finding new art // Andrea Tavarez Boeta

Living in San Diego means there's usually several art walks that happen every year. They're outdoor events that cover several streets, and hundreds of artists display and sell their art to the public over the course of two days. I've gone to my fair share while living here, and while they're generally fun, most of the art I see there just isn't my cup of tea. I always see tons of HDR-ed-to-death ocean pier shots (boring), weird metal scrap art in the shape of cats (just why?) and pretty-but-meh abstract watercolors. I know art is subjective, and what may seem boring to me may be the bee's knees to someone else, but.....yeah. I'm totally coming off as an art snob, aren't I. I'm the worst.

So yesterday at the Mission Federal ArtWalk in Little Italy, I felt like I struck gold when my friends and I came across Andrea Tavarez Boeta's booth. She's an artist from Tijuana, and the first piece I saw that drew me in was a small framed piece using blue string. I loved how minimal and delicate it was, and now I'm regretting not taking some photos of her pieces that she had on display. And then I saw her nude woman piece, and thought, "She gets me."

I don't remember where I read(or heard) this quote, but the saying goes, "Only buy art that you really, really love." And I did. And I'm so happy this gets to live in my house for me to enjoy. Even my husband likes it, yay!

Bonus: Even her business card is cooler than anything I'll ever make.

You can see more of Andrea's work on her website. And now I need to brush up on my Spanish so I can fan-girl her inbox :)

things I've enjoyed recently

1// Last weekend, a friend invited me an essential oils blends DIY, where we made some goodies to take home, like a calming face mist, roller for sore muscles, and detox bath salts. I've been curious about essential oils for a while, so this was a fun and informative introduction to it.

2// I'm in the middle of reading Jancee Dunn's How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids, and so far, it's equal parts helpful and humorous. I love that she includes lots of of actual published data and advice from real marital counselors, but she's kind of my new hero for trying out the techniques she's learning on her own marriage. For the most part, the relationship between my husband and I is pretty solid, even post-twins, but there's definitely areas where we could improve. So this book is pretty eye-opening for me right now. (Bonus: even if you don't have kids, this book is filled with gems of relationship advice and holy-shit-that-is-so-us moments. If you live with your significant other and tend to fight a lot, you should read this!)

3// Catfight was soo good!

4// Suck it, People-Who-Think-Cats-Are-Assholes.

5// HBO's Big Little Lies was a slow burn for me, but so worth it.

6// This made me laugh!

7// My marriage recently turned 14 years old! Yay us! We went out for a much-deserved date night, and right before heading out, I asked my dear friend, who was babysitting the twins, if she would take this photo of us. I love that if you look closely, you can spot both loinfruits pressed up against the screen door, making Very Loud Noises because they wanted to be outside with us too. I'm so lucky to have these three people in my life :)

day trip // desert wander

Reason #5857 I love living in California: drive two hours in any direction, and the landscape will look completely different and magical. Thanks to all the heavy rains this year, all kinds of wildflowers are in bloom in the desert for the first time in years, so a group of friends and I made plans to drive out and see it for ourselves. Lots of picture-taking, climbing rocks, trying not to get pricked by cacti, and general silliness. The perfect day.

Chunks of these cacti would be all over the ground, just waiting to stab our ankles. We dubbed them "death balls."

The weirdest/coolest trees ever!

We saw this from the road and immediately pulled over. We called it Pride Rock.

Dawn enjoys her Lion King moment.

Raina found this painted rock, and we decided to re-hide it.

Shortly after this photo was taken, Dawn came across a red snake on the move, and she proceeded to lose her shit, and ran away screaming.

Looking for cool rocks. Also, bird bones.

I love this group of women so much, and I'm glad we got to do this! It's funny; we were originally headed to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park visitor/information center to start our hike/picture-taking, but all of these photos happened when we decided to pull over on a whim because we saw something cool from the road and wanted to check it out. Sometimes I think the best day trips happen that way. Bonus: no other tourists around to clutter up our shots! (Once we actually got to the visitors center, we saw tons of tourists all parked along the same stretch of road, taking their photos all in the same area. Amateurs.)

motherhood lately

My twin babes are nearly 18 months old, and I know I keep saying this at every new stage, but this is seriously the best age! They're full-on toddlers, even though I still call them my babies, and most likely will even when they have children of their own and I'm arthritic with a cane.

