Date Night

July 31, 2014 ~ Girlmom ~ 3 Comments

I am way behind on my writing. We have been busy the past few weeks and when I did have free time I couldn’t find the motivation to put pen to paper.

Shane and I were given the opportunity to have a date night last week. I have been waiting to try a new restaurant so it took me no time to decide what to do.

Richard Blais, Bravo’s Top Chef All-Stars winner just opened a new restaurant in Little Italy and it just so happens to be across the street from a new winery. We have been to San Diego Cellars a couple of times but its been during my pregnancy so I have been eager to try their wines.

We spent an hour at SD cellars while waiting for our reservations. Conversations flow easily with Todd, the winemaker and he was filling us in on his future wine making endeavors.

Dinner time rolled around and I walked into Juniper and Ivy like a kid waking up on Christmas morning. I had been waiting for this day for almost a year, to say I was excited is an understatement. We started with a nice bottle of Italian wine to pair with the Kurobuta pork meatball and bone marrow with crispy oysters to start.

I had never had bone marrow before and I was pleasantly surprised. The meatball, topped with a mole sauce was also good.

For our main dishes, Shane tried the pork porterhouse which the waitress claims to have made grown men cry. I wouldn’t go that far but it was pretty darn good. I went with the white bass in a Veracruz sauce served over mashed black eye peas. I wasn’t thrilled with my decision, turns out I don’t love mashed peas but the fish was perfect.

We couldn’t leave without trying a dessert so we easily agreed on the Yodel. A devils cake rolled up in a white chocolate ganache, covered in dark chocolate along some hazelnut brittle and deliciously dressed in hot chocolate. We indulged and every bite was delicious.

It was a great night and I would recommend you try both San Diego cellars and Juniper and Ivy if you are in San Diego, they live up to the hype.
It was so nice to get out of the house with my husband and have time just the two of us, talking, dining, drinking. I didn’t worry about the kids, I didn’t feel guilty being out, I was just happy.

The Weekend

May 28, 2014May 28, 2014 ~ Girlmom ~ 2 Comments

Memorial day weekend is usually spent sipping cold drinks and playing in the sand at Mission bay with our friends, but this year Kaili had other plans. Early Saturday morning she woke up shaking with a screaming fever and it scared the shit out of me. I don’t know why but fevers intimidate me.

I should have known something was wrong when she was begging and I’m not exaggerating, begging to go to bed at 5:30 pm. The fever hung around for 2 days and then the runny nose and cough kicked in.

Although she wasn’t feeling well she kept asking to go to the beach so by Monday we headed down. She started out whiny and we weren’t sure if she would even last.

But it’s like I have always said, sunshine makes everything better and soon enough she was enjoying herself.

Someone who is afraid of the ocean sure didn’t mind the bay.

Dinner time was approaching so we decided to wrangle up all the kids and head into Old Town for some Mexican food. Mmm, enchiladas.

We avoided the popular tourist spots and tucked into a corner restaurant that was perfect for three little ones to dance around and act a fool.

I held up pretty well but at the end of the evening I was d-o-n-e and Kaili was wiped,we were all ready for bed.

Chandelier

May 20, 2014 ~ Girlmom ~ 2 Comments

Kaili asked me if I was going to work. I like to tell her that she’s my work, she responded with, ” ya, I call you, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, you come to me!” True story. I asked her where she is going to work when she grows up. “Daddy’s office, I will draw houses.” Sounds like a solid plan.

She has been saying some pretty funny things the past few days. Also she’s quite a bossy little thing. If I hear her talking quietly but missed most of it, I’ll say “what did you say?” She will respond with, ” I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to myself.” Well, then…sorrrry.

She is fixed on Sia’s latest video Chandelier. If you haven’t seen it, it is a pretty awesome video. Kaili likes to listen to it and try to recreate the dance moves in our living room. She definatley didn’t get the vocal genes so maybe she got her dads killer dance moves. Only time will tell.

A few weeks back we had a photo shoot at USD. I thought they would make a great Mother’s day gift for the grandma’s. They turned out beautiful! All photo credit goes to her Uncle Brian. I have zero photography skills, however I can Instagram with the best of them.

Here are a few shots.

A Week in Photos

May 5, 2014March 18, 2015 ~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

Between the gorgeous weather, Kaili’s birthday and Shane’s folks in town, we have been busy soaking it all up.

We went down to Seaport Village and I ate some of the best tacos at Puesto. Lobster, filet mignon and fish, I need these in and around my mouth right now.

Kaili getting friendly with a Pirate.

Blue cheese and chocolate. Have you had that flavor combination before? I haven’t. Strangely it worked.

Balloon surprise for the birthday girl.

Minnie Mouse cupcakes for the big day.

One of many.

Getting some good use out of her new playhouse daddy built her.

Sunday brunch.

Shellfish for days.

Three

April 30, 2014 ~ Girlmom ~ 4 Comments

Kaili woke up another year older. Three years old. In some ways it seems like time has passed at lightening speed but when I look at the picture below, well, it seems like three years ago.

