Chrysler Museum Glass Studio

I love creative playdates! A week or so ago, Anouk and I joined friends to go and see visiting artist Gianni Toso work live in the Chrysler Museum's glass studio. And it was probably my favorite of our adventures around town to date -- such an inspiring, educational, and colorful experience. I've never seen anything like it before (not even in all my poking around for things to do).

I'm not sure what I expected -- maybe something like the glassblowers at Jamestown? Sort of campy and fun? While this was definitely fun, there was far less of a boisterous vibe. Things were quieter, more focused, as the artist worked and the people sitting in rows of chairs around the workspace watched intently. Occasionally, a staffer with a microphone would step up to narrate what Toso was doing as he switched tools, or melded two different colored glass rods and stretched them into a delicately twisting ribbon. Classical music was playing while he worked and there were also large monitors hanging around the room so that even the people in the back could see. Toso comes from a family line of glass makers spanning back 700 years (that's not a typo), and he himself has been doing this for six decades, so you really want to be able to watch him closely, and luckily, you can.

Anne and her friend C. really enjoyed strolling around the perimeter of the room and looking at all of the work done by glass studio resident and visiting artists -- the more colorful or intricate it was, the better. To be completely honest, though, this was probably one of those outings that was more exciting the parents than the kids, at least in our case. S. and I were fascinated by the whole experience, but I think they were just too young to appreciate it fully. However, there were many older children in the audience -- ages 6 to 8 or so and then some older tweens and teens -- who seemed as into it as we were. So that's probably the best age group for this event.

The next nearest museum-affiliated glass studio in the U.S. is in Toledo, Ohio (there are only five in the whole country), so we are very lucky to have this one so close to home. And there are many opportunities to visit. The Chrysler's glass studio presents free daily demonstrations at noon, every Wednesday through Saturday, and regularly offer classes, workshops, and Third Wednesday parties with booze, music, and glass art demonstrations. You can find out more on the studio's website, and you can see more of what these remarkably talented artists do on the studio's YouTube channel.

Egg Creams (Discuss)

Over the past couple of weeks, our family has developed a little bit of an obsession with the egg cream, which, like a Linda Richman joke, contains neither egg, nor cream but is rather a mix of milk, chocolate syrup, and seltzer. The history of the egg cream varies widely according to whom you ask -- a few minutes of internet research turned up at least four people/institutions claiming responsibility for it. Everyone can agree, however, that it seemed to originate in the late 1800s/early 1900s in New York City and that it is delicious.

When mixed correctly, an egg cream tastes like a velvety chocolate soda with a refreshing, fizzy snap. When mixed incorrectly -- it's kind of weird/unappealing, not gonna lie. Luckily, we have had enough practice by now to be able pass on the correct mixing procedure to you and you will be able to avoid less-than-stellar egg creams! Hooray!

Step 1: Fill a 16 ounce glass with three tablespoons of chocolate syrup and 1/2 cup of very cold milk. To get the milk to the desired level of coldness, we usually chill it in the freezer for a few minutes. Most places seem to recommend whole milk as opposed to skim or 2% for the creaminess factor; we use soy milk because A. and I have issues with milk. Full-fat coconut milk works, too and is probably my favorite, but the flavor is a little off from the original recipe.

Step 2: While whipping the chocolate and milk mixture with a fork, as though you were beating and egg, pour enough chilled seltzer into the glass to fill it to about an half-inch from the top. The result of the whipping and the pouring should cause a thick layer of foam to form that will rise up and fill the rest of the glass.

Step 3: Enjoy immediately, while it's still at maximum levels of coldness and fizziness.

Our recipe lacks total authenticity because we didn't use Fox's U-Bet, the legendary syrup used to make this drink in the old days, and also because we added the chocolate before we added the seltzer, which made our foam turn brown instead of white. Technically, you're supposed to pour the chocolate down the side of the glass and stir it gently into the milk and seltzer once the foam has formed, but we found that led to improperly mixed egg creams or a lack of foam. We just don't have the knack, but what do you expect from a bunch of Southerners?

After our first perfect egg cream, I had to admit that y'all Yankees actually can do some eats pretty well (though I still think your cornbread sucks). Who knows, we might even have to venture north of the Mason-Dixon line to try out a real New York egg cream one of these days.

Have you ever made an egg cream? Do you have any tips on mixing? Do tell.

Tides are In

 A couple of weekends ago, my sister came into town from DC, and my uncle noticed that the Norfolk Tides, our local minor baseball league team, were offering a deal for Buy 5 tickets, Get 5 tickets free. Put them together and what do you have? Family baseball night. Hooray!

We set out to Harbor Park on a drizzly Saturday night hoping that the rain would hold off so that we could see the Tides play the Rochester Red Wings. It also happened to be Navy Appreciation Night, which meant that we got to listen to the Navy band, see a group of young men and women be inducted into the service, and cheer for a few military men and women (and military spouses) who were being recognized that evening. I feel like nothing says Norfolk like the Navy, and so I was extra proud of my hometown when I saw the crowd that had turned out that night.

