wan life to live

a very pinteractive valentine's day

2012-02-14T06:17:00.000-08:00

inspired by an idea i found via pinterest, i went into super cheesetastic mode this year for valentine's day. well, sort of.

i thought it would be super fun to mail silly little presents to the hub's office, just funny things that would bring a smile to his face and give him another reason to shake his head at his loony wife. so i gathered up a bunch of stuff and created little cards out of them, packaging them up into envelopes and numbering them according to when they'd be mailed out.

here's a few of my favorites, and i totally cackled as i worked on them:

i know, i know. you're groaning and rolling your eyes in a mixture of amusement and dismay at my corny ass. it's okay. i'm pretty sure the hub did too, with each package that arrived at his desk.

and the post office failed me big-time with at least one of these little surprises - as i tracked their progress, i was really annoyed to find that one of them managed to find its way to honolulu, of all places. it took that particular mailing damn near two weeks before it finally arrived at its intended destination, only 20 minutes away from home. oh, well. at least something of ours has been able to enjoy hawaii, anyway.

i managed to keep this up for about three weeks before it petered out - i was spending a shitload of cash on postage and i think the hub got the idea, anyway. not to mention...well, i didn't even have a grand finale planned at all. like, i don't have anything but a nice card to give him today! heh. he'll have to settle for a nice dinner cooked by yours truly and enjoyed with the girls.

and lest you think i got away with a cookie-free valentine's day:

140 of them. all requested rather last-minute, as in yesterday. it made for quite a fun afternoon, but i'm glad i was able to help out.

oh, and sorry, nanette - i'm totally a day late with my contribution to your pinteractive link party. oops.

and the winner is...

2012-02-13T06:35:00.000-08:00

commenter #30!

wandering chopsticks, you're about to breathe easy with a super awesome oreck airinstinct of your very own! are you so excited? i am!

many, many thanks to all of you who entered - i love being able to do giveaways and wish i could send each and every one of you a prize. although reading my blog is a kind of like a little present every day, from me to you.

do you feel the love? well, do ya?

faux pop tarts

2012-02-10T07:23:00.000-08:00

ah, pinterest. without you, where would i find all these fantastic ideas for delicious treats like homemade nutella pop tarts??

i woke up one morning with an intense desire to make these for breakfast. only god knows what the hell i must've been dreaming about. the only problem was that instead of the pie crust dough the instructions called for, my fridge contained a package of crescent roll dough.

but i was determined. and i figured, how much of a difference could there really be? well, as it turned out...quite a bit. heh.

it started out looking just fine. i unrolled the dough and pinched my way along the cuts where you would normally separate it into triangles. then i decided to take a fork and poke holes all over, in the hopes of deflating the dough a bit.

i spread the nutella on pretty generously.

then i topped it with another piece of dough and crimped the edges shut with my fork.

i ended up with four pastries, which was perfect since it was just the bean and me at home. yes, that totally meant i was allotting two apiece. we were hungry.

after about ten minutes, my experiment was going slightly awry. the good stuff was oozing right out of the sides and the whole thing was puffing up way more than i wanted.

but if you weren't trying to recreate pop tarts, these were actually pretty good - soft, golden brown, warm, and full of gooey nutella goodness. how can that be bad?

apparently it wasn't, judging from the bean's very positive review. "mommy, these are so delicious! you're the best cooking mommy in the whole world."

ain't nothing wrong with that.

my little rock star

2012-02-09T06:37:00.000-08:00

with two weeks left till i take the bean to see the fresh beat band in concert, i've really gotta finish up her costume. sometime after new year's, i actually found myself here:

yeah, i know. for someone who despises walmart, this is huge. and dare i say it - kmart is even worse. ugh. and why, pray tell did i brave the grossness of the home of the blue light special? well, i'd learned via facebook that kmart was the only store that carried a silver girls' jacket perfect for transforming into a replica of the FBB's "rock star jacket." and we all know the lengths i'm willing to go for my kids. so yes, i located the silver jacket - on clearance, even - and scooped it up. now, since tons of other parents of FBB fans discovered this thing at the very same time as i had, it was super duper hard to find and sold out completely online. so i was stoked to get my hands on one of the golden (silver?) tickets.

the only problem? well, that's it on the left, and one of the bean's jackets (which is actually a little big on her still) on the right. gah! the silver one's a size 12, and the pink...a 5. yeah.

for some reason, i was feeling super confident in my skillz and decided that i could totally just cut into the damn thing, resize it and sew it back together again. easy peasy.

um, NO. i spent the next several weeks inspecting it, turning it inside-out, looking up tips on resizing existing clothing (specifically, a lined jacket with a zipper), and generally fighting off the urge to pick up the scissors and snip, snip, snip the thing into oblivion. finally i realized that it was just too big of a task for this still-novice seamstress to tackle, and decided to pick up some silver pleather at joann's to make a simple unlined jacket for the bean to wear. one time. to one concert. so not a big deal.

but then when i headed out to a different kmart to return that size 12, something told me to take the few extra steps to the girls' department and take a looksie. and wouldn't you know it - right there on the rack was the very same jacket...in a size small - a 4/5. i snatched it up as if it were a winning lottery ticket, squealed, and did a little dance in the aisle.

i spent just a little bit of time cutting out stars from glittery foam material, sewed them together, and then attached them to the jacket. and someone was SUPER excited when she saw what i'd done.

she even struck a couple of silly poses, with or without some possible coaching from her mother. i will neither confirm nor deny.

the jacket is absolutely perfect. well, it's not one she's going to fit into for too long, so we've already offered it to another huge FBB fan we know - our friend nanette's em. as for that silver pleather - well, when i tweeted about it, another buddy who's taking her little girl to see the show (albeit on a different day) dropped the hint that she'd love a rock star jacket too. and so i'm attempting to sew together a simple one that'll hopefully work just fine.

oh, and because she deserves a little blog time too, here's my gorgeous teen.

she'd just come home and opened a package containing that phone case she's holding up there, and of course the bean busted out her photobombing skillz when she saw the camera pointed at her sister.

like mother, like daughter(s). yup.

fun with frosting

2012-02-08T06:33:00.000-08:00

one of the bean's most favorite stories is the classic a very hungry caterpillar. so when my friend kim chose this theme for her adorable twins' birthday party and asked me to do some cookies, i was excited to help.

i'd seen the decor and food ideas she was using via twitter and pinterest, so it was easy to decide which way to go with the cookies. after fishing the book out of the bean's room, i got to work.

first, the yellow eye outline.

then i filled them in with a little green and added a misshapen nose. it's a good thing this design is super forgiving and didn't require precision or perfection.

at this point, the bean came into the kitchen to see what i was working on. "mommy, you didn't ask me if you could borrow my book. you're supposed to ask first!"

well, hell. she was totally right. oops. so i did the right thing - i apologized profusely, asked for her forgiveness, and then distracted the hell out of her with a fun project. earlier, she'd rolled out some leftover cookie dough and cut out some stars, and i sat her down with her very own bag of frosting to decorate them with.

it worked.

not to mention, i was pretty impressed at how she was able to pipe the frosting out into a pretty darn good outline on those stars. guess she's been paying attention after all. or, she's just a natural. you decide.

so with her mollified and busy with her own work, i went back to mine.

i so wanted to add the caterpillar's antennae. i really did. he seemed a little...naked without them. but after a couple of tries - swooping them to the sides (which made him look like groucho marx) and little short and stubby ones (which just didn't look right at all), i had to leave them off. kim had sent me some cute favor tags to tie onto the bags, so i just hoped they would look great all dressed up.

and luckily, they were just fine.

all's well that ends well.

signage

2012-02-07T07:22:00.000-08:00

i took all last week off from running. i was actually going to go for a short-ish run on wednesday and even got all dressed and everything, but the hub totally twisted my arm and sent me off for a massage instead. heh. and of course, it was fabulous - although rather torturous in parts (namely, my entire lower half), i walked outta there feeling like a new woman. my legs were completely back to normal again! so awesome.

and then when i saw a twitter exchange between my friends y4m and insomniac about hiking up to the hollywood sign, i totally invited myself along. okay, that's not true - y4m basically opened it up to anyone who wanted to go. i decided to consult the google for information on what i was getting myself into, and found a great blog post that outlined exactly what we'd be doing. i hadn't been on a hike in ages and ages, so i was excited - especially going with friends.

so as the hub and the bean took off to go to "daddy & me day" at preschool, i threw on some yoga pants, a hat, and my old, worn-out pair of running shoes (y4m had said that the trails are easily walkable in just about anything, and tater seconded that as she'd done it in rainbow flip flops once) and headed out west.

as i got off the freeway and headed towards the park that was our meeting place, i passed this sign:

i guess the neighborhoods in the area deal with a lot of tourist traffic, folks thinking they can just drive up to the iconic sign. guess what, people - you've gotta haul your ass up there on foot.

i managed to find a spot in one of the parking lots near the entrance to the trail, and got out to walk around a little and warm up.

with zero cell phone reception up there, we had a little trouble finding each other, so we got a later start than we'd planned. no biggie. and when we finally got together, we decided to take the optional side trip and see the "batcaves" - where the 60s batman tv series did some filming back in the day. it took all of ten minutes. duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh, BATMAAAAAAN!

we walked through the cave and at the other end found a hiking group and another bunch of folks doing some filming. and outside, a lovely view of the sign. it was such a beautiful, clear day.

really, we couldn't have chosen a better day to do this. there was such a great view of hollywood from not too far up.

a little farther and we passed a trail that led down to sunset ranch, which offers rides on horseback.

poor insom, our poo-aphobic. there were land mines all over the place for a little stretch of our hike, and she kept getting stuck as she tried to pick her way carefully around them.

look, we're almost there!

you can't really see from this picture, but at this point we were at such an angle that it looked like the sign said "ohllywood." heh.

around the back of the mountain, we were treated to a gorgeous view of the burbank/glendale area.

and around the corner, lake hollywood reservoir.

there's a giant fence up at this part, where you find yourself behind the letters. and they aren't kidding around with this - cameras are watching.

yay!

plus we were right next to this monstrosity of a cell phone tower:

up at the very top of the hill, which required careful climbing in my running shoes, we found the survey button placed by the group who'd measured the height of the peak.

i'm the king of the world!

as we began our descent, y4m (who'd done this hike quite a few times before, living only minutes away) pointed out this little sign, which has either worn away or been picked at by others - it used to say "you made it!"

look, a baby mole!

all in all, it was a 6.5 mile hike that took us about 2.5 hours to complete, with stops for pictures and water breaks and just to catch our breath. it was fairly steep on the way up, but with lots of lovely flat sections, and then easy breezy all the way back. we carpooled to pick up y4m's hubby, and then we headed here for brunch.

such a great day! and i was on such a high from the experience that i immediately sent a picture to the teen and rock-ell. i suggested that we go next weekend, so it looks like i get to repeat the experience with the good camera. and maybe some snacks. well, snacks for sure. heh.

let's just hope the weather cooperates. oh, and that i can somehow get rid of the sick ass tank top lines i got along with my vitamin d fix. ugh.

everything's better with biscoff

2012-02-06T06:21:00.000-08:00

remember my post a few months ago (okay, it was july. how time flies!) about making a sopapilla cheesecake for breakfast?

i did it again.

except this time, i switched it up a little. see the difference?

oh, yes. i threw a little biscoff spread into the mix. because, as we're learning, biscoff spread goes with everything. i may have had a little extra cream cheese filling left over from a previous sopapilla breakfast...uh, a few days prior. so i scooped some spread into a bowl and mixed it all together.

it came out of the oven perfectly golden and smelling pretty darn fantastic.

seriously, i think i'm just going to start adding biscoff spread to everything i make. beats eating it out of the jar with a spoon, anyway.

breathing easy

2012-02-03T08:19:00.000-08:00

okay, so when people do reviews on stuff they get for free, it always seems like they're just being nice because - well, they got free shit. right?

