I vote yes to date night.

Married 7 years, together 16, 3 kids, 1 full time job, 1 part time job, 1 dog and 15 hobbies.

That pretty much sums up our amazing life. Along the road, sometimes things get left behind. One of those things is date night.

Date night used to be more of a priority. And last night, thanks to some super relatives, we were able to revisit the concept.

{clockwise: us, tuna crudo, beers, butterscotch pudding}

We walked down the coast to Union for a beer, and then we walked some more to Blue Ribbon Pizzeria.
Both were amazing. I had a lovely night with my lovely husband. There was even a little moment when we decided we should hop a freight train and become hobos.

Maybe we can revisit that when the kids go away to college?

it's friday. {four.for.friday}

This southern California June gloom thing is getting a little annoying. Fingers crossed for some beachy weather soon.... as in tomorrow, please.

from left to right: Isobel sunnies from Oliver Peoples; falling feathers necklace from Free People, Lime green crocheted Tom's, and three cheers for turkish towels.


Hope to meet you under my sun umbrella.

blog world in real world.

As it turns out the blog world is a good place to find new friends.

It seems there is a bit of a 'creative group' that has formed around these parts. With really cool ladies that design clothes, design interiors, design jewelery and own stores and such. Some are moms, some are wives, all are thoughtful, stylish and pretty crafty.

Today was a 'creative' gathering to celebrate Alexis' bun in the oven. And I was invited. Side note: there are probably a few other super crafty blogfriend to realfriend that couldn't make it. so by no means am I presenting a complete list.

But here is what I learned:

Grace of Grace Happens is a very lovely host.
Alexis of Fern & Feather is one of the cutest pregnant ladies ever, and so very sincere and sweet.
Amy of Amy Meier Designs has a serious lust for stripes & has a mom who seriously knits.
Julia of San Diego Songbird makes a very good cupcake buddy.
Brandie of Not Your Average Ordinary is about to have an amazing adventure.
Bianca of Bink & Boo made her own dress and made everyone giddy about dresses.
Haydee of Happenstance has two kids.
Kendall of kendallk was super nice, which I almost didn't expect because she is so talented.
Heather of la feem has impeccable taste.
Amber from The Girl is Craftee made me want bangs.
Sam of Vintage is for Lovers had a 'creative explosion' pulling together her creative gift, which I loved.
Michelle of Studio Surface makes a very amazing boysenberry cobbler.
Jennie of The White Barn has a very quiet baby and gave a very cleaver gift, a huge box of wipes.
Melissa and Betsy of Bixby & Ball were trilled about their feature in this month's Sunset Magazine.


and then there is me. . . Still don't know quite how I ended up there.
(I mean I am as martha, etsy and diy as the next style blogger, I can knit, craft and bake with the best of them, But I do feel like I am on the D-list some of the time, which is strange because I have never had a problem making friends and keeping friends - but this group is tight knit. like a fine european cloth.)

But was happy to be included; and was happy to meet some new ladies, learn some new things and have a giggling morning celebrating babies.

{four.for.friday} & ahhh....summer

Today is the last day of school for the kids. Which is both unbelievably exciting and a little scary. My fingers are crossed for a great summer with sunshine, beach days and minimal drama.

This week's {four.for.friday} is a bit of a random one, it includes four things that I will be purchasing in the next few weeks to improve my home, life and summer.

from top left to right: rainbow umbrella: found this one at Walmart (in stores only) for a mere $20. Tolix's 1934 dining chair from the Sundance Catalog. I love the look of West Elm's Jute Dot Rug. Cute (and currently on sale!) speeding dots scarf from anthropologie.

happy weekend-ing and summer vacation-ing.

H&M home: summer 2011

Did you know H&M has a home line?  (I didn't.)

I am not a huge H&M person, mainly because we don't have one close, and I am a 'see it in person type' most of the time. But anyway, this picture definitely draws me in. I like the vintage looking prints.

image was found here

And if it turns out they are afforable and cute in person, I will be hopefully picnicing in style too.
Fingers crossed that when the currently-under-construction H&M near us opens that they carry the home line in our store.

