dada's day

I got to spend a really lovely day yesterday with 2 of the dads in my life. I can't believe Jeff has already celebrated his 2nd father's day! It seems like only yesterday he was sweetly encouraging a frustrated, post-partum me as I tried to figure out how in the world to nurse our ravenous newborn son... Now he is an all-star dad who works hard every day to support our little fam and spends his precious free time on the swings at the park with the monkey child.

I love how much G adores him. If we had a nickel for every time G has said 'dada' in the past 5 months, we would be independently wealthy for the rest of our days. I'm praying that one day G will grow up to be just as strong as caring as his dada.

G and I made this little clay handprint for Jeffrey last week. Our chunk of Sculpey clay was super dry and tedious to work with...I think it's safe to say this was officially my first and last craft project using bake-at-home clay. {Next year we are making one of these for sure!}

she's a farm chick!

Can I let you in on a little secret? My hip, thrifty friend Becca is going to be a vendor at Farm Chicks this summer! For reals. Lucky me, I got to spend a chunk of our time in Spokane helping her with the application process, setting up shop and designing the display. We always joke that we never have any cute pics of us together because whenever we hang out, we're always feverishly working on one project or another, in greasy pony tails and sloppy sweats. This week was no exception, except that Jeff was there to take all of the photos of her display, including one of us. :)

It was so fun playing with all of her vintage goodies--it felt like a magical hybrid of working at Anthropologie as a grown-up and playing house with your childhood bff. I am so proud of her for getting into the show. She is one talented lady and has such a knack for collecting and revamping old junk into glitzy goodness. Her booth is going to be filled with so much bright+beautiful eye candy, you won't want to miss it. June 5&6 in Spokane!

More of the story on her blog + more of her vintage style in her shop.

P.S. Just heard the good word that our friend Courtney is also in the show. So much excitement! Congrats girlies!

yo, yo, little bro

Can't believe this day has come...The wild child of our family (aka my little brother Ben) is getting married this weekend!! Truly, wild child is an understatement, and I think this picture says it all. I just finished putting together a slide show of pictures for their wedding reception and have been digging through the finest of the finest family photo albums all day. There were way too many classics to choose from! And oooh, I cannot wait for all of the stories, speeches, and roasts! But more importantly, I can't wait for his dear Kimberly to join our fam. Seriously, she is the sweetest girl, an angel to marry my little brother and I can't wait to have her as a SIL! Well, back to packing our suitcases...Getting ready for a mighty 13-hour drive to Michigan and leaving today. Can't wait to get there and celebrate. Will be back next week with a slurry of pictures for you!

happy {first} father's day

To my sweet husband,

Mr. Graham & I are so blessed to have you. The other day I was watching the two of you together; watching G stare up at you inquisitively as you told him silly stories. Such a wonderful little moment. I could not stop thinking that I hope G grows up to be as great a guy as you are. I have loved watching you become a father and marvel at how much love there is to go around in our little trio.

You are a cute dad. I love watching the two of you nap together; a curled up little G on your chest. I love that you've perfected the diaper change and I'm so appreciative of how you're always so eager to help out. Even at 5 a.m. I'll never forget the day you turned and said to me, "People who never want to have kids don't know what they're missing."

So to the man who plays "baby elevator," proudly carries his son in a paisley-printed sling at the mall, and reads Goodnight Moon, Happy First Father's Day. You are the best.

taking flight

We are back in action. Little Graham took his first flight back to the Midwest for an action-packed adventure over Memorial Day weekend. He did about as well as could be expected when you are 6 weeks old and flying across the country. He fussed just enough to draw cold glares from an entire aircraft of passengers and for me to feel like the worst, most embarrassed parent in the history of the world. Why did we think it was a good idea to fly late in the evening with a layover? Live and learn. But in between crying bouts, he had a blast playing baby airplane {on the airplane} with daddy. And for all of the cold glares, there were just as many adoring stares at the cute brand new baby in tote. Truly, the kid did well with all of the ups and downs. He's earned his wings.
First on the agenda was meeting more aunties and uncles! Mr. G was passed and passed and passed. Kinda like hot potato, we joked, but this time whenever the baby rumbled in his dipe, the person holding him had to change him! ;)We spent Friday night + Saturday visiting friends:Saturday at my little brother Mikey's graduation:
Sunday my whole entire family was reunited. That's us plus 5 bros, {almost) 2 s-i-ls, and one adorable nephew. That makes for one pretty rare and exciting occasion these days...My mom was one happy lady:Graham was also blessed to meet all 4 of my grandparents!We are home now. Catching up on sleep (if that's possible), sorting laundry, digging through a pile of mail, and searching for our new groove...

