LoveFeast Table

Lately we have had the travel bug bad.  Granted, we have had a get-away weekend with the GE Momsperience. But, for us that never cures the fever it actually infects us with more need to roam.  Kristin likes to think we’re nomads or gypsys at heart!  We don’t let much stop us from travel.  We have 9 kids between our two families.  Every couple of years we find time to go with just the 4 of us.  This past year we went to Cancun.  Did we ever tell you about the time we went to Italy with a baby?

Did we ever share about how we made it into Rome?  Even though Devon, Kristin’s husband promised not to go over 100 miles an hour?  Even though we didn’t know where our apartment was?  Even though our tiny car barely made it down the tiny streets?  Did you know that our inside joke is to hold your nose like this when you’ve just about had enough?

On that trip we found out that Devon is a multi-tasking driver that can ramp a curve to switch lanes, avoid crashes involving motorcycles and semis and site-see while driving fast enough to keep up with any Italian.  And my husband Todd, can pick up any language instantaneously and therefore can speak perfectly fluent Italian when seeking direction from locals.  Kristin and I can provide a sound track worthy of any high flying roller coaster ride.  It was a joint effort.

Our thrill ride into the city of Rome landed us with a lurch almost miraculously on a sidewalk of a street right behind this wonder at the perfect time to meet the landlord of our rental apartment.  It stands my hair on end just to think about it.

What are some of your favorite travel memories?

The red penguins are on the move everywhere at the 21c Museum Hotel.  They greeted us at the door, welcomed us to the GE Momsperience and loitered in the lobby, restaurant and everywhere in between.

They get around those penguins.  One night plumb tuckered out after some fancy hat making they wandered around (or were they carried?) until they found themselves a place to rest.

Meanwhile, while the penguins were getting comfortable, the LoveFeast girls were downstairs at the 21c Museum Hotel with Aaron, the evening security guard, enjoying the contemporary art museum and getting an escorted tour of art that might not be as handy to view if your are not of the right sex.  Such as, visiting the mens’ restroom to see art that can only be seen from the user-friendly side of the urinal.  Just sayin’, we needed an escort to feel OK about crashing the mens’ restroom and Aaron was our man.

We were getting to know Aaron as we walked the rooms and galleries at 21c and were exchanging the friendly facts that one exchanges in those situations, like yes, we have 9 kids between us, where you are from (Minnesota and Maryland) and yes we co-blog.  And, then from Aaron that he had been in the army, had lived in many places, and that Lady Gaga was a really a down-to-earth cool chick and that a red penguin almost made it onto Justin Bieber’s bus.  Then suddenly as we were standing there we saw something shift in Aaron’s eyes and his comfortableness with us dissipate.  Suddenly he began walking backwards away from us and we heard him utter, “oh, you’re thooossee bloggers” and disappeared leaving us to fall into the elevator laughing as the doors closed.  We head back to our room, amused and kind of weird-ed out.

Arriving at our room, this is what we found.  Birds in our beds.  Birds in our derby hats!!

OK, in a normal less sleep deprived frame of mind we might have thought other bloggers might have done this prank.  Maybe the sign about twitter attached to one penguin might have been a clear giveaway.  But, there were other facts to consider.  We had been tweeting quite a bit with 21c Museum Hotel and we had just been with Aaron the security guard who had backed away from us with some kind of secret.

At 2:30 a.m. our conclusion was drawn.  We had been punked by the 21c Museum Hotel!!  To our sleep deprived minds there was only one choice and one choice only…we must punk them back!

And, like anyone else would do, we spent some time (we could sleep later!) dressing them in something that would be appropriate if they were to visit the spa.  Again, this made perfect sense at 2:45 a.m.

First a quick drop of joe and an orange envelope tucked in a pocket with a message for the front desk.

The penguins leave our room…

and wait for the elevator to take them downstairs to the lobby.

They seem to be getting along, although they are quiet in the elevator.  We speculate they might be a couple.

Turns out that we found out via twitter our real pranksters were the bloggers of Mommy’s Camera and Creative Kristi with a little help from Aaron, the security guard.  But, again, like I said at 3:00 a.m. there was no turning back.  We were headed for the front desk.

Here’s where we show the 21c Museum Hotel how to punk and what real-art-meets-pop-art-meets-real- tired-mama-fake-performance-art is all about.  Take that!

Word is they are training other birds in so the penguins can go on vacation.

Can you spy who with your little eye?

