Phone's Ringing....

And it's J. Crew...

Asking to hire their Summer 2012 swimsuit model...

 Beautiful choice.

love, kerry

Sneak Peek...

I've decided that because YOU read my blog, it's safe to say that YOU really care...

And therefore, YOU deserve to be the first to know...

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I LAUNCHED the K. Sutherland PR website today!!!!!!

So excited!!! It was a ton of work, writing, time, brainstorming...
But, I think it turned out amazing. I'm really happy! 


Please take a look, explore, tell your friends. ;)

You'll love it. 

And, thank you, thank you, thank you to my AMAZING and talented cousin {and K. Sutherland PR's Creative Director}, Ryan. He's literally the BEST ever!!! 

It must run in the family. 

CLICK HERE! 

I'll be promoting the site everywhere tomorrow, but tonight- it's for your eyes only!
Wish me luck!

love, kerry

Here Comes Audrey Piggy-Tail

The only people you'll find at the mall on a Sunday morning, one hour before it opens are people like us-

 30ish-somethings,

with a BOB stroller, diaper bag clipped and toddler running {screaming} freely,

who've been up for at least 4 hours already,

just looking for something kid-friendly to do OUT OF THE HOUSE...

Come on people, let's get going with the day already!! We've got a crazy child with crazy energy to burn!

Yesterday was cold and rainy. Not our typical beach-day. 

So, the mall seemed appropriate.

They are so beautiful here, with gardens and fountains. 

A nice place to casually walk. 

And of course, there are fun shops too, perfect for some quick indoor shelter or rest if needed.

All I really wanted to do at the mall, albeit dorky, was pick up the second book in the Hunger Games series. 

I'm hooked.

But, as luck would have it, we stumbled on something even more special and exciting...

The Easter Bunny.

But, you know how this story ends...

With a shy-girl, clinging to her Dada for safety, repeating "noooooooooooo". 

When will this be fun for you, Audrey?

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It's ok. 

Especially

because...

The malls in OC also all have....

pet stores!

MUCH BETTER!!!!!

This is the real Easter Bunny, anyway!

I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE Easter, bunnies, baskets, bonnets and more!!!

Pretty much everything except for the church/religion part.

Too far?

Anyway, we're also sooooo looking forward to celebrating in Austin this year! 

Hope your weekend was great, and that your Easter plans are coming together beautifully. 

love, kerry

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PS- GREAT job, John! LOVED your guest blog post. 

And, LOVED our first-ever OC date-night on Saturday. 

Let's do it again sometime soon, ok?

don't worry kerry, we will be just fine...

Today mommy had some important meetings in LA and nobody was available to watch Audrey. So, daddy stayed home from work to watch the baby. Work has been tough lately, and I could use a day off (plus Audrey was "sick" and I stayed home to take care of her, in case anyone asks).

The day started off great. Mommy helped get A ready, actually, all she did was put her hair into the cute pigtails. Big deal, how hard could that be.

So, mommy left at about 11, so Audrey and I went downtown. The usual, Starbucks for special milk and a sweet treat, then to the pier.

I don't know what Kerry usually does, but Audrey is quite independent. She met all sorts of new people at the pier, mostly stray large pitbulls and their charming owners, and homeless drunk bums, but I couldn't really tell because she was so far away from me most of the time. She really loves climbing up the big stairs, all by herself, she didn't even fall, not once.

She did some posing, too. She loves to say "cheese!!!!!"

Hmm, what else did we do. Oh yeah, lunch was uneventful--left over bbq steak and veggies.

Nap time was quiet. I did some reading, almost took a nap myself.

Audrey and I spent the rest of our day at the Vet, which turns out was really fun for Audrey because she got to pet all the doggies that came in. Luckily, none were as sick as Jesse. She also talked to all of their owners. Not so much talked, but baby babbled. She is so big that people think she talks, so they ask her what her name is, they ask her what kind of dog she has, they ask her what her favorite color is. And all they get is a stare, and then something that resembles English but at times sounds like Chinese, or French, or even German. She goes on and on, and for some reason, most of these people tilt their heads and nod as if they are listening and comprehending, then they squint their eyes and try to read her lips, and sometimes respond with another question, then finally give up. Then they look at me as if I'll translate, and I just tell them its OK, I have no clue what she is saying either.

So, if you haven't heard, Jesse has quite the allergy problem. An allergy problem that leaves him making weird sneezing noises for hours at a time, makes him continuously chew at his paws at all hours of the night, gives him either an ear or eye infection (or both) every 3 months, and causes him to have nasty scabs all over his skin. He is the dog equivalent to a VA patient. Today his eye had pus coming out of it, so it was time to go to the vet, again. 

This is what his eye looked like after they cleaned off the pus and crud and put medicine in it, imagine what it looked like before.

