SITTIN' ON A RAINBOW (SOL'S FIRST BIRTHDAY)

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I've got the world on a string; I'm sitting on a rainbow.

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Good ol' Frank...
(aka Ol' Blue Eyes)

Have you ever had a day where your heart was so full of love, and your soul so full of joy, that they were no longer able to be contained in your physical body, and your heart and soul literally floated up above you and spent the entire day bouncing against the ceiling like some love/joy-filled helium balloon, and you almost felt like you were up there bobbing along on the ceiling, all full of love and joy, watching the scene unfold from above?

Well, that was me this past Saturday.

I can't even begin to describe the complete and utter bliss I felt this weekend -- although the psychedelic experience I described above comes pretty close to what I felt.

My life with Sol is positively delectable.  Raising Sol comes naturally; it's not scary at all.  I love our new apartment.  And I love my job.  Sol and I spend most of our time with good friends.  We are so blessed.

And to boot, this weekend I saw the physical manifestation of just how many people love my daughter.  She had the most amazing first birthday party, celebrated with all of our nearest and dearest (complete with a surprise visit from some friends, who drove in all the way from St. Louis!!).  None of us could possibly have left that party doubting whether Sol is loved.  She is most definitely loved, and loved well.

Three cheers for a beautiful life.

Pictured here with Uncle Rafiki...
and you can see why we call him that :)

Our invitation -- sent out wrapped in pink tulle [of course], in keeping with the 2/2 theme :)

Designed by yours truly :)

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Of course, a smash cake for the Sol Child.

She was INTO IT.

Cake plate: homemade.  Candle holder for base, embossed plate for "plate,"
glued together and spray-painted yellow.  Badabing, badaboom.

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Since her birthday is 2/2, naturally I had to incorporate tutus somehow into the theme of the party.  

So I made her this fabulous rainbow tutu.

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And with the many tulle remnants, I was able to make these adorable (and super easy) streamers by tying bits of tulle onto satin ribbons.

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I spent far too much time baking rainbow colored treats... 

but they made the occasion just as colorful as I wanted it to be!

(all cake plates DIY'ed)

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But my prized confection that day: the cake.

It looks so common from the outside...

 

...but inside was all ROYGBIV and whatnot.  Sittin' on a rainbow indeed.

 

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And at a whopping 6 layers tall, the cake fell over [naturally].

And I'm not even the tiniest bit upset about it!!!

Look carefully: in the stainless bowl in this photo,
we have birthday cake ice cream!  Leftover rainbow cake pieces,
crumbled up and mixed in with softened vanilla ice cream.
BOMB.

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The flag bunting was custom-made for the party, courtesy of our friend Jessica at SoVerySplendid.

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Another fabulous item from Jessica at SoVerySplendid: 

a custom-made letter S -- in a sunny yellow, with uber-fun striped fabric to make it pop!

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Also special-ordered for the party: this adorable ruffle-butt diaper cover, 

another SoVerySplendid creation! 

How adorable is this?  

I expect that we'll be featuring this rufflebutt in MANY photos :)

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Sol and her [slightly bigger] twin, E-Machine

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Seriously, we were SO excited for our party goodies from SoVerySplendid...

They fit PERFECTLY with the theme, and we got so many compliments!

Visit her Etsy shop HERE or her FB page HERE :)

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RAMBLINGS ON A TUESDAY

It's Tuesday.  And this week is a short one, so I'm pret-ty excited about that.  I could use a day or 5 of sleeping in.

If you had to assign a caption to the photo below, what would it be?

We were looking for: "Melanie went to see Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 on Friday with sister Amanda, and [to the dismay of sister Amanda] was proudly representing Team Jacob."

Oh yes I did.  Amanda (an avid supporter of Team Edward) was soooo excited to arrive at the theatre with THAT.  Am I in love with Taylor Lautner?  Yes.  Do I enjoy any scene where he's shirtless?  Sure.  Do I want to marry a werewolf?  Obviously.  I heard on the radio the other day that Taylor gets an additional $20k for each scene where he's shirtless.  He made some good money this time around.  Those pecs are quite an investment. 

Amanda and I went to the 8:55pm showing of the movie.  The day after it came out.  And seated behind us were 2 women with 3 young girls, the little chippies averaging about 6 years old, maybe?  Okay, ladies.  If you're that much of a Twi-hard, maybe you should find a babysitter instead of subjecting the theatre to your children throughout. the. entire. movie.  And maybe you shouldn't even have your 5-year-old watching a bunch of bloodsucking vampires ripping each other's heads off (the fight scene in the end is awfully graphic and disturbing, even for adults). 

Clue #1 that your daughter doesn't belong at the theatre watching Breaking Dawn:

she shouts, "Oh look, mom!  Justin Bieber!"

when Robert Pattinson appears onscreen for the first time.

#facepalm

The movie was okay; definitely 1.5-star-worthy (at best).  I'm a little bummed that this marks the end of the Twilight saga.  Booooo.  But all good things must come to an end.  Side note: During the opening credits, the casting director (Debra Zane) is listed.... I'm sorry, but should she even have been paid for this one?  I feel like casting the fifth Twilight movie is sort of in the bag.  Talk about easy money.  Was it really that difficult to determine who should play Edward? 

I picked up a free turkey yesterday.  My company gives each employee a turkey for the holidays.  I was planning on donating mine, but my family (all carnivores) wanted me to grab a turkey for our Thanksgiving meal.  So here I sit, a dishonorable herbivore with a heavy heart, all because of the 14.36 lbs of treason thawing in the fridge upstairs.  I am ashamed of myself.

This past weekend was a busy, whirlwind weekend.  I was even able to sneak in a few photo shoots for some friends. (how adorable are they?)

Something tells me this coming weekend will be just as busy.  If you're traveling this week/weekend, have safe travels!  And have a happy Thanksgiving.  I know you all have much to be thankful for, so take some time to say thanks for the fabulous things in your life.

SHIFT YOUR FOCUS

The other day, I spent my lunch break shooting some photos downtown.  Going through the photos afterward, I saw the two below.  Look closely; they're the same shot, with the focus shifted just slightly.    Compare the detail you can see in the first photo vs. the detail in the second photo.

It's amazing how different something can be when you shift your focus.  So often I get caught up in focusing on all the wrong things in life.  It's easy to fall into that trap, putting all your time and energy into something that's NOT GOOD FOR YOU.  Take a look at the things you're spending your time, energy, and emotions on.  Consider what they're doing for you.  Are they helping or hindering your progress in life?  Are they what you actually want?

Spend some time sorting through the things you're focusing on.  Find the things that make you the most happy, the things that rarely (if ever) bring you down.  Find the things that are genuinely good and beautiful, and focus on them.  Find your happiness in your focus.  Your life could be totally different.