Good times in California

I flew in Wednesday evening, Thursday I spent the day with my family. Friday I picked up Kellee Kellee and we went to 3rd street promenade then walked down to the Santa Monica Pier.

It was a beautiful day to walk around and do a little shopping.

Saturday we went to Ventura and walked around main street and ate at Zooey's a cute little bistro just off main. We got to sit on the balcony. It was a pretty little spot and the food was yummy.

The weather has been a little hot but you can't complain with it being so pretty here. In the shade it's just right.

After Ventura we headed to Silver strand beach for a little fun in the sun.

The beach was more crowded than I've ever seen it. But it was a perfect day for the beach so I shouldn't have been surprised. Ike didn't love the beach though, he pretty much clinged to me the entire time. But at least now he can say he's been.

SPT - Home Sweet Home

I'm Home sweet Home in California! The flight went really smooth and it's beautiful here. We already took a walk to my sisters and took lots of pictures outside.

The computer is going slow so This will be a quick one, but for all you people who love avocados this is what I grew up with. Lots and Lots of avocados. I'm a couple days late on the SPT but it works out cause now I'm home.

Like a Pro

My first commissioned cupcake job. When Ryan came home and told me a girl at his work wanted me to make cupcakes for her husbands birthday, my first response was, 'um, I don't make cupcakes'.

He was excited for me to do them though. He even came home with a sketch. So I agreed to do them for her.

I think they ended up looking pretty good. Hopefully she, I mean he, likes them. They were fun to do but I'm not sure I'm ready to be a professional cupcake decorator just yet.

One of these...

Favorite person (outside family) Kellee Kellee

Favorite food? Desserts
Quirks: I don't like paper towels put in half drank glasses of water or other liquid.

How would the person who loves you most describe you in ten words or less? I'd ask him but he's playing video games and probably wouldn't even hear the question. But my favorite thing he tells me is that "you're pretty and you're beautiful."

Any regrets in life? Nope, I'm sure there are a few things I shouldn't have done but I don't regret them.

Favorite Charity/Cause? Heifer International and Oxfam, also any that have to do with children in Africa, that's my weakness.

Favorite Blog recently? I get excited when anyone on my list updates their blog.

Something you can’t get enough of? Ike's smiley face.

Worst job you’ve ever had? Arby's or Kid to Kid, it's a toss up.

What job would you pay NOT to have? Working in a Coal Mine, I just watched the 30 Days episode about that and I feel really guilty for using energy now.

If you could be a fly on the wall, where? At the Algonquin round table in it's hay day if time weren't an issue. If it had to be present day, then on the set of a Wes Anderson Film.

Favorite Bible verse right now? Let there be light.

Guilty Pleasure? Bravo TV shows, Holding Ike while he sleeps so I can watch Bravo TV shows.

Got any confessions? I really don't want to get a job, even though I need to.

If you HAD to spend $1,000 on YOURSELF, how would you spend it? Clothes from Anthropologie! Ryan said if I get to a size 6 he will give me a 1000.00 to buy clothes with. I'm shooting for size 8.

Favorite thing about your house? all it's flaws, it's old and has alot of quirks but they all add character.

Least favorite thing about your house? all it's flaws, it's old and has alot of quirks

One thing you are bad at? Calling people who I need to call

One thing you’re good at? Buying gifts for people, but only if I don't have to. I highly enjoy random gifting.

If you could change something about your circumstances, what? Gas prices, and a cleaner house.

Who would you like to meet someday? Living: Wes Anderson, Owen & Luke Wilson, Amy Sherman-Palladino and J.D. Salinger. Dead: Dorothy Parker, Jackie Robinson and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

What makes you feel sexy? When Ryan kisses me.

Who is your real life hero? Rainey, She is raising 3 boys on her own, working full time and getting her Master degree, and she does it all with style.

When are you most relaxed? In a hot bubble bath

What stresses you out? Responsibility. My math teacher use to lecture about "The Big R" so I decided to avoid it for as long as I could. I've been pretty good at it but I can't avoid it forever.

What can you not live without? Diapers and Toilet Paper. My husband and child I guess would be first.

Do you agree or disagree with the recent article that reported that blogs are authored by narcissists? Agree of coarse, what's wrong with that. Loving yourself is the most important person to love.

Thanks Jen for tagging me, it was actually more entertaining to do than I thought, however I can't promise it's as entertaining for you. I guess how this works is I'm suppose to tag some people now, so I'd like to learn more about Shari, Jackie, Camille and Kat.

SPT - Twighlight's last gleaming

To continue with June's patriotic theme today's challenge is 'The twighlight's last gleam'.

