December 10, 2011

10 on 10 :: 27 of 30 :: hello sloane

Oh what a day! It's 10 on 10 challenge day { on the weekend, yeah! } and day 27 of my 30 days of gratitude challenge and the first time I get to see my bf/sister's new baby girl!! So let's jump right into the fun!!

day 27 of 30 :: daily routine :: I start every day with a cup of tea. I love the little leaf stem on the forte triangular tea bags!

Then I hit the new market at the Evanston Ecology center - was hoping for a couple of vendors to be there, but sadly they were not ... maybe next week. We saw some good stuff tho!

Then it was time to hit the road ... it was a beautiful day, the sun was shining bright ... if only it wasn't so cold!

I arrived in Chesterton just a couple of hours after momma and baby came home from the hospital. Little Sloane was all snug as a bug... she is super cute and so stinkin' tiny she doesn't even fit into premie clothes! Look at her tiny little bracelet!

I spent a little time snuggling with her before we decided to start the photoshoot. I gotta give huge props to baby photographers!!! I do not have any idea how the pose these little munchkins. They just don't cooperate. I'm thinking maybe she was a little too young at only five days old, but I did get a couple of cuties! Holly purchased this crazy long santa hat off etsy and she wanted to try to recreate the shot from the website - impossible!!

After Sloane was done with her first photoshoot, Holly's friend Nikki came over to bring them dinner { so nice } and hung around for a little bit. Her adorable little boy was so excited to hold the baby.

Meanwhile, Bella was busy taking photos with her camera. I caught her snapping a self portrait and asked her to show me. She's such a ham...

I hung around till it was about dinner time for the Pittman clan ... snapped a few photos of Jeff with his little girl before I left. He is one proud papa! Oh and I caught the BEST baby yawn! Oh how I love a baby yawn!!!

Oh and I had to snap a photo of Xavier's sign. He made this adorable little sign to hang on the hospital room door - they said the nurses were gaga over it. Apparently this was a first.

Couldn't officially leave till I got one more snap of Sloane and her big sister Bella B! We were cracking up because it looks like Sloan is throwing the peace sign...

Back on the road home...

What a great day! And then I arrived home to this adorable Christmas Card from my friend Kathryn. Happy Everything!!!

November 11, 2011

an american girl birthday

Bella Barclay turned seven today - 11.11.11. We celebrated at the American Girl Doll store and had lunch with the ladies (and Jeff and Xavier!). It was an explosion of pink and Bella could not have been happier. Maybe a bit overwhelmed by the merchandise surrounding her. See, she's been saving her money and stocking up on Birthday cash to buy a new American Girl Doll and all sorts of accessories. But, what to buy? There's so much! And what girl wouldn't want it all?

The whole experience was pretty seamless. They rang to signal lunch time, we lined up to be seated and stocked up on chairs for all of the dolls and were taken to our table - all set up with crowns and etc. They have a menu of the kid basics plus some adult fare and began bringing beverages and appetizers right away. They took each girl's order and left us with a little box of questions to ask the girls while we waited. The brought out a cake with candles lit and sang happy birthday, passed out little goodie bags and then came back with little slices of cake and flower pots full of ice cream. So cute. Happy Birthday Bella!

December 11, 2010

holiday fun with my girls

Since I moved to Chicago, some fifteen years ago now, I've heard all about this tradition of having a meal beside the big Christmas Tree at the Walnut Room. I thought it would be a super fun thing to do with Holly & Bella, so we were up early to get all dolled up and head for Macy's. We arrived about 9:15am and were told we could get the 10am seating. We were seated just slightly before 11 and sadly had just missed the breakfast buffet, which we had sold to Bella. Fortunately I was able to talk the manager into letting us slip in at the end - with a little help from Bella's tears. Wheew disaster averted! The food was good and they had a couple of women (fairies) walking around sprinkling fairy dust (glitter) and granting wishes. It was all very cute and Bella had a great day.

After lunch we spent a little wandering thru the store, picking up Christmas presents, Frango mints, fuzzy hats and ornaments to remember the day. Good times in the city girls!!

September 21, 2010

pasta perfection

Holly and I took a pasta making class at Cooking Fools in Bucktown last night and had a great time. I've had one of those manual pasta machines for a couple of years and have to admit, I've never taken it out of the box ... a little intimidated I guess... and maybe a little lazy. But after the class I realize just how silly this is... it's crazy easy to make past and tastes SO much better fresh than dried from a box!!

I was totally impressed with the class too. Our chef, Nick Faitage (and owner of Cooking Fools) was a great teacher, very personable and really hands on. He gave everyone personal attention despite having 30 people in one class. The whole thing was very well orchestrated too!

We made ravioli with a mushroom, ricotta and parmesan filling with an almond pesto sauce and pappardelle with a vodka red sauce - none of which I would eat (shocker, I know) but he was nice enough to fix me up a bowl of plain pappardelle with oil and parm! Good stuff!!

July 5, 2010

Holly's wedding photos

via mistybullphotography.com

Holly's wedding photos have been posted ... some really good stuff! Especially this one of me flagging down the tow truck to try to get them to unlock my rental car after someone taking my keys... great stuff I tell you!

Love the jumping shots and the black and whites of Holly and Jeff and everything of Bella Boo - she's too damn cute!

Oh and can you believe I decorated that trellis in less than an hour the day before the wedding? Looks pretty good don't you think?

June 2, 2010

my sis got married!

via flickr.com

I am just now settling down from the last ten days of events! First up was the wedding of one of my very best friends, Holly, of whom I have adopted as my sister many moons ago. I am so happy she's found such a wonderful hubby in Jeff!

The wedding weekend started for me in Weston, KS, where I picked up one of our very good friends from high school/college - Laura. She makes me laugh so hard I cry every single time we get together! We ran a few errands and wound up in the newly revamped back yard of Casa de Shehorn. I did a little decorating on the trellis for the wedding while Wayne, Holly's dad, cooked up some awesome BBQ!

The rehearsal took me to Wayne's Point for the first time - a beautiful spot along the river named after Holly's father. This event brought together a crazy amount of people from our high school days. Beyond the bridal party, the officiant was a classmate, the DJ and even the photographer... Nothing like keeping it in the family right? The beauty of a smal town.

The men golfed while the women spent the day in the spa for wedding day prep. The ceremony was a perfect mix of fun, beauty and unpredictable moments - hello train! Plenty of photo ops - which I was sadly unable to capture due to a little key snafoo.

The reception was held at a very cool new space called JW Crancers. I loved it - very urban lounge chic for LV! Good times with great friends. I wish my sis and her new hubby all the happiness in the world.

P.S. I was able to shoot a few hipstamatic iPhone photos - see previous posts here for BBQ and here for wedding day.