Today

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It's a pretty powerful thing to know that we completely control how our day will go ~ not letting the little things become bigger than they should be or missing those wonderful little moments we often take for granted.

This is my motto for today.

And tomorrow.

Because making today amazing lies in my hands.

Happy Weekending Everyone!

This Wonderful Life

Mother's Day 2013

A few days ago my daughter told me that she had our Mother's Day all planned out. I remember hearing: "and we'll spend 3 hours at the mall" when I silently groaned inside. My job has me traveling to malls all over New York & NJ every day. Trust me, it's the last place I want to go on my day off. Then it dawned on me what she was talking about. She wanted us to "redo" the Mother's Day we had together in 2010. Daddy had been busy refinishing the garage floor with her grandpop that year, so we ladies had jumped in the car and headed to the mall. We spent the afternoon trying on lipglosses at Chanel, stopping at Starbucks, and buying some candles and soaps. We had had a blast that day and it was a Mother's Day I will never forget.

Us in 2010 ~ you can even relive that day with us here

While I inwardly groaned at the thought of the mall, I reminded myself that sometimes things are less about me and more about the people around me. So I agreed to her plan. She was thrilled. Off we headed yesterday afternoon to the same mall where we once again stopped at Starbucks, bought some soaps and candles but instead of lipglosses at Chanel, we did a little clothing shopping for my best girl. We even took the same picture of us in the car. As she carried her shopping bags to the car to head home she was fretting that she had gotten quite a few things and I had bought nothing for myself. It was then I realized that when things are less about you, the more others long to make it about you.

I'm grateful for another amazing day in this wonderful life.

Motherhood

It really doesn't seem possible that my two babies are so grown up. It seems like just yesterday that they were small, helpless and snuggled in my arms. Those amazing, early moments seem so far off now that I find myself wondering if they really happened at all.

One is officially an adult and beginning to navigate the world on his own while the other grows leaps and bounds daily. They need me less and less as the days pass, but I find myself worrying about them more and more.

This world is cruel sometimes and I pray that I have prepared them to face it. I wish I could keep them here at home forever where I can keep watch over them. Where I can be there to wipe away their tears when life disappoints them and reassure them that everything will be ok.

Sometimes I think motherhood was easier when they were little and innocent and I could shield them from the ugly things they need not see. I realize now that my job will never be done ~ it just changes. My role in their lives is constantly redefined as they grow older although my heart will always long to hold them in my arms safe and sound.

Happy Mother's Day to you and yours!

Cinco de Mayo

fiesta

salsa fresca and black bean & corn dip

my version of a margarita ~ frozen limeade and rum slushies

ole!

a specially curated mustache for the occasion

chicken pineapple tacos

Saturday night we threw our annual Cinco de Mayo bash.

I look forward to it all year long ~ it's truly one of my favorite days to party. From planning my menu to adding festive touches around the house, the whole process is filled with anticipation of kicking back with dear ones and eating our body weight in tacos and chips.

This year's menu looked like this:

Black bean & corn dip

Salsa Fresca

homemade Queso

Grilled Chicken & Pineapple tacos

Beef tacos

and Mexican Hot Dogs

Mexican Hot Dogs?

I made them a few years ago after finding a recipe online. They are derived from Mexican street food and have been wildly popular each time I've served them. Essentially, it's a hot dog wrapped in bacon, pan fried, then topped with pinto beans, cheese, salsa, mustard, mayo and ketchup and any other thing the heart desires. If it sounds like a heart attack in a bun that's probably because it is. The menfolk love them and even the women partook. We had a blast.

Is there anything more fun than good food and even better friends?

I thought not.

I hope your weekend was full of love and laughter.

Sunday Suppers

I've mentioned it before, but meal planning is the key to smooth running weeknights in this household. When I am figuring out what dinners will look like for the next 7 days, I try to stick to easy to prepare meals because I never know what my day will look like and when I might actually make it home. Unless well thought out, those weeknight meals can be a real drag for not only myself, but the family. The weekends are our time to really splash out and make more complicated dishes and enjoy the entire cooking process.My favorite weekend/weeknight plans come from making a big Sunday supper that feeds us well into the week.

This past week I planned on cooking Sunday and Monday night only, then sailing through the rest of the week on reinvented leftovers and two other quick meals. Let me quickly interject that my husband hates leftovers. However, reinvented into a different dish is another story.  So this was the plan:

Sunday - Meatballs, Sausage and Spaghetti w/ Garlic bread
(I had leftover garden salad from a dinner party Saturday night that we had w/ it)
Monday - Chicken Cutlets w/ rice and veggies
Tuesday - Pancakes and Bacon
Wednesday - Meatball Hoagies w/ chips
Thursday - Chicken salads w/ Garlic bread croutons
(I save the leftover garlic bread slices, toast them back up and cube them. Adds a bunch of flavor and no waste!)
Friday - Homemade Pizza night!

