Author: Carrie

2 Cool Kims, 1 Cool Auto Show

If you would have told us a year ago that Carrie would be at the L.A. Auto Show with Press Credentials, writing for cars.com, neither of us would have believed it. But it’s true – this year we both attended for media days before the show opens up to the public, and it was pretty thrilling for both of us to be there – together!

Unfortunately, Carrie’s boss was delayed since her original flight got cancelled coming in to LA, but that meant Ed got to walk the floor with her all morning and show her the ropes. We even ran into Patrick Dempsey (aka “McDreamy”) while we were there. We were probably standing about 6 ft. away from him …

So Carrie talked to a few CEOs, Ed presented some awards, Carrie wrote up a few stories, Ed did those many things he does, and we both attended after-party events. Just a typical day. ;) Now, how do we get Carrie to Detroit? Haha. Not likely, but it doesn’t hurt to wish …

Ruby scores Harajuku Mini!

Okay, Missoni is cool and all, and I definitely wanted some … but I wasn’t motivated to wake up early or stand in line overnight before it came out to get some when it arrived at Target. But, when I found out that Gwen Stefani was doing a Harajuku Mini line for Target, I knew I’d be doing whatever it took to get my hands on some for Ruby!

 

I absolutely love-love-love the Harajuku Lovers line. It’s just CUTE, and I love cute. All the little details and all of the girlie characters mixed in with a little rock & roll and a little bit of japanese flavor just gets me every time.  I mean, just look at G – my favorite fragrance from the Harajuku Lovers perfume line … she is adorable! Ed gifted me with this, and its one of my favorite possessions.

 

Knowing I’m not alone in my quest for anything HL (or HM, in this case!), I wasn’t sure what to expect at Target this morning. We were in luck, we were the first in line! A few people started to arrive after us, and it was clear they were there for the same reason we were. Here are Ed and Ruby … patiently waiting … :)

After making it in, we totally scored. I started grabbing everything 12 months, and then sorting through to see what I wanted to keep. Thanks to a birthday gift card from our dear friends Colleen, Quan and Fiona, we were able to get LOTS of stuff (thanks, Nguyens!!!). We ended up going with the Plaid Jumper with Legwarmers set, 2 outfits featuring the adorable Harajuku Baby characters,  “Baby Bunny” and “Baby Dog” , along with two pairs of awesome knee socks!

Here’s Ruby with all of her loot:

The girl working at Target told me there was going to be a 2nd wave of the line coming out in December, so you know we’ll be waiting to see what’s new then, too! Can’t wait for Ruby to start rocking her Harajuku Mini fashion! This may also be an excuse for Mommy to get some new Harajuku Lovers gear as well?  :)

 


One thing is for certain: I want to find this luggage for myself! No sign of it at the store, and everything online says things are only sold in stores. So – if you see this suitcase, you HAVE to let me know!!!

 

 

Handmade and Homemade just for Ruby

This post is sooo tardy, but it’s a week later and we’re still recovering from Ruby’s 1st birthday party! Of course, it was a lot of fun, but a huge reason it was so special was because of all the loving preparation that went into things from both sides of the family! This post is to honor all of the handmade and homemade special details of Ruby’s birthday party!

#1: Go-ims

Go-ims are traditional decorative “towers” that are usually trimmed with hard candies and/or beans for a Korean 1st Birthday Party (dol). Ed, his mom, and dear friend/”grand uncle” Wonil lovingly spent days and hours working on these for Ruby’s party! They used white beans, black beans, kidney beans, red/white/pink chocolate spree, black m&m’s and mentos to decorate all 3 of the go-ims. Ed designed all 3 of them first – he found an awesome tiger template to use in honor of Ruby being born during the year of the tiger, and he then he put together a retro-looking one with Ruby’s name and starbursts. Finally, he mapped out a patterned design with all red, pink & white candies to look more pop-ish and modern.

Halmoni decided she’d like to work on the tiger and Wonil worked on the one with Ruby’s name. Here they are hard at work!

As you can see, each individual candy and/or bean was glued to the paper towel roll (which was covered with poster board to make it smooth) one at a time. Patience and determination prevailed! I wish we had remembered to take a picture of the back of Halmoni’s, because during her quest for perfection – she couldn’t get the mentos to line up evenly in the back! So, she decided to use the beans and m&m’s to put Ruby’s birthdate (11-02-10) on the back to even things out.

This is the only pic we have where you can see part of it – but it looked great!

Proud and happy here on evening #2 as more progress is made:

The go-ims were beautiful, and we’ll always have memories of special bonding time with Ed’s mom and Wonil during the time these were made. I love this one of Ruby with her Halmoni on the day of her party:

#2: Cherry cookies

I wanted Ruby’s party to have a “retro cherry” theme. I saw a birthday party online that was a big inspiration, and it had these perfect cookies with cherries on top that I was dying to re-create (with my own spin on them of course). Since my parents are known for their masterful baking skills (they made 150 bride cookies and 150 groom cookies for favors at our wedding!), I asked if they’d help me out. Mom baked 48 sugar cookies and whipped up a batch of her own buttercream fondant, and Dad set out to cut out leaves and cherries to decorate each cookie.

This was at the beginning when he was using royal icing to “glue” the fondant base to the top of each cookie.

