egg hunting

Egg Hunting

Moms buy the candy.

Dads hide the eggs.

Kids find the eggs.

Moms hide the candy

from the kids

and themselves.

 

colored eggs

egg dyeing. 
totally remember this as a kid. 
newspaper on the table. 
3 excited kids on their knees, leaning in. 
always paas. 
smell of vinegar. 
little colorful tablets. 
individual color cups. 
the wire egg dipper/lifter. 
waiting and watching colors grow deeper. 
invisible words magically appearing.  
dipping and redipping. 
half pink half purple. 
stained fingertips. 
oh how i love making the same memories with my girls.

Saint Pattys

As a kid, I dreamed about Shamrock Shakes, the ones that make their debut but once a year on that speical Irish holiday.  I think once my mom let go of her extremely healthy family nutrition plan (you know the one where you make your own peanut butter and yogurt and replace all chocolate for carob?) and caved in to our pleas.  So today in honor of Saint Patrick himself, I treated the girls to their very first (but surely not last) Shamrock Shake.  I tried to convince them that leprechauns sneak into McDonald's and make all the shakes green on Saint Patrick's day but they were too smart for that old line.  Leprechauns or not, they sucked those babies down in no time flat.  And I must say they're even better than when I was a kid- topped off with whipped cream and a cherry.  Now that's a Happy Saint Patty's Day for sure.

And the daffodils look lovely today...

I love spring for lots of reasons (since we've had several very warm days I've now officially declared it spring).  One is flowers.  For sure my faves are raunculas, dahlias, and daffodils.  So in honor of my self pronounced begining of spring I brought home 3 bunches of daffys from Vons this week.  It is so amazing to see how simple green stalks, that could have easily been mistaken for green onions or even asparagus, can turn into these amazingly delicate, simply beautiful flowers. 

Here's 2 views of my spring beauties...you may notice some differences between the two...same spot, same light, same camera...different lens! You've got to get yourself a 50mm fixed lens if you don't have one for your DSLR.  They aren't expensive and make a world of difference in your photos.   I promise you will love it as much as I do.

 

50mm fixed 

28-90mm zoom

PS: Bonus points to anyone who recognizes the title of this post and names the song the lyrics come from...

Springtime at the cliffs

Every spring the flowers at Sunset Cliffs bloom and create the most amazing sight. Just months ago they were dead looking sticks poking out of the ground with no sign of life in them. But after spring rain and sunshine, the blooms are reborn. How incredible that something so beautiful can come from something seemingly dead and worthless.

Spring Has Sprung

Saturday was the official start of Spring. I had great plans to go to Home Depot and buy some new flowers for the yard and plant them with the girls in celebration. But Saturday came and went and no trip to Home Depot. No worries, we'll just enjoy the neighbors flowers until we can get some of our own.