12 feet.  Not of snow.  But actual human feet (16 if you count Gracie's but she doesn't wear socks).  12 eyeballs, 12 hands, over a hundred teeth.  That's how many various human body parts we have in this house.  12 feet makes for a lot, a lot, a lot of socks.  They sort of sift themselves to the bottom of the laundry pile.  Slowly but surely, they weave their way so that they come to a safe rest on the floor.  Then, when I scoop up the laundry, they don't get scooped up with it.  They remain there on the floor.  This leads to a lot, a lot, a lot of single socks.  I, for one, don't have a huge problem with it.  I give the single sock to its owner, knowing that eventually their other half will make it through.  Husband was getting sick of it.  So he washed an entire, gigantically oversized load of socks this weekend, and found their match.  He's like a modern-day hero.

You all already know how I feel about winter.  Over it.  Did ya hear that winter, I'm OVER YOU.  And the summer countdown seems a little too far off to really get excited, so, while spring doesn't promise temperatures in the 80s (what I like best) let's do a countdown to that instead: 58ish days I believe!  Now that, I can live with.

So, let's take a momentary vacation nevertheless.  To Europe (not that their temperatures, for the most part, are any better.  A girl can dream).

(And this is pretty much a repeat of my last post.  Sorry guys.  Dumb.)

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Nothing like a little Madeleine Peyroux 

crooning to pretend-travel to Europe.  

And, sorry I have been a sucky blogger this week.  

Mom's still in town!  

She goes home today (sad) but only after I treat her to 

Pinkberry which she's never had (gasp!).

with weather like this...

i'm seriously dreaming of this...

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steve, it's imperative that we go somewhere warm every winter.  every winter.  somewhere warm.  

did you get that?

mom's birthday.

So, I alluded to her birthday yesterday.  But today's THE day so I really feel the need to address it again because she's that kind of woman.  I've already shown you her splits, so now here's her little dance routine in our kitchen while we were getting dinner ready.  I put Pointer Sisters' Jump (For My Love) on and that did it.  It works every time.  Lindsey might look a little frightened at first, cowering into the corner, but she got into it.

You're gonna wanna press play on that baby to get the full effect of the dancing in the kitchen -- complete with jumps.

So cheers to you, Mom!  Happy birthday!  We love you!

(and I haven't forgotten the second post on your questions -- it's coming later this week!)

we celebrated my wonderful mother's birthday this weekend (though she still has another day till it's official) with a strawberry shortcake made by yours truly.  it was delicious.  i usually gravitate towards fruity desserts over chocolatey ones, and my mom being the enema-queen and of the sugar-is-the-devil mindset certainly would feel the same way.  it was the perfect dessert.

want the recipe?  sure you do.

ina's strawberry shortcake

serves 6

2 cups all-purpose flour

2T sugar, plus some turbinado sugar to sprinkle on top

1 T baking powder

1 t kosher salt

12 T unsalted butter, cold and diced

2 extra large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup cold heavy cream

1 egg beaten with 2 T water or milk for egg wash

for the strawberries, i just cut them up, added a little lemon juice, orange juice, and about 3 T sugar

i also made heavy cream into whipped cream and added some sugar and vanilla extract to that.

1. preheat the oven to 400.  

2. sift the flour, 2 T sugar, baking powder and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  blend in the butter on low speed until it is the size of peas.  combine eggs and heavy cream and with the mixer on low, add it to flour and butter mixture.  mix until just blended.

3. dump dough on well-floured surface.  flour a rolling pin and roll dough until it's 1/2 inch thick.  you should see lumps of butter in the dough.  cut 16 biscuits with a 2-inch plain round cutter.  place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  

4. brush tops with egg wash and sprinkle turbinado sugar (like the raw sugar) on top.  cook 15-20 minutes.

to serve, give everyone a shortcake, some strawberries, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a dollop of whipped cream.  yum.

