Saturday, January 28, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
2011: The Year In Review
It's that time of year when organizations begin releasing their annual reports; a look back at the previous year in an effort to discuss how things went down. So today, we give you Twenty Six East: The Year In Review. No boring pie charts here. Just a few highlights from 2011 and how it looked on our end...
Total Number of States Visited: 11
Farthest Distance Traveled: 4883 miles
In July, the hubs and I hit Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles to honeymoon. I don't know that we have actually shared the photos from our adventure, but here are a few. We had an amazing time. All you can eat buffets and endless fruity cocktails. What else do you need to know?
Best Family Va-cay: Southern Cali
Mickey Mouse makes me cry. There. I said it. I visited Walt Disney World for the first time in 2007 for a business trip and I cried like a baby when I met him. I took Alex back in 2008 and we watched him dance on Main Street and we cried together. In October we took a family vacation to the LA area and Disneyland and yep, more tears.
Favorite New Retailer: Warby Parker
Two out of three of us can't see very well and that minor issue can be expensive. So imagine our delight when we discovered not only could we find seriously cool eyewear for us both, but we could own 3 pairs for the price of 1. No insurance required. Add on the fact that every time you buy a pair a child in a less-developed country gets a free pair and you've just gained better vision and a bigger heart. If you haven't checked them out yet, you should. Visit WarbyParker.com and tell them we sent you. (ok you can but that doesn't really mean anything).
Favorite Local Spot to Get Our Grub On: Westside Local
Favorite Local Spot For Flapper-Style/Hand-Crafted Cocktails: Manifesto
Most Bittersweet Occasion: Saying Goodbye
When our amazing/awesome/so-attractive-it's-not-fair friends Vikas & Sindhu relocated to Michigan, we threw them a dinner party to congratulate them and say goodbye.
Favorite Accessory: The Pink Phone
It's a handset. For your cell phone. And a birthday gift I picked up for myself last March. And pinky made the rounds this past year. Seriously, everyone loves the pink phone and a photo opp.
Friends We Hung Out With The Most: Stacey & Erik
After getting mildly involved with the AMC series Mad Men in late 2010, we upgraded to the full-blown obsession in 2011. Convening in our living room every Wednesday night over 1960s-era cocktails, we made 2011 the year of good friends and mad men. We even threw Erik a giant birthday party to show our love for both. Check that out HERE.
Biggest DIY Repeat Offender: Painting
We changed the look of our living room, dining room & the entire 3rd floor. Yes, yes we know- we've been promising 3rd floor before & after pics for a million years. They are coming. Soon. I promise.
Most Calendar Worthy Moment: Oooolala
Oh yeah, Mr. December, re-tiling my sister's shower on New Year's Eve.
Biggest WTF Moment: This...
Biggest "This-is-not-gonna-end-well-moment": Meatball & Andre
Most Creative Philanthropic Endeavor: Copywriting For A Cause
This year I had the honor of helping Alex's School with their new marketing campaign. See the finished product HERE.
Biggest Benjamin Splurge: Our Wedding
That little party we threw over Fourth of July Weekend was A-MAZ-ING. Although we kept things to a pretty tight budget, DIYing just about every aspect possible, this was still an area where we spent some cheddar.
Biggest Diva: The Reigning Queen
It was a pretty amazing year. And these are just a few of the highlights of 2011. Hard to imagine that 2012 can top it...but we shall see!
Total Number of States Visited: 11
Farthest Distance Traveled: 4883 miles
In July, the hubs and I hit Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles to honeymoon. I don't know that we have actually shared the photos from our adventure, but here are a few. We had an amazing time. All you can eat buffets and endless fruity cocktails. What else do you need to know?
Mickey Mouse makes me cry. There. I said it. I visited Walt Disney World for the first time in 2007 for a business trip and I cried like a baby when I met him. I took Alex back in 2008 and we watched him dance on Main Street and we cried together. In October we took a family vacation to the LA area and Disneyland and yep, more tears.
Favorite New Retailer: Warby Parker
Two out of three of us can't see very well and that minor issue can be expensive. So imagine our delight when we discovered not only could we find seriously cool eyewear for us both, but we could own 3 pairs for the price of 1. No insurance required. Add on the fact that every time you buy a pair a child in a less-developed country gets a free pair and you've just gained better vision and a bigger heart. If you haven't checked them out yet, you should. Visit WarbyParker.com and tell them we sent you. (ok you can but that doesn't really mean anything).