Every day, Hazel and Vincent are learning and discovering and taking joy in the tiniest things, and it's such a damn joy to watch. Vincent will bring me books to read to him, and he'll babble his thoughts with every turn of the page. He loves to stack his building blocks, and even claps when he's particularly proud of his technique. Hazel is the first to explore every last inch of her surroundings, including every blade of grass and all the sticks within reach. She reminds me that even in my humble backyard, there's so many different things to touch and discover.

They both love to watch Sesame Street, particularly Elmo and the Cookie Monster. They light up whenever we Facetime with my parents and in-laws. They want to be friends with the resident cat so bad, despite her obvious disdain of these tiny humans I brought into the house. They bop along in their highchairs to music that I play everyday during lunch time, and Hazel apparently is a Talking Heads fan. They'll happily eat kimchi and seaweed and fried rice, but if I had a nickel for every time Vincent willingly ate plain grilled chicken, I'd have like 15 cents (thanks Korean genes!).

I feel like so many internet articles claim that anyone who admits to enjoy parenting is a liar, or that if you're not completely miserable during the first year of your child's life, you're not human. Yes, YES, the first year was hard for me, particularly the first 4-6 months. I was in survival mode, and I dealt with post-partum depression, and just everything times two. But I feel it's just as important to share the joyous/holy-shit-my-kids-are-awesome stories, because it's honest and real. My babes never had any "sleep regressions." They sleep 12 hours a night. They love car rides and being in their stroller and just being anywhere new. They're generally happy babies, and I hate that I feel guilty admitting that, as if that's something "you don't do" in the mom community. I've been watching the new season of Girls on HBO, and there was a line from a recent episode where a woman was telling Hannah about what it was like having a kid, and she said, "Kids are easy. It's being an adult that's hard." And that was so refreshing to hear, even in just a fictional TV show.

My kids aren't even two years old yet, and I still feel like I'm supposed to wait for the ball to drop. For shit to get REAL AWFUL. "Terrible Two's" and "Threen-ager." Meanwhile, I'm just excited for when I can have a two-way conversation with my kids, and they can say the actual sentence, "Mama, I'm tired." Sure, they might morph into little assholes sometimes, but isn't that true of every stage of human life? I definitely remember calling my twins assholes in the early months of life, when they projectile-shat onto the walls and carpet of their nursery, or when, at 8 months old, they tossed perfectly good spaghetti onto the floor from their highchair without even trying it. They still have their asshole moments right now, like when Vincent has a tantrum because I won't turn on the vacuum cleaner (he's obsessed with watching me clean), or when I'm trying to change Hazel's diaper but she hates having her vagina clean for some reason (she does this jerky yoga bridge move, and I'm just like WHY? YOU WANT A CLEAN VAGINA OK JUST TRUST ME ON THIS).

I love being their mom. I love watching them grow. I hate that I cry at everything - commercials, Disney songs, Youtube clips. The other day, the babes were listening to a playlist of Disney songs on the Kindle, and when "You Got A Friend In Me" from Toy Story started playing, it reminded me that in the third Toy Story movie, the kid is grown up and about to leave for college, which reminded me that one day my kids are gonna leave the nest some day, and I proceeded to get weepy and hug my kids extra hard. Every time Vincent and Hazel hug me, I think, "SOAK. THIS. UP. ONE DAY THEY'LL BE EMBARRASSED TO HUG YOU."

So yeah. This is my life right now when it comes to my kids. I love them, and I constantly want to brag on them, and yes, I'm still tired, cause kids are tiring, but they're keeping me young, and active, and they make me see the world through fresh eyes. I feel so lucky to be their mom. And so I shall leave you with a recent video from earlier today. Just two silly kids doing their own thing in their backyard, which usually involves eating my plants and trying to touch things.

portrait session // sammy & brian's south park wander

I'm so excited to share these photos of some dear friends of mine! I met Sammy and Brian through mutual friends a few years ago, and their energy is always so positive and fun. They're the kind of people you want to stay late at the party so you can squeeze in as much time as possible with them, and if it's a costume-themed party, you can bet they'll win best-dressed. When these two got engaged recently, I eagerly offered to shoot their engagement photos, and a neighborhood stroll idea was born.

They wanted to incorporate some of their favorite South Park spots in their shoot, like Grant's, South Park Brewing Company, Bad Madge, and Whistlestop, and I was more than happy to follow along and document along the way. I'll share my favorites below!

I'm so happy for these two :)