Backyard S'Mores

We finally got our patio furniture a couple weeks ago only to find one of the parts was defective.  I called the manufacturer and got another sent out and Mj put it together so that we could FINALLY officially enjoy our little outdoor space before he left.  It was night time so we roasted s'mores in the fire pit and had wine.  But of course.  Mj taught me how to turn it on and off so I could do it on my own.  I have an irrational fear of lighting matches so I've never done it in my life....until now.  I guess it took owning a fire pit to force me. 

Fireball s'mores

Yesterday was a wonderful Saturday of relaxation.  I thought about cleaning the house but didn't.  I thought about going to the gym but didn't.  I thought about taking a shower and running my errands....but DID!! After that it was back home into the jammies to relax and clear out my DVR.  I even took an awesome late afternoon nap.  My triumph of the weekend was getting those errands done which lately I really hate doing even more then usual and doing laundry.   While I was out getting my rings inspected the lady tried to sell me on this 1.5 karat diamond ring for 13K!  She did all of this complicated math and told me that if I traded in my two wedding bands and one engagement ring that I could get into a brand new double setting very similar to mine and with this gorgeous 1.5 karat ring for only 9K.  What did I just walk in there looking like I was worth $10,000 that day?  I have priorities and spending that kind of money on jewelry is not one of them.  We could do a total kitchen re model for that much.  Mj says at some point I can get a bigger diamond but I LOVE my setting so I won't be changing anything else. 

Would your honey pay 13k for this? Would you let him?

A Cracker Barrel breakfast I don't get to eat

Mj's in Texas for work and wouldn't you know it I see a spider last night.  We rarely have creepy crawlies in our house and just days after he leaves I have to see one crawling on the curtain.  I also have an irrational fear of spiders so while Mj watched via face time on our i phones and laughed at me I screamed while I sprayed it then put one of his shoes over it and smashed it down a little.  He said it was like watching a horror movie which makes sense because I felt like I was in one.  I'm too afraid to pick up the shoe and dispose of the carcass right now so that will have to wait.  He sent me this drool worthy pic of his breakfast from Cracker Barrel.  We ate there when we were on the East coast in 2009 They have the most delicious perfectly crispy edged pancakes I've ever had in my life.  Sadly, they don't have one in So Cal so I haven't had them since.  I'm so jealous!  The house feels so quiet and empty with him gone.  I'm just here bumping around and have already slipped back into my old dinner habits.  Ham and Cheese on Sandwich Thins with Fat Free Pringles anyone?  I'll toast the bread.

Girls & Baby Family Weekend

Out at happy hour Friday night

When it comes to spending time with family there doesn't need to be a plan.  Just being together is enough.  Mom, big sis, and little sis came down and spent the weekend at our house while Mj was away at drill.  The bonus is that my little sis was able to fly down from SF and join us when we didn't necessarily think she would be here.  The only real set plan we had was for Friday night and we would just play it by ear for the rest of the time.  Friday they all met at up my house while I was at work.  Once I got off my sister's joined me and my friends for happy hour at one of our favorite hang out spots while mom stayed home and watched the baby.  We had a great time there drinking and eating then got home around 9:30pm and stayed up watching TV and talking until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore and had to go to bed.

The girls

I woke up bright and early Saturday morning for no particular reason.  I was just so excited to have them all at my house. It was so cool to finally have a place big enough to invite them over to.  Mom, big sis and I did P90 Yoga and then we all got dressed to meet the carpet guy at my rental property.  Too bad he was a no show but we got a chance to take a peek into my recently vacated condo.  Sadly, it's a wreck.  After that we went back to my house and brought out the stroller so we could walk over to Outback steak house for lunch.  It's a short walk and such a perfectly beautiful sunny day that we wanted to get out and enjoy it a little.  We were too early!!  They don't open until 3:30pm so we walked to Blockbuster to get some movies stopping at 7-11 along the way to get Slurpee's.  We spent about an hour and fifteen minutes walking all together.  By the time we made it back to Outback we were all STARVING!!

We all got Slurpee's for the walk

Mom and little sis

We enjoyed a nice lunch then walked to CVS for a few things.  Back at my house we watched gymnastics that I DVR'd earlier that day.  It was the American Cup.  Mom is usually too busy running around to catch it and little sis (who is also a former gymnast) is usually at work so it was awesome that we could all sit there together and watch it.  After that it was movie time.  We got our popcorn, candy, wine and other munchies together and watched Life As We Know It and Love & Other Drugs back to back.  Big sis had to tap out and take the fussy baby up to bed but the rest of us managed to barely stay awake and finish watching the last movie.  For not really having any plans it turned out to be quite a full and fun day.

We love this kid. 

Sisters & nephew DJ

We lounged around eating breakfast, chatting and watching TV until late afternoon on Sunday.  There is never a shortage of things to talk about.  Then all too soon it was time for everyone to get moving and get dressed.  They had to get on the road and head home and I needed to go grocery shopping.  We stopped at Wendy's so they could grab a bite to eat.  I'm usually the one who isn't ready to eat yet so I just held the baby and snatched some fries for myself.  I wasn't even going to go but I just didn't want the weekend to end and was trying to spend every last minute with them that I could.  I was so sad to see them go.  I love spending time with them and I'm so glad that we got to do just that for an entire weekend.    I already started missing them as soon as they got into the car and drove away.  I love them so much!  I feel so incredibly lucky to have each one of them in my life and am glad we are so close.  We didn't do anything spectacular but it was still a spectacular weekend just because we were together. 

