Confession Time

I.Just.Can't.Stop.With.The.Online.Shopping.


I.Love.It.Too.Much. Happy Holidays!

Happy Quarter Century

Happy (belated by one day) TWENTY FIFTH birthday to my Sis, Heather.

Heather, Court, Adina and I had a fabuloso, scrumptious dinner at Zero Zero to celebrate last night. It was quite festive and the food was just mmmm. I especially loved the soft bready croutons in the Panzanella, the Margherita Extra pizza and our divine Sundae with ricotta donuts and salted caramel on vanilla soft serve (more please!)

I thought as an old wise lady who has totally been there (even if it was a long time ago!), I would offer some 25th bday advice to my little sis. Though 25 might seem old, it's sooo not. You have at least 5 more years until you have to act like a grown-up. This is the time to buy pretty/expensive shoes (if not now, when?), stay out too late, travel, kiss lots of boys (sorry dad!), and drink (preferably expensive) champagne whenever possible. More importantly, do what makes you happy and spend time with people that make you feel good about yourself. Smoochies Sis. Hope you had a great day.

i love love love the holiday season...

but I officially love summer even more. It's cold and dreary out and I can't stop dreaming that we are back on our East Coast summer tour. Dining alfresco on the jersey shore, swimming at GGmom and GGpop's (that's great grandma and great grandpa to Nate), ice cream and carousel rides at the Ocean City boardwalk, sunsets in the Hamptons, lollipops from Dylan's Candy Bar, Sauv Blanc and lobster, strolls through central park.

Just in case it all sounds too dreamy to be true, I forgot to mention the long plane ride.

Only four or five months to go until sunshine. Bah Humbug.

Whole Foods Love

Last weekend we were visiting the in-laws (hi R&R!) up in Santa Rosa and hubs and I decided to sneak off for a little day date. On our way to the mall for some speed shopping we got sidetracked and ended up at a sports bar drinking beer...hmmm. But here's the really cool part - the sports bar/tap room was INSIDE Whole Foods. Yup, Whole Foods has a tap room. And it's just the cutest little place ever. It's made of salvaged wood (which is so my thing), has lots of beers on tap AND you get to eat Whole Foods yummy pre-made food while you drink. Hubs was super happy because it was Sunday and he got to watch football and drink one of his favorite beers (Celebration Ale, just in case you were wondering.)

We are getting a Whole Foods right near our house this spring. Fingers triple crossed that we have our own darling little tap room. All we need is a little playroom that baby Nate can hang out at while mommy and daddy shop and day drink. Whole Foods, I hope you are listening. We really really really want a little bar/daycare in Lafayette!

Scary Santa

We took Nate to a kid's holiday party on Friday night hosted by hubby's company. He liked his present from Santa's elves, but he definitely did not like Santa.

We are going to try again at the children's holiday party my company is hosting this Friday. Maybe he will be all warmed up and we will get some smiles. Judging from his first experience with Santa, I'm not counting on it!

And He's Off....

Yesterday was Nate's 14 month birthday and he had a little surprise for mommy and daddy. He has been taking steps by himself for the last couple weeks, but always prompted and only between mom and dad or things that were really close together. Well, now it's official. Nate is walking!



And yes, that is me creepily walking behind Nate to make sure he doesn't crash and burn. I know I look weird, but he had one particular fall straight backwards and I was right there to catch him!

Baby It's Cold Outside...

I mean, really cold! My car thermostat said 30 degrees. Brrrr. This calls for some Christmas in a cup. Egg nog latte = yummmmy.


Happy Turkey day to you! I am thankful for my wonderful family and friends, our cozy home, online shopping, reality TV (LOVING TRH of Beverly Hills & Giuliana and Bill), the beach, bronzer, fancy hotels and of course - my little angel!

We have a wonderful long weekend planned with our nearest and dearest. I can't wait. I hope ya'll enjoy your time off and eat and drink entirely too much. I know I will!

Shutterfly + Erin Condren = Awesome

Thanksgiving is NEXT week. How in the heck did that happen? Every Thanksgiving the D Family (aka my mom, pop and sisters) and now the L Family takes our annual holiday card picture. Now that I am a real life grown-up (that's what happens when you have kids, right?), we need to take a holiday pic with just the L family, too. Luckily we are headed to Paso Robles for some post-turkey wine tasting and my dad happens to be a professional photographer, so we might just have to squeeze in an impromptu photo sesh in the vines (thanks dad! : ) So much to do, so little time! And that's why they call this the busiest time of year.

Good news is, I have already picked out our card. I have been crushing hard on Erin Condren stationary (from Shutterfly) every since I sent out this invitation for besties bridal shower last spring. Pink + green + preppy = perf.

