she gets me.

and i love that.

Nothing compares to when I get to catch up and visit with friends that live way too far away.

She is the queen of useless knowledge, the kind we all thrive on.

She still works the overalls and scrunchy socks like no ones business.

Her wit is the contagious.

Her love for Coke runs deep like mine.

She picked out that necklace for me because it reminded her of scrapbook page.

She introduced me to Wii knowing fair well about my competitive nature.

She bought a coffee caramel flavored Twix to share with me when we stopped for gas.

and she flew with 4 kids to come and see us.

♥ you.

*and yes Aida, there will be a page made of this.*

28 in 08'

Cracker Jack box facts for this special day.

• i was almost a leap year baby.
• being born in 80' makes for easy math to calculate age.
• getting married on my birthday always makes for one heck of a celebration.
• i got to sleep in until 9am.
• got a killer massage.
• my gray hair to dark hair ratio is getting a little too even for comfort.
• hearing my mom sing happy birthday still gets me teary.
• my kids are good surprise secret keepers.
• my husband is great at surprising me.
• i feel loved by my family and friends in abundance today...what a gift.
• riding in the jeep with the top off and my hair blowin' keeps me feeling young.
• coconut coffee with coconut creamer is my favorite right now.
• its 2:49 and time for a nap.

Cram 8 passengers in a 7 seater SUV and you've got yourself a good time.

ahh.

The Lieb girls had no idea what they were in for when the said they were coming for a visit.

Today, day 2, we did Hollywood up right.

Meals in the car and everything.

and own our personal paparazzi....me.

The picture below best describes how all the wee ones were feeling about this time.

When the mom's thought it would be cool to check out the pre-Oscar set up and so we did just that.

and with a bag of snacks for all we set out.

Gold statues, huge lights, fresh cut flowers, and red carpet galore.

very cool.

even stepped foot on the "red carpet"
but just erased the picture...dang.

and then low and behold.

We Garmined our way into this girl.

Yes. I really am alot older than the average viewer watching the Hills, but i love it so. and super giddy was I when LC was outside her place chatting with her parents.

So as I sit here now, I am hoping that one day my kids will look back on this day and think "dang, our Mom was cool."

For today, I think their thoughts are... "what in the world did Mom have us doing all day?"

Whatever the case, it was an adventure.

and I do love me a good adventure.

a good friday indeed.

good friends.

good laughs.

good wine.and Meiko.
i am still smiling about it.

fresh.

it makes me happy to support local farmers.

and to get loads of fresh fruit.

and to play around with my camera.

note to self: its time to read the manual and really learn the ins and outs on this bad boy Rebel.

we saw. we hiked. we avoided getting arrested.

The Floyd's trek up was totally the way to go.


And despite the massive amounts of security cameras and no hiking signs, I really was tempted to get down to those letters.

Just to say I did.

But how embarrassing would it be to get arrested with 2 young kids you know?

There was even a break in the fence to get there.

The rebel in my fought the urge and continued down the hill.

Such a great family day.

saturday morning.

It was due time for one of these at our house.

So with coffee in hand, I busted out the goods and sold until only one little box of junk was left.

It felt so good to see stuff go.

Anthony thought we would be lucky to make enough to treat ourselves to dinner one night.

Ha, was he wrong.

We made enough to go out for the week.

This morning though, I paid back the garage sale love around the corner.

I swear this lady had a mini stamp shop in her home that she was getting rid of.

A bag full of goodies was thrown in my car.

score.

So basically, I just had yesterdays sale to make room for new junk.

Recycling at its best I say.

date nights 1 & 2.

1.mommy and daddy's.

I kept this bad boy a secret for over a week.

ALO in concert, Santa Barbara.

2. As a family.

Known as the Thomas and Sleeping Beauty date @Cold Stone Creamery.

All for the love of Valentines day.

No Hallmark needed here.

♥

she did it like this. she did it like that.

she LOVED the new bam pop.she had a ball seeing friends.
she drooled over the new Hambly on the far right.
She did a few make and takes with J.
She loaded up her car with so much crap on the drive home that no passengers would have fit in with her.
That she would be me.

I had such a great weekend as Michelle, not Mommy.

CHa blew my mind especially because I thought it was suppose to be smaller than the summer one.

Silly me.
Tip #1 for next time...

carry camera on shoulder to get more pictures.

