Too many topics for one title

I'm considering changing the title of my blog to "What we did this weekend" as I feel like that sums up  the majority of my posts! Kidding on the actual name change, though.

Our long weekend last weekend was a fun one. We had a fun at-home day with J on Friday. We went to the new West Elm store that opened a little ways from here. It was heavenly! Only downside was that the sales staff were a bit overwhelming. We were approached by no less than 6 sales people who not just asked if we were "finding everything ok," but shook our hands, introduced themselves, asked our names, asked what we were looking for, explained that they were taking donations to help St. Jude's Children's Hospital, and offered their assistance if we needed anything. I get that they're a new store and want to be super helpful and friendly, but we're not actually friends. As a shopper, I loathe anything more than a passing smile from a sales person. Let me shop! So this was completely overboard as far as I was concerned. I did not feel like discussing my baby's name, shoe size or how many teeth she has with a chubby girl in an apron working at the West Elm. The store was great though :)

We also wandered into Pottery Barn, a store where I rarely buy things but rather prefer to find inspiration and re-create those things for half the price :) Here are two examples-

 Cranberry topiaries, how easy would they be? I think I'd use a shiny metal pot though to make it more fancy/festive.

Knit pillow covers! So cute and cozy. I'd have to brush up my knitting skills but nonetheless, it's still just a big square. 

I always hope no one is going to get upset that I'm walking around the store taking phone pictures of their displays. They publish them in catalogs and mail them to my house, so what's the difference?

Saturday we went to Nick's birthday party. I can't believe he's 2 already! The scariest part is that it means C's birthday will be here before we know it. She's not even one month past her half birthday, I should calm down. The party was lots of fun though. C had a blast running around with all the little kids there. She was so busy she couldn't even be bothered to eat a piece of pizza, and this girl loves some peeeesa!

She snoozed the whole way in the car and then took a regular nap when we got home. J met up with his parents for lunch, and then we stayed home for a quiet evening. We ended up watching the movie, Horrible Bosses. It's a bit off-color and used more bad language than I cared for, but turned out to be really hilarious.

Sunday morning was quiet. Once football games got started J had some friends over. I went to one of my friend's house to take pictures of her and her family. I had never done an actual photo shoot for other people before, but it went really well. They have a back yard full of trees and leaves so the backdrop was perfect. It was also overcast so the lighting was nice- no squinty sunny faces. Here are a few of them...

It helps that they're all super photogenic. I had a lot of fun taking their pictures, to say the least :)