elsa's 1st birthday

So Elsa turned 1 just over a month ago, and I managed to turn the event(s) into pretty much a full week of pictures. Her party—for which I was making those mustache brownies from the last post—started the off week on Sunday. Dan and Carmen hosted it downstairs in their apartment, moving the various pieces of their bed up to our dining room to create more space in their bedroom. It was a good thing too, because with something like 30 people and several small children, their place was quite crowded during the party. For picture of the day options, I ended up with many pictures of the circus-themed decorations, most of them designed and made by Carmen. But I went with a picture of Carmen bringing out Elsa's birthday cake, made by Noe Valley Bakery. By the end of the week, I had a couple pictures of the day of the birthday girl herself anyway, so she was well represented.

176/366 elsa's birthday party

Elsa's actual birthday was on Monday. Rather than doing the obligatory messy cake eating at her party, Dan and Carmen waited until Monday night, when Steve and I came down to watch her open her presents too. (Good opportunity to get more pictures of the birthday girl!) It took Elsa a little while to figure out what to do with the cupcake when it was put in front of her, but she got the hang of it once Dan and Carmen started breaking off pieces and feeding them to her. Soon, she had both hands full of cake and lots of frosting on her face, saying "um num num" while she ate.

177/366 elsa's 1st birthday

At the end of the night on Monday, Carmen sent me home with one of the hats from the party. Dan, Steve, and I had all helped make them the previous Friday, after our weekly pizza. Carmen and I figured I could get an extra picture of the day out of it, and it certainly came in handy on Tuesday when I was more interested in editing birthday party pictures than taking new ones. It also happened to be my nephew Jon's birthday that day, so I used his birthday card in the shot too. (It was waiting for a new address to get sent out.)

178/366 birthday mode

On Wednesday, Carmen asked if I could come down and take some more pictures of Elsa in her circus party outfit. I had gotten a few shots of her at her party, but none of just her, so I was glad for the opportunity. It proved to be a little more challenging than we expected, though. We tried putting Elsa behind the photo booth picture frame, but of course, she just crawled out of it. The couch turned out to be a better spot. Carmen had to catch her a couple times when she was in danger of falling off while trying to climb down, but she was much better contained there. She just needed a little distracting.

179/366 high-couch act

Then, on Thursday, I suggested we get some pictures of Enzo in his hat and tie. He hadn't actually ended up wearing them at the party, since it was too hectic, and I had only gotten one shot of him in costume toward the end. Unfortunately, the light wasn't great by that point. This time, we went down the alley and looked for a neutral background. The focus on my favorite picture didn't turn out to be quite as sharp as I would have liked, but I decided that the composition was more important this time.

180/366 pensive clown

Friday was pizza night with Dan and Carmen again, and I saved my picture of the day until then, for lack of ideas. I figured I might as well stick with the Elsa birthday theme, and I was able to get pictures of the bunting that Carmen had made, as well as pictures of Elsa's birthday bunnies. (The bunnies won this round.) The smaller bunny is the one that Bonnie and I bought for Elsa in Hayes Valley on Carmen's due date last year, and the bigger one was from Bruce and Bonnie for Elsa's first birthday. We had spotted it and a few bigger sizes at a toy store in Ghirardelli Square in March, and naturally, Bonnie snapped it up and kept it for Elsa's birthday. The only downside of the bunnies is that Enzo tends to think that any plush animal is his, so they have to be kept off the floor.

181/366 the bunny brigade

I did deviate from the theme on Saturday... I was running out of birthday pictures to take anyway. Instead, I took a picture of Steve's homemade beer, which he and Dan cracked open that afternoon. This would be beer from an "Everyday IPA" kit that I got him at Williams-Sonoma for his birthday in 2011. He finally got around to starting it, just before the expiration date on the package of yeast. The whole process took almost a month, but apparently, it came out well. Steve said it was maybe a little overly hopsy, but he and Dan had no problem drinking it. And despite Steve's worries, it came out sufficiently bubbly. The head had just died down a little by the time I landed on a composition that I liked for the picture.

182/366 homebrew

And that wraps up the month of June. Here's the obligatory mosaic: