Vintage Couture

Elizabeth Watabe was spotted today in a vintage Karen Harrison design. The wine colored velvet dress was a couture design in 1982 for Michelle Harrison Watabe (Elizabeth's mom and the designer's daughter). It was also worn in 1999 by Kathryn Harrison (Karen's youngest daughter, Michelle's sister, Elizabeth's aunt). Our sources are unsure whether or not the designer's middle daughter, Laura, ever wore it.

Another source has just reported that Elizabeth's cousin Gwen wore the dress a few years ago. Elizabeth's look was updated with pigtails and patent leather boots.

She accersorized with a bracelet made from garnet Swaroski crystals and pearls that she reportedly got as a Christmas gift from her paternal grandmother. The bracelet was handmade by Sherri Shinsato, her father's cousin, specifically for her, using garnet because it's her birthstone.

Elizabeth was smashing in this look, and we are excited to announce that Elizabeth's stylist has confirmed that she will be debuting her very own Karen Harrison couture design for Easter (if her stylist and the designer can find time to collaborate in the near future!)

2 Weeks of Birthday Celebration 2 Weeks Later!

As I previously mentioned, my 30th birthday celebration lasted 2 weeks. It was a big one, so I guess it warranted 2 weeks focused on yours truly. I'm realizing February was a very self-absorbed month for me, with all the birthday stuff and then the sickness and surgery. It definitely reflects in my recent blog posts which have all been ME. And this one is probably the worst of all, just to warn you!

It all started the week before my birthday when I went to Utah to visit my dear friend, Erin. We had so much fun hanging out, talking, doing pedicures, going to Cafe Rio, seeing a movie, and making this amazing 5 layer chocolate "cake" which was mostly frosting with a tiny bit of cake (didn't stop me from eating more than my fair share). Oh, and when I say we made the cake, I mostly mean Erin made it, while I watched and occasionally gave my advice on what she should do (it was her first time making it), some of which wasn't the best (notice how the frosting is sweating -- that was from the salt we added to the frosting made with unsalted butter. Long, funny story, but I'll spare you the details, this is going to be a long enough post already - did I mention it was 2 weeks of celebrating?)

Anyway, this is Erin and me.

Here is our friend Anika, who was also having a birthday. And that is the cake (frosting). Sunday night, before heading back to CO, I had dinner with Nate's family. Faith made me this yummy pound cake. I thought the candles were really cute! On the actual day of my birth I met some friends for breakfast, but unfortunately forgot to take pictures until it was just sweet Julie and I left. So here we are in front of the little French cafe where we ate very yummy food. I got an omelet with champagne sauce. I figured, it's my birthday, we might as well get this party started early! (Relax people, the alcohol cooks out). I did joke that I was going to request the sauce be cooked as little as possible, but of course I didn't do that. I do have some morals. Here's a picture of my darling Lizzie and me. She had fallen outside the restaurant and gotten a bloody lip. I got to help out at Harrison's Valentine's Party at school. It was so fun to be there and watch him in his school environment. I was supposed to be helping all the kids, but I accidentally spent all my time with Harrison. He kept saying, "Mom, thanks so much for coming to my party." What a sweetie! I wish you could see his pants in the picture. They were red too. He said, "Miss Kristie said you have to wear red or pink, and you can't wear any blue." As much as I doubted the part about the blue, we went with it. That night Nate had big plans to take me out to dinner to a surprise restaurant. It was so fun that he had a plan and I didn't know what was going on. We went to a place called Trappers. It was one of those nice, dimly-lit places with live music. Very romantic. The other special thing about this place was that you cook your own steak on a 700 degree lava stone. We got a kick out that and it was also very delicious. They brought out three sauces to dip the meat in. I am a saucy kind of girl, so I loved switching back and forth between all the sauces. For the record, the chipotle remoulade (fancy word for mayo, I think), was our favorite. I love that Nate tipped the musician on our way out. He's always cool like that. And in the elevator on the way down, a tall, dark and handsome man complemented me on my heels. Never hurts to get compliments from random strangers.

After we got back from dinner I went over to my friend Shauna's for my first-ever facial. She's an esthetician. I'm kinda sad we didn't take a picture. It was so nice of her and I really appreciated it. I was surprised how intense it was. My face was the softest it's ever been after that. As my dad said when I told him that, I've always had a really soft face, so that was impressive. Unfortunately, Shauna taught me another word to describe my face. Congested. As in, the pores. Maybe has something to do with the fact that I don't wash it at night and when I do wash it in the shower it's with stuff from Wally's. Maybe sometime in my 30th year I'll grow up and start treating my skin the way it deserves to be treated. As Shauna, 28, also pointed out, I'm getting older and so is my skin.

