Wasted on Fish and Gross Boxes

I was so excited! My first trip, in a camper.....camping, with my uncle and cousins!

It was off to Lake Hemet, didn't matter where that was, we were in. an. RV!!!

A Place that I could actually like lay on a bed and chill while we were driving. What a concept! I know I'm easily amused!

I had been looking forward to this trip for SO long, I was so excited! My younger cousin, Kerry, had broken both her wrists and she had casts on both wrists, but she was a trooper and went anyway. And I think she beat up my older cousin Todd, her brother, at least once with those casts!

Three things I remember most about that whole trip...
1. we literally wore out the tape (yes a tape, shut up!) of Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett, we sang "Wasted away again in Margaritaville" more times than I can count.

2. Fishing. Yes I baited my own hook! And we had ourselves a little fishing contest, based on points. Trout was 3 points, blue gill were a point and bass, depending on the size could be worth 5 points. And guess who won that fishing contest? Yep! That would be ME! And I cleaned, gutted, cooked and ate my very 1st trout with my uncle's help! And just for the record, every time we went, I won that fishing contest. And Todd, if you ever read this, I can still kick your butt in a fishing contest, and someday I'm going to teach my sons to kick your butt in fishing too!

3. The Gross box. Gimmie a break we were young and goofy, what else would we call it?! So we got all stupid and silly and anytime you had to do anything gross, like fart or burp or whatever, into the gross box you went. Oh yeah and as you can tell I was ALL "GIRL"...hardly!! Needless to say it got used a LOT that weekend, and every weekend we went after that!

And now, if given the chance I can still kick some butt fishing, and I'll still bait my own hook, cuz I'm a "girl" like that. My cousin Kerry is literally all girl....and has all girls and is beautiful. My cousin Todd is successful with his own company and I'm gonna say he still can't fish! HA!

Now if we all lived a little closer together so we could take our own kids fishing together.

Look At Me!

I saw this happy little guy on our hibiscus plant the other day and I just wanted him to look at me, they have such funky heads.

But he wouldn't look at me, so I pulled on the leaf a little bit and he turned away from me more!

Until I bugged him long enough he went all the way around and looked at me like "Would you LEAVE ME ALONE?"

But I did get my shot! =)

Baby Mine

My sweet baby boy..... He's had a rough couple of days.....oh who am I kidding, it's going on 5 days now, Asthma Sucks! And this sweet little face, when he is crying because he can't breathe it breaks my heart. When he can't run with the other kids and then gets so upset I have to hold him to calm him down to get him to breathe, it rips me apart.

We had a convo the other day and I just had to share.....

Christopher: "Were you talking to me Mommy? When you said baby?"
Me: "Yes, baby I was, you are my baby aren't you?"
Christopher: "Yes"
Me: "You are my baby boy aren't you?"

Christopher: "What about Brother?"
Me: "Well he's my big boy, but you are my baby boy"
Christopher: "No, I daddy's baby boy"

Me: "Noooo, you are MY Baby Boy"
Christopher: "No, I Daddy's baby boy, you can have brother"

I laughed so hard, he gave his own brother away....thank God it was only to me!

But Christopher, just so you know....you will ALWAYS be MY Baby Boy, and I Love You for all your candidness, your shyness, your silliness, your cuddliness, but I HATE your Asthma!

It's my Party.....

It was another weekend FULL of birthdays! Phew, September is a busy month! I Love that Christopher and I share a birthday in September.

Wyatt's birthday was all carnival style. There was sweets, and popcorn, cracker jack, hot dogs, nachos, chili dogs. WOW, anything you could find at a carnival...it was at this party.

Complete with a bounce house. Thomas loved bouncing with the birthday boy....even if he did have a hard time jumping, Thomas was all about helping him.

There was face painting, Thomas had a spider web on one side and a spider on the other. Christopher chose a boat, but then wanted a spider web on the other side to match his brother. I might as well of had twins!

So there was dinosaurs to conquer.....

Planes to fly and land safely! They are excited about plane rides these days since in a few weeks we'll all be on a plane to HAWAII!!!! (More about that later)

And what party isn't complete with a party bag? Well since this was a Carnival party.....the party bag consisted of a bowl with the child's name on it, filled with cotton candy, and then a GOLDFISH! Yes that is right, both my children now have the responsibility of their very own Goldfish. Thomas named his Doc and Christopher named his Max.

