Ladies Christmas Dinner

Traditions are such a comforting thing, especially during this time of year. It's a great way to mark the passing of time and fun to look forward too. Traditions seem much sweeter this time around with Ezra joining in on the memories. I also think the past few years of life slowing down enough for me to breathe and take it all have helped as well. And what? Maybe age and gaining wisdom? Nah... ;)

The past weekend marked another tradition: my mom hosted a table at a local church's woman's dinner. She totally outdid herself this year. The tables are theme and she went with "the Grinch". 

Saying it was completely awesome is a total understatement. I was so proud of her. So many women came up to our table with giggles of delight. It was just such an original idea and put together so well.

This comes from a woman who swore years ago that she had no creative talent...she was just a  number cruncher. Whatever!

It was fabulous evening of playing dress up, eating delicious food, hanging out with girlfriends and listening to a great speaker.

Many of the ladies at the table were there last year and we all reminisced about how it was my due date then. I was so swollen and whale-ish. I must confess that this year was so nice because I actually had options of what to wear. 

My mom is already joking that it's time to get pregnant now that I fit back into all my clothes. We'll see... I'd like to enjoy this for a bit longer. Maybe?

Thanks, Mom, for a great ladies night out!

Full Day of Fun

We spent an afternoon at Berkeley's Tilden Park last weekend. This place has loads of fun stuff to do and check out. We had high hopes and a full list, but only made it to the Botanical Gardens. It was just so peaceful and after finding a nice place on the grass, we were sucked in. So we are very excited to check out the other things this park has to offer, but will have to explore another time. 

We had a great picnic lunch after walking about half way through the gardens. Our little lunch patch was in between the trees.

During lunch, E showed off his latest uniqueness:

His love for carrying shoes by their strings??

I'd love to tell you this is the first time we've seen this, but it's not. And it's always this position; with his arm behind his back. It's quite entertaining, not gonna lie. 

At one point, he added the lunch pail.

It's good to know he fits right into our crazy antics. ;)

Lots of beautiful nature!

That evening, W & I headed out on a much anticipated date night! Seems like it's been forever, but we can't complain with all our traveling and other fun family events. Since it's been so long, we decided on just doing a slow dinner. Our three hour dinner at Simply Fondue was a.mazing and delicious!

Can't remember the last time I had a four course meal. Or have ever been that stuffed! Far more than any Thanksgiving. We learned quickly: pace yourself. It was truly such a great time to connect. We both felt a noticeable difference the next day. Love dating my hubby and that we all had such a great day.

Drank a Little Drank, Smoke a Little Smoke

Last week, Linds and I split out on our responsible day jobs to head to the Greek Theatre in Berkeley to see Jack Johnson. Love his mellow music beyond words. The last time I saw him live was in San Diego in 2005 with a then boyfriend. {Still have that shirt he bought me, only thing I ever kept from an ex...just couldn't part with Jack} This time the only gentleman that was with us was Flat Stanley.

The Greek is an amazing venue! I loved it! Very intimate. With general admission, we came early to get some great seating. We brought butt-pads and a blanket.

Our drank a little drank: wild Linds snuck some shooters in. Must confess, first time with shooters. I discovered I love Malibu with Coke. I'm such a light weight and only could handle one. I'm lame, I know. I already get made fun of. :)

We both felt like we were in college again. Well, Linds did. I don't have any good juicy stories besides the small handful of frat parties I went to as a date during my freshman year.

Totally interesting side note. While waiting for the opening artists, this came up:

"Help us make this tour carbon neutral. purchase your Jack Johnson To The Sea Carbon Offset Sticker."

How is consuming another item, an offset sticker, make the tour carbon neutral?! I  still breathed out carbon during the concert. Can someone explain this?

First up was Zee Avi. 

Oh.My.Word. This girl, who's only 23 by the way, is simply phenomenal. Think Colby Caillat meets Norah Jones. 

Followed by ALO, who opened with Matt Costa {love his music too!} in 2005.

Jack!! Love him.

And man, was he awesome.

I was glad he played a lot of his old songs. I haven't been following him for awhile so I'm not familiar with his new stuff. And as far as the smoking, well...there was plenty of hash to go around us. And here I confess again: my first experience of seeing people smoke pot. A lot of firsts this night. :) Linds's boyfriend made a big deal when we were in line to eat something. We kept laughing at him, but he was on to something. Caught a puff in action. 

