I hope that you have a very merry Christmas!
“And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy–the Son of God.'”
Luke 1:35
picture via 100 layer cake | by paige jones
Of course, the minute we find out that we’re pregnant, my brain immediately thinks about the birth announcement. I’ve posted a few of my favorites here and here in the past, but have been scouring the internet a lot recently for other ideas.
via Oh So Beautiful Paper | by Sarah Jane Winter
via Oh So Beautiful Paper | by Linda and Harriett
by Pearly Gates Design (an extremely talented sorority sister/friend of mine!)
via Etsy | by Simple Simon Design
via Etsy | by Park Side Prints
by Sassy Apple
by She Paperie | Obviously this isn’t a baby announcement, but I love the concept for one!
via Etsy | by Tine and Thread
via Minted | by Rifle Paper Co.
Sasha and I made a big announcement on Instagram yesterday – we’re having a baby girl! She is due on June 4, 2014. I’m 4 months and 2 days along now, and I feel good – I’m definitely glad to be through with the first trimester. All I can think about is baby clothes shopping and decorating the nursery. I’ve been scouring Land of Nod, Baby & Child, Hayneedle, and Pottery Barn Kids for cribs and furniture and being inspired by Taylor Sterling of The Glitter Guide (nursery posted here).
Her little shoes are Freshly Picked Moccasins – the first article of clothing I bought!
One of our favorite activities from our honeymoon in Bali was the day trip to visit the elephants in a village north of Ubud. We booked our trip with Bali Adventure Tours, and we highly recommend any tourist book via this operator, as they treat the elephants very well. I’ve never played with elephants before, as they’re very dangerous when you encounter them in African safaris. These massive animals were far from threatening – they just wanted to be your friend (and I was willing to concede). We fed the elephants, then took a 40 minute ride through a park. Afterwards, we ate at the delicious buffet before seeing the show. The show leader emphasized that the elephants weren’t being paraded like in a circus, rather they were showing off their intelligence. And I believe it – they are so smart. We befriended another American couple, Julianne and Cody, on the trip. They were staying at the same hotel as us, and of course, we had multiple friends in common. This world is so small!
For the best seafood on the island, any Balinese native will point you toward Jimbaran Bay. We hopped in a cab one night and headed to this gorgeous sandy beach which is lined with seafood restaurants where you literally hand pick your dinner (this is far beyond my vegetarian mind can grasp). Sasha loved it and definitely over indulged (see photographic evidence below) at Kampoeng Restaurant.
The following day, we were picked up at 6am from the hotel and went to a local market, where we met up with our cooking class and instructor from Bumbu Bali. Heinz von Holzen is the Swiss man who runs the show – and we (especially Sasha) loved him. We were gone for 9 hours and loved every single second. We shopped in the local markets for fruit, vegetables, meat and fish, all the while learning about the local Balinese culinary customs. We headed to Heinz’s bed and breakfast, where we spent the latter half of the class learning how to prepare 20 traditional Balinese meals. We were both in awe of Heinz’s passion towards food and left inspired to recreate the dishes we made in class (and devoured after). It was one of our five favorite things we did on the trip. I recommend anyone traveling to Bali to take this class!
Sunset at Jimbaran Bay
Loving the soft white sand on my toes
Sasha working it
Sasha at Kampoeng Seafood where we ate dinner
Deciding which poor lobster to eat
Weighing his dinner for the night
Please see Sasha’s snapper, shrimp and lobster (eyes bigger than the belly)
The most gorgeous sunset
Heinz showing us the local spices
Gorgeous colors in the market
A local Balinese woman preparing rice religious offerings
Bali bananas are all this tiny
Traditional Balinese flower offerings that you will see everywhere on the island
We used plenty of these gorgeous peppers in our cooking class
Another local Balinese woman prepares another type of Hindu offering
Getting ready to get his hands dirty
Preparing the vegetarian peanut sauce salad
The vegetarian end result (heaven on earth)
Certified Balinese chefs (i.e. we have a certificate!)
Sasha demonstrating the hardships of the sulphur porters of Indonesia (read more here)