big girls use spoons

Scarlett refuses to let us feed her anymore and loves using the spoon herself. 

Potential left hander just like her mamma?

I love watching her use the spoon with so much concentration and effort, 

her mouth open the entire time, which seems like an eternity, 

for the spoon to make the long arduous journey from bowl to final destination. 

And a yummy bite of yogurt as prize for her hard work! Way to go Scarlett!

motivation!

the san francisco half marathon is THIS sunday!
been trying to psych myself up, but instead feel like i'm psyching myself out...ah!
but i'm really excited, nervous, scared and happy to be doing my first half marathon EVER!

we strarted our training in early may with hal higdon's novice training schedule
with my eratic work schedule and long hours, plus prev planned summer vacations,
sticking to the schedule got a little sticky at times, but we did our best!

not gonna lie that there were more than a few text message convos as follows:

margy: are we running tomorrow?
mags: of course! 6am?
margy: perf, text me when you leave
mags: great, see you then
{next morning}
margy: are you up?
mags: nope

BUT

we actually did a great job training

we got all of our long runs in, either together or

with the help of sisters, cousins, brothers, husbands

{thanks everyone!}

and i'm really surprised with myself and feel good about starting at 3 miles back in may

and thinking it was sooo hard to running 10 miles last monday and feeling great

here are some pics of one of our longer runs

also first time running over the golden gate bridge!

and first time eating gu!

which for you non-runners, gu (pronounced goo) is exactly the consitency that it sounds like

and you have to eat it on long runs to replace electrolytes and sugar.

obvs, i was a little skepical. ick.

(however, i really did feel better and reenergized post gu)

trying to take a running partners shot, but i was still mid-gu-swallow

please try not to pay attention to my awk pose (i think i was too hot and sweaty to have skin to skin contact with myself) and instead focus on the gorgeous day the and GGB!

alright, a little trip down memory training lane is helping with my motivation for sunday. i know i can finish, i'm more worried about finish time and keeping pace and not pooping out in the end but also pushing myself and...

oh! i just can't wait to give baby Scarlett a big smooch when i cross that finish line!

any tips or motivation greatly appreciated!

see you at the finish line!

gap deal: ends tonight!

40% off at gap.com!!

ends tonight, tuesday 7/26

{thanks to shelley for the tip}

enter code: GAPLOVE

i LOVE dressing babyScarlett in babygap!

party on a stick

party: Scarlett's first birthday

location: park on top of the hill in our 'hood

challenge: make food for 30+ people with no kitchen or grill on site

answer: party on a stick!

longer answer: premake everything at home (day of or night before), place on kebab sticks, transfer to party site on platters, do absolutely no work during party except eating and enjoying time with friends!

menu

 turkey meatball kebabs

chicken kebabs

roasted veggie kebabs

fresh fruit kebabs

and

cake pops!

cake pops were pretty labor intensive, so they were made first

totally worth it though because soooo good!

i used trader joe's chocolate cake and frosting mix with wilton's candy melts for the coating.

 i followed this recipe, which has good tips.

(i tried once before making cake balls and they were a disaster.

the above directions, using candy melts instead of baker's chocolate,

 and the addition of the stick made it all easier.)

unfortch, i don't have many pics of the food,

 but easy peasy directions below.

it was so easy i don't even need to write the directions, but here they are...

chicken: marinate chicken breasts in trader joe's island soyaki sauce (or sauce of your choice)

bake 30 mins at 350 or untl done, cut into cubes, place on bamboo kebab sticks.

if pre-making day before, on the day of cover with more sauce and reheat in oven  

turkey meatballs: place trader joe's frozen meatballs in large oven proof pot

cover with island soyaki sauce (or sauce of you choice)

bake 30 mins at 350 or until done, place on bamboo kebab sticks

veggies: cut fresh veggies of you choice into 1 inch pieces

 we used zucchini, peppers and onions

place on bamboo kebab sticks

drizzle with olive oil and season with salt

bake at 350 until done

fruit: cut up fresh fruit of your choice into 1 inch pieces

we used strawberries, watermelon, apples and bananas

place on bamboo kebab sticks

voila! party on a stick is ready!

it was actually a lot of fun making 200 kebabs and 45 cake pops!

special thanks to my sis shannon for all her help.

more scenes from the day...

sweet puppy Beau, a swiss mountain dog,

made an appearance and was a big hit with the babes

and then Scarlett opened her present from her bestie, Milly.

with Milly's help, of course.

thanks to everyone who came out and enjoyed the day

it was a great first birthday party for Scarlett!

shh, i'm on the phone

Scarlett has been obsessed with the iPhiz pretty much since she was able to understand object permanence and i could no longer hide it from her. she mastered the one finger slide around 6 months.  she giggles when she pushes the home button making the screen change like its magic. when she turns music on (which she does too often for it to be just chance), she immediately starts dancing. she even made her first international call at age 9 months. such an iBaby.

but this week, at age one year and three weeks,
she holds the iphone to her ear and has very important things to say! 

and now, EVERYTHING is a phone. constantly. 

computer mouse, shoe, bath-time animal toy...

picnic at stanford

i had a meeting (and by meeting, i mean therapy session) down in palo alto the other day.
since david works at stanford, he watches the babe while i am in said meeting.

it was so positively gorgeous that we could not resist a picnic
on stanford's front entrance lawn before heading back to the city.
what could be a better way to lift a mood than a picnic with my love?

here are some quick pics and new tricks from the day!

