Along Abbey Road

Get ready to meet the most charismatic lady! Everything about Abbey is so charming. From her style, to her growing little family, you just want to smile from head to toe because her life is so beautiful. Not to mention her perfect hair that I would like to steal for myself ;) I'm sure you will be just as smitten with her.

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Hello, hello Little Almanac friends! Pleased to meet you! I am Abbey from Along Abbey Road, a personal life and style blog. So happy and honored to be here, because I think Kendra is absolutely awesome. I just have to ask, are you all as obsessed with following her Pinterest as I am? It's like she finds things from a magical little Pinterest stockpile that nobody knows about, and then brings immense joy to the pinning universe by sharing them. 

Okay, enough with the Pinterest gushing. How about I fill you in on a little bit of my life?

I am addicted to chocolate. Honestly. I eat it every day, and would probably go through withdrawals if I stopped. My favorite movie is The Holiday. I have literally watched it at least 82 times. Jude Law and Cameron Diaz should totally be real life lovers. Which reminds me, I should also inform you that I am a self-proclaimed pop culture whiz. People and Us Weekly are close companions of mine. I have been solely ordering the McChicken from McDonald's for the last 12 years of my life -- when I was 12, I got food poisoning from Mickey D's, which sent me to the hospital and I just can't summon the nerve to eat anything else on the menu anymore. Sad story, huh? If you can add, you would have arrived at the conclusion that I am 24 years old. If you can't, no judgment here. I am pitiful at math too. My husband, Matthew, is my partner in crime and my comic relief. We are that couple who tends to do strange things we think are hilarious, yet the general public stares at and sizes up for idiots. Good thing there's a match for everyone, right? So happy to have met up with mine! We've been hitched for almost 3 years and love snuggling on our 2 month old baby, Luke. Being a mom is definitely the best thing in the world. 

On Along Abbey Road, you will find the ridiculous, the sentimental, loads of pictures, projects, and my personal style and tastes. Let's be friends!

the hard part about being the camera hog is...

... I am never in any photos. I rule the camera at our house, if you can't tell. I always have my phone or slr within a hop's distance. I do this because I love capturing the actual moment, not trying to stage a moment that wasn't there or trying to re-enact it later when the glory has come and gone. So therefore, since I am the one with the huge emotional attachment to savoring each memory, I am kinda left out of the memory. This is fine by me for a couple reasons:

a. I am the worst camera poser. Every pose I do in the camera feels like that - a pose. I find it hard for me to act natural in front of the camera. But ya know, I think the reason for that has to do with the fact that I am always handling the camera and so if someone is taking my picture that means I have ASKED them to take my picture and therefore I can't all of the sudden go all natural and "hahaaha laugh" like that's the backstory of the photo when it's not. I asked to have my photo taken. So it has to be posed at that point. There's no alternative. This results in just a boring photo of me standing in front of bushes looking stagnate, in which I demand 50 more shots to be taken, all are awkward and I decide I should never turn my face into pixels again.

b. I am all about the angle and composition of the photo. I've asked Jared {see - asked} to take some photos of Ev and I and I'll look at them in review and say "um, could you try scooting in a little closer? and maybe stand on your tippy toes a bit and shoot downward? And try not to get that pole in the background?" I have this idea of how a photo should work and I get really frustrated when I have this vision and Jared doesn't have the "eye" for it {sorry dear!}. I'm not saying that I am an expert photographer by any means! I'm just particular.

c. I only look photo worthy when I am tan. And I'm not tan right now, so we'll hold off on photos til that comes about.

d. I'm fine being the camera hog because I get to be the artist capturing moments of love in action. And that's what a camera's for, right?

photo taken summer 2011 by my friend Amy on the Santa Monica Pier the week before we moved

Evelyn and I are departing this weekend for California! Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions and encouragement to help us get through our travels there! So far we have a whole row to ourselves. We're praying it stays that way :)

Happy Friday!

skinned knees and baby jellies!

