zombified. vampirified. werewolfified?

running on less than 3 hours of sleep.

sucking on a caramel macchiato like it's mother's milk.

completely bleary-eyed and wearing a ridiculously uber casual outfit to the office (granted, it's casual friday, but still, i'm totally pushing the envelope today).

and why?

late last night, the teen and i sat in a jam-packed movie theater, squealing in delight as we watched the midnight premiere of this:

i know he's total jailbait, but i'm only looking at the eye candy. i'm not looking to do the hibbidy-dibbidy with him.

lastly, i really want alice cullen hair. she may be my muse for my next appointment with rochelle.

too discombobulated for a real post right now. but was it worth it?

hell yeah!

at last...

i love being in weddings. love. it. i love sharing the excitement of the couple, being involved in the whole process of one of the happiest days in their lives, and, well, i like putting on a pretty dress and getting hair and makeup done and having my picture taken. ha!

the only downside, especially when your entire family is involved in the wedding, is that it is damn near impossible to take pictures to share in your blog. gah! i hit up my cousin seven to see if maybe she could help me out, though, and as always, she was more than willing. i can always count on her. yay!

we got up bright and early on the big day to get showered and partially ready. the teen and i had opted to do our own hair - besides, mine's so short that there isn't really much to be done with it, and she prefers to handle her own styling after several semi-disasters in the past. so we did our blowouts and dressed in easy-to-change-out-of outfits.

(she's gonna kill me for posting that)

one of the other bridesmaids, MAC, is a professional make-up artist. she was lined up to do the teen's face, which left me to schedule an appointment with the laura mercier counter at the closest macy's to the venue. and so we bid the bean and the hub a rushed farewell and hopped into the car to drive down to manhattan beach for my 10:00 appointment.

being a saturday morning, we hit no traffic at all, and even managed to stop at a starbucks for some much-needed caffeine. strangely, i'd received a postcard in the mail last week for my free birthday beverage - even though birthday princess day was a couple of months ago. heh. but whatever - i went big and ordered a free venti caramel macchiato quite happily.

my mom, who lives maybe 47 seconds from manhattan village, had made the appointments for both of us and was already there. she'd lucked out and had the gay guy working on her. i love gay guys for make-up and hair! i was totally jealous. but the lady who got started on my face was really sweet and was just as passionate about her work as he was. i just hate having to stare down into an eyeful of cleavage as my eyes are being made up. blech.

they had a fashion show scheduled there later that morning, and so it was quite a flurry of activity at the make-up counter. the models arrived as the finishing touches were being completed on our makeovers, and both mom and i let ourselves get talked into buying more than the required purchase for having our faces done.

i'm generally cool with doing my own make-up. i figure, i see my mug every day, i know what looks best, right? but when it comes to big-girl special occasions like these, i like to leave it to the pros - especially when hordes of photographs are going to be all up in the mix. i tend to apply my cosmetics with a significantly lighter hand, and that doesn't translate too well in front of the camera. but i still kind of felt like a big ol' hooker when i walked outta there with a beyond-full face of make-up, complete with fake lashes:

the teen assured me that it looked great, and since i tend to trust her taste, i just went with it. it wasn't really that long ago that i used to actually wear this much make-up on a daily basis, if you can believe that. and it was she who convinced me to lighten it up - what would i do without my teen??

we really were only about 15 minutes away from the ritz-carlton, and as we pulled in, i noticed that our timing was particularly awesome as the hub's car was right in front of us. yay!

we had to call someone up in the bridal suite to come down and get us, as it was located on the exclusive club level. you have to have a key to get the elevator to stop on those floors. as we waited, the hub took off with the groom and co. to grab lunch. and two seconds later, we heard someone walking up behind us to step into a waiting elevator, and when we turned around we were dorkily nudging each other excitedly as we realized that it was hulk hogan and his girlfriend. haha! and then within seconds, we'd both whipped our phones to tweet about it. good gracious, we're nerds. awesome.

when we finally got up to the room, we were greeted by the glowingly beautiful bride, who'd just had her makeup done and her hair up in giant rollers. and moments later, MAC went to work with the teen.

