Still got it.

So, the last time I posted about this, I signed off from the local airport, day one of our 5th anniversary getaway. The flight to San Diego was relatively uneventful which makes it such a FABULOUS experience. Those of you who have small kiddies know that flying can be one of the most stressful parts of being a parent. Being stuck in a small moving space on total display in front of an audience that would rather be at the dentist than sitting by you and your potential nightmare of a kid. Well, hubs and I were no threat to anyone and it was a joy to blend into the masses. I actually listened to my IPOD and read my digital camera manual. I am now a professional photographer. Cough, Bullsshhhit. But, well on my way? Just a tad, maybe?

Anywho, the first day of our trip included checking in to the Estancia hotel and taking a dip in the heated salt water pool (oh my) followed by the hot tub (oh my my). We were going to go to the wine bar at the hotel before our dinner reservations for a introductory cocktail, but I was too gabby (who me?) with the other guests at the pool, so we had to skip the drink. It was really a shame, since hubs had to give me my anniversary gift, (the ring), in the bathroom as we were walking out the door for dinner. Greaaaaaaaat, I goofed up hubs efforts on the romance. Dinner at Roy’s was just perfect, so the evening was a huge a success none-the-less. Hubs asked me across the table if I was buzzed and I said “yes” with a big grin on my face. Dude, I had one beer and one glass of wine. Total lightweight. Here is another photo documenting my state-of-mind:

strike a pose.

wishful photo shoot?

On to Saturday. Saturday consisted of hubs and I dropping in on my GIRLS from back home, whoorl and caroline. It was so great to see the little whoorlito and whoorl’s main squeeze, but we three girls really know how to catch up and pick up where we last left off in a short amount of time. You should have heard our topics of convo. (loved every minute of it.) Luckily, hubs is really good at ignoring thing he shouldn’t concern himself with. I believe whoorl is providing most of the footage from our shindig, but I’ll add a couple to the mix:

3 Chicks, unite!

Made in Oklahoma. Awee Yeah.

(Back in San Diego) The rest of the day and night was filled with another dip in the pool and a short drive down into La Jolla Shores for a casual night’s snack. It was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. Something about the weather, the mood, and of course, the hot piece sitting across the table. To top the NY style pizza and caesar, we split the pear/strawberry crisp. (Dude, give me anything with crust, and
I am so set.)

Sunday started off with breakfast down in La Jolla at The Cottage. I had “the world’s best” granola, which I personally do not recommend, (it had roasted pecans that I just couldn’t get passed) but it wasn’t that awful either. I just should have ordered my staple, eggs and bacon, and called it a day. I even got a piece of coffee cake to offset the wholesomeness of the granola. It was the size of my entire hand spread way out. We lugged it back with us and ate the rest of it over the course of a few days. That afternoon, we met one of hubs co-workers at the Coronado Bay docks and spent the afternoon sailing the bay with gorgeous views of downtown San Diego. Can we say relaxed?:

Chillin.

Sailing in Bay. Something is up with my hat, but whatever….

Later on in the day was spent at the hotel, I believe, in the pool again and at the local outdoor cafe on the property. What was going to be ONE cocktail and chips/salsa turned into a couple more drinks, shrimp quesadillas and halibut tacos followed by a group Salsa lesson. Who would’ve thunk it or planned something like that? Way cool. Since we didn’t know what we were in for that night, the camera was not present……

Monday was our last day in paradise. We took a lovely morning walk on the beach and then headed back to Coronado where hubs left his sweatshirt on the sailboat the day before. We decided to tool around the area and made our way through the Hotel Del and ate lunch at a local 50’s diner. It wasn’t that sunny, but that was no bother. We get sun everyday back home, (so done with the sun), so fog and clouds are joyous.

wayyyy close up on beach near Scripps

Hotel Del Coronado

And that pretty much wraps up the much needed little getaway with the hubs. It truly is amazing how once the little one is out of view for just a few days, the moments and the magic with hubs is so on, (thank God, I was beginning to worry. Well, not worry so much as missed those moments. I guess kids can really kill the mood, huh?)

Thank you hubs for making this all happen. When’s the next vaca?

e

eighteen hundred twenty nine

I am technically still on vacation since Rt is with his grandparents. I have one more hour until I jump in the car and meet Gran Gran halfway btwn here and there for the toddler dropoff/pickup. Of course, I am sooo excited to see the little one, but there is a part of me trying to squeeze every last drop of free time out while I still have it. I am still in bed at 9:09am and watching Regis and Kelly. This is the life. My stomach is starting to rumble though. #$%@%^@$%

The number in the title of this post is how many days hubs and I have been married as of today. I know, I know, the things you figure out when you have nothing else to do or be responsible for. Cool, huh? I do have a post in the works of our entire anniversary getaway, but I need more time than I have this morning. So, until then, I’ll leave you with a photo we took of ourselves in our hotel room after our big celebratory dinner at Roy’s. We forgot the camera at the restaurant, so we set the timer and used the ironing board as our tripod for the hilarious photo shoot. Ah, the things that tickle our fancy after a bottle of wine. Vacation, I miss you already.

e

Box cake is so last year

Part of mother’s day was spent making a cake, FROM SCRATCH. I had been watching The Rachael Ray show, not to be confused with 30 minutes meals or $40 a day, but her actually day time show. Her guest was the one and only Miss Paula Dean. She made a Banana Nut Cake that originated from her current mother-in-law. It looked somewhat feasible and damn tasty. That combination got my wheels a turning, so I made plans right then and there to make one for our Sunday M.D. bbq.

