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. 

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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.

Watch This: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

You guys. I cannot stop talking about this show. I tell EVERYONE I see that they need to watch it. I think it's especially good for my exact demographic, females who hit their teens in the late 90's. We're the exact group to LOVE jokes about Full House, The Babysitters Club and American Girl dolls.

Since it's on Netflix, all 10 episodes of the first season was released at once. So feel free to binge the whole thing and then watch it again a few days later, which might have been what I did :)

If you were a fan of Tina Fey's last show, here's a guide to 30 Rock references in Kimmy Schmidt. 

And the theme song makes me happy every time I hear it...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A few years back I spent St. Patrick's Day in Dublin with Teresa, who was living there at the time. Today I'm thinking about how wonderfully lovely it is in Ireland. Also I'm and trying to decide if I have the patience to make Avoca's Fish Pie, one of my favorite things I ate while there. 

If you're in the mood...What the Irish Drink, A Weekend in Dublin and Teresa's fun Guestbook

Monday Motivation

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Friday Roundup

Happy Friday everyone! I think March is my favorite month of the year. It's my birthday (!), spring is full of anticipation and new life, the daylight finally stretches later into the evening, and it's just the best. I'm looking forward to a weekend full of fun! 

Here are few links to kick us off:

I'm going to cook these ASAP, look delicious and a toddler favorite. 

Dining etiquette, wait to eat before everyone is served? (I saw dive in)

12 empowering books for young girls. 

Crazy hipster wedding, fabulous photos. 

Wanderlust. 

What to do for St. Patty's in Seattle! 

(Southern Coconut Cake)

Happy Birthday T!

Here's a throwback for you. TEN years ago we were celebrating Teresa's 21st birthday in Cape Town, South Africa.

Teresa got a blowout for the occasion. I wore a fancy new tube top.

We'd spent the last 10 weeks studying abroad in South Africa- traveling around the Eastern Cape, volunteering in townships and studying at the beach.

We'd come to the end of our time and this was a celebration of three different friend's birthdays, all in March, as well as a last hurrah for all of us on the program.

The party was at our favorite spot, just a few blocks from the house in which all 17 of us lived. It was our own Real World: Cape Town. Obz Cafe was where went for coffee, to study and of course, where we discovered hard cider, still one of my favorite drinks. Also, where I learned that some South Africans pronounce jalapeño with a j sound, and will correct you in a very condescending manner if you don't :)

The music consisted of our musical obsessions of that trip: Freshly Ground- a local group, Air, Sigur Rós and the Garden State soundtrack.  

So many good memories! I'm thankful to have had this and so many other adventures with you Teresa! Happy Birthday!!!

Above, our friend Amber, posing with me and T and below. Jenn, Brita and Teresa, the birthday girls. I think my favorite part about this, is that 10 years later, I'm still friends with these ladies.

l. 

Brunch Cocktail: Campari Orange

In Argentina one of the things we loved was that instead of mimosa's most of the hot brunch spots were offering "Campari Orange" -- which is simply Campari combined with fresh squeezed orange juice and ice. So good! We've started drinking them at home and it's easy to make it into more of an aperitif by adding sparkling white wine or sparkling water. It's definitely more on the sour/bitter spectrum but we love that. Cheers!

Iguazu Falls, Argentina

For the second part of our trip we spent three nights on the Argentinian border with Brazil and Uruguay at Iguazu Falls. It was definitely one of the most stunning and overwhelmingly beautiful things I have ever seen. It took quite a lot of effort to get there between flights, cabs, waiting in long lines, etc. but by the time we reached the falls we were both saying how worth it we felt the trip was. The area is considered jungle and we saw monkeys, iguanas, coatis, and tons of gorgeous butterflies and birds. We stayed at a fabulous hotel with some of the coolest swimming pools we've ever seen and monkeys just off the deck of our room.

