Good bye birthday

Good bye birthday until next year........

Here is a number story of a girl who turned 32 on Saint Valentines Day. Earlier in the week she received three packages from one loving sister in law, one brother and family and one fantastic friend.  She loved all the items she was gifted  100 percent. On the day of her birth she awoke at 5:30am. She was too excited to sleep. She opened her email account and had 2 greeting cards waiting for her and one gift certificate.  Then her sleepy husband and 2 small children woke up and piled her sky high with love and gifts.  Her parents also had a package sent to CA with 5 treasures waiting for her to open. 

At Noon she joined 7 friends for a lunch. She was blessed with more amazing presents and even better friends. Then at 2pm, 4 of the friends went to the movies.   At 5pm she and her handsome husband departed and traveled 17 miles into the City for an evening of food and shopping. 2 pairs of shoes were purchased and Zero birthday cake was eaten. During her adventure she received  4 texts and six FB messages. At the close of her day she whispered in her husband's ear, " There were NUMBERous things that I loved about today..." And she proceeded to count them 1 by 1. 

Good bye birthday see you next year......

Favorite 12

My favorite cozy place IN THE WORLD.... 

In case you were wondering, we are outside, sitting on/by 23 pillows. Reading with no kid interruptions. Enjoying small girl chatter.....in Greece.

Few Favorite Blogs

No. 10- Favorite Blogs

I read quite a few blogs but it is easy when not everyone posts everyday. However, I am most loyal to blogs that do post everyday. Besides my family and friends blogs I read a few craft, motherhood, religious, design or cooking blogs. Here a few of my favorites:

JSM Musings

A Room Somewhere

Emily Style

Coconut Lime

Babyccino

Mormon Mommy Wars

Craftpad

No 11. - Favorite Family  Blogs

My sister-in-law, Natalie   My other sister-in-law, Natali

Palmer Sisters-in-law  Kelli    Crissie   Julie

My Parents  My brother, Ethan

Number 9

My Favorite Sweater is No 9. on the birthday list of favorites. It is a pink cashmere hoodie. I Love it and wear it a lot....as you can see.  In these pictures a lone I am wearing it in Montana, Oakland, San Francisco, Holland, Greece, and in my front yard.

No 8.

No.8 - Purple Ink

We all know that I love the color purple so it should be no surprise that I LOVE  purple ink pens. I use them ALL the time. In fact, I had to search for a blue/black pen when I was filling out Crewe's school application. I didn't know if purple was the correct message. Look for them, they are wonderful.

Number 7

PS I am not sure these count as book plates but they are cool. 
I have a major crush on No. 7- Bookplates. The weird thing is that I don't have that many bookplates but I WANT THEM. I think everyone should have them. I look at them all the time on Etsy. Oh, they are cool. I think they should come with my name printed on them already, no writing in the blank.  Or I want a stamp that I can use to claim my books. 

No 4.

Coming up with more of my favorite things has been hard. I mean, my favorite things from last year have not changed. That is why they are my FAVORITE. Plus I already blog a lot about things that I really want/like/have because this is my blog. So I will try for this week.....

No. 5 Settlers of Catan

I love this board game it is really fun to play. It is not an active, shouting game but it is a slow, thoughtful game. It has turned me into a gamer.  

N0. 6-  Fancy Bottled Water (*not sparkling)

I like really fancy bottled water.  In college by friend Rebecca got me loving on Fuji and Volvic Water. My favorite now is Voss.  My dad mocks my love of fancy water and we have even had tastes off. However,  my dad also buys me all sorts of cool bottled water whenever he comes across some.  I have never been able to afford to drink them on a daily basis but when I get one....oh it's good. 

