This is the personal web site of Helen Jane Hearn. I've been documenting my life online since September 1998. I've kept a web log since 2001.
Maplevine is my company. I design and create things, mostly for wineries, mostly online.
I'm co-founder of Cheesewhizzes, a cheese tasting club, co-captain of the bocce team, Joanie Loves Bocce and since July 1, I've enjoyed being Nora Lea's mom.
1. Go Joanie! We won all three games last night!
2. Days of Our Lives plays on, almost every single day.
3. Cinnamon raisin toast with butter on it.
4. Those BabyCenter emails telling me where I am in my pregnancy. Honestly baby #2, I’m sorry about all of this, I promise I’ll pay more attention when you’re outside of the womb.
5. Shopping for baby shoes. I’ve wanted to do this for years.
1. Movie night and popcorn tomorrow with my favorite E. Sully.
2. I said to someone tonight, “If I wasn’t pregnant and holding a one year old, I’d have kicked his ass.”
3. This is our last weekend without plans for, oh, say, months.
4. A freezer full of Drumstick frozen ice cream treats.
5. James is out tonight with his buddies. I’m happy about it. I’m not questioning it, just going with it.
So, she turns one today.
One year ago, I pounded and hollered and labored her into this world and my world has been pounded and hollered and labored ever since.
Somehow it seems fitting that all that pounding and hollering would give rise to a drum party.
“Nora Lea’s Rhythm Nation,” we called it.
I planned to throw her a Solid Gold birthday party, since it was her golden birthday. But gold and hot weather? Ugh.
Since Nora Lea likes to beat on the world (the fridge, the dog, Papa’s head, tabletops and pans) like a drum, we decided on a drum party.
Not a drum circle, ahem, a drum party.
At our drum party we ate fried chicken drumsticks.
We ate frozen drumsticks.
We ate pretzel rods that looked like real drumsticks.
And we had potato salad and chopped salad to share.
Since it was 106° outside, it was nice to have something cool and refreshing.
Get that? 106° F.
The beer and wine sat mostly untouched due to the heat. Sparkling lemonade indeed.
As it was also James and my sixth wedding anniversary, there was champagne from Gloria Ferrer, the winery where we were married.
Wow, we’ve come a long way.
We colored monkey drums. Those are the drums in Karate Kid II.
We shook our booties to the bongos with triangles, tone blocks and shakers.
Did I mention it was 106° outside?
106°F?
Mostly we just sat and sweated.
Did I mention there was a Wombat sighting?
( Nora Lea couldn’t help herself from patting his head like a little drum.)
And then Nora Lea got her first Elmo.
1. Finally announcing (and launching) the redesign of Mighty Girl! What a whirlwind of a project that baby was!
2. One of my clients had the #1 Rosé in the land according to the NY Times. So there’s that.
3. Another of my clients will be pouring their wines at the Mommy Needs a Cocktail Party at BlogHer. There will be costumes involved.
4. I launched this site a few weeks ago. Whew, only six more sites to launch before September 1.
5. My daughter turns one today. I am changed in ways that surprise me every day.
1. Toddling baby walking.
2. One million thousand projects going live today.
3. Um, I’m happy that they’re done.
4. Because I have been absolutely working every available minute of every day for the past three months and I think if there wasn’t a break, I would go even crazier than I am now.
5. I mean, yeah, launch party USA!
1. Milk and eggs in the fridge.
2. The whole idea behind redesigns.
3. The way my friends say the word Really. “ROEALLLLLLY?”
4. The Baldwins and the Arquettes.
5. Closing a book with a resounding, “Well, that sucked.”
1. Happy sixth wedding anniversary my love.
2. All the amazing people that showed up at Nora Lea’s birthday party despite the 106° heat.
3. The movie, The House Bunny. I am grateful for “The House Bunny.”
4. Seriously. It was 106 today. I threw a birthday party for a 1 year old and a Cheesewhizzes event this weekend. I need a nap.
