erica green's fiber art

May 26, 2020 in art, commercial interior, living room, residential interior

i first discovered erica green’s work at her “passages” show at the AKA gallery in boulder last year. the viewer was invited to walk between the “walls” of knotted fibers green created that changed from portions so thick with yarn you could not see through them to sparser lengths that allowed you to peek into the next turn. it was an interactive installation meant to engage the viewer both in traveling along the maze-like route and by contributing knots or braids or tears in the fibers at the end of the journey, thereby participating in the art piece and sharing in a collective experience.

a slice of cheese

May 19, 2020 in family, hank, pet

now that we are all spending so much time together, we’ve had to negotiate how to share space, energy, attention and generosity of spirit. it’s become more and more clear that we all have different needs at various times throughout the day and they often don’t coincide.

corona hank

May 12, 2020 in exercise, family, hank, pet

hank has had it with corona. he REFUSES to go on walks now. i can hardly get two blocks with him, let alone all the way to the lake that it took so much effort for me to learn how to find. when i put his leash on he’ll maybe get to the corner and then just lay down all spread out so he’s completely planted. even with his svelte new figure, he is far too heavy for me to carry (i am lazy too!) so i have to stand there and coax him with ice cubes (it’s already blazing here in boulder, even though we had loads of snow just weeks ago.) and this goes on… walking half a block, him laying down, me waiting and begging, walking another half block, him laying down and me waiting and begging and then finally me saying, “all right, do you want to go home?” at which point he pops up and RUNS at a clip all the way there. i know now that he speaks perfect english, as well as his native french. so i have to go on dog walks without my dog… and when i pass people they all ask after him (he is quite well known in our neighborhood) and they are clearly disappointed that it is only me.

kristin colombano's fog & fury felt

May 05, 2020 in art, residential interior

kristin colombano of fog & fury has always been an artist, but the journey that led her to felt making was circuitous and full of serendipity. born and raised in the bay area, kristin studied painting and photography at the san francisco art institute. she began her career working as a graphic designer and photographer. while on a photo assignment for the asia foundation in mongolia, kristin was completely taken by the felt covered yurts - the traditional dwellings of the nomadic people who have been following herds of sheep and yak for thousands of years on the steppes of central asia - dotting the countryside. the yurts are collapsible and are reassembled again and again as the families travel throughout the plains. felt is employed as the cover because it is light weight for easy travel, insulating, durable and fire resistant.

corona week 6

April 28, 2020 in family

this week i definitely hit a wall with the quarantine. like most people i’ve been cleaning and cooking and cleaning and cooking and feeling like i am running underwater and not getting anywhere. last week i was distracted by passover and easter and lucy’s tenth birthday (she said it was her BEST birthday ever, which has really made me rethink these elaborate, themed parties i threw pre-corona: a dutch one in honor of her birth country with wooden shoes to paint and pannekoken [pancakes] and loads of dutch candy to eat and vases of tulips everywhere; a fairy one where i made glittery tulle fairy skirts and wands and a bazillion tissue paper flowers and decorated every tree in the backyard; a farm one that we had to move to the front driveway because we had a BLIZZARD and the snow didn’t stick to the cement, but it DID to the grass - the pig wouldn’t come out of his pen into the snow so he just stayed put on the drive. they were super fun, but maybe a little over the top… CLEARLY i needed to throw my extra energy into something and probably should have gone back to work sooner. anyway, this year we just had a long, lazy breakfast, zoom calls with family and friends, a neighborhood walk, a long, lazy dinner and finally cupcake baking… so much simpler and she LOVED it… something to ponder.)

corona "gezellig"

April 21, 2020 in art, dining room, family, family room, hank, living room, pet, residential interior, sofa

one of my sweetest, most poignant learnings from living in the netherlands for nearly six years is the idea of “gezellig,” the dutch word for coziness. gezellig applies to social concepts like inviting or friendly people, parties, situations and meals, but what i have been really thinking about lately as we all “shelter in place” is how the dutch instilled gezellig in their homes. in a land where it rains at least a portion of most days, our amsterdam neighbors knew how to create welcoming spaces to retreat within and enjoy their families, while the rain drummed outside. corona is pushing us all inside now and we can learn from the comforting, warm interiors of the dutch.

corona week 4

April 16, 2020 in family, hank

there are some things i have enjoyed about the quarantine… i like not having to drag my kids out of bed by seven so we can leave for school at eight. they really prefer to sleep in until somewhere between eight thirty and nine and are generally more pleasant when they wake naturally.

