A Day in the Life of Me...

North Shore, Oahu: Scenery

2012-06-03T12:35:00.001-07:00

The many reasons I love Hawaii...

And... I especially love delicious cocktails while relaxing on the beach!

North Shore, Oahu: Polynesian Cultural Center

2012-06-03T12:24:00.000-07:00

After a few days of playing in the pool, we took a break and went to the nearby Polynesian Cultural Center. There are 7 Polynesian villages represented: Hawaii, Samoa, Aotearoa, Fiji, Tahiti, Tonga and the Marquesas Islands. There are hourly performances and cultural learning experiences that take place in each village.

Some snapshots of the activities that we saw and did...

Played with some instruments.

Took a canoe out for a spin.

Saw some banana trees.

Met some friendly people working at PCC. (The admission was a little pricey and although PCC is largely a commercial venture, PCC profits fund various BYU–H scholarship programs run by BYU–Hawaii. Students work up to 20 hours per week during school terms and 40 hours during breaks, many graduating debt-free.)

A little fishing.

A lot of walking.

Saw some traditional cultural dances.

The highlight of PCC was definitely the "Pageant of the Canoes" where native islanders showcased their traditional costumes and dances.

If you have a day to spare while you are visiting Oahu, I highly recommend visiting the Polynesian Culture Center. We had a wonderful time learning about the cultures and dances of Polynesia.

North Shore, Oahu: Beach Time

2012-05-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

The very first full day of our North Shore vacation, we decided to walk down to the beach. Being able to walk down to the beach from your hotel is one of the perks of staying at a resort. I love that all we have to do is put our bathing suits on (with a beach cover up for me), grab our bucket and shovel. We didn't have to bring towels or chairs because it was all provided by the hotel down on the beach.

The last time Ali was on "real sand" beach was went we went to Maui back in 2010. I couldn't wait for her reaction to see the beach again - we've been talking for months about how we were going to play on the beach and make sand castles. I also couldn't wait to see Lily's reaction as this was her very first time. I had envisioned big smiles on faces and squeals of happiness.

Lily was afraid of the loud sound of the waves and wouldn't even get near the ocean. When I managed to get her feet wet, she screamed bloody murder. Ali, seeing her sister's reaction decided that the beach wasn't quite her thing.

Fast forward to 2 days prior to leaving to Hawaii - the girls couldn't get enough of the beach, playing in the sand and splashing in the salty ocean.

North Shore, Oahu: Flying & Turtle Bay Resort

2012-05-27T15:01:00.003-07:00

Our first week back from our vacation to the North Shore, Oahu and we finally are getting back to Seattle time and to our regular every day groove.

Last time we flew to Hawaii, we were flying with only one child (I was pregnant with Lily) and this time, we were flying with two children. Flying with two children is a whole 'nother ballgame. Thank goodness my mother came along on the trip so we had an extra pair of hands.

Waiting to get on the airplane.

In Maui, waiting for our layover flight.

Big sister was the perfect toddler traveler. She was perfectly content playing games on our iPad and watching Care Bears on the dvd player. We actually got compliments on how well behaved she was!

This was Lily's first flight and I was most nervous about her. She's not the type who will just sit in one place. She's active and loves exploring. So the moments where she took naps were pure bliss.

Thank goodness for open seats. Lily was able to actually sprawl out to take a nap.

The main reason we flew to Hawaii was because my friend, Aubri, was getting married at the Turtle Bay Resort. I was really excited to stay in the North Shore because although I've visited Oahu before, I've never gone up to the North Shore and I also kept hearing from people what a great place Turtle Bay was. The North Shore is about an hour away from Waikiki and unlike Waikiki, where there's so much hustle and bustle of tourists shopping, the North Shore is much more quiet and seems to operate at a slower pace.

After we arrived, we settled into our hotel room and unpacked. I'm one of those people who unpack everything and tries to make our hotel room our home. I hang up any clothes that should be hung, I set up our toiletries up in the bathroom, put the girls' clothes into the dresser, line up all our shoes, etc.

