we’re a fast-moving, jam-packed people.  no matter how often i remind myself to slow down and stay put, we always seem to be trying to cram more in.  and that means we get to host out of towners and go on adventures and celebrate with the people that we care about and eat good food and host memorable gatherings but it also means that we’re busy and scheduled and rarely spontaneous.

so this weekend, was kind of like our unicorn.

it was for ordered-in sushi, strawberry picking with a group of mamas and kiddos, crocheting and eating donuts, a kiddo and daddy train ride to the big city that included hotdog AND chocolate, a family date night at ketch joannes, ABN’s margaritas, a pre-dinner hike, homemade garlic chicken, sleeping in and naps for everyone, mid-day reading, hot tubbing, toddler singing, workout dvds, extended grocery shopping, sunflower planting, and tea drinking…

because we so often travel for a long weekend, we tend to “miss” the extra day off. it was so special to wake up on monday and to not have to move or do.

a simple weekend for the 3 of us. so very special indeed.

i’m writing from the back deck.  the sun is shining on my shoulders, clean and dry after a morning at the beach and a post-sand shower with the little one.  she’s blowing bubbles at maniac speed, as i type and sip on my arnold palmer.  i always thought an arnold palmer included vodka – and since it’s after 5 (barely) i’ve decided to make my definition a reality.  a few weeks ago ABN worked his magic on my phone, making it so that i could use it to connect my computer to the internet when wireless isn’t available.  and the problem i’ve always had with “working” from my beck deck is that our house signal was never strong enough.  problem solved.

the house next door to us, to the right if you’re facing the street, the left if you are facing our house, is sunshine yellow with mandarin orange trim and pansy purple accents.  in addition to its multi-generational inhabitants with a lineage way more complicated than i can understand, it also houses an rv parked in the driveway, a school bus between the early morning pick-up and late afternoon drop-off and a couple of rowdy pigs who squeal and argue with the dogs that live there too.  in our first few months living in our home, when adults still attempted naps due to a baby that kept odd hours, we’d giggle in response to the raucous, sure we’d never heard dogs, of any breed, that made such a noise, and hypothesizing they must be wild boars.  never to imagine we were right.

anyway,this long drawn out story, and scene really, is just to say…EBN, between blows directed at her orange bubble wand, asks, “what’s that?” in response to hearing the snorting and squealing on the other side of the fence.  “what’s that,” is one of her current catch phrases.  she has many.  to her question i respond, it’s the pigs honey.  we can go meet them if you want (please say no.).  “no mommy,” she says, “not piggies.  it’s lions.”

at this point, nothing would surprise me.

after the craziness that was passover, the next thing on my never-ending list of things to do, was to get my office back to working order.

over the last several months it’s become a dumping ground – for yarn, for unfinished art projects, for supplies.  it went from being semi-usable to a source of stress in what felt like 10 seconds flat and it was just easier to keep the door closed and pretend that room didn’t exist at all.

but with views like this it’s a hard room to ignore.  and did i mention there’s a door?  i crave a space to call my very own.

feeling frustrated that in a house with so much space, increasingly there are spaces (my office, the entire basement) that we are not making use of, mostly because of clutter and disorganization.

so this past weekend, ABN and i rolled up our sleeves and 1st took on the basement (which took a grand total of an hour and a half…oops) and then i headed into my office and went to town.  thanks to a trip to ikea for yarn storage essentials and ABN’s help with technology (i really like having the monitor up here and using my laptop as if it were a desktop) the space came together really quickly.  it’s not my dream work space – missing the aesthetic that i covet from afar.  but it’s clean and everything seems to have a place. add a few fresh flowers, a glass of wine, folk music and pictures of the people i love (including NKOTB) and i’m pretty satisfied.

so for weeks leading up to passover i’d been talking about trying to squeeze 36 people (including 2 toddlers) into my house.  i ordered the chairs.  i made a seating chart AND name-cards…errr…name-frogs!  but the day of, it just wasn’t lining up.  no matter where i put people, something was off.  my mom weighed in, as did my aunt linda.  we turned tables around to try to squeeze everyone in and make it work.  and then i called in the big guns – ABN.  what on earth was i doing wrong?  why did my place-cards and chairs not match up?  because my total count was 38 – not 36.  oops.

but as i said from the start – when celebrating freedom, the more the merrier.  and a merry group we were.  the next day i got an email from our neighbor saying never had he known a seder to be so raucous.  me either.  but 26 bottles of wine later….:

i think it’s safe to say my kid is obsessed with passover.  also, she did the 1st question.  yep – basically i’m ready to pack it all in and call it a day because all of my mommy fantasies have now been fulfilled.  and ABN gets full credit.  actually, my friend ELLIE gets full credit because forever ago she told me that we should start practicing right after the high holy days.  and so it became part of the nightly routine.  along with saying sh’ma.  now that passover is over, EBN still likes to say the 1st question before hitting the hay.   old habits die hard.

did you notice the run dmc-esque chains of oppression?  a few other highlights that are not pictured: beating each other with fresh scallions, making use of EBN’s musical instruments, the purple horseradish i made my dad trek from the east coast (you can’t find it around these parts), a rocking rendition of down by the riverside (there was a lot of singing), and my dad’s chocolate dipped macaroons (not paleo).

i’ve gotten a ton of questions about how one pulls off a multi-course sit-down dinner for 36 38 people and so next week i’ll be back with some tips and tricks i learned along the way (i’m working on ABN and the idea of a second oven).  in the meantime, passover at the BN house is the hottest ticket in town.  reserve your space for next year before it’s too late!

i know, it’s been more than a week since we sat down around the seder table, and i’m just getting ready to share.  my office still looks like a bomb went off, the shelves are oveflowing, the floor is covered with frogs and masks and musical instruments and the top of my desk is stacked high with various haggadahs and readings i need to file away for next year.  i’ll get to it eventually.

for now, you’ve waited patiently so i’ll throw a boat-load of photos your way.  this is all leading up to the START of the actual seder.  get ready for photo-overload, you’ve been warned:

yes, our guests all had a final beer or a glass of scotch upon arrival, before kicking off the seder.  and yes i did a final facebook post just as things were getting started.  and yes, my 95 1/2 year old grandfather made the trip north – along with my grandma, my uncles and aunts and 90% of my cousins.  our friends filled the rest of the room and EBN’s bff was there too!  and yes, 36 adults went through 26 bottles of wine.  and yes, the tables were the most beautiful tables (complete with slap bracelets and bouncing frogs and fresh flowers and crocheted table cloths and hidden easter eggs – that i ever did see.

pretty epic indeed.

check out part II later this week…

i’ve mentioned before that in the next few months ABN and i plan to get started on a fairly significant (for us, who haven’t painted a single wall) home improvement project.  priority #1 is to re-do our basement space.  we already have a half bath down there but we need to make it full.  and while the space is technically “finished” we need to add heat and flooring and probably a couple of walls to better divide what we’ve got.  ideally there will be a kids room down there as well as a guest room.

i want to keep the space as white as possible so that over time EBN and her friends can leave their mark. i want spaces for chill-axing and spaces for creating. and a chalkboard wall. and a tippee. you know, just the essentials. our upstairs bedrooms are small so we knew from the time we moved in we wanted to create a downstairs space where the kiddos could be. i like to think about EBN having friends over at the last minute. and ordering them pizza. and sitting on the couch upstairs with ABN, sipping a glass of wine, knowing they are in my home, and safe.