It has been b.e.a.utiful over here in good 'ol Virginia! I've almost forgotten about the winter blues I've suffered from the past 3 months because spring is coming in like a lion with 80* weather. With spring of course comes an abundance of animal life emerging from their winter hiding places, giving us endless creatures to scavenger hunt for. Evelyn has learned the sign for bird this week, and so after dinner each night we've gone bird watching. It's been such an eye opener for me to stop and really take in the beauty of this earth. Jared and I stop with her at just about every tree looking for a little tweet*tweet*. We examined a wiggly worm, flowers blooming and just really soaked in the little details of this world.

I also can't get enough of this little girl in her short shorts and little jellies! She's getting really good at "running" now, which led to a little spill and cut knee. Jared commented "She's not a baby anymore. She's a full grown toddler, getting her hands dirty and scraping her knees!" So true, dear, so true.

**Does anyone else always want to sing this song from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers when spring comes around? I always had a crush on Ephraim...

cookie butter

Guys, I'm pretty sure for the past 3 days I've felt the baby move, which is ludicrous because it's so early and I didn't feel Evelyn until about 17 weeks {i'm now 13 1/2 weeks along}. So naturally, I googled to see if I was bonkers and if it was just my nausea rolling in the deep rather than the babe. Turns out, it is possible to feel a baby that early, especially if it's your second + time around because you are aware of the feeling. I can't believe how quickly all of this pregnancy stuff is coming back to me and how quickly I am reacquainting myself to sleepless nights with a pillow stuffed between my legs, the awkward stage of I can't fit into my clothes but maternity stuff would look ridiculous on me right now, taking frequent cat naps and craving large portions of ice cream {wait, that's not just during pregnancy, that's all the time...}.

To make matters worse in the weight gain department, I quite possibly have stumbled across the BEST thing for cravings and the WORST thing for avoiding extra poundage. It's called COOKIE BUTTER. Yes, a spreadable cookie that you can put on celery, apples, toast, whatevs you want! I came across it last week in Trader Joe's "newbie" section and obviously knew it had to tested, so I bought a jar for the fam, brought it home and immediately text Jared saying I found the best hidden treasure in the whole world! It's like a gingerbread man left little flakes in peanut butter and now it's on my toast and doing a happy dance in my mouth. AMAZING!

Secondly, have you heard about Sprinkles opening a 24 cupcake atm in Beverly Hills?! Rumor has it one will be coming to DC this summer. This could get bad for Jared when I'm in my third trimester and 3 am rolls around .... :)

ending Sunday with a Sundae

I think I died and went to heaven this weekend. Everything about the past 3 days was perfect! If you can't tell from the photos, Mr. Oakden and Miss Evy Rae are buddy buddy these days :) Dad even taught Ev how to go down the stairs on the jungle gym while I was gone for 4 hours on Friday! What?! Best dad EVER! I love seeing those two spend quality time together.

And hello, daylight savings! You definitely are saving me in so many ways right now. Last night, it was awesome of you to stay bright until 7 so we could go on a family walk, stalk all the dogs in the neighborhood, and admire the pretty blossoms budding on the trees.

After we put Ev to bed, Jared and I decided that the only way to end this fab Sunday would be with a Sundae - warm brownie bottom, with nuts, peanut butter ice cream and chocolate sauce.

and it's a countdown to the scariest thing i have ever done

In a little over a week I will be doing THE scariest thing I have ever done in my whole life. You might expect it to be something from fear factor, and if I did have to eat larva and drink cow's blood that would definitely win out, but no, it's something that sounds so nice but for 6 hours it won't be. In less than 10 days Evelyn and I will be traveling home to California for 2 weeks. That's not the scary part, but rather the happy part! The scary part is getting there. Checking in through security, taking off my shoes while trying to keep Ev from running off, folding up the stroller and putting it on the belt all by my little mom self. Flying solo. For 6 hours. With a babe on my lap. Scrambling for toys out of my backpack. Unpacking snacks for a 13 month old and a pregnant self. Leaving at 6 in the morning. 3 hour time change. All of this sounds deathly scary to me. I'm not afraid of flying at all, it's just knowing Ev's personality all to well and knowing what a confined plane ride has in store for us both. Evelyn is a very spirited young lady and I love that about her. But sometimes all the time that spirit results in tons of energy, a loud voice, doesn't sleep on the go, and all of this is just making my nerves fry. So all week I've been preparing for this excursion and making a list of necessary things to include in our travel bag. One of those things are headphones and the first time I put them on her, Ev freaked out. Slowly but surely this week we've watched videos of her on my phone while I would sneak the headphones on. Well today, I didn't have to sit with her and watch the videos! She totally let me put them on and they stayed on and I didn't have to sit by her.

