enjoy your life

Source: etsy.com via Gioconda on Pinterest

be happy today.  i'm documenting this "leap" day.  can't wait to see what i discover.

love is in the air

we celebrated lots of weddings last year.  1 sister, and 3 cousins.  along with that came lots of bridal showers.  always fun to celebrate with the lovely brides-to-be.

this year it's a bit slower, but just as special. we have 2 weddings coming up; one in the spring and one in the summer.

this sunday sofia and i went to irvine to celebrate the bridal shower of cousin amanda.

amanda and nate are getting married in tucson in the spring.  aunt beth came into town to help shower her daughter with food, family and wonderful gifts.

now i have to confess that i was not on the planning committee for this shower.  i just got to be a guest, (and i made rice too).

we had chili, winter salad, corn pudding, chips and homemade salsa and fruit with pumpkin dip.

i'm sorry i didn't get a picture of the desserts.  especially the peanut butter chocolate pie, or the strawberry cake.  it was all delicious.

one thing i love about visiting the godlewski house in irvine is their a-ma-zing coffee maker.  it makes the best coffee.

we played a few games.

best marriage advice. loved what everyone wrote.

the cottonball game.  something i remember playing at the many showers i went to with my mom as a kid.  have you seen this?  you are blindfolded and you have to scoop up cotton balls with a spoon and put them in the bowl.  but when you are blindfolded it's hard to tell If you are getting any.

well, aunt becky didn't seem to have a problem.  she won.

then it was gift time.

handmade aprons.

fiestaware.

a frog sponge holder (it's a family thing).

the kids never stood still long enough to get a good picture.

but these kids did. (the cousins)

and here's one of the lovely aunts.

i loved this one of "the girls in pink", sofia, grandma and kendall.

what a fun day.

weekly menu:: week 9

lots happening here lately.

• it's raining (sort of) hoping that baseball gets cancelled.  it's too cold outside and we have things to do.
• jordan borrowed a set of drums!  thanks tim.  he's so excited to practice.  i'm not sure how excited the neighbors will be but we'll deal with that as the complaints come in.
• i'm busy with the school blog.  great response so far and i am filled with ideas.
• bake sale for andrew's class tomorrow. i may have just remembered that right now!
• went to a new yoga class this morning.  i feel stretchy and open.
• sofia and i went to a bridal shower yesterday.  will share photos soon.
• loved the oscar's last night.  
• father and daughter dance on friday. got her dress over the weekend.

does that sound like enough to think about?  at least the menu for the week is done and i don't have to worry about what i'm making for dinner.

making this week: 

monday: turkey chili and cornbread

tuesday: chicken taquitos and rice

wednesday: breakfast for dinner: whole wheat french toast and turkey sausage

thursday: asian glazed drumsticks, brown rice and vegetables

friday: bbq salmon, mashed potatoes, broccoli

saturday: dinner with friends (hoping for dim sum)

sunday: picnic with friends

baking this week: cinnamon rolls for the bake sale and basketball cupcakes for the basketball team.

gotta run and get that dough for the cinnamon rolls.

have a peaceful week.

happy list:: 05

the happy list

1. rubio's fish tacos
i only eat them during lent.  on ash wednesday after church my sister-in-law and i went to rubios for a couple of these tacos. they are sooo good.  crispy, breaded fish, delicious corn tortilla, white sauce, cabbage. even though i couldn't eat meat it didn't feel like i was sacrificing anything.

2. new music
cage the elephant "ain't no rest for the wicked" - jordan bought this song last week and played it over and over...and over.  kind of love it.
gotye - who doesn't love "somebody that you used to know?" it's getting a little overplayed on the radio but we still love the new sound.
coldplay + rihanna - "princess of china" still enjoying this album, and this song is perfection.

3. the great race agoura - 10k
on march 24.  this is the race that i did last year but as a 5k.  a few people from our training group are doing this race as a halfway point in training.  i'm glad that i get to do a longer race before the half marathon in may.  it will give me confidence and experience.

4. peanut butter powerbars
omg!  these are my favorite things right now.  please don't tell me that they are high in sugar and empty calories.  i don't want to hear it.  i just want to enjoy this before my run on saturdays and hope that i burn it off.

5. martha stewart at staples
have you seen the martha stewart line at staples?  what? you don't wander the aisles of the office supply store every week?  well, i love this line.  super cute labels, folders and organizational items.  i especially love the mini binder, dividers and calendar pages.  no need for them though but as soon as i figure one out i will be getting them.  i'm using some of the labels in my project life book.

just a few things making me happy as february comes to an end.

oh and an invitation.  next wednesday is february 29 - leap day.  a few weeks ago ali edwards did a day in the life documentation.  i was going to do it but ended up forgetting about it until it was too late.  but wouldn't it be cool to document leap day?  i think so.  i'll be using the same concept and tools that ali did.  if you want to join in that would be so fun.  check out what ali did, simple, everyday, moments of life.  i'll share the photos and stories soon after.  are you in?

have a good weekend.

our weekend in iphone photos

this past weekend we took advantage of three days off and a bit of snow on the ground and we went up to kernville with bobby's dad and step mom.  our hope was to get the kids to the snow for some skiing and snowball fights.  no skiing, but we ended up with a relaxing weekend and a whole bunch of iphone photos to share.

before we headed up on saturday i went to my training and andrew went to baseball practice.  bobby and i also got our school's new blog up and running.  it was nerve racking to put it out there but we are so excited about the future of our school.  you can visit the site here.

bobby made the video.  did you recognize the voices?

then we packed the car and headed to our first destination

something to keep us awake for the drive.

we left around sunset and the view was breathtaking.

we got to kernville just in time for dinner.

i am not ashamed to admit that i had a bbq pulled pork sandwich with cole slaw, baked beans and a glass of merlot.  ok i am feeling a little guilty when i put it that way.


i fell asleep on the couch.  the mountain air does that to me.

in the morning we had pancakes.

then it was time to go to the snow.  the cold, cold snow, where it's windy, and damp and cold.  so, bobby took the kids

and i stayed home to knit (still knitting that same scarf)

and sit by the fire

and read (still reading that same book)

the kids came home and played.  building forts

and words

bobby did some work and we checked the blog stats to see how it was going.

dinner from the chinese restaurant in town and another glass of wine. 

i know it looks like we drink a lot when we're up here but we don't.

i guess it depends on your definition of a lot.

some bedtime reading.

on monday we woke up to breakfast burritos and coffee.  at least i didn't have wine with breakfast.

we took a walk to the creek that runs through their backyard.

this is the foundation of the new wine barn.  we'll be making wine here next year.

bobby took the kids to the track to ride their quads.  i decided to head to town for some internet service at the coffee shop.

unfortunately when i got there they told me that they no longer have internet service. so it was me, a hot chocolate and a calendar.

a quick walk through the craft fair.

and then i forced myself to do my 50 minute monday run.

can you tell how steep it is in the picture?  i went up and down this hill twice, to the church, to the zumba place (i just discovered that and may have to take a class the next time we visit), and back home.  i was pooped and ready for some... not wine, water.

the kids came home and we took showers, ate a little something and played with the iphone camera some more.

then we packed our stuff and the kids in the car and came home.  

i was hoping to accomplish one of two goals for the weekend.  to finish my book or to finish my scarf.  i didn't do either but i did make significant progress on both.  combine that with relaxing, enjoying time with people we love, eating well and an occasional glass of wine (or 2) and we call that the perfect weekend.