here's the MOH, the bride's mama, and the bride herself. hopefully they don't smack me for posting this, but they were so pretty and excited and happy!

i got my first look at the bridal ensemble. beautiful, simple, and very much a reflection of the bride's quiet, elegant taste.

the bean had fallen asleep in the car on the way down, which was good. she was going to be all discombobulated with the dramatic break in her daily routine, and i really wanted her to get a decent nap in so that the rest of the day would move as smoothly as possible.

sadly, it was not to be. she woke up within seconds of being transferred into the stroller, and happily bounced on the bed and watched "blue's clues" on my phone. oy vey.

we had a great view of the marina from the balcony.

the rose garden was almost directly beneath us as well, and i watched as the guys from the florist scurried around, working frantically.

by the time i turned around again, the teen's face was magically done and i thought she looked fantastic. MAC had added little individual false lashes and they made her eyes really pop out.

after a while, everyone cleared the room to give the bride a little time to herself, leaving her to savor the moment and bask in the excitement of the day. obviously, we didn't have a room to reitre to, but the hub came through and texted me with a room number to meet him in. apparently, the ritz-carlton is not above renting rooms by the hour. heh. okay, actually, it was a "half-day rental," if you want to split hairs.

we had just enough time to unwind a little and relax, ordering some room service lunch and slowly getting ready for the rest of the day. the bean was in an extra playful mood, which meant that it was extra difficult to get her settled down enough to do her hair. and as i'd feared, my clumsy fingers didn't achieve the look i'd been taught at the hair salon - but it was close enough. i added a bit of ivory ribbon and called it a day.

the teen and i got our dresses on and finished our hair in record time. i just pulled up one side with bobby pins and accessorized with a couple of flowers i'd found in just the right colors at forever 21 for a whopping $2.50.

and from here on out, i had no camera. the hub took all of our crap downstairs to store in the car, and per my instructions, left the camera bag at the front desk for seven to pick up when she arrived for the wedding. i felt naked without it, but i wasn't exactly going to parade down the aisle with my camera slung around my neck.

like many weddings do, this one ended up running quite a bit behind. when we got upstairs to meet the rest of the girls and start taking pictures, we found that two of them were still having their hair done. oh, well. we just went with the flow and followed along, and finally ended up downstairs at the ceremony site for pictures.

we all got a peek at the bride and groom's "reveal" - the moment that they see each other for the first time before plunging right into the list of photos to be taken. what we could see was super sweet and touching, and then i turned away, feeling rather like a peeping tom. ew.

guests were starting to arrive as we sped through the group photos. yikes! and we still had the ketubah signing to complete before the ceremony could begin. but i've been a bridesmaid in one other wedding that involved this tradition and knew that it wasn't a lengthy process, so no biggie.

gotta love seven. obviously, she'd managed to pick up my camera with no problems.

pretty ceremony site!

at last, it was time. the groom made his way down and took his place, and we were off!

i prayed that i wouldn't stumble, trip, fall, or otherwise make a fool of myself teetering in my heels down the aisle, took a deep breath, plastered on a smile, and struck off down the path. the bean, who was super drowsy and tired, snuggled in her sister's arms and took the easy way down. happily, we all made it to our places without incident.

and then it was the bride's turn. beaming down the aisle with her proud papa, we all smiled back at her. i always tear up at this part.

it was a chilly evening, though - the sun had gone down long before, and i could feel my teeth chattering and my body shaking with the cold as i stood next to the other bridesmaids. i hoped that no one could see me shivering and continually shifting my weight as my feet protested against the imprisonment they'd been subjected to.

it was such a lovely ceremony, full of love and laughter and a perfect, wonderful way to begin a marriage between two people who were just meant for each other. after an uncharacteristically dramatic first kiss, it was over and then it was time to party!

being a traditional sap, i'd especially looked forward to the walk back up the aisle. because, of course, the last time the hub and i had done this was at our own wedding, almost four years ago. i blew him a kiss just before we linked arms and made our way out of the ceremony site, and again teared up as we literally walked down memory lane. it wasn't hard to keep the smile on my face at that point.

