almost famous...

I am blessed to have the creator of The Shape of a Mother in my life, she is funny, creative, snarky, beautiful, just all around fabulous. So when she asked for people to be part of a documentary that featured The Shape of a Mother, I said yes...with trepidation. You see, the catch is that we were to do it in our swimsuits, and if that were not bad enough, it was set to film in January. Yes, this is Southern California, but January is still a bit chilly. It ended up being an amazing day, with amazing women talking honestly about body image.
The very first bit is a surgery, which is pretty gory. If you want to skip it, just fast forward the first 2 minutes.

Louise Redknapp was so lovely, nice, and cute as a button. Funny and honest, too, as you can see in the clip above.
Here are a couple of pics from the filming

I was really really sick that day, so didn't feel like taking many pics.

The wonderful folks who make Tomberlies were generous enough to host and provide their delicious ice cream for us to gorge on. RDF, who made the film, provided us with a fabulous spread from Organic to Go.

miscellaneous cuteness

On Earth Day we did a lot of gardening, mostly with purchases from the nursery, this little parlor maple was in the super sad but cheap area, so we decided to give it a good home. Then Nina decided that the fenced in area we gave it to protect it from the dogs would be a great spot for her garden.

Which to her means that she picks flowers and arranges them artfully. She loves it and adds new ones periodically.

I love that she is learning to do so many interesting things in circus class--here she is on the tightwire.

We went roller skating with some friends; I wish I had gotten video of Nina scooting along carefully. She was so pleased with herself to get all the way around the rink on the rug that she even got adventurous and did it on the wooden floor (mostly holding a hand but some by herself). I was able to rent roller blades so felt pretty comfortable. It was super fun.

new specs

Arwyn helped me pick them out at Costco before she left town, then I had to wait for an exam appointment and then for them to come in. I think they were worth the wait.

I have been calling them "the last glasses" like in A Little Princess when Sara Crewe calls the doll her father buys her "the last doll." Barring something unforeseen, Larry will include the cost of laser surgery in next year's flexible spending account.

I have no idea why my eyes are pointing in different directions in the pic--are they always like that?

we were right

The wedding gift ended up being as lovely as we thought it would be--here's a pic taken by the recipients:

awesome wedding gift

Because we went to Australia we had to miss Larry's cousin's wedding, which we were a bit bummed about. They had a registry but we decided to see if we could find them something special in Australia. I think we succeeded, I really love these tea light holders.

They're made from banksia cones, which I have taken lots of pics of, since they're so interesting looking.

It was hard to part with them--I really liked them.

passover cake

Mom and Rochelle had a non-traditional Passover seder with lots of friends; I brought my favorite grain-free cake, recipe here.

I went a little nuts with the flower decorations.

All of it's edible, though...

Mint leaves on a chocolate cake are fab, though.

I love ganache...