Memorial Park – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

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!

Week in Review March 16, 2015

Week in Review

Happy Monday! If you live in Houston or have friends here, you are probably tired of people talking about the sunshine, but seriously – it has been so nice to see the sun poking out from behind the clouds after what feels like an eternity. Sasha and I took advantage of the warmth on Saturday and Sunday and spent as much time outdoors as possible. We went to Memorial Park for Isla and I to run and for Sasha to play tennis with his friend. On Sunday, we spent the afternoon at my parent’s house by the hot tub. Isla rocked an itsy bitsy bikini, which our cousin bought for her before she was born – and I adore it.

One of the low points of the week was filling out the insane application form to travel to Russia, and then getting the passport photos, and then going to the bank for cashiers checks, and then going to one office that pointed us to another office, which had a sign pointing us back to the first office. Slightly confused, but praying we get it all worked out this week, as I am so excited for our trip to St. Petersburg!

Besides the visa confusion, the week went really smoothly. Some of the highlights included:

Being a featured segment on Great Day Houston! It was live and I was pretty nervous, but I loved doing it and would totally jump at an opportunity to go on the show again.
Triple-dating it at Jonathan’s The Rub with Amanda, Scott, Taylor and Luke – it’s an amazing restaurant just a stone’s throw from the house, so we walked (super rare in Houston!)
Celebrating Jessica’s birthday dinner at La Vista – love their Spinach salad so much!
Catching up with our good friends, Patrick and Betsy, over lunch at Dish Society on Sunday – we are terrible and haven’t seen them since our trip to Mexico City in September!
Eating at Island Grill and running into our friends, Lindsey and Casey, and their sweet kids, Walker and Hollis (whose birthday party we celebrated just a few weeks ago!)
Meeting my mom and her friend, Ona Rae, at Le Petit Cafe for lunch – this was a staple spot we’d eat at when I was working on a project at BP before maternity leave
Having Sunday night ‘Family Dinner’ with my parents and two sisters at Russos – always lots of laughter involved with these dinners!
Trying out the core class at Life Time Fitness, and needless to say, my stomach still hurts and my ribs feel broken? Strange but true.
Birthday shopping for Jessica with my friend, Brittany, and then meeting the birthday gal at Memorial Park to walk the three mile loop (with Isla strapped to my chest!)
Having Sasha’s mom over for lunch on Friday – Isla took an unusually long nap, so we got to have some quality chats before eating together
Getting a short but sweet visit from our friends, Matt and Paige, and their daughter, Ellery, who is seriously just the happiest and cutest little girl ever (how was this over a year ago??)
Spending Saturday morning with Sasha’s dad, his wife, Olivera, and her mom, who is here visiting from Serbia
Finding the world’s cutest sandal ever at Old Navy – these glitter Birkenstocks truly melt my heart. I want them for me.
Visiting Sasha’s aunt, Zlata, who is so good with Isla, and of course, Isla adores her because she gives her with candy and biscuits!
Getting the prettiest package in the mail from Claire Martin Designs – she is so talented! You definitely need to email her for an order!

Events December 5, 2014

The Semple Family Christmas Photos

The 18th annual Semple family photos were taken last Saturday, and I was excited to view the gallery yesterday (the shining highlight of a 72-hour stomach bug!). We were lucky enough to have our pictures taken by Paige of Awake Photography, who took our Petrovic family photos earlier this fall. We took them in a rustic little nook of Memorial Park, which I’ve never seen before (and I’ve trekked all around the park).

We took them in the early evening, which is not Isla’s best time of the day, so she wasn’t quite as cheerful as the other pictures we took (plus she had a cold!). I do love that one of her sitting by the tiny tree though! I am very, very ready to get my hair back to its original brown (happening Wednesday, after eight weeks of ombre)!

After picking the photo, Mum hurriedly ordered her cards from Minted yesterday, and I’m excited to see how they turn out. We sent ours out this week, and I was super excited to get three in the mail yesterday! I love holiday cards so much. Have you received any yet?

As a reminder, today is the last day to enter the Baby Registry giveaway, valued at over $400!

Happy Friday! Do you have fun weekend plans?

Large Family Photos Baby Coordinating Outfit Ideas Houston Memorial Park Paige Budde Awake Photography

Baby November 19, 2014

Isla at 5 Months

The majority of our 2014 family photos were posted last Monday (read the post here); however, I wanted to take a few non-Christmasy pictures, and I’m glad we did. With a quick outfit change, we moved into more neutral colors and added an Anthropologie headband, A Little Lady bow, a big Geronimo-style balloon, and Thimblepress confetti (this was a big fail, but a good laugh).

Paige of Awake Photography did such an amazing job capturing Isla’s sweet smiles and sassy personality. We took these two days before her 5 month anniversary – I wish she would be able to take each month’s photos! I’m looking forward to taking our ‘big’ family pictures with my family (parents, two sisters, brother-in-law, Sasha, Isla and me) in two weeks time (right before her 6 month anniversary!). My mom even managed to sneak into a few photos from this session! She was so helpful to have with us at Memorial Park.

A little 5 month update, because I think these are sweet! I’ve been capturing all of the milestones in her baby book, but thought I’d share some here. Isla is now officially mobile, and first made her way from one side of the rug to the other the day before her 5 month anniversary (albeit, very slowly). She laughs non-stop – her stomach is so ticklish! She adores when I sing, which is fantastic, as nobody else does. Her favorite story is Good Night, I Love You. She wants to eat everything and certainly will lick whatever comes her way. We still haven’t started solids, as she is still vomiting a lot, but it’s coming soon! She is so much more predictable, although we’d had a few off-nights here and there. Her hair keeps getting longer and longer – it is a legitimate mullet. She is much more observant and I can tell her thoughts are getting much more developed. She still doesn’t like getting into her car seat, but now falls asleep almost every time the engine starts. She’s at home with me every day, but has been going to the Life Time Fitness day care 1-2 times a week and most recently, at Bayou City Fellowship. I had to take her to the pediatrician recently for her erratic breathing that causes me a heart attack. Other than that, she’s a healthy 15 pound baby girl whom we love beyond imagination. I cannot imagine life without our sweet little miss Isla.

I hope you’re having a happy Wednesday and that your week is going well so far!

5 Month Baby Photography Houston Photos 6 Month Texas Park Memorial Balloon Anthropologie Headband J. Crew Paige Budde Awake Photography

Personal November 21, 2013

Annual Christmas Card Photos

Since our family moved to the States in 1997, we have taken Semple family pictures every single year. I love this tradition, and I’ll make sure that my own family continues it. I had the honor of being asked to take our good friends’ Christmas photo – I was so thrilled. We took the pictures in the Houston Arboretum at Memorial Park (I am obsessed!). I took about 400 and narrowed it down – my favorites are below. Isn’t “Mister P” precious? He’s 15 months old now – see his 6 month photos that I took here and him at the hospital here. I love this family.