Busy Weekend, Busier Week!

I feel terrible that I haven't had a chance to post yet this week but it's been a busy one, to say the least. We had a little party for P on Sunday, so of course our entire Saturday was spent in a last minute effort to clean and "organize" our place, which is ridiculous and only upped the grumpy quotient. But the party was worth it; P had a great time and has been asking how many days until her next birthday party, so I guess that's a good sign.

I thought I'd include some pictures of the day for those who asked. We kept it pretty simple, with a few decorations here and there, a bounce castle, glitter tattoo artist (who was amazing and so fun, if anyone wants a recommendation), taco stand (also amazing) and ice cream cake. Oh yes, and a candy bar. I'm pretty sure every parent was furious with me. I tried to include some healthy options (popcorn, granola bars, trail mix). No takers there, unsurprisingly...

Opening presents day of.

Pink bike helmet--check!

A little candy bar action.

Underneath the umbrellas.

Bouncin.

xoxo

Window Shopping

Wouldn't it be swell to have a kelly green cruiser?

Pretty Petals

Yesterday we hosted an afternoon BBQ at our place for some of C's colleagues. It was a casual, buffet-style affair from which I learned three things:

1. Hiring a caterer is the only way to go (I didn't) if your party is over 10 people (it was).

2. It's unkind to test new recipes on nice people (Toasted israeli couscous: Fail. Flourless chocolate cake: Aha. Ahahaha. MAJOR FAIL.)

3. C works with some very sweet people, some of whom brought us gorgeous spring flowers that I felt compelled to photograph and share with you.

I love hydrangeas. They always make me think of shingled summer cottages at the Jersey shore. Yes! There are nice things about the Jersey shore...




I always admire a punchy grouping of roses but shy away from them for some reason, sticking to monochromatic arrangements. I think this particular bouquet has converted me. I'm loving the extra something it gives to this kinda blah corner in my office. So pretty!




Can't wait for the peonies to make their appearance in a few weeks!


xoxo

Gratuitous Cute-ity

popcorn and movie time



scamming a blueberry from mommy's yogurt



funny daddy



"tickling" the bouganvillea on our deck



snack time

In Which We Share A Cupcake

My apologies for the too-long absence! We had a very full weekend that included dinner with friends on Saturday evening and a b-day party on Sunday morning (Another thing I knew nothing about: the toddler birthday party circuit. Holy exhaustion! They should really tell you on the Evite to take a preemptory Advil and to come hydrated to those things.) Also on the agenda was an appointment for highlights, which (if you aren’t one of the dozen or so people I called to whine at length to and don’t already know) went horribly awry. Long story short, I currently look like Denise Richards but am hoping a color correction appointment on Wednesday will have me back to my old brunette-ish self.

Before all of the weekend madness, though, I took my little sidekick over to the Americana on Friday afternoon for a cupcake date at Crumbs. I’m pretty sure Crumbs is a national chain, but for those of you who haven’t experienced this dessert shop sensation, I will explain: cupcakes so enormous that you will become ill if you finish one by yourself (and yet I never learn…) that come in ridiculous flavors like Devil Dog, Cotton Candy, Cosmo and Key Lime Pie.

As I’ve mentioned before, P is obsessed with cupcakes. Everything delicious and sweet is “cupcake,” including ice cream, waffles and muffins. She has had them before but this was our first actual cupcake date in which I would attempt to let her pick one out and share one with her at the shop.

Okay, so the picking out part didn’t go very well. It was actually seven minutes of shrieking “Cupcake! Cupcake!” (which, when you’re in a small public space, is a long time) while I waited for my latte. I think the display case was a little too much for P to handle, so I just picked my favorite, Bryant Park, which is chocolate-y and mousse-y and whipped cream-y. Here are some photos from our cupcake picnic (note the chocolate Joker-style smears on P’s face):









Afterwards, she jumped down from the booth and danced around the shop singing a song called--what else--“Cupcake.”

Better Late Than Never

So Christian's Valentine's Day gift finally arrived yesterday in the mail. Totally worth the wait (actually it was my fault for ordering it past the V-Day deadline). I was nervous that he would think it was really one of those gifts for me that I have been known to present him with, and I'm happy to report that he loves it (yay, me!).

I found this company through Etsy called Le Papier Studio. They specialize in custom silhouettes, and you can have them printed onto a host of objects--tote bags, wall decals, pillows, Christmas ornaments, save-the-dates, etc... Here is the photo of P that I sent them underneath the print that they sent back to us (apologies for the bad light on the silhouette pic--it's kind of a grey day here in Los Angeles):










It might be hard to tell due to my shoddy photography skills, but the paper it's printed on is really beautiful and quite thick. After I have it framed, I'll post a photo of the finished product. In the meantime, check out their website if you're in the market for a creative gift idea or some personalized stationary:

http://lepapierstudio.com/

Circle Game

What an amazing, relaxing weekend this turned out to be! Saturday morning I checked out a nursery school open house in the neighborhood while C took P for a stroll around the reservoir. It's an outdoor co-op school, which is interesting; I like the idea of working at my child's school two days a week but am not completely sold on the total absence of academics (it's sort of an all-play, no-structure mission that they have there). The good news is we have another 18 months to figure it all out, but it was still really exciting to think of how much fun P is going to have at school.

In the afternoon, we hit up the Baskin Robbins on Larchmont for vanilla softserves all around. It was P's first one ever, and aside from the fact that she kept calling it "cupcake" (her blanket term for all things sugary and delicious), it was a complete hit. And really, who doesn't like BR softserve?

Today, after our usual Sunday visit to the farmer's market, we met up with a friend and his daughter, Bella, at the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round, another first for Penelope. Wow. Although a bit skeptical at first (see photos for her "nervous face"), she quickly got over it, petting her "horse," clapping to the music and riding with her arms extended out (future adrenaline junkie, perhaps?). She cried when we left, saying "Bye bye" to all the painted horses and their next band of little riders.

She spent the rest of the afternoon forlornly whinnying around the house and frequently pointing out the window in the direction of the park (she did this after we took her to ride the Griffith Park Train, too). I'm guessing I'll be logging a lot of saddle time in the coming years...