Christmas in Dallas

Before moving onto the New Year, I thought I would post a few pictures of our Christmas in Dallas. We got together with the whole family. Ellie got to meet her Godmother for the first time. There was plenty of Tecate, dice games, sugar cookies, Gypsy Kings, and more Mexican food then you could ever dream of. Fun times!

My Transformation

No....it's not any kind of sexual transformation. Just a temporary change in appearance (hopefully). I decided to get my hair cut. Really cut. I know that it was sort of short to begin with (as Knute continues to remind me). As always, I am now regretting it. My husband told me he doesn't "hate" it. My girlfriend referred to it as the "Lafayette Bob," and I don't think this is a good thing. I'm not sure if it makes me look 16 or 46, but definitely not my age. The day after I got my new do, I developed an eye irritation which involved me throwing out my contact lenses and having to wear my glasses that I never use. Now I'm not quite sure if my own daughter recognizes me. I either look extremely sophisticated or really stupid. I'm thinking it's the later of the two. My next transformation might have to involve a hat and some sunglasses. Grow hair! Please grow.

Nob Hill Christmas

On Saturday afternoon we headed to the city for a Bucklew Christmas Extravaganza (hosted by Eric). Even though his apartment is only about 35 minutes from our house, it felt like we were in a whole different world. I guess I need to break out of Suburbia more often. After drinks and hors d' oeuvres (I've never known how to spell this word) we headed up to his roof top for some views of the city and family pictures.

Our Little Sugarplum was there to celebrate as well!

After spending time at Eric's, we walked over to the Ritz Carlton (right across the street) for a photo opp in front of their Christmas tree. I guess whoever took the picture found the tree more captivating then the family in front of it.

We then headed up to the top of the Mark for a pre-dinner cocktail. The drinks were delicious. The views were spectacular. The service was super snotty.

The day ended with a fun and yummy dinner at Rue Saint Jacques in Nob Hill.

I swear that I have more intellectual things to talk about then Christmas (sometimes), but probably not this month. After all, it IS the most wonderful time of the year :) Also, it's an exciting FIRST this year for a very special someone.

Uninspired

When Knute and I were engaged (about three years ago) I decided to start a collection of Snowmen for Christmas Decorations. I used to think they were SO cute. I couldn't wait to get out my Snowmen the day after Thanksgiving and put them out on display. My tastes must have changed A LOT in three years. I now find them extremely tacky. What was I thinking? Now I'm stuck with all these Snowmen that I don't know what to do with. They might have to become part of Ellie's toy collection next year. Oh well.

Welcome Home!

I spent a wonderful week in Denver with Ellie visiting my parents. We were able to do a little Christmas shopping, play plenty of cards and Scrabble, and I spent Saturday night celebrating Jen's Birthday while Gram and Grand Dad entertained their favorite baby girl. It was a great trip.Unfortunately, my good mood coming home was short lived. It started on the plane ride. The two year old sitting in front of me wanted to talk to me (and talk and talk and talk) and "play" with Ellie the whole flight. She wanted to touch Ellie, offer her fruit loops, and ask me a million questions. It was really kind of sweet at first, but after ten minutes it got old. Please leave me alone. Her mom was busy reading her book. I love children, but I prefer my space on airplanes. Ellie had a horrible dirty diaper in the middle of the flight. Everyone was looking around for the culprit and checking their own kids' pants, but it was my sweet little Ellie. It was extremely awkward and very inconvenient to change in the tiny airplane bathroom. Oh well. Shit happens.

We landed and were excited to see Knute when he picked us up. We waited for my bag at the luggage carousel, but it never made it. I'm pretty used to this happening to me. My luggage has been lost 4 or 5 times in the last two years. Does this happen frequently to anyone else? I really don't travel that often. I know the routine fairly well by now so I headed over to Southwest to fill out a Lost Luggage Report. The bag will typically make it on one of the other flights coming from Denver. It still has yet to come. I have called several times. Knute has called several times. No one knows where it is. They even said, "it should have come by now." I will continue to be hopeful. Yes, I know they're only material possessions, but I am sick about it. You know that feeling when you've lost something? I lost A LOT.

