Our friends Tiffany and Daniel, along with their son, Landon came over Thursday night for Halloween. Donald picked up pizza from usual, Siracusas and we Trick or Treated across the street in what I called our "borrowed" neighborhood. We live in an older neighborhood and there aren't really any kids. The subdivision across the street is newer and has lots of families. We hit up a few houses and headed back when it started sprinkling. Of course it stopped about the time we got to the top of the hill.
Love her expression here! It looks like we took away her Dum-Dum from above, but she was actually just reacting to Tiffany making funny faces. And of course it works for the child that isn't yours. Her child isn't even fazed.
Friday night was date night.
We saw Will Hoge in concert at Terminal West at King Plow. This is probably my fifth time seeing him. Love his voice. And that he wears vests. And he has a beard. Oh and he plays guitar. All pluses in my book. He's not very well known, but co-wrote "Even If It Breaks Your Heart". This song was made very popular by The Eli Young Band. He also wrote "Strong", the new song for the Chevrolet commercials.
I've never been to this venue before but loved it. One, it's really convenient to our house. Two, it's a very intimate space. Always nice to be able to see someone up close and personal. However, the drawback to seeing a band in such close quarters is the very likely chance that people will be there for a date. And by a date, I don't mean so they can sit together to listen to the person they paid money to see. What I mean is so they can stand at the bar and scream across the noise of the person who is clearly just serving as really loud background music for them and then when that artist tries to sing a soft and quiet personal song, be the noise you hear instead. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. It's so incredibly rude and selfish. I could rant about this for hours probably. But I'll move on.
As I was walking up to the venue, I noticed this on the front of a bus. Clearly it's a Ford, but I love what someone did. Very clever!
We received a gift certificate to Just Kiln' Time on The Marietta Square from our friend, Laurie as a baby gift. It's one of the paint your own pottery places. I've been to this place maybe half a dozen times and love it. I love this shop, but any of the paint your own stores are a great place to go on a date, for a baby or wedding shower, to celebrate a birthday or even by yourself for some alone time. The pottery makes great gifts. About 11 years ago, I surprised Donald for his birthday by planning a date night at Wired and Fired and Noche in Virginia Highlands. We each painted a trivet and he also painted an incense burner. When we were done, we walked a few stores down to Noche to have dinner. I've also celebrated a birthday at Just Kiln' Time and threw a wedding shower here. My bachelorette party was at All Fired Up in Alpharetta.
I really wanted to stamp Stella's feet and hands on something. I've stamped her feet before and knew it wouldn't be that difficult, but the hands are another story. She's reaching and grabbing for everything. And let me tell you, she has quite the grip! The owner/manager (who remembers me every single time I walk in, even if it's been a year or more between visits) stamped the feet first. Success! She attempted to do the hands on a piece of paper and as we suspected, Stella would not cooperate. I just don't have anything to show how tiny her hand actually is and I want to remember it and be able to actually see it. She said they usually can't to do the hands until a year. I'll keep trying and maybe try this instead. Or this one to include Bandit.
This picture was my inspiration for one of the plates. I sing "You are my Sunshine" all of the time. I have a sun painting in her nursery and the words to the song up next to the sun. My mama sung it to me and now I sing it to Stella. I wanted to do the hands, but we settled for the feet. The lady stamped her right foot four times in yellow and the left one four times in orange. I've been singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" since our first night in the nursery. Stella was fussing a tiny bit and my first instinct was to start singing to soothe her with the voice she'd been hearing for months. My mind went blank on nursery rhymes. I started saying things like "It's OK Stella, mommy's here" and "shhhhhh" and thought about how her name meant "star." I've been singing it ever since. I basically alternate between the two songs.
I didn't do too much for the top one. Basically the owner stamped her feet and I drew the words on. Donald stamped stars onto the bottom one and painted blue around everything, then wrote the words. Here is the finished, but not fired product. I can't wait to get these back on Friday.
Oh, Donald and I left with a souvenir for ourselves. We did a little round medallion with our thumbprints that makes a heart. His print is on the left and I'm on the right. I think it will be appropriate to make it a Christmas ornament since we'll celebrate 12 years together on December 23rd. I saw it here and decided to do stamp it instead of make it into jewelry. I'll attempt that later perhaps.
Stella was great for most of the time we painted. I did have to wrap her up and walk for a little bit to get to her sleep so we could finish painting. I walked over to Cool Beans for a delicious vanilla latte. I never liked coffee before I was pregnant. That was my weird craving and it has continued. I drink very, very little compared to most people, but when I want it, I want it now. It smells fabulous inside. They roast all of their beans in house and my latte had a definite roasted and smokey flavor, absolutely delicious.
Saturday was such a perfect Fall day. After we finished up a Just Kiln' Time we walked around the square for a bit.
We noticed a new children's shop called Rhinos and Rhinestonez so we stopped in. Stella had fun playing in the dressing room mirror with Daddy. They have super cute stuff inside. Like clothes I want to buy for Stella and then have the exact outfit made for me so we can match. For actual matchiness, keep reading.
We dropped in Lizards and Lollipopz (sister store to R&R above) and Stella fell in love with this stuffed dachshund. Our Bandit at home is a Daggle (that's what I'm calling a Dachshund and Beagle mix if it isn't already a name) and Stella LOVES him. She turns towards him when she hears him walk into the room. She totally opens her mouth to receive his sloppy, wet kisses. She lights up and reaches out for him and it's the sweetest thing. He doesn't know it yet, but they are going to be best, best friends. Especially when she starts chowing down on real food and throwing it all over the floor.
Right before we jumped in the car to go home, I had Donald take my picture with Stella. I purposely dressed to match her adorable outfit and wanted to capture her happiness from the day.
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