catching up....

Winter in San Diego ( obviously taken last week)

Introducing the bike.....It rests at the foot of the bed at bedtime and nap time. Most meals and snacks are consumed on the bike. Lots of favorite shows are also watched on the bike. He can't quite figure out to peddles but he scoots around, runs over feet and marks up with wall with the tire tread with perfection. Originally intended as a Christmas present but not quite done in time. Lot of things trickled over into the new year this year. The new wooden step and chrome fenders still need to be put on but someone won't get off the bike long enough to finish tricking it out.
Very important imaginary phone conversation.

So happy with his three favorites- bike, backpack, and milk.

resolutions...

We started the new year right. I ran from our house to Beacons and Tony and Brayden met me up on the beach. I only like to run 1 way still. The round trip idea is still not for me. Tony is nice enough to cooperate and pick me up. What an amazing day to be at the beach running around low tide.

My new years resolution will be more like a "2010 to do list". I like lists so the likelihood I will try and adhere to the 2010 list seems high. It is only the 2nd so we will see.

1. Run a 1/2 marathon.

2. Buy a house- ( even if it is in a zip code other than 92024 or 92007)
3. Cook 1 new meal a week. I watch enough Martha and own enough cookbooks that this should be a no-brainer.

4. Finish the embroidery for Brayden's room started last April. I am almost there.....90% done.

5. Read more books than I listen to on CD.

6. Use up all 100 of our free stock trades from our brokerage account... Time to be a bull and not a bear and get in the mentality of brown bagging it and buy a share of eBay instead.

Happy New Year

Sneaking in a solo on Aunt Donna's piano.
We celebrate Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family. This year my aunt Donna and Uncle Lloyd hosted. She opted for keeping things simple and doing only appetizers and desserts. I was the first skeptic of the idea ( since I am sucker for tradition) but it turned out to be very nice. Everyone put a lot of effort into bringing something yummy and fancy. The adults do a pirate type of gift exchange and if you are under 18, the kids get something from every family. Brayden, who still does not grasp the concept of unwrapping gifts, has no idea how lucky he is.

Look! Santa brought me a You Gabba Gabba boom box.

Merry Christmas! We got our tree on December 1st and I was shocked at how well it held up. Brayden was quite enamoured with the tree. The poor tree was pulled, tugged, poked, and shook multiple times a day. See how naked the bottom of the tree looks???

Christmas morning at our house. My mom had to work that day. But she just had to send Grandpa over with some M & M's in her absence. Later on that day we drove up to Foothill Ranch to have dinner at my cousin's.

Chopping logs with his saw from Santa.

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and happy New Year. We are very lucky and blessed to have our health and have such wonderful family and friends.

I am very much looking forward to 2010. I think it will be full of opportunity and good times.

Off to go enjoy this amazing day with a run on the beach.....Happy 2010

A christmas campfire

Last night we enjoyed a fun evening with friends watching Christmas movies and making smores at San Elijo campground. Our friends the Hayden's had the clever idea of projecting movies on to their trailer from their movie projector. When they quickly got tired of sitting, letting the kiddos fill up on hot chocolate and smores and let them run loose around the campgrounds. It is no longer a question of if but when we will purchase our own trailer. All the way home I was calculating in my head how much extra side work Tony will need to do and extra loans I will need to fund to work that into our 2010 budget. Practical Sandy eventually came around and realized we need to buy a house first so we can have a place to store it.

Merry Christmas Eve!

A little baking, a little sanding and a lot of cleaning

Our new guest bed. Come and visit. We have added a new queen bed to our upstairs loft. I must admit it is tight quarters up there but the comfy pillow top mattress and fluffy pillows make up for the lack of available floor space. Also, the guest bed is lucky enough to house my treasured peacock bed set from Anthro. It was too "birdy" for our room and for my husband. At least I get to enjoy it when I am on the computer upstairs.
Repurposed project #1- A pot rack picked up at a yard sale and then transformed to a super cool mahogany pot rack.

Repurposed project #2- My treasured jewelery case. Truth be told, Tony originally made this for our booth in Leaping Lotus when we were thinking we were going to sell jewelry. Well we gave our notice at LL last month and there it sat. Tony was nice enough to finish the frame, line it with some burlap and quilt lining and make it heavy and solid enough to withstand any natural disaster. The bamboo frame was originally that yellowish commercial looking bamboo frame and the picture it housed was an airbrushed woody with a Jessica Rabbit looking girl in a bikini print. It was awful.

What can I say, I love it.......It is my favorite addition to our home this year. The picture does not do the case justice. It is quite a showpiece. After 15 years of making jewelry, I can finally say I have a proper place to display my pieces. Don't look to closely, some of my pieces need repair. I could not stand to have them stuffed in a bag under my sink anymore. I have boxes and baskets of beads and findings from countless bead fairs with little to no desire to make anything with them.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon baking cookies and treats for our neighbors. Brayden was very happy to help sprinkle anything he could get his hands on.

Yum! Hopefully everyone if enjoying some nice family time and Christmas cheer this weekend. Go Chargers!

The workshop

Eating some yummy vegetarian chili made by Greta and family at the Encinitas holiday parade.

My 2007 Christmas project- a family advent calendar. A 2009 project is still in development and will likely not be ready until 2010. Over the past few years I have adopted the tradition of buying one lavish Christmas decoration and making one elaborate project per year. Last years purchase was the 12 days of Christmas plates from WS and my project was an apple core Santa. This year I am attempting to make a wreath which requires me to learn to crochet and I have my eye on several fancy holiday goodies to add to our collection.

The elf's workshop filled with incomplete projects.

A sneak peek... Will post the finished projects.

Feeling rather behind this year. My days working from home are filled with nervous phone calls from Realtors and screaming matches with underwriters. Meanwhile our Christmas cards sit unaddressed and unwrapped gifts accumulate under the bed.

Celebrating the two's

Where have we been all month? By reading our blog alone you would think we are hoping from one celebration to the next. Not that many things go uncelebrated here but we actually have been taking things pretty slow. Work has kept Tony and I really busy ( hooray!!!). So when we are home we have tried take time off from Facebook, ebay, blogs and other internet time suckers. Replacing them with homemade dinners, crafts, projects and other fun family things.

Digging for treasures at Moonlight Beach.

My hamburger cupcakes. I was quite happy with the way they turned out. I never actually tried one but the kids seemed to enjoy them. I used white cake box mix for the bun ,chocolate brownie mix for the hamburger and colored frosting for the condiments. Those thick white chunks next to the hamburger cupcakes were sugar cookies cut up as french fries.

A little family moment before party # 2 starts.

Family party later on that night at our house. I must say it was a bit tricky having two parties in one day. Not something I plan on repeating. Hopefully next year we will be in a house big enough to accommodate everyone.

Can't quite wait until the cake is cut.

The goods. The "watch out I'm 2" was actually supposed to be a cape. Still thinking of creative ways to get through that bolt of Heather Ross fabric.

Present opening in the wagon. Much more fun than sitting on the floor.

Breakfast with the wagon. Anyone want to take a guess what we got him for his birthday?

Actual birthday morning birthday breakfast ( leftovers from party #1) . My two year old crown never actually made it on his head but stayed in close proximity. Pick your battles right?

Happy Two buddy!

( Yes, his helmet is on backwards)

I must say that we could not have attempted to have two birthdays in one day if it were not for the help of both sets of our parents. They helped out so much and made it possible for us to actually enjoy the day as well. Thank you!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!