first photo dump of 2023

january was full of all kinds of random moments.  none of them really warranted a full post on their own, so here's a fun little cornucopia of stuff that i apparently thought was important enough to take a picture of.

like, i did a major closet cleanout that yielded a shitton of bags to donate.  i finally let go of some things i've held on to for years - you know, the old "it'll come back in style AND i'll still fit into it!" well, guess what:  it didn't, and i definitely didn't.  and so into the bags it all went:

homemade mochi waffle with warm syrup, plus milk tea with brown sugar boba.  the recipe for that milk tea made a TON, which the bean was happy to plow through as quickly as they could drink it.

cousin seven had originally planned on coming home for christmas, but was a victim of all those flight cancellations over the holidays.  she sent us this awesome box full of a whole bunch of my favorite things, which was such a fun surprise.

when we heard that the girls' soccer team was hosting a game against the school that was the bean's second choice (and where a good number of their 8th grade classmates went), we decided to go.  it was fun to watch, and our team won.  the bean's school is not really known for sports, but while we were at the game i couldn't help but think that they could really use a cheer team to drum up some school spirit.  they offer all of the typical high school sports - football, baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball, soccer, golf, etc. - but it doesn't seem like it's really encouraged to attend the games.  it's kind of a bummer, because i remember going to all kinds of games at that age not only to support my friends who were playing but to hang out with other friends in the stands.  oh well.

for the january class meeting, i'd volunteered to make cake pops to hand out to the students.  it'd been a long time since i'd made them but i thought, how hard could it be?  i used to make those things all the time.  

yeah.  after dipping the first few i remembered why i stopped...they're a pain in the ass.  heh.

luckily i finally figured out what i was doing wrong, and then it was smooth sailing (which is great because i had 50+ of those damn things to make).  i had two flavors to offer, and laid them out on the table for the students to grab on their way out of the meeting and to their next class.

the bean's BFF's mom and i were invited to a birthday party for one of our fellow class parents, and the invitation asked all of the attendees to dress as pop divas.  "think britney spears, lady gaga, madonna, etc." it said.  

oh.

i came up with a few different ideas and ordered a bunch of stuff from amazon.  i tried the "oops, i did it again" shiny red catsuit that was incredibly ill-fitting and very unflattering.  there was the ringleader costume that could have either been from britney's "circus" era OR taylor swift's red tour - and it could have worked except that the bean pretty much fell over laughing when i tried it on and showed them a picture.  i also found a burgundy hat like the one taylor wore for her red (taylor's version) photoshoot that i figured i could wear with a camel coat - simple but comfortable.  but the hub took one look and asked me why i was dressed like a P.I.  ugh.

this is the one that worked:

i ended up being super relieved that that red catsuit hadn't worked out after all, because not only did the party guest in the car in front of us emerge dressed in a similar outfit but the birthday girl herself greeted us at the door wearing a much higher-quality version of it.  heh.  and even her signature cocktail for the evening was britney-themed:

i didn't know a lot of the ladies at the party, but my friend did and she made sure to introduce me to everyone.  it was nice to meet other school parents, and we had a good time munching on tray-passed appetizers, sipping the signature cocktail and eventually dancing to all the pop diva songs in the room they'd transformed into a club.  it was quite the shindig.

the bean took one of their oldest friends as their date to the winter formal:

and i took the old lady and the old man out to get some dim sum for dinner.

we were really amused at this bunny-shaped pudding dessert thingy:

and even more so at the ad we saw at the tea shop next door.

ever heard of a borzoi?  i hadn't either, until the bean started showing me tiktok videos of this russian breed of hunting dog with a really long snout.  super random, i know.  and then when they showed me that someone had made a crocheted version of one, i found a pattern and stitched one together as a surprise (which went over really well, because my child still adores stuffed animals).

