Leap Day Fun
Yesterday we had all sorts of great fun together. Being LeapDay we decided (OK, it was pretty much all me, I decided…) that we should do something totally different than our usual day. It is like a holiday, right? Yeah, kind of. Scott rearranged his schedule so that he could be home all day with us. That made it a holiday in and of itself. I didn’t have to do the morning-we-have-to-be-out-of-the-house-before-8:35am-with-both-of-us-dressed-and-ready-battle all on my own. Two to one is a million times easier. I really miss him and his help in the mornings…
After we dropped off Creamie at preschool we went to breakfast. Like a date. In the morning. So so awesome. Then we did a little thrifting, picked Creamie up and went to lunch. The afternoon was spent bowling, eating ice cream and setting up a tent (a real tent) in the living room to watch a movie and eat snacks. A bit of happy mail thrown in made the afternoon extra awesome. And then we had waffles for dinner and finished it off with a little snuggle and TV time which eventually turned into a pillow fight. Not *that* kind. We really were just beating each other with pillows. I think I won, I ended up on the floor with all the pillows. She with the most wins, right? It was such a great day. I can’t wait for 4 more years to do something equally ridiculous. (I also found this idea this morning and I think I’ll do that this week too. I’m all about time capsules. I think. I think I’m all about time capsules.)
And with February over and March officially here I just wanted to tell you I am still right on track with this years 365 Instagram project. And amazingly I’m still on track for four of the 8 other new years resolutions. Two months in and a 50% success rate is doing better than average in my opinion!
Playing in the Snow
A picture says a thousand words, right? Well it better, because even though this post was NEARLY ready to be published on Tuesday evening, life got in the way and I’m just now getting back to the computer. Good stuff. I love when the good life gets in the way of other things. But back to the snow and the pictures that say a thousand words. Go.
Tuesday, after what seemed like months of waiting we finally got real snow at our house. And it didn’t even all melt away before we got out there to play in it. It’s of course long gone now, but it was here. Tuesday, it was here. It started snowing on our way home from preschool and it didn’t let up for a few hours. We had those big fluffy flakes that stick on your eyelashes and everything. It made me so happy. And as soon as it stopped we got all dressed up in snow garb to go play. And due to playing in the snow I completely forgot about her dance class Tuesday afternoon. #MomFail.
But this might be her only chance to play in snow this year, which is completely depressing, so I figure it’s all worth it. It was an afternoon well spent.
Potty Break. She started running for the front door. Novice snow mom here forgot to make her go before we got all dressed up in snow gear. So we took it all off at the front door, she made a beeline for the bathroom and then we put it all back on. And my biggest fear was that the snow would melt before we got back out there. Seriously, I’m moronic sometimes.
But we got to make a teensy snowman, snow angels, and she threw plenty of snowballs. I think we stayed outside for two hours. And by the time she was done it was getting dark, and I could hear the dripping of the snow melting off of cars and houses and I was so thankful for the one afternoon of good fun in the white stuff. Now, if only we can get a few more days like this before spring really comes that would be great.
It did snow a bit today, and hailed even. Which is closer to rain than snow (in my opinion). But it’s long gone now and my world is back to that awful shade of dead winter gray/brown/yellowish blah.
PS- I thrifted her coat last year for I think $5. Also, I have had some major luck in the thrifting department lately. I’ll share soon.
Playing in California
When we were in California last week the thing the most important thing to me besides spending time together was not stressing out about anything. I hate vacations where you feel like you have to cram everything in and by the time you are done you need a vacation to recover. You are going to need time to recover from being away from home anyway, so don’t make it worse by cramming everything into an calculated hourly schedule. But that’s just me.
So while we were visiting Grandpa we hung out at his house a lot. Had lazy mornings. Didn’t stress out about not being somewhere by 9 am. Lovely. We went to a park Scott remembered from when he was young called The Dennis the Menace Park. (Seriously.) He was dissappointed to see that all the cool old toys have been replaced with standard run of the mill hard plastic and metal play equipment. It used to have a big cool castle theme. Now it’s just primary colored play equipment. This sword in the stone was the only thing left from the old park. Creamie loved it anyway. We had our picnic, she ran around touching everything and we left before it got too cold for dinner and a little shopping. A perfect day.
