Things to Do - And the Days Keep Flying By . . .

Lately, it seems like 7 pm arrives earlier and earlier. Before we've even cleared the dinner dishes, bedtime start encroaching into our night. Dog walks, bath time, it all sort of spirals, ending with T falling asleep during storytime. The girls often make it a little longer, passed out in bed with some random book. And downstairs, a glass of wine awaits.

Happy Friday everyone!! Have a wonderful weekend!

Places to Go - An Afternoon at the Hirshhorn and Air & Space Museum (Washington DC)

In the past few weeks T's had a crazy busy playdate schedule. A good thing, all in all. But on the downside, we don't spend as much time together, just the two of us, as in previous years. To fix this, we decided to take Friday afternoon "off" and visit the National Mall. I always forget how easy such adventures are. On weekdays, you can usually find ample metered parking in front of the Hirshhorn (right next door to Air and Space). Plus, free admission means you can pop in and out of different places. So see some art, run through the sculpture garden, "fly" an airplane (in the Air & Space Museum's How Things Move exhibit), watch a show on the "ceiling" (i.e. planetarium). Then hop in the car and drive home. All before rush hour.



T's favorite part of the art museum? Watching three video screens in an unseen person SLOWLY covered tvs with different colors of masking tape (one tv in red, one in yellow, and one in blue). "Who's going to win, mom? Isn't this exciting, who's going to win?" I can't say I shared his enthusiasm, I found the exhibit as boring, as well, as boring as watching someone cover a tv screen in masking tape (sometimes an analogy isn't really necessary).



We ended the day with a freeze-dried ice-cream sandwich, just like real astronauts.

Things to Make - Rosemary Sage Body Scrub

Since beginning this blog, I have received various emails and requests for guest posts, press, advertising, etc. Most of which did/do not seem like a good "fit" (though I always appreciate the asking). But every once in awhile, a perfect request comes a long. A few months ago, a woman named Michelle Pino** asked if I'd be interested in blogging some homemade body care recipes. Since I'm trying to cut down on excess spending (i.e. Red Door), this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I decided to try Michelle's rosemary sage body scrub and ordered all of the ingredients through Amazon (except for the sea salt, which I bought at Trader Joe's). It only took about five minutes to mix is all together. The results were incredible. I think I'm going to make a few more jars for end of the year teacher's gifts.

So thank you very very much Michelle! And readers, let me know what you think! I'm hoping to post more of Michelle's wonderful concoctions in weeks to come . . .

Here's the scoop:

Ingredients:
1 cup Sweet Almond Oil
2 cups Sea Salt
Rosemary Essential Oil
Sage Essential Oil
Airtight Jar for Storing (Mason Jar recommended but not required)
Spoon for Mixing



Fill your jar with the fine sea salt. (If you have sensitive skin, you can replace it with brown sugar.) Then slowly add your sweet almond oil a little at a time since you might not need all of it. There should be just enough oil to hold the mixture together, so try not to make it too oily. Then add 6 drops of your sage and rosemary essential oils. Mix everything together with the spoon. Done!

It's really simple to make your own natural scrub at a fraction of the cost of store bought ones. Feel free to experiment with different exfoliants, essential oils, and carrier oils to find one that you like the most.
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And if you want to experiment with different scrubs, here's Michelle's advice:

Every scrub has a basic recipe consisting of an exfoliating base, essential oils, and carrier oils. Since the skin on your body is rougher than the skin on your face, sea salt is a great choice for a body scrub. If you want to make a face scrub, use finer exfoliants such as sugar or oats.

Essential oils serve to add delicate fragrances for your scrub. Each bottle of essential oil should last you a relatively long time, as you only need a few drops. When purchasing them, make sure that the oils have been cold-pressed, come with a stopper to minimize spillage, and are in a dark colored bottle to prevent oxidation. Some personal favorite essential oils to choose from include: rosemary, lavender, grapefruit, sage, and bergamot.

Carrier oils are the base oils that moisturize your skin and keeps your mixture together, anything from sweet almond oil, to grape seed oil, to olive oil. Personally, I prefer sweet almond oil since it's easy to find and doesn't leave an oily film.


***Michelle Pino, is a Spa Manager at Skana, a spa in upstate New York at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, NY. She enjoys DIY projects, healthy recipes, exercise, and all things related to skin care. If you have any comments or questions feel free to contact Michelle via email at michellepino@turningstone.com.

Things to Do - Random Links

In case you have a case of the Mondays, here are some links to brighten your day . . .

* Nick van Woert's studio. Coolness.

* Buy art for charity. I love several of these beautiful prints.

* We're currently making our way through Parks and Rec on Netflix (that show is hysterical) and I'm a little (okay a lot) obsessed with Amy Poehler right now. Poehler's youtube channel for "smart girls" took my obsession to a whole new level.

* Zammaan - crowd sourced family photos from the middle east. Change your perspective.