5. I’m catching up. I think. I don’t know. Maybe.
1. Cheesewhizzes Italia, happening tonight at our friend Kevin’s house.
3. The really good people coming to Nora Lea’s birthday party tomorrow.
4. Finding the perfect ribbon to wrap a present.
5. Pinot’s shedding seems to have slowed.
1. When the little girl in the house magically puts herself back to sleep.
2. Microwave popcorn made out of regular popping corn and a brown paper lunch bag.
3. Homemade lemonade and shortbread cookies enjoyed at tea time.
4. The fact that our garbage gets removed from in front of our house, as if by magic. What a luxury! Both to have trash and to have it removed!
5. A new package of roller ball pens.
1. I don’t owe anyone anything for one glorious minute.
2. Implementing “No Rush” Saturdays. It’s illegal to rush anywhere on a Saturday. Remember that.
3. There is nothing like a crockpot meal, all ready to go at the end of the day when you have no desire to think about making dinner.
4. James taking over for me with baby wrangling at bocce.
5. Fake animal heads.
1. Being over-prepared for meetings with my favorite clients in the world.
2. People who talk with their eyes shut.
3. This extra hour of babysitter every day is saving my life.
4. The uptick in availability of fancy sodas. I’m becoming quite the connoisseur of lemon sodas and blood orange sodas.
5. My fingers are crossed that we’ve decided on the boy name. Girl name was done months ago. We can’t wait to tell you all about it after this baby gets borned.
1. Reading both The Stepford Wives and Love Story in one night, without having seen either movie so both were completely new to me.
2. Bake sales from the professional pastry students at the community college.
3. People who say, “I’m a visual person.”
4. Taking the time to appreciate my rapidly expanding waistline — full maternity gear all over again.
5. Not bringing the power cord to my laptop upstairs so when the power runs out, I have to go to bed.
1. Peanut butter and jelly on a toasted white refined flour bagel.
2. Hopping quail across our front yard.
3. Safe trips to and fro the big city of San Francisco.
4. Yet another amazing visit from my mother. I am so lucky to have a loving relationship with that lady.
5. Nora Lea’s amazing growth. The girl is taller than Pinot’s head! (Secretly, I think it’s all the string cheese she eats.)
1. The fact that Father’s day is right there on the calendar, just as important as Columbus day and St. Patrick’s day.
2. I was able to go to Dan’s birthday party, thanks to the babysitting prowess of my mother.
3. The sound of Nora Lea and her Grandmama giggling in the back seat of the car.
4. I am so proud of the father James is becoming.
5. Shepard’s Pie already made and in the freezer, per James’ Father’s Day request.
1. Being prepared for my big trip into San Francisco tomorrow.
2. Deciding to leave the baby at home on Monday with the sitter instead of dragging her into the city. Yes, it’s spendy, but Nora Lea cried for 45 minutes when I went to pick up my mom in Davis and I simply won’t put that on top of my delicate state.
3. My delicate state. I’m so grateful for this baby on the way.
4. Yet another awesome day with my mom here. Whole Foods and hugs, baby.
5. Celebrating our SIXTH wedding anniversary at Cook. I even had some Viognier, yo. Judge away.
1. Returning my glass bottles so I get my deposit back at the local grocery store.
2. Realizing that Whole Foods is cheaper than my local Safeway.
3. Clear, cool, lovely weather. This has been a thoroughly enjoyable summer.
4. New pictures hanging in the bedroom.
5. Lady card dealers. I like them and inherently trust them.
1. James’ stir fry technique. His chopping is absolutely perfect, his technique, solid.
2. Seeing large groups of white-coated culinary students around town. It makes me feel cosmopolitan, somehow.
3. Actually putting that stuff out in the mail. How is it so impossible to get to the post office these days? Oh right, the modern mother’s burden.
4. Using the term “gravy” for any kind of sauce or liquid.
5. Nora Lea putting herself back to sleep. Small miracles, to be sure, but the first time I’m getting six hours in a row in over a year.
1. Cheesewhizzes Italia, next Saturday, June 27. You’ll be there, won’t you?
2. The term “hoo hah.” Worth mentioning, worth being grateful for.
3. Refined white flour and sugar. Apparently all this gestating baby craves.
4. Morning sickness seems to have left the building. I said that before, and I was wrong, but it really seems to be gone this time.
