Will's Second Birthday

We officially have a two-year-old! So far, he isn't terrible at all. Keeping with the tradition we started last year, Nick and I took off from work on Will's birthday so we could spend the entire day as a family. We went to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, which was perfect timing since we just got back from Kauai, where Will loved spotting fish in the "o-in" but had yet to see anything like the "big ones" at the aquarium! He continues to be absolutely obsessed with airplanes, so we had a small airplane-themed party at our home with Will's grandparents and nearby uncles. I'm all for keeping parties small and simple at this age, and our wonderful parents brought the food and desserts so Nick and I could focus on the birthday boy.

Here are a few pictures from our little celebration:

I love a fun dessert table! An airplane banner, tiny airplane forks, an adorable airplane cake topper, and color-coordinated drinks helped with our red-and-blue aviation theme. Big thanks to my mom for bringing the perfect cloudy skies cake!





We let Will sneak a little frosting before dinner....



...because you only turn two once!



Our two-year-old rocking his special birthday shirt—and some crumbs and BBQ sauce on his face.



Will covered his ears when everyone sung happy birthday, but ever since, he's been requesting that Nick and I sing it to him. We even heard him singing happy birthday to himself in his crib—adding in the names of his friends and grandparents—a few nights ago. Two is certainly off to a sweet start!

Time flies! One year ago: Will's first birthday.

DIY Holiday Hot Cocoa Bar

’Tis the season for hot cocoa! I love whipping up this drink every winter. It’s warm, comforting and open to all sorts of interpretations. For our second annual Christmas Eve party with our families, I decided to stir things up by putting this drink on full display with a hot cocoa bar. The premise? Guests can customize their cocoa with a variety of toppings—ranging from traditional (caramel sauce, whipped cream) to unexpected (peanut butter, graham crackers)—to create the perfect cup of cheer.

To help our guests navigate the bar, we provided some instructions: “Fill a mug with hot cocoa, then find your favorite fixings...” followed by hot ideas for creative cocoa combinations. Preparation included taste-tasting new recipes every night for most of December—somebody had to do it! For the custom cocoa concept to work, we needed variations that could start with the same base, a simple but decadent mix of Guittard Grand Cocoa Drinking Chocolate and whole milk, and easily take on new flavors (S’mores! Peanut Butter Fluff! Salted Caramel!) with a few key additions. Check out our list of recipes below...

To create a cozy, rustic vibe for the bar, I started with an antique buffet table and added an eclectic mix of serving pieces and chalkboard-inspired signs and labels. Here’s how it came together, plus a few tips:

• For the chalkboard-style signs and labels, I downloaded a free Baby It’s Cold Outside sign and labels for the mugs and toppings. To make the list of cocoa combos, I downloaded a chalkboard background and holiday-ready chalkboard fonts. I then printed everything at OfficeMax for less than $2. Tip: Print signs to fit frames you already have and temporarily swap out your wedding photos come cocoa time.
• To show off the toppings, I used a mix of glass jars and white serving pieces (I loved putting this little set to use). Tip: Don’t be afraid to repurpose what you’ve got in your cabinets. A cake stand made for the perfect way to elevate some of the toppings, and a tea cup held a handful of stirrers.
• To complete the rustic look, I used twine to tie on the labels and put out wooden scooping spoons.
• I made use of the buffet’s drawers by filling them with extra tea cups to have nearby.

The custom hot cocoa bar made for a fun, creative addition to our Christmas Eve festivities. My dad called it the best hot cocoa he’d ever had in his life, and my brothers invented their own recipes by adding almost every topping to their drinks. This DIY bar would also be perfect for a New Year’s Eve party (just add some 21-and-up fixings, like Bailey’s Irish Cream and Peppermint Schnapps), a winter wedding or shower, or just to have out as decor—and easy cocoa access—all season.

P.S. See what happened last year when we hosted Christmas Eve.

A Sweet Gender-Reveal Party

When it came time to find out our baby’s gender, Nick and I decided to get the news immediately at the ultrasound. We knew that if we asked the doctor to put the answer in an envelope to be delivered to a baker or another creative reveal tactic, we wouldn’t have made it to the parking lot without tearing it open. So we got the news right then and there but tried to make delivering it just as exciting for our families, too.

We hosted a small get-together with our parents that included a guessing station, old wives’ tales with gender-prediction clues, and a candy and beverage bar. The candy-filled jars were a fun reminder of our wedding day, when we had an all-white candy bar with the theme “Love is sweet.” We made some obvious updates for this new occasion: blue and pink candy and drinks, more blue and pink accents (ribbons! pom poms!), and now, “Babies are sweet.”

After everyone made their guesses, it was time to share the news. That’s when our dog, Daphne, came running in with blue balloons attached to her collar. More pictures and the do-it-yourself details below...

