Freshly Picked – TAKE 2

CONGRATS @Dena! You’ve won a pair of Freshly Picked moccasins!

Reminder: to enter you must:

1. Follow Freshly picked on either Instagram or Facebook
2. Leave a comment here!

Giveaway ends August 31st!

A few years ago one of the bloggers I follow had a post about Freshly Picked. I had never heard of them but once I saw the cute moccasins, I fell in love! I also loved the story behind the company (check out how they started and you can see their episode on shark tank). I held a giveaway years ago for their moccasins since I knew all my friends/readers would love them too. (I’ve had this ready to go since June and kept forgetting to post it… #momwithanewborn)

Fast forward to a few months ago when I saw that Freshly Picked came out with sandals. I wondered what they’d be like and was so excited to try them out on my kids!

The Freshly Picked sandals are a great choice for summer. I usually have my go to sandals that I love, but these ones have really set the bar even higher. They have this amazing closure that even my 2.5 year old can put on and off alone. I wondered whether they’d stay put but they work just as well as a buckle, but my kids can do it themselves! (A real life saver when you’re trying to get out the door with a 5 year old, 2 year old, and newborn!) Also, can we get these in adult sizes? 😊

I love the versatility of these sandals- whether dressing them up or down. My daughter can pair them with a dress or shorts and a t shirt. My son wears these with dressy outfits and even to his swimming lessons. I can’t say enough good things about these Freshly Picked sandals. They have a variety of colors to choose from. They’re really the perfect summer shoe! (and they run true to size!)

Best part— Freshly Picked is giving away a free pair of their shoes to one of our lucky readers. To enter, just follow Freshly Picked on either Instagram or Facebook, and comment on this post— what’s your favorite color for your child? Winner will be chosen at random.
Giveaway ends on Thursday, August 31! 

Thanks Freshly Picked!!!

Back to building

I’ve always prided myself of being the handyman in my family growing up. While my father hires someone to put in new lightbulbs, I sometimes could follow instructions in putting something small together. Fast forward to being an adult. Realization #1- my family is super not handy (I knew that already). Realization #2- I’m really not that handy either. Benjie and I avoided furniture building for quite a long time. While our friends hunted through Ikea to furnish their first apartment, we got a lot of furniture from Benjie’s grandparents and therefore didn’t end up building anything. We watched our friends suffer through Ikea bookcases and TV stands, while we lounged on their couches.

The first piece of furniture we bought (that needed to be built), was bookcases. I had eyed Target three shelf bookcases for a while and thought they’d be the perfect fit for our living room. When my mother came to town at some point and we happened to be in Target, and my bookcases happened to be on sale, my mother said she’d buy them for us and we could take a cab back to our apartment. I was ecstatic. Benjie went along with my plan. So we get them up two flights of stairs (no easy feat without an elevator), take out the pieces, and realize that this is way beyond our handy-ness level. With a screw driver in hand, I quickly realized this wasn’t going to go well. (Side note: we’re talking about a book case that had 4 pieces plus shelves, nothing major). Blood sweat and tears went into these three book cases. Somehow we (me and my mother) managed to get them together (don’t look closely- one screw didn’t quite make it in all the way). We borrowed a drill from someone because a manual screw driver was never going to make this happen. And lo and behold, we had 3 bookcases. We’ve since moved. The bookcases are around but have no perfect spot.

But, I will always remember my first building experience- building will always begin with tears. That’s the moral of the story.

Evidence: The Bookcase

When G was born and we ordered her a crib, I knew right away not to mess. There was no way we’d be able to put it together. I asked some YU workers to help me- well… 4 men and 2 hours later, they put it together thank god (and they wouldn’t even let me pay them! They were so nice. Wish I still had them around to help me out…).

They did a good job!

In our new house, B and I have built pantries (definitely tears were shed, by me at least). I won’t comment on the state of the pantries. There may or may not be a door that fell off that hasn’t been fixed.

Wish I could hide the evidence…

Shh.. Don’t tell anyone!

