My, how fast a year goes by...

I don't even know how it happened, but Aubrey is a year old!

Well actually her birthday is on Tuesday, but her big party was Saturday afternoon and it was so much fun! I just love going down south to spend time with my nieces. Here's a nice selfie of me with the birthday girl...

My sister loves a theme party just as much as I do, and this time she planned a lovely "watermelon" themed backyard birthday party, complete with wading pools for the kiddos. Unfortunately, just as the party was starting the entire backyard was overtaken by a swarm of bees, which took up residence in one of their pear trees in a clump literally as big as my head... I've never seen anything like it in my life!

Hence, the party was moved to the front yard... 

white trash loud and proud! 

Aubrey's cousin Mattison was my buddy for the day.

Love my siblings.

Grandma with the Girls.

Happy birthday, darling Aubrey, we love you so much!

On our way home from Portland we decided to stop at the McMenamins at old Kennedy School... have you guys ever been here? It was so freaking cool! All the old classrooms have been converted into hotel rooms, and there are little bars all over the place (like in the old detention room and teacher's lounge), and there is a full theater in the auditorium plus a restaurant in the old cafeteria. Oh, and also a brewery... love! Everything is restored with super funky charm and it was so fun just to wander around and look at everything. I would seriously plan another trip down just to go here again.

Anyway those are pretty much the highlights of my weekend. How was yours?

A Little '90s Friday Fun

Oh my word... I thought I would never recover from last weekend, and yet here we are...
It's Friday again, yay!

 

I've been sick all week with a nasty sore throat / congestion / sneezing / fever thing, but I'm finally starting to feel better just in time for the weekend, woo hoo! I think I'll go home from work, put on my hot pink shorts and tank with my blue socks, and do this...

But first, let's get this party started and back that azz up with Whitney.

 

Now tell me that song doesn't bring you back...

 

Stew is headed to Chelan this weekend for a bachelor party, and I'm going south to Portland for our niece Aubrey's first birthday party... and this time I'm a guest, not the host, woot woot!
 

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Bloglovin'

Everyone is freaking out about Google Reader ending soon (frankly I never even used the thing), but I guess I'm supposed to tell you to follow my blog with Bloglovin... so there you have it. My task for the day is done.

 

Carry on.

Charlie Bug is One!

So yeah... I remember a few months back when I thought it would be easy-peasy to throw two parties at our brand new house in one weekend.

Can someone please go back in time and shoot me knock some sense into me?

Stew and I ran around like crazy people for weeks prior to these parties trying to get our downstairs pulled together. Furniture pick ups and deliveries, curtain hanging marathons, area rug disasters, custom framing adventures... it was all fairly stressful, but with a ton of help from my extremely supportive husband, best friend, and incredibly helpful mother, we finally finished everything up by about 11 p.m. the night before the first party.

And I'm not gonna lie, I was feeling pretty good about life at that point.

Crystal's baby shower on Saturday was so much fun I really didn't want it to end... and a few of our friends did stick around for a little backyard day drinking until later that evening. Is there anything better than day drinking? It was at that point that fatigue really started to kick in, but there was no time to bother with things like sleep... I had to rapid clean the house and re-set for the next day's party.

A first birthday celebration for Charlie!

What you can't see in these photos is the fact that there were practically 40 adults and 15 children in my house for almost three hours. Yeah...

When we agreed to host this party for our dear friends Cailin and Clint (they recently relocated from Boston and are living in temp housing until their house is built) we had no idea what the scale would be... but of course we were happy to do a favor for our friends and didn't think twice about it. Perhaps we should have.

Everything turned out wonderfully, and darling Charlie had a fabulous time and got tons of lovely gifts. But poor Stew and I were about to collapse from severe anxiety attacks the whole time. And I don't think he's ever, EVER going to let me have a baby after this. And frankly, I'm not sure if I want to anymore.

Children running around screaming, clutching chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes in their grubby little hands, reaching for my new white couches. A toddler who smacked his face on my new coffee table (minimal blood), and a boy who walked around kicking our door stoppers as hard as he could (moderate paint scuffs). The wall kicker's brother, who climbed up our hillside and proceeded to kick up the bark and throw rocks down at younger party guests. A little girl who screamed bloody murder while Charlie opened her gifts (because they weren't hers) and then attempted to hide and steal one later. And the parents who didn't even notice (or care).

Don't get me wrong... Charlie is a well-behaved little love bug with attentive, adoring parents. It was all those other little assholes who made my ovaries shrivel up like prunes in a single afternoon. Thank gawd it's over.

It was an absolutely privilege to host Charlie's first birthday party, and we were so happy to play such a monumental role in her special day. She is growing up into such a lovely sweet girl already and I can't wait to see her in the years to come. But I think next time I'll pass on all her little "friends."

Happy birthday darling Charlie!

A Shower for Crys & Baby Olive!

Dang, I should just go ahead and open up my own Etsy shop, the way I've been craftin' it up lately!

 

I'm actually not totally helpless when it comes to DIY projects (remember when I made the table numbers for our wedding?) I just don't really prefer to make something when it can be purchased at a store... which is usually easier and often cheaper (when you consider the materials and time that goes into craft projects).

 

But of course for my bff, special exceptions had to be made, and I crafted my little heart out making invitations, banners, favors, thank you notes, and designing custom olive cake pops for the baby shower I hosted at my house last Saturday. I hope I don't have to smell rubber cement again for a really long time.