and that's my way of telling you that i'm about to dazzle you with a review on a product that i was given at no cost to me. full disclosure here, people. and yes, i do feel kind of obligated to be super nice about it because, well, i got something for free. but at the same time, i don't wanna be a sellout like that.

except that in this case, i really don't have anything bad to say. when the social media rep at oreck contacted me about testing out one of their newest products in exchange for a review on the bloggy-blog, i was all like "hell yes, i'm in!" because, as i've said before, i love me a freebie. but i'll admit it: i wasn't all that stoked when i found out that what i'd be getting wasn't one of their world-famous vacuum cleaners...i was going to be reviewing an air purifier.

you're thinking, wah waaaaaah. right? so was i, but then i realized that hey! who cares, i get to try something out and keep it - and give one away to one of you guys (more on that later) - plus, this thing has a retail value of $499.99. sah-weet!

so i was excited when UPS dropped this off late one evening:

"what the hell is that?" the hub wanted to know. and as i went about my business, getting dinner ready, he took on the task of unpacking the thing and figuring out how to get it set up.

i thought it was pretty cool, actually. kind of space-y looking, and very sleek.

we set it up right next to the dining room and turned it on. it came to life immediately, and the light inside the round opening went from a light blue to a deep purple. i wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

the hub, having skimmed through the quickstart guide, said that the color of the light is an indicator of how bad the air is that it's sucking in and filtering through. and since i'd been cooking in the not-too-far-away kitchen, it made sense that it was working a little extra hard.

we've had it for quite a while now (actually, this review is quite a bit overdue - sorry, chelsea!), and i actually have noticed a difference. before, when i was at work in the kitchen, the aroma of whatever i was cooking or baking would waft throughout the entire house. it's actually made to work in a room up to 248 square feet, but it seems to keep the smells to a minimum. it doesn't make a whole lot of noise, and although an air purifier wasn't necessarily something high on my list of priorities, i'm glad we have it. the bean doesn't sneeze as much inside the house as she used to, and that's a good thing.

the hub accused me of standing in front of it and ripping one when the light turned an angry red once:

i will neither admit nor deny. heh. but i can tell you that if there were any suspicious odors that caused the angry red light to come on, you sure couldn't tell after a few seconds. you know, IF anything had happened in that instance.

and now, for the fun part - you, too, can be the proud owner of an oreck air purifier of your very own! first, here's some boring information that i'm required to provide:

you must be a resident of the 48 contiguous states in the U.S. sorry, alaska, hawaii and oh, the rest of the world. these aren't my rules. i got mad love for all of you.
again, i was given my airinstinct air purifier by oreck corporation at no cost to me.
oreck corporation is providing the prize for this giveaway, but is not the sponsor. that would be me.
you have from right this minute until next friday, february 10th at 11:59 pm PST to enter. i'll announce the winner on monday, february 13th.
winner will be drawn via my friend random.org.

cool? we good? okay. now there's one thing that you have to, must absolutely, positively do in order to be eligible to win:

i need you to visit oreck.com and tell me (in a comment below) one thing you learned about the airinstinct. kind of like homework, but not really. but this is the one thing you really have to do in order to be entered in this giveaway. plus, make sure you leave me a way to get ahold of you. your e-mail address will only be used for the purpose of contacting you in regards to this giveaway. if random.org picks you, i send you an e-mail, and i don't hear back from you by friday, february 17th at 5:00 pm PST, i'll pick a new winner. don't let that happen to you. that would be sad.

and after that's done, here's a few different ways that you can sneak in bonus entries to better your chances of purifying your own gassy odors with your very own oreck airinstinct:

follow @oreck on twitter.
tweet a link to this blog post. be sure to mention me (@luvbabyb) and @oreck in the tweet.
"like" oreck on facebook.
share a link to this blog post via facebook.
sign up for oreck's e-mail list by clicking on "sign up for e-mail" in the top navigation bar and entering your e-mail address.
with each of these extra chances, make sure you leave me another comment here to let me know you did [insert bonus entry method here].

simple, right? now, off with you. go on, learn about the airinstinct and then earn those bonus entries! spread the word! whee!

pixie dust is powerful

2012-02-02T06:14:00.000-08:00

after we'd all had a chance to shower and get pretty again, we checked out of our room and headed downstairs to have some breakfast. happily for the bean, we ended up at the hotel's character breakfast. she was so excited to have some face time with some of her favorite disney peeps.

when minnie caught sight of the teen's new phone case, she picked it up and showed it to someone she thought might be interested:

and he loved it so much, he demanded to have his picture taken with the teen - after somehow managing to ask her without saying a word as to where she'd found it (amazon, of course).

pluto was really...affectionate. with all of us.

and the bean surprised us by going up to the "stage" at the front of the restaurant to join in the dance party.

outside in the lobby, the teen reenacted a scene from our last trip to paradise pier hotel (yes, this picture is totally out of order, but do you really care?).

since the hub's super duper value annual pass didn't work that day, he decided to head on home while the rest of us stayed to play in the parks. i know, i know - i was slightly crazy to even consider this after my extra early morning and, oh, i don't know - running 13.1 miles. heh. but i'd promised the bean that we'd go, and so we went. plus, when else would i have a great excuse to actually wear that medal anywhere? the attention whore in me was gleeful at the idea of rocking the bling for the rest of the day. the teen and rock-ell decided to hit up disneyland while the two of us headed over to california adventure to ride some of her favorite rides.

after riding the monsters, inc. ride twice (shockingly, it was wide open with no more than a 3 minute wait), we heard some music coming from the stage right behind us. and when she saw the show going on - "mickey's dance crew" - she decided to continue the dance party and joined in the fun.

afterwards, we got to say hello to the mouse himself.

it's just not a trip to california adventure without sitting through the disney junior stage show. and after it was over, the bean was totally stoked to see the title character from "jake and the neverland pirates" just outside, posing for pictures.

bling bliiiiiiiing (those earrings are part of the new stella & dot spring '12 collection, and i dig 'em).

after a spin on the "little mermaid" ride, even the bean was pooped. "mommy, my legs are wanting to go to sleep," she said. ha! and i sure didn't need to be told twice. i'd been ready to go after round 1 of "monsters, inc." so i steered her through the grand californian hotel - a nice shortcut back to paradise pier, where our car was still parked - and gratefully sank into the driver's seat to head home.

of course, the bean fell asleep within minutes, and because it was my lucky day, there was zero traffic and we were pulling into our driveway in no time. i scooped her out of her seat, hobbled into the house, collapsed onto the couch, and dozed off for a well-deserved nap.

oh, and by the way - here are the official results from my first half marathon:

i'm not gonna lie - i am damn proud of that finish time. i was hoping for 2:45! and when i crossed the finish line, the clock was somewhere around 2:38 and i was even happy with that. not to mention, i'd taken the time for pictures along the way. imagine if i'd just gone straight through without stopping? man. and just look - i came in #2479 out of 11,000ish people (the number above doesn't include the men who ran)! i don't know what "age grade" means, but i don't care. and now i have a time to submit for the disneyland half in september - maybe i'll move up a corral or two!

and it wasn't till i was almost home that i remembered something - i'd left my race shirt with the wings pinned to the back hanging on the bathroom door. gah! i texted the teen and then called the hotel, but had to leave a message for their lost & found department. i'm sure it was a crazy weekend for them, so i just hoped for the best.

happily, they did call me back two days later to report that my shirt and wings had been set aside and i could pick it up anytime within 90 days. yippee!

besides, let's face it - we all know that it probably won't be much more than a week before i head back down for more disney fun. heh. at least this time i have an excuse to go.

i swear, i didn't plan it that way. promise.

i tink i can, i tink i can

2012-02-01T06:21:00.000-08:00

note: this is going to be a pretty lengthy recap post, and chock full o'pics. don't say i didn't warn you.

so yeah - the tinkerbell half marathon was finally here. despite the super comfy bed courtesy of the disneyland resort, i woke up every hour between 10:30 and 3:30. so much for getting a good night's sleep before the big day. gah.

no worries, though. i snatched up the phone as soon as the wake-up call came (with the music from the closing credits of "finding nemo") and hopped right up to start getting ready. i consulted my phone for the weather and was pretty pleased to see that i wasn't going to be freezing my ass off after all:

have i ever mentioned that i'm pretty terrible at doing my own hair? i'd envisioned doing a simple ponytail with a little back-combing to give it a bit of extra oomph, but i'd forgotten to pack a comb and i really suck at teasing my hair anyway. i did the best i could, pinned the tiara into place, put on as much makeup as i thought i could without sweating it all off (i bought waterproof mascara just for this day. vain much?), sprayed on the glitter, and by about 4:15 i was as ready as i'd ever be.

after blowing a kiss to my sleeping family, i gathered up my throwaway hoodie and headed out. there were lots of folks already out and about, and it wasn't hard to find my way.

i took note of this tent for later:

and sent up a prayer that i wouldn't need this one.

i found my team gathering here:

and pretty soon we could hear the announcer calling out for people in the various corrals to start making their way towards the start line. after a quick team photo, we headed on out. because i'd been entered with an estimated finish time of 2:45, this was where i got to go:

i passed the time eyeing other people's costumes (some of them were super elaborate like whoa) and chatting with my fellow corral c'ers. a stage with the announcers was set up ahead of us in corral a, and they bantered back and forth and told corny jokes and brought up megyn price from "rules of engagement" and sean astin (who will forever be dave from "encino man" to me, regardless of the other stuff he's done). we learned that out of the 12,000 runners present, there were just 920 men registered.

we were treated to fireworks as the national anthem was sung and the race officially began. it was probably about ten minutes or so after corral a was released that we finally got the green light.

although a lot of people later complained that tinkerbell only appeared in animated form on the screen, i can tell you that i truly didn't give a shit. i was pumped and ready to go, and just really excited to get started.

a super blurry shot of the stage, where daisy duck and minnie waved to the crowd along with the announcers.

despite the fact that the race handbook instructed those who were walking the route to stay on the right side and not to walk in packs of more than two, i found myself having to navigate my way around countless folks as i attempted to get a good jogging start to my 13.1 miles. a little annoying, but i managed.

oh, and that fanny pack i was so proud of crafting for myself? yeah, it ended up being a major pain in the ass. i'd been so intent on making it super cute and using that tinkerbell-themed ribbon, not realizing that it would be slippery and ride up constantly. this resulted in me having to adjust and readjust the damn thing oh, about every three minutes or so. poo. but those wings? so not a burden. they were so light and comfy, and since i'd had the forethought to pin them on and wasn't relying on the armbands to keep them on, i didn't even notice their presence.

i'm gonna admit this right now - a lot of the run is kind of a blur to me, especially the parts that were outside of the disneyland resort. i remember groaning a little to myself as we started running up ball road, as i'd eyed that hill driving into the downtown disney area the day before, but i got through it and around the corner, following the crowds as we made our way back towards disneyland. we entered through a backlot, where the road narrowed considerably and people were tripping all over each other left and right. and then we turned another corner and started seeing some fun stuff.

there was quite a line to take pictures with the princes and princesses. needless to say, i didn't interrupt my running mojo to join in.

i did pause just for a brief moment to try and capture myself running up main street and then through sleeping beauty's castle. not the greatest pictures, but it's all i got.

and just past the castle i found captain hook and mr. smee. since i was tinkerbell for the day, i decided to stop and get a shot with them. there was only one person ahead of me, so i figured it wouldn't kill my time too much. again, super blurry, but you get the idea.

there were official race photographers stationed all along the route as we went through disneyland, and you know me - i hammed it up for every camera i spotted. i didn't stop for 'em, but i sure did give 'em a wave or a thumbs-up or a cheesy ass grin whenever i could. and because i'd ensured that there would be a decent number of "pro" photos of me, i wasn't too concerned about taking too many myself. i knew they'd suck anyway. heh.

amazingly, i was crossing the line for the 5K mark. i totally smiled as i pictured the hub and the teen receiving their text messages as to my progress, most likely still in bed. ha! and then before i knew it, i was here:

and pretty soon, here.

thanks to team sparkle for this action shot:

i recall lots of marching bands and cheer/dance teams, all of who cheered us on as we ran past. the water stops were plentiful, well-organized, and stocked with both water and powerade. and there was a gigantic group of "red hat ladies" stationed along one block, and they were all so enthusiastic and supportive. i wish i'd have gotten a picture of them, all decked out in their red and purple finery. but i did manage to catch this group of hula dancers. they were really cute.

i'd brought my own gu energy gel as i'd trained with it and knew it wouldn't screw me up, but as i passed the clif shot station somewhere around mile 9 i picked one up anyway. i figure i can give it a try as i train for the next run.

almost there!

final water stop.

once i made it into california adventure, i knew i was home free. i was feeling great and totally excited to cross that finish line.

i had to stop and pose with characters from one of our favorite movies - "monsters, inc."

disney should really provide the race photographers with a stool or something to sit on so that they don't have to shoot up at their subjects. seriously, i have the fattest freaking face in most of the shots they got of me. boo.

right around mile 13, i spotted a familiar face - my friends jess, kim and aline had come out to cheer me and our other friend kirkette on. i was so excited to see them, and waved happily as i scampered past.

never been so excited to see a mile marker in all my life.

one last photo op:

just before the finish, i rounded the final corner and the first thing i saw was the bean, who was grinning like mad, sitting on the hub's shoulders and holding this sign:

can you see me? that is one happy camper right thurr.

