Mother's Day Discount

Did you know that Mother's Day is two weeks away? The early May date has completely thrown me off. I had all these new jewelry pieces to add to the shop and name initial necklaces that would of been perfect for Mother's Day. But I'm not going to have time to post them. Tomorrow is the day I'm hosting my gourmet girl's dinner--busy, busy, busy. So, I'll still try to add the new items next week. In the meantime, if you are ahead of schedule and already thinking about what to get your Mom feel free to use a 15% discount off jewelry until May 8th. The coupon code is: iLOVEMOM

You can order here or here.

*discount can not be used on custom orders or previous purchases or combined with other promotions.

Favorite Moments

Early in the morning when the house is still quiet and all you hear are birds chirping, Chloe wakes up for her morning feeding right when the first ray of light comes through the window. For all my kids, I've come to enjoy these quiet moments before the hustle and bustle. A time for me to think clearly and nuzzle my baby. And this is the time she is the most happy--cooing and talking. These are moments that I wish I could stop time and savor it. Do you have moments like these?

Our Weekend: Easter

We spent part of spring break and Easter in the deep south of Louisiana where my husband's side of his family is from. Besides one other child, my children are the only great grandchildren, so they got a lot of attention and were spoiled. I should of brought another suitcase for all the toys they received! But the main point of the trip was to hang out with the hubby's grandpa "Uncle Bill" who just celebrated his 95th birthday!

This was my favorite picture I captured all weekend: Lucas with his grandpa and great grandpa. Do you see the resemblance?

And here's our attempt for a family picture on Easter Sunday after church. As you can see Jackson is so upset. All he wanted to do was "drive" his little hotweel cars on the pavement. Which of course is way more important than taking a family picture!

And here he is again...very frustrated that I plopped him on that little bench with his sister holding him down. That little boy goes by his own agenda!

Some things I noticed while in the South: everyone is so NICE, people called me "ma'am", it's hot and humid (already), chiggers!, the whole town shuts down for Easter Sunday so people can attend their church and everyone wears their Sunday best all day long, slow drivers (might be my problem since I'm used to NYC driving).

Surprise Easter Eggs

My older kids and I made a few of these surprise Easter eggs during their spring break to give to some of their friends. They are really into telling jokes right now so we thought it would be silly to share some Easter jokes and deliver them in a fun way. We blew out the eggs, dyed them, then let them dry (outside and inside), added some flower confetti and wrote the jokes on paper strips and then stuffed them into the egg. You can get the step by step tutorial here or here.

Happy Easter!!

How To: Gourmet Group

I've had a lot of people ask me how to start their own gourmet group. I have to admit--it is quite fun and one of my favorite evenings I look forward to every month. Our group leader Sara was the one who organized our group. Previously she started a gourmet group in Los Angeles and Las Vegas before her move to the tri-state area. So she's had a lot of experience starting these groups. Her favorite pasttime is cooking really good food, especially for other people. Basically she went around the people she knew (since she just having moved to the area) and asked if they were interested in having a once-a-month girl's dinner but with a twist. There were rules. And she made it known right at the beginning so everyone knew what they were getting into.

*The group is consisted of 12 girls, each paired with a partner. We each chose our partner--one person should be good at cooking and the other should be good at party decorations. I have more strength in party decorations and my partner loves to cook.
*Each partnership is responsible to host a dinner one month, which entails save-the-date invites followed by formal invitations, decorations, menu, multi-course meal and party favors. No catering or pre-bought food. All homemade.
*Each dinner has a theme to make it fun and creative. Some dinners we are asked to dress up.
*When it's your month to host, you are responsible for all the clean up too. The other group members don't have to clean dirty dishes, take down decorations or wipe the kitchen down. It's nice to eat, chat and then leave. And you don't feel bad about it!
*After the dinner, recipes for each course are posted on a blog or emailed out to group members (someone in the group is designated to gather recipes/pictures and post). Yes, it's true that a lot of time and work goes into each dinner, but you only have to do it once and then you can enjoy the other dinners.
*We scheduled our dinners during Sept-May, so our summertime is free. Any extra months we did potluck dinners or girl's night out in the City.
*Since a lot of preparation goes into each dinner, it's mandatory to attend each dinner. And everyone expects that you will put in time and creativity into your hosting month. It makes it fun and enjoyable.

So that's what we do with our gourmet group. Although you can tailor it the way you want. Of course you don't have to follow our rules. I know that our way is a little intimidating and not suited for everyone. I was intimidated and almost dropped out! But I'm glad I stuck with it and have met and gotten to know some really great girls that I now consider my girlfriends.


