G5 Weekend Report

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!  We sure did. 

Friday night, we hung out at home.  Mark had gone in to the office for the first time in a couple weeks, so I decided to cook a special dinner.  It was a Pinoy feast!  I made lumpia and pancit.  It was my first attempt.  I made chili sweet sauce to go with the lumpia.  Yum!!  The lumpia was great, but the pancit, not so much.  I have never used rice sticks before, so I think I may have over cooked them.  They were a little gummy.  I'll have to get some advice from my neighbor who made us a Philippine Feast a couple weeks ago for next time.  Otherwise, the flavor was good.

Saturday, Kaylee and I went out shopping with a neighbor friend of mine.  The boys stayed home to play video games.  Mark has been working a lot lately, so it was nice to get some male bonding time in with Ethan.  We were supposed to go to this great resale place, but it was closed so we got lost in Cost Plus World Market for a couple hours.  I love that store!  I did purchase a gift for the bday party we were attending that evening, which was a Twilight theme.  

Rushed home to get dressed in my vamp gear.  Did the whole undead thing with the makeup ;) Wore all black, the whole nine yards.  Kay was my little vamp baby.  She wore her punk rock cute little outfit.  Looks like something from L.A.M.B., Gwen Steffani's kids' line.  My little cutie.  I was running late, so I forgot my camera.  I don't have any pics :(  My friend Natalie took some pics, so I will just have to wait on the pics.  We had fun at the party.  They had everything all decorated to theme.  Complete with themed food ;)  Wooden spears of meat (kabobs), bleeding red velvet cupcakes, Type O- and O+ blood on tap (sangria), just to name a few...Kaylee was tuckered out by 9pm, so we headed home.  It was a twilight party, so of course, that's when it began, so she lasted for quite a few hours.  

The boys had a great boys night in.  They ate junk, played and watched movies.  I didn't want to take Ethan, just in case he was scared by the costumes.  He doesn't like parties much, so he said he wanted to stay home with daddy anyway.

Sunday was a lazy day.  It felt great!!!  Don't remember the last time I was that lazy.  We laid around all day and watched movies.  I didn't do one single productive thing except feed everyone.   We had a "carpet picnic".  Ethan, Kaylee and I packed a picnic basket full of goodies and laid out a plaid blankey on the carpet.  It was fun to pretend we were out at the park.  We tossed the ball around too just like at the park and we made origami too.  It was too gloomy and patchy rain to have a real picnic, so it was the next best thing ;)  

I made some yummy loaded baked potato soup for Sunday dinner.  It was d'lish!!  I'll have to write out the recipe sometime before I forget it.  I improvised as usual!

Hope your weekend was nice and relaxing too.  Have a great week!!

G5 Weekend Report

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  We are winding down on days left until Christmas.  Hope everyone has their shopping finished!  I got the last of our "wrapped presents" on Friday.  I headed up to Toys R' Us and got Ethan and Kaylee's last presents.  I have some gift cards to pick up, but that I will do tomorrow.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute, eh?

My mom came up Friday night and we headed out to Costco to do some shopping for our tamale making party on Saturday.  I did all the meat prep and cooked the meat for the next day. I also made the chili sauce and salsa.

The next morning, it was on! We went to McD's to pick up some breakfast and coffee and we got started. We wrapped and cooked for most of the day.  We enjoyed our Mexican feast of chips and salsa, taquitos, beans and rice while we wrapped.  Boy, it is a huge undertaking to make tamales.  We made a lot.  We also made several different kinds.  We have spicy beef, mild beef, spicy beef and cheese, mild beef and cheese, and all the same varieties of pork.  I also have another 5lbs of masa left to make sweet ones (cinnamon raisin).  I was going to finish it up tomorrow.  It takes so long to make everything that you have to make a lot or it's just not worth it.  It's the same prep no matter what.  We were so stuffed from the other food, we didn't even try the tamales until the next day.

Saturday night, I ended up going to my first live stand up comedy show.  Mark and I were supposed to go together, which was mostly the reason my mom came up, but he was still not feeling well enough by Saturday night.  We were going out to celebrate the birthday of a good friend of mine, so I didn't want to ditch out.  Also, when you have a two week stretch of the kids without a break, it's good to get out and have a laugh ;)  Had a good time, but don't know if I would do the whole comedy show thing again.  It was pretty pricey, considering they weren't big names or anything.  They were pretty funny and I did have a good laugh.  I got to visit with some old friends and even managed to learn a few words in Japanese!  All and all, good fun.  Wished Mark could have come :(

Sunday, I took the kids to a puppet show in Balboa Park.  We did get to see some really cute dogs dressed up in Christmas outfits.  I don't know if they had some event going on, but everywhere we turned there was a dog all dressed up.  They were really cute.  The kids had a really good time at the puppet show too.  We sang and clapped (clapping is Javi's fav thing to do *stimming*).  It was a Christmas program, so it definitely got us in to the spirit.