 

The shower went off without a hitch and I think Crystal had a really good time. Now I can't wait to meet Olive Anne! Oh, did I mention the baby's name is Olive? Hence, the theme...

 

 

I apologize for the quality of some of those photos, but they're the best I could get with a camera phone and some crazy back lighting.

 

As you can see the weather cooperated and it was absolutely lovely outside... yay! And let me tell you, after the stressful week I had, sipping mimosas on my back patio with some fabulous ladies was exactly how I wanted to spend the afternoon.

 

Now the countdown is on for Baby Olive's arrival, 

and I can't wait to meet that little love bug!

Whirlwind Weekend

Do you ever have those, "What was I thinking?!" moments?

 

Yeah, that's pretty much me right now.

 

Hosting a baby shower and a child's first birthday party at our brand new house over the same weekend may not have been my most brilliant idea ever.

 

I'm too exhausted to even begin to recap these events for you now, so in the meantime here is a photo of a rainbow I took to brighten your day.

 

 

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Smile, it's Friday!

Confession: I actually nerded out and downloaded an app to get coupons on my smartphone for Michaels. It's basically been my home away from home this week. And if you know me, you know that arts and crafts are not my thing. But now the cashier knows my name and all about the shower I'm planning for my bff this weekend. How embarrassing.

 

Anyway, not only have I been putting in super long hours at work this week, I've also been working like crazy every evening trying to prep for all the weekend shenanigans (in addition to the baby shower on Saturday, we're also hosting baby Charlie's first birthday party on Sunday). I may have over-committed. Oh, and just let me tell you how thrilled Stewart was when I forced him to hang curtains while the NBA Finals were on. Priorities.

 

I've still got a ton of errands to run and a bunch of prep work to do, but can I just say I'm so freaking thrilled that it's finally almost the weekend?!

 

Basically I'm so excited that you might see me around today doing this...

 

 

So I'm linking up with Whitney for
#backthatazzup Friday!

(explicit lyrics warning)
 

 

(Oh, that song brings me back to my "club girl" days...)
 

 

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Advocare Cleanse: I Did It!

Boo-yah! I finished my Advocare Cleanse and I didn't even cheat. Can I get a round of applause for being the girl who abstained from McDonald's, ranch dressing, and macaroni and cheese for an entire ten days? Because that's actually a huge accomplishment for me. Mmmm hmmm.

I'll be linking up with Raven next week to give you the final results including weight and inches lost, but in the meantime, let's take a moment to address why I decided to do this cleanse, shall we?

I wish I could tell you that my reasons were more admirable. Sure, I want to be healthy. And of course my long term well-being is important. And obviously a healthy diet and regular exercise are the primary ways to achieve those critical life goals. But can you blame me for having other motivations?

 

I want to fit into my skinny jeans. I want to be thinner than the girls I went to high school with, and my ex boyfriend's new girlfriend. I want to feel great in my clothes, without worrying about my muffin top. And I don't want my friggin' thighs to touch anymore! But mainly I just want to look awesome naked in a bikini. Just being honest.

 

Basically, I want to get back to THIS.

 

And I'm not sorry! I'm willing to make some sacrifices in order to become the best thinnest version of myself. Feeling good in my clothes (and out of them) is important to me, and I make no apologies for this.

 

Anyway, the Advocare Cleanse came along at just the right time, when I was feeling frustrated about not being able to exercise like I normally would, and right before boating season sets in with a vengeance (it's the Pacific Northwest; we're a little behind the weather out here). So it was the perfect opportunity to give myself a little kick in the ass, and I definitely saw positive results!

 

Stay tuned for the final weigh-in...

Blog Advice

Don't get your hopes up... Unfortunately I'm not here to offer you any blogging advice. Not yet, anyway.

 

Even though I'm technically not the new kid on the block (I've been hangin' tough since 2006), I definitely haven't entered the "popular" crowd when it comes to blogging. And for a long time I was okay with that. But as I've gotten a few more followers, and begun following a few of the cool kids myself, I've started to realize that I want to be noticed, too!

 

And honestly, I could use some advice on how to make Life As Always a little better, prettier, more interesting. So Erin's Blog Advice Giveaway came at just the right moment! Basically, a super fab group of ladies got together to offer tips, tricks, advice, and guidance to help notice bloggers grow into the best little bloggers they can be.

 

Yes, please!

 

Seriously, I want this more than I wanted Barbie's Dreamhouse back in 1987. 

 

 

Wish me luck, friends!

Psssst... I'm Over Here!

Hey guys and dolls!

 

I'm over at Henning Love today, guest posting for Meg, who is actually visiting in Seattle this week for her brother's graduation. Please take a moment to pop over and say hi!

 

The Emerald City... Love!

 

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend celebrating all the dads and grads.

Happy Monday!

Erin Stacy Graduates!

Okay this is a WAY bigger deal than Donna Martin, you guys.

 

My amazingly smart, talented, hard-working, gorgeous little sister graduated with a Master's Degree Counseling from Seattle University today!

Yeah, she's kind of a big deal.

 

We met the family for lunch at Buckley's earlier in the day (no, I didn't cheat on my cleanse) followed by a nice walk around Kerry Park for a traditional graduation family photo shoot.

 

 

Then it was off to graduation at Key Arena, and Seattle University definitely puts on a good show

(my favorite kind -- short and sweet!)

 

 

Erin has been working so incredibly hard for such a long time toward this goal, and we could not be more proud of her for making her dreams come true. I can't wait to see what's in store for her next.

 

Oh, the places she'll go...