we ordered drinks at the open bar by the pool and then found a table underneath one of the heat lamps. the bean, who'd fallen asleep instantly in MIL's arms (we'd reserved seats for her and FIL in the second row so that they could help with the bean in case she got grumpy) the moment she and the teen made their way down the aisle, continued to snooze peacefully in my arms. it was particularly nice to hold her then, because she was warm and comfy, kind of like my own personal heater. ha!

when cocktail hour was over, we headed up into the ballroom, where we grabbed our escort cards and found our table.

seven had brought my camera back to me, and i used it right away to snap a quick shot of me and the teen, all gussied up in our finery.

my bouquet was beautiful - colorful, fragrant, hand-tied with an ivory ribbon and decorated with a garland of fall-toned jewels. the bean's flower girl basket remained full of rose petals. oopsie.

the bride and groom had chosen to make their entrance to bon jovi's "livin' on a prayer." everyone clapped and sang along as they made their way through the room, and then proceeded to the dance floor for their first dance. afterwards, the reception took an unconventional turn as faster music came on and the floor filled with guests boogying down. before dinner! ha!

several songs later, we were instructed to take our seats and the salads were served. while i passed on actually eating mine, i definitely appreciated the design of it. look, they were shaped like our bouquets! so cute.

not to worry, the hub happily ate it, comically devouring the pears and licking his lips. silly boy.

and then the partying started up again as more dancing took place. now, i love to dance as much as the next girl (despite the fact that i'm awful at it), but i was a little thrown off because we were still in between courses. and i was a little concerned about the lateness of the hour - the bean was hungry and still tired, but we just went with it. she even made it to the dance floor a couple of times, with her daddy and brother wan.

she enjoyed some bonding time with MIL and FIL, too, and MIL busted out a book to help distract her.

it only worked for a little while, though, and then they offered to take her, the teen (who'd gotten up really early and was exhausted from the nonstop activities of the day), and the hub's grandparents home. dinner still hadn't been served, but everyone was having such a great time on the dance floor and we knew they could exit quietly without attracting attention to themselves.

and wouldn't you know it - just a few minutes after they left, the servers brought the entrees to the tables. i was originally served chicken and the hub got the fish, but that salmon looked pretty damn tasty. so since he was outside at the bar, i made a quick switcheroo. with the empty seats at our table, we also had several extra meals, including a couple of vegetarian lasagnas.

after we ate, the dancing started back up again and the hub and brother wan made their way back outside to enjoy a few more drinks and a couple of cigars. i had a great time bonding with my cousins - seems like weddings are the only time we ever get to hang out like this.

the couple cut the cake and then we all sat back to enjoy our slices as a slideshow was projected onto a screen behind us.

and then it was all over. it's always amazing to me how quickly the time goes after months of planning and preparation. the couple was ecstatic and radiated with happiness, enjoying every moment of their long-awaited wedding, and we bid them a fond farewell and made our way home.

here's some close-ups of my bouquet.

sadly for me, swiping that fish turned out to be a giant mistake of colossal proportions. while i'm glad the hub didn't end up super sick instead, i found myself curled up on the bathroom floor a few hours later. it hurt so much, i was crying from the pain. oh, man. but hey, at least it was good on the way down. uh, not so much as it slowly made its way back out.

whee! i managed to find a way to end such a delightful day with...poop. leave it to me. heh.

but hey - congrats to the new mr. and mrs.!!

shot through the heart, and you're to blame

okay, so along with a zillion other people, i am a needlephobe. i don't like shots, blood draws, acupuncture, anything that requires getting poked with a needle. and i especially hate when i have to take one of my girls to the doctor to have any of the above done, because i'm a total wuss and usually end up crying just as much (if not more) than they do.

yesterday was no exception. i'd been dreading the bean's 2-year physical in a big way, because i knew that not only would she have at least two vaccinations, but would require a blood draw.

a freaking blood draw. for a two-year-old. how on earth was that going to happen? holy hell. and it wasn't like they could obtain it with a simple finger prick - they needed two effing vials of my baby's precious blood. oh mah gah.

i put off that appointment for as long as i possibly could, but when the hub got on my ass about it, i knew i had to make the call. and the day came far too quickly for my liking.

