Checking in from Kauai, Hawaii!

Since we are on vacation right now I would love to post some awesome photos of our trip. Unfortunately we just discovered that my dear husband omitted to pack the cord to download the photos from my camera. So for now I will post a few from my point & shoot...you may already have seen these on Facebook.

We've done trips to numerous beaches, including Secret Beach, Tunnels Beach, Poipu & Lydgate Park, Shipwreck Beach and some I am sure I don't remember the names to. A few days of rain didn't keep us from exploring the island from North to South end. We saw a water spewing blowhole, affectionately known as "Spouting Horn". We've driven up to the famous Waimea Canyon, only to see not much of anything....It was waaaay too foggy and rainy but still worth it. In between we managed to squeeze in the local farmer's market to buy some exotic and tasty local fruits, a competitive round of mini-golf at the fantastic Kauai Mini Golf course, three shopping trips to Costco, two to Wal-Mart and numerous trips to Safeway, (which is luckily just across the street!)

Wednesday we swap people in our condo. My sister Lyne & her boyfriend Brian will be heading home and Adam with his friend Brandon will be taking their spots. My sister-in-law Michelle is also joining us for a week. Nothing like a full condo/car every day....

One More Week To Go...

till we leave for beautiful, sunny, sandy beaches in Hawaii. Yeah! I hope to keep blogging from there, but don't hate me if I slack off a bit...

Well, since the accident last week I've been driving our truck. Hate that thing, it's a pain to park, a pain to get into, guzzles gas like camel in the desert and I hate loading groceries and Grace in it.

On Tuesday we had appointments at the Dentist for our whole family. We are happy to report that there were no cavities for any of us....Wow! Grace had a blast, I think she especially loved wearing the cool sunglasses.

I have been trying to eat more of these...on the advice of my *due any day now* hairdresser Glenda. She ate them to stop these pesky leg cramps that most pregnant women suffer from during the second half of their pregnancy. I love the way they look, smell and I am a humongous fan of banana bread, especially with chocolate chips in it. However, I despise bananas. The texture makes me want to gag, they coat your teeth with this yucky stuff and it just feels gross. Does anyone have any other suggestions for leg cramps, anything but eating raw bananas??? Please???

The other morning I woke up and sitting at the breakfast table looked up and saw this out of our window. I quickly grabbed my camera and shot off a few pic's. What a gorgeous view...

On Friday I had a helper during my quick stop at the local grocery store. She offered to write out my shopping list all by herself and then even read it back to my in the store. She is getting so good at all this. It's scary how fast she is absorbing how to read and put letter sounds together to form new words. Tonight when I put her to bed she read almost a whole chapter of one of her Backyardigan story books all by herself.

On Saturday Martin took Gracie with him on some jobs and to pick up some gifts for a birthday party she was invited to. That left me most of the day to putz around my scrapbook studio cleaning up and toward late afternoon even putting together some pages. It felt so good to be creating something for me again. Over the last few months I've just been working on Christmas gifts and cards and I felt very drained, creatively. I cleaned off my desk and got to work. Hopefully this will allow me to work on my Project 365 while I am in Hawaii...

In Full Christmas Preparation Mode (NOT!)

GASP!

Normally we would be ready for Christmas around this time of the month, of course. But this year it's just not been going our way.

Well, until today that is...

Why do you ask? Well, we have not gone to cut down a tree this year, and my husband informed me yesterday that we will not be doing so this year... Apparently he is just too busy with work and I will just have to deal. It's nice to know that family takes priority for him, NOT! Well, I have tried to have him pick up an already cut tree somewhere but again that is hit and miss. So far only misses. Will keep trying, even if I have to drive the John Deere across the street to the tree farm myself. Didn't know it was so hard to find good help? LOL

Today though I found some small miracle in the form of a trip to the mall. What on earth do you ask is so miraculous about that? Well, for one a premium parking spot right out front of my favorite store. No line, (YES absolutely no line!) at the Verizon Wireless store. Not a single mother & child waiting to sit on Santa's lap for photos. A smiling girl sitting on Santa's lap and a perfect photo to show for it afterward. I found everything I was looking for at Victoria's Secret, in my size, and color, and even got a cool tote FREE with my purchase. Someone pinch me...I must be dreaming! At Gymboree the whole store was 30% off and with the coupon we got from Santa (apparently he gifts adults too, at least at Bellis Fair!), we received an additional 20% off our purchase.

