bother me i am sure) she starts playing music… and not even MY music, random stuff i don’t recognize and don’t want to hear. i typically start to get super irritated at this point and don’t articulate my directions as well so i might have to tell her to stop NUMEROUS times before she finally does (kind of like conversations with my two teens.) but at least i KNOW those teens (i gave BIRTH to them) and i LOVE them so i have more bandwidth for them. i have never even SEEN alexa… she just sort of slips around the house and i hear her voice or her advice or her music from all different areas. i would appreciate it if she could introduce herself properly and look me in the eye.

happy, happy mother's day! x0x0x

May 12, 2024 in family, hank, holiday

(back in days when all of my loves would end up in the same bed by morning…)

i LOVE being a mama… especially when my kids are asleep! they look like little angels (even now that they are teenagers and hank is technically middle aged.) their rhythmic, peaceful breathing (hank’s sounds more like a train) is really soothing and makes me feel like everthing is right in the world. i do not have a consistent meditation practice, but when i do it, i always crawl back in bed with my sweeties and lay one hand on someone’s chest so i can feel it going up and down. these days that sweetie is usually hank because my other babies sometimes tell me they need “space” and sometimes they even lock their doors! luckily hank never needs space. when they wake up we never know what will happen. sometimes they are delightful and sometimes they are less so. even when they are less so, my love for them feels so BIG it’s almost painful. i am so GRATEFUL to be the mother of these lovey darlings. loads of LOVE to all of the mothers and those who mother. x0x0x0x

my guest house cottage was featured in a HOUZZ article! x0x

April 16, 2024 in family, hank, living room, residential interior

(the sun porch of the cottage)

i am so excited that my pine street guest house project has been featured in an article on houzz by becky harris. this charming cottage was redesigned by architect lisa laursen of lisa laursen design and photographed by heather knierim of HBK photography… hank, of course, served as the primary model. it was so much fun to work with my superstar clients, jess and zach zeldner, after having collaborated with them on their primary residence a few years prior… (that project ended up on the cover of 5280Home and was also really fun and rewarding!) MANY THANKS to all involved and especially to becky harris of houzz! x0x0x

girlie weekend (with hank of course!) at THE BROADMOOR! x0x0xx

March 12, 2024 in family, hank, holiday, travel

(how PRETTY is this hotel nestled into mountains?)

there are few places i like to visit as much as the broadmoor. my heart just soars when i am there and i feel kind of giddy. set against some group of colorado mountains and centered around a big, beautiful lake, it is unbelievably scenic. the interior spaces are so detailed and intricate and layered you are always discovering something new. on this visit, i really started noticing all the swans. aside from the actual swans who live on the lake, there are swans throughout the resort painted on the walls, tiled into floor mosaics, featured in oil paintings and even edible meringue swans available at the little patisserie. i HAVE been watching “the feud” featuring truman capote and his swans obsessively, so maybe that’s why i was so drawn to them.

hank looks like a SUPERMODEL! x0x0x

March 05, 2024 in hank

(just LOOK at the waist on him… it’s even smaller than his neck!)

like all ICONS, hank is always a little ahead of the curve. after being (gently) admonished by his doctor a few times about his weight, he started intermittent fasting. (also so he could start having his dinner earlier.) when he first joined our family, he would take his evening meal about 5:30 pm. slowly he started asking for it earlier and earlier… he currently dines around 3:30 pm. i thought this was a little crazy until our last visit to the vet where we learned that hank had lost THREE POUNDS… nearly 10% of his total weight. i was super PROUD and very impressed. since i have been frustrated by the fact that i never seemed to get rid of all the extra coronas i gained during the pandemic when i was having cookie dough for breakfast (other mothers were posting home chalkboards detailing all the home schooling and art projects they were doing with their kids during lockdown. we took a more practical approach and now my kids know how to make kick ass cookie dough that is so good you probably won’t even want to bake it. THAT is a skill that will serve them well for the rest of their lives. unfortunately, all of that practice DID have consequences that were not so easy to diminish now that i am in my fifties.) i FINALLY decided to join hank in his intermittent endeavors… a late adopter (after also consulting my colorist who is an expert in this and just about everything else.) we stopped sharing an early morning banana and began waiting until later when our eating window had commenced. we started drinking more water and eating a lot less candy. hank has been a terrific support - except he still won’t go on very long walks. while i haven’t had the epic succcess hank has enjoyed, my jeans ARE a little looser. i am so GRATEFUL for my determined bulldog! x0x

