The Birthday Girl at the Ferry Building

Celebrating the birthday girl with a late lunch at Slanted Door and some incredible gelato at the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero (after her pampering massage at Burke Williams Spa of course).

A Bachelorette and a Birthday

We celebrated the last few days of Tiffany's single status with a night out in SF. My bestie Jen's husband also happened to be throwing her a surprise 30th birthday party in the city the same night. These two very special events resulted in one of the best nights out I've had in a looooong time.

Leaving the house for my big night out wearing an Urban Outfitters top I borrowed from my little sis. (It's been really handy having her stay with me for the summer... More about that later.)

Tiff's sister and cousin did a really great job decorating the hotel room for the night's festivities.

I really heart this banner and it goes so well with the room's decor. 

Such cute favors!

Tiff's sister also made us some awesome matching shirts for the occasion to wear to the Giant's game.

Check out the sexy bachelorette!

And the sexy birthday girl!

Vintage Picnic Baby Shower Part II

I wanted to share a couple more details from the baby shower last weekend. Starting with...

The He Says, She Says game I adapted from the one Jen made for Kristen's bridal shower I was so impressed with. Jen was kind enough to send me the file which made customizing it for the baby shower a breeze. 

I asked both Joey and Lulu the same 14 questions. Then I included either one of their answers to each question on the game sheet next to a pair of girl and boy silhouettes. Guests had to answer who they thought said each statement. Everyone loved hearing about the baby and the new parents' childhoods. 

 

I also wanted to show you a closer look at one of the other vintage greeting cards I framed for the party's decor. Since the cards were smaller than the frames I wanted to use, I just added a doily to the sides, which even added to the vintage effect.

And while we're on the topic of J + L's baby shower, I can't resist sharing another invitation my brother helped create for the modern pink tutu themed shower Lulu's side of the family hosted the weekend before. It is the sweetest thing ever!

They hand-cut the "body" for each invitation after printing the text onto a lovely iridescent card stock. Then they superglued the string of scrapbooking pearls around the neck and hand-sewn "tutu" to the bottom.

My brother has some serious crafting potential! It must run in the family... ;)

Sadly I had a previous engagement and wasn't able to attend the party, but I know they had a blast without me.

Tech + Zoo + Me & Ava = The Best Job Ever

In case you're wondering how my new job is going (I started Monday), here's a visual...

Ava poses as a peacock at the SF Zoo during an annual family event for my company's tech teams.

This is pretty much the best job ever.

It's also Alex's birthday and he requested a nice, easy, low-key dinner in. His parents even brought the takeout. Perfect day.

Vintage Picnic Baby Shower Part I

We celebrated the upcoming birth of my first niece yesterday and I was thrilled to help host the shower along with my mom (and lots of help from the aunts and my sister).

I basically spent the whole day Friday baking cookies to use for the favors. I've never made so many cookies at one time in my life. I used the sugar cookie recipe from Mrs. Fields -- it's no fail.

Then I decorated each one by hand. And it took a ridiculous amount of time.

Once they dried, they were placed in these cute little bags my mom found at a local knick-knack shop.

In addition to the cookies, guests could also take home a cake pop as a favor. I found a bunch of cute vintage greeting card designs that I framed and placed throughout.

I absolutely loved the cupcakes and so did my brother and sister-in-law.

They actually found and sent me the image to use, which made my job super easy. All I did was print sheets of the adorable little vintage baby (with bunny slippers and ruffled bootie) onto white linen card stock. Then I punched out the image using a 1 11/16" hole punch and the scalloped hole punch in pink linen card stock. The cupcakes themselves are red velvet (from a box, I'm not superwoman or anything) with cream cheese frosting. We topped them with the same pink pearl sprinkles we used for the cookies and wrapped them with the edges of... paper doilies using this tutorial. (I love when I actually carry out the tutorials I pin!)


Some of the clothes strung on the clothesline were actually worn by the mom-to-be as a baby.

More details coming later once I track down another photographer's photos as I was so busy putting together the shower's finishing touches that my photo coverage is seriously lacking.

Greener Pastures

Today I sat in my company's lobby waiting for my exit interview. An acquisition by a private equity firm has forced motivated me to move on to greener pastures. My desk (and even my floor) was apparently dismantled weeks ago (without notice to me!) and all my personal belongings were efficiently discarded. Thanks guys. I probably didn't really need the dozens of notebooks containing copious notes and task analyses. Those would never come in handy. And all that tchotchke's just clutter anyway. So there, moving on. Fresh start.

I arrived early to spend a few minutes clearing my passwords from my laptop and bidding my farewells, but since I had no place to go, I sat in the lobby and reflected on the last time I sat on that same lobby bench, four and a half years ago, waiting to meet the hiring manager who would shortly thereafter become my manager there for two and a half years before he left and I came to fill his role. (I was much more relaxed sitting on this bench this time around.)

I am so grateful for all the experiences I've had in my career. I have been able to work from home full-time since Ava was born (more about this here) and be there with her as she developed into this joyful, determined little person. I think about how much harder things would have been had I been putting in the overtime hours sometimes required in this job in an office (not to mention the daily commute hours). I have basically had the experience of a stay-at-home mom for the last few months while still bringing in income. (Basically what even this woman would consider "having it all.")