And Sunday was all about this gorgeous little girl, Quinney! I just adore her! She turned 4 and it was a nice quiet party, just family and close friends.

But she was so happy to finally be able to put her finger in the cake and say "it's my cake, I can do it"

Love these busy weekends with family and friends, they are so important in my life.

And speaking of friends.....Don't forget that coming up in just a few short weeks Friends You Love is coming around again.....so don't forget to check it out.

What did you do this weekend?

It's going to be a party!

It's going to be a party! A Twitter party..... Have you RSVP'd? Go now and do so. I'll wait.

I'm really excited to be a part of this years Friends You Love annual event. It's a month long event that is going to celebrate the relationships we, as women, build and share with one another.

There is going to be a BFF Writing contest, a Blog Hop, A photo contest, a scavenger hunt and more. Think you have the best BFF? Come join us, tell us all about it, you would win some really fantastic prizes!

How can you get involved? I'm glad you asked, you can get started by RSVPing to the kick off twitter party, brought to you by One2OneNetwork

Follow Friends you Love on Twitter @FriendsYouLove to keep updated on all the events.
Don't forget to head over to the Friends You Love blog to see all the fabulous prizes and sponsors.


It's going to be a great month, so join in!

Back where I come From

I am from sheets washed and dried on a clothes line, from hand washed windows the day before it rains, always.

I am from a quiet neighborhood nestled in a canyon, where everyone knows everyone on the street, and life happens after dinner and before the street lights come on.

I am from the reeds that grow and dance in the winds, they make perfect forts in the springtime. I am from the pond that gathers itself after the rains, where the polliwogs make their first appearance. I am from finding pleasure in the simple things, the toys that the Earth provided, and a good game of tag or baseball. I am from racing sticks down the gutters rushing with water when it rains.

I am from family dinners, together, the 4 of us around the dinner table where you had to be excused when you were done. I am from a nightly routine of my brother shaking his hand in yuckiness at eating his vegetables. I am from "if you don't eat it for dinner, you will get it for your next meal". I am from waste not want not.

I am from every holiday being celebrated, a BBQ for President's Day, a huge celebration for Christmas, I am from Family, spending time together!

From cousins by the dozens and when someone passes we will see them again, someday.

I am from baptism and Catholic school, prayers at night and a respect for our parents and each other. I am from standing next to your desk when a teacher/nun/priest entered the room and saying "Good Morning Sister Angela"

I’m from Southern California that extends to Chicago and back to Ireland and Russia. I am from corned beef and cabbage and green milk (don't ask) on St. Patrick's Day.

I am from singing "When it says Libby's Libby's Libby's on the lable lable lable, you will like it like it like it on your table table table" whenever we see or hear that name.

I am from death, more of it than I care to admit, grandma, father, grandpa all in 1 year at age 10. I am from losing my best friend and only sibling, TJ, to losing a step father who raised me over half my life. I am from cancer in more ways than one and I am from having faith and finding strength within myself and through my mom.

I am from a family that survives, I am from treasured photo albums my mom created over the years, with love, the only pictures of my family together, alive. I am from remnants of a loved life not forgotten, but a strength to carry on.

Lego my....

We decided that this Sunday was a good day to get eaten by a lion!

We didn't go down with a fight....we struggled and made it difficult for him....

But not before engineering a train through a huge corn field......

Which we drove to the train station in our new fashionable Red cars....

This guy said he would lead us to safety.....

And we took a short cut over the Golden Gate Bridge...

And through the Vegas Strip.....

And we did all this and more at Legoland, California

Definitely a do over experience. The boys had so much fun, seeing all the legos, and riding all the rides. We were amazed at all the minitures and even the larger things they created out of these legos! We have Duplo's at our house, and leave the legos at Grandma's because if you have ever stepped on one of those you will curse the day they were ever made.....until you visit Legoland.

Cheers....to Friends

In celebration of my birthday tomorrow, I am celebrating some of my besties that I spend most of my time with, texting, facebooking, blogging, tweeting, on the phone with and on the weekends.

