Only... if....

A few days ago I came across this post about not having goals is actually a good thing. The idea of creating an authentic path of life by doing "only" what feels passionate stuck with me.

These days my time is extremely limited.

Well... let me rephrase it. I still have the same 24 hours/day as I have always had but the "me time" is almost non existent. So when I encounter the rare moments when things are quiet and I have two free hands, I have to think really really hard and ask myself "what do I want to do??" I can get items from my to-do list crossed off... or I can follow my heart and do what I feel passionate.

Since I read the post, I have been consciously choosing my heart over the status quo. I believe if I keep doing things I love, it will eventually add up to become something great... even though the single setting is less than 10 minutes at a time...

If you can choose what you are going to do in the next free time..., what will you be doing?

{this moment} friday

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. – SouleMama

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am I the only one who just realized that the summer is here??? (and I know I am cheating by posting two pics... but I couldn't let neither of them go)

Satchi's corner

I love re-decorating satchi's corner.

When little-roo and I hang out, we spend a lot of time walking back and fourth around this little corner. I share stories about these beautiful goodies. It's so much fun to interact with the almost two months old baby. I can tell that she understands me more and more everyday and tries to talk to me with her big eyes. I also love how "girl appropriate" this corner looks and feels. There is something so soft and warm about it... Don't you think...?


I spelled s-a-t-c-h-i with ABC cards by Julie Morstad. They are taped with mt tape so no holes from push pins. (we are trying so hard not to put anything permanently on the wall... and using mt tape turned out to be a great solution!) I am looking forward to spelling new words every so often to keep things fresh. Thank you Angie so much for these fun cards.
p.s. I am going to be lining up these beautiful mt tape in baum-kuchen shop soon! I am super excited:)

This is Satchi's first shoe correction:) I am absolutely in love with tiny shoes... In a month or so, I can put these on her when we go out for urban adventure! One on the left is from my friend in Spain... beautifully crochet. My best friend Penelope gave the middle pair to Satchi. They are handmade by Gracious May. I love the combination of the soft felt and leather on the bottom. Very very cozy... The right pair was another gift from Angie. I want to say that she got them in Paris while she was there for study. Beautiful flower pattern...

Then there are two lovely art work specially designed for Satchi. One on the left is Satchi's birthday painting given by Heidi, her grandmother in Germany. Hubby and I have our own birthday paintings also painted by Heidi and have them hang above our bed next to each other... I love that Satchi's birthday painting has so much more pink in it than ours... Art work on the right is designed by our friend Courtney. (She and her husband were our amazing wedding photographers. We've been friends since then:) Isn't it cool to have her own logo designed before she was born??? Satchi is going to be such a designer:) I also love the way Heidi's painting and Courtney's logo aesthetically synchronizes with each other (total coincidence!!) We have such a talented artists among friends and families...

We also now have a "pacifier spot" for placing clean pacifiers. I was not a huge fun of pacifiers when we first started using it... but sometimes baby needs something to soothe with. It is placed on one of the WASARA, beautifully designed paper plate.

garden(ing)

When we moved into this 1940's house a few months ago, the garden we inherited was... very empty. I don't think that the previous owner tended the garden very much. We had some old trees including a beautiful palm tree and a very open canvas in front of us.

So we are making some small progress one weekend at a time. We figured that whatever we end up doing with the garden, we will need tons of fertile soil. So the first project was to build a compost made of found materials. Then a series of baby succulents was planted in the front yard... along with some fruit trees in the back and edibles on the side of the kitchen. Last weekend was all about trimming the overgrown trees. These projects were mostly done by hubby but I participate with watering the newly planted trees whenever I find time. I also talk to these trees when little roo and I take a walk through the yard. (weird??? maybe a little.)

We're finding out that working with dirt can be very healing and meditating. It's a project with an end goal in mind with a very organic process.

We have a (very) long way to go... but we got time:)

garden to table

Thanks to the very hot days in California..., basil which I planted a while back next to our tiny kitchen has started to grow. These fresh basil is our first success of growing edible plants!! My anxious hubby would like to turn the whole yard into a edible garden but this is a very good start. Small but promising!

Nothing like enjoying a fresh harvest from our own garden:)

spontaneous baking

In our household, the random has become normal. Our non-schedule weekend with our little roo...we are learning to get through a day with flow...

This afternoon, there was a moment of calmness... an window of opportunity to do something I wanted to do by myself. So I rushed to What Katie Ate, one of my favorite cooking blogs.

I knew we had a bucket full of blueberry in our refrigerator so there was no question but to make the blueberry crumble!

