Week in Review

Personal May 4, 2015

I made some pretty big decisions this week, which I’ll share when things are finalized later this week, so my mental and emotional condition was all over the place. Add this to the fact that Isla caught herpangina, which is a mouth virus causing ulcers and fever, and I’d say that I am actually excited that today is Monday, and we’re starting afresh (although I think she may still have an ear infection – we’re going back to the doctor today). I’m very grateful that Isla has not been sick until this point, and I am praying that it doesn’t happen again any time soon, as it breaks my heart to see her feel so miserable.

This week, I am feeling especially grateful for our wonderful friends. I got to see some friends I hadn’t seen in awhile, which his always fun. Wine, games, good food and deep belly laughs. I couldn’t ask for more.

My favorite moments this week were:

Catching up with two former coworkers-turned-friends at Ruggles Green – deep belly laughs over a Texas Goat Cheese Salad with wine is my ideal night.
Going to the Derby party at Julep (it was gorgeous), which was styled by my friend, Meredith of Cake & Confetti, and Ashley of Sugar and Cloth (who is seriously the sweetest) – both of whom I got to see on Sunday at the Social Media and Branding Workshop held by Ashley and Christian of 1924. First, I am obsessed with that studio. Second, they are amazing. I’m so motivated to up my social media game, especially with the launch of my photography business in a few weeks!
Picking up goodies at The Monogram Shop and Paper Source and finishing up a design project for Isla’s party – we leave for Paris and St. Petersburg in less than three weeks, and get back with less than a week before her party! I’ve got to finish prepping soon.
Trying a new restaurant – Buff Burger – that is near our house. We loved it! Their veggie burger is delicious!
Having two of our favorite friends over – Philip and Sydney – for dinner at the house (Whole Foods pizza, aren’t we good hosts? Ha!) and then playing Taboo afterwards. I love game night, and we had such a good time (although the girls lost – better luck next time!!).
Meeting with my fellow creative ladies at Adair Kitchen for more secretive planning – I’m bursting at the seems to share details and get everyone in Houston involved! Not too long now.
Signing up for a few new exciting photography shoots – including some for The Fancy Ashley! Pretty excited for what’s ahead.

How was your week? What were your highlights?

4B3A1027 She is obsessed with dried mango 4B3A1039

Personal April 27, 2015

Week in Review

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny Sunday, so I decided to take our wading pool (currently used to house play balls) outside for a little ‘swim.’ Isla had been standing by herself for 10 second stretches of time in the last few weeks, but hadn’t really taken many purposeful steps (just a few between objects, like from her walker to the table). While we were in the pool, she got very adventurous and began taking 4-5 steps from one side of the pool into my arms. Sasha was at Home Depot getting tools for my projects (thank you, love!), and when he walked into the backyard, he was floored (and very excited!) to see her waddling across. After we dried off inside, she started doing longer walks in our playroom before expressing her exhaustion by having total Jello legs (short video here). There were lots of ‘Yay, Isla!!’ chants yesterday, but I’m equally nervous about how many breakable items we have at reaching distance. Time to get serious about baby proofing! Isla’s favorite Instagram-friend, Livi, is totally motivating her – check out this video that her sweet momma posted yesterday. She’s amazing! Go, Livi, go!

The definite low point of the week was getting my first cavity filled. I am such a baby. I opted in for the laughing gas, and I still felt like I was going to faint. And then the ache in my jaw all day long? I’m brushing five times a day now and going to start using Act. No more cavities for me!

A few highlights of the week included:

