Reasons I Love Summer: Boat Parties

Friday night a friend hosted a party boat to celebrate her birthday. It was filled with lots of good food, swimming in the lake, flippy cup, and lots of dancing!

don't run in the house!!

I was forwarded this email... Its too good to not share!

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How many times have kids been told NOT to run in the house?

Do they always listen? Not always.

Sometimes parent's seemingly futile efforts fail and boo-boo's happen.

Here is a little feller who didn't listen and he got his own souvenir scars.

Perhaps he'll learn from his mistake. Maybe.



Doesn't look so bad.

Perhaps he should keep this next photo handy to explain the way it happened!!!

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OUCH! That's GOTTA hurt!!!!

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The Lobster

Check out these cool lobster boil accessories at Plum Party Supply.


Lobster Cocktail Napkins and Lobster Appetizer Plates
They'd go perfectly for a lobster themed party!

Smooth Moves

Yesterday I broke down and bought a new blender. My old blender still worked, except for the fact that 2 months ago, I had chopped up the little rubber ring that keeps the juices from oozing out the bottom. Its kind of an important component! Sure, the appliance can blend. But cleanup is a bitch!

And probably not too safe. Are leaking juices good for electronics that plug into electrical sockets?

You should see the new beauty in action... She sure can chop ice!

This morning's smoothie was pure, unadulterated deliciousness.

And the best part of the new blender? The integrated bottom component. No longer will I have to worry about chopping up the rubber pieces.

Girls Beach Weekend!

Ahhh, the beach.



This past weekend I spent a long weekend at the beach with the girls. We stayed in a lovely 3 bedroom condo. It had a large patio and a view of the ocean. Access to the beach was just outside our front door!



After the four hour drive from Austin, we headed to Virginia's on the Bay for dinner and margaritas. We got there just as the sun was setting!



Saturday morning we hit the beach. 10 a.m. Bright and early... We wanted to claim a spot on the beach before the crowds showed up. Uh, yeah. It wasn't that difficult to find a place. It was pretty deserted that early in the morning.



The day was spent reading juicy magazines, working on our tans, and enjoying the water. We had planned ahead and brought lots of snacks for the weekend! My salsa was a big hit, but next time I'm going to go easy on the jalapeños.





After almost 8 hours on the beach, we started to trickle in, one by one. Time to shower, grab a snack off the smörgåsbord, and get ready to go dancing. Carmen Electra put us in the mood. . . .



Stripper aerobics works up quite an appetite!!! Yes, we had eaten a smörgåsbord, but we needed substance! I don't think Cheetos count as substance, do you? Plus, we still had to check out the local dance scene. It was time to hit the town.



As we pulled into the parking lot for the Venetian Hot Plate, a little puppy ran up to us. We knew he wasn't a stray, since he had a brand new collar and a leash dragging behind him. We assumed he had been tied up outside a restaurant in the area, so one of the girls took initiative and canvassed for his owners. No luck! We called the police, who were going to bring him to the local animal shelter. As we were waiting for the cops to show up, a truck saw us standing on the street corner and slammed on their brakes. It was their dog! Apparently, Archie had been in the back of the truck, but had jumped out sometime during the drive.

I called the police back to let them know they didn't need to pick up the stray dog anymore and the officer on the phone replied, "Oh great! That's wonderful for everybody!"

Speaking of wonderful for everybody... If you are ever in Port Aransas, you MUST check out Sharkey's! Drinks are a little expensive: Miller Lite is $3.25 and Michelob Ultra runs $4.25. But that dance floor -- its awesome.

They even have their own hula hoop dancers! I don't know if the dancers are on-staff or if they are just a bunch of exhibitionists, but who cares?

Sunday morning we dragged our tired dancing feet out of bed, checked out, and made the journey home... with a stop for a little outlet shopping in San Marcos along the way! Goodbye beach... I miss you!

Chop Wizardy Salsa!

This weekend I'm off to the beach to hang with the girls. Seven girls in a condo with direct access to the water! Its going to be so much fun!!!

There has been a lot of planning to get ready for the trip. What do we bring to entertain ourselves? Do we bring snacks and drinks ahead of time? Should we buy everything there? After two weeks of emails and instant messaging, the decision was made to bring as much as possible ahead of time. I know I'd rather do most of the work ahead of time and do nothing when we got there!



