A Mom's Year

Creating a comfortable life one moment at a time

Tea Collection—World-Inspired Clothing

I am smitten with Tea. The designers at this San Francisco-based company travel the world in search of inspiration for their clothing lines for women and children. They comb streets and valleys throughout countries like Korea, West Africa, Norway, Japan, and Brazil looking for beautiful, interesting images. Then they interpret those images into fabrics and designs. Their latest collection features clothing inspired by travels throughout the Catalonia region of Spain.

Here’s an example of how Tea’s designers take images—in this case, tile mosaics from Barcelona’s Parc Güell—and transform them into chic little outfits for girls.

Isn’t that amazing? I also love these:

The hooded pullover is from Tea’s Little Citizens of the World collection. Proceeds from the collection help support the Global Fund for Children.

Lexie has an American Girl gift card to spent at the Mall of America, so I’m hoping to pop into Nordstrom to see if they carry Tea. Most of my kids’ clothing comes from Target or the Lands End outlet near our house, but I like to throw in a little something special like this now and then if I can.

Little Passports

I want to inspire my children to be curious about the world we live in and to appreciate different cultures and traditions from around the globe. So I was very happy to come across Little Passports.

Little Passports was founded by two moms in San Francisco whose goal was to create a fun way for kids to learn about world geography, history, culture, and language. They had the clever idea of combining the excitement of getting a package in the mail with the online technology that our savvy kids are so familiar with.

Here’s how it works:

Shortly after you sign up for a subscription to Little Passports, your child will receive a cute little French suitcase in the mail. The Explorer Kit, as it’s called, is filled with lots of well-designed goodies, including a world map to hang on the wall, a travel passport, stickers, an activity sheet, and an official Boarding Pass with a secret code to access an online Boarding Zone full of games and activities.

The kit also contains a letter from Sofia and Sam, our globe-trekking tour guides. The letter explains how Sam found a magical scooter in his inventor-aunt’s garage that can take him anywhere in the world he wants to go. He and his friend Sofia came up with the idea that it would be fun to write letters and send gifts to pen pals during their travels.

Every month Sam and Sofia send your child an adventure package from a new country. The package includes a letter from Sam and Sofia, an activity sheet, a real photo from the country, a stamp to put in the passport, a map marker, a suitcase sticker, and a collectible boarding pass to access additional online games and activities. And a souvenir is included each time. This is what my kids are most excited to get. A real amethyst from Brazil, a 3D double-decker bus puzzle from England, and a toy camera with pictures from a South African safari are just some of the mementos.

Ideas for Using Little Passports

The sky’s the limit for how you incorporate Little Passports into your child’s life. Here’s what we did with the Japan kit, featured above.

Lexie visited the Little Passports website and printed out an album of photos with interesting facts about different places in Japan. She also created a wish tablet (ema) to hang in a virtual Meiji shrine, and took a quiz that figured out her ideal Japanese menu.

She and Lily loved the origami kit and made different animals for us to try to guess correctly.

Will wasn’t terribly interested in the origami kit, but he zoomed right in on Mt. Fuji. He shared information from Sam and Sofia’s letter about the last time the volcano erupted and presented some research he’d done on his own to learn how tall the mountain is. He also found information about Japan’s Shinkansen, or bullet train.

Lily was in charge of placing the stickers in the appropriate places: one on the suitcase, one in the passport, and one on the map. She also found as many Hello Kitty items as she could around the house for show-and-tell.

There was a bit of squabbling over the sushi eraser, but it was resolved when I said that whoever got the sushi eraser had to eat raw fish. I made extra copies of the activity sheets so they could all do the crossword puzzle.

(photo via Ambitious Deliciousness)

We capped off the adventure with a special Japanese dinner. The kids helped me make a simple gyudon beef bowl recipe that I found online here. I also picked up some California rolls and green tea ice cream at the grocery store. If you’re feeling ambitious, you could make your own sushi. There’s a great how-to at Ambitious Deliciousness. Some of my children are more adventurous eaters than others, but at least they’re all being exposed to new things!

It really is a treat to get a new package in the mail each month. We’ve enjoyed learning about lots of different countries and look forward to seeing where Sam and Sofia take us next.

[Andrew, at 12, is a bit older than the targeted ages for Little Passports (5‒10) but he can still participate. During dinner we enjoyed trying to remember what we could from our brief stop at the Narita Airport in Tokyo in 2005. It’s amazing what he’s retained.]

Real Dream or Pipe Dream?

I finally watched Eat, Pray, Love. And I didn’t get depressed at all. Which is saying something. You see, I was afraid I’d awaken Dining Room Table Woman.

Years ago, I moved to Washington, D.C., to work for Special Olympics International. I had fallen in love with the city on an earlier visit and made it my mission to find a job there. I found one and set off on what I hoped would be the first in a long line of adventures.

But even adventurers need a place to set their plates and so I found myself in Price Club one day looking at a dining room table. Tim, whom I had met on my third day in the city, was with me. The table was perfectly fine and in my price range but I didn’t want to buy it. I’m pretty sure I broke out in a cold sweat. It seemed so heavy and permanent, that table; surely it would weigh me down. But then Tim said, “You can always have a garage sale.” Of course! As if a piece of furniture could put an end to an adventurous life.

Well. After the table came a sofa and a loveseat and a car and a marriage. And a house and four kids. And a dog and cats and hamsters. You get the picture.

So back to Eat, Pray, Love.

[Read more…] about Real Dream or Pipe Dream?

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

I know it’s Friday, but I’m going deep anyway.

Have you heard of Portia Nelson? You may remember her as the cantakerous Sister Berthe in the film version of The Sound of Music. She was also a popular cabaret singer in New York City in the 1950s and a painter and writer throughout her life. And she’s known for writing the poem “Autobiography in Five Short Chapters.” Do you know it?

A friend shared the poem with me years ago. I thought of it today because I was thinking about holes—the ones we fall into as well as the ones we dig for ourselves. Is there a hole that you keep falling into? I don’t remember the exact set of circumstances that caused my friend to share this with me. Could that mean I’ve reached Chapter 5? On that issue at least? One can hope.

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters
by Portia Nelson

1
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost.
I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

2
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

3
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in.
It’s a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

4
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

5
I walk down another street.

I hope you find your way to another street if there’s a hole that keeps pulling you in. And I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Here are a few fun things to send you on your way.

  • This clever idea opens up so many possibilities.
  • How About Orange has a nice round-up of DIY tutorials here.
  • Inchmark has the clever idea of tracing her and her children’s hands onto the endpapers of new books.
  • Do you really need a reason to have an Ice Cream Party? The creative geniuses at One Charming Party give you all need to throw a great party right here.
  • I’m supposed to be knitting a sweater for a goddaughter’s birthday, but then I saw this adorable dress. So many choices, so little time.
  • Day 63 of the 100 Push-Ups Challenge.