The LoveFeast girls have found themselves in Louisville, Kentucky.  We’re here at the inspiring and modern 21c Museum Hotel.  The hotel is truly a place to get your creativity peaking.  We’ve had delicious meals at the hotel’s restaurant Proof on Main, lively conversation with smart women, fine dining, hat making and interacting with the art that surrounds the spaces.  We’ve got some stories to tell already. We’ve friend-ed one of the bartenders who has spilled some restaurant cocktail recipes for LoveFeast ~ perfect timing with our summer “theme-making” underway.  We can’t wait to have our Monogram Experience tomorrow!!  We’re already amazed at how GE Monogram has tapped into such creativity and  inspiration to provide such a memorable experience ~ filled with possibilities!  So ~ hold onto your hats and keep and eye out for red penguins!!  With those two combination and the LoveFeast girls in town ~ anything can happen!!

It’s that time of year again.  It’s the time when we “theme” our summer.  Part of  “themeing” our summer, is adding a summer cocktail to the mix.  It’s a tradition that began in Italy and it is a part of how we roll. There’s something about summer that ushers in a chance to revitalize, re-envision and rest.  Sure we know that the summer brings kids running through the house all day long, prepping pool bags and packing countless snacks for the day and trying to keep everyone from being bored.  Part of our strategy is the summer cocktail.

Now, don’t judge us.  We are not the types of moms that believe the cocktail is the only way to make it through a day…we see it as a bonus…a little accessory of sorts that puts an accent on a summer day.

Last year, Greg from Sippity Sup created a LoveFeast Tickled Pink cocktail.  It was yummy.

This year, my husband Devon, created a new drink.  It’s not too sweet and incredibly refreshing.  We’ve decided to call it the New Horizon’s Cocktail.  It fits, don’t you think?  The summer of New Horizons and… this is where we need your help.  Is it the summer of New Horizons and Happiness? Hospitality? Hilarity? Hollywood?  Help! Would you please give us your opinion and we will share with you our recipe for the New Horizons Cocktail.

New Horizons Cocktail

by Devon Potler

3 oz. guava juice

2 oz. grapefruit juice

1 1/2 oz. vodka

1/2 oz. orange liquor

1 oz. San Pelligrino

Mix all the above together and pour over crushed ice.  Enjoy with a friend!

You know how some days your mind wanders back to what use to be?  Some days I find myself, as I know Chris Ann often does, thinking back to the days we were in the same neighborhood, in the same city.  We sometimes wonder how our friendship became so strong and precious.  We have traveled the world together, to places like Italy and Mexico.  We have shared gourmet meals and attended inspiring events together.  But, I think our friendship became what it is today because we have stood in life’s mud puddles together.

You see, when we lived in the same hood in Baltimore, we each had four kids under the age of 9.  Those were the sleep deprived days of two young moms who were trying to figure out this whole parenting thing.  We were in that stage of “mom fog” where, in all honesty, some days were just a blur and all about survival.  We were learning how to discipline, how to get our kids to eat healthy, what we would let them watch or not watch, how to navigate play dates…you name it.  We shared tips with one another as well as failures.  There were weeks we called “batten down the hatches” weeks…(actually, I think we called them army-drill camp week, yikes!) where that was code for, “I’m going off the grid to draw firm boundaries so I can reign in the behavior that has gotten off track.”  We knew what that meant.

There were days we’d pass each other in the morning in our respective Windstar mini vans…her’s was periwinkle blue, mine was silver…and wave to each other knowing full well we were both enjoying the silence of sleeping babies in the car.  It was a our coffee drive time.

I remember after we had attended a John Rosemond parenting conference, lights went off for both of us.  We discovered natural consequences and creative parenting.  Since creative is our middle names, we incorporated this quickly and couldn’t wait to share what we had discovered.   We discovered a new way of discipline that would keep our kids on their toes and us from losing our minds.

There was also the time when my husband had been unemployed for 5 months.  We couldn’t pay our mortgage let alone buy groceries.  Chris Ann was solo-parenting while her husband traveled for his job.  Chris Ann would come over in the afternoon with a bag of food, under the guise of, “Todd’s out of town.  Would you make me and my kids dinner? I’m too overwhelmed.”  Maybe it wasn’t a front.  She was feeding our family, just as we were feeding hers.  Neither of us could fix the situation the other was in, but we could get in the mud puddle together.

We became mud puddle friends.  We would change each other’s kid’s diapers, wash each other’s dishes, babysit with a last minute phone call, rip up carpet on whim and listen with open ears when the other had nothing left to do but cry.  We stood in that mud puddle and were willing to get dirty for the sake of the other.

Long gone are the day-to-day mud puddle moments. Now that we live in different cities, I look back and miss those days.  I’m not even sure we appreciated them for what they were. But, we do now.  We invested hard core, for years. Now, we treasure the moments we do get together.  They may seem a bit luxurious and like vacation whenever we are together, but I think our friendship has earned these moments.

