Seattle Day 2-updated post

(I accidently published this post before I added all the reception photos. Oops.)

The day of the reception.

Too much walking the prior day meant waking up to a swollen, sore leg. We had planned on helping with reception setup and cupcake delivery, but that had to be abandoned for a morning of bed rest with a bag of ice draped over my knee.

Had a bite to eat at Dany's Taco truck for lunch. All I can say is that we will go back the next time we are in Monroe, WA. Yummy and cheap. You know how much I love cheap and yummy!

Even my skeptical Dad enjoyed his lunch. I was impressed with his going out of his comfort zone with us on this trip!

Then it was time to change for the big celebration. Here are some of my favorite pics that I took. Will have to be patient waiting for a peek at the professional pics!

The reception decorations were super cute! Kristi did an incredible job with all the little details!

My 2 favorite men in the world!

I  don't have a clue what Mark and my dad were laughing at, but I love the out-of-control expressions on their faces!

 

And the happy couple. Kristi, you make my brother so happy and for that I welcome you into the family with all my love. And I know he makes you happy too. You just have to spend a few minutes with these 2 to see how much love they feel for each other!

Looking forward to many years together, sharing happy memories. Glad to have the chance to share your special day!

Friday Wrap

Happy Friday everyone.
It's time for the Friday wrap again. With fresh Instagram love.

Mark playing King of the Mountain with the girls at Ocean Beach.  Emma is quite the scrappy  fighter!

I always feel so peaceful at the beach. The sound of the waves. The breeze.

emma is such a good sport about taking photos, and the sassy side is cute...as long as she is not sassy with her momma!

Mark and the girls checking out videos on YouTube. He seems to share their sense of humor, whereas I do not. Later the same evening, they all watched the movie "Paul" in bed together, laughing,  while I sat nearby thinking how stupid it sounded. Good thing they have both of us to balance each other!

New Starbucks location of the month. @ the Carlsbad Outlet Mall. Not my favorite, but I guess they can't all be!

Working on the coupon book. I fell off the wagon this past few weeks, but now it is time to organize the coupons and go to the store.

And this is why I coupon. A trunk full of food for $80. Had to stop myself at 15 boxes of cereal.  We'll be set for a while.

On Tuesday, we planned on meeting my dad for lunch. He had to cancel, but we still went up to the Chandler mall and ate lunch, then hung out at Barnes and Noble, then to Costco. I know how to have fun!. Emma had to get the magazine dedicated to the band "One Direction". Seems she has a bit of a crush on Harry.

Updated the photos from the2012 Sand Bucket Post. Needed to make it much cuter!

Nothing screams summer like a snow cone from the ice cream truck driving down our street.

Daisy sporting Emms's tee shirt. She did look pretty cute.

Bad flash potography. So, so bad!

24 hrs post op. Swelling decreasing. Pain increasing. Pain meds and ice cream help. Doing okay.

Thanks for joining. Let me know if you like what you see! I do love to get comments!

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Surgery Day

Hi everyone!

Today is surgery day. Wish me luck! Here's to no more dragging my bum leg behind me like Frankenstein!

Saw this on Pinterest months ago and saved the image. Sorry, I don't know who to link to.  But I do like the sentiment!

Carlsbad Part 2

Hello everyone. I had trouble with part 1 of this post, and had to quit and walk away. I kept having paragraphs disappear. Paragraphs! Even if I saved every few minutes. Oh well. Let's continue:

After candy shopping, we needed to stop and eat dinner. We picked the place with the long line. Hodad's. They served these awesome burgers and fries and rings and beer in a chilled glass jar and shakes with a chunk of ice cream on top. It was yummy and fun and loud (music) and eclectic and we will definitely be going back (yes, Trevor, we will take you there).

We really enjoyed Ocean Beach. It had a relaxed vibe. Definitely a dog town. They were everywhere. Just chillin.

And the old VW vans were everywhere. Kinda had a crush on them. Especially if they had a surfboard tied to the top!

Time to head to Carlsbad. Checked into the 2nd hotel. Went to the Queen Bee Market. Really cute stuff there, but smaller than I expected. Still managed to spend too much money! Girls had fun shopping. Mark was a good sport around all that girlie stuff!

Back to hotel and bed.

Saturday

Girls slept in late. Mark and I had breakfast at the buffet (not the best). I edited photos and Mark watched YouTube videos and laughed a lot. Hung out by pool and read (Mark napped). Girls watched cartoons in room. They missed some gorgeous weather!

Shopping at Carlsbad Outlets. Fossil store. Coach store. Dooney and Burke store. I did not buy anything. Katie and Emma did buy. I definitely have some teen girls on my hands!

Planned on eating at Anthony's, then heading out, but we ended up at Subway to save time. So sorry to miss the shrimp and fish basket! Next time!

Home 5 hours later. Took soooo much strength to head home. Wanted to stay. Forever. Showered and fell asleep. I'm always sad when a getaway is over. But I do have another one to look forward to (Palm Springs with hubby only for 20th anniversary).

