Sunday, May 31, 2009

Drunk Post

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Ahhh, such a good night with Li and KT!!! The first time the two have ever met and OMG we had a blast!!! A round of beer and a round of shots bought for us. Oh, yeah. I'll take it anytime. Of course, KT was gone by that time. But, hell yeah, I'll take it any way. Taco Cabanana at 2:30am in the morning. I'll take that, too! Queso and chips, and beef taco, I'll take it!

Friday, May 29, 2009

Dinnertime Conversations

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For Christmas my sister gave me one of the best gifts I have ever received. It's a circle shaped tin with a stack of cards inside with a picture of a penny on one side and on the other side a conversation starter to help parents and young children connect. It's called Penny for your Thoughts. For the past six months, every time we have sat down to dinner we have pulled this out at the end of dinner and spent twenty to thirty minutes chatting over five to ten questions.



Here are tonight's Penny for your Thoughts' inspired conversations:

"Name 3 blessings in your life."

Justinb: A good education, parents, and the opportunity to go to college.
Shawners: My Mom, my Dad, and my good friend, Travis.
Brando and I: each person in my family.

"What do you suppose being successful means?"

Justinb: When they have done what they wanted to do, or almost done what they wanted to do. He then quoted something about Thomas Edison.
Shawners: I don't know.
Me: I like Justinb's answer so much, I'm going with it.
Brando: Making a goal and meeting it, in everything in life.

"Tell me about God."

Shawners: He...
helps people with stuff.
loves everyone.
always sees what you say and knows what you say.
knows if you're going to hell or heaven.
everyone loves him. Except for some people. Like Satan.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

LBC Baby

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Wow, a new record for me. I haven't read blogs in five days. I love reading blogs - they're like my gossip magazines, only I know they're true for the most part ; ) .

I just came back from the most AHmazing weekend EVER in Long Beach. My cousin on my Mom's side got married and my parents flew our whole family out to celebrate and support them. So very happy! We stayed at the cutest little hotel with teak lounge chairs by the pool with two inch thick cushions that I sank into and wanted to stay forever in. The kids were running around happy, the weather was gorgeous, my cousin and his new wife are adorable, my uncle is perverted but I got over that, and there was no family drama. Brando didn't even feel the need to be resident photographer because my cousin got a new camera. Granted the pictures weren't as fabulous because he's just learning, and I was glad I took a bunch, and Brando the ones that he did, but it was nice to have my hubby the whole time.


Their sweet Rolls Royce transportation from the wedding to the reception

The pretty houses lining the coastal road on the way to the reception

One of my favorite, favorite things about Cali is all the palm trees all over

The reception was at a gorgeous restaurant on the water, where we visited outside until the sunset and the bride and groom arrived. We moved the party inside and danced all night long. SO much fun!!


The view from the restaurant - so gorgeous!


More of the view and marina from the reception restaurant


The restaurant - and that's the open bar right there. Nice.


Upstairs and a view of inside of where the reception moved to later in the evening

View from our seats at the reception restaurant. Ah mazing.

The next morning we woke up, packed our bags, and headed to the beach where I coerced Brando into thinking we were just "stopping by". Really I had the agenda of throwing the kids and I in our bathing suits and having the kids enjoy the beach that I get to visit every year. Once we got there, and the kids already started getting their shorts wet, I ran back to the car and grabbed our suits, threw mine on California style i.e. next to the car under my clothes (or not), and ran back. We spent the next hour splashing and body surfing the waves. SO much fun!! My kids totally got to enjoy the beach I get to visit every year and enjoyed every minute of it. Both of my sister's were there with their families, too, although they didn't go in the water and thought I was crazy because we were all used to growing up in Santa Cruz where the water is COLD. Apparently they didn't know until I told them afterwards that the water is soooooo much warmer down south in Cali. Discovering that is what toes are for, not me!!! Of course they weren't prepared with their bathing suits like I was either. My sister and bil were so sweet afterwards, though, they told me they had a good time and were really happy we stopped by the beach. My sis got some HAUTE pictures of Brando and I with Brando's camera too. Can't wait to steal them off his computer!

We used a bottle of water to shower and changed into our dry clothes then headed to brunch four minutes up the road and arrived there exactly on time. Fortunately the bride and groom were late wondering in any way! I enjoyed the next three hours visiting with ALL of my cousins and siblings (except for my brother, who was there the night before, but had to drive home early that morning for work) and watching a super fun Hawaiian luau show,  all while drinking lots of mimosas. Mmmm.