For the first time in, I don't know how long, I went to bed before sunset and woke up before sunrise. If you ask me that's messed up, especially since I am not a morning person. I don't like the winter when it gets dark around 5pm. But I have to say now that I'm a mom these late summer sunsets aren't so great either. It's always hard putting a kid down when it's still light in their room.

Todays weather is making up for last nights late sunset. The wind is howling and the dark clouds are rolling in. I feel bad for my father-in-law who has wedsdays off and hasn't been able to get his garden in because it's rained here every weds. for the last 6 weeks. Looks like the trend continues. Let's hope my fence hold up through the storm, since the previous owners neglected to put the posts in the ground and thought staples were a good idea to hold a fence together.

Just what I needed

Happy Good Mail from my friend Kat! I've been in a funk today because it's my 4th day with a sick kid and have changed 9 stinky diapers and counting. I checked the mail twice with nothing in it, then my neighbor knocked on my door with a big pile of mail saying it was in his on accident. Yeah a nice package from super cute Kat. She out did herself. A super cute magnet that I've had my eye on for months, a really nice address book and cute card, where do you find such cute cards. Even the labels on the envelope were cute, I should have photographed them.

Not only did she get me stuff she sent Ike some super cute monkey buttons and a card with yummy cupcakes on it. One of the buttons matched the shirt he was wearing perfect so I had to put it on him. Can you tell he looks sick, poor guy. Soon after I received the Happy mail my mother in law showed up with a care package for Ike with Pedialyte pops and Jello plus a lot more. Two acts of kindness in one day, Just what I needed. Thank you so much.

Sick kid blues

Ike has been sick for 3 days now which means I've been stuck in the house holding Ike and changing many a messy diaper. It's made me a bit stir crazy and a bit drained. It also makes me want to make some things...
Like these cool flowers I saw on this site. I assume they are made out of felt or wool and would be pretty easy. They remind me of the super cute gerbera daisies Noelle made for the Beehive Bazaar .

Speaking of Noelle you have to check out her Etsy shop she makes the cutest stuff like this apron. It inspires me to want to start sewing again, or atleast to start buying cute fabric.

And speaking of fabric I found a new favorite fabric designer. Joel Dewberry has some pretty great prints. I actually bought a fat quarter of this a while back at Broadbents. Now to come up with something to do with it.

What I really want to do though is get someone to watch Ike so I can go see Sex and the City. Anyone, anyone?

SPT - Land I Love

This month's SPT challenges are patriotic...
Tuesday, June 3rd the emblem of the land I love
Tuesday, June 10th the twilight's last gleaming
Tuesday, June 17th my home sweet home
Tuesday, June 24th stars and/or stripes forever
I've never been overly patriotic. I tend to take pride in the things and places I've chosen, not necessarily the ones chosen for me. That being said, I Love Utah.

I love the seasons, Ok well 2 of them anyways. Spring and Fall are so colorful and beautiful here. But I think my favorite thing about Utah are the mountains, or should I say 'purple mountain majesty'. My Grandpa once said about sunsets, "Men spend millions on masterpieces, but God gives us one for free every day". I feel the same way about the mountains here.

This is To Brit, Marie and Amy

and all the other ladies in the world (wide web). This makes me want to go disco roller skating with my girls. My roomates at the BYU and I use to go almost every saturday night. We had the best outfits and Marie was the best roller skater, so smooth. I miss those days. It's been far too long since I've been roller skating.

Look how hot we were back in the day in the dorms. You'd think I went to school in 1973 but no, it was '93. We had many a polyester dress with shoes to match. We weren't messing around in the least.Did I think I was cool or what. What I would give for that stomach again. Good times!

Tickets Booked!

I didn't take this picture

I'm going home to California! I booked the tickets last night, thank you Ryan. I'm going in 3 weeks. I get to see almost all of my sisters, unless Sharon wants to fly in from Arizona. I'm looking forward to a little getaway. I'm also looking forward to the Camarillo outlets, Trader Joe's and 3rd Street Promenade.

SPT - Something Blue

Today, Not ME!
I had a bit of a crappy weekend. I was just in a funk. I had a couple days there were it just seemed like I couldn't do anything right and if it could go wrong it would. I was also getting really irritated over things that really don't matter. I was really rude to my sweetheart which was the worse part.

Today though, Today I'm Golden, not BLUE.

Last night Ryan and I got to go to Ikea sans kid and stopped by the Death Cab for Cutie concert. They played the song that Ryan has on his phone as my ring tone and gave me a big hug when it came on. That made it all worth it. Today I've actually accomplished a few things. I somewhat cleaned the front room, made dinner for Ryan's parents and us, and finally got some good mail and baby gift in the mail. And now I'm getting my SPT post done!

