Sea of Love

Yesterday I had the honor of celebrating my good friend, Kelly's, upcoming wedding.  The intimate affair was a trip down memory lane as we shared our fondest (and sometimes embarrassing) times with Kelly and reminisced about how far we've come now that we're "grown-up."  We also got to know the bride and groom's relationship a little better with some fun question and answer games!

Together with her other bridesmaids, we threw her a vintage beach-themed bridal shower.  I was inspired by the pretty and muted colors of sea glass, so we used it as the splash of color on an otherwise white-washed and neutral palette.  Kelly's sister's home was the perfect space for the event.  (Thanks to my sis-in-law, Kathie, for snapping these pictures when I didn't get a chance to!  Besides, her iPhone-picture taking skills are much better than mine.)

What can I say? I love a vintage-inspired party. Since Kelly & Evan are getting married by the beach, we thought we'd do our own version of a seaside party.  Here is part of the beverage station.  Cucumber-mint lemonade, strawberry water, and wine and champagne were on the menu.  All served in pretty glass cups, of course.

Sea glass, seashells and other beachy finds adorned the buffet table.  A white paper parasol topped it off and made a good focal point for the delicious raspberry-lemon cake.

The buffet spread.

The delicious food.  Most of it was from Porto's and the rest was (semi) homemade.  The utensils were all tied together with some garden twine and a white lifesaver candy, to keep with the beach theme.

For the flowers we stuck with whites and creams.  The seafoam blue ribbon and driftwood accent was a nice added touch by Kelly's sister-in-law.

We took the message in a bottle idea and applied it to one of the shower games where Kelly had to answer questions that were asked to Evan.  It was hilarious fun watching her in the hot seat! 

Guests were asked to guess Kelly's age in the pictures.  It was nostalgic seeing some of these old photos again, especially since a lot of us have known Kelly since we were very young.

Kelly as an infant (left) and Kelly with her fiancé (right).  Time flies!

We had no problem diving into the cake!

You know it's a good party when there are lots of empty glasses and plates! 

The favors consisted of cocoa butter body lotion and coconut body wash, all wrapped up in a jute pouch with a sand dollar accent.  

Kelly's four-year-old niece helpfully passed out the favors to all the guests at the end of the party.  She made sure to thank them for coming.  She was definitely the life of the party!

I always love weddings and wedding stuff.  It's one of the few times in your life that you get to be unselfishly showered with so much love and well-wishes.  It's also such a significant moment as you prepare to make a truly meaningful and life-changing commitment.  I'm so excited for Kelly and Evan, and cannot wait to see them start their happily-ever-after together!

Around here...

... there's a lot of cuteness going on!

Ella & Daddy

Gung Hay Fat Choi!

This year's Chinese New Year celebration brought back lots of memories of my own childhood and my love of this holiday.  Since it fell on my mom's birthday weekend, we got to spend a lot of time with my extended family, giving Ella lots of opportunity to get to know her relatives (some of whom she was meeting for the first time).  It was especially fun watching her grab the red envelopes offered to her, though she was more interested in eating them than what was inside.  She definitely didn't know what to do with all the attention she was being showered with, but she really enjoyed all the festivities and commotion that my family can create when we get together.

Pink is the new red, apparently. 

With her Po-Po, who LOVED having a little one to celebrate the New Year with.

Gambling is synonymous with Chinese New Year in my family.  We played many rounds of Bingo.

THIS makes me nostalgic for my childhood.  We used to play this dice game every year--and LOTS of money was always exchanged.

I showed Ella around my parents house.  It was her first real tour since usually just visits downstairs.

As much as we tried, we couldn't get her to nap at my parents'.  So after a long afternoon of lots of excitement, she was knocked out for two hours when we got home.

date night

With Ella's earlier bedtime, we took advantage of the extra hours in the evening to go out on a dinner date.  We had a really delicious meal at Bistro 45, a French-fusion restaurant that we really like.  It was crazy to think that we hadn't been there since our rehearsal dinner in 2007.  We definitely enjoyed the night out, even though we came home to a crying baby.  (Ella didn't sleep as soundly as we had hoped.)  We are very appreciative to be able to have time to ourselves, and look forward to many more nights like this (minus the uncooperative baby).

It's a terrible picture, but we wanted something to remember the night by.

Belated Christmas Photos

Sometimes I have too many cameras around here to manage pictures with.  I finally uploaded some Christmas photos we took.  It was fun reliving Ella's first gift-opening sessions.  Enjoy!


Hosting our annual White Elephant gift exchange with some friends:

Christmas Eve dinner with our families:

Because everybody needs a spinning mop!

Grandma Donna was really excited about her purse.

A pretty shirt for Ella from Auntie Kathie

So many gifts!

Continuing a Tran Christmas tradition of a Buche de Noel on Christmas Eve.  My favorite are definitely the candy mushrooms.

Christmas morning: