Lately

It's been a week since we got back from our trip to Mexico and I am having the post vacation blues! I guess that just means I need to start planning our next trip. :) Here's what I've been up to this week:

Going through pictures from our vacation. Love this one of me and my guy swimming. 

Having fun putting together Jonas' (candy-less) Easter basket this year. 

Gotta detox after all the burritos and margaritas I consumed. This is my new favorite tea!

Jonas inside: throwing things, fussy, kind of acting up.
Jonas outside: see above.

The cutest little colored Miffys, ever.

Our Holiday Cards

We got our cards from Tiny Prints this year and I think they are my favorite yet!

We had to choose a Jonas-kind-of-smiling-but-not-looking-at-the-camera over a 

Jonas-not-smiling-but-looking-at-the-camera.

(forever)

I have never had the urge to stock up on something like stamps before, until now. These forever stamps in the style of vintage seed packets are it. Love. Too bad I'm not planning a bridal shower or anything super worthy of these beauties! Get yours here.

Lately

How about a good catch-all catch-up post? Since that is all I can handle these days!

-As you can see above we sent out Jonas' birth announcements. I had a livingsocial deal for Paper Culture, I think they turned out pretty cute. We didn't order a ton since I figured we would send out more Christmas cards than usual with his mug on those too.

-Despite the colic and possible reflux, things do seem to be evening out over here. By that, I mean when he is awake he is still almost always crying, but those moments where he isn't? He is smiling, borderline cooing, staring deeply at his "art" or just being a pure joy. We live for those moments.

-I feel I have a running to-do list in my head broken down by how long each task is. I find if Jon has Jonas for 20 minutes, I can pump and paint my nails. If he has him for 5 minutes, I can pee and update the Netflix queue. These little things stack up in my brain. We take turns dealing with fussypants and then when I have free arms, I whisk around the house like a little tornado.

-Jonas sure was born during an exciting year with the Year of the Dragon, Olympics, Giants sweeping the World Series and the election. I sure won't ever forget what 2012 felt like.

-Nursing at Jon's office? Check, Check. Nursing at a party? Check, Check. Nursing out in public? Check, Check. Gotta feed my baby!

-Finally ordered my Ergo baby carrier. Cannot wait for it to arrive! Jonas is not loving the Moby wrap for as long as he used to. I have heard so many great things about the Ergo it seemed like a no-brainer.

a ladies lunch baby shower

I feel so lucky to have such a sweet cousin who wanted to throw me a shower, any kind I wanted. Since we already had our big co-ed one, I thought something much smaller with just a few of the ladies I love the most would be a great way to celebrate baby Jonas. She threw the classiest luncheon ever. Take a peek!

The adorable banner greeted us as we walked inside.

The beautiful table settings. 

All the place cards had quotes related to babies and children. 

My sister in law set up a station for us to scrapbook Jonas' baby book. Everyone was in charge of creating a few pages like First Tooth, Nursery, Coming home from the hospital, First solid food and so on. All the pages were decorated so cute and uniquely so now whenever those moments happen, I just have to glue in the photos! Such an amazing time saver.

Beverages.

Peaches & Prosciutto. 

Our beautiful and colorful lunch. 

And lastly, one of my favorite presents: a homemade linen pillow from my Aunt Liana. 

It is sooo beautiful in person. I sure felt the love from everyone that day!

Summer is near

{California Girl Print}

We are just three days away from the first day of summer! 

And then pretty soon, this California girl is heading to Texas!

The last weekend of April

This weekend was a good one. It included time with my best girlfriends, lunches and dinners out, huge progress on the backyard, getting to see my sister in law and the kiddos and a baseball game. Here are some moments that I documented.

A caramel macaroon from La Boulange.

Ashley's colorful yummy lunch. Much prettier than mine, so she let me shoot hers. Friends that know and understand their blogger friends are the best. "Wait, don't start, I need a picture!!" doesn't get a weird reaction from them.

Nicole's handsome little man joined us for lunch and shopping.  And ladies, he is the best shopping partner!

