AMINI LOVE

So this post is loooooong over due. This is a tribute to my lovely gf, mizzzzz Sara Amini and of course her fabulous husband Shahram and gorgeous baby girl Hannah. These dear folks have become even dearer friends of ours. I feel like I have known them my whole life. I can't believe its been only a few short months. Time flies. Sometimes you meet someone and you just click. Its absolutely effortless and that's how it was with Sara. She is such an amazing friend and mother and I am so happy to have met her. These pics are of a bbq we had at Shoreline park here in Santa Barbara. The Aminis brought some delicious marinated chicken and we brought salmon. Yum!

Miss Hannah herself, isn't she cute?

James cooking it up, course he had some help from Shahram!

Aren't we fab?

I know- what are you gonna do?

One hot couple

That's my girl!

We know how to eat!

Baby Nursery

So I terribly miss our old hood in LA sometimes- the Los Feliz neighborhood. This neighborhood was so awesome because you could just be whoever you wanted to be. It wasn't about "who" you were wearing, or "what" you drove or what your last name was or who you were hanging out with the other night on and on and on. Its just a super cool laid back place that encourages you to be different and comfortable in your own skin. There were your hipsters and arty types of course, but there were also plenty of young professionals, families and kids, older folks and of course a decent sized gay community. And with all that everyone still seemed to mesh pretty well. Now this isn't my ode to Los Feliz blog- but I will get to that eventually. I'm writing all of this to say that I found the inspiration for my daughter's room here in a little lingerie store called panty raid. Yep. Amidst all of the yummy eateries and late night coffee shops and cute funky boutiques, right down my street I fell in love with a store for its decor. Yes that does rhyme. Did I spell that right? Anyhew- from the paint color to the rug to even the way I had the rocking chair recovered- I drew ideas from this store. They have a fantastic silver metallic damask wall paper that I wanted so badly to use- but alas since I am still renting I didn't dare. So instead I tried to duplicate the effect as best I could with metallic silver paint and a stencil- Now there's a whole other story! But for now check out the pics and let me know what you think! I was going for modern glam with this one, and I must say it is MY favorite room of the house so hopefully it will be Penelope's too. ;)

The source of inspiration

painting above is modern art of a pregnant mom who is also nursing
dresser I found at the Santa Monica Flea Market

the stencil that I tried to duplicate after a wallpaper I loved from designyourwall.com

the curtains are a raspberry dupioni silk I purchased from Michael Levine in downtown LA and yes this was also from Panty Raid

black floor lamp is ikea and the rug is from overstock.com

my mother-in-law was kind of enough to recover my rocking chair in this fun blue/silver damask design and the pink bench I purchased from my favorite photographer- check out her site at madphoto.com

camera lust

Ok so I'm trying to keep up with this blog thingy and so now I'm required to take more pics right? And well since I also have an adorable 4month old I always need a camera right at the ready. I have a pretty nice SLR, but man that thing ways a ton! Not to mention it doesn't really fit in my purse or diaper bag very well. But I love the way it takes pictures- especially compared to my small compact digi. So what if... what if... we could combine the best of both worlds and put it all in a sleek white package? Well we can, introducing the Olympus Ep-1 in white no less. Oh why do I let my secrets out? Now don't all of you go out and buy one right away! This camera is 12.1 megapixel, 3 in LCD monitor, takes high def video, can support multiple lenses, and is very very tiny. And did I mention how totally awesome it looks? hmmmm.... me likey.

Walking with dad

James had yet to hike the Ellwood Bluffs with me so on Sunday we all went as a family. It was really fun.

St. Patty's Day

Ok I realize I'm a liiiittle behind here, but hey I get busy! For St. Patty's our mom (PEP) group met at La Mesa Park again and all the kids wore green for a big family shot. It was hilarious. Pen didn't like it so much so um I didn't keep her in the circle for very long.

can you spot P?

yeah... she wasn't having it, then again neither was Laurel!

Sarah and Desi

Jen and Kalista

Talina and Laurel

Cherise and Mackenzie

and of course me and P!
Happy St. Patty's!!!

Wine Tasting

This Sunday we went to Santa Ynez Valley with friends Davey and Cherise and their daughter Mackenzie for a day of wine tasting. We drove to Los Olivos and picked up sandwiches from Paninos, then we picked up our wine shipment from Alexander and Wayne and indulged in cupcakes at Enjoy. After that we finished up at Koehler winery and Star Lane. The day was gorgeous and the company was fab- it made for a perfect day.

Davey and Cherise with Mackenzie

Mackenzie

We love this spot.
They have unbelievable cupcakes, you can even pair them with their wines!

Zoo Day

So this past Saturday my husband James and I got to take little miss P too the zoo. We totally forgot it was Princess day. There were little princesses running around everywhere. Sooo cute! I can't believe Penelope will be participating in all of that next year. It was a beautiful day.

Yes, we match. Couldn't help it!