Scarlett LOVES strawberries.

but she gets mad when you cut them up. seriously.

so i let her eat the whole ones when they are really soft and mushy

just with a careful and cautious-please-don't-choke-eye.

it's really quite impressive watching her eat it.

her lips while she's eating! oh my, i'm so obsessed!

next up: we had some practice standing time

she's literally doing repetitive squats! ouch!

trying to stand on her own for one of the first times

you got it! you got it!

why did i cut off half the picture?

hurry, zoom out.

aaand...she's down.

good try my girl! work those legs!

what a fun picnic. thanks love!

amazing! go buy this right now!

it's summer. 

it's sunny. 

it's hot.

 it's a battle to stay protected from the sun. 

i've recently discovered these two amazing things that are genius. 

genius, i tell you! 

go get them for your baby and yourself immediately. 

numero uno: supergoop sunscreen swipes!

seriously, if you thought spray sunscreen was amazing, this is even better. doesn't require you to stand in a jumping jack position for 10 minutes while it dries. doesn't make you look shiny or feel sticky. despite it's name, doesn't leave you with a handful of leftover goop like regular lotion sunscreens normally do. 

all you do is wipe the little wipe on your and your baby's skin. so easy! and not sticky and not gross. i pretend it's a washcloth (which scarlett loves in the bath) so she helps me wipe it on. plus, i use it for myself and my face even. i fear i'm not explaining properly how amazing it is. i normally hate the process of putting sunscreen on and this i actually look forward to because i'm still so fascinated by how awesome and easy it is. just try it and you'll understand!

plus, major importance factor when choosing sunscreen is that it's free of harmful chemicals, parabens and fragrances, no animal testing and has full uva/uvb protection. yay! 

thank you to nana sue, who first found it and bought it for us. love it! 

numero dos: organic sun cover by RoSK

it's a super light weight, spf 30 protection, made of organic cotton, AND it has ties! ties on a blanket! you just tie it right on your stroller and it covers the baby's ass-white pale vulnerable little legs. it's so light weight it doesn't make the baby hot, and did i mention it has ties?! it won't blow away! or get kicked off and lost while on a walk! you can also tie it to your bjorn or ergo or other carriers for sun protection. 

i'm partially so excited about this because last summer i struggled to keep the adan & anais muslin blankets as a sun cover on the stroller. they are fantastic for swadding and i used them all the time for that, but they kept flying up and off the stroller, or it took ten years to try and secure it down with makeshift knots. but the worst part, i thought i was protecting little scarlett's porcelain skin, but i learned the hard way that they are not sun protective, even when doubled up. enter this rosk sun cover deal on babysteals, and i'm seriously happy with my impulse buy slash best online purchase ever!

well, hope this helps if you haven't heard of these things already. 

i just wanted to share my new found faves!

enjoy the summer!

stay protected!

i heart america day

red white and blue treats, lounging and grilling simultaneously, baker beach, golden gate bridge in background, playing in sand, happy messy baby and then most tired baby in whole world after perfect and fun and gorgeous day

couldn't ask for more!

happy 4th of july!

birthday cake

Scarlett actually started crying when i put the cake in front of her at first. i thought it was the ugly frosting, but perhaps it was the candle burning that frightened her. whoops, probably shouldn't have put fire in front of a one year old, but being her first birthday, this was my first experience giving her birthday cake.

perhaps i should have known better about the candle, the frosting on the other hand...i just don't have the patience or the forethought in planning to allow enough time for the cake to cool before frosting the cake. therefore, the melty goopy hot pink raspberry frosting didn't look too appealing. a little hesitant in the beginning, she finally realized that despite its looks, it tasted good and went in for the kill with a fistful in her mouth. i was ready and willing for a messy birthday cake fiesta, but the lil babe only used one hand and didn't get a single spec of frosting or cake on her face!

round two is coming up this saturday for our Scarlett birthday/David graduation bbq celebration so hopefully i will have made a better cake to present and Scarlett will really dig in for the classic cake all over face photo!

once we started opening presents though, Scarlett did have a big happy smile on her face!