Bella at the Arboretum

Here are some of the pictures I promised of Bella at the Arboretum. I think they turned out pretty cute! This is her birthday outfit. I realize the tutu isn't exactly conducive to crawling, or walking if she is doing that by then, but it is SO cute I couldn't help myself!



Her Grammy and Poppy call her Scrunchy because she scrunches her nose up when she smiles real big. Here is a cute shot of it.


Love this one...


This is the best one of her and I because you can't really see my face. =)

Green Thumb Weekend

You know how they say people are afraid of or don't like what they don't know? I feel that is me and gardening. I always think I don't like doing it, but I believe it is only because I have no idea what I am doing. Well, I definitely don't like pulling weeds, but I think if I knew more about the actual gardening part, I would really enjoy it. I mean I like flowers. I like fruits and vegetables and herbs. All of these things grow in a garden right? I just need to figure out how to get them to do that.

Anyway, the point is I spent the weekend (or at least the times while Bella was asleep) gardening. I hadn't really done any in a long time because I was pregnant forever and then since Bella has been around I just haven't had time. So our flower bed was overgrown with weeds, we have one dead rose bush and on top of that there were dead leaves and branches everywhere. So the task seemed daunting and I was not exactly anxious to get started. But I got up and went to Calloway's on Saturday morning and had to find a poor person there to drill with questions about what kind of fertilizer/flowers/soil/herbs/plants/pots I needed. I left with a trunk full of stuff and spent the morning pulling up weeds. Once that was done I have to say I enjoyed the rest. I still don't know if the flowers and herbs I bought will grow because of the amount of sunlight/soil/food they need etc. But I do know that right this second they look pretty. I took some pictures because I was so proud of myself. See for yourself!

Here are the flowers I planted in the front yard. You have to imagine that this was all huge crazy weeds a few hours before! I think they are petunias?


I have had this pot sitting outside on my front porch forEVER because I planted Impatiens in them and they decided they would rather die than live on my front porch. Let's see if these Begonias feel the same.


This is my new herb garden. There were two rose bushes, but one was dead so I dug it out. The big rosemary bush was already there, but now there is sage, thyme, basil, chives and parsley.


The basil...


Everything else...

I hope they grow fast...I hate paying $2 a pop every time I need fresh herbs!

By the way, I am not a huge fan of the camera I have. It could be I am not using it correctly, but the edges of my pictures always seem fuzzy. So I apologize for the poor quality, but you get the idea. =)

Wish me luck with my new endeavor. If you have any advice please pass it my way!

Bella Boo Bear

That is my latest nick name for her. I have had a new one about every week since she was born. She is almost ONE YEAR OLD. I cannot believe it! I will have to write a 'remembering the year' in about a month, but for today I just wanted to update on what she has been up to, besides being the cutest baby alive.

She is playing peek a boo. She puts her hands somewhere on her head - they don't have to be covering her face necessarily - then takes them off real fast and we say 'peekaboo!' and she smiles real big. Then does it again. And again.

She also has a new face. She furrows her brow like she is either very displeased or concerned by something you are doing. She has, obviously, been upset before and made faces to convey that, but this face is new and she does it all the time. Something about it just looks very grown up, like she is trying to really look at you and say 'why, exactly, are you doing what you are doing?'

She also loves to play in the toilet. Gross? Indeed, which is why we are installing the toilet baby-proof things asap. She has learned how to lift the lid up and can have it up and her hand in the water before I can blink. So as soon as she goes that way I immediately just put my foot on the lid so she can't open it. She throws little fits and tries to push it off, but finally she gives up and crawls away. Or does she? She has also gotten sneaky. She acted like she was over it and started crawling away so I turned around to do something and then within two seconds she had gotten back over and had the lid up! So I got wise to her today and when she feigned apathy at the situation and crawled away, I waited for her to really go off to something else. But about three crawls in, she stops and turns around to see if I have left yet. Sneaky! But I am sneakier. =-)

She is just getting so much more fun every day. She can stand on her own and has taken a single step a few times, but mostly takes a step toward something she can grab to steady herself. We went to the Arboretum last week on a beautiful day to take pictures of her. I think she got a little fussy after a bit and you know kids won't just sit still and pose for you, but we got some cute pictures. Once Jason puts his finishing touches on them I will post some. I just wanted to write about the new fun things she is doing so I don't forget!!

