Eva's First Haircut















This haircut took place nearly a year ago, in March 2010. Eva had just turned 3 and her hair was getting very difficult to manage. I found out that Dolce gave free haircuts if the hair was designated to be donated to Locks of Love. First I measured the length of Eva's hair and thought that it was probably long enough. So I made the appointment, and went in more nervous than Eva. I wasn't afraid of getting the hair cut, but I was afraid of her response to it. As it turned out, she loved every minute of the experience and immediately afterward, asked when she could do it again. A winner for everyone involved!

Santa Fe 2009









About this time last year, Justin and I took a trip (sans kids) to Santa Fe, which by the way, is a very romantic city, particularly in the winter. We stayed at La Posada hotel, a historic hotel nestled in side streets just outside of Old Town. We flew into Albuquerque and then took a train to Santa Fe. We rode into town to find all the streets lined with a couple of feet of snow. Apparently we had just missed a heavy snowfall, but had arrived in time to still see and enjoy the remnants of the storm. It snowed lightly only once while we were there, the last night, the evening we walked from our casita to the hotel's restaurant, a 4 star gem with delicious food and great ambiance.

Speaking of food, just about all the food we ate was fantastic! The first location was a restaurant we've eaten at before. The owners changed, the name of the restaurant changed, and the type of food changed (now Spanish flavors), but the experience was great, all the same. On another evening we dined at Pasqual's, which was recommended by several people, and that did not disappoint! Wow!

Overall the trip was fantastic and it's fun to reminisce about it while I write this blog post. One of the things Justin and I came away with was that, as much fun as it was to be on a grown-up vacation without kids, at this point in our lives, we'd much rather spend our time/money on family vacations. Which we've recently done. We were in Disneyland last week. Pictures forthcoming!

Bloom Baby Boutique


You may or may not know that my friend, Laura, and I have started a children's discount boutique a few months ago. I have to say that it's been much harder and much more work than I expected, however totally worth it. Last week we went to Las Vegas for the ABC Children's Expo, one of the industry's largest trade shows. It was so great in so many ways, but I won't bore you will all the details, but I will say that we picked up some fantastic products and are waiting anxiously for them to arrive. Business on the website is slow, but steady. We have two events coming up, the Dayspring Boutique on November 18-20 and Ahwatukee's Festival of Lights on November 27. We are very busy getting those booths ready.

So, despite the workload, the best part of the job is the shopping we get to do for the business. One example is the company we are featuring this week, Hopscotch Designs. These dresses have the quality and style you would find in a boutique, but we get to offer them at a discount. My favorite is the clementine orange one. If you are interested in purchasing one and are local, let me know so we can arrange for a free local pick up.

Go to Bloombabyboutique.com to check out our awesome discounted merchandise!

Shoes



I don't know what it is about these shoes, but I do love them. These are definitely not the styles I would typically pick out, and I doubt they would look good on me, but it's fun to window shop.

Solaris Wedge

Sawtooth Myrtle T-Strap

Trying to get into the Fall Spirit













I can't believe it's already fall, especially since it's still so stinkin' hot! There are several projects that we are holding off until it cools down a bit. At this point, even 90 degrees sounds good-- I'm just ready to get out of this 100 degree weather.

It's hard to even consider Halloween, but I'm trying to get in the mood. I'm posting some pictures from the Halloween party we threw last year. It was a blast, but sadly, I have to finally admit that my house is just too small to host these kinds of shin-digs. I am toying with the idea of having another Halloween party this year, but if we do, it'll be at a park.

I'm also posting these photos because Linda contacted me the other day so I could send some Halloween/Fall themed items to her since she is also considering a Halloween party. When we talked on the phone it was really fun to reminisce about the fun party ideas I had, so I wanted to share the photos of them.

The party food was great-- we had eyeballs on sticks, apple fangs, frankenstein jello cups, monster fingers, cupcakes, green goo, and much more. My friend Gloria very generously let me borrow her bounce house, so that was set up in the backyard. We also had several crafts and games for the kids to play. Almost everyone came dressed up. The funniest costume was worn by Justin-- my next door neighbor insisted that he dress up so she loaned him a cow costume. I still have fun teasing him about that.

2009 Book List Recap

Boy, am I behind in updating my booklists. It has been a banner year for book reading. Here's a list of the books I finished:

  • The Fencing Master
  • The Ivy Chronicles
  • Great Expectations
  • Bridge to Tarabithia
  • Girl in Hyacinth Blue
  • The Age of Innocence
  • The Time Traveler's Wife
  • Like Water for Chocolate
  • The Year of Living Biblically
  • The Last Battle (C of N #7)
  • The Silver Chair (C of N #6)
  • The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (C of N #5)
  • Prince Caspian (C of N #4)
  • The Horse and His Boy (C of N #3)
  • The Magician's Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia #1)
  • The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardorbe (C of N #2)
  • The Secret Life of Bees
  • Breaking Dawn (read it twice)
  • Eclipse (read it twice)
  • New Moon (read it twice)
  • Twilight (read it three times)
  • The Red Tent (read for the second time)
  • Lily's Crossing
  • Guns, Germs, and Steel
  • The Sari Shop
  • These Is My Words (read it for the second time)
  • The Color Purple
  • The Audacity of Hope
  • Sarah's Quilt
  • Eat, Pray, Love

Andrew's Birthday Bash











These days, this five year old is all Star Wars, all the time. So it was the obvious theme for his birthday party this year which was held at Chuck E Cheese. We invited mostly the little boys and friends that really like Star Wars and we were only able to invite 5 friends from school. Although the party was large, we were the first party scheduled at Chuck E Cheese, so it was just us for most of the time we were there. What an awesome turn out, with great friends old and new. Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Diana, and the cousins Jacob and Michael were able to attend. Papa was out of town so we celebrated with him the week before.

By the way, the little girl sitting next to Andrew in the horse and carriage is his best friend at school, Kiki, they are so cute together and play constantly.

In case you're not familiar with Star Wars, Andrew is in an Anakin Skywalker costume and Eva has Princess Leia hair.