Trikes, a Party, and a Painting

 It's been a busy few days.  On Wednesday, I met up with fellow moms of multiples for our monthly meeting, where I also picked up two old tricycles from a friend.  I forgot about them, which was fine because it rained all day Thursday, but the boys found them in the car when we were headed for school on Friday. They were so excited, and they spent the trip to school deciding who would own which color.  Monkey took the yellow, and Bear took the red.

Learning to Ride

 They spent the afternoon riding them, only really breaking for their nap. Monkey took to it right away, but Bear doesn't really understand the purpose of the pedals despite my various explanations and demonstrations.

Today, Saturday, they were invited to our 7 year old neighbor's birthday party.  It was at one of those kid gyms, and my guys were definitely the youngest ones there. Following along with the instructors was not really happening, but they had so much fun.

This ball pit was basically their favorite thing.

Briefly following along with the group.

Living up to his name.

I was so proud of them for getting along with all the other kids even though they were mostly 7 year old girls.  They even sat with them for snacks and cake, and used utensils and were mostly neat.
 

"I'm going to sleep here." Okay kid.

 This evening, I met up with those multiple moms again at Painting with a Twist, a place that lets you eat snacks and drink booze while following along with a teacher who walks you through a simple painting.

Taking a break so the background can drive.

The sample painting.

 It was weird for me to paint around a lot of other people like that, especially with a teacher telling me how I had to do it.  After a while I just stopped listening to her because, well, sometimes you just have to follow your artistic impulses. Also, she told me us to use the white to put in bright snow in lines, and I hated it. I spent a long time trying to fix it, and I'm still annoyed with that. But I think the snowman looks awesome, and it was a fun night out.

This is a chain, which might be individually owned?, so you can probably find this, or something similar, in your area.  They have a smaller room for private parties, which is what we did, and you get to pick the painting your group will do.  You bring your own food and drinks and it's nice. They also have a large room, and anyone can sign up for those sessions. 

On top of all of this, DS was gone all of Thursday and Friday, so I was alone with the kids. Thankfully, there is nothing on the calendar tomorrow.  Cold weather is also coming in the forecast. It's time to start thinking about turkey and snow and the magical hibernation month that is Christmas.

The Rest of KY

The rest of my visit to KY was kind of busy but fun.  It went as follows:

Monday: Spent the day on the internet, then the evening with the parents watching tv and playing Sudoku.

Tuesday: Met a girl from my pregnancy forum to go shopping in Lexington.  Had sushi (not the raw stuff, *sigh*) and ice cream.  Went back to town and hung out with my stepdad for a while.  Drove out to Anna and Jason's house, where I played with their cat and bunny and talked baseball.  Then had dinner with Anna (delicious).

Wednesday: Woke up to balloons and a card for my birthday, and one card from "the babies".  Hung out with my old neighbor Raiden and her youngest.  Watched The Corpse Bride twice (kids...).  Went shopping with Mom for my birthday (hello new clothes!  hello Kohl's 50% off sale!).  Had dinner with the parents for my birthday.  Had a friend stop by after dinner that I hadn't seen since high school for cupcakes and ice cream.

Thursday: By this point I was exhausted.  No naps all week!  Lots of running around.  So I was slow moving, but managed to shower and eat before the parents took me to the airport.  We had lunch there before I went through security, because they are awesome like that.  Got back to Philly and found a cab, which drove like an absolute maniac.  I was honestly a little scared, not to mention uncomfortable hitting the bumps in the crap roads at those speeds and feeling my whole uterus bounce.  I don't recommend it.  Got home, collapsed for a while, waited for DS to get home.  The rest of that day is a blur.. I assume I ate, but I don't remember what.

On the way there I had packed my largest suitcase with my carryon inside it.  All of my stuff fit inside the carryon, which meant the entire large suitcase was free for taking home shower gifts.  I ended up filling that, filling the diaper bag I got and having that be my carryon instead, and still Mom had to ship me two boxes of stuff.  And for reference, one was books, and one was clothes and boppy pillows that weighed 35lbs.  THIRTY-FIVE POUNDS.  To say we were given a lot of stuff would be an understatement.  We are very lucky.

Cinco de Matto - 2012

Holy wow!  My friend Matt, the one that married us and lives in Brooklyn, has a birthday on May 5th.  So it's always Cinco de Mayo, and quite often the Kentucky Derby, when he celebrates.  He calls it Cinco de Matto, as well he should.

This was the first year we were able to make it up there for his birthday.  It was kind of insane.  Nearly 50 people RSVP'd yes to coming.  You guys, I don't think I even know 50 people.  We spent most of Saturday setting up, and then the rest of the evening dancing, talking, and watching fire spinning on the roof.  I attempted to document the proceedings while learning the manual settings on my camera.