My seriously amazing husband bought me a Canon 5D Mark III camera and the 50mm f 1.2L lens to show his support of my photography business, which I’ll be sharing more details about soon and hopefully ‘launching’ in less than a month! I am still learning the ins and outs of it, but I adore it. Half of the photos below are taken with the new camera, and the others are with my iPhone and my trusted Nikon D5000.
Meeting one of my college best friends, Blake, at Sweet Paris after church on Sunday – Sasha ordered my vegan crepe, which we laughed about as it arrived covered in powdered sugar and Nutella. I joked that he was trying to get me back for the one time I ordered him a salad and it had a cream dressing. Needless to say, I picked out the fruit from the crepe. I do love Sweet Paris though – especially the restaurant’s interior design. See my friend Christie’s post about it here.
Going to Tiny Boxwood’s with one of my favorite people in the world – Brooke – on Saturday for a mid-afternoon drink. Tiny’s has the best drink in Houston (in my humble opinion) – the white wine mojito. Yummm.
At long last, my bestest friend, McKenzie, and I celebrated her birthday (ahem, which is in July! Yikes!) with a spa date at the Houstonian’s Trellis Spa. We enjoyed the sauna, our treatments (massage and facial), and a glass of bubbly in our robes afterward. It was pure heaven!
Enjoying a wine and cheese night with two girlfriends on Tuesday – I am guilty of eating the entire Brie triangle. I cannot stop myself. I love spontaneous girls nights like these!
Getting my hair cut and colored by Eric Vaughn at Estilo Salon. He is so wonderful, and although I am the world’s least patient person and almost didn’t survive a three hour appointment, I love the outcome and had The Paris Wife to read while letting the color set.
Family visits from my mother-in-law, dad, and my older sister! She came over for dinner and a game night of Bananagrams, which I’m slightly addicted to. Since we’ll be spending most evenings in during our trip (except for our night out in Paris with a babysitter!), I’d love to hear any fun two-person game suggestions!
Being treated to TCBY twice in one week. With all of the self-serve places popping up, my loyalty to TCBY that was built during college sort of dissipated, but it’s back. We are addicted!
Receiving my first Voxbox from Influenster. I will be reviewing the products this week!
Finally hanging up our new West Elm mirror in our master bedroom and selling our futon – now all that’s left is to get a bookshelf and have the room painted, and the room is complete! I’m so excited.
Carter’s Instagrammed about my Baby Hospital Bag giveaway last week, which helped spike entries! I got very excited to see all of the giveaway pins on Pinterest! Thank you for participating. The winner of the giveaway is Daphne K.! I’m so excited for her and her sweet baby girl due in May.

Personal April 20, 2015

Week in Review

It’s Monday, and for the first time in what feels like two weeks, there is a zero percent chance of rain all day long. During the entire weekend, Houston was hit with serious scattered thunderstorms that left the city like a swamp, threatening the family photos that I was supposed to take on Saturday morning. Thankfully, we were able to reschedule for Sunday morning, and after moving our location from one part of Memorial Park to another (the gorgeous Arboretum!) to avoid marsh lands, we managed to knock out some gorgeous photos of an even more beautiful family. I cannot wait to share more of Lainey’s photos later this week! She’s seriously a doll.

Other highlights from the week included:

Eating dinner at Tiny’s No. 5 with four incredibly talented ladies (Jenny Lake of A Fine Flourish, Meredith Staggers of Cake and Confetti, Brittany Williams of Makeup Texas, and Christina Frederick of Christina Leigh Events) to discuss an exciting project within the Houston creative circle – I cannot wait to share more details once they’re hammered out!
Another fun event at Blush and Brush, where six of us (Michelle of Michelle Able Photography, Jenny Lake of A Fine Flourish, Meredith Staggers of Cake and Confetti, Christie of KiKiMac and Uncork Events and Kim of Champagneista) got blowouts and makeup lessons while sipping on mimosas (how I want to spend every Sunday!)
Having one of my good friends, Joy, over for dinner and getting to meet her incredibly sweet and funny boyfriend, Kamyar – you’ve heard me talk about Joy before when I’ve shared my love of her company Priya!
Going to my best friend’s home for lunch and eating from one of our favorite spots – Cafe Brasil while gushing over the Pink Peonies ring that McKenzie bought me for my birthday! I am obsessed.
Wandering around Biscuit Home during their semiannual sale and lusting at everything in the whole store (I even Facetimed Sasha on the golf course to see if he liked this duvet, which was on sale – apparently it’s too girly? Ha). I found this colorful, eco friendly tea cup set, which we bought for Caroline, whose party we went to on Saturday at Wonderwild (I cannot wait to take Isla here when she can jump around!).
Catching up with two high school friends, Randi and Lauren, over lunch at our house from Corner Bakery Cafe – they both have gorgeous baby girls (Lennon, 4 weeks and Charlotte, 6 months – photos below). It was definitely one of the best moments of the week!
Isla’s swim class was canceled due to pool maintenance, so she kept busy with The Little Gym and Fundamentally Music, and other playdates that our nanny arranged with her friends.
Getting the most beautiful package in the mail from Shop Sweet Lulu filled with colorful pretties for Isla’s party!
Finally, at long last, starting our 2015 Shutterfly book. I’ve made an annual book for the last four or five years, and normally I keep it constantly updated, but that has not happened this year. I’m all caught up and feel so relieved about it!
Chatted to one of my favorite people ever, Andrew, about his new company – I was playing the role of a research participant and felt very official. It made me very grateful to have a healthy baby! I cannot wait to share more details about his company when they’re ready to launch!
Finally, at long last, our new bed arrived! We sold our old one ages ago and have been sleeping on the floor on our mattress, so we feel like kings now! You can see my inspiration post here. We’ve got a couple more things to do to the room, then I’ll share photos!
I finished Landline by Rainbow Rowell, which I enjoyed reading, but I’ll admit that I didn’t love it quite as much as Rainbow’s other books, Eleanor and Park and Attachments. I shared my reading lists this summer (here and here), and I’m back in the reading game. Suggestions welcome, please!
Visits from my little sister, Jill, Sasha’s mom and dad, and my mom – all of our family live in Houston, except Sasha’s sister who lives in San Francisco! I want her to move back or for us to move there (hint, hint, Sasha). She saw Julia Engel on Saturday walking with a friend – I would love this sort of ‘celebrity’ spotting!

