Category Archives: Fun

Flashbacks, Friends, Fun

10 Years Ago

Dublin, Ireland

In mid-March of 2000, I met 2 friends, Noreen & Shannon (my sister’s college roomies) over in Dublin for several days. They were doing a little European tour after their Master’s program and I decided it was a good excuse to see Ireland while they were there. They rented a room from some young guys for a couple months and utilized their work permit to make a little money to live off of.

They showed me a great time…pub crawls, beautiful parks, picnics in the small seaside town of Bray, wonderful food at “The Beast”, a train trip to Galway on Ireland’s gorgeous west coast, cozy bed & breakfasts, pints, pints and more pints. It was a fabulous trip. I met their friend, Michelle, who is pictured below in the Cookie Monster tee and who I am thrilled to have reconnected with on Facebook! Michelle was a superb hostess and I hope to be able to go back, visit and have our kids frolic together in the beautiful Irish countryside someday.

I am always renewed and have a different outlook on life after a big, international trip like this. It is just something about being in another country, partaking in their everyday life, sitting back evaluating your own life, returning feeling so rejuvenated and looking at it in a whole new way and then wanting to turn around and plan the next excursion! There is something so addictive about traveling.

Travels seem to be out the question these days, and I am totally OK with that, but in the meantime, I will relish in looking at old photos, relive these beautiful opportunities and dream of the big trips to come in our new life with our two new little travelers.

Where are your travels taking YOU this year?

{Here are a few pictures from my stay in Eire}

Hours after arriving on the Red Eye:

On The Ha’Penny Bridge over the River Liffey:

Ticket to the Hurling Match:

At the match clueless about the sport:

Having a pint (or two!) after the match:

The Ladies with a random Irish lad:

Food, Friends, Fun

Green Day

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Must be St. Patrick’s Day!

The green food coloring is out in full force.

Leche verde!

Green Oatmeal & Bananas

(Although it could almost pass as guacamole!)

Holden and I shared the oatmeal while I drank this:

Irish coffee (without the Irish-ness!)

Oh, and I had a moment of weakness last Friday and went thru the McDonald’s drive-thru on the way to Elliott’s dance class for one of these:

{Photo: McDonald’s}

….and, UM, they were not selling them anymore! What? It was only March 12th! How are you NOT going to sell a Shamrock shake AT LEAST until March 17th? How ridiculous is that?

But, I did a little research and, according to livestrong.com, there are 550 calories in a medium Shamrock shake. So, I guess it was a blessing in disguise.

10 years ago today I was in Dublin celebrating with many pints of warm Carlsberg! And just for the record, they do not wear green over there on St. Patty’s Day. I told them that if you don’t wear green that you’ll get pinched….they thought that was ridiculous and had never heard such a thing! So there you have it, if you’re even in Ireland on March 17th, no need to pack any green articles of clothing.

I will dig through my box of old photos today and see if I can’t find a pic from 10 years ago! WOW!

Top o’ the mornin’ to ya!

Family, Flashbacks, Fun

Cover To Cover

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This is Elliott’s baby book:

It was a gift from our friends Leah & Bryan.

It’s full of all sorts of information…her vital statistics at birth and over the past few years, our family tree, a list of all the wonderful gifts we received before and after her arrival, photos of her first bath, first holiday, first trip to Disneyland. The date of eruption of all her little teeth is recorded in here. Her “favorite” things when she was a baby. What she ate along the way and her sleep patterns. It highlights her first four birthdays and even holds the news worthy events that took place on the day of her birth. It is chock full of beautiful memories and I can’t tell you how many times I have read it since her birth and relived all these beautiful moments.

There are only 2 pages left ~ one waiting for the black pen to glide over it and document one LAST milestone as far as this little book is concerned, and one page waiting for a photo to be affixed to it with double-sided tape. I can see it now…Elliott in her new school clothes, carrying her new lunch box, with a BIG smile on her face. My baby is going to kindergarten!

