santa! i know him!

the old lady and i took stevie to the vet last week for a vaccination, and while we were there the front desk manager saw me there and said "oh!  great, you saved us a phone call, because we're doing pictures with santa and you're invited to join us if you'd like!"

you don't have to ask me twice.

and so on sunday afternoon we put all three dogs in the car and headed over to introduce them to santa.  we'd chosen the earliest time slot available, so we were able to walk right in.  it was pretty comical, but they managed to catch them looking at the camera:

poor stevie was a little sketched out though, and refused to go near santa unless the old lady went with him.  she was less than thrilled since she hadn't been prepared to take a picture and she's probably going to kill me for posting this, but come on...so cute!

when we sent that to her special friend he cracked up and said "stevie looks so scared, but she is SO HAPPY."  funny 'cuz it's true!

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

so, yeah...

haha, i just realized there's a valentine bear in the background there.

anyway, yes - i've decided that the best thing to do is to fully embrace the holidays as early as (somewhat) socially acceptable this year.  and i know, thanksgiving comes first...that's a fall tablecloth in that same photo!  the season comes and goes so quickly, and both the old lady and the hub are all over the idea of starting to decorate for our most favorite time of the year right NOW.

so i'm going to stop resisting and just do it.  because there's no real reason not to.

plus, starbucks brought out the holiday drinks today!  i stopped on my way home from barre to grab my first caramel brûlée latte and this year's freebie reusable cup.

not to mention, i already had my first winter dream tea latte from coffee bean last year.  and tomorrow, the holiday celebration at disneyland officially kicks off too.  the tree is already up and the castle has "snow" on it.  AND the christmas music is going to start tomorrow on KOST.  yesssssssss.

it's totally happening, people.  come on.  embrace it right along with me!

back in the saddle again

it seemed like i hadn't touched any of my machines in forever - probably because i hadn't sewn anything up in a few weeks.  i have a giant stash of fabric and an endless supply of fun patterns to sew up, so i don't really have any excuses.  and a lot of that fabric is sweater knit and other cooler weather material, so now's a great time for me to dive back into my favorite hobby.

what actually brought me back to the sewing room was the need to make something for the bean to wear for her school's annual fund gala.  she chose show choir for one of her electives (glee 4 lyfe, people!), and they're always a big part of the entertainment during that evening of fundraising.  the choir director had requested that everyone wear jewel tones, which is a nice departure from the all-black attire that she'd worn for choir performances over the last few years.

i'd been holding onto a pattern for a dress i'd thought was really cute for quite a long time, and i thought that maybe if i chose a stretch velvet to work with, it would be perfect for the occasion.  it was a relatively easy project even though it involved sewing in a collar, which isn't something i'm very experienced in.  it came together quickly, but when i looked at the finished product i knew immediately that i didn't love it.

i still think it's a cute pattern in general, but the velvet is just too thick and heavy for it.  it doesn't look right, and didn't fit her right when i had her try it on.  kind of a bummer, but i'll put it in the "donate" pile and hopefully someone will like it enough to wear it.  gah!

and then it turned out that the bean didn't particularly like the design of the dress anyway.  i have to remember that she's not the little girl who i can just dress however i want to anymore.  and so i asked her to give me some ideas of what she was comfortable wearing.  at first she asked for a maxi dress, but after she showed me the choreography for the songs they're performing i talked her into going a little shorter so she wouldn't trip on the fabric at her feet.  she said she liked ruffly sleeves and a simple neckline, and then i realized that what she was describing was pretty much the same dress i'd made for her to wear to cheer "prom" this past spring.

so i headed to joann's, found some more stretch velvet that was lighter weight and closer to the color she wanted to wear, and busted this out in one afternoon:

because the choir director asked for pictures of what everyone was planning to wear, i sent that one to her for her approval.  she responded pretty quickly, adding "do you do costumes too?"  uh-oh.  heh.

today is "decade day" at her school, so the kids got a free dress day as long as they wore a themed outfit.  last year she went 90s grunge with a nirvana tee, flannel shirt, jeans and docs and this year she requested a poodle skirt.  i put my embroidery machine to work and sent her to school like this:

you can't see it, but i made her a matching hair tie, too.

speaking of dressing up, last night's cheer practice was "tourist" themed.  after going through a pile of t-shirts and pulling out a fanny pack and finding an old disposable camera, she went dressed as a disneyland tourist.

