skinny jeans are magical

she's walking! the clip is sideways, and i don't know how to fix it, but you'll get the gist of it.




gotta love it. just in time for her *real* birthday, which is tomorrow!

whee!

birthanniversaday. annibirthdary?

phew, it's over, and it was fabulous!

i'm talking, of course, about the bean's first birthday bash. it was at the historic carousel at the santa monica pier, and everything turned out exactly as i'd hoped it would. the monkey has an awesome photo-filled recap here, so i'll try not to duplicate too much of it.

the hub and i ended up splitting up and taking two cars down there - food and cupcakes couldn't be picked up until 10, and we couldn't arrive at the pier until 11 - but only had 30 minutes to set up. ugh. i was really feeling the pinch and was a little freaked out about it, but i tried to wooo-saaaaaaah my way through it. luckily, i had everything all ready to go, packed in two plastic boxes - tablecovers and runners, candy centerpieces, cutlery sets, pictures, favors, etc. and i'd already gotten all of the balloons blown up and tied together in bunches, ready to be tied to the railing by the carousel. i was so organized, it was ridiculous.

by 9:10, the teen, bean, and i were in the car. i swung by the ATM to pick up cash for parking and the photographer, made a quick pitstop to pick up BFF, and we were off to the pier. traffic in l.a. is so unpredictable, even on a saturday morning, so we left extra early. i wasn't taking any chances - besides, it's always better to be early than late, right? at least we could get there and kill some time if we needed to.

and of course, we were there hella early - like, an hour early. i noticed that there was still parking available on the pier, which would make unloading easy for us. yay! the teen was hungry, though (as was i), so we headed off to find some breakfast.

not knowing the area very well, we didn't find a damn thing, and so we decided to just park at the pier and wait. but of course, what did we find when we got back there? cones in front of the entrance and a big ass annoying sign telling us that the pier lot was full, of course.

sonofabitchmotherfuckerassholes!

i was so grumpy, i didn't realize i was turning the wrong way - the street we ended up on led us right down to PCH, which has "no u-turns" signs posted everywhere, and nowhere to turn for a solid couple of miles. so. freaking. pissed. but we finally made it, after getting stuck behind a shitload of bicyclists who thought they owned the road and then pissing off a couple of runners who were trying to cross the street. oops. sorry, runners. you DID have the right-of-way.

we made our way to the parking lot, tried to squeeze into a spot that was close-ish, and ended up much further away. i didn't want to risk the wrath of the hub should we get door-dinged, anyway. and as the bean woke from her snooze, my phone rang. it was FIL.

"where are you guys? we're already here, and mom's walking the pier with grandma."

sah-weet! he came right down to help us unload, and we got everything up there in one trip. it was a little early, but we strode right into the carousel building and got started setting up. besides, if anyone would've tried to stop us, i already had my don't-mess-with-me-i'm-setting-up-my-kid's-first-birthday-party snarl all ready. heh.

luckily, all of my feverish prepping and organizing paid off. the tables were all set and everything was ready with time to spare. all we needed was the hub (who, poor baby, was still battling his horrid head cold but powering through it like a champ) to bring the food and we'd be ready for guests. and when i called him, he was only a mile away, and FIL managed to block off a sweet ass parking spot right in front for him. whee!

okay, enough talk. visual aids, coming right up:

the little boxes had pink and green salt water taffy inside. because, as my friend lilcee said, we WERE at the pier, after all. and it was fun watching guests pick their favorite picture to take home.

SFAMily shot - less r and weatherjen, who were also present but had to leave before we thought to take this.

more family shots.

the tutu was quite popular.

"i'm one! uh, i think."

her very first taste of candy, pilfered from a nearby centerpiece.

the monkey made good use of the wind machine. [cue "supermodel (you better work)"]

the teen and BFF rode the carousel at least five times. ha!

her after-party attire. skinny jeans and leopard shoes are awesome.

not wanting to go home to the heat (brother wan took one of our cars home for us and even unloaded everything - we were so grateful), we ended up at universal studios citywalk and having dinner at an old favorite, bubba gump. and on the way home, i remembered something and turned to the hub:

"hey! happy anniversary!"

it was our 8-year date-aversary. cheeseball! but he grinned and squeezed my hand anyway. i love him.

and the next morning, we gathered in the sitting room and watched the teen help the bean open presents. it was fun watching her rip paper off and pull tissue out of bags - and she actually did stop to play with the actual gifts rather than just the stuff they were wrapped in! most kids are pretty enthralled with wrapping paper and bows and things.

she got lots and lots of gorgeous clothes and fun toys. everyone was so generous! it'll be fun doing her thank-you cards. i've already got some fun ideas for 'em.

the teen and i spent a laughable amount of time on putting this together. the hub sat and laughed at us for a while, and then gave up and took the bean into the other room. but we did it!

the aftermath.

that's all, folks!

