Bay Area Birthday

Highlights from the weekend:

1.Taking the BART from Oakland Airport to North Berkeley Station carrying luggage, a baby, and no stroller. What an adventure. What a work out.

2. Steam Engines in Tilden Park--15 minutes of pure childhood fun. Amazing view and it only costs $2.00. Worth every penny. Yay, we have video footage.

3.Cheeseboard Pizza--my favorite, cilantro, corn, and cheesy goodness.

4. Pixar Animation Studios--Whoa! Unbelievably cool. You just had to be there!

5.Lake Merritt Bakery--Late dinner but so worth it. We had the best fried chicken and waffles. I mean, these waffles melt in your mouth.

6.Bay Area Discovery Museum--We had a lovely picnic with an awesome view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Great place to explore and be one with nature. The kiddies loved it. Fiona was in awe!

7. Thanh Long--The best roasted garlic crab in the world! The garlic noodles were a hit too! Fiona especially loved slurping the noodles.
8. Love At First Bite--Ninang Angie surprised us with a box of cupcakes. Ninang Gail had her eyes set on the red velvet cupcake. I had a peanut butter cupcake and Fiona had a teeny tiny chocolate cupcake. She loved it! What a way to end the weekend.

9.Elephant Pharm--We all wanted a quick shopping fix. Reminded us of a Longs Drugs but 10 times better. We came out with a ton of junk. Best purchase was the aluminum water bottles for the entire family.

A much needed getaway before I started work. I heart the bay area.

Summer Evening Hang Out

I don't know what it is about these turtles but kids love it.

Our precious little ones, Jonas, Fiona, and Ruby.

Here we are, The Three Amigo Mamas!

Books! Books! And More Books!

Wondering, what's in the box?

Looks like a little Somebody is trying to runaway from the mess she made. This happens daily. I know I should put them away. But I don't. Eventually I will.

Classroom Makeover

Piles of books and papers to sort through. Not looking forward to it one bit. But it's something that must be done. Key phrase: Pace myself! New classroom and new grade. Am I crazy or what? School starts September 2nd. But I'm already having anxiety attacks. Ugh!

Before the fabric

...and after. What a difference color makes!

Thank goodness for help!

Is Martha Taking Over?

Kmart? Now Walmart? To my surprise, the Walmart craft section was actually stocked with decent stuff. They had the cutest DIY projects (excellent gifts for kids), wedding favor supplies, and scrap booking galore. For all you scrap booking fanatics, there's a really great selection to choose from--tags, stickers, hole punches, and stamps. I, myself, want to attempt a mini-album for Fiona's first year on earth. We''ll see how that goes. I've checked online for more products but the stuff looks better in person.

Bad Toy!

I know accidents may happen, especially at "this age". Fiona is crawling at full speed and finding herself into all sorts of messes and corners. We really need to baby-proof our home better. Just the other day, she was playing with a toy that looked harmless at first. It was one of those noisemakers from New Year's Eve, that accidentally made it into her basket of toys. So anyways, to make a long story short, she managed to stick her little finger in a skinny slot. Of course, it got stuck, and then all of a sudden you hear crying and see blood dripping. Owwee! Far and I could feel her pain. It was a pretty deep cut, not your regular paper cut. So, papa applied her first accident band-aid around her wee finger. Poor baby. The entire day, she kept fidgeting with it and putting it in her mouth. It was a chore trying to distract her from taking it off or eating it.

And as for the toy, well, you know where it's at...the basura. Bad toy!

A Child's Playhouse

Sitting next to Cousin Isaiah

Fiona met a new friend!

Immediately, Fiona went bonkers when she saw a ton of toys laying across the floor and tiny tots crawling around. She wanted to join right in. This spacious room was filled with all kinds of child play goodness--blocks, wooden toys, slides, balls, and other cool stuff. Finally, a place for little ones to hang out, explore, and socialize with other kiddies. It's nice and nearby. Thanks to Cousin Margie for inviting us to join her and Isaiah for an afternoon of fun. We met all sorts of new folks with kids the same age as Fiona. It's not just a tot pow-wow. It's a place where mamas can socialize and share stories too. We had an exciting time!

Vietnamese Food Anyone?

Fiona actually enjoyed sipping the pho broth and nibbling on the rice noodles. The cutest thing was when she slurped the noodle. I mean, SLURPED it!

All of a sudden Fiona is...

pulling herself to stand
crawling so much faster
having more and more teeth pop out
eating more table food (string cheese, crackers, rice, & chicken)
sleeping throught the night with occasional wake-ups
playing with her toys for a longer period of time
standing in her crib calling for mama
sitting longer while reading stories with papa
growing out of her 6-9 month clothes
babbling and talking in a sweet voice

She's growing so fast. My sweet baby.

Lunch at Luigi's With Guy Fieri

Well, we sort of ate lunch right NEXT to him ( meaning we were very close within arms reach). Shelley, Carter, and Esperanza were already seated when Fiona and I walked in the door. To my right was Guy Fieri spray painting his logo and signing the wall of this pizzeria establishment. I was really excited, very starstruck. He looks exactly the same as he does on t.v., spiky blond hair and all. I love the Food Network channel. Farley and I watch it ALL the time. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of him. I didn't want to seem annoying so I just photograghed where he had signed.

It was Esperanza's brilliant idea to get a bite at Pizzeria Luigi's, a quaint eatery in the Golden Hills/ South Park area. Very tasty. Thin crust and a mouthful of flavor. Cheesy too. Now I know why Espie was raving about this place. Apparently, Guy was filming there all morning for his show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. I spoke to one of the employees and she mentioned it would be airing this October. Very cool.

Afterwards, we got ice cream at the Daily Scoop on Juniper Street. Such a sweet little ice cream shop. Inside there were tiny tables and chairs for the wee folks. Fiona couldn't keep still. She just wanted to get on the floor to crawl, stand, and jump.

And after that, we stopped in at The Grove at Juniper & 30th. I love the knitting corner. It had wall to wall yarn and knitting doodads. Also, there was this long table with mixed mid century chairs in the middle. I guess it's just a place to sit and knit. Love it! They offer classes too. That'll be my next venture.

We all just had such a lovely time. Delicious lunch and perfect company.

Hair Clips For Sale!

Okay, I'm a little excited about this new hairclip endeavor. Just last week, Nest Maternity, a children's boutique in Chula Vista, purchased some hair clips from me. Wow! It's just the neatest feeling. And it's keeps my creative juices flowing. Hopefully (crossing my fingers) these will do well and they'll be callin' back for more. We shall see.

The packaging was just a quick whip up thanks to Farley. I needed to present it to the owner in a somewhat 'professional' fashion. Very simple. Left over school card stock with black ink. Perhaps, it needs more work? More color? I'm still debating. But I do love the rounded corner punch I just recently bought. It adds a nice touch.