The point of this story (AKA Blog Post) is that I built a piece of furniture all by myself. I cried. I survived. And it’s beautiful. No drills were involved. At one point I did call B and tell him “It’s broken. I’m throwing it away!”, to which he replied “Relax, I’ll help you when I get home”. Of course that just pushed me to get it done and I’m shocked to see it standing before me.

I thought I was all set-

Then I saw this-

At this point, I cried-

Get ready. It’s beautiful. (and not quite finished because I need to nail in the back but baby’s asleep)

SUCCESS!

And then there were 4!

What were we thinking? (kidding, not kidding, sort of kidding?)

That should probably be the end of the post.

I could pretend like we’ve been on a blogging hiatus because of busy lives and pregnancy (on my end) and birthing a child (also on my end), but that’d be a lie. Life wasn’t that exciting, our house was neglected, and it’s been winter. Need I say more? November brought a cold Thanksgiving. December brought another cold month that was only semi cheerful because of Starbucks holiday cups. January brought snow, and more snow, and more snow (all right around my due date just to make sure I was paying attention), and our baby boy, Noah! So now that February’s here, why not return to the land of blogging?

First family picture (hoping the future ones are better!)

Truth is, I’m on maternity leave for 3 months (yes, it’s paid and I should be thankful, but I’m totally dying to go back to work and get out of my daily leggings and sweatshirt outfit). Only 2 months to go. Don’t get me wrong, I love being with my kids more and wish I could work part time (living in America, part time jobs either don’t exist or pay so badly that it’s definitely not worth it).

So, my favorite parts of being home:

• Being able to take G to school (definitely this is my #1 highlight and wish I could do this year round)
• Grocery shopping in the late morning (yes, I stop at the supermarket daily and then get asked “do you need help to bring these to your car?”, to which I respond “I wish I had a car to bring them to”, but that was off topic)
• Having time to make dinner (though I’d love to skip cooking all together, so maybe this isn’t a favorite)
• Not having to commute on the LIRR

Worst parts of being home:

• Being home all day
• Being tired because our cute baby keeps me up all night (yes, I’m talking to you Noah!)
• Being home in the winter when it’s ice cold outside and the thought of venturing outdoors is scary

Well, now that I’m home I’ll be updating more frequently… enjoy these more of wisdom from a sleep deprived mother!

Pickling season has begun!

Hey Guys and Gals!

Its that time of year again.

The wind is howling, the temperature is falling, what better way to spend the time then by pickling. Well, at least I hope so. This is my first time venturing into this field and I certainly hope that it’ll work out. I mean I love pickled food. It is so tasty and goes with almost everything. It also doesn’t get boring. There are so many recipes, fruits and vegetables and innovative approaches to pickling that it will be a while until this could start getting boring.

Just a quick personal note as to how and why I decided to go into pickling:

When my wife and I go to bed each evening (at around 9pm) I am always faced with the following situation: Knowing that she will be asleep within the first 5 minutes of us lying in bed I have to decide what to do with my remaining 90 minutes I have until I usually fall asleep.

The options are always the same:

Watch a movie
Watch an episode of some random show
Go on Youtube and see where it takes me

I almost ALWAYS choose the Youtube option and its mostly a blast. Like when I watched a documentary about Air Force One which took me to a “Safety in your home” video which took me to a “DIY for your house” which took me to a “DIY pickling” video. And so I am here today sharing my first ever pickling post.

Enjoy!

Fridge pickles:

1) I ventured out to my local supermarket to scope out what veggies look good and colorful enough to attempt my experiment. To my delight there were many different kinds of spices, vegetables and herbs available to play around with.

So many fresh and colorful options!

2) Once you have your vegetables it is time to get your Mason Jars ready. That means they need to be washed in hot water and dipped into a pot with boiling water and be sterilized for about 15-20 minutes.  We obviously don’t want any type of bacteria that is in the jar to be able to develop and grow in a jar full of edible food for days on end. [On a side note my wife was nice enough to order the jars to her work and carry the heavy load (9 quart size jars) home even though she is pregnant]

Jars in a pot with hot water that is brought to a boil.

