So I am still battling this cough of mine. Yes, it has lasted almost 3 WHOLE weeks and after another heavy dose of antibiotics, it is SLOWLY going away. That’s the positive. The negative? I am working at a snail’s pace. I have been sorta sending myself to bed a bit earlier than the norm. Actually alot earlier…from 1 am to now 11:30 or 12. Yes, it is still late but I have so much to do that I can’t seem to go to bed without thoughts running in my head until a certain amount of work is done. OCD at its best. Yes, I’m sure I can get meds for that too. But thankfully, this is only temporary…1.5 weeks of insanity I can handle.

I have so much to do that I’ve/we’ve been skipping preschool! It sure is nice to have a few extra days to run errands and take care of everything before Thanksgiving and Unique LA. Haven’t been updating the blog for this reason. So much to write and show but it is on the bottom of my checklist. Hopefully, I can find a definitive answer as to why this cough is persisting and causing such pain in my body that I literally feel like an old woman!

Anyways, here’s one girl I was able to finally finish.

This is for all the USC freaks fans out there Don’t worry, I’m covered. I’m an alumni…sheesh!

big sis

Less than 2 weeks and counting…TONS of designers. Check them out here!

Be neurotic like me and have all your presents purchased the first week of December!

We’ll be at BOOTH 311!

I can’t believe it’s all over. It happened so quickly, and I REALLY HOPE that I don’t have that stressed look on my face in all the pictures. Some things went awry, but at the end, I was just super grateful my baby had fun and she didn’t have a complete meltdown. I gotta say, that was my WORST FEAR! It wasn’t that one of my vendors wasn’t going to show or that I would forget something really important, but it was that she would enjoy herself and not get spooked with all the people and the craziness of the event.  The hubs literally woke her up 20 minutes prior to the birthday to get her dressed and ready to be taken to her party, so I think her 1.5 hr afternoon nap saved the day…not to mention the bubble show and the red velvet cupcake I let her nibble on right before she started arching her back.  (After the back arch, comes the tears!)

Big sis was able to take a few shots, but I’ll be sure to post more pics once I get them from my photog.

The head table.  See the banner!  Big sis and I saved up a ton of 40% coupons months before so I could buy fake hydrangeas to make the monogram.  It only took about 5 large stems, but those things are not cheap.  I detached all the petals and used my hot glue gun to secure them on the white fabric (cotton broadcloth), which only cost me about $5 for two yards. 

Favor bags. 

• White paper bags:  FREE!  Big sis’ mother in law happened to have like a hundred of these bags, so she didn’t mind me taking a handful!
• Green “grass”: $1.60/green wrapping paper roll at Michaels (with coupons).  I used two rolls to make 18.  Got the idea from here.  Gotta love Martha!
• Ladybug wooden clips: $8 on ebay.  The shipping alone was almost the same price as the clips! 
• Contents inside:  mini play doh (Target after Halloween sale), fruit jelly/fruit snacks (Costco), ladybug bubbles, insect finger puppets, and mini insect erasers.  The rest of the items came from Oriental Trading Company.

Big sis bought Lila the cutest stamp that looks exactly like her!  It’s personalized with her name too.  I’m def going to be using that for future parties!  Click on above photo to enlarge to see what my lil girl looks like! 

The cupcakes.  JustJenn, thank you!  In lieu of birthday cake, I had birthday cupcakes.  Red velvet cupcakes to be exact!  Yum, yum!  Jenn did an awesome job making 120 cupcakes – some with fondant ladybugs, some with sparkly frosting with fondant polka dots, and some with pink sanding sugar frosting.  Closeups/more pics can be found here.

Sis and hubs helped me with the cupcake toppers.  Making 60 wasn’t so bad, esp since we had an assembly line going while watching tv.

That’s all the pictures for now.    I’ll post more as I get them.  Looking forward to spending more time with the in-laws and to sewing.  I thought I could relax a bit, but I forgot there is only a few weeks left till Unique.  Yay, Baby Eggi and Misha Lulu will be there!!!! 

P.S.  Thank you to allllll of my family and friends for helping out!!!!  <3 you!

-lil sis

barely. No, I did not have the swine flu…just a cold. but this one hit me hard. Let me take you down memory lane…college. finals week. stay up as late as you can and cram in whatever your brain will absorb. complete all your exams. your reward? get sick during the break. I swear, this always happened to me! So, this Halloween was my finals week. I’m so grateful that my body was able to keep it together until Nov. 1!