On the way home Knute told me that we received a noise violation from the Animal Services Department for persistent barking. Our dear Rudy. Not really sure what else to say about him. I think it's all been said.

The house looked fairly clean on the surface, but I know our house well and things weren't quite as they should be. I think Knute may have taken his "Mancation" to the next level judging from the number of beer cans in our recycling bin. It's possible that he may have even hosted a college fraternity party. I may never know for sure.

On a positive note, it is the time of year to be thankful. I am thankful for Elizabeth Clare, who just turned five months old yesterday. Wow. I love her so much that I feel like my heart is going to explode sometimes. It's an incredible feeling and something I can never quite explain. We are very fortunate to be celebrating our first Thanksgiving as a family of three (plus dog) this year.

A Kidnap Breakfast

I remember I had a Kidnap Breakfast Party for both my tenth and eleventh birthdays. It was all the rage back then. My parents would drive me around on a Saturday morning (at like 6:30 a.m.) so I could wake up and kidnap my friends in their pajamas (usually comfortably asleep in their beds) to come back to my house for breakfast and cake. Can you imagine finding this fun now? Well, this kidnap breakfast was a little different. My sister-in-law, Celeste, came to kidnap me at 10 a.m. Fortunately I was already dressed and out of my pajamas. There's something cute about a bunch of ten-year-old girls dressed in their pj's, but it's a little different when you're 28. We did eat breakfast, but instead of having cake we drank Bloody Marys. They were delicious. Afterward we went to get pedicures. My feet actually look pretty and that is an extremely rare occurrence. It was a real treat. Thanks C-Buck!

Later on Saturday we headed to the LaSala's house for a Thanksgiving Cooking Club. It's usually a girls only club, but we decided to be nice and share our delicious food with the guys this time as well. Knute is typically stuck with a turkey sandwich or microwave dinner on cooking club nights and I think he was glad to be included. It was so much fun! Amy is an incredible host. Everything always looks perfect, like a spread from a Martha Stewart magazine. It's never a good idea to offer to host cooking club after Amy. She even provided us with a fashion show for our after dinner entertainment.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of all the fun we had, but I did manage to take a shot of Ellie's three future friends. Not the pretty ladies, but their cute little baby bumps.

I feel like I basically ate my way through a Saturday, but I had fun doing it.

'Tis the Season!

Knute always brings me home a Grande Soy Latte in the new red "holiday" cup the very firs day it's available at Starbucks. It's the little things in life that make me happy. This is how I know the holidays are upon us. Yes, I realize that may sound sad, but it gets me in the spirit. Now I will have to look forward to KOSI 101 playing Christmas music 24/7. I think it starts the week of Thanksgiving. I refuse to listen to anything else and I never get sick of it.

Knute's Masterpiece

Last night I made Knute carve a pumpkin. It started off as a request, but his response was "I don't like art." I told him that this was one of his new responsibilities as a father. I guess he's going to have to learn to love 'art.' Because he is a smart husband, he did what I asked anyway. After all, what would all of the other four-month old babies think if Ellie's Dad didn't carve her a pumpkin? The above picture is a result of his efforts. After a few choice words and asking if he could start over on the other side (after he had already begun carving), I think he did a pretty descent job for a first timer. Even though the nose is a little questionable, it offers character. Knute may have some serious potential as an artist.