artful bookshelves

April 14, 2020 in art, family, family room, living room, residential interior

in this time of "social distancing" and "shelter at home" when we are meant to remain within the confines of our houses we probably have a bit more time. it is the PERFECT opportunity for interior improvement projects. channel your boredom and extra energy by reorganizing your bookshelves to maximize their visual impact. thoughtfully arranged bookshelves add life, color, warmth and intimacy to a room. bookshelves can provide amazing insight into your loves, interests, travel, collections and favorite authors, personalizing a home and making it unique. following are tips for turning what is often only a functional aspect of a room into something that enhances, informs and brightens the space.

happy birthday lulu! x0x

April 11, 2020 in family, holiday

for some reason it was not easy for me to get pregnant. we tried all kinds of things (besides the obvious) before finally ending up seeing the amazing dr. cedars of UCSF’s center for reproductive health. dr. cedars guided us through the whole IVF process and we ended up with ten embryos. two of those we used to get theo and we froze the rest. then we moved from san francisco to amsterdam.

the order of a seder

April 08, 2020 in family, holiday

seder means “order.” there is an order to every aspect of the passover celebration from the way the seder plate is prepared to which course is served first and second and third to what prayer is said, what song is sung, what question is asked and when. even though i am not jewish, i have been hosting passover dinners for nearly twenty years. inevitably i mix up at least one aspect of the order. sometimes i even schedule the seder for the wrong evening - the jewish calendar is confusing and i am not always sure if “begins at sundown” means the dinner should take place that night or the next. i give myself a pass on this as a shiksa mama raising jewish children. i have enough trouble with simple time telling (my mom thinks that’s because i had the chicken pox the week i was meant to learn it in first grade) and adjusting to different time zones and daylight savings.

easter brunch

April 07, 2020 in family, holiday, recipe

my whole life there have been two essential easter recipes served at our brunch: my mother’s mushroom crust quiche and her easter buns. they are both a little trashy… the quiche has smashed up saltines in the crust and the buns are made with the dough that comes in a can you bang on the counter to pop open. but they are both delicious. the quiche (or KWEE-CHEE as theo used to call it) LOOKS a little more elegant, but the buns are never pretty. the filling always squirts out and the jam slides around so they are just a mess. i have tried and tried to clean them up to no avail. when new people come for easter, they usually bypass them on the buffet and i have to force them to try one… no one has ever been disappointed. AND they are both still yummy, cold, the next morning as leftovers. happy, happy easter all! x0xx

hank is famous!

April 05, 2020

handsome hank was just featured in a houzz story… he was photographed in our playroom by the amazing heather knierim of HBK photography. CONGRATULATIONS sweet boy! x0x

Show Us Your Pets!

liz murphy of rosie girl studio

April 02, 2020

i am not sure what this means about me, but by far the hardest aspect of the “shelter at home” has been missing my appointments with my beloved colorist, liz. (OBVIOUSLY i mean the hardest thing other than being worried sick about dear friends in new york and the deaths of thousands of people here and around the world and the whole economy tanking.) normally, i go like clockwork to see liz at her NEW rosie girl studio location in niwot every two weeks. i had to miss two appointments which put me at about half an inch of silver roots (unfortunately, my hair grows pretty fast) and i was NOT happy. it did not help that my daughter kept saying, “oh mama… this is not good. please put on a hat!” every time my head was bare. i DID experiment with scarves (this accommodation reminded me of the women during WW II who drew seams down their legs with eyeliner when stockings were not available) and lucy also started wearing one in solidarity… it looked MUCH cuter on her!

eco-friendly home products... boulder county home + garden, spring issue

March 31, 2020 in dining room, family, family room, living room, residential interior

i am a bit abashed to admit that my children are the ones who have pushed me to consider how the product choices i make for my home effect the environment. because of them we now have a collection of metal straws (BIG ones so they can be easily cleaned with a little brush), reusable bowl and cup covers that look like my grandmother’s shower caps (used in place of plastic wrap) and cloth napkins for everyday use, rather than paper ones. i DO cringe each time they rub spaghetti sauce or jam on the napkins because of course that means they will need to be washed. “mama, you HAVE to let us wipe our hands - that’s the whole point” they say. so it was serendipitous when i was asked to write an article for boulder county home + garden on eco-conscious home items and furnishings. i had so much fun discovering these kitchen and home decor products that are both visually delightful (MUCH prettier than my shower caps!) AND support conservation and sustainability. THANK YOU to dot & army, MoMA, marley’s monsters, Khala & Co., minna, archive new york, area home, leah singh and coyuchi for your beautiful, creative and thoughtful designs.

