zach n kali

Last weekend I had an absolute blast hosting a girls' night here in our home. Everyone contributed to our awesome tostada bar, and my contribution to the night was the mojitos. But as everyone who has ever made a mojito from scratch knows, it does not take a full bottle of club soda or rum, and I definitely overbought on the limes and the mint. So what's a girl to do? Cupcakes. Every single ingredient that goes into a mojito went into these cupcakes. I made a basic white cucpcake with gluten free flour, the usual array of baking powder, salt, etc., egg whites, rum, and club soda. The egg whites and club soda gave the cupcake an airiness that added perfectly to the drink's summer essence. I added some finely chopped mint and some grated lime zest as well. Once they were baked, I poured a butter rum glaze over them, then let them cool completely. The frosting was a basic butter cream, but instead of vanilla, I added lime juice. After frosting each cupcake, I gen...

Ever since we got married, Zach and I have lived in a one-bedroom apartment. Less to clean, less expensive, and more than enough room for both of us. Now that there are three of us, we've had to be creative with our use of space. The first thing we had to do was decide what words we wanted to describe our home. For me, those were welcoming, peaceful, cozy, and serene. Here are some other ways that we've made our small space work for us: - Constantly get rid of clutter! Clutter is the bane of my existence. Since storage space is limited, I am constantly going through bookcases and closets to see what we no longer use/like/fit in/etc. It's very freeing to be able to sort through your shirts without having to use brute force! Granted, this philosophy has created a bit of tension between Zach and myself as he is more of a pack-rat and I am more of an exterminator. But sometimes the place just has to be fumigated if you're going to thrive in a small space. - E...

I have recently discovered a new way to determine the value of things that I own. Last Friday I went to the beach with some friends and instinctively took off my wedding ring to put suncreen on Baby M. As I was doing this I turned to say something to a friend and when I looked back, M was twisting something around in his fingers. Panic set in as I realized that my rings were no longer where I had placed them and with a mad intensity I grabbed one out of his fingers. My friends heard a crazed "Open your mouth! Please don't swallow that! No!" and thought to themselves, "Geez, it's just sand!" But when I pulled my other ring out of his mouth we all shared a good laugh as my blood pressure returned to normal. All I could think was, "I really don't want to sift through your diapers for this!" And then I would always look at my beautiful ring as "The Poop Ring". Of course this is not the first time Baby M has put something in hi...

For those of you who don't know me and for the of you who have always wondered how tall I actually am, I am 5'10". Growing up I used to have these horrible aches in my legs and my mom always told me they were "just growing pains". Well, they were "just excruciating". The good thing was that that they never lasted for too long and eventually the pain went away. Lately I have been experiencing a lot of emotional growing pains and they too can be excruciating. As a stay-at-home-mom, I am blessed beyond belief to be living in my sweet spot, that place where my God-given passions and gifts meet my successes. But I am also grieving the loss of what I thought was my sweet spot; I am grieving my "Five Year Plan for a Successful Life". When I decided to write this blog, I decided that I would write with complete candor and transparency. Today I am feeling more heartache than laughter. I am missing "what could have been". A year ago I ...

It's time for an update from the recovering-control-freak. I just spent the last 30 minutes cleaning baby food off of the baby, the high chair, the floor, the walls, the table, and oh, that's right, me. Why? Because I couldn't let go. I'm having one of those "must be productive" days where I have 8 errands to run in a tiny amount of time. My day is budgeted into specific slots for each activity - lunch, driving, errands, driving, nap time, cooking, etc. Lunch was running into "getting ready" time, so I thought it best to keep spooning food into the baby's mouth, winding my way through flying baby arms and a head that kept swinging from side to side. It was like being on Star Tours. Normally I feel much more relaxed about lunch and enjoy watching Baby M try to maneuver the spoon into his ear. But time was of the essence today! Why? Because I was in Productivity Mode! Baby M, however, was in I'm-Big-Enough-To-Feed-Myself-Thank-You-V...

Zach and I were given the wonderful opportunity to go away together for a few days this weekend. My wonderful in-laws watched Baby M, and Zach and I packed ourselves up in a miraculous 30 minutes and headed off to sunny San Diego. We spent the day at Sea World, staring in pity at the poor parents who had to deal with stroller parking and sit through the Elmo show. We enjoyed Cirque de la Mare and the Blue Horizons show and stared at Beluga whales and turtles. After checking into our hotel we headed for an awesome dinner at Bandu, a Persian restaurant in the Gaslamp district. My meal could have fed a family of four! The portions were huge and the food was awesome! We enjoyed chicken and ground beef kebabs with rice and grilled tomatoes. There was not a splotch of pureed squash to be found! Around nine o' clock we headed back to our car, watching the city wake up around us; clubs were filling, restaurants were in full swing. The night was young and the town was ours for the...

Dear Baby Boy, I love you to the moon and back. But more importantly, I love you so much that when you spit up on me I don't gag and throw up on you. I love you so much that I don't mind not sleeping in. I love you so much that I'm willing to watch a movie in 30 minute chunks. I love you so much that I don't get mad when you pull everything out of the dishwasher. I love you so much that when you won't stop crying, I'm not thinking about my ears, but what I can do to make you feel better. I love you so much that I am willing to spend more time at Target (ok, so that's not hard, but still!) I love you so much that Belle quickly became “just a cat”. I love you so much that errands can take me all day and it's ok. I love you so much that I will sit with you for half an hour while you figure out whether or not you like chicken. I love you so much I can lose track of time just watching you sleep. I love you so much that my vocabulary sometim...

A guy's weekend for Zach used to mean a wonderful relaxed weekend for me - movies with friends, ice cream for dinner, Netflix deliveries that were all chick-flick and no boom, sleeping in, shopping, and reading with no interruptions. Of course I missed him and was always ready for him to come home, but it was a nice change of pace and we both felt like we'd had a little vacation. This weekend Zach's gone fishing and I am home with Baby M. It's definitely been a different weekend! When I walked into the kitchen the other day and found both M and Belle surrounded by dozens and dozens of grocery bags, all I could do was shake my head and laugh. The work doesn't end - the dishes, the diapers, the laundry, the baths - and I've had to remember to laugh instead of cry, pick my battles, say a prayer of thanks for my wonderful husband who usually does the early morning diaper change, and be very creative. When I feel like all my energy is gone, I have to lean on t...

I love summer! And with summer come some of my favorite beverages – strawberry daiquiris, mojitos, bahama mamas, and more. To me, a hot day calls for light fruity flavors. So I raided my pantry and found I had everything I needed to make a strawberry daiquiri cupcake! Using coconut flour, I created a basic vanilla cupcake. I added chopped fresh strawberries to the batter along with a few drops of red food coloring. After baking and cooling, I hollowed the centers and filled them with a strawberry-lime-rum puree. I topped them with a light fluffy meringue white frosting laced with lime juice and white rum. For a little flair I topped each cupcake with a few slices of fresh strawberries. These are definitely adult cupcakes, but the rum flavor is not overwhelming. Cupcakes are all the rage right now, so why should those of who can't eat gluten miss out?