HELL YES.

i happily accepted a mylar blanket, my finisher's medal, took my official photo, grabbed a few luna bars, and made my way through the tent to find my family and friends.

and of course, i promptly burst into tears.

wanna hear something funny? the teen took one look at me and turned to rock-ell to remark "she's wearing a full face of makeup." muahahahahaha.

my friend kelley and her family made it after all! so grateful for their support.

i was completely dazed at this point, and after we said our goodbyes to my friends, we headed back to the hotel so i could shower and get cleaned up. it was such a relief to be just across the street, and i was thankful yet again that we'd stayed at a disney hotel. upstairs, we looked out the window and watched the madness for a few:

there are no words to describe the feeling of crossing the finish line after all of those months of mental and physical training. it's an indescribable joy and a tremendous sense of pride, and something that i really never imagined i'd ever do. the high that i was on for the rest of that day (hell, i'm still flying from the whole thing) was so awesome, and i'm really excited to do it again in september.

i'm committed to doing at least a 3-mile and a 5-mile run every week till around june, when i'll need to pick up that half marathon training program again. yeah, that'll mean long runs on sweaty ass summer weekends, but as long as i do them early i should be okay.

besides, now i know how fabulous it is to run alongside thousands of other runners and hear the cheers of countless volunteers and spectators as i fly by. i want that again. it's really cool as all hell.

you hear that? i can fly!

princessy prep

2012-01-31T06:24:00.000-08:00

as i was packing for our overnight stay at the disneyland resort, i remembered that i had one last detail to complete my tinkerbell costume for the race. i got out the materials: hot glue gun, mini claw clips, and a pack of fluffy white pompoms.

in about fifteen seconds, i had these:

i clipped them onto my shoes, and voila! instant tinkerbell running kicks.

i'd been a little concerned about freezing my balls off while waiting for the race to start, since we'd been told to arrive by 4:30 and be in our corrals (ugh, makes us sound like cattle) by 5:15. AM. eek. and then i read that lots of people bring jackets and sweatpants to stay warm at that ungodly hour, toss them aside when it gets too warm, and disney washes it all and donates to local homeless shelters. so i scooped up a cheapy hoodie and some pants that magically happened to match my theme.

and one last thing to complete my ensemble (yes, i sure do have a special bag for my tiara):

because i had a team dinner with my fellow autism speaks running mates, i got some unexpected alone time as i drove down to disneyland to check into the hotel. paradise pier is the least expensive hotel out of the three at the resort, and we had a group rate that made it even cheaper. score!

despite the fact that it's the "value" hotel, it looked like it had been recently renovated and was super cute inside.

i was rather amused by this:

i decided to stroll over to the health & fitness expo again, just to make sure that i hadn't missed anything the day before. plus, i'd been mulling over one of the warm-up jackets emblazoned with the tinkerbell half marathon logo, and thought maybe i'd scoop one up. oh, and i decided i'd get in line at the abc booth again in the hopes of scoring a second pan am bag for the teen.

one outta two ain't bad, right?

i got back to the hotel with just enough time to put the bag away and head into one of the meeting rooms for the team dinner. as i strolled in, i spotted a table with a young asian couple and a girl who appeared to be riding solo and sporting a hot pink running jacket from old navy - which i recognized because i've been training in that same jacket for the last few months. i figured it was the perfect spot for me. and as we introduced ourselves and chatted a little, i was happy to learn that they were newbies to the half marathon thing too, and they were all super nice.

the grub. carb heaven.

i giggled a little to myself when our host invited us to indulge in the dessert buffet and said something along the lines of "you've worked really hard and avoided this kind of stuff for months, so you deserve a treat!" because, duh - i'd had cookies on the drive down to anaheim.

we gathered in front of the banner for a picture. this was just a fraction of the group, as our team actually had 65 members.

with my table BFFs.

i got to relax for a little while in our room as i waited for the girls to arrive. and when they did, i handed the teen the fun noisemakers i'd gotten at dinner.

we headed straight over to downtown disney so that they could have some dinner. and because it had actually been three hours since i'd eaten, i was hungry again. oy vey.

the teen and her prize from the balloon lady at the restaurant. do you love it?

and then the bean and i clowned around in one of the shops.

back at the hotel, she was excited to see this cute room with lounge chairs in her size and a steady stream of disney cartoons.

upstairs, i laid out the essentials for the next (super duper early) morning.

just to be sure, i tried on all of the pieces according to the tips i'd gotten from team sparkle. after all, i didn't want to have to worry about continually tugging on the wings to keep them in place. and so i was extra glad i'd packed a bunch of safety pins.

and finally it was time for bed. with a 3:30 wake-up call, i had right around five and a half hours of sleep. ack!

expo-sing ourselves

2012-01-30T09:26:00.000-08:00

i did it! and i didn't die or throw up or faint or anything! it was one of the most amazing weekends EVER. totally ranks up there with giving birth to my girls and marrying the hub. seriously, it was that awesome.

we kicked it off on friday, when the bean and i headed down to disneyland hotel for the health & fitness expo. that's where we were to pick up our race bibs and shirts, and i knew that if i waited much longer it would be a madhouse. there were 12,000 people registered for the race, and every last one of those folks had to come down to check in and get their gear. plus, i knew that there would be fun merchandise to shop from, and since i'd read that it often sells out, i wanted to get me some. heh.

since she'd just spent all morning at school, i put the bean in her stroller to make things easier on both of us. she pointed out all of the signs to me as she recognized the castle and the disney logo.

we both let out an awed "oooooooh" at the tinkerbell-themed signage. we're such girls.

i was pleased to see that i'd timed things right and didn't even have to wait in line to check in. armed with my bib and timing chip, we strolled through the test area to make sure the chip worked. and not surprisingly, it did. as i stepped on the mat, my name popped right up on the screen. yay!

as we made our way upstairs, i was overwhelmed with the sheer volume of vendors selling all sorts of fitness and running related gear.

i decided to take care o'business first, though, and headed to the very end to get my shirt and bag.

i'd ordered my sparkly running skirt from team sparkle weeks ago, and they'd tweeted that there would be some fun swag bags for everyone who came to the expo wearing their skirt. so i put mine on over my jeans, feeling like a goober, and headed over.

sadly, they'd already run out of goodies. the expo had only been open for three hours at that point. boo. i love me a freebie. well, most of the time anyway. there was lots of free yogurt being handed out at this booth, but i wasn't really all about trying to juggle a spoon, a cup, and the stroller.

i smirked to myself as i passed this booth. "heehee!" i murmured as i eyed their merchandise. "i don't need to spend $40 on one of those, i made myself one that's even cuter!"

unfortunately for me, that smugness would come right back to bite me in the ass later. dun dun dunnnnn.

when i saw that there were some fun prizes being given away here, we got in the growing line to spin the wheel.

the hot guy who was working the wheel was happy to let the bean do the spinning for me. i smiled pretty and said "ooooh, i would reaaaaaaaaaallllllly like one of those pan am totes, i love that show so much!" and he grinned back and replied "i think i can make that happen for you." and when the wheel slowed down, he might've given it a little nudge to make it land in just the right spot. yesssssss.

official merchandise time.

yes, those ears were a little creepy. but i did let myself buy one of those "i did it!" shirts, hoping i wasn't jinxing the whole thing by buying it before running the race. i really wanted one of the zip-up jackets, but i couldn't stomach the $50 price tag.

on our way out we checked out the run disney booth, where one could sign up for future races and check out all of the bling.

i was excited to see the medal i was working to earn.

and, one similar to what i'll be running for come september:

this is the one that you earn when you run a race in disneyland and disney world in the same calendar year - the "coast to coast." SO not gonna happen for me this year.

before we left, we got in line to take a picture here. too bad it came out super fuzzy.

all in all, it was a great start to what promised to be a kick ass weekend.

well, this is it.

2012-01-27T06:42:00.000-08:00

today i head down to disneyland hotel to pick up my official race bib and goody bag for the tinkerbell half marathon. the very first race of its kind! i'm stoked to be in on something that nobody's gotten to do before. i'm an elitist beeyotch like that.

i can't believe that i only started running five months ago. that's pretty amazing to me, because honestly - it feels like forever. it probably doesn't help that i've been rather burned out and just ready to do this thing already. the last month of training has been really difficult for me, but i think it's a mental thing. don't get me wrong, i'm definitely not about to get out there on sunday morning and run the whole 13.1 miles. i'm sure that with the distraction of other runners, a whole new course, not to mention all of the fun things i've been hearing that disney does every mile or so, i'll be taking even more walk breaks than i already do. advice from more than one friend has told me to try and relax during on the big day and not to worry so much about my finish time. although i know me, i'll totally be bummed out if i'm not able to maintain my 11-ish minute/mile pace.

i'm so, so, so grateful for all of the support i've received throughout this whole thing - via my "real life" friends, social media buddies, blog readers. i can't tell you how helpful it's been, and it's really kept me going through the days that i just didn't want to go out there and run (and there have been MANY of those). and i am oh-so-thankful to those of you who helped me reach my fundraising goal for the autism speaks running team.

so now i get to go to the disneyland health & fitness expo and hopefully keep myself from splurging on all of the fun tinkerbell-themed merchandise that's going to be on display. well, maybe i'll let myself scoop up an "i did it!" tee, because you know how much i love me a souvenir t-shirt. heh.

i'm also pretty excited to finally put on the costume i've been slowly gathering items for over the last couple of months. sparkly skirt? check. matching wings? oh, yeah. glittery headband? uh-huh. pom-poms for my shoes? psh, of course. don't forget the awesome fanny pack i managed to cobble together for myself. although i'm certainly not kidding myself - i know for damn sure i'm going to be just one of 12,000 similarly-attired runners out on the course. but i'll be the cutest. hee!

i know that my friends aline and kim have made plans to come and cheer me and our friend kirkette on at some point on the course. i also dropped a major hint to my buddy kelley, who's been instrumental in getting my ass in gear and working on my fitness. it sounds like she, her husband g, and li'l d may be there as well. i'm really excited and touched to know that they're going to make the effort to be there for us. and of course, my little family plus rock-ell will be present too.

oh mah gah, i'm going to be such an emotional, blubbery mess at the end of this thing. remember when i finished that 5K a few months ago? yikes. i better pack waterproof mascara.

