Friday Roundup

Well, it's the beginning of the end. The end of summer, that is. It's gone by so fast, as it always does. I'm trying my hardest to avoid looking at people's back to school related posts, and pretending to believe it'll be summer forever. I hope you all enjoy a lovely three day weekend.

A collaboration between an artist and her for year old. The results are amazing.

If guy best friends acted like girl best friends…

Tiny Houses for the homeless in Austin

I tried this cake at a baby shower last weekend and it is amazing.  EVERYONE SHOULD EAT THIS CAKE.

Foods that taste amazing when frozen.

The Somebody App. Have you heard of it yet? The concept is both hilarious and pretty cool.

New fall shoes from Uxibal...

We've been eating this all week. Easy. Summery. Healthy. Perfect.


Image above of astronaut Anna Fisher via 52 Powerful Photos Of Women Who Changed History Forever.

Cold Brew Coffee DIY

After seeing people go crazy for it in coffee shops for the last few summers, I decided to give cold brew at home a go.

What's so great about cold brew, you ask? A few things. There is a lower acidity level, giving the coffee a smoother taste (and making it easier on your stomach), also, hot coffee when cooled rapidly gets a bitter after taste, that isn't the case with cold brew since it's never hot. So, hypothetically, you're making a smoother, sweeter, cold coffee. (That's the Jenny paraphrase of info from Food 52 and the NY Times)

I chose to go with this incredibly simple and informative recipe from Jamie Oliver. So simple in fact, it suggests using paper towels to strain your coffee if you don't have anything else on hand. 

Don't get caught up in the world of crazy contraptions. It's really very simple and you can make a big batch and keep it in your fridge for a week. Also, to keep it even longer, you can freeze the coffee into ice cubes. 

This is the easiest version of coffee I've ever made. No equipment required. Seriously, paper towels. You can do this.

Photos with Rings

Anything stand out to you about this adorable first sight photo? Yep, it's before the ceremony and the groom already has his ring on.

Couples frequently ask if they should wear their rings in all of the photos, and well- I don't have a good answer one way or another. Some people do and some don't, it's entirely up to you. But I really do like seeing the ring in this photo :)

Photo By Studio JKoe 

Life Lately

We have been very busy with fun activities lately! The weather has been glorious in Seattle so we are trying to soak it up as much as possible. The above picture was taken at Gas Works Park just a few blocks from our house -- we walked down after dinner with Mylo already in his PJ's.

I didn't get as many pictures at Priest Lake as I wish I would have but here are a few of Mylo enjoying his first boat ride (and driving the boat with Pawser!) and hammock with his Dada.

Last weekend my good friend Tracy got married and I was privileged to be a bridesmaid in the wedding! Tracy was such a beautiful, calm, fun bride I had a blast celebrating with her and Kevin. Congrats!

No More Razors

Anyone who's spent time with me in shorts-wearing weather can attest to the fact that I am TERRIBLE at shaving my legs. I cut myself practically every time.

After years of feeling like my choices were either living with lots of cuts and/or razor burn or being a hairy leg beast, I finally decided to try something new. 

I bought an epilator. 

And (so far) I LOVE IT! 

My only regret, not having tried this sooner.

For those of you who aren't familiar with epilators, they're look like an electric razor but instead of cutting they basically tweeze the hair out, pulling it from the root, like waxing. The pros being that it lasts for as long as waxing would and it's virtually impossible to cut yourself. The cons, it's painful, again, like waxing.

I was a little scared it would be unbearably painful, but honestly, on a pain spectrum I'd describe it more in the realm of very unpleasant and only slightly painful. Overall, completely worth the results. I'd much rather suffer through this every few weeks than daily shave my legs for sure.

Tips I've learned from my own experience thus far/read in reviews:

-Do this at night! My legs looked like I had a splotchy disease when I finished, but were perfectly smooth the next morning.