* An Amazon warehouse - these pictures are worth seeing just for the space alone (miles and miles of books), employees walk between between 7 and 15 miles as part of their daily shift. But the actual info is quite depressing - “The feedback we’re getting is [working in the Amazon warehouse is] like being in a slave camp,” said Brian Garner, the centre’s dapper chairman.

* How to be alone.

* Loving these pictures of a train ride (with kids) in India.

* Test Your Creativity: 5 Classic Creative Challenges. I need to work on this.

* Kids were here.

* Oh Gweneth, how we love to hate you. (yet i'm still on the library waitlist to check out your newest cookbook).

* 10 fascinating TED talks by contemporary artists. Of course, I haven't listened to any of them yet. But I plan on it. Soon.

* 30 easy color ideas for every room of your home.

Things to Do - Grateful List (March 2013)

Even during bad months, good things happen . . .

ARTS
* Reading Arcadia
* Reading Ruth Ginsburg's profile in the New Yorker (March 11)
* Reading Tenth of December: Stories
* Reading The Sense of an Ending
* Reading The Trouble Begins: A Box of Unfortunate Events, Books 1-3 (The Bad Beginning; The Reptile Room; The Wide Window)
* F reading Anne of Green Gables
* Watching Parks and Recreation Season 2 on Netflix (hysterical, I love this show)
* Watching Sheryl Sandberg's TED talk
* Watching Janeane Garofalo's live stand up at the Arlington Cinema Drafthouse

FOOD
* Jicama, mango, and cucumber salad (from the The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery
* Lentil stew with spinach and red potatos, thank you Allegra! (from The Pink Ribbon Diet: A Revolutionary New Weight Loss Plan to Lower Your Breast Cancer Risk)
* Dan's tumeric hummus
* Pimm's cups at William Jeffrey's Tavern
* Roasted vegetable and farro salad (from the Washington Post)
* Spinach gorgonzola pasta (from The Pink Ribbon Diet: A Revolutionary New Weight Loss Plan to Lower Your Breast Cancer Risk)

PLACES
* Winter at the National Zoo
* The Washington Youth Garden's Nature Playspace in the National Arboretum (Washington DC)
* Dumbarton Oaks (Washington DC)
* A beautiful morning at Clemyjontri park with friends
* T at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, "i don't think he's working, I think he's standing. Because if he was working he'd have a computer."

VACATION (Philadelphia & Charlottesville)
* A weekend away at the Clifton Inn
* The Magic Gardens (seriously magical!!)
* Free breakfast and dinner at the hotel (plus T "swimming" in the pool); a wonderful vacation with my mom
* Hotel room burpee contests (P did 183 burpees in 10 minutes, how is that even possible?)
* Big Bugs at the Morris Arboretum

STUFF
* Our new basement playroom (more on this in upcoming posts . . .)

ETC
* F and P staying up past bedtime reading books to each other
* Watching Coco run
* me - "being pretty on the outside doesn't matter, as long as you're pretty on the inside"; P - "well, unless it's for a photoshoot or wedding, then only the outside matters"
* Playgrouping until midnight at Allegra's house (thank you!!)
* "I'm going to draw pictures of my happy thoughts so I won't forget them" - P
* T coming home from a playdate and asking "mom, how could you go to the grocery store without me?"
* P on the LON basement makeover, "I just think our house is really cute now, don't you, F?"
* T always unloading the groceries for me
* The memorial service of a wonderful neighbor who died of brain cancer this month, so so sad but also so amazing to think of how large of an impact one person can have in a relatively short life
* P's obsession with fractions; F's obsession with poetry
* T singing "This is the day the Lorax came" over and over (a song he "learned" from the pastor at his preschool). When Dan inquired "are you sure it's not This is the day the Lord has made?" T replied "um, no dad, I'm pretty sure it's the Lorax."
* Playing Dominion Prosperity and Intrigue
* "I'm glad I don't have everything I want, life would be boring without anything to wish for" - P
* Our "whole family" for Easter dinner and watching the kids and their cousins scramble like crazy for easter eggs

THE KIDS' LISTS:

F - art, books, school, my family, that we have a nice house to live in and food to eat, early release days, Lemony Snickett, spring, nature, Grandma T visiting, planning vacations, Cybil Lily, "an excellent day, so excellent I can't even describe it", easter, Coco, all my grandparents

P - my family, going to Menchie's, the new Utopian girl in my class [Ethiopian], dollies, our new playroom, playdates with L, going to Dumbarton Oaks, early release, cartwheels, doing gymnastics on the playground, sleeping over at E's house, my cousins, Grandpa and Grandma M, Grandma T visiting, the hotel swimming pool, Philadelphia, daddy's leg healing, vacation

T - Grandma T visiting, the hotel pool, going on vacation with grandma, Natalia, daddy being home, police, trucks, that we go to the big playground [Clemyjontri], playing with my friends, meeting spiderman, school, my cousins