love is the answer

so...valentine's day.  although the afternoon brought the terrible news of the mass shooting in florida, it started off like any normal valentine's day around here.  as is typical on most holidays, the bean was allowed to break out of the school uniform and wear something festive and fun:

and i finally got to wear a top i'd made a couple of weeks prior.

plus, i got to upgrade my watch (which was super exciting because i'd been bitching and moaning about how the battery on my old one would be down to 10% by around 5pm).  

while we don't typically go out for valentine's day because most places are crowded/have terrible service/inflate prices, the hub and i did manage to enjoy a nice breakfast together at peach cafe in monrovia.  

once i heard the words "mimosa flight," it was game on.  the menu listed all of the flavors available, and i got to choose four of them:

i'm not gonna lie, they all kind of tasted alike except for the OJ one.  and it doesn't look like much, but i definitely walked out of there with a very pleasant buzz.  not even the super delicious french toast soaked up the alcohol:

all gone.

i looked pretty happy though, right?  

i'd picked up a bunch of little squishies for the bean, along with some slime and a fun card.  and for the old lady, i picked this up:

yes, that does indeed say "rosé hard cider."  she seemed pretty pleased with it when she pulled it out of the pink gift bag i'd put it in, although she has yet to try it.  i guess we'll just have to see how she actually likes it when she finally cracks one open.

the day was capped off with a visit from brother wan, who'd arrived earlier in the day.  we didn't think we'd get to see him until a few days later, but as luck would have it he'd forgotten something and got back to pick it up just in time to see the bean before she went to bed.  she was so excited to see him, and it was sweet to watch her jump into his arms when he walked in.

that picture has turned into somewhat of a tradition by now, although i've gotta wonder how many more of them i'll get.  it's always so sweet, though, so hopefully they'll continue to do this every time they see each other.

pretty nice way to end a day of love, i'd say.

got me feeling some kinda way

after a little time to relax in our fabulous best western plus room (no sarcasm there!  we love bp+ hotels), it was time to get up and get ourselves cleaned up and ready for the wedding.  the hub, being a guy, was ready in pretty much no time.  and since he was tasked with heading out to the strip to pick up the groom, he was out the door while we were still getting the bean ready.  since she was one of the flower girls, we wanted to make sure she was all done up and had packed an arsenal of curling devices to tackle her long, thick mane.

the old lady was a huge help and used her fabulous new beachwaver iron that she'd just received for her birthday.  and when she was done and back in her own room to get dressed, the bean and i had a few minutes to stop and take this:

the wedding venue was only about ten minutes away from us and we pulled up right at our assigned time of arrival.  there were a few guests already there, and we just kind of hung out and chatted amongst ourselves.  check out the groom's cake - so cute, right?

we took a few pictures:

and then we took our seats and waited for the wedding to start.

the bridesmaids and groomsmen made their way down the aisle, and then the hub appeared with the matron of honor.  i'm not gonna lie, i was feeling some kinda way watching my husband walk down the aisle with some skinny blonde chick i didn't know.  is that wrong to say?  oh well.

my baby.  she looked so pretty, and she was so excited to be a part of the wedding.  the kids were tasked with tossing the petals onto the ground and then taking a seat to watch the rest of the ceremony.

the groom was appropriately overcome with emotion as he watched his bride glide down the aisle on her father's arm, and the ceremony began.

it was over almost as soon as it had started, and then they were married!

the hub and the bean hung around the area for pictures, and then the rest of us snuck down to snag a family photo.  i kind of wish we'd gotten a professional photo too, but that's okay.  this is my new favorite picture of all of us:

as the reception began, the bean got to make her grand entrance along with the rest of the wedding party:

after dinner was served, the hub got up to make his best man speech.  he did a great job and brought the audience to tears and made them laugh all in the span of about 5 minutes.

when the dancing began, the bean got her boogie on with both the groom and her daddy.

the old lady and i were super amused when we went out for a potty break.

