steady as she grows {one year}...a little late!

so this post is about a week late...beatrice turned one year on sept thirteenth...we had a picnic birthday party for her in the park at the silver lake rec center...lots of her little friends came and my aunt, who is a children's librarian read stories & lead us all in rhymes and songs.  we made cute bee puppets as party favors and i made her a bee birthday crown...it was a really sweet day!

beatrice is really coming into her own...she is walking, babbling and developing her own preferences. she's picked up a few signs: milk, dog, more and all done. she definitely has a sweet tooth like her mama...those crumbs you see on one of the pictures are from the banana muffin "cupcakes" i made for her party.  she still hasn't had any sugar other than fruit and molasses {iron rich!}...so those muffins were sweetened with molasses, applesauce and bananas, all of which she loves.  fruit is definitely her favorite...i'm working on making sure she gets the vitamins she needs from her food and making lots of things like small balls out of sweet potatoes with veggies and other goodies inside.  she loves to hold them and eat them herself.  she doesn't like me feeding her, but isn't quite able to feed herself with a spoon or fork, so the little balls she can hold work great.  {i'll post some recipes soon.}

she is fast...she loves running about and exploring!  she's also getting more cuddly and likes to sit in our laps for a book.  but not for long, she's off and running after a few pages usually!  she loves music and has started dancing!  she also loves going to drum and music circles...she loves shoes {yeah, like mother like daughter} and often insists on putting her shoes on when she's playing at home.  her laugh is contagious and she is quick to smile, flashing her two teeth on top and two teeth on the bottom.  she's very social and at play groups rarely looks for mama...she is off and exploring and socializing!

now...the big reason for the delay in posting:  i went back to work.  i while back, i posted about staying home with beatrice and my struggle with that.  again, i chose to stay home with beatrice, and to me feminism is all about choice.  unfortunately, going back to work wasn't entirely by choice...it was definitely out of financial necessity.  now, here's to say there aren't many positives to going back to work.  my main concern was beatrice, obviously.  since we try to adhere to the attachment parenting {ap}philosophy, i really thought it was important that her main caregiver was one of her parents.  i know that ap is possible with a working parent, but i felt very strongly about having a parent with her at least until she goes to pre-school.  so we decided to swap: i'm going back to work and patty is staying at home with beatrice.

this was a huge struggle for me.  i mean, i *live* for being a mom.  i love staying home with her, taking her to play dates, cooking for  her, washing her diapers, all of it.  so the thought of going back to work and leaving her for a significant part of the day was heart wrenching.  on top of it, i'm still breastfeeding. obviously, since she's one, it's not her main source of nutrition, but she loves it...and i do, too.  so i'm working out a schedule where i can work from home a few days a week, and on the days i go to the office, patty brings bea out during the day so we can have a mid-day nursing session.  thankfully where a work is a beautiful ranch in the santa monica mountains {even though it's a long drive}, it's a nice place for beatrice to play and frolic among the wildlife...

here's the one thing that made this decision easier: patty wanted to stay home with beatrice and have a chance to bond with her.  only good things can come from that!  she can go to all the parenting classes that i got to go to, she can meet beatrice's play mates, she can learn to wear beatrice on her back and take her on walks, she can bond with beatrice and she can see what being a stay-at-home mom is all about.  a friend said to me: "you are demonstrating to beatrice that your relationship is a true partnership and cooperative family."  i love that idea that because we are both primary care-givers, beatrice will understand the idea of cooperation and partnership.

so...it's still hard...only been a week...and there are definitely going to be hiccups!  but just these few days have taught me to focus on the positive and let go and let things happen the way they are meant to happen...beatrice will be fine...she'll be better than fine, in fact, because she is loved.  we are providing her with consistent and loving care and maximizing the her bond with both her parents.

time to spare...

i hope you all had a fantastic thanksgiving holiday! we definitely did...spent the morning packing & delivering meals to the homeless, spent the afternoon exercising the dogs at the pool and spent the evening eating delicious food with friends. can't really ask for a better day.

right now, i'm finding myself unemployed for the rest of the year. which means two things: 1. lots of spare time; and 2. not much spare money to spend in that time. so, what to do? well, i signed up to volunteer at 826LA east. if you are from sanny franny {my nickname for my hometown of san francisco}, i'm sure you've visited 826 valencia, a writing center for kids that generates income by selling cool pirate nick-nacks and their amazing mc sweeney's volumes. well, i love kids & i love stories, plus i can walk to 826LA east, so i'm going to a volunteer orientation next week. so hopefully soon, my spare time will be spent tutoring neighborhood kids after school.