Sunday night, I took the kids to have dinner at my friend Carrie's.  We made some carne asada from my fav Mexican market, where I purchase most of my supplies from.  Most people in there don't speak english, so I get to bust out some of my espanol whenever I go there.  Mostly, I just say "Necesito arrachera preparada, cuatro libras, por favor" (I need marinated flank steak, 4 lbs please.) or "cuanto cuesta?" (how much does it cost?).  My Spanish is pretty rusty these days because I don't need to use it that often.  I can still understand it pretty well, but my conversational Spanish is pretty awful now.   

Had a fun, but very busy weekend.  Looking forward to relaxing a little now that Christmas is winding down.

G5 Weekend Report

Ok, so I know I missed last weekend's report, but I'm trying to make it a regular habit. Mama Skates sets a good example ;)

Ethan and Kaylee's sickies are still lingering, so we didn't do much with the kiddos.  Ethan is battling it the most and is still home sick with me.  Let's see...

Friday, we did our 12 days, even though I know it was really 13 days 'til Christmas, I wanted to make sure Javi got to participate before going to Dad's for the weekend.  We "elfed" the kids with Elf Yourself.com as you can see from the previous post.  We had left over pizza and watched movies until we passed out.  We also finished up our holiday cards and mailed them out.  So, look for them in the mail this week!

Saturday, Kaylee and I headed out  to the mall. It was a mad house, just as I thought it would be.  Thank goodness I had a yummy Starbucks coffee to enjoy while battling the crowd.  We went on a three hour shopping sprint.  We did get a lot of stuff, but we have to return some of it sometime this week.  I purchased a Apple Airport Base Station 802.11 N for Mark, but he decided we should wait on such a big purchase with Christmas and Ethan's birthday coming up.  We donated at the Epilepsy Foundation's stand at the mall and got a shopping bag, gingerbread house and two cookies to decorate.  Dr. Neuro's admin was working the stand, so we finally got to meet her in person.  We actually have an appointment tomorrow.  Saturday night was ladies night for Mommy. I made some yummy spinach balls and took a bottle of wine over to my friend Carrie's.  We had a lot of fun.

Sunday I picked up some McD's breakfast for the whole family and some much needed McCafe's coffee.  We enjoyed our 'hashfries' as Ethan  calls them.  Yummy!  The best part of the breakfast, besides the coffee.  Then it was a mad dash to the supermarket to pick up some ingredients for the cake I made for the neighborhood holiday party.  A gift from Tiffany's which I thought would also be holiday neutral ;0)  

Sunday night, I walked over to the neighbor's house with cake and a bottle of wine in hand (Mark decided he would prefer to stay home).  It was a great turn out.  It was probably the best turn out ever as far as the holiday neighborhood parties go.  They had a lot of delicious food including a full ham dinner.  Yum!  I hadn't really eaten a whole lot that day just to prepare for it.  I ended up just having a little nibble of each thing. There was some goat cheese pizza with sun dried tomatoes and really delish artichoke jalapeno dip, just to name a couple of my favs.  Everyone was afraid to cut in to my cake.  They said it was too pretty to eat, which of course it was no big deal.  Nothing in comparison to a Sharon original ;)  I knew I could count on my neighbor, Jon, who always boasts about my cakes, to hack in to it.  I made a cake for his daughter's bday a couple years ago and I always take cake to all the hood parties.  He ended up having two slices!  It was half gone by the time I left.  Thanks I'm sure to Sharon's wonderful BC frosting recipe.  Mmmmm....I love that frosting and I hate frosting!!  What I can't figure out though is how you get the butter cream cakes so darn smooth!!  I will have to pick the expert's brain about that ;)

This AM I wasn't feeling to hot, due I'm sure to the three glasses of wine I had at the party.  I am becoming a little bit of a wino this holiday season.  I really enjoy wine.  They had such a huge selection last night, that I felt like I was at a tasting, which is why I ended up having a few glasses.  

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

A Night Out with Old Friends

Ok, not that they are old, I've just known them for a long time.  I can't believe I can say I have known them for nearly 20 years!  Wow, that time went by fast.  It's actually only 16, but who's counting :)  Yep, met most of them when I was 15 years old.

