i bought myself a car...

since i started driving i've been given a car.  i know, spoiled me!  when i turned 16 i asked my dad for an audi tt roadster, remember those? i somehow convinced my dad that i needed one in colorado.  not practical at all.  he even went as far as going to the audi dealership, to look at them. and then he figured out what i was trying to do.  needless to say, i didn't get my audi or anything near that!  my dad bought be a very adorable little black chevy tracker, convertible style.  it was so cute and fun for a 16 year old girl.  it wasn't the fanciest of cars, but it got me to and from school and all of my sports.  the only thing was it was terrible in the snow!

my freshman year of college i didn't have car.  i went to school in boulder, 40 minutes away from my house and i didn't need one.  i learned the bus system very well this year!  plus to have your car was a lot of money! same for sophomore year.  junior year i became the president of my sorority and got a parking spot in the back of the house, so my mom gave me her tahoe.  biggest car ever!  it was a great car, and i drove that until about fall of 2010.  i handed it back to my mom. 

andrew's parents offered to give us their acura mdx, which we just got rid of.  it provided better gas mileage, and wasn't as big, and was better in the snow.  this car was awesome.  fully loaded! 

then andrew's acura tl failed on him, and the repairs were too expensive for him to fix at the time, so i offered to let him drive my acura since i take the bus everyday to and from work.  being a one car household was fine, and we were that for almost a year! crazy.  there were times where it was really frustrating.  getting stranded at the park-n-rides, not being able to go where i wanted to when i wanted to, having to rely on my sister, or friends to get me places.  i will say the nice thing was getting to spend more time with each other.  andrew would take me to the park-n-ride, the grocery store, etc.  but it certainly gets old.  and i was totally willing to sacrifice a lot to do that, but it was time for a change.

so as of friday night after work, i purchased my first car! since we were trading in the acura mdx we needed something comparable in size.  we looked at several cars before we made our ultimate decision.  i never thought in a million years that i would ever buy a suburu, but i did, and i love it.  it is actually really fancy inside and so clean and pretty!  and no i will not turn into a weirdo as so many peeps in my family had said!  in fact the first time i drove my car, i was wearing stilettos! we were sad to get rid of the mdx because it was such a good car, but it was getting up there in miles and age and this was the best solution for us at this time.

factors we considered:

*an suv (crossover was fine)
*safety specs to be over-the-top (this is the car that we'll have to lug kids around in, and we'll *something safe for not only them, but myself as well)
*great gas mileage.  the suburu does not dissapoint.  yesterday we were driving and it said that we were getting 410 miles to our tank of gas! what?!?
*space - we liked the size of the acura because it could hold a lot of cargo, our dog, andrew's work when he needs to
*good in snow.  i hate driving in the snow, and if i can have a car that i know will get me there in one piece, i'll take it!

so far i dont have any cons on the car! it runs great, kaia fits (and loves it) and we can fit both cars in our garage (major plus). 

i'm excited to have a new car that i know will last me a long time and that i got for myself.  feels great!

here is a pic (we got the dark gray one - almost black). and you better believe i'll be sporting my cu plates!

a baby shower

we found out my sister was having a baby this winter, and we were all excited for her and her family.  they have such cute kiddos and i knew this one would be just as cute.  baby robles was to be due may 4. i asked my sister when her baby shower would be and she said that the person who was going to plan it got too busy and so it wasn't going to happen.  i talked with my mom and we decided that we would be the ones to throw her one. typically you have a baby shower for your first child, and for your second if it is a different gender, and on a third if there has been a long span of time between children.  but regardless of rules or faux pas everyone should celebrate a new addition to any family! a baby brings joy and happiness to all!

