Monkey Around: KS2257 and O+S Bedtime Story PJs

Thank you for all of the kinds words after the last post. My absence here wasn't so much due to the fall, but having a crazy week after the fall, being on vacation for almost two weeks after that and then the mad catch up that comes with such a vacation.

Even before I took a header off the retaining wall, we had planned to celebrate Father's Day with my in-laws the first weekend in June since prior plans would keep us from getting together until way after the fact. While I feel like this Father's Day doesn't *really* count for Jim, I still wanted to do something to mark the first unofficial one since he was quite generous to me on Mother's Day.

My husband looooves monkeys. It's his favorite exhibit to visit at the zoo (especially the crazy awesome enclosure they have for them in San Diego), he has t-shirts depicting their likeness and several stuffed versions in his home office. So when I saw this fabric about a year ago from Moda, I grabbed several yards - some in flannel and some in the regular quilting cotton. I figured it would come in handy eventually.

As soon as we found out I was pregnant, I knew that I wanted to finally cut into it and make a pair of pajama bottoms for Jim (in flannel) and matching pajamas for the little one (in quilting cotton). I figured the print was gender neutral and would work for either a boy or girl. To keep things simple, I re-used the Kwik Sew pajama bottom pattern that I first tried 2 Christmases ago and my TNT baby pajama pattern from Oliver and S. Nothing difficult in the construction here and they both went together over the course of several days, doing bits and pieces a little at a time. The lucky part to this was I finished them about an hour before I took that nasty fall, so I still had something to bring for Jim to dinner that next day. Whew!

We found out for sure what we were having a couple of weeks before I completed these, which made the construction even more fun. What can I say, the idea of matching daddy and son pajamas just makes my heart melt. ;) It was nice to see I wasn't the only one though, as my in-laws about melted into a puddle of goo after Jim opened them.

Jim loved them, even though the print is totally silly. This also marks the first garment that I've made for *my* baby, which is pretty much awesome after making a ton of clothes and stuff for everyone else's babies.

Happy very belated unofficial Father's Day to Jim! If his excitement and enthusiasm during the pregnancy is any indication, then I'm willing to bet he is going to be one awesome dad. :)

Baby Shower!

This post is super late, but the pictures are too bright and pretty not to post.

Towards the end of April, I hosted a baby shower for Jim's cousin. Other family members had offered to help, but I was hell bent on getting it done by myself. One of his other cousins laughed when I told her this - she said she is the exact same way and not to let everyone's offers to help derail me. Man, I love his family!

Actually getting everything done took a full 2.5 days of working non-stop. The majority of the prep was spent on food stuff. Not the best pictures, but this is what the kitchen looks like during the middle of a food storm.

By the time the morning of the shower rolled around, things were finally looking pretty and clean. We cleared out and rearranged our livingroom so we could bring in tables and chairs for a full sit-down lunch. I think it turned out really well. Looking back though, I think we could easily accomodate even more people next time and since our house is so white and neutral, I could definitely go with colored linens to really liven up.

After all the work in the kitchen, the food turned out great! One of his aunts thought I had bought everything already made and she was speechless when she found out that everything (dressings included) was made from scratch, with the exception of the bread. The only thing I didn't get a chance to photograph was dessert - it was just too hectic changing from lunch to dessert set-up. The options included mini cheesecakes, carrot cake cupcakes with ginger-orange cream cheese frosting and white cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting.

The food didn't stop at dessert. Those cookies cooling on the racks above? They are mini two-bite cookies that I put into takeout boxes for the favors. I think they might be my favorite thing of the whole set-up. :)

Overall, the shower went really well. Everything turned out as I envisioned it and his cousin and the rest of the guests seemed to have a really good time. While it was a ton of work, I was so happy with the finished product. :)

Baby Baby Baby

Nope, not for me. Just for everyone else. Ya'll can stop hypervenilating now. ;)

For the past couple of weeks I have been knee-deep in all things baby; shopping for baby gifts, making cards and invites, planning a shower.... It's all fun stuff, but it's kept me busy! By now, all of the soon to be moms that actually read the blog should have seen this stuff in person, hence the delay in the post.