-Just as you would with waxing, you need to exfoliate as the hair grows back to avoid ingrown hairs.

-Don't put any lotion on your legs before you exfoliate, it makes it harder for the epilator to grab the hairs. 

If you're interested, this is the epilator I bought, it was a little more expensive than some of the other models, but a personal recommendation from a friend combined with the good reviews on Amazon won me over.

Image by Slim Aarons, via Like Me Some

Monday Motivation

The end of summer makes me want to make resolutions for some reason, probably that "back to school" will never cease to feel like the true beginning of the year. More on that to come...

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Friday Roundup

Happy Friday! Hope everyone had a great week. I'm super excited to be in my friend's Tracy and Kevin's wedding tonight at a gorgeous winery in Woodinville. Patrick and I are leaving Mylo at home (thanks Mimi!) and heading out to enjoy ourselves and celebrate a wonderful couple!

Hope you have a great weekend! Here are some links to kick us off:

Super-cute superhero bedroom and a stylish baby-gate.

History of texting in movies and a new movie that looks fascinating.

Touching and fascinating tribute to Robin Williams by the animator of the Genie in Aladdin.

List of the 25 best "best friends" of rom-com heroines. Agree?

No wonder I still like listening to Ace of Base.

Great techy interview with Ira Glass (ATTN: JENNY)

Looks delicious and refreshing.

Love this: one bookcase, three ways.

One interesting way to celebrate your birthday. 

6 things you swore would never happen when you had kids. :)

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Baby Gear: Ten to Twelve Month Favorites

As you may expect, most of my 10-12 month favorites are toys! We covered a lot of the basics in the other baby gear posts and he is becoming so interactive and playful that toys were the biggies for the last quarter of his first year. 

1. Tobbles: These things are genius and so versatile. The texture is great for little hands and unlike balls they can't roll under couches or off the deck. :)

2. Table Toppers: This is one of my very favorite baby products ever. They are disposable sticky place-mats that we use every time we go out to eat. Mylo will throw a plate on the floor still so he was eating off of restaurant tables (that I would wipe down but still) until I discovered these little gems. 

3. Native Shoes: So cute, comfy and waterproof. 

4. Baby Gap PJ's: We love Gap and Old Navy sleep sets. Cute, well made, and roomy enough for my big guy. 

5. BEABA spoons and Boon suction bowls: We have several types of suction bowls and the Boon ones are the only that actually stick. Love the soft BEABA spoons for his little mouth. 

6. Bummi's Swim Diapers: We also tried the Honest brand swim diapers but they were pull ups which  is too much of a challenge for me. These ones were great all summer and we just traded on and off with two pairs. 

7. Banana Toothbrush: Now that Mr. Myles finally has (four!) teeth we have been using this little toothbrush/teether to keep them pearly white. 

8. Sensory Balls: These balls are a huge hit at our house. Easy to grasp, great texture, fun colors, float in the water, what else can you ask for?

New Movie: "The Theory of Everything"

Have you seen the preview for the new movie "The Theory of Everything" about Stephen Hawking's life? I've never read any of his books but I have to admit the trailer makes the movie look really good. Maybe I'm just a sucker for handsome Brit Eddie Redmayne (Les Mis). I Googled Hawking after watching it and I'll be curious how they take his fascinating but tumultuous life and translate it into a (love?) story on screen. Will you watch it? 

I'm Back!

Hello! How is everyone doing?? I took a bit of an unplanned blogging break the past couple of weeks while we were out in Idaho vacationing with my family. We usually have some sort of internet at the cabin but this year we had to go to the resort to get Wifi so it was a much needed technology fast for me! My phone didn't even work at most places on the lake, it was actually pretty awesome. 

We had a wonderful time at Priest Lake soaking up the sunshine, swimming, boating, eating lots of yummy food, and huckleberry picking. I'm still getting some photos together but I love the one up above of Mylo playing with the Nerf football in the lake. He loved being in the water and the cold temperature didn't seem to bother him at all. 

