a fun-filled fourth

4th of july weekend started out with a nice spa pedicure with the teen, who then headed off to her dad's for the week. talk about yay!/boo. i spent the rest of the day mostly confused by what day it was - it was only friday, but because the hub was home too, i kept thinking it was saturday. heh.

we had dinner at the grandparents' (costco rotisserie chicken! so good and so cheap) and then the hub whisked me away for an unexpected bonus - quasi-date night at the movies! we haven't been to the movie theater together since the night before the bean was born, so that was a treat. we bought tickets for "the hangover," but upon entering the theater found that there weren't any seats left aside from the very front row. blech. so we hightailed it outta there and ended up sitting down to watch "the proposal." super cute movie, and led me to add hot ass ryan reynolds to my "to do" list. phew, that man is smokin'. i guess i didn't do too badly - it was either ryan reynolds or bradley cooper. rowwwwwr.

the next morning, we enjoyed a little playtime with the bean, who loves to hop into the bed just as i'm trying to make it.

"haha, mom, you can't do shit."

"look, i'm sleeping. really, i'm sleeping!"

the bean's very british "mum" has evolved into a good old fashioned american "mooooom!"

we headed over to the grandparents' to suck up some of their air conditioning while the hub and his grandpa played a round of golf. the bean loves going over there to play with all of the old school toys - stuff her daddy played with when he was little.

the table was already festively decorated.

i'd gotten a wild bug up my ass that morning to bring my own patriotic contribution for dessert - a red velvet pound cake recipe i'd had bookmarked forever (i cut the recipe in half and it fit perfectly into a loaf pan). i wanted to decorate the top with some edible blue stars, but couldn't find any. oh, well.

all tuckered out from playing with a zillion toys, the bean zonked out for a looooong, three-hour nap.

while she slept, the ILs and i snuck out to get our cars washed (i'd forgotten what the hell color my car was) and pick up the makings for homemade ice cream. inside this thing:

was a whole lotta half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla. amazing that such deliciousness comes from only three simple ingredients.

and after churning in this thing for a while:

we pulled the lid off to find cold, creamy, scrumptious ice cream.

the bean zeroed in on that bucket like a moth to a flame. she was our official taste-tester.

"cold!" she said.

"grandpa, can i have some more, please?"

and, of course, being a big ol' sucker for that face (as the rest of us are), he gave in.

"num! ooh, my tongue is frozen."

for dinner, there were ribs slow-cooked on the bbq, juicy steaks seasoned by yours truly, and grilled chicken. grandma made her fabulous potato salad, which is always a hit. i never liked potato salad until i had hers. seriously, it's that good.

this is her not-so-secret ingredient. it's fantastic.

there was also this stuff, which i [obviously] didn't partake in, but i enjoyed capturing the pretty, bright colors with the camera.

we watched the thermometer go down as the afternoon gave way to a deliciously cool evening.

when it was time for dessert, i sliced up that red velvet pound cake and we served it alongside scoops of mouthwatering homemade ice cream.

since we'd snoozed and loozed (i know, i know, but it didn't look the same if i wrote "lost") last year and didn't see any fireworks, we made it a point to check the pomona fairplex's website to see what time their show was scheduled to start. we'd been before and had saved on regular admission tickets by simply paying $9 to park in their parking lot and watch the show, so that was the plan again. we get to see several different shows from that vantage point, so it's a pretty cool way to see some fireworks and cap off our holiday.

inspired by my friend winnie, who's a fantastic photographer and had posted some beautiful fireworks pictures she shot last week, i brought the good camera and read through her instructions (and the links she posted) before we left. sadly for me, i don't own a tripod nor do i have the remote control for my nikon, but i figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot.

of course, my pictures are nowhere near as awesome as hers, but i (and the hub) sure gave it the ol' college try. they're not TOO bad, and it was fun to experiment with the camera settings and try something other than the "auto" feature. heh.

this one's kinda crazy - there was a small airplane flying through the air as the show went on, and you can see it in action in this shot.

the show itself was a bit disappointing - you could tell they were trying to save as much cash as they could, because they shot the fireworks off one at a time, with long gaps in between. and even after the weak "grand finale," we looked at our watches and realized that it had only been a 15-minute show. hell, the fireworks at the nearby high school lasted at least half an hour. oh, well.

and that was it. 'twas a happy independence day for the wans, and we were happy to have at least one more day to relax and unwind. yay for long weekends!

bacon is wan's friend, episode 10837598

i've been wanting to try one of these for ages.

unfortunately, i have yet to find a store anywhere near me out in BFE that carries the fabulous vosges chocolates. boo.

and then yesterday, my buddy tater sent me a link to a new product, just released by the same company:

tater and i, as you know, often send each other bacon news and recipes and such. now, you're either going to completely dig the idea or be absolutely grossed out by it: it's pancakes studded with chunks of that hotmazing-looking bacon chocolate bar. heh. obvs, i'm in the "love it, gotta try it" camp. mmmm. i have GOT to find this stuff somewhere, and soon.

vosges, are you listening? you should totally send me some samples, and i'll write up a fantastic review. you know you want to.

while we're on the subject, one of the girls on my nest board mentioned that she'd had a pretty delicious bacon cheesy potato burrito at taco bell and had thought of me as she devoured it. this amuses me SO much - i've learned that i come to mind for a bunch of folks whenever they see bacon or the jonas brothers. ha! i guess there are worse things to be associated with.

i'm not typically a taco bell fan - i prefer del taco for no specific reason - but you know after i got one look at that thing, i had to have one. come on! that burrito is my beloved tater tot casserole all wrapped up neatly in a tortilla. and so after picking up the teen from her last day of summer school (whee!), we made a run for the border. voila!