Fingers crossed!

sunshine, lollipops and rainbows: malley turns 4!

The rainbow party was a great success. This was the first party we have had just for Malley, and she had a huge smile the entire day!

We decided to keep the party quite small, and only let her choose 6 friends to invite. It felt strangely odd not to include all my friends ( I kept having to remind myself that it was really about Malley, not me). But the smaller crowd made for a calmer, less chaotic day.

 

For decorations, we had lots and lots of rainbow flags and crepe paper. My sister was kind enough to sew the bulk of the flags (thanks MJ!) which made the back patio and playroom look magical. I had the idea to drape the entire dining room in crepe paper, which ended up being a bit of a chore. Lucky for me, Tim and Maja were willing to help. I think the results speak for themselves, triple rainbow awesomeness.

We all enjoyed rainbow fruit & rainbow veggies. 

 The kids had a blast creating candy necklaces out of lifesavers and fruity cheerios.

 

And then there was the (internet) famous rainbow cake. This was the starting point of the whole rainbow party. When Malley saw it over my shoulder as I was on the internets a few months ago & exclaimed that was the cake she wanted.

I must admit, the cake took quite a bit of time to bake and frost. My baking skills are far from A+, so the results were a bit crumby and slightly tilted. But to see Malley's face when I cut it open, made it all worth it. Of course, it was a huge hit. Served with rainbow sherbet and rainbow jello, of course.

And big sister Devlin was kind enough to surprise the birthday girl and all the guests by dressing like a pink unicorn.

 

All in all, it really was a perfect day.

catch up: lala & estate saleing.

Last week ended up being a bit of a wind whirl. Rainbow party prep, sourcing for a Thursday (moved to Friday) styling job and the last meeting of the year for the parent group I am involved in.

Sourcing led me to Kerry Cassill, who was kind enough to lend textiles for the shoot. Her shop, lala, is in Laguna Beach, and is absolutely amazing. I picked up some new pillow cases for our heads and I can't wait to go back. I really can not say enough wonderful things about her linens and her style. The colors, quality and little details made me swoon.

And due of the moved photoshoot, I was able to hit a local huge estate sale. I was lucky enough to get there early on & run into Karin Grow. (yes, the same Karin Grow I seem to mention almost every post) I think we made a great team!

I scored a few treasures, one of them being this little fish vase, that is so sweet and special.

{four.for.friday: father's day ideas}

I imagine fathers day as a fun manly kind of day. What's more manly than spearing some fish for a dinner BBQ with friends? I fondly remember as a kid going to the Newhouse's for delicious catch-of-the-day. The fish were always freshly speared in Dale's favorite nooks and crannies on the outer reefs at Seaside. He usually did this solo and always had a great story about drifting in the kelp beds looking for the big one. I had serious envy of his equipment, old school dive stuff from the Scripps dive locker where he worked.

Riffe makes some amazing spear fishing gear, every waterman father deserves this setup. I love a good I.P.A. Lagunitas is my favorite - 43 hop strains, not too bitter, not too hoppy, goes great with BBQ'd fish. Every dad loves a new hat, loving this new one from Nixon.

weekend with stuff

This weekend was nice and sunny, but filled with lots of stuff. 

stuff to do and shop for and get done, stuff to clean, stuff to organize and other stuff to dream about.

Highlights include: baking these salted oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips. seriously the best cookies ever. I found the recipe here, but added lots of chocolate chips because chocolate improves everything.

And crafting up her birthday crown, she wished for feathers. (and yes, I did already remade it, I didn't like the gap left between the ribbons)
Her rainbow party is fast approaching, lots of rainbow projects currently covering my work table.

{four.for.friday: the snuggle edition}

Been at home most of the week with one sick kid & then another. Hoping that this weekend, I can have some quiet time perhaps with a European design magazine or a thoughtless novel from the library. Because I am cool like that.

clockwise: Warby Parker's Finn frames; Anthropolgie's Homegrown monogram mug; Jonathan Adler's bobo pillow; Dash & Albert cotton throw.

happy weekend!