girly getaway: spa edition

Last weekend, my friend Kayt flew out to visit during her Spring Break. It turned into the ultimate girlfriend pre-baby getaway...So amazing and rejuvenating! All I can say is Marriott points rock {Thanks Terry + Nancy!}. We had a free night's stay at the Marriott resort in Sonoma {translation: gorgeous wine country}......And what are two tired pregnant/grad student girls to do with a little extra spending cash? Visit the spa, of course. I had the most relaxing massage + most needed pedicure. As I've said before, it's tough to reach those big stinky toes with a basketball baby in the way. I'd never been to a real spa before and I was completely blown away by the garden+soaking pools, posh locker room, the fireplaces, the luxurious robes, and oh yeah, the plush chaise lounge chairs. Pretty sure the only thing missing was someone to feed me grapes! We also did plenty of shopping, gabbing, and good food eating. I'm thinking it wouldn't be so bad to be so pampered and carefree like this every Friday-Sunday...Or maybe even once a year? Thanks Kayt, for the best weekend ever!

girlfriends

Last week, my amazing girlfriends Becca & Amy paid me a visit. We couldn't even remember the last time the 3 of us got together for some serious chilling + crafting time. Needless to say, this visit was long overdue! It was Bek's first time in Cali, so we hit some of my favorite spots in S.F. to make the adventure complete. Sometimes I forget that we live in one of the most gorgeous cities on the planet...That's why I genuinely love playing tour guide and discovering this place through new eyes again + again! We packed our days with the perfect balance of painting the town and embroidering t-shirts in front of the TV. {More on that later...}
Some of the week's highlights:
01. Lunch + wandering through the Ferry Building Farmer's Market
02. Desserts from Miette
03. Huge progress with our knitting projects
04. A breeze through Fisherman's Wharf & Ghiradelli Square {Advice: never spend more than 2 hours here when in San Francisco. There's so much more to see and do!!}
05. Lunch at Boudin sour dough bakery
06. A trip to the top of Coit tower on the brightest + clearest day for sweeping views of the city + beyond
07. Spotting a flock of bright green parrots on Telegraph Hill
08. A stroll around the Palace of Fine Arts {see pic above...we saw swans!}
09. Daily pots of tea
10. An afternoon in Union Square
11. Hunting for the perfect pair of skinny jeans at Macy's
12. Checking out the adorable boutiques + shops in Hayes Valley, Fillmore, and Union Street, some of my very favorite neighborhoods
13. Seriously hitting all of the thrift stores in the Mission
14. Inadvertently discovering Mission Statement, a tiny boutique coop of some of the coolest up-and-coming SF designers
15. Picnic in Golden Gate park in front of the Conservatory of Flowers
16. A stop at Peapod Fabrics + Britex, the stuff our dreams are made of
17. Dinners at the best Italian and Indian restaurants in our neighborhood
18. Thai + gelato with friends after church
19. {Multiple} trips to the beach
20. Taking advantage of free admission at museums...Gotta love the first few weekdays of the month!

Crafting our own souvenirs. Yeah, funny story. The entire weekend was so perfect and gorgeous and we couldn't stop obsessing about the fleet of sailboats sprinkled across the Bay. That's when we started jonesing for friends with yachts and time to take us sailing with them. And suddenly the idea was born: We needed t-shirts that said "I'd rather be yachting." 5% cool and 95% dorky, I know. But we each designed our own using fabric applique and embroidery and finished them up during the course of watching the Notebook and Mamma Mia! They actually turned out to look pretty stinking cute!



Our little boy is already a ladies' man!!

24 birthdays later.