How was your week? What were your highlights? Also, the winner of The Monogram Shop giveaway is Sydney A.! Congratulations!

Finally! Someone who thinks I’m funny.

Personal April 13, 2015

Week in Review

Yesterday, we celebrated Easter for the second time, as Serbians follow the Julian calendar as opposed to the Gregorian calendar used by most of the world. I love it, as most of the time, we get to observe holidays twice! We headed to the Saints Constantine and Helen Church Serbian Orthodox Church in Galveston for the morning, then had a family lunch at Sasha’s mom’s beach house in Tiki Island. Sasha’s sister, Ivana, came into town for the weekend to be part of the celebrations, and it was so to spend time with her (i.e. shopping at J. Crew, running, eating). I could not have gotten luckier with a sister-in-law. I love her to pieces.

The week was relatively low-key, as I spent a lot of time trying to sort out my work and Isla’s birthday party. I cannot believe that it’s only a month away, and since we’re going out of town for the two weeks prior to the get together, I want to try to organize things now!

Other highlights from the week include:

Going to watch Legally Blonde (The Musical) at the Miller Outdoor Theater with a couple of girlfriends and sipping a tiny Sofia sparkling wine can as I hummed along to ‘Omigod You Guys‘ (did any of you watch Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Woods on MTV in 2008?).
Eating the world’s best veggie burger at Counter Burger after doing a 5-mile family run at Memorial Park with Ivana.
Watching two movies (we never, ever watch TV or movies, so this was huge!) – 100 Foot Journey and A Million Ways to Die in the West – we absolutely adored both. And the former made me so excited about our Paris trip!
Pulling the trigger and booking tickets to Melbourne for January 2016 for the Australian Open (I bought mine with United miles!) – we’re also going to do a Auckland, New Zealand trip while we’re there and I’m ecstatic because I’ve never been there before.
Going to the dentist for a cleaning – this falls into my high, as I love getting cleanings and coming out with my teeth looking three shades whiter; however, I also found out I have my first cavity, which was super depressing and would definitely be the low-light of the whole week.
Meeting with Leah at The Monogram Shop and discussing Isla’s birthday party decor, amongst other things – more to come on this later in the week!
Going to The Little Gym of Memorial for Isla’s first gym class – it was so cute and she loved it so much, especially walking on the beam, playing with other kids, and doing flips and rolls on the cheese mats.
Spending an entire afternoon with one of my oldest childhood friends, Brittany, to celebrate her birthday with lunch from Zoe’s Kitchen – she is hilarious, so we pretty much laughed for five hours straight. I cannot wait for Brittany’s wedding in Vail this summer!
Visiting Isla’s cousins – Mila, Lazo and Ana – at their house and decorating Easter eggs (not Isla, just me!). I haven’t decorated eggs in years and years and I forgot how much fun it is!
Finally, after months and months and months of nagging, getting to meet with a landscaper to ‘fix’ our backyard, which I dislike a whole lot. I’m excited to see what he comes up with!
Going to Isla’s swim class at Dad’s Club, which she seems to enjoy now! Everyone said it would take just a few visits, and they were telling the truth – I think she’s accustomed to the water now, as well as the drills and the sweet instructor.
Last, but not least, creating a photography site, which I’m pretty darn excited about. I have a few ‘clients’ (friends or friends-of-friends) for whom I’m taking baby or family photos in the new few months, and I wanted a place for them to easily view and download their pictures. I’ll share more details this week!

