Gabriela

Two of my best friends are graduating from Cal Poly! I am so very proud of them. They have both worked so hard. A couple days I snapped photos of Gaby at the school. She looked beautiful. See for yourself ;)

I also took photos of Alyse last week. I'll be sharing those soon.
xo
-es

Prom

A couple weekends ago my cousins went to their schools prom. A bunch of us girls went over before to help one of them get ready for her night of dancing. There was someone to paint her nails, another to do her makeup, and me do her hair. She looked absolutely beautiful. I must say she is naturally lovely and doesn't need much enhancement but you know it can be quite nice to get pampered.


Both the girls looked stunning. How fun it must have been to go to a school dance together. Prettiest cousins I ever did see. ;)

xo
-es

May 22

A year ago today I embarked on the most exciting adventure of my life.
It was spontaneous and lovely. I had decided to go to Spain and live with a stranger for the summer.
Someone I met online,
someone so very foreign to me.
Goodness I a making it sound crazier then it was.
But yes, I met the person online.
So it is kind of crazy. Right?
I was going to care for this person’s infant daughter in exchange for room, board and a small compensation.
I did skype with her and had communication with her references before I up and left to Spain.
Thinking back it all sounds so strange.
It was so very last minute.
I had bought my ticket only a few days before I left. Which was probably a good thing since it didn’t give me much time to worry about my decision. I really think God gave me a great sense of peace and comfort about the whole thing.
In fact I know he did.
I mean I absolutely love traveling but wouldn’t normally spend a ton of money on a ticket and fly to Spain on a whim.
It was a God thing. He arranged it all. Everything about the trip seemed to fall in place perfectly.

I remember being a tad fearful the day I left. I said goodbye to my family in the early morning.
They prayed for me.
I softly cried.
Nerves overtook me as I thought about how much I’d miss them.

My dad drove me to the LAX and excitement filled me.
I was leaving.
I’d having something to do this summer.
I was going to Europe!

When we got to LAX I said a quick heartfelt goodbye and headed to customs.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget staring at my dad as I went up the escalator
The higher I went the smaller he got and I wondered who'd be at the airport for me when I got to Spain.

3 flights
4 airports
one day
Los Angeles - New York- Madrid- Valencia

Sitting at LAX I remember being overcome with anxiety.
What was I doing?
Who was this lady I’d be living with?
I don’t even speak Spanish?
What if something bad happens?

The worrying made the airport wait seem incredibly long.

But as soon as I got on the plane all my anxiety disappeared and I was overcome with excitement.

It wasn’t until I landed in Valencia that I became really nervous.
I got off the plane, gathered my belongings, and walked out of the airport.

“Okay,” I thought, “I’m here in Spain with out a cell phone and the Spanish vocabulary of a 2 year old, Oh gosh”

I waited and waited to be picked up.

My brain was so scattered. I didn’t know what to do. Where was this lady?

I thought to myself

What do I do if she doesn’t pick me up. Do I just call my parents and say “guess what? She never came…”

Do I get a hotel here.

How do you even say hotel in Spanish.

Oh gosh.

This is bad.

It felt like I waited forever and it was probably more like half an hour. But OH MY it seemed like so much longer.

My thought process was pretty dramatic then but it was most likely due to the lack of sleep and jet lag after 27 hours of traveling alone.

See when your alone you don’t have someone to say. “ Don’t worry I’m sure she’s coming”

It’s just you and your crazy mind.

Back to the story.

The woman came.
But she came alone.
Where was the baby?
She told me she would come to the airport with her baby….
I ignored these thoughts and was just delighted to be picked up!

That day I started nannying.
I quickly came to love the child.
She was a sweetheart with big brown eyes and a perfectly round face.

Well there is SO much more to this story.
Hopefully I will tell more of my tale later.
It is one of the most beautiful adventures of my life yet.
A gift from God and I thank him for it often.

for a darling baby

I sewed this little romper up last weekend. Joanns was selling simplicity patterns for a buck so I, of course, had to buy some. During the sales I really try to stock up since they are normally between $10-$14. Crazy, right? For the romper I used simplicity pattern 1813 along with some super soft voile. Which I think will be perfect for hot summer days. I can't wait to see baby girl in it. She's going to look like an absolute doll. Have you been sewing lately?

xo
-esther

tea

Today we celebrated Mother's Day with tea at the house. My mama loves throwing teas, something my sister and I have truly embraced as we like to have tea parties of our own too. My aunts and grandparents came over and we enjoyed afternoon tea with scones, an assortment of sandwiches, fruit salad and cookies. It's always nice getting to take out the pretty teapots, teacups and saucers!





Happy Mother's Day!

xo
-es

another sunny day

Seattle Snippets

Hi friends! I'll be in Seattle for a few days so that means these next few posts will be pretty photo heavy. I hope you all don't mind. Today we ventured all around capitiol hill. The weather was dreamy. Not a cloud in the sky. I know this isn't typical Seattle weather. Goodness it sure is nice.

The flowers below are some of the most beautiful ones I have ever seen. SO MANY TULIPS. That Washington rain sure does them good. I just had to buy some. I can't imagine having flowers like this available to me all the time. They were extremely affordable too. Pretty large assorted bouquets started at 5 dollars. Such a steal.









Today was a good day.
xo
-esther

a couple of cakes

one for a bridal celebration

another for a friend before he leaves to Italy

It's nice spending time in the kitchen again. I don't bake nearly as much as I used to. What should I bake next?
Happy Friday
xo
-esther

daydreaming

These days I can't stop daydreaming about this pretty place.
My heart longs to visit again. This time i'd like to stay a bit longer. Perhaps a year... Who knows if that will ever happen. A girl can dream right.

Missing my sweet friends terribly.




cheers
xo
-esther