Melissa Pretends to Love LA

A Name?

2012-02-13T20:45:00.000-08:00

Twenty Weeks! 5 Months! Half way there!

Size: Bebe girl is the size of a cantaloupe.

But I think you would agree she looks more the size of watermelon.

Cravings: I ate the exact same thing for breakfast for 6 days last week….a whole grain English muffin with peanut butter and honey, with a side of strawberries. And I could have eaten that for every meal. The only reason I went only 6 days in a row, is because only 6 English muffins came in the package and I have been too lazy to buy more. But I want it sooooooooo much. Who wants to run to the store for me?

Progress: Wow were do I start? For one, we found out bebe is a little girl!!! Yaaaaay!

According to the internet bebe girl is drinking the amniotic fluid, which can apparently take on the flavors of the food I am eating. And supposedly their taste buds get used to any food I eat now, so bebe will most likely enjoy that food when they are kids. You know what that means? I am going to be eating the least plain food you can imagine! Indian, Thai, everything! I might be naming her after her Aunt Autumn, but I don’t want her take on her picky eating habits!!!

(Autumn, remind me again of all of the completely normal foods you refuse to eat? I need to go and eat them all.)

Oh wait...what did I just say? Something about a name? Yup! We have decided to name her Tessa Autumn Goyette! We have had more than the 20 weeks to think and debate about names, so we are very happy with our choice! Starting out the only thing we knew that we wanted, whether it was a boy or a girl, was to have a middle name after someone special to us. Tess and Autumn were both possible middle names for a baby girl. Tess after my Grandma Bev’s mom, and Autumn after my cousin who is more like a sister to me. Soon we started to like the name Tessa for a first name, so Tessa Autumn just fell in to place!

These first 20 weeks have seemed to just crawl by. First I just couldn't wait to get to my 2nd trimester, then just couldn't wait to find out she is girl, but now....I know it is all going to fly by!

Guess What?

2012-02-07T15:55:00.000-08:00

Trajan was a little disappointed. He wanted a brother that would actually play and rough house with him.

Hadrian was ecstatic. He thinks this means I'll have someone else to dress up and that he won't have to wear any more tutus. Thinks being the operative word. I'm not going to tell him that chances are it will get so much worse.

Michael and I are so so so happy and thrilled to have a little girl! And a healthy little girl too! Our scan went really well and everything looks nice and healthy and on time for a July 2nd due date!

And you know who else is going to be happy? Autumn! Michael pulled her name out of the hat so she will be receiving my sugar cookies next week!

A Tune?

2012-02-06T18:46:00.001-08:00

So tomorrow is my Anatomy Scan, or as my friend Brandi calls it, tomorrow is my Junk Day (to see if the baby has some junk, or not).

And because of what tomorrow is, I'm going to try really really hard to write this blog and actually have it be coherent. As you can imagine I'm having a hard time thinking about anything beyond boy or girl, blue or pink, penis or vagina.

So let's try this....

Size: According to The Bump, bebe is the size of a mango
but seeing as I ate about 5 mangos worth of dried mango last week, I look like the baby is as big as all of those 5 mangos.

Cravings: This week has been blueberries, blueberries, and more blueberries. I eat them every morning on my cheerios, which is usually followed a couple hours later by a blueberry yogurt with granola. And then Saturday my friend Christine and I decided to go to brunch while our hubbies tried to kill each other with paintballs... I had Vanilla French toast with blackberry jam, strawberries, banana and, you guessed it, blueberries on top. It was HEAVEN!

Also, anything spicy! We made another batch of Buffalo Chicken Sammies and then hubs made some really yummy chili for the Super Bowl. I think my days of eating spicy food are numbered, so I'm going to enjoy it while I can!

Progress: There isn't too much new this week. I'm still not feeling the baby much, not really at all this week. Trajan is so sick of me trying to get him to lay on me to get the baby to move. And poor Hadrian, god love him, he is doing nothing but camping out on my belly trying to get the baby to move. He must be too light or not warm enough because it just doesn't work. But I'm not complaining, I love that Hadrian is being as cuddly as he is.

Also, the internets says that bebe is supposed to hear me talk now. I figure that means I should stop dropping the F bomb. And start playing music for bebe too. But how exactly am I supposed to play music for bebe? Hubs laughed his ass off when he walked in the room and saw me laying on the couch with my Ipod earbuds down my pants. (ewwww don't be gross! The were tucked in to the waistband of my yoga pants).

So that's been my week. Obviously I should have a MUCH better update next week, maybe even a name reveal?

How My Preggie Cravings Will Make Your Super Bowl Party Awesome!

2012-02-02T18:56:00.000-08:00

Besides citrus & sour, one of my strongest and most consistent cravings throughout my pregnancy has been spicy food! During my first trimester I think I ate at least one Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich per week. And during my week in Phoenix over the holidays I made Michael and his brother keep going back to this place that had THE BEST spicy pork burrito.

Now that I’m trying to eat healthier, and I know I can’t constantly eat Wendy’s and Mexican, I have been trying to find a not-so-fatty spicy alternative. I turned, of course, to Pinterest and found an AMAZING Buffalo Chicken Slow Cooker Sandwich recipe.

It is unbelievably easy, healthy (-er ), and oh so yummy.

Here is what you’ll need:
-3lb bag of frozen boneless chicken breasts
-1 bottle Frank’s Buffalo Sauce
-1 packet of Ranch Dip Mix
-2 Tablespoons of Butter
-Rolls or buns (your favorite kind)
-Pepper Jack cheese (if you want)
-Avocados (if you want, I highly recommend)

Here is what you do:
-Plop the frozen chicken, a whole bottle of Frank’s Buffalo Sauce, and Ranch packet in to your Crock Pot (not the actual bottle and packet, just their contents).
-Turn on the crock pot on low and go about your life for 6-7 hours
-After 6-7 hours, take a couple forks and pull all of the chicken apart
-Add butter, stir, and cook for another hour
-After that, make your sandwich with any fixin’s of your choice and enjoy the hell out of it!

My fixins for this was a slice of pepper jack cheese, avocado, a bit of mayo, and a drizzle of ranch.

I sliced up some cucumbers as a side, and drizzled a little ranch on then. Perfect little meal!

And easy, right?

I am posting this right in time for Super Bowl Sunday. Make it on Saturday and enjoy on Sunday! Perfect game time food, it’s like chicken wings on a sandwich. And I wish I could say “but less messy” here, but that is totally not true. The chicken is so juicy that the sauce just runs down your hand when you take a bite. Definitely an “eat over your plate” sandwich. And this recipe makes quite a bit of food…it’s just the two of us, so Hubs and I ate these for 3-4 days and most importantly, didn’t get sick of the leftovers!

Now that you have food ideas for the Super Bowl, who do you want to win? To be honest, I don't really care as long as the commercials are funny.

And to give credit where credit is due, I found the recipe on this website and she gives great step-by-step instructions.

Also, hubs actually made this food, not me. But I'm not completely useless.... I took the photo and then ate the sammie.

I feel full and accomplished. Good day.

Blue or Pink with Cookies All Over

2012-01-31T18:35:00.000-08:00

Guess what happens one week from today? I find out if I am having a bebe booooooy or a bebe girrrrrrrrrrl!

(If the little punk cooperates, that is. So far bebe is totally it’s mama’s kid and doesn’t mind it's parents at all! “Bebe, will you kick for mama so she can feel you? No? Please? Pretty Please with a Cherry on Top?” But no kicking. Sigh, we are so screwed.)

Cross your fingers that bebe cooperates!!!

So what do you think I’m going to have, a girl or a boy?

Did you just answer in your head with no intention of leaving a comment and telling me what you think? Well that’s not good enough.

How about you tell me what you think I’m going to have and I’ll give you some cookies!

Really, I will.

If you leave a comment and tell me boy or girl, then once I find out I will put everyone’s name who guessed correctly in a hat and pick a name. I will bake the winner a batch of cookies from the below list!

My Sugar Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Lemon Drop Cookies
Peanut Butter Nutella Cookies

But don’t worry, I’m not going to make you make a blind guess…. I’ll help you out with some old wives tales that are supposed to predict gender.

I checked the Chinese Gender Chart, and it said BOY!

I did the Ring and String test with my cousins last spring, it said I would have 9 BOYS before I made Autumn and Jill stop. I’m not against having a boy, I just don’t want to grow my own football team!

The Baking Soda Test said GIRL, and Michael did the test too and he is having a BOY. Congrats Hubs!!!

My cravings have been citrus and spicy, and ick towards chocolate and most sugar (which for this Dutch girl is a big deal). I don't know what that means, but cravings are supposed to be an indication.

At 6 weeks my Doctor put her guess of GIRL in to the hat, based on the appendages that started growing out of my face and haven’t really gone away. (I say appendages, because the word zit just isn’t nearly graphic enough to describe these monstrosities )

I am leaning towards it being a GIRL and Hubs is certain it's a BOY. But I am not sure if it is wishful thinking on our parts, but I am sure one of us will have to pay for a therapy session 25 years down the road when bebe finds this post.

All week I have been begging Hubs to let me stop by Channelle The Psychic to ask her what she thinks, but he just speeds up when we drive past her.

So there you have it, go make your guess! Go leave a comment and tell me what you think I’m having and what cookie you will want if you win!

If kiddo cooperates I will announce the gender and winner next Tuesday!

(After I get home from a little shopping excursion, that is!)

A Glow?

2012-01-30T18:53:00.000-08:00

Today I am 18 weeks preggers!

Size: Bebe is the size of a Sweet Potato

Which is ironic, seeing as I can’t eat sweet potatoes. So, of course, that puts them on my craving list. Along with sushi and massive amounts of Coke.

Other Cravings: I have been munching on dried Mango like it’s going extinct. But it’s pretty healthy, so I’m allowing it.

On the not-so-healthy side, did you know that cherry Slurpees are the best thing ever ever ever? You probably think I’m crazy for craving a Slurpee in January. Well, it might be January where you are, but in Sunny So Cal it’s 80 and April! That must be why by belly looks like I’m 7 months along, bebe thinks it’s Spring!

And my final craving….Ruby Red Squirt, still. I have been craving it since before Christmas, but LA stores suck, and Phoenix stores suck and I haven’t been able to find it ANYWHERE. And then finally, FINALLY, Hubs and I drove 30 minutes to Walmart yesterday (not for the Squirt, but it would have been worth it had I known they would have it) and sitting on the shelf was one lonely 2 liter bottle of Ruby Red Squirt! I ran to that damn bottle and clung to it like it was a $20 Xbox on Black Friday. I didn’t let it out of my clutches until we were safely in the car. I just knew there was someone in that store willing to pepper spray me for my Squirt.

