Happy Birthday to my Momma!

Today my mom turns 30. Sort of. :] Either way, today marks the anniversary of the birth of one of the most influential figures of our time - or at least my time. My mom is the sweetest and most thoughtful lady you'll ever meet. She's also super talented, and the best event coordinator ever. And unlike some kids, I've never, ever felt embarrassed by her. Okay, maybe just a couple times. :P But she's one of my very best friends!

A photo I snapped this weekend at my Grandma's Surprise 80th Birthday Party. My parents are so cute!

I love you, Mom! Enjoy your day and the year to come!

Murder, she wrote.

Last Friday night, Ethan and I celebrated our dear Chris Ham's very belated birthday! Our beloved friend and his family organized a Murder Mystery Party. The event was entitled "Poetic Justice." It addressed the [fictional] murder of HG Wells, and its premise included a bunch of literary and theatrical figures from the 1920s and 30s. Oh, and a time machine. What? In spite of such idiosyncrasies, it was great fun - and Mae West was the murderer. Horrors!

Ethan and I were assigned to come as Charlie Chaplin and Amelia Earhart (pre-tragic disappearance, of course).

Are we convincing? Don't you love Ethan's shoes? And my super professional flying gear? I must say that Anna lent me that leather jacket - a fabulous 80s remnant from her mother's closet!

Happy Birthday, Chris. :] Thanks for the fun evening!

Pups.

Baby mice!

I learned today that the technical term for a young mouse is "pup"? Well if that is the case, I saw about a gazillion pups at the pet store the other day. The ones I saw were probably two inches long at most, and they all piled atop one another in the opening of their home - a little red igloor. When a bigger mouse wanted to get into the center igloo, he would just crowd surf over the pups. Am I making sense? Whatever.

My conclusion is this: pups are adorable.

Gooo Giants!

I feel like everything I've been posting lately is three to four days delayed. OH WELL.

On Tuesday, my dad, Ethan, and Michelle went to San Francisco for the Giants game! Two games in four days. Not bad. Not bad at all. :D We were sitting in Row N behind the plate - so ideal! This time we were playing the Marlins. Well aware of Barry Zito's less than perfect record, I wasn't banking on a win. But win we did! We won 9-0. Oh baby!

Let's just say we had our game faces on.

Ethan had his on, too!
Intimidation. It works.

Happy to be with my best friends!
This is how Michelle kisses... Oi.

Michelle made her allegiances very clear. Unfortunately, Pablo Sandoval didn't make it into the All-Star Game. It would have been so great. Also great - that man in the lower left corner staring at Michelle.

Michelle's a creeper.

Boo and me!

So fun! We went home and sang songs. True story! Love these people.

Thursday Word: Matthew 19:14.

"Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'" Matthew 19:14.

via my flickr.

Happy Birthday, America!

I got up at 8am on July Fourth, because our carpets were being cleaned. Again. The cleaners had come a couple of days prior, but ended up essentially ruining our carpets. Our house ended up smelling like a wet dog for four days. It's improved significantly since round two of cleaning, but there's still that faint scent of rotting trash in the air. Yummy!

Anyway, the 4th. Excuse the following photos because I am not dressed in the quintessential red, white, and blue. But I'm at the San Francisco Giants game. Giants fans, they say, bleed black and orange. My outfit must reflect that sentiment. After all, my first boyfriend was basically baseball.

Tucker felt compelled to wear my hat. I felt compelled to take a photo.

Daddy!

Tucker, me, and Momma!

This is our ace of a pitcher , Tim Lincecum. He'll be starting the All-Star Game!

Yes.

My brother snapped this photo of Nate Schierholtz.

We played the Houston Astros, a team that I dislike for no real reason beyond the fact that Jeff Kent went on to play for them after he bad-mouthed the Giants once he'd left the team. Oh right - we ended up winning 9-0. :]

A couple days ago I mentioned that my friend Jinelle would be leaving for a camp in Colorado. She's gone many times before, but this is the first time she'll be working as a counselor there. She's going to do great! So she stopped by on the evening of Fourth of July, so we caught up a bit at the park while snapping some photos. Please note that I changed into a more patriotic outfit. If you look carefully enough maybe you'll spot my burnt-to-a-crisp shoulders, which I gained thanks to a couple hours in the San Francisco sun.

Jinelle will dislike me for posting this close-up. But I think she's pretty!

To our dismay, it was super windy. Jinelle went all emo in response.
Yes.

Please observe...

Our unintentional facial expression swap!
This is what friendship looks like. :P

It hit me after Jinelle left. I realized that I was all alone on the holiday with nothing to do, no where to go, and nobody to see. Ethan saved me, though. He offered to take me to see a movie ("My Sister's Keeper" - decent!) and, having had to listen to all of my pining, took me to a fireworks display. Apart from a few fireworks we spotted from the highway while we drove to the movie theatre, we weren't able to go see real fireworks. So, E drew some on pieces of paper and lit them up with a flashlight. I teared up. If that isn't cute, creative, and thoughtful, I don't know what is!