Kelcat* and I were bridesmaids in each others wedding 3 1/2 years ago and now she is expecting a little girl this spring! Cannot believe how time flies!! Her high school friends threw her a very cute, pink and brown themed baby shower last month. Kelcat looks great, happy and health - pregnancy really agrees with her. She got a ton of good stuff so the little peanut is going to be well taken care of. I stuck with the shower colors and made a card to go with the gift.

While I was at it, I also made a card for Leslie. I love that I've been able to follow her pregnancy - the highs, the lows and everything inbetween - through her blog. Very cool.

Sunday found me at another baby shower for Lilcee. Another soon-to-be mommy who looks adorable! Being a lame-o, I didn't take a single pic, but Wan has some cute ones here.

Lastly, I'm prepping for the first formal shower I'm hosting at our house. Eeeee! Really, it's pathetic how excited I am about it, but oh well. Jim's cousin's wife is pregnant with a little girl due in May. I really like her and her husband and put in my request to host the family shower back in December, and shockingly, the aunts all agreed to it! With a large family like my husband's, it's typically the aunts that share in hosting duties, so it's nice to be given a chance to host a formal family event. One of the biggest things I was looking forward to after buying the house was to be able to entertain more, especially family stuff and this fits in perfectly.

The shower is in 3 weeks so the color scheme, invites and menu are all set.

I have lists for my lists on what I still need to do and when, but I'm feeling good about it. Okay, so maybe I had one awful dream where everyone showed up to a dirty house with no food or beverage options, but other than that, I'm totally calm about everything. :P I still have some rentals to take care of and several Joanns/Michaels/Ikea/Costco runs to make, but all in all, I think it's good.

The last baby event for the spring should be Tre's shower. She is due in July with their first baby - they want to be surprised, so they're waiting to find out the gender. I couldn't help picking up a ridiculously cute outfit for them during this basketball season.

Adorable, right? They are part of our group that shares Lakers season tickets, so I thought it quite appropriate. I figure, if it winds up being a girl, I'll send over a big, obnoxious, purple and gold bow headband and call it a day. ;)


* This is a new nickname that I'm trying out for her. Not sure if it's gonna stick though. Kelcat, any other ideas of what you'd like to be called here?

So much to tell, so little time....

I've really gotten into the habit of blogging nearly every day... but then last week my computer died. As in, it needs serious professional help. Boooo! Work has been crazy and so my blogging has been cut drastically short this past week. And the really sad part is that there has been so much fun stuff going on to blog about. Hmph! So, while many of these events could be an entire blog post in and of themselves, I'm instead just doing a short recap of the past week and trying to squeeze in highlights of everything. Sorry in advance for the long, jumbled post.

Fantasy Football

Thursday night my husband and I attended a Fantasy Football Draft dinner with some of his co-workers. We are sharing a team, which should be fun seeing as how I watch far more football than I care to admit. This dinner though was intense. The host had ordered this whole fantasy football draft kit, the picks were posted online in real time on the team forum so that those who couldn't attend could keep up with who was already taken, there was food galore and a full bar set-up, etc etc. The make-up of the attendees was quite the mix. Swinging bachelors dropping the f-bomb at every turn, a few married childless couples and several guys with wives who were due any day now. While Jim does work crazy hours, his co-workers are a riot and I always have so much fun at events with them and this one was no exception. Regular season kicks off in a little over a week --- stay tuned for updates!

Brother-in-law Birthday Dinner

Friday night we headed to PF Changs for a birthday dinner for Jim's middle brother. The group included my in-laws, Jim's youngest brother and his girlfriend, Jim, me and the birthday boy. Great food, great conversation, lots of laughs. I declined wine at dinner because I was driving and I got the "Oh, why aren't we drinking tonight there Amber? Hmmm...." from my mother-in-law, followed by lots of giggles. I love her to pieces, but I don't have the heart to tell just how far away we are from having babies. Also, my youngest brother-in-law and his girlfriend are the cutest! Everytime I hang out with them, I like her more and more as an individual, but also think they make a really good pair. Yes they're young, but I wouldn't be surprised if they wind up dating for a long time and eventually wind up married... which would please me to no end. You know, I'd prefer to not have to deal with the crazies as my sisters-in-law.