happy, happy valentine's day! x0x0xx

February 14, 2024 in family, hank, holiday

we’re sending you all so much LOVE on this valentine’s day! x0x0x

photo: heather knierim of HBK photography

the "baby" pine street cottage! x0x

November 28, 2023 in dining room, hank, living room, pet, residential interior, sofa

(the baby guest house of my pine street project)

in the spring of 2021 my pine street cottage project was featured on the cover of 5280Home. it was so EXCITING! this darling house has a calm, neutral palette with lots of texture and dimension in the textiles, pillows, throws and wall art. at that time, the family was remodeling the guest house, which i was so happy to furnish. so now there is a baby cottage!

HAPPY, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! x00x

October 31, 2023 in hank, holiday, pet

(halloween hank as a turkey! i think he’s worried that we’ll throw him on the thanksgiving table…)

there are two things i love about halloween: dog costumes and candy. all the scary, bloody, gruesome stuff i could really do without. also the WORRY about whether my kids will make it home alive. this year hank is going as a ROASTED TURKEY! i am beside myself because i think his back legs already look like drumsticks.

tune up

October 10, 2023 in family, hank

(here is my mother checking under the hood of her friend’s car in college)

periodically, everything needs a tune-up… your car needs the oil changed, the filters need to be replaced on your HVAC, the dryer vents need to be flushed out, you are due for a bikini wax… our nervous systems also need check ups and repair. the summer after my divorce i went to a retreat at the chopra center to work on restoring my psyche, which was pretty much a mess. i learned LOTS of helpful things like how to meditate (who is better equipped to teach that than deepak?), the benefits of green smoothies, yoga and gratitude and how detrimental refined sugar is, possibly worse than crack!

REPOST: fifteen

September 12, 2023 in family, hank, travel

we moved to amsterdam from san francisco when i was pregnant with my first baby. we stayed there for nearly the first five years of his life and the very beginning of my daughter’s. traveling with babies is not easy… particularly on eleven hour international flights. and then when you arrive there is the horrendous jet lag that kicks in (there’s a NINE hour time difference between california and the netherlands.) so i only brought my children home once a year, but we would stay for at least a month to stabilize and enjoy the visit before heading back. now that we live in colorado we have continued this summer tradition. the kids LOVE their camp in berkeley (kee tov) and i get to spend time with my family and all my growing up friends.

theo's LAST first day of school...

August 22, 2023 in family, hank

(theo on the first day of kindergarten… obviously he couldn’t read yet as he agreed to wear that shirt)

i am a crier. i cry about happy things, i cry about sad things, i cry when things change, i ALWAYS cry on the first day of school. (i do NOT cry when people get hurt, even my own children… then i laugh, VERY inappropriately, which has caused a fair bit of upset.

REPOST: plum cake

August 08, 2023 in family, garden, hank, holiday, pet, recipe, travel

* i am reposting this story because it includes the recipe for plum cake… a few summers ago the plum tree at our cottage went bananas with fruit. early each morning i went out to harvest (i DO have farming roots) enough to make plum cake. sometimes i gave it to someone, but most days we ate it. they are so DELICOUS! unfortunately, i totally over plum caked lucy and i don’t think she will ever eat one again. that is truly unfortunate. (i also did that to her with scrambled eggs - a big bummer both because i make AMAZING scrambles and because i think they are such a healthy way to breakfast.) today when i popped over to my parents’ house the yummiest smell was wafting around… mom was having her quilt friends over for lunch and had made the coveted cake. i was beside myself so, of course, i stayed for lunch! ENJOY! x0x

road trip with HANK! x0x0x

August 01, 2023 in hank, pet, travel

(hank likes to ride shotgun!)

