If You're Happy And You Know It

You know how we all go through little phases where we'll say certain phrases for a while or make certain faces or whatever? Well my latest one is a little ridiculous. When I get happy about something I'll clap my hands together.......yep, just picture that scene in The Nutty Professor where they clap their hands together and say, "Hercules, Hercules, Hercules." Here, for those of you who have forgotten or have never seen it:



At least this is how I picture myself. I may be a little better than that but still, I'm 25 years old......not 3. My family was in town recently and I made the mistake of telling them that I do this, they saw it and started to do it themselves. Ah huh, every time they got excited or happy about something they'd stop, look at me and then clap theirs hands. Don't you just love family? ;)

I'm trying to phase it out but sometimes, when you're happy and you know it......you clap your hands.

Go Shawty, It's Your Birthday

I was thinking about blogging something new today and saw that I had this little baby ready to go except for the writing.

I get so exhausted putting together all of the pictures that by the time it comes to writing about them I'm spent......................then I never blog again. So I'm just going to post it without in-depth explanations.

This was what we did for my Birthday (February). We went camping out by San Francisco, one of my favorite cities. :)

Our campsite was pretty lush.

Our fist time using our equipment and my Birthday "cake."

We did a hike and it was quite steep but lovely.

Right???

He's so great.

It was a bit cold at the top. This was the photo with the least blue lips.

We outlasted everyone.

So, a couple other things to mention, Dom got me yarn to start off the trip. We forgot our overnight bag and had to pick up a couple of toiletries on the way. We froze that night because we had no other clothes. A mole was climbing under our heads the whole night. We accidentally took the harder trail to the top of the mountain, however it was faster. One last thing, I had an amazing Birthday with my awesome husband. :)

The Good Life

 Last weekend was quite a nice one. On Friday it was our pup's birthday.  He turned 3 and so we took him out to celebrate on Saturday. Oh yeah, we did it up big, we took him to a large yard full of grass, water buckets, and tennis balls..........nothing but the best for our baby. We also have one of those awesome ball flinger things and so we played catch until Scram couldn't run anymore.

 

My little family at the dog park.

The poor punkin had some raw feet at the end of the day but he was one happy birthday boy. His tail never stopped wagging. :)

On Sunday Dom took me to the beach!!!!!  I LOVE the beach and miss it so much. I missed the sand and sun and beach towns.  I might have mentioned these facts lately and so Dom found a beach that matched my description and took me to it. Major brownie points.

Stinson Beach

We had a nice drive down and got to finish up our audio book, Pride & Prejudice and Zombies. Nothing gets you in the mood for a relaxing day at the beach like some slaying of dreadfuls in an English accent. I'm telling you, I love Elizabeth Bennet even more now. ;)

Once the heat of the sun wore off and the wind picked up, we put on our jackets and started walking.  It was a pretty lengthy beach and we thought walking to the end of it would warm us up. 

Once we got there we sat on a log and watched the eclipse. Now we didn't watch it because that would be dumb but we glanced at the sun and viewed the scenery around us. It was like enjoying an overcast day but with sunshine.......I love overcast days as much as I love the beach so it was right up my alley.

Some Eclipse Fun

On our walk back we realized it was quite a distance and started to wager about the exact mileage. I said that we probably walked a mile and a half altogether and Dom said a mile.......This is what we actually did:

Our walk

2 Miles one way, we were so off but felt pretty proud of ourselves. Walking on the beach is just too good that you don't realized how far you travel. I did happen to mention that my guess was closer a couple of times but unfortunately not close enough to win. I'm sure we'll find something else to bet on soon enough.

 

Our Path

Every time we looked back on our walk to the car it was such a pretty sight. Dom noticed that it was just our footprints in the sand too. I love this man and I'm glad I get to walk all my walks with him.

Once we left, the sights didn't end. This was just a little ways down the coast. It was the Muir Beach Overlook and it had Stinson Beach in the background. Dom took a couple pictures with his camera but I haven't seen them yet. I'm sure they're lovely but what my phone captured was pretty nice too.

It was such a fun weekend with my husband and I was sad to leave the pretty beach but I'm sure we'll visit again and this three day weekend we're having now isn't too bad either. Lot's of sleeping in and lounging around. A much deserved break for my husband.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures, I'll check back in later.