And now Shutterfly has Erin Condren Holiday Cards. Yay! Here are some of my favorites:

LOVE them all. Her designs are so fun and colorful, but still manage to look sophisticated. I have also been scooping up Shutterfly's personalized stationary. It's cuper cute and preppy (and reasonable to boot!) Happy holiday card hunting!

The C Family

One of my very besties is pregnant with her second child and just found out this morning that she is having a ....wait for it...

The cutest couple ever:


Already have this darling little tot (with a penchant for Victoria's Secret models):


And now they are going to have another little BOY! Her crafty husband is one of the few guys that I know that actually knows how to build stuff. And I mean real stuff, like desks and outdoor pergolas (their word) and waterfalls (no joke). So in honor of their second little one, I think he should build her these built in bunks that I am obsessing over - room by Steven Gambrel.

Actually, I think he should build them for me too while he is at it. I would happily sleep in the top bunk every night to get to live in that cutest room ever. Congrats to the C family! You can read about their adventures in toddler/babyland on Katy's blog.

Go Cal

Oh how I LOVE the weekend. This one felt particularly long and relaxing. We went to our first Cal Football game on Saturday. Now that we live in the East Bay, we have decided to be Cal fans. Cal isn't having the best year, so I hear they will take all the fans that they can get : ) We had a super yummy tailgate with burgers and dogs made by our professionally trained chef friend (thanks Brennan!)

Here is the L Family all decked out in our Cal gear. This was Nate pre-nap. After a serious battle, he took a little snooze during the tailgate and was ready to go to the game. I think he had a GREAT time with all the attention he got from his aunts, their friends and the Oregon (boo) fans sitting behind us. At one point, he had been passed at least 5 people down the bleachers from us. Don't worry Mimi and grandma L, we were watching him!

My baby sister Cait was in town from San Luis Obispo for the weekend, too. Obviously, my sisters missed the blue and gold memo.

In other news, did ya'll hear about the royal engagement? I think Kate is super cute and will make a great princess. What a LUCKY girl!

Fall Fun

Fall is here! So much candy, so many pumpkins, so much fun.

Can you handle the cuteness?

Nate and his nanny share buddy, Niko, having a dance party in their matching shirts. Love them.

All Things Orange....

First things first...in case you missed it (which I highly doubt!) the Giants won the first game of the world series last night. Hubby went to the game and came home wearing a Giants jersey, Giants jacket, Giants neck lanyard thing and toting an orange pom pom and six (he swears they weren't all his) plastic Giants beer cups. It's safe to say he is excited. I'm a little excited too, but only a teeny tiny bit given my hate/hate relationship with baseball and the Giants. I know that's the least popular thing I could say right now (unless you are from Texas of course!), but hey, it's my blog and at least I said I was a teeny tiny bit excited. Here is a picture of my bestie celebrating last night. I stole this pic from Facebook...not sure if that's legal : )

I am also VERY excited to see Nate in his adorable little pumpkin costume this weekend. We actually did a run-through about a month ago because I'm impatient like that, but I am still very excited to see my almost 13 month old sport his costume. He is probably going to hate me someday for making him wear this, but this is my year. Sorry baby. Next year you can be something cool and boyish like a robot or a monster, but this year you are my cuddly round pumpkin.

And of course, how could I resist the matching treat bag (monogrammed of course!) I am thinking about dressing up like a pumpkin, too. Not sure if I am really that much of a nerd, though. We'll see!

Happy Happy Halloween! I promise to post Nate's pumpkin pictures next week. Husband, just for you, Go Giants!

Oops...

I haven't been the best blogger lately. As always, life has just been CRAZY. It has been wedding madness along with someone's big FIRST birthday.

A couple of weekends ago Mike was a groomsmen in one of his childhood friend's weddings in Sonoma. It was on a private estate and it was gorgeous! The bride attended to every little detail including pashminas and s'mores at the rehearsal dinner (right up my alley!) After the wedding, the bride and groom invited the bridal party and dates to a dinner at a darling Sonoma restaurant. Dinner was followed by a trip to a divey Santa Rosa bar, which we rode to in the bride and groom's limo, of course.


In the midst of all this wedding madness, our little baby boy turned ONE. I can hardly believe it! We threw him a little cowboy shindig at our house. If I ever have time, maybe I'll even post pics since I stole most of my ideas from the blogosphere. He dove right into his first cake, not surprisingly. He had a really fun day. The whole Davidson clan came up from LA/SLO to celebrate (and help cook, ha ha).


Last weekend was the long awaited (some might say 11 years, since these two met in high school!) wedding of Adina (Mike's sister/my SIL) and Sean (her awesome now husband). They had the most awesome wedding weather and their whole wedding weekend was just perfect! Below are the lovely bride and groom stopping at In-N-Out to pick up burgers for everyone to eat at the post-party (awesome touch, now if only we could remember whose idea that was : )



And the L family. Nate was a ring bearer and wore his first tux. Unfortunately, he got hungry on the way down the aisle and had to eat the flower from his lapel!