Tip#2.

Start saving money pre CHA for all the cool "need to have" products.

Creative Cafe is gonna be cashing in some of my chips for sure.

Sticker tickets...eeks.

Add a little pep to your step.

For the love of sweets, this video is crazy cool.
thanks Aida for sharing it with me.

Tonight I am off to Anaheim for CHA and a few day sleepover at JKL's.
I am prepared to be overwhelmed with scrappy stuff and of course I will come back with updates.
Can hardly wait to see all the new goodies and chat it up.

Happy weekend.

consumed.

Hollywood Sign
Originally uploaded by Floyd B. Bariscale

We have always been a family that enjoys hiking together.
This shall be our frist LA hike.
Getting up to this landmark will be so sweet.
I have been researching and trying to find ways to hike to the best view spot.
From the front. From the back. all around.
so fun.
I'll be sure to post pictures when we get back.

score.

Michelle's mindset.

Visiting a new city for the weekend.

Check their Craigs list free sections.

Hit up the garage sale scene first thing Saturday morning.

So, in old times fashion, I head out early with coffee in hand and Dad and Denise in tow.

We go to a few sales and find those panoramic size photos for 25 cents and then at another stop find that funky curved back chair for 1 dollar.

good? yes.

But I felt like there was something bigger waiting in the wings for us to discover.

and there was.

We found an antique store going out of business and as I walked in slow and stunned like, I turn to my dad and say "now this is my kinda sale."

jackpot.

Filled up the back of my truck with all this and spent only 20 bucks.

Dad wrestled with the big things for a bit and finally got them all shoved in and turned to me with a rolled eyed look and just laughed.

"You know you miss me when i'm not around Dad."

and we drove home.

Great day!

Birthday partying it up.

family time.

bright colors.

happy faces.

presents.

cake.

kids birthdays are the best.

schtuff.

trains. kiddos. sunshine.Final round of a circle journal.
some daily love.
overlooKed subject 1...complete.

its pays to stay up late.

I feel like a teenager who gets all excited when calling a radio station to request a song for the boyfriend.

sidenote. I have done this once to request a song with Delilah and I got to talk to her.

DeeeeeelIIIIIIIlahhhh.

anyway, so I got this email from a band I really enjoy, Let's go Sailing ,saying they were playing on a local indie station here tonight.

So i listened in. They were awesome.

and I called in and won a handmade tote!

so cool.

so fun.
Its the new way to go to concerts for parents when you can't make it for real huh?

Sales make it all better.

2 heapings of free Craigs list
1 part supersale at Urban
6 cups Anthro
1 cup and 2 tsp of Pottery barn.


Mix together with a couple
dashes of cash, a playarea
and Happy Meals and I have
myself a good ole day.

"mama, can we go swim outside now?"

We left our hearts in Kauai.

Some time has passed.
We have lost our tans.
The heater is on in our house.
The ocean water is freezing.
I have not donned my bathing suit in months.
Traffic is crazy.
and yes I could go on, but I am starting to whine.

Don't get me wrong, it could be way worse living than CA but still.
We were totally spoiled.
There is not a day that goes by that we don't say "when are we going back?"
With each passing day it gets closer and closer.
That's the good thing.

One sure fire way to take us there is to blast Jack.
and so that's what we do.
daily.

i'll be damned.

Today is the first morning since I don't know when that I got up and moving before the kids woke up.
just for the record this is HUGE for the not so morning person in me.
Even tiptoed up the stairs to keep quiet.
Hoping to enjoy some Mommy time early before the day gets off and running.
Took a breath of the first sight of sun rising over the mountains and....
in about 2 minutes and 37 seconds I hear little feet coming up the stairs!

what gives?
I guess that is maybe the motivation I needed to try it again huh?

the recap.

Pictured above...
*Anthony ironing while enjoying a view of the Vegas strip. mommy and daddy got a weekend away!!!
* the kids loving having Lito and Lita wrapped around their fingers for a week.
* Olivia and Kyan loved putting together our Valentines Day tree thanks to project 52
* finally finishing up on some projects that I got in way over my head on.
* the Long Beach Swap Meet is as cool as rumored.




Pictures were not taken when I...
*met up with this girl who is super cool!
*got rear ended.
*attended a Pre deployment meeting.
*saw the Bee Movie with the kids.


A week in the life of us i suppose.