sissy and aaliyah

i got started with planning right away, because frankly we were running out of time.  but i had faith in myself and planning abilities that it would be absolutely perfect.  the key to any party is to have a plan, and a vision.  i knew the exact theme i wanted to use, and it was all a matter of pulling all of my ideas together into one place.  i must say that i did plan my entire wedding and though i do believe it was beautiful and simple yet elegant, it was not my most favorite event to plan.  i like small gatherings, where details can shine.  so back to the theme.  i love bees and since we weren't finding out the gender, i needed a gender neutral theme that would suit a boy or a girl.  i just find pink and blue to be overdone and boring so i didn't choose them, but that's just me.  so along with bees i liked the b theme, baby, bee, etc.  so there we have it!

hanging on my front door

menu to let guests know what was to eat

with a theme and colors picked out, i could really dive deeper into the thoughts in my head!  i was thinking centerpieces, food, decor, crafts, the list goes on!  with a bee theme, i could really incorporate flowers and the country into my decor.  i chose to have a random selection of vases for the centerpieces with sunflowers and various other flowers in them.  i also love pinwheels and since we were playing with an outdoor theme, i thought they would look great in the centerpieces and around the house.  i love the idea of stations at any party.  it really helps people to identify the flow of things and adds a little element of sophistication.  when guest's arrived there was a gift station, for them to place their gift and then they moved on to the guest book (more on that later) and then a picture station (more on this later as well).  in the kitchen i had a food and drink station and finally a onesie station.  i did find though since people were arriving at different times and some people were really late that some might have gotten over looked and i wasn't really able to explain all at once to everyone how it would work, but it all worked out in the end.  i made adorable signs for each station and those were a hit!  everything had a label, all coordinating back to the theme.

drink station

food station, yum!

centerpieces

centerpieces on another table

next, i made tissue paper flowers in coordinating colors to hang from my ceiling over the fireplace and outside near the front door.  i prefer these to balloons. very cute and easy to make. i had a ton of ribbon left over from my wedding that i was able to recycle and reuse.  they looked so cute hanging up there i didn't want to take them down.

so adorable!

 food.  i love food.  and coming up with a menu for a baby shower is pretty tricky, especially when it is at two in the afternoon.  i decided to go with mini croissant sandwiches (chicken salad and egg salad), a fancy salad, fruit salad with a delicious orange creamsicle dip, jalapeno artichoke dip with ripped french bread, kettle chips and bundtlets from nothing bundt cakes in various flavors for dessert.  the menu was a hit and the food was amazing! i made everything. thank you pinterest for your wonderful ideas.  for drinks we bought mason jars that we took the tops off of and i purchased cute striped paper straws in a gold and white color.  we then had homemade lemonade and sun tea with lemon slices as decoration.

after everyone was done eating i had everyone take a picture with my sister in front of the fireplace and this is what would make up her book that i will give her as a gift.  i purchased from michael's a mini scrapbook and cute pages to put in it. i also found amazing stamps and stickers.  each person after they took their picture would write a note to my sister and her family.  they would then decorate their page.  i 'm having andrew's company the photo touch print out the pictures of each guest and put on one side and the other side would be decorated and the note would be attached.  the book once assembled will be adorable! (pics later)

and last but not least, the final thing we had the guests do was the onesie station.  i had an ironing board out and iron.  we purchased several onesies in different sizes and also found cute baby decals to adhere to the onesie.  each guest could make a onesie for baby robles.  they all turned out fantastic!  i loved the idea of having interactive activities for the guest as opposed to games. it allows each guest to be creative (even if they aren't) and give something back to the mom-to-be.  most baby showers i've been to had games and no one really wants to participate, so i forced people to! haha

 

as the party was nearing the end, my sister opened gifts and then the guests were on their way.  but not before they took their parting gift with them.  i homemade perfect sugar cookies and individually wrapped each one in cellophane and tied it up with the raffia and wrote a thank you for coming note on the outside.

overall everyone enjoyed themselves and it was cute and fun!  if you know of anyone who would like to hire me to plan their baby shower, i would love them to contact me! 

where does my garden grow?

for several months i've contemplated growing my own herbs and vegetables in my house.  i've had one plant at my house (inside) and a few flower plants (outside) in my house over the 3 years we've owned the place, but i've managed to kill each of them like it was my job.  i tried i tell you.  i read the directions, followed the directions, and one would think that in doing this you'd get the results you hope for.  so when i mentioned to andrew that i was interested in growing herbs and veggies he was a little surprised.