i managed to get a selfie with the groom:

and then the bean pooped out on her sister's shoulder.  it had been a long day, after all.

happy wedding to brother wan and his bride!

a sweaty send-off

this weekend, we said goodbye to brother wan.  he's now off to a whole new life in a whole different state, living on his own for the first time, and far far away from us.  so as of right now, all of the hub's immediate family lives out of state.  well, with the exception of his grandparents and g-wan.  i am sad.

he and the hub spent a chunk of time pulling his stuff out of our attic, sorting through it and repacking it all up into a one-way moving van.  we're still in the midst of one of the longest heat waves i can remember, so it was quite a sweaty time up in the house of wan.  ick.  but i shouldn't complain - most of the time i was inside the air-conditioned house, cleaning and getting ready for a farewell bbq with the grandparents and their aunt and uncle wan.  still, the girls and i went outside to hang out with the boys now and then.  i don't even remember what prompted it, but the teen emerged from her room at one point like this:

and when it came off, she stuck it on me.

while we were out there, i managed to get through some of my own boxes and cleaned out some stuff i'd been meaning to get rid of for a while.  and then we all shared pizza in the garage for dinner while the teen and i pored over brother wan and the hub's yearbooks.  we giggled at the boys' school portraits, cackled at their sports snapshots, smirked at the notes from girls.  it was a good time.

at the bbq, i introduced aunt wan to something we both enjoyed immensely:  the st. germain champagne cocktail.

and the hub dressed up for the occasion.  yes, i did make the stupid face with the same prop in my hand for multiple photos.

the grub was delicious.  man, i could go for a bite of that steak again right now.

i managed to gather most of the party together for a group photo - minus g-wan, who'd ended up calling in sick.  no biggie - brother wan headed up to the mountains for a quick visit before he took off.

the teen probably wouldn't tell him, but she admitted it to me:  she's just as sad as i am to see brother wan go.  he's been in our lives since she was in kindergarten, and they've always had a really fun relationship.  when he spoke as our best man on our wedding night, he mentioned how happy he was to have the cutest little girl as part of his family.  i remember thinking how lucky i was to have married into such a wonderful, loving group of people who welcomed us into their lives so unconditionally.

and the bean - oh, how she loves her uncle wan.  she really didn't understand any of this - "but uncle wan, WHY are you leaving?"

and on the last morning, she gave him one last sweet hug.  if i know him at all, he was rather verklempt at this particular moment.  and i definitely blinked away a tear or two as i watched them together.

even though i'm really sad to see him go, i know he's totally going to make a fantastic life for himself.  he's in his 20s, moving to the next level in his career, with a great personality and a big heart.  we're all hoping he finds a sweet girl to settle down with and pop out some nieces and nephews.  but i'm worried about him too - he knows just one person out there, and i fear that homesickness will hit hard once the flurry of activity dies down.  of course, there are airplanes and telephones and facetime, but it won't be the same as hearing the key turn in the lock and seeing his grinning face coming in with a hearty "what up, yo!" (and the bean echoing that greeting with gusto).  i'm going to miss the incredibly silly and comical conversations we'd have over dinner, talking about plain ol' everyday topics and whatever new video just went viral on youtube.  and it was always fun to bounce ideas off of each other and chatting about cooking and baking.  i would get so mortified at finding out he was coming over for dinner when i had a tater tot casserole in the oven - gotta love serving that up to a cordon bleu-trained chef!  and yet he was always complementary of whatever i put on the table and thanked me at the end of the meal.

so just like his parents before him, we had to watch a truck with his whole life packed into it drive down the street, headed off to a far-off destination.

