Monday Motivation

This is my mantra for the week. I'm in the middle of so many projects- for work, with our new studio, our house, everything. I'm just going to put my head down and work and hopefully when I look up, it'll all be done! I hope :)

Friday Roundup (on Saturday)

Friday Roundup is late this week because we are battling a virus at our house. That saying about no sick days for moms is no joke. Hoping that we'll be feeling better tomorrow so we can have one nice weekend day. At least it's sunny right??

Here are some links from around the web:

Made me laugh. 

Pretty amazing. 

How to be a better spouse.

Cute summer suits. 

Thought these charts were helpful for parents.

Might have to try out this experiment. More to come.

Incredible design. 

This looks healthy and delicious. 

(Photo)

Buenos Aires: Palermo

We’ve been home for a month and I’m finally finishing my last post about our Argentina trip! The other two are here if you’re interested.

We spent the final third of our trip in the upscale, trendy neighborhood of Palermo in Buenos Aires. I booked our two boutique hotels in Buenos Aires through Tablet Hotels and they were both fabulous. L’Hotel Palermo is a lovely little antiquey spot with a gorgeous green courtyard right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Palermo. It was the perfect place to come back and relax after days spent meandering the restaurant and shop filled streets of Palermo. We spent most of our time there just walking or biking from bookshop to café to restaurant exploring, eating and shopping. It was wonderful. 

L'Hotel Palermo

Now that we have Mylo, it was such a luxury to be able to just wander around the city with no agenda or plan and enjoy a cup of tea, newspaper, book, window shopping, etc. I love my child but it was such a treat to get a break from toddler time all the time. 

We ventured to the downtown area one day and were able to join a group called the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo who have been organizing and marching in the plaza every Thursday since the late 70's/early 80's when their children disappeared during the "dirty war" in Argentina. We also walked up to Recoleta to see the incredible above-ground cemetery where Eva Peron is buried -- I've never seen anything like it. 

We splurged one evening and bought tickets to see a tango show at the Cafe Los Angelitos. The show was incredible with 10 dancers and a live band plus unlimited vino. :)

One of my favorite parts of Palermo was that you could just wander around and find yourself entering these gorgeous courtyards with cafes, shops, florists, bookstores, and bakeries. The one above was called Pehache and had a cafe and shop together. 

We had tons of great food in Buenos Aires, on our last night we went to Don Julio's which is famous for their steak and red wine. It was a great way to cap off the trip. That's the whole travel log! It was an incredible trip, I can't wait to go back to Argentina!

My Cooking Secret - Wei Shallot Oil

I haven't had it in me lately to cook anything fancy. Mostly we've been eating some sort of baked or steamed veggies, chicken, and rice or bread. BUT my favorite flavor booster for otherwise boring meals lately is this amazing Shallot Oil that I use on everything from chicken to brussels sprouts. Shallot oil is a staple in Vietnamese cuisine but it's so versatile it tastes great on almost everything. They sell it in big sizes or conveniently wrapped gift packages, perfect for a hostess gift.

And bonus, it's made by a cute couple from Seattle! Love it!

Our New Studio!

So after YEARS of talking about it, and then not being in town enough the last two years to justify it, Jason and I have finally gotten a studio space for JKoe!

Here's one little corner, a "before" shot if you will...

At this point, it's a bit overwhelming as we're painting and doing a bit of work on the space AND in the process of remodeling part of our basement at home at the same time. So my life is a chaotic mess at this point, half of of gear is in our dining room, the rest is in boxes. I'm trying to focus on how EXCITED I am to have our work separate from our home, to have this new space to go to and I'm really looking forward how much more space for living this will open up in our home.

Shout out to my parents (below) who came to help clean! And also to Jason's parents who have gone above and beyond on our basement remodel AND we already have a list of things for Jason's dad, who is a contractor, to help us with in the new studio.

Also, I'm thrilled about the location. Our new spot is right on the edge of Pioneer Square and Sodo, there are tons of great restaurants, shops and food trucks within walking distance as well as Mariners, Seahawks and Sounders games :).

Get ready for lots of Seattle Spotlight posts recommending all of my favorite spots and of course the "after" photos of what things look like once we're all moved in, hopefully soon! 

Friday Roundup

Happy Friday! It's been a busy week and I'm looking forward to a few days of escape. Lots of fun things to talk about next week! I hope you have a relaxing weekend wherever you are.

Look for these when it's raining in Seattle.

Julia Child's trick for perfect poached eggs...which I'm going to have to try, I've never successfully poached an egg.

Inspiring stories of late bloomers

Wanderlust: places to stay awhile

Cats and Babies. Together. It's cute.

People, aged 1 to 100 share their dreams in this beautiful set of photos.

70's fashion is back in, yet again, and I love it.

I just started watching The Jinx, after seeing countless tweets about how filled the real life crime hole left when Serial ended. Here's a super interesting read about what the filming experience was like for the reenactors. 

The artists behind the beautiful music on Kendrick Lamar's new album

Wonderfully non-traditional ways to incorporate wallpaper...I'm inspired to do something creative in our new studio space!

Photo via my new favorite design site- even though it's not in English :)

Life lately and my little toddler!

Hi everyone! I feel like I'm not keeping up on the blogging very well these days. I mentioned before that in January I transitioned from working four to five days a week and it's been a bit rough on my blogging routines (and all of our routines to be honest). Any advice out there from working moms about how to find time/energy for your favorite hobbies?

In other news, Myles is at the most fun age yet! Ever since he turned about 18 months he has been spouting out new words every day and is just incredibly excited about all the new things he can do. He loves going on walks, to the park, zoo, hanging out with his cousins, reading books, and playing with all kinds of sports balls, trains, and his plastic turtles and ducks. One of his favorite little games is just to point at me and say MA! and then to point at Patrick and say DA! It's pretty much the best.