Obviously all of this will have a good outcome because we will be with my family and I am so excited to see their faces and be back in California! I am so grateful for my parents extending this invitation to us! It's just the task of getting there seems daunting right now {and the fact that i'll be leaving Jared for 14 days. How crazy is it that we haven't spent one night apart in our whole 3+ years of marriage?! Yeah, so I've had my sobfests over that too}. And Ev had a sobfest when I took the headphones away.

But how adorable is that look of sorrow? I'm hopeful she'll woo the other passengers into liking her :)

it's the little things

Jared took a break from studying the other day to give Evelyn her first piggy back ride. I don't know why she's 13 months and now just getting her first trample around on a back, but I think it's safe to say we'll be spending alot more time on all fours making silly noises in the future. I mean, how can we not when we get such smiles out of her? It's the little things that I hope I never forget.

things that make me excited for spring

1.2.3.4.5.6.7

Can we talk for a minute about how it's going to 65*-70* for three consecutive days this week here in NoVa? I could have kissed the weatherman when I heard that last night. I immediately broke out my "places to see" list and narrowed down the things I could cross off during the warm springy spurt. So this all means that spring is right around the corner and I am all too full of plans.

1. Eat about 20 bags of cadbury mini-eggs, for they only come twice a year! Except this year i didn't see any at Christmas time... and I was saddened by that. 

2. The cherry blossom festival here in DC! I've never been and I think it will be all just so magical. 

3. Zara, you will be my source for Ev's Easter dress if I can save my pennies and afford you.

4. Does anyone else dream about how handsome their husband is during the summer time? I mean, Jared's fab year-round of course, but I love the way he looks all tan, with a polo and slip-on loafers. Mmm Mm.

5. Garden, garden! I want a garden! We don't have a plot of land to call our own, so I've been researching things that can be grown in big pots, namely tomatoes, zucchini and some herbs. I hope I'm successful.

6. Got that in the mail on Saturday and LOVE it! I kinda can't wait to get into maternity clothes this time around. I live for comfort and spring/summer bring skirts and dresses all season. YES, please!

7. Umm... I need that cooler. ASAP.

Funny Friday - Ellen Edition + Thank you!!

TGIF! First off, thank you all for your sweet love and excitement for our growing fam! I am so glad the news is finally out there! I have been so fortunate with both pregnancies to not experience morning sickness, but I get severely nauseous at night. Before getting pregnant, nighttime would be my blogger time where I would sit down and reply back to your wonderful comments, catch up on my blog reading and what not. Now I eat about 3 bowls of cottage cheese between 7-9:30 and try not to heave. Beautiful. I know. Anyway, I wanted to say sorry if I've been slow on returning comments, but I did have a few of you ask about how I made the scratch off card. It's SO simple and I am happy to share :)
1. I made the card in photoshop
2. Printed at kinkos on cardstock
3. Took clear packaging tape and cut to measure the dimension of the inside photo and laid down
4. Mixed equal parts of acrylic paint with dish soap, painted over tape {it will be splotchy}, let dry and did a second coat. Easy Peasy!

Now, on to Funny Friday. It's the first of the month, so you know that means an Ellen Edition, right? Well, I don't know who I love more - Ellen or Jen. Both are pretty superb. I don't think I would ever want to be on Ellen's show if I were a celebrity because of all the embarassing things she makes them do. Like Jen's dog leg kick when she's getting her back scratched.

Happy Friday :)

round two!!

On Valentines Day we sent our families a little homemade scratch-off card. 

Goodbye first trimester! 
Hello, there, chubby cheek mama!
My round self is appearing much sooner than it did with Evelyn, so feel free to back off for another 10 weeks, will ya, chub?