(those rental trucks are nasty, by the way - all sticky and smelly and gross.  ew)

we love you, brother wan.  travel safe, come home often, and kick some ass out there.  we miss you already.

oh, and sorry i was all sweaty when i finally got to give you a goodbye hug.  guess i should've waited a bit before popping in that yoga dvd.  oops.

brunch, baconizing, brother wan's birthday

instead of going to church like a good girl, i responded with a ridiculously enthusiastic "yes, i'm in!" to an e-mail inviting me to brunch with the monkey, amber, and some of my favorite OC girls.

we met here:

of course, i got a late start, and being the furthest east, i was the last to arrive. i plopped down in the open seat, waved my hellos all around, and ordered a vanilla latte - apparently, the drink of the day as almost everyone else was sipping one as well.

as is typical, i was the one at the table that got screwed as the orders were placed. the server started taking orders, starting with the monkey, seated directly across from me. then, for some odd reason, he did a crazy zigzag, ending with rachael's order - and then as i opened my piehole to give him mine, he took off. it was so bizarre - it was as if i were invisible. i suppose that next to the glamorous OC ladies, i was. he eventually returned, full of apologies, and i gave him my crepe order. sheesh.

as if that weren't bad enough, as we chatted and giggled, we realized that each and every single individual seated at the table next to us was totally maddogging us. the grumpy-looking matriarchal figure at the head glared at us and tossed out a "shush!" and we're all pretty sure we heard a "are they leaving soon?" too. muahahahahaha - our GTGs aren't complete until we thoroughly piss off a fellow diner, or five.

here's a couple of the breakfast crepes. so yum - but i can easily make these at home. you know i'll give it a shot.

not having realized that our crepes would be appetizer-sized, we ordered a few dessert crepes to share. the first was mine and the monkey's - dulce de leche. we both agreed that we liked it best. the second one was some chocolate/banana deal. i carefully picked around the gross fruit chunks, took a bite, and thought it was a'ight.

the third crepe was named after this lovely lady, albeit spelled incorrectly: the "clare."

group shot!

the monkey had just gotten her hairs cut the previous day. i love it and think it's adorable on her, although she's still unconvinced. i also think it's going to confuse our online friends even more, because they mix us up constantly as it is.

later that evening, i finally tackled that vosges bacon bar. i realize it isn't halloween, which would explain that scary ass mask i have on, but it WAS later and i'd already washed my face and stuff. try to muffle the horrified screams, okay?

i came to the conclusion that while it was actually quite delicious, i preferred the chocolate-covered bacon i'd sampled at the OC fairgrounds a couple of weeks ago. and i can totally DIY that! as always, i'll report back on that venture.

yesterday was brother wan's birthday. having booked up his entire weekend, he opted to push the family celebration to monday, which actually worked out well since that was his actual birthdate. the hub had acquired some baseball tickets for him (complete with parking pass), and so i made a card to present them in.

our deal is: i make the card, the hub gets to write in it. heh.

brother wan isn't a cake or pie fan, so instead we stuck his candles into a mound of homemade ice cream.

i'd been eyeing this recipe for bacon toffee for a couple of weeks now. since i'd finally polished off the last of the bacon caramels over the weekend, i decided it was time to give it a try. the recipe says it's the easiest candy recipe ever, so i figured even i couldn't fuck it up. i cooked up the bacon and gathered the few ingredients together.

not wanting to bust out my macgyver skillz again, i'd used a coupon at michael's and bought a proper candy thermometer.

now, y'all know i'm good at following a recipe. i really am! 95% of the time, the recipes i test out come out really well. bacon toffee, sadly, fell into that other 5%. i could tell that something was wrong as the mixture bubbled and thickened, not turning into that beautiful toffee color that the picture showed. and the texture was all wrong - it wasn't smooth and shiny. it was crumbly and just weird. so sad.

thinking that i'd just made a simple mistake, i waited till after dinner and then gave it a second try.

and came out with the exact. same. results.

i give up. as delicious as that toffee looks and sounds, i obviously suck at candymaking. the bacon caramels had to have been a fluke, because they turned out perfectly. seriously, what happened with this fucking toffee is a damn tragedy. such a waste of perfectly good bacon. dammit.

maybe i just needed to bust out my macgyver-like contraption again. perhaps that was the magic wand. ah, hell.

i'm totally gonna end up trying this again, i just know it.