The Bloody Olive

This beautiful, intriguing little short reminds me of Liz's and my relationship (but then who is Sam?). I think my moustache is coming back in honor of this swanky fellow.

I can laugh about this now

Today I had to make caramels for the YW Bake Sale. Nobody else would make them so I volunteered. Bad idea. I've never made caramels before and had no idea what was involved. After 2 failed batches (and lots of calls to family) I called my friend Susie who is a caramel pro and went to her house to have her supervise/make the caramels. On the way home the pan of hot caramel spilled all over the seat of my car and purse. I parked my car and had a complete emotional breakdown. Danny got a phone call with a hysterical crying wife on the other end of the line. Danny thought someone in my family had died. Instead he heard, "The caramel just spilled all over my car. (more hysterical crying) Can you come home?" And he did.

Who knew caramel could cause emotional breakdowns? Now I know. Beware.

I want. I need.

It seems whenever a holiday rolls around and Danny asks me what I want I can never think of anything. Well right now there are lots of things I want so pay attention Danny!

*Staple Gun
*Saw
*Grill
*Computer
*Cricut
*Penguin Classics Hardback Series by Coralie Bickford-Smith (both sets)
*Stereo for ipod
*NikonD70
*Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign
*Graphic Design and Photography classes
*Vacation to tropical place or Europe
*Napkins from Anthropologie that match our new plates

Many of these things are needs more than wants. For example, I'm in charge of the bulletin board for YW's and its a major pain. The other ward's board always looks so neat while mine has wrinkles and bent staples. I need a staple gun. And whenever I want to change it I have to go to my friend's house to use her Cricut which is great that she lets me use it...but it takes forever to cut out that many letters. It would be nice to be able to do other things while it cuts away. It would also be nice to have some graphic design skills so I could make cute handouts for YW's.

Our apartment gets super hot in the summer and we can't use our oven or stove so it would be nice to be able to cook meat on a grill instead of going out to eat every meal.

I have some pieces of wood in our apartment that I use with our A/C unit (we don't have windows so I had to build something custom to accomodate our sliding glass doors) but since our doors where replaced last summer the pieces of wood no longer fit. I need a saw to cut them down to size. I also need a saw to cut the poles I bought a year ago to put in our sliding doors for safety when we use our A/C unit. I also want to build some shelves in our closet.

What's on your want/need list right now?

On Danny's list is a Le Creuset dutch oven. Surprised?

Another for Becca...yes she "reads" my blog

Like??

by loviesformybabies on Etsy

This one's for you Becca

For President's Day Weekend my family came into town and we all went to Disneyland. We went to Rainforest Cafe and Build-a-Bear as an early Valentine's celebration for Becca.

Becca and Patches helping "fluff" Princess Kitty

Valentine's Day started off with a knock at our door and Becca delivering a valentine! That night we had a fabulous dinner at Cafe Orleans where we ate Monte Cristo sandwiches to our hearts content. I only wish they still had their Chocolate Crepe on the dessert menu. What were they thinking when they took it off?!?! We got valentines (and a princes barrette) from my dad (yes I wore it in my hair) and my mom spoiled me with a light up light saber that I had secretly (or not so secretly) been wanting but Danny had banned me from buying. (Pictures and video from my Jedi training coming soon)

Unusual events from this trip include

• Patches surprising us all with an unexpected decision to move to Splash Mountain and change his name to Brer Patches.
• Becca screaming on Indian Jones...I don't know if I've ever heard her truly scream from fear before.
  
• Seeing Kelly from "The Office".
• Liz getting soaked like a person's never been soaked before on Grizzly River Run. Literally our raft got stuck where the water shoots up and the water just kept coming down on Liz. Danny laughed so hard he cried.
• Mom didn't make us sit for 2 hours before the parade to make sure we had good seats. In fact, we didn't even see the parade.
• Danny stating that the skewers from the Bengal BBQ are his absolute favorite food and he could eat 50. Maybe next time.
  
• Starting the "Toys stay in the backpack" rule

If Becca could talk, what do you think she's saying in these two photos?

And to think....this is Becca's favorite ride.

We took a break from Disneyland one day and went to San Diego's Wild Animal Kingdom. I give it 3 stars. It was hard to get around...the map was horrible and confusing, and the paths were very steep and sometimes unpaved. My dad did take Becca into the Parakeet cage and the birds LOVED her. She freaked out when they landed on her but I was impressed by how brave she was. I hate birds and would not go in the exhibit.

Where did the bird land on you Becca?

On your head!

On your shoulder too!

"mmmmcheese"

"I love this ride!"