Buzz Agent Report - Mahatma Rice

I have written a couple of reports before, but it has been a while so I will recap. I am a Bzz Agent for this website - bzzagent.com. I am matched up with products they think I would be likely to use and I am supposed to use them and give my HONEST opinion about them. Then I tell my friends about them!

My latest buzz campaign is for Mahatma Rice. I was sent some basmati and jasmine rice and given some ideas on ways to cook them. I have made three dishes so far so I wanted to share my thoughts.

First thing I made was a recipe that they had sent to me to use with the jasmine rice. It was a Spanish rice and I made it to go along with pork chops and glazed carrots. It was delicious! I had never used jasmine rice before so I kind of thought it wouldn't work for a Spanish dish. I thought the dish would smell and taste almost perfume-ish? That is the only way I had ever used jasmine at least. But it didn't at all, there was a great tomato garlic taste and it went great with the pork and veggies.

The second time I made it was not quite as successful, but this time I branched out on my own for a recipe. It was pretty simple, just added some onion and salt and pepper basically. It wasn't awful or anything, just kind of bland. I will probably stick to their suggested recipes from now on.

The last thing I have made was the basmati rice. Jason and I LOVE to go to Roti Grill - either in Uptown or Plano - and get the chicken masala, Texas size, with naan and basmati rice. I figured it couldn't be that hard to make, so I found a chicken masala recipe that got good reviews online and made it. Then I just made the basmati rice according to the directions on the box. The chicken recipe was good, a little too much salt and not enough sauce, but that isn't what I was really testing. The rice was great. It tasted just like it did in the restaurant and went great with the chicken. I will definitely use it again and try to tweak that recipe just a bit for the masala.

Another perk of being a buzz agent is that I get a bunch of coupons for these products. So if you are interested in a coupon for Mahatma rice, comment below or email me and I will happily mail you some coupons!

Remodeling

When we bought this house we thought 'oh it's perfect, we won't have to do a thing to it!', then we moved in. In the last couple of years we have tried to get a lot done to it to get it ready to sell, probably in about a year. We literally started remodeling our bath rooom two summers ago and only finished it recently so I figured I would put some pictures up to show you how drastically different it looks! Here are the before pictures...


Hideous! And here is the final product...
We also just had our kitchen painted and tile put in. You can't tell as well from these pics, because the linoleum was made to look like tile, but trust me, it is way better!

Before (this is a pic we took when we bought it so this is the former owners drapes and furniture)...


After (imagine the previous shot, standing just to the left and turning a quarter turn to the right)...


We are really happy with the changes. Hopefully our house will sell for WAY more! =)

Day 2 at Disneyland

I apologize for taking so long to get to Day 2! If you can't tell, I am catching up on my blogging tonight, so here we go!

The second day we went to the California Adventure theme park. We actually went to this theme park about 4 months after it opened back in 2001 and didn't love it. So we were anxious to see how it had improved. First, we made a stop at DTD to get breakfast at La Brea bakery. I heard they had good scones, so I had to check it out for myself. The scones were good, but my moms homemade granola and strawberries were better!

Soarin' opened early that day and since we happened to be there right when it opened we got right on and rode. LOVE that ride. Every time it is over I just want to clap.

Then we headed to Toy Story Mania. It is a 3D ride and Mom was ready...

Mom waited for me while I rode California Screamin'. It goes upside down and she can't do it. It is a really great roller coaster, though. Very old school, kind of reminds me of the Judge Roy Scream, only WAY better. Then it was off to ride the big Mickey ferris wheel. We rode with another couple who was nice enough to take our picture...

My mom is really into landscaping and flowers and stuff, and we kept noticing how beautiful all of the landscaping was! I think in California things just grow well since it is so temperate all year. These are just some pretty flowers we saw.