Our seats were fantastic -- right behind home plate, which meant that A. got to see most of the action unfold only a few feet away. She was entranced by everything that was going on -- she kept up a pretty steady stream of commentary that could give the official Tides announcer a run for his money ("That man goes up there. He hits the ball. He running! Wow, he run!") For all that, I still think that she was more into the games in-between innings than she was the actual baseball game -- she cheered harder for the teams racing to build a giant hamburger than she did any time one of our players got a hit. (Although the hamburger race was very exciting that night, with one team running the wrong way and another forgetting the cheese).

We also introduced Anouk to cotton candy while we were at Harbor Park that fateful Saturday. She was definitely a fan of that, eating almost one whole bag by herself and then crashing hard from the sugar high. This coincided with the point at which the rain started in earnest, so we left at the top of the 7th inning. But we still felt like we got a good amount of excitement out of the evening -- we couldn't have asked for more.*

*Except maybe the Tides to not get shut out, but that's a small thing, right?

Go team! Have you ever been to a Tides game? What's your local minor league team called? (I still think Richmond has the best with the Flying Squirrels).

12 in 12 (August 2013)

It's August, and therefore time for another 12 photos in 12 hours. I feel like every time this project rolls around we have a really boring day and I long to be able to put my camera aside and wait to shoot when something more interesting is happening. It's hard to find the inspiration when you're just not feeling it. But I guess that's why this project is important -- it gives me a chance to search for something special in the little moments that don't seem very inspiring. And isn't that what most of life is?

I'm sure Rebecca and Darcy had far more interesting days, so be sure to check out their blogs today too. Here's to you, August 2013! Can you believe we're more than halfway through August already?

9:45 AM: It's a hot day that's only supposed to get hotter, so A. and I take our trip to the park as early as possible, right after breakfast. Despite our best-laid plans, it still feels like we're sitting in someone's armpit. Bleh. However, the chubby baby legs (climbing so high!) made me smile.

11:00 AM: A quick stop by the Virginia Tech Agricultural Research and Extension Center, a site that I'm thinking of reviewing for the blog based on a recommendation by my friend E. It looks interesting so A. and I make plans to come back later in the week when we have a little more time to explore (and when it will hopefully be cooler).

12:00 PM: Anouk's lunch: chicken nuggets, cucumber, goat cheese, and ketchup. Lots of ketchup. Anouk likes everything with a side of ketchup these days. Mama's lunch: a second latte and a few handfuls of Captain Crunch (not pictured because it was eaten hurriedly while A.'s back was turned, I want to keep her from a horrible lifelong Crunch addiction).

1:30 PM: While Anouk naps, I try on the bridesmaid dress I'm wearing in K. & D.'s wedding to see if I need to alter it at all. I can't believe I'm going to be wearing this beautiful dress in less than two months! I can't wait to see two of the best people that I know get married to each other. It's going to be rad.

2:15 PM: I reached for this magnetic Disney Princess set when we were in the thrift store a week or two ago to distract a very whiny Anouk from trying to jump out of the cart. It worked and she basically hasn't stopped playing with it since. Totally worth the $1.50 I paid for it.

3:30 PM: Kroger! Grocery shopping goes six times faster when the car-cart is available.

4:45 PM: The Josie-cat watches the squirrels in our yard. She got a clean bill of health at her checkup at the vet last week, not one issue for our 14-year-old girl. I hope this means we'll have her for 14 more.

6:00 PM: It's too hot to cook so we go out for dinner at Guad's at Granby. Our waitress was nice enough to bring A. her own bowl of  salsa because she understands that sometimes, you just have to double-dip your chip.



7:30 PM: On the way home, we stopped for a family portrait in the window of the H&R block. If I was still a humanities undergrad, I could write a fifteen page paper on how this photo is a commentary on the attitudinal changes between the American family in today's recession versus the Great Depression of the 1930s, and I would draw allusions to Grant Wood and Dorothea Lange and Sinclair Lewis. But luckily I'm not and so I don't have to do that kind of thing ever again.

8:30 PM: Bedtime cuddles with Daddy.

Pollinator Protection Project: A Home for Bees

It's been a few weeks since we last wrote about it, but that doesn't mean that we haven't been hard at work on our Pollinator Protection Project. One of the duties under the Pollinator Protection Pledge is to create and protect bee nest sites, and after noticing a few mason bees swarming around the yard at the beginning of the summer, we decided that we would build a nest for them.

Mason bees are solitary bees that make their homes in holes caused by wood-boring animals or in hollow reeds near rivers and swamps. They are important in the pollination of fruit trees (so much so that they are sometimes called "orchard bees.") Like other bees, their populations are threatened by deforestation and the use of pesticides and insecticides, so steps should be taken to protect and supplement their habitats, where possible.