The view from our hotel room was beautiful...

Although we were exhausted, Ali just couldn't wait to get into the swimming pool so we all suited up and spent the rest of the evening splashing away.

Aloha!

A Morning at the Locks

2012-05-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, built in 1911, nicknamed the Ballard Locks, provides a link for boats between the salt water of Puget Sound and the fresh water of the Ship Canal, which connects eastward to Lake Union and Lake Washington.

Tourists and locals enjoy watching the parade of sailboats, motorboats, tugs, barges and yachts passing through, as the locks' water levels are adjusted to allow their safe passage.

Today, we played tourist and watched the boats come and go.

Olivia Newton John Who?

2012-05-05T20:16:00.002-07:00

Olivia Newton John's got nothing on this girl.

Watching Boats

2012-05-05T19:43:00.002-07:00

With no definite plans in the morning (a few weeks ago), we decided to spontaneously take a short trip to Fremont to grab some coffee, browse the cute little shops and watch the boats pass by.

Random sighting of a bike in the water... "Mama! Someone lost their bicycle in the water!"

Hair Do

2012-04-28T10:29:00.001-07:00

I'm getting my hair did today and I've got hair on my mind...

Ombre?

Picture via Pinterest

Bangs?

Go short?

Decisions, decisions.

Searching for Eggs

2012-04-28T10:10:00.000-07:00

Our weekends have been packed full of things to do and people to see - I'm so behind on posts and things I've wanted to share. We have another day filled with activities today - a new haircut for mama (totally overdue, my hair has been driving me cray cray these days), a gathering with my best girlfriends (the best any girl could ask for) and a date with the treadmill at the gym (I am determined to be in a bikini in a few weeks and this girl ain't ready).

I finally have a moment to catch up and post some pictures from our yearly Easter egg hunt at our daycare provider's house. Janice, our daycare provider hides over 200 eggs! Last year, Lily was just a newborn, so this was her first "official" egg hunt. She was unsure as what she was doing at first, but after watching her big sis, she caught on pretty quickly.

Miss Ali doing her thing...

Sisters

2012-04-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

April 13, 2012

I woke up, left the room to take a shower and this was my view when I returned - my two little girls laying next to each other watching Sprout. I die.

Photo A Day: Colour

2012-04-06T19:08:00.000-07:00

April 2, 2012

Photo A Day: Reflection

2012-04-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

April 1, 2012

The Apple of Our Eyes Birthday

2012-04-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

I wish I had taken more pictures of the details from Lily's birthday party, but here are a few that I did manage to take...

I found some apple cut outs at our local Office Depot and used them to paste pictures of Lily from the past year.

For one of the table centerpieces, I made chocolate candy filled balloons. To make your own, fill balloon with candy, blow up balloon and tie. I cut out some leafs from green construction paper and simply tied it to the balloon. Each child went home with an "apple" balloon where they could pop the balloon to get to the chocolate inside.

For dessert, we had apple pies and caramel apple cupcakes.

I hand painted plain brown paper bags - the things I do for my children... Each bag was filled with caramel apple candy pops, an apple, individual caramel dip, and rainbow fish crackers.

************************************************

I decided that next year, I'm going to splurge and hire someone to take pictures. It's just too hard to entertain and take pictures at the same time.

Photo A Day Challenge

2012-04-01T18:44:00.002-07:00

I'm totally jumping on the bandwagon (a few months late), but on Instagram, there is something called the "photo a day challange". The challenge was created by Fat Mum Slim and the rules are very simple - take one photo a day on Instagram, using the themes for each day. Each month there will be a new set of themes. And when tagging your April pictures, make sure to use #photoadayApril.

Here's April's challenge:

Here's to happy picture taking!

Toms Ballet Flats

2012-03-29T12:58:00.000-07:00

Image via Toms

They're finally here! The highly anticipated Toms Ballet Flats are finally out! So many cute choices. Which one should I get?