And if anyone is interested in my mini-book I was supposed to work on during the trip.....it didn't happen. The Instamax didn't work right. Think maybe the film was too old (even though it didn't expire until Oct. 2012. All the photos turned out white, with no detail. So, I'm hoping to pick up printer ink today and print tomorrow morning. Will share when complete!

Thanks for staying for the long 2-day post. Hope you get a chance to walk barefoot along an ocean this summer!

Carlsbad Part 1

Happy Monday Everyone!

This post is going to be a long one. So get comfortable and grab that cup of coffee and let's begin.

Thursday

We headed to Carlsbad for a business trip. To check out the Queen Bee Market. What was supposed to be a one night trip turned into two. Alec did not want to make the long drive for such a short trip, so he stayed at home with a friend. We really enjoy our time in San Diego, no matter what we end up doing! Our hearts feel at home there!

We left Thursday around 3 pm. Had a nice Chevy Impala rental to drive. Took us about 5 hours to get there, with 2 short stops. I was hoping to see the sunset from Mission Beach, but we were about 45 min too late.



almost through the mountains and into San Diego

realizing we were not going to make it to the beach for sunset

We checked into the hotel and headed out to dinner at a family favorite, Sammy's Pizza. I adore the 4 cheese pizza.

 We went to one of their locations years ago for the first time. Emma was just a toddler back then. We had spent the day at the beach and were chilly and covered in sand, and needed to eat fast. We pulled in thinking, "pizza, sounds good and not too much money". We were so suprised when the meal was over and we spend $100. We had not paid attention to the prices and they serve individual pizzas, plus appetizers, plus a couple of glasses of wine, plus these giant ice cream sundaes.

 Well, we try to stop at the Mission Valley location when we can. It's too yummy to pass up!



mark and emma at Sammy's

There was also talks about a night walk on the beach, but in the end we were too tired. And it was a bit windy and chilly that night. We just relaxed at the hotel and went to bed at a decent time.

Friday

Slept in. Starbucks and a blog post. Off to Ocean Beach. We have never spent much time at OB. We tend to go to Mission Beach or Imperial Beach by the Hotel Del on Coronado Island. So we tried something new. And really had a great day. The beach was a bit overcast, so no swimming. But we took a nice long walk (my knee seemed much happier in Cali) and collected seashells.

seashells and seaweed

emma "proposing" to her dad

emma and I

showing off the new pedicures

me and Mark

Next we headed out for some shopping. I bought my first pair of Tom's (red canvas). Katie and Emma bought shoes also. We took photos of all the flowers,

katie with the sun in her eyes

petals curled in on some of these flowers

We stopped at a candy shop and bought:

Katie: jawbreaker

Emma: ?

Mark: almond bark

Me: champagne truffle and milk chocolate with caramel and crushed red pepper (yummy)

Family share: chocolate covered bacon (had to try once, but never again) and chocolate covered Twinkie (pretty much what you would expect)

Due to technical errors, see part 2 for the rest of the trip.

 

Today

Today is 2 months since I began this blog.

60 days.
47 posts.
959 total page views.
25 comments (half are my responses to actual comments).
1 shop opened.
1 viewing of my canvas on another person's wall.
1 craft market attended.

I'm still loving this journey. Still learning the ropes. And so much learning ahead. But I am so happy for the chance to go on this adventure!

Thanks for everyone who has stopped by. I appreciate everyone's support. Especially my family, for being patient with me saying "I just need a few more minutes to finish this post".

Stop by again to see what's next!

Friday Wrap

Happy Friday everyone!

Here is this week's version of the Friday Wrap.

One of the things I promised to get done this week was clean my art area. The Art Studio. So I took this "before" picture. Then I never got around to the big cleanup. Maybe this next week. Maybe Tuesday before the big surgery day.......

Logged into my blog one day this week to find my canvas featured on simplyautumn.com.  She won my canvas in a giveaway and sent me some love on her blog in appreciation.  I can't tell you how excited I was to see my art on someone else's wall. I'm thrilled. Now the goal needs to be to sell one of my pretties.!

Laundry time. My favorite way to do laundry is to watch HGTV and listen for my washer and dryer to sing to me, alerting me it is time to move the next load. Having a Sonic Diet Coke to sip on just adds to the fun.

Waiting at the hospital for some pre-op work. I had to have my blood drawn for a CBC. The phlebotomist had to stick me twice (no luck), then have a co-worker help. 3rd time was the charm.

Emma talked Mark into wearing her Snuggi. Size small. It was quite hilarious! I'd share the photo taken of the backside, but this is a family friendly blog!

The girls got to experience their first pedicures. Just seemed like we all needed super cute toes for the beach.  They really enjoyed the treat! Especially the leg massages and the flowers on their toes. Emma even got to have her fingernails done (teal with white polka dots....makes my heart flutter).

Not much of a week for me. That's ok.

I have a few photos from last night, but I'm holding off sharing those. I'm saving them for the Carlsbad album.

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