friends and farewells

Weekend, weekend you are too much fun.

On Saturday, I had a little (shall we say blind?) date with my fellow San Diegan Alycia. We had a great time chatting it up (we are really good at that) and Krew entertained himself with shredding up every napkin possible.
She is an awesome gal and we hope for future San Diego dates to come.

And on Sunday, we got dressed in our Sunday best...

Krew in his Sunday best. He believes this little glass/window blowing trick is appropriate anywhere (this is in the front of church). I can't help but laugh as he distracts everyone around.

We went over to hear Karch talk in church because he is leaving on his mission!
Ft. Lauderdale, you have a treat coming your way! Karch is a fun and impressive guy and we are going to miss him.
And I guess we can let Florida borrow you for a few years. :)

After church, we had fun with family and friends at the Rondos.
And look at my new beautiful niece, Ella!

my little explorer

What will you be doing this weekend? I have a feeling my weekend will be full of following this little guy around amongst my other plans. He loves exploring outside, picking plants and occasionally tasting a few. He embraces nature to the fullest.

the ruffled dress fix and the midi

For the wedding I wore a plum colored ruffled thing of a dress which when I fell in love with it, it was too short to pass for anything classy. So I bought two: (rationalizing that a good modest, cute dress is hard to come by and would cost the equivalent of buying two. Got these at Ross but I've seen them also at Nordstroms Rack)

And then used the one that I found that was the wrong size to cut off a ruffle and some:

And then pinned it to the right sized dress...

I'm not sure why but stretch knits scare me to death. I considered doing a stay stitch but being limited on time (and patience) I made sure it blended into the other ruffles and sewed a zig-zag stitch and it all turned out wonderfully (view it here in the wedding post). Keep in mind this was a forgiving dress to do this to due to the ruffles which hid imperfections.

And hello Fall, you have answered my prayers and graced me with the midi skirt/dress.
Goodbye dresses/skirts that are 3-5inches to short. I hope to not have to alter my skirts anytime soon.

urban outfitters, asos, topshop, asos

Chase and Lisa's Wedding day

Chase and Lisa's wedding day was wonderful. I am so excited for them and their adventure to come! Krew did not like taking pictures without me (he was exhausted) but we all couldn't help but laugh. And I only have one picture of the reception because we were having too much fun--a good sign.

So glad to see Kylie and Lindsey!

Heidi braids

Does anyone remember the story of Heidi when they were younger? Well, I believe I watched a movie version of it several times and my best friend and I would pretend to be Heidi and Klara for hours. (I insisted on being Klara, the wealthy, paralyzed girl that could boss everyone around to do everything. I'm surprised I still have my best friend.)

So for a change, today I played Heidi with my Heidi braids. I don't think I've sported these since fourth grade. I really like them though. Easy to do and nice to get hair out of your face.

I knew I might get some interesting responses.

When mom saw me: She laughed and then said, "Wow Linds!! You look so theatrical!"

oh gosh.

When husband saw me:
"Hey it's the princess Leia hair do!" After I corrected him by informing him that princess Leia has two buns not braids, he told me he really liked it. And how he said it, I really think he was being serious.

When my father in law's saw me: "Hey you got the princess Leia hairdo!" Like father, like son.

In the afternoon, I went to Fashion Valley mall and as I started to walk around the very stylish stores, I began to have second thoughts about my braidy look. I felt I should start singing "high on a hill with a lonely goatherd, Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo!!" and instead of a purse maybe holding a basket of wild mountain flowers. But I didn't. I walked into the first store and the girl working at the front quickly said, "Oh my gosh, I love your braids."
She had awesome style and I thanked her and fell instantly in love with my Heidi braids all over again.

Have you or would you sport the Heidi braids? (I won't be offended if you wouldn't.)

Some may not understand but these chicas do.

picnic in balboa park/hillcrest

I think this is the first weekend in a while where our weekend wasn't booked with plans.
We ventured out on Saturday night to Tioli's Crazeee Burger (thanks to Lacee and Matt!). Crazy is right. Any burger you can imagine: Buffalo, Alligator, Kangeroo, Antelope, Venison, Crab, Wild Boar. I got the 1/2 beef 1/2 lamb Santorini and Cameron got the venison with braised pears and mushrooms. Both were delicious. We'll be back there soon.

