An Unprecedented Collection Part Two

On to the accessories...

 Marc Jacobs small totes. Ooh-la-la

 Prabal Garung Purse. Would be pretty with a simple black dress for a fancier affair.

 Tory Burch Water Jug. Need I say more? I would LOVE to get my hands on this :)

Tory Burch Lunchbox. I would LOVE this too!!! :D So awesome.

Have I mentioned that I'm LOVING this collaboration?!? Haha. Trying to keep my excitement to a minimum here...who am I kidding??? :D

Stay tuned tomorrow for one last post on the collection-this one on all things clothing! :)

Happy Halloween everyone!

Aim

Prayers for the East Coast

Last night we went to bed waiting for news that Sandy had landed on the East Coast. This morning I woke up to the news that she had, indeed, landed and that she had left a devastating path of destruction behind her. 

28 have already been confirmed dead. The President has declared disaster in New York. These images from MSNBC are from Manhattan, Queens, New Jersey and Maryland.

Join me in praying for the East Coast today.

Aim

An Unprecedented Collaboration Part One

My favorite store has done it again. Come this December Target has teamed with the famed department store, Neiman Marcus, to bring designer goodies to the masses at (more) affordable prices. Can I hear a chorus of angels singing Hallelujah?!?

Here are my pics for home stuff that I'm liking from the collection...

 Alice+Olivia rolling suitcase. Love the stripes and the gold/yellow accents!

 Altuzarra tray, shaker and glassware. Gorgeous!

Band of Outsiders "Best Friends" beanies. How cute are these?

Brian Atwood gloves. Get your glamour on!

 Jason Wu Christmas ornaments. Love!

Stay tuned tomorrow for my other top pics. I love that all these fabulous designer goodies are going to be (somewhat) affordable for us normal people! Just hope it won't sell out too fast for me to at least see some of them in person. Remember Target's Missoni madness?!?

Deck the halls with lots of Target+Neimans items...

Falalalalalalalalala!

Aim

Wahhh!

"I scream, you scream. We all scream for ice cream!"

Happy Friday all! Today it is 88 degrees here and Cole's face exactly captures how I feel about THAT kind of weather in the middle of my fall. Ugh. Come back blistery days!

Have a great weekend all!
Aim

Daddy Love

Just thought I'd share some portraits of a father and his son in the first almost-two months of Cole's life.

Nose to nose during week one and passed out together during week two.

At night, they have their bonding moments...Cole flailing his little arms around and "punching" Blane and of course, passing out together on the couch. You should hear the snore symphony! ;)

After Cole was all good to go in the breastfeeding arena, we introduced a bottle so that Blane could feed him at least once a day. They now bond over bottle...and sometimes paci too :).

Sometimes Cole is passed out when Blane gets home from work. They also have similar tastes in fashion...although Daddy still wins for most outrageous ;).

These two have had a bond from the start and it's so precious to see! Cole is blessed to have a father who loves him so very much.

Can't wait for you to come home today B!

We love you.

Aim

A Night Out

Blane and I had a wonderful anniversary dinner the other night. I just had to share! We went to Craft, courtesy of our dear friend Pat who had gifted us with a gift card there for our wedding last year. Thanks Pat! Craft has many offshoots, but the one closest to us happened to be within walking distance of Blane's work. Score!

 The restaurant itself is just the kind of place I like-great design, cool details, personalized touches and great food and service. All top notch in my book and it's rare to find a place that hits high on all points. Craft did though! We walked into this cool space with the old school lightbulbs that I adore hanging from the ceiling. It was simple, yet high on impact. Totally cool. Then we were given our menus and they had written "Happy Anniversary" on each of them. Our waiter and everyone we came into contact with that night also mentioned a "Happy Anniversary" with each encounter. Super cool.

Our first taste was an amuse broche sent out by the chef. They were served in these curved silver spoon-like mini troughs and were filled with some type of shrimp mixture. Can't what all was in it, but it was tasty (my assessment) and gross (B's assessment) Haha. After our meal the pastry chef sent out a little amuse broche of her own-little ice cream bites with fermented fruit on top. Interesting flavor but oh so cute presentation!

Let me tell you about the main courses shall I? We ordered two-Diver Scallops in a Vermouth Butter and Flat Iron Steak. The scallops were cooked to melt-in-your-mouth perfection, although they were a bit over seasoned for my palate. The steak was perfection. Tasty, perfectly flavored and absolutely brilliant with the veggie side that you'll see below.

 Blane has been on a shishito pepper kick lately and so it was a no brainer that we'd order them once we saw them on the menu. Man were they hot! Too spicy for me but B enjoyed them. They were perfectly roasted and smelled scrumptious on the table. We also ordered a braised/roasted squash with chives. I thought the presentation was so pretty and the flavor...oh so delicious. Even Blane liked them! Funny how they kind of look like onion rings huh? So much healthier for you though!

 I'm sorry to keep going (not really :) but I can't leave out the dessert portion of our meal. Craft has an entire list of homemade ice creams and sorbets that you can pick from. B went with the Cacao Chip and I loved that it came out hard and cold, exactly how I think all ice cream should be. I had read on Yelp that the Pear Upside-down Gingerbread with Lemon Verbena sorbet and Huckleberries was delish. It was good, and definitely cooked to perfection. The combination of pear+gingerbread was interesting. My Mom (who tried the leftovers later) liked this dessert best but I had to give it second place to this next piece of awesomeness...

 Now I'm sorry that I have no idea what specifically this was (I was too distracted when the waiter was telling us because I was ooh-ing over the mini cake plate that they brought it out on. Isn't it cute?) but it was some kind of chocolate AMAZINGNESS with some type of toffee-esque crumble topping on the top. And this was, hands down, THE BEST dessert of the night. I can taste it now it was that good. Mmmmmm! (So cute that they put a candle on it to celebrate our anniversary too!)

