Lunch

I've been having conversations recently with a few people about the importance of relying on God vs. relying on other people. I think sometimes God brings us to a place of solitude or strips away that which we know in order to refine us into being a better faith person for Him.

I'm a firm believer in practicing what you preach so last Friday I took some time to just be by myself and to spend some time alone and in conversation with God too. At first it was kinda strange because although I like to be by myself sometimes, Friday wasn't one of those days. I found myself missing Blane or my sister and the desire to reach for my phone and text was stronger than I thought it would be. 

In the end, I ended up walking around downtown Culver City and grabbing lunch from this place called, ironically, "Lunch." I got it to go and then sat in my car in the shade and ate. I found myself thinking about different things and praying for different people who popped into my head. It wasn't the easiest thing to do, but it was a good time for me to just "hang" with the homeboy Jesus. :)

My lunch from Lunch, haha. I had a Chicken Sandwich with Parmesan on baguette and a side of Turkey Chili. They also make their own lemonade and orange juice and their pastries looked good too!

Have you taken the time to hear God lately? I encourage you to go on a date with Jesus sometime. Hey-take Him out for lunch! ;)

"How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

Psalm 119:17

Aim

Baby Book Love

One of the things J and Meliss had people do for the shower last weekend was bring a Children's book for our nursery in lieu of a card with their gift. I got the chance to really look at them this week and I absolutely loved going through each one. Many of them had written messages in them from their giver and I look forward to telling our baby about each special person as he grows up reading all of these stories.

 I couldn't find a picture of the incredible book Mifumi brought, but this is another book by the same author, Yuuichi Kimura. The one she brought us is called Itadakimasu Asobi and it's all about food and eating. It's in Japanese, has vivid pictures and is interactive. Blane loved it! Haha. I'm sure our baby will too <3

My college roommate Mads brought these two. I love the story of Corduroy because it shows that the teddy bear has feelings and my Mom and I have always believed in that :). Madeline because, well, it's her namesake! (minus a missing "e" :)

 Goodnight Moon was my favorite book of all time growing up and Dawn gifted it to the baby this time around. I wonder if he will like it as much as I did? We shall see!

Mrs. S gifted us with this classic. She bought the cardboard one that will be perfect for little hands. So thoughtful!

Nona brought this book because it's the only book she can remember her Dad reading to her as a child. <3 If our son is anything like his Dad, then just the fact that the word "dog" is in the title will be enough to spark his interest.

I love reading and I hope to instill this same love in our baby too. I'll share more of the other books we got in another post. Until then, happy reading to you all!

Aim

*All book images courtesy of Amazon.com

More Jubilee Deliciousness

God Save the Queen!

Aim

*Images courtesy of msnbc.com

Diamond Jubilee

I know I'm not British. So there is no reason really for my current obsession with all things surrounding Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee. My sister and I share this obsession with all things royal family and all (stemming back to Kate and Will's wedding last April when my sister woke up at 3am to watch it live) and it comes up in our conversation from time to time.

Last week when she was here, we watched an enthralling documentary on the Queen on 20/20. We were both fascinated! And then Sunday night as I was ironing, another documentary on the Queen was on BBC and I watched that whole thing too. 

One of the things I love is the relationship between the Queen and her man, Prince Philip. He had to forfeit his ties to his birth country (Greece) in order to marry her. He also had to commit to a life in the shadow of a powerful woman. I think it takes a strong man to do that and even though I don't know him personally, I'd guess that he is her rock in many ways.

 Of course, I wish I was in Britain to join in on all the festivities (Parades! Flotillas down the river! The royals on the balcony of Buckingham Palace!) but, alas, since I am not, I've been intrigued instead by Diamond Jubilee souvenirs that have popped up all over the web.

 I love tea towels! It seems so very British and I love the homemade look of it all. This one is available via etsy and I'm totally tempted.

Of course there are tons of other types of tea towels if that first one didn't suit your fancy...I love how they all look very typographical and almost vintage in a way. If you're in Britain and you're reading this, will you please send me something Jubilee-oriented? I'd be your best friend for life! Hahaha

Long live the Queen!

 Cheerio!

Aimee, Duchess of the Westside

Ready to Pop

Saturday was a super special day. My two besties, J and Meliss (with the help of Mom), threw me a baby shower! We had 26 women crammed into our little house that was decorated to the nines for the occasion. It was fun, touching, hilarious, generous and just a good time with the best women God's given me in my life.

A pretty homemade banner to set the tone for the day. Love the colors!

My sister has become quite the baker since she moved up north. Here are her "looks professional" made-from-scratch cookies that she made for the afternoon. So pretty <3

 Meliss made homemade cupcakes that were topped with these oh-so-chic "it's a boy!" handstamped scalloped circles. I love all the little details :)

The shower's theme was "Ready to pop!"and was reflected in these miniature Martinelli's that were placed at each table alongside little brown bags of popcorn. The prizes for the games were bigger Martinelli's and popcorn wrapped with beautiful navy ribbon with white polka dots. Tres chic ladies!

 The living room was also decorated with tons of letters that each spelled out a possible name that we had picked for the baby. The yellow letters (shown above) were first name guesses while the blue letters were for middle name guesses. At the end of the shower everyone's guess was read and then we revealed the chosen name! (Shout out to Gracie, Ri and Court for all the letter cutting! And to Dawn and M for putting the names together and hanging them all!)

The two hostesses with the mostest running the show. We played two games-one was pictionary/charades having to do with all things Blane/Aimee & Baby. It was hilarious to say the least. The other game was to answer questions based on how either Blane or I had previously answered. There were questions like "Which grandparent would spoil the baby the most" and "What physical characteristic from yourself do you want the baby to get?" It was funny to hear what Blane had said vs. what I had said and what everyone there guessed as well. Well done ladies!

