Going for the Gold

Ava's playgroup held a Mini Olympics celebration this weekend,
and this little athlete was definitely in it to win it.

A professional photographer was on site to capture all the moments of deep athletic intensity.
Sadly, her watermark is very inopportunely placed. (I know it's her profession to make money from the
pictures she took, but I am not paying $75 for a digital file!)

Ava, in her little pink running shorts, is a world-class track and field superstar.
(Even if she was mainly just chasing after balloons and bubbles.)

She loved standing on the balance beam. She wasn't quite ready to take a step, but it was a good start.  

Victory!

She wears her gold proudly, satisfied with all her athletic training and endurance that got her where she is today.

And we rewarded her with more playtime at the playground where she went down the slide about a trillion times, each time giggling as she ran to climb the ladder to do it all over again.

The Intern

I am sad to announce the departure of my sweet baby sis.

She's heading back to school after an internship in SF that allowed her to stay with us for the last few months so we could commute together (and also because staying at my place is much more fun than staying with our parents).

She's the cutest and most stylish accounting intern you'll ever see. (Even her casual Friday is classy.)

We had a couple fun lunches together in SF, like this one where we enjoyed sushi-roll style "burritos" at Sushirito.

Left: Geisha's Kiss; Right: Salmon Samba -- both incredible!

And she even cooks!

Her own special recipe turkey burgers and sweet potato fries. (I'll update with recipes later.)

And I just found out she received an offer at the firm where she intered after she graduates in the Spring and I couldn't be a prouder big sis. 

So huge congratulations and farewell Sister, I'll miss you!

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.