25 hours till bean birthday bash

i just finished putting together party favors for tomorrow's bean birthday bash.

the hub looked over last night at my mock-up, and in an incredulous tone, said "we're having favors? for her birthday party?"

the look i gave him stopped him in his tracks.

i did a trial run of the candy centerpieces i've been buying supplies for, and after posting it on the OC board for opinions, ended up making an IKEA run with the teen after picking her up from school yesterday. i managed to find the very same vases used in my inspiration pic, and cheap! whee! and while i'm still not 100% satisfied with the results, they're going to have to do. oy.

i realize that i'm sounding like a ridiculous, anal, freakish partyzilla about all of this stuff, but that's just the way i roll. i love putting all the personal touches into our parties, and with this being the bean's first birthday, i want it to be special.

and today is all about picking up everything else - drinks, snacks, blowing up balloons (the venue doesn't allow helium, so we're having to improvise), and finishing up those centerpieces. i've got a few other ideas that might help in getting them where i really want them to be. heh.

we're even going to have pro pics! well, sort of. the photographer i'd contacted via craigslist who advertised free services to build up his portfolio is going to be there after all, and i'm looking forward to getting some good pictures of it all. the hub, upon seeing the venue for the party, expressed major doubts about it coming together and looking purty - and so i'm itching to prove his negative nellie ass wrong.

wish me luck.

a week full of firsts

and it's only thursday!

the bean has been quite a busy little bee. observe:

scrambled egg. eggs are one of those tricky foods that doctors recommend waiting a year before trying, because so many people end up allergic to them. i bought some organic eggs, scrambled one up, and chopped it up into little pieces. it was hilarious watching her pick up a piece, squish it between her fingers, and finally give it a try. i'm thinking most of it ended up in her seat, smashed to bits, or dropped on the floor for the dog, but at least a little bit went in her mouth and landed in her belly.

cottage cheese. i tried mixing it with some applesauce to add some flavor to it, but she was NOT having any of it. i'd poke a half-full spoon of it in there, and she'd make this really disgusted face and pull cottage cheese curds out with her fingers and squish 'em. gross, but funny.

walking! on tuesday night, she was playing in the sunroom when i heard the teen squeal "moooooom! she walked! she took two steps!" i ran over from the kitchen and saw it for myself - hesitant, wobbly, slow - but man, was she proud of herself. she looked over, stopped mid-step, grinned like the cheshire cat and clapped her hands. ha!

i ran for the video camera, but of course, by the time i had it ready, she was over it. but trust me, it was awesome. she's been practicing a little more here and there, and i know that soon she'll be all over the place!

cold. boo! for the first time in her little life, the bean's battling a stuffed-up nose, and every time i hear her gasp for breath, i just want to pick her up and suck the snot out of her myself. she's constantly rubbing her nose, but of course, that doesn't help. and she makes funny faces like this.

poor baby.

rash! when she rejected that cottage cheese, i gave her a mini blueberry waffle, all chopped up in pieces. she enjoyed it much more than the egg and the cottage cheese, but now i'm wondering if she could be allergic to blueberries. because later that afternoon as i was changing her diaper, i noticed that little red bumps had sprung up on the backs of her legs. she didn't seem to be touching it, so i don't think they're itchy. but now i have to figure out if it's the egg (which i doubt, since it'd been a full day and a half since she'd eaten it), the cottage cheese, or the waffle. or, like my friend MB said, it could just be a coincidence. damn. i felt so bad, but i saw this morning that it seems to be clearing up quite nicely. i took pics to show the doctor, but i won't inflict 'em upon you.

i tried to take a few pictures yesterday for the holiday nest baby thing, but it proved to be somewhat challenging - she wasn't in the mood, and just wanted to come over and play with the strap dangling from the camera. oh, well. i sent over a few, but i'm anticipating having to do a re-take.

and now we're off to get more stuff put together for the big bash - her first birthday party.

yay for firsts! well, some of them, anyway.

whiny ass typical wan-nabe stage mom

(by the way, i'm over yesterday's annoyance. i found pink & white swirly lollipops, and they're bubble gum flavored! so way better than that pink lemonade business.)