1. It is Jeff's birthday today! 2. He is my best friend + sweetest husband ever. 3. He loves Batman. 4. His favorite tool is a Nikon D80. 5. He is the only person who remembers to charge my cell phone at night. 6. He has the world's largest appetite. Together, we have the world's cleanest fridge, sans leftovers. 7. He loved his blueberry pancakes this a.m. 8. He loves the cinema. 9. He is a hard-core libertarian. 10. He wouldn't mind naming our son Ron Paul. 11. He reads 900-page books like Man, Economy, and State by Murray Rothbard just for fun. 12. He's 99% on time for everything, except when I am being a slow-poke or when random acts of God are involved. 13. He doesn't mind cleaning bathrooms. 14. His favorite TV show is Man vs. Wild. 15. He hates those dinky little Smart Cars people drive around here. 16. He loves kitties. And I'm not joking. 17. He has our credit card numbers {and just about any other identifying number} memorized. That is so freakishly cool. 18. He's a pretty good back scratcher. 19. He's beat me at any game we've ever played together, but sometimes he lets me win tennis matches. 20. He loves naps. 21. He wants to be a film maker when he grows up. 22. He can drink espresso after 7pm. 23. He has a butt chin. 24. I love him more every day.

c + k + e family pics

While in Denver last weekend, Jeff took some pretty stinkin' cute family pics of Christopher, Katie, & Elijah. Fun, candid family shots like these are definitely his forte. Though hard to narrow them down, I'd have to say these are some of my absolute favs! Just look at Elijah's huge moon pie eyes. You just get lost...{Yeah, my bro is pretty much the goofiest daddy ever...Sometimes I don't like to admit that this is my gene pool...}

engaged!

This year marked an extra-lovey-dovey Valentine's Day...My little bro just got engaged to his long time gf Kimberly! We think she {Kimberly} is an angel and we are so excited for them! And after growing up with only 4 nuts-o brothers, collecting each new sis-in-law is a dream come true. :)

look who's 1!

Look who just turned 1!?! Our dashingly handsome little nephew, Elijah. We just got back from a fun trip to Denver last weekend to visit my big bro and sil Katie, and help celebrate the little lad's birthday in a very big way. It seems like just a second ago we were meeting him for the first time. And now look. He's turned into a chatting, cruising, Thomas-loving, 4-toothed, solid-scarfing, ring-stacking little wonder. We're so head over heels crazy about this kid. It's so amazing to watch him grow! And so crazy to think that in less than 2 months he'll have a mini cousin to grow up and get into all sorts of trouble with...
Here he is enjoying his official 1st B-day cake!
And a new birthday sock monkey {from this auntie} to love.

to a crafty friend

Not only is my friend Erin a crafting genius, she's also got an eye for finding adorable little gifts on etsy. We babysat for her 2 cute kids overnight a few weeks ago and of course she put together an over-the-top and unnecessary thank you gift. The gift basket included these adorable ceramic magnets from MudHutt. Even more impressive were these beaded wine charms that she made with her own two hands. I'm in love with the colors. Raise your hand if you think Erin needs to open her own etsy shop!

recap: kayt visits

Goodness gracious, am I ever behind! Tourist season is in full swing and I can officially say that this summer has been insane, but in a really great way. Last weekend Kayt, my friend from babyhood came out to visit. A little extra estrogen is good medicine, and no--I'm not talking about birth control. Twenty buck manis+pedis, eating delicious meals out, some retail therapy, wine tasting, and lots of chocolate indulgences were exactly what I needed!Thursday 8.7 :
Picked Kayt up from SFO at 1pm
Lunch at Specialtys, one of my absolute favorite San Francisco cafes
A walk through the Ferry Building, but not without a stop at Miette
Back to the apartment to regroup
Happy hour at California Wine Merchant with Jeff's coworkers (before their big softball game!)
A little shopping + cheap manis/pedis on Chestnut Street. Discovering the allure of Sweet dish, the candy store dreams are made of (above), was just the icing on the cake!
Then home again for Mahi Mahi tacos, watermelon margaritas, and watch Into the Wild.

