February In Review

Here are some scenes from a whirlwind of a chilly February! 

David and I "celebrated" Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year by being the sickest we've both been in three years. Tamiflu, Sudafed, Mucinex DM, and Tylenol were our best friends for a solid week. Thank you Winter Olympics, for being our sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best TV you ever got with a cold. Hoku was a trooper and put up with 5 minute walks, which consisted of us stumbling down our street like zombies until he pottied. And he never left my side as I slept three straight days away on the couch, though I suspect it was to make sure I didn't sleep through his mealtimes and forget to feed him.

After much debate, we decided on this little espresso machine, which ended up being a surprise birthday gift from my mom. Thanks mom! David has been enjoying Americanos and I have been trying (and failing) at making the perfect flat white. Still working on the basics, like getting that perfectly textured milk froth.

In the garden, our lettuce, baby bak choy and choy sum seedlings are thoroughly enjoying this cooler weather we've been having. These guys even survived a few mornings that dropped well below freezing whereas their garden bed neighbor, our wild tomato plant, did not stand a chance. We wished it luck in our compost bin before uprooting it to make room for carrots, beets and broccoli.

As a belated Valentine's Day treat after we recovered from the plague, I made molten chocolate cakes from scratch using these sweet, heart-shaped mini cocottes. They paired perfectly with not-made-from-scratch Trader Joe's vanilla ice cream. Should I dare to attempt soufflés next?

I've decided to set a new goal of baking a fresh loaf of bread every week. This is my go-to recipe because it is seriously so easy and pretty much guarantees a perfect, rustic-looking boule every single time. So many other breads on my list for next month: baguettes, sesame bagels and Hokkaido milk bread!

At the beginning of the month, we drove into Idyllwild for the first time since this trip back in 2014 for a hike up to the Tahquitz Peak fire lookout and declared it our new favorite short hike. (Sorry Baden-Powell.)

And finally, I celebrated my 33rd birthday with a 24 hour backpacking trip on Mt. San Gorgonio that ended with a starry morning hike that still feels incredibly surreal. It's hard to believe that one year ago, the thought of spending the night by ourselves, let alone hiking in the dark, on a mountain was all too terrifying. Here's to another year of facing fears and learning new things with my two best guys by my side. 

January In Review

I thought I'd set a blogging goal this year of sharing monthly highlights. A little bit of everything from new projects and weekend adventures to the more mundane scenes of everyday life around the house. 

So here is our January in review:

We celebrated the anniversary of bringing Hoku home, backpacked San Bernardino, hiked up a snowy Mount Baden-Powell, started cooking more veggie-based meals, ate pancakes at midnight twice, made three batches of European-style yogurt in the instant pot, hosted our first brunch with friends...and I finally learned how to knit! In the garden, the camellias are in bloom and the mandarin orange tree has more fruit than we know what to do with. We harvested some surprise yellow bell peppers that survived the winter, picked our first Valencia orange, and cleared out the wild basil growing in our garden bed to make room for some winter greens. 

On the less charming side of life, we did find ourselves perched on a ladder in the pouring rain at 6:30am because forgetting that there is a gutter full of leaves is what happens when you live in a place that receives a whopping 0.1" of rain all December. 

January hasn't been without it's downs, but I'd say it's been a pretty good start to the year so far. 

A Bedroom Refresh

I can't believe it's nearly March and this is my first blog post of 2017.  My New Year's resolution to blog more is not off to the best start, but without further ado, I wanted to kick things off with showing you another part of the house: our bedroom! During our reno phase, all this room got was a fresh coat of white paint and refinished floors. We kept the original spacious built-in closets and the little ceiling fan. True to 50's houses though, it is a fairly small room that only fits a Queen-sized bed and has no on suite bathroom, but we love that it's cozy and were pretty much already sold the first time we laid eyes on the high, vaulted ceilings. 

We kept things fairly minimal in here with classic essentials like white sheets from Brooklinen, a soft alpaca throw from Allku Pets for those chilly mornings, a simple gallery wall with the help of Framebridge, and of course, plants!

Nightstand: West Elm  |   Lamp: Target

Alpaca Throw: Allku Pets  |  Basket: Ikea

Sheets: Brooklinen  |  Lumbar Pillow: The Citizenry

These Brooklinen sheets are unbelievably crisp and comfy. It makes us feel like we're staying at a fancy hotel every night. Most importantly, it has Hoku's paw stamp of approval. And I mean that literally so we really need quality sheets that will stand up to frequent washes, and these have fit the bill perfectly so far. 

I love that Framebridge makes framing art and photos SO easy. A few years ago, I was just sitting on a pile of prints that I wanted to frame without breaking the bank. I was tired of the heavy/bulky "Ribba" frames from Ikea that were made for European print sizes and the selection on Amazon was disappointing. But now I just send them off to Framebridge, select one of their many modern frames options (my favorite is the Irvine Slim), and it comes back to me with hanging hardware attached and ready to go on the wall. 

Leash: Allku Pets  |  Wall Mirror: Urban Outfitters

So there you have it! A cozy space where two humans and a pup sleep. One day, maybe we'll have a bigger room that can fit a king-sized bed and even have an attached bathroom spa, but the idea of living simply is really growing on me. Cheers to finding that right balance of "only the essentials" and "I like nice things." 

This post was created in collaboration with  Framebridge, Brooklinen and Allku Pets. All opinions and photos are my own.