H A P P Y H O L I D A Y S !

mornings with her

the last days of my vacation/weekend was spent waking up slow with the little one.

i let the cat's meow wake her up this time because i always feel bad doing it myself.



sometimes we make pancakes or walk to, yeah i hate to admit it, mcd's for hotcakes.

around the corner from there is a pet shop. there are three kittens at the window.
we go in to play with them. interesting enough, their names were: mike, vinny and ronnie.
of course.

one day i took her to the sitter so i could just watch netflix all day,
eat chicken salad on crisps and drink tea.

i actually really enjoyed my vacation after all.

a week of sunsets

there was a whole week when the sun was setting right after i was able to pick up sofi. the moment lasts for a good 15 minutes. it feels slow at first and ends rather quickly. the colors change so much in these few minutes, and suddenly it is only darkness. it's getting darker and feeling much later than it really is. now, i only get to watch the sunset from the bus on the way to pick her up and by the time i get there, the sky is only a tint of blue. it is also 20 degrees colder now.

This weekend seemed pretty eventful and by that I mean we got to do laundry Friday night and Sofia spent the night at her grandma's. Saturday morning I had to wait for a guy to come re-grout our bathroom tiles. It took him all day, even though he made it seem as if he was going to be done in 3 hours. Anyway I took advantage of it and cooked a couple of dishes, listened to records and watched most of 'Louie CK' on netflix. He's hilarious!

On the other hand Sofia had a fever that day, but I couldn't leave to pick her up because the guy grouting the bathroom was taking forever. I felt bad. Thankfully it lasted only for one day. She had the chills but her temperature was between 100 - 103F, so I wrapped her up and she went to bed early. She was able to sweat it out that night. The following morning she woke me up all giggling and shouting my name. We even went to the carnival and ate zeppoles.

(update on my camera issue: it's not a light leak, the marks are stretch marks from when i rewound the film all haphazardly and forced it too much. i'll be gentle from now on.)

our subway themed birthday party fun!

Sofia and Audrey celebrated their birthdays last Saturday! It was truly very nice and we were very glad to see all those who were able to come. So I guess I should begin by saying that we did a subway themed party, and by that I don't mean that sandwich shop, but the NYC MTA subway! We got the idea from the awesome designer Erin Jang of The Indigo Bunting. It's a really simple and easy DIY project and we loved all the colors and of course the font: Helvetica. So we took the theme and ran with it. It was also cheap and most of all fun to make!

We made hats & t-shirts and a banner

Red velvet cupcakes made by Alicia

Adrienne made the subway signs

Favors

& their painted frames

So I guess this project will be the first competed project of July!
More pics from the party here.

must be the colors & the kids

Day 2: Explored Lawrenceville

This area is quite interesting and reminded me a little bit of Brooklyn. A lot of new boutiques, furniture stores, cafe's and consignment shops along side old ma & pa stores and homes of people that's been there all their lives.

Also, I really loved the random splashes of color anywhere we looked and how each house differ so greatly from one another. Part of it reminds me of Seattle, how nature meets urban life. With all the bridges and hills and rivers surrounding it, the geographic make up of Pittsburgh makes me feel like each road I turn on will have something new for me to discover. There are lots of nooks and crannies waiting to be explored. An uncharted territory!

City of Bridges

Day 1: Drove to the strip and had breakfast at Deluca's.

Then we rode the Monongahela Incline to see the city scape.
See here for a better picture of the incline and a thorough explanation.

"Pittsburgh is world record holder for bridges with piers, beating Venice, Italy."

my baby turned 2!

Happy Birthday my sweet baby.

Pittsburgh, Pa. yinz hear?

I miss Pittsburgh. I think we left our hearts there. We're still obsessing about it and daydreaming about moving there. Yes this city moved up in my #1 spot of cities to live in. I guess I'll be inching my way across the map to the Pacific Northwest.

Delicious donuts from "Peace, Love & Tiny Little Donuts".
(coconut, oreo cookies, powdered chocolate, sicilian w/ sea salt & glazed)


decisions, decisions.


Went to this coffee shop two days in a row and the barista already
remembered what we wanted. Instant regulars!

summertime.

this will always be the summer jam.

cinema with the kiddo

We love watching films, but since Sofia was born it has been a bit difficult to sit through a whole movie. She'd get bored and start crying for attention so I usually just pause the movie or give up watching the rest of it. However, when we watched Paper Moon (3 weeks ago), Sofia paid attention and sat through the whole movie! This was a first. I recommend watching this on a Saturday afternoon because it adds to the feel of the movie. I am still over the moon about the precocious Addy (who became the youngest girl to win an Oscar because of her role) , the stunning cinematography, and mostly the relationship between Addy and Moze. The story begins with Addy's mom's funeral. She doesn't know who her dad is and a man (Moze) shows up and ends up having the task of driving Addy to her Aunt who lives in Missouri. As with all road trip movies, the journey is filled with adventures that changes both their lives and their relationship with one another. It is just absolutely funny and wonderful and it still makes me happy thinking about it.


Last night I decided to put on The Red Balloon, knowing how much Sofia loves balloons I knew she would love it. It has been a while (probably 20 years) since I saw this movie, so naturally my memory was fuzzy about what happens in the end. So we sat down to watch the movie and as soon as Sofia saw the balloon she stood up from the chair and was drawn in. I tried to sit her down, but she got up again and was completely focused on the film. Eventually she laid down and I gave her a bottle.

When we got to the part where to balloon gets deflated, Sofia had a sad look on her face. It didn't help that I said, "aww no more balloon. bye-bye balloon." After I said that she started crying. She was so sad and I tried to cheer her up when the boy flies away with all the balloons, but that only made her cry louder! I had to stop the movie to calm her down. I took her to the bedroom and played with her, but she still wouldn't stop crying. I realized that this may have triggered a memory of hers. I month ago, she found a balloon by the ice cream shop and she was playing with it and it popped. She cried a lot too and when we tried to give her a new one, she didn't want it and held on to the deflated balloon. She wouldn't let go of it until after we got home and gave her a bath. lol She was so cute. I couldn't believe how sentimental she is, but I'm not surprised. She's just like me.