due to some poor planning on my part i had to interrupt our california holiday with an expedited road trip back to boulder with hank. usually i make this drive over a minimum of three days but prefer to extend it to a week so i can stop in LA and see friends. this time we powered through in TWO DAYS! we were like true truck drivers. i am proud to say i didn’t get lost once and was super vigilant about refilling the tank whenever it was half empty because last year lu and i came uncomfortably close to running out of gas in the middle of nowhere. so logistically, hank and i did quite well, but it was boring as SHIT! we stopped midway in a town called “wells” on the nevada border. there was literally nothing in this town except our hotel, a mcdonalds and two gas stations. so we had dinner from the chevron shop (across the board, everyone has told me i should have had a big mac instead of a gas station sandwich, which is probably true), holed up in our room and left at the crack of dawn. hank was the perfect companion - we didn’t argue about when to stop or what snacks to get or which podcast to listen to… we were always aligned on that stuff (teriyaki beef jerky and “fly on the wall” with dana carvey and david spade interviewing anyone from SNL). i left hank in boulder with first husband and lu and i am safely back in california now. i MISS my sweetie hanky… i felt teary eating a banana alone this morning (we always share) and haven’t been sleeping as well without his soothing, snorey white noise.

memorial day blues

June 06, 2023 in family, hank, holiday, pet

(the boulder creek fest)

every memorial day weekend in boulder there is the “creek fest” which features lots of food trucks, bouncy castles, bungee jumping, henna, face painting, artsy vendors and “bossy” vendors who give nutritional, political, environmental, parental, etc advice. every year i think i like the idea of a festival and every year i forget how fucking HOT it gets. this year we were obligated to go because lucy’s awesome dance troop, streetside, was performing.

REPOST: my amazon coat

April 13, 2023 in family, hank

* lucy’s bat mitzvah festivities kick off tomorrow… while the lead up has not been without some unfortunate situations (hank had to have BACK SURGERY and lucy’s face blew up from an allergic reaction to all the crazy products she learns about on tik tok, my house and my car are intact [KNOCK WOOD!] and the tailor [elegant tailor right next to village coffee shop] did an impeccable job altering our dresses… we did NOT go to the one who destroyed theo’s pants.) i am reposting this story about what was going on just before theo’s bar mitzvah with much gratitude that we’ve had an easier time this go. PRAISE MOSES!

in early december i got an email from my girlfriend in LA with the subject line, “have you heard about this coat?” she attached an article from the strategist that detailed the popularity of the orolay amazon coat among moms at pick up on the upper west side. it was sold out, of course, because it is the coziest, most comfortable, best priced coat in the world. i stalked amazon until it came back on offer and it was well worth the wait. i LOVE my amazon coat! it has tons of pockets that are straight up and down so that stuff doesn’t slip out of them AND they all have zippers, just in case you are carrying around something super special. the hood is lined with fuzzy, warm stuff and the inside is a bright, cheery orange. you can get it in black, navy and army green (putty too, but that colorway is not nice.) i was so delighted with my coat that i planned all my christmas travel outfits around it (no dresses, just boots and jeans because the amazon coat is too casual for a party dress.) i had to wear it on the plane because it is too bulky to put in a suitcase, but i pulled that snuggly hood up and had the best airplane nap of all time, despite the fact that i was sitting between my two children. the hood also seems to be noise cancelling. so i thoroughly enjoyed the holidays with my amazon coat and then my life became a series of shit fuck events that snowballed into my nearly falling completely apart… but praise jesus, i had my amazon coat. i just crawled into that coat and added my pizzeria pom pom hat and i have hardly taken them off (even indoors) for the last three weeks. because overlaying all of these horrendous events has been planning my son’s bar mitzvah. i am so PROUD of my son for his dedication and earnest commitment to learning, but planning a bar mitzvah (especially for a shiksa mama) is no small endeavor and despite all of my hyper-organized lists and spreadsheets, i still felt desperately behind three weeks out. following are the events that sent me diving into the safety of my amazon coat:

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY my darling babela bu! x00xxx

April 11, 2023 in family, hank, holiday

my dearest, darling lucy is THIRTEEN today! she has been full of surprises ever since our doctor called with the news of my very much desired but completely unanticipated pregnancy. she arrived with a bang and has been upending our lives and our thinking and our hearts ever since. lucy - i cannot begin to tell you how proud and GRATEFUL i am to be your mama. wishing you a thirteenth year full of joy, adventure, SLEEP, snuggles, GOOD BOOKS and loads of LOVE! i love you higher than the sky is high and deeper than the ocean is deep! x00xx

our poor popper...

