Words

Tonight Brody said "apple sauce" about as clear as anything. Watching him go from a baby to a little boy has been such an amazing blessing. He is wonderful in the true sense of the word. Wonderful. Marvelous. Astonishing. Miraculous. He also says "home depot" when asked what his favorite store is (thanks, Daddy). Smart baby. Beautiful baby.

Santa Barbara Saturdays: Farmers Market

Santa Barbara has the best Farmer's Markets in the world. My favorites are the Saturday morning event on Cota St. & Santa Barbara St. and the Tuesday one on lower State Street. There are most amazingly gorgeous organic fruit and veggies; flowers and extra fun goodies like flavored nuts, oils, breads and juices! It's the perfect way to start your weekend on Saturdays and a great way to end your day on Tuesdays. Just a blast!


You can go to a FM every day of the week except Sunday. To check out the schedule: Click here to download SBCFMA weekly schedule

So fun!!

Funny Picture

And speaking of the carousel - we all got a good laugh at this shot! Clearly, Kevin had no idea where his hand was resting. Hee Hee!

Santa Barbara Saturday: Merry-Go-Round

This gorgeous carousel is located at Chase Palm Park on Cabrillo Blvd. Do you know that I've lived in Santa Barbara for 5 years now - what?!?! - and had never been to the M-G-R area of Chase Palm Park. And now, I'm hooked! Brody had so much fun going round & round. It was, in fact, magical. He wasn't ready to mount the horsie just yet but he had a blast sitting on one of the mermaid benches! :)

I'm so excited about taking any and all of our future kid (and adults) visitors to the park! In fact, how fun would this be for an upcoming BDay party!?!

Location: 223 E Cabrillo BlvdSanta Barbara, CA 93101805 963-9463 Hours of Operation: 11am - 6pm (winter)

Also, nearby is the amazing Shipwreck Playground! Kids and adults can't resist jumping aboard! Hope you can make it to the park. You will not be disappointed. Oh - and the pier is right across the street!!

Photog 101

Last night I went to my first photography class. The professor is a 60 year old hippy who pronounces it 'fertogrefy'. It's two hours and what I hate about it will eventually be the best part. He's really into the science of photography. As in why and how the light of the world reflects off of x number of glass pieces in the lens and at what distance they can be calculated. We only picked up our cameras once. I for sure was bored but I learned stuff so that's good. It was also a good time for me to read the owner's manual of the camera! I'd never done that before and it was extremely informative. Between the two, I think I might just learn a thing or two about fertografy yet.

Santa Barbara Saturday: Alameda Park

I absolutely love this town. It is my dream town. The place I always wanted to live but never knew about. I seroiusly thought that the soap opera Santa Barbara was the name of a ficticious beach town in California. Isn't that crazy? I feel like SB is in the media all the time now. Maybe it's because I live here and so I notice it more but I really believe it has become more popular in recent years. I mean, Oprah lives here!


The truth is, I don't know how long we'll be here. As much as we love it we just don't know how long we can decide to pay the price (literally) to be here. I say 'decide' because it really is a choice. And a hard one.


So, once a week I want to highlight a place in Santa Barbara that I love. I call it Santa Barbara Saturday because they will mostly be family-friendly places that can be enjoyed on Saturday. I don't promise that they will be 'little-known' spots. In fact, they might be down-right famous. But they're places I love and would recommend anyone checking out if visiting our beautiful little town.



ALAMEDA PARK and ALICE KECK GARDENS
1400 Santa Barbara and across the street

These parks are amazing. Alameda park is a wonderland for kids. We were there this afternoon and Brody attacks it every time like it's the first time. There are always kids there and it's in a really safe part of town - huge open land surrounds the park. There is a toddler section but most of it is for older kids. There are several places to picnic, throw a disc, practice yoga or take a nap (a regular sight)! It's just a really fabulous park and I'm considering it for Brody's 2nd birthday. No reservations required but you also have no guaruntees on spaces.

Alice Keck is an amazing memorial of gorgeous low-water plants (you find flowers here). The trails and the plants are great but the real center-pieces of this park is the koi pond. The kids love this - HUGE fish, millions of turles flapping around and usually a duck or two can be found. This is also a great place for a private picnic or date night (I've heard of a Valentine date where a girl set up a table with linens and heat lamp and brought in catering and everything. Tre romantic!). There are a lot of weddings here as well but it's also a place that doesn't take reservations.

These places rank so highly on my favorites list that they were part of my last birthday which I consider to be my best birthday yet! So check it out. You will love it!!

Happy NEW YEAR!!!

I've decided to make some things important in 2007. Along with my goal to look 'presentable' when veturing outside of the confines of my homestead, I'm adding a few more personal goals and blog features including:

* Challenge Wednesday will be in full effect - you might remember it from several posts ago. An abitious goal I made just before traveling for 3 weeks and the end-of-year festivities. In the new year, this will become a regular feature.

* Santa Barbara Saturdays. This will be a post highlighting our favorite Santa Barbara activities or places or people even. Look for restaurant reviews, family-friendly adventures, little-known spots of interest, and much much more! To be clear, they will not always be things done on Saturdays - that is just when I'll make a habit of posting.

* Elenore Roosevelt famously said "Do one thing every day that scares you." In theory, this is great but I'm not sure I can fully grasp it on a daily basis. Not immediately anyway. However, I love the idea of pushing myself to do things that I don't think I can normally do! Therefore, once a month, I and a few others (I hope) will write about what they have done "today" that scares them. I'm so amped on this idea!