I'm also hooked on my Jack Lelane Juicer and I have to think that it's making me feel better too. If nothing else now my fridge and counters are filled with fruit and veggies so that's an improvement. I finally got a copy of You on a Diet workout which I love and have started doing. And I can't forget to mention my sweet baby boy who makes me happy every day.

So being a self portrait assignment I had to include myself in the picture but thankfully I'm not blue today.

Monkey vs. Robot

Ike's birthday is fast approaching and I've been researching party ideas. At first I was set on having a monkey party but now I'm starting to consider a robot party instead. I know Brittany I need to decide soon so you can work on your costume. One of the most important factors to me however, as you may have guessed, is which could I make cuter cupcakes for.
If I could pull it off, these robot cupcakes would win hands down, but I've never used fondant before, but maybe that's a reason to try.

these monkey ones are awfully cute too and would be much easier. I want a pinata too. Other than that I don't have big plans. Anyone have any ideas?

Of coarse Flight of the Conchords do it best and make me lean towards the Robots.

Vote for which you think Ike would like, then give me suggestions of what I can do.

SPT- Something Borrowed

On to the third instalment of the SPT for May, Something Borrowed. What have I borrowed or should I say "Borrowed" over the years that I still have. One of my biggest "Borrowing" problems is with...

Books
I tend to get books lent to me and they tend to stay with me a little longer than the lender would like. These two I actually read and had in a bag ready to go back to Sarah but they never made it. Want them back? I'm sure I've lent a few out over the years and haven't gotten back, but usually I only give out the ones that I don't care if I get back.

This shirt was my favorite "borrowed" item. I actually don't know if my roommate from college Christina even knows I have it. I haven't worn it in a while but putting it back on I was thinking it's still pretty cute. It's totally polyester and I think originally from the 70's but it has a nice stretch and might still fit me. Christina if you see this and want it back I'll mail it to you. Sorry I've had it so long.

Heart Racing

{no I did not take this picture}

I totally just killed a snake in my backyard! Can you say heart racing. I actually don't have a fear of snakes, I actually kind of like them. but I like the ones in the pet store that I know are nice, not the ones in my backyard that are set to come in my house. For a split second I thought about grabbing it but quickly redirected that into grabbing a shovel. Yep I cut the bad boy in half. So creepy, it kept trying to bite the shovel. Only problem is I can't bring myself to pick it up now that it's dead and put it in the garbage. Ryan is really scared of snakes but I think he's going to have to man up, either that or call his dad, cause I can't do it. I'm definitely having snakemares tonight.

Great Saturday!

I got to go to a great Bookbinding class at Amy H's house with a few other gals. Amy is amazingly talented and a great teacher. Not only did she supply all the tools and material but she made a yummy breakfast and lunch. Homemade Rolls and cheese danish, yum!

For not making a book in over 10 years, I think they turned out pretty cute. I of coarse had to use the Amy Butler Paper I'm obsessed with.

I've also been wanting a journal for Ike to write down some things about him and for him. I found this cute robot paper at Robert's and just happened to have bought a fat quarter from Broadbent's a while back that matched perfectly. I also got some rub-ons that match the paper that I added throughout the book. I love how it turned out. It's not perfect, but that makes it even more special.

Not quite there yet

I have a new respect for cake decorators. I decided I needed to step up my game with my cupcakes. If you know me you know I've become a bit obsessed with cupcakes of late. Even though I've been making them a lot I haven't been putting much effort into them.

So I decided to make my own frosting and get a decorating kit so I could make them look cute. Well it ended up being a lot more work with less than brilliant results. My first batch of frosting tasted really wrong due to some old cocoa, which I just realized I mixed in the two I decorated with the nasty frosting in with the others. That would be due to the fact that my dog ate the frosting off of the four cupcakes closest to the edge of the table. It made me feel less guilty about getting mad at my dog earlier for the cupcake that Ike got into. Did I mention the powdered sugar and cocoa powder everywhere.
This is what I aspire to. They sold them at the Beehive Bazaar but I missed them there so I made a trip to Dear Lizzie in Cedar Hills and bought one from their bistro. Yum!

SPT - Something New

If you remember the SPT challenge was month long this time, Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something blue. This week is Something New!

My new favorite thing is the Jack LeLanne Power Juicer. Ryan gave it to me for Mother's Day. He'd been talking about getting one the last few day's so I shouldn't have been surprised but I was. I saw the infomercial for it a few years ago and have wanted one ever since, I'm sure Ryan remember from way back then that I wanted one, yeah. I went out and bought a bunch of fruit, which led to an awkward conversation with the Walmart Checkout clerk. I try to never talk to people but sometimes I forget. I got alot of nice things from Ryan's family for mother's day too. The cute silver bowl holding the fruit is from Brittany, and she got me a cute scarf. I would photograph the things that Laura and Holly got me but they were food items and well it's been two days since I got them. But thank you.