We just spent last weekend at the park celebrating all of the September birthdays, there's a lot of us!
This is my sister in law Marie, most of you might know and recognize her from BlogHer, she came with me! I have known Marie since she was 10 and wearing fatigues! She is my source for all things Organic gardening. She makes some amazing things with the stuff from her garden!

Meredith and Jessie, my girls, I heart them, together they are a powerhouse of knowledge of all things GIRL! As Meredith has 3 and Jessie has 2. Meredith is my designer, she has given me so many fab ideas for home decor and she's an amazing photographer! Jessie is a designer of clothes for her girls, OMG you should see some of the stuff she makes, it's amazing!

This is one of my closest friends, I've known her since I was 10! Laura and I have been through a lot over the last 29 years! Yes that is right folks, tomorrow is my 39th birthday!! And that means I've known her for over 29 years. She got me into a lot of trouble! =) But no matter what, I know she's got my back!

Speaking of friends....please check out what's coming up on Friends You Love. A blog that celebrates friendships! The women closest to us are our biggest fans. With them we share our hopes and our fears. They are there for us in triumph and tradgedy. They celebrate our highs and are there to hold our hands through our lows. They help us to define the women we want to be. And I am honored to have been asked to contribute to this wonderful month long event! So head over there, check out what's coming up, like them on facebook and follow them on twitter!

It's all about the Pink

I spent my Sunday attempting my first Maternity shoot. I'm so not a professional photographer, but that makes it sound all important like! =)

Good friend of mine is almost 32 weeks pregnant (at least she will be on my birthday, which is on Wednesday) and she's been on bedrest for a month now.

Doctors have given her limited mobility, and she allowed me to do some maternity shots for her. She has a thing for trains, so we went to a local train depot to grab this shot just as the train passed through.

I know she's TINY for being 32 weeks, with this shot I think we were debating which was bigger, her belly or her boobs!

She can't wait to meet her little one, Eden, and she already wants me to do the mommy and me shots as well as the announcement shots too!

And we aren't even done with the maternity!!! We have more we want to get but ran out of time!

How did you spend your Sunday?

Where Has the Time Gone?

It's been 10 years,
And today I am just as speechless as I was the day it happen.

I have a bracelet that I bought that says 9-11/Never Forget

Thomas asked me "What's that for mommy?"

"9-11 Buddy, fortunately you don't remember it, but you'll learn about it in history books as you get older" I said

It's a day the world stood still. It's a time where being an American became just that much more important. A century stretching into a lifetime of remembering.

Remembering the violation, the heartache, and the disaster. The lives that meant so much. The children born missing a family member.

The heros. Those the helped, those that put their lives on the line. Even those that said a silent prayer at home. American's.....those are the heros.

And a Thanks to the FDNY, NYPD, USCG, USMC, USN, US ARMY, USAF, and their families, keep them in your thoughts and prayers as we all must remember Freedom isn't free!

I'm proud to be an American, and for our lifetime this will be the time, the question that everyone asks our generation "Do you remember what you were doing when you heard about the Twin Towers?"

I do remember, and I will Never Forget!

Hoarding the HK

I have a couple Hello Kitty things....

They are placed around the house, in different places....

There's just a few here and there.....

I mean look, this one is sitting with a Vampire Kitty and an Erin Bear....it's not THAT bad...

Ok so I have a shelf in our family room that has a few HK things.....

Shut up, yes that is Hello Kitty Wine!

I also love the TN Titans.....can't you tell? Right there....you know, behind the Hello Kitty stuff....

And tell me how cute this is? A friend of mine at work found this for me and it's in the closet, HUSH it is too!

And so are these 3 bags of my HK stuff. But I seriously do NOT hoard Hello Kitty stuff.

It all has a purpose, IT DOES!!!

I use it for my friends little girls.....if they come over for a visit they almost never leave without something HK. Everyone should love HK, how cute is she?

Heard of LoungeFly? You MUST check them out, Some of that stuff is theirs and it totally rocks. I found out about them through a client at work, he's the grandfather or Uncle of the owner, (I can't remember) now if I could just get some stuff to review and give away on my blog, you all might become Hello Kitty Hoarders too! Errr I mean COLLECTORS, that is what I meant, Collectors, not hoaders!