Month: June 2012

sweet little garden additions

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We did really keep our planting relatively (I do stress relatively) simple this year, but that doesn’t mean that we didn’t add anything at all.  We can’t live without a few annuals and…okay…a few perennials too. We put the flower boxes out on the front porch.  Last year, I planted petunias and other various annuals that kept withering up and weren’t all that pretty.  This year, we kept the boxes really simple with red begonias and vinca vine. Last fall, we dug up our dahlia bulbs and saw how they had multiplied.  We kept them in the coolest part of our basement over the winter.  I can’t wait for them to bloom.  They make the most beautiful bouquets.  I planted the largest bulb clumps in very large pots on our back deck. The smaller bulbs were planted in the front flower bed and in a pretty little blue pot in a now-empty spot where the spring daffodil bulbs have withered up. My parents had given us gorgeous antique urns that my father refinished as a …

important event for you Boston animal lovers

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A while back, I wrote about my experience at True Bistro (complete with bad Blackberry photos, as that is the only camera I had at the moment).  Click here to read that post.  It is one of the best restaurants in the Boston area and what a bonus that it is also vegan. This week, you are invited to a really great fundraising event at this fabulous restaurant, which just so happens to be Boston Magazine’s chosen Best Vegetarian Restaurant of 2011.   You’ll get to meet Jason Lewis, a representative that deserves a ton of support and applause because HE stands up for animals.  He is the lead sponsor of Massachusetts Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act (there is an informative article here that tells you more about this wonderful bill) which would ban inhumane factory farming practices in our state. He is also a co-sponsor of a vital bill that will update Massachusetts’ antiquated animal control statutes and a bill that would protect pets from domestic violence. Another special guest at this event will …

my two favorite dads

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This year, I’m extra lucky. I get to wish a happy day to TWO great dads in my life. I have an incredible super-dad and I married a man that is also quite a top-notch daddy as well. It was just twelve weeks ago that Chris became a dad. What a wonderful dad Chris is.  He can get a bottle ready while holding the peanut.  He has shaved some serious time off his diaper change time.  He gives a bath like no other.  He even taught Anderson how to stick out his tongue (though he may be regretting that in the future – ha!). Just this morning, he even had Anderson actually full-on laughing.  Seeing the two of them together melts my heart. Plus he is just plain good looking. I love our little family.  There is so much joy in every single day. I also get to wish MY awesome dad a very happy Father’s Day too.  He doesn’t believe in these holidays per se, but I think it is OK to remind him …

a review of baby diapers (from an eco-friendly perspective)

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What goes on your baby’s cute little bum is important.  We FINALLY found the diaper of our dreams (I’ll save the best for last on this post). Different diapers work for different people. The opinions in this post are only my own and you may find a different product works better for you. A diaper lasts in a landfill for 500 years.  I just read that in a magazine and I nearly had a heart attack.  I knew they lasted for a long time, but 500 years?  Wow.  That is a lot of diapers considering about four million babies are born every year in the U.S. alone (according to Babycenter.com).  Those four million babies use on average over 3700 diapers in their lifetime.  Do the math.  Landfills must just be overflowing with diapers. We really wanted to use cloth diapers for environmental purposes.  However, we have also been using disposables.  Why? First, until the stump falls off (around 10 days old), you really have to use disposable with a cut out (again, in my opinion). …

best and worst

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It was a good week.  A VERY good week.  I wish every week could be like this past week.  I feel like a very lucky girl. BEST A drowsy, rainy Saturday morning…a hot cup of coffee…a quiet house…a sleeping baby on my chest…and reading my current book (The House at Riverton by Kate Morton). Having my mom here for a few days this week to help me with a big house project.  Included in that would be stopping for a break to play the “Where’s Anderson” game. Including our first harvest in one of our dinners: arugula!  The brown mass, vegan citrus spareribs by Vegetarian Plus, is actually quite yummy.  Pardon the bad cell phone picture. After many rainy days, finally getting back out with my peanut. We went for a walk on the Minuteman trail in Lexington with my friend and her two little girls.  A big surprise?  We saw a horse! Having tea,  bruschetta, and other veg munchies with my mom while discussing life and this wonderful article on creating time to change your …

amazing bruschetta (no cheese needed)

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First of all, holy cow!  Finding Vegan accepted one of my photos and it directed over 300 new people to my blog yesterday-today. That is really cool. You can see the image (cinnamon eSpresso chocolate cookies) to the right of this post if you click the redirect to my Finding Vegan gallery.   Now I feel all this pressure to be great.  🙂 And to spell correctly, which I did not on Finding Vegan.  However, I can forgive myself for spelling espresso with an x.  A reader pointed out my mistake the other day (I think I irritated her with my mistake – sorry reader).  Heck, I’m lucky if I get to blog at all because I spend every bit of awake time I can with my little bambino, who turned 11 weeks yesterday and is turning into a little man before my eyes. I’m surprised I can spell anything these days. I hope I spelled bruschetta right. According to Wikipedia, I did. I must share my new favorite food ever.  I can’t stop eating it.  I …

great gifts on Etsy

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I love Etsy so much.  It deserves a shout out.  I’ve purchased many gifts at this online marketplace and maybe I can inspire you to find some cool gifts, whether it be for a new baby, your best friend, your mother, or your favorite gardener.  You can find unique items and things you simply can’t find in big stores.  Your purchases will also help support the small man. Here are a few things I have that are from Etsy (many are gifts from my awesome friend, Bree and I don’t use the word awesome lightly).   Click the image to get to the Etsy vendor’s site. Here are some things I’ve purchased for others.  Happy gifting!

getting the veggies in

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I had no idea if we’d even get a veggie garden in this year.  I had no plan like I did last year. I never started the seeds I purchased. When there is a new baby in the house, any spare time is devoted to washing bottles, washing laundry, and just maybe catching a nap every now and again! One day, when Anderson was four weeks old, we went outside to weed a little and the temperature was just right for lettuce and beets. After that, it just seemed to be too chilly to take him out.  Things were really a mess. Loads of empty pots… Mounds of weeds where seedlings should be… Overgrown herbs, also buried in weeds… Tons of seeds just waiting and begging to be planted. Things were really in sad shape. So…I called in the troops: mom and dad. My mom watched Anderson.  You can tell it was such a HUGE favor. My dad and I set out to get the veggies in.  He worked the beds.  They were loaded with tree …

best and worst

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My friend, Jo, has this great thing she does with her kids. When they eat dinner, they take turns going around the table and discussing the best and worst parts of their day. She calls it “best and worst.” I just saw her yesterday and I remembered this little activity. I think it is not only a great way to get families talking at dinner time, but good for us all to stop and think about what was best and worst about our day/week/month/year. I thought I’d start a periodic best and worst on this blog just for fun and to celebrate (and lament) with you. Below you will see the best and worst of this past week, in no particular order. BEST (whoohoo!) Family book time! Chris and I co-read The Lorax to Anderson. We are already training him to care about the brown barbaloots and the truffula trees. A very pretty lightening storm. Power gardening during Anderson’s naps. Anderson’s first BBQ. He was the life of the party and up late like a …