I had noticed we had multiple boxes of pancake mix on hand and I knew we had two packages of bacon in the refrigerator, thus our breakfast for dinner night. I try hard to make sure we "eat down the pantry" each month so nothing gets lost behind something else and goes to waste. Besides, what kids don't love breakfast for dinner?

My shopping list was pretty simple:

And of course, there's some pantry staples that are necessary too.

I have to say, the week has gone off without a hitch. Dinners have been easy on me to get on the table and everyone has enjoyed each meal.

How do you pull off weeknight meals?

The Best Of: April

After a seemingly endless winter, April began with signs that spring might actually arrive.

I spent the first week of the month home recuperating from surgery.

And celebrated Charlie's birthday. (I love this guy.)

We met him in Red Bank NJ one Friday night for dinner and a little retail therapy.

These two.....

I was busily trying to book our family vacation for July to our favorite state.

I organized more than just my wardrobe, I've been cleaning out closets all over the house!

I've been reading like crazy and finished out the month rereading this classic before the movie comes out.

We shared meals with loved ones.

And took a ton of bike rides.

Perhaps the best thing to happen in April was the arrival of my nephew, Timothy Daniel on April 18th.

Isn't he a cutie?

I can't wait to visit my sister and her sweet family so I can spoil him with crazy Auntie love.

How was your April?

My Lessons From Madame Chic

I have always been a reader, but in the past month I have been devouring books with lightning speed. Every night I have been retiring to bed early, curling up under our duvet with a mass of pillows propped under my head and basically inhaling some book or other until I can no longer keep my eyes open. And if the book is really good, I refuse to stop reading and usually Charlie finds me sitting up comatose, book open, glasses on and head lolled to one side with my mouth gaped open. He's one lucky guy.

That is basically how he found me each night I spent reading Lessons from Madame Chic by Jennifer L. Scott. Erin Gates mentioned the book on her blog and I was completely intrigued. I had to get it. And you should too.

Jennifer Scott spent a year living as a foreign exchange student in Paris with the "Chic" family ~ a family of aristocratic stock and masters in the fine art of living. Madame Chic's lessons cover everything from dining to dressing and Jennifer relates her observations and experiences in such an affable way that you won't be able to put this book down either.

The part that struck the biggest chord with me was Chapter 4 ~ Liberate yourself with the 10 item wardrobe. 10 items??? I own like 10 hundred articles of clothing!!!!

I have worked in the apparel retail industry since I was 15. Clothing is my livelihood and my closets runneth over. While I have scaled back my shopping habits immensely in the past few years, I own enough clothing to fully dress a small third world country. It's ridiculous.

They say we wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time and I cannot deny that being true. But how do you scale back when you lean towards the "classic" and have spent years building what you consider to be a "timeless" wardrobe?

Well, here's how that "timeless" wardrobe was working out for me:

This is closet 1 of 2.

And shall I mention that this is my Fall/Winter wardrobe?

There are 8 Rubbermaid totes in the attic with the summer stuff.

It is so tight to squeeze anything in, that this past winter I just started hooking things to the bar over top of everything else.

My folded piles are so high that they tip mercilessly to the side.

My closets are, frankly, a hot mess.

And the craziest part?

The retailer I currently work for has such a restrictive dress code that I wear even less than 20% of my stuff 5 days a week! Pathetic.

I had already purged a large amount in early fall but clearly need an intervention of some sort or other.

So I took Jennifer's tip about being brutal with cleaning out closet clutter and I have spent the past week sorting through each day after work, filling trash bag after trash bag of clothing, shoes and accessories.

I'm not sure that I could ever get to a 10 item wardrobe, I'm not even at 25 items yet, but I am down to one closet from two and poor Charlie lugged 11 trash bags out to the garage this week. I unpacked the 8 totes of summer and only 4 of winter went back to the attic. I can now slide hangers back and forth in the closet and all my shoes fit perfectly. There will be more purging I'm sure at the end of the summer, but for now I'm pretty pleased with what I've done.

Here's what I learned:

1. I owned over 30 pairs of jeans and wear the same 4 pairs again and again. Can we say Denim Hoarder???  I kept 12 for now, but will probably revisit this pile and purge again.

2. I own so much vintage and I wear so little of it. I kept the "to die" for pieces that I will never come across again in my lifetime (like my white sequin jacket ~ amazing with a stripe tee, jeans and heels!) and have contacted a vintage dealer to buy the rest of it.

3. I have had some items for over a decade! Just because it still fits and may be a "classic" doesn't mean I need to keep it. That's where the brutal part came in.

4. Items I can't wear to work because of dress code I had to seriously ask myself "Will I wear this on my day off?" Many bags were filled because there are other things I would love to wear on those two precious days.

5. I'm turning 40 this year. My son starts college in September. Time for those pairs of 6" heels to go. I'll live on "the edge" with no higher than 4" and age gracefully with some sensible shoes. I'm just not ready for Aerosoles yet.  

What about you?

Do your closets runneth over or are you disciplined and in control?