Four Favorites & A Garden Update

1. The girls and I walked down our street to the Lake Fair parade on Saturday afternoon. Local parades are so interesting to watch – Americana at its finest. The girls loved the princesses in fancy dresses lip syncing and dancing choreographed movements to tinny pop songs and I almost love the marching bands. This is Jane taking it all in. I love her little shoulders.

2. Saltwater Sandals. I broke down and ordered myself a pair. I have been thinking about it after I saw a couple women wearing them in California looking non-ridiculous. Yes, my girls and I have matching shoes. I asked the girls’ permission though and they thought it was such a fun idea. I expect I will get a different answer when they are 12 and 14.

3. California by Edan Lepucki. Totally gripping post-apocalyptic novel that gained attention after Stephen Colbert promoted it the midst in the Amazon/Hachette feud. For the record, I ordered the novel at Powell’s and why yes, I do feel a little smug. Breaking my Amazon habit is no joke.

4. The girls go to a pajama party at our gym once a month on a Friday night. It goes until 9:30 PM and they have pizza and jump on bouncy houses and watch a movie and they absolutely adore going. The afternoon before I make them have a rest time. Cate was reading books and seemed like she wasn’t going to fall asleep and then it got very quiet. She looked so little in our bed.

Our garden is doing so well for the most part. The chickens got out last week and decimated the swiss chard in minutes. We are ready to plant some more greens this week and I really need to spend a couple of hours weeding today. But mostly, we have a ridiculous amount of zucchini this year. We thought we were planting heritage squash that turned out to be…more zucchini! One of Telfer’s colleagues told him that if you catch someone buying a zucchini at the store in the summer they basically have no friends. So far I have made these zucchini fritters (with a fried egg on top! and you can freeze!) and Orangette’s zucchini (which like her, will making it over and over). Any other ideas or recommendations? And if you live close to us, please let me share with you!