Hope everyone is enjoying these last couple of weeks of summer!

Monday Motivation

I LOVE quotes. I love being inspired by someone's words and thoughts. I love underlining passages in books and pinning things on pinterest. I have quotes hanging on my walls and next to my desk. I give them to people on cards. 

But, lately I've been less than motivated in coming up with Monday Motivation posts. Is it possible to run out of quotes? I think I just need some new ones to love.

So now, I'm asking all of you:

What is your favorite quote? 

What motivates and inspires you? 

Please share in the comments! 

Friday Roundup

It's been a week of recuperating at our house. The calm after the chaos that was finishing a music video. Have you seen it yet? You can watch here! Teresa's on her way back from her vacation, I'm sure she's sad it's over, but selfishly I'm happy to have her back in town. Happy weekend!

Downton embraces bottled water? 

Ice cream pint cozy…brilliant!

Interesting article…

Robin Williams' live in pictures (ps. many of his movies are available on Netflix, including my favorite)

Lauren Bacall

The kitten video Jason can't get enough of this week.

I want to try this guacamole

Bad 90's beauty trends, although I have to admit,  I currently own a scrunckie and I kinda want crimped hair to come back!

Speaking of 90's trends, American Apparel has jellies!

Image by @zoerainphoto

Seattle Spotlight: Yoga in the park!

All summer our favorite yoga studio, 8 Limbs, is teaching FREE yoga classes in the sculpture park on Saturdays! It's been one of my goals of the summer to make it to a class and I finally did last week. 

Doing yoga outdoors is super refreshing. Although, I have to say, a yoga mat on top of grass is a little more challenging than hardwood. 

The class is every Saturday from 10:30-11:30,  goes through the end of September and everyone is welcome. They suggest arriving 15 minutes prior to sign in, but if you're going with friends and want to be next to each other, I suggest getting there a bit before that. The classes are geared toward all levels, but a base understanding of yoga poses is definitely helpful, as it's hard to see the instructor demonstrating unless your in the very front. 

More info here.

Who wants to come with me? 

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Behind the Scenes...

Here's a quick look at part of the making of Arrows… A week of shooting condensed into 2 minutes. I have to say, this makes it look fun and happy, which it was, but it was also long and exhausting. It wasn't all just fun and games and riding the tandem bike around set. In the photo above, You'll see the sun has just set outside of the warehouse we'd been cooped up in for over 12 hours at that point.  

One of the longest days was the pool shoot, Ben was SUCH a trooper and was swimming in his clothes (including shoes!) for long chunks of time, which is not easy to do. After a few hours of shooting, Jason jumped in as well, to better direct from the pool, which I think was a move of solidarity as much as it was to shoot. 

Arrows

This is what has consumed my life since May... Jason directed this, along with John Keatley. I helped out a bit as an associate producer, and am immensely proud of the final results.

Whenever we're working on video projects, there's usually a lot of secrecy involved, and it makes blogging hard! Where I'd normally want to post, "I spent the day watching Jason be a merman!" instead I only get to say, "Cool project that I can't name coming soon!"

At least now, it's a relief to get to say, this is why I was silent for days at a time and this is why I haven't had any "Craft & Create" posts for awhile, THIS WAS my craft project for the summer! 

So hopefully as the behind the scenes for this rolls out, I'll be able to share a bit more about the adventure that this has been and more photos like this. And this. For now, I'll say it's amazingly cool to see something go from ideas- arrows on a train, a high dive, a tiger- to watching these things be created, to now, where I'm glued to my computer reading reactions from friends, family and major news outlets.

I hope you like it! 

Are you a magazine quiz person?

I have lots of fond memories of high school summer days laying in the sun with friends doing magazine quizzes.

Of course we took the results super seriously-because if Seventeen determined, through ten multiple choice questions, that you were meant to marry someone just like Justin Timberlake, it was true.