Progress: I have finally achieved that Pregnancy Glow that we are supposed to get. Only my body did it wrong. Instead of a nice glow all over, my glow is a red and is all congregated in my nose. Close your eyes and imagine Rudolph as a blonde pregnant lady… Yup, that’s me and my glow! Anyone know how to spread it out a bit?

And in Nursery progress, I just got ordered our crib! It feels good to have such a big thing off of our 73 page "To do" list. Since we already have a dresser and glider, all we have left to do to the nursery is decorate it (Pages 14-26 of the list).

A Kick?

2012-01-23T19:30:00.000-08:00

I am 17 weeks along now! It's going so slow, but it's also going so so fast! Since it is kind of flying by, I'm going to try to keep track of what's going on each week...bebe's size, cravings, progress and all that good stuff.

Bebe Size: Supposedly my bebe is the size of an onion
but I think the internet is wrong, because I look like there is a whole cantaloupe in there already.

Cravings: My cravings for the week haven't changed much since last time I checked in. All I want is all things sour and citrus. For the first half of the week I was obsessed with lemons! I dreamt of lemon meringue pie, lemon squares, lemon cookies...but I couldn't find any of those things at my local grocery store (and apparently my Marie Calendars closed down last month!), so I settled for lemonade. The second half of the week was devoted to strawberries and pineapple!

Progress: I felt the bebe kick for the first time yesterday! Or at least what I know for sure was the first time. My puppy Trajan was not feeling so good yesterday, so I was laying on the couch with him. He was lounging in between my legs, with his head and front paws laying right on the bebe. As we were laying there all of a sudden I felt...something. I can't even explain what it felt like, but I just know that it was the bebe reacting to Trajan laying against it. I don't know if it was Trajan's pressure, his heat, or just the bebe saying "Hi brother, how ya doin?", but it was amazing!

I stayed laying there in the same position for about 45 minutes. Partially because my poor little puppers needed comfort, but partially because I was hoping to feel it again. I didn't. And I am desperate to feel it again, but I can't exactly recreate the scenario. Hadrian might be constantly laying all over me, but Trajan doesn't, and for some reason the bebe just doesn't like Hadrian as much as Trajan. The "feeling the bebe" is supposed to get a lot more common over the next couple weeks, and let's just hope the internet isn't lying about this too.

All that good stuff: Two looooooooong ass weeks from tomorrow we find out if we are having a boy or a girl. I am so so sooooooooo ready to find out. We have 1 boy name and 2 girls names picked out. We adore the names we have picked out, so much so that we kinda wish we were having triplets. Only kinda. Am I going to tell you what they are? Not yet, but if you are really curious about what they are you can call my mom and she can tell you how bad they suck and what we should name bebe instead.

Just kidding ma.

Kinda.

You should really jump on the band wagon already.

You did raise a VERY stubborn child, ya know.

Anyways....that is what's going on this week!

A Bump?

2012-01-14T18:57:00.001-08:00

I'm almost 4 months preggers and I've gained 4 pounds. And all 4 of those pounds are in my mid-section. Does this mean I have a cute little baby bump and that I am going to start posting weekly bump pictures?

No it does not.

Because that 4 pounds hasn't formed in to a centralized bump yet. Unless I am having twins and they are hanging out as 2 baby bumps in my love handles. I'm just at that point where you can't really tell if I'm preggers or just hitting up the donut stand too often.

People at work don't quite dare ask me if I'm preggers to my face, so they ask my friends if I am or if I'm just putting on weight...Tell them I'm preggers, for gawds sake! I would rather people know that I am instead of just thinking I'm fat!

So ya, I'm more than ready for the baby bump to show up and be obvious. Does anyone know exactly when that is supposed to happen?

But I can't just blame the bebe for the belly bulge, so what else is contributing?

Anything sour or citrus!

I can't get enough OJ and Squirt (and what I wouldn't give for some Ruby Red Squirt...I can't find it anywhere in LA).

I've been pretty healthy, chowing down on pineapple a lot

But i AM a Merkley, so I've also had a non-healthy craving...
Maybe if I cut out the sour straws, I'll get my bump.

A Sicko Preggo

2012-01-05T19:35:00.000-08:00

Do you know what is worse than getting a cold?

Getting a cold while pregnant!

I usually have a rockin' immune system and can get through flu and cold season by just downing a couple vitamins.

I could even lick elevator buttons and be fine.

I never did... and people would probably question my mental health....but I could have and not had a single sniffle.

But now that I am preggo I apparently can't be in a room with a person with a cold, even if they are super careful to try and not spread the germs, without catching it.

And not only catching it, but catching it plus some!

and it suuuuuuuucks.

Luckily, I have an awesome cousin and an awesome doctor that both gave me a list of meds I can actually take for a cold.

But you know what wasn't on their list?

ANYTHING THAT WORKS ON ME!

All I want in the entire world is a decongestant to get this snot out of my head.

But my go-to decongestants are big no-nos.

So here I am, full of snot, just waiting and waiting for it to go away.

But I did find something that wasn't on their list that really helps....

I suggest that every sick preggo pick a husband that will wake up early in the morning after you had a night of tossing, and turning, and coughing, and stuffiness, and nose-blowing, and horribleness to surprise you with a big glass of fresh squeezed orange juice!

I can already feel it working!

New Year's Resolutions

2012-01-02T19:04:00.001-08:00

I think my New Year's Resolution for 2011 was to never make New Year's Resolutions again. But like every other resolution I've ever made, I'm going to break it.

Here are my New Year's Resolutions for 2012....

-Just gain 20 pounds.

(Is that the opposite of every resolution ever made by a girl? Pretty much)

- Pop out a healthy baby in July

(now resolution #1 makes a bit of sense, doesn't it)

- Spend the following 6 months (or 18 years, really) not ruining the kid

Melissa's 18th Day of Christmas- My Helper Elf

2011-12-20T19:42:00.000-08:00

Wow. So much for my 25 days of Christmas. But at least I dropped the ball because I was crazy busy baking, shopping, and wrapping.

Lots and lots of wrapping.

But at least I had my helper elf again this year.

Ain’t he cute?

And then after the presents were wrapped, he kept watch over them under the tree.

He's a present guarding Ninja!

Melissa's 16th Day of Christmas- Oreo Pops

2011-12-17T20:06:00.000-08:00

Ooopsie I didn't post yesterday and now I'm a day behind, but I'm doing lots this weekend and will catch up, I promise!

Let's start with what I did this morning...

I found these cute Oreo Pops on Pinterest (of course) and the tutorial on this website seemed pretty easy, and so I decided to make them!

Here is what you need....

- Double Stuf Oreos (I bought more than I needed and lucky I did, because I broke 1/3 of the cookies!)
- Candy Melts in a couple of colors
- Sugar decorations
- Lollipop sticks
- Treat bags as covers
- Ribbon to tie the bags

Then you can just follow the tutorial on the above blog and voila....cute Oreo Pops

Melissa's 15th Day of Christmas- Cherry Mristmas

2011-12-15T19:38:00.000-08:00

Someone sent me this recipe today, and I just had to share....

Great for the holiday but you really you have got to read it all to truly appreciate the recipe

1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup water
1 tsp. salt
1 cup brown sugar
Lemon juice
4 large eggs
Nuts
1 bottle Tequila
2 cups dried fruit

Sample the tequila to check quality.
Take a large bowl; check the tequila again to be sure it is of the highest quality.

Repeat.

Turn on the electric mixer.
Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.
Add 1 teaspoon of sugar.
Beat again.

At this point, it is best to make sure the tequila is still OK.
Try another cup just in case.

Turn off the mixerer thingy.
Break 2 eegs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit.
Pick the fruit up off the floor.
Mix on the turner.
If the fried dru it getas stuck in the beaterers, just pry it loose with a drewscriver.

Sample the tequila to test for tonsisticity.
Next, sift 2 cups of salt, or something.

Check the tequila.
Now shift the lemon ice strain your nuts.
Add one table.
Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink.
Whatever you can find.
Greash the oven.
Turn the cake tin 360 s and try not to fall over.
Don't forget to beat off the turner.
Finally, throw the bowl through the window.

Finish the tequila and wipe the counter with the cat.

Cherry Mristmas

Melissa's 14th Day of Christmas- Countdown

2011-12-14T21:26:00.000-08:00

There are only 10 days left until Christmas.

Commence FREAK OUT now.

That's all.

Melissa's 13th Day of Christmas- Hadrian's Letter to Santa

2011-12-13T19:57:00.000-08:00

Deer Santa Claws,

For Christmas I wud lik you to bring Mommy her very own human baby. If Mommy had a human baby, maybe she would stop using me to imitate cute picturs she finds on Pinterest.

Or just make Trajan learn to sit still so she could use him instead.

Also, I wud luv some cookies.

Love, Hadrian

Melissa's 12th Day of Christmas- My Merkley Balls

2011-12-12T21:06:00.000-08:00

This is where I announce the winner of my little "give me a cookie recipe" contest.

And the winner, by trickery, is my cousin Alisha!

Why trickery? Well, she figured out how to win a cookie recipe contest without actually giving me a cookie recipe! I had been calling and emailing my entire family, trying to find the recipe for my Great Grandma Carrie's popcorn balls, but nobody had could find it!

But Alisha had it. And she wasn't giving it up for nothin'!

So she bribed me with the recipe in order to win the contest. Smarts run in the fam, I guess!

So she will be getting a package with all of my Christmas goodies. And a better person couldn't have won, actually, that skinny girl needs about a million extra calories! And included in the package, will be some of Grandma Carrie Merkley's Popcorn Balls!

Here is what you'll need for 1 batch of balls....

- A candy thermometer
- A small sauce pan
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1/2 cup of whipping cream
- 1/2 cup of liquid honey
- 2 microwave popcorn bags of the plainest popcorn you can find (if you shop at my grocery store, it still has a tinge of butter and salt flavor)
- Food coloring (if you're being festive)

Then you.....
- Mix the sugar, whipping cream, honey and food coloring in the saucepan
- Hand the candy thermometer on the side of the pan
- Heat over medium/high heat, stirring constantly (except when you pause to take a quick photo)

- Keep stirring and heat the mixture up to between Soft Ball stage and Firm Ball stage, 240-250 degrees. (The recipe calls for Soft Ball, but with my 2nd batch I heated to Firm Ball, and they were easier to form in to balls)

- Pour over 2 bags of popcorn

- Mix really well

- Let popcorn sit for 5-10 minutes before shaping in to balls

- I shape them into tiny balls, wrap them in cling wrap, and tie it with a little ribbon. Making tiny balls makes about 20.

- I made 1 batch of red and 1 batch of green

With the first bite of these Popcorn Balls, I was transported back to being a kid when Gma Carrie used to make them for us. That is the best part about family recipes!