**These pictures are from my friend Cali's gourmet group that she's apart of in NYC. Her theme was Winter White and it was held in January. She asked all the girls in the invitation to wear white. All the decorations and food were white. Didn't it come out beautiful?

Talent Show

Recently Stella and Lucas shared their talents. Stella chose to play the piano, eventhough she doesn't take lessons. But Stella felt like she could do it because her Grandma Waite had shown her a few songs and keys on the piano last time she was in town. So, I asked my girlfriend Tiffany to give her a few more piano lessons and help her come up with something for the show. They ended up doing an amazing duet on the piano. Stella practiced her little heart out and didn't miss a beat. We are so proud of her! Now Lucas didn't practice at all. Actually he wasn't even planning on sharing a talent...that was until he saw all his little friends getting up on stage and sharing talents like hitting a ball, jumping on one foot and doing jumping jacks. He was sad and expressed to me he wanted to do something...anything. So we quickly came up with an idea, signed him up and he was set to go on stage. His talent was making faces...because he is just really good at it.

And since you all want to see...here's Stella's performance.

Our Weekend

This weekend was quiet since I had two sick babies with strep throat and croup. This meant sleepless nights and lots of babying my not-so babies. No pictures of the sick ones, but I did manage to make a conscious effort to keep my baby baby away from the others and made sure I did a lot of hand washing before picking her up!

After a whole day of being inside with sick ones, I escaped for few and took a long afternoon run...in the pouring rain. It was so worth it--sloushy running shoes and sopping wet clothes. My shoes drying on the radiator.

Heading off to church in my favorite orange heels that I don't get to wear often because they only go with so many clothes. Love them anyway. Carseat in the background.

Presents for Decoration

I thought this was a clever idea that the hostess did for a baby shower I recently went to. She asked all the guests to drop their presents off at her house prior to the party for free custom wrapping. She then wrapped all the presents in paper with colors and patterns that coordinated with the shower's theme. The look was beautiful and added to the party decorations.

Decorator Shop

My local Anthropologie was one of the lucky stores to be apart of the decorator shop--a new shop concept that Anthropologie launched that is a design-focus workshop boutique with wallpaper, rugs, curtains, hardware, lighting and much more. It was really quite fun to get a quick glimpse of it when I was picking up a gift for a friend while also chasing after a two year old. I definitely want to go back when I have more time (and not my little one).

Red Hair

After seeing Bryce Dallas Howard's Kate Spade ad campaign, I now have a secret envy for deep red thick long hair. Isn't it gorgeous?

Rice to Riches

When my girlfriend Katie was in town, we spent a day in the city. Her number one request was to eat sushi and we stuffed ourselves with yummy rolls. After I took her to Rice to Riches, which is a dessert place that sells only rice pudding. I'd heard how the thick and rich the pudding is, and I was not disappointed. My mouth waters when I think about the coconut pudding I ordered and I want to go back and try the french toast flavor. They have really funny marketing signs that basically says that their pudding will get you fat.

Celebrate the Season Dinner

The weather may not be playing nice right now with rain one day, wind another and then blue skies then back to rain. That's springtime for you. Good thing my daffodils and tulips are popping up. With the turn of the weather, last month's gourmet girls was themed around the season. Lindsey did an amazing job bringing the outdoor indoors.

She hung mason jars with tea lights from her ceiling. She used the 3M adhesives to hang. And we were all glad they didn't fall!

She got some moss from the Flower District in the City and had them cut little tree logs. Arrange them on the table, then added potted flowers for color.

The food was delicious and fresh and light--perfect for spring. Download the recipes.

The ladies--we always have a great time with great conversation, which is the most important part.

New Logo Design

My business got a new logo design. It needed to be updated with something fresh and stood on it's own. I'm liking it! And with a simple change requires new marketing material and website changes. So the process is slowly happening. What do you think?

Babies

Last week my girlfriend Katie was in town all the way from a little town in Montana. Country mouse visits the city mouse. She was brave enough to travel because she just had a baby, but was itching to get out and took the opportunity because her husband had a business trip in New York City. The difference between her little 4-weeks newborn and my 4-month newborn (yes...I still call her a newborn) was huge. From complexion, cries, weight, head size chubby thighs and interaction--it was night and day. It's amazing how much babies change in the first year. I guess I'm already forgetting how much Chloe has changed within just a few months. One thing I differently notice was how Chloe now hates her car seat and how little Eliza quietly slept in her carseat. That's one thing I miss.