 Then we ate and opened gifts. In lieu of bringing cards, J and M asked everyone to bring a book signed for the baby. I loved it and really enjoyed seeing which books everyone picked out. You can see the results of my Bell's Palsy in this pic above. I had been praying that I'd be able to smile by the shower, but that didn't quite happen. It IS getting better though and I am thankful for that!

Two homemade "cakes" that were part of the gift table. Mom S made the one on the left by sewing cloth diapers together. The "roses" are rolled up baby washcloths. She's so talented! The big "cake" on the right was made by Mads-you wouldn't know by looking at this that her engineer mind isn't known for its creativity! It's filled with enough diapers for two to three months!

 All the ladies crammed into my living/dining room. It was cozy but intimate and fun!

 Towards the end, J and Meliss had both Moms (and future Grandmas!) come up and share a few words. I am so blessed to have both of them along for the journey with Blane and I and I love them both very much.

We concluded with a group prayer and it was neat for me to have Kiku (she's on the left in the dark blue pants and blue patterned collared shirt) pray over me, Blane and the baby. Kiku is a prayer warrior and has literally been praying for me for my entire life. I love her dearly and am so thankful for her faith and prayers influence over me all these years. 

 Laur, Gracie and Kiks enjoying the festivities! :)

 My amazing Mom put together this blue-themed candy and dessert bar. I wish I had a better photo of how amazing the table looked, but this was all I could find :( She had branches coming out of a tall vase that were hung with little blue baby decals and things, and all of this blue candy, gum and other treats that she personally bagged for everyone's favor to take home at the end of the afternoon. It was incredible and all the women really loved it. Thanks Mom!

And to these lovelies~thank you for making this journey all the more sweeter with this incredible outpouring of love and support. Everything was beautiful! I know you put many hours and lots of thought into this shower and I loved every. single. minute. of it. You two rock and I love you both very much!

Not-quite-Ready-to-Pop! ;)

Aim

Nursery 1.5: Final Stretch

I'm so excited to share the almost done pics of the nursery! In truth, it's been this way since last Thursday, but I had to wait until after the events of this past weekend to post because I wanted everyone on Saturday to be able to see it in person first.

Our wonderful handymen-Jesus and Carlos who helped us with our house after we first got it-graciously stopped by after work Thursday evening to install the light in the nursery as well as to put up the rod for the drapery. They are the masters of all things house related and B and I are very thankful for their expertise.

We ordered this pendant light from online retailer Serena & Lily. I had high hopes for it because Serena & Lily are known for their upscale products and my expectations were that their product would be high quality. Unfortunately, I can't say that I would order from or recommend ordering from them again. The lamp is cute (I love the polka dot detail on the inside of the drum), but the hardware is cheap and Carlos actually had to go out to the hardware store twice because there weren't enough parts to make it function as it should. Disappointing.

On the other hand, I am extremely happy with the rug that we ordered from Urban Outfitters. I signed up to receive e-mails from them and they sent me a 10% off code so the rug came in under $70, tax and shipping included. That's a steal for a 5x8 rug that really pulls the room together!

Because we literally just painted the house a few months ago, Blane didn't really want to repaint the baby room and I didn't blame him. So I had to get creative with how we were going to get some color onto our walls. Enter our drapery! We originally bought a rod+drapes at Pottery Barn Kids but I was walking around Target one day and found some other (cheaper!) drapes (and a rod) and they ended up working perfectly so we took the PBK stuff back. I love that the drapes inject much needed color into the room and having them go across the entire wall not only serves to effectively cover all light sources (we have both a door and a window in the room) but it creates the illusion of "paint" on one "wall" of the room. Perfecto!

Everything is coming together and it makes me so happy :D. There's still some finishing touches left-a side table for the glider, another lamp, bedding and some wall decor but all the major things are done. Yay! 

12 weeks and counting...

Aim

Nursery 1.4

Big news in nursery-land today guys. Our replacement dresser was delivered and switched out yesterday and the new and improved dresser is better than what we had hoped for.

Let's recall the first dresser...the Camp Dresser by Pottery Barn Kids.

 Pros: loved the color, tons of storage and built to last.

Cons: Way too tall for it to be a changing table

Enter new and improved dresser...the Camp Extra-Wide Dresser also by Pottery Barn Kids.

Pros: Still the same great color, even more storage, built to last AND it's about 10 inches shorter in height than its counterpart making it the perfect changing table base. Score!

On top of all this goodness comes something else I've gotta say-Pottery Barn Kids has THE BEST customer service out there. No kidding. And I've had to deal with a lot of companies in the past year or so what with wedding planning and all. (Don't even get me started on the "kill me now" service that Macy's provides. I don't think they should even call what they do "customer service" since everytime I've dealt with them has been horrendous and akin to a full blown hernia. Sorry, enough about them haha) Anyways, PBK not only switched out our dressers FOR FREE (and the new one cost $150 more and they didn't even charge us for that!) but I noticed yesterday that the dresser had gone on sale online so I called today and they're sending me a credit for the difference...a couple hundred dollars credit!!! No questions asked, just nice and friendly and efficient like they always are. 

Moral of the story is-although they may be a little bit pricier at first glance, IT IS WORTH IT. Not only do you get a superior product (solid wood and detailing that will last for years and years) but you also get superior service (awesome and efficient delivery with no mess clean up, great furniture customer service reps). That, my friends, is well worth the buck.

So thanks, PBK, for an excellent experience!

From one happy Mama-to-be,

Aim