(We’re in this journey for the long haul.)

Do you have a mud puddle friend?  We’d love to hear your story.

Baltimore.  It’s my city. I was born here.  I moved away many times, only to come back.  My family has a long history here in Baltimore.  My great grandfather was the head of the State’s Road Commission and helped design 695, the beltway around the city, the Harbor Tunnel, and BWI (now Thouroughgood Marshall Airport).  I love the people, the sights, the feeling, the vibe.  It’s a hard city.  It was ranked as the number 11th most dangerous cities in the US last year.  But, there is a feeling of hope emerging that says change is coming.  At least, that’s what my heart hears.  Some days that whisper is a quiet one and hard to discern.  Some days I choose to hear it, willing that voice to be louder.

I spent some time with Dee,  from Red Letter Words, and her husband, while I was at Relevant last year.  Somehow we started talking about Baltimore.  I shared with her about the crime, my work with under aged sex traffic victims and the hope I have for my city.  Look what she just sent me.  I love it!

Not only does it share some of Baltimore’s characteristics and culture, but she laced words of hope throughout the canvas.  Thank you Dee.

There is also a poem I wanted to share with you, written by a high school art student from  Baltimore School for the Arts.  Aaron is a theater major and has grown up in Baltimore.  He performed this at my son’s 16th birthday party and I had goose bumps.  I’m not the only one who has chosen to believe hope will emerge  in my city.

Goodmorning.

Goodmorning student body I embody everybody.   So when you call me the bomb I call you kamakazes because what makes me is what’s around me my surroundings.    Like if I were my ears all yall would be surround soundings.     But blasting 24/7 would be brothers in front of convenience stores conveniently storaging drugs up their socks as the cops soar.     And that racist 7-11 on harford and glenmore.     Yes I need more but I know what I’m fighting for.      So I close my eyes.     I’m not sleeping.     I’m just dreaming.     I pray 2 god “give me meaning because I am lost.”      Yes I’m lost and confused luck lost too soon.      But I know where I wanna go and I know where I’ve come from.      Even though I feel I can no longer run.     I once heard Sam Cooke say that a change gone come.      My grandmother always whispers in my ear that a change gone come.      So instead of running I walk and strive to keep a steady speed and stare up at the sky at this faceless creed.      I hate to bleed but that’s what I gave just to live out a dream.      So for you to tell me not to dream, don’t fly because I have no wings well that’s obscene because like a crack addict for these dreams I fene.      And I hold all of these dreams in my fist and all of me flows through my wrist and flows out like sierra mist and this fist isn’t pro-black, asian, white or muslim, christian, jew.      This fist is pro-you.      This fist is me too.      This fist represents those clenched jaws and tears choked back.      Or those mornings when you’d wake up and want to throw on a throw back just because it was comfortable.      And that’s the whole meaning of this poem it’s about just being comfortable.     Comfortable enough in your own skin where u know no more walls have to built, no more imaginary stilts, and no more letting your own flowers wilt.      And to those comments that are meant to knock you off your knees like “ugghh who u tryna be.”      I simply respond I’m not trying to be anyone.      I’m just simply being me.      Now would you rather my try to be you while you try to be mtv.”     And u see that’s when they start to sweat like it was some type of imaginary furnace and they’re considering scraping off their own epidermis because they don’t feel like their there temples have been furnished.      And I could turn this love into hate really quickly but in my gut it just don’t sit right because the darkness will consume you in the absence of light and my love goes back past slavery all the way back to mama africa and the fact that it’s still here today that’s the strength of my love.      And how I can love you while you’re hating me that’s the extent of my love.      It goes past arms length of my hugs.      I got these other people wishing that they could have a hint of my love.      So I guess this is my proclomation to say I’m sending love to the populations of people who are facing those obstacles that are amazing.

By Aaron Pashtun

Some of you know, we have been in an 8 month process of redefining our look for LoveFeast Table.  You see, when we started blogging 2 1/2 years ago, we thought we were going to write a cookbook.  That’s what started us on this blogging journey.  We had shared so many amazing meals around the table (over the 14 years we had been friends along with our growing families), we thought we wanted to document them.  We wanted to share not only the original recipes, but also capture the conversations that took place as well as the environment and overall feel that were part of the meal.  We looked at font after font that captured our feel and Kristin sketched it out.  We put a frame around it, because it was part of our story, and created our original logo:

We also picked a WordPress template (this one) because it was easy on the eyes.  We didn’t know about functionality or finding a site that would help clearly communicate who we were.  To be honest, the start of our blogging journey, was just the beginning of discovering who we were at LoveFeast Table and what we were trying to say.

