About once a month (or, occasionally, a bit more frequently…), a group of my girlfriends hold a “Girls’ Night Out.” Last week, I hosted a Valentine’s Day-themed “Girls’ Night In.” About 25 women came together for conversation, cake-tinis, cupcakes and other sweets, and I was left feeling pretty darn fortunate to be surrounded by such [...]
Archive for the ‘Rebecca’ Category
15 Jan
Rock chalk!
I bought season basketball tickets last fall, which is perhaps the best bad decision I’ve ever made. We’ve had a great time trekking out to the weekly games over the past couple of month. On Saturday, we also had Bryan’s company tickets, so we took the girls with us. Despite trailing behind Iowa State for [...]
12 Jan
Chocolate Layer Cake
Two notes about this very traditional chocolate layer cake, made from Martha Stewart’s super easy, one-bowl chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream recipes: First, layer cakes are apparently the hip, new thing, and second, they always remind me of a sentiment I share with my girls — “I love you more than cake.” When Ava hears [...]
22 Dec
Smith Family News
Ava and Olivia have been sharing some new news far and wide this month—we’re expecting baby number three to arrive in early July! The girls are VERY excited to be big sisters, though they admit hoping for yet another girl. (I’m quite sure this one is a boy, but I’ve thought that twice before…) Aside [...]
13 Dec
Classmate gifts
Thanks to an idea I found on Pinterest (please, go right now and sign up–I’ll wait), I am spending the afternoon making “Reindeer Noses” for Ava’s classmates. While the original Pin suggested a much more intricate label, I found an old reindeer stamp to work just fine. It took me quite a bit of time [...]
1 Dec
Livie Lou Whoooo’s party details
When I decided on a owl theme for Olivia’s fourth birthday, I was sure it was a relatively unique idea. However, my first search for “owl birthday party” ideas turned up four million results. Literally, FOUR MILLION. So, not terribly creative, it turns out. However, the first 500,000 or so ideas really helped inspire the [...]
28 Oct
Catching up
This is always a hectic time of year at work, and yet, it’s probably my favorite—events come together, blueline print proofs magically turn into boxes upon boxes of publications with that new-ink smell, and the entire campus rallies around fall sports and an unbelievably gorgeous landscape. This also happens to be my favorite time of [...]
5 Oct
“We’ve got spirit, how ’bout you?”
Nope. No spirit here. Each year, the KU spirit squad hosts a fundraiser. For about fifty bucks, you can send your little cheerleader down to the sidelines to cheer on the Jayhawks during a football game. One of Ava’s sitters cheers competitively at the high school level, and she invited Ava to participate. I thought [...]
18 Sep
Perfect for kids AND adults!
When you spill your wine on Mom’s deck twice in two days, your glassware is instantly “upgraded.”