Nice Long Weekend

At my job we get Friday and Monday off so I was lucky enough to have a  4 day weekend.  I ran some errands on Friday then went home to wait for my big sis.  She came down on Friday with my nephew to spend the night and we got to spend some quality time together.  Little Dj is so cute!  He can't quite figure out how to crawl yet but he is sitting up and eating baby food now.  Mj volunteered to watch the little guy while we went out to dinner.  He did a fantastic job.  He fed him while we were gone and by the time we got home he was sleeping on the couch.  About 10 minutes after we got home he says, "Is he going to fall off the couch?"  I ran upstairs to put a barrier at the edge just to make sure.  My sister hardly ever gets to go out to dinner so she very much appreciated the little break.

He fell over and cut his face on our coffee table.  His 1st injury.

Saturday morning Mj made us french toast for breakfast and then my sister and I did one of her cardio dance work out videos together.  She is on a mission to lose her baby weight so she works out 6 days a week and burns a minimum of 500 calories with each video!  I felt like an uncoordinated spaz because I couldn't quite keep up but it was a great 45 minute work out nonetheless.  Big sis left that afternoon and I'm looking forward to seeing her again in 2 weeks.  It's so nice having her near enough to visit with now.  Mj and I were going to go out for date night but with all the heavy rain we decided to just stay home.  We got Subway and watched two scary movies instead.  Paranormal Activity 2 and Buried.

Sunday was a nice day of relaxing.  Well, after we did taxes that is.  It took about three hours but we managed to do it ourselves using Turbo Tax online.  Mj actually did most of the work but I assisted and ran around getting paperwork.  Our taxes are a bit complicated so we weren't sure if we could do it but I think we did OK.  It saved us a lot of money doing it ourselves.  The cold weather didn't stop Mj from grilling steaks for dinner that night.  Monday I was able to knock out one of my gym days for the week in the morning.  I burned up 600 calories then met a good friend of mine for brunch. 

I felt so bad for Mj when he had to get out of bed and I was sleeping in!  His job doesn't get President's Day at all which I think is pretty ridiculous.  I had a nice, relaxing, long and productive weekend.  Back to work, but at least it's already a short week AND I have the first episode of the new season of  America's Next Top Model to look forward to on Wednesday.

Hello Three Day Weekend

It is absolutely heavenly to still be in my jammies right now on my living room couch instead of sitting in a desk at a cubicle in the grayish tan colored office I spend 40 hours a week of my life at.  If only every morning could be like this.  I've been worn out from working an extra hour every day in the morning for the last two weeks and my handsome reward of a Friday off has finally arrived.  I've been sitting here reading blogs, surfing the net and eating my PBJ and it feels grand. 

Mj still continues to put me to shame in the kitchen but that's OK because I continue to be the recipient of deliciousness.  I still think about that chocolate peanut butter cake he made from scratch and when he makes stir fry it tastes like it came out of a chinese restaurant.  Now that he has subscribes to the Food Network magazine no doubt he will be inspired to make even more goodies.  Not that he hasn't ever made freshly squeezed lemonade before because he has but this recipe called for boiling the lemon peels and using that to flavor it which he was excited to try.

It's time to get productive.  My bridal shower is tomorrow.  I'm having a party at my house for the first time so even if it's not totally together the way I wish it were I can at least make sure that it's clean.  Then there are errands to do and things to organize but at the end of it all I plan to spend a relaxing night with Mj watching a movie and drinking fresh squeeze lemonade.  Wow...It looks just like it did in the magazine minus the Jose Cuervo bottle that is.

We finally figured out what to do with that giant bottle of not nearly as good as Don Julio disgusting Jose Cuervo that has been sitting in the kitchen collecting dust for almost a year.  Incidentally, it tastes amazing with lemonade.  Mj may be the talent behind the lemonade but adding the Jose Cuervo was my idea!

Saturday Morning Laziness

It may have been a short week but I tell you what, it sure did NOT feel like it. I've been adding an extra hour onto each work day in the morning so I can get next Friday off and it's wearing me out. It felt like all the house hunting and wedding stuff was just overlapping and getting really crazy all at the same time.

Last night was date night. Mj met me at the door with some pretty pink carnations before we rushed off to dinner. We were both starved. Then we went to the movies to see The Book of Eli. It was a late night making sleeping in that much more precious the next day.

I just love delicious and cozy Saturday mornings that I get to linger in bed and take my time doing anything at all. My time is my own and doing something or nothing at all is up to me. It feels like I haven't had one of these in a while but I am having it right now and it feels so good. Mj had a work function to go to so it's just me here. It's quiet and I can hear the water fountain outside.

I am still in my jammies and getting ready to leisurely turn on the TV and decide what I want for breakfast at 10:21 am on a Saturday morning. This is the life!

Oh crap! I can't get the TV to work. The new flat screen with HD is way too complicated for the likes of me. But that's OK. I can get caught up on Make it or Break it and Teen Mom online.