Hap, Hap, Happy First Birthday to Piper!

I'm HOW old?!

Happy first birthday, little one. You're ~100% older than you were in these photos and from what I can tell, you've done a spectacular job of making your parents incredibly happy! I love your big grin, your little sprocketty hair, and your overall swagger + style. You'll have to remember to thank your momma for the style genes one day; she's so fly. 

In honor of your little birthday, I figured I'd post a conversation from one of our walks in February.......

- photos from feb 2011 -

outside? 

uh...seems kinda cold.

what's that?

i'm super bundled?

ya, ya, ya, let's go outside!

what the....

who brings reading material on a leisurely stroll?

travel and....

beach resorts?

you've got to be friggin' kidding me.

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I can't wait to see your little face in person again, pipes. I miss you guys! 

xoxo,

auntie leslie

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I love you, dog.

April 7th was Hudson's 4th birthday.

Ethan, our 2 year old neighbor, points to all of the dogs in his books and calls them Hudson. Jamie's classmates beg us to bring him to campus to get their dose of scruffy dogness. And he won over every person at work, making it much easier to justify bringing him to my office multiple times a week. Needless to say, while I'm sure he's wondering where the heck all of his SF dog friends disappeared to, Hudson has acclimated to NH just fine.

  I like that you can see me+camera in each of his eyes.

This dog has made us so super happy*!

Let the record show, we still have snow on the ground!

Here's a post from the day after Hudson came home with us.

Happy B-day, buddy.

*most of the time

30 days of being 30.

So, folks. It happened...

I turned 30.

And it was rather painless, thanks to some pretty great peeps in my life.

 

Rebellious black polish.

Because I'm 30 going on 13. 

Started off with some breakfast at home and a luxurious afternoon mani-pedi with Holly and Smith in South Park; right up the street from where the Giants play baseball. We spent a couple of hours, soaking toes, gabbing away.

Then a quiet dinner on the water with Smith, Holly + Arik, and Jamie.  Just the five of us, taking our sweet time, perusing the menu at leisure.  When all of a sudden...

More people walked in!

Huh? What?

I watched Tara walk in with a group of girls and thought to myself, "that little jerk!" You see, she had been nagging me about plans to celebrate the big 3-0 for weeks, relentlessly blowing off my noncommittal tone. But once I let her know we were grabbing dinner that night, she never called me back.  I totally thought she blew me off to go to dinner with other people and didn't  call me back because she didn't want to hurt my feelings.  HA!

And then I saw a girl that looked like Sarah Lyman and I tilted my head to the side, wondering to myself, "What are the chances that Tara is friends with some random person that looks exactly like Sarah Lyman?" HA!

I didn't even recognize Jen.  HA!  Or Kerry Garben (friend of tara + jen's from high school) as she only recently transplanted to SF, part-time at that, and my brain isn't trained to see her in the city.

What a schemer, JAMIE!!

Many peeps came out for my bday.

Aside from Holly and Arik, everyone came in from OUT OF TOWN!  December 26th has historically been difficult to hold birthday celebrations because of people being on vacation, family visits, etc. Just a tough time of year to gather a bunch of folks the day after Christmas. As a kid, I went to elementary school an hour away from home (public transit from one edge of Tokyo to another).  Getting together with friends was difficult in and of itself, let alone during the winter break. Who wants to go to a  stupid party the day AFTER Christmas nd what parent wants to plan that party?  No reason to get into the years of anti-climactic celebrations, just wanted to give an explanation as to how TERRIFIC it was to have loved ones with me this year.

Talk about commitment and feeling loved and being so super surprised. Now, I have to let you know that as often as I enjoy surprising other people, I'm not exactly a great person to surprise. It's not that I get violent or anything, but I've certainly been known to cry spontaneously (it's involuntary) and I tend to pee my pants.  Yup, I cry and pee my pants.  That's exactly what I warned Jamie about when discussing plans.

And he decided to test the theory.

Jerk.

Once my brain kicked in to let me know that it was in fact Sarah Lyman and Jen and Kerry and that Tara hadn't ditched me, but in fact, came out for my bday, the tears came a-flowing.  I couldn't help it.