It was supposed to rain this day so we had kind of written off riding the Grizzly River Run rapid ride, but it hadn't rained a drop and really wasn't that cold so we decided to don our ponchos and go for it! We got a little wet, but the A&M poncho saved the day.


Mom had been craving kettle corn, so we went on a pilgrimage all over until we found some. It was worth it.
Now came the highlight of my day. The Tower of Terror is my favorite ride at Walt Disney World. I love that feeling of dropping and I love spooky stuff, so this is the perfect ride to me. We went to Disney World when I was in high school and it had just opened so we were all going to ride it. My mom is severely claustrophobic and she ended up chickening out at the last minute. I have told her so many times I thought she would like it and described to her over and over how you aren't in an enclosed space etc. I still did not think she would ride it, but at the last minute she gathered all her courage and rode! The whole time I was worried that she was miserable, but after it was over she gave me a big thumbs up and said she LOVED it! YEAAA!! So we got some fastpasses and rode it again later. Way to go mom!

After ToT we went to see the Alladin show. Now I have to say that the shows in the parks are usually my least favorite thing. It doesn't matter how good they are. I just hardly ever go see them. I mean I have seen the movies and I know the songs and I just don't need to see it acted out for me ya know? But I had read that this one was not to be missed. Even then I still almost skipped it, but I was so glad we didn't! It was in a big theater and they had the magic carpet flying out over the audience. The genie really made the show, though. He was so funny and they had a lot of really current type jokes in the show so that made it even more enjoyable. I would highly recommend it if you go!

We were pretty much done with all the rides and hadn't decided what to do for dinner. We had reservations for Napa Rose - which is supposed to be THE best place to eat in Disneyland - for the next night, but we had kind of thought we might head back to the room early and watch the Oscars. So we decided to go that night and see if there was any chance of getting in. We waited at the bar for an hour for a no show reservation and nothing. So we finally just ordered at the bar, which was full service anyway. IT. WAS. SO. GOOD. I had this mushroom ravioli in a truffle butter sauce on a bed of sauteed vegetables. Holy cow it was so good. You must eat there if you go.

Dinner lasted probably two hours so we were stuffed and tired by the end of it. We were so lucky the rain held off all day until we went to dinner. Then it rained while we ate and stopped by the time we left. Thanks rain! We crawled in to bed and rested up for our last day at the parks. =(

One Ring to Rule Them

For all my fellow nerds who love them some LOTR humor...

http://xkcd.com/712/

Disneyland Day 1 Trip Report

My mom and I flew in to Orange County last Thursday night for a trip to Disneyland. I had never been to Disneyland, only Disney World in Florida about 100 times. My boss had told me I needed to be familiar with Disneyland as well. What's that? A trip to Disneyland that I can write off on my taxes? Sign me up!

We checked in to our hotel and then called us a cab to take us to the In N Out burger. For those who are unfamiliar with the ol' In N Out, it is, simply put, the most delicious tasty burger you will ever have. Mom and I had a couple of double doubles animal style. Try to keep from drooling...

Tasty-looking no? We then rolled ourselves in to bed and woke up bright and early so we could be at Disneyland before opening!

Now for those who have been to both theme parks, you know WDW and DL are so similar yet so different. They have so many of the same rides in name, but most of them are at least a little different. I will try not to bore you too much every detail of every ride we rode, just the highlights. =)

First thing, we basically did all of Fantasyland. Once all the kids get to the theme park it gets SO crowded, so if you can knock out all those little rides first, you can get on to the bigger rides quicker. I liked DL's FL waaaay better than WDW's. WDW is currently starting an overhaul of their FL to make it more like DL's and now I see why. At WDW all the rides sort of resemble a carnival facade and at DL you really feel like you are in a little Medieval village. They also have several rides that WDW doesn't have, like the Alice in Wonderland ride which was SO cute and has inspired my ideas for Bella's 2nd birthday party. Too late to do it for her first. =) They also have this cute little boat ride called Storybook Land Canal boats. You just go around and there are all these little miniature villages of the famous Disney tales. Here are a couple pics. You can see the whale's mouth from Pinocchio and Aladdin's castle.