(and don't worry if the dough seems a bit wet - it is!) 

mom's in town (this makes me happy).

we went for a winter walk.  

kids had another snow day.  this is super fun for them, of course, but i am thinking they might be in school till august with all the snow days as of late.  that, on the other hand, will not be so fun.

  gracie had a ball.  she was born for the snow, i think.  

all in all, beautiful day.  and i think we're getting pizza tonight.  yessssah.

sweater: kakalina rose vintage | white cords: jcrew | belt: old navy 

get it?  it's me.  times three.

check out the rest of her shop.  maybe pick yourself up one of these three gems?

I was a teenager once.  In fact, it wasn't so long ago... something that I think sometimes helps me deal with the crazy ones in my life now.  And by crazy I mean crazy.  Steve and I are quite sure that teenagers have been lobotomized (think One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) at around 13 and will be un-lobotomized (it's a word) around 18 and somehow parents, even the most astute, just missed the procedure.  It must happen in the dark of night.  The lobotomy men crawl through the windows of unsuspecting, sleeping teens and swiftly and quietly perform the procedure.  Your once-sweet teenager has, seemingly overnight, turned into an angry, brooding person hardly recognizable from that which they were the day before.  Ah!  The lobotomy men must've paid us a visit!  Anyway, where was I going with this?  Well, that is my declaration.  That teenagers are indeed crazy.  Certifiably insane, I do believe.

My confession and admittance is that I was one too.  I think I still made more sense and spoke less jibberish than mine do now (of course I do!  But seriously!) but, nevertheless, I had a semi-lobotomy.  Just a small one.  Partial, if you will.  Here's why I know this is true.  I practically had a love affair with Leonardo DiCaprio in my mind.  I watched, like many of you, Romeo & Juliet with him and Claire Danes.

Love.

I mean love.

I thought about him nonstop.  I wanted to be Claire Danes.  I had a white wall in my bedroom and I went through a hippy phase in middle school complete with door-hanging beads, a blue lava lamp, and a blacklight.  Thus, with my trusty highlighter, I could confess my love for Leo on my wall in highlighter and noone would see it until they turned my blacklight on.  Then, like some scene from a movie with a psycho killer, they would see "Bridget DiCaprio" and "Bridget + Leo 4Ever" and "I love Leo!" all over my wall.  Then, they call the police.

The police part didn't happen but only because I didn't in fact know his address and didn't have either the money or know-how to fly across the country to L.A. to stalk him by myself.  Otherwise...

And I seriously, seriously conjured up this idea in my head that it was actually possible for him to fall in love with me.  For us to somehow cross paths and become husband and wife.  I must say now, just so you all don't write me off as a lunatic, that somehow in that semi-lobotomized brain of mine, I knew the chances were slim, but at the time, I sincerely hoped to be Mrs. DiCaprio.

I think I got over it by high school.

And then Titanic came out.

Enjoy some of the songs that aided in my fake love-affair.
(from Romeo & Juliet and, of course, the Titanic theme)

i got a lot of awesome questions so i'm going

to do a two-part post to answer them.  

here we go.

have you ever considered a pixie cut?

actually, yes.  well, not too seriously, but yes.  my mom and sister currently have ones (and have forever) and they rock it.  i have thought, "maybe one day" more than actually doing it because at the moment i don't think i'm brave enough.  i did get my hair cut pretty short in college though, trying desperately to achieve the mandy moore circa 2004.

it didn't really work cause i didn't really remind myself, "oh bridge, they have pro stylists making their hair look that banging.  your know-how will not suffice."  so it was ok, but not as cute as mandy's.  another short hair style i looove is katie holmes.  again, stylist.  damn.  

so to answer your question, sort of.  you think i should?

are you self conscious about your body? the reason i ask, is because i'm naturally pretty thin, but i do worry about it. and people think i'm crazy. and you are naturally thin, so i wonder if other naturally thin people worry too. this isn't something that i've been burning to know since i started reading your blog, but it's something that i'm always curious about with women?

