The Trip I Was Slow in Posting (according to MB)

I'm so very biased toward Southern Cal and specifically San Diego - but this last week we took a trip to Northern Cal and I was really reminded of the beauty of the entire state. After driving across Nevada on I-80, I could really see who was in charge of drawing the state boundaries - it's like the scenery changes from "Please, I-swear-I'll-be-good-just-get-me-out-of-this-hell-hole" barren and dry and boring to breathtaking beauty in a matter of mere miles around the California border. BB was working for the week so my cute cousins, Ben, Terri, and Matt hung out with us for 3 days. We went to the Monterrey Aquarium:



the San Francisco Exploritorium:

and to the beach at Santa Cruz (twice):


Each morning, Diggity awoke with the words, "I wanna go the beach Mama." After BB finished up, we headed up to the Golden Gate Bridge and the John Muir Redwoods - I definitely recommend checking them out when you are in the neighborhood...

Happy Birthday Anushka...5 Days Ago

So, yes I'm a total slacker as far as getting a birthday celebration posted. But, in my defense, Anushka's birthday was Saturday and we were leaving Sunday morning for Northern Cal - so it was a BUSY weekend. We were lucky for a couple reasons. Anushka's birthday is the day before her friend Olivia's. Olivia lives right behind us so her mom and I decided to combine their parties. Second, we were lucky because our mutual neighbor and friend just opened a business called 'Young Chefs Academy' and she is in the business of doing parties. So the birthday girls got to invite lots of friends and make their own pizzas and party party party. AND if that wasn't enough, Anushka's family came over that night for more treats and more spoiling. I'd say it was a very happy 5th birthday...

The kids got to make their own dough and everything.
Each girl got to invite 'about 10' - HELLO!


Anush and her buddy Livy

X-Philes Live

Anyone who knows me well knows that I was fairly addicted to The X-Files. My brother referred to it as my 'other religion' on more than one occasion. So, imagine my delight in discovering that my neighbor and friend is a real alien believer. Much of this came out at girls camp last summer - let's face it, lots of secrets are revealed when you get a bunch of women together in a tent with no sleep. So, in honor of all the alien jokes that have been told since, she had a 'prettyfreekinscary' alien party this week. These are some of the results:

Green salad, jello, rolls, ice cubes, spinach dip, pasta - we even food colored our alfredo sauce green - it looked SO nasty on spinach noodles - but actually tasted ok.

Dessert provided:

Alien antennas were an obvious must-have. (The men took theirs off so quickly after dinner that they didn't get to be in our killer photo)

The evening was capped off with the movie "IT came from outer space" - which was a circa 1950 3D movie about shape shifting aliens who crash-landed in Arizona. We learned that 92 degrees is the temperature at which people go mad. The acting was amazing and the screams alone deserved Oscars. With a group of good friends, it was nothing short of side splitting hilarity.