5. Cheese and herb omelettes.
1. FOUR new teeth! Thank the universe we’ve gotten through that brutal eruption.
2. An extra hour of our amazing babysitter, each and every day so that every once and a while, I have time to apply lip gloss.
3. The rare time I was able to offer advice, instead of assvice.
4. They don’t pay me to say this, but I love these Cascade All-In-One-Action Pacs. One of my least favorite sounds in the world is the squeezing of an almost empty liquid dish washing detergent bottle, these wee nuggets make it a non-issue.
5. The way James snuggles his daughter in the morning. My heart grows too big for my chest every time I see them cuddle.
And took my first bump photo of 09.
Oh bump.
Bump bumpity bump bump bump bump.
See also, my giant lady lumps up front.
(Bump bump)
1. The Soup. Seriously, “Chicken Tetrazzini?” Genius.
2. Nora Lea’s passionate love for string cheese. Don’t get between that girl and her cheese.
3. Grandmama is visiting this Friday! Huzzah!
4. All the clothes are put away. For one awesome day. Okay, for one awesome minute.
5. My cookbooks, newly wiped down and organized.
Now that I’m looking at some of these, maybe I should really call all these cleaning-related Graces Stepford or Pregnant? Because damn, getting some of these things organized and cleaned and put away just feels so very, very good.
1. Nora Lea walks. For real.
2. Spicy Thai shrimp soup.
3. Creative between-check lifestyle stretching. Like bean eating (chili!). And more bean eating (white bean soup!). (Seriously, was there a “let’s just not pay Helen Jane” clause last month?)
4. Anticipating Mom’s visit. She’s going to be blown away by Nora Lea’s length and talkiness.
5. Whew! Father’s day isn’t until next week.
1. Melon, cut up and in the fridge.
2. Three kinds of melon, yellow watermelon, canary melon and cantaloupe.
3. Nora Lea’s face when she eats any kind of melon. (Ew!)
4. Windows free of baby fingerprints and dog noses.
5. Cheese tortellini.
1. String cheese. One for me, one for the baby.
2. Lemon soda on ice, with a straw, and sugared lemon garnish.
3. Val Kilmer in The Doors.
4. My alternate dog walking route. They’ve paved a road through the vineyard we used to walk through, so we found a better one.
5. Early bedtimes.
1. Nora Lea’s gleeful face when she eats peaches and cherries.
2. Home made peach and coconut granola with full-fat yogurt and honey. Just for me.
3. Returning Swiss Family Robinson to Netflix.
4. Tonight’s bocce theme already picked by the team we’re playing. I love picking themes, but it’s nice to have someone else take care of it.
5. Green and white striped socks.
1. Father’s day fun planning.
2. Carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.
3. Lemon balm tisane from the garden.
4. My mom’s impending visit of awesome.
5. Next Cheesewhizzes event, already in the can. There is lots of entertaining to be had.
1. The utter luxury of a morning bath. I know I only have 15 minutes to soak, but it’s so decadent.
2. Headache abatement. Each of the four times a day they stop.
3. A straight and matching plastic container area. Freshly organized, so easy to find lids.
4. The luxury of choosing baby names. The power to name, pretty serious stuff.
5. The luxury of frozen food for lunch. Both from a time perspective and the magic of food presentation.
1. All of the ladies I get to work with. They get things done. We, we get things done.
2. Shopping for a christening dress.
3. Eating homemade lentil soup every day this week to afford said christening dress.
4. A peach rhubarb crumble, hot and with ice cream for breakfast.
5. My new haircut and fetus-safe color. I’m dark and lovely all over again.
1. Taking a minute out of everything to plan Nora Lea’s first birthday party.
2. My dream of planning parties full time and doing all the rest of this tomfoolery only a little bit of the time.
3. She let go of the purple balloon and it floated two feet until the weight tied to the string brought it to the ground. All emotions on display.
4. Meals actually planned this week, groceries actually purchased.
5. The guy behind the counter at our local video store who recommended the twenty-five cent candy with our Death Race.