the gift of art... kelly degnan x0x

March 25, 2020 in art

in these unprecedented, uncertain days sometimes the best thing for our hearts is something beautiful. the SUPER talented, inspiring kelly degnan dropped off this joyful, uplifting piece yesterday… what an important, soul nurturing gift. in between vacuuming and cooking and math facts and monopoly and more vacuuming (it’s AMAZING how dirty the house gets when we are all here ALL the time!) we have each paused in front of it to take in the bright colors (i especially adore the hot pink) and notice the shapes and little drips and brushstrokes and depth and texture of this painting. THANK YOU kelly for sharing this beauty with us… we couldn’t be more grateful. x0x0x

kelly degnan is an abstract artist from boulder, colorado. follow her on instagram: kellydegnanstudio to keep up with her gorgeous work.

learnings from the corona

March 24, 2020 in family, exercise

this new reality of corona “social distancing” and “shelter at home” has certainly been shocking and hard to get used to, but i have had some important learnings as well:

(1) ONE pair of sweatpants is NOT enough when you spend every day at home. usually this time of year i toggle between jeans and jammies each day. if i am not going out, i typically get into my jams right after dinner. i have two pairs of lulus that i wear to my bar classes (that is an indication of how frequently i exercise - most boulder moms have a collection of ten to fifteen pairs. but most boulder moms also wear their lulus as regular clothes. i may run an errand or two in mine after bar class, but i rarely wear them all day long.) however, with my new corona sofa regime, jeans are not comfortable attire for a full day. also, i think all the cookie dough i have been eating (we have been practicing home schooling “life skills” and the ability to make proper nestle tollhouse cookie dough is imperative) has made my skinny jeans even skinnier. i DO have a fairly extensive pj collection but i keep reading that staying in your pajamas all day is not good for your mental health. so sweatpants seem like a good compromise… unfortunately, i only have one pair. now my favorite day is the one when my sweats are fresh out of the laundry.

corona

March 18, 2020 in family, hank, holiday, travel

in the last few weeks the world has turned completely upside down. two weeks ago i attended what we lovingly refer to as the “no talent show” at my daughter’s elementary school. this is a day i dread each year as the show goes on for HOURS, the gym is always a bazillion degrees (this is coming from someone who is almost never too hot) and i end up feeling punch drunk and cheering too loudly out of desperation for it to end. this year my girlfriend confided that she’d had two beers before she came, which i thought was brilliant. in NINE years i have never thought to give myself an aid like that. and now i may never have to because it’s hard to imagine in our new corona reality that we will ever jam ourselves into a hot, stuffy gym with fourteen million elementary school kids, their sneezy, coughy siblings and all their parents and grandmas and grandpas to boot.

salad people

March 10, 2020 in recipe

we have never really been “salad people” in my family. when i order a salad in a restaurant i usually eat all the yummy stuff off (the bacon, hard boiled egg, cheese, croutons, candied walnuts, etc and then leave the boring lettuce. the other weekend i was in iowa and i had dinner [TWICE] at the cracker barrel. i had a perfect salad there - it was covered in fried chicken, deviled eggs, cheese and sliced cucumbers and tomatoes. of course, when i got through those things i stopped eating and handed the waitress my bowl of romaine. and then i dipped into my mother’s chicken n’ dumplings, which i highly recommend.) there ARE a few exceptions… i LOVE the simple salad at brasserie ten ten - it has fried capers and tomatoes and butter lettuce in an amazing dressing and i eat all of it. i also love the kale apple salad at oak, which is bananas because normally i won’t go anywhere near kale. this kale is chopped into thin little strips no wider than a dried spaghetti and it’s covered with so many tasty things you can’t even tell it’s kale, which is why i can eat it.

UPDATE on the grandma

March 05, 2020

this morning the kids and i were beside ourselves when the grandma we wave to on the “i” street as we drive to school WAVED BACK! we didn’t think she could see us because my car windows are tinted, but apparently she has really good eyesight. she has such a pretty wave… just like the queen. we have gotten especially attached to her since we lost our gg (there is an uncanny resemblance) and it truly made our morning! x0x

matti berglund's ladies

March 03, 2020 in art, family

i never got to meet my maternal grandmother, but i have always felt that she was looking over me and now she is busy with my children as well. this sense of my own grandma angel has given me peace and a feeling of protection and love my whole life. she has been described as a woman of quiet reserve who bestowed her family and those dear to her with great kindness and generosity. she and my daughter share the same middle name as i wanted to further this connection between the generations of women in my family.