My Punkin

Recently our little Baby Scram got sick.  His tummy couldn't handle anything and we had some lovely surprises.  Poor guy, he was a mess and we ended up having to take him to the vet. He was not happy about this. He started shaking the second we walked in the door and hid under the bench hoping to be protected by his mommy. I felt horrible.

Scared Baby

 He got a shot, antibiotics and bland food. Turns out he has a sensitive stomach. No more chips for the punkin......sorry Scram.

 

It's taken him a little bit but he's all better now and has lately been a little cuddle bug.

Mother's Day

 He snuggled up with me on the couch on Mother's Day and I loved it. He was recently shaved and, even though I miss his curly ears terribly, he is incredibly soft. His coat is like butta!

 This little guy just makes me happy and I'm so glad he's feeling better. I love him dearly and his cuddly mood has pushed me over the edge. He owns me now more than ever. :)

Quinceanero

My brother just turned 15 and I was lucky enough to be able to celebrate with him. My family came up for Easter break and spent some time with me and the husband. It was so nice having them around.

We are trying to buy a house and it was SUCH a relief having my well seasoned parents around while we checked out some homes. Their wisdom is priceless especially when it's such a big decision.

My mom and I have similar taste and she is able to help me see what could be in scenarios such as these. We would look at a house and I would see a flaw and say something like........this is dumb, what builder would ever think this is a good idea? And my wonderful mother would come in and say, no, just think of some paint this color and shelving here and I eventually I would see the light.

We looked at a ton of houses with them, dragging my poor brothers everywhere too but they were so good about it. They would suggest which of our future kids would go in what room and how we could totally use this room for games, it was funny. We would then debrief at dinner.

My mom needed to use my glasses at CPK and I think she looked quite good. Very pretty mom. :)

Easter Sunday was pretty fun, we went to church, ate a huge brunch, went on a long walk with Dom's family and then met them up for dinner.

I was really excited for the coming week though because my wonderful brother chose to spend his birthday in San Francisco!!!! I was so happy that he wanted me to come along because I LOVE San Francisco!! We shopped, ate, did some sight seeing and then shopped and ate some more.

My dad and Logan on the trolley, they would lean out right after the driver told them not to. Typical boys.

Austin's favorite food is sushi so we had that for his Birthday dinner. He was in love and I was just happy to see that they served chicken. They all said the sushi was great but my taste buds disagreed, I tried some like all sushi lovers have me do and the result was still the same......yuck! Whatever, it was a fun evening and the fam was happy.

It was awesome waking Austin up in the morning by sitting on him and yelling YOU'RE 15!!! I asked him how it felt and his response, "I turned 15 when I was 4." If you knew him, you wouldn't be surprised by this. We spent the day shopping again and getting him his presents on his actual birthday.

I think all of the walking around might have gotten to Logan. This was the best I could get out of him.

What a stud, I can't believe my little man turned 15..........I miss toting him around on his rocking horse (or maybe it was a truck) and hearing the cutest giggle in the world. Oh well, they all have to grow up sometime right? It was quite the fun trip, the only downer was Dom couldn't come because of work.

I was sad to see my family go and I hope that they can visit again soon. What's a 9 hour drive for your only daughter right?

Missing SoCal

Most know that I am a SoCal girl, born and raised, and that I am a transplant to the NorCal area. Now there are some pleasant changes that I have experienced. There are the seasonal changes. The leaves are so beautiful during fall and the flowers so bright and cheery during the spring. Also, I love the green, the more trees the better but it's just not home. I miss being in a freezing cold building and walking outside to the bright, warm sun. I miss breathing in the hot air and feeling my skin soak up the rays. I miss being a drive away from a beach, an actual play in the sand, dip your toes in the water beach. It's just not the same here. Obviously there is sun up here but this sun is wimpy. It requires SPF 30 not 75 and that's only in the dead of summer. The feeling is just not the same.

I miss fast paced traffic, drivers who know what a gas pedal is used for as well as side mirrors. I miss people who are too busy with their schedules they forget to pry into yours or the feeling of appreciating a clear day. I mean there are two sides to every coin but when you've spent 22 years on tails, it's hard to switch to heads.

My point is I miss home, the weather, the people, the lifestyle. Maybe this all just came on because I just visited my happy place but I just wish that visiting didn't make the feeling stronger. That's all my whining for today.

