Bayou City Fellowship – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Can you believe August is almost over, and that Texas public schools start back today? Oh goodness, where is this year going?! We spent part of the afternoon planning our trip to Australia in January, as it felt so far away until we pulled out our calendars. Only 4.5 months until we leave! I cannot believe it. I’m so ready to sunbathe on Manly Beach (plans changed from a trip to New Zealand to Sydney!), photograph the colorful boat houses on Brighton Beach, play with koalas at Taronga Zoo, watch our favorite players at the Australian Open, etc. However, the insanely long flight with a 18 month old will be less exciting (ha!).

Overall, we had a fun week, filled with a few shoots, tiny train ride, a birthday party, a high school pep rally and a whole lot of rain. Isla loves to splash in the puddles, so she was in heaven.

Other highlights from the week included:

Photographing two DEFINE body shoots for some of their new clothing and another for DEFINE Foods (I kept snacking on the set food!).
Attending a Butter Artistry and Fave4 hair styling event and getting a fancy schmancy braid in my hair. It was a great event, but I need a serious private lesson to learn Britt’s amazing skills.
Taking a trip to the Rice area, where we had ice cream at Cloud 10 Creamery then headed to Hermann Park to walk around the Japanese Gardens and take a train ride, which Isla LOVED. We grabbed Niko Niko’s on the way home – they have the yummiest falafel.
Shooting our friend’s newly built, gorgeous house, which I’ll feature on the blog this week!
Going to our niece’s adorable 4th birthday party at their house and laughing at Isla’s crazy pool antics. Like I said earlier, she loves to splash.
Having both my older and younger sisters babysit Isla, which I love, as I want Isla to be very close to her aunts!
Receiving my Canon 600EX-RT Speedlite flash in the mail. I’m so ready to take some photos in the evening now!
Photographing the Memorial High School cheerleaders at their back-to-school pep rally. It seriously made me nostalgic! I cannot believe I graduated 9 years ago. What?!
Getting the house painted grey – we finally landed on Benjamin Moore’s Classic Grey! I cannot wait for it to be completed.
Planning another fun shoot that will take place in a few weeks with lots of my favorite creatives and entrepreneurs like Lindsay Marcella, Willow Crowns, A Fine Flourish, Cake & Confetti, cuteheads, Miss J’s cookies and Shop Sweet Lulu.
Eating lunch with Meredith of Cake & Confetti and Leah of The Monogram Shop at Adair Kitchen to discuss some potential collaborations between the three of us – a store with every cute item imaginable, a stylist and a photographer. Expect colorful things to come!
Going to church at Bayou City Fellowship and catching up with our sweet friends, Sydney and Philip, then going to lunch at Buff Burger afterwards.
Eating a delicious and fun brunch with Megan of Willow Crowns and her sweet little Olivia at Sweet Paris in City Centre and then running around the green afterwards. Isla fell fast asleep as soon as we go in the car – she was worn out!
Participating in the Rising Tide Society challenge (#risingtidechallenge), which was so inspiring and I got to ‘meet’ lots of other creatives whom I’m now following and already loving. I am so pro “community over competition” and think it’s great that this global group is pushing it so actively!
Organizing jewelry on our dresser with new holders from Target – the stacking glass jars and another West | Emory bracelet holder that is now out of stock! I’m glad to finally get more organized.
Getting started on Snapchat! You can add me by my username @aileepetrovic and I’ll add you back! It still confuses me a bit, but I’m getting the hang of it and love seeing my friends’ fun activities (especially the little babes!).

How was your week? What were your highlights?

I cannot believe that next week’s ‘Week in Review’ post will be recapping Christmas [insert little kid excitement!!!]. I love this time of year so much! I am finally done with gifts, but haven’t wrapped them all yet. I am a terrible wrapper, so I tend to procrastinate with this task or revert to gift bags at the last minute.

I really enjoyed this past week, as I got to catch up with a handful of friends. However, there was a tremendously low moment of the week: Isla’s 6 month appointment, which I braved alone. Four shots almost did me and Isla both in. I hate needles, and so far, Isla does too. Ugh. So terrible! She is the 94% for height – I cannot wait to see how tall she ends up being.

Some of the big highlights from the week include:

Seeing sweet Simon (Mara of Hook Thread & Tinker‘s son) with his little menorah (see stolen Instagram photo below)! Happy Hanukkah!
Exchanging gifts with McKenzie early, as she’s heading to Illinois to spend Christmas with her boyfriend’s family (most comfy J. Crew slippers ever!!)
Watching Isla play with her new Xylophone (also gifted by McKenzie) – or as we call it, the Isla-Phone (lots of photos below)
Seeing Isla pull herself up using her crib bars – which also scares me, but thankfully we lowered the crib last week!
Meeting Santa Claus at Memorial City Mall (horribly unfriendly staff, but wonderful Santa!)
Eating lunch with one of my closest friends at Adair Kitchen (love that lady!)
Catching up with one of my parent’s good friends at the house – she gave Isla the cutest little tulle skirt outfit!
Celebrating Isla’s Godfather’s Christening on Sunday – he had to get Christened before he could officially get the new title!
Spending time with my sister-in-law who is in Texas for most of the month of December thanks to the recent launch of Google Fiber in Austin
Breaking bread at our house (and by that, I mean mimosas) with my roommate from college – truly one of my favorite people ever! She’s wonderful
Updating my annual Shutterfly book – I was 6 months behind, so that took quite awhile!
Visiting my (super tiny and pregnant) friend Julie and her sweet daughter Evie
Attending my niece’s Christmas performance of the 12 Days of Christmas (cutest thing ever)
Singing Christmas carols and enjoying an early candlelit service (tradition discussed here)
Witnessing Isla get very, very excited about her bedtime story (Good Night, I Love You)
Spending much of Saturday at my parents house and strolling Isla around the neighborhood in her Balmoral Silver Cross Pram (imported from the UK upon news of my pregnancy)
Finishing my very first set of wedding invitations (doing the calligraphy, not the design!)
Enjoying a full night’s sleep – after numerous nights in a row, I can now say that Isla is sleeping from 6pm to 5:45-6am (ouch, still early)! It took some painful CIO nights, but it worked!
Teaching Isla to drink from a sippy cup! So far, so good. And this week we will begin to teach Isla sign language with the Signing Time DVD (very excited about this!)