love for paper and the perfect invitation

diegas and i were engaged in italy. this is a vintage poster that altered to include diegas' face and my hair for our save-the-dates

i have a love for paper products. it's not an obsession where i buy beautiful stationary, wrapping paper and hand crafted paper items whenever i see them. but i do swoon over them and i find them to be one of the more precious gifts when i receive them. i think it's because of this that i am so enthralled in creating the perfect invitation.

the first invitation i created as an adult was for my parent's 25th anniversary party. i remember the paper, the font and the typo (!!). i have since always paid special attention to every detail of the invitations that i postmark. i love choosing the paper or the print, picking the theme, a corresponding font and the layout - all of it is the perfect creative process for me. 

recently a friend posted a picture encapsulating her love of the typewriter. it got me thinking about our save-the-dates and wedding invitations and my love of the typewriter (we typed each one of addressee and return envelopes). i journeyed down a path remembering each invitation and how i wanted to document them and share them. below are the favorites (as you'll notice, i like to borrow artwork)

this is the back of the (italy poster) save-the-date postcard, with typed addressee

my 30th birthday was also a vintage poster, that seemed to capture the feeling for the celebration.  i added the text.

the back of the 30th  invitation included the details, map and directions

once we had babies my excitement from invites was satisfied as birthday party invitations needed to be created for the littles. here is e's 1st birthday invitation.

this 2nd birthday party was full of crafty projects...all starting with the nautical themed invites

the 3rd birthday and mila's milestone 1st was another borrowed piece of art (the horse) and the party hat was added

this year we're off to disneyland for a dual celebration and a couple days later evia celebrates at home with her besties!

still look at my old business cards with love in my eyes. letter press is one of my absolute favorite "art" on paper. it was also the invites that told me so much about the bride and groom and their concept for the special day. i just recently purged a rather large collection of wedding invitations i had from over the years.

one of my dear friend's rina and i have been putting pen to paper and actually writing each other regularly. remember writing? when it's quiet and you can sit and write without interruption it's pretty satisfying. and oooohhh la la, the paper. those little packages i treasure that i rarely use, get to be pulled out and sweet words line the pages. i love!

mis amores

february has been nothing short of a love fest. as the day month requires, we spent most of it with our loved ones and celebrating each other. i've been wondering why i've been reflecting on the joys of the day-to-day so much the last couple of weeks...and the answer, most likely is, there has been a lot of love in the air. below are some photos that sum up the month:

our dear friends mark and nina brought by their newest family member otis. evia and o were instant buddies

"eat, drink, cheer, repeat" was the perfect motto for this year's super bowl and the tequila lime chicken was deelish

superbowl brought a beautiful full double rainbow that we all went outside to enjoy

nothing says love more than what evia thinks of her older cousin isei! they must have played in the mud for at least an hour

we met papa for lunch at the lake one day and topped it off with a playdate to feed the ducks by two wee-ones that the girl's can't get enough of.

 

 

grandpa mikey's birthday was spent celebrating over tacos and then onto "presidio by candlelight" where we watched the food cooked, yarn spun , music played, people dance and a "padre" write with quill and ink - as the presidio would have looked a few hundred years ago. fascinating

we try to get out and enjoy this town we call home, as much as time allows

 

a rare opportunity to double date for dinner followed by a girls night, at the granada as we watched luana perform. she was phenomenal and loved my time with rosi!!

as usual our dinner was exceptional at brasil arts cafe

making valentine's cards with great grandma lu

valentine's breakfast: cherry pancakes i've been instructed by the girls not to use cherries again. d and i loved them!

nana and grandpa brought over special heart boxes filled with chocolates

after a delicious fresh filet of salmon d grilled. we made a little late night dessert

put my sewing skills to the test again and made beautiful-mother-to-be laurie, a shower gift. hooded towel+kitty for baby

got to spend the day showering laurie with baby-love and chatting with sweet ladies, including this crafting extraordinaire, my sister in law

only one of the sweet handiwork rebecca provided for the shower decor

celebrating sweet naya's 3rd birthday, hopped up on her first blow pop (i don't think she likes it)

was not at all disappointed that i took my two energizer bunnies grocery shopping alone, when they gave away leftover valentine's roses at the door

have been working with evia on "go-fish" she loves it!

