Things to Love, Take Two

June 24, 2010January 14, 2013 ~ ejmcewan ~ Leave a comment

Four quick things I’m crazy about these days:

I saw these featured on a blog a few months ago, though I can’t remember which one. I am a fan of the old-school marks on the wall to measure a child’s growth, but I understand that not every parent wants to make marks on their walls. (Heck, my dad would have never done it.) For parents like that (or for folks who want a growth chart they can take with them when they move), this is a great option. And, unlike most growth charts, it isn’t painted to look like a cartoon frog or tree or anything like that. Classic. I like that.

Little Sapling Toys–

This Etsy store is full of great wooden toys–from teething rings like the Ohio state one pictured here to toy cars, peg boards, and rocking horses. Aren’t they adorable? The store is family-owned and they claim to plant a tree for every toy sold. Even their photos are beautiful!

BLDGBLOG.blogspot.com–

The Building Blog is a collection of “Architectural Conjecture, Urban Speculation, and Landscape Futures.” The writer, a gentleman named Geoff Manaugh, collects stories, articles, and photos from across the world. I can’t figure out exactly what he’s most interested in writing about, but I love it all. Some posts are building and architecture-related; some are more anthropological or sociological. I found the blog linked from another that I frequent. The story was about The Duplicative Forest in Oregon and you can read it here.

Minihipster.com

Okay. So, ignore the language. Ignore the pretentious fashion culture. And ignore, for a moment, the fact that the clothing on some of these kids means that their parents have either too much money or too much time on their hands (or both). Just pay attention to how awesome these kids look. Seriously. I was the least-cool kid in the world before I entered middle school. And, even then, I was a weird, eccentric thrift-store junky with no concept of color or texture. (And I’ll openly admit that it’s easier to dress my son than it is to dress myself most days.) Unlike me as a child, the kids featured on this blog/site are super hip and super cute.

Enjoy!

Summer in the City

June 13, 2010January 14, 2013 ~ ejmcewan ~ 2 Comments

Between buying a house, packing up our apartment, wrapping up the busy season at work, my husband beginning his busy season at work, and taking care of my mother in-law after spine surgery, blogging hasn’t been a priority in the McEwan house.

But.

I wanted to take at least a moment to share my favorite things about summers in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Tall Stacks Festival–
Tall Stacks is supposed to happen every three or four years, but hasn’t happened since 2006 and can’t find any information about when we can expect the next festival. The festival features national, regional, and local music acts, loads of expressions of Ohio river culture, and appearances by dozens of fabulous riverboats. Highlights from 2006: Heartless Bastards, Wilco, Medeski Martin & Wood, Over the Rhine, Blind Boys of Alabama, and Rosanne Cash. I sure hope they schedule another one soon… (Does anyone know any insider information about this?)

Fountain Square–
Cincinnati really does it up on the Square during the summer. There are public events scheduled nearly around the clock, with everything from family-friendly movie nights to wine tastings. You can expect live music nearly every night of the week (Friday nights courtesy of Midpoint Music Festival) and some days during the lunch hour (I’ll be playing an Acoustic Thursday on August 26th). It’s nice to know that I can walk down to Fountain Square on any given day and find tons of people milling around. The energy is infectious.

Kayaking on the Little Miami–
Although I haven’t been since my son was born, taking a day-long kayak trip down the river is easily one of my top five favorite summer activities. I don’t have my own boat, but I have rented multiple times from Morgan’s Canoe Livery and have always been pleased (though the price has increased quite a bit since my first time five years ago). Does anyone else have a favorite Livery?

Backpacking at the Red River Gorge–
Confession: I’ve never been to the Gorge in the Summer, but I’m sure it’s just as fantastic as it’s been in the Spring. If you’re looking for a nice extended weekend backpacking trip within a few hour drive, it can’t be beat. And if backcountry camping is not your bag, you can find rental cabins with basic amentities to soften the wilderness experience. Try Red River Gorgeous on for size.

Local State Parks–
Growing up in Chicago, with the beautiful Lake Michigan in the city and (seemingly) millions of fresh water lakes within driving distance, lake culture is in my blood. Since I can’t drive the 6 hours to Michigan where my family has a small summer cottage, it’s nice to have other lakes nearby. The only one I’ve spent a decent amount of time at is at Caesar Creek State Park, where the beach is clean and swimming-friendly, if a bit cold. A lot of my friends frequent East Fork State Park, as well. (There was a national rowing regatta held there last weekend. How cool is that?)

The Public Library–
I know that the library is not a particularly summer activity, but hot summers do give me a new appreciation for the downtown library’s convenient, walkable location and it’s air conditioned comfort. It’s the perfect place to pop-in during a hot walk downtown, use the bathroom, change a diaper, and see what’s new on the shelves. They just held their summer Friends of the Library book sale, which was awesome. (Sorry if you missed it!)

