Latest Obsessions

*Evil Under the Sun
It's no secret that I love Agatha Christie. You can imagine
my reaction when I saw these scarves that are based on
her novel of the same name. I rarely splurge on accessories
but this was necessary. It arrived yesterday and it is gorgeous, 
I cannot wait to wear it.

*A New Way to Dinner

A lot of things get easier as you delve deeper into

parenthood- cooking dinner is not one of them.

It is still hard to find the time to cook, to create a menu

for the week, to stay organized.  This book is a great 

jumping off point to the process of menu planning.

*Los Poblanos

One of my best friends is getting married this year
and she and her fiancé chose this magical place as
their venue. This is a trifecta of awesomeness:
I get to see my friend get married, stay in a fancy hotel,
AND get to visit NM again. Win.Win.Win.

*WE DO NOT THINK OURSELVES INTO 
NEW WAYS OF LIVING, WE LIVE OURSELVES 
INTO NEW WAYS OF THINKING.
Richard Rohr

A New Year

It has been a long standing tradition on
this humble little blog for me to list my goals
at the start of each year.

2017 will be no different.
Here we go:

*Create Weekly Menus
Through this planning we should
be able to streamline the dinner process,
waste less food, and making cooking
enjoyable again.

*Blog
I do miss blogging, but sometimes at the end
of the workday, after bedtime and after dinner,
I really don't feel like sitting down in front of
another screen. My goal is to start with just once
a week. We'll go from there.

*Exercise
When it comes to weight I've never been a numbers
person. I can't even tell you exactly what I weigh right
now because I don't own a scale. I really just gauge how
I feel and how my clothes fit, and right now I could use
some exercise.  That has been the hardest thing to get
back into after having a baby. But my goal is to
get a yoga pass for the place in our neighborhood and
commit to at least 1 class a week.

*Get Involved
The currently political situation has me feeling
extremely uneasy.  So I thought the best thing I could
do was to get involved with 1 good cause this year.
I haven't worked out any logistics with this one yet,
but it's time to help those who need it.

*Clean Out
I want to get rid of stuff.
We probably drop off bags to Goodwill at least
every other month, but out house still feels cluttered.
It's a long process to weed out the unecessary.

*Buy More Thinx
Yeah, period talk. Sorry, Dad.
I love Thinx. They are magical
and not only save you money
(no more buying pads/tampons)
they are helping to reduce waste.
I wish these were around when I was
in high school. I feel like periods
would have felt a little more empowering
and less horrific.

*Make
I want to make more art.


That's my little list for this year.
All attainable, they just require effort.
Lucky for 2017 I feel pretty fierce this year,
and I'm ready to make changes.

Daydreams: Sandy Pages

I've always been a fan of bookstores that you find in

shore towns. There used to be one on the Ocean City

Boardwalk that I would visit every year, when I first 

started going I think I was still into Goosebumps

and The Babysitters Club Mystery Editions but 

quickly graduated to Fear Street Novels because

they were scarier and had kissing. Double bonus.

I mentioned to my husband that one of my 

dreams was to have a mystery bookstore at the beach

so we started talking about what it would be like, 

which eventually led to the name. As usual he came

up with the winner, Sandy Pages.  

This led us beyond the bookstore, deciding

that I should become a mystery writer with the

pen name, Sandy (or Sandra)  Pages.  I would only 

write beach related mysteries and I would 

dedicate every book to my husband 

Blaine Pages RIP*.  The * will bring to you a 

disclaimer that though Blaine Pages is not deceased, 

he is dead to me.

We found a new bookstore down in Ocean City, 

that is exactly what I wanted Sandy Pages to be, 

super cheap books, all old paperbacks, mostly mysteries.

The bonus was that they actually had some Fear Street 

books. Which I have been trying to find for years, they are

weirdly hard to come by.  So I bought Party Summer

and indulged in some literary nostalgia. 

Latest Obsessions

*Morning Ritual
On the mornings that I open the store, I've gotten into
the habit of grabbing a small black coffee and
chocolate croissant  from a small bakery by work.
It's a nice way to start my work day, and it's soothing to
sip on something savory and bite into something sweet.

*Counting Down to the Shore




















This vacation cannot get here soon enough!
We get a little teaser this weekend when we
drop the fudge-a-mania off. First stop,
Uncle Bill's Pancake House.