Planning this little party was the perfect distraction in the days leading up to finding out our baby’s gender. Here’s how it came together:

• I ordered blue and pink candy from Amazon (there was no need to order from a bulk candy site since we didn’t need huge amounts).
• To display the candy and beverages, I used white and silver bowls and trays (mostly from Pottery Barn and West Elm) and picked up a few extra glass jars from Target (like this one).
• To make a chalkboard-style sign with old wives’ tales, I downloaded a free chalkboard background and chalkboard fonts and created the sign in Photoshop (using Pinterest for inspiration). To get more scoop on the tales, I consulted a few articles, including this one.
• For the other printed items, I downloaded more free fonts (Chevalier Becker Stripes is my favorite) and shapes, then printed everything at Kinkos.
• To fill the table with more blue and pink touches, I added tissue-paper pom-poms and striped straws and tied ribbon around the guessing jars. These little details helped it all come together!

For the full story on what happened when we found out we’re having a boy—and how we almost came home with pink balloons—check out this post.

Welcome to the Costume Party: Axl Rose & Slash

The other weekend, Nick’s team at Google had a costume party, and the instructions were to dress as the best and worst people through history. I was thrilled because there’s been a serious lack of theme parties in my life ever since I graduated from college. But then, we were stumped. Finding something “historical” that would be fun as a couple was trickier than we’d expected. Most couples costumes that came to mind—and to our computers during hours of Google searches—were fictional. I strongly petitioned for Justin and Britney circa 2001, or more specifically, Justin and Britney in their all-denim glory at the 2001 American Music Awards. Nick thought no one would get it. What?! Who wouldn’t recognize the most epic of matching pop star ensembles? “We’ll look like farmers,” Nick countered. We agreed to disagree.

But there was another iconic musical duo that we agreed could work: Axl Rose and Slash from Guns N’ Roses. (Nick is mad at this transition since it suggests Britney and Justin are in the same class of musical renown as one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Again, we agree to disagree). Axl and Slash each have such a look—Axl with his bandana and tank tops, Slash with his top hat and cigarette, and both with their aviators and signature ’dos—that it was pretty easy (and so fun!) to pull off. We decided that I’d be Axl since with the help of a flat iron, we pretty much have the same hair, making it one less wig to buy. Here’s how it all turned out. Welcome to the jungle!

To complete Axl’s look, I also got some (temporary) ink. Yes, those are replicas of his actual tattoos, which I got from a professional Axl Rose impersonator via Etsy—proof that you can find anything on Etsy.

 

For Slash, it helped that Nick plays guitar and was able to break into “Sweet Child O’ Mine” on command throughout the night.

We had such an awesome time as Axl and Slash. We’ll definitely be rocking these costumes again come Halloween!

Here are the details on our costumes:

Axl:
Tattoos
Guns N' Roses tank (similar here)
Red bandana (here's one with hair in case you need it!)
Distressed denim shorts (made from an old pair of jeans, but similar here and here)
Plaid shirt (tied around waist, similar here)
Aviators
Black ankle boots

Slash:
Black skinny jeans
Black t-shirt
Hat & wig
Additional wig
Aviators
Guitar
Cigarette (fake!)

Happy Birthday to the Dog!

Our dog Daphne just turned three and yes, Nick and I are the kind of people who celebrate their dog’s birthday. We’re not alone. Just search for “dog birthday” on Pinterest. 

For Daphne’s first birthday, we got her the cutest little doggie cupcakes from Sprinkles (plus a whole lot of human ones), but it was kind of anticlimactic when she and her canine pals gobbled them up in half a second. This year, we went a little bigger with a bone-shaped cookie cake from her favorite store, the aptly named Pet’s Delight in downtown Los Altos. We live a few blocks away from this pet shop, and with a big bowl of dog food and cookies always out for sampling, it’s pretty much a mandatory stop on every single walk. If we ever try to skip it, she will lay down in the middle of the street until we give in. It’s pathetic, but I can relate. I’ve done worse things for a cookie.

Pictures were mandatory and inspired by the cutest cake smash photo session found on our favorite doggie website. Daphne was a bit nervous at first and rightfully suspicious when we invited her to sit at the table. She hid when Nick said, “Do you want your birthday cake?” because apparently it sounded too much like, “Do you want to take a shower?” (It was all in the inflection—super high at the end. Way too high for a grown man. Even Daphne’s dog-whistle-calibrated ears thought it was too high.) She came out when she was certain that birthday was different from baths, took a seat, and quickly learned that cake is her new favorite word.

Your turn: Do you celebrate your pet’s birthday?

P.S. Here are Daphne’s puppy pictures because we’re also the kind of people who do a family photo shoot with their dog. Obviously.

A Man's POV: Hosting Christmas Eve

Yeah, I love Christmas. We've established that. You've also been led to believe that I'm some present-grubbing greedy Scrooge-monger who just wants some ridiculous S-H-I-T waiting for him under the Griswoldian tree every year. While that's hilarious, it's 50% misleading. I love Christmas because it's the time of the year when the childish, magical spirit of Yuletide joy and wonder is not only allowed but EXPECTED. What's special about the month of August? YAWN. Exactly. December is fantastic.