not that i really think you're all that interested, but disney has a system set up that you can sign up for to receive text messages/e-mails/tweets/facebook posts on my progress through the run. if you want the link, just e-mail me and i'll give you the info. and hey - if you happen to be in the anaheim area around 8am on sunday morning, well...i sure wouldn't turn my nose up at any extra cheerleaders. ha.

plus, i got to scoop up a new pair of running shoes a couple of weeks ago that totally match my ensemble. check it:

eeeee! and i've got an appointment to get my nails done - the plan is to paint the tips in a glittery lime green. cheesy? abso-freaking-lutely. but this is a DISNEY race. where else can i get away with such silliness?

oh, and uh...speaking of disney races, registration for the disneyland half marathon this september officially began last week. while i tried my best to talk myself out of it (sucky training runs through the summer, more long runs in my not-so-distant future, etc.), i...um, i might have signed up for it.

come on! now i get to plan a whole new costume, and this time it's open to ANY disney character i darn well want to dress up as. whee!

so yeah - send me lots of happy running vibes come sunday morning at 6am! i'm gonna need all i can get.

going green

2012-01-26T06:39:00.000-08:00

inspired by my friend nanette, i decided to try something totally out of my comfort zone: a green machine smoothie that she'd discovered via pinterest.

i miss nanette. but despite her recent move up to oregon, it's really nice to still be able to easily keep in touch with her as often as when she was here in l.a. thank goodness for social media - i still get to talk to her all the time via twitter and facebook, although i can't say the same for the bean. she misses her friend em, and still asks about her at least once a week. "mommy, is em still far far away?" she'll ask. awwwww.

anyway, so yeah - the smoothie. i headed to the grocery store and bought a banana, which i promptly sliced up and stuck in the freezer overnight. so after my yoga meltdown session with jillian michaels via DVD the next morning, i opened the door and was greeted by the aroma of fresh fruit.

i know you're probably thinking, what the hell has come over her? she doesn't even like fruit! now while this is certainly true, it's really chunks of the stuff that i dislike immensely. i'm cool with the flavor and the smell of most of it (cherries, pears and peaches excluded, just to name a couple of my non-favorites), and if it's pureed into stuff - well, that i can totally get behind. so smoothies are actually perfect for me.

following the recipe, i added a tablespoon-ish of peanut butter.

and then the magic ingredient: fresh spinach. i'd sent the teen to the grocery store to pick this up for me and forgot to specify that i preferred the bagged kind, but that was okay. this worked.

with the milk and fat-free greek yogurt, this looks...appetizing, huh?

i gave it a whirl.

i'm not gonna lie. this stuff smelled really bizarre. but i was determined, so i busted out one of my starbucks cold cups to make it look more appealing.

i posted a picture on twitter of myself hesitantly taking the first sip. remember, this was post-yoga AND pre-fruit smoothie sampling, so click on that with caution. heh.

anyway, despite the slightly off-putting aroma, it really wasn't bad. i couldn't detect any spinach flavor at all, just the banana and a hint of the peanut butter. except that there wasn't much sweetness to it. and you all know how ginormous my sweet tooth is. i have a feeling that the culprit was using plain yogurt instead of the vanilla flavored sort (because that's all i had in the house). so i thought about it for a few seconds as i continued to sip, and then it came to me:

that's right. i poured the smoothie back into the blender, took a spoonful of nutella, and started 'er back up. and wouldn't you know it, the taste of that smoothie improved by about a gazillion percent.

nutella. it truly cures all ills.

hooray for bollywood

2012-01-25T06:34:00.000-08:00

when my friend AMP asked me to do some bollywood-style cookies for her baby girl's upcoming first birthday party, i was excited not only for the chance to be a part of the celebration but also to finally have a reason to use this:

that little guy has been in my cookie cutter collection for months now, just waiting for the right time to bust him out. and i sure got to give him a workout, since AMP needed five dozen of them.

along with a link she gave me, i'd perused the precious few examples that the google had turned up when i searched for "bollywood elephant cookies." i liked this one a lot, and after consulting with AMP, i decided to risk a moderate case of carpal tunnel syndrome and dove into the decorating.

i was grateful that the design only required three colors of icing.

a visit to my favorite supply store yielded these pretty gold dragees. because of their metallic finish, the sale of these things was banned in california i don't know how long ago. and so they've been difficult to get ahold of in the past, but apparently my store got around the technicalities by marking them like this:

get that? for decoration ONLY, folks. not meant to be eaten. yeah. as if people were going to take the time to pluck them out of their baked goods before cramming it in their mouths. and this would be a slightly difficult task, since i sunk 'em into the frosting - basically cementing them onto the cookie.

after a couple of trial runs, i finally got a rhythm going and had the process down pat by the time i finished the very last elephant.

they were so festive in their little bags, tied with red and pink ribbons.

i really love how these little guys turned out. they may very well be my most favorite of all time...so far. elephants really are lucky charms!

she's fresh. exciting.

2012-01-24T06:37:00.000-08:00

my friend kelley and i are taking our kids to see the fresh beat band in concert next month. i'm not sure if she's told li'l d yet, but i haven't shared it with the bean yet. and whenever we watch nick jr. (which is every. stinking. day), the commercial advertising the tickets inevitably comes on - and then i have to duck her excited queries: "mooooom, look! is the fresh beat band gonna come here? where we live? can we go see them on the stage?"

i don't really know why i'm keeping it from her. it's gonna be great for bribing her to do [insert random act she doesn't want to do] between now and february. yes, i'm a fabulous mom who totally holds shit over her kids' heads to get them to do stuff. hand me my tiara and trophy now.

and so even though i haven't actually confirmed that we've got tickets in hand for the concert, she hasn't really questioned me as to why i've been working on a costume for her to wear. there are two girls in the band, and because "kiki" has long, dark hair like the bean's, well - that's who she's going to dress up as for the show. see?

i finally sat down this weekend and whipped out the first part of the ensemble - kiki's hot pink zip-up hoodie. it's actually quite simple, but of course i managed to turn it into something complicated as hell. heh. i'd picked up a plain sweatshirt at target, along with some colored felt to make the patches for the front and back. and then using a free printable i found via pinterest, i made a stencil for the guitar, traced it onto the white felt, and cut it out in two sizes.

yeah, it was kind of a pain in the ass to cut around those tiny curves on the small one. and then when i looked at the "real" kiki, it isn't even the right kind of guitar. bah. whatever.

oh, and i'm terrible at cutting circles. but at least i had a spool of thread in my collection that matched perfectly. bonus!

next i had to shorten the sleeves and replace the stretchy cuff. i totally held my breath as i sliced into the first sleeve with my scissors, because it's just so weird to chop up perfectly good clothing. and then i had a slight panic attack when i realized that the cuff was smaller than the upper part of the sleeve that i had to sew it to. crap.

but i managed to figure it out and got both sleeves done to my satisfaction. and the bean was pretty stoked when she tried it on for me.

all i have to do now is make the skirt with a little petticoat underneath. she can wear it with a pair of leggings she already has, a plain tee under the jacket, and we'll find her a pink headband to wear.

oh, and the rock star jacket. ha! wait till i tell you the story of THAT thing. geez.

it ain't easy being green

2012-01-23T06:48:00.000-08:00

sometimes the ideas i come up with are so utterly, amazingly fantastic that i can hardly stand it. like, i'm a total genius. heh.

so i've been slowly but surely putting together one hell of a costume to wear in this weekend's tinkerbell half marathon (yes, can you believe it? it's THIS SUNDAY. eek!). i'll share details on that later, but for right now i have a confession to make:

i bought a fanny pack. blech. it's true - because i realized that i'd need some way to hold my gu energy gels for the run, along with a couple of other essentials that i can't carry any other way. while training, i've been wearing a hydration belt with a pocket that works for this, but since there are water stations all along the course, i won't need it. and so i headed to my nearest running store and picked up...this.

um, do you see that price tag? i actually dropped a $20 on this stupid thing. and as i got to thinking about it, i came to the conclusion that because i wouldn't ever, EVER be using it again, i could just...make one. right?

hell yeah, that's right? and the genius part of this whole operation? i'd bought a pair of white compression pants as part of my running costume that were a good bit too long. when i compared it to a pair of capris i've been training in, it came to me: i would make the fanny pack out of the extra material!

i realize that i sound like a lunatic at this point, and i really wouldn't blame you if you stopped reading right now. but just in case, i'm going to show you what i ended up with. you know you wanna see. you know it, and i know it, and that's why i'm going to continue with my story as if i weren't starting to doubt my own sanity right along with you.

i pulled out the store-bought fanny pack and gave it a closer inspection to get a better idea of what the pieces looked like that comprised the thing. i unzipped it and pulled it apart and twisted it this way and that and started making some notes. and yes, i realize that this thing resembles...a pink taco.

check out my super technical hand-drafted pattern:

i took the bits i'd sliced off of the pants and cut them open to lay out my pattern pieces. luckily, i had exactly enough for what i needed.

it'd been quite a long time since i'd sewn a zipper - let alone an invisible one. i have a big ol' bag of randomly sized invisible zippers in various colors that i bought on sale in downtown l.a., and i chose one in my favorite color to use. after consulting the google, i shortened it to fit my pouch and then spent an embarrassing amount of time figuring out how to sew the damn thing in.

i managed to hunt down this strap thingy that came with one of the blankets that the teen got at the microsoft event with nick jonas last summer. since we never use this thing, i plucked the stitches out of it to reuse one of the buckles for my project. don't you love how very thrifty and eco-friendly i'm being here? recycle and reuse, people!

but there was one thing i did scoop up that was just so perfect, i had to spend the $3 for it. look:

how delightfully cheesy and appropriate, right? i can see you rolling your eyes from here. stop it.

i created straps by sewing a couple of lengths of the ribbon together and ironing them flat, then added the buckles and attached them rather haphazardly to my pouch.

it isn't the most perfectly sewn thing that ever was, but then again, who cares? it's a freaking fanny pack. i'm only gonna use the damn thing for about five hours and then stick it in a drawer and forget all about it.

and now i can go back to that running store and exchange that stupid $20 fanny pack for other stuff i'll need. maybe i'll splurge on some fancy socks that will hopefully help keep me from coming home with a half dozen new blisters after completing the 13.1 mile course.

stop laughing at me.

have a heart

2012-01-20T06:47:00.000-08:00

like, about 647 of them. haha, just kidding. or AM i?

last week, my friend kim posted a picture on twitter of a project she was working on for valentine's day. i liked it so much, i decided right then and there to be a total copycat. after all, that's totally my style anyway - find something super cool/cute/awesome/fabulous elsewhere and just duplicate it. i really don't have any creativity of my own at all, people. i'm just damn good at copying other people's great ideas.

between the dollar store and michaels, i managed to gather all of the materials necessary.

the bean helped me open the bags of candy and get them sorted out. well, she might have sampled one or two as she worked.

i had picked up "regular" candy hearts and some that were marked "glam." they looked like they were all pretty and sparkly, and i figured they'd look cool all sprinkled in between each other. but when i looked closely at them, i didn't really see much of a difference. do you?

glam:

non-glam.

whatever. and as i sat there with the bean as she watched the chipmunks movie for the gazillionth time (it's her current obsession, since seeing "chipwrecked" in the theater and then picking up the first two DVDs at target), i managed to blow through most of them to create this:

and through it all, i didn't burn myself even once with the hot glue gun! i'm just that good.

because i was being a color nazi, i stopped when i ran out of purple, blue, and green hearts. i wanted to cover the middle of the styrofoam base too, but i had to run out and buy more candy so that it wasn't all pink, yellow, and orange. that was okay, though, because i also decided that i needed to spray the finished wreath with an acrylic sealer in an attempt to keep the bugs and birds away.

