First Day of Summer

Another Good Bye

          Another visit with Aunt Cindy and Uncle Cliff has come to an end *sad sigh.* After spending a few days in Disneyland with mom and dad, they all came home for a fun filled weekend of movies, games, good food (of course!), and lots of laughing.  As always, their visit seemed far too short, but we are looking forward to them coming out for a long visit over Christmas and through the New Year!!!  Considering how busy we are these days, I expect the next seven months will fly by.  But, not too fast -- I hope!    

An English Tea, an Indian Dinner, and a Film to Bridge the Two. Happy Birthday Mum!!!

The Birthday Girl with her Prince Charming.

Glowing pink candles.

Freshly-picked pink roses.

A proper tea.  ;)

One pink candle.  (Have you figured out the theme yet?)

Make a wish!

Roses from dad. <3

Cake, Frozen, and Friends

          We had a movie night with the Canevari’s on Friday.  I don’t think I will ever get tired of watching Frozen!  Shelia made a lovely and delicious cake, and mom found a very appropriate adornment for our party theme.  I managed to snap a picture before we cut into it.  (It didn’t last the night.)  

Happy Minion Birthday!

         We had a super fun evening celebrating our friend Rob’s birthday, minion style!  Complete with decorations, pizza, root beer, and the crowning achievement of the evening, Sheila and Ashley’s minion cake!  We watched Despicable Me 2 (seemed fitting), as the evenings’ entertainment, followed by more minion cake.  Happy Birthday Rob!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fat Tuesday, Lent, and Blogging

          Happy Mardi gras!  We actually celebrated last night since dad’s Tuesday business trip would have meant a very late dinner.  While eating the most amazing pancakes, which through a twist of events have been dubbed Bamcakes (British bacon which tastes like ham mixed into the pancake batter, Bamcakes!), we discussed what to give up for lent.  Usually it is something food related, deserts, chocolate, take-out pizza, something like that, but as I went over my diet I realized there really isn’t anything extra to cut out this year since I have already cut out chocolate, and the other items are so rare forty days without them would be a synch.  I thought about giving up worrying, but I think I would worry about not worrying and fail in the first two seconds.  Instead, I have decided to add something in lue of removing something.  I intend to blog every single day of lent.  I don’t want to set myself up for failure, so putting up something short or even just a single picture is okay in my little set of rules, but I want to stick with it.  I have also added “excising every single” day to my lent list.  I am not a big fan of exercising at all, but I know from past experience just a little extra effort every single day (no skipping!) makes a big difference.  So, I hope to herald in this Easter as a very fit and faithful blogger!  

Guess what we watched? :)

Ready, Set, Go!!! Disneyworld!!!

I am so EXCITED!!!!!  I am packed and ready to go, so what do I do now?  I think I should . . .

1)  View some Disney style tips (to help with any last minute packing)

2)  Play some Disney music to really get in the mood

3)  Watch a short romantic film to make me smile

So long little blog!  Disneyworld here I come! :D

A Super Hero New Year! (I finally got the pictures off the camera!)

Christmas Trees & Rainy Days

          Yesterday I took down the Christmas tree.  While slowly removing each ornament and packing them away for another eleven months, I thought of leaving the tree up all year round.  Lydia and I laughed at the concept and discussed different themes we could dress the tree up with throughout the year: snowflakes in January, flip-flops in July -- it could be really fun!  But, in the end, each branch was carefully removed and the tree stowed away along with my customary, “See you in eleven months.”  My attachment to our faux tree may sound kind of silly, but this tree has been part of my life as long as I can remember.  I had just turned three when the tree arrived in a big brown box (mom’s allergies no longer permitted having a real tree), and I remember carrying the branches from the box to dad as he assembled the tree.  Dad calculated if the tree lasted ten years it would pay for itself; this year marked its twenty-second Christmas, and it is still going strong! 

          So, all the Christmas decorations have been safely stowed away, and just before the rain!  I was beginning to wonder if we would be doomed to a dry January.  Granted, this small amount of rain will not do much to alleviate California’s current drought situation, but I am just happy for an excuse to have an extra cozy, lazy Saturday.  Hopefully this rainy day will be the start of many to come, because I have a lot of reading and writing to do.  I find rainy days are quite conducive to that kind of creativity.  ;)  So . . .  let it rain, let it rain, let it rain!    

    

So Long Accounting Class!!!!!

The Christmas Bug

          Yesterday, I caught the Christmas bug.  That seasonal disease that has you playing Christmas music, planning holiday feasts, and deciding which Christmas film you want to watch first.  Last year we started playing Christmas music in October!  We decided not to repeat that this year since by the time Christmas actually arrived we were ready (well, I was ready!) for some different music selections.  Last week, as Lydia and I were doing a major clean of the downstairs, I joked that we should put up the Christmas tree as we moved furniture around so I could vacuum underneath.  We laughed at the idea, but as we moved the furniture back into place I had already rearranged everything in my mind to accommodate our tree. 

          This years’ tree trimming will be especially fun since Aunt Cindy will be here to help with all the festivities.  If forced to choose, I would have to say Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday, but by the time my birthday rolls around on the 2^nd, I want the pilgrims packed away and the Christmas tree all glittering and shining.  According to the calendar, Christmas marks the end of a passing year, but I feel that Christmas is the start of a new year; we are celebrating the birth of our savior, our salvations, the beginning of life.  I know Thanksgiving is still over three weeks away, but I cannot resist, Happy Holidays!                

Autumn? Is That You?

          Normally Labor Day brings sun, barbeques, and a new school year to mind.  This year torrential amounts of rain accompanied by a symphony of thunder and a display of lightning made up our holiday show.  I was excited!  I love fall.  I look forward to the first rain, the first day I can wear a sweater, and the first evening I can wrap a scarf around my neck.  The style of clothing, the warm vibrant colors of the trees, and the clean sweet smell of rain causes my skin to tingle with excitement.  Unfortunately, this little taste of autumn is already regressing back to warm summer days.  But I have had my glimpse, and will wait patiently for fall to make her reentry.  Until then, I shall be airing out my sweaters and fluffing out my scarves.

4th of July Fun!

          This years’ Independence Day was a swimming, barbequing, movie watching, marshmallow roasting, and glow-stick playing day of fun with friends!  The day did have some tragedy in it unfortunately.  I lost two of my chicks to an unknown assailant, I am pretty sure it was a hawk.  I have since moved the chicks down with the rest of flock hoping the larger birds will offer them some protection from predators.  They seem really happy with their move and are not intimidated by their adult counterparts at all.  But the rest of the day was a blast, even with the ridiculously high heat we have been having!  Just a warning I took oodles of pictures, I had a ton of fun using the sports mode on my camera; epic splashes ahead! 

       

Happy Belated Memorial Day!

          Happy Belated Memorial Day!!!  This morning I feared we would have another cloudy wet day, but the afternoon sun broke through and warmed everything up.  Chef Karl and Lily arrived around three and Karl went right to work christening our new barbeque with chicken and sausages; he also brought ribs, coleslaw, German potato salad, baked beans, and a huge bowl of chocolate mousse, hmmm, hmmm, yummy.  As always, the food was incredible. I regretted wearing jeans to dinner and have since changed into more accommodating pants, but I do not regret a single mouthful.  After all, I can always exercise off the extra calories . . . right after I have some more chocolate mousse.