Monday, April 30, 2012

Caffè Bambino

 Now that Jungleman is under the impression that he is far too advanced for his seat belted, leg dangling baby high chair we had to drastically shift our eating seating before he starved to death. Welcome to Baby Cafe! Ahem. Caffè Bambino. We offer mini chairs, mini table, many tacos, giant flapjacks, sippy cups and place mats featuring safari animals and a map of the United States.


It only sort of works. Jesse will concede to sit momentarily but they both run around like naughty monkeys and steal choice morsels off of each others plates.


So come on down to Caffè Bambino today! It is sooo exclusive. If you are over five feet tall you may ride our wonderful coffee train.





silly putty mustache not required dress code

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Repurposed Jewelry Holders

I borrowed this idea last year from the ever clever Kathleen the Fashion Queen.


Inverted bracelet vase. Try to find one arm-sized...

Thrift store plate hanger.

Anything with holes can display earrings, burlap, lace, antique cheese grater...


Tie rack.

Evan won't be needing one, dressing up gives him hives.

I've no idea what this is for but I use it for rings.
Happy junkin' around. Love, Mami

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Tying Knots with Amber

Here are some candid snaps (taken by my dad and husband) of my sister's beautiful wedding! She's an artist and her impeccable fingerprint was everywhere, the jewelry, the centerpieces, the bouquets. She looked ravishing. The venue was covered in flowering vines and the perfect sunshine shone through 1930s stained glass windows. 

It was everything a wedding should be, the cake was decorated by a henna artist and topped with my little felt birds, we danced, we feasted, we beamed rainbows of love out our eyeballs. I now have a new brother and the watching over of Amber torch has been passed into worthy hands. I only cried twice.








Colorado

Sweet typography by Simon Walker, via Sarah

Uncle Stan the sport man learning about guns. Note pure delight.
eat your hearts out boys, these ladies are about to be someone's wife
Colorado is weird. We took a whole slew of photos of our family hiking around an aspen/pine forest and some "cool" ones of me driving my dad's new old 1973 Corvette but after going through security our camera was wiped so you'll have to content yourself with an eyeful of my husband, dad and uncles dorking out shooting some evil tree stumps.

Colorado really is weird though. The mountains are full of hippies and Denver comes off kinda blue collar with a very large spare tire of suburbs encircling it. The city planners were crack smokers and every street is one way only and if you cross another street it changes it's name. DON'T ORDER MEXICAN FOOD. The stuff labeled as such is shameful and I'd rather wrap a tortilla around some Alpo. It's even hard to make your own good mexican, they don't know what tomatillos or serranos or corn tortillas are, and Pace picante is the extent of their south of the border selection. Find a good indian joint and go every day.

I did live here for a few years, tending bar at the ski resort and snowboarding on my lunch break. I learned all about nepalese food, how to rock climb, to appreciate micro brews, the names of a bunch of wildflowers during my short stint at the state park and how not to die when you hit a patch of black ice. The thrift stores are treasure troves but the music tends to be jam band-y or bluegrass, the art is limited to hemp necklaces, glass pipes and howling wolf paintings, the fashion is mostly in shades of fleece and hiking boots and there are absolutely no brown people. There are however, tons of dogs and vegetarian restaurants.

 Also, did I mention the nine months of snow? The digging your car out of a snow bank each morning and driving thirty minutes to the nearest anything, trying desperately not to slide off the cliff into a ravine or careen into the side of a mountain? Don't forget the deer! They love to jump in front of your jeep and kill you and your family. Our trash had to be hoarded in the garage because of bears and our family dog Mattie was devoured by an actual mountain lion in the driveway. Really.

The mountains have a stark majestic beauty but I'll take the big swampy trees of Austin any day. I love Texas. Sorry Mam! I like being warm. I'm addicted to tacos. Swimming. Art. Rock'n'roll. Leisurely driving without my brights or four wheel drive. Wearing one layer of clothing. My friend Sarah grew up here and is now living in Amsterdam, writing blogs about how much she misses Texas. Today's post was 10 Reasons why Texas is Awesome and I am honored to be included in the list. Ha! The sky is bigger and the sun yellower in Texas. People are warm and salsa is spicy. There's a mural on the side of every building and a cat on every porch. We eat roasted meats and swim. It's just my style.



Uncle Kevan bomb

flower girl/ ring bearer practice

Grammy, the seed and matron of our huge weird family tree