Happy Holidays!

We're taking a little break for the rest of December to wrap presents, bake cookies and celebrate Christmas with our families. We hope the rest of your December is merry & bright!

See you in January!

Friday Roundup

It's been a busy week- I finally got the (mini) tree up and made 100 chocolate covered cherries, on top of the normal hustle and bustle of work and Christmas. Wednesday we hopped on a plane to New Orleans. Thursday was spent driving from New Orleans to Jackson, Mississippi- with a slight unexpected detour through Kentwood, Louisiana, hometown of Britney Spears, a fact drilled into my mind from watching endless hours of Pop Up Video in 1999. But random stops in places like this make road trips the best.

I'm currently in Mississippi and avoiding Twitter because I haven't had a chance to listen to the final Serial podcast yet.

We're shooting a good friend's wedding this weekend, I'm excited to get to explore a little bit around a town I've never visited before and catch up with friends.

Here's some fun things for y'all (yes, I just typed y'all, for probably the first time ever.)

Other podcasts, for all of you looking to fill the Serial sized void in your life.

Christmas decor ideas

Work Productivity Tips...Yes, I realize it sounds really boring, but this list is full of good stuff! Mainly, it makes me feel better about some of my, seemingly odd, ways of getting work done.

RIP Mufasa- death in children's movies

The 19th century's equivalent to online dating...

"How Real is 'Homeland'?" (Teresa! Read this!)

FAIR TRADE bedding that is ORGANIC and simplistically beautiful. Someone tell Jason this is what I want for my birthday and Christmas.

Pretend snow...I know a few little ones who would like this!

Easy & useful Mason Jar DIY

and kittens. The End.

A Weekend In: Victoria, BC

Last weekend Patrick and I woke up at the break of dawn and boarded a boat to Victoria, BC for a little getaway weekend. Believe it or not it was the first time that we have gotten away together without Mylo! This was totally unintentional but to be honest I’m kicking myself for not making it happen sooner. We are both so independent that we have had lots of time away from Mylo individually but just haven’t made the effort to get away together. It was sooo fun!  It made us both look even more forward to our trip to Argentina in February. I love my child but it was very refreshing to just have Patrick and I together, like it was for the seven years before he was born.

We stayed at the historical Empress Hotel right on the waterfront in a very classy Victorian-style room. Most people hit the Butchart Gardens and have "high tea" but we really just wanted to relax and take it easy so we mostly wandered around the cute little streets, popped into shops, ate delicious food and took in the festive décor of the city. Our one planned activity was a trip to the Willow Stream Spa in our hotel—which both of us agreed were some of the best treatments we've ever had. 

One of the highlights in Victoria for us was the Victoria Public Market, which is a fabulous indoor open market with great little local restaurants, cheeses, wine, vegetables, olive oils, etc. We wandered around in there and Patrick had “the best grilled cheese of his life” at Salt Spring Island Cheese. We also had a great dinner at The Mint and divine brunch at Jam Cafe. We'll be back!

New Movie: While We're Young

Have you seen the preview for the new movie While We're Young? It looks really good to me. Is it weird that I relate more to the older couple than the younger one? 30 is kind of that in-between age I guess, not a “carefree” twenty-something but also not a full blown adult yet. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking….

Will you see the movie? Check out the preview below, I hope it gets good reviews. 

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Wedding Wednesday: A Photo...

Just a pretty picture for you today as I'm headed out to catch a flight. We're headed to Jackson Mississippi to watch good friends say I do. And take photos of course :)

Speaking of friends weddings, we just added a small gallery to our website of some photos from Andrew & Kaitlin's wedding in Santa Barbra last fall. Jason was actually the best man in this wedding! After much debate, we realized it was impossible for someone to be a good best man while simultaneously getting amazing photos of the whole day so another photographer shot the majority of the day and Jason only picked up his camera for a few minutes. You can see more of Andrew & Kaitlin here...

Seaweed from Santa...

Yep, you read that right. Have you heard of marimos?

At a Christmas party over the weekend, I got one in a gift exchange. Although, when I first pulled the mason jar full of water out of a gift bag, the room was dark, and I was pretty sure someone had given me a dead fish!

I read the accompanying card (and managed to get to better light) and discovered that I was the proud owner of a marimo, and they are awesome!

Marimo basically means seaweed ball in Japanese. They are a technically a ball of algae that's alive and will grow up to a half of an inch per year.

These little fuzzy green balls are prized in Japan, and since they live so long, they actually will be passed down as heirlooms. They are thought to be symbols of everlasting love and to bring good luck.

I'm thrilled that they seem to be a fairly easy plant to care for (even for me!). Basically, you have to change the water every 1-2 weeks and keep it out of direct sunlight.

All in all, a super unique and interesting gift!


Image via Doodle Birdie check out their beautiful Marimo Terrariums on Etsy! 

Monday Motivation

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