DIY Mirror Frame

I love our master bathroom. It's clean, airy and spacious. But, it was missing something. We have a huge builder-grade, wall-to-wall mirror. It bounces around tons of light, but I thought it would look nicer if it were framed. Frames for a mirror that size were cost prohibitive, and buying a new mirror seemed unnecessary, so I decided to make my own.

Before

I used the last remaining days before I went back to work to make this happen. Luckily my friend Dani was on maternity leave and was game to help me out. We headed to Home Depot to gather supplies.

There are a lot of great tutorials online already, so I won't try and recreate one here. I followed Blue Cricket Design's tutorial pretty closely. I'll just add in a couple of pointers. First, I used pre-primed moulding. It costs a little bit more, but I liked the decorative elements and it saved me time.

I grabbed a twelve-foot piece and cut it down to size myself. It took a while--so long, in fact that a contractor who kept offering to help me managed to practically cut down an entire forest while I was still cutting my first piece. But, sometimes the pride that comes with doing it yourself is worth the extra time and muscle pains.

After what felt like hours in Home Depot waiting for help with paint (long story...short version is that the perfect brown paint is really, really hard to come by), we headed back to my house. We used Dani's miter saw to cut the moulding into 45 degree angles to form the frame.

We diverged from the tutorial a little bit in the next step because my mirror had big plastic clips that would prevent the frame from sitting flush against the mirror. We measured the clips and used Dani's Dremel tool to notch etches in the two sides of the frame. Sidenote: how amazing is Dani? Woodworking while baby wearing? That's a truly modern woman.*

After taking the wood upstairs to make sure the cuts were accurate and the pieces fit together, we started painting. I painted the backs and fronts of the wood so bare wood wouldn't reflect in the mirror once hung.

When all three coats were dry, it was time to hang the frame. Here's where things didn't go so well. We followed the directions in the tutorial and used liquid nails to hang the wood. All the pieces fit perfectly together, but the painters tape was not enough to keep them from sliding town.

In the morning I caulked and painted the corners to make the seams less noticeable.

I don't love how the corners turned out, but overall I'm pretty happy with the outcome. The whole project only cost around $50. The biggest expense was for moulding, which came in at $33. 

For not very much money, and a little bit of effort, the room looks so much more finished. Hooray for fun DIY activities with good friends!

* All safety precautions were taken to ensure the baby was not harmed in any way. 

Guest Post: The Weekend Calli Went Away

Hi there! Last weekend I took a quick trip to Evansville, Indiana to surprise my best friend Katie for her birthday. Boy was she surprised! While I was away, Dan and Zahara and some lovely daddy-daughter time. They had a great time--mostly. Here's a little gem he just shared with me. It's a perfect representation of life with a toddler. Heartbreaking and beautiful.

I love her.

I say it as much for myself as I do for her. She's beautiful, but it's a terrible beauty. I feel powerless to help and she wouldn't want me to, even if I could. I miss Calli, and of course she does too, but rather than bind us together, she blames me and pushes me away.

It's been two hours now. Two hours since the cat's whine woke her up. I tried to comfort her, but she only grew angrier in my presence. For over an hour we sat in her room in the dark because she didn't want me to touch her. Eventually, I picked her up anyways. Of course it was a fight, with her hitting me the whole way. I hoped by getting her food, or toys, or anything else I could possibly offer I could break her out of the tantrum. We spent another hour in the living room with her throwing the offered food and hitting me. I don't even respond anymore, I just let her do it. Maybe if she hits me enough she will feel better and I will feel less guilty.

Two and a half hours now. I can't take it anymore. For her, for me, I need to get away. I wrestle her into her highchair, somewhere I know she'll be safe. I put a bowl of cereal in front of her and I go upstairs. I know I'll hear the bowl crash and have to clean up cereal later. Up here, the screaming is slightly attenuated. Not much better, but at least I don't have to see her anguished face. After 20 minutes it's strangely quite. I take a deep breath and head downstairs.

And what does my 25 month old say to me? "Uh oh spaghetti-ohs! I need milk and a spoon."

I've never gotten milk and a spoon faster in my life.

Zahara's New Play Kitchen

Dan and I were thinking about what to get Zahara for her second birthday, so naturally I turned to Pinterest for ideas. Play kitchens seemed to be popular, and having seen Zoey enthusiastically play with them at friends' houses, we knew it was the right choice for us.

At first I had all sorts of wild ideas about making a kitchen from old cabinets, or even from scraps of wood. Dan brought me to my senses and reminded me that I am no longer a spouse on sabbatical with endless free time. Instead, we decided to go for the middle ground between of store-bought and home-made: an IKEA hack.