All this has left me wondering why I have been avoiding the mall like the plague lately. It was quite pleasant and I noticed a bunch of brand-new stores that I had never seen there before...I hope this was not a one time deal...

Anyway, back to Christmas. I do have most of my gifts purchased and plan on wrapping soon as my curious daughter already had one in her hot little hands asking innocently "Whats this Momma?". I do also have a few decorations out and about our home, making it a little more bearable to be so far behind in my preparations. Plus Grace & I managed to whip up a batch of Sweet Potato Spice Cookies this Sunday. YUMMY!

Monthly Round-up (and NO! I do not mean the bug killing kind...)

WARNING!!! Extremely long blog post!





I read many different blogs, some involve scrapbooking, some organizing (though you wouldn't know it if you saw my home!)LOL, some about cooking, and much, much more...
One of the blogs I read is Katie the Scrapbook Lady and she recommends to do a reoccurring round-up at the end of every month to allow you to scrapbook your memories easier. So I thought I would give that a try.
Here are her prompts for a monthly round-up:

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
Well, besides my usual scrapbook publications (Creating Keepsakes, Simple Scrapbooks, Memory Makers, Scrapbook ETC) I bought Woman's Day, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Good Housekeeping & a special issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors entitled "Studios". I am a self proclaimed magazine junkie and would buy them all f I only had the room to store them. LOL I also have to note that 2 of the above mentioned scrapbook mag's are going out of publication, which is a real bummer cause Simple Scrapbooks was one of my favorites.

I have also read a really good book this month. Seems like it's been quite a while since I've had one that was noteworthy... It's called "Book of Lies" by Brad Meltzer. Check it out if you're looking for a good read...

What movies, television shows, plays, etc. did I watch this month?
We finished watching a lot of reality TV series that we had gotten hooked on over the fall/winter months. Such as "Survivor", "American Idol", "The Amazing Race", and we just started watching the new season of "The Bachelorette". What makes this season so special for me is the fact that Jillian comes from the town of Kelowna, where I spent the college years of my life and where my family still lives today. I can't wait for the show where she gets to take them home to show them around Kelowna, it's so fun to see how they portray a town I know well.

I've also been trying to catch up on TIVO'd episodes of "LOST", I find that I enjoy this show way more when I can watch several episodes one after another.

What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends? (I decided to add my own category in addition to this called "Did you take any trips or vacations or did someone come and stay with you at your house?")
I started going back to the gym to work out regularly this month. As part of that I joined a new bootcamp called "It's A HOOT Bootcamp". The girls that run it are great and the best part of it is that we exercise outdoors. I love it, even when the weather wasn't all that stellar to start with. But I also signed up Miss Grace for the kid's part of the bootcamp and this means that she got to join me outdoors at one of Bellingham's fabulous parks and she exercised with the kiddos. What a great idea! If this sounds like something you would like to check out please feel free to look up their website and let them know I sent you. There is even a coupon I can send you for a free session if you just want to try it out once... Let me know if you want it, it's good till the 19th of June...Hope to see you there...

Grace also started her T-ball league through the local YMCA. I wasn't sure what to expect, since soccer seemed to be a "take it or leave it" thing. But it seems that Miss Grace is quite enamoured with T-ball and can't wait for her next practice/game.

Did you take any trips or vacations or did someone come and stay with you at your house?
As a family we made two trips this month.

The first weekend of the month we headed out to the San Juan's in the Roeboat. The first night we anchored off of Sucia Island and had quite a bit of rain. Actually an island local said it was the worst rain storm he had seen in 20 years. WOW! The next day we headed to Friday Harbor and had an awesome dinner at an Iranian restaurant. It pays to try something new every once in a while!

The last weekend of the month we headed east to Winthrop to visit Martin's parents. We took Becky her long awaited chicken coop, losing some pieces along the way, but finally managing to get it all finished and ready for some chicken to move in. Grace & I had a good time visiting the Farmer's Market with Grandma Becky.

In between the two we had our friends Stan & Ginger from Alaska stay with us over Mother's Day Weekend. I cooked up a yummy Sunday brunch and afterwards we took a nice walk down to the river with everyone.During the week of the 14th Grace & I decided to drive up to Kelowna to surprise my parents with a visit. They were soon to be celebrating their 25th Wedding Anniversary and we wanted to do something special. Besides, Martin & Adam were off to visit Ben, the aspiring NAVY Seal of the family in San Diego, where he is stationed during his training. While in Kelowna my younger sister Lyne & I hatched a crazy idea to set up my parents for a surprise family photo shoot. It turned out to be a great idea. The photos the photographer we got totally last minute turned out amazing. He was a guy who had taken pictures of Lyne's friends' wedding. His name is Stefan Matis, go check out his website.

