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Happy Friyay!  It's almost Spring and daylight savings time!!

One of my most love/hate things about being a parent is managing my kids' stuff.  Of course the shopping part is fun (and a bit of a competitive sport for me), but then you have to manage all of it and get rid of all the clothes, shoes, toys, books, gear, accessories etc. as they outgrow them (not so much fun).  And with same sized boy/girl twins (and no plans for more, and similar aged cousins) there are really no such thing as hand me downs in our family (and as third of four girls, I can appreciate this is good for them, bad for me), so its often one (season) and done.  I also find I tend to buy more gendered things for the purposes of keeping track of whose is whose than I would if we'd had singletons. Oh well.

I've gotten to the point though, where I am fairly tired of buying/dealing with crappy stuff, even it is free with all my BR card rebates or easy because it's at Target (though a Marimekko collab is coming next month!) I've found investing in better stuff (even if it means I want to resell, i.e. more work, rather than give away) is a better investment, as buying on sale (and reselling) means things end up being almost free (and not crap, win/win).

I have a long abiding live for Garnet Hill, which is a catalog based company headquartered in rural New Hampshire.  I first came across them when I lived in Boston in the 90s and the salad dressing heiress/family I babysat for always had their catalogs around (though I wasn't the key target audience back then), so I'd look at them when I wasn't working or studying.  They have great stuff in their own brand (clothing and home), but they carry other great brands too, like Patagonia.  I could just use whether a store carries Patagonia as a barometer of whether they are my kind of store.  I've been wearing them since the 80s (thank you hippie dad, and preppy mom). I especially love Garnet Hill's swimsuits, dresses, leggings, backpacks, bedding, rugs, all in amazing fabrics. They have ridiculous sales (including their sales of the day), as do these all... (Pro tip: if you let something sit in your shopping bag for a bit, they may send you a free shipping email, good for multiple purchases.)

If you like Mini Boden, check out Little Joules...  Both are British and kind of eerily similar (Joules just slightly predates Boden), but I find Joules a little more my taste sometimes (they carry men/women/kids/baby).

If you like H&M, check out Zara...  This isn't really a revelation, as they are both somewhat ubiquitous "fast fashion", the first Swedish and the latter Spanish, but H&M has many more stores in the US.  We finally just got a Zara at our closest local mall.  Their girls' clothes are much nicer than H&M.  I also think of these stores in tandem as I discovered both while in Europe in 2001 before either had crossed the pond.  I mean that jacket, OMG.  We have the most gorgeous dresses from them.

If you like Tea Collection, check out Peek Kids...  Peek recently opened (and then sadly closed) three stores in our area, but they have a good website (they are also based in San Francisco), though I prefer not buy clothes online if I can help it (another reason why I can't live in a retail desert).  I'm not a fan of clothes (kids or otherwise) with lots of words (which they do) or branding (you want me to pay you to advertise, not this one), but they do have amazing Liberty of London print fabrics (more Brit love).

If you like Hanna Andersson, check out Polarn O. Pyret (or POP for short)...  I just discovered this Swedish company when we had our getaway in Minneapolis recently (they are at the Galleria in Edina).  I started talking to the saleswoman about the similarity and apparently the real Hanna Andersson once worked at POP and then left to start her own company (and you can tell).  They've been around since the 70s, but have just recently opened a couple of US stores (also in NYC and MA (Chestnut Hill, of course)).

If you like Skip Hop (zoo), check out Beatrix NY...  I discovered Beatrix (among others) at my favorite kids' store in Osterville, MA, Pocket Full of Posies.  We got them crazy cheap tablet cases there (which we finally filled last Christmas).

Happy Shopping!  Happy Weekend!