i recently traveled abroad to the countryside in hungary and fell in love with everything about it.  the beautiful homes, the luscious green pastures and the ability to have your own farm! what a dream.  every home had their own garden. and when i say garden, i mean serious in-the-ground, straight rows garden.  serious business yo!  and i think it's the soil there, but the veggies are huge and full of flavor.  i was interested in having my own garden before, but this solidified my intentions.  and to top everything off on my make-my-own food ventures, i'll be canning various items i grow.  andrew even set up a wonderful shelving system in our garage closet to store my creations! so excited. 

so i'm prolly a little late on the game for this summer, but perhaps not for tomatoes since they thrive in heat, and people who don't normally get tomatoes into later in the summer already had nice produce!  so who knows.

so i live in a townhome, and i have no yard.  so this could pose a problem to my dream, but i have a deck and i would say i'm pretty handy, so i'm going to build a box to hold said veggies!  i've found some cool options to choose from, and we'll see what i come up with.  here are just a few that i've found on pinterest.  i'm hoping to get it set up for fall start so i can start growing winter veggies, and we'll see how it goes. 

the herbs will be a must regardless, i'm just trying to work on this other outdoor option.  also i've come across some wonderful people who are already doing this and with their help, i think i'll be successful.  which one should i do?

breaking bad!

i'm basically obsessed with the show breaking bad on amc! i flew threw the 1st three seasons on netflix and then had to slowly wait to finish the 4th since it wasn't out, only for purchase.  comcast recently ran all the episodes on demand and i was stoked!  so i recently flew threw all of those episodes just in time for the season premier this sunday!  this is by far one of the best shows out there and has been critically acclaimed to be one of the best series on any network.  the plot and characters always keep you on the edge of your seat, and the producer never disappoints his fans!  so if you are looking for me on sunday evening, you'll know where to find me!

this season picks up right where four left off and gets even more intense! i can't wait to see the characters get more dark and the storyline take off.  watch this sunday on amc 10/9c!

a baby

baby robles arrived to this world april 22, 2012 at 1:49 pm.  he weighed in at 8 lbs 9 oz and a full head of hair!

to say he's adorable is an understatement.  he has beautiful big brown eyes just like his siblings and the most adorable face!  he's a baby of many facial expressions, very alert, but very quiet.  it's sad to say, but sometimes you forget he is even there, because he is sleeping all of the time! except you know when it's actually time for everyone else to sleep. i literally can't stop taking pictures of him when i see him.  caleb has won all of our hearts, just like any baby does, and i can't wait to see him grow up just like his siblings have. 

having him around is really exciting.  i normally don't hold babies because i'm afraid of how fragile they are, and i get really nervous.  i'm sure that the more time i spend with caleb will put me at ease, but it will definitely take some getting used to. 

seeing baby caleb and taking care of him makes me wonder how i'll be as mom.  naturally it is the next step in andrew and my relationship, but it scares me a little bit, actually a lot.  i want kids and i think that i'll make a good mom, just not now.  even though seeing about a million people i know around me having babies makes me want one now, i know in my heart, at this point, andrew and i aren't ready.  taking the leap into parenthood is something that can wait for now.  i want to travel, go to grad school, move away from colorado for a bit and grow my relationship with andrew so that when we do bring a child into our home and lives it will be stronger than ever. 

i know when i got married people would most often ask when we would have kids, and i told them about 2 years.  well people we've reached that two year promise, and it doesn't look like it's happening anytime soon.  i know in my heart that i can't do this now, if i had to i would, but i don't want to have to be a mom, i want it to be right.  i want andrew and i to be more comfortable financially, mentally, spiritually, and physically.  i can't give anyone a date, or a year as to when this will happen, but for now i can enjoy caleb, yehoshua, and aaliyah, and my pinterest baby board!

pics to come!