Chalkboard Walls

We are about to have a chalkboard wall painted in our kitchen. My husband and I have loved our magnetic chalkboard [Pottery Barn white framed] for writing lists, magnetizing magazine cut-outs we think the other will enjoy, scribbling Keats and Rilke excerpts and limericks* in the corners.

In the home we just settled into, we donated the chalkboard to the children's space and hung it low with a nearby pile of chalk for ready use. We have no canvas for our inside jokes, our lists of funny coffee shop titles**, our please more half and half  and floss-es. I love how chalkboard walls give weight and aesthetic interest to a room when slick and clean, and perhaps look even better when written all over by little eager hands. Here are some rooms that do chalkboards great.

oakmanagement

designsponge

designsponge

apartmenttherapy

__________

*Ann Boleyn was hot,

King Henry was hot to trot.

He took her to bed, 

then cut off her head:

The life she had thought, it was not.

**Legal Grounds [offering legal advice with your cup of jo]

Eggs in the City

Dosey Doe Coffee House

Insomnia

Miso Funny Cafe

Some Flair, Frugally

If you knew me personally, you'd know that I pledge allegiance to Anthropology almost daily. But sometimes: the prices, oh the prices. Here are two fun finds that have that Anthro vibe without the mind-vibrating cost. These are actually a set of four measuring cups ( from 1/4  to 1 cup) that can be used, yes, for measuring, but also for a little collective family morning cup of warmth. Mom and Dad can have their jo while kids enjoy hot chocolate--in descending size and order. It's the season for cider. I just turned my own children onto Rooibos and peppermint tea, and they feel such a kinship with Beatrix Potter as they watch the BBC Peter Rabbit animated series on these fall rainy days.

This dessert-sized plate is hefty and durable, and comes in this green, golden yellow, marine blue, and red. Perfect to up the aesthetic of the afternoon snack. Plus this baby is only five dollars, so if in the worst case it breaks (not unheard of in the world of children, eh?), you won't tear out your hair for using that heirloom serving platter just this once.

Pieces like these can make sense with children, and can teach them that every day can be an extraordinary occasion. 

The Cookie [Magazine] Crumbles

I am not being hyperbolic when I say that I am heartbroken to learn that Cookie Magazine is folding. Yes, here have a kleenex. Blow. Good. Due to the current economic climate and lack of sufficient advertising, it (along with another Conde Nast magazine, Gourmet) will soon be no more.

Ode to Cookie, how to explain? In the infancy of my motherhood (and I am now only six years into it), when I was trying to re-evaluate my identity and how it converged with the role of parent, this magazine provided the igniting force of my parenting style and aesthetic. Intelligent, helpful, real, and glamorous, the magazine reinforced for me that intensely involved parenting and style and the inner life can coexist. And should. That, as Dr. Daphne de Marneffe discusses in one of my favorite books, Maternal Desire: On Children, Love, and the Inner Life, raising children provides a sense of meaning and fulfillment that nothing else in life offers and can force us to deeply and acceleratedly evaluate and develop ourselves.

"Mother" is not all that I am, and shouldn't be, but it is what I consider my most important role and is the avenue by which I express my individuality and mind, and find the sweetness of, say, a warm and gooey cookie.

From their lifestyle and product suggestions,

to their Nesting blog (see the link to the right) giving haute and frugal design advice and house tours,

to hip style ideas and "uniforms" for busy moms,

this mag had it all. So long, farewell, Cookie. Alvederzane. I will be bingeing on your site this weekend and will faithfully keep all of my back copies in mint condition. And I will drown my sorrows in a hot cup of matte and (sorry but:) my other favorite parenting magazines:

Milk

Brain, Child

Wondertime

But I'm Not a Night Owl--I'm NOT

Again. Again I'm on the couch with my computer at 11 pm after the family has long been in bed.

Every morning I get up before the house stirs and do yoga and meditation in my living room before a cup of tea. By morning I mean it's still very (VERY) dark outside. And then the day, the day. And if you're a mother you know how the little repetitive tasks can stretch out into a day that feels like six years. Pleasantly of course but sheesh you're still dragging at the end.

And then what. A second wind. Suddenly the house is quiet, and the in box or current writing job or magazine or hot bath or novel or idiotic staring into the living room wall happens and I can't seem to stop.

And I get it, I do. It's the only time of day I can totally focus. I love the thousand maddening little distractions and demands that each day with children brings, and I wouldn't want any other kind of day right now. But man. The simple zen-like motion of completing even the simplest of tasks with quiet focus.

____

And no I don't live in Prague but wouldn't it be a nice city to be somewhat sleep deprived in--isn't it beautiful?

I'm Brown Bagging It

I couldn't help myself. I couldn't. One evening last week while browsing Nordstrom by myself (oh yes I did), I drifted through the scarf section into the bag section and came upon the Hobo International Lauren clutch wallet. If you know my love of highly-functional stylish bags (ok ok just bags in general) you'll know how I began to hyperventilate. 

Am I the only mother who goes between bags and gets sick of switching things back and forth? The only one who wants to go from day (bag filled with an extra diaper, hand sanitiser, mushed crackers, a shoestring, matchbox car, broken crayon) to night (lip gloss, cell phone, credit card into a sleek little clutch) without a major swap operation? Well. The Lauren clutch opens fully at its halfway point, divulging a clasp pocket on each side and a middle zipper opening up to the full length of the clutch (which is only 9-5 closed by the way). In fact, Hobo, and American company, is known for its sleek, vintage-inspired style and its jaw-dropping utilitarianism. So not only can I use it as a wallet in the day and toss it into whatever purse I want, I can add my phone and keys to it and use it as a clutch. I can even leave my purse in the car and grab the clutch if I'm running into, say, Barnes and Noble while the kids are in school.

Yes in the spirit of motherhood-functionality-meets-style, I bought the bag. I ordered it online. Though carried by stars and featured in places like Lucky, O Magazine, Marie Claire, In Style, and Cosmopolitan, I don't need celebrity endorsement to enforce that this clutch is one of my favorite combinations (style meets massive functionality), or to make my heart beat any faster at the thought of my pending incredible organization-on-the-go. This is my sickness. When the clutch comes, I'm playing with it all evening long. It's expected to arrive via UPS this very afternoon. Possibly this minute. 

In fact, is that the door???