while i was at it, i decided to make myself a new top using some of the super soft waffle knit i bought for the season.  i made myself a cardigan out of some mustard waffle knit last week, but somehow i haven't managed to snap a picture of it yet.  the hub called it my "mr. rogers" sweater when he saw it, but i was super proud of myself when i told him i'd made it and he said he thought it'd come out of a stitch fix box.  anyway, this top is super comfy and got me over my fear of sewing buttons (which, as it turns out, is incredibly quick and easy on my sewing machine).

i'm on a roll again, people!  now i want to sew up ALL THE THINGS.

going back for more lasa

so after going to lasa a few weeks ago with my friends, one of my cousins responded to my post on instagram.  i mentioned that we should go together, and so we picked a date with a couple of our other cousins to have brunch.  the bean was just as excited to go back, especially once she found out who we were going with.  she and my cousin's kids hadn't had much of a chance to hang out lately, so this was going to be a treat for everyone.

this time, i decided to try their iced coffee.  it came with a little pitcher of simple syrup and another of coconut cream, which made for a pretty delightful tasting shot of caffeine.

the girls were super excited to sit together and compare apps and pictures and things on their phones.

like last time, we decided to order one of everything on the menu to pass around the table.  it worked out just as well, and i was happy that everyone loved it as much as i did.  i didn't take pictures of everything this time, but i couldn't resist this shot of the crispy pata, just before my cousin dug in and carved it up for everyone.

and unlike last time, we ordered a couple of bowls of their condensed milk ice cream topped with black sesame polvoron.  it was rich and creamy and delicious.

our server was happy to take a group shot of us (which we probably should have done while all of the food was on the table so that it would have been a little more exciting, but whatever).

we asked to see their dinner menu just for kicks, and after reading up on the delicious-sounding dishes available we decided that we'd have to pick another date and go back to try them all.  it was so much fun to hang out and catch up with everyone, and it made me realize that we really should make more of an effort to get together more often.

don't worry, i'll be sure to take lots more pictures next time.  heh.

i've become *that* dog mom

i just looked at my camera roll and found an asston of dog pictures.  i take them of all three dogs, although teddy and stevie seem to be a little more photogenic than cocoa.  i mean...look at these faces!

cocoa - well...she's adorable, but she just doesn't photograph as well.  sorry, kid.

most of the time i'm capturing their antics to share with the hub, or the old lady and her special friend.  here the kids were waiting anxiously for their friend stevie to join them:

teddy seems to have cleared a path underneath our bed that's perfect for him to run through when cocoa's chasing him through the house.  it's cool and all, but i clearly need to find a new spot for my collection of tieks because if i ever catch him chewing on those...

and here i busted him after he'd figured out how he could get around the fence and climb up onto the wall.  sheesh.  note the look of shame on his face.  he knows his ass isn't supposed to be up there.

this spot on the couch is a popular one.  they're always fighting over who gets to lay here.

whenever teddy's trying to escape the others, he just hops into the pool because he knows neither of them will go after him in there.  he's our only water dog, it seems.

and then he climbs up into one of the chairs and passes out from all that water play.

he and stevie are besties.  they love to play together, and it's awesome because they wear each other out and sleep hard through the night.

 we were cracking up at this one because of the look on his face.

he's just so darn cute.

i caught him mid-yawn one morning;

it's so hard to believe there are only a couple of months between these two pictures.

we finally start a training class at petsmart on monday, and i'm excited to get started.  they're ridiculously cute and so much fun to have around, but i want to make sure we do it right this time and teach them things like how to follow basic commands and how to walk on a leash and stuff like that.  the old lady is taking stevie and the bean and i will take the puppies, and it'll be a fun group outing.

wish us luck!  we're gonna need it.

halloween-ing

so we tried a second time to see if we could get teddy accustomed to the halloween costume we'd bought him. 

i don't think it worked.

cocoa came over to sympathize.

next, we tried putting cocoa into her little ewok costume.  she was quite a bit more accepting than teddy was.

she balked a little at the hood, but didn't really fight it.

and after awhile, they both just gave up and laid down until we put them out of their misery and took the costumes off.

the rest of us celebrated halloween in different ways with a couple of different circles of friends last weekend.  first, with her school BFFs and their little sisters at a local party:

and then with dailygluttony, lilcee and their minis at disneyland.