Starting 2016

I haven't been much of a blogger lately, but I have been slogging it out for awhile.  I'm entering my seventh year, though it has been much quieter around here since the kids were born.  It says something about my corporate job (and infertility too, I suppose), that the bulk of my nearly 600 posts came in those early years.  This outlet still holds a place for me that my other social media outlets don't and can't.  Facebook is not a blog (repeat after me) and neither is Pinterest or even Instagram.  And since I'm not selling anything over here (or anywhere), I have a little bit of a different take on each.

I'm finally getting around to reading "Quiet", which is amazing so far.  (Introverts unite!)  And looking forward to finishing it, so I can start on "When Breath Becomes Air" (you can read about it more on Cup of Jo and in the NYT) and then "We Should All Be Feminists" and "Between the World and Me".  One of my goals this year is to read more books...and actually finish them.  I've long been the queen of leaving books unfinished, and being on all the time for two busy preschoolers surely doesn't help.

The kids are doing great and we're all keeping busy.  We've done all sorts of classes over the years, but now we are trying to settle into a sport (dance for her since last fall, t-ball for him) and an instrument (piano for them both), though we'll mix it up come summer (tennis, soccer?).  We took a trip to the ENT to have Alistair's tonsils looked at and it turns out they are fine.  We are finally kicking whatever virus(es) have been plaguing us for the last few months.  Round and around it/they went...

If you aren't watching the last season of Downton Abbey, the last episode highlights that (spoiler alert!) having an incompetent cervix/infertility and cerclages are not new things.  And that others have had to move all the way to Boston to find themselves... I'm really going to miss that show (and yes I cheated and already watched the entire UK season online.).  Waiting for new Master of None and House of Cards (thank God for Netflix).

We just marked a decade in our house (and me in the burbs, the same amount of time I spent in Boston and Chicago combined), which means I've just now eclipsed even my childhood home for my longest tenured abode.  And we are finally almost done with the things we wanted to do here.  And in a few short months, it will be our tenth anniversary and my 40th birthday, which is all kind of crazy to think about.  So milestones and goals abound...

I still need to put together a post on our warm and wet holiday roadtrip to Nashville and NW Florida, so stay tuned!

Four times two

The kids turned four last Sunday and we had a nice long weekend in the city (so much good food), save Marielle struggling with a cold.  She fell asleep at our Santa brunch, poor thing, but it was our fourth visit with the big man, so no big deal.

 

We took them to the pediatrician for their annual visit and all is good.  There were lots of shots (their last for years), and Mari decided to get her ears pierced, even though she'd previously been very set on waiting until she turned five (like I did).  She's going to be blowing a lot of my benchmarks out of the water I think. 

 

Dr. Dan said Alistair has "generous tonsils", so while he doesn't seem to be having issues, we'll be taking him to see a pediatric ENT to see if he is.

 

They are each 36 pounds (just above average for their age, though not for their height) and almost identical in height (according to their measure, though I think he has a slightly bigger jump on her which you can see when they stand together).  He is officially 42.5" and she is 42.25", both in the 90+ %ile (their first time since 15 mos.)

She passed out early birthday evening, so Alistair got to celebrate solo with his Sprinkles cupcake.  My sweet little man.

Smiling through tears, our girl's new bling.

Feeling much better the day after

Cupcake time!

She's decided she wants to grow out her hair and now with her earrings, it seems like she's added more than a year.  Time flies!

Merry Christmas!

Wrapping up 2015

The struggle is real...

Our babies turn four next weekend and we'll all be off to the city for a packed long b-day weekend.  We're actually staying at the same great hotel downtown we did for last year's b-day weekend.  The kids are super psyched, particularly about the pool.  I finish up my consulting project this week (thank goodness), though it has been extended through March, I opted out after my original contract, well I did agree to extend for this week to transition.

We'll spend Christmas at home and then it's off on a family road trip!  Long delayed (due to MIL's visit), but we are off to sunny Florida (the Emerald Coast) via Nashville (both new places for us).  We haven't been anywhere new (we're creatures of habit like that) in almost five years (our first trip to the Hamptons when I was expecting the twins), so it was time for some new scenery.  We are all excited for some non-lake sand between our toes.