Kaili knows her birthDAY, if you ask her when it is, she will say “April 29.” But she couldn’t understand why their wasn’t a party going on. I tried explaining it to her but it went way over her head and in the middle of my sentence she wanted to talk about something else. Typical girl.

She LOVES animals but most of all dogs. She talks about the next-door neighbors dogs as they are her own. When she sees letters in their names she will say R for Roxie, her own visualization. It doesn’t matter where you go, if there is a dog she wants to “meet’ it.

She LOVES cookies, chocolate and cake, who doesn’t? “Kaili, what do you want for breakfast?” “Cookies.” She is a good eater when she is really hungry so I find that starving her throughout the day makes her the best eater EVER at dinner. She will eat spicy food that some of her family members wouldn’t even touch and knows she needs to try everything at least once, that works about 95% of the time. It just so happens that she ends up liking it…95% of the time.

She is still a great sleeper but has an internal alarm clock than canNOT be reset. We are lucky to have her sleep to 6:30. It doesn’t matter what time she goes to bed. Actually she sleeps in a tad longer the earlier she goes down.

She might ask to see your nipple and I apologize for that…awkward. She doesn’t actually want to see your nipple, she is just performing a routine skin test and wants to check out your freckles and pimples. I don’t know why she can’t get that word out of her vocab, probably because it makes me laugh every time she says it.

She enjoys the beach but won’t go near the ocean…still. I try to get her to put her feet in each time we go but she clings to me as if I am dropping her off at a concentration camp. One day she will let go.

Kaili woke up to a present and then we hit the beach.

After we were all tan and covered in sand we walked to Belmont Park for a ride on the Carousel and some ice cream.

She was wiped at the end of the day. I would say she had a pretty good birthday, even if it was with just mom.

Happy birthday my sweet girl, I love you to the moon and back!

A Week in Photos

April 14, 2014 ~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

Pretty in pink.

Visiting the new cleaner fish pool at SeaWorld. Would it be wrong to put our feet in there?

“Is this right, mommy?” No honey, it’s not.

Mid-day snack after a dip in the not so hot-tub.

Green cooking.

She loves them, real or not.

Brand spanking new solar panels.

Bubble, bubble, bubble, POP.

Nighttime attire.

A Week In Photos

March 23, 2014 ~ Girlmom ~ 4 Comments

Mrs. Jekyll

Mrs. Hyde

The face of an angel.

Cookie baker.

Happy St. Patricks day.

Soakin’ up the sun, Coronado style.

One of my favorite cookbooks, so pretty to look at.

Don’t let this face fool you, an actress in the making.

Learning the art of Graffiti.

A Week In Photos

February 13, 2014 ~ Girlmom ~ 6 Comments

Kaili had school pictures last week. She went representing the Super Bowl champs.

I made these honey bananas and they are ridiculous. I had to make them again the next day and the next.

Kaili spent some time working on Valentines day crafts.

I also got around to pulling out some heart color matching I had made years ago.

I took Kaili down to Mission Beach since it was supposed to be “beach” weather.

But in a matter of minutes the fog rolled in and it was freezing. Might has well have been in Sochi.

Kaili wanted to wear her cupcake dress to school. She was given this as a gift for her 1st birthday, fits her just fine….sigh.

I made fish tacos for the very first time. Hello culinary bucket list. They were delicious and I can’t believe I have waited so long. Recipe to come.

Good Morning.

The One With An Ultrasound Photo

January 9, 2014January 9, 2014 ~ Girlmom ~ 2 Comments

Kaili is starting to grasp the concept that there is a baby in my belly, well when she wants to that is. She started talking to to my stomach, “hello baby”. I told her that when the baby gets bigger she can talk to it all the time and maybe sometimes she will see it move. She then said, “open tummy”, in due time kid.

The nausea pills seemed to make a lot of difference yesterday, in a good way. Now if it just goes away on its own here in a couple weeks, oh who am I kidding a couple weeks is TOO LONG to want to puke all day. I would rather not have to take anything at all but whatever works, am I right?

With my moms help I was able to do some purging around the house aka make room for baby and since the weather has been just lovely we spent some time at the park. Speaking of purging, did you ever see that movie The Purge? Creepy!

I have a first trimester blood screen test Friday, still have to find out if the MaterniT21 blood test is covered by our insurance, need to make an appointment with my Perinatologist and maybe take a trip to “Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don’t know, I don’t know if we’ll have enough time.” See what I did there?

4 a.m.

November 20, 2013November 20, 2013 ~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

I have been dodging a cold for the past few months but for whatever reason it got ahold of me and hasn’t let go. It has taken all my energy to get through the days, let alone start them at 4 a.m.
Kaili came bouncing out of her room at that time this morning. I ushered her back to room countless times. I tried the silent approach, the reasoning approach and the firm approach. None of them worked and we were still at it at 5:30 when I finally gave in and let her come into my room and watch Little Bear. Big fat FAIL. Tell me I am not the only one dealing with this.