“My First School Day”

This page will be filled out in only 5 short months and then this book will be complete. I can hardly believe that this little yellow book that once was stiff and empty, pages pristine and smooth is now a keepsake for Elliott, seams expanding from all the pictures and other little special documents like copies of her birthday invitations and a notebook page with the journal entry made by my 96-year old “Gam” the day Elliott was born.

This book is filled with beauty from the past 5 years.

I cannot wait to see what memories and milestones the next 5 years bring…..

Food, Friends, Fun

Darlings, Driving, Daydreaming & Dips

Our Sunday was filled with all things {d}ivine…

A sweet shower to welcome Baby Halle.

How {d}arling is this pic of the new peanut and her beautiful mommy, Jennene:

Watching E & H tear up and down the street in the neighbor kids’ Escalade:

{D}riving

Holdy decided to take a break from behind the wheel and {d}aydream:

Finally, I made my first ever French {D}ips:

Like my old school Crock Pot from 1926?

A stainless steel upgrade is on my wish list…..

I did little mini slider-type ‘wiches:

The au jus turned out flavorful enough, but we decided to add a little heat:

This recipe couldn’t be easier…

Slow Cooker French Dips

It was another {d}elicious weekend ~ in more ways than one.

Food, Friends, Fun

Milestones & Munchies

This weekend Elliott was invited to her first official sleepover.

She was so excited.

Disney Princess suitcase on wheels packed with her Christmas pajamas, toothbrush and “Monkey”, her lime green, long-armed, long-legged stuffed primate.

Disney Princess sleeping bag rolled nicely inside the matching DP backpack over both shoulders.

Mermaid pillow under her arm.

We walked two doors down to Emilie’s…..Holden in tow and me with some nibbles for the Mommies to enjoy as we chatted and sipped on margaritas and eventually wine!

The four girlies feasted on mini pb&j’s, chicken nuggets, steamed broccoli, fruit salad and the ever popular nacho cheese Doritos.

Once the girls changed into their jammies, Holden immediately called out, “Jammies on! Jammies on!” So, he and I walked home, suited up in his “doggie jammies”, grabbed his “rocketship pi-woe”, zipped up the Buzz & Woody light up boots and headed back down to the girl fest:

Barbie And The Diamond Castle was playing, but not quite capturing all their attention because a pillow fight broke out:

Even though this picture is blurry, I loved it as I thought it captured her pure happiness throughout the night. Sheer excitement as the much anticipated “sleep over” was being played out in real life. A new milestone that I think she will want to relive again real soon.

I talked her through it and reminded her that I was not going to stay. She insisted that she would be OK.

And she was.

*****

I brought a new appetizer that I’d been dying to try…Warm Blue Cheese and Bacon Dip. (Thanks to this cute blog!)

Super easy and super delish.

Here is the line up (minus half&half/milk):

And here is the final goodness:

Highly recommend this is you love the blue!

I also made BBQ Chicken Pizza:

Normally I am a traditionalist when it comes to pizza. Extra sauce, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes…just a simple vegetarian pizza, but I like to make this creation from time to time…reminds me of my BFF, Denise, down in San Diego.

Here’s what you need:

TJ’s Pizza dough (I use the whole wheat)

Your favorite BBQ sauce

Rotisserie chicken or grilled tenders or breast (I grill with a bit of olive oil and Montreal Steak Seasoning)

Red onion slices

Cheese of choice

Fresh cilantro, chopped

Follow instructions on dough package and roll out to desired shape and size. Poke dough with fork to prevent bubbling. Spread a bit of sauce onto pizza. Arrange red onion slices around the pizza and then cut up chicken in small chunks and toss around in a small amount of bbq sauce and sprinkle across pizza. Add shredded cheese and bake at 450 for about 10-12 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro confetti, let cool and then cut into small appetizer size squares.