3) In a separate pot I brought 3 cups of water to a boil, reduced the heat to a simmer and added 6 garlic cloves (peeled). I cooked them for several minutes and then added about 1.5 cups of white vinegar and 4 teaspoons of kosher salt (I used the salt that did NOT have Iodine in it). I then brought the pot back to a boil and stirred until the salt dissolved in the pot. I then removed the pot from the heat.

place garlic cloves, white vinegar and salt in a pot, bring to a boil and stir until the salt dissolves completely.

4) I then took my 2 pint jars out of the boiling water and placed several sprigs of dill into each of them. I then removed the garlic cloves from the brine and put them into the jars and then added a total of about 1-1.5 teaspoons of mustard, celery, black peppercorn and pickling seeds (combined) to the jars.

garlic cloves from the brine, sprigs of fresh dill and a combination of mustard, celery, black peppercorn and pickling seeds.

5) I then went on to pack the jar as tightly as I could with the different vegetables I used for these jars. I used 3 carrots (peeled and cut in half and quarters lengthwise), 3 kirby cucumbers (quartered lengthwise), a handful of green beans (ends cut), several pieces of cauliflower, 2 radishes (quartered) and a thinly slices jalapeno (seeds removed) split evenly between the 2 jars.

all veggies squeezed in tightly

6) Now I brought the brine back to a boil and poured it over the vegetables. Make sure to leave yourself about a 1/2 an inch on top cover the vegetables completely with the brine. I then let it cool, covered it and put it in the fridge.

I will flip the jar upside down in another day or 2 in order for the spices to really ‘get around’ and do its magic from top to bottom. Ill then let it sit for a few more days and start the tasting next weekend. You can obviously open it sooner (or later) but I figure that a week should be a good amount of time to really let the brine and the seeds get into the vegetables ‘DNA’. They should then be good for about 3 months.

Ready for the fridge

Hope you all enjoyed this and keep following me around as Ill be experimenting with different kinds of vegetables and methods going forward! Happy pickling!

Our first 24 hours in paradise!

So our day started early as our flight was at 9:30 am. There had been bad weather in NY and I was sure our flight would be delayed. I woke up after 6 am on Wednesday and our flight was on time- score 1 for this trip! We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, boarded the plane, and were ready to get going. We sat on the plane for almost an hour until they announced, “we should be leaving in 20 minutes”… 30 minutes after that, “oh, we have to refuel… it’ll be another 30 minutes”. Good thing we’re used to traveling with a toddler and bring TONS of food. This trip was not off to a great start, but once we finally did take off, we speedily forgot about that long delay.

We landed in Puerto Plata in this tiny airport. (Side note: there’s a $10 tourist visa you need to pay when you enter the country, cash only) We got our bags and headed out to be greeted by a representative from our hotel. I was worried they wouldn’t be there, but they were there and holding a sign with our name. Perfect. There were 4 other people going to our hotel. They lead us to a minivan with 7 seats- first lesson of the trip: 2 seats clearly are meant to fit 3 people. So we stuffed into the minivan and were on our way to the hotel. There’s literally ONE road in this place. It was insane. One road for 30 minutes. Everyone here drives these mopeds- 3 guys will be on a moped, mother, father, and baby will be on a moped- no helmets of course. It’s pretty scary.

 

Entrance to the Resort

Car ride

We pull up to the hotel after 30 minutes and go to check in. They obviously have no clue about the “kosher option” and it took them a while to figure out how much they need to charge. The lobby is totally open and you see the ocean. It’s gorgeous! We checked into our room- it’s spacious and big, nice balcony, huge jacuzzi bathtub with separate shower.

B showing off our room

After relaxing a little, we headed out to dinner. There was one other Jewish couple (they left today), so we were 4 people as part of the kosher program.

Ready for dinner- night 1!

Dinner menu:
Tons of salads- Israeli salad, cabbage salad, and more
Fresh bread- loaves of freshly baked bread (aint nobody got room for that)
Onion Soup
Empanadas- this dough filled with shredded chicken (for heights people, they sell these on St. Nick)
Pesto Pasta
Pasta with marinara sauce
Steak (SOOO delicious!)
Cake
Fruit

 

Soup and Empanadas!