i would say i have been self-concious in the past... particularly middle school before i had any curves to speak of and was pretty much a bony stick-figure.  my sisters and i all suffered through some anorexic/bullimic jokes in middle school but for the most part, were okay with our awkward late-blossoming bodies.  sad/funny story... in 7th grade spanish i picked the spanish name "belita" and a few boys called me "bullimic belita."  don't you sort of want to hug 7th-grade bridget right now?  so, yes, i don't like looking too thin and getting looked at suspiciously but overall am pretty grateful for my body (which i really owe to good genes, thanks mom & dad!).  oh yeah and my sister and i both pretty much never go to the bathroom right after a meal when we're out with people because we don't want people to suspect we are throwing up in the bathroom, isn't that ridiculous?  

does the age difference in your relationship ever bother you?

i will say it did in the beginning but i can almost 100% say it doesn't anymore.  not to be a debbie downer, but no one has any guarantees in this life.  take my husband for example.  he married a woman his own age, and she died.  so to pass up on the love of my life because he's a lot older than me didn't make any sense.  i could've married someone my own age who could get in a car accident and be taken from me the very next day... so, it really doesn't bother me anymore.  but yes, there were times, and once in awhile still are, where i wonder at what point i'll be a widow, but overall my hubs is a pretty young buck (he'll love that) and much of the time, i feel like i need to keep up with him and not vica versa!  

if you could live anywhere (all kids included until they are 18), where would it be (and you could be rich BTW)?

could i have a couple houses please???  i'd definitely live near a beach, but i need family close by too.  so, a house in the caribbean would suit us juuuuust fine and then another house that was close to where my parents/family live.  can i throw an italian coast house in too?  and maybe norway (for my hubs)?  i'm rich!  of course i can!

Oooh, this is fun. :) 1. Favorite song (of the moment - or of all time) to sing really, really loud when alone in the car? 2. Any guilty pleasures you'd like to admit (trashy reality tv, chocolate in large quanities, Robert Pattinson...)?

Favorite song of the moment... this is hard.  Really hard.  I'm really into Phoenix right now (oh I'm so unique) and Beirut, always Seal, James Taylor, Paul Simon, and Sting... U2 is great.  Ahhh, all time?!  Okay, up there is definitely Where the Streets Have No Name on full volume.  As well as Obvious Child by Paul Simon... as well as Baba O'Reilly by The Who... I'm obsessed with music, I can't narrow this one down... but I do love singing along super loud and obnoxiously to Indigo Girls--Closer to Fine or Galileo (with sister Kate).

I watch Bachelor and love it.  I also know far too much about celebrities and the goings-on of their lives. I have more girl-crushes than I do boy-crushes (think Angelina Jolie and Penelope Cruz) and I don't have a huge sweet-tooth but am much more of a salty-tooth person... except popsicles.  I have been known to eat popsicles like they're going out of style.

Wait a second Briget, you don't wear deodorant?!! Please don't tell me you're one of those au naturale chicas who go around smelling like ASS and don't even know it. You know I love you, but I am genuinely concerned! ;)

You are too kind!  I am just waiting for deodorant to arrive in the mail for me from a worried reader... okay, no.  I don't wear any.  Occasionally the crystal but when I say occasionally I mean like once a year?  I really don't sweat and if I do it's so little and doesn't really smell.  Again, genes.

Did you get a boob job?

Favorite question of the entire post.  No, I didn't.  But do I look like I did?  Is this a compliment or does it mean I look like I have an air-filled chest?  I'm not sure...  either way, this question was great.

What kind of reactions did you get from your friends after you married a (somewhat) older man, who used to be your professor? What was it like to take on four kids instantly? Do the kids call you "Mom"?