Moving on to adding the duo of cherry pieces …

Then, he took the extra leaves that were left over to cut stems for each cherry (he’s meticulous!). It really made them look all that more polished … and they tasted as good as they looked!

I can’t thank my parents enough for this … there’s no way I could’ve pulled off this impressive array of cherry-themed treats without them!!!
Red Velvet cupcakes with a cherry-on-top:

Mini-Cherry Cheesecakes and Chocolate Cake Balls:
 
The entire spread in all of its glory!

#3 Favor jars filled with Cherry Sours
 
I had been saving baby food jars for awhile in hopes of using them somehow and decided to use them for favors at the party. Pretty simple, but made with love nonetheless. What can I say, I’m a stickler for a theme …

#4 Ruby’s Retro Tunes Playlist

Ed & I sorta have a reputation when it comes to mix CDs. However, since the actual process of burning CDs seems so wasteful these days with folks using MP3 players and all, we decided to ditch the actual CD and just post our compilation for download (You can download the playlist here, if you want). The mix is simply songs that make Ruby smile, with a retro slant (of course!).

More party blogging to come – but all the details deserved their own post!

Our Baby is ONE.


How did this happen? Ruby Alice is a one year old. We’ve always loved this girl, but wow – these days, she is just the most entertaining, hilarious, curious (and strong-willed!) kid! She is really the third person in our family now, making her mark and adding her own charisma into the mix.

She’s dancing, high-fiving, eating lots of food and playing peek-a-boo. She cruises around the furniture, shakes maracas and stands up on her own. She’s got 4 teeth up top and two on the bottom. She’s been saying “mama” and points to things when she wants them. She can copy sounds we make and she chugs water out of a sippy cup. She likes beans, Patsy Cline, puppies and balloons. Actually, she LOVES balloons. She’s a bright-eyed, petite, smart little girl … and we can’t believe she belongs to us!


On the morning of her birthday, we brought her into our room and presented her with a few special birthday gifts. Daddy just HAD to get her a car … a stylish, Swedish, pink little car of her very own. It was especially from Daddy. She loves it!


She was also pretty stoked on her new set of blocks.

That afternoon, we headed out to Pretend City in Irvine. Its a pretty cool place for kids, and we know Ruby will only enjoy it even more as she gets older. It really is a pretend city … complete with a grocery store, a post office, gas station, library, doctor office, dentist office and so much more. I’m not sure who had more fun … Ruby & Daddy were equally entertained!

At the store:

Shopping for groceries:

Riding the tractor – this was her favorite!

After our fun at Pretend City, it was time to head home for a little party with the family. As Facey tradition goes, there’s a layer cake for your 1st birthday, and baby gets the top layer all to themselves! My mom always bakes the cake and my dad always decorates. I asked if my dad could replicate the same cake for Ruby that I had when I turned one. My cake had Raggedy Ann & Andy, and was red, white and blue. Since no one knows who Raggedy Ann and Andy are anymore, I had my dad make the cake red, white and pink. He never disappoints!

Ruby got to celebrate with all of her grandparents, her aunt and uncle and all six of her cousins. Here she is with Papaw and her newest cousin, Evan:

We all had a great time, and Ruby scored some amazing loot. But unfortunately, her cake didn’t go over all that well …

After all of the presents, Ruby enjoyed some quality time with her cousin Ella:

It was an amazing birthday and our hearts are still swelling from all the love! Now we’re preparing for the big party this Sunday … stay tuned!

Halloween 2011


Whew – Halloween was a big one this year! Of course, with this being the 1st one for Ruby, we were pretty excited. After solving the great costume debate (Ed wanted Ruby to be “the chest-bursting alien from the movie, “Alien”. He was going to put her in the Baby Bjorn, put a shirt over it with a hole cut out … you get the idea. I wanted her to be a cupcake), we found the cutest little garden gnome costume. It was perfect! (Big thanks to our friend, Jennifer for sending us the link to the costume!) We were just happy that Halloween went over better with Ruby than the trip to the pumpkin patch!

First things first – our friend Elizabeth decided to throw a super-fabulous Halloween Party just for our girls! We were so lucky, the Arzates threw an amazing party. Tony made his annual Pumpkin Stew (served inside the pumpkin – so cool!) and Elizabeth planned all kinds of cool activities for the kids.

We tried hard to get a pic of all of the kids – but wow, it was like “herding cats” (Actual quote from Elizabeth!). Here’s our best shot:

Ruby got to trick or treat in the backyard and got all kinds of cool stuff like a Gerber Graduates cereal bar, goldfish, a mini-book and more! Plus, she got to go “ghost-bowling”. It was an awesome time!

Ruby also got to ride her favorite car at Violet’s house:

Then, on Halloween day, Ruby’s Halmoni came over with a special box of treats for her.

Lucky girl! In the box was also her very first pair of TOMS!

They are a special edition from the UNICEF/It’s a Small World line carried at Nordstrom. Ed & I almost died because the pattern on them is a Mary Blair pattern, one of our favorite artists from the ’60s. Mary Blair did a lot of work for Disney and her artwork is iconic. We LOVE her. So … thats why we are flipping out over these shoes!

Back to Halloween … Grandma & Papaw came over and we took Ruby around to the neighbors to trick-or-treat. After we got home with her candy, we dumped it all in the bowl and passed it back out again! But she wanted to keep one piece of loot … so we let her :)

See more cute pics of our Garden Gnome here. It was a very Happy Halloween!