Favorite Local Spot For Flapper-Style/Hand-Crafted Cocktails: Manifesto
Most Bittersweet Occasion: Saying Goodbye
When our amazing/awesome/so-attractive-it's-not-fair friends Vikas & Sindhu relocated to Michigan, we threw them a dinner party to congratulate them and say goodbye.
It's a handset. For your cell phone. And a birthday gift I picked up for myself last March. And pinky made the rounds this past year. Seriously, everyone loves the pink phone and a photo opp.
After getting mildly involved with the AMC series Mad Men in late 2010, we upgraded to the full-blown obsession in 2011. Convening in our living room every Wednesday night over 1960s-era cocktails, we made 2011 the year of good friends and mad men. We even threw Erik a giant birthday party to show our love for both. Check that out HERE.
Biggest DIY Repeat Offender: Painting
We changed the look of our living room, dining room & the entire 3rd floor. Yes, yes we know- we've been promising 3rd floor before & after pics for a million years. They are coming. Soon. I promise.
Most Calendar Worthy Moment: Oooolala
Oh yeah, Mr. December, re-tiling my sister's shower on New Year's Eve.
Biggest WTF Moment: This...
Biggest "This-is-not-gonna-end-well-moment": Meatball & Andre
Most Creative Philanthropic Endeavor: Copywriting For A Cause
This year I had the honor of helping Alex's School with their new marketing campaign. See the finished product HERE.
Biggest Benjamin Splurge: Our Wedding
That little party we threw over Fourth of July Weekend was A-MAZ-ING. Although we kept things to a pretty tight budget, DIYing just about every aspect possible, this was still an area where we spent some cheddar.
Biggest Diva: The Reigning Queen
It was a pretty amazing year. And these are just a few of the highlights of 2011. Hard to imagine that 2012 can top it...but we shall see!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Where The Weird Things Are
Recently someone began a sentence to us with: “Hey, you guys
like weird things, check this out…”
Now
normally one might be offended by a statement like that, but as I digested her
words for a moment, I realized, we do tend to lean more towards the unconventional and we certainly try not to take ourselves too seriously. And although we’ve established a policy in
our home to refer to things as “different” as opposed to “weird” there are just
sometimes where that description fits best.
Yesterday I was cruising one of the many blogs I follow and I honed in on a print that was showcased in someone’s home.
Awesome. It’s just
weird or different or whatever you want to call it enough to fit nicely into
our decor and hilarious enough to compliment our often off-color sense of humor. I realize the content is wildly inappropriate
in a home with children, so I did some digging around online to determine if there were other, less murderous selections to choose from.
You can see the entire collection for yourself over at The Future Perfect and draw your own conclusions.
After catching a glimpse of the price tag ($160???!!!) we have concluded
these prints won’t be finding a spot in our home anyway, but that doesn't make them any less awesome to consider.
Disappointment aside, we did find another item there to accomplish the same goal on a more "G-rated" level :
Yes, Animal Butt Magnets. Perfect for children and those with a similar maturity level. Totally weird. We’ll take ‘em!
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
celebration
If we loved having parties any more than we do, it would be
scary. And also very expensive.
The Rio inspired movie night bash was a hit and we’re pretty
sure everyone had a great time. I think we’ll make this movie night thing a
tradition. The kids really seem to enjoy
it and I can’t think of any other way to get a room full of 6/7/8 year olds to
sit quietly for 2 hours and still call it fun.
You've already seen how overly excited the Jewel cake made us and we were even more excited about all the other
details. We found this year’s favors ---
pink lily hair clips --- on Etsy through Dreamz Come Truee and ordered the
feather boas online at partyfeathers.com.
Each lily was .50 and the feather boas were 1.00 each. I don’t know that you can find pseudo bird disguise party favors for less than $2 anywhere – so pretty pumped about that.
Other than that is was business as usually; popcorn, pink
lemonade and enough sugar to take everyone from zero to 150 before their plates
were clean. Which is fine considering the
majority of them went home right after cake. J
Also, a select few did get to spend the night marking the occasion as Alex's first official slumber party.
And even though the slumber ended for the group at 6 am, I awoke a bit later to find them all seated around the dining room table finishing up the cereal Alex had "cooked" for them.
So as it turns out having a 7 year old is both shocking and rewarding. I'm shocked that she is able to make breakfast for herself and others --- and I feel like breakfast in bed rewards for mom are now a real possibility going forward.
Happy Birthday indeed!
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