Yadda, yadda, he got a steroid injection and his ass got shaved, and I left with 4 new medicines and a ridiculous bill.

So. Where was I. 

Dinner.  But had to get her ready first, so I quickly and painlessly, and without any crying or swearing, easily recreated the pigtail look.

Ok, one off center pigtail and lots of crying and cursing.

Ahh yes, dinner, AKA french fries in the liquor store. 

You know, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing Kerry wouldn't do. 

And, on the way home, Audrey got to ride backwards in her stroller. Please note what happened to her hair.  

After some march madness basketball, she put herself to bed. Seriously, she told me "night" and walked into her room and pointed at her crib. She had had enough of me. It was a great day; very glad I was able to stay home with my baby, who was "sick"; sick of not spending enough time with dad. And, on that note, Kerry just walked in from her dinner meeting. 

Good Thoughts...

Photo Credit: Pinterest

Today will be BIG!!!

love, kerry

Love Her!

love, kerry

Challenge: Guest Blogger

Surprise John!!!!

Babe, 

Since I'm forcing you to call in sick tomorrow, tearing you away from work to spend the day with Audrey so that I can attend some BIG meetings tomorrow, I have decided to publicly commit you to my NEW guest blogger challenge. 

Will you PRETTY PLEASE journal your Daddy-Daughter day and post to our family blog tomorrow? I want to hear all about the fun you'll have together, sadly without me, and see pictures too!!!

This will be fun, promise. 

Thanks in advance! L-O-V-E YOU!!!!!!!

love, kerry

little piggies...

First-EVER Pigtails!!!

love, kerry

On My Playlist: Dave

Two AWESOME tickets arrived in the mail today! 

Cannot wait for this BIG night OUT!!! 

Let's call it a date night...

(Inside joke)

This will be our 2nd DMB concert together, and it's going to be amazing!!!

They're playing at the amphitheater in Irvine, I upgraded our tickets to include VIP parking, and our seats ROCK!!!!!!!!  

ONLY ONE BIG BUMMER...

Check out the date.

UHHHHH, why????????

Don't worry, Audrey. I'll throw you the coolest beach-day-birthday-AFTERNOON-party-ever!!!

You'll be too tuckered out from all the fun {and lots of cake} to even notice Mama and Dada slip out a few hours before bedtime. 

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Some of my favorite DMB songs, just for you... 

You're welcome.

love, kerry

DIY: Over the rainbow in love with you...

You'll need (the usuals):

Perfect baby fingertips and paints,

a bowl of water, 

paper towels,

sparkly stickers for gold,

markers,
black construction paper for the pot,

and puffy paint to outline a toddler's cloud.

Wishing you the luck of the Irish this weekend, and a nice cold Guinness (or two). 

Cheers!

love, kerry

The Safari Experience

Yesterday was a beautiful day for a Safari. 

We finally met up with my cousin, Courtney and her boyfriend, Jason. I don't know how this is possible, but it was our first visit since we moved to southern California. Time goes so fast. Courtney's friends Alan (who works in catering at the San Diego Zoo) and his wife Bonnie also joined us. Those two had all the inside information, knowledge about the zoo, conservation efforts, trail shortcuts, and are friends with many of the trainers. 

They were excellent tour guides. 

The San Diego Zoo is a beautiful park in a great city location, and it's impressive to see the variety of animals on display from all parts of the world.

The San Diego Zoo's Safari Park, however, is totally different. 

Rather than row-after-row of perfectly landscaped, educational cubbies of animal families, the Safari Park is all about wide open space. The park is located about an hour inland of San Diego (it was a two hour drive from our house), and the animals live their zoo life with the other animals as they would in real life. There's an African Safari, and an Asian Safari. 

Courtney and me.

At the Safari Park, you can also get MUCH closer to some of the animals and it's the "experience" they really promote. 

We got SO close, we even fed some of the residents!

Can you believe the life experiences Audrey's already had in her 1.5 years? I love it!

Courtney and Jason.

Alan and Bonnie were so excited about our visit, they bought us all VIP tickets to the park's famous cheetah run. 

Wanna see a cheetah run a 100-yard dash at 70 mph?

It was incredible to see in person. Apparently cheetahs are traveling 40 mph before they take their 3rd step. There's no "bad seat" for the cheetah run (the main event), but it was so nice of Alan and Bonnie to set us up in VIP. We had excellent seats, didn't have to fight the crowd or wait an hour to save our spot, and GOT TO MEET THE CHEETAH {too close for comfort} up-close-and-personal.

There was no touching allowed, thankfully. 
And, it's only open to kids 6 years and older {double thankfully} so unfortunately Audrey stayed back and played/napped while Courtney babysat. 

Giving me a death stare. 