Melissa's 11th Day of Christmas- A Cute Noel

2011-12-11T17:31:00.000-08:00

I think I've said it a million times, but my craft store situation SUCKS. I have a so-so Michael's and a so-so JoAnn's, and....and...nothing!

Perusing all of the mommy and craft blogs, I always see these cute crafts made with supplies they get at their local craft store (even just their superior Michael's and JoAnn's). One thing I am always super envious of is the cute wood letters in cute fonts. My Michael's only has two types of letters, that don't match, and are both boring plain fonts.

I felt doomed to blah fonts.

Until finally one day I found a store in Utah that makes super cute wood words and shapes and I was SO excited! Until I was looking through all of their photos on their website, building an order in my head to place, when I came across these big bold red letters "WE DO NOT SHIP"

What?

You won't ship?

Why not?

I have already fallen in love your cuuuuuute wood blocks!

Pa-leeeeeease ship to me?

No?

Fine!

I was so disappointed that I called my mom to pout and whine and have her make me feel better. I thought that I would do a bit of pouting and that would make me somewhat better, but I didn't expect her to make me feel completely better by telling me that her bestie, Karen, was in Salt Lake and would probably pick something up if I wanted.

And since her bestie is pure awesomeness, she agreed to pick something up for me!

So I spent this morning working on the first set of blocks! A cute Noel!

Before:

After:
It's still kinda plain, but WAY cuter that the boring Times New Roman font of my local craft store.

THANK YOU KAREN!

Melissa's 10th Day of Christmas- Hugs and Kisses

2011-12-10T21:48:00.001-08:00

Since I am not too inspired by cookies this holiday season, I have decided to broaden by holiday goodie horizons to other kinds of sweets.

I found something on Pinterest that looked yummy and easy...they are pretzels, with Kisses and M&Ms.

And guess what?

They were easy and yummy!

Here is what you need...
- One bag of small pretzel twists
- One bag of holiday M&Ms
- 3 bags of Hershey Kisses (one regular, one hugs, and one candy cane)

Then you follow these simple steps...
- preheat the oven to 200 degrees
- lay the pretzels out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
- set 1 kisses on each pretzel
- bake for 4-6 minutes (depending on your oven, check @ 4 minutes for the first batch)
- RIGHT out of the oven, smoosh 2 M&Ms onto the kiss
- pop in the freezer to let it set
- eat 'em!

(I must give credit where credit is due, I got this idea from this website)

Melissa's 9th Day of Christmas- Lazy

2011-12-09T19:08:00.000-08:00

It's only December 9th and I'm exhausted just thinking about everything I still have to do before Christmas.

And I'm way too exhausted to come up with a blog tonight.

So I am just going to steal something Autumn posted.

Enjoy!

Melissa's 8th Day of Christmas- Believing

2011-12-08T19:22:00.000-08:00

Unless you are my Grandma Bonnie’s grandkid, then you get pj’s. And underwear. But mostly pj’s.

I don’t remember ever wearing pj’s that weren’t Grandma Bonnie provided. But if the above statement is true then it must have been when I was 9, because that’s when I figured out that Santa was not so much real, and more my parents leaving presents out in his place.

Now this whole 9yo thing is probably going to be quite shocking to my parents, because I am pretty sure they think I believed in Santa until I graduated from college. That’s when they stopped leaving presents “From Santa”.

Actually, if I was going home this Christmas they might still have left out something from Santa. For sure a stocking filled up with goodies.

Oh My Gawd, this post is going to reveal to my parents that I don’t believe in Santa!

They are going to be crushed. There might be crying.

Shoot.

Well, I guess it’s time they know I know they are the Big Man and how it happened.

This is really my Santa Isn’t Real story….

I was 8 when Santa brought me a Barbie RV equipped with a Western Barbie, her friends, and horses. It was awesome and I loved it and Santa was my best friend for like 5-6 months. Then we moved to a new house after I turned 9, and during the move I noticed the box for my Barbie RV in the garage. Hmmmm. Santa doesn’t need packaging, and even if he did….why would the box be hanging around 6 months later? Santa isn’t really the type to just leave things laying around, or to overlook details like hiding evidence.

But you know who is that type of guy?

Daddy.

And that is when it all clicked…Daddy is Santa Clause. Well, half of Santa Clause. Santa always staged things a little too well for Daddy to be all Santa. Santa was such a perfect stager, the window designers at Macy’s would have been envious. That half of Santa had to be Mom.

So what to do now? I couldn’t march in the house and let them know that Daddy’s little mistake had taken away Santa. He would feel beyond horrible. And if your parents know you don’t believe, what happens on Christmas morning? So I just did nothing.

Christmas’s came and went, cookies were left for Santa, and presents were left for me.

So I am 29 and Mom now knows I don’t believe in Santa.

But wait, Daddy doesn’t read my blog….I should be able to keep the secret from him for a couple more years!!!

Melissa's 7th Day of Christmas- Christmas Craft Day

2011-12-07T19:20:00.000-08:00

(I say that as if I am only spending one day crafting. Ha!)

My friend Sydney and I got together for a Christmas Craft Day to make really cute wreaths. We looked and looked for Christmas wreaths we liked and wanted to try, but nothing really appealed to us. Until I remembered a Halloween wreath made out of black tulle and some accents. I thought that it would be really cute to swap out the black tulle for green and make it in to a Christmas “pine” tutu wreath!

We started with a Styrofoam craft wreath

About 7 yards of tulle for each wreath

Ribbon, silk flowers, and craft berries for accents

Then you just cut the tulle in to strips and tie them on the wreath as you would a tutu.

Once I had the wreath sufficiently tutu’d, I hung it up so I could see how it would look and took a pair of scissors to it. It was a little bushy, so I just trimmed the edges until the tulle was a length that I liked.

I added some silk flowers, berries, and rosettes made out of ribbon and oila…..

Cuuuuuuuuute wreath.

Melissa's 6th Day of Christmas- Santa Better Watch His Back...

2011-12-06T20:07:00.000-08:00

...because Harry Potter is right on his heels for being my #1 magical boyfriend.

See first Harry gave me the week between Christmas and New Years off (thank you Harry!)

And now he is bringing Hogwarts to Hollywood!

That's right! A Wizarding World of Harry Potter right in my neighborhood. Hogsmead and Hogwarts will be right down the road in just a couple of years!

Santa better bring me something AWESOME for Christmas.

Melissa's 5th Day of Christmas- The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...for Movies

2011-12-05T19:44:00.001-08:00

When I was little, one Christmas tradition that my family had is that we would get together again on the 26th and go to a movie.

The whole process would start right after Christmas dinner, when my dad would break out the newspaper (wow that makes me feel old) and we would pick a movie (or movies if the parents picked a movie..ahem The Postman...that the kids just couldn't stomach).

It was a nice wind down to a crazy holiday season. And I think it was the only movie all year that my dad would actually go to!

Even though I don't get to spend as many Christmases with my family, I still like to keep up the movie tradition. And you know Hubs, he isn't going to argue with going to a movie.

It also helps that there are really good movies out this time of year and there are a couple of movies I am really excited about seeing!

The first is the Sherlock Holmes sequel! It's a period film, which I heart, takes place in England, where I heart, PLUS it has Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, who I also heart! So I am pretty sure I am going to heart this movie!

But the movie that will probably be my "Day After Christmas Movie" is The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I'm excited to see this movie, but hubs is PSYCHED to see this movie.

How about you? Are there any movies coming out this month that you are super excited to see?

Melissa's 4th Day of Christmas- A Little Cookie Help, Please!

2011-12-04T19:29:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite parts of the holidays is finding amazing new cookie recipes to try out. With just a little looking, I am usually able to find a recipe that intrigues me and turns out to be super yummy! But this year I have been having a little trouble. Okay, a lot of trouble. I have been looking everywhere and got nuthin'. I don't know if it is because I have been baking so much and I'm getting pickier, but nothing out there sounds good and fun to make!

I will make my sugar cookies, but what else?

In 2009 I made Sugar Cookies, Cherry and Almond Cookies with Vanilla Icing, and Peppermint Candy Cane Ganache cookies

In 2010 I made Sugar Cookies, Dutch Spice Cookies, and White Chocolate Raspberry bars.

But for 2011, I am seriously at loss for what to make.

So I am asking for your help! Please Please Please help me find a recipe! Leave a comment with your favorite holiday cookie (or cookies) or just a cookie you would like to try. (link or recipe is great)

I will pick one of recipes from comments to make for Christmas this year. And if you are the person who gave me a recipe, I will send you a package with all of the goodies that I plan on making this Christmas (not just cookies!).

I guess I am a little like Ellen. Only she won't make you fat.

Melissa's 3rd Day of Christmas- My Christmas Play List

2011-12-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

I know that there are people out there that cringe and run screaming from stores, holding their ears, as soon as they hear the first note of a Christmas song.

I am not one of those people.

I love Christmas Music!

Now not in September, mind you, but as soon as Thanksgiving is over I am pulling out by box of Christmas CDs.

Now that our ipods have replaced all CD players in our house, we had to put all of our Christmas Music on to our ipods and make a play list.

So what is on my Christmas Play List?

Well, you have to have your Crooners on Christmas! One of my fav's is Christmas with The Rat Pack, which includes Michael's all time favorite Christmas song, Frank Sinatra singing 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas'.
And although Hubs may disagree, another must-have classic album is Jimmy Buffett's Christmas Island.

Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum!

And because the holidays can be super stressful and his voice just makes me melt and relax, Andrea Bocelli's My Christmas is something I need when I start to get overwhelmed by the holidays.

And because I love the movie SOOOOOOOO much and it tops my Holiday movie list, I have to add the Love Actually soundtrack to my play list

But can you believe Hubs didn't want to add the Billy Mack song from the movie to the playlist?!?!?!?! If you really love Christmas, Come on and let it show.

And for my Country Christmas fix, I like Lady A's A Merry Little Christmas

And a new favorite for this year is A Very She & Him Christmas, Zooey Deschanel's band's album. My favorite Christmas Song is 'Baby It's Cold Outside' and they do the cutest rendition. They switch parts and She sings the traditional man part, begging Him to stay.

So that is my Christmas play list.

What's on your's that I just have to add to mine????

Melissa's 2nd Day of Christmas- Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T20:03:00.000-08:00

Wait what? I'm only on the Second Day of Christmas and already I am posting about a holiday that is not Christmas?

Well I didn't get around to my Thanksgiving post yet, okay. And don't the holidays really melt together anyways? Plus, I'm going to show you some recipes that you are just going to die to make for Christmas dinner.

So Thanksgiving...

I’m old fashioned in some ways, not-so-much in others. One area that I am not old fashioned is the cooking of the Thanksgiving dinner! I am not one to camp out in a kitchen all day while hubs warms the couch watching some football game he doesn’t really care about. I have a dog show to watch! And some chips and dip to eat!