the bean had gone down earlier than usual for her afternoon nap, which was both good and bad - at least if she were cranky from being tired, she'd just get more grumpy with the visit and needle poking and just fall asleep in the car. oh, well. i managed to get her to take one of her dissolving tylenol tablets, while she held the other one in her hand on the way to the clinic.

kaiser's gone big, yo. i was impressed when i walked up to check her in at the receptionist's desk and found that they'd installed a check-in kiosk. i stuck her ID card in, touched the screen to answer a few questions, paid the copayment with my debit card, and got a receipt and confirmation of check-in within minutes. sweet.

we ended up waiting beyond her appointment time (of course), and while we sat in the waiting room, the bean watched tv - "jonas!" she pointed as the JB disney channel show came on. she chewed on her other tylenol tablet as we waited, and i hoped they would help ease the pain of the shots.

and you can laugh at me if you want, but i seriously felt weak from the moment we pulled into the parking lot. my heart was pounding, my joints felt like they were going to give out, there was a rushing sound in my head, and i thought for sure i was going to pass out. how great would that have been - me, laid out on the floor out cold. sheesh. the hub made fun of me as he always does, but i knew he was apprehensive about that blood draw, too. luckily, i held it together and kept a brave face on for the bean's benefit.

we were finally shown into an exam room, where the bean got to put on one of these cute little mini hospital gowns.

she caught sight of this, and i tried to distract her from it so that we could possibly use it later on, when she really needed to focus on something fun. unfortunately, we waited so freaking long for the doc to show up that we finally had to give in and sat her down to play with it.

it was weird not to have to use this thing to get her current weight anymore - instead, they'd had her remove her shoes and stand on a regular scale, just like grownups. yet another sign of my little bean growing up.

the doc finally showed up, and almost immediately, the bean began to whimper. she totally remembers what the sight of that woman means! damn. she wailed as the doctor checked all the usual stuff - eyes, ears, heart, tummy, legs. i felt so awful.

the hub and i worked together this time to help the bean get through her two shots - both in her upper left thigh - and as he held her close, i stroked her hair and we talked to her and told her how proud we were of what a good girl she was. she cried till she couldn't breathe, and my heart just broke - but i didn't cry. are you proud of me?

the stats:

height - 34.5", 55.7 percentile
weight - 28.1 lbs, 61.6 percentile
head - 19", 67.7 percentile

awesome. the bean is above average in all categories. hee! that's my girl.

after we held her for a bit and got her dressed, she got to pick from two lollipops i'd stuck in my purse for the occasion. she chose pink (of course!), and smiled through her tears. "better!" she said.

but it wasn't over. oh, no. not even close. the worst part was yet to come.

but she's a little trooper. yes, it was hard to watch. and of course, she bawled her head off the entire time. the hub held her close while i held her other hand and we repeated the routine that we'd just danced through in the exam room minutes ago. the nurse was super sympathetic and got through the process as quickly as she could, telling her how great she was doing and being as gentle as possible.

two vials of blood and a piece of cotton and sticky gauze later, i handed her back her lollipop. she accepted it with a watery smile and another proclamation of "better!" and the hub and i both slumped our shoulders in relief.

"owie," she said, holding her arm out for me to see.

in the car, she was upset when we had to take the lollipop again, but i managed to get her to trade it for my phone. she wasted no time in pushing the button, unlocking the phone, hitting the "iPod" button, and picking out a video to watch. this kid knows how to work my phone as well as i do.

we met up with the teen, who'd been picked up from school by MIL, and headed to coldstone to pick up a post-blood draw treat for the bean. well, and for the rest of us, too. heh.

i figured i deserved some "ice freeem" too, and happily dug into my mint/chocolate chips concoction. the teen sat at the table with me and worked on her homework as she ate her watermelon sorbet.

the bean sat in her chair with a bib and a little spoon, thoroughly enjoying every morsel of her sweet cream ice cream with m&ms mixed in. i turned on one of her videos on the computer, and she was one happy camper.

she survived the afternoon, and so did i. yay!

fantastic voyage

okay, i am officially a kitchen pimp. coolio says women can be pimps too, so there.

i spent some time last week reading through my copy of "cookin' with coolio" and laughing my fool head off at the narrative. seriously, folks, this is the funniest freaking cookbook i've ever read in my entire life.