It was an epic night.  There were 5 gallons of red margarita.  Brownies, bruschetta, mints, balloons.  Everything and everyone was decked in red and black, even the lights!  I was really impressed with everyone's clothing.  Honestly, check it out!

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Be happy you weren't there for the cleanup the next morning!

Surprise Birthday Party

Bri's boyfriend Dan decided to through her a surprise party this year.  Her birthday is two days after Christmas, and is often the case with birthdays around major holidays, it's often overlooked.  We threw it early, as it both proved it was not forgotten, and guaranteed the largest number of people could come.

She showed up at the bar where we were waiting, looking ready to hurt someone.  The story to get her there was apparently panic inducing.  We pretty much forgot to yell surprise when she walked in.  And then she started crying.  Then I panicked.  Thankfully, it turned out to be a happy and relieved cry that it was a happy occasion.  She'd never had a surprise party before.

After some food and a few drinks, we walked over to the local bowling alley.  I'm a horrible bowler.  I think my score from the first game was a 29.  Even with bumpers on the second game, I had a whopping 112.  I had a shot called a pickleback, which was some kind of whiskey shot with a pickle juice chaser.  I love pickle juice, but even I was surprised by how well the two went together.

Victory dance

We ordered a funnel cake a la mode, and had them put candles on it.  Bri wanted to show it off, but as I was taking pictures, one of the funnel cakes, complete with flame, fell off the plate and into her lap.  We had all had too many drinks to be properly horrified that an open flame was in her lap, and instead we all collapsed into laughter.  Thankfully, no one caught on fire, and the damage was limited to a plate full of ice cream.  On the plus side, I got one hilarious action shot.

Bri's Birthday Funnel Cake

It was a fun night.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Apple Pie

Today is my husband's birthday.  We didn't do a whole lot, as he spent most of the day working.  He got his present early (I talked his family into pitching in for an iPad, which he adores), so no presents.  But I did hang the Happy Birthday banner I had made for a previous birthday, and lit candles, and cleaned.

Banner!

For dinner, I brined some pork chops, a la Alton Brown minus the stuffing, which DS grilled when he got home.  Then he grilled some eggplant, because between the CSA and my garden, we have SO MUCH EGGPLANT.  It was pretty tasty.

The best apple pie EVER.

But the best part was dessert.  Which was an apple pie.  That I made.  From scratch.  Let me tell you something.  I can make a mean dessert.  Also, the Pioneer Woman knows a thing or two about recipes.  By which I mean, everything I've made of hers has knocked my socks off.  I told DS I was going to make him the best apple pie he'd ever had, which apparently he did not believe.  It is his favorite dessert, and he once knew a girl who knew her way around an apple pie.  I was not afraid.  He has conceded, whether truly or out of his love for me, I don't know.  But I do know that the noises he made while eating that pie were all good.

One happy dude.

Three Decades

I'm officially in my 30's.  Since leaving Madison, a lot of the people that we tend to hang around are still in their mid 20's, and I can see the fear in their eyes when I tell them how old I am now.  I kind of enjoy it.  Truly, being 30 is no different than being 29.  Except that I find myself terribly excited.  Wait, was I excited last year?  (checking...)  Nope, I didn't even get around to making a birthday post.  Shocking!

Gifts from my mom, so I can "party."

I'm tolding a woman's 30's are the best years of her life.  Something about being comfortable in your skin and the bedroom.  I don't know how much of a difference a year will really make on the latter, but I can tell you that I feel 100 times better in my skin than I did this time last year.  Have I mentioned that I've lost 18 lbs?  Bri has been keeping me on a pretty tight workout schedule.  I even wore a real bikini at the beach last weekend for the first time in years.  Aside from the sunburn, it was awesome.  I'm not saying there aren't still things that need work.  Just that for the first time in a long time, those things are not something I think about constantly.  I am content.

I spent my birthday lounging around the house reading, and then several hours of band practice.  Tonight the band has a show at Millcreek Tavern, and we're debuting two new songs.  Songs I helped write!  Bri surprised me with a homemade cake, which was so delicious.  It actually had 30 candles on it, and it looked like it was some castle torch.  I don't even remember the last time I had candles on a cake for my birthday, and it made my day.

