i was so delighted to be interviewed for a series on “optimistic entrepreneurs” in denver’s bold journey magazine. THANK YOU to the superstar duo: kimberly gavin (photographer) and natalie warady (stylist) for the first four photos shown from my winter park project and heather knierim of HBK photography for the lovely photos of my chatauqua project and gorgeous hank! read the full article here! x0x
REPOST: the order of a seder
* this is the last seder i will be hosting in our boulder house… i have so many wonderful memories of passover celebrations around this table and i am so grateful for all of the lovely friends who shared in them! HAPPY, HAPPY PASSOVER! x0x0x
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.
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my guest house cottage was featured in a HOUZZ article! x0x
(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
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HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY my darling lucy! x0x0x
i am flabbergasted to share that my dearest, darling baby girl is FOURTEEN years old today. i honestly can’t believe it. maybe because she is my youngest, i never anticipated that she would actually grow up. but in her powerful, spicy, hilarious, cheeky way she has marched ahead and become a full-on teenager, a YOUNG WOMAN even (i can’t say “lady” - she burps and swears like a sailor!) this last year has been a doozy with loads of changes and milestones both for lucy and for our whole family: her bat mitzvah, theo preparing to leave home for college, ALL of us planning a move to california this summer, lucy’s grammy worthy lashes, theo’s mustache, the sale of both of our boulder homes, the purchase of our new berkeley house and lu preparing to attend my old high school… JUICE THE JACKETS! i have already pulled out my old cheer uniform for her - maybe she will wear it for halloween?
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we're MOVING back to cali! x0x0x
in family
our family has made the decision to move to berkeley, california (my home town) this summer. we are feeling EVERYTHING: excitement, sadness, fear, hope and loads of gratitude both for the amazing friends and experiences we’ve had in boulder and for the opportunity to return to california and all the places and people we love there. things have been pretty hectic with the selling and purchasing of homes, planning and packing and paring down and trying to squeeze in extra time with special friends. we also have two pending graduations: theo from boulder high school and lucy from casey middle. but i wanted to officially share the news… AND let you know that as part of the paring down i am selling off the following items:
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REPOST: easter brunch
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
Read MoreMOTHER LAND ... a collection of stories from all kinds of mothers! x0x0x
i am so excited that one of my parenting stories: (greatly) modified parenting goals is going to be included in this collection of essays on mothering. the book will be out in time for MOTHER’S DAY! i will keep you posted on the details! x0x0xx
girlie weekend (with hank of course!) at THE BROADMOOR! x0x0xx
(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.
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hank looks like a SUPERMODEL! x0x0x
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
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TRASH THE RUNWAY tomorrow night at 7 pm! x0x0x
(the close of last year’s spectacular show!)
trash the runway is a design competition created by the creative lab at common threads in boulder, colorado. middle and high school students design, actualize and model super creative, high fashion looks made entirely of found and hard to recycle materials. the garments range from elegant to whimsical and have been created out of the most unexpected “trash”: discarded dog food bags, bubble wrap, gum wrappers, wall paper samples… the competition “aims to propel young people toward environmental and social responsibility and to inspire their confidence, creativity and critical thinking skills for the benefit of the greater good.” last year i was so honored to be a judge and really get a behind the scenes look at the design process and see all of the hard work that went into the garments up close. this year i am so thrilled to be a sponsor. following are some looks from the show last year. you can purchase tickets here for this one of a kind experience! x0x0xx
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TWO houzz 2024 awards: DESIGN and SERVICE! x0xx
i am so honored to have received BEST OF HOUZZ 2024 awards for both DESIGN and SERVICE! as always i am so grateful for the opportunity to do creative, stimulating work with such an array of talented, engaging people. THANK YOU to all of the vendors, builders, photographers, architects and clients who make this work so rewarding. winning a prize just never gets old for me! x0x0xx
Read Morehappy, happy valentine's day! x0x0xx
we’re sending you all so much LOVE on this valentine’s day! x0x0x
photo: heather knierim of HBK photography
my winter park project was included in an article on houzz! x0x
the mudroom of my winter park project was featured in an article on houzz called “To-Dos: Your January Home Checklist” i LOVE this because it’s all about new year’s cleaning and organizing, one of my very favorite activities. THANK YOU to laura gaskill for the write up. and THANK YOU again to the winter park team:
architect: scott munn of ma studios
builder: zane bishop of bishop built construction
kitchen design: sanctuary kitchen design
photographer: kimberly gavin of kimberly gavin photography
photo stylist: natalie warady
and my super special clients! this was such a fun project! x0x
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we will MISS the beauty and creativity of the incredible LISA HUNT!