Food, Friends, Fun

Egg Salad With An Attitude

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It’s Friday during Lent so I was searching for a way to punch up the ‘ol egg salad recipe.

I decided to marry my newfound infatuation for jarred jalapeños and my ever-lasting love of cilantro with a little mayo, salt, pepper & cayenne pepper (oh, and a few hard boiled eggs!)

“Jalantro” Egg Salad

Chop it all up, add a little mayo, s&p and cayenne then spread on your favorite bread (or not)…

…and you’re ready for a Friday picnic in the park!

I snuck a taste and was pleasantly surprised…to me, eggs sort of have that “vanilla” type flavor that blends well with almost anything. I’m looking forward to my upgraded egg salad today.

Now off we go to enjoy this little bit of sunshine before the rain visits us again!

Hope you’re having a bright & shiny Friday.

Family, Fun

Gallery Viewing

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This past Tuesday evening we attended Art Night at Elliott’s preschool.

So fun to see the tikes and their little masterpieces created with all sorts of different mediums and components.

So bright.

So cheery.

So creative.

Here are our artist’s pieces:

Can you tell she LOVES purple?

This is my favorite:

This one was full of glitter (you guessed it, purple glitter!):

and last, but certainly not least, a collage:

Next February when we attend Art Night, we’ll be seeing Holden’s masterpieces.

Thank you, Elliott, for sharing your beautiful works of art with us!

Family, Food, Fun

Relaunch!

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Oh my.

This Mama is spaced out!

We’ve been in a different galaxy for almost a week now and I am D-O-N-E.

Ready to return to the real world from the atmosphere.

This evening we did a little re-do party since Popsi’s here.

We ate more tacos.

The kids ate the leftover jello planets:

…and the day wouldn’t be complete without a Danimals smoothie:

…or some dino chicken nuggets and “dip” (AKA ketchup):

We finally got a family birthday picture:

and wiped a couple blue faces clean:

Between the blue jello and those cupcakes, that much BLUE food coloring can’t be good…

…not even for a PEACOCK!

Ugh! Right now I never want to see another one of these:

I think it’s safe to say we’ve done our part in space exploration this week.

Holden has officially been launched into another fun-filled year.

Nighty night!

Frugal Finds, Fun

Budget Blast Off Birthday Bash

I was curious to see how “cheap” I could do Holden’s party…

Since I came up with the Outer Space theme about a year ago (OCD), I had plenty of time to search around and find some bargain finds throughout the past 12 months!

These are just estimates, but I made a mental note of what I paid for everything, so these totals are pretty close:

Invitations: $3 (notecards & stickers ~ printed myself)
Goody bags/favors: $45
Rocketship cake: $8 (1 box cake mix, 1.5 containers frosting, “3” candles, candies)
Layered cupcakes: $7 (1 box cake mix, 1 container frosting, 2 food color gels)
Decor: $25 (rocket ship piñata, balloons, posters, hanging stars, silver garland)
Food: $60 (Taco bar, bean dip, chips, guac, bagel bites, pb&j’s, jell-o, sugar cookies, non-alcoholic beverages, etc.)
Adult beverages: $47 (Midori, tequila, wine & beer)
Serving stuff: $21 (platters, plates, napkins, cups)
Thank you notes: $3
Postage: $4

I wanted to download some Star Wars music off iTunes, but instead Jay discovered the NASA channel on our Direct TV so we put that on in the background…it was pretty cool….and FREE!

Grand Total: $223

Contributions:
Gramma K: rocket ship tent (Holden’s gift), bean bags, hanging planets (decor) and glass jar beverage dispenser
Meghan: jump house
Lisa: lime green utensils

Thanks Ladies for helping me stay under budget! I appreciate your contributions to a fantastic festivity! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! XOXO

There were a total of 28 guests (including our family). So, for under $230 I was able to do this party….I’m pretty proud of myself….I’ll have to check with Jay, on the other hand, and see what he thinks!

Believe me, I could’ve spent a lot more!