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

2012-03-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

My almost one year old is officially a year old. We threw her an "apple of our eye" themed birthday party. The idea dawned on me almost a year ago when my husband was sipping on Martinelli's apple cider.

But it wasn't just any ordinary apple cider.... I gave birth to Lily at Northwest Hospital which celebrates a birth by giving a complimentary celebratory dinner for two. With our celebratory dinner came individual small Martinelli's apple cider. Jeff drank his at the hospital - I saved mine in hopes to drink it on Lily's first birthday. And yes, the one I saved was the one he was sipping. My heart sank and since I was still very hormotional, I cried and tears rolled down my cheeks... "Babe! I was saving that for Lily's first birthday! I wanted to celebrate her first birthday by drinking THAT bottle!"

So there a little lightbulb went off in my head... "Apple of Our Eyes" Birthday Party!

Instead of a traditional birthday cake, we had "apple" cupcakes and apple pies for dessert instead. I think the caramel apple cupcakes were a hit!

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

1 grated apple of your choice
1/2 caramel syrup
3/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 whole egg
1 egg white
1 box spice box cake mix

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients until well blended. Bake cupcakes with liners in a muffin pan for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, I used store bought cream cheese frosting and made it pinkish red with red food coloring. The stem was a straight pretzel and to stick with the apple theme, I used Apple Jacks cereal for the leaf.

Pretty cute, eh?

Happy St. Paddy's Day

2012-03-17T11:55:00.001-07:00

March 17, 2012

I didn't wear any green, but did partake in St. Patrick's Day by having a shamrock shake.

Toilet Paper Roll Heart Stamp

2012-03-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

That red heart was made with a toilet paper roll heart stamp. I first saw this done over on Prudent Baby and I've been wanting to do it with Ali ever since. We finally used up a roll of toilet paper this morning so we were finally able to give the toilet paper roll heart stamp a whirl. As Ali would say, "Hooray!"

Start off with a regular toilet paper roll like so.

Squish it flat.

Take one side of the crease and push it in so that the toilet paper roll creates a heart and make sure your almost 1 year old is helping you...

Take a piece of tape so that your heart holds its shape.

Dip it in paint...

and let your child stamp to their little hearts' content.

Ali's toilet paper roll heart stamp masterpiece.

My Almost 1 Year Old

2012-03-04T18:30:00.000-08:00

March 3, 2012

Rolo Pretzel Turtles

2012-03-01T11:31:00.001-08:00

I love chocolate.

I love pretzels.

I love nuts.

I love it even more when they're combined together.

Rolo Pretzel Turtles

INGREDIENTS

Rolo chocolate candies
Pretzels of your choice
Your choice of nuts - I went with walnuts

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap your Rolos. Place pretzels on baking sheet. Top with a Rolo. Bake in oven for 3-5 minutes, until the chocolate just begins to melt. The Rolo should be soft but not completely melted. Remove from oven, place on cooling rack and immediately squish the chocolate with a nut.

Doesn't this look delicious? Just imagine... Gooey caramel, warm chocolate, a hint of salt and crunch from the pretzel...

I know that the picture is slightly blurry - I was shaking with excitement because I wanted to eat them so badly!

Red Carpet & Hot Caprese Dip

2012-02-29T08:03:00.001-08:00

I love Hollywood awards season because that means there's plenty of red carpet shows and interviews. I'm not about the movies or shows - being a mom of two, I hardly have moments to be able to watch movies and tv shows are usually watched via rerun. Hollywood awards season is all about FASHION. I love dissecting the dresses and suits worn on the red carpet. I totally can see myself on E!'s Fashion Police, sitting among Joan Rivers, Giuliana Rancic, and troop choosing my dressed best and worst dressed.

I had one of my dearest friend come over on Sunday so that we could revel in Oscar fashion. I cooked up a storm so that we had plenty of munch on. I've been pinning on Pinterest (you can follow me here) and it was time to finally make some of the foods I've pinned.