It was another great day, with great people. 

love, kerry

Getting back to normal, hopefully

The last few days have been low-key, at home, in bed, uneventful. 

Our sick baby demanded that we slow things down. 

Rest. 

But, when Audrey cheerfully woke up this morning, chattering from her crib, wanting to play- I knew things were on the up-and-up.

There's still a sad, lingering, wet cough. But, she's acting more normal. 

She's tough, and I'm relieved. It could have been worse... We're lucky for such a healthy, strong baby.

Anyway, it felt right, like she was ready to get back to normal around here, and spend our family-Satruday like we always do- totally crazy, chaotic, busy, no-time-to-rest, just fun. 

Our first "main event" was our first-ever visit to story time at the library for Dinosaur Day. 

Technically, Audrey and I went yesterday for the first time, but today was the first time with all 3 of us.
It was more complete with Dada.

WOW!!! Story time lady was FANTASTIC!!! So fun, so interactive and engaging. Audrey's a shy girl, but she was loving it! And, we were loving her!! How is this free????

I'm looking forward to story time, every Saturday morning that we can, moving forward. 

It. was. awesome. 

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Story time was followed by a much needed run on the beach. 

Long overdue. 

My new goal: run 3 miles/day. We'll see.

LOVE this picture.

You can always expect SOMETHING to be happening near the Pier. 

Today was a Kite Club Tournament. 

We didn't totally get what was going on, but THINK teams were judged based on their tricks (types and number during a specific amount of time). 

 I suppose we could have asked. 

But, it wouldn't have mattered. 

We knew which team had our vote.

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After lunch and nap time, we headed to the park next door and met a nice girl celebrating her 5th birthday. She {and her Mom} invited us to play in her rented jump house, and Audrey was in to it. 

Jumping runs in the family.

We've got BIG plans for another great day tomorrow. 

Looking forward to sharing with you...

love, kerry

Still sick...So sad...

love, kerry

Let's Go Wolf Pack!!! Clap, Clap, Clap!!!!!

Beat San Jose State tonight!!!

love, kerry

Sick Day...

Resting in Mama & Dada's bed.

Mommy's Shopping List:

Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup for Toddlers

Crackers

Strawberries

Orange Juice

Apple Juice

Chocolate Chip Cookies

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And, I'm making her favorite for dinner- steak and broccoli. 

Feel better, sweetie!

love, mama

Home Sweet Dreams

We had some pretty fabulous playdates last week in Reno,  and oddly EACH included exciting news from friends of either 1) a new house being built, 2) remodeled, or 3) just recently moved-in.


The real-estate market must be making a come back! Awesome!

They were all equally amazing homes/plans too! I'm so happy for these friends and their families. Life is exciting. But, it also got me thinking....This doctor stuff is hard. 

I get it, one day it will all be worth it. And, I couldn't be happier with our HB beach condo, a couple blocks from the beach and Main St., modern appliances, big rooms, a backyard, neighboring park and resort pool...We're very lucky, but it made me miss our house. And, I don't mean "OUR" old house necessarily, just the idea of "OUR" home. A stable, comfortable home to live, improve, enjoy...settle into to.

We can't do much about our living situation now considering that in 3-4 years, we'll be moving again. So, I'm not going to dwell on this unstable feeling, but rather focus on the positive.

We have so much ahead to look forward to, and....more time for planning!

I love an organized, thoughtful, strategic plan.
What can I say?

I'll just enjoy this living-in-vacation mode for the next few years, while I can, and when I miss the "OUR" house stability, I'll remind myself that it's coming....And, there's limited time to really figure out what we want out of "OUR" next home...Better get to work!

Some immediate ideas come to mind.

I want a KILLER backyard. I want to entertain, and be the cool house for Audrey and all her friends. One of these would work, I guess... 

I would also like an older house, in an established neighborhood. So, I can't really expect many bedrooms like a newer home would have, and in fact like the idea of our kids sharing a room. Custom bunk-beds like one of these would be BEAUTIFUL:

Beautiful for older kids!

Everything about a kitchen intimidates me. Seriously. So, I don't even know where to start...
This is beautiful, minus gaudy chandler. 

A SWEET master suite is mandatory. I think it's about time for me and John to get our own closets too, and a relaxing bathroom would be so amazing... You know how much I enjoy the spa!

Love this style, but again- what's with the chandeliers???

I know I'll have other requirements, and requests like:
A big pantry.
A bacement/game room/craft station would be fun.
A his/her home office is a no-brainer.
Then there's the garage, storage, curb appeal, and more....

OH, and of course I dream of a Donner or Tahoe lake house too!!!

We'll see, but good thing I've got some time to plan! 


love, kerry



These photos and some other inspirations can be found (with links to original source) on my Pinterest board, "Decorating My Future House".