super late weekend recap

last weekend was pretty jammed with all sorts of fun stuff.  we kicked it off with the bean's annual fund gala dinner at school.  i don't remember how we managed to wiggle out of going to it last year, but this year we kind of got cornered because she's in the choir, and they were part of the entertainment for the evening.

the school is celebrating their 55th birthday this year, so the theme for the evening was 60s.  everyone was encouraged to wear 60s attire if they wanted to, but while i'm usually down for a good excuse to dress in costume i'm still a little scarred from the first year i attended this thing.  i went all in with a costume, and ended up being the only one who dressed up.  this time though, there were lots of folks dressed in themed clothing, and i kinda regretted not making the effort.  oh well.

as usual, the planning committee had gone all out with the decor.  i thought they did a really nice job of it without going over the top.

 even the appetizer that doubled as a centerpiece on the tables was OG...cheeseball, anyone?

i knew that the committee had worked really hard on blowing up hundreds of balloons for the balloon drop during one of the alumni performances, so i really felt for them when the thing seemed to malfunction.

the performers were very much "the show must go on," and they held their places like true professionals while several folks did their best to get that balloon drop to work.  the whole place erupted in cheers and applause when it finally did.

the bean's performance was, of course, the final act.  way to make sure that people stay throughout the entire program.  they sang "a million dreams" from "the greatest showman," and i was pretty proud of myself for not crying like i usually do at these things.  heh.

i managed to get the hub to stop for a second to take this:

and then he took one of me with a couple of my best mom friends.

the girls were happy to get that first official performance of the year over and done with.

the next morning, we headed out to the mall to pick up some stuff for the hub and grab some delicious brunch at din tai fung.

and the bean happily parted with some of her birthday money to add yet another ducky to her stuffy collection.  sheesh.

later that afternoon, we set up some fun games in the back yard and got the house ready for a few of the bean's friends to come over for dinner, swimming and a movie.  we had some fun breaking in the new mega-size games before they arrived.

we decided to serve up a make-your-own-burger bar, which the girls happily ate with tater tots as they enjoyed yet another screening of "the greatest showman."

and then they made their way into the jacuzzi to relax, chat and hang out.

it was a lovely evening, and we're all looking forward to being able to have friends come over more often even as the weather finally starts to cool down.  i love our new back yard so much.

happy weekend!

you guys, i have such a busy weekend ahead of me, i can hardly stand it.  and of course, it's been miserably hot around here lately and i feel like i've been doing nothing but sweating all damn day long.  ew.

here's a few hints as to what we're up to this weekend:

and:

then there's:

and to close it all out, we'll have:

i promise, it will all make sense next week.

oh, and i shall leave you with my most favorite meme of all time:

may is looking like it's going to be chock-full of all sorts of awesome, super fun shenanigans.  it's gonna be amazing.

just another weekend

my weekend in a nutshell:

week 8 of the 60-day challenge ended with my 5th barre class that week.

to celebrate, i signed up for a free chair massage immediately afterwards.

the teen and i took her sister to see an early screening of "home," which was really cute.  with the big activity of the day done, she spent most of the rest of the afternoon literally climbing the walls.

the next morning, i supervised as she followed a recipe in one of her kids' cookbooks for "fabulous french toast sticks."  all i did was help her use one of my good knives to slice the bread and turn on the stove.  other than that, she handled the entire thing from beginning to end.  it took about three times as long to make as it would have had i done it myself, but that's okay.  she did a fine job all by herself.

i gotta say, it turned out perfectly.  those were some of the most delicious french toast sticks i've ever had.

because it's been ridiculously hot lately (and the teen had the day off), we decided to head down to the beach for a rare family outing.  it was lovely.

i'm not particularly looking forward to the hot stickiness of summer, but the idea of not rushing around in the mornings to get to school on time is rather appealing.  and it'll be here before we know it.

saturday shenanigans

saturday was a crazy busy day, with all sorts of fun stuff on the agenda.  i kicked off the day with a barre class (shocker), where i also scooped up a very generous donation for our class basket for this year's jogathon raffles.  inside this cute little package is a water bottle, kashi bar, a pair of sticky barre socks and a pass good for three free classes.

and then i raced home to get ready and take the bean to a birthday party for one of her little classmates.  i love that she's still willing to let me pick out her clothes for her, and doesn't even hesitate to strike a pose for me whenever i ask for it.

the party venue was really cute.  it's an extension of a local bakery, where they offer parties and classes for cake and cookie decorating.

i'd been told that it was a dropoff party, so i got the bean settled with her friends and then the teen and i took off in search of lunch.

have you ever tried an acai bowl?  there's a place literally in front of the xtend barre studio called "bowl of heaven," where acai bowls and freshly pressed juices are the specialty.  the teen has had these bowls with her friend rock-ell, but it never appealed to me...until now.  i hadn't had a chance to make my smoothie that morning, and after perusing the menu decided to try a lemon chia bowl.  the base was a blend of acai, banana, strawberries, blueberries, lemon and honey.  it's kind of like frozen yogurt, and then it's topped with shredded coconut, lemon zest, chia seeds and coconut whipped cream.

i never thought i would love a bowl of fruit so much.  it was SO GOOD.  like, i could totally eat one of those every day.  but it's a little pricey, as most healthy food seems to be, so i'll just have to settle for a once-a-week treat.

the bean was having a blast at the party, as evidenced by this photo:

we had just enough time after picking her up to get her home to change into her girl scout uniform and head over to the local vons grocery store for our third and final cookie booth of the year.  since the teen is now a registered volunteer with the girl scouts, she's able to join us for meetings and outings and such, and so she decided to come along and see what it's like to run a booth.

remember our minnie piñata from the disney side celebration?  well, we put her to work.

the hour flew by, with so-so sales.  we didn't manage to sell out of cookies, but we did get rid of almost 100 boxes over the 3-hour period.  not too bad.  and i have to admit, while the cookie sales were fun, i'm really glad to have it over and done with.

after a quick pitstop at home, we decided to head back out to do a little shopping for the teen.  her sister got in on the action, as she modeled what she called "movie star high heels."  oh boy.

with a toys r us right next door, you know we had to go inside to browse around.  and get a little silly.

the teen shouted "spoiler alert!" when we were checking out the pretty pretty princess cinderella dolls from the new movie.

and the the bean and i both wanted this.  too bad we have nowhere to put it.

back home, we capped off the day with a simple but tasty dinner - grilled chicken with homemade teriyaki sauce and some of that delicious tomato brown rice we love so much.

i'm pretty sure we packed that day with about as much activity as humanly possible.  and with a 5K the next morning, sunday was shaping up to be just as busy.  whew, i need a vacation from the weekend.