tonight, we'll head out with our school BFFs for trick-or-treating again like we've done the last few years.  she originally hadn't been very interested in any halloween festivities, but i think the thought of getting to hang out with her buddies on a school night proved to be pretty appealing.

happy halloween!  have fun and be safe!

i'm a sucker for you

after what seemed like forever, the day of our jonas brothers concert was finally here.  they'd done one show in anaheim at the honda center a couple of weeks ago and the old lady and i both suffered from some major FOMO that night, so we were really excited to head out to the hollywood bowl for what promised to be a great evening.

we picked up her OG BFF, stopped at urth caffe to pick up some grub, and then made our way to the park & ride structure to board the bus that would take us straight to the venue.  the bean actually was excited despite the look on her face here.

she spent most of the bus ride watching BTS videos on her phone.

and then in no time we were pulling up to the hollywood bowl.  yay!

the first stop was, of course, the merchandise tent.  we were fairly early, so we knew it would probably be best to hit it up at the beginning and get it out of the way.  the line was long, but it moved quickly and we were able to pick up what we wanted without having to wait very long.

there was a fun photo op with giant blowups of the brothers' heads at the KIIS-FM kiosk, but none of us really wanted to stand in the long line that had already formed for it.

as we got in the security checkpoint line, we were pretty amused at the group in front of us who all wore matching shirts.

my friend nanette texted me and said that she could see this from where she was - a message from the boys to all of us:

we'd splurged and bought box seats for this show, which we were all pretty excited about.  no bench seats for us tonight!

it turns out that we could have just come here and ordered food that would have been delivered right to us in our seats, but that's okay.  we still needed drinks and dessert, so that's how we got it.

besides, i was pretty excited for my favorite pizza - burrata, prosciutto and arugula.  three of the best things in the whole world.

as we munched on our food, we took in the sights, listened to the music and did some great peoplewatching.

the bean and i had ordered a big bottle of water and the girls had chosen some wine to share, but because they couldn't serve it to us in the glass bottles the beverages came like this:

and then we shared the brownies and chocolate cake while the old lady enjoyed an ice cream sandwich from coolhaus.

they headed off for a quick bathroom break before the show started, and the bean and i just sat back and relaxed in our comfy seats.  i'd busted out my fun shoes for the evening:

it was funny to watch the bean sit there holding her sister's wine while we waited for them to come back.

the first of the two opening acts took the stage right at 7 - jordan mcgraw.

and while we watched, i cracked up as i realized that my kid had popped her earplugs into place.  now i know this is a wise decision on her part because it'll save her hearing, but it was just so funny to me.

the second opener was bebe rexha, whose music we actually recognized.  the bean provided the entertainment again as she sang along in her silly, exaggerated way.  too bad it was too dark to get video.

her set was maybe about half an hour, and then the stage was set for the boys to make their grand entrance.  we knew from social media that they usually pop out of an elevated floor, but because of the way the hollywood bowl is set up they had to switch it up a bit.  instead, these boxes were brought out and then when the lights came up the brothers were inside.

the playlist was a great mix of songs from their newest album and old favorites that we loved hearing again.  it was just like old times.

they came out into the audience a couple of times, walking the platform that separates the pit (which used to be a pool) from the first row of boxes.

and then they took it even further, making their way through the crowds and popping up onto a stage behind us.  this was really cool, because it gave the fans who were in the very back a much better view.  they sang a few songs here before heading back to the main stage.

these pictures of joe crack me up.

we were having such a great time, dancing and singing along, and it all went by so fast.  before we knew it they were already at "burnin' up," bringing out a surprise guest:  big rob, their former bodyguard who was featured on the original song.

and then after the last song - "sucker," of course - there were fireworks and confetti and their final farewell.

we managed to get back down the hill and onto the bus that took us back to the parking structure in pasadena.

it was such a great night.  i wish we'd have been able to go to the second night too, like we used to do - remember how we'd go to every single show they played locally?  but the hollywood bowl is such a pain in the ass to get to and from, not to mention the second show was on a monday night.  they come back in december to the forum, but it happens to be on a cheer competition weekend as well as the old lady's special friend's birthday.

that's okay, though.  this show was pretty awesome, and well worth the wait.