the monday after

the monday after the graduation-extravaganza-week was filled with sleeping in and then followed by a mad cleaning session on our poor little neglected dusty apartment.
seriously, we have been that busy, we haven't had time to dust the bookshelves and end tables, clean out the refrigerator, vacuum, dust the window sills, scrub the baseboards, bleach out the shower/bathroom...etc, etc.
our poor little apartment has been in need of a little tlc for a few weeks now.
so the day after dave receives his much deserved and much celebrated degrees, he asked if we could spend some time cleaning!
...of course!
(and the cleaning frenzy happened only after we shared a pot of coffee and french toast)
we both love it much more when out apartment is organized, clean and inviting and then we aren't embarrassed if anyone happens to stop by and happens to see our clutter, and/or the trail i leave behind when i walk through the door.
below is what we wished out place looked like all of the time.
but at least we started the week off with a sparkling, clean, good looking place!

the graduation!

double the masters double the fun!


we couldn't have asked for a better day, it was filled with lots of family and friends, lots of celebrating and a true sense of excitement for our dave.
he has worked hard and he has been diligent; he has sacrificed time with friends and time for himself as he has buckled down to finish these two degrees, and i know he is looking forward to reconnecting and spending more time with his friends now that school is done!
thanks to all who came and celebrated with us on this big day!

one great tuesday afternoon

when i work 330a-12pm,
the afternoon allows me so much time to do what i want to do.
sometimes.
other times im too tired to function.

but not today!

i had a birthday lunch with my newly-returned-back-to-the-bay-area-friend Sarah!
love her.

sarah and annie sent me a rad birthday gift in the mail last week...check it out!

and yes, its a frisbee. the postage was on the other side.:) oh creative friends!

and this evening i created graduation favors for all our friends and family who will be at the ceremony this weekend!
ahh i love little favors, and this rediscovered passion for creating and gifting.
they are delicious little snacks for our guests to enjoy.


happy tuesday to you, may you enjoy working, friends, crafting and find time to rest somewhere inbetween!

happy fathers day.

happy fathers day to my dad,
to my father in law,
to my brothers
all who are wonderful fathers!

this is one of the cards i sent out today!

happy fathers day to all the fathers out there.
thanks for loving your wives and loving your children.
a quote from john wooden,
"the greatest thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother."
and my dad has done just that!
thanks dad, i think you've done just that, you love mom like crazy.
i think you're one fabulous, loving, giving, selfless, kind, generous, compassionate, talkative, opinionated, understanding, hard working man!

graduation party part 2

thanks to all who made it out to the celebration last night!
i didn't want to be that person creeping into little clusters of conversations just to get a photo; so unfortunately i didn't get a photograph of everyone who came to celebrate with us.
(if you aren't documented, forgive me, but your conversation looked too rich to interrupt)
my friend shannon was amazing. she came out for the day to help me cook, chop, stir, clean, set up, create and make the party happen!
couldn't have done it without her!
thanks so much shannon!

(these are my new birthday aprons...love them!)

aaron and sarah were trying to sniff out the different kinds of chocolate underneath all the pretty packaging:)


jen and kim...the bff's. they were super helpful and great hostesses!


the youngest party attender with her fabulous parents!
miss ruby was a champ sleeping a whopping 3 hours through the tail end of party, and slept the whole way home!
good job ruby!!


ben and kristin...looking natural.


dave with aaron and sarah.


the graduates with the sears.


the graduates with the original kim.

it was a fun party...and more celebrating next weekend when Dave gets to walk across the stage and receive his diplomas!
oh its going to be great!

graduation party part 1.

today we will be celebrating, both Barry boys have graduated!


these are a few glimpses from the set up...i'll post more pictures soon!

my 28th birthday

An AMAZING day with Dave.
fully documented below, with over 300 pictures to sort through and decide which ones to display, as of right now i haven't done any digital editing.
my photos are raw... what i see is what you get.
i do know in the digital world, editing is a part of the digital photography art form, but i haven't jumped into that scene yet.
im sure i will at somepoint, but as of today i haven't.

my birthday started out with sleeping in, coffee and breakfast made by my fabulous loving husband dave.
he gifted me with a card that made me cry, a new apron for cooking in the kitchen, and an ottoman for our living room :) all fabulous things.

at 11am we took off for our day trip, destination north, beyond the golden gate bridge. the picnic was packed and we took off.

not even 2 blocks from our apartment dave revealed my new birthday playlist.
(its tradition, i get a new birthday playlist every year...yes he is mr thoughtful!)




dave wasn't sure about this one, i just left the camera on timer on top of a random fence post, he looks a little nervous, but it all worked out!







from the marin headlands, point bonita, light house area...
we headed to sausalito for a picnic on the pier, and ice cream cones in the park!

after a little chillaxing in the sunny side of the bay, we headed back across the golden gate.
we found ourselves in sutro heights park, over looking ocean beach!
we did a little reminiscing of the past year and where we have come and where we want to go.

we talked about the highlights of my 27th year and and concluded that it was a great year of change, moving back to the sf side of the bay, becoming more of a team, experiencing more events of life together.
i know 28 is going to be great, and with this year im sure will be more change, more growth, more moments that become memories, and lots more pictures to take so that we can document it all along the way!

we shared some snacks, some wine and talked about what we should do for our remaining time of this birthday celebration day.
after an hour in the park...we decided that cooking food for dinner sounded more optimum than eating out, so we headed to trader joes to pick up veggies and marinated meat for the grill.

and yes it was a thumbs up day!