And in concentrating so hard to not pee my pants, I forgot to take lots of pictures. 

Thanks for making me a super happy and very loved thirty year old, friends. Next year, I'll take more pics. :)

And a Big Ass Cake. (warning: photo-heavy!)

Wish-making-anxiety written all over the face.

It was Jamie's birthday on Sunday and I was determined to not let the guy go hungry.  Yup, that was my main goal. Not to take him anywhere cool or gift anything terribly extravagant (read: year of saving $$), but to just feed him lots of awesomely favorite foods on such an awesomely spectacular day! 

 Morning started with pan-roasted pepper scramble +
a stack of mini pumpkin pancakes.

I stuck a little candle in the stack of pancakes before belting: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOOO YOOUUUUUU! 

After breakfast and after what seemed like hours upon HOURS of fairytale football*, I sent Jamie on an extra-long walk with Hudson to get him out of the house.  The only requirement on his part was to pick up some screws at the hardware store and to stay away for about an hour, making sure to call me before he came home.

Poor guy.

It was gray and cold, drizzly, and miserable outside.

To top it off, our stupid local dogpark was holding a stupid dog birthday party with stupid animals in stupid sweaters and costumes.  Much more than he could handle ("they COME with furcoats! why would you ever put a sweater on over a fur coat??").  Regardless, he did a great job of staying away for the designated hour.

*for the record, this is a term coined by Christine in reference to the ridiculousity surrounding fantasy football.  i like it so much, i now use it when referring to anything football.

When Jamie was finally allowed in the front door, he was met with a series of words laid out on the stairs up to our place:

I shouted from the top...."Read as you ascend the stairs!"

It says: Check it Out.  You're now older (read: bigger). Items may appear smaller than they are.

A mini birthday banner.

All day long, I had been emphasizing what a "big guy" he was because of his getting older and what not. In hindsight, this phrase can actually make someone feel fat, not necessarily older.  Must make note of this.  In the future, reserve "big guy" for birthday kids under 10 or so.

Regardless of the calling-thefiance-fat revelation, I had to maintain the "you're so much bigger now" because I had planned on making lots of his favorite food items in mini form and thought if he was BIGGER then the mini items would seem normal sized to him....makes no sense?

Hmmm...maybe more pictures will help.

This menu sat waiting for him at the top of the stairs.

Mini hotdogs wrapped in dough + topped with parmesan.

Handed to him on a silver platter...ha!

Mini meringues nestled in an owl dish.

Mini burgers with extra-sharp white cheddar,

"ketchup and mustard only" (his standard In-n-out order).

Mini Salad + PBCrackers.

 

And the Big Ass Cake.

Deep, dark chocolate cake with PBCreamCheese frosting,

dripping with a PBChocolate ganache...mmmmm.

Shot of mini pizzas with Big Ass Cake in the background.

Happy Birthday, Jamie!

Disgustingly good cake.

We polished off the day with a closing night at the theater. 

Two of the original Rent cast members brought the show to SF for a little over a week and we were lucky enough to snag some tickets of a sold-out performance.  It.was.amaaaazing and I have been humming showtunes every second since we got out of the theater.  As I sat in the dark theater, I realized how thankful I was for three things:

• Mom+Dad for ingraining a love of theater and appreciation for the arts.
• Being able to live in SF - a major stop for many traveling shows (+Grease +Hairspray).
• That I get to marry a guy who appreciates great theater...and big ass cakes.
  

Hope you enjoyed your bday, Jamie!

Another Birthday Picnic!

Jamie, Imran, and baby Mateen.

After Jocelyn's picnic, we headed down to San Jose. Mateen turned one this month and subsequently invited 150 of his closest family and friends to his partay. This baby is maaad pimpin'. I don't know 150 people and I've lived 28 more years than the kid.