The Sunday after Adina's wedding, I flew down to LA to see my old (as in, we have known each other a long time!) friend Brandy get married on the beach. She was a stunning bride with TWO beautiful dresses. Unfortunately, I didn't really take any pictures : ( Here is one snapped from my iphone pre-ceremony. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous beach day. I get beachsickness, my own made up variation of homesickness, whenever I go down to LA.

As you can see we have been having a fabulous September/October. I'm off to soak up some sun in AZ next week. Ok, well really, there will be some work and some play, but 85 degrees and the pool at the Phoenician sounds perfect to me.

TTFN. I hope fall is treating you well. Eat some candy corn and don't miss me too much. XOXO.

Ok, fine....

you can cut my hair IF I get to watch TV while you are doing it. Nate's first hair cut was September 2 and he was fairly cooperative. He wasn't a big fan of daddy getting in the way of his tv show, though.


Nate is going to his first high school football game tonight (at what will probably be his future high school). So many firsts as we approach his first birthday!

OMG

Tonight is the night! Gossip Girl is back.


You know you love me. XOXO.

Fist Pumping

We are off to...yep, you guessed it, the Jersey Shore.

Nate is going to visit his great grandparents (aka GGmom and GGpop) for the second time! Last time they were in Florida, where they winter, but this time, they are home in NJ. Nate gets to go back to his roots...or should I say his grandpa Jerry's roots. Doesn't he make a handsome little guido? I am sure we will do lots of eating - subs, pizza, soft serve (mmmmmm), fudge and some Johnson's popcorn to top it off.

Then we are off to the Hamptons, followed by a couple days in NYC. Nate is quite the jetsetter. This will be his 5th, 6th and 7th states in eleven months. Cali, Hawaii, Florida, Oregon, and now Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Fingers crossed that he behaves on the airplane. Wish us luck!

Have a WONDERFUL long weekend.

Eleven Months...already!

From this...

to this...

in 11 short months! It's pretty amazing. I'm not sure if this is really baby's 'first steps' since he is doing it with the help of his wagon...but it sure is cute. In typical first-time parent fashion, we are forcing everyone to watch video of Nate walking. He is really proud of himself. Happy 11 month birthday baby Nate!!

Techie Love

Happy Monday! I really really love our Dropcam aka the camera in our playroom/living room that I can watch from my computer or iphone. I'm not much of a tech geek, but how cool is it that I can watch little Nate play in real-time all day long?! Well, my employer might not think it's as cool as I do : )

Nate's hanging with my mom (Mimi) and sister (Auntie Courtney) today. So far he has had some pancakes, shopped in Berkeley, went out to lunch and done some playing. Tough life...

Nate and Daddy

Nate and daddy are hanging out today while Nate recovers from Croup. This is how Nate feels about the new gate in his playroom. Our sweet little baby is developing more and more of an attitude. I am not in the least bit surprised. Not one teeny tiny bit.

Scrufamuffin

It's time for my little baby scrufamuffin to get a haircut. His daddy is going to go crazy if I dig my heels any longer. I think Nate's scruffy hair looks precious, but hubby is traumatized by pictures of himself as a baby with long, curly hair. I will say that Nate's hair is nowhere near as long as his daddy's was!

I returned from Palm Springs this weekend (that's where I was, if you didn't guess!) to find a slightly under the weather little boy. By Sunday morning (2am to be exact), poor baby Nate was coughing something fierce. By Monday morning we found out we had a case of Croup on our hands. Luckily, Nate seems to be much better today. Poor guy.

Hubby and I (along with Bestie and her hubby) are going to see Dave Matthews Band tonight. I can NOT wait. The hot weather seems to have followed me home from Palm Springs. Even San Francisco is blissfully warm. What a perfect night for an outdoor concert. I am off to the Ferry Building (pretty much the best marketplace ever) for some French macaroons (pretty much the best cookies ever) to enjoy at the concert tonight. Try not to be too jealous! XOXO

Leaving on a jet plane...

So, San Francisco is a bit foggy right now. This is the view of the Transamerica building from my office...buried in clouds. The temp is 54 degrees..in AUGUST. Now, this isn't all that unusual for San Francisco in the summer, but it sure is dreary!


I am off to a sunnier locale. Somewhere where the high today is 111 degrees (no joke!) The good news is, it drops to a balmy 99 degrees by 9pm. The next couple days will be spent in the pool...hey, it could be worse. Any guesses where am I heading? I'll give you a hint...it's not Vegas.


Hubby is off to Tahoe and Baby Nate is having a slumber party with grandma and grandpa. Looking forward to a girls weekend and then a reunion with the hubby and baby dude on Sunday. Have a great weekend. XOXO.