How was your week? Also, it’s my friend Mara’s birthday today – hop on over to her blog, Hook, Thread and Tinker, to wish her a happy birthday!

Personal April 6, 2015

Week In Review + Isla at 10 Months

I hope you had a hoppy Easter and a most eggcellent weekend (the only puns I’ve got!). We were in New Orleans on Friday and Saturday for our good friends’ wedding, and drove back to Houston early on Sunday in order to spend Isla’s first Easter together. We carpooled with two friends and so we quickly dropped them off, then headed to my parent’s house for an Easter lunch and to see what the Easter bunny had delivered. Thank goodness that bunny knows what we want, as our baskets were filled with dried mango (Isla’s favorite too!), Bananagrams (you need this!), J. Crew and Starbucks gift cards, as well as other little treats.

Saturday was Isla’s 10 month-iversary, and we were sad to miss it, although we did FaceTime multiple times with her, as she was with my parents in Katy (and having the best time ever!). I cannot believe our tiny little baby is almost 1 year old, and that I’m already in the throes of planning her birthday party (we’re gone the two weeks following up to it, so I’m trying to get ahead).

Every day with Isla is better than the last. I grow to love her more and more each morning – it’s incredible that our hearts are capable of such expansion. She currently loves clapping, waving, being in charge of peek-a-boo (normally behind pieces of paper – see photo below), hitting me with balls to get me to say, “Ouchie!”, going to music class, popping bubbles, swinging at the park, taking naps in the stroller while I run, standing up, and walking everywhere with her walker (getting faster day-by-day). She eats everything except for raw beets, but most especially loves berries, cereal, sweet potatoes, avocados, mushrooms, chicken, pasta, quinoa, dried mango, puffs, clementines and chia seeds (weird, yes). Isla’s biggest dislikes are the blender, cold water at swim class, the first 4.3 seconds in her car seat, laying still while getting her diaper changed, getting her face wiped and when I take my cell phone away.

Isla is still sleeping from 6:30pm to 7:30am, but does not like to get into her crib unless she is accompanied by her lovie, a pacifier (or multiple), and at least two blankets. She is the DJ to her Cloud B Sleep Sheep, and constantly changes the tunes. She loves her bedtime stories, which we’ve now memorized. Going to get her in the morning is one of the happiest moments of the day, as she is still so excited to see me. That will never get old!

Although the week flew by, we had some very exciting moments, including:

My best friend from childhood, Alisdair, and his wife, Erica, came to Houston on Monday and stayed with us, so we had a handful of our friends over for dinner, wine, cheese and vegan treats – we had the best evening catching up, which doesn’t happen often, as Ali and Erica live in Scotland.
Another one of my closest friends, Andrew, was in town from Boston and came over for dinner, wine and good chats – as well as the Bieber roast, which was absolutely hilarious!
Meeting sweet baby Brooks and taking his newborn photographs, which you can see here.
Celebrating Amanda and Scott’s wedding at the Southern Oaks plantation in New Orleans – I cannot wait to share more photos this week! Every single detail of the weekend was perfect, and you will die when you see the video that was taken of the Long sisters’ performance at the wedding.
Spending Easter with my family (in our matching Gap outfits!), and knowing that we’ll get to do the same next weekend, as Serbian Easter is a different date than the rest of the world!
Having Sasha’s grandma come and visit for the day, and then spending the rest of the evening with his mom (Isla’s ‘Baba’).
Getting pieces of Isla’s birthday party in the mail and finalizing her invitations, which are being designed by Papellerie – I am way too excited about them. There’s an exciting custom confetti package that will be on its way to our house soon – have you checked out The Confetti Bar yet? I love it.
Isla’s swimming class was much more enjoyable this week, as she only cried once or twice. Everyone says it gets better every week, so I’m praying for even less tears this Thursday! She also is starting The Little Gym this week, which I’m excited about.
Getting my new desk and mirror delivered from West Elm – I am obsessed with both!

How was your week? I’d love to hear about your highlights in the comments below!

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