A week after the big day my sweet friend, Mina, threw me the funnest party. Unfortunately, I was very sick, but I still had a great time and thought it was such a thoughtful idea. We went to "Arts on Fire" (a Color Me Mine type place). And each person made a plate for me, so that I will have a set of hand-painted plates made by my friends. They also each brought very yummy food. I tasted about one bite of each thing, which was still way too much for my sick tummy, but I could tell it was delicious. Here's the beautiful chocolate mint cake that Mina made for me. Wow, that's a lot of candles.
Here's some actions shots of the plate painting. I picked the color scheme of black, white, and red because I think I'll always like those colors. It was so fun to observe how everyone's personality effected the way they went about making their plate and how their plate ended up looking. I always enjoy analyzing people and this was a great opportunity for that. The plates all looked very cute, but I can't wait to see them once they're all done. I'm planning on having everyone over to eat off of the plates, so they can all enjoy the fruits of their labors. Plus, it'll be fun. And I'll enjoy getting to spend time with the same group when I'm feeling more myself. And eating when I'm feeling more myself. I felt very special. Thank you everyone. Your thank you notes are in the process of being written. I didn't want to blow my horrible germs all over the cake, so Mina blew out the candles for me. I think I made a wish, and if I did, it's the same wish I always make (since at 15 my other standby wish that I'd made for over a year on every candle, eyelash, repeated #'s on a clock, etc. that I'd get to kiss my biggest crush finally came true. And yes, I kissed a boy shortly before I was 16, and I liked it (sing to tune of that naughty, yet very catchy song)). But don't tell my children that. Wait, isn't the point of this blog to keep a record for posterity? Oh well, I've gotta keep it real. But I digress. Since then I've been wishing that I could lose weight without any effort, and what do you know after 15 years, that one finally came true too. (Actually that came true when nursing both of my children as well, so I guess it has come true 3 times and only took 10 years to come true the first time). Come to think of it, that night I may have also wished to get better, and that came true too. Maybe I'll always have a friend do the blowing out while I do the wishing. The other key to the wishes coming true might be to actually have all the candles. I'm usually a cheapskate/lazy bum, when it comes to candle accuracy for adults. Thank you, Mina, for being neither of those. I think I've mentioned before that I think pictures of people genuinely laughing are very special. So even though there are already of 150 pictures of you-know-who in the post, I had to include this one too. Thanks for taking it, Tamara.

So that's the recap of 2 weeks of celebration. I think it's safe to say that I brought in my 4th decade on this earth in proper style and merriment. Thank you to everyone who made it so special. I really did feel the love. And I love you too.

One Year Older and Less Wise Too

So, I had my wisdom teeth out at the ripe old age of 30. Most people get this done in their late teens or early 20's, but I hadn't developed wisdom teeth at that point. Once I did get them, I procrastinated getting them out for a few years and then was either pregnant, nursing, or wanting to get pregnant (I'm actually wishing I was already pregnant at this point). So, I never got them out. Now that I am ready for baby #3, I decided I better get them out before we start that whole process and have to wait another 2 years. Plus, two of the teeth had broken through a little and were kind of annoying and I felt like my teeth were crowding and didn't want that to get any worse. So $1250 later, I have no more wisdom teeth. Hopefully I won't be any less wise.

They put me completely out, which was quite alright with me. I've decided I would love to be put out for any and all unpleasant experiences in the future. Morning sickness, labor, long plane rides and/or car trips, children throwing fits, etc. It's really quite amazing how one minute you're there, the next minute you're gone, and then you wake up and remember none of it.

The recovery hasn't been quite as bad as I thought it would be. Nate took 2 days off of work to take care of me and the kids. I have had my fair share of smoothies, ice cream, mashed potatoes, soup, pudding, vicoden, and ibuprofen.

They sent me home with this handy dandy ice pack headband that they lovingly called a jaw bra. Why I insist on posting hideous pictures of myself on my blog, I don't know. Here I am trying to show the swelling, which really wasn't that bad at that point. More disturbing is how pale I am. Nate kept commenting on that, but I didn't really notice until now. By Friday night the swelling was definitely worse. Here's another gorgeous picture to prove it. By yesterday I was finally ready to do full hair and makeup for church, which I think distracted from the swelling. Plus, it had gone down.
Wow my face looks asymmetrical in this picture. Was I raising one eybrow or is it always like that?