simple caption: I LOVE HER

if you know me. you know i love food. i love to read about it, look at it, eat it and of course document it

70 and 9am. loving my sister walks.

evia wanted to walk the whole way downtown from our house last week to see nana and grandpa at the new office building. she did an AMAZING job. no complaints, no rests. just one foot in front of the other

telling grandpa all about her adventure once we got there

evia loves nana

we celebrated a double baptism for george and pj. it was ANOTHER beautiful ceremony, as is every single event we go to there. so lucky to be included in the lives of our dear friends

 

and in true greek-fashion, that night i tried my hand at creating my first phyllo dough (frozen sheets) dessert. i have to say, it came out pretty bomb-diggity and it was a no-recipe-kind-of creation: pear cherry tart heart!

evia with her pretty auntie

we LOVE these jungle monkeys

winter wonderland

this summer i had the bright idea, as it was scorching temperatures in our living room, that i wanted to experience the snow and all the chilly weather it had to offer. i wanted the kids to see what white hillsides and and branches looked like. the chance to build snowmen, ride sleds and have snowball fights were all in my master plan. the perfect snow vacation included more family than our four...with homemade meals, lots of togetherness and a fireplace to warm our frosty feet when we were done for the day. 

mammoth was the town of choice. diegas loves the eastern sierra's. we've only done two trips their together, as he spends most of his travel in the area, hunting. it was our chance to be there as a family and enjoy the spectacular scenery. it really is majestic for hundreds of miles. out the window, on the drive alone is a sight to see.

our zavala counterparts, were in, when we mentioned the idea and the planning ensued. after reading a ton of trip advisor reviews on hotels and rentals in the area we settled on a condo through homeaway.com. there was plenty of room, it was equipped with everything we needed to accomplish our ideal winter vacation and we had a gorgeous view of mammoth mountain to boot. 

some of the highlights of the trip: experiencing a cold front + a storm + waking up to fresh snow, gingerbread house construction, sledding, snowman building, snowball fights, a chilly mama's only walk, birdhouse decorating, snowflake crafts, watching movies, snuggling in front of the fire, cookie baking, deer migrating and hot cocoa sipping!

what i wasn't prepared for, were two little southern california girls, who would prefer flip flops and tank tops year round. dressing in layers and spending 1/2 hour putting on their snow clothes was torture for us as much as it was for them. tears, tears and more tears to get ready for the snow. who would have thought? a couple of times, we made it into the fluffy white snow and a couple of times we made it out the door for only 30 seconds only to return to the fire where the layers could be removed.

all in all, it was an amazing trip and we're hoping it can become an annual tradition!

our family traveling on the beautiful 395

isei, gamaiel, evia and mila - the kids first romp in the snow

on a mission to find a perfect sledding stop

the boys sledding

d with his binoculars, a familiar sight

snow angel break

isei and evia sledding

evia sledding on the golf course with papa, below mammoth mountain

the brothers chillin'

where we spent all our indoor time, fireside

evia and mila, a cozy nap together

rose and snowflake-ballerina-making = heaven

our snowman was a snow"mound"

how cute are these two? auntie becca and cousin isei

mama and evia, brrr

gingerbread house construction, evia and papa

gingerbread house building, becca and isei

the wee-est zavala and taking the cutest category in her plaid bunting

our mama-only walk only 10 degrees

eating a bowl of fresh fallen snow

evia and papa getting ready for an adventure

a cozy night by the fire -7 that night

 

elk heard

 

we scouted with diegas before returning home to witness the migration of the deer. we saw two golden eagles, the heard of elk and roughly 50 deer. it was beautiful, winter nature at it's best