Egg Hunt

I wore this outfit the first half of the day to the Easter Egg hunt and lunch at our friend's house. I wish the weather was warmer for this weekend but no luck so had to settle with combos that have layers.

Everything but the lace/tulle ham tank is pretty new. This is the skirt I got from ruche. I love the ice blue color and the comfy length and that cutout pattern. The ruche site also had a very similar striped cardi like this one but I found this at F21 for half the price.

The vintage looking low heeled peep toe oxfords are also a great find from F21. Love the grey color too.

I always like how the ruche website uses a lot of silk flower pins in models' hair. Not sure if mine looks perfect but I didn't have time to fuss with it with our 9 AM departure this morning.

Blue skirt - Ruche

Cardi & Heels - Forever 21

Lace ham tank & flower pin - Charlotte Russe

Earings - Thread Show

Ring - gift from Mom

Today's Activities: Got the kids all dressed up for an easter egg hunt this morning. Met our friends at the park and had them get some energy out at the playground at first.

Our girls' age group (2 and under) was first. My son patiently waited on the sidelines for his turn. She loved collecting eggs and exchanging them for candy. Liked the choclates and the jelly beans. Then it was the boys' turn (3-4). Amazingly my daughter sat on the sideline long enough for me to take a few photos of my son and hubby collecting eggs.

We then had all our kids eat some of the candy then run it out. But the playground was so packed that it was overwhelming trying to keep an eye on the guys. We decided no restaurant even the most casual one couldn't handle our group so one of our friends that live very close offerred to have us over while the husbands went and got some great burgers. Kids loved hanging out together and playing. I love now that our 3.5 year olds are actually playing together.

We also had a big event today: My daughter gave up all her pacifiers to the Easter bunny and is quitting cold turkey. Not sure who is sadder us or her. At first she thought it was all funny. By nap time she realized how devestating this was and cried for a very long time. By night time we no longer 'gave' the paci's to the bunny but the story now goes the bunny 'took' all her pacifiers! Going to be rough couple of days.

At least she did nap and she did go down at night.

We were too tired to do anything else this afternoon so hung out at the house. Kids played with play dough and I did laundry.

Waiting for the first age group to start their egg hunt... 

See how crazy it is. But of course this is SD and the palm trees make everything pretty...

My son waiting his age group/turn... And my daughter giving up her bag of binkies to the Easter bunny!

Father son, mother daughter moments! 

Happy Easter to Everyone from our family to yours! 

Friend Friday - INSPIRATION and Butterflies and a B-Day

Today's Fashion Beauty Friend Friday (hosted by Katy at ModlyChic) topic is Inspiration -
To further mark one year of FBFF we are going to answer the same set of questions asked this time last year. I wasn't part of this group last year this time so this will be the first time I am answering them!

1. Which celebrity (celebrities) do you look to for fashion inspiration?
I am not big into following stars or their lives but I do love the magazine 'people style watch'.
2. When it comes to your own personal style, what inspires you?
Anything and everything. I find inspirations everywhere. From people on street to store windows to magazines to catalogs. What always inspires me the most is the way a certain outfit makes me feel. That feeling could be 'sexy', 'pretty', 'girly', 'professional', 'fun' depending on my mood.

3. How do you hope to inspire your readers?
I hope to inspire other SAHM mommies like myself to step out of their comfort zone and dress up a bit to feel good about themselves. I not only post my outfit photos but also right about my day so they can see I really did do all the kid stuff in the clothes I wore.

4. Outside the realm of fashion who/what inspires you?
People are are confident. People who stand up for what they beleive in. People are good in their core and have compassion.

5. And since Idol is ending… Which songs inspire you?
I have to be real honest here. My son is crazy into music and I spoil him by allowing him to listen to his songs all through our car rides. I haven't listened to anything new lately. Horrible I know.
But in general I actually love country music. I love the story each one tells.
I also love music that gets my heart pumping and feet moving. JLo's new song which I heard on idol is pretty cool.

To see how others answered these questions pls click HERE!

Now to what I wore today...

This is the yesstyle maxi floral schiffon dress!

I love this dress. It was exactly what I was looking for. Love its colors and style and the material.

I got the idea to wear it with a denim shirt from the most recent anthropologie magazine. Forgot to photo that. The idea of  big beaded necklaces was also from there...

A Butterfly landed on my skirt (probably thought the flowers were real)....

All photos taken by my friend while we tried to keep an eye on 4 kids at the Wild Animal Park Butterfly Exhibition! 

Dress - Yesstyle

Denim Shirt - from Turkey

Sandals - Steve Madden

Necklaces - Charlotte Russe and Forever 21

Hat - Forever 21

Purse - H&M

Today's Activities: Left super early so I can take my husband to work then go to Wild Animal Park with his car to meet my friend there. We arrived right when they opened at 9 AM. Our first target was the new Butterfly Exhibition that is only open during this month every year. Hardly watied at all which was great. We took our time in there enjoying all the butterflies. The kids loved it.

Butterflies Galore... 

My daughter all excited when the first one landed on my friend's hand:

Our 3 kids enjoying another landing:

So hard to get these shots as they never look at the camera at the same time or smile!

Our first attempt at the outfit photo shoot but realized no use with kids blocking so waited till we were in the second area with more space...

EVENING: The family came over to celebrate my brother's b-day. It was their first 'social' non medical outing with their new baby - my nephew... 

My dad and I join the happy family... Do you see how our smiles look so alike?

Coral Heels

I wore this on Thursday.