Building a house for the mason bees in our yard was a quick and easy project that took only a small slice of our Saturday afternoon. There's a great tutorial here with step-by-step instructions. In a nutshell: we took about a foot long piece of 4x4 lumber and drilled small, deep holes in it using a piece of pegboard as a template for spacing. Then we angled the top to encourage water runoff and hung it on the fence near a nice wet spot where water from our gutters accumulates when it rains (mason bees love mud).

So far we're not entirely sure if any bees have moved in to the home we've made for them, but we have seen more of them buzzing around than usual so maybe? We're excited to see if any decide to become our neighbors permanently and will keep you updated if they do.

Here are some other tutorials for making nesting spots for backyard pollinators:

• A home for carpenter bees (very similar to our project but on a bigger scale for a bigger bee)
• Bumblebee nest using flower pots and plastic tubing
• Butterfly nest boxes 
• Building a caterpillar house 

And for good measure, a few super-creative and fabulous designs for solitary bee houses. Some of these are really gorgeous!

Do you have bees in your backyard? What kind?

Update, 10/20/13: By mid-October, about half the nesting holes in our mason bee house were occupied. See how some of the holes are plugged with gray mud? This will hopefully mean lots of pollinators in the yard next spring/summer. Hooray!

"Mama's Music"

Lately, I've been enjoying housework and driving around from errand to errand more than usual and this is because Anouk has been requesting "mama music" lately instead of her usual kids' music. Hooray! I am only too happy to hook up my iPhone and oblige her. One because there are only so many times you can listen to Dan Zanes before you want to throttle him.

Two, because one of my favorite memories from growing up is going through a big stack of records with my dad and listening to his favorite songs, which became favorites for me, too -- Pure Prairie League's "Amie," Stephen Stills' "Four and Twenty," even some Hall and Oates ("I Can't Go for That" is a quality song, I don't care what you haters think). So it's especially nice to share some of my favorites with Anouk.

I made a Spotify playlist of some of the songs A. and I have listened to the most over the past few weeks/months, the ones that will always bring me right back to Summer 2013 whenever I hear them in the future. I left off "Blurred Lines" which is probably THE official song of this summer in our house because I am actually really sick of it (I'm sorry Robin! I still love you!) But the rest I could listen to over and over -- in fact, I am now, as I write this. :)

Please note that as these are not songs FOR kids, only songs liked by my one particular kid, I can't verify that they don't have some inappropriate lyrics. Luckily my kid doesn't understand ALL THE WORDS yet and so it hasn't been an issue in our house. But be forewarned. 
Pix are from our walk around the Hague yesterday with friends. I love one with the gaggle of girly ducks all together so much. I like to think they were gossiping and really letting loose while their mallards had the ducklings for the day. 
Have a great weekend!

Flower Child

Anne was in a wedding last month -- one of her superamazing godfathers got married to an equally superamazing woman and they asked our A. to be part of the flower girl contingent. We were already extremely happy and excited for Uncle P. and his bride to get married. For A. to be a part of the day was just icing on the cake, and we were all very excited (and a little nervous) about it. Anouk is two after all, not quite two-and-a-half. And in case you haven't noticed from this blog, my child happens to be an extremely spirited child.

But on the day of the wedding, she was surprisingly obedient and docile. She held hands with the other flower girls and made it all. the. way. down the aisle without a blip. She colored quietly in her coloring book during the rest of the service. She let the photographer pose her for a few pictures, something that always prompts a scornful "NO, mommy" when I try to do it. She even took a nap between the ceremony and the reception, like, will wonders never cease?

Of course she looked adorable in her tiny white sparkly dress -- her princess dress, she calls it -- and seeing her in it reinforced to me how quickly kids grow at this age. When we got the dress back in the spring, I had thought I might need to do some alterations to it, take up the straps, which were too loose, and the hem, which was too long. But by the time we tried on the dress again the week before the wedding, it fit perfectly. She'd grown an inch in three months. Zoom -- just like that.

But more than that, this whole wedding experience made me realize suddenly how much Anouk's world is growing. Once -- not too long ago -- her entire universe was limited to pretty much me and James. Now she has a whole host of faces around her, familiar and unfamiliar, and the circle just keeps widening every day. It is unexpectedly one of my favorite parts of parenting so far, seeing Anouk starting to build these relationships for herself, without our help. And gratifying, too, to see that the seeds of independence and friendliness and respect that we've tried to carefully tend are starting to grow and blossom in our child.

I'm not saying that she's perfect or even that she behaved perfectly throughout the whole entire wedding process -- she is, after all, a two-year-old. (And speaking of icing on the cake, there was one heart-stopping moment when I saw her, across the dance floor reach up to touch the wedding cake and I ran like the wind across the room shouting "I'll spaaaaaaaaaaank you!", getting there just in the nick of time to prevent it from actually happening.) But I have no problem with saying that I am proud of my daughter and the person she's becoming. And that I am excited to see her keep growing and changing, reaching toward the light.