Life & Adventures – Page 2

My 10 favorite newborn products

My sister Mary is exiting the newborn stage with her beautiful baby Elena. Thinking about that, I started reflecting on my time with Maggie as a newborn recently. It was an exciting time, but like all new parents, Paul and I had a hard time figuring out how to care for our new baby. Maggie was adjusting to a whole new way of life too, being outside the womb.

In addition to the invaluable support of family and friends, there were some products that I found especially helpful in the newborn stage. I thought I would share my top 10 list with you all.

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Claremont, CA: Restaurant guide

Food + Drink, Travel

I love Claremont and have been coming here for years. I used to spend time with my family here when I was a kid. I went on dates here in college. Paul and I got married in Claremont, even though we lived in Santa Monica at the time, and now we live here.

Consider this list like Chrissy Teigen’s list of L.A. restaurants, which she was criticized for by L.A Times writer Jenn Harris. (I still care for them both any way, by the way.) I’m no restaurant critic. I may have missed your favorites as I still haven’t been every where but these are my personal favorites.

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Halloween with my little dinosaur

Love + Relationships

For Maggie’s first Halloween, she is going to be a dinosaur. I saw a pink dinosaur costume on the Carter’s website and thought that would be the perfect costume for her. Instead of buying that terry cloth costume, I bought separates from Carter’s that she could wear any time and get more use out of. My crafty sister-in-law kindly made the tail, attached it to a tutu, and added spikes to her hooded sweatshirt.

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Introducing Margaret Esme

Life & Adventures, Love + Relationships, motherhood

For a while, I held off on writing a post about Maggie or anything at all for this blog. It’s been hard to find the time. But now Maggie is two months old and I want to share about her.

She was born three weeks early on Friday morning, December 14.

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Baby shower playlist

Entertainment, Music

Hello Kitty DJ

In about 5 weeks, it’s my baby’s due date. It’s finally the home stretch! I can hardly believe it. Except, I can because pregnancy is long and although I may never feel totally ready for the baby, I’m ready enough.

I still haven’t said anything on here about my baby’s name or sex, but I might as well tell you now. It’s no secret. I was just trying to decide when and how to tell people.

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Our wedding look

Life & Adventures, Style

I thought I would share a bit more on our wedding vision, vintage romantic, and how it played out in the overall look. I was inspired by a few things from the beginning of the planning process: our cake topper, our wedding rings and my parents’ wedding photos.

We had found our cake topper way before the wedding and before we were close to being engaged. The cake topper couple sort of looks like us. I saw it in an antique shop when Paul and I were wandering around The Orange Circle. I think that was when had been together for a year and a half or so. I don’t remember exactly. I told Paul how much I liked it and he went back to buy it a few days later.

Our wedding rings and my engagement ring were rose gold rings from Andrea Bonelli, a small business that uses recycled metals and ethically mined stones.

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Our wedding day

Life & Adventures, Love + Relationships

It’s been almost a year since I got married and I still haven’t shared details or photos on the blog, so I figure now is as good a time as any. If for no other reason, I thought it would be nice to write a bit about what the day was like so I can look back on it later.

I’m so happy with how the day turned out and glad we got to celebrate our vows with family and friends. Before we got engaged, we had talked about possibly having a courthouse wedding to avoid the planning and expense of something bigger. But I really wanted a wedding with our extended families and friends. I didn’t want to get married without my cousins, aunts, uncles and close friends there. Paul would have been okay with a small courthouse wedding, but in the end he said he was very glad we had everyone celebrate with us.

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What’s new in 2018

Life & Adventures

So, I haven’t posted anything in a year and a half. I fell off the grid. But I can never stay away forever. I wish I hadn’t left.

I miss blogging. It gives me a reason to write, take photos, and plan recipes, all things that I’ve loved doing since I was a kid. I want to continue and not let life get in the way.

What have I been up to? Well, I got busy with wedding planning, finishing a family cookbook, the wedding and honeymoon, followed by a new job, and, more recently, moving. I also took two classes at a nearby college during this time, one in person and one online. This past spring, my husband, Mom, and I went to visit relatives in Boise, one of my favorite places to be. That’s what’s been happening with me since I last blogged. I also got pregnant in April. As I write this, I’m about 5 months pregnant.

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