This Moment

Joining SouleMama...
"{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."


I have peas!!  

Now how do I know when to harvest them?

Weekend in Pictures

This weekend we:

Made strawberry jelly…

Imagined ourselves superheroes…

Enjoyed a delicious bowl of ramen made by Julian…

Created a menu for our “fancy” Easter brunch…

And napkin holders…

And place cards…

Dipped a lot of strawberries in yummy chocolate (and licked our fingers, of course)…

Harvested oregano from our garden…

Set a beautiful table for Easter brunch…

And shared a delicious homemade meal with our loved ones…

 Acted silly…

Hunted…

And hit the jackpot!

Hope you all had a terrific weekend!

Linking with Amanda (a little late) for weekending.

Sunday Blessings

Since I devoted a whole post to Saturday, I figured I should devote one to Sunday too as it was a marvelous day! I had been wanting to get to the Great Park Farmers Market in Irvine for a few weeks and hadn’t been able to. We finally made it on Sunday, albeit a bit late. It was wonderful! I wasn’t super impressed with the produce stands. I was expecting a bit more variety…but it seems everyone has apples and oranges this time of year. Oh, and strawberries, lots of strawberries! What I did love were all the craft booths and the food trucks. Yum! The park is also very nice. We didn’t make it on the Great Balloon…

But Bella and I did manage to get on the carousel.

I also decided to invest in some fresh herbs to plant in our garden (more on that in a sec). We stocked up on food from various food truck vendors and sat at the picnic tables to enjoy our lunch.

The Mediterranean chicken plate was scrumptious!

And the fries with fire feta dip from the Louks Greek Food Truck were to die for!

We also tried the Calbi Food Truck. Julian had a burrito and Luis tried the tacos.

Safe to say we will definitely be going back!!

When we got back home Bella and I got to work planting our garden. We filled out planters with soil (I think I bought the wrong soil, so my fingers are crossed)…

 Then we got to transplanting all of our seedlings and the new herb plants we bought at Farmers Market.

Not all the seedlings worked out. Not sure where I went wrong, but like Luis told me, this is a learning process. I really need to invest in a good gardening book that specializes in container gardening. I welcome any recommendations. Anyhow, we planted peas and carrots from our seedlings and we planted basil, thyme, and oregano from Farmers Market.

By the time the sun set I was exhausted and sore all over, but every time I look out onto our patio it all feels worth it. I hope to actually eat the fruits (or vegetables and herbs, as the case may be) of my labor soon.

So I would say we had a pretty good weekend. A pretty good weekend, indeed.

We Are Sprouting!!

The first sprouts are in!!

Spring Has Sprung! (Part 2)

When I decided to undertake the project of “Springing up” my home, it also occurred to me that it would be fun to celebrate the first day of Spring as a way to officially welcome the season.  And what better way to plan a Spring celebration than by going online and finding out how other people celebrate.  My search generated a lot of results for Wicca sites and, while fascinating and worthy of further study, their ritualistic nature didn’t seem to be quite the right fit for our family.  Some of the other sites related Spring celebrations to Easter and all that it entails.  While I found a few interesting ideas, it quickly became apparent that I was on my own and I would just have to wing it.

After much contemplation, I decided that there was really one activity that would work well for my family and, in my opinion, feel like a true celebration of Spring…doing something out of doors.  What better way to honor the changes that Spring brings than by observing it firsthand.  I thought a fun way to do this would be to go strawberry picking at our local farm.  It is a yearly tradition for us to go apple picking in the Fall, so establishing a Spring strawberry picking tradition seemed right up our alley.  Unfortunately, the first day of Spring in So Cal dawned cold, rainy, and dreary, so I had to find a Plan B.  I decided that instead of going to nature, we would bring nature to us. 

Now, I have to say (as my husband will confirm), I don’t do well with plants.  We have no plants in our home because no matter how hard I try to successfully own a plant, at some point I forget to water it and it dies.   So the idea of starting a garden is overwhelming and downright scary.  However, in my quest to try to eat healthier and teach my children to do the same, I decided it was time to try our hand at patio gardening (we live in a condo, so space is very limited).  I bought a 72-cell mini greenhouse kit at Target and some vegetable, fruit, and flower seeds.  We cleared out a space in our garage and spent the afternoon sowing our seedlings.

We prepared the soil…

And carefully planted our seeds (carrots, cucumbers, peas, and cherry tomatoes).

Then we made our markers and placed them in appropriate spots.

Isabella had a great time.  She asked a lot of questions about gardening:  When will they grow?  When can we eat them?  We explained how the greenhouse works.  For at least a couple of hours we forgot all about the rain and enjoyed the smell of fresh, wet earth and the feel of the dirt as we dug our fingers in to make room for the seeds.

I can’t make any promises that this gardening endeavor won’t turn out like all the rest, but this time I feel a little more vested for some reason.  Maybe the fact that we are started from square one – the seed – brings out the nurturer in me.  Maybe it’s because Isabella and I are working on this together and I want it to succeed for her.  Whatever the reason, I am committed giving this my best shot.  We will keep you posted on the progress of the first ever Araujo Family Garden.  Keep your fingers crossed!


Oh...and before I go...here is a picture of our delicious spring dinner:  beef tenderloin with heirloom cherry tomatoes (from farmers market), shallots, and blue cheese, and roasted fingerling potatoes and carrots (from farmers market)...YUM!

You can find the recipe for the tenderloin here.  Happy eating and happy spring!