Pesto Pasta and Steak

Wow, dinner was amazing! We were both super impressed! We were able to choose whatever main we wanted, but B and I both went with steak. After dinner, we headed over to the bar and had some drinks and just hung out. Perfect first evening. We went to check out the “Dominican Show” and then went back to our room.

This morning I was up early (hard to shake those 6 am wake ups). B woke up a little later. He went for a run on the beach (how? I don’t know! It’s SOOO hot here!) We headed out for breakfast.

Breakfast Menu:
Shakshuka
Pancakes
French Toast
Home Fries
Fresh breads
Lox
Cheeses
Salads
Vegetables
Donuts, Muffins, Cookies
Coffee
Juice

Again, an awesome breakfast! At breakfast, the mashgiach asked us what we want for lunch and dinner- that way they could prepare what we wanted before we got there (we are the only 2 kosher guests right now.. it sure is nice having a private chef).

View from the Cabana

We headed off for the beach- amazing cabanas! Amazing drinks! Amazing views! It was very hot, but a great breeze. Honestly, this beach (NV VIP Beach) was the greatest spot that we’ve checked out so far. The waiters are attentive and the area is just gorgeous. We also went to a pool nearby.

Pina Colada

Enjoying our cabana

Before we knew it, it was time for lunch.

Lunch menu:
Salads- cabbage, Israeli, and more
Fresh Bread
Salmon (SO amazing! I definitely recommend it and I’m not that into fish)
Fries (seriously really good! One of the best fries I’ve ever had)
Rice

The rest of the spread

Lunch was really good! Everything was perfectly cooked and tasted super fresh.

We spent the afternoon checking out some beaches and pools and then came back to our room for an afternoon nap. This has been a great first 24 hours! After such a short time, I already recommend coming here!! Already thinking about when we can come back! Who is joining us?

Our Upcoming Adventure

I know it’s been a while that I haven’t posted. Life and work have caught up with me and there’s been little inspiration for the blog.

However, we are going on vacation! Without G! It’s actually sad because G is the cutest girl in the world and has been sleeping pretty late every day (gone are 4:30 am wake ups)… so I don’t feel like i need a vacation from her, but oh well. We will cherish the time alone without wondering if there will be a meltdown or a need to go to the park right away! My mother is watching G so I know she’ll be in good hands.

When we were looking to go on vacation this summer, we contemplated Europe (too much sightseeing- isn’t a vacation to rest and relax?), Asia (do we really want to sit in a plane for 15 hours, regardless of whether we were in business or first class?), or Hawaii (been there.. kind of seems overrated, but maybe another time). Basically, when our friends told us about a place they went to in the Dominican Republic that had kosher food (yes, food is my TOP PRIORITY!), we sort of jumped on it.

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

I used my detective skills to try to scope up some information on this place, but found little on the internet. Isn’t the point of living in 2014 to be able to access anything from your computer?? Apparently not. Trusting our friends judgement, we booked our flights (Jetblue flies there, so it’s obviously a great place to go! Best snacks + TV = best airline), booked the hotel, and have basically been praying that it holds up to the hype.

Beach + Pool + Kosher Food (all inclusive) = recipe for success!

Follow us on our journey as we go to the Dominican Republic to check out Lifestyles Resort in Puerto Plata! We are hoping to share a wonderful experience that you all can benefit from! Let’s pray it’s good!

Lifestyles Resort

And then she turned 2!

Happy Birthday G!

G on our deck after our good friend D decorated it!

Time sure does fly when you are having fun {[(or you don’t sleep) or you change smelly diapers] or you imitate Elmo..ALL..DAY..LONG}.

So I thought why not write a bit about how fast G is growing up and how I have seen this progression over time.

Lets go back a few months and look at a seemingly calm Tuesday evening (Yes, I do remember the exact day) when G came home with a new word added to her vocabulary. She kept using the word that sounded something like ‘nay powish’ and I was very confused. I asked her what she was saying but, surprise surprise, she wasn’t giving me a break down.

I tried a different approach and asked WHERE this ‘nay powish’ was. Success! My eyes moved in on the target and my face turned white. Was my 18 months old daughter running around with NAIL POLISH on her fingers!? To put it bluntly: YES!