and lastly, i was pretty excited to finally tackle a recipe i've been eyeing forever.  i think i've mentioned before that i fell down the rabbit hole of brewing my own vanilla extract during pandemic - which sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is because all you do is stick the beans in alcohol and leave it alone for a year.  but if you want to make some vanilla goodness that you can use a lot sooner than that, you can use the beans along with a few other ingredients and make vanilla paste.  it's best if you have a really high-powered blender like a vitamix, and you end up with a product that you can keep in the pantry that adds some pretty intense flavor, is shelf-stable and usable almost immediately.  i think measuring the ingredients out almost took longer than the actual processing, and in about 15 minutes i had a full quart of homemade vanilla paste that made my kitchen smell amazing.

i've already tried it out in a batch of chocolate chip cookies and was pretty proud of myself when the bean tried one and said "whoa...you can really taste the vanilla in these!"

most excellent.

that is so fetch

one of my friends hit me up with a really fun theme for cookies - one of her daughters was going to see the mean girls musical at the pantages theater with a group of friends.  it had turned into a big group outing with all of the moms as well, and of course they wanted to make little goody bags for the girls.  

mean girls is one of my favorite movies, so these were a blast for me to make:

the bean and i went out to dinner with lilcee and dailygluttony that evening, and i don't remember if i was the one who brought it up, but it quickly turned into "let's go see it together too!"  before we'd left the dinner table we'd picked a date for the following week and secured tickets with a pretty decent price tag.

our typical pre-show meal is from shake shack, which is just across the street from the theater.  mmmm.  although we were a little bummed when the employee stationed at the entrance announced that they were all out of custard for the night, so there were no shakes to be had.  boo.

oh well.  it didn't dampen our excitement for the evening.

going through security was quick and easy, which is always nice.

i posted that picture of my cookies on instagram earlier in the day and noticed that two of the cast members (adante carter, who plays aaron samuels and nadina hassan, who plays regina george) had liked it, which was kinda cool.  

our seats were up in the mezzanine, but the pantages is a pretty small theater so we still had a great view of the stage.

being a big fan of the movie, i was a little leery of how i would like it in musical form.  you really never know how it's going to turn out, and sometimes you love the original actors in those roles that it's hard to accept new faces.  i gotta say though, this was really fun to watch and the production was really well done.  there were a few changes to the story, but nothing huge and disappointing, and we had a great time being out with our friends for an evening out in hollywood together.  and we were extra glad that we weren't seated two rows ahead of us - because when the show was about 3/4 of the way done the guy who was sitting in front of the bean and me apparently projectile vomited all over the people in front of him.  yikes.

never a dull moment, amirite??

a little soin de soi

that means "self-care" in french, btw.

do you remember my barre studio saga from a couple of years ago?  well, i have a fun update (which does NOT involve that old wretched studio i wrote about before)!

i wasn't the only one who'd discovered barre there and fell in love with the practice.  over the last year or so that i was faithfully attending classes, one of my fellow barre clients decided to go through training and became one of the instructors.  she was really great and super enthusiastic, with a sweet and friendly personality that made her classes fun and challenging.

during the pandemic, she and ballerina started teaching barre classes virtually and i was happy to have the option to do them from home.  and then towards the end of last year, she made the very welcome announcement that she'd found a great space to open a studio of her own.  ballerina was also on board to teach classes, along with another former barre client who was teaching yoga classes.  i was super excited and signed up for a founding membership as soon as registration opened up.

opening weekend came right after the new year.  they offered two days' worth of free 20-minute intro classes, and i happily signed up for classes on the first day.  the studio is a little further away than the old spot, but that's okay.  i'm still happy to make the drive because it's totally worth it.  

even better, another favorite instructor (the one who'd moved to seattle) came down for the weekend to visit and help out.  so i made sure to get out of the house and down to the studio a little early in order to spend a little time hanging out and catching up.  i even managed to score the parking spot right in front when i pulled up, and spotted seattle in the front window hanging up a promotional poster.

the studio was super cute, and perfect for intimate classes of 10 or less.

there was a nice little section of carefully curated merchandise available for sale, including a selection of pretty little bracelets handmade by ballerina.

all of my old barre socks were crap, with the grip on the bottoms having worn off over the years.  so i picked out this super cute pair, with little velvet accents in a pretty shade of green.