So after two weeks of suffering and misery (remember, I was sick the week before), I am finally feeling somewhat normal and ready to face life again. I cleaned out the toys in Harrison's room this morning -- a chore that provides lots of entertainment for the kids as they remember long lost playthings.

The remaining complaints are that I still have numbness on the right lower side, and chewing still presents lots of problems. I have lost another 2 pounds since the week I was sick (5 total). Forget dieting and exercise -- illness and surgery are very effective!

For the record, New Beginnings went very well on Wednesday night. It actually turned out fine that I saved all the work for the 2 days before. Thankfully the other leaders helped a lot too. I am SO relieved to have that over with. The stake is putting on YW in Excellence (our other big annual program), so my major YW stresses are done until next year. Hallelujah!

Anyway, I've saved these two pictures for last, because they really are quite disgusting. These pictures are not for the faint hearted. I am not faint hearted (obviously, I'm the kind of girl who asks them to save my teeth for me so I can see them.)

If you get squeamish about rotten looking, bloody teeth with huge chunks of my gum still attached, then don't look down.

Yes, that pinkish red stuff is gum tissue. Now that even disturbed me. And why they look brown and rotten is beyond me.

They say I need to eat soft foods for SIX weeks! If I don't seem normal and happy for the next 5 weeks and 2 days, you'll know why.

Seriously, does anyone know how to make this put spaces between my paragraphs. They're here when I'm editing and then when I post they're gone.

Post Edit: Thank you Kat(e) for your tips on the spacing! It worked perfectly!

Sick and Tired

I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired (and having kids who are too)

Let's sum up this week since I got sick on Monday, noon-thrity-ish

(yes, it came on that suddenly)

Times I've left the house: 2

Total amount of time gone: 3 1/2 hours

Times showered: 1

Lounge outfits worn: 5 (I keep thinking that the ones from yesterday have germs on them and I might reinfect myself -- I guess this logic doesn't pertain to the germs living on my body that I have not washed off. . .)

Days Harrison went to school: 1

Nights I've been in bed by 8 PM: 2

Mornings I've stayed in bed past 8 AM: 5

Times I had to call Kaiser to try to get appointments: 3

Key word: TRY -- apparently Kaiser not only forbids patients from directly calling the Dr's office and making an appt., they also decide for you on the phone whether or not you're really sick enough to warrant an office visit. (Maybe when I feel better I'll be grateful they saved me two co-pays plus a prescription or two, but I kind of like the "You've suffered for 5 days? By all means, let's get you on an antibiotic" approach.)

Times I took 2 tsp. of Nyquil instead of 2 tbsp. and lay there wondering why I wasn't sleepy and why my fever wasn't breaking: 1

Really fun birthday parties thrown in my honor: 1 (more on that later)

Time I've asked Harrison to stop terrorizing Elizabeth: Whatever at least once every 5 minutes times 5 days is

Hours we've watched TV/Movies: Way too many to count, it's really quite sad

Highest Temperatures: Harrison 104.4, Me: 103.7, Elizabeth: 101.7 (or was it 102.7? That was Sunday and it's all becoming a blur)

Things I've checked off my huge to do list (that's in my head) for New Beginning's that is in 5 days: 0

Real meals I've prepared for my poor family: 0

Pounds lost due to having NO appetite (that's when I REALLY know I'm sick): 3

I guess there are some perks.

Cutest things Harrison said about sickness:

-"Mommy, you can't go to your party, you'll get all your friends sick." (Hopefully not true - I prayed for a miracle). "Remember to cover your mouth if you cough. . . a few minutes later. . . Mommy, don't forget all the things I told you and be nice to your friends."

-In a prayer: "Please bless Mommy to get feeling better and please bless me to be able to take care of everyone in my family."

Sorry for the pity party.

Arg, why won't Blogger put the spaces in my post???

Happy Heart Day!

Valentine's Day has always been a favorite of mine because 1)it's so close to my b-day 2)it's all about love 3)I love hearts and red and pink 4) I love candy and chocolate!

Side Note: Remember growing up that a select few kids dropped a conversation heart or two into the envelope of their Valentine or taped a piece of chocolate on the outside? It's crazy how it has come to a whole new level. Now it's the norm to have candy and usually more than just some little thing. I would have LOVED that when I was a kid.

