Seven random facts

THANK YOU!   Maria from Sweet-fix for picking my blog as one of her favorite Versatile Blogs. Love her blog as well! She's got some really simple but delish recipes that even I can put together!

As part of the deal I'm supposed to list 7 random facts about myself and then list 15 blogs that I love. So here goes...

1. I grew up in Sitka, Alaska.

2. I'm a vegetarian. It's not a PETA thing, I just don't like the taste and
chewiness of it.

3. I am deathly afraid of bugs. Any kind really but moths really, really freak me
out...oh and those damn bugs that look like twigs or sticks....that's just
wrong...really, really wrong.

4. When I was 5 years old I was not yet three feet tall. I know this because I took
swimming lessons and could not stand in the shallow end (3 feet) and ended
up being held like a baby (on the hip) by the swim instructor while everyone
else stood on their own. Yeah....I'm still traumatized.

5. I lost my two front teeth doing a front flip on the couch and my two bottom
teeth in a bike crash. Yeah, I was THAT kid.

6. I love coffee, I love Starbucks and I am not ashamed. I like the fact that you
can go anywhere in the world and get the same exact Starbucks coffee and
it'll taste exactly the same. I am very picky about my drink and if it is made
wrong it could ruin my day.

7. I love yoga but not for the spiritual stuff. I don't need it to change my life,
just my butt would be nice!

8. I love to sing. I sing all the time. About anything. About nothing. My dream
is to have a bunch of kids and then we can sit around and sing together! Like
the Von Trapp family, the Partridge Family and the Brady Bunch! I also like
people who like to sing in round...although I haven't found anyone who
likes to do so yet.

Oops... just realized that's 8 random facts about me... oh well bonus fact for you...

There are so many blogs that I love to check in on but for this I tried to pick ones that are smaller and not as well known to help them out like Maria at Sweet Fix did for me! (Thx again Maria!) But there are a few huge blogs with thousands of followers in my list because well, they truly are part of my all time favorites!

Here are my fav blog picks:

Sharon Sews: sharonsews.blogspot.com/

Stickylipgloss: www.stickylipgloss.com/

The House of Smiths: www.thehouseofsmiths.com/

Adventure of Newlywed: comeoneileen86.blogspot.com/   

Adored Austin: www.adoredaustin.com/

Acute Designs: www.acutedesigns.org/

Pink and Polka Dot: www.pinkandpolkadot.net/

Laci's Latest: lacislatest.blogspot.com/

C Jane Run: blog.cjanerun.com/

Mr. and Mrs. Globe Trot: mrmrsglobetrot.blogspot.com/

Little Bits of Bliss: littlebitsofbliss.blogspot.com/

The House in Marrakesh: thehouseinmarrakesh.blogspot.com/

Just a Girl: justagirlblog.com/

Better After: betterafter.blogspot.com/

Gus and Lula: www.gusandlula.com/

Anne Geddes inspired photo shoot

My sister-in-law Julie took the amazeballs photos I used on Cameron's birth announcement. When Cameron was 6 weeks old she offered to do a photo shoot while she was in town for Thanksgiving. Of course I said yes! Who doesn't love a photo shoot!

Of course at 6 weeks Cameron was in the midst of his horrible colic spell so I wasn't really expecting it to work out. But we thought we'd give it a try and hoped for the best. To our surprise we just happened to luck out. Everything seemed to fall in line. Not only was it a perfectly sunny day, providing enough natural light in our living room for the photos, it was the perfect time of day for Cameron and he ended up cooperating really well, as best as a 6 week old baby can anyway.

We knew we only had a tiny window to get it done so the whole shoot took about 20 minutes total with prop changes and all. It was an intense period of time with lots of stuffed animals being waved through the air, noise makers vigorously being rattled and three adults making those funny, stupid noises and faces that you only make at babies to illicit some sort of reaction. It would have been hilarious if someone had taken video footage of us!

I give Anne Geddes all the credit in the world. I hear she keeps the temperature in her studio hot for the babies (a key point since poor Cameron was shivering the whole time even though the room was quite warm and we were all sweatin' it out!) and that for every photo she publishes hundreds were taken just to get that one. We didn't take hundreds of pictures but we took a lot and were able to get a couple really nice shots.

Speaking of baby photo shoots...

has anyone else seen Arty Adele Erersen and her baby Mila featured on the Today show and other news programs lately? She is a stay at home mom that created various vignettes around her sleeping baby and took pics of them. She is not a professional photographer nor did she use a fancy camera or even light kit. She just used a pocket digital cam and snapped the pics! Now she has a book out featuring each of the photos. Very cute! Lucky her that baby Mila slept through each of the photos. No way that would work with Cameron!