See? Best weekend. EVER. Family, drinks, beach, fun, sunshine. It just DOESN'T get any better.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Off to Scarborough Faire we go

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This weekend we joined a group of friends to go to Scarborough Renaissance Festival in Waxahachie. A couple of Brando's friends arranged for a group of us to stay at her dad's house, and be able to attend the faire all day on Saturday and Sunday for those who could go. Brando had to work Saturday and K's birthday party was on Saturday as well, so we drove up that evening and stayed the night. The faire itself was gorgeous with all the bright colors, costumes, and so much fun with everybody in character. Getting there was an adventure with deflating air mattresses - twin ones at that, Justinb puking, washing the comforters, rugs, bedskirts, white carpet at midnight. Definitely an adventure! Sunday morning we woke up, showered and shined, and headed off. We had a belly dancer, a captain, a Scot, and a wench amongst us. And then there was Brando and I... we didn't dress up : ) . If we go next year, though, we definitely will and then we'll add an archer and a fairy to the group. The shows were a ton of fun, and hilarious, from German rappers, Zilch the Tory Steller, to Don Juan & Miguel, to a really educational show with hawks, bald eagles, and owls called Birds of Prey. Shawners rode the catapult and looked like he was going to hurl the whole time, it was so cute. He wanted to go again! The kids loved the faire, and we did really well with not spending too much money up until the very ending *here's looking at you, Brando*. He was nice and bought me a gift. Unfortunately it was way beyond our means right now or anytime recently. Definitely won't be spending that much next time we go, or we won't be able to go ever again! We had a blast, learned a lot (about ALL aspects of life), and came back to Shawner's last week of first grade!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Productivity Complete!

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So far today I've attended Justinb's living museum at school, gone to Starbucks for coffee, gone to yoga with KT that had a view which looked like it was straight out of Italy, and am about to start school with Shawners. I think that more than makes up for Wednesday, no?

Justinb's living museum was sooooooo cute. The kids had a button the parents and other students got to press and the kids would "come alive" and give a two minute presentation about their character. Justinb was Henry Ford. He was dressed up in a little suit and tie, with a 1950's F100 Ford truck as his prop.

 His friend was Daniel Boone next to him, and on the other side was his other friend, George W. Bush. So adorable!  Amelia Earhart, Annie Oakley, Florence Nightingale, Charles Lindbergh, Davy Crockett - they were all there. They learned SO much about so many different characters!

We pressed all of Justinb's classmates buttons, then headed to yoga with KT. OMG her view at her apartment is AMAZING.

This is a picture from Como, Italy, but looks exactly like our view this morning.

We sat there on the balcony with the breeze blowing and the tuscan plastered roof overhead in the most compromising positions that ended up being totally relaxing once I got over giggling to myself and KT that Brando would absolutely LOOOOOOOVE that I am taking that class and stretching myself to the limits, if you know what I mean. My favorite part was at the end when the instructor had us relax as he named each body part to relax. Whenever somebody tells me to relax each body part i.e. relax your shoulders, relax your elbows, relax your forearms, relax your wrists, etc, each body part goes totally limp, relaxes completely and freezes there. I feel totally hypnotized and love the feeling!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

The jury's still out...

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On my thoughts of our current president, but I tell you one thing, I whole heartedly agree with this:

"Americans know that they have a responsibility to live within their means and pay what they owe," Obama said last week. "But they also have a right to not get ripped off by the sudden rate hikes, unfair penalties and hidden fees that have become all too common."

Seriously?! The fact that we are STILL $18k in debt after... 18 months of being $18k in debt INCLUDING paying off EXTRA every month is RIDICULOUS. The fact that credit card companies are DESIGNED for you to never pay them off should be illegal. It's a product, not a lease on your life. Although the way it's designed now it might as well be a lien on one's life!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

So Flippin' UNmotivated

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People, Shawners has FIVE more days of school left. FIVE. And I am sitting on my ARSE avoiding every moment doing school with him that I can. Our afternoon is going to be filled up with school, only because I am wayyyy more an afternoon person. That is, when I don't eat breakfast, and long story short, I've forgotten to eat breakfast for the last two months!! I think I stopped when I started feeling like I was gaining too much weight. Ugh.

One productive thing I did today was go to his meet the teachers at Justinb's school, where Shawners will be next year. Wow, the variation in teachers threw me for a loop! All the way from fresh out of college and clueless, young but knew what she was doing, to been there way too long and shows it, to been there way too long and knows exactly what to do. The latter seems the best option for me, just because sometimes I feel like I have no clue what I am doing and need someone who really does to guide not only my kid, but me, along. Shawners and I ended up liking the same teachers. So now I put the names down for my "unsuggestion" and cross my fingers. I missed the meet the teachers for Justinb on Monday because of work, but I'm hoping his current teacher will know where to send him. Plus, Jen, his sub, already gave me a clue as to who is good. And she was spot on with Shawner's teachers.