The icing on the cake was the service. In a word-it was impeccable. From the moment we got there we were treated like royalty. Everyone was polite and very helpful, but not overly so. Nothing felt contrived or pushy. The manager stopped by our table mid-meal to see how our evening was going. We heard so many "Happy Anniversaries!" from our server to the bus boy to the manager to the hostess. Our water glasses were never allowed to be even half empty. Anything excess was whisked off the table in a heartbeat so that you were always left with a nice and clean space in front of you. It was perfection. On the way out we were handed two "goody bags" of their handmade granola as a thank you for dining with them. *Gasp! Who does that in L.A. anymore? Made me feel special and I loved every single minute of it. :)

The last piece of amazing was after we got home. I received an e-mail from the Craft manager thanking us for dining with them and inviting me to contact her for any help with our next reservation. INCREDIBLE!!!

So anyway, yes, it was expensive. Definitely not an "everyday dining" kind of place. But for a once-in-awhile-really-special-occasion?" Perfect. After all, when you spend that kind of money you want an amazing experience!

I couldn't have asked for a better first anniversary dinner with my Love. It was a great first date night out after baby too! Thanks to Mom and Dad for watching the little one so we could enjoy this experience :). 

Have any other fabulous L.A. restaurant experiences to share? I'd love to hear!

In the meantime, I'm back to dreaming about that incredible chocolate dessert...Mmmm ;)

Aim

Calming Mechanisms

Cole is a pretty easy going baby. However, when he does get in his little funks, we have a few coping mechanisms to calm the kiddo down. It's amazing how well they work too!

 First up is his carseat. Little guy loves him some movement so putting him in his infant carrier is almost a guaranteed crier-stopper. He calms just being placed in this thing because he knows that means that he's either getting in the stroller or in the car, both of which he loves. Keep it moving though! Otherwise, this mechanism will not work. Haha

The second mechanism is the vacuum cleaner, which we've now deemed "gold." Here is Blane the other night simultaneously stimulating Cole's brain with his black and white mobile and vacuuming at the same time. If Cole is crying, he will quiet immediately at the sound of the vacuum. Amazing.

I've heard similar stories from parents about washing machines and dryers, lawn mowers and hair dryers too. We have a little white noise machine that we sometimes use as well and he likes that also, just not as much as the vacuum cleaner :).

Have a great fall week all! We'll be busy here, "cleaning" away with our beloved vacuum. Well, at least our floors will be anyway ;)

Aim

One!

One year ago today this guy swept me off my feet. 

HAPPY FIRST ANNIVERSARY LOVE!

Give thanks to the Lord, our God and King, His love endures forever!

Going out to celebrate with my man tonight. See ya'll tom!

Mrs. A

Welcome Zane!

Last night I got to meet my new nephew for the very first time.

Meet Zane! He was born on Wednesday and weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces. He was a little over 19 inches long. Check out that full head of hair!

 Here I am with Zane and his proud Dad, my brother-in-law Blake. It was so weird holding a newborn again! I mean, I know that Cole isn't that much older, but he is way heavier than Zane is now. Made me realize just how much Cole has grown in almost 7 weeks. 

I wonder if they will look anything alike? Zane has really big eyes that Blake says are dark blue. Pretty! We'll have to wait a bit to see if there is any resemblance. 

Congrats to the new Mom and Dad!

Auntie Aim

Hallelujah

Cole was born with his hand up by his face and we've found that it continues to be his comfort zone today. Here he is minutes after he was born...

 He is always wiggling his hands out of his swaddle. I love the feel of the bamboo Aden and Anais swaddles, but they are too loose to keep a persistant hand-getter-outter all wrapped up! Haha. Case in point, the pic below. I found him this way after swaddling him up tight one day. He was snoring away and happy as a clam with his Hallelujah hands up high.

 Whenever he is upset, we let him have his hands and usually within a minute or two he calms down. There's something about those hands up by his face that are soothing for him.

 

We've had covers or booties on his hands for the most part since he does have long nails and tends to scratch himself still. One afternoon he had a rare moment without his hands covered and one of his tiny fingers made it into his mouth. It was just for a second but I wonder if he will be a hand-sucker soon?

Hallelujah from our house to yours! 

God Bless you and your Thursday :)

Aim

Hooray!

Cole is just over six weeks old now and today, good news! Cole's very first cousin was born this afternoon. He was 7 pounds, 3 ounces and both baby and Mama are doing fine. We are excited to meet you baby Zane!

Life has been a blur, with my days and nights completely backwards. I guess that's what having a newborn does to you! Haha. I love it though, and cannot say enough how very blessed I feel in all of this. I mean, how could you not feel that way when you get to look at this face everyday?

 Hooray! Mama's back on the blog ;)

See ya tomorrow...or tomorrow night? :D

Aim

Alive

Just a quick hello while my new favorite bff-Medela-pumps away!

I'm sorry that I have been MIA. Figuring out this new baby thing has got me a little bit turned around lately :)

I have oodles of posts backed up in my head that I have yet to write. Thank you for your patience-I will find a moment to write them, each one! I will also update this post later with a pic-I'm on Blane's computer and he has zero pics for me to upload so that will have to come. 

In the meantime, fall has come and isn't she a beauty?

I love this time of year-the weather, the colors, the fashion, the anticipation of Christmas on the horizon...a bit hard to fathom today as it's reaching 88 degrees in my neck of the woods! Ugh. Come back fall crisp air!

Hope you are all well. I promise I will be back soon!

Aim