birthday boy

Happy Birthday to the husband!! He is big old 31 today. While he went off to work I whipped up some cupcakes and set up a little birthday table complete with an inflatable glowing light saber. Olive and I were those crazy people in target at 8am roaming around in our pjs. The rest of the day was spent playing with toys and destroying all her drawers. The wind was insane so we couldn't go outside so we were pretty bored. Blake got off pretty early from work and headed down to surf before he came back home. He brought two of his brothers back with him to hang out till we went to dinner. Olive was thrilled to have two uncles giving her endless amounts of attention. She is quite the little performer, pulling out all her tricks and cuteness for them. We enjoyed a lovely family dinner at crab cooker and now I'm dying from fullness on the couch. Blake is watching the movie Money Ball but I'm way too tired to follow it and I'm not really a fan of Brad Pitt. The festivities continue tomorrow with a family dinner with all the cousins. I'm going to need to detox after all these dinner! 

Pre haircut and a cute baby.

She is super into putting her socks on.

Haircut and a really cute baby.

Lefty soup eater.

Building xmas presents. He is thrilled.

Descendents xmas sweater and reindeer pjs.

Birthday table.

She still loves her walker which makes me think she is going to LOVE her shopping cart xmas present.

Brothers and Olive putting on Ross's shoes.

Helping dad blow out candles. She just learned how to blow on her food when it's hot so she was very helpful!

Just need to figure out how to wear this. Not the most flattering sweatshirt but so so amazing.

stay punk kids.

more zoo

Today was supposed to be a play date with Alison and her kids but plans fell through. Luckily we have plans again thursday but to fill the day we decided to get out! It was such a beautiful day out so we just took off. I didn't really know where we were going to go when we got in the car but we ended up at the OC zoo in Irvine Park. The weather was amazing and as usual the zoo was pretty empty. We did a few laps and went to the petting zoo. Before I knew it, it was lunch time and time to go home. Irvine Park is one of the most beautiful places. I always think about wandering around with the stroller but it's REALLY empty and I'm not totally sure how safe it is ya know. Hopefully when it warms up there will be more people wandering around and we can spend more time there. I've actually been thinking about getting a jogging stroller for times like this but have no idea where to start. I love my Bugaboo for crusing around but it is not a jogging stroller by any means. I'm wondering if there are cheap versions that would work for the occasional jog? I know everyone has the Bob but I don't need that just something that is easy to jog with and not crazy big. Any suggestions?
Anyways as usual here are a few photos from the day.

Sorta kinda fort. She wasn't actually interested in going inside but we did run around it and hide behind it which she liked.

Goats.

Every time we pass a bench she has to crawl up and sit for a second. Bizarre.

She is really into giving hugs. The goat not to much.

Lunch. Leftover butternut squash and lentil enchilada, carrots, and caprese salad.

Serious about taking her socks off.

And putting them back on again.

Loves seaweed.

i have travels on my mind

Blake and I just watched "Midnight in Paris." While I hate Owen Wilson the movie was pretty cute and it made me want to go to Paris so bad. I have such a traveling bug it's not even funny. When I was younger I spent a month traveling around Europe after a semester in London for school. I only made it to the train station in Paris because there was a bomb scare and everyone was so incredibly rude that we just left and moved on to another place. Blake likes to joke with me about it as it's kinda that stereotypical girl thing to do, you know finding yourself or some shit like that but I didn't really see it as that. I just wanted to see the world and have experiences whatever they were. Thinking back to it I still can't believe how lucky I was to do that. I hope more than anything I can provide Olive with those kind of experiences. It was truly one of the most exciting times in my life. Sadly I feel like I haven't traveled like that in a long time. I mean of course in the last few years there were trips to Canada, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Tahiti, and across the United States three times but it's been a few years and for someone that likes to go go go it's for sure been a long time. I have the traveling bug and a long list of places I need to see. When I was growing up it was so important to my parents to take us on one vacation a year. The places were always different and random. Some years it was very minimal as finances didn't allow for anything fancy and some years were exotic. I think as I get older and have a child of my own I realize how important that experience is. Some of the places I remember more than others and some of my memories are tormenting my brother or coming up with stupid schemes with him but it was all part of the experience and adventure. Obviously Olive is too young to really travel or appreciate a vacation but as she gets older and hopefully our family gets larger we can do these things. I'm also not opposed to a getaway with Blake so I'm hoping there will be many in the future. As much as sitting on a beautiful beach sounds amazing a fun non stop adventure sounds good too. So, where do you want to go?

These are my top places that I want to travel to in order. There are others of course but these are places I think about going to all the time. 

1. Iceland
2.China (specifically Shanghai)
3. Japan, Thailand, and surrounding islands
4. Australia
5. France
6. Argentina

Photo from London. Me and Kristin. Nice saucony shoes indie rockers.

this and that

These are other photos from the week. A little of this and a little of that.

She eats non stop all day! It makes sense since she is always on the go but man oh man does she consume a lot.

"nice pants dude."

Again with the bathing suit on her head.

Relaxing.

I told her Elmo was going to be on Nate Burkus so she went and got him so they could watch together.

Roasted veggies and cous cous.

Olive's stocking (was my grandma's as a kid)

Oh hi christmas week

Christmas is sneaking up pretty quickly this year. I keep talking about wrapping presents and perhaps tonight will be the night. Starting Thursday night we have some sort of dinner or family event planned which will make the week really fun. The weekend was a good one and was pretty packed. Saturday I spent a few hours with a friend hiking and getting lunch. It was a great day and some much needed girl time. My ass is still feeling the 5 mile hike today. I am officially out of shape. Saturday night we went to an ugly sweater party at Natalie's house which was a ton of fun. Olive stayed with Blake's family so we got the sleep in all the way till 7. I swear I'll never be able to sleep in again. Since she was hanging out there and naps pretty quickly after she wakes up we spent the morning getting coffee, breakfast, and running a few errands. After we got Olive we came home for a few hours to rest. Blake went on his annual boat parade bike ride with a bunch of friends. A bunch of fancy rich people decorate their boats and drive around the harbor and it makes for quite a little show. The boys ride all around and I'm sure cause all sorts of trouble. Olive and I spent the evening at Laurens house who is a girlfriend of one of the boys on the ride. There was one other girlfriend there so we spent the evening snacking, listening to lots of Christmas Frank Sinatra, and a few episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba for Olive. This was the first time I brought Olive to a friends house that didn't have kids to hang out for a few hours. I was nervous she would destroy the place but she was so good. She made quite the mess with food but she was pretty content just hanging out and snacking with the ladies. It's interesting trying to build friendships with non mom friends. I mean it's hard enough with moms but this is a whole other level. Of course more for me because I over think everything but it's definitely different.

Blake had a shoot early this morning and was out the door by 5am which left me to morning duties with Olive which I normally don't do so I am dragging big time today. My coffee sucked cause Blake usually me super yummy coffee and I feel like I'm in a fog. I did manage a shower and I'm dressed but man oh man I really appreciate that extra hour he spends with her in the morning that I can relax.

El Moro. Hell of a view.

Deer!

Ugly Christmas Vest

Every time I have red lips I feel like a clown. I didn't end up wearing the headband. I felt like a weird american apparel hipster circa 2006.

Sleepy Blake.

Blake went for the creepy look.

Condoms and r&b cd for my white elephant gift.

Hanging with the girls.