21.5 weeks

this weekend was jam packed with adventures. on saturday we went to a wedding. i always always always cry when i see the brides dancing with their dads because it reminds me of how very special it was for me to dance with my dad but this time i cried because i know one day the little lady growing strong in my belly will get to have that moment with the love of my life on her special day. it was really too much emotion for me to endure in my hormone-filled stage but i got through it :)

and today we ventured out to the beach to meet my sister and her boyfriend to hear about their giving trip that spanned el salvador, nicaragua and costa rica. they told us stories about the people they met along the way and the children they hugged each day. i'm so insanely proud of my baby sister for living a life of giving. 

my heart is so very full from this amazing weekend. 

happy friday

hope you have an adventurous weekend!

and here are a few of my favorites from around the web this week:

• the ever-fabulous naomi from rockstar diaries is giving away some free shoes so make sure you enter this giveaway
• want to read an adorable "about us" page? check this one out by elle who just launched a gorgeous new line of baby wraps
• one of the many many many things i love about my husband is that he's constantly introducing me to new and inspiring things, including this incredible speech by the late Jimmy V at the ESPYs
• i'll be referring to this tutorial soon enough to make some baby poms for baby girl's room
• and lastly, a little bit from my professional world: where will you be Aug. 5? hopefully you'll be joining me and watching this happen.

image via

Breakfast Scones {a family secret recipe}

to celebrate the end of the week i decided to make breakfast scones tonight. 

these yummy little bites of raspberry are going to taste like perfection with my morning coffee.

and the best part, the mr. is at rehearsal tonight so when he gets home he's going to be super impressed with the fact that our house smells like heaven!

first thing's first, no cooking excursion is complete without a nice glass of wine.

the second i pulled this out of the oven it smelled sooo good.

i then sliced it into 8 perfect pieces (they're scones so they don't really have to be perfect triangles, in fact, i think the more imperfect they are, the better).

and finally, my secret....don't tell anyone that Cost Plus World Market sells the BEST scone mixture on the planet.....all you have to do is add water and stir. BRILLIANT!

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

{ skunked }

all three dogs got skunked this weekend.

if your pets have ever been skunked, i'm sure you're feeling my pain right now. but if you've never experienced the joy of bathing a skunky animal then let me give you a tiny bit of advice:

1. do NOT let the dogs in the house once they've been skunked -- do absolutely everything in your power to keep them out. i feel like we were moving in slow motion as i saw our tiny chihuahua roll around all over the new rug. 

2. get a rag and start trying to dab off the oil as soon as possible -- skunks spray a drippy yellow oil -- this is what carries the stank

3. if your dog gets sprayed in the face (which apparently is the worse place to get sprayed) and starts foaming at the mouth -- your dog does not have rabies -- the vet said the taste is just so bad that it's a normal reaction to slobber a bit.

4. give them lots of love and kisses (after the bath of course), because i can't even imagine how traumatizing this experience must be for them, our poor little pooches were so exhausted after the initial panic, the nose-burning smell and the fire-drill bath

here's the recipe recommended by our vet, we also scrubbed the rug/couch/floors with this after the entire ordeal:

{ Hello! Weekend }

the weeks have been flying by lately, which is the reason for the routine friday posts and lack of weekday posts. but i promise to get back into this and start blogging again (september was a really good blogging month for me, october, not so much)

either way, it's friday! so get happy!

super rad image found here

{ Hello! Las Vegas }

me and the mr. are headed to las vegas tomorrow morning. i don't know if this happens to everyone but i always get a little anxious before a trip to sin city. 

i always thought it was the energy from all the sins, or i could blame it on the gobs of money i've lost on wheel of fortune, or the boring car rides to our final destination of Circus Circus as a kid, or perhaps it was from my time in corporate event production when i spent a week a month, for a whole year, producing events in the chilling ballrooms of the venetian. once, i went 7 days (that's right, 7 entire days) without seeing daylight.

lets hope this trip to vegas is filled with so much fun that it helps me forget how much i dislike vegas.

i think "old vegas" was much more my style. 

{ Hello! Friday }

it's my sister's birthday this weekend, which means it's going to be equal parts amazing and exhausting. we're kicking off the weekend at grandma's house tonight (i just called her and she's happily cooking away in the kitchen right now prepping for the yummy birthday dinner), then tomorrow night we'll all be going out to dinner with my parents followed by a crazy hat bar hop party and then we'll be wrapping the weekend with brunch on sunday morning. phew. i'm drained just thinking about it.....let's get this party started!!!

oh and i recently came across this video and loved it oh so much. 

happy happy weekend!

{ Weekend Wrap: Our Garden }

we now have:

 peppers, tomatoes, basil, cilantro, strawberries and onions!

don't let this photo fool you. my husband is the one with the green thumb and i'm just the one with the camera and cute shoes

now, lets hope our little furry babies don't find a way to eat the garden treats before us.

{VIP Guest}

the youngest member of my family paid us a special visit this weekend. we call her Z and she's pretty much the coolest pre-teen around. i admire her instinct from right and wrong at such a young age and she's what we call "good people." she's sweet and kind-hearted and has a smile that can light up any room. this is the absolute best quality to have at any age and i'm so incredibly proud of my baby cousin for being so grounded and exceptional! 

i tried to be the coolest cousin all weekend, we made a jewelry tree, we made homemade ice cream, she taught me a few awesome shortcuts on my laptop, and (my favorite part) we went to the street art exhibit in downtown la. 

i love my little (she actually towers over me but i still call her little because she'll always be the sweetest baby in my eyes) cousin Z!

{Weekend Wrap-Up}

after a crazy work week I decided to really make the most of the weekend. 

mr. v and i headed to the beach for some fun in the sun. on sunday we explored the new neighborhood a bit and hit up the local farmers market and finally ended the weekend with hanging some more things up on the wall and rearranging the new house a bit. all and all this was a super productive weekend. hope you took charge of your weekend too!

{ Happy 4th of July Weekend }

the goal was to find some perfect flags to hang on the front porch. i still have three days. i'll let you know if i get lucky, but in the meantime, how cute are these new adirondack chairs?! 

we're thinking we need to paint these white.

.

{ Weekend Wrap }

we had a handful of weekend visitors. first, parents stopped by to drop off the washer and our new dresser (thanks mom and dad!) then we had a good friend from arizona visit us. we love showing off the new house! we also set up the patio furniture that we got an amazing deal on from cost plus world market (love that store), and i finally put away all my clothes and organized my shoes (yes, it was an entire weekend project). even though it was a short weekend, we still got so much done. can't wait for next weekend!