I wanted to take a minute to try and blog. I am sitting here trying to write and the only thing going through my mind is “we don’t talk about Bruno”. The girls are watching videos of…. I don’t know what, but that song hasn’t stopped. Today is an important day, it’s Shawna’s birthday. We are waiting to celebrate her, I made her a banana cream pie and she gets to eat it before dinner, as she wishes.
We wet out to dinner the other night to celebrate her and her mom’s March birthdays, the girls love going out and I love taking picture of them.
This video is titled “how to embarrass your 7 year old”.
If you are a fan of Top Chef, or Chef Brooke Williamson or just cupcakes….Brooke partnered with Sprinkles cupcakes and put out a dark chocolate cupcake with passionfruit filling. I was on top of that and brought us home a couple. Delicious!
Things have been busy, Averi started Karate. She seems to really enjoy it.
I don’t even have the girls today and that song has been stuck on repeat in my head all.damn.day. Have you seen Encanto yet? It’s cute, I enjoyed it and I enjoy it when it’s on. The girls like to watch all the You Tube families recreate that song, which I have to admit, always grabs my attention.
This one is my favorite.
But seriously, where do these people get the time to create these elaborate videos? I was asking Kaili, what do you think all of their neighbors think when they see them all singing and dancing in the middle of the street? Lol.
Sorry if you’re singing it all night.
How was everyone’s Valentines day?
We had a nice day. The girls made their class small valentine bags. Kaili gave them each a mini Kawaii Mochi squishy and candy. Averi gave them each a zipper fidget bracelet and candy.
I forced them to take kissy pictures.
I can NOT believe how big they are getting.
I will forever recreate these pictures, even if I have to fly across the world to surprise them in college just for a kissy face picture.
Babe got me some Adidas soccer slip on sandals, and lava filled dark chocolate Hershey Kisses that are so good. For dinner, we got fancy and ate King crab legs and mushroom risotto on a towel in front of the television while watching Big Brother and Love is Blind 2.
Guilty pleasures all around.
Let me know if you want this mushroom risotto recipe, I took the easy way out and baked it.
This week, the week between Christmas and New Years has been like a dead zone. Schools are closed, it’s wet and cold outside, the kids are bored, even with all of their new shit. It’s hard to get motivated to do all the stuff that needs to be done, aka put all their new shit away. It’s just an awkward week, on top of that Kaili caught a cold, so we are limited on things to do, and for some reason they want three meals a day. I’m to the point that I actually don’t care what they eat anymore, as long I don’t have to stand in the kitchen all day. Chocolate? Sure. Chips? I don’t care, Ramen? Go right ahead. Seriously, no nutrition has happened this week. The closest we will get to healthy is the fruit on tonights charcuterie board and strawberries with whip for dessert. The house is a disaster zone and we have so much crap that doesn’t have a home, Baby Yoda lives on the kitchen table, the new electric bike is kicking it in the dining room, the top of the fridge has collected an absurd amount of candy and there are mini brands scattered throughout the house. I am sure we will be finding tiny soy sauce bottles and heath bars for years to come.
But it’s the last day of the year, so I am trying not to stress about it. We are going to bake cupcakes, try learning a BTS dance and then see how long the kids can last. My bet is no later than 9:30, what do you think?
You guys soccer fans? No? Cool, cool, well anyways, here is a little update anyhow, our U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT) beat Mexico, Dos a Cero (that means 2-0) in the World Cup Qualifiers. If you aren’t sure about the history of the U.S. and Mexico rivalry referred to as Dos a Cero, then I won’t bore you with the details.
Anyways, it was fun night, good food, good people, great game.
Then it was straight into a busy week.
I was in the middle of a Peloton ride when the instructor said, “I am going to stop talking so you can be present with yourself.” My brain went straight to how much people-ing I did the past week. I don’t really have too much interaction with actual people (family doesn’t count) since Covid. Most of it is via text or email, but last week it seemed that I had somewhere to go or a meeting with someone each day. It’s quite overwhelming and I understand the anxiety some people are probably experiencing. Anyhow, I just wanted to say that if life is sometimes hard, I get it.