Lucky for us our tickets included a ride on the carousel. The park had a two-day old baby elephant that was super cute so of course Becca HAD to ride on the elephant. Unfortunately at the end of the ride the elephant ended up about 6 ft in the air and I had to get 5'10" Becca down. I almost died.


Becca let some of toys have a slumber party at our house and this is how the night played out.

Danny was NOT happy about sharing his salsa with Sally Mae (who thought our apartment was cold and decided to put on her snowsuit).

Danielle (named after her Uncle Danny) checked her email and surfed the web.

Everyone watched the Olympics.

Princess Kitty read us a story before bed.

Thanks for visiting us and including us on your vacation!! I miss my Becca-boo!

Danny's Birthday & Early Valentine's Day Weekend

We went to Napa Valley this last weekend and had a really fabulous trip. When I was first trying to plan this trip I had doubts that there would be anything for us to do since we don't drink but I found some really fun things. It was a really fun trip. I'm so glad we went.

The trip started off with a car full of Danny's favorite treats. Danny cannot go on a road trip (even if it's only an hour) without having treats. On our way we stopped by a French Cheese Factory for a picnic lunch. The farm was so beautiful and the cheese delicious!

No wonder happy cows come from California

The rest of the day we spent on an African Safari. Yes, you read correctly...AFRICAN SAFARI. I was worried it would be lame but I'm pretty sure we BOTH loved it. It had rained all day and I was worried that they would cancel our tour but those vehicles can handle anything. It was quite the ride!!!!

I'm glad the Cheetah was not part of the open range. It looked like it wanted to kill me.

Kudu. So close I could touch it.

Apparently Zebras are shy and mean. A group of Zebra is called a Dazzle.

Probably the most exciting part of the Safari. These African Cattle thought we were the feed truck and started a stampede coming right for us. It was awesome.

This Wildebeest makes me sad. He is the only male born to his herd and thus has been cast out because he is a threat to his dad.

Impala

The herd of Wildebeest and some mountain goats (I can't remember their name)

This is how we roll. On the top!

That night we drove to our hotel which I was a little worried about but it turned out fabulous. We ended up in a suite right on the golf course at a country club. Not too bad!! We were so tired and cold from our Safari that we decided to just order some pizza and watch a movie in front of the fire. The pizza was really good. I wish they had a store near Palo Alto.

The next day we took a tour of Castello di Amorosa, a winery with a 13th century replica castle. It was pretty amazing and apparently it was featured on the Bachelor recently!?!? My goal now is to build a castle.

The Castle

View of Napa

Main Plaza

The Royal Hall

All in all the tour was interesting. We learned about architecture, grapes, napa, the winery, and wine. We even got a tasting of grape juice from the winery instead of wine.

After our tour we went to the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) for a cooking demo and lunch.

The demo kitchen

The demo was really fun and we learned a lot. Lunch was fantastic but I would expect nothing less when you have a kitchen full of the best chefs in America cooking for you!

It was a really awesome trip and I'm glad we can check Napa off our list.

MLK Weekend

Pat and Jordan came to visit us (and interview at MD school) and we had a blast while they were here!! We really feel like we know San Francisco now.

Saturday we went to Fisherman's Wharf and ate chowder while listening to some smooth Jazz. We saw a freakishly large sea gull and a fight between a street perform and some locals. Tony guided us to Chinatown where Danny really wanted to buy a live Turtle to cook and eat. Luckily he decided against it. It seems Danny has crossed over to the dark side and now agrees I look Asian. While in Chinatown Danny had a moment of panic when he couldn't find me in the crowd and he started yelling, "Liz! Liz! I can't find her! She's blending in!" Never mind I was one of two blonds on the street.

Jordan (the other blond on the street) and Pat

After Chinatown we walked forever through North Beach and finally to the car. We hit up Golden Gate Park and then headed home for a nap. It was a long day of walking!

Monday we went into the city again for a tour of Alcatraz. It was rainy and super cold but we had a great day despite the weather!

Broadway

Cell

Signs of the Indian occupation still visible

After our tour of Alcatraz we walked to North Beach for some super yummy Italian food at The Stinking Rose (I highly recommend it). Followed by another long walk to Ghirardelli Square for dessert.

View of Alcatraz from Ghirardelli Sqaure

Danny feeling sick from eating too much food. The ovens where they roast the cocoa beans are behind him.

After our dessert we hopped on a trolley for a scenic ride to Union Square.

It was an awesome day!

We also went to the Stanford Theatre to see Duel in the Sun with Jennifer Jones and Gregory Peck. It is a movie I doubt I will ever forget.

We heart Stanford Theatre...*

Mostly because of this dude. The organist who plays before and after the movie.*

Visitors are FUN!!

*Pictures from Yelp