Biking to work–
I’ll admit it–I’m a fair weather bicyclist. But, since I live a mile from my office, I have absolutely no excuse to drive to work unless necessary. Since the onset of Spring, I’ve walked or biked to work about 80% of the time and it’s proven to be a great decision. Not only do I get some exercise, but I get to see bits and pieces of downtown in a way I wouldn’t if I was driving. And, I actually save a bit of time when I ride my bike since I don’t have to worry about finding free parking near City Hall. (Parking tickets suck.) I hope I can continue this into the Fall (and Winter?).

gratisfest–
Gratisfest is like that favorite coffeeshop that you love too much to keep secret, but way too much to tell everyone about, lest it become everyone else’s favorite coffeeshop and, suddenly, you can’t find an open table. It’s a small, mostly private (though not invite-only) music and arts festival on a family farm in SE Indiana. It’s super family-friendly, but also super grown-up (which is awfully hard to find), with good food, good music, communal art projects, camping, beer, and fresh air. Suffice to say, when the patron saint of Gratisfest birthed the event a few years ago, he brought something amazing to life and I’ve been honored to be included in the fun the past few years. It’s the perfect way to end the summer.

What about you?
What are your favorite things about Summer in Cincinnati?

We Did It! (Well, we’re going to do it.)

May 10, 2010January 14, 2013 ~ ejmcewan ~ 2 Comments

We’re buying a house!

As you can imagine, the buy-a-house-before-the-tax-credit-runs-out adventure has taken a lot of energy for both me and my husband, hence the reason I have had nothing to say on this blog for the past few weeks.

Suffice to say:
The house is in Over-the-Rhine.
It is a single-family home.
And it has a backyard.

As long as the few last-minute things come together, we will be in the house by the 4th of July (and then maybe climb out on the roof to see the fireworks!).

I couldn’t be happier.

More later…

We’re Trying to Buy a House

April 7, 2010January 14, 2013 ~ ejmcewan ~ 2 Comments

My husband and I are trying to buy a house. Not one house in particular, but a house in general.

We’ve found about four homes in the past six months that we’re willing to purchase–under the right conditions. Those conditions being: selling price and financing and… well, mostly financing. Needless to say, nothing has come together quite yet. Either the price is always out of our range or there are financing restrictions due to the renovation costs, etc.

I know we’re not the only potential homeowners who are having a hard time actually purchasing a home. And with the deadline for the government’s glorious “first-time homeowners” incentive looming so near over us, we’re quickly losing steam (and losing hope).

The homes we’ve seen and loved have all met one of two qualifications:

1. A single-family home that is downtown (“downtown” loosely referring here to the valley between the hills that surround the central business district of our city–as opposed to “Uptown”), large enough for us to have another child or two (or three) before we need to consider up-sizing, some sort of parking (even if just one off-street or nearby space for my husband’s work vehicle), and a historic home (as opposed to the new, builders’ grade Drees homes in the West End) with minimal crappy renovations done by the previous owners.

2. A multi-family building or a historic single-family home on a large property that we can use to further our crazy shared vision for a nonprofit organization and housing co-op. We would prefer this to be as near downtown as possible (we had a potential property in the West End), though I’ve told my husband I would be willing to sacrifice being downtown for either a walkable business district or a large city park.

So, who wants to sell us their house?
You’ve got twenty-three days and counting.

Things to Love, Take One

February 26, 2010January 14, 2013 ~ ejmcewan ~ 2 Comments

Some new, old, and “new to me” things to love:

The BedNest:

Manufactured somewhere in the UK, the BedNest is a compact, travel-friendly co-sleeper crib.

We purchased an Arm’s Reach co-sleeper and used it for our son’s first 8 months. The Arm’s Reach beats the BedNest in a few ways: it’s larger, the mattress can be lowered to play-pen height, and its about half the price. But, the BedNest definitely wins for style and compact storage/travel-ability.

Maybe we’ll save up for one before we make way for a baby #2?

Sprig Toys:

My mother purchased this Sprig “Dino Adventure Rig” for my son for his first birthday. Sceptical of any gift arriving in such colorful wrapping, I was very pleasantly surprised when I was what was inside.

All the sprig toys are made from “Sprigwood”– reclaimed plastic mixed with recycled wood. They are colored without decorative paint and come in recycled, minimalist packaging. Even the electric toy series is powered by a generator using kinetic kid-produced energy.

My House Party:

I was super excited to see my friends Mike and Jessica, and their lovely tiny wooden houses featured all over my favorite design websites last month.

You can visit their online store to purchase the darling things, along with an assortment of air plants.

Sixx Design:

This husband and wife design team gets my vote for “best urban family homes.” (At least, the best I’ve seen this week.) Of course, it would take me winning the lottery, selling a kidney, or harvesting a few eggs to contract their services, but I think it would be worth it.

Props for:
Keeping it urban (most of their work is in Manhattan); having a million kids (7, to be exact); naming your kids weird, but not too weird names (“Major” is my personal favorite).

Check out their book Downtown Chic and an upcoming gig on Bravo.

Happy Saturday!

An Ode to My Baby Boy

February 11, 2010January 14, 2013 ~ ejmcewan ~ 2 Comments

In honor of our son’s first birthday, we hosted an open house. We used a loose disguise theme, since Izzy loves hats and glasses.

We kept our food simple: lots of healthy snacks and a few desserts.

I made about a million cupcakes and my grandmother’s butter cookies in the shape of the number “1.”

We took advantage of our high ceilings and projected a slideshow of our favorite photos of Izzy’s first year. It looped during the entire party.

I made a hundred or so origami paper lanterns (and had extra paper and instructions ready for guests to make some, too) to decorate a make-shift “photo booth” to catch friends in their disguises. Sad to say, the natural lighting in our apartment is terrible and so very few photos came out well.