What the hell was I thinking? It was mother’s day and I was going to whip out a REAL cake for the FIRST TIME EVER? I have made 4 whole cakes in my life and those started out from a box. (They did turn out just fabulous, but for some reason I thought I would challenge myself.) I had to be careful though. This wasn’t the first time I went out on a limb during a big to do. I made my very first brisket for my very first dinner for my future in-laws back in the day. The recipe I had was my grandmother’s and called for a beef brisket. The only brisket I found at the Safeway in San Fran was a Corned Beef brisket. Do you know the difference? I clearly didn’t. Let’s just say Corned Beef is naturally one salty piece of meat.

My mother was planning on coming to our bbq and hubs parents would probably be making an appearance as well. They had just flown back in town from a family wedding in Ohio and arrived at our door just as the meat was being taken off the grill. Luckily, we had planned for a full house.

Dinner went off without a hitch. Half pint went down without much of a fight, the dinner was yuuuuuuuuum and the wine flowed at a nice pace. I did have a fair amount to do with preparing the dinner as well, but it wasn’t that hard, so I won’t bore you with those details.

It was then time for cake. I think it was the first time I was able to actually cut a piece of anything and it stay intack all the way from the knife to the plate. The first bites came and went and the applause was overwhelming. Actually, there was no applause, but the consensus was: the cake was spectacular!

If I had as much time on my hands as you do Betty Crocker, you would have some stiff competition.

e

p.s. thanks coco on my grammer question…

me bity bling bling

Breaker one nine, the ring has landed, THE RING HAS LANDED.

Now, I just have to wait 3 weeks to get my hands on it… or get it on my hand, rather.

I guess I can be content with a homemade
card for Mother’s Day, then.

Is that a done deal?

e

2 years ago tomorrow

My son was born.

I am currently writing my “ode to baby boy” letter, but I am having a hard time expressing myself. There might be two reasons why this is harder than it should be.

1) My sinuses under my cheekbones are starting to ache again.
Currently waiting for the Tylenol to kick in.

2) Hubs is watching a taped episode of “The Black Donnellys”. The times I start to tear up thinking of my little boy, some guy in the background is threatening some body’s life in an Irish accent. It’s kinda killing the mood.

I’ve got some ideas down on “paper”, so I’ll save them for the official
“Hot damn, You’re 2!” post. Until then, I’ll leave you with a little bit of half pint at 8 months old.

e

P.S. Happy Birthday LVGurl!!

A day late, but not a dollar short

Valentine’s Day in our house was on Feb. 15th this year. Hubs was supposed to fly back from SD in time for some sort of dinner celebration on the 14th. (not that I was cooking anything or had anything prepared, he was just supposed to be here. I did, however, have a gift and a card) BUT his plane was delayed and he did not return home until a few minutes before 10p.m. So, our BIG Valentine’s celebration began and ended with a goodnight kiss.

So, to make up for the missed holiday, last night hubs and I put Rt down, then sat down for a nice dinner of fillet, baked potato and roasted asparagus. Ohh, and there was wine. I think we ended up polishing off the entire bottle or close to it. It was just what we both needed, a quiet table for two after a long week. To end our intimate dinner, we exchanged cards. Funny enough, our cards had the EXACT same message. We must have been feeling the same vibe. Then, I told him he should open up his present. He had such a shocked and sad look on his face. I guess when I mentioned before we should be “cheap” this year, he took my suggestion literally. He wasn’t that much of a slacker though. My gift to him wasn’t rolling in dough. He received a shirt from Target, some Ghirardelli chocolates, also from Target, and a pail full of chocolate kisses and coupons good for activities to be used at a later date.

I told him we could share the coupons. That way, we both would get an actual present. He said he didn’t want to share.(I think he really liked the “get out of jail free” coupon or was it the “free round of golf without any huffing from me” coupon that sold him?) He DID say he would make some of his own coupons just for me. Now, how many of these coupons do you think will have to do with a “freebie”?

e

Oh Danny.

To the man that would give in and dress up as Danny on Halloween for me.
You rock my casbah.

e

P.S. Do you still have that sweater? See you tonight!

Go Lincoln, It’s ya birthday

I decorated my house in lights just for you.
Nah, I just wanted to show off my decorating abilities over the holidays.
I decorated the entire house IN THE RAIN.
(well, actually it was spitting, but it was still wet!)

Go e, it’s ya birthday.

Go Lincoln, It’s ya birthday

I decorated my house in lights just for you.
Nah, I just wanted to show off my decorating abilities over the holidays.
I decorated the entire house IN THE RAIN.
(well, actually it was spitting, but it was still wet!)

Go e, it’s ya birthday.

bunny bunny foot foot

Have you ever heard that? Saying this phrase first thing when you wake up on the 1st of the month and get a months worth of good luck? Well, I have taken it to a new level. Thanks to my darling son, I was able to mumble these precise words at 4:45am. Rt woke for a short moment and let out a howl. That alone stirred me to semi-consciousness and reminded me to say the magic phrase. SOOOOOOO, I should have good luck for the whole year, right? Well, if I could have my way, I would wish for loads of sleep for me and health to all I know in the new year.

We’ll see.

Happy New Year to all!

I’ll end this note with a photo from this years most memorable day…..

e