it takes two to tango. or twirl.

the actual day of wan-niversary 9.0 ended up being super low-key.  i had a frajillion cookies to work on for delivery the next day, and we had homemade spaghetti for dinner.  not to worry, though - we have some super fun plans for this weekend that include some just-me-and-the-hub time, so we'll make up for it then.

of course, this doesn't mean that i didn't bust out THE dress even for just a few minutes.

and we took a bunch of pictures.  i remembered to get ones of just me and the hub, but he was in clown mode and none of them are fit to print.  maybe next year.  but at least there are these:

in between the silliness i kept going back to the table full of cookies waiting to be decorated.  seriously, there was a ton of them to do - there were just under 200 here.

okay, okay - i know what you really want to see.  and this year, i'm not twirling solo!


phew, i'm dizzy again just watching that.

i was amused when he asked me during a quick mid-day phone call if i'd done the twirl yet.  i'm not entirely certain i even realized he'd seen any of the previous ones!  and because i thought it might be fun to switch it up this year, i asked him to be a part of it.  as you can see, he's perfectly good with cheesing it up for my benefit.

and yours.  ha!

he really does love me.

one hell of a ride

clichés are acceptable on special occasions, yes?  because oh, how time flies when you're having fun.

nine years ago today, i changed out of this silly little hoodie:

slipped into this fabulous dress:

held on to this gorgeous floral cluster:

took a few pictures:

walked down this beautiful aisle: 

recited some handwritten vows to each other:

officially created our family:

exchanged simple rings:

and married my lobster.

of course, two years later we expanded a little:

and today, this is us.

could life BE any better?

happy anniversary to my love, who has given me immeasurable happiness and makes me laugh every single day.  it may not always be a smooth ride, but cruising through the highs and lows of life sure is fun with you by my side.

our mudslides bring all the reporters to the yard

when rain hits southern california, people go crazy.  sheesh.

i mean, yeah.  it doesn't happen all that often (hence the intense drought we're experiencing), but come on.  it's just water, folks.

now with that said, i do adore the rain.  the teen does, too.  and she happened to have yesterday off, which was nice because we got to spend some quality time together.  that's rare nowadays, especially now that the holiday season is upon us and her job in retail demands lots of hours at work.  so we scheduled a full day of things to do, including dropping off the pri-YES at the dealer for a little tuning up.  from there, she dropped me off at xtend for my usual tuesday class while she headed to her gym down the street.

she typically does the driving whenever we go anywhere anymore, because she says i'm a terrible driver.  psh.  kids, man.  they always think they do stuff better than we do.  but in this case, i'm cool with it - means i get to hang out in the passenger seat and relax.  except during rainy days, because i discovered that she loves the rain so much that she doesn't like wiping it from the windshield.

oy vey, i was going insane.  i personally much prefer employing my windshield wipers whenever necessary...you know, so i can actually see.  gah.

the next stop on our schedule required the following items:

we'd both been dying to see "mockingjay" since it came out a couple of weeks ago, and finally found the perfect opportunity.  and bonus:  it was the first showing of the day, so we got to take advantage of the cheap tickets.  and as we munched happily on our movie snacks, we sat back and enjoyed some previews for more awesome flicks coming out next year:

later, as we took the bean to her art class, we noticed a full line-up of news vans parked near city hall.  they always love to report from this area when it rains because of all the potential mudslides from the firestorms of last year.

STORM!WATCH!20!14!  while other parts of the country deal with inches and inches of snow and ice, we freak out over some rain.  never change, soCA, never change.

time to embrace the holidays

thanksgiving at the house of wan was super low key this year.  with the ILs not scheduled to return until christmas and the teen at her dad's for the holiday, it was pretty quiet around here.  doesn't mean we didn't jam in as much fun as possible, though.  duh.

for me, the day started off with a special holiday edition of barre bootcamp, AKA 75 minutes of pliés, passés, and relevés to get a head start on burning the mounds of calories i planned to take in later.

nectar of the gods right here.  it's my usual post-workout treat.