Weekends call for list making and this new one from Shutterfly makes me enjoy every single one. It's been 8 months but I still am not used to my new last name, or initial. Hey, I had the other one for, oh, 28 years!!

St. Valentine's Day

Happy love day! Whether single or taken, I hope your day is filled with red, pink, hearts and love.

To my valentine: I love you more this year than the last! Xoxo.

 {vintage Valentines I am hoarding}

{arrived just in time}

Shot through the heart

I couldn't resist the adorable Valentine's from Minted this year. I sent some out to the littles in my life and if they didn't have littles, to their pets. Ha! True story.

 Harley is a dog. :) The rest are little humans

Lots of X's and O's. 

Muah!

Nothing says "I love you" like...

...a death threat?

I love me some vintage Valentines, but so many are weird, confusing or borderline racist!

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Our most controversial card yet. See, this year we didn't say 

"Happy Holidays" and busted out "Merry Christmas". See that? :)

The only other card we sent out, in 2009. 

Our Invites

Since we have started receiving the RSVP cards, I figured it was time to share our wedding invitations. And can I just say how fun it is to come home to a tidy lil stack of RSVP cards everyday? Love this part of it. So for the invitations, we wanted to keep it romantic and rustic looking. We chose a suite that is pretty much a reversal of the save the dates, with the blush pink and kraft paper brown.

 Signed, sealed, delivered.

 

 

My favorite part: the wrap around address labels with JON LOVES HOLLY. It was a last minute decision that I'm happy I made. I also love the garden of love stamps.
The invites are from Minted and I have been getting tons of compliments on them. Score 1 for this bride on going the more budget friendly route.

Our Save the Dates

I think our save the dates have safely arrived at all of their destinations and I can finally reveal this labor of love. I am so happy with how they turned out and think they convey 'rustic romance' perfectly. I am not a "pink girl" so I can't believe we ended up with pink envelopes! But they are really thick and were 50% off, sold.

Calligraphy: Dear Darling by Suzy Lee
Return address stamp: Paper Source
Envelopes: Discontinued Luxe Blush by Paper Source
Paper and printing from a local print shop.

Weekend Scenes...at long last!

It's been awhile since I have had a proper weekend scenes post. Here we go.

I originally thought this lil chiffon flower would be enough for my wedding hair, but after throwing it in the other night, I realize it doesn't seem too amazing. (My wedding 'do will be down) It still makes a simple bun more fun.

I made a special card to ask 2 of Jon's cousins to be our 'guestbook girls' at the wedding.  They are very important to us but past the age for flower girls. They were thrilled. The stickers are from Martha Stewart's Michael's line and are well worth the $5.

Gymnastics competition. So fun! Those girls are strong and mighty. Just, wow. They competed in all categories, but I think watching the vault was my favorite.

The rainy weather didn't stop me from wearing my new-to-me vintage dress. 

I am one proud aunt. Here I am with one week old little Avery. Very mellow and sweet. I think being an aunt before you have your own children is extra special. I just love them to pieces.

Dear Darling Calligraphy

Our save the dates are done! Well, they are almost done. I have been obsessed with calligraphy ever since I met my first wedding blog and knew I would somehow incorporate it into our big day. I hired Suzy Lee of Dear Darling to produce our save the date. I will show it to you once it has gone out in the mail and all that good stuff. In the meantime, take a look at her amazing work.

All photos from Suzy's blog.

On a budget? Me too. That is why I commissioned her to make me a digital file and then I take it to my printer and save boatloads of money. The file is still all hand done and goes through several rounds of revisions, scanned and made into a high resolution file for printing!

Open Bar

Um, wow. This is a wicked cute save-the-date.

Shoot, does this mean the wedding planning has begun?

Ashley's Invites

Here are the bridal shower invites I was working on. 

I did not letterpress or gocco them myself, but I did work hard on the stamps. 

I ordered them from an Etsy seller and asked for ones less 

than 20 cents and in shades of yellow and orange.

I had to sit down with a calculator and do them all. 

I think they turned out pretty cute.

Sorry for the hearts. Had to cover up the goods, even though Jon 

still thinks someone can zoom in on the back ones. 

But that stamp is hard to decipher in person.