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Today we celebrated Ella’s 2nd birthday with an EVE Party, from the movie WALL-E. The birthday girl was very charming! Of course, Dad make the cake and he didn’t disappoint. Shirley & Lora even made little candy Eve’s for the cupcakes!
Here we are with the birthday girl …
To see more pics of the awesome cake & the day, check out the album here:
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| Ella's 2nd Birthday |
I am so excited, Ed made the reservations for our annual Palm Springs trip! We are finally getting to stay at The Viceroy! We have eaten many meals, enjoyed many cocktails and have pampered once before at their glorious spa, but we’ve never gotten to be hotel guests! It is gonna be awesome. I’m counting down the days until February 16th!
Friday was a “Free Day” for Carrie, and Ed doesn’t go back to work until January 5th, so we decided to head up the mountain to Green Valley Lake to hang out with our friends Danna & Jarod. They’re going on their 2nd winter as “mountain folk”, and they have turned their cabin into a wonderful cozy place! It’s literally nestled in the snow – after a big storm 2 weeks ago, Danna says they have more snow right now than all of last winter combined!
Apparently, everybody had the same idea as us, to get away over the long weekend now that Christmas is over … and those who didn’t come up for the relaxing came up for the snowboarding & skiing! It’s bustling up here … and it took Ed & I over 3 hours to just get up the mountain. It was worth it though, we are surrounded by beauty, good friends, and kitty cats! We couldn’t be happier!
On our way up (I had to take pictures to keep myself entertained!)
The cabin:
It was 14 degrees last night, but this morning we were warm and cozy … we all have mugs and our own laptops!
We’re having such a good time, we’re staying an extra night … just ’cause we can! Thanks, Danna & Jarod!
Tonight we hosted Christmas Eve for the Kims, and everything was just perfect! We enjoyed good food, great conversation, a lot of laughs and some pretty cool gifts!
To start things off, we had to get the ambiance right. Here’s a few shots of our cozy Christmas setting:
I decided to make some little place cards for everybody with some peppermint sticks (because I’m nerdy like that):
And everybody really liked them!
The menu this evening was pretty simple – Ed’s mom, Kay, made a beautiful leafy greens salad with mango and raspberries (It was gorgeous!). We made the ham, my mom’s scalloped potatoes (Ed’s favorite), asparagus and wild rice. And for dessert, Ed’s aunt Grace brought a yummy cake from the Korean bakery! This cake is a big favorite of ours, it’s this very light cake with tons of fresh fruit on it … kiwis, pineapple, strawberries and oranges. Yum! Ed did most of the cooking this year, and it was delicious!
That’s a ham alright:
Preppin’ the asparagus:
Glazing the ham:
After dinner, we moved on to the gift exchange. I got a kick out of seeing Ed’s uncle, Luke, sitting on the floor, surrounded by tissue paper and presents. He looked just like a little kid!
The funniest gift of the evening went to Aunt Grace. Ed’s dad bought her a battery-operated megaphone! She’s quite the mover and shaker – she’s VERY active in many organizations and she heads up so many committees – so she needs her voice to be heard!
This year is a big year for Ed’s dad – he is turning 70 on January 1st. I thought that with the start of a new decade, he might enjoy a new “look” for his business. So I designed 3 different comps of a logo, business cards, letterhead and envelopes for him to choose from. I think it was a hit!
For some reason I didn’t catch Kay opening a gift, so here’s a shot of Ed & I with his mom:
All in all, it was wonderful evening. We thoroughly enjoy hosting Christmas Eve for The Kims! Merry Christmas everyone!
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| Christmas Eve 2008 |
I can’t help myself. I really like to think that I am helping keep traditions alive in this modern world by doing a little baking during the holidays. I don’t get crafty often, but I do enjoy perusing Martha Stewart (gasp!) magazines at Christmastime to get inspiration for fun ways to wrap up baked goods. I usually end up tweaking things a bit though to put my modernist aesthetic on it. I just finished round one of Baking 2008 this morning: Mini Gingerbread & Pumpkin Bread loaves. The tags were inspired by the Periodic Chart of Elements, because I thought Gingerbread and Pumpkin Bread are elements of the holidays. I just like having fun with it.