Oh and my kids had all of Harrison's Valentine candy from school eaten by 7 AM the following morning. Nice breakfast.


Anyway, I got a nice waffle maker from Williams & Sonoma for my wedding, but being the forward thinker that I am, I exchanged it for the heart shaped one. Now we get to have heart waffles for Valentine's Breakfast (or any other time we feel like having waffles). This year, I also added homemade buttermilk vanilla syrup to the tradition. (If you've ever had breakfast at Magleby's Fresh, it's that recipe. I had tried to figure it out several times (to no avail) and then my friend Shauna had it and I was thrilled!) I put red food coloring in the syrup and it was a big hit!

We tried pouring it on and then decided it'd be better to dip it in! (Thanks Kell, for the heart ramekins!)
For lunch, Harrison got heart shaped sandwiches which he really loved! Harrison had fun at his first ever Primary activity, which was a Valentine's Day Party. We've either been out of town or spaced the other ones, even though he's been in for over a year.

And for Valentine's Dinner our tradition is to get a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's. We realized this year that we have about out grown getting only one pizza.


At dinner we exchanged cards and little surprises for everyone. For the record, I got a carton of mint chip ice cream and will be getting Twilight when it comes out on DVD (my idea). Nate got a book that with fun date ides for us to do (kind of a selfish gift, I know, but we really need to work on dating more!) and some silly stuff from the dollar store. Harrison got a PowerRangers coloring book and Elizabeth got pink, red and white headbands that she refuses to wear (I guess they will be mine until she comes around).

We also have this tradition that Nate started of making each other homemade cards for b-days, V-day, and Mother's/Father's Day. He does his on the computer (and they are always clever and funny) and I usually do mine crafty-like. I've done a few on the computer, but I'm not very good at it. This year, mind opened backwards and the inside was upside down, despite that fact that I truly tried to think it out and get it right. I just left it because I figured it was good reflection of my lack of computer skills. Nate was cute and asked if it was a Japanese card (their books open the opposite way of ours!) Too bad we didn't get a picture of me and my Valentine together. He's pretty cute.

Reflections of a Decade

On this the eve of my 30th birthday, I have a head full of memories and a heart full of love. Mostly, because Kelly, my BFF (it sounds so middle school, but means so much more), sent me the sweetest, most thoughtful gift ever. She and Nate were in cahoots to track down 30 friends and have them write a memory and a recipe for a cookbook since anyone who knows me well knows that 1) I love to cook and 2) I have the memory of an elephant.

I could not stop smiling, laughing out loud, slighty tearing up at points, and feeling special as I read what my friends had to say. THANK YOU SO MUCH to all involved and to those who didn't respond in time, were not able to be tracked down, or may have been accidentally overlooked by Nate (he provided the bulk of the list), let's just hope I live a really long time and you can contribute to a future project :)

Reading all those memories made me want to give every one great big hugs (accept Marlene, because one of my memories of her is that she wasn't as comfortable with affection as I was). I LOVE all of my friends and am SO thankful for the influence you've had in my life and for all the good times we've had.

Unfortunately, in reading through the memories, I had a realization that I'm not as fun as I used to be. Or maybe I'm a different kind of fun. I used to be CRAZY fun. Nate said he'll take some of the blame for squelching some of the silliness out of me. I guess I also just grew up. But sometimes I feel like an old fuddy duddy and I don't like that. Don't get me wrong, I can still get silly and crazy sometimes, but I think one of the goals of my 30's will be to bring back the fun more!

I was thinking that the 20's were a decade that held TONS of changes. The most life changes of any decade, probably. Graduating college, getting married, starting (and ending) a career, having two kids, buying two homes, moving twice, having my first pretty big callings. I am predicting that the 30's won't be nearly as eventful. It will be raising the kids I've got and adding a few more to the mix. I'm sure it will be great and hopefully I'LL change a lot (because heaven knows I need to). I guess that really is my hope for my 30's, now that LIFE is done changing a ton, I hope that I can really focus on changing MYSELF into even more of the person I want to be. Don't get me wrong, I quite like myself, there's just 4 or 5 areas that need lots of work!

