Summer 2024... a new job... same view out my home window!

Posting about Summer seems to be an annual tradition so here we are... Big post.

NEW JOB
The ironic thing about this summer was that when the year began I wasn't sure what work would look like so in an effort to save money we opted out of any summer camps and then I got consistent work. Of course. But big hurray I got consistent work! I worked for a few months with my old friends at Airbnb and now I've been contracted until the end of 2024 with a nice video game company to produce for them. Another remote gig! The view from my office is still my own backyard! Hurray.

TROOP BEVERLY HILLS MOVIE NIGHT
Thinking that it was gonna be our own family camp and we'd be directing our own activities, I got us matching T-shirts for Camp Fredrich Summer Camp: Troop 91504. The shirts gave me an idea to throw an Outdoor Movie Night: Troop Beverly Hills.

The theme was 200% up my alley being a film about camping and also the Beverly Hills Hotel which is pink stripes and martinique wallpaper. I been waiting my whole life to throw this party. My Golden Girls obsession paid off.

We invested in a few items we've been meaning to own one of which was a full sized popcorn machine. Is it so fun and delicious? Is it so dangerous for me? All of this is true. But come on I throw an annual Oscar party and at least 1-2 outdoor movie nights a year. It's gonna be worth it. 

One of the things amassed over the years was things that were perfectly on theme like this tablecloth which actually fits over the outdoor dining table. Can't find it on Amazon anymore but this is the company that makes them. I've actually bought 3 (one for pizza parties, one with nautical stripes) because it's v clever with a zipper that makes it easy to put on an off with the umbrella hole and goes to 120". I'm glad I bought this when I did!

We setup a cute little photo op/play area that small kids destroyed within minutes but that's what it's all about.

And of course all the pink flutes and Rosé and more palms and flamingos.

And the cute little camp mugs and Evian water bottles natch.

SUMMER ROAD TRIP

After the party I leaned hard into my Troop Leader role slash LEWK and have been rocking a lot of beige and green. I outfitted us accordingly for our Route 66 / Southwest family road trip to the Grand Canyon / Phoenix / Las Cruces. We stayed at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel in Williams AZ. Oh right, yeah so ok, you stay at the hotel and you take a train a few hours to the Grand Canyon (helps keep too many cars out of the national park) and Wally was beyond hyped about the Cataract Creek Gang. They put on three performances a day! One in the morning at 9am before you leave for TGC and then they rob you on horseback and board the train and then in the evening in the town they put on a 7p show. Hardworking bandits I tell you.

The Grand Canyon with our crew was... mixed. I was pumped to see it, everyone ooh'd and ahh'd etc but it was hot and Wally barfed and no one wanted to keep walking the rim. A mama tried.

Matt did get this pretty epic picture when I took a moment to marvel at this place. #newprofilepic. 

The next stop on the way to Phoenix was Bearizona which is a drive-thru zoo so the girl could see wolves. It was actually a pretty cool little spot albeit expensive!

A detour delayed us an hour to our next stop: Sedona. I am a big fan of Sedona. I've been now three times and each time a different time of year and different crew and if it hadn't been SO hot I woulda had our crew do one of the many awesome hikes there.

My friend Anna introduced us to one of my favorite places: Indian Gardens Market + Cafe in beautiful Oak Creek Canyon. We went twice on my birthday trip there and I made the family make the pilgrimage. If you're ever in Sedona, highly recommend.

Phoenix was insanely hot, shocker, but we spent the day with my sister and her family and went to a crazy place called Jake's Unlimited  that kept us cool and entertained for the bargain price of $25/person that included I kid you not: arcade games, rides, laser tag, AND a lunch buffet with spaghetti and pizza and salad and soda and ice cream. I'd dump my kids there all day all summer if I lived there.

At the hotel however, the kids did the one thing they want to do all day every day. Pool. Pool pool pool. Water. Pool. Goggles. POOL.

Our journey ended in Las Cruces which by the way the whole point of the trip was to drive the kids to visit their grandparents and stay with them for a week of VBS and Matt and I drove home to have a week off in L.A. God bless grandparents. Then I flew to El Paso to pick them up on Saturday for their first ever plane ride! They loved it. Though some of Alice's faces were pretty hilarious as the plane rose to cruising altitude. Here we are waiting for ice cream in Las Cruces. The only way to live.

Above here you can see I was faithful to my lewk for the trip and my favorite thing I bought were those off white high top Converse. How did I exist without them? Seriously they are so versatile and if you see me this summer, I'm rocking them. 

Summer is flying by... we have Alice's 10th Birthday party this weekend and it's also Camp themed and you know, our troop loves a theme. It's a Summer Camp kinda life! 🏕️

Our Joyful Winter

March! How is it March? In a few weeks we will celebrate a resurrected life and welcome the feast of Easter and usher in Spring and Eastertide. The snow will thaw (figuratively I mean come on I live in Los Angeles), the flowers will bloom. 

It’s been quite a winter. Our best ever! I took the bull by the horns and knew that if I didn’t set up a system in place to survive the winter and fight the dementors of depression that the winter would feel barren and dead instead of how the Creator intended it with hibernation and rest. I wanted to embrace the beauty of winter and surrender to its truths and rhythms. There is a time for everything and this was the time of preparation for growth and life. 

I started small and found a pinterest article on how to embrace winter and one of the ideas was to try some “Hygge”. Oh boy did I! It’s the Scandinavian way of embracing the cozy lifestyle during winter. I listened to the Little Book of Hygge and got the basics down and I was ready to begin. The Hygge Manifesto lays out the 10 basics of Hygge: Atmosphere, Presence, Pleasure, Equality, Gratitude, Harmony, Comfort, Truce, Togetherness, and Shelter. Listening to the book with the author’s Danish accent transported me and filled me with hope for a joyful winter. Joyful Winter, two words that I never imagined putting together.

I used to decorate for Christmas primarily using silver, black and white (except the colorful office) in a scheme I called Cozy Cabin with buffalo check, pine cones, camping lanterns, wood, cozy textiles, and so many candles. The past few years I craved red and green so instead we keep the Black and White cabin things for use post Christmas. It’s a nice transitional decorating scheme for my brain that likes her environment to indicate her state of life.

Not that the Hygge lifestyle requires any type of purchasing of things but we did find one item to be crucial to add to the whole vibe… a little electric fireplace. You should have seen the puppy dog eyes we pulled on Matt to get him to agree to it and how hyped the kids were when it arrived!

I have created tiny Hygge cozy monsters with my children and spouse. They have leaned into the cozy and it makes the long nights feel fun and loving. We have warm lighting with electric candles, nice scented candles, the fireplace going, a corner of the couch we call ‘cozy corner’, a heated blanket, books, magazines… I make soup and fresh bread. We slow down. We Sabbath. We nap. We take walks when we can as often as we can. The strangely rainy days have not hampered our spirits. My mental health this winter has been the best it’s ever been. Even when we added Lent and fasting! 

It’s literally my job to get ahead of everything, to see the future and where things could go wrong and anticipate the pitfalls and steer my team away from failure. I am good at it. I am good at imagining possibilities and problems with my vocation. But. It’s a lifelong lesson for myself to be in the current season and not get too ahead of myself either. To be grateful for where I am and where my family is and take it the next right thing at a time. A step and step again. I’d be tempted during this time when reading a terrific magazine heralding the coming of Spring to start plotting the Spring recipes or parties or decorating or trips and start feeling like I am already behind. But that’s not true. Advertisers and retailers have to be constantly in the future so you feel that you can’t keep up. Lies.

Where you are is just enough as it is. Be present to the current season. Even if it's winter.