Friday 8.8 :
Woke up early to drag Kayt along to VBS at church. (I'd tried to help out with crafts a few of the days last week). Friday's story was David & Goliath, and so during craft time we asked the kids to create a life-size Goliath out of paper & tin foil. I promised Kayt it would be worth her while at the end of the morning--we lined up the kids in the parking lot to get a chance to "play David." Each kid got to launch water balloons from a slingshot at a giant Goliath! The kids loved it and amazingly, everyone stayed dry!
In the afternoon we headed to the Great Mall in San Jose for lunch and more shopping. I'd never been there, so I was curious to check it out. Let's just say I'm not in a hurry to go back.
Back in the city, we headed to Houston's for supper to visit Jeff--he was working. Everything is so so yummy! I always love an excuse to eat there. Since we wanted to sit in Jeff's section, we braved the cold and sat out on the patio (gotta love San Francisco summers). On the bright side, Kayt had a great excuse to wear her adorable new yellow coat.
Back home to warm up, curl up on the couch, and tune into the Olympics' Opening Ceremony.
Saturday 8.9:
I was a lucky girl and got the day off of work! And good thing: we had a gorgeous, gorgeous day in Napa visiting these wineries:

Cakebread: I love this winery's name, its elegant labels, and oh yeah, its wines. :) We had to make an appointment for their tour/tasting, but they were very accomodating and got us in right away when we arrived 30 minutes early. For $10 we tasted 6 of their wines and got to keep the glasses. Our guide was very conversational and knowledgable. We had an awesome time.

Silver Oak: Complete disappointment for such famous Cabernets. We were turned off by the flooded port-o-potties and crowded tasting room that was temporarily moved to a trailer during their estate's major construction project. The wines were great, but came with a bit of a price tag: $10 to taste just 2. All is not lost, I'm willing to give it another shot in a year or two once their main building is open again.

V. Sattui: We definitely saved the best for last! Their wines are sold exclusively at the winery, and it's just $5 to taste 6 of their wines. That's just the beginning: They also have a deli, gorgeous picnic area, and a gourmet barbeque outside on weekends. So you do your tasting, get a bottle of your favorite, and enjoy a beautiful picnic lunch hot off their grill of from their mozzarella bar. It's completely unpretentious and family friendly. We had such a great time--the only thing missing was live music!

After our splendid afternoon of wine tasting, we headed to Sausalito to meet our friends Stephanie & Meghan for supper. We ate at a little cafe and sat outside by the harbor. It was the perfect ending to a much-needed girls' weekend!

who i saw on my summer vacation

Half of our splendid 2-week vacation was spent at Jeff's family reunion--up north at a beautiful lake resort. We're pretty blessed to be a part of a family that has perfected the art of getting together. Seriously. These people know how it's done.

We spent our days swimming, fishing, water skiing, and reading Real Simple magazines in lawn chairs (well, maybe that was just me & my sil Jenny)...we congregated every evening at 5pm for mandatory cocktail hour, then indulged in some ridiculously tasty meals that each core fam took turns preparing. We stayed up late playing carpet ball & air hockey in the lodge, debating foreign policy, and roasting s'mores at the campfire. Then we woke up early the next morning to make breakfasts together and do it all over again. We even snuck in some mini golf and go-carting before we left the great up-north. {Sigh} how I love family time + Northern Minnesota.

One night Jeff did a little photo shoot for everybody. I could've gone (even more) crazy with posting all of the pics, and I really wish I could've written a bio on everyone...But to be realistic I had to narrow it down to just the fun ones and my absolute favs:

These are the Horrillos. They live in California. :)Jeff's dad (far left) + his sibs and mom

Jeff's sister Jenny + her b.f. Luke. Pretty much the cutest couple on earth. At one point in time, his hair was longer than hers. {Don't get me wrong, I worship Luke's hair.}

These are the Ludvigsons. They planned the whole thing!
These are the Lillos. Aren't candid family pics the best?
I love these innocent faces. :)

This is Jeff's sister Heather + husband Justin. They're completely lovey-dovey and adorable. It's no surprise that they won the Newlywed game by a landslide.
And even though it was a fabulous treat to see everyone, cutie baby Chelsea easily stole the show!