Next up was Space Mountain. My mom can't ride because she doesn't like the dark so I went alone. Once again, better than WDW! They play music and I think that adds a lot to it.

The rest of the day we just made our way through a bunch of the rides. My mom's favorite is Big Thunder Mountain and mine is Splash Mountain. I can say I like SM better at WDW. It is longer and the logs you ride in are better. I was very sad because the Matterhorn was closed for refurbishment. This is like the classic DL attraction and I was not able to check it off my list. What's that? I will have to take another trip? Well, if you insist! I did get a picture though...


For lunch we ate at Blue Bayou which is a restaurant inside on the banks of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was really dark with lanterns everywhere. You totally felt like you were outside at night.

In the afternoon we left the parks and went walking around the Disney hotels. This is the great thing about Disneyland Resort as opposed to WDW Resort. You can walk EVERYWHERE. There are only 3 on site hotels, 2 parks and 1 Downtown Disney and they are all just right there. It takes you maybe one full minute to get from the entrance to DL to the entrance of California Adventure. At WDW it would take you a good 30 minutes door to door to get from the Magic Kindom to Epcot. It was definitely less of an immersive experience, but I don't know that you could say that was a bad thing.

We cooled our heels for a while at the Grand Californian. It was starting to get chilly so we grabbed a glass of wine and sat by the big fire place in their lobby. This hotel is VERY similar to the Wilderness Lodge hotel at WDW for those who are familiar. While we sat there, a cast member came by to engage us all in conversation and to tell us the tall tales of California. He was dressed like a hiker to fit the atmosphere and was so fun to listen to. This is just one reason I love Disney. Their attention to detail is un-rivaled. Where else can you go that has a job solely responsible for talking to guests about California legend? Love it!

We finally headed back to DL to see the fireworks and they were honestly not that impressive. They stole half the show from WDW's Wishes show and Sleeping Beauty's castle is so much smaller than Cinderella's castle that it just doesn't have that added something that the huge castle brings to the show.

All in all it was a GREAT day. We headed back for a good night's sleep and to say our prayers that there would be no rain the next day. There was a 90% chance!! Stay tuned to find out if we end up soaked or Soarin'. Ha, I know cheesy!

A Weekend Away!

I am back from the Happiest Place on Earth! Jason was a total sweetheart to watch Bells for a few days while my mom and I went on a 'business trip' to Disneyland. I had never been and I loved it!

Jason took Bella to see her Grandparents while I was gone. Apparently she is now standing for 20 - 30 seconds at a time not holding on to anything! She hasn't taken any steps yet, but I am betting on any day now! He would send me pictures of her and I couldn't believe how big she looked. I was gone for only four days, but when they came to pick me up it was like a different baby! She is almost a little girl! Does anyone else feel this way? She will be 11 months next week and I just can't believe how the time has flown.

Anyway, just wanted to say hi and that I promise I will be writing, probably multiple, blogs to detail my trip to Disneyland. I have to get some pictures downloaded first, but stay tuned!

What a great weekend!

So this past weekend was a blip in this cold, wet winter we have been having. It was sunny and warm(ish) and gorgeous for once! I was determined to get outside and enjoy it.

On Saturday, Jason and I went to eat lunch at Gloria's, and even though it was a little chilly, we sat on the patio. Bella had a great time and has decided she is a fan of the black bean dip.


After that, I went to meet my friend Brooke at Katy Trail for a little exercise. I had never been to Katy Trail can you believe that? What kind of Dallasite am I? Well, I was feeling very Dallasy cause after that we went to Pearl Cup and had a latte while on our laptops. I actually had some work to do this weekend so it was nice to relax and work while Jason watched the munchkin.

Sunday we went to church and then went to eat at Dream Cafe. Cloud Cakes - yum! Jason watched Bella again so I could go see The Princess and the Frog before it left theaters. Again, can you believe I haven't seen that already? Some Disney fan I am.

All in all it was a lovely, relaxing weekend and it totally made up for the rainy mess that is this Monday. And I am going to Disneyland in 4 days!!! Woohoo!