To help ease the busy constant that is keeping children alive, I put the kids to work.
Averi helped me make chicken piccata, which in the end, she wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. Seriously infuriating.
We also made Polvorones aka Mexican wedding cakes. When I was going through my binder of saved recipes to find the enchilada casserole recipe, I found this recipe.
You guys, this recipe is straight out of a college Mexican cooking course.
All of the girls helped. All of the girls tried the batter except….ya Averi. She was eating the pecans out of the bag but refused the batter.
But, they all thought the cookies were delicious, so that’s a win. Although, it shouldn’t be a win because they’re effin cookies, right?
Are you all enjoying summer as much as me? I mean, all the soccer, warm weather, some fun little trips, dinners with friends and finally once again, the horse races. We have had some good wine, warm pool days, lazy river days, and even dark speakeasy drinks. It feels good to get back out and do things again.
We met my brother in Vegas awhile back for a few days. We found a really good deal at the Mandalay Bay and spent one day downtown and one day at the lazy river. There is a speakeasy in the basement of the Mob Museum. We found the password that we needed when we approached the side door. The little window opened and the bouncer asked “who told you that?” And Shawna replies “We ain’t snitchin’!” He says, “good, we don’t want any snitches in here.”
Once inside the cool air we settled down with a really good adult beverage.
Next up was the The Golden Tiki. We hit our reservation on the spot and luckily got three seats at the bar. Bar = video poker. Which I didn’t do too terrible at. This place is tucked into a strip mall in China Town and it’s SO unassuming. When you enter the small dark bar you leave the heat and cigarette smoke behind and enter into a rated R Disney meets a Margaritaville set in Tahiti. The menu is full of rum drinks, the bathroom wallpaper is naked women and the stall handles are phallic shaped. I mean even the fake parrot has a foul mouth, Jimmy Buffet would be proud.
Mai Tais on fire. If you are looking for something different to do in Vegas, I would swing by for a rum drink.
After a quick bite to eat, we hit Fremont for some music and Roulette. The next day we spent the day floating down the lazy river at Mandalay. It was a fun two-day getaway.
We have had fun and sun pool days.
And all of us girls were able to have playdates with friends that we haven’t seen in ages.
Shawna and I took a drive out to the desert, via the scenic route.
Is this a herd? A gang? I mean, Bison right? They were just following each other…. as a gang would…in Eastern San Diego, picture worthy but not mug shot worthy… luckily.
We hoped to wine taste on our way out there but it was a Wednesday and we weren’t in luck…Until we were.
In the mountains we came across Shadow Mountain Vineyards. Inside the tasting room we were greeted by Pamela, she stood behind an old wooden bar and asked us what we liked. This was the best wine tasting experience I have had in a long time. It turned out that Pamela and her husband were the winemakers and we got to chatting about good wine and pairings. Turns out that they used to own the first wine bar in Dana Point, small world.
Pam let us taste everything and I liked a lot of it, especially the rosé. We did not leave empty handed. The best part, it was still San Diego County. #drinklocal
We also learned that the cactus flower only blooms once a day and then it dies. Well, I think that is what Pam said but we did just finish a few tastings. Ha, you can google it and let me know if I am right.
Anyhow, here is the beautiful, once a day flower that Pam picked early that morning.
And it’s source.
AND FINALLY, where the turf meets the surf. I love the horse races and (knock on wood) I had a pretty good day.
Sadly summer has come to an end. We absorbed all of it. Long days, beach days, and pool days. Hot days at the fair, little getaways out of town and whining, lots and lots of whining but so much LOVE! There were swim lessons and World cup filled days, wine tasting, birthday parties and MLS games.
The Art of Thyming 