I hope everyone had a lovely Fourth!

Good day!

This afternoon Ethan and I spent some quality time together eatin' and playin' games on his Wii. I then found out that Nick and Becca are incredibly pleased with what they've seen of their wedding photos, which makes me incredibly pleased. As much as I've loved the whole process, I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I've drawn it on too long. I'm ready to be done!

Anyway, after some rest, E and I baked cookies, plated them, and then headed off to Bible Study at Billy's house - which is actually just five homes down. Talk about convenience! As always, we had a great time. Brittany led the session this time and that was enjoyable.

We're both very excited to attend the Giants vs. Marlins game tomorrow night in San Francisco! My wonderful Daddy's taking us. Thrilled that Michelle, in spite of her busy schedule, will be attending as well. I want to spend as much time as I can with her before she runs back down to Orange County for the rest of the year! Selfish? Maybe. :]

Goodnight, world.

Fun Friday.

On Friday, Ethan and I had the pleasure of spending time with Michelle, her little sister Gracie, and Michelle's best friend from college, Cassie - who is so cute and sweet! In preparation, Ethan and I washed my car, and my family's 1957 Chevrolet. We were all excited to take the Chevy downtown for shopping and dinner!

I've come to remember recently that I really like hats. And Ethan.

I told E to look sexy. This is what I got. :P

Gracie, Cassie, me, and E!

Me, Mich, Gracie, and Cassie in front of the Chevy.

Close up of all the girls! Cassie and Michelle are way too cute and stylish for me.

Seriously!

We hit up my favorite downtown shop, Therapy. For an hour, we wreaked havoc there, complete with fashion photoshoots and baby Gracie crawling under our changing rooms. She even helped outfit us. In the end, Ethan spoiled me with a new dress and belt (to be blogged here soon, after I wear it next weekend!). :]

Walking hand in hand with Gracie, I fell in love with her all over again. So did Ethan - and I'm learning that he's so good with kids! I'm starting to see how that skill will help him in the future since he wants to be a math teacher. Wahoo!
Michelle joked that E and I looked like teen parents. Didn't really believe it til I saw this beautiful family photo she took.

After dinner at Kapp's, an historic pizza joint, we headed to the fish/reptile/etc store because Michelle wanted to show Gracie some animals as a reward for baring with us at the store.

I kissed a huge scary fishy. Sorry, Boyfriend.

Here's the gang celebrating Gracie's first pet - a Comet fish.

She named it Jason, after her "boyfriend" from daycare. Aw.

It was a great night. So thankful for Michelle and all of the great people I meet through her!

Last Sunday.

Lazy Sunday was not so lazy! Michelle invited Ethan and me, along with our friend Marissa, to her house to hang out with her family - including a slew of adorable little cousins and Mich's younger sister, Gracie. Such a beautiful name... And she's just the cutest thing!

Here's a cute little cousin. Just because.

The gals wasted no time getting to know Ethan. One cousin even developed a little crush on him. Can't blame her - doesn't he look cute below? They were also quick to target him as their source of fun.

It began innocently enough - with water balloons. Here E is, after their first attack.

But then war was declared when Michelle herself doused Ethan with a bucket of water.

So the girls turned to cups, buckets, and no mercy!

The aftermath: very happy girls, and a very wet and dirty Ethan.

Michelle, Grace, and Marissa reunited! And also damp.

Gracie shooting E with her "camera" (Solo Red Cup model).

Kisses for Grace from Grace.

Silly faces!

Definitely a good day. Thanks, Michelle and family, for having us!

Happy Twenty Five Years, Mr. and Mrs. K!

Ethan's parents recently celebrated twenty five years of marriage. As I mentioned a few days ago, they set out to commemorate the occasion with a big soirée - and my parents, my best friend Michelle, and I were lucky enough to be there to enjoy the fun! Ethan, his siblings, and their awesome Dad began by singing songs of love and affection for Ethan's mother. We had some delicious food and topped the party off by eating some delicious cake (covered in silver fondant - the twenty-fifth anniversary gift is supposed to be something silver!) while we watched a beautiful photo slideshow of Ethan's parents' lives together.

Hey girl, hey!

Schmoozin' before the party.

My best friend, whose beauty basically wowed everyone at the shindig! I'm serious. Ethan's mother's godfather wants to set Michelle up with his grandson!

My parents were awesome as always.

Ethan looked swoon-worthy. :]

I stole all of the following photos from Michelle's Facebook...

Caught in the bathroom; having fun with Ethan's bowtie on my head. Yes.

Adoring Ethan; Michelle and me, stealing his heart.

Lovin' and laughin'; Mich and I with one of our favorite mommas - the lady of the evening, Mrs. K!

The whole night was great fun! Afterwards, Michelle, E and I decided we needed to make the best of our dressed up'ness, so we went out. To Nob Hill. Yes! Good times were had by all!