Chicken Noodle Soup Days

I know she's not exactly a vision of illness, but Ellie hasn't been feeling so hot these last few days. She had her four month shots on Friday and for whatever reason had some kind of adverse reaction to them. She has been vomiting for the last three days and has very little appetite. After talking to the after hours advice nurse from her Pediatrician's office we went to the ER last night for fear of dehydration. I know this sounds a bit extreme (and it probably was), but we were worried sick. Fortunately, we were there for less then two hours and after giving her a few ounces of Pedialyte were on our way. She hasn't thrown up since, but has no appetite and isn't her chipper self. I wish she could rest on the couch and watch movies while I serve her Chicken Noodle Soup and 7-up, but I fear this could make her feel worse at such a young age. Having a sick baby is the worst :(

Visit from Gram

We love visits from Gram! I try to see my parents at least every other month. We switch between visits to Denver and visits here. This time it was my mom's turn to come out (unfortunately, my dad had to work). She is an extremely easy house guest, if you can call her that. I don't stress about having the house perfectly cleaned before she comes, just washed towels and sheets. We typically don't make plans ahead of time, but once she gets her there never seems to be enough hours in the day. Sometimes I save all the little projects I don't want to do for when she visits, like paint a couple bedrooms (which we will never attempt again), sew missing buttons onto things (because I don't know how), rearrange the living room furniture, cook banana bread, make cookies for the neighbors, and the list goes on. Of course we know how to have fun too, although our idea of "fun" may be somewhat different then most people's. If it's a really good TJ Maxx, we can easily kill two hours there. Our latest visit also involved a walk on the Lafayette Reservoir, lunch at Sam's in Tiburon, and a stroll through Sausalito (where we found Ellie her pictured "Lamb" jacket).

The Pumpkin Patch

Ellie had been begging to go to the Pumpkin Patch all week. She could barely sleep the night before the anticipated event. It was everything she had hoped her first visit to a Pumpkin Patch would be.


It even included a petting zoo with a pig that looked like it was on it's last leg (on sale for $50) and a baby Billie Goat.

Her friend Luca was kind enough to wheel all her pumpkins back to the car.

She has yet to stop talking about all the fun she had (yes, her verbal skills are quite advanced for her age).

Back to the Gym!

I say the word "back" very loosely because I've never really been a huge gym person. It makes me sick to think of the months of gym membership fees that we have paid without me ever going, not even once. I think I may have taken two yoga classes while I was pregnant. To my credit, I walk the dog every single day for 2-3 miles, rain or shine. This is not necessarily done by choice, but to save my own sanity before he drives me nuts with his incessant whining. For those who know me, you may have heard me complain about this once or twice. Thanks for listening.

I think part of my problem with going to the gym is that I build it up too much in my head and sometimes set unrealistic goals for myself. I know that I will never have abs of steal or be able to get through an aerobics class without feeling completely foolish for my lack of coordination. So what if I can only lift ten pounds of weights? At least I don't make obnoxious noisy grunts while doing it.

So...I decided that it was time. It's been fifteen weeks since I had a baby and my ass isn't going to get any firmer on it's own. I threw on my very not-so-cute ratty gym clothes and dropped Ellie off at the Kid's Club for a short time. It wasn't such a big deal at all. I got a nice little workout in, feel good, and Ellie did just fine without me. I will really try hard to keep this up. If I set reasonable goals for myself then I think I can do it. Two to three days a week for 45 minutes is good enough for me. Maybe abs of steal are in my future??? One never knows.

Life of the Party

On Sunday we celebrated a very special three-year-old's birthday, Campbell. I love this little girl! She had a "Pink Party" (last year was blue) where everyone wore pink, the house was decorated in pink, and all the food was pink. Needless to say, there was a lot of PINK. She's my kind of girl. Also, I think the birthday girl changed into a minimum of four different dresses. Ellie celebrated in her typical fashion, by sleeping (during the day of course).

My New Best Friend

This is a beautiful face to wake up to (but I would prefer to wait until at least 7am to see it).