Lovely pools at our hotel

 A butterfly landed on my  hat at the pool. :)

We took a boat UNDER the waterfalls

Monday Motivation

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Friday Roundup

Happy Friday! I know it isn't the case elsewhere, but in Seattle spring seems to have arrived. Things are blooming! The cherry blossoms at UW will be in full bloom in the next week or so (the photo above is from a few years back) and I've been in full spring cleaning mode this week. We're in the process of moving our office into awesome studio space, lots of packing and cleaning involved. I'm excited for it to all be done, or at least to move onto the phase where I get to pick out pretty rugs and throw pillows.

Have you heard about the new show on Netflix from Tina Fey, staring Ellie Kemper? This article says it references Baby Sitters Club, it's getting rave reviews AND the whole first season is available today. This is how I will be spending my Friday night.

This is the funniest thing I've seen all week. Keep scrolling down, they just keep getting better!

Acrobatic gymnastics! How did I not know this existed until now?

Spring sweater, made in Kenya

Coloring to combat stress...adding crayons to my shopping list.

The non-workout. Teresa sent this to me, it definitely rings true :)

A mashup of movie dance scenes, this makes me happy.

An island of cats! So many cats!

Display shelf idea for all the trinkets I've picked up along the way.

My new favorite sunglasses



Cherry Blossom photo by Jason

A Pretty Photo...

I've been spending a lot of time looking at this lovely wedding from Puerto Vallarta as I finish up their album this week. I love this shot. 

I made the cut!

I did it! Chopped it all off on Sunday! I thought I would freak out more about it, actually it feels awesome. I have had long hair for over 10 years and it's really, really refreshing to have a change. I'll get some better pictures up soon. I have the best hair stylist and salon in case you're looking-- Erica at Caruh.

Buenos Aires: San Telmo and La Boca

We had SUCH a good time on our trip to Argentina. It was the perfect mix of relaxing and adventurous, city and rural. We could have crammed in more site-seeing but in the end we were glad we took the time to marinate in Buenos Aires instead of rushing around trying to see everything. Before I say anything more, if you are going to Argentina, you HAVE to pay a reciprocity fee before you can enter the country and have proof of it for your flight. I won't get into the details but this is fairly new and not clear in anything we read and we were SOOO close to missing our flight because of it. 

Anyway....our trip was basically divided into three parts. We started in the south part of Buenos Aires, San Telmo, then flew two hours north to Igauzu Falls, then came back and spent the end of our trip in the north Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo. I'm going to do three posts with some photos, links and stories from our trip. 

Soooo, starting off, San Telmo and La Boca! We started out in the more "gritty" and historic part of town traditionally known for antiquing that is currently undergoing a bit of a revival. It is filled with old (somewhat decaying) architecture, cobblestone streets, quirky/local shops, and unique restaurants. We stayed at a fun little boutique hotel called Mansion Vitraux, the highlight of which was the rooftop pool. It was fun to be in a modern hotel/rooftop in the midst of a more "antique" part of town.

We spent most of our time in Buenos Aires just wandering around looking in shops and cathedrals, navigating our way based on the restaurants and bars we wanted to try out. It was lovely.

Just south of San Telmos is the tourist zone of brightly colored houses and buildings called La Boca. We'd heard that it can be overrun with tourists which it was, but it didn't take away from the whimsy of the neighborhood and we stumbled on a wonderful little museum with a modern little rooftop cafe. 

The Pope (El Papa) is from Buenos Aires and a HUGE deal right now.

The streets of La Boca

Lunch in La Boca

A few of the culinary highlights included Aramburu Bis where we had our favorite meal of the whole trip on Valentine's Day, fabulous restaurant with a locally famous chef. Also, we loved this little vegetarian cafe, this historic bar, and eating a lot of street food (mostly empanadas and choripan sandwiches, pictured below).

PROA Museum Exhibit

Afternoon wine in San Telmo

One of the highlights of San Telmo is the AMAZING 15 block outdoor market. We had planned to spend a couple of hours there and ended up walking around the whole day. The streets were lined with artisan stalls and incredible street performers as seen above. 

Patrick blissing out over his chorpian sandwich (chorizo sausage etc.)

Choripan