Anyway, thinking about this last year of my 20's, I'd say some of the highlights are:

-I re-entered the wonderful world of earrings (I know, I'm starting with a really life-changing one, huh?) On my b-day last year Nate was out of town, so I cleaned out my bathroom and found all sorts of cute earrings. I was sad that I hadn't worn earrings since we'd gotten married because my ears were really sensitive and I thought mostly closed up. I found a pair that were for sensitive ears so I put those in and left them for over a month. Then I started to experiment with trying different kinds of earrings and now I am 100% able to wear whatever earrings I want. For a girl who really loves to accessorize, this has been quite exciting.

-I took up and then pretty much gave up running. You can read all about this truly astonishing turn of events in old posts of this blog. I am still amazed I ran that 5K. I don't think I could do it now unless someone had a gun to my head, but I am SO glad I did it. For the record, the reason I stopped was that I got TERRIBLE neck pain in December and started going to the chiropractor and he said that with my scoliosis, running is the worst possible thing I could do for my back and neck. What can I say, Dr.'s orders. So now when and if I go to the gym, I do the elliptical. (Taking better care of myself physically is one of those 5 areas that I need to work on).

-I started this blog! And this, my friends, has brought an extreme amount of joy to my life. Not only in keeping a record of important events (and sometimes not so important events) and funny things my kids say, but also in getting back in touch with so many old friends and getting to know current friends on a different level. I love to read about the things going on in your lives. I recently noticed that checking blogs is like a drug to me (this actually worries me a little). I feel the strong urge to do it often and it always makes me feel better and more relaxed. I guess there are a lot worse addictions that I could have.

I had hoped that two of the highlights of my 29th year would be that I finally got my house in order, and stopped losing my patience with my kids. But alas, I still struggle with those (much to the disappointment of my mother who excels in the house cleaing area and did much better than me in the patience area too). Maybe by the time I'm 40. Or 31 (I guess I could expect a little more of myself!)

So, I'm headed to bed to continue on my birthday celebration tomorrow. It really started last Friday with a fierce 5 layer chocolate cake that my friend Erin made. Then there was another cake on Sunday with Nate's family. The festivities continue with a special breakfast in the morning, a facial, and then dinner to a surprise place Nate picked out for tomorrow. He keeps teasing me that it's Panda Express, but I know they don't take reservations and ours is for 5:30. There's also a party planned for next week. This is going to be almost two full weeks of birthday celebration. Wow. I'm feeling the love.

Thank you in advance to everyone for making this a very special birthday for me. I am so blessed to have wonderful friends and family. I LOVE YOU ALL! So much.

Recession Hurts

Christmas 2005Christmas 2008

I finally realized where Nathan had put all of the pictures from Christmas. When I saw this one, it reminded me of the one of Harrison from 3 years before (same jammies!)

I great blogger knows how to edit and that less is more, so would stop right there. But I am not a less is more kind of a girl. I am more of a blabbering, stream of consciousness kind of girl. So seeing Harrison's owie in the above picture reminded me of another commonality between these two Christmases.

We tend to have pre-Christmas accidents when we're at Obaachan and Ojiichan's house. Christmas Eve of '05 Harrison was in the shower with me and slipped on the wet tile and busted open his eyebrow. Nate's Dad made it even easier for me to avoid the ER by saying "Just let him have a nice scar, he'll look like a samurai." And since he's a boy, I was okay with that. As much as I hate the ER, I probably would have taken him in if he were a girl. Eyebrows are much more important for girls. And samurai isn't really the look we're going for!

Anyway, this year each child had their own personal Christmas injury. Elizabeth was very interested in the stockings and tried to get one down herself. Now we know that those weighted, metal stocking holders (with very pointy corners) are not meant to hold 20+ pounds.

Sadly, her forehead took the brunt of this lesson. Okay, it really looked much worse in person! Thank goodness for "ice" (or frozen sesame seeds). She wanted these on her forehead for days afterwords.

Harrison's accident was also caused by impatience and over zealousness for Christmas things! His was not stockings, but cookies for Santa.

He was really excited to smell the cookies when they came out of the oven. Even though I had just warned him that the cookie sheet was still VERY hot, he got too close and burned his chin on the rim. I actually didn't even realize it had happened (he probably didn't cry because he knew he hadn't listened!) until I noticed that he kept rubbing his chin and asked me if my chin hurt. Then I saw the blister. Which eventually scabbed over, as you can see here. Over a month later, there's still a faint scar. "Santa" really enjoyed the cookies, but I don't know it that's worth it! I guess it just adds to the Samurai look.

So, short and to the point might not be my forte, but at least I thought of a title that pulls it all together, right? :)