i also signed up for a sewing class. yeah, i consider myself pretty "diy" but i can't sew a thing! my grandmother was an amazing seamstress & i unfortunately didn't retain anything she taught me...so in honor of grandma lena, i'm gonna learn to sew. plus, i can walk there {seeing a transportation theme here?}. there's a cute new storefront in our neighborhood called home ec, so i've signed myself up for a basics class, where hopefully i'll end up with a pillow! the class costs some of that money i don't have a lot of right now, but i figure i'm learning a skill that will save me some dough in the future. {i can't tell you how many cool vintage dresses i have that need simple alterations.}

and...who knows? maybe with all this time on my hands, i'll blog more...

now that i have a cute bike...

i've been riding it. i ride on sunset blvd, so busy and lots of traffic. and yes, i wear a helmet. i know i have to. but it's so. not. cute. i have a cute bike, but where's the cute helmet??

i'm thinking about one of these and then maybe crafting it with feathers, appliques, etc? maybe an awesome etsy vendor would make it cute?

what do you do for a helmet?

{photo credit here.}

other folks weddings: {p. david & todd}

p. david and todd are two of my best friends in the world and they were the officiants at our wedding, so it's appropriate that i feature them as my first {male} same-sex wedding! they are a true inspiration, they have been together for eighteen years and they have the most beautiful, loving marriage i have ever had the privilege to witness. they have actually been married three times {!!}: once in 1999 at the beautiful union station in los angeles, which todd is writing about; again in san francisco at city hall when it became legal {i was their witness}; and for a third time this past june before prop 8 was overturned. the third time they were also married at union station, but it was a very quick ceremony outside, with drinks at the bar after! {third time a charm?!} i asked todd to write about their first {main} wedding ceremony at union station, so take it away, todd:

{a first date}

{first wedding: december 1999, union station, los angeles}

{second wedding: february 2004, city hall, san francisco}

{third wedding: june 2008, union station, los angeles}

We got married on the 8th anniversary of our first date on 12/21/99 which makes 2009 the year of our 10th wedding anniversary and 18th year together.

A lot like your wedding, we didn't have a big budget so all of our best people and a few other amazing friends worked with us transforming the Fred Harvey Room at Union Station into a winter wonderland. We worked all day, all get gussied up, got married and then we were all stuffing trash bags in our formal wear at midnight. A true community effort!

P. David is a producer so he approached it like a one day shoot which was very effective. We also learned half way through to stop using the word "wedding" to vendors. When we were just having a big party the prices dropped drastically every time. Especially where the cake was concerned.

Important was to have best friends near. Only regret was that we were missing a few key friends (wink). {note from christina: i was unable to make their first wedding in 1999, but i went to the other two!}

My favorite part of the day (night, actually) was right after we were pronounced husbands for life. Everything looked a little sharper and warmer. Things have never looked the same since.

We DIYed pretty much everything. We rented tables, piano, plates, glasses. We did all the decorations, music, food, drink and had Ebersole-Hughes mugs made from an office supply place online as the momento. We had lots of help from friends.

One piece of advice: Stay in the moment. Stay focused on your spouse so you remember everything.

plant in the earth, well, ok some pots...

in honor of earth day, i made a seeds purchase for my burgeoning veggie garden.  i found some great organic seeds through the cosa verde blog, which highlights eco and green merchants on etsy.  {another fave green blog i should have added to my list...}

i got the butter crunch lettuce {my favorite} from etsy seller fluffn flowers and okra {yum} from seven acre woods.  i want to plant these in some more pots on the patio, or maybe some cool recycled wine crates...

{photos from here and here.}

reduce, reuse, recycle: {fluttery paper hanging trees}

i'm loving all the fluttery, flow-y, paper garlands and hanging decorations i'm seeing all over...what a fun diy project and reuse of paper, sheet music, magazines, sewing patterns, old books, memories, etc?  great for a garden wedding or party...

{photos 1,2: one love photo via a practical wedding; photos 3-7: royal buffet via oh so beautiful paper; photo 8: flickr via green wedding shoes; photo 9: flickr; photos 10, 11: everyday beauty via two brides}

diy backdrop

how cool are these?  i'm lucky enough that my current job is so close to home that i can walk to work.  today i walked past grosh scenic rental.  they have these huge elephant doors that are open to the street and i can see inside to the scenics painting the cool backdrops.  earlier i had just read sara's post about diy photo booths, and i simply love this couple's cool backdrop photo, so i found these banners on grosh's site.  fun for a circus wedding...