One thing I am thankful for every Thanksgiving is that my hubs is totally okay with splitting the cooking duties! Probably because he doesn’t want to die from Turkey E. coli poisoning, but maybe because he is actually REALLY good at cooking!

Especially Turkeys, dontcha think?

Hubs cooked the Turkey, the mashed potatoes, and the green beans.

My MIL made yummy gravy

My BIL kept that couch warm since Hubs couldn’t (hey, it has to be done!)

And I made the stuffing, corn, cranberry sauce, and desserts! And I am going to tell you how to make them too! Excited?

We’ll start with the corn and the cranberry sauce, since they are the hardest!

Step #1) Go to Trader Joes. This can be difficult seeing as it is a requirement that every Trader Joes have a HORRIBLE parking situation.

Step #2) Buy a couple cans of corn and a bottle of their cranberry orange sauce

Step #3) On Thanksgiving day open the bottle/cans

Step #4) Pour Cranberry Sauce in to a pretty bowl, pour corn in to a pan with a little butter, salt and pepper and heat until warm then put in a pretty bowl.

Step 5#) Serve and enjoy

Wow! Difficult, I know! But I think you can handle it.

Next is the stuffing. Are you ready to learn now to make the best stuffing in the world?

Mamma Merk’s Stuffing:

Step #1) Gather the following…

2 bags seasoned dry bread cubes (Pepperidge Farms if you can find it, and 3 bags if your local grocery store is like mine and only fills the bags a tiny bit full)

1 celery stalk- chopped to your preference, I like them on the smaller side, Mamma Merk chops them a little bigger

2 medium onions- chopped small

3 eggs

1 to 1 1/2 lbs sausage ( I use Sage sausage if I can find it, but plain is good too)

sage seasoning (a good sprinkling- probably 1 tablespoon)

poultry seasoning (a semi-good sprinkling- probably 3 teaspoons)

1 cup chopped walnuts

chicken broth (have full box on hand)

salt and pepper

Step #2) Put 1 bag of bread crumbs in a large bowl

Step #3) break uncooked sausage in to crumbles and moosh with bread crumbs

Step #4) Make a hole in the center of the crumb/sausage mix and pour in a little broth, mix the broth and the crumbs with your hands.

Step #5) Add in celery, onions, walnuts, seasonings, and eggs (one at a time)...mixing together with your hands.

Step #6) Add in more bread crumbs and broth as you mix

Step #7) When you get to a nice consistency (not too wet, not too dry) put the stuffing into a dish and pop them in the oven

Step #8) Cook for 1 hour at 350

Step #9) Serve with a bit of gravy on top and enjoy!!!!!

And next is something I tried new this year. I wanted to make a dessert that wasn’t too too sweet, so I decided to make this cranberry upside-down coffee cake. I found this recipe on Pinterest and here are the instructions.

Step #1) Go to the link above

Step #2) Follow their directions

(hey that worked for me)

And the pumpkin pie, well I just went to Marie Calendars and bought one, but I actually liked the one I got at Trader Joes earlier in the month even better. (What? You can’t have pumpkin pie for dinner on a random night when your hubs goes to a hockey game? I didn’t eat the whole thing!)

It was a delish dinner

Melissa's 1st Day of Christmas- 25 Days of Christmas

2011-12-01T18:51:00.000-08:00

I am being very ambitious this Holiday Season. I have a whole list of crafts I want to make, recipes I want to bake, and holiday-y stuff I want to do.

The only problem is that in past years I got overwhelmed and lost my ambition by December 5th.

So this year I have decided to give myself extra motivation....

I am vowing here on my blog that I am going to post something every day until Christmas Day.

You are probably thinking, "adding a whole lot of blogs to her plate is going to help with all of the other projects how? I don't see this working."

You might be right, but the way I see it is that if I have to post something every day, I will have to have stuff to post about...like crafts, and cookies, and dogs with reindeer antlers.

So Welcome to Melissa's 25 Days of Christmas

and to answer the first question that will come to your mind...No, I do not give out awesome stuff like Ellen does.

But I do post ridiculously cute holiday pictures of my dogs...

Cookie Fail

2011-11-27T09:29:00.000-08:00

Until last weekend I was able to boast that I had never burned a batch of cookies in my entire 29 years.

But then, I usually bake solo.

(calling hubs in just to do the heavy stirring or kneading still counts as baking solo)

On Saturday, my friend Christine and I decided to get together and bake all of these different Nutella cookie recipes for Thanksgiving.

We are both very thankful for Nutella.

The first recipe we found was a 4 ingredient Nutella cookie (recipe here). The cookies were kinda blah and boring. So what do you do when you have boring and blah 4 ingredient cookies? You add a 5th ingredient…ICING! So we decided to slap on some frosting and turn them in to Nutella Sandwich cookies.

And then we quickly moved on to some Chocolate Nutella cookies. We whipped up the batter and put them in the fridge to chill, per the recipe.

While we were waiting for the dough to chill, we were sitting at my kitchen table talking about work, our hubbies, Harry Potter and how this quote makes us cry like little babies…

After a while Hubs walked in and asked how things were going. We said “good!” and he had a look like he didn’t really believe us. He then asked what was in the oven? “Nothing” I said “ We are in between recipes”

He peeked in and then opened the oven wider for us to see….Inside was a full tray of totally charred Nutella 4- ingredient cookies!

We had tasted how blah they were and moved on, totally forgetting about the tray in the oven.

And it had been in there about 45 minutes.

WHOOPS!

But we put the incident behind us, intent on making sure the Chocolate Nutella cookies were amazing. We popped the first batch in the oven, and we were so excited for them to come out and cool off so we could taste them! And when they came out….again disappointment! They just tasted like Chocolate cookies, and we wanted Chocolate NUTELLA cookies

Damnit!

But they were okay so we popped the last 2 batches in the oven and made dough for a Nutella cookie that I KNOW is amazing….Peanut Butter Nutella cookies (recipe here, but add less flour and more Nutella than it calls for).

So there we are…putting the PB&N cookies on the tray and talking about what cookies we are going to make on our Christmas baking day (dolce de leche shortbread cookies, maybe?)

I open the oven to put in the cookies and what do I find? A TRAY OF CHARRED CHOCOLATE NUTELLA COOKIES!!!!

WHAT THE?

HOW DID WE DO THAT TWICE IN A ROW???

I’ll tell you how….we were too busy chatting to pay attention!

And we both showed up to baking day in Batgirl t-shirts. Batgirl does NOT bake cookies. She kicks ass and burns things down. It couldn’t be helped that we burned the cookies.

For Christmas Baking day...Princess t-shirts only.

My Sprite and My Hooligan

2011-11-06T13:42:00.000-08:00

My dogs can't wait til I have kids. They think that once I do, I will focus all of my Halloween dress-up attention on the kid.

They are wrong wrong wrong

Kids just mean matching group costumes! Yaaaaaaaay!

But for now my dogs are awesome and patient and play along with my dressing them up! This year I made Hadrian's Rainbow tutu so he could be my sprite

This was my first time making a tutu!

Hadrian wouldn't sit still long enough got me to make the tutu, so Scooby-Doo was my model.
It turned out really cute! Except I needed the velcro to stick to the elastic. Hot glue didn't work, and I don't sew. What do I do???? I looked around the room trying to figure out what to do.

Light bulb!
For a dog tutu, the staples worked just fine!!!!

So after I went to all that work of making Hadrian's costume, and ordering Trajan's, I wanted really good pictures, so we decided to set up some sheets and do a little photo shoot.

Michael was the guy from Clockwork Orange, and Trajan was his little hooligan.

Aren't my dogs just awesome and freaking adorable?

You are either super jealous or think I am totally crazy.

Maybe both?

It's a Dead Man's Party

2011-10-31T19:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend Hubs and I had a Halloween Party! It was a lot of fun. So much fun that I am beyond exhausted and can't even think about writing anything.

So I'm just going to post pictures and that will have to do!

Happy Halloween!

Sugar High Halloween

2011-10-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

Any kid will tell you, Halloween is about 2 things...

#1) The coolest/scariest/prettiest costume ever!

#2) SUGAR!

Since I put together the awesomest costume ever, complete with my own little Sprite...

Ta Da!
...I thought I better try to match that awesome-ness in the sugar category as well!

And I think I did!

So I made some wanna be Jack-Skellington chocolate cupcakes

Lots

and lots

and lots

of cupcakes!

Then I made some Peanut Butter Eye Balls

And of course my sugar cookies!

And because I'm a Merkley, and can never have too much sugar around, I stocked up on the Halloween basics as well...
Well, I'm going to go crash now.

Not only is it exhausting making all these goodies, but I am crashing really hard from this sugar high!

Craft-O-Ween Part 2011

2011-10-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of advantages to living in LA. One of them is NOT an overwhelming options of places to buy cute Halloween decorations.

But I'm resourceful.

If I can't buy cute Halloween decorations, I'll just make them!

Last year I made super cute potion bottles and lanterns, and this year I got little crazy with the modge podge.

I loved my BOO decoration that I made back in September so much that I decided to make a couple other decorations to match.

(and plus, I had a pumpkin load of Halloween scrapbooking paper and all of the supplies)

When I was browsing Michael's, I saw a wood picture frame for $1 and since I was missing my witches like crazy, I decided to make a cute witchy frame.

Now I thought I was behind the times in the crafting world, but there are still a few people out there who don't know the wonders of modge podge. So while I was crafting I tried to remember to take pictures of each step so I could post.

TRIED, being the operative word.

First I lined up and traced my frame on to the paper I was using, and cut it out.

Then I painted the edges of the frame, and let it run over the top a bit. (my tracing skills must be rusty, because the paper didn't perfectly line up with the frame post-cut. But since I painted the top a bit, it looks fine!)
While the paint on my frame dried, I took care of an unfortunate little situation.

See, not only does LA have a drastic lack of decorations, it has even less craft and scrapbooking options...

When I decided to make a frame, I knew I wanted glitter spiders and letters for the frame. But see, I was buying craft supplies on October 20th, and how DARE I except them to still be stocked with glitter spiders instead of glitter candy canes.

and how DARE I expect them to have more than one type of black lettering.

So I bought regular spiders...

and regular foam letters...

and I GLITTERFIED them!

I painted them with some of the paint I used for my frame, and drowned the little biters in GLITTER!

See glitter spiders!!!!

Once that was taken care of, I went back to finish the frame. I painted the frame with modge podge, put down the paper, and applied another layer of modge podge and smoothed it out.

There would be a picture here to show that step, but remember how I said I TRIED to take a picture of each step?

Well I failed!

But here is the finished product...

And now next year I can put this picture up all month and think about how much fun I had with my sister witches!

I also made these cute little SPOOKY blocks, using the same process as above.