Creamie and Grandpa got along great. She shared her books and fruitsnacks with him and he sat down and watched cartoons with her. She talked his ears off I’m sure. But it was so sweet to see them sitting together on the couch watching cartoons on Sunday morning. It was one of those things I hope never to forget. And I hope we can go visit again soon. Not only is Grandpas house the perfect vacation, it is full of beautiful old things that make me smile just to look at. Look at the treasure I saw peeking out from the top pantry shelf while I was looking for napkins! Catherine Holm! And the wallpaper in his dining room is one of the most beautiful patterns ever. And the little turquoise fawn in the china cabinet…. sigh. Grandparents always have awesome stuff don’t they. I should take pictures of every single thing I love about my loved one’s homes. What a fun little album that would be to look through.
A big part of our trip was focused around eating. As it should be. We ate at all our favorite places while we were there, the doughnut shop around the corner being one of them. This girl would do most anything for a rainbow sprinkle doughnut. Do you remember this post?
I got to do one more REALLY fun thing before we left LA and headed down to San Diego. I e-met Shannon more than a year ago. And she is absolutely lovely. Her blog, Little Luck Tree is full of pretty pictures and tutorials and very doable DIY projects. She just moved across the country to Hollywood and is living her dream of acting. I am so excited for her! She came and met me for lunch just before we packed up the car for the second half of our trip and I wished I could have spent another few hours talking. And we didn’t even get to the shopping or the thrifting! Also, my face is totally pink from our day at Seal Beach. I forget how often to reapply sunscreen every time we are on vacation…
Shannon and I met at a cute little spot for lunch (delicious food and real plates!) and talked about life, blogs, geeked out about “famous” people, caught up on all those things in real life that just don’t transfer as well into internet conversations and generally just had a wonderful few hours sitting out in the sunshine. And when it came time to go, we both admitted we are blogger geeks and had to take a picture. And then we both pulled out our Instax camera’s and laughed at each other. She found some poor unsuspecting diner to juggle gigantic oldschool cameras while we stood there like happy idiots. Thanks diner guy.
I don’t use my camera (an Instax 210 wide) nearly as often as I should. It was Shannon that actually encouraged me to take it out of the box months ago. My dad gave it to me for my birthday last year. (Shannon’s cute little white Instax is the Mini version.)
As for today? I am working on a new project that is totally for me. I also found out I am going to teach my first class at my local quilt shop at the end of April. Exciting! I’ve been eating my mom’s plumberry jam on everything I can add it too, breakfast lunch and dinner. Creamie asked for some orange juice this afternoon, and after I squeezed her some I decided to try out a green smoothie with some of the baby spinach in the fridge. I’ll just say I’m a total fan. It will be hard to not eat one every single day. Though with two cups of spinach in there and a bunch of fresh fruit that might not be such a bad thing. I’ll be back soon, I almost feel completely caught up on my life and ready to jump into some new things.
Seal Beach, CA
When we go to California to visit Grandpa one of our favorite things to do is go to Seal Beach. It’s a perfect place in my opinion, and I am not usually a beach kind of girl. I prefer mountains, and snow and fireplaces to beaches. But this place is very nearly perfect. It was perfect weather for the beach, warm, sunshiney and not a cloud in the sky. Creamie has never been so happy.
As soon as we laid out our big blanket on the sand Creamie started taking off clothes to get in the water. Her little skirt was off in no time flat and it was all I could do to keep her underwear on her. I was glad I found these little boy shorts for her a few days before we left. I didn’t much mind her walking around in these undiepants.
I found a small bucket of beach toys for $5 before we left and it was one of my best buys. She was in heaven. I think she played here in the sand for 3 straight hours. I took more than 300 pictures, but I’ll spare you the full photo journal.
This was the first of many picnics on this trip. I can’t count the number of sandwiches I ate. But I was really glad we took our big picnic blanket. I used it almost everyday. It was perfect. (This is the quilt I made for Scott last year from his dad’s clothes, that post here.)
She was burying her dad’s feet. And doing a wonderful job of it. Also, I think I have about 50 pictures of her from this trip with her toungue out. Beaching is serious concentrating business!
