Last week.

I know, I know. Long time no bloggity blog. I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes it’s not the highest item on my list of priorities, and last week it fell pretty low.

Alas, I never know whether it’s better to try to catch up when I get behind on blogging, or just start with today and forget about documenting all the things I missed.

This time, I’ll meet in the middle and quickly summarize the past week or so. It’s been a busy one, full of ups and downs.

Let’s focus on the ups, starting with some birthday celebrations for this crazy girl.

She likes Reddi-Whip and being the birthday girl, and we love her for it.

Next on the good list is homemade ice cream- this version is chocolate mint with brownie chunks added. Delicious.

but we better balance it out with something a bit more healthy, like this frittata!

I need to be eating more frittatas and less ice cream. Not doing a very good job of balancing lately. But that’s another story.

Do you know who was in town over Memorial Day?

This girl:

she always makes me smile.

she even got in on bags at the cabin! Not to mention captaining the boat, taking me on a wild goose chase to rescue Winnie, and gracefully eating fettucine at midtown global exchange. Love her.

And, her too-generous mother got me this lovely necklace for a birthday gift. I love it. LOVE IT!

I’ve also been wearing quite a bit of peach lately. Who knew?

A slouchy peach sweater and a summery peach scarf, as well as a linen-ikat-esque tank and another chunky turquoise necklace!

and also enjoying my new teal watch and comfy danskos!

and finally, these are my brothers. They don’t get much press on the blog. Sorry, brothers. I still think you’re great.

That’s all for now, as life is a bit disheveled these days. . . ups and downs, ups and downs. Hopefully it will level out soon.

Love.

My birthday was perfect. Full recap coming soon.

BUT, seeing this the morning after- icing on the cake, man! She is EDIBLE!

One!

The third and final of the niece trifecta turned one last week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE LADY LUCIA LUNA!

And, it turns out Bryan can now add “florist extraordinaire” to his list of mad skillz. I came home from work the other day and he had clipped some lilacs from the backyard and displayed them to the best of his abilities (in our drinking glasses, no less) around the house. I’m a bit anal with our decorating and so badly wanted to switch them out to appropriate vases, but I let it be, let it be.

Speaking of Bry, he’s in Mexico all weekend, so it’s just a couple days of a girl, her dog, and a few fun projects.

Happy Friday!

4/20.

I’d like to take a break from normally scheduled broadcasting to make a very big, very important shout-out to a very awesome, very amazing person.

She’s the best of the best, the mom of all moms, the cutest of cute, the sharpest of the smartest, the best dressed of good dressers, the friendliest and the kindest and the most good-heartedest of all good-hearted. Happy birthday, sweet sis-in-law. As you-know-who would say, FIRE UP! 

6 months.

Did you know that as of yesterday, Bryan and I have been married for six whole months? I know. I can’t believe it either. In a way, the time has flown by. But then I think about how much we have learned and grown together, and I think we couldn’t possibly have experienced so much in just six months. But the calendar is the truth, and onward we march.

What did we do to celebrate? Well, nothing purposely. But we did go to dinner at Jacks on Friday night, where we ate many little plates of food and sips of beer that added up to a big bill! But the company was top-notch and we decided it was totally worth it.

And on Saturday, we hopped in the car (Tilly in tow), and went up North. Not so far North as to visit our wedding site, but pretty far north.

North enough that the snow was thick and heavy, and it was the first time all “winter” that I felt like winter was really here.

Combine that with lots of homemade food and good company, and I’d call the trip a success.

Tilly has a bit of anxiety, so she spent all afternoon, evening and night (middle of the night!) wandering around the wood floors- her nails clicking with each step- checking things out. A bit annoying, to say the least.

She would relax for a bit in the car, but wake up abruptly with each shift in speed, etc. Making progress at home, but obviously not the best road-tripper out there.

More fun later this week:)

Oh, and one of the (many) blogs I read, recently wrote about her 48 hours in Minneapolis. I love hearing about positive first impressions of this lovely city, and the places she chose to eat were spot on. Yay for Abbey.

Rotation Station

I finally updated the picture rails in our sunroom.

It isn’t perfect or final, but that’s the beauty of a spot like this- you can constantly rotate and update frames and photos as you wish! What freedom.

I’d still like to add some photos from our trip to Portland and our honeymoon, but at least there are some wedding photos up now.

I’m not one for  wedding photos on display all over the house, but a few well-placed ones make me happy.

And truthfully, the sunroom is a good place for them- it doesn’t get a ton of traffic, but if someone asks, it’s easily accessible!

I tried to make the frames more compatible- stuck with wood, metals and that burlap one too. I think they work well together.

And best of all, I didn’t buy anything new- they were all frames that I already had around the house. I was running around like a mad woman, switching frames and photos from room to shelf to storage and back out again. Tilly thought I was going nuts.  

Fun fun.

That’s all for now.

Lucia.

We were lucky enough to spend some time with her on Saturday, and OMG she is too awesome.

Almost 10 months. Lover of books (and she doesn’t mind repetition!), walking along the furniture, squeezing avocado between her fingers and bath time.

Those cheeks! Tough to get a smile on camera, but you can only imagine. She lights up!

Her.

Lovin’ on

Simply

Stunning

Cecilia

Swoosh.

Over the weekend, big brother watched little brother score his first points as a college basketball athlete. So cool. And how lucky am I to have such a dapper, smart, keeps-me-honest duo as brothers? Pretty lucky.

Favorite weekend pics

Note the one consistent factor in all three of them: CECILIA!

Fam.

We have the cutest nieces ever!

And tomorrow is hazel’s first birthday party!

Childhood.

I just love this photo- not sure where it was taken, but probably near a lake in Northern Minnesota, in the mid-80s.

I love the innocence of youth and the genuine smiles, and I love the fact that we are all still in touch and friends as adults.

Why I had to make a pucker-up face, I don’t know. But a fun moment-captured, nonetheless!

Baby Gals.

Our weekend was full of babies. Cute babies. Do I want a baby? Someday!

First up was little lady Lucia, who at not even 5 months can sit up like a champ, hop and hop and jumpity jump in her little jumper, and smiles like a superstar.

With parents like hers, I have no doubt she is going to  be a smart-as-a-whip, worldly, friendly, artsy in her own way and special gal. Rock on, Lucia Luna.

Lucia channeling her inner Andy Warhol:

And on Sunday we went to visit Lucy and Dorothy (Dottie), who might very well be the tiniest little babies I have ever held. They are 3-week old twins, and I think Lucy is around 5 lbs now and Dottie is 7 lbs. SO sweet, so tiny, so amazing.

And, last but not least, this weekend was Cecilia’s baptism! It was in St. Louis so we weren’t there, but I heard she was sweet as sugar. Love that girl, wish we lived closer, and we are SO blessed to have her in our life.

Baby girls rock.

The One.

Happy (belated) birthday to the one who makes me happy, makes me laugh, challenges me, angers me, cooks for me, compromises with me, teaches me, and loves me everyday of the darn year.