i flipped through the rest of the recipes after reading the introductory chapters, and after debating between a couple, ended up choosing this one for popcorn steak:

i hit up my most favorite grocery store in the entire world, fresh & easy, and picked up some steak (among other things). i love the $10 off $50 coupons i regularly receive for that store, especially since they don't take manufacturer's coupons. this is okay, though, because i find that most groceries are cheaper there than at my usual haunts.

i didn't have a "pimpron" (that's a pimpy ass apron, bitches), but that was okay. i gathered all of the ingredients for my popcorn steak (does it sound gross? because i thought it sounded pretty damn tasty), although i don't know why i kept thinking that i needed onions. they don't make an appearance in the recipe. i had spent a bit of time cracking up over a different recipe that called for "1 large onion, julienned. that's cut into strips, bitches!" though, so maybe that's why it was stuck in my noggin.

i chopped up the meat into bite-sized pieces and started measuring the marinade ingredients into the bowl.

i mixed it all up and set it aside to "let those flavors coagulate, motherfucker!"

in the meantime, i decided to whip up another batch of those super duper easy cookies i'd done a couple of weeks ago. but this time, i switched it up a little and used chocolate cake mix instead of lemon, and popped them into my mini-me oven.

they smelled fantastic - kind of like little baby brownie bites. i think i might have to try strawberry cake mix next. there are so many different flavors out there, it's going to be fun testing them all out.

the next step was to drain the marinade and coat the steak bites in some flour. i shook it all up (shaka zulu!) and then gave 'em a spin in my mesh strainer to get the extra flour out of the way. i thought they looked a little like the chex muddy buddies that the teen loves to make. only better, 'cuz these are meat!

i heated up some vegetable oil in a skillet and dropped the little chunks into it to cook through. the idea was for them to get all brown and crispy, but somehow it didn't end up working out quite as planned.

i gave the mixture a stir, like coolio told me to, and instead of turning into crispy golden little popcorn-like bites, the coating seemed to flake off, leaving my steak bare nekkid and sad.

look at my funky ass popcorn steak! boo. boo!!

i mixed up a little A-1 steak sauce with some soy, as described in the recipe, for a dipping sauce. and although it hadn't turned out as wonderfully as i'd hoped looks-wise, the meat had taken on a lovely flavor from all that coagulating with beer and seasoned salt and stuff. i served it up and the hub and i devoured every last bit.

at least my cookies turned out perfectly.

there are a few other recipes i want to try in the book, so it wasn't a total loss. and if nothing else, it's definitely a great source of comic relief in the kitchen.

peace out, bitches!

fantastic friday

whew, what a whirlweekend i had!

whirlwind + weekend = well, you get it.

i decided to work just a half day on friday. well, okay, since my regular workdays are only half days, i guess i put in a quarter day, if you want to be technical about it. heh. i needed a mani/pedi desperately, and with my MOH/cousin r in town for the wedding, we made plans to meet up mid-morning at my favorite nail salon, urbane beauty.

i also managed to squeeze in a quickie visit with my friend MommyBelle and her two rugrats, at the coffee bean right next to the nail shop. i wanted to give her one of those gazillion amish friendship bread starters, and it'd been a while since we'd seen each other, so it was nice to grab a few minutes to catch up in person vs. e-mail. as we stood in line to order drinks, i spied this on the counter:

i might have picked up a couple of bars. just maybe. but i managed to resist the temptation of their holiday coffee beans, barely. with flavors like these, i may very well end up returning sometime soon to pick some up, though.

outside, we sat down at a table, sipping drinks and chatting while the two kids "shared" the lollipop i'd bought at sea world, ages ago. although we'd seen each other since then, i kept forgetting to bring it, so today it made for a fun treat. and MB had a little present for me, too:

i was really digging the dark chocolate peppermint ice blended drink i'd ordered. it was so good, with crushed candy canes topping the whipped cream. it might just be my new favorite. and here are the chocolate bars i chose:

r showed up just as our nail appointment time rolled around, and i had a black forest ice blended waiting for her already. we bid our goodbyes to the MB crew and made our way into the nail salon.