..and the years in my mind passed oh so quick..G going to school, graduating from college, getting married. NO NO NO! This is my little girl and she is not allowed to grow up! This is going wwwaaayyyyy too fast!

As if I ever had a chance against her. Her stubbornness is too much for me to handle ( I somehow feel like my mother always said something along the lines of  “You are so stubborn! I can’t wait until you have a kid that won’t take no for an answer!”  You know what they say about karma).  She has not missed a week without new nail polish on her fingers and has recently decided that her toe nails need painting as well. In addition to that she is obsessed with all of MAMA’s nail polish AND jewelry. She will sit on the floor with all the different nail polishes and all of her mothers jewelry in all colors count them and  name the colors and you better not try touching them in her presence – and I quote ‘ THIS MINE!’

Left: G playing in her favorite spot with all the jewelry from our bedroom. Middle: G coming home with nail polish on her fingers for the first time (I am scarred). Right: G once again very into her jewelry. Clearly worn best topless.

1-0 G

G has also always been a fan of coloring. Whether with crayons, pencils or finger paint, she is in. Of course coloring is something that she can’t do whenever or wherever she wants and so N and I made it very clear that she has to ask nicely when she wants to color and can only do this by a table or on the floor (NOT on the carpets). Also, one needs to always color on the paper and no where else.  So far so good. She likes to color and her parents put rules in place >> not that shocking. It wasn’t until she started ‘connecting the dots’ that I realized how grown up she is and what a sneaky and funny girl we have at our disposal.

One day I came home to find G coloring. The innocent look on her face. She wouldn’t hurt a fly and simply wants Big Bird to be as yellow as she can make him. So, I walk into the kitchen and lo and behold the pillar has crayon on it. Huh? Who did this? Am I blind? I move on and notice the same coloring scheme  on the stairs.

pillars, stairs, walls covered in beautiful crayon colors…

Uh oh!

“G!”, the first and only word to come out of my mouth as I hear a little bang and see a little girl approaching. Looking great as always she smiles at me showing me the yellow crayon in her hands and simply says “PAPI!”

“G, why is there crayon on the walls and on the stairs!?”, I ask while pointing to the different colors to make sure she understands. She looks at me for a second before turning to the wall and saying with full conviction “Papi, no color! Only on the paper!” HUH? Is this some trick? It sure does seem like she did understand the rule and that we ONLY color on the paper. But then! Just a moment later it all falls into place. As she moves to the steps with her yellow crayon in her hand and starts coloring on the step. I , in utter disbelief of her boldness to do this in front of me, just stand and watch as she scribbles for a moment before turning to me, pointing at the color and shouting “Papi!! no color! ONLY ON THE PAPER!”

She has become the parent. Wanting to make sure I understood the rule she felt the need to illustrate it. It took me a while to make sure she stops illustrating the rules we put in place but thankfully ever since walls, steps and co. have been color free.

What a good listener…finally!

I still think this one goes to G just because she is witty and funny and in the end did color on my walls and my steps.

2-0 G

Another thing that comes with being a parent is discipline. There comes the point when the not listening, despite still being very cute, needs to be addressed. When G deliberately acts contrary to given instructions she is old enough to learn that that doesn’t fly anymore. Especially with school coming up sooner than one thinks. I can’t have her teacher call me up every other day telling me things like ‘ I told the kids that we don’t use scissors but later found G cutting off someones finger’ . To avoid horror scenarios like that we instituted the famous ‘Time Out’.

She gets one warning and if things don’t change she is taken to the ‘step of doom’ where she has to sit and listen until she accepts to cooperate. She hates going there and starts crying when we put her down but it has worked and she tends to not repeat bad behavior or to not do bad things in the first place when faced with the step of doom.

2-1

After all it is just cuckoo to see how fast my little munchkin is growing up. It seems as if it was just yesterday when I would need to get up at 4 am to heat up a bottle for her and today she has her broccoli (is that weird!? She LOVES it), french fries and sushi (yes, she has gourmet tastes).