And my final Craft-O-Ween 2011 project was my cute little mummy pumpkin! I found the idea on Pinterest and knew I had to make it.

Ain't he cute?

The only problem is, I didn't take pictures along the way like I did for the frame. Me, a hot glue gun, and my camera probably don't make the best combination! But that's okay, you can see the instructions HERE.

Plus, it you follow their instructions instead of the ones I would have given you...your pumpkin might actually be as cute as the original!

HAPPY CRAFT-O-WEEN!

How To Cover Up A Murder.

2011-10-23T19:21:00.000-07:00

Last week was a bad week. And just when I didn't think it could get worse, I came home to find something awful!

I came home to find my sweet, precious, innocent little Trajan in a pile of Human bones!

And then it went something like this...

Trajan! What did you do? I know all you dogs hate mailmen and every once in a while they just don't deliver our mail, but I'm sure he didn't deserve to die.

Oh, you didn't murder the mailman?

You heard me say that I wish Tech Support would go to hell and thought that you would take care of that for me?

Awwww that's sweet.

So I guess I better help you cover this all up, hu?

Hadrian, you hide the murder weapon and I will take care of these bones.

So, what should I do with them? I can't bury them. You are dogs and will probably dig them right back up.

I know!

I will make a wreath out of them!

I will lay out all of the bones, and glue them together in to a wreath.

And then I will hang it on the front door! That way nobody will suspect that these are actual human bones, they will just think they are Halloween decorations!

We are geniuses!

But this doesn't mean we go around killing people.

Next time you cover it up all on your own!

(The wreath idea wasn't all mine. For a tutorial on how to cover up your very own murder by making a skeleton wreath, go here.)

Pain In The Punkin

2011-10-17T20:00:00.001-07:00

I found this recipe for Pumpkin Creme Pies on Pinterest and since I love anything baked with pumpkin, I thought I would try to make some. And then eat some, of course!

Whenever I think about baking or cooking something, the first thing I do is look at the ingredient list to make sure there isn't anything too crazy or complicated.

So I took a quick look at the ingredients...

Ingredients

FOR CREME PIES:
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Vegetable Oil
1 can Pumpkin (15 Oz.)
2 whole Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
3 cups All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
½ teaspoons Salt
½ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg
¼ teaspoons Ground Cloves
_____
FOR FILLING:
1 package Cream Cheese Softened (8 Oz.)
1 stick Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
1 package Powdered Sugar (16 Oz.)
3 drops Vanilla Extract
2 dashes Cinnamon

And since there were no red flags in the ingredient list I thought it would be easy and I decided to go for it. In fact, I already had most of the ingredients. The only thing that worried me is at the very top of the recipe, it said that it only makes 12 cookies total. Since I was going to the trouble and was planning on taking some in to work, I decided to double the recipe (the above ingredient list is not doubled, fyi).

Because really, what reason is there to not double a cookie recipe?

So I got to work on the cookie batter...

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pumpkin Creme Pies: Beat together brown sugar, sugar, oil and pumpkin. Add eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition, followed by the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.

Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.

When I was finished with the batter, I took a look at the next step which called for me to....

Cut 3 inch squares of parchment paper, about 24. Using a pastry bag with a round tip, or a big zip top plastic bag with one corner snipped, squeeze out concentric circles of batter, starting from the middle and working outward until the circles are about 2 inches in diameter. (Note that the squares allow the baker to move the square while keeping the bag in the same spot. Just squeeze for easy circle making!)

WHAAAAAAA????

You want me (or hubs actually) to cut 48 pieces of parchment paper in to little squares and then squeeze 48 little batter circles on to them?

Why didn't you say that before I started making this recipe?

You did?

I just didn't read farther than the ingredient list before I decided to make these cookies?

Damn.

I have all of this pumpkin batter now.

I guess I better keep going and...

Transfer each square to a baking sheet. Bake for 11 minutes, or until firm, and cool on a rack.

And once the 15,000 cookies, not 48, were squeezed, circles, and cooked I made the icing

Cream Cheese Filling: Beat together cream cheese and butter. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Frost flat side of half the pies and top with another piece. Enjoy right away, or chill overnight. These keep very nicely in the fridge for at least a few days.

Were they worth it?

I dunno

But they did taste really yummy.

The Origin Of The Zombie Apocolypse Is In Buena Park, California

2011-10-05T18:43:00.000-07:00

Last Friday night we were trying to think of something fun to do with some friends. I had never been to Knott's Berry Farm and so we thought we would go down, ride some rides, and eat some boysenberry tarts.

Only,

When we got there... something didn't seem right.

Although the rest of So Cal was clear, there was fog everywhere.

And all of the rides seemed to be abandoned.

There was this creepy band playing this hard core oil drum banging rock music. And then we walked past this stage with Sponge Bob Square Pants and Osama Bid Laden singing a version of "Under the Sea".
Then we started to notice that there were a lot of clowns walking around.

And they got scarier...
and creepier

And deader?

Now when we saw the zombie clowns, we should have known something was wrong...

But it smelled like churros and funnel cake. Nothing can be that wrong when there are churros about.

And then the stupid psycho clowns started chasing us around with CHAIN SAWS!

So we took to higher ground, we figured the zombie clowns couldn't get to us this high up.

But the ride couldn't last forever.

Eventually we had to come down and make our way through 7 or 8 haunted mazes.

Somewhere along the way were were bitten and became zombies ourselves.

You know, zombies are actually really nice. They will even share the Pez off of their face with you.

Searching For Vikings In Solvang

2011-10-01T21:56:00.000-07:00

Ever since the season of True Blood ended, I have been going through major Vampire Eric withdrawals.

Sigh.

He is such a pretty Vampire Viking.

So when my AAA magazine arrived with an article on Viking Danish Days, I jumped at the chance to see some real Vikings. If the Vikings were half as pretty as Vampire Eric, it would be well worth the 2 hour drive to Solvang.

So hubs and I drove up the coast to Solvang to hunt down Danish pastries and some Vikings. I have to say, the pastries were MUCH more rewarding than the vikings.

It was a cute little town...

but when we arrived I could see that there were WAY more little old ladies than Vikings.

Maybe I was looking in the wrong place for the Vikings? I am always drawn to the shops first, but I highly doubt Vikings like looking at knick-knacks.

I thought I found a Viking near the shops! He had a hammer like Thor and everything!

But really, he was just a town councilman and he had a hammer because he was actually a blacksmith.

How rude to get my hopes up like that!

What do Vikings like? Viking Vampire Eric likes sin. What is sinful in Solvang? Chocolate is sinful, and I think there is a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in town...let's go to the chocolate!

And I found Vikings!

But only the old retired Vikings.

Boo.

What else is sinful in Solvang? From the looks of everyone's waistlines, those sausages and pastries must be pretty pretty sinful. Let's go to where the food and beer is!

And I found Vikings!

But only Hipster Vikings, who I have a feeling were only being Vikings ironically.

And more old retired Vikings.

Boo.

I was about to give up on finding a Viking, when I saw a flier for the Danish Days Parade. And the flier had a Viking ship on it! Now I know that Vampire Eric loves attention, so it made perfect sense that the Vikings would wait until they had the ENTIRE town's attention to make an appearance.

And there were a lot of Vikings in the Parade.

But they did not look ANYTHING like Viking Vampire Eric.

So either there is a HUGE difference between Danish Vikings and Swedish Vikings, and that big difference is located mostly in their mid-sections, or HBO is not realistically portraying Vikings?

O well. Who needs those Vikings? I already had my very own Swedish/Norwegian Viking!

I Heart Nutella

2011-09-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

I have been in love with Nutella for almost fifteen years. I have eaten it with croissants, crepes, bananas, and strawberries, but I have never baked with it.

What was I thinking?

Over the last couple weeks I have made up for those 15 baking-with-Nutella- less years.

I made Peanut Butter Nutella Cookies and Nutella Scotcheroos

The PB&N cookies are probably one of my new all-time favorite cookies. I love love love love them! And hubs did too, but he also REALLY loves Peanut Butter cookies with butterscotch chips, so he asked me to try a batch adding the chips. I like the original better, but hubs went nuts for the ones with the chips...so try either!

Speaking of all-time favorite desserts, my Aunt Julie makes A-Mazing Scotcheroos that I LOVE and beg her to make for me. I tried to make them once, but it didn't turn out well. I think she is the only one that can make them right. But after making the PB&N cookies I had all this extra peanut butter and butterscotch chips, and then magically I came across this recipe for Nutella Scotcharoos. I thought I just HAD to try them.

Yummmmmmy!

(This last picture is not mine, but from the website where I found the recipe. I was too distracted by the yumminess to take pictures)

Now excuse me while I go try and burn off some of these goodies. Peanut Butter and Nutella aren't exactly the most diet-friendly ingredients to bake with.

But sooooooo worth it.

Amazon.com- Now Delivering Hadrians

2011-09-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

Seriously, this dog will pose for/in anything for a cookie.

Which is good, because I have Halloween plans for you little dog.

Mwah ha ha ha ha

A Boo And A Shake

2011-09-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

I am still obsessed with making stuff.

And since today is the first day of September and it is practically Fall, it means I officially am allowed to make Halloween stuff!

Today's distraction was a Halloween decoration brought to you by Pinterest.

It is super cute and super easy to make!

And if the idea of Halloween coming up wasn't exciting enough, today's craft came with a little extra excitement. As soon as I started to apply the first coat of modge podge to the "B", the kitchen started shaking. I thought "Is that a truck? Or an earthquake? Well, if I don't hurry and put the paper on, the modge podge will dry and it could be ruined. I'm going to pretend it was a truck" and I kept going.

Only it wasn't a truck.

It was a 4.2 earthquake.

But I was safe, nothing was damaged, and with the exception of 2 little panic attacks, pups were okay too and my craft was not ruined!

Do you think Hubs will let me keep my "BOO" decoration up clear until Halloween? I wonder how soon I can start sneaking my other decorations up?

Making Stuff

2011-08-31T10:16:00.000-07:00

Wow it has been a long time since I posted. There has been so much going on and hubs says that I have been talking like I have a concussion lately, so I figure writing would be wo....

Squirrel!!!!

Where was I? Oh ya...writing would be worse.

So I have been super stressed out, and when I get stressed out like this I MUST MAKE SHIT!

Whether it be cooking, baking, crafting, or decorating I have this overwhelming need to make stuff. And my recent discovery of Pinterest has provided me with a plethora of ideas!!! (thanks Jill for telling me about this site!)

This site is full of recipes and crafts and design ideas and really anything you can imagine. And then it keeps all of the ideas you come across on the internet in one tidy place.

I heart it.

Once recipe that I found on Pinterest, and is a new fav, is this tomato, avocado and corn salad. Hubs and I made chicken soft tacos and used this salad as a relish and it was sooooooo good!