Jenny from Spry on the Wall had inspired me to wear this sweater dress over cuffed jeans. I couldn't upload her photo for some reason and since I didn't save her post name couldn't find that either.

I bought these cute canvas coral heels for spring a while back from F21 of course. They have a low heel that I can handle with kids. They look great with ankle socks. For this look though I went barefeet and cuffed jeans.

The outfit needed something so added the two toned blue snood and some earings and bangles.

I still can't say I am comfortable with the short sleeve sweater idea. My arms were cold at times and when I wore a cardigan it felt too heavy. I made it work regardless, the sacrifices for fashion right?

Was doing the photo shoot on the front patio at first but the photos were too dark. These are the lightened versions so moved on inside after these two. 

For once did not crop the photo so you can get a glimpse of my entry way. I designed these arched doors and then had them custom made in Mexico for a great great price. The clock that hangs on top (needs a battery the time is wrong) is made out of a real wine barrel and is super heavy. Ordered it from one of the wine magazines. I think between my last post and this photo you are probably getting an idea that I am also very into decorating.  

Sweater Dress & Canvas heels - Forever 21

Dark Rinse Jeans - H&M

Scarf - TJ Maxx

Earings - Buffalo Exchange

Bangles - Ruche

Thursday's Activities: It is official I am having a tough time this week. My patience seems to run out so fast between the kids, lack of activities with other adults, backyard construction and car troubles...

My mom was nice enough to come this morning so she can give us a ride to the swim class that way I didn't have to leave at crack of dawn to take my husband to work and just let him take his own car. But of course at swim class when I called the shop I found out my car won't be ready until Friday at noon! That not only ruined my afternoon playdate plans of park and museum but also my wild animal park plans for the next day. I had to make bunch of calls and emails to re-work everything. This plus spending 20 minutes on the phone with the gas company to upgrade our meter and other contractors I was almost in tears. Seeing my dire shape my mom offerred to take the kids to her house. Knowing they didn't have their sleep stuff (music and satin and paci) I still said 'yes' as I was desperate for a break. Dropped them off at my mom's and took her car home.

Got caught up on more emails and more scheduling of contractors and baked cookies and headed back to her house.

Of course neither kid had napped and my daughter never ever skips a nap! My mom was also nice enough to host my two friends and their kids for a playdate since I couldn't join them at the park. Had to wait until my husband got there with the car so I had a ride. He had his friend pick him up from there and they went to the padres game. Me and the girls went to Target of all places for dinner. Yes we are pretty pathetic. After the dinner turned out to NOT be a fiasco we felt brave enough to even shop for half hour. You have to see our photo at the bottom as it is priceless.

Rushed back home and somehow got both kids in bed without much crying.

 Here is the pool with the tile work completed!

 They spent a lot of time on this spa wall tiles...

And here is the priceless Target photo!

Pink & Green Thursday - Nursery

Trish from Pink Preppy Lilly Lover blog hosts Pink & Green Thursdays...

I have been wanting to do this for quite some time as my daughter's room is all about pinks and greens (and blues)...

The theme I picked for my princess was 'Pastel Forest' I got the inspiration from Pottery Barn's owl bedding.

My step dad who is an artist drew this tree on her wall. Used the pottery barn christmas butterfly ornaments to create 3D butterflies around the tree.

He drew out the branches on contact paper then cut out shelves out of wood and painted them same color as the tree trunk to create these 3-D shelves...

I swear (and all my friends are my witness) I was all into owls way before they were all popular and fashionable.  

 My mom bought a whole box of porcalein forest animals as a shower gift and I placed them all around the room. You can see the birds (the nest is a find from pottery barn and another shower gift from my friend) and the owl. The owl frame was an Anthropologie clearence find.

Had to go with the PB bedding since that was my inspiration after all. We got the crib and the changing table used and the recliner was the one we bought when my son was born.

We have a dark out pull up blind as well as wooden blinds. The sheer curtains on the side are just decorative.

This lamp was from my nursery! My mom saved it. I just bought a new cover and trimmed it with pom poms myself.  When you turn the little sleeping kitty the girl rocks and the boy turns around and plays a cute lullaby. The table is from Ikea. When breastfeeding it held my pump and all the pump equipment. Again another hand me down from my son's room.

Found these delicate wooden letters at a boutique in bird rock La Jolla...

My sister ordered this pillow as a shower gift...

These huge pink shelves are from Ikea. They are giant and big and thick. We had to play around with the arrangement for quite sometime before finding the perfect spot for them where they didn't over power the room. The top two shelves contain vintage toys either from my own childhood or bought from antique stores.

Except thos stacking green suitcases are from Land of Nod.

You might say she doesn't have many toys or books that is because most of the stuff is in my son's room which you will see one day is the size of a family room! 

Here is the changing station. Like I said the table is a craig's list purchase. The cabinet was already in this room when it was a guest room.  

The hooks are shower registry gifts from PB.

Found the little plaque from TJ Maxx... 

I have done a cross sitch sampler for each one of my kids. This is my only artsy talent by the way is to cross stich! These samplers are quite involved and take pretty much entire pregnancy to complete. The name and the info gets stiched by me after birth. 

Found this Red Envelope growth chart at a warehouse sale for $10. And same as the quilt which hangs ont he wall behind the door to cover the electric power box!

My mom's friend had this as a ribbon on her shower gift. 

And of course the Princess that resides here:

To See Everyone Else's Pink & Green Thursday Post click HERE!