i forgot that i promised to tell a story the other day, and didn't come through. although now i'm thinking about it and it's probably not as amusing as i originally thought it was, but whatever. i'll tell that shit anyway.

okay, so you remember the whole "face of the nest baby" contest hubbub, right? the hours of f5-ing and clicking, resulting in triumph for the bean? i clicked on the store site constantly over the three months that her little face was featured on it, and then promptly forgot all about it.
but then, a few weeks ago, i remembered that the nest publishes its own magazine, and it occurred to me that the bean might actually be featured in print. after all, it wasn't a huge stretch of the imagination to think that the nest baby shop would have some sort of advertisement in their own publication, yes? so i started scouring every store in my area that carried magazines, looking for the current issue.

with no luck.

i ended up going directly to the website and ordering the damn thing, along with some adorable jammies on clearance for the upcoming cooler months (that's a little backwards, but for $4.99 including free personalization, i wasn't complaining). and when the box arrived, i tore right into it and excitedly thumbed through the issue. summer issue, summer "face of the nest baby shop," or at least that's what i figured.

and of course, i figured wrong. instead, smiling up at me from the pages of the magazine was the winner of the spring contest. i read through the rest of it, chuckling at the inclusion of a quote and a picture of my friend diame, and figured she'd be in the next issue.

i posted about it on the OC board, and then was pretty bummed to hear from one of the girls that she'd already received the newest copy of the magazine, sans bean. oh, no, instead, the winner of the fall contest was featured in the nest baby shop ad.

the outrage! i puffed up with indignation, went hunting for an email address (or two. well, maybe three) to contact, and then was distracted by a phone call. i forgot all about it until another week later, and decided to send an e-mail. i didn't really know what kind of resolution i was looking for, but i figured it wouldn't hurt to speak up and find out why my precious little itty-bitty bean was left out in the cold. again, i forgot about it until the next morning, when i opened my e-mail to find this:

Hi Wan-naBe,

Thank you for contacting me. I am so very sorry that [bean] was not featured in the Summer ’08 issue and am glad you brought it to our attention. It was definitely not an intentional oversight and was the result of some internal miscommunication that we truly apologize for. It has been discussed and [bean] will definitely be featured in the Spring 2009 issue.

Since the spring issue will of course not be published for some time, we would love to feature [bean] (with your permission) as our holiday baby on The Nest Baby Shop website. This would run throughout the entire holiday season, so we would just need a holiday/winter-appropriate picture, if possible. She could even just be wearing a long-sleeved red shirt, or something along those lines.

Please let me know if this is okay by you, and send me the picture whenever you’re able to take it. Again, I apologize on behalf of everyone here at The Bump and The Nest for making such an error.

Take care,

[nest employee]

tee hee! this squeaky wheel got the holiday feature. and so my mission today is to dress the bean up in the adorable green sweater i bought her at baby gap (because, of course, the blazer and skinny jeans don't exactly scream "holiday") and snap a handful of pics to choose from.

now, the big dilemma: hair up in pigtails, or down with a headband or barrette?

decisions, decisions.

ohemgee. so. extremely. bitter.

the bean's birthday party is this weekend.

i'm planning on making cute candy centerpieces similar to this:


pink and green are the colors of choice. so i've got gobs of pink and green paper plates, plastic cutlery, napkins, cups, blah, blah, blah. and a few weeks ago, i found these lollipops that would be absolutely PERFECT as the focal point in those centerpieces.


totally perfect, right? and even better - candy warehouse, where i found them online, is located not far from home. i could totally pick them up and save on shipping. bonus!

and then i called this morning to place the order. as i was talking to the girl, i pulled up the item on their site, and...

THEY'RE FUCKING SOLD OUT.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG. i am so unbelievably irritated and pissed off at myself for not being proactive (a word i HATE) and ordered them when i originally found the damn things. i should've learned long ago that my typical procrastinating ways DON'T PAY OFF!

fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck. oh, and FUCK!!!

i can't figure out who the manufacturer of these things are, so i can't go direct. and the only other place i can find them is on the east coast. and as much as i want them, i don't think i can squeeze out the zillion dollars it's bound to cost to have them overnighted, or even 2-day shipped.

on top of all this, my fabulous flat iron won't turn on and my hair looks like complete ass if i don't flatiron it.

sonofamotherfuckingasswhoreshittybitch!! i want to throw things.

note: i'm fully aware that i could get the regular, rainbow-colored lollipops. but i. want. those. I. WANT. THE. PINK. AND. GREEN. ONES. DAMMIT!