Other than that productivity, I've spent way too much time on the phone, half hazardly picked up the house and it still looks like a wreck, and had Shawners working on his room for the last hour (yes, it's that bad. That and he's a sweet little organizer, so he's decluttering and organizing at the same time).

Off to be productive!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Life Is Good

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This morning I went to a Mother's Day Tea with Shawners and his class. He read me a poem,

a story,

and I guessed which picture was mine. Of course I guessed right the first time because I know how he has been drawing shirts lately. Plus, it helped that his was the best up there, my eye drew right to it.


Justinb came home with a Mother's Day book for me,

complete with a butterfly outlined with all my attributes,



and coupons for free hugs and kisses on flower stems. 



So cute!

I got to pick Shawners up from school today, so we got home earlier than normal. The neighborhood kids were out playing, so I told the boys they could go wash their hands and play right away since we're usually never home before the one boy Justinb really enjoys playing with is off to baseball practice. Looking around the house and really wanting to wash my hands of it, I decided to go join them. So the group of kids and I walked to the dog park with Brownie where the kids played baseball and Brownie had a ball sniffing out every dog scent there. Afterwards, one of the boys headed off to baseball practice, and the rest of us hit the pool. I met a neighbor who has apparently been my neighbor since three months after we lived here, but we are just now meeting. We chatted at the pool, then went our separate ways.

Brando got home and we had dinner. Then, my neighbor, Jenifer - Justinb's substitute teacher, and I decided to head out for a walk. I texted Justinb's teacher, Jo, to join us. Turns out she was walking by as I texted her so she came to my place for some water and then we picked up Jen and made our rounds, yapping the whole way in the warm, breezy feels like summer evening.

Totally love this afternoon! Wish I could duplicate it for ALMOST every evening. I still need my girls nights, date nights, and weekend nights out after all ; ) ! The boys like their cub scouts, too : )  .

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Best Mother's Day weekend evah!!

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Woke up this morning to Shawners asking me, "Can I give you my present now?" Yesterday, he painted a painting for me with his art teacher, and Daddy and him brought it all the way home and put it away so it would be a surprise. He gave me his BEAUTIFUL painting which I loved.

Then, Brando brought me coffee, a bacon, egg, and salsa breakfast burrito in a fresh tortilla, and my computer (opened up to Blogger, Bloglines, and Facebook) in bed. He knows me all too well : ) . I spent the morning in bed, then lazily got ready to go to Shakespeare in the Park. It is Romeo and Juliet this year and I LOVEd it!! Strangely enough, it had a Latin flair to it, which at first was a little hard to get into. After awhile though the whole thing worked well, and, as Brando said, culturally with the family dynamics it seemed to fit. It was fun for the boys to hear the Spanish being spoken intertwined with the Shakespearean (the program had a section that translated the few phrases spoken in Spanish).  The actors were amazing, especially in the 94 degree weather. The actress who played Juliet was so impressive I found my feelings matching hers as if the events were really going on.


They were selling cascarone eggs as part of the Latin flair. As soon as Shawners heard they were selling eggs filled with confetti that you get to crack over someone's head he had to buy some "Mother's day confetti eggs". 

I was the lucky recipient of the first two - they were Mother's Day confetti eggs after all, and Daddy got the third one.


 Afterwards, we came home and cooled off at the pool for a few hours. So relaxing and chill, just what we needed after a day in the hot, gorgeous weather.

A perfect day!