i was a little worried that the edible ink on the candy would fade, or that the candy itself might melt, so i sprayed cautiously at first. luckily, my fears were unfounded - so i added a couple of extra coats.

after i was done covering the center of the wreath, i sprayed it again with the sealer and added a little extra bling. cute, right?

i'm still debating whether or not to hang it outside or keep it indoors. since i have damn near a month left till valentine's day, i think i have some time to waffle.

the white elephant in the room

2012-01-19T06:08:00.000-08:00

the annual SFAMily holiday hoorah came a little late this time around. we had a hell of a time trying to find a date that folks were available in december, and so we decided to just wait to have our GTG. besides, it wasn't like our merriment would expire along with the holidays.

i was pleased to host again, even though i live out in BFE compared to most. plus, it gave me an excuse to keep this little fella out a little longer than the rest of the christmas decorations (which we'd wasted no time in putting away - literally the day after christmas):

as always, this group is no slouch when it comes to food.

this year, we expanded the group to include the OC contingent. this resulted in a shortage of chairs, and poor courtney ended up...here (but just for a few minutes, till we worked it out).

after we'd stuffed ourselves silly and hooted and hollered over stories old and new, we gathered in the living room to have a little fun with the white elephant gift exchange. this year, there was lots and lots of nail polish (and these little packages were also the hottest items, being stolen over and over).

the monkey had fun opening several packages in the bag she'd selected.

poor ashley got sucked in by the pretty unicorn bag that the monkey brought, and what was inside? a shake weight.

aline was the lucky recipient of my own awesome contribution - a hot pink forever lazy with matching socks.

poor tater. she got stuck with...this. but she accepted her fate with a smile.

after it was all over, everyone had a little fun with that shake weight. it seems to bring out some pretty fantastic facial expressions to all who touch it. comedy.

and of course, the group shot.

plus a bonus silly version. i couldn't stop laughing at FGD's idea of a "silly face."

before she left, i made the monkey pose with her awesome kate spade bag. i love that bag, it's so damn cute.

another holiday hoorah on the books! my friends are awesome.

two great tastes that taste great together

2012-01-18T06:17:00.000-08:00

my friend tater sent me a link to a recipe for some delicious looking cookies a few weeks ago that blended two of my favorite things in the whole world - biscoff spread and snickerdoodles. and since i love to plan ahead, i told her that i'd make a batch of them in her honor to serve at the GTG we were planning.

of course, i was totally distracted the day before the party and forgot all about them until i woke up before the butt crack of dawn. oops. but i'd read through the recipe and knew that it was a pretty easy process, so i decided to make them as soon as i got out of bed. the bean, hearing my plans, immediately volunteered to come with me. she's such a good little helper.

the cookie part was a really basic snickerdoodle recipe. simple sugar cookie dough, formed into balls and rolled in some cinnamon sugar.

but then i busted out the secret ingredient and the magic began.

turns out i had just enough for the filling. wanna see one of the saddest sights in the whole wide world?

blend it with a little butter, some powdered sugar, a bit of cinnamon, and a smidge of milk, and you've got yourself one heavenly smelling bowl of yum.

slather it on the cooled cookies.

sandwich them together.

and bask in the glory of all the compliments showered upon you by all who partake.

bacon + cheese = yes, please

2012-01-17T06:15:00.000-08:00

confession: i love stouffer's macaroni & cheese.

like, a lot. like, i could totally eat my weight in the stuff (and probably have, a few times over). but aside from the simple fact that it's, well, pasta, butter, and cheese, i figure that that frozen concoction has got to be chock-full of all sorts of chemicals and preservatives. now obviously, i got no beef with processed food. but we all know how i love to cook stuff from scratch. and since i still needed something to make for the annual SFAM holiday hoorah (yup, a little late this year. schedules are damn hard to coordinate with a group as big as ours), i decided to see if i could find a good copycat recipe.

and of course, the google came through. well, i did have to wade through a handful of sites before i came across the right one. and the dude who wrote those "top secret recipes" books and has the show on CMT apparently made a great clone, but the recipe wasn't free. since i'm a cheap ass who didn't really wanna pony up the $.79 to download it, i kept searching and finally found this one. i read though it and it seemed almost too simple, but i find that most things that are worth working on usually don't really require herculean efforts.

only for people i love would i bust out a hand grater and a block of sharp cheddar. seriously, folks, i busted my ass to ensure perfection.

the cheese sauce simmered for a full thirty minutes. i kept whisking it throughout that time to make sure it didn't get lumpy and funky.

once it was ready, i stirred it into the cooked macaroni and voila - a perfect clone of that delicious frozen entree, sans preservatives!

oh, but it gets better. because as everything else was simmering and boiling and stuff, i'd put a pan of bacon into the oven. when it was cooked to perfection, i chopped it up and mixed it right into that bad boy.

knowing that we had at least one vegetarian on the guest list, i made sure to scoop out a portion of meat-free cheesy goodness before adding the magic ingredient.

even though it sounds silly, i followed one of the tips in the recipe - the finished mac & cheese went right into the freezer. i guess i made a true frozen dinner after all.

the next morning, i woke up with the most brilliant idea that ever was: i would serve it scooped out into bacon cups. yessssssss. and after perusing a few sites to get some tips and techniques, i decided to use my mini muffin pan to make little bite-sized appetizer-type thingies.

the pan got flipped over, misted with a bit of nonstick spray, and then i cut the slices of bacon into thirds and crisscrossed two on each cup.

my pan actually has a nice little lip around it that i thought would do a good job of catching the bacon grease, but because of my fantastically vivid imagination, i took some precautions as i put it into the oven to cook.

see what i did there? two foil-lined pans to catch the grease, plus a cookie sheet underneath that just in case anything happened to drip between them. better safe than sorry - i cringed just imagining walking into the kitchen to find it engulfed in flames from burning bacon grease. yikes.

anyway, i let it sit in there for about 25ish minutes before turning the broiler on to finish the job. i experimented with it on both high and low settings and then when i was finally satisfied, this is what i had:

they'd shrunk quite a bit (which i'd expected), and mostly lost their shape (which i'd hoped to avoid), but i figured nobody would care. according to my research, it would have been ideal to press a second mini muffin pan on top of the crisscrossed bacon to hold it down and mold it into the cups, but i didn't have another one. and when i pulled them off to drain, there was still a distinct cup-like shape that held a mini scoop of mac & cheese oh-so-perfectly.

the frozen mac & cheese bubbled merrily in the oven, and came out looking exactly like stouffer's (well, if they were smart enough to mix in bacon like i did).

using my cookie scoop, i dug into the pan, pulled out a nice little serving, and squeezed the scoop to release it into the first bacon cup.

i was thinking that maybe it needed a sprinkle of parsley or something to add a little color, but i didn't want to ruin the smoky, cheesy flavor of what i'd put together. i made a whole platter's worth of cups and stood back to admire what i'd created. i was so stinking proud of myself.

there were actually a few extras that didn't fit onto the platter, and after all, i really needed to taste it to make sure it was okay...right? heh. and just to confirm, i called the teen over to give it a shot too. not surprisingly, she loved it.

oh, man. i canNOT wait to make this again. so, so good. you need this in your life, people. trust me. just...do it.

and, oh - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, COUSIN SEVEN! love you!

pea-cocky

2012-01-16T08:08:00.000-08:00

my first cookie challenge of 2012 came via my friend jane, who'd contacted me to see if i could help her with a bridal shower she was coordinating. she'd come across some gorgeous peacock-themed cookies, and thought that they'd work perfectly with the glam-themed gathering.

after perusing the photos she sent me and trading a few e-mails for clarification, i knew what to do. well, sort of. i had a good idea of what i needed to do, but my less-than-stellar artistic skills had me stressing over it big-time. i wanted to come through for jane, so i pulled it together and just jumped right in.

i figured it'd be a good idea to bust out my edible markers first, though, to draw an outline to follow with my piping bag. trying to do it freehand would've been a disaster of epic proportions.

and then for the first time in ages and ages, i actually mixed up a batch of royal icing instead of the glaze i've been using. the glaze is delicious and usually works just fine, but i was nervous about getting these just right and decided that the texture of royal icing was what i needed. i decided to try sweetopia's recipe this time, and it was perfect. i didn't need to thin it out with extra water, and the colors mixed in easily. first - an outline with teal to define the head and the top of the body.

then i filled them all in.

since the color scheme i was given included blue/teal, purple and green, i did my best to incorporate them all in a complementary way.

i know, it still looks a little bizarre. but after adding a few details, i busted out the sanding sugar to bling 'em out a little.

see? does it look a little more peacock-y now?

but i wasn't done yet. because of the requested bling factor, i'd shelled out the bucks to pick up pricey edible glitter - also known as "disco dust." after a failed attempt at applying it to a test cookie, i realized that i needed a shaker of some sort. of course, i didn't have one. but then the light bulb went on over my head and i totally macgyver'ed me a ghetto-fab, high-tech instrument for even glitter application.

it worked!

and thank god, no royal icing disasters this time. the next morning, they were completely dry and ready to be bagged. jane seemed pleased with the final result, and from what i could see on twitter, the shower went swimmingly.

next up: cupcake-shaped cookies for a 1-year-old and then "the very hungry caterpillar" themed treats for a sweet set of twin girls. whee!

delightful dinners

2012-01-13T06:49:00.000-08:00

happy friday the 13th! dun dun dunnnnnnnn.

so, anyway - yay for cooking yummy dinners at home!

thanks to one of my twirlies, i'd found this easy and delicious-looking recipe for chicken with a mushroom wine sauce. and magically, i had all of the ingredients already in the kitchen, just waiting to be used in something. i was pretty stoked to see that it was indeed super simple to throw together.

thanks to brother wan, who'd cooked dinner for us over the weekend, i had a bunch of fresh parsley - not something i typically buy.

the sauce incorporated the butter and olive oil used for browning the chicken, plus the tasty tidbits that got stuck to the pan. sounds gross, but those little morsels add so much flavor.

putting the chicken back once the sauce reduced a bit ensured that it was cooked all the way through.

i even busted out the asparagus steaming pot for some fresh veggies.

it looked nice on the plate - and it was really good! i was so happy to get this whole meal on the table in less than half an hour from start to finish. pretty awesome, yes?

oh, and then last night i tried how sweet's recipe for maple bourbon glazed pork chops, published just yesterday morning. except that i'd bought a pork tenderloin instead, so i had to do a little modification. i ended up using rachael ray's method for roasting it in a super hot oven (500 degrees! i didn't even know my oven went up that high), which worked out really well. plus, it was done in the same amount of time as the chicken dinner. fantastic, since i was working on a pretty intricate cookie design at the same time.

this i served with a simple green salad - the sauce on the plate made the boring lettuce extra tasty. yum.

i always feel so accomplished when i manage to put together a decent dinner. and especially when it's a new recipe and ends up really good. even more so when i have a gazillion different projects going on - oh, wait till i get to share some of the silliness i've been preoccupied with.

too much fun.

time for a boost(er)

2012-01-12T06:02:00.000-08:00

ah, it seems like only yesterday that the bean was riding around town in an itty-bitty, oh-so-portable infant carseat. and then when she outgrew it, we moved her up into a regular convertible seat. when she was about a year and a half old, we finally turned the seat around so she could actually see where she was going.

amazingly, she's now outgrown this seat! i can hardly believe it. we've had some good times in this thing, and it's yet another piece of her babyhood that it's time to leave behind. damn. i wish she'd slow it down a little...i'm just not ready for her to be such a big girl.

one of MIL's parting gifts to us was to have me place the order for the bean's new seat - a big girl booster seat that will take her all the way through until she can ride in the car with just a seat belt. and in california, the law was just revised to require a booster seat for kids either 4'9" or 8 years old. EIGHT! yikes.

after doing research on several sites, i settled on a nice, plush-looking seat by recaro. yup, the company that designs seats for race cars and airplanes. it got some great reviews, and it looks comfy. plus, i managed to find it on sale with free shipping. can't beat that.

the bean was super excited to finally get out of the baby seat that she'd been complaining about for a few weeks. and rightly so, since she was most definitely too big for the damn thing. every day she'd ask me "mommy, is my new car seat here yet?" and yesterday, i was finally able to tell her "yes, it's going to be here today!"

when we got back from school, a post-it on the mailbox told me to go into the side yard for the much-anticipated delivery. and when i brought it in, she totally squealed and came over to inspect it.

then she sat down and worshiped it for a few minutes.

