Celebrating 34 in the City By the Bay

Todd tried to surprise me with a night in San Francisco for my birthday.  I say "tried" because I begged him to tell me what we were doing so I would know what to wear.  I have this thing about needing to know what to wear and it drives him nuts.  I am a challenge to surprise because of this :).  But he did a great job planning our little getaway and I had a wonderful birthday.  I think it was just great to get away from the kids, dress up and visit a restaurant that didn't have paper tablecloths and crayons! 
We spent the night at the Westin St. Francis in Union Square.  Our room was on the 28th floor with a view to die for.  And seriously, the Westin has the most amazing beds.  A little slice of heaven wrapped in sheets.  The view from our room:

Union Square

We then had dinner at Chaya in the Embarcadero. 

De-li-cious!!!  The salmon ceviche appetizer just about melted in my mouth.  I still fantasize about it!  Chaya's customer service was excellent by the way.  As much as I love SF, there can sometimes be an obnoxious level of snootiness.  For dessert they brought me this tasty number:



Molten Chocolate Cake

 Because the restaurant is located on the waterfront the view leaves little to be desired, even on a rainy night:

Sorry the photo is not super-crisp.  Couldn't exactly fit a tri-pod in my purse and had to hand-hold my camera at a slow shutter speed.  For those of you not familiar with SF, this is the Bay Bridge.  Looks great at night doesn't it?!
After dinner we had a night cap at the hotel bar.  That whole snootiness attitude I mentioned earlier?  Our bartender embodied it.  But I did try Oprah's favorite new drink, Moscow Mule.  Quite refreshing; great for a hot summer day. 
The following morning we had breakfast at Sears Fine Food.  It has been in SF for over 70 years and consistently has a line out the door.  Breakfast did not disappoint and since we ate at the counter we didn't have to wait in line.  Score!  Loooved the Eggs Benedict.  After all of the food I consumed during this birthday celebration poor Todd had to roll me home.

Outside Sears Fine Food. Todd's still smiling because he doesn't know he will have to roll my ass the home :)!

Look up and you will see the Sir Francis Drake

Little Man Turns Two & It's a Circus!

The past few weeks have been crazy busy.  That kind of busy where you just fall into bed at the end of the day because you are so wiped out.  It all began with Lucas' second birthday.  2!!!!  I can't believe two years have flown by so quickly!  Really, how does it happen so fast?  At two he is ca-ray-zy busy.  Fascinated by outlets and anything with buttons, a climber of shelves, stools, tables, and chairs, a lover of being "ow-side" (outside), obsessed with Barney and coloring, and lightning-fast (especially when he A.  has something he shouldn't or B.  was just caught doing something naughty.)  Despite all of his shenanigans he is quite the little charmer.  Everywhere we go people make a fuss, especially the women.  Lucas just turns on the dimples and eats it up.  Since he was a year old he has had a thing for blondes (traitor!).  Already discriminating hair color at such a tender age!  Although he has his dad's dimples and flirtatiousness, he has his mom's attitude.  During a phone conversation I was lamenting to mom how Lucas can be whiny when he wants something or things are not going his way, and how it is a down right temper tantrum (with kicking and screaming) when he can't have his way.  To which my mom replied, "You were the same way."  Now I am sure she was smiling on the other end of the phone thinking, "Payback's a bitch isn't it?!" 
We celebrated this wonderful occasion with a circus themed party.  The decorating possibilities were endless!  Between the running, playing with friends, cake eating, and gift opening Lucas was exhausted.  But the most important thing was that  he had a blast.  The candy buffet was a hit with the kids.  Shocking I know!  I had a lot of fun with the candy buffet and tried really hard not to go overboard.  The last thing I wanted was to be stuck with enough candy to feed an army.  I also created a photo booth and provided a bunch of props.  It was quite entertaining to see what people came up with for the photos!


Here is the invitation I created in Illustrator.  Wanted to use all of the skills I have learned in my classes!  I put the invites in vintage popcorn bags.

  

Centerpieces:  Mason jars (from our wedding!), filled with flowers and placed in popcorn boxes with raffle tickets.  The tablecloths are also a wedding relic :).



She is just hilarious!



I found these great cake toppers on Etsy and created my own.  Here is the link to the Etsy version

It's amazing what a little frosting in the hair will do!

Soooo tired!