i was so happy to be taking class in person again, and even though it was a quick 20-minute intro class i was sweating within a couple of minutes and knew that i was going to be sore after.  it'd been awhile since i'd done a real barre class, and remembered the hard way how it finds all those little muscles that you'd forgotten you had.  i'd actually signed for two barre classes back-to-back, and then followed it up with an intro yoga class to round it out.  you can see me cowering in the corner in this picture, struggling to hold plank:

after classes were all done, i spent a little more time hanging out with my friends...and taking selfies, of course.

it was really fun to see so many faces i recognized from the old studio, and we gathered to take a reunion photo together.

and i even managed to meet up with a friend for my first full class a few days later.

it's been a month now since the studio officially opened, and aside from one week where i had to cancel because i caught a cold and didn't want to spread my germs i've managed to get in there at least once a week.  i can't even explain how nice it is to find a new barre studio with people who are welcoming and caring and supportive.  it really is like being home again.

happy new (disneyland) year!

 with one last day of winter break left, i'll give you one guess as to where the bean and i went...

we got there relatively early, since we really just wanted to spend a few hours there and then head back home to get ready for the return to school.  of course, we grabbed breakfast at pym test kitchen, where the bean insisted on using the tiny fork to eat their meal.

i got to use one of my christmas presents from the hub:

and of course, we headed into the animation academy for a couple of drawing sessions.  the bean's "turning red" panda came out far better than mine, which is no surprise.

since we hadn't been on radiator springs racers in awhile, we headed into cars land and hopped into the single rider line.  although it was the longest we'd ever seen it, that line went pretty quickly.  instead of the 100+ minute wait in the standby line, we got through the line and onto the ride in about 30.  AND we lucked out and got placed in the same car.

we went over to the disneyland side just long enough to do some shopping on main street and take a picture in front of the tree:

and i tried the seasonal mint chip flavored churro.  it was okay, but i wouldn't get it again.  apparently it used to have an optional dipping sauce, but they were all sold out of it.  maybe it would have been better with it, but that's okay.  i'll stick to the traditional one - or the hot cocoa one, if that comes back.  that one was tasty.

when we got home we realized that the hub had been a busy bee in our absence, having taken down the christmas lights and all of our outdoor decorations.  and so we did our part and pulled all of the ornaments off of the tree, disassembling it and putting it back in the storage bag so that it could go back upstairs into the attic.  sigh.

the bean drowned their post-christmas letdown/back to school sorrows in a plate of homemade sushi:

and that was the end of winter break.  we've returned to the grind and are fully back in the routine again - and looking forward to february break in a couple of weeks.

new year's is for the dogs (literally)

much like the last few new year's eves, we kept it super low-key and stayed home.  the old lady and the old man, being child-free 20-somethings, did go out with friends with the help of the hub who acted as their uber for the night (rideshares are insanely pricey on NYE, as one would imagine).  

we'd headed to our local japanese market earlier in the day and picked up all the goodies to do some DIY sushi rolls, which the bean was pretty excited about.  while the hub stood at the counter, slicing up all of the fish, he had quite the captive audience.

and he did a fantastic job as our sushi chef - check out this platter of fresh sashimi!

while we were happy to snack on some of that deliciousness as-is, the bean had also been looking forward to trying out the new sushi making set they'd gotten for christmas.  the old lady had seen it on instagram, and thanks to the magic of amazon prime i'd ordered it four days before christmas and still got in time to wrap and put under the tree.

so you just spread some rice out on each half of the maker, top with all the goodies, insert the pusher and snap it closed.  then you push it out onto a sheet of nori and voila:

as for me, i wanted to have some seared pepper salmon and took out our trusty little cooking torch to get the job done.

we stuffed ourselves silly with a ton of sushi, and then we had some of these peanut butter-stuffed pretzels that i'd made earlier in the evening.  

the dogs were all snoozing way before midnight, although june was the last holdout with all that puppy energy in full effect.  eventually though, she finally passed out too.

one last family selfie for 2022:

and then juney woke up in time to join our first family selfie of 2023.

the next day, while the hub went off to do some 4x4'ing with friends the kids and i headed out to little tokyo to have some delicious udon at our new favorite place.  of course, since it was a holiday we ended up waiting for awhile before we were seated.

but was it worth the wait?  oh yes.

happy new year indeed.