"mommy! i see my favorite number!!" (which is 100, and don't ask me why because i don't really know)

i find it funny that she was excited enough for this thing that i was able to use it to bribe her into her nap. yes, she still naps, and hell yes, i absolutely dangle stuff she wants to get her to do it. i'm not ready for her to give those up - and frankly, neither is she. anyway, we had to hold off on cracking the box open until after dance class. but the moment we walked in the door, it was all about "moooooom, can we open it NOW?" of course, as soon as the box was emptied, well...

it was easy enough to snap the two pieces together. pretty snazzy looking seat, eh?

she clambered out of the box and plopped right in. "oooh, it's so soft and comfy, mommy!" she said.

i'm pretty excited that now we can move it from one car to another without the hub breaking his back to tighten it to his standards. i could never get it in there properly, and this buckles into the seat using the regular seat belt.

oh, and i laughed at this:

because obviously, i usually DO opt for cute. heh.

not-resolutions for 2012

2012-01-11T06:07:00.000-08:00

happy 1/11/12!

like my annual recap of the year, it seems that a list of goals for the new year has turned into a tradition for me. it's actually really fun to look back at the list throughout the year and see how many items i've crossed off, or are actively working on.

of course, a few of them manage to sneak their way onto the list every time. i guess that's mostly okay as long as i'm still acknowledging them as things i want to accomplish, right?

oh, well. in any case, here they are for 2012:

really focus on spending less money. this is one that the hub will be thrilled about, and i honestly do want to keep a closer eye on what i spend our cash on. again, not necessarily a carbon copy of 2009's operation downsize, but being much more careful about purchases.
take an inventory of the boxes of scrapbooking supplies taking up valuable garage space and list them for sale on etsy or ebay. i've got decorative paper, embellishments, mini album sets - all of it brand new and just sitting around. i'm sure someone will be interested in some of it, at least. i hope.
continue to exercise and stay active in some way, shape or form. with the half marathon coming up in a few weeks, i'll likely cut down a lot on the running. i'm just gonna admit it now: i really effing hate running. well, okay - i don't mind so much the short distances, like 3-5 miles. but more than that and i'm miserable. as are my feet, which are seriously to' up from the training i've been doing. but i'm still doing the 30-day shred, picked up jillian's "yoga meltdown," as well as tony horton's 10-minute trainer. because i've actually gotten visible results that i'm proud of, i'm using it as motivation to keep it up. so far, it's working.
channel my inner martha stewart and do more sewing and cooking from scratch. the teen and rock-ell have made a pact to cut out fast food for at least six months, the hub is working on a fun "get healthy" competition, and i want everyone to be healthy and happy. so i'm going to be on the lookout for more low-fat/low-cal recipes and snacks to feed my family. i'm open to suggestions!
clean. yes, i say this every.stinking.year. but i've been reading up on some great tips on how to spread out the housecleaning so that it's not a big, daunting task. i think i can create a good schedule to follow that'll make everyone happy, and keep a nice, clean house (and car) all the time.
help the teen sharpen her test/quiz-taking skills and bring her grades up to at least a 3.0. she does a great job getting her homework and classwork done, but for some reason struggles a bit when it comes to tests and quizzes. i'm not sure what to do, but i really want to come up with something to help her out.
get the bean involved in something new. maybe it'll be hula dancing lessons, or karate, or even *gulp* soccer. we're going to hold off on an instrument until she's 5, but in the meantime it would be cool to add something to her current routine of school, tap/ballet, and gymnastics.
do a better job of sending out birthday cards. funny, i was totally the card/stationery lady for a while, but i've always been terrible about actually mailing them out. and really, who doesn't love getting a fun card via snail mail? i know i do.
organize all of our old photos from boxes into albums. they'll take up less space that way, and besides, it'll be fun going down memory lane as i sort through them all.
schedule monthly playdates that combine my friends and the bean's. it's always so much fun to see everyone, and the kids always seem to have a blast together.

lemonhead

2012-01-10T06:31:00.000-08:00

i first made lemon bars back when i was, oh, about 15ish. my mom and stepdad loved 'em (as did i), but i remember them being such a pain in the ass to make. the recipe i used called for cold butter, to be squished into a flour and sugar mixture using two forks until it was all blended and could be pressed into the bottom of a pain to form the crust. i seriously hated the process and hung up my lemon bar-making hat for good.

...or did i? dun dun dunnnnnn. well, obviously not, since i'm talking about it right now. although i hadn't thought of lemon bars in ages, until my friend diane (who's about to pop out a tiny human any minute now) happened to mention them on twitter one night.

and of course, i couldn't stop thinking about biting into a lovely, tart, buttery lemon bar for days after that. turns out that our friend courtney had made some for a GTG they had, and luckily all it took was one tweet and a "please?" to get her to share the recipe she used.

a couple more days slid by before i had the chance to get into the kitchen and whip up a batch...or actually, half a batch. the hub and the teen are determined to eat healthier and lose some poundage they'd gained over the holidays, and so i couldn't flaunt a big ol' pan full of lemony goodness right under their noses. it seemed less torturous to make, uh, 18 bars vs. 36. yeah. and the list of ingredients is so simple that i didn't even have to hit up the grocery store to get 'er done.

the best part about this version? it uses softened butter - which is about a gazillion times easier to mix into flour and sugar for the crust.

just a few minutes of labor and it was all ready to pop into the oven.

following courtney's tips, i left it to bake for a little longer until it was all pretty and golden brown.

mixing the lemon custard was super easy, and after about 20 minutes of baking, they were done. based on other reviewers, i used the original amount of fresh lemon juice called for (despite cutting the rest of the ingredients in half), and threw in the zest for good measure. after impatiently waiting for the pan to cool down, i sliced 'em up, sprinkled a little powdered sugar on top, and voila!

i was so happy to bite into that first bar. the crust was perfectly baked - not too, uh, crusty, and wonderfully buttery. the zest and extra lemon juice added just the right amount of pucker to counteract the sweetness, and mmmmmmm.

i'm pretty sure i ate most of the pan all by myself. and i finally devoured the last one just last night. i'm so sad. i may very well have to make another batch...like today.

disney on ice, ice baby

2012-01-09T06:46:00.000-08:00

in the handful of days between christmas and new year's, we managed to squeeze in a matinee of disney on ice - the toy story 3 edition oh, yes.

the show was playing at three different venues - staples center in l.a., honda center in anaheim, and citizens business bank arena in ontario - and since the latter was closest to us, that's where we went.

the hub wasn't thrilled that we had the cheap seats - but hey, they were only $16 plus ticketbastard fees per person. and it turned out that CBB arena is rather small, which meant that we actually had a pretty decent view of the show. the bean was super duper stoked.

the show opened with a few of her favorite friends: mickey, minnie, donald, and pluto.

it was a pretty cute show, with bits and pieces of all three toy story movies played out on the ice.

slinky dog!

the potato heads!

green army men galore.

adorable glow-in-the-dark aliens.

she was captivated.

the grand finale. bye bye, woody, buzz and friends!

we managed to escape the huge, colorful concession stands offering everything from $10 cups to $25 stuffed animals and more.

despite the sheer corniness of even the idea of "disney on ice," it was actually really fun, especially since the bean is such a toy story fanatic. she alternated between watching the show with giant eyes and hopping off of her seat to dance along. it was adorable. i'm so glad we took her.

and now, my current project: putting together a costume for her to wear to the fresh beat band concert next month. and i have a major decision to make: do i make myself a costume to match hers, or should i dress up as the other girl in the band?

either way, it's going to be awesome!

engage-aversary 6.0

2012-01-06T06:12:00.000-08:00

after skipping it the last couple of years, the wans revived an old tradition: driving down south to celebrate the night we got engaged. scene of the crime: jake's del mar.

this was the first time we were going with the bean, and as i perused the menu online i was pleased to find that they had a pretty good kids' menu. while we waited to be seated, she decided that the smooth white rocks in the planter were giant mentos. heh.

we met up with brother wan and his ladyfriend, who were down in san diego for the weekend, and had a good ol' time. the hub and i split a bacon-wrapped filet and the fish of the day - something called "turbot" from the waters of greenland. and then we all shared a fantastic chocolate hazelnut cake with bailey's gelato and a piece of their "hula pie." no pics, because it was super dark (as you can see from the ones i bothered to post despite their awfulness). just trust me, it was delish.

jake's is part of upcoming restaurant week, too. i wonder if i can talk the hub into returning. probably not, but that's okay. once a year is good enough for me. especially when we're celebrating the night i got this:

whoa, my cuticles are super dry. ew. don't look at 'em.

pancakes make everything better

2012-01-05T06:28:00.000-08:00

the bean kicked off 2012 with a rare cold. poor baby. she woke up with a snuffalupagusy nose and just went downhill from there. by the time i got her out of bed and dressed for the day, she had super rosy cheeks and sad little sickypoo eyes.

sucks, huh? first me on christmas eve, and then the bean on new year's day. sheesh. but she's seriously the most cheerful sick kid i know - she still played happily and stayed her happy, upbeat self. pretty awesome.

so i decided to bust out something fun for breakfast - the chocolate chip pancake mix i'd gotten in my stocking.

no, i'm not going to bore you with the process of making pancakes. but i will dazzle you with my makeup-less face and the ove glove i got for christmas from brother wan.

and what's breakfast without my favorite pork product?

unfortunately, this cold is sticking around a lot longer than i'd hoped. she had to skip school and dance class yesterday to avoid spreading her sicky germs to all of her friends. boo. please send lots of happy, healthy vibes so she can go and play with her buddies tomorrow, yeah?

don't mess with the bean's friends

2012-01-04T06:10:00.000-08:00

the bean and i sure love our playdates. so we were excited to carve out a time to meet up with our friends dailygluttony, miniDG, lilcee and mini cee. even better? we decided to take the kids to an old favorite...pretend city.

the only downside to all this was the fact that about a gazillion other parents had the very same idea. so when we got there, about ten minutes after they opened, the parking lot was completely full and we had to follow the signs to get to the overflow - about a country mile away. poop.

no biggie. the bean was super excited to see her pals, and chattered away as we made the trek to the entrance. it was fun to watch them run around and play together in the various areas, and DG and lilcee were just as entranced at the miniature city as they were. it wasn't long before the kids found their way to the marina area for a little water play.

luckily, they got over it pretty quickly and headed into the doctor and dentist's offices.

they did a little cooking in the restaurant, which was hawaiian-themed this time. i love how it's different every time we return to pretend city.

on the stage, mini cee happily acted as backup for the bean.

they had fun going through the house, too.

at the grocery store, the bean made herself busy filling her basket with all sorts of fruit and veggies that she wouldn't actually eat. oh, and a box of her favorite cereal.

fill 'er up!

i love moments like this one.

there was a point where we lost track of mini cee for a few moments, and spied her coming out of a tunnel with tears streaming down her little face. when lilcee went to investigate, it seemed that some bigger kids had practically trampled her as they went through the tunnel. the bean, upon hearing this, stormed right over to where those kids were and from the look on her face, furiously ripped those little bullies a new asshole. like, she had her hands on her hips and errrrythang. it was comical and alarming and cute all at the same time. geez. we made our exit shortly thereafter.

at the neighboring irvine spectrum, we tried first at ruby's diner, but after being told that the wait was at least a half an hour, we ended up at california pizza kitchen. this is always a kid-pleaser.

