how to light a jack-o-lantern

Lighting a jack-o-lantern can be tricky business. It's easy to burn yourself as you try to hold a match to the tiny tealight you've placed inside your pumpkin. 

I picked up this tip during my time at Martha Stewart. Instead of reaching your hand into the pumpkin with a lit match, light a piece of spaghetti instead. It will burn very slowly, and serves as the perfect tool to light your candle without burning yourself in the process. I realize you can also use glow sticks or touch lights in your pumpkins instead of candles, and not worry about burning your fingers at all, but that's cheating in my book. Half the fun of a jack-o-lantern is seeing it flicker and glow by candlelight. We lit ours tonight and they look beautiful out on the porch. Happy Halloween!

cousin boxes

My family is spread out from one coast to the other, so we've gotten in the habit of mailing out surprises to all of Bee and C's cousins.. sometimes for Valentine's day, or to celebrate the beginning of summer, or for Easter or Halloween.. we try to mix it up so they truly are surprised when they open their mailbox. 

This year we gathered a few things (eyeball candy bracelets, candy corn and other treats, halloween stickers, glow in the dark spiders, chattering wind up teeth, twisty straws, and a jack o lantern bell) and packed them up in my new favorite wrapping trick.. a plain white pencil box (available for about $1 at our local craft store). Slap on a sticker label to close the box, and you're off to the post office.

Clarification: You still have to put them in an envelope to mail! I love these boxes because they fit nicely sideways in a Priority Mail envelope.. Please do not attempt to mail these boxes on their own! 

back to reality

I'm back from a very busy visit to Houston, and very happy to be home. My children never look as adorable as they do when I've been away for a few days. I'm compiling my photos and will be posting soon about the lovely things I saw at Quilt Market. But for now, I've got cupcakes to make, and Halloween parties to prepare for.

to market, to market

I've been lucky enough to be a part of launching Oliver + S, a lovely little company that makes children's clothing patterns (created by the talented Liesl Gibson). Designing patterns and tissues and paper dolls and booths for trade shows is all new to me, but it's been such a fun ride.. We're off to Quilt Market yet again, in Houston this time. I'll post a full report when I'm back on Tuesday!

envelopes

I am a huge fan of envelope security patterns.. I know I'm not alone in this (there's a lovely collection here). I love how they are never quite perfect, like they've been xeroxed on an old copy machine. I've been cutting all our envelopes down to little squares, perfect for little notes (good thing we pay most of our bills online!).

this weeks library book

A clever retelling of a classic tale is very common in kids books these days, but I think Jon Scieszka helped start the trend when he wrote The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (published back in 1989). This book explains how the wolf had a cold, and was just out trying to borrow some sugar to make a cake for his dear old granny (his neighbors just happened to be pigs). Lane Smith's illustrations are a delight.

hedwig the owl

C's owl costume was inspired by the baby bird costume story from Martha Stewart Baby a few years back (created by Katie Hatch, who is a sewing genius). You can find the directions for the wings here. I added some rows of felt feathers glued onto a onesie to make it feel a bit more owl-y. The whole costume can be done in a few hours, and you don't even have to turn on your sewing machine.

halloween in brooklyn

We moved to California almost one year ago, and if there was just one day I could magically be back in Brooklyn, it's Halloween. 

Halloween in Brooklyn starts early, around 4 PM or so, trick or treating down the row of stores on Court Street. Almost every store gives out a little something, and even the grumpy woman who works at the deli seems happy on Halloween. Our next door neighbors always have a big Halloween party, and it doesn't hurt that he's a chef, so the food is always amazing. Then on to meet up with our friends in Cobble Hill, to join the parade led by Dan Zanes.  That place is usually a zoo, but it's so sweet to see all the kids decked out in their costumes, and you always run into a few old friends. We then head up to Brooklyn Heights, trick or treating at all the brownstones along the way. There are a couple of beautiful old streets in the Heights that go all out for Halloween, and we hit one or two before heading home to tuck our tired kids into bed. 

A few shots of our past Halloweens in Brooklyn: 

C's first Halloween - He's a ventriloquist's dummy (and yes, that is a wig)

Dad was Harry Potter, and C as Hedwig, Harry Potter's owl.

C as Curious George. (Bee went as a banana and dad was the man in the yellow hat)

C as Peter Pan, Bee as Tinkerbell, and dad as Captain Hook. (that's a wig too..)

It looks like this year will be the first year the kids dress up without their dad. They have started to have their own opinions about costumes and how can I interfere with a 4 year old's Halloween dreams? But I am a little sad to see the tradition end. A little sad that we aren't in Brooklyn anymore. 

color story #2

I'm not so into pink, never have been. So when I had my little girl Bee, I found myself wading through a sea of pink.. clothing, bedding, toys, everything seemed to be pink, pink, pink! And not a nice sweet pink either, but that bright bubble gum type of pink. The shade of pink Miss Piggy would love. 

Now that Bee is almost 3, I'm starting to like pink..  a little. In small doses, and paired with other colors I love. Like a nice bright springy green. Now that is a color combination I can get on board with. Even if I have to make the clothes myself!

table for two

Maybe I've watched Spanglish a few too many times, but I sometimes think it would be lovely if my husband was a chef. He'd bring you breakfast in bed, and he'd always be experimenting in the kitchen, plus you could go out to eat any night you wanted. 

But then I read this article in New York magazine and I think I've changed my mind. Formerly the chef of Lutece, Andre Soltner remembers what it was like running a kitchen. "I was sort of a slave to my restaurant. And my wife too. I don't say it was right. Today, I maybe say it was wrong. Years ago, in Paris, we had no money. But when we were more comfortable, maybe twenty years later, I said, "Simone.. you've paid your dues and everything, I buy you whatever you wish." I was thinking to buy her a ring or a necklace, something like that. "Whatever you wish, tell me." She looked at me and said, "Take me to a movie." For twenty years, I hadn't taken her to a movie. I woke up. I said, "Oh my God, what did I do to my wife?"

Thank you JR, for coming home each night and having dinner with me. And for taking me to a movie, every once in a while.