Category Archives: family

Pinterest Win

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I’ve got a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. It annoys AND inspires me. Thus far I have successfully created two Pinterest-inspired things. One was this recipe, which I loved and recommend for all of my Paleo friends. The other I completed today. These little bracelets are for the kiddo. they have our cell numbers listed. If we get separated from each other, in an ideal world she”s wearing a bracelet, finds a nice Mom that she will ask for help and we get in touch and all is right in the world. in an ideal world she wears the bracelet and doesn’t lose it. in an ideal world she sticks to me like glue and we never get separated.

Pin-Win

But, we don’t live in an ideal world, so I’ll give this a shot.

Link to bracelet

Link to yummy homemade larabars

Oh, and here is another one (one-sheet comic book), but I knew about this before I saw it on the Pin

 

BTW, this does NOT work. Lame.

Birthday Fun

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Some of the fun food/activities during birthday celebration time, then see below for some photo highlights:

  • Blue C Sushi. Now, I know it’s not exactly gourmet stuff, but it is a lot of fun and easy to bring the kid. Of all the things she could have pointed out that went by on the conveyor belt, what caught her eye? The Mighty-O Donuts. Wow. Good thing we were heading to the next item on my list right after lunch…
  • Trophy Cupcakes! I’ve been looking forward to this since my office moved from The Bravern to Lincoln Square. No easy access to Trophy, you see. It was also fortunate that my birthday fell on a Thursday … Chocolate Peanut Butter day. Yay!
  • Shopping. I told the husband that for my birthday I wanted to go shopping. By myself. So yesterday I hopped the bus to downtown and spent a quality few hours with my debit and credit cards. Nordstrom Rack was my main destination, but also toured the Gap, Old Navy, Pacific Place, among others. My main goal was to try on a bunch of pants to figure out what size I am. And what I learned it it all depends on where you go. Great. It was really enjoyable to walk in and out of stores, to try on clothes without having an entourage (i.e. family) waiting for you. Bliss!
  • Zoo! After shopping I took the little one to the Zoo. We mainly just hung out at the Family Farm and we finially got around to checking out the “habitat discovery loop”. Carousel, too. The only drawback to the Carousel was that I took her twice. That’s $4. Which meant four fewer dollars for …
  • Red Mill Burgers. We haven’t been to RM for a while (used to go more frequently when we lived in Ballard, and/or before we had the kid). Sorta forgot that they are a checks/cash only establishment. So I had them ring up 2 burgers, and was there anything leftover I’d buy some fries. Nope. Had we just sprung for one carousel trip instead of two … but how can I not splurge for the little girl? Definitely made the right decision.
  • Cake from Metropolitan Market. No picture. Because I ate it too quickly. Since I came home fries-less, the husband went hunting for something more at the store and came home with (among other things) a slice of chocolate mousse cake. Since I opted out of baking a cake this weekend, this slice definitely hit the spot. Even if it did give me a sugar headache immediately afterwards.

If it’s not obvious from the above list, I’m taking a break from the usual SBD (sort of) while birthday week celebrations go on. It’s the year of the rabbit! I’m a rabbit! So take a guess as to how old I turned on Thursday. Does the littlest one understand birthdays? Not sure, though I don’t think so. We aren’t exactly the “happy birthday to you” song kind of family. I do wonder if she understands that she gets a tasty cupcake when someone’s birthday comes along. (though she often calls the banana muffins I’ve been making “cupcakes”, so maybe not).

birthday cupcakes via chattycha on flickr

 

Chocolate Peanut Butter to the left, Red Velvet on your right. The toddler picked out the “Samoa” for herself, but I’ve had the Samoa and I didn’t want her bouncing off the walls. So I chose the domesticated Red Velvet for her. She didn’t put up much of a fight:

now that's yum! via chattycha on flickr

Here are a few other pics from the birthday festivities:

A Red Mill Burger (just a cheeseburger), which I split with the toddler. That I only had $10 cash on hand (RMB takes cash or checks only) made the decision to forego fries, onion rings and a shake pretty simple:

Cheeseburger from Red Mill via chattycha on flickr

My birthday beer. Courtesy of the husband:

monty python ale via chattycha on flickr

I originally planned to make Chocolate Guiness Cake. Bought the ingredients and everything. Then yesterday had a change of heart and decided I really didn’t want an entire cake hanging around the kitchen while I return to those SBD times. I told my husband my decision and then said something like, “So you can have that Guiness that’s in the fridge.” He just looked at me as if to say, “Duh”. Ha ha. But, he did find this fun beer for me. Better enjoy it before the weekend festivities are over.

BTW, check out in the background of the beer pic, to the far right, a glimpse of the cute Chuck Taylors I got for L at the Rack. They’re velcro and they are awesome! She’ll have to grow into them but I’m super excited. Why is it I’m buying the toddler stuff on my birthday? Because it makes me feel gooood!

My First Mother’s Day

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Mother’s Day started with me being cranky.

Until the husband said, “Happy Mother’s Day” and I said, “Oh yeah!!” Goody. Suddenly I was in a much better mood. The babe gave me a wonderful card with lots of wonderful things written inside, as translated by the husband (she likes to call him the “waiter”).

Flashback to a few weeks ago. We were standing in line at the grocery store and I saw the display of Mother’s Day cards. I started thinking about all the things I had to do to get ready … get cards for my mom and my sis. Figure out what to get for my mom. Make sure the husband got something for his mom, etc etc. “Oh drat,” I say to the husband, “Mother’s Day is coming up.”

“Yeah,” he says back to me. “You’re a mother now”.  I am! Suddenly I got very excited.

“I want pancakes!”

In the past, Mother’s Day has been brunch at some restaurant on the Eastside. This year, the mother-in-law offered to make brunch at the in-laws’ house, which was a splendid idea. I didn’t want to go to a restaurant, especially since the babe has been cranky lately. This also gave the grandparents as much time as they wanted to fawn over the babe.

Mother-in-law made a delicious brunch that included French toast (even better than pancakes), fresh fruit, bacon, sausage and blood sausage. I didn’t actually know what the blood sausage was. The husband had to tell me on the way home. I wished I had remembered to take a photo. Boo.

And … dessert! Cute little mini-pastries, including cupcakes from SweetCakes in Kirkland. Mini eclairs, tiny lemon meringues, cream puffs and more. My favorite, as I get the opportunity to try a variety. Yum.

mamma mia!

mamma mia!

These are some of the desserts we were allowed to take home with us. The in-laws know me way too well.

I look forward to many more Mother’s Days, and to making amazing new traditions with my growing family. Hooray!

HMD

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Some reasons why my mom is great:

1) She let me get my ears pierced when I was in 5th grade. Meanwhile, my older sister had to wait until she was 16. No joke.

2) She taught me at a young age that you could indeed have a career and a family.

3) Although I’m sure she would have preferred that we go to college closer to home (Connecticut), she let us go where we wanted. As a result one kid went to California, one to Pittsburgh, and me to Chicago. I’m a better person because of it.

4) She herself has lived in a different continent than her mother for most of her life. Makes me understand more the importance of the time you do have to spend together. At the same time, she didn’t get too upset at me for insisting that we leave at least one state (Oregon) between us, for sanity’s sake. She may still move, though.

5) She loves her children, but she REALLY loves her grandkids. And they love her right back.

Love ya, Mom!