[deep breath] wooo-saaaaah. wooo-saaaaaaaah (i just saw "bad boys II" again this weekend).

it's not working. i'm still angry. gymboree is gonna be hella fun today.

baby contest? sign us up!

okay, so the baby gap/gap kids is having their annual casting call. and you know how much of a sucker i am for those things.

that reminds me of another story i must tell. tomorrow, i shall.

anyway, entries can be submitted online, but they were also doing in-store casting calls this past friday and saturday. so i corralled my friend MommyBelle and her two adorable offspring, and we made plans to meet at glendale galleria. i was a bit apprehensive because i totally expected a major clusterfuck of proud parents, so i just told myself that if the line was just too long, at least it would be a fun lunch and shopping trip with MB. plus, there's an apple store there, so i figured i'd spend some of that birthday cash on some accessories for my new toy.

i was shocked when i arrived and saw a pretty short line in the store - until i realized they were handing out numbers, and you were to join the line when your number was assigned to go in. i managed to swipe the last three numbers, scheduled between 3:00 - 4:00.

um, it was just barely 11:30. shit.

by the time MB and co. arrived, i'd already bought myself a cute iPhone case, a car charger, and an anti-glare film for the screen. we cruised around baby gap, oohing and aahing over the adorable fall collections, but even with a coupon in hand, we managed to avoid taking anything up to the registers. yup.

we headed to the food court to grab some lunch, and MB treated us (mm-hmm, i love birthdays) to mine. i got a steak and shrimp teriyaki plate with veggies, which i proceeded to share with the bean. it was fun watching her eat everything i gave her - she's been trying new things almost every day, which is hit-and-miss. today was definitely a "hit."

afterwards, we cruised around the mall, chatting and browsing, and then when we got back to baby gap, it was 2:00. still too early to join the line, but we decided to go in and check it out anyway. and surprisingly, the line was damn near non-existent, and the girls told us to go ahead and get in. of course, all the shopping and eating and stuff tuckered my poor little bean right out, and as soon as we got in line, i realized that she'd nodded right off to sleep. ha! but we figured it'd be a good half hour before we got to the front, and that would be just fine.

MB had her own "hit and miss" as she got her kids in front of the photographer. LFM, even without a nap, grinned widely and was quite charming. it was fun watching him, and MB turned to LP to sit her on the stool and have her picture taken.

"no, mommy, i don't want to!"
"are you sure? brother did it, and he had fun."
"no, no, no!"

LP was tired, and she'd had it. she went up and sat on the stool, clutching MB's hand for dear life, and bawled through the whole thing. oh, well.

the bean and i didn't fare much better - i picked her up out of the stroller, and while she didn't cry, she was quite serious-looking. we couldn't get a smile out of her for anything. of course, as soon as we left, she was a happy camper and giggled and clapped her hands. stinker!

oh, and i snuck back into baby gap with the teen yesterday to use a coupon that was about to expire. we were absolutely DYING over this blazer and - get this - SKINNY jeans.

i had to get them both. I HAD TO! shut up.

birthday princess day is over.

my actual birthday was spent at home with the bean and the dog, just kicking back and doing absolutely nothing. i enjoyed a bunch of fun e-cards, e-mail greetings, and reading the cards i'd received.

and i ate a lot of bad food. heh. for breakfast, i went to burger king and got a croissant sandwich with my beloved mocha joe, and then for lunch i got a ginormous pastrami dip at the hat.

when the hub got home, he was bearing gifts - an ice cream cake from baskin robbins, a really cute card, and you know what else. whee!

i literally did a birthday twirl as i opened it, which the hub tried to capture on film, but it was way too blurry. too bad, it would've looked pretty funny. but you can imagine how excited i was when i ripped off the paper and saw what was inside. i know you can.

and then i plonked my ass down to play with my new toy while the hub and the bean played and laughed together. the original plan was to head out for some sushi or something yummy for dinner, but i spent so much time with that iPhone that it got too late. so instead, we ended up at zpizza and grabbed some yummy cheese pizza and antipasto salad. pizza is my most favorite thing to eat, so i was perfectly happy.

back at home, the hub busted out that ice cream cake and got to work. oy. he was determined to get all 37 candles on that freaking cake, and he did.

fire hazard.

i made a wish, took a deep breath, blew 'em all out, and then threw my hands up in victory as the hub snapped away. holy shit, look at all that smoke. geez.

i mean, really - by the time he got the last candle lit, the first one was melting all over the damn cake. good lord, i'm old.

and with that, birthday princess day '08 came to an end.