Bri with my Birthday Cake/Torch

DS showered me with gifts this year.  I finally own Settlers of Catan, which makes me so happy, even if you do need three people to play it.  I have my first 3DS game, Ocarina of Time.  And best of all, a serger!  This last gift has inspired me to get back to sewing.  I dug out a skirt pattern I bought a year ago, along with some fabric I'd been hoarding, and got to work.  I've never made anything from a patter before, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  It fits and has a zipper and everything.  I didn't bother lining it, or using interfacing (I don't even know what it's for, stabilization I suppose).  I figure I can get into all that stuff later.

A horrible photo of the skirt I made.  The lumps are because I have shorts on under it.

This weekend DS and I will be attending the wedding of one of my favorite people, Luke.  Which means we're heading back to Madison for the third time this year.  The weather is supposed to be lovely, upper 60's, and I'm very excited.  The rest of this week should be lovely.

Fall Beginnings

Fall is my favorite season, followed very closely by winter.  In my head, all of the wonderful things these seasons bring start in September.  There are all the holidays, the decorations, the colors, the smells, the FOOD.  Also, my birthday.  You guys know how nuts I am about my birthday, and this year is a milestone.  I'll be 30.  Apparently that makes some people feel old, but I say, MORE CAKE.

On Sept 1, Thursday, Bri dragged me to a bikram yoga class.  We had got a set of five classes for $25 through Groupon in the spring, and they expire in Nov.  We figured it was about time we used them.  Especially now that we're working out so much, we actually feel in good enough shape to get through a whole yoga class.  You know how I am about heat; I hate it.  It makes me sick.  So probably bikram yoga was a bad idea, but I figured that I'd at least try it.  It was 107° in there, and I felt bad the second we walked in the studio.  The first 45 min were standing poses, and I kept falling out of them and then sitting on the floor waiting for them to get to the next one, trying not to cry.  It was entirely too hot for me.  The last 45 min were seated poses, and my head tended to be in the draft of the back door, which someone had cracked open.  That made things soooo much better, and I ended up really enjoying the second half.  It was hard work, but the kind of hard work that makes you feel good.  Instead of the kind of hard work that makes you want to run away in tears.  I have 4 more classes...

On Friday I did my first pull-up since elementary school.  So I guess all this exercise is working.

Today DS and I have been mostly relaxing.  But when our chef friend gets off work late tonight, he's picking us up and we're going to the beach.  We live super close to the beach, but in the entire year we've lived here, we've yet to go.  So Sunday, BEACH.

Then on Monday, we're going to the PA Renaissance Faire.  Apparently it's a big deal.  I'm so super excited.  I've always wanted to go to something like this.  Bri keeps exclaiming about how I'll eat an entire turkey leg, but I'm more excited about the costumes and the jousting.  Because I'm a nerd.  And it's awesome.

Hopefully we'll have some good pictures of that stuff for you.

Oh, and before I forget.  My band is playing a show on 9/14, which is doubling as my birthday party (and also our cellists', whose birthday is the 18th).  We're planning to debut 2 new songs, one of which was my idea.  It will be the first time we'll perform publicly with DS and I included in the whole show.  Plus, someone is making me cupcakes.

I told you this month was awesome.

Weekend in Aiken

DS and I managed to find some last minute plane tickets to South Carolina to celebrate his mom's birthday over the weekend.  It had been a long time since I was able to go with him, and we spent a lot of time at his sister's house playing with the kids.  They were so much fun, and the little one cried when we left.  <3

If you're seeing this text, you need to visit the actual blog. If you still see it, get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Party in NY

Friday, October 8th, was Sam of NY's (not Sam of Santa Barbara) birthday.  DS and I fought 3+ hours of rush hour traffic to get to Brooklyn in time for dinner.  It was totally worth it!  DS, Sam, Matt and I took the subway to Manhattan so we could go to the Barrel.  It was a beautiful little tapas place.  The food was delicious, if a bit overpriced.  There were many many people there, all of whom I had never before met.  There were also many many drinks.  I tried to remember the names of everyone I managed to photograph (it was very dim, and people were moving a LOT), but there is a bit of fuzziness.  This was seriously a wonderful time.  We all just kept randomly ordering items off the tapas menu, so that food just kept appearing.  And then quickly disappearing.  They also had quite the list of original mixed drinks, including something with basil infused vodka that had me swooning.

After we finally scarfed down cheesecake and tiramisu, and paid our (OMGSERIOUSLY) bill, we all careened off to the nearest bar with room for us all.  It ended up being a new place called Queen Vic, which was meant to look like a little English Pub.  This led to Sam and I drunkenly explaining to each other what English pubs really look like (Sam) and random tidbits about Queen Victoria (me).  Did you know that English pubs have carpet?  I can't imagine how horrible that would be to clean.  She tells me it's because it's so cold all the time.

