Christmas torture

Thanks for having us Millers!!

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Elsa's a party machine

We went to a swap n' play event on Saturday that Mandy helped organize for her church to give away a bunch of Elsa's clothes that she's grown out of that weren't set aside in my "too cute to give away so I have to keep them forever" box or given to little Shalom. Her closets (yes, she has two) feel much more organized and pared down now, but I have a feeling she may be getting a few more items to fill them in a week... 

Elsa met a little boy by the name of Max at the event, and a cradle was robbed. Elsa was twice his age and she was turning on the flirt big time. Thumping babies in the back is flirting for them.

Last night we went to a Christmas party at our friend Ted's loft downtown. His place is so amazing, made even more amazing with the murals Jeff did of the Hulk (Jolly Green Giant if you ask my dad) and Captain Marvel on the walls. It's in an awesome Art Deco building with a big rooftop deck overlooking the buildings downtown. Awesome view. 

I still can't get over how old Elsa looks in these pictures. It may be the high style fashions she's wearing or her shaggy do making her look mature and oh-so-chic, but it doesn't feel right. I look at her in person and still see baby.

Ted's two dogs Tigger and Leo were very gracious hosts to Elsa and allowed her to follow them around and hug them and shout "KEEEETY!!! OOOOFFFF!!" in their faces. She knows that dogs say woof, but everything is still a dang kitty to her. 

I think Elsa could tell it was her daddy's work. She stared at it for awhile, when she wasn't staring at the hot Norwegian bartender (not me, an actual bartender- Ted is all class). 

There was a lot to see in Ted's loft, between the Christmas trees, candles, toys, light up Abominable Snowman, remotes and everyone's cell phones, so it was a lot of running around and stopping mischief. The other party guests were great with her though and helped keep an eye out. Thank god.

The couch across from the table had a bunch of stylish ladies sitting on it indulging Elsa in some pretend cell phone calls. She ate up all the attention.

She was particularly enamored with this friend. Elsa kept pointing to her leopard print shirt and saying "Keeeeety." 

Hugs for Leo!

And if you want to see Elsa hitting the dance floor, check out the YouTube video on our channel! 

Thanks Brooke!

Brooke's Christmas present to Elsa came in the mail yesterday! She rewarded me for getting off my duff and doing a blog post by getting Elsie the little sweater dress I was in love with! I couldn't wait to put it on her so she wore straight out of the bag. I think it might shrink up a little after washing it, but it is so comfy and easy to dress her in, it'll be a favorite for awhile. We went to the mall today and got stopped by three people asking where we got it! One older woman swooned over Elsa and asked if she could just watch her play by the Christmas tree. I think she didn't want me to be creeped out by her intense and joyful observation of my baby. I almost asked her to babysit while I did my Christmas shopping, but realized people don't do that. Or shouldn't at least. 

 She is obsessed with my desk and keyboard.

Sending some emails. Notice my closed laptop. A few weeks ago she was doing some computing and turned on some setting that minimized windows when I hit the "m" key, opened command windows with the "c" and wreaked all other kinds of havoc. It wasn't the sticky keys setting either so it took about an hour of combing through nerd forums looking for the fix. In case anyone else has a toddler that likes to go apeshit on keyboards, the solution is hitting the command key twice to clear it. Go figure.

I can't stand the cuteness of this dress. I'm big on peter pan collars and the little trompe l'oeil heart buttons slay me.

PEACE!

We found a new activity that occupies her for longer than 3 minutes. She was actually at this for close to a half hour! I have this little jar of colored paper clips and it was back and forth, grabbing handfuls and dumping them out and then putting them back in. Over and over. When she's a bit older maybe we'll use them to teach her colors and office organizational skills. I learned with the colorful plastic barrettes that my Mom bought in bulk at Best. 

Thanks again Auntie Brooke!! We can't wait to see you soon!! 

What Party

Some new ones added to the Etsy shop What Party, soooo funny...

Cat Buddies:

Flamingos Criticizing:

Want Want Want, Gimme Gimme Gimme

My turn! These are things I want, make Jeff buy them for me:

Catbird NYC cat ring, size 5 please.

Mint clay and brass hexagon earrings from Etsy.

Ombre tights, also on Etsy, size medium. Pretty sure I've posted these before, which means I really like them.

Friendship sloths embroidery on Etsy. I love all her stuff, although it's slim pickings right now.

On the subversive stitching kick, these cross stitch patterns from Steotch on Etsy are amazing too:

This custom hand-carved stamp of my face would be super cool. I'd stamp it on everything that's mine, at home and at the office.

La Bamba dancing bear mug! So great, even if it gets the song stuck in my head for the whole day. Every day.

Handy Manual Shredder at Poketo. My electric one pooped out on me, and those shredder scissors I have are kind of sucky for anything more than one sheet. This one is so cute!

And lastly, all I really want for Christmas is a $10,000 gift card to Amazon for Kindle eBooks. Thaaaanks!

Elsa fashions

Always on the hunt for cute new Elsa duds... here are a few tempting me right now:

Vintage 1950's patent leather shoes with geometric stitching. Beyond awesome. 

Vintage Carter's windbreaker. So cool. 

Satin Yorkie dog dress.

Heart sweater dress- I'm a sucker for anything with a peter pan collar. And this one is so cozy!

Nautical sundress, perfect for those boat rides with the Millers! 

Embroidered vintage Swiss dress.

Chinese silk pajamas. I had a set when I was a toddler and I was the cutest thing on the planet in them. Elsa needs these.

She also really needs a red Adidas tracksuit. Like from the Royal Tenenbaums. Because she's mad active. And red so we can easily spot her.

Shopping for Elsa is more fun than for me because things are cheaper and infinitely cuter in small sizes. But don't worry, my wish list is coming up next. Just in time for Christmas... :D

Mini Audrey

What can I say? My social media obligations have stressed me out. Keeping up with this blog, Facebook, Instagram, and our YouTube channel are just more things on my never ending to-do list and the weight of the responsibility is tiresome. So I apologize for not posting as much as I used to, but a paying full-time job, Elsa, and a happy marriage kind of take precedence.

That's not to say I'm giving this thing up, but I'm only going to be posting when I want to post, and today is one of those days. Mostly because I want to show off Elsa's adorable new winter coat!

Um... awesome, right? I've said before that I want a lot of Elsa's clothes in my size, and this coat is at the top of my list. It's so perfect. Camel colored wool, with a little kick pleat back and bow at the top, too freaking cute.

You can button it two ways, like this, or double-breasted pea coat style. I appreciate the options.

And hello! White polka-dot silk lining! Amazing. Great job modeling that, Elsa.

Here is is buttoned up pea-coat style:

I like Elsie with her curls tucked behind her ears. It doesn't stay like that for too long but maybe I'll get her some clips to keep it pulled back.

Another few shots of the back bow because it's so awesome.

It would have been an extreme purchase had I not had a 50% off one item coupon and a $10 reward card for the BabyGap (originally $50, got it for $15! Dealz!), but I couldn't pass it up. It's not plastic and wipeable so it's not the most practical baby coat, but sometimes you gotta ignore that and go with the cute. She needs a serious coat for the holidays and cold San Jose weather so we'll get a good amount of use of this sucker I think.

I think this was the point she realized I was exploiting her for cute pictures. Annnnd End Scene.