And Pinterest always links back to the origin of a recipe or craft, so you always have the instructions. This salad came from this blog.

See what kind of yumminess comes out of Pinterest? If you aren't on Pinterest and want to be, give me your email address in the comments section and I will send you an invite.

Well, I better get back to my project for today....making sure hubs' 1,789,806 CDs are already in itunes so I can PACK THEM FAR FAR AWAY IN THE GARAGE.

It's That Damned Old Rodeo

2011-07-14T19:58:00.000-07:00

Well it's bulls and blood

It's dust and mud

It's the roar of a THURSDAY crowd

It's the white in his knuckles

The gold in the buckle

He'll win the next go 'round

It's boots and chaps

It's cowboy hats

It's spurs and latigo

It's the ropes and the reins

And the joy and the pain

And they call the thing Rodeo

It's the broncs and the blood

It's the steers and the mud

And they call the thing Rodeo

Dino-Mite

2011-07-13T19:53:00.001-07:00

I am a both a museum junkie and a dinosaur junkie. Both due to the fact that as a little girl I would spend HOURS at the Dinosaur Museum in Vernal. I loved that museum and it's garden full of life-like dinos. A few years back they moved the museum to a more modern building. I hadn't been to see the new museum yet, so hubs and I decided to take my niece Taya and my nephews Jett and Lincoln with us.

Taya's favorite dino is the Triceratops
My favorite dino is the Stegosaurus
Linc just wanted to see the fish

Jett's favortie dino was the T-Rex, of course!

Seriously, how cool are dinosaurs?

And seriously, how freakin' cute are my niece and nephews? Adorable!

So, what is your favorite Dinosaur?

Redneck, White and Blue

2011-07-12T17:43:00.000-07:00

Hubs and I spent the 4th of July with my family in Utah, and we learned a couple things about life in the country....

If the majority of the floats at the 4th of July Parade consist of the town’s cop cars, fire engines, and ambulances…You might be a Redneck.

If your hometown 4th of July Parade has “floats” sponsored by 7-11…You might be a Redneck.

If your hometown 4th of July Parade provides the town’s oldest Veteran with a float from The Scooter Store…You might be a Redneck.

If you are not supposed to throw candy at the 4th of July Parade anymore because some dumbass lady complained about being hit in the head with a sucker, but you throw candy anyway…You might be a rebellious Redneck (Hell ya!)

If everyone gets mad when the 4th of July Parade and the Rodeo Parade are combined and they get just one Parade this week…Your town is full of Rednecks.

If your town hands out free popsicles at the 4th of July parade…You have a pretty awesome town.

If you hang your boots to dry on the fencepost after a day of boating on the lake…You might be a Redneck.

If the Army uses your local sporting goods store as a back-up armory…You might be a Redneck.

If you buy brand new cowboy boots just to go to a Rodeo…You might be a Redneck. Or a Shopaholic. Or a Shopaholic Redneck.

(ain't they cute, ya'll?)

If the first aerial firework you light shoots into your audience and hits a pregnant lady, so you decide the best option for the second aerial firework is to light it from a garbage dumpster…You might be a Redneck.

So to summarize...It was a whole lot of fun to be a Redneck!

A Root To Canal

2011-06-29T19:32:00.000-07:00

Last week when I was at the dentist for my 6 month check-up, my dentist noticed a tiny little shadow on my very back tooth. Since I have a record of going from exemplary dental health to Oh My Gawd your tooth is about to EXPLODE in 2 days, my dentist thought it was best to give me a filling.

A tiny little filling for a tiny little shadow.

So today I slide in to the dental chair, thinking I would get my filling and then head back to work to finish the million and one things I need to do before I head on vacation this weekend.

So there I am, listening to Weezer and trying my hardest to relax and not to think about the drill bouncing around in my mouth or the fact that if the novocaine happens to immediately wear off I will be able to feel them drilling in to my skull (It happens. Probably), when all of a sudden my dentist stops, takes off her gloves and her mask, and mumbles something to her assistant, who immediately leaves the room. Then she starts putting things away

WHY IS SHE PUTTING THINGS AWAY?!?!?

I know it's not that easy.

When the assistant returns and mumbles something to the dentist, she turns to me and says that this tiny little shadow cavity is really a cavity that happens to be so close to the nerve that they need to send me to get a root canal RIGHT THIS MINUTE.

I should have known better! I should have known it couldn't be just a little filling. I should have known you would find a root to canal.

So they packed me up and told me to drive 10 miles (which in LA traffic is like, a 30 minute drive) for a root canal.

Ummmm do you not remember when I first started coming to you and tried to insist on Happy Dentist Gas for CLEANINGS because I was so petrified? Do you not remember how my entire body tenses up when you come at me with so much as the little mirror doohickey? Do you not remember 15 minutes ago when I made you give me 2 novocaine shots because I didn't feel numb enough and was deadly seriously convinced the first shot would wear off mid-drill?

You think I can drive myself across town to a root canal?

It's like telling Amy Winehouse to drive herself to rehab.

No, No, No.

So I called hubs crying and he was awesome enough to take me to my root canal. Thank god he could take me, because I could barely drive the 1 mile back to the office. I was shaking and all I wanted to do was ram every car I could see. I couldn't possibly make it to my root canal if I was stuck at a car accident.

Once we got to the new office, all I could think about was getting in and out as fast as possible. I tried to be brave and just suck it up.

After I insisted on 2 more novocaine shots, of course.

For the next hour I laid in the dentist chair, with tears streaming down my face, just WANTING IT TO END ALREADY and thinking things like the following....

It's just a little tooth, how can you possibly need to DRILL THAT MUCH? You are drilling into my skull, aren't you?

OMG what was that sound? Did you just crack my tooth? YOU BASTARD! YOU CRACKED MY TOOTH! (he didn't crack my tooth)

Do you know that you have really hairy ears?

That little needle looks like an acupuncture needle. Isn't acupuncture supposed to be relaxing? THIS IS NOT RELAXING.

Or is that a Voodoo needle? ARE YOU VOODOO'ING ME?

If I was a vampire and had pointy fangs I WOULD BITE YOU RIGHT NOW.

I can't wait until the next True Blood. The second episode of the season was SO good.

I HATE YOU, DENTIST.

and then he gave me Codeine for the pain.

Okay, maybe he wasn't that bad.

Once You Go Green...

2011-06-16T21:19:00.000-07:00

In Brightest Day, In Darkest Night,

His hotness can't escape my sight.

Let those who worship muscles tight

Go see this movie, cuz Ryan's super hot, right?

Bests With The Besties

2011-06-05T17:18:00.000-07:00

Our Besties came to visit from New York for Memorial Day weekend, and in an attempt to convince them to abandon the Big Apple for sunny So Cal., we showed them the best of everything LA has to offer.

Where can we get the best burger and tater tots in LA?

Why, that would be Umami!

Where is the best place to people watch in LA?

Why, that would be the Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade!

Where is the best place to get an ice cream sandwich in LA?

Ummmm. Actually, we don't know.

Good thing they did. So we went to Diddy Riese in Westwood.

Where is the best place to see a movie in LA?

Why, that would be one of the Arclight theaters! So hubs got some passes and we went to see the Hangover 2.

Ok, that theater was pretty cool, but where is the creepiest place in LA to see a movie?

Why, at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery with a Hitchcock movie being projected against a crypt!

Where is the best place to have a BBQ?

Why, our back yard!

This is Southern California, where is the best beach?

Why, that would be Hermosa Beach!

Since we are down near the beach, where is the best place to get some damn good pork barbacoa?

Why, that would be Cafe Rio in Manhattan Beach!

yummmmmmm!

And yet, after all this they still got on a plane back to New York.

How rude!

Literarily Challenged

2011-05-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

Do you like to read?

I do.

I love it when I find a new book or book series that I can just disappear into that world.

Hubs, on the other hand, doesn't like it when I find a book I really like. And he HATES it when I find a series. He thinks I disappear a little too much and I neglect him. As soon as he sees me with a book or our kindle in my hand he asks if I have found something I like. And then he asks how many books are in the series so he can figure out when he will actually see me again.

And he is kind of right.

Whenever I am reading, that is all I want to do and the rest of the world just gets tuned out. I can't help it!!! And having a Kindle just makes the problem so much worse. Before the Kindle, I would have to come up for air in between books and live in the real world until I could get to the book store. But now I just type in the next book, press buy and voila! New book instantly. Fabulous!

As fabulous as it is to have a new book instantly, it means that I fly through books and book series too quickly. After I have finished a particular book or series, I am stuck without something to read and end up bored and pouty.

Like I am now.

I am bored and pouty and I need a new book to read.

Do you have any ideas for me?

These are the books that I have read lately and really liked:

Most recently I read a little mystery series by Rhys Bowen. It is about a member of the British Royal family in the 1930's that solves little mysteries. It has history, royalty, a cute Irish man, and a mystery. All things I like!!!

I try to rotate between fluffy books like mysteries, and books with actual literary merit. So before the Spyness books, I read The Help- which was amazing! It is about maids in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960's and the white families that they work for. It shows the tame, domestic side of the civil rights movement and how it affected people in their actual homes. But it also had humor, which is probably why I liked it. As hard as I try to read "good" books, I really don't like sappy, tear jerker, lesson teaching books.
And the opposite of books with literary merit, is my Sookie Stackhouse books! Or my True Blood books. They are full of hot vampires, werewolves, witches, and fairies and I can't get enough of them! I even got my mom hooked! The new one came out on May 3rd and I finished it in, like, 2 days. I can't wait for the new season of True Blood (June 26th, woot!) and then hopefully a new book next Spring.
So, now that you know a little bit about my taste in books, can you help me find something to read next?

Help! Help! Help!

Featherless and Fuming

2011-05-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

Today I found myself standing in a hospital bathroom, pulling feathers out of my hair with pliers.

Why?

Because apparently you can't have feather extensions in your hair while you get a CT scan of your brain.

And no, I wasn't having a CT scan because people were worried that I had been walking around with chicken feathers in my hair.

I was having a CT scan because last Wednesday hubs and I were sitting at a red light when we were SLAMMED into by a delivery truck, receiving whiplash and a minor concussion as souvenirs.

Yeeeah, the past 5 days have been FUN.

But the least fun...

Being told I have to take out my feathers :(

I loved my feathers.

I felt cute and cool with my feathers. Almost as cute and cool as this girl...

Nope. Nope. No way to be as cute and cool as my little niece Lexie.

(How cute is she? And how cute are her feathers? She LOVED showing them off. She makes me laugh and want to steal her when she comes to visit in a couple weeks. Is it stealing if you notify the parents and ask permission?)

Anyways, my feathers.