My enthusiasm for Christmas was put to the test when Julia and I were tasked with hosting Christmas Eve dinner. My initial response was "Let's have a Austrian-themed meal!" because two weeks ago I heard Arnold Schwarzenegger say "schnitzel" in an interview. Then I remembered that sausages are for stadium parking lot gutters and Christmas belongs to the Who's. Who? The Who's down in Whoville. And no place on Earth represents Christmas like Whoville. And I love them. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! was my favorite Dr. Seuss book when I was a kid. So, manly men reading a woman's blog, if you have to host a party, own that shit and give it a theme that excites your holiday (or whatever) spirit and while you're at it, you should also stop rolling your eyes at me and being so casually apathetic about everything, Judd Nelson. And get a haircut. And tuck in your shirt. This stuff can be fun.

So, where do you go when you need to plan a party? Pinterest. Specifically, you create a secret board and share fun little pins with your wife. Actually I juuuuust realized that my entire Pinterest identity should be a secret. But seriously you can find ANYTHING arts and crafty on Pinterest. There are enough oddly specific party themes pinned on Pinterest ("Sexy Hunger Games" what?) than there are cat ladies at Michael's so, chances are, you're not alone with your ideas.

Then, you physically go to Michael's (sorry, so so sorry about that subtle foreshadowing) and you gather your resources. The best part about Pinterest is that the cat ladies do most of the work for you. They create printable things and give you all of the recipes. If you can read a list and know the location of a Safeway, you're almost a certified wedding planner. However, there's still some stuff that will require you to suspend all judgement and hate and delve into the parts of your brain that help you make breakfast when you're out of eggs. Need some material that looks like a Grinch beard? Thank God I found these green feather boas in the party aisle! Need a background for a photo booth? A plastic tablecloth could solve that! See? Ugh, not gonna lie, it was tough. I honestly couldn't get out of that place fast enough. But, mission accomplished.

So now that you have the resources and the very specific and exact list of instructions from your new Pinterest friends and pen pals, put it all together BUT don't go overboard because, at the end of the party, the FOOD is the most important ingredient. I can cook one thing at a time but I get MOTHER LOVING stressed when I have to coordinate four different dishes. Who Hash, Roast Beast, Whoville Farm Veggies, and Mount Crumpet Martinis sound cute but I could feel my subconscious Gordon Ramsay's disappointment breathing down my neck as I fumbled meat and potatoes around the kitchen (much to the dog vacuum cleaner's delight). That's the part that demands the most planning and attention. The decorations will be a wonderful distraction if you place them directly above the toilet so that your guests have something to annoy them while they're suffering from food sickness and confusion. So, have a plan.

OUR PARTY WAS AWESOME! Parents and other parents loved it. Then we reused most of the decorations, cocktail ingredients, and photo booth materials for a party with friends a few days later. TOTAL SUCCESS. Nailed it.

One of the best things I did was download the Grinch font so I could write like Dr. Seuss.

Julia handled the craftier of the crafts, like making Grinch-themed props for our photo booth. She found an assemble-it-yourself props kit filled with mustaches and spectacles but tossed most of the hipster garbage. That's the Grinch's beard and hat, a heart that grew three times its size, the dog Max's antlers and nose, and one of Cindy Lou's crazy hair bows.

To make the photo booth, we hung this plastic tablecloth so guests could pose in front of a festive background instead of a boring white wall. Pro tip: Don't come skipping in from the garage with a staple gun and expect to use it on your wall when your spouse is home.

According to Dr. Seuss, the Who's eat Who Hash which, like Christmas, doesn't come from a store. To find Who Hash, Pinterest led to me to the printable labels on this awesome blog. We taped them on mason jars because mason jars are the duct tape of Pinterest; when a party needs to be fixed, just put some stuff in mason jars and you're MacGyver.

Our dinner menu was based on the Who's famous feast feast feast. I also shamelessly plagiarized from this blog post.

Everyone had a Grinchy name to let them know where to sit at the feast.

If you don't recall the Holiday Cheermeister from the original tale, it's because this character is in the 2000 movie remake with Jim Carrey and that chick from Gossip Girl before she went all Hot Topic.

These are Grinch kabobs. I can't take credit for this brilliance. See the original recipe if this picture is too much of a puzzle for you.

Here's my own original contribution to the Pinterverse: the Mount Crumpet Martini. That'd be one part vodka, one part Peppermint Schnapps, half part creme de cocoa, and two parts eggnog. Notice the candy cane rim? I put some candy canes in a ziplock bag and threw it against the wall fives times then smashed them into smithereens with a meat tenderizer until I felt happy. Then I daintily coated the rim of the glass with a thin layer of honey and dipped said glass in those demolished canes. FOR THE LOVE OF CHRISTMAS someone please pin this so I feel validated.

I was forced to imagine that Who Hash is simply potatoes covered in cheesy bacon because that would explain why the Who's are always happy.

The Who's also ate Who Pudding, so for dessert, we had a pudding bar. Julia whipped up the pudding while I narrowly beat out another Christmas Eve procrastinator for the last package of dark chocolate chips. Okay, it was actually a Who Pudding and ice cream bar in case the pudding turned out weird. For the record, it was great.

The photo booth was fun for the whole family. Even the dog was kind of okay with wearing antlers for approximately 30 seconds to be my Max.

Yes, that's a Grinch shirt. Like I said, commit to a theme and go all out. Merry Grinchmas!