We had a good time.  We went down to a nice place at the beach called Firehouse (it's next door to the Pacific Beach Fire Station).  We decided it was just getting too cramped and uncomfortable for $5 beers, so we went to the dive bar a few bars down that my buddy Brian (the one in the collared blue shirt) used to frequent regularly when he lived down in that area.  Brian was my male wing man when we would head out in my single years ;)

The guys shot some pool at Open Bar and Natalie and I played MegaXL, one of those touch screen bar video games.  I hadn't played in years!  I think the last time I played was when I was a bartender.

After that we decided to start making our way back home.  We wanted to go to a place that was close to the house, so we went to our usual place, The Irish Pub.  It's about a 10 minute walk(...or should I say stumble) from my house.  

I was the DD, so just had a beer early on in the evening.  After my last little jaunt, I wasn't going to take any chances, I volunteered to drive!  But wouldn't you know it, I still had a headache in the morning.  Guess I just don't process alcohol well.  Good thing I only drink about once every two to four months.

We had a great time.  It had been years since we had all hung out together at the same time, so it was nice to catch up.  

Natalie, Matt, Brian & Steve

Natalie and Shanna at Open Bar

G5 Weekend Report

It was a nice relaxing weekend. Mark and I went on our first date in almost 5 MONTHS!! Yep, it had been that long :( We enjoyed a nice trip to Outback Steak house, courtesy of SAIC. Mark saved them about 50-70k earlier this year. They thought they would give him a $75 expensed dinner anywhere. Whoop-a-dee-do!!! Hey, but it's better than nothing ;) Some stock or a bonus on top of that would have been nicer. We did enjoy our steak and martini's and it was nice to be out with out the kiddos!! Thanks to Jamie Poppins, our Wednesday helper. She is a godsend. She feels more like a friend, than a respite person. We adore her.

Saturday, we met some of Ethan's friends for breakfast at the Hamburger Factory and a play date at the train park. We had a lot of fun, but it was a pretty hot day, so they kids were not really in the mood to run around on the playground after riding on the train.

This pic is our friend Tyler from Ethan's class last year. Down in the pic below is Ethan and our friend Ben from Ethan's class this year.  Kaylee and I are in the background.

Saturday afternoon we just relaxed.  I went to Target with Kaylee and picked up some needs.  My feet were starting to look like Fred Flintstone's so, I decided to give myself a pedicure. Kaylee, being my little girly girl, wanted to have her toes painted too. So I just took a plain paint brush and "painted" her toes with out any paint. I knew she wouldn't hold still for the drying process, so this was much better for my little princess. She was sooo cute. She wants to be just like mommy!! See her with my phone, car keys and sunglasses. We took this pic just before we left for Target. Mark did snap some pedicure pics, but they were too dark to post.

Sunday was a lazy Sunday, but we did get a few things done around the house.  I paid bills and organized some of my finances.  We are using a new system and we are trying to eliminate our credit card debt and just buy things in cash from now on.  We just want to reserve the credit cards for emergency purposes only.  We'd like to have little to no credit card debt by this time next year.  That would be nice!!  I just closed a credit account yesterday and I am getting ready to close another next month.  Mark just eliminated his school loan and I am almost finished with mine!  Yay!  It does feel nice to get rid of some bills.  I am using a program called Pennies on my iPhone to keep track of everything I spend.  It's quick and easy and I categorize all my spending.

Mark and I also played a little wii while the kids were napping. We hadn't busted out the wii fit in a while, so we decided to do a body test. I was sooooo proud of Mark to see what a difference he has made in just a few months. Here are the results of his portion control, more water intake and less junk! Keep up the good work daddy!! You are on your way to getting healthy!

Night Out

Well, a night out with my friends turned out to be more than I bargained for.  I did have fun, we played darts, we laughed and chatted.  The little I had to drink just didn't seem to agree with me.  Guess I am getting old, because it seems like every time I have more than one drink, it makes me sick or terribly hung over or both.  I can't seem to stomach it.  Oh well, guess it's good that I have fun with or with out drinking.  

I suppose it didn't help that I didn't eat dinner before heading out.  I was so full from eating a hamburger that afternoon, I didn't really eat dinner.  I did snack on some rolled tacos while we were out, which also happened to be meat filled.  I had a hard time getting through them because I am just getting adjusted to eating meat again.  I think it could have been combo of everything that did it.  At any rate, I think I will take it easy on the meat and on the cocktails from now on :)  I just can't afford to loose time by illness that is completely preventable.