Scoot over Jen, you've been replaced by coffee. I'm not really sure how I used to get through the day before. I would make the occasional trip to Starbucks for a Grande Soy Latte, but now I can't make it to 9:00 am without at least two (usually three) cups of Folgers. This all stems from Ellie's new sleep schedule the past week. I guess we got a little spoiled when she would go down at 8:30 and make it until 3:00 am without so much as a peep. For some reason she reverted back to waking up every 2-3 hours. Last night she went down by 8:45, up at 12:00, 2:00, 3:45, and so on. At 6 am she is ready to greet the day, ready or not. Knute and I have gone through a laundry list of possibilities for why the sudden change. We have the same bedtime routine every night: bath, bottle, story, rocking. I thought most three-month old babies sleep through the night (a five hour stretch). No? If this post makes no sense it is because I am functioning like a Zombie.

Ellie Looks Like Me!

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Genealogy forums - Family search

Weekend in Aptos

As an extended celebration of Knute's 30th Birthday we headed to Aptos and stayed at the Seascape Resort. It was the perfect spot for a relaxing weekend and the weather was gorgeous. We enjoyed a nice lunch by the pool, a Clam Bake for dinner, and a campfire complete with s'mores by the ocean. I love little weekend getaways, even if it's only for one night. There are so many great places to visit when you live in California.


The lobsters we had with our clam bake came complete with eyes. Yum!


Ellie's first trip to the ocean. Unfortunately she was too busy napping to notice. Maybe next year..

Wow...I have a 30 Year Old Husband!

Knute is turning 30! The 30th is his Golden Birthday. In cheesy blog tradition, I decided that I simply had to post 30 reasons I LOVE Knute. So here it goes...

1. He gave me the most wonderful gift I could ever ask for, a beautiful daughter.

2. He loves and adores his little girl.

3. He likes to surprise me.

4. He is secretly obsessed with our dog. Even though Rudy can be a terrible nuisance, I know he couldn't live without him.

5. He brings me Starbucks Lattes in bed.

6. He is a great planner.

7. He packs more then me when we go on vacation.

8. He asks for my advice on what to wear to work.

9. He is a total Momma's Boy.

10. He appreciates good restaurants and likes to frequent them with me.

11. He claims to like my cooking.

12. He makes me feel appreciated.

13. He isn't much of a Handy Man, but he tries really hard.

14. He LOVES Christmas and aspires to be the neighbor with the most tacky yard decorations.

15. He has a million different nicknames for me. Most are endearing.

16. He buys really sappy Hallmark cards.

17. He is an extremely hard worker.

18. He realizes the importance of family and always makes it his first priority.

19. He watches "The Bachelor" and "American Idol" with me.

20. He has a great sense of humor.

21. He is a loyal friend.

22. He loves to celebrate any kind of occasion.

23. He always asks me how my day was.

24. He has more hair products then I do.

25. He takes me to Warriors games even though I talk his ear off and never have a true appreciation for the game.

26. He likes to grill things and is always trying to master this skill.

27. He can't wait to be the coach of Ellie's basketball team (or whatever she plays).

28. He encourages me to take bubble baths, drink wine, go on walks, hang out with my girlfriends, and do things that I enjoy.

29. He tells great stories.

30. He is a genuinely happy person who enjoys life.

A Story in Pictures

The adventure begins! My childhood friend, Allison, was married on August 16th to her college sweetheart, Eric. We left for Denver (all three of us!) to celebrate the happy occasion.


While we were out at the Rehearsal, Ellie got to spend some quality time with her Grand Dad.


...and of course her Gram.


Jen and I were in typical form at the Rehearsal dinner (always finding ourselves hilarious when nobody else does).


We enjoyed our dinner at the Fort in Morrison.


A picture of Allison and her incredibly awesome Bridesmaids.

The radiant bride on her Wedding Day. She looks a lot different from the girl with braces I remember in Middle School...absolutely stunning.

The long limo ride on the way to the reception
(the driver got lost...whoops). At least we had plenty
of champagne.



The happy Mr. and Mrs.


Until next time...