Over time, we struggled to fit ourselves into a blogging genre.  We started with foodies.  Were we a food blog?  We featured recipes, meals and restaurant reviews.  But, we realized we had more to say.  We were the moms of  9 kids combined.  We had kids aging in range from 16 to 4.  Were we mom bloggers?  What about the part that we were both artists who are absolutely in love with anything that inspires.  We decorate, do projects, craft, paint and just plain love anything beautiful.  Were we home and garden bloggers?  We love throwing a party or creating multi course meals for friends.  Were we event planners?  Should we even be blogging since we love “In Real Life” time more?  Can you see our struggle?  Well, because we are dreamers and firmly believe in not boxing ourselves in, we decided we were all the above.  But, somehow, we realized, we needed to be able to better communicate that to you.

Fast forward to today.  We are working on a blog redesign that will clearly define who we are as a Lifestyle blog.  We are getting a new look.  Here’s a peek:

We have five categories we will be blogging under:

LOVE…This will include things we love…art, music, tablescaping, design, fashion, crafting projects, decor, Fancy Friday and bits & baubles.

FEAST…This includes meals, recipes, restaurant reviews, food toys and anything involving the art of eating.

TABLE…This is where we have a conversation.  We will feature guests that join us, interviews, stories about our friends, our journey and our community.

LIFE…This is about the experience.  Things like travel, events we attend, BlogLove Events, Love Bombing and giving back campaigns.

BOUTIQUE…This is our shop.  This shop will be filled with items we discover on our journey.  They are hand picked items that reflect our authentic journey.  These items will be featured in our shop as we discover them.  There may be a limited number of them or they may find a permanent place in our Boutique.  But, we promise they will be beautiful!

Some of you may have stopped over from Pioneer Woman’s site today.  Thank you for pulling up a chair and getting to know a little about us.  We hope you’ll come back again.  We love meeting new people!  If you want to connect a bit more and walk along side us on this journey, you can find us on twitter @LoveFeast, on facebook HERE and of course you can sign up for our RSS feed.

If you’ve come because you just love that necklace, you can click on SHOP or the necklace button on the side and you will be directed to our Boutique.  We love this necklace and know you will too!

Thanks for joining us at the Table!

Chris Ann & Kristin

On our family’s spring break vacation we got a chance to go back for a short visit to the Children’s Home & Community Center.  Kristin,  Devon, Todd and I got a chance to visit the Center back in October of last year when we took our trip to Azul Sensatori.  You can read a little about the history here.  Then, a few months later, Todd and I, along with some of the folks from the company he works for, came back in February and shared a wonderful meal of empandas and gave away some books to the surrounding community.

On this visit, I was anxious to show my kids a little bit of what we had experienced.  We had brought some books, toys and candies to give away.  I wanted to be able to give them an opportunity to see what we had gotten to see, expand their understanding and maybe get a chance to do the same.  I wanted my kids to remember their full stacked shelves of books.

When they saw this.

When we got to the Community Center, we discovered that the local pastor who oversees and works on this project, was there.  He gathered the chairs around and began to tell our children about the history of the area and this project.   Part of me was anxious to get going.  I had heard this story before.  I was anxious for an experience.  Something more tangible for my kids to do.   It didn’t quite work out that way.

Part of coming to another culture is respecting it.  Of listening.  Of knowing.  So, my kids listened to the stories of this elder.  Stories about the jungle and machetes, tigers, people and how he came to share his story with the people who lived in this area.  This was not a movie.  This was someone’s life.  This was about someone who has given up his life for greater purposes.

After we listen to the history and story, we got some refreshments from the canteen by the pool.

The pastor walked us around the grounds so that we could see the progress.  This center is going up year by year, brick by brick as funds are available.

We stopped for a picture.

We looked at the upper level addition, on top of the future kitchen.

Can you imagine this is a kitchen for a community?

This is the blank canvas waiting to be made into something.  This is what Kristin and I see when we look at this.  We know, step by step, anything can happen!  That has been our journey on this blog.  When we see this empty cinder block shell, we see potential, we see ideas!  We hope you stick around and dream with us!!  It may be some time down the road ~ but we hope to help see this room through, into it’s future!

Then, we took a walk around the shanty town.  There is rubble from the clearing and building everywhere.

We didn’t have time to give out our books or toys.  That wasn’t what happened this trip.  They would be given out by the Mexican church that reaches out to this community.  That wasn’t my original plan.   Turns out this visit was about looking, listening and learning.  And, it was about knowing.  And, even if that wasn’t my plan.