i hoovered it right up until i got to the bottom of the burrito, and my dirty always-in-the-gutter mind couldn't stop giggling at this:

i ate it anyway, of course. and yeah, it was super tasty. i'm totally craving one right now. and while the teen enjoyed her veggie 7-layer burrito, what we both loved was rediscovering the classic taco bell dessert - cinnamon twists.

sweet, crunchy, light. like a churro, but it's not! we devoured these within seconds.

and since i haven't posted a new bean picture in a few days (i think), here's some new ones. i love how adorable she is in her new summer duds (not to mention how much i dig finding a huge stack of stuff to pick from at target for $4!), and i was glad she was willing to hold still and smile long enough to snap off a few shots.

we're only 1/4 of a year away from her birthday now! holy shit, my baby's gonna be 2 soon. where does the time go??

so boring and predictable

as i seem to do every four to eight weeks since the first time i took the plunge and chopped all of my hair off, i made an appointment to see my friend rochelle for a melon reshaping. my hair was all grown out and shaggy-looking, and i was way overdue for a maintenance cut.

and as i always do, i whipped myself up into a nice frenzy, trying to figure out what i wanted to do with it. something new and different, maybe a little edgier than usual? or settle back into a nice, safe 'do - comfortable, easy, familiar? i spent a few hours over the last several days looking at pictures online of different styles and cuts, ultimately finding nothing that truly captivated me.

i'd hoped to get in this weekend, but of course i somehow forgot that it was a holiday weekend. so when i called to make an appointment, i was faced with the option of jumping right into it and taking a next-day open slot or waiting until next week. well, the latter simply wouldn't do - when i get the bug up my ass to change up my hair, it eats away at me and i just have to get it dome immediately. i'm all about instant gratification like that, and besides, i realized over the hot ass weekend that i've lost any tolerance i used to have for the feeling of hair on the back of my neck. the beauty of this length is that ponytails are unnecessary, because it's already so short that i don't have to do shit. not to mention, it was taking me more time to dry and style it in the mornings, and i lack patience. heh.

so just before 2:00, i left the teen to get some quality time in with her sister and headed to the salon. i knew i'd only be gone for an hour-ish, and the teen was excited to play with the bean.

it was lovely to see rochelle again, as always, and we chatted and caught up while she worked her magic. and in the end, i chickened out and went the safe route - a classic bob cut:

but the back is super cool - i asked her not to stack and layer the shit out of it this time, and i like the end result. it's still short, easy to style, and has just enough volume.

i'm anxious to wash, dry, and style it for myself - i won't flatiron it as much, and i'll find my root lifter and texturizer so we can see how it looks with a little extra bounce to it. and perhaps next time i'll suck it up and go for something a little more rockstar-y. we'll see.

i found this picture with seven and the teen from a couple of years ago. i was well into my second trimester with the bean here. look at how long my hair was! seems to me that i looked a little more...matronly than i do now, but maybe that's just me.

oh well, at least we looked cute.

blast from the past

the teen and i made a quick trip out to pasadena yesterday after school to run a couple of errands. i'm working on an invitation order for my friend r, so a trip to paper source was on the list. and the teen has been after me to take her to a cool thrift shop/vintage clothing store for ages, so i decided we'd stop in to one i'd seen on green street the last time i was in the area.

because we both have the sense of humor of a 10-year-old boy, we totally giggled and snorted at this sign:

dorks, i know. and i still smirk when i look at that picture. heh.

the stop at paper source was quick and non-eventful. like, i can't even come up with one full sentence that would be remotely interesting about it. so i'll skip ahead to the vintage clothing store - aardvark's.

now, you guys know i'm a prissy ass bitch. thrift shops, 99¢ stores, places to buy stuff that isn't brand new or top quality are not my forte. it's really just not my thing! and so i caught myself making faces and wrinkling my nose as we stepped inside the store. dudes, it smelled funny in there! but i was pleasantly surprised to note that all of the merchandise was well-organized and carefully arranged on racks, separated by type.

despite my thoughts on a lot of the other crap in there, i was slightly captivated by the sight of these:

vintage clothing shops - the final resting place for old cheerleading uniforms.

i was totally amused at the creative displays.

the teen and i were slightly horrified at the sight of this rack, chock full of...ling-er-ee. ew.

as much as i wrinkled my nose, i had to agree that this was the perfect place to come up with a damn good halloween costume.

i damn near pissed myself when i found these as i riffled through a rack of old sweaters. these are hawt, yes?

we also found lots of potential ensembles suitable for upcoming 4th of july celebrations.

we need to bring these back. come on, the world could use some laughs these days.

possible dress choices for the teen's first prom:

i literally howled with laughter upon finding this - because i had one just. like. it. only mine was royal blue, and suede. and look - they STILL want $60 for this thing! holy crap.

okay, this is nutty. a bangles tee for $60? and another featuring an obscure 1983-ish movie that reunited john travolta and olivia newton-john on screen for the first time since "grease" going for $45? hell, i think i actually HAD both of these at one time. wish i'd have known.

there was a plethora of camo and military-style stuff, including a jacket once owned by a correctional officer for l.a. county. and as i perused that rack, i wondered who mr. griffin of the u.s. army was and how his jacket ended up here.

no outfit is complete without a matching hat. you could easily find one to top off any set of dapper duds here.

and this shit - i could swear i'd seen this hot ass mess on carol brady during the episode where marcia broke her nose. after seeing these clothes, she probably wished she'd broken her eyes instead.

in the end, the teen found nothing she was really interested in scooping up. but we'd spent close to an hour snorting and cackling, and me telling a couple of stories about actually having some of the stuff we'd seen in there. we'd had a great time together, and that's worth way more than a piece of clothing or a pair of shoes. right?

and speaking of vintage:

oh, seven. didn't you know that asians aren't supposed to be blonde??