inside, we were shown to our spa pedicure chairs, where we proceeded to laugh and talk our way through the entire hour. it really is so much better to be able to hang out and talk face-to-face rather than catch up long-distance via e-mail! we covered it all, from the wedding preparations to updates on the teen and bean, to her relationship with her longtime boyfriend. it was a great time, and i was happy that she was able to fit me into her jam-packed weekend home.

i'd asked her nail techs to give me the tickets for her services, because her birthday was coming up and i wanted to pay, but she managed to grab the one from her manicurist. but i'm a sneaky little shit - as we got up to leave, she turned around to grab her purse and i snaked it right out from under her and sashayed to the counter to pay. heh.

unfortunately, as we talked, i'd gotten a text from the teen, who said that she'd managed to hurt her ankle at P.E. (yes, again) and wanted to be picked up. i asked her to contact MIL, who was closer, and so on the way home, i called her to see what her status was. MIL was taking her to grab something for lunch, and knowing that she needed her nails and toes done for the weekend too, i just asked her to have MIL drive her to our local nail salon and i'd meet them there.

when i arrived, the bean was fast asleep in the car. MIL took her home while i went to the salon with the teen. after her services were done, we raced home, got changed, the hub arrived and off we went down to marina del rey for the rehearsal.

we hit quite a bit of traffic going down there, being a friday afternoon, but we pulled up to the ritz's valet right on time. we made our way down to the rose garden, where the ceremony was to take place, and found that we were among the first to arrive. such a pretty site!

the girls' lola was excited to see them both, as always.

more of our lovely surroundings.

look at my pretty mommy! and my gorgeous teen, of course.

the bean was quite entertaining, running around, laughing, pointing at all the things she could identify. "pool!" "tree!" "light!" "water!"

the coordinator finally made an appearance, and we all went through the motions and did a couple of run-throughs. the bridal couple was excited and glowing with anticipation. they looked so happy - as a couple about to be married should be.

a few more venue details.

the rehearsal dinner was scheduled at organic panificio, a restaurant within walking distance to the hotel. normally, this would have been an easy, short walk - but with me hobbling around in heels for the first time in ages, plus the teen's ankle issues, it was more of a challenge than we'd anticipated. the teen ended up riding on the hub's back for most of it while i whipped my shoes off and walked in my tights with the bean on my shoulders. we must've made quite a sight. but we made it.

the bean was particularly excited to see the array of brightly colored gelato in the display case.

it turned out that we were actually dining at the waterfront restaurant, which was just on the other side of the cafe. it was more formal, and seemed more fitting for an occasion such as this.

inside, the bean was transfixed by the sight of real live "nemo" and "dory" in the fish tank. it was fun to watch her as she pointed to them.

after a bit of confusion amongst the staff and servers, we were finally seated in a large room by ourselves near the kitchen. it was a huge space that made me want to do cartwheels through it - except that i can't do cartwheels. i always ended up pulling off some weird flip-looking thing instead. i made a great cheerleader, let me tell ya.

it was super dark in there, so my pictures (of course) are really bad. but y'all are used to that by now, or at least, you should be. this is the hub's house salad and my ribeye steak with coconut rice. holy cow, that coconut rice was delish. i wanted to eat an entire bowl of the stuff.

after dinner was over, there were hugs all around and then everyone went their separate ways. there was a lot of excitement in the air, and we were all anxious and eager for the big day.

more to come tomorrow!

p.s. a very happy birthday to my aunty orlando today :)

the little princess

it's friday the 13th today. dun dun dun!

so, the entire wan house is part of this weekend's wedding party, when my brother and o are set to tie the knot at last. whee! i'm a bridesmaid, the hub's a groomsman, the teen is a junior bridesmaid, and of course, the bean is the flower girl. the girls get to walk down the aisle together. this was quite a relief to the teen, who doesn't like to be the center of attention. she certainly didn't inherit her mother's attention-whorishness. pwah!

as we've been getting ourselves ready, having dresses altered, trying to break in shoes, etc., the hub and i looked over at the bean. her last haircut was over a year ago, and although we love her long locks, they needed a little update. that nugget was in need of some reshaping, and so yesterday, MIL and i took her back here:

it's a cute little kids' hairstyling shop, all bright and colorful and full of stuff to keep little ones occupied.