What gifts did I give and/or receive?
I finally did the "Pay It Forward" drive thru thingy. You know, the one where you pay for the person behind you in line.
It was kind of a cool feeling to gift someone I didn't even know and make their day. You're welcome lady in the green Volvo, it was my pleasure.

I also finally finished the "Grandparents" frame I had been working on for a bit now. And during our Memorial Day visit to Winthrop to see my in-laws it was delivered. I think it was a hit. Thanks Julie for making me look good. LOL

What special or unusual purchases did I make?
I've been waiting to get some window coverings for my scrapbook studio. Coveting anything Pottery Barn I knew that waiting for a sale was an absolute must...well, I got lucky and the curtains I had been drooling over were part of their last sale. I ordered them straight away and also snagged some cute lamps for my office too. Can't wait to put them all up...hopefully hubby will squeeze me into his busy schedule sometime soon.

Another, very unusual purchase, was made while visiting Winthrop during the long weekend. My friends Troy & Aubrey are getting hitched in July and Martin had wanted me to get a nice new dress for the wedding. There is this awesome store in Winthrop called the "Courtyard Quail" and I spend money there every time we go to Winthrop. It is a cute boutique that sells all kinds of cool clothes, accessories and such. They also have a home decor store in Winthrop and branches in Leavenworth and somewhere else I can't remember right now...

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
I have had some popping in my lower back when exercising, but think that's just from being a bit rusty and starting to exercise more again... Martin has been having trouble with his arm, he seems to think that he pinched a nerve or something and has been getting massage therapy for it.

During Grace's T-ball game on the 30th I was stupid and did not put my sunscreen on before the game.
When I remembered it was already too late and my shoulders and back where burnt pretty bad.

What were my accomplishments this month?

This doesn't really ring any bells with me...? I guess getting back to exercising regularly. That's a biggie. Dragging my sorry butt off to bootcamp and the gym...

What were my disappointments this month?
Disappointed that I still have a mile long to do list, and am not getting as much accomplished as I feel I should...

Anything else noteworthy to include?
Also getting rear-ended twice in one day should qualify under this category, shouldn't it???

All right, I apologize, this post has taken on gigantic proportions. But I must say, we did a lot more stuff this month than I had originally thought. What a great way to look back and summarize everything you think is noteworthy. I love it and will try to do this every month from now on. Beware! I think that I will change some of the topics though, and add on some I feel need to be in there...so stay posted.

I also had my last day at Treasury, at least for the summer. It was soooo hard to say that. I miss that place.

Ooooh and volleyball at the park has started up again. It was so nice to play outside on the grass. I hope to make it out there more often this year...

So I apologize for the long post, but I think that I may actually try to do this every month. It made me realize how much more we had done in a month than I actually thought... I plan on changing some of the questions to things I feel are more relevant to me and my scrapbook style, but all in all I think it's a great idea.

Viva Las Vegas Baby!

I guess it's about time I blogged about our trip to Lost Wages. It's been a month already and wow, lot's of things been happening.
Most of us in the house have been sick for the past month on and off. Martin got sick right after we returned from Vegas. We arrived home to a blizzard and landed in Bellingham airport with a total whiteout. It was strange to see this at the end of January, and the whole town was turned into a winter wonderland.
Vegas was definitely a last minute decision as we had originally planned to spend that weekend on the "Rowe Boat" out in the San Juans. When we heard that the forecast called for cold weather that weekend with snow int he mix we just thought that we'd be better off somewhere else. Since the place we wanted to go to in Oregon was booked that weekend Troy suggested flying out of Bellingham with Allegiant Air straight to Vegas. The price was right at $88 each way so we looked into a hotel and booked. I even investigated a little and reserved us a limo from and to the airport. It was quite an experience...
We stayed at the Mandalay Bay and I must say the place was very nice. Our room was connected to Troy & Aubrey's and there was a TV in the bathroom and even a phone in the toilet room. We immediately made plans for dinner and Troy's choice of restaurant was vetoed by the girls. We picked a different one and boy did we pick! It was a wonderful choice at the top of THE Hotel, a section of the Mandalay Bay and the view was spectacular, including sitting right across from Stone Cold Steve Austin the wrestler. Dinner was fantastic but so was the bill at the end. We even decided to forgo a wine and dessert as we just couldn't justify spending that much.
The second day we went for a walk down the strip. Here's the boys on the bridge crossing the strip at the New York, New York.
The idea was to head to the Paris for some crepes for breakfast. We obviously didn't' realize how much of a walk this really was. The last time I was in Vegas was back in the late nineties and the Mandalay Bay was just being built, the Paris not even thought about....