March 07, 2023 in exercise, hank, pet, sofa

(our sweet bubbie with all of his shaved parts…)

my sweetest baby boy hank had to have BACK SURGERY two wednesdays ago. the tuesday evening prior, at the tail end of our FOUR hours of zoom parent/teacher conferences (for some reason the middle school and the high school scheduled them for the same night) we noticed that something was terribly wrong with hank. he was panting outrageously and shaking like someone just scared the bejeezus out of him. his vet was already closed so we took him to the animal ER, V.E.G.: veterinary emergency group. i have to say, they were so KIND there… they offered us drinks and comfortable chairs and snuggled him up trying to help him calm down. after a physical exam, the doctor predicted that it was his spine. (his reaction to touch was equal on each side and he was doing a weird thing with both of his back feet.) she couldn’t be positive without an MRI so she directed us to another ER (C.A.S.E.: colorado animal specialty and emergency) where they have the MRI machine and a neurologist on call. she said in the past, they would have sent us home with pain meds and instructions to monitor him for a few days, but new research has shown that immediate confirmation is better and that if we waited and it was indeed his spine he could be paralyzed by the weekend. HAY SEUS! they gave him methadone and another sedative and we headed over to C.A.S.E. even with the drugs, hank was still panting HARD. the team at C.A.S.E. was also really wonderful. they gave him FENTANYL (which freaked me out but they said they can give dogs these drugs because there is not a fear of them holding up the corner bodega desperate for cash to feed their addiction because we can control how much they get. i was left wondering if there are people out there who take their dogs’ medication.)

super bowl sunday

February 16, 2023 in hank, holiday, recipe

hank and i had a rough start on super bowl sunday… i put the garbage in the back hall to take outside and forgot to shut the door to the mudroom. everything was really quiet and i realized hank was missing from his usual position on the sofa. when i raced back there he was in the middle of a DISGUSTING mess - coffee grounds strewn all over, candy wrappers scattered (i finally found the halloween candy i hid in november), brown, gooey banana peels and other gross stuff i couldn’t even identify. this may be the first time i really yelled at hank. he HAS gotten into the garbage before but i gave him a pass and explained that that is not done in my house. this time he KNEW he was crossing a line. i can be pretty forgiving (especially with hank) but messes put me over the edge. i would prefer him to sneak some beers or miss his curfew than create that kind of situation for me to clean.

HAPPY, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY 2023! x00xx

February 14, 2023 in family, hank, pet, holiday

sending you so much LOVE on our favorite holiday! wishing you a day filled with yummy chocolate and pretty hearts and special people (and sweetie dogs!) x0x0x

to read more about valentine’s day click here or here

2022 holidays x0x

December 06, 2022 in family, hank, holiday, pet

for some reason the holidays feel more hectic than usual this year… possibly because after several years of the pandemic and toning down the celebrations i am totally out of practice. and we didn’t even leave town for thanksgiving. we had a nice, quiet one in boulder with all the grandma turkey plates and glassware and recipes from my mother (i didn’t even make a turkey - i picked up a cooked one up from whole foods… i can roast the crap out of a chicken, but turkeys terrify me) and we watched the macy’s day parade (we just LOVE those rockettes!) while we made pies (blackberry, apple and pumpkin - we need to overdo it so we can have pie for breakfast in the days following.) mariah carey was the grand finale and honestly, no one sings about christmas like that gorgeous diva did in her red mermaid dress and CROWN… the BEST! but the highlight of the day was definitely the national dog show, won by none other than winston, THE FRENCHIE!