the bean was enchanted by the multitude of toys that surrounded her. she even let me take a few "before" shots. she'd just woken up from a nap, so she had a bit o'bedhead, but she's two. nobody cares.

she was particularly entranced by this tabletop train set. she spent a surprising amount of time here, pushing the magnetically-joined cars along the track and murmuring "choo choo" as she played.

it wasn't long before it was her turn, and she got to pick which horse to sit on for her haircut. she pointed to this one first ("lellow!") but instead opted for the white one, just next to it.

she dug the disney princesses cape that was draped around her shoulders, and sat patiently as her mane was sprinkled with warm water and then combed through. is that the trick to getting her to sit still for hairstyling? i better get a freaking pony and a princess cape for the living room.

snip, comb, snip, went the busy hands of the hairstylist.

i loved how prepared the shop was for kids of all ages. as she worked, she handed the bean a colorful book to peruse - which achieved her goal of getting her to look down as she continued to work.

and in no time, it was all over. the bean's hair was an inch shorter, layers were freshened up, and it looked shiny and healthy again.

i'd mentioned the upcoming special occasion, and i might have dropped a hint or two about not having any ideas as to what to do with her hair for that day. and so i was stoked when the stylist offered to do it up in "princess braids" - and showed me step-by-step how to achieve a similar look.

it's rather like a french braid, only you work with two pieces instead of three, and you just twist instead of braiding, gathering more hair along the way. super duper easy peasy.

and then you take the two sides and join them at the back. i think i'll tie an ivory satin ribbon around the rubber band for saturday to dress it up a little.

cute, right? and with a little gel and hairspray, it'll hold all day long.

hell, this could very well end up being a regular 'do for the bean, who's constantly pushing her hair out of her little face. it's a cute little motion, but i'm sure it must be frustrating for her.

i was surprised at the small amount of snippets that fell to the floor. it seemed like she'd cut off way more than this.

the bean spent a little more time playing with the toys in the waiting area and watching and listening to the other kids getting their hairs cut after her. when one little boy started wailing and carrying on, she stopped what she was doing, stared, and said "noise! crying. oh, no!" so funny.

after we blew that popsicle stand, we headed over to target to do some shopping. and then out of the blue, the bean piped up and said "pancakes? eat? hungry."

i LOVE this age, where they're learning how to communicate in clear ways, trying to put short sentences together, but not really talking back aside from the occasional stubborn "no!" it's just so freaking cute.

anyway, there just happens to be an IHOP just down the street from where we were. and because we just love seeing her happy, and were totally proud of how well she'd behaved during the haircut, that's where we had dinner.

inside, the waitress handed us the regular menus plus this one - with christmas music playing moderately loudly in the background. sheesh. we just barely got past halloween, people!

we'd noticed that at target, too, where they not only had their entire line of holiday and christmas décor out, but also had the store all decked out in snowflakes and ornaments. good gracious, folks, we've still got a couple of weeks till thanksgiving! give turkey day the respect it deserves, dang it!

but after i scrutinized that special menu, i kind of ended up eating my words - literally. ha! for my dinner, i selected the eggnog pancakes - vanilla cream sandwiched between two sweetened buttermilk pancakes, topped with whipped cream, cinnamon sugar, and a butter rum sauce drizzle. MIL followed my lead and chose the gingerbread pancakes, flavored with ginger spice with whipped cream and christmas-y red and green sprinkles. do you have a toothache yet?

both sets of hotcake creations were fantastic. oh, man, were they tasty. i was glad i'd added on some eggs, hash browns and bacon (duh), because i needed a little savory to balance out all that sugary goodness. yum.

the bean proceeded to mow through her plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, guzzled half a glass of chocolate milk, took two bites of her "baby size" pancakes, and munched on a few spoonfuls of MIL's sprinkles before she declared herself "done!" and pushed away from the table.

later, at home, i noticed that the uncharacteristic sneezing that she'd been doing all afternoon had also resulted in a stuffy/runny nose. as she played in her bubble bath, i could hear her struggling to breathe. poor baby. just in time for the wedding, too. damn.