After she fell in the water a few times she got cold and we put her swimming suit on her. And then she got cold again and we traded a swimming suit for jeans and a fleece jacket. Going to the beach requires a LOT of stuff. Especially for us. At the end of the pier on Seal Beach is a really great restaurant called Ruby’s Diner. It’s another California favorite.
I love this girl. Also, I finally found a pair of sunglasses that was under $20 that doesn’t hurt my head when I wear them for more than 10 minutes. These aren’t them. I am not letting my new one’s out of my sight ever. They were too hard to come by!
Most of our time in California it was pretty cold. Her little fleece jacket got a LOT of use this trip. So I was glad we went to the beach when we did, it was such perfect weather. For February. She has been asking me all morning if she can go to the beach after lunch today. She sure loved it.
Also, I should point out that I don’t get in the water. I do the beach in pants and a jacket and stay on the dry sand. I did walk down to the water to talk to those two while they were playing, but I try to keep my toes out of the surf. I am a total beach woosie. But these two? They’d get in the water if it was 45 degrees. And they have. Crazies.
30 Before 30 List
I turned 29 last week and I made a list of 30 things I want to accomplish before I turn 30. (I got this idea from this lady) And then it got lost. In one of those stacks of papers and receipts and stuff that is on top of every single horizontal surface in my entire house….. you have those too right? The Stacks?
But here it is. I have already started a few of these. I’ve been working on perfecting my pizza recipe for years. I have never made the same pizza twice because i am always unsatisfied with the results. I really hope that I can finally get #2 down. But I’ve also made my first crochet project (#3). We went on vacation (#28). That was on my list before I knew we were going to California last week, so I am counting it. I hope to get away sometime before 30 with just Scott. We’ll see how that goes. I have a few roadtrip ideas (#22). I am working on #9. Number 20 will make me fat. I better do that one and then undo the damage done before I make that dress (#4).
I taped my list up next to the door in my crafty/storage room so I can see it all the time, and I have a copy of it in my phone which I look at a lot as well. I actually have a lot of lists in my phone. I am a total list person. I have lists of menu ideas, new years resolutions, blog ideas, places to go on vacation, thrifty things to look for, sizes of spaces in my house that I am looking for the perfect thing for, a clothes shopping list so I don’t get sidetracked and buy too many things that don’t go with what I already have. You know, lists. Do you make lists of things? I’d be lost without a good list.
Our California Vacation
Last night we got home from an 11 day vacation in southern California. Scott had a conference in San Diego last week and so we added a weekend before in LA to visit Grandpa and a weekend after in San Diego staying with my cousin. It is the longest we have been away from home since we got married. And I’m so glad we got to do it together. Creamie was a champ the whole time. She did so great. Really, I was more than pleasantly surprised.
I will probably share more photos than this, but in case that doesn’t happen, this is what we did. We did some beaching, some visiting, some playing, a lot of eating, thrifting, Legoland, more beaching, and more eating. And a lot of driving. A LOT of driving. (You can click on the pic to see it on flickr and get more details on any of the pictures.) I am so glad we went. And so glad to be home sleeping in my own bed and cooking in my own kitchen. Oh, and so glad that the back of our car is not holding a whole month’s worth of our life. I’m almost finished with all the laundry, actually Scott has done most of it. We went to the grocery store today and I am excited to cook dinner at home tonight. Be back soon.
Entertainment
Last night we went out to dinner for Valentines Day. All of us, which wasn’t exactly the plan from the beginning, but it turned out all right in the end.
Creamie wore her new V-day leggings (from Kohls) I wore new jeans that I wouldn’t have fit into last month (Yes!) and we went to a new restaurant.
Awesome food, awesome entertainment, and great ambience. You just can’t beat Mexican places that go all out with the lights and the bright flags hanging from the ceiling and a mariachi band that sings love songs at each table. Valentines Day Win. Hope your Valentines Day was lovely, or at least included fantastic Mexican food. I have lots of things to talk about, but a sick little girl is kind of taking up a lot of my time. It’s day 3 of this, and I sure hope it’s the last of it!
Will you Be My Valentine?