Cameron

Meet my beautiful, amazing and hilarious little Cameron. Everyday we get a glimpse at his blossoming personality. So far we know that he loves to eat, hates to sleep and cries with so much passion that at times no sound comes out! Yep, just a wide open gummy mouth, bright red face and huge rolling tears. Hilarious! Really- it really is funny and just so darn cute. He knows exactly what he likes and doesn't like and will tell you about it with grunts, grumbles, squirms and even sarcastic little looks. He is not shy nor meek and will definitely be a strong willed, active little boy! Good luck to us!

Each day I remind myself to just stop and take a second to take him in. To take time to remember him in that moment and cherish it. Everyone knows you get caught up in the whirlwind and while you've got your head down just trying to make it through you can miss it all so I make sure to just breathe, be thankful and remember.

Often I find myself tearing up just thinking that one day he will walk away from me. From his first steps, first day at preschool, graduation to walking down the aisle I am acutely aware that he is perpetually moving away from me. While it makes me sad, it's not a bad kind of sad but a melancholy, wistful kind. Walking away is a good thing. It means he's moving forward, growing, living and enjoying what I hope to be a full and amazing life. So while it tears at my heart to think that one day he will leave me, I am grateful to have the time with him that I do, proud to call him my son, lucky to just get a chance to know him and happy, just so happy.

So that's what I've been up to for the last three months. Just recently he's gone to feeding every 3-4 hours so I've actually found myself with a little time on my hands! Hopefully now I'll be able to spend more time updating my blog.

A Whimsical Woodland Tahoe Wedding

My best friend Paige was married in August in a beautiful ceremony held on a private estate near South Lake Tahoe. The estate boasts a small, clear pond and a grassy field in front of a beautiful large, log cabin home. Such an amazing, secluded location!

Paige's wedding was so, so gorgeous and so very uniquely a reflection of her and her husband Mat. Even more impressive is the fact that they did EVERYTHING themselves. By everything I mean that they literally did it all without the help of a wedding coordinator, day-of wedding coordinator or even help from a property issued event manager.

With the help of family and friends they set up their entire wedding; the reception tent, ceremony site, bar, candy bar, cupcake/cake station.. etc! Only the reception tables and food were left to be set up by the catering company. The day of her wedding, two hours before guests were scheduled to arrive, Paige was still out there answering questions, directing things and setting up. It was hectic but she was still calm, collected and focused! What a ROCK STAR!

There were so many great details to this wedding. To me the most memorable will always be their actual ceremony which was different, lighthearted, fun and touching. So different from most of the formal, regular wedding vows I've heard before. Mat's childhood friend officiated the ceremony, becoming an ordained minister just so he could marry them! When I first heard this I really wasn't sure how it'd turn out and thought them both brave to trust him with such an important moment. But he absolutely did not fail. Like I said before, it ended up being so unique, touching and memorable... great job Casey!

Another favorite detail are the amazing photos of the couple in a canoe out on the pond with a Just Married sign on it taken by Marie A. Rummel Photography, a local Lake Tahoe and Sacramento based photographer. Amazing!

The next day they hosted an informal continental breakfast at the property and invited everyone to stop by, hang out and enjoy the property. A lot of people swam in the pond, took a spin around it on paddle boards, played badminton or just hung out recapping the previous night's memories.

More amazing photos from the wedding courtesy of Marie A. Rummel Photography:

 The unbelievably gorgeous bride and groom! 

Paige and me (7 months pregnant- notice my strategic flower placement!)

 

Baby steps...

No... I have not had my baby yet and this post has nothing to do with babies...

It's about our newly, freshly painted dining and living rooms! We've been in our house for two months now and we're taking little baby steps toward making it our own.

A few weeks ago we hired painters to come in to rip the wallpaper off the dining room walls, paint the windows, crown, base and chair rail trim a crisp white (which were this odd yellowish/ecru color) and paint the walls in both the dining and living room.

Usually instead of paying someone we would normally do something like this ourselves BUT since I'm super, duper prego at the moment and my husband is super, duper, crazy busy at work these days we decided to hire a company to come in and do it.

We've worked with contractors before and all I can say is that unfortunately, most of the time you realize that you would have/could have done a much better job than they did. So needless to say our painters were not the creme of the crop. Hell, they weren't even the nasty bits left over at the bottom... they were just not good. After having them re-do things several times we finally got the rooms to where they were decent, paid the bill and brushed our hands of them.

Anyhoo... we love how fresh and updated it looks now. I know everyone always says it but it truly is amazing what a coat of paint can do for a room... for anything! Here are the before and afters...

Dining Room:

Living Room:

We obviously still need to get a new chandelier and some sort of buffet for the dining room and oh yeah, some actual furniture for the living room would be a good idea too! :) But like I said... baby steps in the right direction!