The Sugary Goodness of Magnolia's!

After moving to the west coast... one of the things we miss is our favorite bakery in Manhattan, Magnolia's Bakery. It was a little hole in the wall that always had a line out the door and down the block just to get inside.... even in the rain there was a line! And boy was it worth it! So I was going through withdrawals, when I received a package in the mail.... A MAGNOLIA COOKBOOK!!!! Thank you Kristina!!! I didn't know such a thing existed!! So I made cupcakes the other day....yummmmm yummm! I highly recommend the cookbook to other Magnolia lovers!

Learning to Smile...

I've been trying to teach Mia to smile for the camera.... it looks like we have a little more work to do :)

When she's not making faces, Mia is singing. She loves to sing and often singing is the best way to boost her spirits. In the car the other day she was fussing and so I started to sing to try to distract her... but Mia did not like that I was trying to make her happy. I'd sing and she'd say, "No! No!" while shaking her head. So I stopped and then from the back seat I hear a quiet, "more...more" so I start singing again. Then she remembers she's supposed to be mad and says, "no!" So I stop, but she can't help herself and sure enough asks for more singing. We sang the whole way home :) She can't deny that singing makes her happy no matter what mood she's in and no matter how much she doesn't want it to make her happy sometimes...haha. I love that little girl!

Four Years Strong!

John and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary just the other week. Hooray for eternal marriage!

In celebration I remade our wedding album using blurb.com (an amazing website for those who haven't discovered it yet!). Above is the cover of it. I highly recommend becoming a blurbatarian!

Whole Lot of Shakin' !!

Since moving to California there has been a whole slew of earthquakes! John and I both have woken up in the middle of the night twice in the last week with our bed shaking. It's quite unnerving after not being in a quake for many years. They were not very big... no damage done, but just enough to put me on edge and to ask for food storage for my birthday next month. haha. Mia slept right through them all ... a true Californian. The map shows all the quakes in the last week! Lots! Sometimes I think... we CHOSE to live in earthquake country?? WHY?? What's funny is that earlier in the day of one of the earthquakes, John and I had just gone to see a home we were very interested in maybe placing on offer on, it happened to be on a steep hill, right on top of the Hayward Fault line. We were weighing how uncomfortable it made us. After the quakes we decided the wise man did NOT built his house on the earthquake fault on the hill!!!!!! So I continue the hunt for a house :)

Mia's Warming Up to Cali

I found a kiddie pool for a $1 at a garage sale on my way home from the park (I carried it home while pushing a stroller and carrying the newly purchased kid sized chairs, clothes, books and puppets ... all for $12!!! I must have been quite the sight carrying them of all). Mia enjoyed trying out the pool. Hooray for garage sales! Hooray for having a back yard to play in!

We made it!

After a whirlwind of activities.... we made it to California! The day after John's graduation, the movers came and boxed up all our belongings. I didn't have to pack a single box!!!! It was amazing!!! (Definitely a step up from our last move when I was packing boxes while 8 months pregnant.) We flew out the next day full of mixed feelings.... sad for leaving behind our friends and NYC which we have grown to love and which has helped us grow in so many ways, but excited for all that we have before us including 70 degrees year round, housing that is pest free (yes we have been cohabitating with mice, cockroaches, and little red spider things for the last few years) and calm drivers. The past 3 years I had come to believe that I disliked driving... but actually after being in Cali for a few days I realized I just dislike driving in Jersey:) Although, I admit sometimes I still get the urge to "Jersey Juke" people (turn left as soon as the light turns green before the oncoming cars). Hopefully that impatience will diminish over time :)