Thursday, June 28, 2012

If something can go wrong....

it will. My two wonderful and amazing not so little anymore brothers are headed to visit my big brother. My mom and I were going to drive them in her car, but then her radiator started leaking. So we talk and decide to take my car, three days before the trip my AC stops working. Today we took the trip in my car. I am pretty sure I sweated about 7lbs. It was bad. However my brothers did make it safely to Chicago, (with my step-dad my mom stayed with the little monkey so he wouldn't get overheated in the car.) The drive was decent with the windows down and after we got the boys safely on the bus we went to China Town (pictures to follow) and had dinner while we waited for traffic to clear and the evening to cool off before our trip back home. I guess not everything that could go bad did, the drive was uneventful if not a bit too warm, but we shall survive and I got some amazing food from Chi Cafe (if you have never been you should go!)

Monday, June 18, 2012

FLASH GIVEAWAY! 1000 PLACES TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE!

I have an amazing opportunity to receive the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die, and share 3 copies with my readers! Please know I did receive a complementary copy of this book to read, but all of the opinions on this super cool book are mine. The first thing I did when I got this book was open it up to Turkey, see it's the only time I have been out of the country and I wanted to know if I saw anything in the book, and if we agreed on the amazing things. We did! A few of the stops we made were in the book, and they really are amazing beautiful places. I have to say after receiving this book I am ready to pack my bags and travel! I can't wait to see more of these exciting places, so many here in the US! I love the color pictures too!




a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you want to know more about the book, check it out here!


1000 Places to See before you Die Resources:
Website – http://www.1000beforeyoudie.com/
About the Author - http://www.1000beforeyoudie.com/the-author.html 
Twitter: @1000Places
iPad App: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/1000-places-to-see-before/id479543504?ls=1&mt=8
Book website:

Book website:

Book excerpt:

Video:
The Li River - China

Amalfi Coast - Italy

Rio

The French Quarter - New Orleans

The Pyramids of Giza - Egypt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2goVaJms8bk


This giveaway is part of Fashionista Events, coordinated by The Chief Blonde of Still Blonde After All These Years and Katy Rose of ModlyChic. 

Friday, June 15, 2012

Summer Treats

Things have been going well here, my little guy has been going out into our  pool, and we have just been having a lot of fun. We even made him a "water slide."

We have been looking for more things to do outside and we have been going to the park a lot. I think today we are going to take our finger paints (for some reason I always want to type that as one word instead of two, I don't know why.) outside. However most of the time when we go out he wants to head straight for the pool. I love all of this warm weather and that the official start of summer is coming soon!



 I wanted to share a recipe for a super yummy treat that we have been making, courtesy of Once a Month Mom

Strawberry Freezer Pops

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 cups fresh strawberries, washed & sliced
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • .125 cups water

Directions:

Mix strawberries and sugar in a large bowl.  Allow to sit for 30 minutes, stirring after 15 minutes.   Place strawberries in blender and add water, pulse until all strawberries are blended and mixture is runny. Divide among ice cube trays and freeze until solid.  For a “stick”, I insert a plastic baby soon in each cube before freezing.  These can be frozen in small plastic cups for a larger size freezer pop.

Freezing Directions:

Follow directions above. After puree is frozen solid, gently loosen and divide among indicated number of freezer bags. TO SERVE: Remove from freezer and enjoy!

We made ours without sticks and serve them in a little cup with a spoon, because he really likes to use spoons.  They get messy so serve them outdoors, and I take his shirt off for them. If you have really good strawberries you can even cut the sugar.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Beautiful Days and Finger Paint

It has been beautiful here. Nice and warm, I love it. We got my little monkey a pool with a sprinkler attached and we have a hard time keeping him out of it. He loves water so much just like his mom and dad. I have been super busy as well, I just finished up some more finals, (I will have my degree in December!!!) I rearranged our kitchen, got rid of our living room set, and painted our bedroom. Now it is back to crafting for the little guy!

I have started making him some felt food and I got a cabinet that I am going to turn into a kitchen. Hopefully I can give him a kitchen with a fully stocked pantry for Christmas! I have found all kinds of tutorials for felt food, it is so amazing! I also have designs on some wool monster dolls and I even got some stuffing so keep an eye out for those coming up. Right now I am keeping it simple though.

I made the monkey some finger paints that are edible since everything goes to the mouth first.

I didn't take pictures while making this, but it was super easy. I do not remember where I got the recipe but it is not my own.

Finger Paints
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 Cup corn starch
2 Cups water

Combine ing in a small saucepan, warm until mixture thickens (about 5 minutes) cool and pour into containers, add food colors to create the colors you would like. I overfilled 5 jars, this probably could have done six if I had left a little more room in each jar. (I had some left in the pan too.)

I can't wait to let my monkey play with these and take some pictures!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Reblogged: An open letter to all parents from a non-parent.

Reblogged from Trying to be Good 
(sorry there are a few bad words, but I liked it so much I had to share)

I just finished babysitting your baby today.

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I have salmon stuck on my neck and in the crease under my left breast.
My eardrum is damaged due to high frequency screaming.

I had to hold her while I was peeing because from her perspective it seemed like Satan himself would rape and kill her slowly if I put her down thus I did not get the chance to wipe myself properly…
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…no matter though as I am covered in a thick layer of sweat from pushing the stroller up the hill so a bit more wet between the legs even things out.
I washed my hair this morning but all of a sudden it looks like a stringy bag of shit pile.


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I haven’t had a chance to eat anything except snatching a few cold peas from her snack pack and my head is pounding.
I watched her draw on her vulva with sidewalk chalk and I didn’t bother to read the ingredients to see if it was non-toxic.
I fed her a pizza crust to keep her occupied and I know you want her to be gluten-free.
I felt her shit herself and then I left her in her shitty diaper for when you get home.
My entire body is an exhausted heap of jangled muscles and burnt out nerves.
You were only gone for 3 hours.



I am sorry.
For judging you because your style went down the tubes.
For being annoyed when you forget to call me back.
For thinking you are not being a very good friend anymore.
For saying “I’ll lose all my baby weight, I’ll make the time.”
For telling my partner “we’ll be much sooooooo more relaxed about parenting than they are.”
For wondering why you don’t mind leaving the house looking like a drunk homeless 10-year-old.
For assuming you must be a hoarder now with your piles of clothes and teetering books and dirty plates

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and gummed on toys strewn all over the house.

For calling your life chaotic.
For thinking that I will do it better and it will be easier.
For secretly considering your parenting techniques to be kinda’ weird.
Photo Credit: Martin Schoeller/Time Magazine
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For agreeing that I won’t lose my creative focus when I have a kid.
For being frustrated when I watch you forget your keys every goddamn time you leave the house.
For wishing you could just feed him and talk to me about my next career move at the same time.
For not getting it. Any of it. At all.
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You are a superhuman and I bow down to your grace and patience towards friends like me.
When I have a baby, I hope we get to hang out more. Maybe you can wipe my crotch for me before he cracks his head on the bathroom tile. Maybe I will have a chance to make you a cup of tea before she spills it all over the floor.
Let’s smell the top of their heads together.
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And we won’t care what our childless friends think of us because we both know that we know nothing now.

We have nothing left to prove.
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And that is such a relief.