Lately I feel like the internet has been feeding my need for 90s nostalgia with quizzes.

Here are a few that I'm only somewhat embarrassed to admit have been puling me away from more pressing work and world matters...

Feel free to take the below quizzes and post your results in the comments, after all, sharing your results and discussing them with friends is the best part!

This quiz took me back to my magazine reading days...

What city should you live in?  (I got Seattle! Yay me! I'm doing this one right!)

Which member of your friend group are you? (I'm the "middle child" but the little blurb with this result was surprisingly accurate...good job silly quiz, it's like you know me!)

Which magazine should feature you on their cover? (I got Vogue. Who do I talk to about making this happen?)

Would you survive the Victorian era?  (I wouldn't last long.)

Which 90's bedroom should you live in? (I got Clarissa's. I'll take it!)

What's your perfect nail color? (Red. I might have to try this. I don't think I've ever had red nails...)


PS. I distinctly remember getting the above YM and doing the quiz. Incase you were wondering, yes, according to YM I was a "stress mess".

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A Bouquet...

Just look at this bouquet. The giant middle flower is a protea. Isn't it just amazing? Definitely one of my all time favorites. It's like no bouquet I've never seen before. 

Photos by Studio JKoe

Bouquet by Vases Wild

Wedding at The Inn at Langley

Myles' First Birthday

We had a little party for Mylo on his first birthday in the park next to our house. It was probably the coldest day this summer so it wasn't quite the "summer birthday" I had imagined but we had fun none the less. All his little buddies and cousins came out to celebrate with him and he LOVED his first piece of cake. I had to start eating some of it with him because he would have finished every last bit in front of him. He was very careful not to spill any because he wanted it all in his mouth! Happy birthday to my baby, can't believe he's so grown up. 

PS. Please excuse the sheer volume of pictures -- I couldn't choose which to post! Thanks to Zoe Rain for the great images of his day. 

Kenedee arrives! She's such a grown up girl now!

CLICK THROUGH FOR MORE IMAGES BELOW.

Jenny's Favorites: July

Summer is in full swing and I've been enjoying it as much as possible! Here are some of the things that have made July great.

1 & 2. For smooth summer skin I've been loving Swedish Dream Sea Salt Soap (which is great for shaving your legs) and this bath mitt, yes, it's expensive compared to a loofa, but unlike a loofa it'll last for years, cleans easily and dries quickly and is great for traveling. 

3. Oliver the Cat has been sporting a bow tie from Business Catual all month and he's getting lots of complements.

4. The New Yorker Archives are free for the summer. Their short stories are great for vacation reads.
Here are some great suggestions that I've enjoyed. Oh, and you can get the New Yorker beach towel here. 

5. For wonderfully laid back summery hair, I've been using Surf Spray, but if you really want great beach waves, check out Laura's tutorial from a few years back.

6. I've been drinking a lot of Dry Sodas lately. I love that they are WAY less sugary than other options and they are a great non-alcoholic option to have on hand for barbecues. 

Monday Motivation

Ouch...feeling a little convicted by this one.

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Friday Roundup

Happy Friday! Teresa and I will be spending the day floating on a lake. I don't think I've had one day off in the past two months, so I'm REALLY excited to be spending a day in the sun! Wherever you are, I hope you get at least a moment to relax.

A couple of my friends came out with a new song, what do you think?

TGIF facts ( I did not realize Adam Scott from Parks and Rec was on Boy Meets World!)

Amazing places in the world to visit ( I highly recommend Victoria Falls also!)

The Girls version of Peter Pan

This one ingredient ice cream alternative sounds amazing.

Or, if you aren't into healthy desserts, this combines my two favorite things from childhood summers.

Warren G reads Warren G. Harding's love letters

Have you ever had a female Uber driver?

Roadtrip style

Tips for happiness from the Pope

Image from my favorite summer camp movie :)