Friends were all great.  The most distasteful reactions have been from strangers, really, and we've unfortunately heard some of their opinions through the grapevine.  But those close to us were unanimously supportive and moreso once they saw us interact.  It was crazy to take four kids on instantly and I would not repeat my first year of marriage for all the money in the world (Husband knows this--don't worry)!!  I mean, I learned a lot and needed to go through it to be where I am now, but I wouldn't repeat it.  The younger two do call me Mom but not the older two, which has made the most sense for all of us.

Do you think being with an older man, a more experienced man, makes things sexier?

Why yes, yes I do.  

Haha - really, I am sure that things can be pretty spicy in any marriage, but I would say this is the sexiest relationship I've been in so, yes!

What kind of hair product do you use to make yo' hair look so fly? Or rather, what is your hair routine? Us girls with newly shorty-status hair are wondering how you always looks so put together :) Or, rather...me. I'm wondering.

My hair looks fly!?  Gosh, thanks.  I don't know.  I don't really use products when wet--sometimes I might use a straightening something or other but it's really whatever I find in my drawers... I'm not a dedicated user of any specific product be it makeup, lotion, face wash, or hair product.  But afterwards, I do like Sheer Blonde's Pomade (which I hear is no longer available!) to tame it a bit.  I don't wash my hair very often, I will say that.  I have pretty dry hair so it appreciates when I don't wash it a lot-- so I would say it gets cleaned 2-3x/week.  Then, I blowdry it with a good blow dryer (it's one of those fancy tourmaline/ion ones and I will say, I think it makes a difference and takes less time).  Then I will either straighten it with a flat iron, or use a 1 1/2 inch curling iron to give it some wave.  My hair is naturally fairly wavy but unless it's humid out, I don't usually let it do its own thing (summertime, I let it go much more than I do winter and then I use a curling product like the BedHead Curls Rock).  That's about it.

what are some of your favorite body products? face or body lotion. moisturizer. fragrance. what are a few of your favorite books?

favorite body products... i like shea butters and lotions like that but i like them to be au natural so those from whole foods and places like that are great.  but, like i said, i really am not a true devotee of any one product so i change it up a lot.  right now i'm using burt's bees face wash with royal jelly (only at night) and i love it.

then i use organic coconut oil on my face and i like it but i will say that my forehead is a bit dry right now so i can't promise it's the greatest thing ever but i do like it (i have dry skin).  fragrance... loooove burberry brit.  love it.  for shampoo right now i'm using jason lavendar shampoo/conditioner.  i like it as well!  see, i'm pretty boring in this category.

as for books, prince of tides, other boleyn girl, water for elephants, o pioneers, anything on middle east (beirut to jerusalem, kite runner, etc) and then health-related books like omnivore's dilemma fascinate me.  there you have it.

alright, that's it for part 1!  

thanks for tuning in.

Golden Globes: Best and Worst Dressed.

In my humble opinion, anyway...

And the nominees for Best-Dressed are...

Girlfriend always looks good.  Always.  And is it just me or do you too want the cameras to just stay on her and Brad for the entirety of the show?

So cute on her figure... cool neckline, cool back.  Can't ever go wrong in black either.

Beautiful, champagne, sparkly... always a winner.

Sexy, corsette-y, black, GREAT.

Honorable mention: 

Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johannson (but I wasn't digging Scar's hair) & January Jones.

And can someone teach me how to do old-fashioned hair like J.Jones' had last night? 

(I'm asking Reagan). 

See below.

And the nominees for worst-dressed are...

Sorry Tina, I do not want to go to there.

Awwwwful.  Hate it.  Sorry Michelle.

Honorable mention:

Julianne Moore, Helena Bonham Carter (but I'm not gonna lie, she's quirky, I like her, and I don't think she's trying to get on the best-dressed list), & Christina Hendricks (I like a lady in red, but I wasn't digging the giant flower-on-shoulder).