Oh, we did some gambling too: parking in Berkeley without a permit. Even with an hour and a half left before we were actually free to park there, we got off without a ticket. Probably helped that we were several blocks from campus. Definitely worked up a sweat walking through campus to get to the venue.

Such a wonderful girls' afternoon/night. We booked these tickets back in March when Ezra was only 3 months old. It felt like eons before October would come, but here it is already! Both my boys were sound asleep when I climbed into bed. W was so kind to put E down a bit later so I could sleep in the next morning. Definitely don't love Jack even close to how much I love William.

2 Gents

Our 3rd Annual Free Shakespeare in the Park!

This year was a bit more hectic than usual--probably because there's one extra person in our family. We decided at the last minute not to risk taking Ezra. He's kind of at the age where we're gambling a bit with how he'll do, if we're not on the move. And since we'd be quietly sitting still, we dropped him off at his grandparents before the show. The play was at a different park this year so I was bummed we couldn't walk to it. I also didn't plan ahead very well so we stopped at a grocery store for picnic goodies instead of making them. 

So even though there were many changes to the past routine, it was still a great date night! The new park was great. There was a perfect view of the ridge and clean bathrooms. We had our picnic dinner with wine before the play started.

Some friends joined us

Intermission! It was such a clear night out that we were able to star-gaze awhile.

That night, we confirmed that we need to invest in some lawn chairs. Summertime is synonymous with outdoor activities and we just aren't as prepared for comfort as we should be. Now that we're getting old and all. :)
This was sort of our closing event for summer, although we're hoping to get in a few more weekend day trips. One of my favorite things in the whole wide world is honking geese as they fly by in a V. We saw many Vs that night. To me, it's the signal that fall is just around the corner: my hands-down favorite season. So as much as I'm still loving this summer, thoughts of fall are just starting to perk up in my mind. I'll probably be ready in a month, which makes for perfect timing! :)

A Summer Day

Yesterday, we took advantage of the weather and went for a hike. Remember how I told you I was waaay out of shape? Yup, still am. I use to love hiking steep hills and enjoying the scenery along the way. This time, not so much. I was so out of breath that I couldn't enjoy the scenery without stopping. :( But at least I'm working towards not being so out of shape. When I did stop, I could see that California dry kind of pretty.

We also took the pups...we've been bad pet owners lately & have been slacking on walking them. So I think we made up for it. They were completely exhausted when they got home. Pancho even went straight to his bed to lay down. Sounds like I'm not the only one in this house out of shape! Ezra missed all the beauty but got a great nap on Mama.

I hope the extra poundage helped my workout! He did come out during snack time. We did a great outdoor change with minimal supplies. I believe we're ready to go camping now!

This one is just silly. I think he's going for a Frankenstein look here.

We saw lots of wildlife: squirrels, blue jays, dragonflies, bugs, and ...

my very first rattlesnake siting. It was definitely a little creepy because the path was narrow. We were able to slide by quickly and get a few shots. Thankfully, we did not see this guy on our way back down.

In the evening, we met up with some friends at the Concert in the Park. Our town has great FREE summer activities and this is one of them. I use to go all the time as a kid but haven't been since I've moved back here. W & I had fun. But Ezra was definitely the main event. 

There was quite a big spread for dinner. Very delicious. The Collards go all out and even bring a mini table! On our way home we stopped at Yolatea for dessert! Here's to kicking off our summer!

A Marvelous Party

I love the theatre just as much as I love this and this. So, when my parents proposed a swap: 4 tickets for a night with Ezra, we didn't hesitate to say "YES!" Plus, we knew with an up-coming 3 week separation, my parents could really get their fill of Ezra now. W & I had drinks and light appetizers at Va de Vi, a fabulous recommendation from my Pops. We sat outside next to a huge Oak tree and a peaceful little pond and fountain. The weather had finally cooled down! It was wonderful!

For the check, they put the bill in table books. Ours was "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" and there were lots of comments from previous customers. A very creative and quirky idea, I thought. You can see our card & bill in it here.

We then met up with the Moogs; leaving Baby Autumn with her gma to come out & play. The play was called "A Marvelous Party" and it was at the Lesher Center for the Arts. It was a comedic musical in honor of Noel Coward, a famous playwright. Thoroughly entertaining with amazingly talented actors! At one point, I was crying from laughing so hard. Afterward, we hit up good ol' Mel's for food & conversation. But not before a quick photoshoot.

Clearly, we're not professional. 

This was the guys' prom pose. Classic.