She has her gangs that she hangs out with at the park and her princesses that go wherever she goes. This all just happens so fast. I am trying to embrace it and enjoy it but every now and then I simply rub my eyes and when I open them back up  I notice how my kid is a completely new person. Just crazy!

princesses, dolls, friends and sushi! What else could one wish for!

She might have new favorite foods and like to play with different toys but she will always be my little princess and as a quote goes that I just came across:

“It doesn’t matter what’s in front of her as long as she knows who’s behind her.”

Well, I will always be.

#Papiselfie

A change of pace- HAIR!

While this blog has been mostly about all things house, there has been a little bit of family life spilled in here or there. I’m going to stretch that a little…

If you have zero interest in hair related things,

I suggest you don’t read on! 🙂

Those of you who know me know that I love doing hair. I’ve always done my own hair (impossible frizzy curly hair that has been tamed down in my old age- yes, I’m 25). I spent hours as a teenager ironing my hair straight and crying when it got a tiny bump. In college I did my friends’ hair sometimes. Once I got married and started wearing a wig, a whole new arena opened up to me. Being the cost conscious (AKA cheap) person that I am, there was no way I was going to shell out between $25 and $45 for someone to wash and style my wig.

At that point, I realized I was definitely going to go against any advice I had received.
-I washed my own wig without any prior wig experience
-I blow dried my wig (well I first went to Bed Bath and Beyond and bought a bad $20 blow dryer- yes, I’m cheap. FYI- a blow dryer is not a good thing to be cheap on. I’ve since returned it.)

-I curled my wigs using a variety of methods- curlers, curling iron, washing it and drying it in a bun
-I cut my wigs (I probably should buy hair cutting scissors. Maybe that’s not a good idea)
-I’ve dyed my wigs
-most recently I took the plunge and permed my straight fall.

So this last one I listed- PERMING MY FALL was a risk, even for me. My 4.5 year old straight fall had better days and I just wasn’t wearing it much anymore. I longed for it to hold a curl better and dry wavy. So what do I do? I google. “How to perm at home?” “Is it a bad idea to perm at home?” “How to perm without experience?”

Unfortunately, everywhere I googled said ‘don’t do it!!!’, ‘never perm at home!’, ‘leave it to the professionals’. I took that as a challenge and marched over to the nearest beauty supply store. I asked the people there for help. They said ‘I wouldn’t advise you doing it but here’s what you’d need..’. I ended up walking out of the store empty handed.

A day later, after a pep talk with my friend D, I went back into that store, bought what I needed and headed home.

It looked a whole lot like this…

 

B thought I was crazy but he knows better than to tell me not to do it. So I did it. I opened the box, applied the product, let it sit, washed it out, etc. and the end result was……. OKAY! So it wasn’t as wavy as I’d wanted and the hair was pretty dry but it wasn’t bad! I’d say it was a success!!! I’ve since curled it and it holds the curl really well.

Here’s the “AFTER”

After PERMING this wig, my confidence was way up so I went ahead and cut the fall into a kippah fall. B wasn’t pleased. His reason: ‘you spent $2,000 and now you just threw away half of the wig!!!’ $2,000 well spent is what I have to say.

This is the after.. You can’t tell that I butchered, I mean cut and permed, this wig!

I’ve always loved changing my hair and I get bored with the same things. Sometimes you need to take risks… Just maybe not with super expensive wigs.

So what I’ve learned is to be adventurous at least with my wigs and take risks! It’s been fun. My next agenda is to learn how to cut and color. It can’t be that hard, right?

Since the beginning of this adventure I’ve grown a lot.
I’ve styled more than 75 wigs
I’ve colored 2 of my wigs
I’ve cut all of my wigs
I’ve bought a fancy new blow dryer to help with the process
I’ve bought a new curling iron to perfect curls
I’ve been in business washing and styling wigs for the past 3 years

Up next in the hair department— using store bought dye on your $2,500 wig… good idea or not?

 

Freshly Picked! A whole new meaning to moccasins!

This is quite an exciting post to write… it’s officially ProperT Rookie’s FIRST giveaway!

Congrats to our winner, DAVID KUPPERMANN!