IKEA sells a great play kitchen for a reasonable price. I loved the size and the various components, but I was not a fan of the look. I'm just not into that raw birch look.

Once again I turned to Pinterest to find examples of glammed-up IKEA Duktigs. I decided on white cabinets, a butcher-block counter, and a pop of color in the top bookshelves. I had a few of the supplies I needed, and gathered the rest at Home Depot.

Dan was out of town the week before Zahara's birthday, which meant I needed to work from home so I could do drop-offs and pick-ups for little Z. Since I wasn't spending two hours each day commuting, I actually had time during the day to work on this kitchen. It was perfect timing.

The first step in creating Zahara's custom kitchen was sanding all the raw pieces of wood with 150 grit sandpaper. I gave all sides a light sanding so that it would accept the paint more evenly.

I had a quart of paint color-matched to the IKEA white, using a recipe I found online. I gave each piece three very thin coats. After two coats I could still see a little bit of the raw wood peeking through, but after three it was perfect.

I used my leftover stain from the DIY ruler to make my butcher block. I love the warmth that the dark wood adds. Two coats were perfect to create this look.

After giving everything a few days to cure, Dan was home and it was time to assemble. We waited until the night before her birthday so she would wake up to a fun surprise. I know this sounds weird, but it's nights like these that really make me feel like a parent. Assembly didn't take too long, but staying up and putting together a surprise for the morning just feels like a classic play out of the parent playbook.

I mentioned before that I wanted to add a pop of color to the bookshelves. I waited until everything was assembled to measure out where to paint. Then I painted a couple of quick coats on what would become the two end cubbies.

We decked out the new kitchen with some adorable pots and pans and a 14-piece vegetable set, both from IKEA. Our friends helped stock the fridge with some play groceries (thanks Dani and Brian!).

I could not love this kitchen any more; it came out even better than I could have imagined. And for Zahara, it was love at first sight! It gives me such pleasure to watch her washing her veggies, making meals in her microwave, and cooking on the stove.

Zahara's Second Birthday Party

I've heard from multiple sources that when planning a party for  a two-year-old, the mantra should be "keep in simple stupid." Toddlers are not known for their love of sharing, so inviting a host of babies into their space to play with their toys may not be the best idea. With that in mind, we planned a small barbecue at our local playground with just a few friends. It actually went pretty well!

A couple of things really helped: the tents and the water table. Zahara pretty much stayed at the water table the entire time. 

I have a tendency to go overboard with party planning, but I reigned myself in this year. I don't have nearly as much free time now that I'm working again, and I knew that time would be better spent elsewhere. I simply reused bunting I made for Dan's 30th birthday and for Zahara's first birthday. I think it still looked pretty festive.

I made cute little party favors from goodies we found a the Dollar Store. I used paint pens to draw a little elephant on each bag, and stuffed them with a couple of race cars, a squishy football and a box of chalk.  

We kept the food simple too: hot dogs and hamburgers and all the fixings. For dessert we ate rainbow cupcakes and watermelon.

Dan's parents and sister came in town to help celebrate. We extended the party for one more week when my parents came in town. Zahara is so lucky to have so many friends and family who love her.

Sure, there were a few tantrums, but overall, everyone seemed to have a great time. I can't believe my little baby is already 2. Happy birthday Zoey Jane!

Read about Zahara's other birthdays:
Zahara's First Birthday

Dear Zahara: 24 Months

Dear Zahara,

It seems impossible, but you are two years old today. The last two years have been the fastest, hardest, funniest, craziest time in our lives, and we wouldn't trade it for the world.

It is so fun watching you navigate the world through your imagination and curiosity. We've entered the "what is that" phase of toddlerhood. So far I don't mind answering that question as many times as you ask. I love seeing you piece bits of information together to form new concepts. It amazes me how much you understand about the way the world works.

You love using your imagination to play pretend. We dress up like superheroes, have tea parties, and take care of our "babies." You love giving your stuffed animals new diapers and bottles, and shushing or singing to them if they are "crying." Less adorably, you like to pretend to be a baby yourself and will often whine or cry until I pretend to give you a bottle. That game isn't my favorite.

You're very interested in anything that mummy and daddy are doing. You especially love cooking with us and pretending to put on makeup with mummy. We really have to watch everything we say because you hear it all! You'll often repeat back phrases that we weren't even aware we said. Most often you'll boss the kitties around by shouting phrases like, "girls, be nice," "no fighting," and "Zuzu, off the table!" These are all classic things mummy says to our cats.