Friday, May 08, 2009

Fabulous Weekends

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Mostly to push the previous post down the page... I have had SO many fabulous weekends this year ALREADY, I could call it a day, or a year, rather and leave it at that. It's almost like I've had a summer full of weekends! BUT I'm not leaving it at that, and I am SO very happy about it!! It seems the more I say yes to things the more opportunities come up (hello, Yes, Man, still can't wait to read that book), which gives me more have to say nos, too. I feel inadequate not being able to do everything, especially when it's completely out of my control and I want to push and shove to make it work, to the point where I'm ready to melt down. That's not healthy, and I need to make sure I pay attention to what I NEED to do in the first place i.e. it's really impossible for me to leave until Friday evening, unless Brando requests the day off. Sunday night, I have to be back, unless he requests the Monday off. See where I'm going with this? I've planned too many trips around "Well, it'll happen." You know what? I take that back. This is the first trip I've planned this way and it ended in utter disaster. So, I give myself some credit for the fabulous weekends I have had i.e. Valentine's Day weekend with Brando, bachelorette party weekend with Genie, He's Not That Into You Girls Night weekend, Hawaii and Cali TWO weekends, pool and girl time weekend with M, Bollywood weekend with S&S, Brando's birthday weekend, road trip weekend with KT, weekend with Allison, and that's just what was on the calendar from February, not to mention the other half dozen things we did that I didn't put on the calendar. Half the things I don't put on there 'cause I'm too excited I won't forget them! So I will survive this weekend. I will be sad, but I will survive, and it's already going to be fabulous any way if I can get over my hump and go out with KT or Li tomorrow night, since they both invited (actually, Li invited tonight, but I do need a little time to grieve). So here's to more fabulous weekends and boo on activities that don't pan out!

What a week

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We've been debating back and forth over going to California this weekend for my parent's anniversary. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, considering the swine flu (so much of it is fear mongering - but do you have kids that like to pick their noses, chew on their fingers, and constantly touch their face? 'nuff said), job schedules, and school schedules. Finally we decided we'd go, but we'd come back early. Now, we're waiting on Brando to find out if he can even get off early today to catch the flight!!! Agh!!! So frustrating not knowing if I'm going or not!! I guess I'll get started on my list, and just be a little more disappointed if we're NOT going than if I wasn't packed and we weren't going. On top of that, this morning I woke up with a gunky feeling throat and the sniffles. The two beers and the random jager bomb somebody purchased the girls Brando works with and I, plus the Crunch bar and Runts I stole from Brando, last night probably didn't help.

Update: Brando is not able to get off work. Having a job right now is more important than being there. It sucks, and I will probably cry for the next two hours about it, but it's life.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Allison Weekend!!

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After much trial and error, Allison finally got here Friday night and we proceeded to have a weekend packed full of fun, girlie time, going out, and relaxing. Saturday we had crepes for breakfast, then went to Justinb's game. Afterwards we dropped the kids off with Brando for the weekend, and laid out by the pool with limeade and vodka for a much needed catch up session. After the pool we took our time getting ready to go out, with Lady GaGa and Britney to help us along. Headed downtown, we took our time finding somewhere to eat. Okay, really, we drove around trying to find places to eat.

First we checked out SoCo and decided against mexican at Guero's, but it was fun to show Allison the shopping along South Congress that we'll do another weekend.

After driving around looking for places on our own, I decided to call Kels, who recommended a sushi place at 4th and Colorado. We ended up here at Maiko, which she actually had never heard of, but it was trendy and fun and delicious. It was perfect!

We ordered our rolls. I went with the safe, cooked shrimp version, and Allison got the real sushi versions. She convinced me to try hers saying it was one of the best she'd had. I ended up trying all three and loving them way better than what I ordered! Yay!

Maiko was so trendy, with such a fun interior. I can't wait to go back again with my girls or Brando!

After sushi we headed to Qua, in the warehouse district, where there is a shark tank underneath the dance floor. I'd heard about it and thought it would be the perfect place to try. It was strange standing on the floor and feeling it shake to the beat with SHARKS underneath, but we got used to it and had a blast.

Trying to show off the dance floor.

That's the shark tank I'm standing on.

We tried so hard to get the angle right on these mirrors. It sort of worked.


I hate when I hand somebody the camera and they make it blurry! Oh, well, it's cute any way!

Sunday morning we had strawberry crepes with powdered sugar and whip cream for breakfast. Oh, and my little camera officially flew the coop on me as you can see. Saturday we'd had Nutella and banana crepes, and blackberry jam crepes. The strawberry ones were the best. Somehow the champagne I bought never made it home, so we made virgin mimosas with Izzies and orange juice. They were delicious and totally tasted like the real thing!

After breakfast I had to show Allison the Oasis, even though we decided to eat at home. The Oasis is so relaxing and gorgeous to walk around, it didn't even matter that we didn't eat there.


I had to get a picture of Allison's first time at the Oasis.

Our yummy lunch at home on our porch, and the kick off of a three hour long uninterrupted girl talk session. Not that we hadn't constantly been talking the entire time before. How could we not? : )

Enjoying the gorgeous weather on Sunday had to be one of the highlights of the trip. Well, I take it back. It was all highlights. I had such a blast with her, and I am SO glad she came up. We've got several events and otherwise to get together again for over the summer and I can't WAIT!

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