The nursery has to be the cutest room in the house, right?  That’s definitely true for this adorable pink and green nursery shared by Rita Rojas-Sullivan.  I just love the soft green gingham, the clean white furniture, and the beautiful teddy bear mobile!  Definitely a room befitting a gorgeous baby girl. :)

{photography by Rita Rojas-Sullivan}

We just returned from an amazing week in Costa Rica! Our good friend Stacey had wanted to make a trip to the rainforest, so we decided to tag along and I’m so so glad we did. It was a fabulous week full of good food, rainforest adventures, and lots of pool time! We used Latitudes to book our itinerary and our first stop was the organic coffee plantation Finca Rosa Blanca.

Finca Rosa Blanca has individual apartment-type rooms, we had two right next to eachother, Pino and Higuron.  Both had balconies and super-comfy king beds.  We absolutely LOVED staying here, the food was quite simply out of this world, and it was such a tranquil, beautiful spot.  This was our view from breakfast:

We took the tour of the coffee plantation and heard about all of the work it takes to grow coffee!  No wonder it costs $4.90 for my latte!

This is what a coffee bean looks like before it’s shelled, dried and roasted.

Then we got to taste some different types of grounds.  Was so interesting to see how the different methods of producing coffee make it taste differently!

After two lovely nights at Finca Rosa Blanca, we made the 4 hour trip to La Fortuna and the Arenal Nayara.  If you are visiting Costa Rica, I highly recommend hiring transportation (this is what we did) - don’t try to drive yourself!  The roads are quite simply terrible.  That 4 hour trip?  It was a 90 kilometer distance. 

Our room at the Nayara was very pretty.  We had an outdoor rain shower and jacuzzi tub, as well as super comfy beds.  Travelers take note: I was disappointed in the service from the front desk staff here, and their website states there is high-speed internet in each room.  There is not internet in-room and what you can find in the common areas is very slow and unreliable.  I wasn’t pleased that their website advertised something they didn’t have, and although the bar and waitstaff were amazing and the rooms are quite nice, I would not stay here again.

Our first rainforest excursion was a hike at the base of the Arenal volcano.  We saw all sorts of beautiful flora and didn’t even get rained on!  That night, we visited The Springs Resort (if I were rich, this is where I’d stay!) and played in their hot springs.

The next day was waterfall rappelling!  This was seriously freaking awesome.  Hard work, but so worth it!  The highest waterfall was over 200ft, and we loved traipsing through the spring water in the Costa Rica heat.  This excursion was through Desafio Adventure Company and I would highly recommend them.  Our guides were so friendly, we felt super safe, and we had a fabulous time.

And last but not least, we went ziplining!  This tour was through Arenal Paraiso, and I can’t even describe how amazing it was to fly through the jungle.  We had been ziplining before but nothing like this.  There were 11 ziplines, and the longest was over 200ft off the ground and 1200ft long.  And you flew 40 mph!  It was crazy awesome and if you visit Costa Rica, this is a MUST do for you, seriously.

There you have it, our whirlwind week in Costa Rica!  We absolutely loved it – so fun, relatively inexpensive, and even though it was rainy season, it didn’t bother us much, and we definitely didn’t have anything stopped because of the rain.  In fact, we got lucky and it really only rained while we were ziplining, which actually made it even more incredible. 

Have you visited Costa Rica?  Did you go to Arenal?  I have heard awesome things about Guanacaste and Manuel Antonio too, but with as long as it takes to get anywhere, we couldn’t do it all!

*rappelling images by Desafio Adventure Company, ziplining images by Arenal Paraiso, all other images my own. I was kind of proud of my picture-taking skills this time around! :)

Hi everyone!  Rachel here for Furbaby Friday!  As some of you might know, we like dogs in our household.  That is kind of an understatement – we love dogs!  And we are now the proud parents of dog #5 – Lady the Labrador.

Lady came into our lives late one night while we were on the way to pick up some dinner, running straight at our headlights, out of the darkness.  We spent most of the following day trying to find her owner – checking for a microchip, driving around all the nearby neighborhoods to look for “Lost” posters, printing and posting our own “Found” posters all over the area, and posting ads online at Pets911.com and Craigslist.  After 4 weeks and no inquiries, we just couldn’t believe that somebody hadn’t come forward to claim such a well-behaved (for a 1 year old!), sweet, and healthy dog.  After losing our big dog last November, it was almost like it was meant to be.

1) Her favorite toy?  Tennis balls, anything that squeeks, rope toys….. she’s 1, so really anything she can get her mouth on she loves.  Including her brother JJ, her best furr-buddy (see him in the background above, with a big smile??).

2) Her favorite treat is ice.  Really!  We can’t even give ice to any of the other dogs because she’ll steal it from them!  She also really likes Milkbones, cheese, and apples.

3) Her favorite place to nap is curled up right next to someone, preferably one of us, of course!  Have I mentioned that she thinks she’s a little dog??

4) Her favorite place to go is most definitely her training class at PetsMart!  She’s realized that when we go there, she gets lots and lots and lots of treats.  Sometimes whole bagfuls.  Her second favorite place to go to is the dog park to chase frisbees and tennis balls.

5) Lady’s best move is definitely “sit” right now.  She’s learning to lay down, and all the other great stuff they teach you in beginner classes, but she has “sit” down pat.  She’s learned that most of the time, if she comes up to you and sits, she’ll get lots of love and attention (and possibly a treat!).

Want to have your little one featured on Furbaby Friday?  Send an email with furbaby pictures to [living at elizabeth anne designs dot com] with the subject “Furbaby Friday” with your furbaby photos (at least 600px in width please), a couple of sentences about their stinkin’ cute personalities, and answer these questions on their behalf:

1) Favorite toy
2) Favorite treat
3) Favorite place to nap
4) Favorite travel destination (ex: petsmart, grandma’s house, the park, etc)
5) Best trick (or as I like to say “best move” – as in, Charlie’s adorable stretch where he pulls his little wrists up to his face and then pushes his arms down his chest is his best move!)

Crafty mom alert! This adorable first birthday party is all about Ethan and the Frog Prince.  Ethan’s mother handmade all the desserts and decorations, including the cupcakes, cake, fondant frog prince and all the darling peace frog accents. I just love the precious pictures from Cheryl M. Photography (especially the ones of Ethan and his birthday cake!), the sweet baby blue and sea green colors, and Ethan and the Frog Prince’s matching crowns. :)

{photography by Cheryl M. Photography}

This is such an adorable little mother-daughter shoot!  Collette from Brier Rose Design styled the sweet vintage lemonade stand setting, and spent a lovely afternoon with her daughter Brierlyn playing and laughing while sipping lemonade and enjoying the gorgeous California weather.  Brierlyn is cute as a button, and the images from Kim Robbins are ones I know they will treasure forever.  Love this idea for some “Mommy and Me” keeper shots!

Photography – Kim Robbins \ Styling – Brier Rose Design \ Vintage rentals – Smoke Tree Junction Antiques \ Mother’s clothes – Maple Boutique \ Girls clothes – Gap Kids