in art
lisa hunt’s journey to becoming an artist was full of serendipity and bravery. she was brought up in a family flush with creatives… her mother was from roxbury, massachusetts, just outside of boston and lisa’s grandparents and great aunts and uncles all resided on different floors of the same brownstone. when visiting, lisa and her sisters would go from the flat of her grandfather and his second wife, affectionately called aunt muriel, who were frequently listening to calypso music up to the flat of her great aunt edna, a commercial artist - each room of edna’s apartment was painted a different jewel toned color - the art studio, which housed a large drafting table and myriad jars of colored pencils, was a deep blue. finally, the girls might end up in the flat of her adored aunt kaye for a big family dinner. lisa’s mother, asha, having spent many years of her childhood in the brownstone where there was so much appreciation for beauty and the arts, was inherently creative and included lisa in her painting, drawing, sewing and crochet projects.
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and POOF! just like that theo is EIGHTEEN! x00xx
in family
(the photo we used on theo’s baby announcement… he was only six weeks old)
theo was born january 27, 2006 in amsterdam, the netherlands. overnight i was transformed from a regular person into a MOTHER, which is something else entirely. i am so grateful for that (despite the fact that i have never really slept properly since, my belly feels like memory foam, i am always at least a little bit worried [will he fall into a canal? will someone convince him to get into a white van? will he join a weird cult? will he start eating raisins? - which are DISGUSTING, of course! will he be a good husband? WHAT will he tell his therapist about me in his forties?] i am frequently exhausted and i have been dreading this birthday since the day he arrived.) it felt like he was a baby for a LONG time - maybe because he was not a good napper and we spent A LOT of time together.
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aloha! x0x
since theo is a SENIOR this year (honestly, it is HARD for me to even write that as i am already torturing myself with anticipatory grief when i should probably just be enjoying him) we are trying to do all “the things” before he goes to college. so we went to hawaii over the holidays. i have not been in at least thirty years and the kids and first have never been so it was pretty exciting.
Read Moreour BIRTHDAY QUEEN! x0x0x
miss rosie is SIX YEARS OLD today! i cannot emphasize enough how much JOY she has brought to all of our lives. we just cannot imagine our days without her. HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY darling rosie! wishing you a year full of sunny walks, steak snacks, cuddles and naps… we LOVE you so! x0x0x
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PRAISE JESUS we made it to january! x0xx
(artwork: lesik aleksandr)
i DO love the holidays and thank goodness because we do them ALL: thankgiving, sinterklaas, hanukkah, my birthday (i DON’T love this one as much!), christmas and new years. i love baking the cookies, making the gingerbreads, lighting the candles, driving around to see the lights, putting out our clogs, decorating the tree, hanging the stockings, eating the latkes (i DON’T like making them - too messy!), hiding the shelf elves and their reindeer friend, going to the parties, delivering the cookies, sending the holiday cards (although this is always a loaded task!) receiving the holiday cards (much more FUN!), giving the gifts, enjoying my mother’s sticky buns, finding out who got the monkey and spending time with family. but i am always EXHAUSTED by the time we get to january and so grateful to bunker down and have a super quiet month (after i have VACUUMED up all the pine needles, which is my absolute favorite post-christmas task.) wishing you all a quiet, restful month with lots of sleep and TV! (my recent favorites: lessons in chemistry, black cake and the gilded age.) x0x0xx
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HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEAR! x0xx
wishing you all peace, happiness and beautiful experiences in 2024. x0x0xx
REPOST: the monkey
(even at 15 my grandmother seemed to know exactly what she wanted)
my paternal grandmother was fierce. she lived the way she wanted and you pretty much just went along. she liked things a certain way and if something wasn’t to her choosing she would wave her hand, say, “oh FISH!” and carry on as she deemed appropriate. you didn’t really want to get in her way.
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