Anyway, we did make it to the Paris hotel and walked the little cobblestone streets to the cafe where we ordered up our crepes. Not my favorite I must say, and definitely nothing like the chocolate croissants or "Pain au chocolat" in Paris. The weather was nice maybe a little breezy but we enjoyed the walk and soon headed back towards our hotel. We had talked about going to a show and of course in true Man/Woman style no one could make a decision. So Aubrey & I headed for the box office at the New York, New York and proceeded to make reservations for the night. Well, by the time we had our ducks in a row of course all that was left for seats was waaaaay up in the rafters, not even the nosebleed section. We again made an executive decision and booked the tickets for Sunday night instead, forgoing the hypnotist we had talked about seeing. So with some rather pricey tickets for Cirque de Soleil's "Zumanity" we headed off home to the Mandalay. Troy had made some calls to his contacts in Vegas and managed to get us some awesome third row tickets on the floor to see the amazing Brad Paisley up close and personal. He just happened to be performing a the Mandalay that night. Martin & I had already enjoyed his show in Vancouver a while ago, but it was so good that we decided to do it again. And man, was it great. The talented Rodney Atkins opened for him after a great performance of Chuck Wicks the guy who sings "Stealing Cinderella" (great song and awesome performer, you'll see more of this guy!).

Brad of course rocked the house with his awesome guitar playing and performed all his hits including, Ticks, Letter to Me, Celebrity (a must see video with Jason Alexander), The Fishing Song, You Are the World, Everything (a personal favorite!) and a new one that hasn't been released yet called I'm Still a Guy. During the show they had a slide show going on the screens and couldn't help themselves with poking a little fun at the Monte Carlo fire that happened the day before.

So Sunday we headed over to The Hotel for a nice breakfast. Then we spent the day enjoying the spa, doing some bargain hunting, playing some card or slots and Martin took in some poker with the big boys. He almost won big, got a great hand and was beat by an incredible hand, twice...what are the odds of that? Not very big, we were told.

Sunday afternoon we got ready for the show with a haircut for the boys, a little shopping for the girls... Aubrey had Troy buy her a beautiful sparkly ring and I shopped for a little black dress to wear that night with my Anne Taylor heels that I had snagged up the day before for $20, they were marked down from $200. Yeah! So looking a snazzy and pretty we headed to the Shanghai Lily for dinner that night.

After dinner we took a cab to the New York, New York to get there in plenty of time to have some dessert and of course to help us ladies with our heels. It would've been hell to walk all that way.
The show was phenomenal, I haven't laughed that hard for a long time. It was an adult show so it was a bit risque but tasteful and with the audience participation you never knew what you were gonna get. There was a midget who did acrobatics on the silk ties hanging from the ceiling, synchronized swimming by two very flexible Asian ladies, hot dancing men, a clown couple for some comedic relief and all in all I think we all enjoyed the show immensely. I would even go back and see it again, if there wasn't so much else to do and see in Vegas. I think we've already picked out a different show for our next trip...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Just a quick post from snowy, beautiful Winthrop. We had decided to keep with my European roots and have our "official" X-mas dinner last night followed by opening our presents. Grace was pretty excited, even though she had some issues with Santa already. Last Thursday we were at the mall, all decked out in her pretty dress ready for pictures with Santa. Well, everything was going great, until she got to the part where she was supposed to sit with the big guy. Then she just plain out refused. Oh well, better luck next year, I seem to remember a certain picture of myself at that age screaming at the top of my lungs being held by Santa Claus. Guess it runs in the family.
We had a blast opening presents, well, Grace actually opened very single one of them for us. But she had so much fun and we loved watching her tear into the paper and figure otu what each box contained.

Yes, I will admit it, I drove around for two days with a headless horse in my trunk. Yes, you heard me correctly. A headless horse...but before you jump off your chair and rush to call the SPCA or whatever agency is responsible for animal cruelty/mutilation hear me out...I had to do it.