Anyway, what I'm saying is, our friends have cool friends, and Manhattan is apparently an excellent, though expensive, place to celebrate.

If you see this message, please visit my blog to view the photos. If you still see it, get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Not too Shabby

Life around here has been pretty mellow.  A lack of immediate friends will do that.  Also, DS has been scarce because teaching has swallowed him whole.  I'm just happy if he's home by 7 and not completely catatonic.  It's a good thing those notes he's making can be used in future classes...

So I've been celebrating little things.  Why not?  Tuesday was DS's birthday.  I didn't give myself time to make him a treat, (and honestly, after the birthday cupcakes I made myself which were so nasty that we threw them all away, that's probably a good thing) so I picked him up a little cake and two of his favorite ice cream flavors.  Well.. I'm guessing he'll love that Baked Apple Dumpling.  He does love apple pie like crazy.

He got all kinds of sweet presents, including a new lens and flash for his fancy pants camera.  I'm told he took cool pictures at Maker Faire, but I have yet to see them (see above).

My most recent sewing triumph is this new cushion for the window seat.  It's corduroy, so it's super soft.  I even put a zipper on one end in case it needs washing.  Felix has claimed it, which is to be expected.

She's a little confused at my coming near and not loving her...

I love this set up, because it's the perfect length for me to stretch out and lean back against the pillow and read books.  And thanks to a helpful tip on Facebook from a family friend, I picked up some shelf liner to keep the cushion from sliding.  And also the couch (thank god, for real; hardwood floors are slippery), and the craft station table top.  Finding that in the grocery was way easier than dragging myself to someplace like walmart...

Busy

I've been keeping myself too busy to blog, but as I have a brief respite, I though I would give you a quick run down on what I've been doing.

1. Made hand-dipped peanut butter balls for my husband's 30th birthday. A LOT of them. This was the very last one, and as I keep them refrigerated until I eat them, they get a little sweaty. However, I have yet had someone taste them that did not fall in love. My papaw's recipe is still the winner!

2. I've been volunteering at the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care place. There was one afternoon of "training", and now I go in a few hours a week. My first day I was sent to the zoo to pick up a sparrow that had nearly drowned in a pool. The poor thing was nearly dead when I got him back to the center. I held in my hands under a heat lamp for an hour, occasionally feeding him electrolytes. Now he is happy and perky, and awaiting the healing of an injury before being released again. I have learned that as long as you have gloves on, you get over touch bird poop very quickly. And also the meal worms some of the birds eat. But this is worth getting to help pretty little things like European Starlings, Meadowlarks, and Warblers get well. Also, Starlings and Sparrows are tricky bastards. When cleaning a cage, we put the bird in a temporary enclosure to help keep them calm. This is usually a basket with some netting or a towel pinned to the top. These little guys would be in there, and then I'd go to the kitchen for fresh food and come back to them hopping around on the floor like it's perfectly normal for a bird that can't fly and has one taped wing. Sneaky!

3. My scarves have been surprisingly popular! Also, a family member ordered seven to sell in her bricks and mortar store. So most of my free time for the last two weeks have involved heavy weaving. I've been very happy with the results:

This one is in Lion Brand Color Waves in Lava. It's mostly black with a lot of jewel tone accents.

Here are four scarves done in Red Heart Casual Cot'n, one each in Trailside, Preppie, Majestic, and Falling Leaves. I need to get more of this yarn. The scarves feel wonderful, and I love the colors.

And sadly, I'm already out of Falling Leaves.

4. I started a new job on September 28th. Now that training is over, I'm doing real work. So far, I actually kind of like it. It pretty simple stuff, and I get to talk to people all day. Considering I only interacted with one person in my previous job, this is an improvement.

5. Today I got off work early, and all the scarves are mailed. So I'm taking a break before starting into the Christmas ornament production to curl up with Winston and a book. Speaking of Winston... if I'm in the craft room, he's in he craft room. And if there are clean clothes that aren't put away, they are without a doubt his new bed. On Monday, DS's pile was too high to lay on, so he just shoved his face into them and fell asleep...

*YAWN*

Holy moly I'm tired. I had to get up early, with an alarm clock, like a normal person today. And also last Friday. You see, I have a job again. Nothing much mind you, easy stuff that pays what feels like minimum wage for Santa Barbara. But minimum wage is at least a paycheck, which is much better than the nothing I've been getting. The first two weeks is just training, so only 4 hours a day. This is both good and bad; good because it lets me transition back into a working person again (outside the home at least), and bad because we could really use a full-time paycheck. I think in this case the good outweighs the bad though, so I'm cool with it.

