Baby Shower Take 2

Because I was already in the baby shower mood, I volunteered to host a shower for one of the ladies at work. I was able to re-purpose a lot of what I used for Brie's shower for Nicole's, and it was a hit!

It was a pretty low key since we held it on a Friday afternoon and most people were headed out for the weekend. I re-used the baby girl sign from Brie's shower, and we had beers, prosecco, cupcakes, and salty snacks.


The shower was book themed, so the entry table held bookmarks and a diaper cake centerpiece.


Nicole and her boyfriend, Brent had a great time opening up all of the gifts and reminiscing about all of the childhood books they received. Success shower #2! Woo!

Brie's Baby Shower

My Mom and I got the chance to throw my sister, Brie a baby shower while she was visiting Nebraska in December.

Because the shower was close to the holidays, I was a little leery about the turnout, but it didn't fail to impress. Aunts, cousins, and friends came out of the woodwork for the shower!

We prepped the night before for the shower, and all of our planning really paid off. Here's my Mom finishing up the slush cups.


And here's just a hint of what was on the food table at the shower


We had brunch and sweets, because after all, little girls are made of sugar & spice right? Fruit slush cups, pink chocolate rice krispie bars, Little Debbie cakes, fruit and angel food cake kabobs, sugar cookies and french toast were all on the menu. Not to mention an adorable pregnant lady, due in March, to top off the sweetness.


Brie mingled with guests as they arrived

Told the baby story and the possible baby names...I won't tell, you'll have to ask the source if you'd like to know :)

And she did a little gift opening as well


The shower was such an awesome day to honor my beautiful mom-to-be sister. She really is glowing with pregnancy and her little girl is sure moving around. Only a few more months until we get to meet her! Can't wait!!! Love you Brie...and bay girl too :)

Booties

I read on a pet board once that dogs that live in cold weather climates (and Minnesota definitely is included) need to make sure and keep their paws safe during the winter.

This article mentioned doggie booties as a way to keep your dog safe. When Lola and I go for her morning walk, I usually just go around the couple blocks around our house, so we aren't outside for more than 20 minutes, just enough time for her to stretch her legs and get her duty done, and for me to wake up (especially when its 10 degrees out).

However, sometimes Ryan and I like to take longer winter walks, and that's where the booties come in. See doggie paws are resilient to weather, however not for an extended period of time, and our long walks are usually around 45 minutes to an hour. Enter Booties.


This way ice doesn't build up in between her toes and harm her little body. We tried them on the night I got them for her, and she wasn't too sure about them. Here she is saying, "Mom, REALLY?"

Right away she bit at them and tried to rip off the velcro. I figured they'd be great for when she wants to go run and play outside. But then realized that she will probably just rip them off anyway- so they will be reserved for long walks so we can monitor her bootie biting. I think she looks awfully cute in them.

Goodies

I made a boatload of Christmas goodies this year, and I am proud to say that about 90% of them were eaten or given away as gifts. However there are a few dozen that still linger around our house to be eaten this week or thrown away very very soon.

This year I made:
Sugar Cookies (Mom's Recipe)
Gingerbread Cookies (Grandma's Recipe)
Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Candy Cane Cookies
Mounds Bars
and
Peanut Clusters

It is definitely overkill...but I like baking, scratch that, I really like baking.

In the years past I have usually taken pictures of each of my decadent desserts, but this year I laughed when I saw this lone photo:


These are the peanut clusters, and Ryan's favorite Christmas treat. They are all gone now, but at least I have this last glimpse of my hard work!

Sweet Girl

Lola is ridiculously sweet sometimes.

Usually in the morning, she knows our routine-
Walk with mom
Come home and say good morning to Dad
Eat breakfast while mom showers
Say goodbye to Dad
Hang out while mom gets ready
Go downstairs
Get a Treat
Up into the Kennel

Ryan and I are creatures of habit, so not surprisingly Lola is too. One morning as I was blow drying my hair I saw Lola laying on the carpet in our master bedroom just watching Good Morning America like she always does. As I turned to the mirror to make sure my bangs were dried at just the right angle, I felt a little paw at my left shin. Lola was sitting patiently and pawing my shin...someone wanted a little attention.

This someone...


I turned off my hair dryer and bent down to pet her, where she decided my knee was the best place to rest her head, apparently she didn't want Mom to go to work that day.

December Date Night!

Ryan and I celebrated the beginning of Winter with a date night! We had been hearing that La Rosa Mexicano was the new spot to check out downtown Minneapolis. And since the holidazzle parade was happening every Thursday through Sunday in December we figured we might as well hit that up too.

The lighting in the restaurant wasn't great, but the atmosphere was. This was before I got my haircut short, and I must admit the long stuff was pulling me down, good call Amberly, good call.


Ryan looked quite dapper all dressed up for date night

Guacamole made right at our table? Yes Please!

We were quite impressed with La Rosa, and will definitely continue to visit often. However, we'll stick to 1 margarita each next time. By the time we each finished off our 2nd margarita during our hour dinner, we both felt like we were flying- it was a great experience, and the drinks were fantastic! :)

After dinner, we headed over to Nicollet Mall for the Holidazzle parade. Now I must give you some background to this. Ryan used to tell me about this parade when we lived in Nebraska, saying we'd have to go one year and stand in the skyways and enjoy it with our kids. I was super pumped for it, and with the 2 margaritas in me, I was equally excited about the music and floats- see example below...


It felt like something out of a movie when the snow lightly started to fall, the streetlights turned off and only the twinkle of the Christmas lights on the posts lit the street. The parade was about to start!

The first few floats when by with lighted carriages and silly dressed up Santas. And then it stopped....for 10 minutes. Another float went by, and then stopped again for 10 more minutes, and it continued like this for a while. The police officers were letting the traffic on the busy downtown streets go by and the parade was on hold. I wasn't havin' it and had to use the bathroom. So we ditched the parade about 1/2 way through, went to Macy's, used the restroom, where I thought I lost my watch, went back to the restroom to find it and it wasn't there, and then we went home.

We had such a great time that night, even though the parade was a bit of a let down...and come to find out, I hadn't worn my watch at all that night and it was safe at home the entire time. What a fun/random night! Date night success!

Lounging Around

One of the best parts about Christmas break and the weeks leading up to Christmas is the time I got to spend with these 2. On this particular day Ryan had just finished with a workout when Lola felt especially cuddly.


She does this now, where she just lays down in our laps and expects a belly rub- which we usually give her...she's a good pup. :)