they all wanted to sit next to each other, so we made it happen. and it was fun watching them enjoy their identical entrees (mac & cheese, of course) and then indulge in a yummy ice cream sundae.

all in all, it was a very successful playdate. i think i may have to make it a goal for 2012 to schedule at least one of these GTGs a month. that post is coming soon. woo-hoo!

saying goodbye to 2011

2012-01-03T06:35:00.000-08:00

new year's eve at the house of wan was pretty uneventful. the ILs headed up to the mountains with some friends, and somehow the teen got stuck sitting at home with us instead of going out to party like a rock star.

but you know what? it was an evening of family time - quiet, relaxing, and full o'lots of good grub. the hub fired up the barbecue - with the insanely warm and disgusting 85-degree weather that day, it was a pretty nice evening. i sent him out with this:

and about 15 minutes later he came back inside with this.

in the meantime, i threw together some fun pizza pinwheels for the bean.

plus, i ground up a whole pack of oreos and mixed it up with melted marshmallows for picky palate's no-bake cookies & cream bars.

after we were stuffed silly, i busted out my forever lazy. oh, yes.

the bean got a little silly, trying to keep herself awake.

alas, she was out long before the ball dropped.

that's a wrap on 2011, folks. i'm excited to see what 2012 has in store for us! it's gonna be great.

patience is a virtue

2012-01-02T06:28:00.000-08:00

with MIL home and willing to hang out with the bean for an afternoon, the teen and i headed to disneyland the monday before christmas to pick up the stuffed animals that were on the top of bean's santa list.

of course, this also meant a chance to take a turn on some of the fun rides that we can't usually go on when the bean is with us. we tried taking her on star tours since she's tall enough, but she declared it "too much fun for me" and now has a fear of "starburst." heh.

because it'd been so long since we last rode it, the tower of terror was scary fun and new again.

space mountain is a another big favorite of ours. it's seriously the best ride at disneyland. so despite the posted wait time of 65 minutes, we trucked our happy asses in and joined the line. it was a beautiful evening.

but about ten minutes into it, park staff came down the line and explained to everyone that the ride had broken down and they didn't know when it would be fixed. as we watched the majority of the line mumble and grumble their way back out into the park, we decided to join the few die-hards and wait it out. after all, it was the only attraction we really wanted to ride. the cast member at the front of the line shared that the expected wait time was about 45 minutes - so, less than the original posted time anyway even with the 10 minutes we'd already stood around.

and sure enough, right around the 45-minute mark they announced over the loudspeaker that boarding would begin once again. a cheer went up as we all got up and excitedly headed through the corridors. it was strange to look behind me and see absolutely no one there as we traipsed along.

oh, and the best part? because no one knew yet that the ride was up and running, there wasn't a single soul in line as we approached the boarding area after our turn was over. and so we got to do something that we've never, ever done before - we got to ride space mountain twice in a row without having to go through the line again.

pretty stinking awesome, yo.

looking back at 2011

2011-12-30T06:21:00.000-08:00

you know, i've been perusing blog posts from this year for the last few days in preparation for the annual recap. and other than the constant thought of "holy crap, it's already been that long since we did that?" i couldn't help but notice that more than ever, food was a major topic in 2011. good gracious.

like, for example, this was definitely the year of the cookie. a few of my favorites:

i dabbled in cake pops, too.

alas, the macaron obsession fizzled out fairly quickly.

but there was actual cooking this year, too.

i was able to return to my old life as a SAHM this year, too. this was a wonderful thing, although it didn't come without sacrifice - the ILs made their move to texas permanent, and i said goodbye to my friends at my fun cupcaking job.

with unlimited time to spend together, the girls and i found ourselves doing all sorts of fun stuff, including fun midweek playdates with good friends.

in addition to preschool and gymnastics, the bean started a combo tap/ballet class.

oh, and she did some swimming lessons too.

after wrapping up year two of junior league with a formal ball, i hung up my pearls for good.

there were fun GTGs with my friends, too - including several fabulous baby showers!

some well-known folks were lucky enough to meet us.

my beloved cousin r got married!

the teen celebrated her sweet sixteen with a fun overnighter in hollywood (complete with limo ride, a blowout, a stay at the redbury and sushi at katsu-ya), a BBQ at home, and then dinner at her favorite pasta joint.

AND she finished up driver's training, aced her behind-the-wheel exam and earned her license. yay!

we spent a week in texas, visiting the ILs in the dead of summer. it was...hot. but fun.

summer 2011 was all about the hollywood bowl.

oh hey, i turned 40.

and the bean had a super duper rainbow party.

besides the bowl, there were other live shows too.

plus, there were food trucks galore.

i started getting my ass in shape - and ran my first two races ever.

with my most favorite birthday gift from the hub EVER - annual passes to disneyland - we kicked off a full year of fun at the happiest place on earth.

i didn't get to do as much sewing as i would've liked, but i managed to turn out some fun stuff - mostly gifts for new babies and stuff for the bean to school on fun dress-up days. well, i eked out a few things for myself, too.

whew. it's really hard to recap an entire year in one post without making it last...well, forever. in any case, 2011 was pretty darn good to us. i hope 2012 brings even more joy, love, and laughter.

with a family like mine, that's a given.

celebrating, sans butt wipes

2011-12-29T06:01:00.000-08:00

when the bean crept in to wake us up on christmas morning, i found myself feeling much better, although still not back to normal (if that word actually applies to me, heh). but when your 4-year-old snuggles up to you, gives you a big hug and kiss and whispers "mommy, can we go and see if santa brought us presents?" you get up and go no matter what.

i really wish i'd been able to capture the look on her face when she ran in to find the mountains of colorfully wrapped presents, or the stockings stuffed to the gills, and especially the cookie crumbs left on the plate she'd left for santa. watching the magic of christmas morning unfold through your child's eyes is...priceless. even though the true meaning of the holiday is most certainly not found in toys and gifts, there's a whole lotta joy to be found in the face of a kid who believes in santa claus.

with her grandma and grandpa already out there with us, she looked around and realized that there was still an important member of the family who was M.I.A. so she scurried back out, opened a door, and moments later the group was complete.

we always plow right through our stockings before anything else. this was about a nanosecond before she dug right into hers.

in an effort to avoid more butt wipes and other weirdness in my stocking, i chose a much more reasonably-sized one this year. it paid off.

the bean was happy to deliver gifts to her sister, who ripped the wrapping paper off with dramatic flair.

it's always fun to watch the teen's antics as she opens presents on christmas.

oh, yes - that is most definitely a justin bieber singing toothbrush, courtesy of brother wan. and this...well, this was from me.

please tell me that you've seen those awesomely bad infomercials for the forever lazy. the first time i saw it, i knew immediately that i had to order it for the teen - and for rock-ell, too. come on! now they can go tailgating in comfort. and they don't even have to take it off to go potty, thanks to that easy-access zippered flap in the rear. it's amazing.

by the way, if you should happen to find yourself in need of a forever lazy in hot pink, size small...i'm your girl. because when i ordered online, i got confused and managed to order not two of these getups, but two SETS of two. oh, yes. i'm just that dumb. i guess i could just send the other set back, though. i dunno. you tell me.

meanwhile, the bean was hard at work ripping the paper off of her own treasures.

do you love my oh-so-festive jammies?

and the hub found the awesomeness of the yule log on tv, too.

score!

a super cute outfit that arrived in the mail for the bean was perfect for this balmy, 75-degree christmas day.

i am an eternal optimist when it comes to the lakers on christmas day. sadly, i was proven wrong yet again.

for some reason, this year's christmas tree was a dud - even though we kept a close eye on the water level in the stand, it was dry and super crunchy long before its time. or maybe that's what we get for breaking our usual routine and getting it early. in any case, the very next morning saw us packing up all of the ornaments and decorations and this was all that was left:

but before we'd hauled it away, we realized that the ornament that the bean made at school had been disguised as a christmas present that was hidden behind the tree. oops. so we had her put it up real quick and snapped this. she didn't seem to mind the oversight.

lastly, we'd received a whole bunch of lovely cards from friends and family that we happily displayed near the front door. it was fun to open the mailbox every day and find more greetings from folks near and far, ones we saw often and others not so much.

i'm totally going to repeat this display next year. just watch, it'll be here again before we know it. sheesh.

'twas the day before christmas

2011-12-28T06:44:00.000-08:00

i kicked off christmas eve day with my longest run yet - a 9-miler. i'd already done 8.5 last week and 8 the week before that, and while that's definitely a big deal for me, i was totally unprepared for what happened later that day. dun dun dunnnnnn.

it was really a pretty normal day - i hopped in the shower to clean up, had a little lunch with the teen and the bean, and then when i laid down with the bean for her nap, i got slammed with one of the worst headaches known to man. i couldn't even sit up, it was so bad. ugh. and on top of that, i had a super queasy stomach. this meant that although i was hungry, i didn't want to eat anything for fear of upsetting my tummy further - which also meant that i couldn't take any advil or motrin because i get super sick taking anything on an empty stomach. talk about a sucky ass catch-22.

as a result, i wasn't able to make dinner, the girls got up and made cookies for santa without me, and the hub and the teen took charge of wrapping all of the presents. i missed out on all of the christmas eve fun that i was so looking forward to. so sad.

my friend aline shed some light on what likely caused my misery - not drinking enough water during and after that run. i thought i'd hydrated sufficiently, but obviously i should've invested in the 4-bottle belt instead of cheaping out on the 2-bottle i did pick up. damn.

but i did have to force myself to get up before the next morning, to wrap the few presents i'd picked up for the hub and stuff his stocking with some silly things. and when i got a look at all of the work my family had done while i was totally knocked out, i got a little teary.

the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that st. nicholas soon would be there.

and he had indeed come and gone, leaving this bit of evidence behind.

even more proof was in the living room, under the tree which had been completely present-free just hours before.

it was the first christmas eve since i'd become a mom that i hadn't been able to spend with my kids (i can't dwell on this too long, or i'll start crying and won't be able to stop). thank goodness for my wonderful hub, who spent the whole night alternating between checking on me, finding a place to order take-out for dinner, getting the girls fed, the bean bathed, spreading christmas cheer all around, and checking on me again.

i'm quite a lucky girl.

getting her nails did

2011-12-27T06:01:00.000-08:00

as an early christmas gift to us, MIL decided to take me, the teen, the bean and rock-ell to get our nails done on christmas eve eve. yeah, it sounds more fun than "two days before christmas."

and yes, you read that right - the bean actually came along for her very first real mani/pedi! her sister has done her nails for her tons of times, but this was different. she was excited to go in and pick out a nail polish, and it was fun to see the big ol' smile on her face.

of course, because it was so close to the holiday, the place was packed. we picked the one salon in town that always has a shitton of staff, but they were pretty stinking busy. after waiting about fifteen minutes, chicks finally vacated some of the spa chairs and one by one we were called up for our treatments. the bean, having spent most of the waiting time with her grandma, decided to come over and share my chair with me. she thought it was great fun to stick her toes in the warm blue water. a bubble bath for her feet, she said it was.

it was fun to watch her sit so still and watch so carefully as the lady got to work on her fingers.

white polka dots to go with my purple polish? why, yes, please.

she didn't understand this at all. "mommy, why is she putting tissue in my toes?" she wanted to know.

but she was stoked when it was all done. and it was comical to watch her preen as the lady told her over and over how cute she was. heh.

i fear we may have created a monster.

although it's been said many times, many ways

2011-12-23T06:11:00.000-08:00

we had our annual family christmas card photo shoot in the old town part of san dimas. it's western-themed - small, quaint, rustic. and it turns out that our photographer works for one of my former employers - such a small world.

it was a pretty chilly morning when we set out to pose and smile and strut our stuff. but it was a beautiful day, and we managed to get some nice photos. as always, we had a great time in front of the camera.