The Hot Caprese Dip
(recipe from How Sweet It Is and slightly modified )

INGREDIENTS

10 ounces fresh mozzarella, chopped into cubes
2 roma tomatoes, seeded and juiced
3 tablespoons freshly chopped basil
4 ounces cream cheese

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375. Make sure tomatoes have as much juiced squeezed out of them as possible – this will prevent the dip from becoming soupy. In a small baking dish, combine chopped cheese, tomatoes and basil and mix. Put dollops of cream cheese on top of the mixture.

Bake for 15 minutes, then broil for 2 minutes so cheese becomes bubbly and golden. Serve immediately with crackers.

Please excuse me that my hot caprese dip isn't golden - I was too eager to eat it and skipped the broil part of my directions. I just couldn't help it.

*************************************************

Did you watch the Oscars with friends? What did you eat? Who was your best dressed? Who was your worst dressed?

Art

2012-02-25T20:11:00.001-08:00

As a young girl, I'd spend hours watching Bob Ross on PBS paint happy little trees and beautiful scenic paintings. I'd follow along with my colored pencils and tried to recreate his paintings. My final drawing never looked like what I saw on the tv screen. Maybe it was because he used paint and I was using colored pencils... Let's just say that drawing isn't one of my strong suit.

My hubby's parents are both artists - his father an amazing pen & ink artist, and my mother-in-law an abstract oil painter who creates vibrant pieces.

My mother-in-law's artwork is currently being showcased at Q Cafe through 2/29/12. If you're in the neighborhood, you should stop by the coffee shop (because they're a non-profit neighborhood cafe featuring direct trade espresso AND give back 10% of all cafe sales to local and global non-profit causes) and take a look at her beautiful pieces.

Ali loves to color, paint, draw... I think we have a budding artist on our hands - it's definitely in her genes!

Cheesy Chicken & Wild Rice Bake

2012-02-19T10:36:00.000-08:00

Casseroles aren't always the prettiest things. Most often, ingredients are piled on top of each other in what I would describe as "glop".

So this bake may not be pretty, but it's pretty darn good. As Ali would say, "It's a party in my tummy, so yummy, so YUMMY!"

INGREDIENTS:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces and pan fried

1 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

4 cups of cooked wild rice

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup fat-free sour cream (you can use regular sour cream)

1 7 ounce can green chilis (finely chopped)

3/4 cup chunky salsa

1 cup of grated cheddar & monterey jack cheese + more cheese for the topping

Cilantro for garnish

Salt & pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Transfer into an oven-safe baking dish and top with cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes until heated through. Remove from oven and garnish with chopped cilantro.

Things Overheard

2012-02-19T10:10:00.000-08:00

Last night, Jeff and I dropped the girls off with his dad and step-mom and we were able to go on a belated Valentine's Day dinner. Whenever we go out on dates, we try to choose places where we normally wouldn't go with the girls. My first option was The Noble Fir, but the place was packed with happy hour people who looked like they were enjoying themselves and not leaving for hours. We walked around some more passing restaurants that looked good, but we were just not in the mood for. We settled on The Hi-Life located in a historic firehouse.

Image via Seattle Eater

The Hi-Life is actually a very family friendly restaurant so there were lots of children. But the food is delicious and we were childless for our meal so it was still a very lovely night. We were seated next to a family of three who had a conversation that went like this:

(Server comes to the table with mom's plate.)

Mom to the server: Wow, that's a really big chicken.

(Young daughter staring at the big chicken on mother's plate.)

Mom to the server: We have a chicken at our house.

(Server looks at young daughter with a petrified look on her face.)

Me thinking to myself: REALLY Mom?!

Server to Mom: I have a chicken as well, but I don't eat our chickens at home.

Me thinking to myself: Nice save, waiter. Nice save.

Early Morning Walk

2012-02-04T11:26:00.000-08:00

February 4, 2012

I'm totally loving these sunny mornings. Lily stared up at the blue sky while big sister picked up pine cones and lined them up.