Tuesday, August 30, 2011

yep, it's that time again

oh, i have some fun vacation pics to share, but today was m's first day of school! 

(she looks so little! only one month older than ruby is right now!)

 attempt #1- complete failure
 and then once i said, "ok, we don't have to take a picture" she became all smiles

 big girl heading to school
 she instantly found one of her besties, lily
(it was a bittersweet day, since a couple of her friends are at new schools 
& two of her other friends are in another class.)
 sweet hand holding girls
ruby getting a hello from her friend ella (happy 1st birthday, tomorrow ella!)

my heart is a little wonky tonight-
can't believe my little one has been in school for 3 full years!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

more adventures! & the post in which i say cute too many times

lest y'all think i am in perpetual vacation, i promise that i'm not. matt just takes all of his vacation at once and we usually take it in august.

the one downside is that i've been slammed with deadlines this month, so i have spent many a night up to 2, 3, and yes, 4 am (only to have our darlings wake up at 6 am-gotta love it.) i wrote my art director the other day that balancing two small children on vacation & these deadlines has been a little harder than i anticipated. but, that said, i am not complaining - i am so grateful to even have work in the first place and so very grateful that we have such a generous vacation time.

i'm not going in chronological order at all, but hey- that doesn't matter much, does it!

last week we enjoyed some time with matt's parents and then matt and i got some time alone, while the kids played at papa and grandma's!
 we stayed in this cute house in los olivos so we could go wine tasting, hang out, and relax.
(sidenote-i've been sick for this whole dang vacation & working very hard not to be annoyed. i made the huge mistake of taking dayquil and then going winetasting. um, after two wineries i literally felt like i was hallucinating & about to die. or lose all of my insides at any moment. it was awful. yep, with my in-laws and children. pretty awesome. note to self-those little words on the side of medicine containers are words of truth.)

 grandma time
 and papa time
 and yummy simple summer meals


 and snuggle with the daughters time

my camera died so no other fun grandparent or winery pictures.
lucky for us, the kids took off to play with the grandparents
and matt and i went on some adventures of our own!
including to the very cutest place around-
enjoy cupcakes in los olivos

 so cute.
 they also have winetasting in the same storefront, 
but we'd already stopped at another winery 
(and yes, thanks for asking, i skipped the cold medicine this time around, 
so i still felt like a normal human after tasting a bit of wine)
 for the love.
enjoy has a flight of cupcakes,
(6 mini cupcakes to taste)
which is, of course, what we got.

 yum.
 more cuteness
 a stylish watering hole
 (how cute is their mobile cupcake trailer for events??)
 cute outside too
 empty cupcake wrappers after we demolished our flight of cupcakes. since the cupcake flavors change every week, the owner came out & quizzed us about what we liked or would change about each flavor. (of course we shared our opinions) by the way, did i mention that each cupcake has a delicious custardy filling? oh yes, that's right.
we got another flight of cupcakes to bring to our friends jeff & jenny 
and hopped into the car for more culinary adventures! 
(this time starring mario batali.)

hope you're having a great week!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

vacation, all i ever wanted, vacation had to get away

secret adventure with husband! after slaving away all week to paint our house (pics to follow), my sweet and thoughtful husband secretly plotted childcare (thanks to my mom and matt's sister chrissy tagteam efforts) & getaway plans for just the two of us! secretpants whisked me away to big sur! with a stop to santa cruz on the way. so fun, so needed for both of us- long hours painting for matt which = long solo parenting hours for me meant we could both use some time with each other.

we actually got to talk on the ride, minus interruptions from our littles.


 we stopped at a fantastic coffee shop on the way- verve in capitola 
(thought of you, jennifer!)
2 cappucinos (for me) later, i was happy as can be
 the fun spot we were staying was called treebones resort...and we stayed in a yurt!
husband had also secretly arranged a massage appointment for me when we got there.
suffice it to say, i was thrilled.
(especially when she accidentally went for an hour an a half instead of an hour)


 our yurt with an amazing view of the pacific 

 they also had a great organic garden overlooking the ocean
that supplied their restaurant with fresh deliciousness
 our yurt
 woodstove and all!
 our view from our deck


 we stopped at a few places along the way, 
including nepenthe's to check out the view and the architecture

 calling to check in on our kidlets
 please go to the big sur bakery & restaurant. it is so.freaking.good.


 this pizza slayed me. butternut squash with proscuitto and brown butter? um, yes please.

 we caught the sunset as we drove home to our yurt


 this made me happy-hot tub plus sitting and reading a book.

 my reflection as we look out at the ocean

 and then, we drive home to our munchkins!
the result of our secret vacation- very happy me.
and guess what? i slept so much. 11 hours both nights, and then a big fat nap.
more consecutive sleep than i've had in probably three years. 
sleep, glorious sleep.
my poor husband kidnaps me without children, and all i want to do is sleep.

(oh, and in breaking news, ruby took her first steps yesterday!)