Just as a background, Freshly Picked is a wonderful company that sells the most gorgeous, unique, stylish moccasins! The have sizes for teeny babies to little kids. These moccasins are seriously beautiful and you can tell they’re made well.

Check out their website for more details and to order- http://shop.freshly-picked.com/.

Their story is pretty remarkable- a tale of an entrepreneur making her dream a reality and it’s pretty inspiring to read (check out the full story on their website).

I contacted Freshly Picked and asked them if I could do a review and a giveaway on our blog. I was shocked and excited when they said they would be excited to work with us! WOOHOO! (I’m officially a real blogger now, right?)

I requested the “Frosted Rose- Limited Edition” moccasins and they did not disappoint! I requested the size 5 for Gabriella (they have their own sizing chart). It fit her with a little extra room (she’s a size 6.5/7 toddlers).

They arrived on a Friday afternoon and I was eager to open the box!

The moccasins come in this really cute woven bag.

G couldn’t wait to take ’em for a spin!

Yep, G loves them. And yes, she’s adorable.

Now that it’s been 3 weeks, I can talk about them. They’re adorable and they literally go with cute fancy dresses to jeans and a t shirt. G wore them out last Saturday and I’m pretty sure we got complimented on them 20 times! They can be worn with or without socks. G wore them outside playing and they held up well. I’m totally in love them with and wish she had them in every color! Also, I think they’d be adorable with a pair of shorts and a tank top for the summer or worn with a winter coats and pants.

I would advise these more for beginning walkers or babies (since they’re just so adorable on teeny tiny feet!). G’s moccasins have gotten pretty worn from running around on the playground, etc. and Freshly Picked let me know that their metallic collection tends to wear out faster than the regular suede varieties. They have awesome customer service though so if you ever have an issue, let them know and they’ll be sure to help you out!

The moccasins were perfect on our recent 10+ hour flight since G was wearing shoes but could still fall asleep wearing them and be comfortable!

G in her Freshly Picked moccasins after our flight to Israel!

Sign up below to be a part of our giveaway!

We’re giving away one pair, any size and color (limited to in stock items)—-

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winner will be announced on April 30th! GOOD LUCK 🙂

Room conversion!

Hey Everyone!

Remember that last post of mine?

The one where I mentioned that the basement is now G’s official room?

Well, in case you thought I was joking or it wouldn’t last; it is!

For as long as G is sleeping significantly better down there then back in her room, we will keep this arrangement going. What that means for our guests that we frequently welcome in our home? Well, you will have to squeeze into her old crib! No no – we have extra mattresses. So get comfortable NEXT to that crib in her “old” room!

For the meanwhile though, we didn’t want to have a completely vacant room that is basically useless so we decided to convert it into N’s new gym. She had wanted an exercise bike for quite some time and so we found a good deal online and went for it (it helped that my parents and my in laws both wanted to chip in as well).

We got it a few days later and while unpacking I was sure that she must have ordered something else in the end or that they made a mistake and shipped the wrong item.

I mean this bike was bright pink. It looked like it came straight out of barbies dream house. [In case you wonder how I know what that is, it is G’s new favorite youtube channel. She just keeps watching videos of barbie and her friends. I hope this stops but N said that I shouldn’t put my hopes too high!]

Blonde girl,pink bike. Kind of similar to the barbie video on top, isn’t it?

Well, turns out it was not a mistake and was exactly what N wanted. A bright pink bike. OK. Well, I guess you wont be seeing me working out on this bike then!

Either way, on one Sunday we decided to get that heavy box up to G’s old room, unpack and build this thing! We split the work 50% – 50%. I took pictures so we can document it and she put it together. I mean it’s a bike, how hard can it be. 2 wheels, a seat and a handle bar. But somehow they are just always capable of making things overly complicated. So many screws and so many parts.

But N was convinced and motivated and actually delivered on her promise very fast! What would have taken me days to do, she accomplished in less then an hour!

N screwing, turning and twisting this bike together. I would say that building this bike was a bigger and more challenging work-out then one could ever accomplish on the bike itself.

So now we have our own state of the art gym in our very own home. If you want to inquire about membership, email us ;)!

bike and weights are already in place. More equipment to come..