good times!

our little family had such a nice little saturday yesterday. we woke up, got ready and headed to our friend roman's first birthday party. here's baby v and i wearing a party favor:

we got coffee on the way home and just laid around. despite ingesting 16 ounces of an iced vanilla latte with almond milk, i could hardly keep my eyes open at 5 pm. i took van and had a little catnap until around 6. van woke up in a fit of rage after his pacifier dropped out of his mouth and was too worked up to fall back asleep. i, on the other hand, was still feeling beat. tony took van to play some tunes in his nursery while i fell back asleep until almost 8. yessss!

i woke up starving, and tony immediately offered to pick up some mikuni for us. woohoo! right before he left, i went on facebook and saw that our friends, the golden cadillacs, were going to be playing shady lady from 9 to midnight. the combination of feeling refreshed by my long nap and wearing my favorite new sweater had me really wanting to get out of the house. plus somehow, by the grace of god, my bangs and eyelashes weren't all crimped by my nap...a sign that we should definitely hit up the show.

so we called gramma to come watch van and headed out for fancy cocktails and some modern, california-inspired honky tonk. so spontaneous of us.

birthdays + coffee + mustaches + naps + sushi + last minute babysitting grammas + cool sweaters + GOOD live music + gin cocktails = good times.

Catcalling Douchebags

in browsing www.hellogiggles.com this morning i came across this article on street harassment. it perfectly illustrates why cat calling (street harassment) is the most gross, obnoxious and inappropriate thing ever. it discusses the different ways in which these harassers operate and talks about the slippery slope of street harassment- how hissing and whistling can turn to stalking or even rape.

street harassment is one of those experiences that seems to unite women in disgust. it doesn't matter what you're wearing, what you're doing or even how old you are...there will always be trashball guys that get off on making women feel threatened and uncomfortable.

while i was reading i recalled a scene at the beginning of six feet under years and years ago. if you aren't familiar with the show, each episode is introduced with a death. one of the deaths that always stayed with me was of a young woman who was struck and killed by a vehicle while running from a group of men who were whistling and propositioning her while as she left a party. a split second before she is hit by the car, she turns around to notice that the men harassing her were actually her friends thinking they were being funny. that scene is so poignant because it calls such attention to the disconnect between the men's actions and the woman's perceptions of those actions.  what men sometimes see as playful or funny (why, i'll never know. because they are jackasses, i guess), women perceive as a safety threat. i know when i hear a man yelling at me and making inappropriate comments on my appearance, my heart begins to race. i'm not looking to decipher who the man is or what his intentions are. he could very well be a "harmless" college aged guy looking to impress his douchebag friends, but my conditioned mind fears some psycho serial rapist.

anyways, read the article. and props to the writer, and all the women like her, who aren't afraid to look like stick in the mud "feminazis" to a bunch of ignorant and insensitive men and speak out against shit like this for the sake of women and girls everywhere. high five!

*p.s. march 18-24th is anti-street harassment week.

Lovely Legs

i have a little tin skeleton (super little, the size of my palm) hanging on a random nail in the molding of our archway in the dining room. if you're in the living room all you see are these little bony legs dangling.

it's my favorite spot in the house!

Weekend is Coming Soon...

it's been a rough week. i'll be celebrating it's end by working from home tomorrow and relaxing to some of these sweet tunes. 


nothing too heavy...


van morrison. sweet thing.
fiona apple. waltz (better than fine).
bill withers. lovely day.
jackie greene. shaky ground. 
sam cooke. having a party. 
dr. dog. weekend.
gillian welch. pass you by.
los lobos. the valley.
joni mitchell. california.
ben harper. burn one down.

My Sweet George...

the quiet beatle would have turned 69 years old yesterday. he's a very transcendent lyricist, which is comforting given that cancer took him far too soon. his death makes so many of his songs, especially from his solo career, even more meaningful.

happy birthday, george.

Baby V's Room

Decorating baby's nursery has been a really fun little ongoing project for me. i really enjoy things like color and art and decor, so finding special pieces for van's room has been a good time.

when i was pregnant people were always asking me what "theme" the babies room was going to be. i hate themes, and that fact is really evident once you take a look at my house. i've never been one to buy the "bed in a bag" or a sofa with all it's corresponding furniture...what fun would that be? buy what you like! i received a lot of puzzled looks when trying to explain to people what van's nursery looked like, but i think it turned out alright. and as with every other room in the house, it's a constantly evolving space.

i thought i'd share some of my favorite elements.

the crib was purchased by my mom as a gift. i picked out the bike print fabrics from spoonflower, and my aunt made the bedding. i still need to get some grey sheets and have his blanket made from the green bike fabric.

Above the bed hangs this awesome little mobile compliments of gramma and granddad. i'm a pinterest geek and found a similar mobile to this and fell in love. gramma made some modifications so it would better suit van's room and voila!

this record wall mimics a larger wall we have in the dining room. i liked the idea of incorporating a little of our style into his room in a more kid friendly way. i actually bought the sesame street records at a vinyl shop in portland before i was ever thinking i'd be pregnant. who could resist a soul sesame street record? i mean, come on!

guests at my baby shower were asked to bring a book to help build van's library. my dear friend amber purchased him this awesome ikea bookshelf to hold his new book collection along with some cool odds and ends we've put on display that includes one of my dad's accordions, a vintage viewmaster we picked up at denio's (it came with a ton of slides of churches of the american northwest...zzzzz), tony's grandfather's marble collection, and a ninja turtle lava lamp. hah!

another bedroom favorite is his awesome, homemade alphabet. guests who rsvp'd to my other baby shower were each asked to bring a specific alphabet letter to help me with the alphabet display i wanted to create for van. i was expecting to receive generic letters from the majority of ladies invited but was so surprised to see how seriously these women took their task! each letter is so creative and unique. they look great along the moulding in the nursery. i'm beyond thrilled with how it looks and we get compliments on this part of his room all the time.

i'm pretty culturally involved and knew i wanted to incorporate van's heritage into his room somehow. i found these adorable italian counting cards from children inspire design, had them laminated and display them on one of the more narrow nursery walls. they have these really great luchador prints i'm considering getting so van can rep his mexican side. we'll see. my friend has an alphabet from CID behind her daughter's crib that's seriously adorable. if we had more walls i know i'd be shopping there a lot more. such cute stuff!

thanks to ikea, pinterest and my crafty friends, van's room only gets doper and doper! i'll try and share more as we begin to add and switch things around.