eco etsy street team

i just found out about ecoetsy-- a site of etsy sellers dedicated to reducing, reusing and recycling!  wow, i wish i knew about this site when i was planning my wedding.  when i was searching on etsy, i would add "green" or "reused" or some other description before what i was looking for {ie, green invitations} to try and find etsy sellers who were selling not only hand-made products, but green as well.  what a great resource. 

you can go to the site to find items and get information, or you can follow their blog.  additionally, once you are on etsy, you can use the search term "teamecoetsy" to find their wares.  good stuff.

bridal brigade featured on "a practical wedding"

such an honor, meg over at a practical wedding has featured the bridal brigade!  having my friends involved in the wedding was such a blessing...i have such lovely, talented and gifted friends, and their effort made our wedding outstanding.  i wanted to involve our community in our wedding, rather than just hire a planner.  the idea for the brigade--having friends participate in the planning of the wedding--came to me after i abandoned the potluck idea.  i wanted friends and family participating in the wedding, not just observers and hence the bridal brigade!  i wanted to showcase people's talents, but i also didn't want to burden them with too big of a project, that's why the idea of several close friends worked so well.  everyone participated in the way that they felt comfortable...since there were so many, people could pick and choose different projects that suited them.

i also didn't want to be fussy with the outfits--as i've mentioned before, i told everyone to wear whatever they wanted as long as it was in the pink and brown family...that way everyone's individual style came through.  i also really didn't want anyone going out to purchase an outfit that they would never wear again!  

in fact, this blog was born because of the bridal brigade...i used it initially as a way to communicate projects, inspiration and ideas with the brigade and it grew from there.  the wedding was such a community effort and we felt so supported throughout the entire process.  it was a great way to see friends, too!  i loved having friends over to craft and assemble items for the wedding, it made it so much more special!

all my love & thanks to the lovely, talented bridal brigade:

{clockwise, from my left}

georgia:  the brigade general--planning & all details!

linda: diy projects, thrifting & opera singing

kate {and mary, her mom, not pictured}:  my beautiful bouquet & flowers, the garden

moore: vegan cupcakes & diy projects

danny: cupcakes, usher & the serenity prayer

craig: diy projects, thrifting, wedding dress help, usher & the serenity prayer

antonia: diy projects & lovely, fun reading

romy: diy projects, photography support & the gift of song

leslie:  love from sf, my beautiful tattoos

melissa: thrifting, diy projects, patty's cufflinks, wedding dress help & beautiful reading

not pictured, but instrumental help on day of the wedding:

roz:  my make up & hair, patty's grooming

pamela, shrader, kelly & donyale:  transforming the seating area to the dining area 

what an amazing, special day thanks to all of our fantastic friends & community.  

wedding details: {cup cake tiers}

this was probably our most fun, but most involved diy project--the cupcake tiers.  we probably spent a total of 4 of the project brigade weekend afternoons working on them.  we bought the plates from thrift stores, garage sales and some from ebay.  the stemware all came from thrift stores {i tried to stay under 50 cents per glass!} and garage sales.  

first we used a pencil to trace the glass on the plate.  that way, we could make sure that the tiers lined up properly.  then we put some epoxy on the glass and on the circle we had drawn on the plate, pressed together & voila.  

we made some that were only one tier, and some that were up to four tiers.  the result was magnificent.  comment me if you want more details about the diy project.

some wedding details

it has been so much fun going through the photographer's photos.  here are some details.  we did end up going with the gold jordan almonds.  we used recycled lace and ribbon to wrap them and then put them in people's drink glasses.  to minimize washing & water resources, we encourage people to use the same glass all night, so we dropped the jordan almonds in the glasses.  that's the only favor we had, i struggled with the idea of a favor, but decided to go with the jordan almonds since they are such a strong italian tradition...and it's not something wasteful since all the wrapping we used was recycled (i have so much vintage lace & ribbon for crafting, i just used that).  plus it was a fun project.  the lovely ladies linda and moore wrapped all the almonds during one of our project brigade afternoons.

even the little tags that i wrote names on were doubly-recycled.  they were made from discarded file folders that were made from post consumer recycled content.  and i found them on etsy.

the other signs were also recycled.  i purchased ribbon from another vendor on etsy, blue bird lane & she used the large tags to wrap the ribbon.  so i re-used those tags for the lettering.

reviewing details

in the heat of the planning (and juggling work--producing TV & producing a wedding simultaneously can be quite a feat!), i missed some great details on the blog.  we had a few project brigade craft days and "cranked out" some fun stuff.  here is the project brigade team working on the napkins rolled with the silverware.

napkins

this is what i was thinking of doing for the napkins/silverware so folks can just grab.  need to have a ribbon-tying party, too!  lots of diy'ing going on...i hope we can pull it off!

photo from martha stewart weddings via ritzy bee