So, with bedtime being moved from 1 am to 10:30 pm, low grade fevers in between, and cough attacks so severe that I contemplated wearing a diaper (sorry, TMI), I. AM. SO. FAR. BEHIND. MY. SCHEDULE! Getting sick just does not fit into this schedule of mine.

Well, now that I am almost 100%, I am in full blown think, eat, breathe, dream dolls-mode. And look what I found at my local Joann’s.

I KNOW!!! How cute is that?!

Think of what I can create with this cuteness! If only I could have 2 more weeks to craft. 4 weeks left until Unique LA. yikes!

big sis

Two weeks left till Lila’s 1st Birthday.

One month left till Unique LA.

What do I work on first?  The answer should be the birthday party, but I find myself flip flopping between the two.   That’s my style…start something new everyday and just hope that at the end of it all, I’ll have finish what I started.

My craft area has slowly taken over the guest bedroom.  Everything is laid out on the bed, and I swear I stare at this area every night wondering when I’ll be able to complete everything.

Here are some of the lil sis dolls I have stuffed, and you can see they’re laying on the birthday banner. I still have a pile of doll bodies next to my sewing machine waiting to be armed & legged.  The banner is yet to be completed.  I’m 95% done…just one last hem needs to be sewn.  Why do I do this to myself?  I could just sew the darn thing and then move it aside, but…BUT nothing.  It’s just the way I work.  I’ll do it tomorrow

-lil sis

Who knew October was going to be such a busy month?! from vacation to pumpkin patches to everything else related to Halloween. and you wonder why I have barely made any progress on my inventory for Unique LA. Someone will be paying the price come November.

Yesterday was filled with TONS of stuff to do in prep for today…the costume party at preschool. Cookies needed to be baked and pumpkin shaped rice krispy treats needed to be made. On top of that, I decided that it would be pumpkin carving day! All this was done while the twins are fighting off some kind of illness. I strive on a lil bit of stress…not this much. Needless to say, everything was completed and enjoyed!

It is so wonderful to see how kids develop over the years while participating in “traditions”. The first year of pumpkin carving was done in the evening by myself and I believe it took me 3 hours! It was WAY over-ambitious and they DID NOT know or care to see an intricate design on a pumpkin! The 2nd year…they were a bit interested but not enough where they wanted to help. Well, this year, it was ALL hands on. I had to really keep an eye on my son b/c he wanted to use EVERY sharp tool to just poke at the pumpkin…never mind stay in the lines I had to keep everything very simple and quick. We got through it in one piece, no bandaids needed. I wonder how next year will be…when they are 4. Gosh, that sounds so old! Anyways, I just wanted to wish you all a very HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

big sis

So I finally finished up my daughter’s costume. Remember, she wanted to be this. Well, I was not going to pay $69 for it so I went out, bought all the material, and made a modified version.

I added hot pink sequins to the ears just to jazz it up and also added a ruffle collar. I had added another layer of ruffles and was going to add some ruffles to the bottom of her sleeves when I realized that stitching them on the shirt prevents the shirt from stretching. Not a good thing when the shirt is suppose to be form fitting so it does not give at all. Cute idea…out the door.

Her skirt, I LOVE! Added the hot pink bow to match her ears. Tail is a skinny boa that I wrapped around pipe cleaners to give some shape.

TOTAL COST: $14

Can I just tell you how happy that makes me? and if you really want to get technical, she could wear the shirt all winter which would bring down the cost from $14 to $9! woot! woot! Personally, I think it’s cuter than PBK’s Hey, but that’s just me!

I also purchased some ALOT of extra tulle to make a skirt for myself. NOT BY CHOICE. My sweet daughter SO wants me to dress up as the “mommy cat”. I had purchased everything awhile ago and only started on my skirt this weekend. To my horror, I ran out of tulle and wouldn’t you know…so did Joann’s. I freaked out a lil bit before realizing that if I cinch the elastic some more, it would hide the bare spots. Hopefully, I’ll be able to breathe but whatever! I only have to be short of breath for a few hours at a time! (I will wearing this to our mommy and me preschool and Halloween evening. I hope to not pass out from lack of oxygen!) I am so excited that Halloween is finally here! Cannot wait to get the kids all dressed up. My husband (who is SO not the type) even said that he was going to dress up as Woody (son will be Buzz) but alas, he was not willing to spend $90 on a vinyl one piece. Personally, I think he’s happy that he doesn’t have to get dressed up! and my son didn’t have his heart on having a partner-in-crime which saves me from making a costume for the hubs. phew! So all is good in the world. at least in ours! Goodie bags have been made, tags have been attached. Now the only thing I have left to do is bake and make some homemade treats. It’s a lil sad b/c the school is being very strict on not bringing homemade food to school. I understand but still… So I will be the one standing outside the door of the school with my basket of goodies and pleading to the parents to take a treat.

big sis

Say hello to our Christmas doll!  A wonderful repeat customer (our 100th sale!) asked us to make her a special Christmas doll for her daughter.  Here she is dressed in her Santa hat, fur cape, and pom pom scarf…

Big sis and I collaborated to make  this cutie, and we’re so excited to showcase more of these Christmas dollies at Unique!