This really is one of my favorite times of year. The perfect excuse to have ridiculous amounts of pink hanging up in your house and as much girly stuff as possible. Thanks to fabulous reader Susan who sent me the sweet paper birds at Christmas time. We hung them up then AND they fit right in with our Valentine tree. What’s that? What’s a Valentine tree? You know, it’s little Christmas ornaments that were on clearance, some old silver chain and a few paper birds. If it looks sparse it’s because Creamie lost interest in decorating it after not too long. I guess she got burned out on decorating trees in December. But Happy Valentines Day anyway, even if you don’t have a tree.
(I got this little one at Christmas from Hobby Lobby a few years ago. And one day I’ll be brave enough to buy a full size pink tree for Christmas. You know, like this one. Actually, yeah. I could totally see that tree in my living room. I would probably keep it up from Halloween clear through June.)
The Thing About Birthdays…
So today I turned 29. It was a mostly good day, as good as it can be with a mildly sick child I suppose. I found a few new thrift stores (more on that later), spent a fun afternoon with Creamie and went to an old favorite for dinner with our little family. And due to lack of birthday cake I had a birthday cookie with ice cream and whipped cream and called it good. I don’t need to blow out 29 candles anyway.
I mentioned a few posts ago that I have been working on a 29th year to do list. For the past year I’ve kept a sort of rough draft of things that I want to accomplish/start/attempt before I hit 30. Now, this actually has nothing to do with turning 30, just turning something. I wanted a good long time to think about them and make sure that the things I put on my first list were things I really did want to do. It’s gone through several drafts, with a lot of revisions and additions and etc. etc. etc. blah blah blah.
But my list is done. I wrote it out a few days ago on cute paper with my cutest handwriting and took a picture of it so I could post it here. And now the list has been misplaced, and the picture got lost. Our computer recently underwent brain transplant surgery and the camera (where the other copy of this picture was still stored) had to have it’s memory card reformatted. (As far as I can tell the only pictures that are missing are of my projects. Thankfully.) I still know what’s on that list, I kept a draft in my phone so I can look at it whenever I want to, I am not going to blog about it until either the actual cute pink graph paper list or the photo of the list turn up. I am betting Creamie took that list and added it to one of her stacks of art projects that are piling up around the house. Time to clean those up I guess.
(Yes, you are right. Creamie looks so much like us that it sometimes makes my parents and older brothers do a double take.)
So, I guess the thing about birthday’s is that they come and go. And most of the time you don’t actually feel any different. But next year, when I have hopefully checked a few of those things off my #30 Bucket List I hope to feel good about it. I’ve already started on the first thing. Learn to crochet. I made Creamie a blue washcloth (she loves using one in the tub and blue is her favorite color). It started out square. Which was pretty awesome in my book. And then I washed it and it is no longer square, but didn’t unravel. So I am still counting it as a win. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Also, Happy Birthday to my sweet sister Heidi-face. There was a lot of years I was not happy to share today with you. (Most kids don’t have to share a birthday with someone they also share a face with. When you are 3-16 that seems really unfair.) But today, I really wished that we had been able to share the day together. Maybe next year. Love you.
Heart Shaped Pancakes
Good Morning Friends! I hope your weekend is treating you right, ours has been awesome. Lots of fun food, and a lot of time spent together. Which is pretty perfect any way you slice it. This morning we are going to have a late lazy breakfast and heart shaped pancakes are on the menu. Since Scott will be at work way before any of us wake up on Tuesday, we are celebrating today while we are all home to eat together.
This picture is actually from last year. I don’t always have myself put together enough to have photographic evidence at the time I want to post it. But since we still have the same dishes, use the same syrup, and the same pancakes, I figure it’s just fine.
To make heart shaped (or any other shape) pancakes you can use those fancy pancake molds that you buy at kitchen specialty stores, or you can use any metal cookie cutter. Spray the insides of the cookie cutter well with non stick spray. Put it down on a hot griddle and pour pancake batter inside. When you are ready to turn the pancake over you can remove the cookie cutter. Use tongs! Don’t try and grab it with your fingers because it is HOT. (We should talk about how funny it was when I did that last year…) Flip the pancakes over and cook the other side and tada! Done. Instant happy breakfast.
pinksuedeshoe 