but you know what? this is the first time in her life that she's experienced anything in the way of sickness, aside from teething fevers. well, wait - she also ran an odd 100.3 fever on sunday, but that went away quickly. anyway, i consider us lucky that she's been such a healthy monkey for two-plus years. and as she fell asleep in my arms later, bundled up in a comfy blanket zip-up sleeper, she seemed to be doing just fine - no wheezing or through-the-mouth breathing. yay!

oh! one last, super random tidbit: check out my hello kitty-ized phone and keys.

so.stinking.cute!

amish paradise

okay, so do you remember the amish friendship bread starter i got from my boss a couple of months ago? every batch of the stuff yields four new starters, meant to be given away to friends. while i typically despise chain letters, i like the kind i can eat. shocker, i know.

anyway, i'd kept one of the starters for myself, which i massaged and mushed as directed for the ten day process. and the timing was such that i was able to give away three of the starters to the girls on my high school reunion committee. after doing a little internet research, i learned that i could freeze starters, treating the day i took it out of the freezer as day 1. so, being a little tired of the stuff for the moment, that's what i did.

but i liked having something quick and easy to put in a baggie and take to work for breakfast. so i pulled that starter out (and i found that even after a couple of weeks in the freezer, it wasn't exactly frozen solid. it was a little squishy - weird) and started the process. yesterday was day 10, and while the bean played on the floor, i got to bakin'.

i'd looked up some recipe variations and found a box of chocolate pudding mix in the pantry, so i was excited to switch it up a little and try something new. i poured the starter into my bowl, added flour, sugar, and milk, and stirred it up.

after i measured and poured out the new starters into dated ziploc bags, i continued with the recipe. for some reason, i have no issues with using sticks of butter in recipes, but the thought of a full cup of oil grosses me out. and so i replaced half of it with some applesauce. pretty, huh?

here's where the magic began.

one of the recipe variations mentioned mixing in a bit of peanut butter. that sounded good until i opened a cupboard and found my most favorite thing in the world (next to bacon, of course):

i mixed some in, as well as something else i found in the pantry - peanut butter chips. fantastic!

i poured half the batter into my loaf pan - i only have one, and i was baking in the mini-me oven anyway, so i could only do so much - and stuck it in the preheated oven.

in the meantime, the bean was clamoring for a snack. when we opened the fridge, she pulled out a package of lunchables and that was that. she's kind of been on an eating strike for the last few days, so i was glad to get something of substance in her aside from milk and juice.

but the joke was on me. she'd found one of those rare lunchables that not only had slices of turkey and cheese and crackers in it, but two oreo cookies. score for her! and as i watched her, i realized that she was setting a pattern that may very well carry her through the rest of her life - she's a twist-it-open-and-eat-them-separately kinda girl. now, you know this is important stuff - studies have been done on how you eat an oreo dictates certain aspects of your personality. heh.

but then again, she's two. i'd gone to check on the bread and when i came back, this is what i found on her tray.

ha! little stinker. "up!" she said. "done." well, of course you are, sweetie.

anyway, by then the bread was done. it looked and smelled pretty damn good.

i sliced into it and pulled a hunk of the still-warm bread for the bean and me to test. i knew it was a success when she didn't complain that it was "hot!" (which it wasn't), but instead chewed, swallowed, and mumbled "more? peeese?" good times.

and now i have more bread starter baggies than you can shake a stick at. i stuck 'em in the freezer next to the three others i have and started sending e-mails out to folks i haven't yet saddled with the stuff. so far, i've got one taker - thanks, mom.

oh, and remember the taste test i signed up for using the cookin' with coolio cookbook? while i waited for that second loaf of bread to bake, i pulled it out and flipped through the pages. and i can't even tell you how hilarious that book is. it's filled with f-bombs and all sorts of ghetto gangsta references, but oh em gee - i couldn't stop laughing. while this week is pretty much shot cooking-wise (the hub is out late tonight, tomorrow is rehearsal dinner and then saturday is wedding), i've picked out a couple of recipes that i'm going to try. i get to report on it next week, and i can't wait to see how these dishes turn out.

"1 large onion, julienned. that means cut into thin strips, bitches."

oh, man. so awesome.