What a wonderful Sunday picnic we had at Balboa park/hillcrest park. We enjoyed a tasty dinner out in the open air. Krew was getting a little tired (refer to crying picture) so we took a stroll around Balboa park.
As we were admiring the beautiful architecture, I said to Cameron, "You have to admit, this makes you want to stay closer to downtown."
Right then, a homeless man drops his drawers and pees out in the open-- no cover. Cameron replied, "Ya, that right there makes me want to live close to downtown."
touché.

how did you spend your weekend?

Lisa's Bridal Shower

My sister-in-law, Lisa, is the "pink triplet" that was her assigned color as a baby so we (Kristi and I) decided that pink, black & white stripes and gold would be a nice little combo to celebrate the bride-to-be!
It was a great turnout and we had so much fun getting her ready for her big day and night (notice clothing line).





















Doesn't this girl look happy? We had so much fun putting on her shower and are so glad we have this awesome girl as a part of our family.

As for the decor, I made a low budget so I picked decor that took time not the $$$:

- Ruffled streamers- sewing two streamers together. Way cuter in person and I was happily surprised. I would highly recommend these.

- Making the pinwheels/ paper rosettes (black and white paper).

- Bath salt thank yous- baby food jars (I can't bare to throw them away, they are too cute) spray painted and hot glued bows.

- Striped Tablecloth- I really wanted a wide black & white striped tablecloth so I got white fabric, measured, put down packing tape and spray painted away. It wasn't perfect but with everything on top you can't tell.

- Gold cupcake stands- Glass plates and glass sundae dishes (purchased for around a $1 each) lightly sanded, spray painted gold and hot glued (probably could have used a better glue) together.

It all turned out just so perfect and I'm glad we had so much fun at the shower!

The weaned sleeper

My husband will gladly tell you that I, his wife, have been weaned.

You see, ever since Krew has been born, he has shared a room with us. This resulted in light sleep for at least two of us, frequent wake ups, and almost every morning in bed with us. Others encouraged me to let him scream but how was I to do that with him waking us both up and staring at me from his crib? It just didn't work for us with our living situation.

The first night we moved in, I was delighted in merely saying the term "Krew's room". Thinking of a place to store his toys, stuff, his own closet, his own space. And then it came time for us to go to sleep.

"Are we really going to have him sleep in there by himself?" I asked.

Cameron replies, "Yes, and we're going to close both doors."

I started to worry and wonder how this would all play out. I realized that I was attached to Krew waking up just as much as he was attached to his nighttime routine!! After all my complaining about not having a separate room for him... Really?

Cameron agreed to leave both doors open but the next night one would close and then the next night the other door.

Krew cried for 45 minutes the first night. I laid in bed listening and saying prayers that he would fall asleep.
Second night, Krew cried for 10 minutes twice.
Third, never heard him. (might have been the closed doors). I have checked on him since and he sleeps completely through the night.
Well, that was easy! Uninterrupted sleep is wonderful! And not only that, for nap time I put him down and leave the room and he goes right to sleep! This is a new world for me!!

In the beginning, it seemed like everybody's babies slept so perfectly... except mine. But no more long periods of rocking him to sleep. I now envy all the ladies that have had perfect little sleepers from day 1 even more so.

Being weaned never felt so good. Krew I am sure would agree.
And we still enjoy our morning snuggle.

Labor day on Bayside drive

My parents invited us to stay with them at their rental at mission bay this last weekend. We weren't able to stay the entire time (wedding!!) but at least we got the last few days.
The place at sunset...

The weather didn't cooperate how we wanted it to but we made do. We had fun riding bikes down the boardwalk at the beach and bay, watching the Star Wars marathon, having a "who can make the best Chewbacca noise" contest, handstand contests, bocce ball, volleyball, eating delicious food, and just enjoying the company.
Thanks ma and pa for the good times, as usual.

this weekend

I can't wait for this weekend. Why?? It's Chase and Lisa's wedding! We already started off the festivities last night with the bridal/honeymoon shower which I will post pictures of later. Let's just say it was sooo much fun.

But my house looked something like this while prepping for the shower....

Ahh! Party explosion. Can you tell we used a lot of pink?

Tonight we are taking Lisa out for a little girl's night on the town and then wedding tomorrow! Can't wait.



And Krew continues to make me laugh with his surprises. No, I did not show him how to do this.