12.12.2010

our new home

our new home. i love writing that, saying that and thinking that.
for those of you who don't know our current home is a one bedroom
apartment that we have lived in since we got married 10 years ago.
yes, there are four of us in this apartment, but thanks to the mister
who is very handy, we have been able to stretch our stay here until
now. just a quick breakdown the kiddo's share the bedroom and the
mister made a murphy bed wall unit in our living room, so we all have
our own space. but, it is time to move on. our little fella is almost
two and very active, loves to be outside and among other circumstances
it's just time for a new home. our new home couldn't have come at
a better time (well 2 months ago would've been nice considering Christmas
is just 2 weeks away), but we weren't committed to moving 2 months ago.
we really thought the whole looking process would've taken a lot longer,
but we feel like this house was meant for us and maybe even waiting for us.
i know sounds corny, but here's the gist of it. we had been planning on
looking for a new place when we returned home from kauai. we set out
looking for "for rent" signs around our neighborhood. we found one. when
trying to find the house that belonged to the "for rent" sign, we passed by
our new home. it was "for rent" too. the other house was not us, but this
one we liked what we saw on the outside. so we called, we looked, we
liked, we signed. it just all kind of fell into place. (that's the mister's
luck, stuff like this always happens to him). so here it is. there's some
things that definitely eventually need to be changed, but for now we are
just renting. keep in mind we are getting new carpet (you'll see why),
and we are going to paint the interior in "fresh day" from behr (love that color).
be prepared there's some funky, but there's also lots of potential....




front yard
with a 2 car garage
the mister is sold!

kitchen - funky retro, it's kinda growing on me

electric stove top - no likey, but it's a rental

comes with a fridge

dining area

living room and our cute little bella

we have a fireplace!

view from the front door

one of the two bathrooms -
yes we have two bathrooms!
and yes that's a door to the backyard
in the bathroom - not sure why?

the little fella's bedroom or if
we change our minds the school room

the little miss' room
she loves this carpet - i hate this carpet

master bedroom

master bath

backyard

it's a koi pond, but i'm thinking veggie garden

more backyard - view from the east

view from the west

and a lemon tree

we are truly loving this place and can't wait to
celebrate our first Christmas in our new home.

12.01.2010

christmas door swag +pom-poms

ok, so i was at trader joe's the other day and they had a christmas door swag
that i thought was cute and festive. it was only $6.99 which i think its pretty
reasonable. i contemplated on whether or not i should buy it. after standing
there for a minute or two i decided that i could totally make one for free which
is a real reasonable prize for me these days. home depot always has a box of tree
trimmings for free and i knew i had a ton of christmas ribbon at home, so it was
settled i was going to make my own for free. that's exactly what i did. i went to
the home depot on my way home, picked up a few branches, got out my christmas
boxes and went to town. i also came across this pom-pom tutorial the other
night and thought they would be super cute on my christmas swag.
so check it out here's my swag...


i think i might add some jingle bells to it too
what ya think?

my pom-pom maker

11.30.2010

i likey

i found this blog today and i really like it.
a friend of mine always tells me to add more blogs
to my blog roll, so she has more things to look at.
i think you might enjoy it if you don't already do so.
go check out elsie marley. she has some cute christmas ideas.
tis the season...

make your own decorations from elsie marley

11.28.2010

kauai the series- #10 go to north shore to find big waves

when we arrived in kauai we heard that the waves on the north shore were 30 foot.
we took a drive up to hanalei bay to see if this was true. the waves were pretty
big just off to the right of this pier, but pretty far out. we took a walk to end
of the pier just to look, but as you can tell it was a gloomy, overcast day.
we had fun though. we played on the beach in the rain and enjoyed the
beautiful surroundings. the mister even paddled out for a surf (#17 on the list)
at pine trees where the waves weren't quite as big...




11.27.2010

kauai the series- #4 drink coconut milk

#4 on the list was from the little miss. for weeks before we left she talked
about how she couldn't wait to try the milk from a coconut. she had found
some on the beach when we first arrived and tried to get the milk out herself,
but that was a pretty hopeless task. we ended up going to the farmer's market
(#18 on the list for me) and buying one for her there. they had the much
needed tools you need to open a coconut. the end result is as follows...

tried it,

didn't really like it,
so she gave the little fella a try,

he didn't like it either,
so the mister ended up drinking it


and she got this yummy chocolate
covered banana instead.