Baby Shower

Saturday I attended a baby shower for my dear friend Wan. WeeMo, Wan, and R all did a great job of re-capping the day complete with pictures and everything. Needless to say it was a very fun afternoon and I can't wait to see Wan's little bean very soon!

Sunday Brunch

Sunday morning was another fun GTG with a bunch of cool chicks from LA and OC. WeeMo again did a fantastic job summing it all up. The food was fab, the company was even better and I can't wait to meet up with the gals again soon!

The rest of the weekend was filled with a blur of laundry, cleaning the apartment, finishing up birthday party invites for a co-worker's daughter and getting ready for the week. Good times. We only have a few days left til we are officially on vacation and I cannot wait. This week is jam-packed with hitting the gym, tying up loose ends before the trip and packing. Wheeee!

Bad bad girl

That is me. I said I was going to be better about blogging and then ... nothin'. But, I swear I have a good excuse, wanna hear? I got pretty sick in the middle of June, was knocked flat on my back and then it took me a while to get sorted out again. Granted, I've been "sorted out" for a few weeks now, but that was what initially derailed me. Boooo!

In the month that I've been away, a lot has happened though (and much of it wedding related). The highlights are:

• Went wedding dress shopping with my best friend Kristin's little sister Lindsey. I was completely honored to have even been asked along --- the total group included Lindsey, Kristin and her future sister-in-law --- and we had a great time hitting up several bridal salons in Orange County and having her try on all sorts of dresses. She may have even found "The One"!
• My other best friend, Jamie, got engaged!!! She has been with her boyfriend Nate for forever and I am so excited that they will be making it all official sometime next year. Congratulations again you two... and now let the wedding planning madness begin ;-)
• My inlaws celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. They have got to be one of the cutest, most loving couples I know and I am so happy to be able to consider them family. They celebrated with a trip to Las Vegas and stayed in the Paris hotel and even upgraded to a room with a view of the Bellagio fountains. In the words of my mother-in-law "So. Worth. It." All of us kids pitched in and bought them a GC to Charlie Palmer Steakhouse at the Four Seasons. They said that they had a lovely posh time, which is what we were all hoping. I only hope that Jim and I are still that much in like and love with one another 30 years from now.
• Met up with Kristin in OC for a full day of shopping and talking and eating and just playing catch up with each other. As always, we ate too much, laughed a lot and had a great time.
• Attended a hilarious bachelorette party for two of the SFAM girls that are getting married later this summer. Started off with dinner at Loggia and then headed to Hollywood Men for after-dinner entertainment. Um, can I just say that the choreographed dancing (and I use those words loosely) was just comedy. I seriously was in stitches from laughing so hard. But, the bachelorettes had a great time and were treated to quite a bit of eye candy.
• Attended a baby shower for my friend Deb. The shower was held at a beautiful house in Toluca Lake with the most gorgeous backyard pool I've ever seen. I didn't have the courage to actually go in, mind you --- the whole idea of being in a bikini in front of a bunch of strangers didn't so much appeal to me --- but a lot of folks sure did. The story behind Deb's pregnancy is hilarious or frightening (depending on who you ask), but too long to go into detail here. Let's just say I'm very excited for her and her little girl is very lucky to have such a cool mom and dad.
• We got a Wii. Jim is obsessed with the Tiger golf game and I am now greeted with him doing full on golf swings in our living room when I come back from the gym. Hey, I guess you can consider it a workout, right?
• Hubs and I decided on taking a trip for our 2 year anniversary so we are off to Kauai and Maui for 12 days in September. I am beyond excited, but am also now working out like a woman possessed to try and make sure I am more than bikini-ready come September. The gym and I are serious besties for the next 6 weeks.

Well, I guess that pretty much sums it up. I really am going to be better now that I am feeling normal again and am back on my regular schedule. No really, I am!