If you could, you'd spend all day at our neighborhood park on the swings. Every day as soon as you get home from daycare, all you want to do is get on your tricycle and go to the park. That's our favorite story time. You'll usually ask for a particular story--pirate, mermaid, and astronaut are top requests.

Zahara, every day you truly live up to the meaning of your name: bringer of light. We love being your parents--especially when you tell us that we're your friends. Right back at you kid!

Fun and Funky Japanese Dinner

Have you ever heard of izakaya restaurants? I hadn't. They are sort of like a Japanese tapas restaurant in that you order a few small plates at a time over several rounds. Last night we went with some friends to Daikaya Izakaya in Washington, DC and it was phenomenal!

Terrible lighting; great friends

The atmosphere in Dikaya Izakaya is funky and cool--totally befitting the type of food and drinks they serve. Dishes were weird, sometimes scary, but always absolutely delicious. Between Dan and I, we ate six small plates plus a dessert. I was pleasantly full, but not stuffed.

We started our culinary tour with some drinks. Now, this is a nice place, so when we saw sake bombs on the menu, we were sure there was some twist. Sure enough, it was a mixture of Japanese beer and ginger beer with a sphere of sake that exploded when it hit your tongue. Much less messy than the traditional version. It was too gingery for me, but it was a cool concept.

Our first round of food brought a salt-grilled mackerel with grated chili and daikon, and a crazy dish called chawanmushi that was one of my favorites of the evening. Chawanmushi is a steamed egg and dashi custard with shiitake mushroom sauce and parmesan cheese. The texture was incredible--almost like a panna cotta. Very smooth and creamy. The mushrooms lent tons of umami to the dish while the parmesan added the perfect amount of salt. I could have eaten five of these dishes.

Mackerel

Next we had the grilled avocado and tuna poke. The avocado was so simple and so perfect. The poke was really interesting too. It had big chunks of macadamia nuts, bits of seaweed and was drizzled with sesame oil. I loved it.

Here's the sign of a great restaurant. Based on online reviews, our friends ordered the pork and Brussels sprouts skewers, which they said were every bit as delicious as promised. When we told the waiter we don't eat pork, he brought us a new vegetarian menu and told us about each item that could be made into a veggie version. We ordered the Brussels sprouts minus the pork, and they absolutely lived up to the hype. So good!

Our last savory dish was one of my favorites of the night: the cod roe spaghetti. I was pretty scared of this one, but thought I'd give it a try. It was perfect. Creamy, salty, a little crunchy from the roe---just really complex and interesting.

Often the fancier the restaurant, the more disappointing the dessert. For someone with a huge sweet tooth like mine, that's not a great end to an evening. Thankfully, Dikaya Izakaya did not fall into that trap. Our chocolate ice cream with miso-banana caramel was the perfect end to the meal.

Chocolate ice cream with Japanese custard in the background

Family Fun in Boston

I am so proud of my sister in-law Amy, who just graduated from Framingham State University! This is a huge accomplishment for anyone, but I'm particularly proud of Amy who did it all on her own. Of course she had love and support from her friends and family, but it must have been tough when her parents moved to Florida last year and she stayed in Massachusetts to finish school. Not only did she survive, she thrived! She even made Dean's list her final semester!

Dan, Zahara and I flew up to watch Amy walk across the stage last month. This was the first time we've been to Boston since Dan's parents moved. Dan still has a lot of family in town and we were able to stay with his cousins Paul and Yana. It was great spending time with them and their little boy Sasha. We don't get to do it nearly enough.

Sasha, who just turned three, is all boy. He loves running, throwing, kicking, jumping and getting dirty. It was so fun watching him and Zahara play. Paul and Yana have an amazing house in the middle of the woods where the kids were able to run and chase each other. My favorite moments were when Zoey was running after Sasha begging him for a kiss.

We also got to spend some quality time with Paul's brother Jim, his wife Nathalie and their two-year-old Nina. The last time all three cousins got-together was when Zoey was only a few months old. To see the three of them play together was absolutely amazing. We went to a farm which was a huge hit. The kids especially loved the chickens and the hay ride.

Jim and Nathalie had us over to their house for a play date while Sasha and Yana went home for a nap. The girls ate some ice cream, read some stories and had a mostly-tantrum-free time. I mean, they are two years old after all.

A few miles outside Paul and Yana's town is the best ice cream place I've been to outside of Italy: Uhlman's Ice Cream. It is so creamy and indulgent. Dan took me there ten years ago when we were first dating. I am so happy it lived up to my memories of it. We even let Zahara have some, and man, did she love it!

I wish we had more time to spend with the rest of the family, but I'm so glad we got to bond with our cousins. I really hope we can make this a regular affair.