wittle shoes

I am a shoe gal. I LOVE shoes. When I found out I was having a girl the first thing I bought her was shoes. Gold glittery jelly sandals that have been sitting patiently biding their time for the day when she fits into them and that time is fast approaching. Of course up until now, she hasn't had a need for shoes. From the beginning we've survived on one magical piece of footwear. The goumiboot which she wore from newborn until fairly recently. They would actually stay on her foot, they were soft, washable, and they were always in her diaper bag in case we were out and her tootsies got cold. I cannot recommend them enough for any new parent in fact, I'm heading to a baby shower on Saturday and I'm bringing a pair with. 

Her inability to walk of course, stopped nobody and in addition to the gifts of shoes I bought her two more pairs of gold shoes which she wore as much as I could stick her in them.

Well now... she walks and actually needs shoes. It's sent me in a bit of a tizzy of shoes for her because I am a shoe snob. I think it had to do with being poor and growing up wishing I had cool shoes and was stuck with Chuck Taylors back when they were not the cool they are now. I promised myself that any children of mine would be dressed in cool shoes. That means trendy, simple, unique, comfortable, tough, and practical. No crazy embellishments, no cartoon characters. Oh and the big ole wrench: NOT LEATHER. Which made these perfect options out of the question.

Salt Water sandals are supposed to be impervious and they are: so damn cute. 

These See Kai Run shoes are cool but I don't know anything about their durability.

Every trendy blogger with a baby has a pair of these. They're called Freshly Picked and they're just all kinds of adorable. They also make clothing and holy crap I want these or these.

Not to be outdone, we have a pair of these beauties waiting for Alice to fit into them.

I also like these Converse in mint.

I was really jonesing for shoes that are easy to get on and off though so hook & loop shoes are the way to go and my faves are the classics.

These two have to be black. Matt would want it that way.

I'm also really into the sneakers with that Euro style. Like these Cienta shoes. While you can have the classics be black if you're going for another shoe, a bright or out of the ordinary color like yellow or red you'll be surprised really go with a lot of your kid's clothing.

I could go for a pair of these in my size.

 I want these bad. Look at those flowers!

And yeah, I would buy my child Nikes, I would. Great shoes. It's just gonna be when her foot doesn't grow as fast as it does now.

We went to a kid's shoe store to try shoes on and Alice did try on the Crocs and they are kinda cute on little kids but I just... couldn't do it. I already have two pairs and Matt was not on board.

In the end, we got these Native shoes which I didn't realize were pretty trendy with celebs as I learned when I googled for pictures of them. The best thing about them is that they're rubbery and you can just rinse them out. She wore them to the beach, I just shook the sand off and rinsed them and dried them in the dish rack. Can't beat that!

They're a smidge too big for her but I just stick her with socks and she's good. She's still getting the hang of wearing shoes but so far I think these are gonna work out.

I hope this post was helpful to someone out there. Do you guys have any shoes you recommend that I should check out that are so cool not even I know about them?

Have a great weekend gang!

friday nights on the farm

For the past two weeks we've been hosting friends at our place on Friday nights for the summer. We haven't coined the exact phrase for the event though I've tried various configurations of alliteration with the letter F. Friday Night Fun at the Fredrich Family Farm, etc. Anyhow... it's a chill hang, a nice mix of peeps from school, church, family, work. We're doing it outside in the awesome summer night weather. The first week we did cocktails and s'mores. 

I need a fire pit but in the meantime, we used a blowtorch which was wicked fun.

I also made chocolate ice cream and served it with whipped cream or a dash of cold brew coffee. Boy was I happy that I just so happened to have tiny wooden spoons in my arsenal.

It all came about from repeatedly feeling frustrated that people never hung out and did stuff so we took matters into our own hands. Last Friday we did floats and I gotta tell you about that another time. Plus a recap of life lately.

she walks

hers and mine: i wish

I have this neon pink backpack I bought about three years ago that I bust out now and again. Surprisingly I still love it and American Apparel still makes it (though it was $42 back in 2012). Here it is in action in Portland.

Well punch me in the face until I'm blue, they make a kid version of it too.

I'm not the type to dress my daughter and I in matching outfits but matching neon pink backpacks? Sign. Me. Up.

obviously it should be a farmhouse

I keep trying to settle on a style for our home and then I realized well duh, it should be farmhouse style. Contemporary farmhouse. Right?

I didn't think the style was my style until I realized it kind of is. 

Classic. American. Simple. Black. White. Wood. 

And to fill a pantry with delicious American made ingredients.

And if you mix it with some rustic and a touch of industrial.

Add some vintage accessories.

 

Contemporary farmhouse, why hadn't I thought of it sooner.

adventures in cocktail-ing

It goes back a long many years. Once upon a July awhile ago we ended up in Fort Collins, CO where our friend Duy took us to a vegetarian restaurant and I had Kentucky Fried Freedom. It was fake fried chicken, collared greens, and black eyed peas. It was one of the most delicious meals I've ever had and since that day I've wanted to replicate that menu. Well, for Mother's Day my family and I tried with a Southern BBQ and of course, I made mint juleps. 

In that little bottle above with the cork top I pre-squeezed some lemon juice and since there were some leftovers lemon juice I thought well you can't let it go to waste so I started making some cocktails with this book. 

It also helps that in my front yard grows some herbs that work very well with cocktail making and combine that with the fact that I don't get out much nowadays, what's a girl gonna do but make 'em at home right? 

I've never been a drinker for drunk sake. I hate that. I enjoy a good cocktail for the pure taste of magical chemistry. Fresh ingredients put together in a way that make a tasty beverage.

Cheers Gang. 

Here's to a refreshing summer!