I could not have planned the transition into my new role at such an exciting company better if I tried. I'm actually excited to get back out there into the work world. I couldn't say that when it was time to go back to work when Ava was only a few months old. But I have been blessed with so much support. I couldn't have done it at all without my mom and mother-in-law watching Ava so I could focus on the job and I know she'll be in the best hands.

So here I go...

My Kind of Red, White, and Blue

Happy 4th!

Dress in cerise and royal blue scarf - J. Crew; shoes - Franco Sarto

Dining Room Makeover

We've kind of been on a Restoration Hardware bender since our spectacular sofa purchase last Tuesday (but I guess it really all started here, or maybe even here), so I figured I should probably show you a little before and after of the dining room and sitting area (or "lounge" as Alex insists we refer to it) to justify our crazy furniture spending spree.

Here's the dining room before:

We inherited almost all the furniture we started with when we moved in (like this Basset dining table and china hutch and custom turquoise couch and armchair) from Alex's dad. We were so incredibly grateful to have furniture to fill up the house since we moved from an apartment and had very little to our names, but we knew it would just be temporary until we developed our own style (and had the funding to back it up).

We made the room's first improvement just before Ava was born. We re-tiled the fireplace and the areas in front of the French doors and window with this pretty Dark Emperador marble (photos below).

It really used to bother me that every room in the house had a different texture applied to the walls. We figured the easiest way to get flat matte walls in the dining room would be to apply enormous sheets of sheetrock, so that is what these nice gentlemen below were doing when Ava was just a few weeks old.

We painted the finished walls Valspar's Redstone Dakota Sandstone. (It has such a great tone and gets lots of compliments!) Then we painted the mantle white, sanded and re-stained the hardwood floors dark walnut, and added nice thick crown molding and baseboards.

Here's what the room looks like now:

   

We decided a round dining table (we bought this one on Thursday) is the only thing that makes sense in this room. I've always loved the thought of being able to look at everyone equally during dinner conversations. 

And I know what you're thinking -- white upholstery with a toddler is just trouble waiting to happen. But we liked the look of these Martine Upholstered Armchairs (in White Belgian Linen with Weathered Oak legs) so much and they match our sofa so perfectly that we're willing to be extra diligent. (And we have the Scotchgard and the Dirt Devil steamer ready to take action in a flash.)

The coffee table above is another new addition we ordered over the phone and had delivered while we were in Napa over the weekend. It's so enormous we had to move the white sofa back against the wall, but it really ties everything together and fills out that space.

The decor still needs a few finishing touches to make this room complete but that's something we can have fun searching for over time.

Kristen's Wedding

Kristen's wedding was absolutely amazing! The bride herself was just stunning and every little detail was planned and implemented flawlessly. As part of the wedding party, I was not able to take the good shots I wanted to show off to you all, so I left it in the photographer's extremely capable hands (and knees... she was literally crawling around under and around furniture to get the best angles -- that's what I call creative commitment!). But I did manage to snatch Alex's iPhone from his pocket on occasion to give you a few glimpses into my own personal experience of the day...

Two days of wedding festivities away from home and off her regular nap schedule left Ava just a little out of it literally seconds before show time. She refused to walk down the aisle as practiced during rehearsal the day before so I picked her up and carried her, handing her rose petals which she cheerfully and gracefully scattered around her during the procession. It was really an endearing moment.

The beautiful and romantic ceremony site in the apple orchard. Kristen and Ben wrote their own vows and their beautiful words literally brought tears to my eyes. This was my view for the majority of the ceremony. Alex carried her off to the side here as she was starting to lose it at the beginning of the ceremony. Shortly thereafter, she started calling "Mama!" so I rushed over to join them there on a little grass knoll. The shade from the trees actually made it the best seat in the house and Ava peacefully fell asleep in my arms.

I loved the personalized signature cocktails served on a lawn area, and I may or may not have loved this refreshing watermelon cocktail just a teensy bit too much.

Wouldn't this make such a fun DIY project? I think I might try to recreate this effect with a lazy susan Alex requested for the new dining table.

Even the cocktail tables had gorgeous centerpieces. The flower arrangements throughout the wedding were incredible. My pink peony bouquet had rosemary and smelled delightful.

Pretty arrangements lined the path to the banquet room where dinner and dancing were held.

Don't forget your escort card to help you find your seat!

Coordinating place cards and menus. The entire meal was primarily vegan since both the bride and groom are (mostly) and even though I am a devout carnivore, I happily feasted on this incredible vegan fare.

And here we are... Ava just waking up from a nice little cocktail hour power nap and ready to be picked up by Grandma so Mama and Dada could dance the night away. (By the way, I loved how simple and elegant my hair turned out.)

And I just want to share one other touching moment of the night.... Instead of a bouquet toss, she dedicated bouquets to meaningful people in her life, including her "little sister" (Kristen volunteers with the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentorship program).

I've left out so many more amazing details (including a picture of the stunningly beautiful bride in her dress!) so I can't wait to share more (and appropriately credit the fantastic vendors) once the professional shots are ready!