Started With Tears, Ended With Tears

Don't get me wrong, the trip was great but it started and ended a bit rough. I'm getting ahead of myself, let's start at the beginning. Dom and I visited my house this past week. We were having "Christmas" with my family. We flew out on Friday and Came back last night, Wednesday. Now, a smart person would see that there is usually a lot of weather change in January and that if they're scared to fly they would try and work around that. Well, this person isn't so smart..........me.

We arrived nice and early at the airport since that's the only time we could get a ride, and so I killed some time knitting and Dom worked on his laptop. This is the start of a hat. I've made it twice before but I'm really excited about this one for me. :)

Then it was our turn to fly out. It had been raining the past couple of days, but it was clear skies this particular morning, nice and beautiful and sunny. SO not the case 30,000 feet in the air. This was the roughest ride both Dom and I had ever been on. Rough take off and it only continued to get worse. Then the pilot gets on saying, "Ok folks, the crew can only bring you water since it's too turbulent to put the drinks together." About a minute later he gets on again and says, "Well, it's deteriorating fast and we can't do any drinks, the crew needs to be buckled in for their safety." We flew out of our seats at one point, around here is where I started to cry. Poor Dom, he was trying so hard to make me feel better, but I just couldn't hold it together. You see, it's all in my mind and these moments where my mind gets the best of me is where God and I have some good one on one time. I'm thinking I should get the picture and have this kind of time with God when I'm not forced to. Anyway, a super rough landing later, we made it. Phew! I've never been happier to see the Ontario Airport.


Thank goodness I got to see these cute little faces above me to cheer me up after such a horrific experience. Of course, they were occupied with their Mac this and Mac that, but once and a while I would get them to acknowledge my existence. ;) And since I'm the guest of honor, I got to choose where we went for lunch. Da da da daaaa......Rosa Maria's!!!! Double wrapped chicken, rice, and cheese burrito with guacamole on the side. SO GOOD!!!!!!!! Seriously guys, I fantasize about what's pictured below sometimes.

After the amazing burrito was stuffed in my face, we went up to Big Bear for the weekend. Here's a picture from the drive up:

We stayed one night and got to walk around town and enjoy the lovely weather. Of course, I dragged my mom to a yarn shop. I didn't get anything.....can you believe it? Me either. After all that fun we went on home and enjoyed the desert. I got to see friends for dinner Monday night. SO fun. Well duh, they're my friends, of course I find them fun. Catching up is always nice. One of them is getting married so it's nice to talk wedding details and the others have new jobs or new areas they've moved to. So many things going on in their lives to be happy about.

I LOVED playing with my mom's dog Piper. This little girl is a hoot. Her little stick legs move so fast; it's hilarious to watch her run. She's like a ninja. One minute you're sitting on the couch eating a snack and the next she's right at your face standing on top of the pillow behind you eying your food. In the picture above she is standing on top of her kill, a stuffed lobster. Well, it was stuffed before she ended its fluffy little life. I need to come up with a plan to steal her next time I'm home......maybe a sound proof bag?

One of those friends I mentioned before is now a dental hygienist and offered to clean my and Dom's teeth. This is her cleaning up Dom's dirty mouth. It was quite funny talking to her about things while she's digging into Dom's gums. He's all nice and clean now and looking good. :)

Now, our last night there my dad made us this amazing feast. Chicken, tri-tip, green beans and salad. It was SO good, so good in fact that I ate enough for three people......this is where the story goes downhill. I think that second helping of green beans did me in. I was up the entire night and spent the whole next day on the couch sleeping, all of this while running to the bathroom. My stomach hurt so bad at one point I cried.......again. Dom hugged and consoled me. My mom covered me with blankets, propped my pillows, my dad brought me medicine and 7Up, Dom sat by my side and my brothers came home from school early to see how I was doing and to say bye before Dom and I headed home. I did have a cute little Piper cuddle in my lap to make me feel better too (pictured above).

I didn't eat anything but about 10 crackers that whole day so this is what our dinner looked like at the airport. Pathetic huh? It was hard to watch Dom chew on his burger and sip on his milkshake, not because I wanted it but because it turned my stomach just to look at it. Anyway, our flight was on time, we didn't have to wait long, we got a seat in the first row, it was a smooth flight and we got home safe and sound!

So what have we learned? What I learned is that I'm a huge baby whose nerves are as weak as a Hollywood marriage. I can't handle anything. That might be a bit dramatic, I guess the more positive outlook of this trip is that I have family who loves me and I am truly blessed. Let's hope the next time I visit home it will be less dramatic or that I can at least learn to handle myself a little better.