Oh Joy!

hers & mine... 19 Dec 2012

Oftentimes we end up matching, whether I plan it or not...

top | Hers: silver mocs from Freshly Picked. Mine: Clare Vivier messenger bag from Roztayger.

middle | Hers: MaS hooded jacket (similar). Mine: Kate Spade jacket (from a few years ago).

bottom | Hers: Bunny from Walnut Animal Society. Mine: CrewCuts oxfords.
(Yep, kids' shoes fit grown-ups if you're a size 7 or below!)

Do you guys ever find yourself matching your loves ones by accident?

{Photos by Oh Joy. Rug by Nuloom.}

feeling like a little meal... 17 Dec 2012

It's been so fun watching Ruby's little palate develop over the last several months. Now that she eats whatever we do, I love being able to nurture her exploration of food through tasting different things, reading about different foods, and making meal time fun in general. Here are a few of my favorite ways to instill a love of eating in the littles..

{01. Skip Hop plate and mat, 02. Brita water bottle for kids, 03. French Bull plate set, 04. Hola! Jalapeno and Yum Yum Dim Sum books,  05. Baguette sandwich toy from Land of Nod, 06. Skip Hop bento box, 07. Prince Lionheart seat (so great for places that don't have high chairs!), 08. Lollacup.}

*This post was brought to you in partnership with Brita Bottle for Kids. Help teach your kids to learn to love water. Learn more right here. All content, ideas, and words are my own. Thanks for supporting these sponsors that allow me to create special content like this for Oh Joy.

happy friday + ruby's 1st birthday party! 30 Nov 2012

Last month, we celebrated Ruby's 1st birthday! Even though no one really remembers her first birthday, we still wanted to celebrate with a big party, as it gave us an excuse to see our friends and celebrate our first year as parents, too (we're still in one piece)!

We held Ruby's party at Grand Park,—a new park that opened up in downtown LA this summer. It's so pretty and clean and new and we knew it was the perfect place to have the party. And the icing on the cake? The amazing hot pink tables and chairs that are set up all over the park. You can move them to wherever you want, so we had instant seating and tables! We showed up bright and early to set up and claim an area for Ruby's day.

(Pssst...this is a long post with lots of photos, so click below if you want to see more...)

happy friday + our newest family portrait... 16 Nov 2012

Last year, we had a little family portrait made by the talented Anna Bond of Rifle Paper Co. to use as our thank you cards and personal family stationery during the first few months of Ruby's new little life. I had one of the cards framed and decided we'd update our stationery every year to collect over time.

I recently framed our newest portrait, which we used as thank you cards for her first birthday, and I love how they now sit side-by-side showing the beginnings of our young family.

neon stars and stripes... 13 Nov 2012

...and the cutest kids line that I wish came in my size by Noé & Zoë...

{Available in the US at Thumbeline}

baby-proofing your stylish living room... 8 Nov 2012

Early last year, our home was featured on Emily Henderson's show, Secrets from a Stylist, on HGTV. (If you didn't get to see it, here's the full episode online and my recap of the entire process.) We loved how Emily designed our living room for the show.

When we filmed the episode back in November 2010, we weren't yet pregnant and therefore had no concerns about having a baby-proof living room. Fast-forward a year and change: We got pregnant, had a baby...and then this baby of ours became mobile. At first, I was in denial about having to change anything in our living room and thought we could just teach our baby not to touch anything. Um, yeah right...

Once Ruby started crawling, we needed to make some updates to ensure our living room was safe for her and give us a bit more peace of mind knowing that we could let her roam around without endangering her with some of our furniture and decor choices. So, Emily and I thought it would be fun to do a "Before & After" showing how she's updated our living room to be safe for Ruby while still retaining the style and attention to design we had pre-baby. For this series, we've partnered together with The Honest Company, to bring you three parts (one on each of our blogs), which will show you different aspects of what we did and provide tips on how to marry safety and style.

We didn't have the budget to just go out and buy all new furniture. While we were okay with buying a couple new pieces that would last us through our next baby, almost everything else was about easy and creative solutions to make what we already had a little safer and more baby-proof...

happy halloween! 31 Oct 2012

...from my little chocolate chip cookie to yours! What are you guys dressing up as today? 

{Ruby's costume from The Costume Cafe}

happy friday + making new traditions... 26 Oct 2012

The other day I took Ruby to the pumpkin patch over at Underwood Farms, which is about an hour outside of L.A. While most of the activities were a little advanced for her, she loved playing among the pumpkins and on the playground with the mini tractor. The funny thing is, it was the first time I've ever been to a pumpkin patch, too. Bob and I were talking about how we'd never been to one before because, culturally, it just wasn't something our parents did, or even knew about. So now that we're raising Ruby in an American culture and mixing in some new-to-us traditions that we never had growing up, it's fun to discover these things with her at the same time. Oh, and she loved seeing the animals on the farm since she's getting really good at animal noises...

P.S. Speaking of family traditions, here's a little guest post I wrote for A Cup of Jo earlier this week about a tradition we uphold for our parents...

{Ruby's romper by Bambinos & Bunny}

hello, cuteness... 23 Oct 2012

At my San Francisco book party a few weeks ago, some of the most stylish guests included a couple of toddlers dressed in these amazing graphic rompers and dresses with gold headbands. Turns out, their moms recently launched a kid's line called Bambinos & Bunny. I love how bold and fun the pieces are...seriously making a statement everywhere they go...and Ruby loves them too!

happy friday + ruby's dol... 19 Oct 2012

Being born to a Thai mom and a Korean dad, Ruby's sure to have lots of cultural celebrations in her lifetime. For Bob's side of the family, we celebrated her 1 year birthday with a traditional Korean Dol celebration last week in Philly. The main part of the celebration includes a fortune-telling ritual, where various objects are placed in front of the baby, and the object that is picked gives an indication of what she'll be in the future...