We had such a beautiful time in Mexico—awakening creative spirits and remembering what its like to cater to our every whim—that I think life became a bit harder when we came home. It didn’t help, of course, that we arrived home at the end of February, just in time for my most hated month of the year. I had quite freely been telling anyone who asked about my mood that “I hate March” and wanting it to be clarifying and forgiving of all of my bad behavior. And while it may have been informational for others, it still felt cruddy for me.
My decision to not put ornaments on the tree this year, an act that always brings me great joy, was made with their safety in mind. I am sure that, by season’s end, all of the sharp, fragile, sentimental, unique talismans would have been smashed or lost or swallowed.
After returning from a weekend in a healing fortress of a home in upstate, one that we’ve escaped to before and always felt rejuvenated from, I am reminded that this time of year doesn’t have to be about endings and solitude. It can be a time to focus on your foundation to prepare for the long winter of self-care, gratitude and togetherness ahead.
As we passed through the White Mountains and came across one particularly dramatic drop where the road seemed to fully disappear beneath us and we felt in line with the points of every pine tree as we soared along, we chatted about how happy we were that Leo didn’t seem affected by the serpentine route nor the “butterfly hills” as I had called them when I was a few years older than he at this point.
For starters I want to clarify that I am no expert on amber beads or teething in general. But, since getting so many questions about how I chose mine, how they help baby, and how to tell if they are genuine, I thought I would share my experience here on the blog.
"Papoum Papoum." The name says it all as it's meant to represent the tiny heartbeat of a baby or our own happily beating hearts as we think of our little ones. My heart certainly skipped a beat when I discovered this teething doll, named Sweet Pea Baby by creator Sophie Guindon, while poking around Vieux-Montréal on our recent trip.
I bought this wide brimmed Panama hat in the Hudson River Valley at the end of last summer and never had a chance to really wear it because it was the end of the season. As it hung on the wall in my front hallway all winter, reminding me that warmer days would again return, I thought about how I wanted to add some fun color to it to celebrate the coming sunshine. Since its a nasty weekend in Brooklyn, I thought that the best medicine against the indoor-blues would be to create sunny pom-poms on a rainy day.