They were super cute and I miiiiiiiiisssssssss them (said in a very whiny voice)

Auuuuuuutuuuuumn come visit and put them back. Okay?!? (said in a VERY whiny voice).

Stupid week.

Honey Badger Don't Care

2011-04-28T19:16:00.001-07:00

So this may be old to you, but I just saw this today and found it HI-larious!!!!

(make sure you have the volume on)

At What Point Do I Officially Become One of Those "Dog Ladies"?

2011-04-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

I like Easter. But I don't have kiddos yet, so I don't have an excuse to make up Easter baskets or do an egg hunt...

Oh wait

I have dogs

Awesome!

They'll do

So yes. I did an Easter Egg "hunt" for my dogs with little bits of ham in the plastic eggs. And they loved it.

Hadrian got a little frustrated. He is so dainty and he just kept pawing at the egg. Eventually hubs had to help him out.

But Trajan got the concept pretty quick. He just got the egg in his mouth and CHOMPED and it popped right open.

Hadrian was interested in the eggs just as long as they had ham in them. Once the ham was gone he went back to sniffing the yard.
But Trajan! He ran all over the yard with the different halves of the eggs trying to get us to chase him.

He is so goofy looking when he carries things around in his mouth!

So wow. That is two posts in a row about my dogs.

Are you sure you want me back at blogging?

Don't worry.

I am headed to Utah this weekend for Grandma's 80th birthday weekend and a bunch of us Merkley girls are staying in SLC for the weekend.

That means that there is a very good chance someone, probably Autumn, will end up mooning Downtown Salt Lake and I will have lots to share.

Springy

2011-04-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I turned 29.

Sigh.

I have been in denial of entering the last year of my twenties, so it has taken me a couple weeks to want to post these photos. But today is Easter, and these are the perfect Spring-y photos.

For my birthday, I got a lot of beautiful flowers. I was very moody about turning 29, so to cheer myself up I had a little photo shoot with two of my favorite subject- flowers and my pooches.

And I got some of my favorite shots of Trajan and Hadrian ever! The top 2 are my favorite and are heading for frames!

Even Mother Earth Would Pass

2011-04-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

I love the Earth.

I love it just as much as the next guy.

I recycle.

I buy organic.

I try to use earth friendly products.

and I fully intend to buy a hybrid when we get another car.

But I think there is a line.

And today, on Earth Day, I found something that far crosses that line!

Cloth maxi pads!

Seriously!?!?!?

So I was doing my part to save the world by internet shopping rather than driving all around LA and putting more exhaust into the air, when I came across these. At first I wondered if this was a late April Fools joke, so I googled it and there is really a website selling this. This company does nothing but sell cloth maxi pads! I hope they have a day job too!

Seriously, what the hell?

Ewwwwwww

I love the Earth, but not that much!

Peanuts and Cracker Jacks

2011-04-16T21:22:00.000-07:00

You probably haven't noticed, but I have been quite lazy about blogging lately. Actually, I have been quite lazy about everything lately. I have barely picked up a camera since January, so I haven't had much to post.

But then Thursday we were offered Dodgers tickets from hub's work. So instead of going home and changing into sweats and watching Vampire Diaries, we went to the game with some friends!

After I consumed my Dodger Dog and Cracker Jacks, I watched the game for about 2 minutes before I got bored.

It was a baseball game after all.

So when the boredom hit, I broke out the camera to entertain myself and now I finally have something to put up on my blog!

Did you miss me??

Beautiful As Aphrodite

2011-02-10T19:59:00.001-08:00

I love MAC Make-up.

I also love kick-ass super hero chicks.

So naturally I looooooove our new MAC Wonder Woman line!

How cute is this?

The very best part is the adorable comic book packaging. Beyond adorable!

It's so cute that it is totally FLYING out of the stores. It came out this morning and all of my local stores are already running out of some of the stuff.

So hop in your invisible jet and get to a MAC store now!

Why You Should Stop Asking Me When I Am Having Kids

2011-01-27T19:05:00.000-08:00

For the entire first day I was in Utah, the most popular topic of conversation was when Michael and I were going to start having kids. Every single person I saw asked when we were going to start our family.

By the second day....everyone had stopped asking.

Why?

Because Autumn and I are awesome.

And we are even awesomer Aunts!

In one weekend, we taught the kiddos a lot of very important life lessons!

I started the weekend by teaching the youngest kiddos how to be iSnobs. After one night with me, Lincoln (3yo), Mylee (2.5yo) and Brock (2yo) were addicted to my iPhone and thought that the Talking Tom App is the greatest thing in the world!

Then later that night, Ashley actually let Autumn, Makall, and I take her 9 year old daughter home for a sleepover!

We let Taya stay up as late as she wanted watching the Disney Channel and then for breakfast....we fed her sugar cookies and energy drink!

Later that day at the shower we sat her down and taught her some very very important pearls of our wisdom.

Like, Coke is better for you than milk. It has more essential vitamins and minerals.

(monster energy drink is even better)

Always play with your food.

Always eat dessert first! You can always drink V8 to get your veggies. So eat your cake and drink your veggies!

And if your dessert is animal shaped...always eat the butt first.

After all that sugar, Pole Dancing is great exercise.

Cigars are bad. But bubble gum cigars are awesome!

We also taught her Science! Like effects of helium on your vocal chords!

But soon her mom and other Aunts started picking up on what we were teaching her, and told her that we were bad influences and to stop listening to us.

So we went and found her little brother, Jett.

I taught him that when Grandpa Pudge is dragging you behind his tractor on a 70 year old sled...

it is far far more important to smile for the camera than to hold on for dear life.

I also taught Jett to always show off a blue tongue!

On our way to get a picture with the big pink dinosaur I had the following conversation with Jett:

Jett- "Will it hurt if I hit punch the dinosaur?"

Me- "Will it hurt the dinosaur if you punch it?"

Jett- "No, me"

Me- "Oh. Well, ya bud it's a statue. It will probably hurt"

Jett- "Oh. So it's not, like, inflatable?"

Me- "Inflatable? Nope. I think it's made of cement"

Jett- "Oh, okay"

And then we went and took their picture...

And when we were done....

Me- "Did you hit the dinosaur, Jett?"

Jett- "Ya. and it hurt my hand"

Well, I tried to warn him.

After a fun weekend in Vernal, Autumn and I went and spent the night with Beau, Jill and little Lexie!

We taught Lex that when you get caught jumping on the bed...

It is best to run and get in your crib...

and fake being asleep!

Mom and Dad can't get mad at you when you are "sleeping" like an angel!

And the next day before my flight, I told Lex that I live by Disneyland and riding in my cramped suitcase for a few hours would be totally worth how much fun she would have if she came and visited me!

So what do you think? After reading this, do you think I am mother material?

P.S. Don't I have just the cutest nieces and nephews in the entire world?

Home

2011-01-24T19:13:00.000-08:00

Is Los Angeles my home?

The place I feel most comfortable and most at home in the whole world is on my couch, cuddled up with my husband and my puppies. And that couch, that husband and those puppies are in Los Angeles, so I guess technically it is my home.

But still after six years the City does not feel like my home. I often doubt that it ever will.

And usually I am okay with that.

Los Angeles doesn't have to be my home.

Salt Lake and Utah can always be my home.

Except after visiting last week, Salt Lake didn't feel much like home either. Since graduating college, I mostly only go to Utah for special events...Holidays, weddings, reunions, baby showers...and most of those events take place in the country. I always just seem to pass Salt Lake by.

But spending a bit more time in Salt Lake last weekend, I realized that Salt Lake has been passing me by too. There was so much I didn't recognize, that I didn't remember. For the first time in my life I felt disoriented and turned around in the city that was for so long my entire world.

I felt lost.

And I really didn't like it.

I used to know the streets so well! Even before I turned 16 and was expected to navigate myself around, I knew how to get anywhere I needed to be. Especially the malls. Grandma always had to come and get me to help her get to the malls.

They de and re-faced Fashion Place Mall, now there is a Wal-Mart where the sand pit used to be, and a huge Soccer stadium that holds 20,000 people has seemed to pop up out of nowhere across from the movie theater.

I was so confused!

I have grown and I have changed, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Salt Lake has too.

I guess I always just thought that Home would be waiting for me, unchanged, frozen as it was, for when I was ready to give up this LA madness.

Hickory Dickory Dock

2011-01-22T08:48:00.000-08:00

In two months Alisha will pop!

So last weekend it was time for her baby shower!

Her sisters came up with the adorable theme of Nursery Rhymes and it was super cute! The invitation was an adorable rhyme that Ashley made up (and from which I totally stole this blog title), and all of the food was nursery rhyme themes.

Like The Little Piggie's Roast Beef Sandwiches...

Humpty Dumpty After His Fall...

Lots of Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...

Cows Jumping Over the Moon Cookies....

and Little Jack Horner's Pies among others

But it wasn't all about the food! There were lots of cute decorations and cute wittle baby gifts that made just about everyone's uterus do somersaults!

How cute is this diaper cake Ashley made?

Me and my preggo cousin!

I'm so happy for Alisha and Dave and I can't wait for my new little nephew to arrive in March! I also can't wait for Autumn and I to teach him a few things....we are VERY good influences on kids. But I will tell you more about that later this week.

As much as I love Alisha and was excited for her shower...the best part of the weekend was all the girl time us cousins got to spend together! We went to dinner, had game night, laughed, and had loads of fun all weekend!
My new favorite game is Things, which is a really fun word association game. One person reads a phrase, while the others write down the first that comes to their minds and then everyone tries to guess who wrote what. You can't imagine how dirty six girls can be! I was laughing so hard my sides hurt the next day!
We tried to impose a "no talking to boys" rule.....you can see how well that turned out

Girl time and lots of laughing was just what I needed to cure my winter blues! Even if that meant going from 80 degree California winter, to an 8 degree Utah one.

My cousins are totally worth a little frost bite!

Lazy

2011-01-12T20:02:00.000-08:00

or busy?

Well, both.

I have been so busy all day long lately, that at night all I want in the world is to be lazy lazy lazy!

Hence, no blog posts.

but I know that this weekend in Utah will supply plenty of blog fodder...so just you wait!

Jealous that I will be in Utah with my cousins having loads of fun? Wish you could have a great weekend too? Need ideas on how to make it great?

I have an idea.

Go see "The King's Speech"

It is the best movie I have seen in a long time and if it doesn't win some awards I am going to start knocking down some doors and giving members of the academy wedgies.

and it's not just because Colin Firth is my secret boyfriend.

sigh

I AM Cookie Monster

2010-12-22T19:11:00.000-08:00

I really like to bake.

It's just that when I am constantly struggling to eat healthy, baking is just an unneeded temptation.

If I bake them, I will want to eat at least some of them.

So I avoid baking most of the year.

