It's Bunco Night and I'm on a Roll

I think my job here is done.

The neighborhood ladies have now pegged me Martha Stewart.

I'd like to make one thing clear, however:

The oxford shirts, I'm okay with. 

The haircut? 

I absolutely refuse.

I joke

but in all honesty, 

I DO love all the crafting and cooking and entertaining

and quite frankly, 

it has been a blessing to be able to do this.

It has helped us form new friendships

and nurture old ones.

Last night's first neighborhood Ladies Bunco Night 

was no exception.

I chose a Southern theme for this night,

largely because of my 

raging {yes, I used the word raging} love affair with mason jars,

which I knew would be the binding constant

for all the decor I was planning on using.

Not to mention,

this theme would be a great excuse for me to try to make

these pecan tartlets I'd been meaning to make for some time now.

I also made mini caprese salads,

two kinds of mini quiches,

mini pulled pork sandwiches

and grilled cheese sandwich bites

with creamy tomato soup shots

{I'm a sucker for everything mini}

And of course, what party would be complete

without a signature beverage?

I chose to have mint juleps

{served in my favorite latch bottles},

sweet tea, and lemon water

and labeled with adorable doily tags that I made.

{Yes, I realize that mint juleps are not supposed to be mixed with water, but at the same time, I didn't need to be blamed by the neighborhood husbands for their wives not coming home because they would have passed out on my living room floor with how strong the mix itself was! It was mostly bourbon!}

We spent the evening laughing and having so much fun learning how to play Bunco

that yours truly forgot to take pictures of us playing the game!

{and for those of you wondering, I won the night's Most Bunco's prize -- a whopping $25! Hooray for lunch money this week!}

I also got an adorable hostess gift

from my beloved Canadian Michéle,

who is an artist.

Her favorite hobby is glass fusing,

and she owns this amazing kiln to "bake" all her finished products.

She "baked" me something and it was such a sweet and thoughtful gift!

Merçi beaucoup, mon amie!

I must say, everyone had a wonderful time

and we are looking forward to next month's event!

Okay, I Give.

I was bad.

I know.

A couple of weeks ago, I made the announcement on my Facebook page that J and I had finally begun again in our IVF process.


And since then, I have made no other mention of what else we have been doing in the process. 
I get it.
I've kept you hanging. 
I'm sorry.

I was very leery about sharing again,

advised by many that last year's set of posts

may have "jinxed" it.

I get what they are saying.

Traditionally, you're not even supposed to announce the pregnancy

until at least 3 months of gestation.

Many frowned on my decision to share the journey

and especially the good news so early with everyone.

But how could I not?

This blog was created exactly for that purpose: 

to share this incredible and miraculous process with our friends and family.

I know that some may still frown upon my decision to share all the details again,

so to them I say this:

HAVE.

FAITH.

{source: Pinterest}

After all, it is not through science, but our FAITH in God and His GRACE alone that we were blessed with our girls.

And yes, "jumping the gun" and announcing so early that the pregnancy took may not be the way of tradition,

but it allowed for J and me to involve everyone in our happiness,

to share our love for each other and the fruits of our love with everyone.

When I lost the girls, a dear friend was consoling me on the phone, and when I told her that I wanted my girls back, she told me something that reaffirmed our decision to share our news with everyone. She said,

"Angela, you shared those girls with us

from the time even before they were made.

Because of that, we take ownership of them too.

Your loss is ours.

Those girls . . . they were our girls too."

You never wish what happened to us to anyone else,

but knowing that your friends and family help carry your load

brings comfort and solace beyond explanation. 

So now I will continue to share with you.

As of today, I have been on Day 15 of my birth control pills again, which, as you may remember from this post 

or maybe this post

that this is the first of many phases of the treatment.

On Tuesday, September 27th, I will be undergoing the hysteroscopy. J and I also have our labs ordered through Kaiser, and we will be doing those. 

Yes, the irony is that our timeline is just like last year's.

This time last year was when we were going through all these procedures.

Wouldn't it be a kick if August 8th would be the next baby's due date?

Redecoration Nation Part III

I told you so. 

I told you I'd been having a love affair

. . . with mason jars, that is ;-)

As promised in my preview post earlier this week,

here is a new addition to my decoration addiction.

So last week, I was perusing on Craigslist

{yes, I am a total gypsy. I LOVE Craigslist.}

And I saw this sweet corner unit.

I needed a corner shelf / hutch for my dining room

and I lucked out with this baby.

Cute, right?

Here are the touches I added to it:

Mason jars on a cake pedestal.

The mason jars are standard Kerr widemouth jars

and the cake pedestal was purchased from Crate and Barrel last year.

These vintage milk bottles are a recent find also from Crate and Barrel. 

