Stratford Family

well you’ve probably never hear me refer to PLou as that before! but she is napping like a little angel right now without her paci! it took some insistence from mom – but she is doing it!

Enjoy!

The girls took a bubble bath at Grandma’s after our kayak trip on Saturday – I love this photo. So cute, minutes later C turned on the jets and without much water in the tub, they squirted every which way and everyone! So very glad the camera was out of harms way!

happy memorial day
we’ve enjoyed some relaxation, some duffy cruising, & family time this holiday weekend. looking forward to a bbq this evening with friends. overall a nice holiday weekend.
i love how charlotte in all her pinkness was perched drinking her smoothie

P.Lou has fantastic bed head – we will have to lose these binkies some time soon, for now she insists on multiples

A couple of years ago we re-landscaped & mostly re-hardscaped our backyard. With a narrow yard the built-in seating we added has created a lot more usability. We painted the cinder block wall half orange/ half gray as seen here. Painting the wall and adding the seating expresses the concept of our Cliff May Ranch home of tying the indoors to the outdoors. My friend Jennifer just did a little write up comparing our seating to a fabulous restaurant in Big Sur. As you know one of my favorite places on the planet! Check out her book on Long Beach Architecture for a intriguing read about the buildings around our city.
Now that it is backyard season we are putting out the cushions and enjoying the space a bit more, the girls decided to use the wall for some chalk art this past weekend. And since Jen stopped by to photograph a few things around our home Greg re-painted the wood slats below the bench to improve the look and durability.

A while back a did a post on Charlotte’s style and today is her sisters’ turn.

Pfeiffer’s current unique way of dressing should be documented. For the past several weeks she has been insisting (no there is no point in trying to fight it!) on wearing a dress AND a skirt each day. Sometimes leggings are ok, and she isn’t very particular about which dress and skirt, but there must be both!

As a Mom to 2 girls with very strong ideas on what they want to wear I sometimes get a little frustrated as I too have ideas for their outfits. I guess I’m glad they like clothes as much as I do, as silly as that sounds, it is something we can have fun with together. Although I can foresee some fights in the mall in my future when these 2 are teenagers. I remember my Mom refusing to go in certain shops and my sister and I showing things to her through the window and her just shaking her head – oh yes I’m sure I will get my pay-back!

Sun flare that is. I am a bit behind on posting photos from my class, I’ll catch up soon, but I thought this was a great image for a Friday. The rounds spots are the sun flare which you get from shooting directly into the sun. Not something you want to do all the time, but it creates a fun artsy look for some photos.

happy friday.

Remember last month when I set some goals in anticipation for earth day in this post? Well the day has come and unfortunately I can’t say we deserve an A, probably more like a B- (but do we get an A for effort in being pro-active?)

To recap my goals and our results:

1. More consistently use cloth napkins – DONE! This was an easy change and it is a habit now. I would like to make some fun printed ones, but I’m still waiting for the shoulder to heal before I attempt sewing.

2. Work on the front sprinkler system to figure out how to alternate days – FAIL. This hasn’t happened yet, but I’m hopeful we can accomplish it this weekend as we aren’t too busy and many American’s observe Earth day on the weekend anyhow right?:)

3. Harvest some compost – plant some veggies – DONE! The  compost didn’t yield as much nice fine dirt as I was anticipating, I’ve learned I need to turn it more frequently. But the veggies seem happy and the tomato is growing like crazy.

4. Use the bike – walk and ride more. Well, this was a little un-realistic since I can’t really ride a bike (especially with a tot attached) with only one working arm. We have walked a bit more in the neighborhood, so this has a mixed result. We’ll continue to improve on this one.

5. Make, buy local and handmade gifts – DONE! With Etsy and many crafty friends this has been fun:)

This wasn’t one of our original goals, but after some encouraging comments we also purchased some reusable stainless steel straws that are working out great and we are no longer throwing away plastic ones a few times a day.

How about YOU? Share your Earth day goals in the comments!

Now take a look at these gorgeous seeds we pulled out of some puffs in Pfeiffer’s Maple Village class this week – YES those are natural HEARTS that grow on the seeds! We will plant them and they grow into a vine that grows puffs and when the puffs dry out we can pull them off and share the seeds with friends next year. These little hearts on these little seeds have me in awe at the beauty of the earth!

HAPPY EARTH DAY EVERYONE

here are the latest from my photography class:

a painter’s canvas

we were supposed to have an out of focus photo – I love this one!

spring from another’s perspective:

the shadows:

appreciation day – the grass isn’t always greener

appreciating my freshly painted toes and cute JCrew flip-flops

not from my class, but me with my lovie – my bosey bear who’s been around since I was 5, he has been to many swim meets – once got left at Nationals and spent a few extra days in Nashville, but made it home – he has also had a couple of surgeries and is due for a back surgery soon

FLOORING!

Weird I know, I haven’t been this obsessed since I stepped foot in the Viceroy Santa Monica years ago and fell in LOVE with their grey wood floor. I still plan to replicate that in the main living/dining/kitchen area of my house someday. Kelly Wearstler’s designs generally have me swooning, but none so much as this simple grey flooring.

Now onto my current obsession: natural fibers. Jute, seagrass, sisal – I haven’t decided which I like best, they all look good to me. Now this I think would be good in my bedroom if I can figure out how to tie it into the wallpaper. I think it works nicely with the indoor/outdoor theme of our Cliff May ranch house – maybe a light grey tone would be best. Anyhow this is all just dreams as we have no plans to re-floor the house anytime soon, as I mentioned I just can’t stop thinking about it and am seeing it many places which doesn’t help.

image via younghouselove.com

Above from this post on YoungHouseLove blog of a lovely home in Sydney, oh I would die for this outdoor cabana in the same house (notice the natural ottoman as well):

image via younghouselove.com

More jute flooring seen here:

image via housebeautiful.com

Above image from a gorgeous house in OJAI that my friend Laura got to do a photoshoot at recently.

Friends do you have any random flooring obsessions to admit?

Any experience with any of these natural fibered rugs, carpets?

Now that I’ve blogged about it, maybe I can stop thinking about it…