K.I.S.S.

One of my favorite acronyms is KISS, or Keep It Simple Stupid. I like simple for multitude of reasons, one being too lazy to do complicated. Anyway, I especially like to follow my KISS motto when packing and planning outfits for travel. If you pack anything too complicated the chances are you won't feel like wearing it at the location. So it has to be simple and comfortable. Here are my outfits for my four days in San Diego last week. 

Gray

Here is an outfit from a week or so ago, with my new big gray H&M scarf and old patterned leggings, cashmere cardigan, no makeup and hair in a tight ponytail. Maybe not my most glamorous self, but it's real... The mood was right for this gray day. 

New Beginning

The spring has finally arrived to Long Island. I feel like I'm waking up from a long hibernation. So happy with this weekend's sunshiny warmth! 

Lunch at the Sun Deck in Hotel Del Coronado

I snuck out for a couple of hours and had lunch with some colleagues in this beautiful scenery today. These pictures are from the Coronado island, right in front of the city of San Diego, in South California. 

Sunny

I'm on a work trip this week and mostly stuck in conference rooms, but tonight I took a few clients out for a dinner which was enjoyed taking in these lovely views... Guess where I am! 

Makeover

One of our family members gets a makeover every 3-4 months. It's really funny how different Coco, the standard poodle, looks like after she's been groomed. 

Our big teddybear. 

And then a makeover into a skinny sophisticated poodle. 

Until the hair grows back in and the teddybear is back. 

Staycation

I used to love to travel, but since having kids I haven't traveled much. For me it's too stressful to arrange the travel, pack everyone's stuff, plan activities, unpack, do the laundry, etc. I'm exhausted after a family trip. I admire those people who can do all this without stressing out. Since avoiding any extra stress is very high on my list of priorities, for now, travel has been mostly the annual or bi-annual trip to Finland, or the occasional week in Florida. I look forward to the time when everyone can pack for themselves, and I don't have to think for everyone... But until then, I like spending vacations chilling out at home. Life is so busy that I don't even make many plans for these staycations, just take it easy and go with the flow. This week's spring break has been great. A truly relaxing week, spent catching up on sleep and spending quality time with the girls. My husband has a very busy phase at work and was not able to take the week off, and I'm going to travel next week for work, so staying home was a real no-brainer.

Because the weather has still been on the cold side, we've done a lot of indoor activities: a bit of shopping, gel manicures, exploring new cafes. We've also had fun at home making our own pottery, painting bird houses, and baking pulla.

Pottery making with white clay was so much fun. Using the pottery wheel is not as easy as it looks! 

Mother-daughter manicures. This gel manicure better last until next week! 

I've only tried making pulla a few times in my life, and it never came out very good. So this time I did some research and made the dough with fresh yeast (as opposed to dry), and left the dough a little loosy goosy (didn't put too much flour in it).  Well it worked, and the pulla came out GREAT! Very soft and fluffy, and just perfect. 

For these little girls pink still rules. 

My pulla still may not win awards for beauty, but the taste was so good that my daughter is now planning a Cafe for my second career when I retire... 

 

Witches Brew

I've been meaning to take my girls to the Witches Brew coffee shop for quite some time; my previous au pair S told me about this place more than a year ago, and I finally got to go today. Too bad I waited so long to go! In this day and age of Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts and all the coffee shops looking alike, this was a very nice change of pace.

It's an old converted house with antique and second hand furniture. It's dark and cozy inside and the ambiance is very warm and cozy. 

The menu has pages and pages of tea! 

We had two pots of tea, and our favorite was the XOXO Chai. 

We shared two orders of the pulled pork sliders, and it was enough for a light lunch. The food was delicious, but I guess we were a bit hungry since we attacked our sliders so fast we forgot to take pictures... 

The desserts were yummy! 

We will definitely be going back to Witches Brew!! 

April Showers

April showers bring May flowers... The gardener came around today and cleaned out the flower bed where I had planted some bulbs in the fall. Some of them have come up and I'm hoping that we'll soon have some pretty tulips there. Here's my rainy day outfit with my old Barbour oilcloth jacket.

Spring

Aaahhhhh, I am so happy that spring is finally here. Today was a lovely warm spring day, no coat required! I sat outside in the backyard just soaking up the sun and enjoying the warmth and feeling energized. Just two weeks ago we still had snow as evidenced by these pictures.

It was so cold we had to escape to our favorite cafe to warm up. 

Picture taken by the 4-year old - not bad, right? 

And here's a selfie by the 4-year old. Click click selfie stick... I think I need one :-)

Easter

This Easter really was a celebration of spring, as we New Yorkers (and Long Islanders) finally got to enjoy some warmer temperatures and a few lovely sun shiny days.

It was still a bit windy on Saturday although many New Yorkers felt it was warm enough for shorts and t-shirt.  

I hate to be cold, so for me, it was still the tweed jacket, a cashmere sweater, jeans and a scarf. 

Flowers in the West Village Farmer's Market

The butterfly decorated cross at St. John's church on Christopher St. 

Easter Sunday breakfast was this yummy set.

Traditional dyed egg as decorations. 

Easter dinner place setting. 

My 12-year old was in charge of dessert. She baked this key lime pie from scratch. It was to die for! 

Some more dyed eggs. 

Decorated pussy willow branches. 

The traditional Easter egg hunt took place at the back yard in lovely sun shine. 

The huntresses

The hunted

I hadn't planned Easter that much in advance, but it all turned out great. The kids dyed some eggs, and made the decorated pussy willow branches. We even got to go to a church service for children, and spoke about why Easter is actually celebrated. I think observing the traditions is important for the kids as that is how memories are made.