Wednesday Five - 8

Happy August everyone! 

The weather has finally turned around here. Last week was rainy, often down pouring, for the entire week. And, bonus, it was also SUPER hot. The classic New England recipe for extreme humidity (aka bad hair days). 

1. The good news about all the rain was that it didn't matter when I forgot to water my garden (which was every other day)...you know me and my black thumb. And so, come the weekend, I had quite the harvest. Some zucchinis, some cucumbers and lots of carrots. Which had me wondering if there was anything useful I could do with all my carrot greens (the stems of the carrots). Do you ever use carrot greens for anything? It felt so wrong to just throw them out.

2. All the rain also required some creativity when it came to indoor activities. There was definitely some running around in the rain (with and without umbrellas), but I quickly ran through my indoor activity staples - fort building, board game playing and movie watching - and needed to hit up my reserves. I wanted to share a few less common rainy day activities that entertain my daughters (ages 3 and 5) without fail.

- Story Pirates podcast - This kids' podcast so good. I truly enjoy when my kids want to listen. We have an Amazon Echo in the kitchen and they love sitting at the island and listening as the hosts sing and perform plays based on stories written by little kids. It also inspires the kids to write stories of their own.

- Cosmic Kids Yoga - This is a youtube series of kids yoga classes. Each class is the plot of a movie your kids love (Frozen, Trolls, Minecraft, etc.) set to yoga poses. The host, a really enthusiastic British woman who even dresses up in character now and then, tells the plot as a story and incorporates simple but real yoga poses.

- Tinkerlab:  A Hands-On Guide for Little Inventors - This is a great book of science experiments, recipes and art projects that you've never heard of or even thought of. They're mostly simple and almost always involve things you already have around your house (i.e. salt or toilet paper rolls). 

3. White wine slushies. They're trending on Pinterest. I've never had one, but I'm intrigued. I found a great recipe from Modernly Morgan that involves frozen grapes...which I love because half the grapes I buy always go to waste. The whole family scarfs the first half on the day they come home from the grocery store and then the second half just sits...and sits...and sits...until they are gross and squishy and end up in the trash. I'm checking into this recipe this weekend. I'll keep you posted...

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4. Speaking of summer drinks...don't you just want to lounge here and have one?   

5. We're back on Instagram with a new and very important poll: do you use the phrase "dog pile" or "pig pile" to refer to people jumping into a big pile on top of each other? This, admittedly, is the least interior design relevant poll we have ever taken. But it is also the MOST important poll we have ever taken as it will settle a long lasting debate...like decade long...between myself and my husband. Please head over to our Instagram account and vote (the poll is in our story). Or leave a comment here. Or something. The more evidence...the better...

Until next Wednesday!

- Leah

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Wednesday Day Five - 7

Happy Wednesday everyone! If you're new to the Gray Oak Studio blog, every Wednesday I round up thoughts, happenings and inspiration from the prior week. Everything from what Sonia and I are reading to new recipes we're trying. And, of course, interior design ideas and behind the scenes scoop on our personal and client projects. 

So, let's get to it.

1. We love Instagram polls. We're kind of developing an obsession. If you haven't noticed, we've been polling our Instagram followers (via Instastories)...a lot. It's just so fun. A couple week's back I asked about Bachelorette viewership...those results disappointed me greatly. Turns out I'm one of the few who tunes in on Monday nights. This past week, I asked whether traffic going to vacation was worse than traffic coming home from vacation. And Sonia took a poll about the size of art above a bed. Close calls on both.

2. Speaking of polls...if you've been following along, I very recently installed barn doors in my house. They're amazing. I adore them in a normal/extreme way. The one thing left to complete the project is to add handles. And I can't decide which I love more. So...poll time. Obviously. Because the collective opinion is always greater than the solo opinion. Unless I disagree with the collective opinion...but let's assume I won't. HA.

Here are the final 3 options. I'm going to resist my instinct to describe each option because that could possibly sway your opinion or reveal mine. So, what do you think? Leave a comment or head over to our instastory and vote!

3. Being the mom of young girls, I find myself in the loop of mini lady fashion trends. So, animal face knee socks are the hotness. Apparently. If you don't know what I mean, check it out. 

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And if you now need these for your little one. I found them on Amazon. Ordered them. And gifted them to one of my favorite little ladies last week. 

4. A while back I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that supports kitchen tables over kitchen islands. Technically, the article argues that kitchen islands are ruining America...which may take it a bit far, in my humble opinion. But, the overarching idea really resonated with me. I've always been someone who feels it's important to sit at a table for family meals and face one another and talk about our day and be, for lack of a better work, traditional about it. Then, Young House Love Has a Podcast discussed the article a couple weeks ago and it had me thinking about it all over again. Sherry and John do their family meals at an island, but they also agreed with some of what the article presented. I'm still on the side of tables over islands, but I'm curious as to what others think. Does your kitchen have an island? Could you live without it? 

If I were to go island-less...this is a sort of fantastic way to go...

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5. This weekend will be the 4th annual block party for my neighborhood. My kids look forward to the annual block party almost as much as they do their own birthdays. It means hours of play with their besties, unregulated sugar consumption and late bedtimes. As part of the planning committee, I mostly hope it doesn't thunderstorm...which is the current forecast. I'm also curious how others run their neighborhood parties. We haven't quite figured out a formula for maximum attendance and maximum enjoyment. If you have any suggestions by way of planning, food, entertainment...anything...I would love your input. 

Until next week!

- Leah

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Wednesday Five - 6

My head is still spinning from all the shopping I did this week. My wallet is also spinning...spiraling...empty...something to that effect. If you missed our Nordstrom Anniversary Sale round-ups, check them out (here and here) because the sale continues through August 6th!!!

1. Sonia is in Bermuda. And I'm jealous. Through the wonders of Instagram, she connected with an amazing follower who was born in Bermuda and who gave her a bunch of travel suggestions. I mean - how cool!!! I will try to convince her to give us a quick blog post about her adventure when she returns. In the meantime, check out our Instagram and Facebook accounts and you too can feel jealous.

2. I have new barn doors in my house. And I'm quite obsessed with them. The journey to install them was...miserable. But they're up and I love them. I. Love. Them. I'm not 100% sure on what pulls I want, so stay tuned. When I narrow it down to my favorite 2 options, I'll do a poll on our Instagram stories to see whatcha think.

3. There's already an "it" color for 2019. Seriously. Even we can't keep up with this stuff, and it's our job. The color is Night Shade and it's a deep green. It makes sense. We've been seeing the full range of green in all sorts of spaces, most notably on kitchen cabinets. Everything from sage to emerald. So, if you want to be ahead of the trend, go green.

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4. Despite the fabulous summer reading list I heard on NPR, I ended up reading Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis (I'm only a few chapters in) . A friend gave it to me with a pretty good recommendation. Before diving in, I can honestly say I had never heard of Rachel Hollis. I may have been the last person on Earth because it turns out she's kind of a big deal. So, anyway, I'm enjoying it. It's sort of self-help-ish and girl power-ish and funny-ish. All the good ishes. And each chapter is a story to itself, so you can read it in short chunks without it being annoying. So far, so good.

5. Can anyone confirm for me that Katie Holmes and Jamie Foxx were/are a thing? I caught a headline this week that said they were on the rocks. Well, I didn't know they were ever confirmed as a couple. So, I did what any reasonable person would do and I Googled it. I found a timeline of their mysterious relationship on a very reputable website (Us Magazine). And now, I feel even more unsure that they ever had a relationship that may or may not have ended.

Have a great rest of your week!

- Leah

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