Last year I was Christmas shopping and when it came time to come up with the "WOW" factor gift I failed miserably. So this year I jumped at the chance(s). After a lengthy discussion with my hubby we "agreed" not to buy each other anything extravagant. Well, between you and me...I have no trouble buying for my hubby, as he apparently has buying for me. Although I am not sure what part about my list, that we went over in detail, he didn't understand??? Anyway, to cut to the chase I got the lucky guy a brand spanking new GPS system worth (as he informed me after looking it up on the Internet!) over $600. Well, I can't help that I am a great deal finder?

I digress...back to the horse... When I was at the mall for Santa photos, (the ones that didn't get taken, remember?) I ran through TARGET for a couple of small things. But to my dismay and delight they had in stock the infamous gift that all little girls want...Butterscotch the (almost) life sized horse. Well, imagine my delight, since it was sold out in a flash last year. So I drove my stroller with sleeping, post No-Santa-Photo fit child, into the check out lane to reserve this marvelous wonder for my darling daughter. Nothing would stop me, not the clerk who claimed that they could not help me as they could not be responsible for prepaid product, not the other shopper who crowed the store and mall in a last minute gift hunting frenzy nor the exuberant price tag on the little furry fella. I demanded that someone "hold that horse" for me so that I could go to the other end of the mall, retrieve my family sedan and return to collect my prize. After what seemed like a losing battle I found a sympathetic clerk who put my name on the box and I hustled back to my vehicle petrified of losing my hard earned chance to purchase this gift. when I got to the other side of the mall parking was of course scarcer than a drop of water in the Sahara but I decided drastic measures should be implemented as I had a sleeping toddler in the vehicle and needed to simply load Butterscotch into my car. Well, let me tell you Handicapped parking never looked so good. I ran inside handed the clerk my VISA card and told her to charge it. I then hefted the huge box, (it wasn't very heavy just bulky!) and made a run for it. Here's the clincher. The box was too big for my Honda's trunk. No amount of pushing, prodding or pulling would coax my horse into the trunk space of an Accord. After several dazed and confused minutes I capitulated and sliced open the box and lifted the headless horse, (Apparently the horse was too big for the box too!) loaded the folded box into the back seat and headed for home. So at home I faced the challenge to patch up the box and repackage the whole kit and caboodle so no one caught on to what was going on...

Needless to say Butterscotch made it to Winthrop in two pieces and after having a good laugh at my daughter's saucer sized eyes when she saw the headless horse we screwed the head on and enjoyed Grace playing with her new toy.

Grandma was clearly thrilled by the vinyl wall board Grace and I made her to display her gorgeous grandkids on. Thanks Elizabeth for the great idea.

Grandpa got a tool wagon, the boys some survival kits, carhart gear and socks, Martin his GPS, some books and a pair of dress pants, I received a birdfeeder with two colors of lights on it, a pair of gold hoop earrings and a craft book. Grace of course had the mother loot with a cash register toy, a Pooh Bear piggy bank, a slinky toy, some Lincoln Logs, Snowman Jammies, a Tic Tac Toe Game and of course Butterscotch.

Day OFF

Here I am with a day off and still no motivations to get anything done. Well, not absolutely nothing. I do have the second load of laundry in the machine and my volleyball clothes are packed for my 2 PM Game and tonight's match. I plan on staying in town between the two to get some chores done like grocery shopping, collecting last little presents or things I need to finish them, etc.




We received another card, this one totally unexpected. It's from the Iron shop where we purchased the parts for the railing for our house. It's kind of nice to get cards from unexpected sources, don't you think?

I bought a X-mas Gift!

Yeah, for me. I did purchase something yesterday and am soooo proud of myself. I actually ended up venturing into the jaws of the lion, or should I say the doors of TARGET yesterday. It wasn't as bad as I anticipated. I've tried a couple of times just to give up due to the sheer volume of cars in the parking lot in front of the store. But yesterday I must've timed it just right and got there during dinner hour between chores and volleyball at 7:15 last night.

So tonight and tomorrow (Martin is going to Ray & Lisa's house to play poker tomorrow!) I will try to accomplish a lot and work on my gifts to be completed....we'll see how that goes.

On another note, Monday we had our first winning match of the season for our women's team. This is quite a feat since we've moved up to the top division and have never played at this level before. We've been playing so much better since the beginning of the season. These stronger teams just lift our play to a whole 'nother level. So far we've always managed to take one game out of three twice and lost one match, but on Monday we actually won all three games. Whooooohoooo!

I went by Trader Joe's last night for some groceries, and picked up this cute little wreath. It's kind of hard to see in this photo, but it's got little walnuts tied to it and smells divine. What do you think? I love it.