Thanks to my honey for taking care of me and the kiddos.  I owe ya one, babe!

Our Date Night/Birthday Party

We had dinner at Outback before heading out, just the two of us. That part was nice to have some alone time. We hadn't been to Outback in a long time. We were going to try going to the beach to eat, but we decided convenience was a better choice. Outback is about 1/2 a mile from the house. Steak was yummy! We had dinner then stopped by the house to kiss the kids good night and top Kay off with boob juice before heading out to the beach.

We had a fabulous time out on the Bahia Belle (floating dive bar). We just love it on the Belle. What more could you ask for? Drinks, friends beautiful scenery on the bay. We even caught the fireworks display coming from Sea World. It's very inexpensive to go on the cruise and that includes the ride and entertainment. They always have a two piece band that does 70's and 80's music, but they are quite good and play a good mix. Mark and I danced to Journey's Don't Stop Believin' cover and it was pretty well done. They played a little of everything. Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, KC and the Sunshine Band, AC/DC. They can really pull all of it off too! We had a drink

Happy Birthday, Lara! I hope you had a great 30+1 birthday.

Happy Hour turned into Happy All-nighter!

I met some old friends of mine at a US Open party for Phil Mickelson at Jack's La Jolla. Mark stayed home with the kids to give mama a break. He gets his next week when my Mom and I take the kids to Yosemite. It was fun. Hosted bar for two hours (hosted by Grey Goose Vodka). Phil didn't show up. He had an 8AM tee time, so we didn't think he would, but it was fun. Jack's in a pretty swanky place. I felt like I was in an episode of Nip/Tuck. With the $14 martini's I was glad it was hosted, although, I am not much a drinker (more the driver type because I get a headache from one drink). We had a really good time. It was nice to see everyone. I didn't take pics, I brought my camera, but never ended up using it. Wish I would have taken a couple pics now.

It was nice to catch up with my friends that I hadn't seen in years. I had planned to leave to go home between 10 and 11, but ended up going to a different bar for what was supposed to be one drink for my friend Brian (I was drinking double ice waters on the rocks). We ended up meeting the owners of second bar we went to Jose's and they kept feeding Brian shots. I guess it was also the allure of the pretty bartenders as well. Since I was the DD, I was patient at first (Brian was having a good ole time and I didn't want to be the party pooper), but then I started to get really tired and it was time to go. It was much later night than I anticipated, but still really fun. I had really debated whether or not I was going to go, but I'm glad that I did. Paying for it today, because I still had to get up at the normal time, but it was still good to catch up with my old friends.

Night on the Town

Went downtown last night. My good friend Brian was in town. We go back about 16 years. He'll be moving back to SD in about a month. We went to House of Blues and J Street Bar after. We had a good time. Here are a few pics.

Wine Tour

  

We had a really good time on our tour of the Temecula Valley Wineries.  We went to Wilson Creek, South Coast and Faulkner.  I am a white wine drinker and my husband is a red wine drinker, so tasting works well for us because we can get different wines.  We love tasting, since we enjoy wine, but can't polish off a bottle together.  The scenery is beautiful and it's nice to pretend like we are on a real vacation, even if it was just for a few hours.  It was nice to get out with friends and not have to worry about who was driving.  I found a new drink that I absolutely love.  It's almond champagne.  It sounds weird, but it's delicious.  It pair well with sweet fruit.  I had made up a tray of cheese, fruit, and lunch meat for the limo, which Amber so generously funded all the food.  I just picked it up and prepared it.  It was a nice day. 

 

We ended the day with appetizers at Rock Bottom, which unfortunately gave Amber and I food poisoning late last night. Only Amber and I had it and there were only three of us that ate  at Rock Bottom, so we are positive it was the nachos we ordered.  I was sick to my stomach all night long and it even carried in to today.  I haven't eaten hardly at all today. 

The kids did great with Grandma.  My mom actually called mid day to tell us that Kaylee polished off her first bottle and actually held it herself.  She slept about half the time we were out.  The boys were fantastic.  They actually didn't fight all day long, which is a first.  Our biggest surprise was Javi.  Javi missed us the most out of the whole bunch.  He asked Grandma a few times when we were coming home.  He said, "Boy, they sure have been gone a long time.".  Being the oldest, I thought he wouldn't care if we were there or not, since he likes to do his own thing most of the time.  He is getting to that point where it's not as cool to hang out with mom anymore.  I am so glad they did well.  We are already planning our next outing, which will be dinner, just the two of us!  Amber has so graciously volunteered for the next babysitting round.