- lil sis

I am still jetlagged, if you can believe that. I came to this realization not too long ago…that as you get older, everything just takes twice as long, i.e., to get adjusted to time changes, to recover from partying too hard, staying up sewing!

We had so much fun on our vacation…so much that I’m absolutely dreading going to school with the twins tomorrow. Is that sad or what! I am absolutely thrilled that their swim class is over so I now have 2 days to breathe! Granted, swim classes were only 2 days a week for 30 min but if you think about it, it’s really all morning long. I need to get the kids ready, get towels and change of clothes ready, prep them for their class (ex “follow the teacher’s instructions” “hold on with both hands” “blow bubbles out of your nose” etc. Such a nag, huh? as if they wouldn’t learn that on their own! Not to mention…shower them, lotion them, change them, snack them, then come home and prep lunch! You see why I’m so happy?

Anyhow, don’t know how we got to the airport…it really is all a blur. Our flight was early in the morning and my in-laws were coming with so imagine this…4 adults, 2 kids, 2 carseats for the kids, 2 carseats to take and leave in Hawaii, 1 large suitcase, 3 small suitcases, and 1 double stroller! and not in a minivan! in a SUV! I, of course, was in the back row and could not sit up straight b/c I had a suitcase sitting on my back! What people do to save $40 for a taxi! I think if I was awake, I would have mind but since I was out of it, I barely felt the pain…the pain of one of the tires digging into my back. and again if I was fully awake, I’m sure I would have had the energy to readjust the suitcase but was too tired. cracks me up thinking about it!

The plane ride going to and from was a piece of cake! I love how my twins are older and so easily amused by anything they can watch on ANY kind of screen…airplane screen, iphone (yes, my husband downloaded movies as a back up), and computer. We were prepared! There would be NO meltdowns despite skipping naps and waking up at the crack of a**!

Highlights from trip:

1. Hanauma Bay. This was on the top of the list. We were NOT going to miss this. I have missed it MANY times in the past…b/c husband and I got burnt and couldn’t bear being in the sun for another day, b/c twins were too young, etc. Worth it to go at least once.

2. Spending time with their great grandmother! Sshh…don’t tell her that she came in 2nd!

3. Eating tons of local food! The best saimin (noodles) at Shige’s, malasadas (donuts) at Leanord’s, kahlua pork, lau lau, lomi at Jackie’s, and all the sweets! And let’s not forget Pacific Beach’s buffet. No pictures, sorry.

4. Swimming! The kids are so much more comfortable in the water that the husband and I barely had to be in the water (yes, despite my dislike of taking them everyday in the summer and twice a week in the fall, the classes paid off. Even I will admit that!).

It was great to get away and spend time with family. It was wonderful to see the kids have so much fun despite it being very tiring for us. We joke that it didn’t really feel like a vacation for us but guess that’s just life with toddlers! There are lots more activities that I’d like to do when we go back. It was so hard to squeeze everything in in 6 days.

It is nice to be back home. and especially nice to come back home to a long list of things to do! Time to crawl back into my hole and get ready for Unique LA!

big sis

It’s official! We’re in! Unique LA, the 2009 Holiday Edition Event, will be held on Saturday + Sunday, 12/5-12/6, and we’ll be there to sell our handmade dolls in addition to some lovely items that we’ll blog about in the next weeks to come.

Big sis and I went to their first event this past Spring, and we both came home with lots of great stuff! Baby Eggi, will you be there this time around?? I hope so!

If you’re looking to get your holiday shopping done early, this is the place to go!

Some tidbits about the event:

• Held at the California Market Center Penthouse, 110 East Ninth Street Los Angeles
• $5 ticket for admission
• $6 parking with Unique Validation
• Over 300 designer/artists
• Food can be purchased onsite
• Free beer and wine (not a joke!)

Hope to see ya there!

-lil sis