No 4. OPI Nail Polish
I have ALWAYS LOVED having my nails painted. Even as a little girl. OPI is the best polish. I don't wear any other brands (I am a snob). I  love OPI because they have colors with great names. My favorite is the OPI French line (duh). I mostly wear really dark polish and trust me, I can tell a difference between my colors. Right now, I am wanting the one on top- "You Don't know Jaques"and "Parlez-vous OPI". The one I am wearing today is "Midnight in Moscow".--A charcoal with a hint of maroon glimmer.  Just like me!

Favorite Thing

#3 Chips and SalsaSeriously. So good. I love to have warm chips, salsa and friends. It is the best recipe for sitting around chatting and having a good time.

Favorite things #1 and #2

Yesterday the Internet was down and I had my nose buried in a book so no post happened so today  I will do 2 Favorite things. Exciting, I know.

#1 Coinstar Center.  While before I thought this was a lame way to cash in all your change I have since changed my tune. If you convert your extra change to a gift card then they don't charge a fee. This weekend Rich cashed in our bowl of change where we empty our pockets every night. Guess who got $107 to Amazon. Me. And guess who bought her VERY favorite thing? Me. Hundred dollars spent on books. Life is so good.
2. Popcorn.  I eat popcorn every single day. I love it.  My favorite kind is air popped but I am not picky. I will take in any form. Good.

Of Late

Life was been SO very good. I feel over whelmed at all  the things that have been going on and my lack of blogging. So I think I will just summarize. Here is a small list of the past 2 weeks.

1. My parents came into town. It was scrumpy weather but they didn't complain. We had the best time with them. We went to the Childrens' Museum, shopping, out to eat, the city, San Francisco Aquarium, the coin show, Crewe' swim lessons, ect.... If you really want more details visit my moms blog. We loved having you here, thanks mom and pop.

2. Crewe passed another level of swim lessons. Trust me, this is huge in his eyes.

3. I went to Utah for 2 days by myself. I had to have major dental work (thanks Nan. Here is her website if you need a great and I mean GREAT dentist in Utah).

4. My 5 nephews and 1 niece fell in love all over with me. I could totally pay attention to them and they wanted me to pay attention to them. It was so great. I also got to play with my brothers and the Natalieghs.

5. Since I have fans asking, (ok 1 person) I will posting my favorite things as a countdown to my birthday. I encourage you to do the same on your blog. 14 things.

Vacation

The mom and the dad are coming to town today. So I am thinking that I won't be blogging much until Sunday. Have a great week, I am ready for us to have a great week too.

today

What will we eat today?

Pacifier

Really...no words. Oh except to say, that I had great intentions of having Baby Dayne be done with her pacifier when she turned 2. That is in 6 weeks. The same week that we are flying across country with her. Then taking her on a cruise, with my family.  I want a sleeping baby, a good behavior baby and all the stuff that pacifier gives me. It is NOT the time to pull the plug. So the pacifier lives on and on and on and on and on.

Dust

I have reached a new level of laziness.  I noticed that my TV stand was looking kind of dusty. As was a spot in my bedroom. I thought, I need to dust. Wait, my parents are coming to visit in a couple of weeks. I need to dust before they come. RIGHT before they come. ....And so I left the dust to wait, for the big visit.

PS I have typed 2 other posts and have not been able to post them or add pictures.Grrrr......

Crewe and I are getting ready to make these cookies. We will let you know how they turn out. Or try them for yourself.

glazed lemon cookies

3/4 c. butter, room temp

3/4 sugar

2 large egg yolks

1/2 tea. vanilla extract

1/4 salt

2 c. flour

glaze

2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more if necessary

1 tea. grated lemon zest

1 c. confectioners' sugar

Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg yolks, vanilla, and salt. Beat to combine. Gradually add the flour, mixing until just incorporated.

Divide dough in half and shape into 1 1/4 inch diameter logs. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate until firm, about 30 min.

Heat oven to 350. Slice the logs into 3/8 thick pieces. Bake until lightly golden, 16-20 min. Let cook on baking sheets for 5 min. then transfer.

In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners sugar, lemon juice and zest until if forms think but pourable glaze ( add more lemon juice if necessary). Dip the top of each cookie into the glaze and let set, about 15 min.