I had grand visions of making my dad's homemade salsa recipe for our beach trip. Over Mother's Day weekend, my aunt took pictures of the family hanging out in the backyard, having drinks & snacks. And I know they were snacking on my dad's salsa. He makes it for almost every family get together. Oh man, my mouth has been watering for that salsa ever since!



Its only five ingredients. How much work could it be?

Uh, yeah. I forget how time consuming chopping vegetables can be, especially when you don't have good knives. The recipe calls for eight large tomatoes, but with the tomato health scare going around, large tomatoes are scarce these days. Luckily, there is a farmer's market down the road and local tomatoes aren't in any danger. (I'm not trying to poison you, ladies!) They weren't large tomatoes, but medium sized. I used ten, instead of the recommended eight.

After I blanched a tomato and removed the skin, I started to chop. Its a lot of work.... Then I remembered: I own a Vidalia chop wizard! Let me tell you -- I will never chop tomatoes with a knife again. I love that little gadget!! It also cuts up jalapenos into tiny little pieces.

Unfortunately, the chop wizard isn't so good at chopping cilantro or green onions. I had to do those by hand. And the clean up is a pain. But by golly, its worth it.

a quilt in a weekend

I want to make a quilt! Or at least finish a quilt that I've started.... I have seen so many awesome quilts online this month, I want to sew something myself. If I had a whole weekend to dedicate to sewing, I'm sure I could finish one in a couple of days. After all, it only took only a few days to make my sister's birthday quilt last August.



Ever since I finished her quilt, I have been working on a quilt for myself. It has the same bright floral fabric in the center, but I'm using a different border. Its a dark gray floral I found at Joann's. I had gotten three sides of the border attached when I ran out of fabric! Don't you hate when this happens? When I went back to purchase more, my local Joann's was out. URGH. After months of contemplation of "to buy or not to buy", I decided to purchase the remaining fabric online. I had a coupon, so it helped with the shipping charges. I made sure to buy enough for my last border sashing and to use a large portion on back.

Meanwhile, I have been eyeing all the finished projects online! glittergoods has such a cute red & white quilt, which she completed in a weekend (plus three months). ahc on craftster has made two adorable log cabin baby quilts. Wonderful job, ladies!

'tunes

I'm addicted to buying stuff on iTunes.

There. I've said it out loud. Please help.

It started off about 9 months ago. I'd buy one song here. One song there. I didn't splurge. I had upgraded from only downloading their free weekly songs, to purchasing a song or two. It only happened once in awhile. Need a song to fill my party repertoire? Oh, iTunes & Rihanna, thank you! Need a soothing medley to add to my work song list? Gracias Yael Naïm & iTunes!

But one day - must've been back in April after I returned from New York - I did it! I purchased an entire album.

I watched the Juno on the plane and felt like getting the soundtrack. So I bought it. Let me tell you... iTunes is the coolest. You don't have to get in the car and drive over to the record store. (Yes, record store. I don't like giving Best Buy my money. I usually drive down to Waterloo for cd purchases.) Plus, iTunes albums are only $9.99! Granted, I don't get an actual cd nor the album artwork, but I'm saving like five dollars!

I was pretty content. Didn't feel the need to buy anything else. That is until frolic! mentioned a Portland band named Canoe. I had their myspace page opened for three days when I said to myself, "Just buy the album!"

And I did.

And I love it.

Next album on the list? Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago, recommended by dooce.

Today it was She & Him's Volume One.

iTunes. You are so evil, but oh so good at the same time.

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

Joey, July 2003, age 22 months:


Jakob, May 2007, age 1 month:

Apron Fool

This weekend I finished my apron for Abby's Apron Swap! I went with a "Fourth of July" summer theme for the apron. I was going to make something retro, but at the last minute, saw the patriotic fabric and loved 'it! I used a red America fabric for the main portion of the apron and added cool red and blue square fabrics for the pocket and sash.



I also sent my swap partner a coordinating dish towel. I bought a simple kitchen towel at Target and added two strips of fabric. One is the red patriotic fabric and the other is the red and blue squares.

I hope my partner likes it!