as soon as i got home, i pulled out the very last-minute turkey i'd found just the day before.  our original plan was to grab one of those crack-laced rotisserie chickens from costco, but i came across this little gem and snatched it right up.  it was the last one in the store, and when i read the instructions that basically said "keep frozen, open bag, place turkey in oven, bake" i was like, SOLD.

i enlisted the help of the bean to work on our side dishes - my beloved sweet potato casserole and the green bean casserole.  this was pretty much the extent of the "cooking" we did for thanksgiving 2014.

while i took a much-needed shower, the hub got to work pulling out all of our best diningware and setting the table.

i always feel kind of bad that i'm not much of a drinker when he pulls out a good bottle of wine to enjoy with a special meal.  i mean, i'll take a sip or two, but that's about it.  even he agreed...it looked like pee.

he macgyvered a tripod using our pie stand and some other tabletop items, and with the timer on my phone he managed to capture this:

dinner is served!

i dished out servings of everything, and while the hub and i were busy taking photos of our plates (it still amuses me when he does this, after years of pooh-poohing my constant picture-taking) the bean was like psssh, i'm gonna eat.

mollydog got to partake a little too, with a slice of turkey i chopped into tiny pieces and served on a makeshift plate.  i can't put stuff in her food bowl with her regular food, because she'll get so excited she gets some of it mixed in and then spits the dog food onto the floor.  then i'm stuck cleaning up soggy kibble, and that's just gross.

oh yeah, those are my flip-flopped feet down there.  it was 90 degrees in soCA for thanksgiving.  ugh.

this nice, neat tower of plastic containers was all that was left of our delicious meal.  it was a perfect amount of leftovers.

a little later, it was time for dessert.  along with the truffles i'd made, we had pie.  and this:

somehow, while the bean was relaxing with a movie, someone quietly made her grand entrance for the holidays.  and she came bearing gifts.

she practically came out of her skin with excitement when she spotted her.  this right here is why we continue to welcome pixie into our home - it's our third year running!  i mean, look at this face.

it was easy to get her to do the bedtime routine that night.  she went to brush her teeth without a single quibble, and put those soft, comfy pajamas and slippers on happily.  then she went back to talk to the elfette a little more, and when she sat down she said "look mom, i look just like pixie!"

the last thing she did before going to bed was draw a picture and write a little note that pixie could present to santa when she went up to the north pole that night.

'tis the season, folks.

every day i'm trufflin'

while we were gearing up for thanksgiving last week, i came across a pack of oreos that FIL had left behind after their most recent trip home.  they weren't exactly stale...yet.  and since our holiday meal included pies for dessert - both of which i'm not a huge fan - i decided maybe i could cobble together a little something that i could enjoy while the hub and the bean dug into their after-dinner treats.

here's the very short lineup of ingredients:

can you tell already what i had in mind?  there were only about ten cookies in the box, less than half a package of cream cheese, and those marshmallow flavored candy melts have been in my pantry just waiting for the perfect occasion.  and if this wasn't it, i sure don't know what could be.  not to mention that i'm not a huge white chocolate fan (that shit ain't chocolate, people!), which is what most folks would use for this.

i tossed the cookies into my old baby food maker, because i didn't want to dirty the full-sized food processor for this small task.  when they were smushed down to what looked like coffee grounds, i tossed in the cream cheese.  okay, yes, i use the lower-fat neufchâtel cheese.  i know cutting fat seems silly when i'm just going to add a shitton of sugar to it, but hey - it helps a little, and to me it tastes exactly the same.  so there.

when it was all mixed together just right, i scooped out tablespoonfuls of it and rolled them into little balls.

turns out i got one truffle for every cookie i had, which is a good little tidbit to know for future.  you know, for the next time i need to make truffles.  which happens often.  not.

next, i tossed some of those marshmallow wafers into a little ramekin and zapped them in the microwave till they were smooth and melty.  it smelled just like toasted marshmallows when i took it out, and i may have accidentally gotten a little on my finger.  tastes just like it smells too, in case you were wondering.

using two forks, i dropped each oreo ball in there, rolling and turning and making a mess.  while these may be the ugliest truffles ever created, i can tell you that they tasted way better than they looked.

also, now you see why i don't make cake pops anymore.  heh.