Except during the holidays. I absolutely LOVE baking during the holidays. Even if you use the exact same recipe, Christmas cookies are WAY better than any other cookies!

Every year I spend days and days baking cookies. Some old recipes, some new.

This year I made 3 different kinds of cookies- my Christmas Sugar Cookies, Dutch Spice Cookies, and White Chocolate Raspberry bars.

And I am going to gain about 500 pounds because they are yummy!

The first cookies (and the easiest!) I made were Dutch Spice Cookies. They are very similar to ginger bread cookies, but without the pain of baking with molasses.

My new nutcracker for the year was my Dutch Sinterklaas, so I decided to go with the whole Dutch theme and make the spice cookies. The recipe didn't call for frosting, and they were good plain, but I wanted just a little something extra. I made a super easy powdered sugar, vanilla, and water icing.

Isn't Sinterklaas so cute?

Next I made my classic Christmas Sugar Cookies!

I love these cookies, and I love making them but DAMN! do they take forever and a day to decorate. Especially when I have about a hundred of them. This year I asked Santa to give Hadrian and Trajan opposable thumbs so they could help me decorate. But since Santa knows if you are bad or good, he knows Hadrian would do more eating than decorating. Seriously, that dog is a sugar cookie MONSTER.

and finally I made White Chocolate Raspberry Slices.

They seem to be everyone's favorite for this year but wow were they a pain to make! The dough was pretty much all butter, sugar, and flour so it was very very crumbly. It was such a pain to roll that I had to have hubs kneed the dough for ages before I could form it in to a rope.

Loads of sugar? check

Loads of butter? check

Loads of cheese? no check

I guess it's time to go make Aunt Vicki's cheese balls then!

Crafty Christmas

2010-12-20T21:41:00.000-08:00

Every year I have all of these grand ideas about how crafty I am going to be for Christmas. I imagine that somehow I will have the time and energy to make all of these wonderful things by hand and how each Christmas card I send out will be hand (or rather cricut) made with love.

But hell, I barely got Christmas cards out this year!

I had two stamps and I wasn't about to go within a 1/2 mile radius of a LA post office to get more. The only people who got cards were Mom and Dad, Uncle Rhett, and whoever I happened to be sending a package to already (Studio has a nice little package mailing system!).

So for everyone else....

Sorry!

and Merry Christmas!

Here is your card...

(I even got bored half way through picniking this palm tree and stopped)

But I wasn't completely uncrafty! I made some really cute things

The first was a wreath I found on this blog

I thought it was super cute, and hey, it's ribbon and hot glue.....I can do that.

So I headed to my local craft store to load up on cute ribbon and find a styrofoam wreath.

Only, I live in The Valley and the only craft store we have is Michaels and a perpetually half-stocked Michaels at that.

So this is the only wreath I could find. It's edges were kinda squared off instead of perfectly rounded and smooth, so the ribbon didn't lay right.

So tip #1.....get a wreath with more rounded edges like the one on the blog.

Tip #2...don't do this project the same day after you clean your house...the styrofoam poop gets EVERYWHERE

But I really like it, and think it turned out pretty cute!

And what did I do with all of that left over ribbon I bought?

Wrapped presents, of course!

And to wrap presents I have a VERY helpful little elf helping me.

I also had a not-so-helpful elf trying to "help me"

The only other "crafty" thing I did was make this little Christmas sign.

(and I say "crafty" with a great big grain of salt)

All I did was print the page from a blog I can't for the life of me find right now and frame it.

Hubs has always loved the English saying "Keep Calm and Carry On" so I thought it would be a cute little Christmas sign to put up! Pair it with my Beef Eater Nutcracker and it is a proper English Christmas decoration.

Cheerio!

Finally, Christmasness

2010-12-19T18:46:00.000-08:00

I really liked traveling near Christmas and seeing how people in a foreign country decorate for the holidays.

But damn I am behind in my own Christmasness!

I was behind in my decorating, baking, wrapping, and blog posting.

It is December 19th and I haven't posted a thing about Christmas! Partly because I really like all of the holiday themes of my favorite TV shows, but mostly because I have been busy playing catch up.

I have been crafting.

I have been baking.

I have been shopping.

I have been wrapping.

and unfortunately for the poor ears of my pups and hubs, I have been listening to and singing Christmas music.

But I'm still not finished with any of it, so I can't really post about any of it.

The only thing that I have REALLY finished is decorating my tree, so here it is!

Not much different than last year. I even think I put some of the decorations in the exact same place. But I do have some new decorations this year. In the past I have mentioned (here and here) that I collect ornaments from anywhere I travel, so here are my travel ornaments from 2010.

First is from our trip to New York in September to visit our besties.

And of course Costa Rica.

I got pretty nervous about finding one in Costa Rica. By the second to last day of the trip I had not found an ornament I liked (heck, I couldn't find any at all), so I decided to buy a cute magnet I liked, and make it in to an ornament when I got home.

But then the very last day I found these parrots in the Costa Rican Target/Macys/whatever it was. Of course I had to get two macaws, since they are always in pairs.

I love decorating my tree every year, because as I take each ornament out of it's box it's like visiting these places all over again.

I also love decorating my tree because, like, I have the best helper elf ever!

Zip Zip Zip

2010-12-15T19:04:00.000-08:00

Finally! The very last blog about our trip to Costa Rica.

You are probably so happy it's over, but we saved the best for last.

Well, actually, we saved the best until after our parents did all of their Christmas shopping because they will all probably have heart attacks after this.

Because while we were in an exotic Central American country, we allowed ourselves be driven to the top of a mountain and sent down through the trees on a wire with just a leather glove as a brake.

Ok, so it wasn't quite that.

First, they hooked us up in all kinds of helmets and harnesses.

They told us not to touch anything, and to let them know if we needed anything adjusted. I had to keep slapping Michael's hands away from his harnesses because he kept fidgeting. I was pretty sure I was going to end the day a widow.

Then they put us in a wagon and hauled us up the mountain with a tractor.
I have this horrible phobia of some vehicle I am in going over a cliff with me trapped inside, so being hauled up a mud road by a tractor , sometimes at a 45 degree angle....probably the scariest part.

But the view from the top was pretty neat.

At the top the guides just started whipping off down the wire. They made it look so easy, but I was full on panicking. We had a quick tutorial and was told that we would be zipping down 13 different wires to different platforms.

On some of the platforms all you could see were trees and trees and more trees. Not even the ground! You had to just trust the guides that there was actually someone on the other end to catch you.

Since I wasn't feeling SUPER trusting, I made Paul go first, then me, and then Michael. I didn't make Paul go first so he would die first if there was a problem, I made Paul go first because I didn't trust him to push me down the wire if I froze. Michael would have had no qualms forcing me on the wire and sending me on my merry screaming way.

But I didn't freeze.

I was more like, get me to the next platform, okay, unhook me, hook me back up, send me down the next wire. GET ME TO THAT NEXT PLATFORM.

I was SO concentrated on just getting to the end that I didn't even really start to enjoy it and take in what I was doing until almost the end.

We all had lots of fun and didn't die.

The day was a success!!!

And Fauna

2010-12-11T12:27:00.000-08:00

In addition to beautiful beaches and flowers, Costa Rica has some amazing and exotic wildlife!

And no, I'm not just talking about all the ex-pat surf bums who live down there. I am talking about a lot of really cool wild animals!

Since Costa Ricans get free college tuition, it was really easy (and cheap!) to find our very own, super knowledgeable, super cool ecologist tour guide to teach us all about the animals and plants of Costa Rica

If you are ever in the Jaco area, Roberto at King Tours is AWESOME!

Roberto taught us a lot of lessons.

Lesson #1. Do not go near Rivers in Costa Rica. Ever. There are HUGE crocodiles in them.

And they will eat you.

Lesson #2. Costa Rican Squirrels are 3 colors. Red, Brown, and Grey.

And they like bananas.

Lesson #3. Iguanas as everywhere and are often considered pests by locals.

And they especially like hanging out on the roof of swim-up bars. Lazy alcoholics, the whole lot of them.

Lesson #4. There are 3 species of monkeys in Costa Rica. Howler Monkeys, Spider Monkeys, and White Faced Capuchin Monkeys.

And they will steal your shit.

(This dude is about to get really pissed when he discovers he went to all that work for some nasty BBQ Pringles. He CHUCKED them on the ground.)

Lesson #5. Unlike North American Raccoons, Costa Rican Raccoons are not nocturnal.

And, unlike Monkeys, they do like BBQ Pringles.

(okay so they are not SO dissimilar to North American Raccoons)

Lesson #6. This is a Koati.

And I didn't really learn anything else about them.

Lesson #7. Sloths are Slothful and really do move v e r y s l o w l y.

And they only come down to the ground once a week.

And it is to poop.

Lesson #8. There are over 1,000 species of butterflies in Costa Rica.

And every single flippin one of them is hard to get a picture of.

Lesson #9. There are 894 beautiful species of birds in Costa Rica.

and the damn Toucans are the shyest of them all. Assholes!

Lesson #10 The best time to view the Scarlet Macaws is at dawn and dusk.

And you better believe that after I saw these 5 on a tree outside our hotel room window at 6:15 am one morning, I dragged Michael out of bed at 6:00am every other morning to find them again.

Also, Macaws mate for life. So you will almost always see them in pairs. Isn't that sweet?

Look, they are cuddling!

I discovered that the best way to find Macaws is to listen for them. They are loud, obnoxious squawking things! So when they were REALLY high in this tree and I wanted to get their attention, I started squawking obnoxiously too. I swear this guy is looking down and me thinking "what the hell is that chick doing?"
And don't worry, I too was VERY concerned as to why there were only 5 if they mate for life and are always found in pairs. I got really depressed and worried that the 5th has lost it's mate and was lonely. I eventually had to convince myself that it was young, and just hasn't found it's mate yet.

Lesson #10. Jaguars are not that big in real life.

Flora

2010-12-09T15:35:00.000-08:00

On my last post, Alisha commented that I didn't take enough pictures.

Psshhhh I took plenty of pictures.

916 to be exact.

I just haven't posted enough pictures.

But don't worry. There are still a few more posts with plenty of pictures to come. I just couldn't overwhelm everyone, especially myself, by trying to post everything I want to show on one most.

So, without further ado.....MORE PICTURES!

Woo hoo!

You can't think of Costa Rica without thinking of it's tropical beautifulness. Everywhere you look is green, green, green with splashes of brightly colored flowers. And if you pay attention to my photography at all, you might have noticed that I likes to take pictures of flowers.

Lots of flowers.

So many flowers that towards the end of the trip, hubs was like "GAWD ANOTHER FLOWER?!?! LEAVE THE POOR FLOWERS ALONE"

But they're pretty.

And I want to capture their prettiness and make my friends and family look at pages and pages of their prettiness.

You're Welcome