Your opinions?

lunchtime can get boring.  a can of soup, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, blah blah blah.  i like spicing up the lunchtime routine and last week when husband and i were home and about to see a matinee (black swan, woah), i took stock of what we had in the fridge and pantry.  we almost always have beans, cheese, sour cream (a serious necessity in this house), salsa, peppers, and wraps.  so, here we go.

lunchtime quesadilla (or dinner, whatever)

grated cheddar cheese

black beans (or pinto)

wraps

peppers

onions

whatever else your little heart desires

sautee peppers and onions in a little olive oil.  get your wrap on a preheated skillet (no oil or anything on the skillet and heat on medium low).  add cheese, beans, peppers/onions to your flat wrap.  you'll want enough cheese to stick the two together.  then add your top wrap.  i usually put a flat pot lid on the top and lightly push on it periodically to get it to stick together / brown on the bottom.  after a few minutes, flip it and let the other side brown.  then take it off, plop some salsa and sour cream on top, and enjoy!  

skyping with the lovely johnsons in santa barbara

and sister & quinn in new jersey

 (but sometimes quinn just doesn't stop talking about 

how much he loves nursing, and getting his bum wiped, and clean diapers...

he's such a conversation-dominator).

i'm here today too, talkin' bout baby products!

obsessed with this video & song &... every stinking thing about it?

saw it first on kelly ann's beautiful blog.

see their wedding here.

if only i had seen this a month earlier, i would've tried to get an invite.

snow day.

chocolate chip pancakes (i have never made them before but i decided to go a little crazy since it's a snow day... kids say they prefer blueberry.  can't be mad at them for that!) + strawberry, banana, blueberry, broccoli, spinach smoothies made by steve... he's going a little crazy with this green monster thing + snow and more snow... it's a veritable blizzard out there, and it's not stopping yet

there's still time to ask questions!  and i love your questions so far (yay!  i did indeed get some!). 

 i will be posting the answers in two parts starting next week.

So, I had a cheesy 'lil idea, that surely I did not come up with, to have a Q&A/FAQ post.  Well, here it is.  

Your comments won't be published.  Only I'll be seeing them (thus the comment counter will remain at 0 before you go thinking I'm a TOTAL loser).  So you can feel free to ask embarassing questions like, "What kind of deodorant do you wear?" (None) or "Do you prefer ankle socks or knee-highs?" (Knee highs) or "Do you look before you flush?" (Always).  Alright, let's begin...just wanted to get those three hot questions off the burner.

Anyway, I'll answer almost anything.  We'll call it truth or dare, minus the dare.

I'll post the answers soon.  Unless I don't get any questions.  That'd be sort of sad... but not entirely out of the question.

My day looked up.

It did.  After Friday's post, my load got lighter and I grew out of my funk.  But man, oh man, raising kids is hard and it's nice that there are a lot of you out there who get it.  Thanks for your comments.  I love getting them...particularly the ones that agree with what I'm saying.  Yep.  That's right.  Don't challenge me.  Just agree with me.

image

Anyway, I made this about three times since Friday thanks to Camilla's tweet.  It's really, really good. William has been begging for it every moment I'm in the kitchen.  If you want to try it on your kids but think that the green color will turn them off, add blueberries and then it turns a different color.  But, other than that, the banana totally masks any spinach flavor, and what kid couldn't use some fresh, raw spinach in their diet?  We love smoothies here in the Hunt house.

Update: a few of you have asked for the recipe since I posted this.  If you follow the link, it's there, but otherwise I'll give you my very casual version:

for 2 small or 1 large smoothie

1 banana

1 handful of fresh, raw spinach

1 T or so of flax seed meal 

enough almond milk to make it blend well

a handful of ice

BAM, you've got yourself the GREEN MONSTER.

Husband has off for a few more weeks--the benefits of being a professor--and it has been really nice having him done his sabbatical work, but still on vacation.  We saw a matinee last week (there's something so fun about seeing a matinee in the middle of the week--I'm not sure what--but something) and have just been relaxing and enjoying one another's company.  Oh yes, and Gracie's too.