*Ten Virtues for the Modern Age
I don't consider myself an Atheist, but I think
that these can apply no matter what beliefs
you happen to have. Just a good self-check
list.

*The Collage Club via Instagram
I joined a group on Instagram
that works from Ansel Adam's
400 Photographs book. Each Friday
someone calls out a page, and all
participants create a collage with
that page. It's been great to have
a project to look forward to and to
see what other people can get from
the same image. Here's what I've done
so far.

*Venchi Chocolate
I stumbled across these at a wine
event I went to recently, I guess they
had a hand in sponsoring because there
were huge towers of chocolates on
2 of the tables. Needless to say, I took
a lot of free chocolate. They are delicious.
Now I just need to find them in NY.

*101 Easy Asian Recipes



















I was gifted this wonderful cookbook
and I can't wait to use it.

The Scent of Summer

As we were taking our evening walk the

other night, I was breathing in the scent of 

fresh cut grass.  It almost brought me to tears

it was so wonderful. So many memories

of summers gone by, all rolled up in that

one smell.

Relay races in the front yard, watching the Muppet

Show and Are You Being Served? while eating

popsicles (of even better, pudding pops), swimming

in our above ground pool and trying to balance on

our buoyant body board while yelling out the words 

to Surfin' USA. Trips to the beach, watching the MTV

beach house and thinking it was so cool, TGIF, riding 

my bike around the neighborhood while jamming 

to the Madonna's I'm Breathless album, sleepovers with

friends, vacations to Myrtle,  all of it comes alive 

again with the smells of summer.

What I really love now is seeing the little dude 

enjoy his own version of summer.  Playing in the 

fountain at the park, visiting our neighborhood

chickens every night, getting to know the beach, 

going on adventures in Queens, playing in Central

Park, lunching at the MoMA Cafe, and in a few

weeks he will get to experience Ocean City as a toddler.

Seeing this kind of unbridled joy really makes

you want to reclaim it for yourself, and you can.

It's really easy to savor that ice cream cone, 

to appreciate your local skyline, to get to know those

chickens, and to enjoy the nostalgia trips while still

living in the present.  

What are your fondest summer memories or smells?

Good Enough & Smart Enough

Do you practice self-care?
I don't, but if you asked me last
week I would have said that I did.

I can be very hard on myself without
immediately realizing it.  Dinner could
have been better, I could have worked
harder on something, I could have been
more patient with the baby, I could have
used my free time better, how could I
have lost my phone, why did I forget
to pick up milk?

Little digs that add up after awhile.
Some of this is a result of the city that
I live in, some from the influence of social
media and this weird perfection that
everyone seems to attain, and the rest
from that old "you can have it all" mentality.
After realizing that I was very guilty of this,
I started to pave a path toward self-love.

I started reading articles about it, writing lists
of things that I was proud of, things that
brought me joy,  feeling gratitude for the
things that I have and for the people that
are in my life, taking joy in small moments,
and trying to treat myself like I would treat
a friend.  It's never a quick change,
but it's a good start to a gentler way of
living.

Making Changes All the Time

About a month ago I had a full-on meltdown.

Everything that had been building up slowly

just started to spill out.  After months of

downplaying my depression and anxiety over

this balancing act I'd been trying to do, a very

good friend recognized that I might not be OK.

She waved the flag, blew the whistle, and it set me free.

I talked all of my stuff out with the husband, it was

a much needed communication and recommitment to

ourselves.  I made a choice in those next few days to start

choosing love, and to pave a new way- since the current

way really was not working.

The changes now are small and slow.  It's everything from

being more clear about the things that I need,  choosing to

be positive instead of negative, bringing back the things that

give me joy, taking time for myself and for my husband, and

truly enjoying my time with the baby.

I'm trying to be more proactive with creating.  I'm slowly

throwing together a new website, I have been giving myself

small writing assignments on the train (more on this in 

another post), and I am starting my 

Artist Residency in Motherhood  on July 1st. 

(You can find me on the map!)

The Residency was created for mothers to make art through 

motherhood not despite it. It will begin to weave it back into 

the fabric of the everyday instead of being a scramble to just 

get anything done.  I feel good that I've taken these steps, 

it feels good to make changes. It feels good to be

choosing love and positivity, though it's not always 

the easiest choice.

All roads are long, and seldom are they easy to travel. 

But I feel good about the way the wind is blowing right now, 

and hope that more changes continue to happen.