You may be aware that today is DS's birthday, and that he is officially 30. Last week was also my friend Sam's birthday. To celebrate, we're having a joint party here at our apartment tomorrow. Thus, I spent the weekend cleaning (with DS's help), seriously cleaning the craft room/office (SERIOUSLY; as in filed 6 months worth of floating papers and found all the carpet and desk space!), and then doing other things. For example, I made a super sweet birthday banner out of felt and fabric (photos and a tutorial to follow when I'm not exhausted), and because I love him, a LOT of peanut butter balls for DS. Also lots of earrings for Sam for her birthday (with major design help from Juliana!). Those last three things didn't get finished over the weekend though, so I finished them tonight. Oh crap, scratch that. I have more PB balls to dip in chocolate. *sigh* Hey, I get off at 12:30 tomorrow!

Well, as long as I get to sleep soon (it's 10:09 right now), I should be well rested for the festivities tomorrow. In the mean time, here are some photos I've been meaning to share for a long time.

Felix and Winston, crow hunting. Not that they'd know what to do with one. I'm positive Winston would run away in terror if one actually came to the window instead of taunting him from the power lines.

A rare moment of shared love. They did this a lot as kittens, but not so much anymore.

Also, it's pretty rare that I can get decent photos of Felix. She's not very photogenic.

I love how he has his leg sprawled over her. He takes up so much space!

Look at them holding hands!

She really is a pretty cat. I'm happy to finally have some pictures to show that.

Did I ever show you these? They're my Settlers of Catan cookies, made the first night that the group of six of us that regularly play games together got to play this particular game. We had needed the 6 player expansion, and the game stores were sold out for a long time.

This is homemade royal icing, dyed with food coloring, and piped with different tips onto that break and bake sugar cookie dough (I could only make so much from scratch in one night).

Here they are laid out like the game board. Blue is the ocean (ports), yellow is wheat, black is ore, green is forest, white is wool, and red is brick. That one lonely cookie with only yellow sprinkles is the desert.

The cookies were a lot of fun to make, though my icing designs got sloppier as they went, because I ended up being late. Not really a quick project. But tasty!

Birthday updates and more

Today I saved the life of a Western Scrub-Jay. At least I'm hoping I did. I found it in my yard when I went to get the mail, and immediately knew something was wrong with it when it didn't fly away from me. I think its wing was broken. But I called around and found the phone number for the local wildlife care center, who told me how to safely catch it, and then I turned it over to them. In return for their help, I have offered my volunteer services for as long as I'm unemployed. We'll see how that goes.

A pretty, and delicious pair of cupcakes that DS and I treated ourselves to for my birthday.

DS and myself.

My birthday cake!! My friend Sam made this for me. It is super moist chocolate cake with a later of raspberry sauce in it. SOOOO yummy! I'm still enjoying it :)

In the way of presents, in addition to the cake above, I received the new Alton Brown book (which is AWESOME) and a starter kit for Art Clay (handmade silver stuff, here I come). DS is excited about both; the first because Alton Brown is the coolest, and the second because it came with a butane torch. He's wanted one ever since a friend brought one to a cookout and used it to make caramelized fruit (and also torching things).

*le sigh* so cool. And the book wrapper comes of into a full size poster. Woo!

Chuck e Cheese!

For my 27th birthday, my friends and I went to Chuck e Cheese.

He's elusive, and apparently only makes a 10 minute appearance for certain children's birthdays. I wasn't one of those children.

I was, however, given a birthday balloon by a manager, whom I'm sure was avoiding a scene due to my friends persistently asking for one. It was very quickly stolen by this adorable little girl who kept... licking it.

Being an adult at this place rocks. You actually have real money to put in the token machine.

People were putting in entire $20 bills. Renae enjoyed seeing how long she could make her ticket strings.

The real motivation for going there was that I wanted to play Skeeball for my birthday. Somehow, I'm not as incredibly awesome as I remember being, but it was still lots of fun. Luke was incredibly awesome at always getting somewhere between 23 and 25,000 points.

It was the highlight of the trip. The other games were fun, but not as fun as Skeeball.

Being the birthday girl came with the sweet perk that everyone gave their tickets to me. We were aiming for 2000 so I could get a big Care Bear. At the end of the night, I had 2031.

Afterwards we made a pit stop at the grocery store to get some cake and ice cream. Most of the cakes were either lame, or not a flavor I like. So Pokemon it was!

Since my birthday was on a Friday, and I had a midday appointment to pick up my bridesmaid dress for Kel's wedding, I took the day off from work. When I returned on Monday, my office was wrapped like a present. Some of it, like one of the monitors, had to be unwrapped so I could function. But the rest, like that pink chair, are still sporting the birthday love.