HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Jared took the day off so we could do something for my birthday today, but unfortunately Aubrey has a cold which cancelled our dinner plans, but a lot was still accomplished!

It started off with a newborn shoot - this little guy was so sweet and did really well!

Then we went out for lunch. I did a little fabric shopping for a project and then came home to a cake delivery from my visiting teacher!

Jared got me a watch:

 (is that a harry arm or what?)

 Then we filled up the neighbors pool and all cooled off from a very hot day!

Then I worked on my project. I picked up this mid century sewing chair for free off of Craigslist yesterday. The seat comes off with storage underneath.

 I picked out some fabric that will go in my kitchen where the sewing machine is and just

finished upholstering it.

Now we are ordering in some Chinese food! It's been a pretty full day!

STUDIO IS READY!

While I've had this little garage studio space for a while, it has not been very inviting.

Jared helped me build a couple things this week to help me organize it.

First he made a blanket ladder, and second, a backdrop holder.

2 things I really needed and were super easy to make. 

I used ideas/tutorials I found on Pinterest, but they don't really even need instructions.

 There's still a lot of room for improvement -but it's functional!

 I need to add a changing table where all the little chairs are right now. That will come in handy for storage too.

 This backdrop holder was so easy to make (well, maybe because I didn't make it :)

The ladder was super simple too.

I added a few of my Aubrey's Closet items as well.

SANTA CRUZ SHOOT

Last Tuesday night we went to Santa Cruz - just for the sunset!

I wanted to see what it was like to take photos at a certain location: Natural Bridges State Park.

It was really pretty and not as windy as other locations.

SWIMMING LESSONS

Aubrey is almost done her first week of swimming lessons and so far so good!

They are every day for 30 mins. She's lucky there's only one other little girl she shares an instructor with - it could be up to 4 of them!

We'll see after tomorrow if she wants to go for another week.

LAST DAY OF BALLET/TAP

Yesterday was Aubrey's last ballet/tap dance class. All the parents got to watch and see what they do every class. I was able to pick Jared up from work so he could come watch too, and then take him back afterward.

 At the end when they lined up for a photo, Aubrey got really sad - it was because they weren't getting a sticker at the end of this class (a bracelet instead). Sheesh!

APTOS BEACH DAY

Last week on Jared's day off, both Aubrey and I wanted a beach day so we headed to Santa Cruz and ended up going a little south of SC to Aptos. We went to Sea Cliff State Beach where we found some free street parking and hiked down the long steps to the beach.

There was a long pier with people fishing off of it and at the end was this huge sunken ship which was a bird sanctuary.

 There were lots of pelicans too.

The steps up to parking

 Jared did most of the sand castle building.

 Waiting for the water to rush up the channel and around the castle - but it was an uphill battle and never quite made it.

 Aubrey is a little scared of the waves, but after a good couple hours she finally warmed up to them and wanted to play.

She got a little too wet!

 After playing at the beach we went to this pizza place: Pizza 1 that a friend reccomended.
It was amazingly good!