Top Ten

Todays Top Ten is all about books.  I have listed the books that I love many times but what about the bad books? Now I have not always finished reading these BAD books but here is the Top 10 -- for now and in no order.

1. House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III- I read this on a cruise. I had to finish it because I had nothing else to read. POKE-MY-EYES-OUT!

2. The Appeal by John Grisham- the funny thing- I just gave my friends husband this book to read. What I had 2 copies and I had to get rid of it somehow?

3. Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen- Bad abuse book where the beater wins in the end.

4. Wonder Spot- I read 300 pages of the 310'sih book and then just quit reading. I just didn't care about the book enough to finish it.
5. Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown- Not a BAD BAD book but SO not up to my expectations. I was so disappointed after all the hype that it has landed on my dark side.
6. Posh by Lucy Jackson- Not a cute teen drama. The main kid kills himself at the end. 
7. Unpredictable by Eileen Cook- In my notes I wrote, "She moves to Canda! I couldn't get behind that."

8. Anybody Out There? by Marain Keyes- Most of the book is talking to her dead husband, but YOU don't know he is dead. Blah!
9. The Handmaid's Tail by Margaret Atwood- Horrible book about someone stealing your children. 
10. The Road- HORRIBLE book.  STAY AWAY!!!!

Hope my review was helpful:)

A Review of 2008

January. We discovered that we like to fly kites. 

February. Dayne is walking. She can go longer than short bursts now. She is forever walking.

March. Baby Dayne turns 1. We love having her part of our family. Crewe is an amazing big brother and treats her very good.  We had a poodle/Paris birthday party.

April. Richard birthday is a HUGE blowout of Rockband and Guitar Hero. 

May. We went to Utah. We had not been back in over 2 years. It was so fun to see my family, let the cousins play and enjoy Utah. We watched my little brothers baseball game, visited friends, ate out, had our teeth whitened got babysitters, played Rock Band, went to a jump house, and had a great time. 

June. Crewe finished school for the summer. My parents came for a visit. Rich and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary. 

July. We went were here for the 4th of July. We went to a party at the Jones house and let the kids stay up late to watch fireworks.  Crewe went to Nature Camp. The kids and I went to Montana and were totally spoiled. It is always the best time. 

August. Crewe turned 5. We had a big birthday party with friends and loved ones. We spent most weekends at the River. It was freaking HOT. Crewe lost his first tooth.

September. Crewe started his second year of preschool.  HE loves it. Crewe lost his second tooth. We went back to UT for my cousins wedding reception. The cousins got to LOVE each other again. 

October. I got to travel to Greece. Rich then came over and met me in Lisbon.  AMAZING. Our kids were a skeleton and a poodle for Halloween. I also got to on a Girls Weekend. 

November.  I had another Girls Weekend. So-MUCH-FUN. Then we went to Montana for Thanksgiving. My mom and I got up at 5am to go shopping. Crewe fell in love with snow. Baby Dayne fell in love with Diet Coke.

December. We took the kids to the new aquarium in the City. We had a crazy Christmas season. We celebrated our first Christmas on our on.  

It was a very good year..... here is to 2009!

Cold Outside

It is cold here. Look there was snow in the street. 

The List

Last night my dad called to ask me what my moms favorite movie. I answered correctly. She denied  it and claimed, Sound of Music. I then asked Rich what my favorite movie was. He thought and thought......... Dirty Dancing because you love John Travolta! WHAT????

This week I will be posting MY LISTS. All sorts of list of my Top 10 things this week.  My Top 10 Favorite Movies: 

10. Save the Last Dance

9. Win a Date with Tad Hamilton

8. Singing in the Rain

7. Pillow Talk or Back to the Future

6. Gone With the Wind

5. Grease 2

4. Sound of Music

3. Love and Basketball

2. Grease

1. G-I-R-L-S Just want to have FUN!!!