i was stoked when danielle sent us a link to our online gallery just hours after we'd wrapped the shoot (you like my hollywood-style lingo, huh). the hub, the teen and i inspected each shot and chose our final shots, and the moment the CD arrived in the mail i was working on our christmas card.

out of the two cards i did, i actually prefer this one - but majority ruled, so the one that went to print was a different photo and design. and since i don't know all of your addresses, this is from us to you:

hope santa brings you everything you wished for!

poop, snacks & bait

2011-12-22T06:42:00.000-08:00

i was stumped as to what to give the bean's teachers at preschool, dance, and gymnastics this year. i really didn't want to spend a wad o'cash, and gift cards, while always fun to receive, aren't really that much fun to give.

and then as i trolled pinterest late one night, i decided to go the cheesy, holly hobbie-homespun route and just make a variety of treats as our gifts. for those of you who are teachers in any capacity, do you like stuff like that or does it end up in the trash? i realize that the holidays are already chock-full of sugary treats left and right, so maybe this wasn't the greatest of ideas after all. oh, well. too late now. one trip to the grocery store and i was all stocked up on everything i needed to make three different types of yummies.

first up - a delicious morsel of happiness that i discovered when i stopped at the cake and candy supply store for some essentials. they'd just had a candy demonstration and were giving away samples of their creations at the counter. one taste of their "rocky mountain rip-off" and i was hooked. and when i looked at the recipe online, i realized that i already had all of the ingredients in the kitchen to make a batch.

as i mixed it together, i figured it would fit nicely in my 8" x 8" square pan - but learned the hard way that i should've gone with a bigger size. after it was sufficiently chilled, i pulled it out to slice into pieces and it was so thick that most of it cracked into little pieces. boo. but guess what? it's still dee-licious.

undaunted, i turned to my next project - a treat i'd seen and pinned to my "stuff i wanna eat" board immediately. i've had chocolate-covered potato chips before, but these looked extraordinarily fantastic. a light coating of caramel, a dip in melted chocolate, and a sprinkle of toffee bits took 'em to a whole new level.

brushing the caramel on each chip was a pain in the ass. as i worked on these, i cursed my own "gifts are so booooooring" whininess. i'm such a glutton for punishment.

the first batch of chocolate that i melted in the microwave seized horribly and was all gross and chunky. boo. i ended up using my faux-double boiler method, which worked perfectly. some of the chips broke as i worked due to the caramel stuck to the wax paper, but i got most of it dipped and sprinkled.

lastly, i put together a batch of that yummy pepperminty, candy cane-y chex mix i made last week. and to make it extra super cutesy, i busted out a bag of caramel bugle snacks i'd bought to make these super cute santa hats. the bean was enchanted with the final product.

i scooped six bags' worth of each treat and tied them with ribbon in christmas colors, and then to add to the awesome cheesiness of our gifts, i gave each item a silly name and made little stickers for the bags.

this one was the teen's idea. somehow, calling something "poop" always makes it more fun.

although i suppose it might have been more appropriate for these.

and then there's this.

i'm full of christmas cheer, aren't i? well, i'm sure full of something.

celebrate, good time, come on

2011-12-21T06:14:00.000-08:00

for the last few preschool parties, i'd gotten lucky and slid through with super easy contributions, like paper goods, tablecloths, and other worry-free items. but for the christmas party, my luck ran out - they must've put the signup sheet out on one of the bean's off days. because by the time i got to it, everything had already been spoken for except the dreaded goody bags. 24 of 'em. bah!

between trips to the dollar store, target, and the grocery store, i managed to cobble together a fairly decent selection of stuff that didn't involve too much candy. i always appreciate when she's sent home with bags that aren't stuffed to the gills with sugary treats, so i thought i'd pay it forward.

well, now, i didn't say i left it out altogether! besides, what's a goody bag without, well, a few goodies?

the bean is at that age where she wants to help with everything. and i figured she'd take some pride in having had a hand in the assembly of the fun stuff for her classmates. so after her bath, i set up a workstation for us to get it done together. she was quite appreciative and excited to get started. can you tell?

it didn't take long, and she had a lot of fun inspecting every item before dropping it into the bags. when all was said and done, we'd put together a nice little giveaway.

when i arrived to pick her up after school that day, i was amused to find her still sitting in her seat, thoroughly enjoying a cupcake. like her mother, she seems to always be the last one at the table still eating. heh.

not surprisingly, she'd already powered through the layer of frosting - but unlike her usual routine, she was actually eating the cake beneath. i got her to take this mid-chew.

on our way out, she stopped to give her little friend a big hug...goodbye. sadly, it was her last day at school as her mom had lost her job. such a bummer for the bean, who'd become pretty tight with her.

only four more days till christmas! yikes.

'tis the season

2011-12-19T06:35:00.000-08:00

when one of my former junior league sisters hit me up to do a bunch of gingerbread men cookies for her, i figured i'd just go back to my old standby from last year. but as i found myself lacking ground allspice (i have a shitload of whole allspice berries but didn't really feel like grinding them), i went on a hunt for a new recipe to try. of course, pinterest came to my rescue with this one that sounded rather intriguing - it involved boiling a few of the ingredients together to make a syrup of sorts, adding the dry ingredients to mix into a soft dough, and then refrigerating overnight.

i also had a couple of dozen cookies to make for one of my twirlie friends, so i made two batches. of course, as i rolled and cut out the dough the next morning, i came up short. oops. i ended up using last year's recipe after all, because i didn't have the time to let the dough sit in the fridge for eight hours. pulling out sheet after sheet of fragrant cookies, combined with the fresh tree in our living room totally made the house of wan smell like the epitome of christmas.

the hub likes gingerbread cookies too, so i went ahead and baked up a few extra cookies and thought it would be fun for the bean to have her own bag of frosting to decorate them for him. she was pretty excited to see the setup i had for her when she got back from dance class.

i haven't used royal icing in a really long time. and now that i'm spoiled by the taste of the cookie glaze i use nowadays for my sugar cookies, it isn't my favorite anymore. it's really rather...meh. but it's the right consistency for gingerbread men, so that's what we used. she was very focused on the task at hand.

while i piped out boring outlines and buttons on the eight dozen i was working on, she had a blast with hers. voila, her creation:

and the hub was quite appreciative of her efforts as he bit into that frosting-laden cookie.

i may have a darn good little assistant on my hands in the very near future.

snow...in san dimas

2011-12-16T06:39:00.000-08:00

there's a credit union within walking distance from the house of wan that hosts an annual "snow day," where they truck in an assload of fresh snow and dump it out for kids to come and play in it. the bean has gone the last couple of years with MIL, because it always happened to fall on a weekend that the hub and i were at a holiday party overnighter - you know, the one with the fabulous free hotel and spa treatment?

well, we weren't able to go this year, and with the hub out of town, i was excited to take the bean and watch her frolic in the icy stuff. it also happened to be a gorgeous day (and warmer than i expected, as i was sweating my ass off when we got there).

there were vendor booths set up with all sorts of stuff like cookie lee jewelry (blech) and tupperware, but we bypassed them and headed right to the snow. i was happy to see that there was a special section set aside for the little ones. i wasn't looking forward to having to body check any punk ass 10-year-olds trying to stomp on my kid.

and we'd timed it perfectly. right as we found a opening in the crowd, they counted down "3...2...1...go!" and kids all around us were plopped into the snow to get right to it. a lot of them were less than thrilled and the bean said "mommy, why are they crying?" heh. she was ecstatic.

i don't know what happened here, though.

whatever it was, the offender was treated to the bean's "WTF" face.

but she got over it quickly and laid right down to make a snow angel.

when that didn't work out so well for her, she settled for snowballs instead.

i want a pair of these for her. anyone recognize them? anyone??

pretty soon she was totally over it and hopped out to meet buddy bee. yeah, i don't know either.

radio disney was there, spinning tunes and playing games with the crowd.

we joined the ever-growing line for this:

although i always feel bad for those poor animals. they typically look pissed off and bored to death. hell, i would be too.

the bean put out a tentative hand to pet this guy, and he stood there patiently while she got her fill.

after watching this one snap at the first kid who attempted to touch him, she stayed far away.

and this poor puppy just tucked his head down and hoped no one would notice him.

we watched the camel munch on a snack, and i swear he was smiling. probably because he was in a fenced-off area all to himself, where no pesky kids could come and bug him.

the line for this was insane. luckily, she's already seen santa this year, so she had no problems skipping it.

not bad for a free event, though, right? especially one we could walk to. so we got some fresh air, a bit of exercise, and a romp in the snow. yay for us!

fun pic-tori-al

2011-12-15T06:45:00.000-08:00

haha, that's the best i could come up with for a blog post about meeting tori spelling.

i don't even remember why i started following her on twitter, especially as i don't even watch any of her reality shows. well - check that, i did see a few episodes of "inn love," where she and dean ran that bed & breakfast somewhere down by san diego. anyway, suffice it to say that i'm not especially a huge fan, but i do love me some 90210 - the OG version, not this new one that's currently on the air.

but when she tweeted that she and dean were going to be hanging out at a holiday bazaar they were hosting at their shop invenTORI, i kind of really really wanted to go. and lucky for me, my buddy kelley was totally into it too. she'd actually met tori once before at a book signing in pasadena, but thought it would be fun. and since she was riding solo with li'l d that weekend, i figured it would be a fun playdate for all of us.

since it was a sunday morning, traffic was blessedly light and we were in the valley within 40 minutes - a bit early, even. this was good, considering that the bean had fallen asleep on the way. i found a good parking spot on a sidestreet, and a few minutes later kelley and li'l d pulled up alongside us. we chatted a bit, trying to let her keep sleeping, and then i finally plucked her out of her car seat. she was super groggy, but was happy to see her friend. i didn't get any pictures of it, but they walked along holding hands. SO cute.

it was about two minute walk to the shop.

i wanted to take way more pictures of invenTORI's shabby chicness, but i didn't want to draw any more attention to us than we were already getting. of course, because of our cute kids. since tori & dean have little ones, they had a table of fun activities and a cookie decorating station set up for kids.

the bean decided to decorate two cookies. she was proud of her creation, but for some reason didn't want to eat them. i shouldn't complain about that, i suppose.

the tiny center courtyard was super cute and decorated with antiques for sale.

a bit of advertisement in the bathroom:

the dessert bar was lovely. but since i'd downed one of the bean's cookies, i was all sugar-ed out. bah!

there was a nice selection of cute gifts for kids.

she and li'l d had fun drawing on the little chalkboards.

and she was happy to model a handmade elmo hat for me. i was tempted to scoop it up, but wasn't feeling the $28 price tag. eek.

i snuck away to peruse the kitchen goods section for a moment.

and then through a screen door leading to the back office, i spied a familiar face. i nonchalantly held up my camera and looked away to snap this. ha, i'm so stealth.

i'm almost positive this is their third, newborn hattie.

and liam scampered over to draw next to the bean. stella was there too, but i didn't catch her. "smile, bean!"

see what i did there? i'm awesome.

kelley and i both ended up scooping up one of those cute portable chalkboards (because we had to buy something, after all) and she volunteered to take this for me.

what did i say to tori spelling, you ask? well, the first thing that came to mind. "so, how many times do you hear donna martin graduates?"

oh, yes. i went there. good gracious.

but she was really sweet about it. "weekly. gosh, maybe twice a week, even," as she smiled at the bean. "oh, then i'm glad i didn't say it then," i blurted out. OH MAH GAH, I AM SO STUPID.

i slunk outta there with my tail between my legs.

after a quick debate, we decided to head back to familiar territory and met up again at an old favorite, la grande orange. kelley and i got a chance to chat and catch up while li'l d played a game and the bean looked on adoringly.

she loved the cafeteria-style plate that her lunch arrived on.

and look - my fried chicken and mashed potatoes was served with a fresh cinnamon roll!

all in all, the whole day was full of WIN.