So I'm returning to life as a SAHM, after my short term FT onsite project, and after turning down another FT permanent job last week that I was recruited for in Lake Forest several months ago.  It was so ridiculous, it's sad.  I actually semi-seriously considered it for a bit (all that money...), but it served as a means for me to flex my long dormant interviewing muscles (they still work!) and at least toy with the idea of trading non-paid manual labor for a position in senior leadership (Sr Director... of never seeing my kids) at a well regarded company.  I guess after all this time, you could call me an intentional SAHM now.  Only 20 months until they start full day kindergarten.

We're finally finishing up our seemingly never ending kitchen remodel, the only missing piece is the perfect backsplash tile, which so far has remained elusive.

Only a few weeks left until 2016, so excited to see what it will bring.  Happy Holidays!

Back on the Market in Greenwich

A few months ago, before she recently resigned her latest gig at Fox to stay home with her kids, college classmate Elisabeth Hasselbeck and her husband Tim put their Greenwich, CT colonial (which they just bought three years ago) on the market.  It's listed for just under $5MM, if you're game.  Remember when I posted the crazy before pictures?  They did some redecorating, and as promised here are the afters...  My favorite room is definitely the dining (nice rug repurpose from the old city place btw).

 

No word on where they are relocating for their new (presumably simpler) life with their school aged kids. (Turns out the winner was Nashville)

The kids' big kid rooms

So this post is a little late since the kids moved to twin beds a year and a half ago.  Oh well... (fyi, their rooms never look like this in real life)

I used butterfly/flower/bird prints from an old Cavallini (flora and fauna) calendar and IKEA frames to create the montage over Mari's bed. We got her shams and bolster cover on our last trip to India two years ago (from Fabindia), which started the room in raspberry and marigold.  I then added a pink throw and pom pom pillow (far left) from last spring's Lilly Pulitzer for Target collection and my mom made another pillow cover (with a different animal on each side) from this amazing John Robshaw Mahout fabric (discovered here).  Her bed is the Astoria gold metal bed from Land of Nod (we are lucky to have their only outlet store nearby).  Rug is Garnet Hill and art is by my aunt, Michelle Montjoy.  She decided she's ready to try a high bed, so we're adding the box spring (which was too high when we bought it) back soon.

I found some cute bedding for him at Garnet Hill (which had a great pop-up store in Bridgehampton, NY this summer), including these Bainbridge shams and their coordinating car cases and navy dot flannel sheets that you can't see here.  The Ikat pillows (another on bench) are from the Jayson Home & Garden flea market.  The pair of oar pillows were impulse buys from Joanns.  Bed knobs from Anthropologie (similar ones now at Homegoods). His daybed is a Hemnes from IKEA.  His rug is from Dash & Albert and madras quilt from PBK, both carry overs from his nursery.  Mural map is from Nat Geo. Both of their bed covers are from Homegoods (M:Artisan De luxe and A: Cynthia Rowley). Some items not mentioned were noted here, here, here, and here.  I've been collecting more vintage wooden tennis racquets, so I'm ready for a larger installation when/if we ever move and he has more wall space.

Design Perfection

Some people are happy with new constructions on clear cut lots, but not this one.  Give me a 1960s Robert Parker Coffin design.  This one is about eight miles north of where we live now (in our target town/district/budget), and I really wanted to buy it, as in I went to see it twice (once w/DH), but someone beat us to it. Maybe next time it goes on the market...

I have a serious weakness for Cape Cod-style houses, and really any dormers in general, but alas we live in the Midwest where they aren't the norm.

 The floors in the LR were amazing...

And the family room was sized for indoor roller skating...

 Most of the window seats were in bathrooms, which was cool and odd, but these in the master dressing area were super cute.

  The huge backyard had a tree swing, climbing gym/swing set, and custom tree house (swoon).

 In full bloom...