As for me, I have to get caught up on some emails and really learn how to use my camera.  My husband makes fun of me.  I want to be a photographer but I've barely read my camera manual.  Whatever Steve. Whatever.

That's all.

Oh yeah, and I'm already starting a countdown to summer.  A little early you say?  Nonsense.  Who's with me?

...cause this is how i feel right now.

an honest post?  we all like honest posts.

whoever said "raising children is like being pecked to death by chickens" 

really knew what they were talking about.

i mean they really knew what they were talking about.

(it might better reflect my feelings this morning, though, to say 

"raising teenagers is like being pecked to death by chickens")

is it wrong that i get a sadistic pleasure from thinking about my kids 

having kids and going through the same feelings as i am right now?

hope your friday is off to a better start than mine.

image

i heard this song on reagan's hairdresser blog this morning.

loving it.

thought you might too.

now let's go to france, yes?

I'm feeling nostalgic today.  I'm listening to Mama's Song (and am currently forcing it on you) which always makes me nostalgic, and thinking of my Pop-Pop.  He's my only grandparent left and I dread the day when I get a call that he's not with us anymore.  But, I'm not going to talk about that.  I'm going to talk about the things I love about him.  And about my grandmother who passed away in 2003 a few months after the two of them celebrated their 65th anniversary -- an anniversary which I am ever so proud of them for having.

My Pop-Pop was born in 1917.  He was a Philadelphia cop (and rumor has it, a young Bill Cosby used to tease him while he was directing traffic in North Philly), a hard-working father, and a painter who painted everything from houses, to his boat shoes (true story), to beach chairs.

My Mom-Mom was a cook--and oh my was she a cook--a baker, and a loving mother.  Women of her day had a way of making a meal for fifteen with seemingly little effort and time and having it be absolutely delicious.  She used a lot of butter and there was never a meal I was more excited to eat than one that Mom-Mom had prepared.  From peach cobblers with warm vanilla pudding drizzled on top to twice baked potato boats, to buttered string beans everything was really, really, really good.  What I wouldn't give to sit beside her now, give her a hug, and share a meal (prepared by her, of course).  My Pop-Pop always referred to her, at least in front of us kids, as Mom-Mom (which I always thought was funny as a kid) and gets choked up thinking of her now, but he would get choked up then too--when he talked about her marrying him, how he wooed her, how he courted her at a restaurant where she was a waitress using her sister's name and I.D. because she wasn't old enough to be working yet.  She worked under the name Irene--her sister's name--and once he took a liking to her, he called her by name.  He always thought she had said Eileen.  She was too embarassed to correct him so she was Eileen from then on out.  I think that's funny.  

They had six children, raised them with love and good values, and I am blessed beyond my wildest imaginations to have one of those six as my father, a good man--a product of their good parenting, no doubt.  They lived in Ocean City, NJ just a block from the beach and boardwalk and it was such a fun place to visit.  

My Pop-Pop always saved napkins that he'd already used.  He'd stick them in the back of the napkin holder and we always knew to take one from the front.  When people were parking in front of their O.C. house, he'd always shout directions from the porch trying to help them parallel park.  He really just likes to talk to people, a trait he's certainly passed onto my father... the most gregarious man alive.  He's 93 now and at times is still sharp as a tack.  When I see him I have to give him a little reminder of who I am: "Hi Pop-Pop!  It's Bridget.  The one in Boston.  The one married to the professor."  "OH!  The professor!  How is the professor!?"  Steve has never been Steve.  He is strictly known as "the professor."  But you can ask him old police stories, their old addresses, diners he used to visit that haven't existed for years... and he will remember them all. 

I'm really glad Steve and the kids have gotten the chance to meet him.  I'm glad I've got Irish and Ukranian roots from the two of them and that their genes are in me.  I'm glad I have special memories of him and my grandmother, their love for one another which was always so evident, and the commitment they made to one another... an incredible lesson for all those following in their footsteps.  

Man, did I tell you or did I tell you... I am feeling nostalgic.