I am sure it was meant to be.

There’s a lot of plates of this and that serving up on LoveFeast Table right now.  First off we have a necklace winner, then some reminders AND most importantly a head’s up to our GETAWAY with ONE OF OUR READERS!!  So, check out the current “table talk”…

We are happy to announce that the winner of our LoveFeast Table Mother’s Tree of Life Necklace Giveaway is Anna from Girl With Blog.  She was chosen out of 8 bloggers who wrote about the latest BlogLove event, Spark & Style event sponsored by Therapon Skin.  Anna was the first blogger to buy a ticket for Spark & Style   She has been so supportive of our LoveFeast endeavors ~ we were happy that Random.org randomly chose her to win our necklace!  Anna is a lovely and beautiful blogger who is currently mama to one puppy.

No matter, this necklace is beautiful just as she is!

We are going to have the Mother’s Tree of Life necklace in our LoveFeast boutique (hopefully by the end of this week!) ~just in time for Mother’s Day.   Check back and see!

Also~ there’s been a little talk on Twitter among Minnesota bloggers about the Savvy MN event Savvy In The City.  Savvy MN gave LoveFeast Table readers a special discount code: Savvy_lovefeast to get $10 off the ticket price.  You can get tickets for the Savvy In The City event here.

And, let’s talk about this!!  LoveFeast girls are going to be meeting up again (someplace other than a dark alley in Baltimore)!!  This time in Louisville, Kentucky!!  We’re heading to the GE Momsperience!  But, here’s the scoop!!  We get to bring ONE OF OUR READERS with us!!!  That could be you!  Check back tomorrow to find out more!!  And, check your calendars for May 15-17!

And, finally Fancy Friday this Friday is all about “Spring Sprucing”!  Have a tip, project or inspiration you would like to share?  Come back Friday when we get inspired around sprucing for spring!!  (That just may be a fancy way to say spring cleaning! LOL)

That’s what’s on our table?  What’s on yours?

Chris Ann and I dared one another to post our 80′s pictures.  I accepted.  You see,  I “did” the 80′s. Most of my friends were “80′s prep“.  They wore shaker knit sweaters with matching socks that were exposed by the tightly folded and rolled jeans.  Not me!  After all, I was an artist.  I identified with Molly Ringwald and knew that my layers of color and bits and pieces would be pulled off with flair.  I did 80′s punk…(or so I thought).

You’re right if you analyzed the above photo and zoned in on the JAMS.  I had at least three “real” pairs (with actual JAMS labels).  I bought them at a new surf shop and found them next to the OP’s.

After school, I’d run up to my room and put on this CD. It was the first CD I ever owned.

Here’s a confession…I owned one of these and thought somehow I had created a Molly/Joan Jett look.

Then if I remember correctly, I wore it with red leggings that were covered in pink polka dots.  (I’m putting it all out there now.)

My prom was all about gold lamay.  My dress was really close to these.  I wore matching gold pumps and earring and hair teased to the nines.

Writing this, I am laugh-crying at how bad it was.  How is this post even fancy enough for FancyFriday?  Fancy Friday is supposed to inspire you, right?  Well, while we were at Houndstooth, I couldn’t help but see a relationship with some of the current styles.  Bright colors.  High wasted jeans.  Jelly shoes…albeit classy ones with heels.  I even leaned over to DJ Kane at one point and said, “Some of that mix includes tunes from my high school days.”  (He was sweet, and with the kindness of someone from a younger generation, said, “Well, that’s actually part of a current remix.”  Duh! I thought.  I hear it daily with my teenagers…have I really gotten that old?…sorry, I digress.)

Back to Fancy, if I were to recreate our BlogLove Event, around the 80′s theme, I would’ve made sure that instead of a DJ, we would’ve arranged a real life air band with a lip syncing front man.  (Another confession…I actually organized an entire air band concert with multiple performers.)   It would’ve been gnarly.  For party favors, how cool would it have been to give each of our guests a “Where’s the Beef” Tee?

Seriously, Houndstooth, if you carried them, they’d fly off the shelves.  Our invites would have been designed by Barbara Kruger and had a message like this:

Then of course, we also could’ve taken cues from Pee Wee and had the invite say, “I know you are but what am I?”  Our signature cocktail would’ve included Boone’s Farm in the mix.

As you can see, I could totally go off on an 80′s tangent but, I thought it would be fun to see how Fancy you can get with your 80′s flashback.  So, leave a comment with your favorite 80′s memory, or if you want a totally therapeutic and Back to the Future kinda experience, then write a post and link up.  It’ll be like totally awesome dude!