Shannon’s Baby Shower

Wow! My best friend is having a baby boy! This is such a rad stage in life right now. Lots of friends are getting married and having babies. I love watching all of the puzzle pieces fall into place — this friend moves here and that friend moves there; he meets her and she meets him etc. Jobs, relationships, families…they’re all happening. It’s a fun/fast time of life.

Shan moved to VA with her Navy hub Justin a year ago. It’s been hard living without her down the street from me, but we’re learning to call each other more often. Facetime is fantastic! Last weekend, S and J flew out to visit, and My mom and I hosted a baby shower for Shan! I am so thankful that I got to spend the weekend with my best friend, feel tummy kicks and make her awkwardly sit there while I talked to the baby…
Me: “Who’s going to be the best Auntie? Yes…you’re right, I am.”
Shan: “Brittany, stop talking to my stomach you are so weird.”

Shan, it’s been such a beautiful/exciting/fascinating time watching you become a mommy. You and Justin are going to be wonderful parents and I can’t wait to meet the little bub when he arrives. Here are some pictures and a clip from the baby shower this past weekend. Love and miss you both.

^A woodland inspired baby shower for our Shan. We thought it would be a fun theme for an early fall shower.

^Shan and her mama Gene. Look at that cute little tummy!

Fire Pit{Before and After}

We love fixing up things that need a little TLC. My mom gave us a hand-me-down fire pit for our backyard. I am in love with fireplaces and since our little house is lacking one, I jumped at the chance for an outside one. The metal screens on the side had rusted through and needed to be replaced, so I thought a perforated metal sheet would do the trick. Now all I need to do is put some elbow grease into that copper top to make it shine…or do the easy thing and paint it black.

Backyard Shed Before and After

Dan and I have been renting a little one bedroom house during our first year of marriage. We absolutely love the place, but it has needed some TLC here and there. We asked our landlord if we could touch-up a few things around the property…like this here shed. Not to shabby huh? I think we did a good job! A little paint and masking tape can do magical things.

A Quadruple Date Night

Last Saturday we had a quadruple date night! A bunch of us got together at our house and everyone brought something to share — Dan and I did all the veggies and Brazilian Lemonade, Evan and Monica brought some awesome fish from Evans last voyage, Dany and Ev brought an amazing apple pie and Shanny and Justin brought a tasty salad. It’s so much fun having last minute get-togethers, especially when everyone chips in. After dinner we played some glow-in-the-dark bocci ball and then drove up to the Long Beach Laugh Factory. The ticket seller noticed that Justin was a Navy Pilot, so they bumped our group up to the front row…where the comedians proceeded to rag on us all night. Awww the perks of having a military I.D. Baaahaha. It was a hilarious, amazing evening.

Dreaming of Summer Parties

I can’t wait for summer to come! We recently had a really hot week here in California and it brought back memories of summer. Here are some pictures of a June party we threw for Danny’s birthday a few years ago. We had it on the empty lot we bought (which is any day now being approve for construction yay). I just love getting together with friends, grilling burgers, eating cupcakes and drinking some cold lemonade. I can’t wait to have one of these parties in our new backyard at the La Perle house — a nice BBQ under our cafe lights and bare feet on our new grass! Dear summer please get here soon.