It was simple, easy and tasty. It only took me about 15 minutes to prep the dish. (perfect timing before little roo started fussing). Baked in the oven for 45 minutes... Our house was filled with the sweet smell of baked butter.

We ended up eating the dessert before dinner. Sometimes that's okay on Sunday:)

clothes swap

After a week full of crying baby, hubby is giving extra "papa hands" this weekend... so I am having a few chunks of time between feedings to get things done around my real and online homes.

It's nice...

One of many things I've been dying to tackle for a while is getting my summer clothes out from the box that has been sitting in the garage forever. Even after having satchi, I've been wearing a lot of maternity outfits since they were all I had in my closet. It made things simple and it wasn't like satchi cared how mama looked in the mirror. She still gave me lots of love even when I looked sort of like "whatever". But now she has turned 6 week old, we're ready to start venturing out to the world. Maybe to a park... to friend's house... possibly to a farmer's market?? I also have a few appointments this coming week which I will need to go alone.

So it was time for a fashion show! I went through every single clothes and tried them on to see what fits and what doesn't. Well... turned out that I have another inch or so to shrink before I can fit in 2/3 of my pants collection. But I have enough to enjoy some variety in my closet. I love it!

Today we're off to Renegate Craft Fair. I had fun going through my new set of clothes to pick what I wanted to dress up with!!!

Slowly...

I hope you're enjoying your weekend... There is something about weekend morning... the world feels quieter, slower and calmer. Even my little one seems to enjoy the weekend more (or she just likes the extra snug time with mama and papa in the morning). I love being surrounded by the morning light coming through the window. It's pure and dreamy.... and makes everything look little softer and more comfortable. It's good to slow down...

bottle keep

If you go to a Japanese restaurant or a bar and order a bottle of wine (or sake), you have a choice of finishing the whole bottle or save the rest for your next visit. It's a Japanese custom called "bottle keep" to save unfinished bottles with customers' name on it so that the customer can come back to finish the rest.

With our recent happy occasion (hello baby girl:), we received some gifts in bottles. So we came up with a simple and easy way to honor our friends and their love by starting our own bottle keep collection. For some bottles... we're waiting to get together with the friend who gave us the bottle. For others we're going to pop them for special occasions (baby's 2 months birthday??) and give toast for our friendship.

Cheers to that!
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we used Uni POSCA white, medium line. they are great in writing on dark surfaces!

making "rumtopf"

Making rumtopf must be our favorite "delayed gratification". We got this recipe from the German family. It's quite simple to make... all you need is fruit (1lb), sugar(1/2lb) and high percentage rum (fill it up to the top of the jar after you put fruit and sugar). You mix them all, wait for 6 months... and voila! You will have great rum based fruit toppings to enjoy with vanilla ice cream, chocolate cake... It's also great to add to the sponge cake as it gives amazing "grown up" flavor. We gave away a few as recent birthday gifts. I think it looks great with a simple paper wrap + stamped name + red twine. Date stamp helps recipients to know when they should open the jar to indulge...
p.s. The twine is coming super handy recently. I am thinking of adding some of the selected colors (definitely red&white as one) to the shop!

{baum-kuchen love} weck jar + hooray

{photo from hooray}
I'm so delighted to see Alli at hooray was able to use the weck jar which she ordered from our shop. It became a part of her beautiful father's day gift. If you have a chance, check out her blog where you can find a plenty of design inspiration as well as her newly opened shop! I love the sense of her style. So airy and full of optimism.

open sky work

When weather (and the temperature) permits, it's so refreshing to work outside! I love a little corner in our backyard where we have a shade for a very long time in the morning. Trays in all different shapes/sizes come handy for the occasion. I can take all the work related items on one tray and some snacks to munch on the other tray. It only takes me a few trips to set up the work station!

make it pretty

Going with the spirit of 'art in giving', I had tons of fun making this personal gift wrap for my friend Susan's birthday. I think using a simple box as a starting point made the personal message to stand out. I used alphabetical stamps to spell out the message and colored masking tape from mt to create colorful borders and string from Divine Twine to spice up the box.

To be honest, it took all day to get from the first picture to the last one... since I was multitasking with my little baby. But in a very normal circumstance, it would be a very simple way to make a gift little prettier and much more personal!

balance

...constantly striving for the balance between digital and analogue...

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you can fnd a {white mug} similar to ones in the photos at baum-kuchen shop.
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fresh harvest

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you can fnd {janaer glas storage jar} similar to ones in the photos at baum-kuchen shop.
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art in giving

did you pack your eggs?

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you can fnd {kitchen linen} similar to ones in the photos at baum-kuchen shop.
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cake is love

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you can fnd {weck jars} similar to ones in the photos at baum-kuchen shop.
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