I absolutely fell in love with them and it was such a bonus to me that they are Italian glass!

You asking about these babies?

Yes, they are some of my new favorite items in my house!

And the best part?

They are upcycled projects I made!

They were inspired by a find I had from Pinterest!

These vases are actually ones that my flowers have come in when J had given me some {i.e. Valentine's Day, anniversaries, and -- the best kind -- the "just because" ones!}.

J had bought me some paint in chartreuse green / Tiffany blue

{I sent him to Home Depot with one of my Tiffany boxes to get the correct blue}

and I used them to paint the inside of the vases.

{a DIY project to come in a future post!}

Now they stand proudly on top of my new corner hutch

next to my peonies in my white ceramic pitcher...

and I am

IN.

LOVE.

So next project to share:

My newly "vintage" tinted mason jars.

I haven't exactly figured out where they will be placed,

but I know I'm going to use them as lanterns

for my upcoming Bunco party that I'm hosting for the neighborhood ladies.

Our theme: Southern Belles and Mint Juleps!

Stay tuned for that post!

P.S.

Have you checked out our Etsy store lately?

Remember that all followers of the blog 

get an additional 20% off your entire purchase!

Redecoration Nation Part III PREVIEW

A preview of what is to come
for my next installation of Redecoration Nation
featuring...

... tah-dah!! 
Repurposed / upcycled vases!
Tune in for the next Redecoration Nation post!

Blackout!

I looked out over the valley last night and found a sea of darkness. The last of days of summer had been pounding us with heat and humidity and this evening was no exception. Though the night had brought cooler weather, it remained still and breezeless. 


I am shaken from my zoned out state by the stifled giggles of children running past me. It is 8:45 p.m. on a school night and close to twenty neighborhood children are playing Cops and Robbers on our street. In the background, I hear chatter and laughter from the adults, with 90's pop music and the Green Bay Packers vs. New Orleans Saints game from someone's car radio.


It is a blackout, an event that I spent many years enduring as a child in the Philippines, but as a resident of South Orange County, CA, this event is unheard of.


The power went out at about 3:30 p.m., when I was still at work. With most of my duties performed on a computer, it brought our entire office to a standstill. Upon checking my cell phone, I noticed that it read, "No Service". The cell relay sites must have gone down too, I was told. I was able to leave a few minutes earlier to stop by and drop off mail at the post office. No luck -- by the time I had arrived there at 4:30, the doors were shut and locked. 


I headed to the supermarket with the intention of purchasing some ice to keep in our ice chest and in the freezer to save my precious steaks and ice cream {a balanced diet, I know}, holding my breath that it may not even be open. Surprisingly, they were open for business, and even more shockingly, they were still able to run on minimal power and accept debit and credit cards. Though I had cash on me, I could hear my husband's voice in my head {"Keep the cash. Use the debit card, since you can. We may need the cash later and not be able to get some"}. Sweet, I thought. It wasn't long until I was greeted by disappointment when I found an almost empty ice case. The lady in front of me had grabbed the last block of ice. Not letting that get in the way of my goal, I grabbed five large bags of the only other alternative: flavored ice. I figured it would do the job of saving my steaks, and if anything, they'd make for great cocktails that I counted on having later on that evening. No matter what, I wanted to get home, and quick, as I was sure that everyone was going to treat this situation as a disastrous catastrophe, and that equated to ridiculous traffic. 


I got home and ensured that my movements were slow -- with the heat, humidity, and no electricity to run our air conditioning, I was not about to tire myself out. It wasn't long until our neighbors started gathering on my driveway... and suddenly people were bringing lawn chairs, blankets to sit on our front lawn, candles, and flashlights. 

As dark became more imminent, children huddled in small and large groups, plotting the rules of whatever game they happened to be playing at the moment. 

 At about 9:00 p.m., screams of jubilation resounded through our cul-de-sac, as phone calls to parents came in from the local school district's automated message service, announcing that school had been cancelled the next day.

Women gathered in groups on patios, sharing stories and gossip.

Several parents brought out whatever popsicles, ice cream sandwiches, and other cold items from their freezers and handed them out to the eager neighborhood children {and even some other adults!}. At one point, someone even brought out a fire pit and put it in the street directly in front of our driveway.

In any other given time or place, it may have been easy to complain, squirm in discomfort, or find blame in whoever or whatever it may have been that caused us all to come out of the comfort of our homes, but luckily, such was not the case on the night of the big West Coast Power Outage. It seemed to me that everyone was actually thankful for it.


For a few hours, summer seemed to have found its way back to our street. Illuminated only by flashlights, candles, and glowsticks, everyone was able to have an encore of a hurrah for summer.