His dad is one of our closest work friends and my old bossman...miss him, sniff. He's the easiest guy in the world to make fun of, just takes all sorts of mad insults, but is quick to dole out the quick jabs. Imran listens to fun music, eats like a 5th grader, costume changes 7times a day, and text messages like a fiend. Simple to understand why I like spending time with him, right? It's like being friends with a 7th grader. Jamie likes him because he doesn't drink so it's like having a built-in designated driver at work events; major plus. :)

Not only was it 50 degrees warmer in San Jose, but they had a bouncy house and a bday cake the size of our apartment. Chocolate and BANANA! Score. I'll signing up for kids' birthday parties all summer long.

me + the mazhar men.

Sunshine and Voicemail.

A few weekends ago, a bunch of us gathered in Fort Mason to picnic for Jocelyn! Are there any other holiday babies that are envious of those with summer birthdays? Picnics, pool parties, summer vacation. Ahhhh...jealousy.

It was a perfectly sunny day with loads of fresh fruit and couscous salad and everyone in the city laying around to soak up the few rays of sunshine we get each summer. I yearn for days like these.

The birthday girl!
Happy B-Day, Jocelyn.
Party People.
Red Balloon.
Peen + Me.
I've been able to spend some quality time with this pretty lady
before she runs off to Europe for the summer.
sad jack.
Happy Jack!
Note: Hudson is handy for popsicle drippings.
Annie!
Becca family.
Greens.
And me, pulling a Homer Simpson on Hudson.

Casey, trying to corral Jack.
Steph, Annie, Megan, Baby Eamon, and friend!

p.s. I got this message from my sister over the weekend. Isn't she a HOOT?

she literally taught herself how to do that.
kinda realizing that she robbed me of all the talent in our family.

Happy Birthday to....

TRISH!!

Camp in Honesdale, PA...2000
Lauren + Brad Wedding in Seminole, OK...2002

Columbus, Ohio...2004

Chicago, Illinois...2006

Devon + Patrick Wedding...2008

A bar in Manhattan...2009

I'd have to do some more digging to find pics from Pennsylvania + New Jersey (2001), Thanksgiving in Dallas/Plano (2003?), SF (2005?). Geez, for two people living in completely different states over the past 10 years, we have certainly traveled near and far to see each other, huh?? I hope you had a spectacular b-day and that this year turns out to be the best.year.ever, trishy!!! Love you to pieces.

Thanks, Dev + Trish!!

uh...how COOL are these??
It's Hudson!!

I received AWESOME birthday packages this year from both Devon and Trish. Unfortunately, I neglected to take a picture of the many pair of wool socks from Trish before I started wearing them over the holidays and figure nobody needs to see a picture of my pile of worn socks (as freshly laundered as they may be). Luckily, I remembered to snap one of these great ideas from Devs! Thanks, girlies! You really know how to make a girl feel especial.

Happy Birthday to Me - love Jen.

I needed help "decorating" the pretty stark and yet somehow restrictive bathroom in our apartment. Here are the restrictions: uh...RED sink and RED tile + we rent so there are certain things that are just not worth it (like redoing the tile). I am totally not a morning person, but I have to tell you, this whole boring bathroom situation sure doesn't make it any easier to want to get my day going. Jen has heard me gripe about this room for awhile now and for my birthday she decided to take matters into her own hands!! Check it out.

Now go back to the top pic and note that she went totally out of her way to pick out Valspar paint chips...that's where Devon's Patrick works! Mind you, the girl has like two weeks until her due date. Crazy, huh? Don't you worry, I'm not THAT great of a friend; you know, one who will turn down some decorating advice for the safety of an unborn child? Nah. Here are the before photos. After photos to follow in awhile and shut up, I know I have to put away the Christmas bulbs:
Plus a photo of Jen during phase one of "b.room redecoration" thinking this would be a great addition to the b.room...waaaait a sec. What the heck does the Caller ID window mean? LuWamH?

She also took me to lunch @ Fenton's to split a yummy tuna melt and I got to get my own state-of-the-art ice cream sundae! "Petite" scoop of chocolate marble (petite? ya right.), banana, chocolate peanut butter hot fudge. Oh wait, here's a pic of Jen's...I must have already inhaled my own. But doesn't it look like a perfect sundae?