11.26.2010

kauai the series- #21 get shave ice

we were excited to be in kauai. we hadn't been in three years,
we were celebrating our 10 year anniversary and i think we thought it
would be just like our honeymoon all over again. think again my friend is what
i would tell myself now. 10 years ago our two precious littles did not exist and
laying on the beach relaxing just no longer exists. so after a little frustration we decided
that in order to make everyone happy and to make sure everyone got to do what
they wanted we would make a list. this turned out to be a very good idea that
made our trip much more pleasant. # 21 on our list was to get shave ice.
we did this of course more than once, but here is our first visit to JO-JO's on
the west side at what we think is the best shave ice ever...

not sure about this at first, but after one
bite he was hooked like the rest of us

waiting for her keiki's delight
rainbow shave ice w/vanilla ice cream

pure cuteness

just a bit of advice... don't share with the mister,
he'll eat it all!

hawaiian bliss

worth the wait

we heart JO-JO's

11.24.2010

it's been a long time

yes, folks it's been a long time. too long.
the reason being that right after halloween...



we took a family vacation to kauai. we spent two relaxing weeks
uninterrupted from cell phones and/or computers to enjoy eachother.
it was very much needed for our family and i am so thankful we were able
to spend so much quality time together. i have so many pictures i want to share
with you, so for the next few days i will be posting a "kauai series" of all the
fun things we did. glad to be back!


10.30.2010

crackin me up



seriously, my little fella does this almost everyday.
i'll pull the diaper back up and 2 seconds later i turn around and it's
back like this. i don't know what the deal is. maybe it's a
sign to come - do we a have a future plumber on our hands?
hmmm.... gotta love it though, it really does crack me up!

10.29.2010

sweet potato + black bean enchilada's

we have been trying to eat out less over here, so for the past few nights
i've actually made dinner and it doesn't involve a box with the words
mac + cheese on it. i think i've said it before i'm really not a cook and i really
don't enjoy it, but i am beginning to think that the more i do it i just might
actually like it. i made up this recipe a couple of years ago when we had some
friends that are vegetarian over for dinner. it turns out to be one of the
mister's favorite dishes, so i made the other night for dinner.
here's what i did...

sweet potato + black bean enchilada's

1. quarter and steam about 4-5 sweet potatoes until soft. cool, remove skin and mash.
2. drain and rinse 1 can of black beans
3. heat 8-10 corn tortillas, each separately in skillet with canola oil for approx 30 seconds just to soften them. place between paper towels to absorb excess oil.
4. fill each tortilla with a spoonful of sweet potato + a spoonful of black beans, roll and place into baking dish.
5. pour a bottle of enchilada sauce ( **trader joes makes a really good red enchilada sauce) over enchiladas and top with cheese.
6. bake on 350* for approx. 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and a little crunchy around the edge.
7. let stand for 5-10 minutes and enjoy.


** i know some of you real chefs out there would never use anything out of a bottle, but i have two kiddo's and making everything from scratch just isn't happening around here.

10.27.2010

october + little miss = party time

as you know, the little miss turned 6 this past week.
for her party this year she chose to have a gnome party.
inspired by our favorite gnome movie, the gnome mobile
we went to planning. my friend over at piccadilly studios designed
all of the graphics, and with her designs i was able to create some
really fun decorations for the party...


the little miss has a major sweet tooth, so a candy table was appropriate
for this occasion i added some red + white polka dot ribbon to some vases,
along with our special designs and some sweet treats this turned
out to be a big hit.


i made this garland by punching out different size circles
and attaching them to yarn with double stick tape.

going green, i have been saving tin cans for this purpose
not only for the party, but these make cheap, easy vases
if you want to take a bouquet of flowers to a neighbor
or friend too. (daisies our the little misses favorite too)

i made necklaces for our little party guest.
i order the wood pieces of off etsy and then used
double stick foam tape to attach the decorative piece and
completed it with a piece of yarn as the chain.

i made the birthday girl her very own giant mushroom cake,

and little mushroom cupcakes for our guest.

for the party favors each guest got a nature journal,
a cute bookmark, and a natural twig pencil.

my birthday girl.

it turned out to be a great party and
i think all of the kiddo's had a great time.
to see more of what went on throughtout the day go here.