* My Cup is Empty. In his Rich Dad series, Robert Kiyosaki talks about entrepreneurs needing to be eager to learn. Always learning. They need to never be a specialist but remain a generalists (like my Sweetie). He said that people who 'know everything' have a full cup and the goal is to keep your cup empty. My goal is to learn more...from the mudane (did some research on Kwanzaa recently and was blown away by what I found) to the major (global warming, anyone?). These posts might be lame to you geniuses but it'll keep me learning. And might even make me more interesting too!

Whew. I've got lots of business to get to! Really looking forward to the new year and what God has in store for us. Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas, Brody Bear

Look how big you are! This Christmas was so much fun. You still don't get it really - getting you to open gifts was like pulling teeth. You were totally uninterested. But you were so great through it all. You sat thru church like such a big boy. You came down stairs Christmas morning and walked around from toy to toy like, "hey, a piano", "hey, a guitar", "hey, a shopping cart". So precious.

Unfortunately, you got pretty sick at Mor Mor and PaPa's house in Phoenix over New Year's but amazingly you were still sweet, fun and funny. Saying "No, thank you" and "Peeeez (please)". And all sorts of other big 21-month-old words. Even holiday words like Santa, Snow Man, Ho Ho Ho. What will the next 12 months bring? New words...new tricks and talents...new excitment over things like trains, dump trucks and air planes, oh my! I can't wait, Buddy. You are such a wonderful, amazing, little man.

Bald Guy Greeting Cards

Thank you Rhettorical Letter Writer for directing me to these v. funny (tho a bit raunchier) line of greeting cards. I laughed outloud at this one...

Check out www.baldguygreetings.com

Pierre and LaFonda

So, Cara and Brody like to bond over a little face drawing. Cara thinks it's hysterical...I fear it's going to cause ink poisoning. But I love how much they love each other so, what's a little ink poinsoning gonna hurt? FYI Pierre LaFond is a local entrepreneur in SB. Great chicken salad!

No. I don't work here!

I can't tell you how many times I'm mistaken for a store/some-place-I-don't-work employee. Actually, I could but I wont. I'm not completely proud of these moments because mostly they are all times when I probably look like a Ross/Days Inn/Home Depot (in this case, I was 7 months pregnant and sitting in a chair reading a flipping book!!)/etc. employee. My mom, who works a retail position, is always asked if she owns the store she works at. She attributes this to the fact that she has fake (very classy) nails. I find it hard to not take this personal. I also find it difficult to believe that it's not prejudice thing.

However. I don't put on make-up most days, I never brush (like with a brush) my hair and I take a shower maybe every other day. Also, I dress down. Very down. Tshirt and cut-off sweat pants down in public! It's sad really. And the thing is - I clean up pretty nicely, if I do say so myself.

For 2007 I'm going to make more of an effort to look presentable when going out in public. Touch of make up. Clean hair. I might even start 'getting ready for the day' as some might say! But the biggest correction I'll make this year will be to dress in clothing that doesn't make me look like I just came from the gym. Dressing up comes with additional responsibility such as getting in shape AND spending money on clothes. It's been a long time since I've bought new, fashionable, figure-flattering clothes. I guess it's time.

I'm not really one for New Year's resolutions. More for New Year's themes. This year's theme will follow the theme of this blog (No Regrets...) and also a theme to be MY very best. And to stop being mistaken for a blankity-blank store EMPLOYEE!!

Happy Holidays!

Ok - so I can't create a scrapbook page every Wednesday. I had the best of intentions (if I do say so myself) but I was out of state for 3 straight weeks and now I just don't have the space to scrapbook. I AM STILL ENTERING THE COMPETITION but can't commit to the weekly posts. I just want to send an update. Humbly.

Happiest of Thanksgivings

Had an awesome time in Texas for Thanksgiving. It was so rad getting to spend 3 weeks instead of the usual 5 jam-packed days. We got to visit all of our favorite friends and spend lots of special time with Grandmama. She was so amazing. Played with him every single morning so we could sleep in (GLORIOUS) and did the bedtime routine almost every night! It was such an amzing treat - a luxury.

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for so much. My wonderful husband, our delightful and brilliant baby boy. Our town. Our church. The life that God has so graciously given us. What is this life?? How do I deserve it?? All I can do is be thankful. It's that simple.

Thank You, God.

Our Austin

Just a quick post to highlight our amazing visit to GUS & GAL's river house in Austin, Texas. We absolutely love this place. So relaxing and fun. Tons of land to run wild (and we do) but so pretty and peaceful. Deer roaming wild. Playing in the river bed. Skipping rocks. Playing cards. Eating like kings. And getting to spend quality time with our PapaJoe!!!

Introducing Alexa and Michael Hulsey!!

Quick note about how precious Mike and Alexa are. They are so perfect and beautiful together. The wedding was absolutely precious and can I just tell you how amazingly gorgeous the two of them were!?! As you can see they were beaming. Their love is huge. God's blessings to the happy couple. OXOXOX. 

Challenge Wednesday

I hate challenges and avoid them religiously. It's a not-noble characteristic and I know that. So, my new-year's resolution (I'm also a procrastinator) is to not only take on accept certain challenges but to also announce these challenges. Announcing them makes me accoutable - another thing I avoid at all cost. :)

The Big Challenge:

1.) Creating Keepsake's Hall of Fame 2007. I'm gonna enter! Entries are accepted from January 2, 2007-February 10, 2007. This is going to be a particularily difficult challenge as I haven't scraped a single complted page in years. I really want to stretch myself artistically and I love scrapbooking so this challenge is going to be an exciting opportunity and I ACCEPT!

So, every Wednesday I'm going to post a page. I appreciate all feedback on these layouts by Feb. 10th there should be about 14 (goal 10) layouts posted. I'm traveling for 3 weeks in November so I might not get to post every Wed of that month but I'll work to make up for it by doubling up in December.

Thanks in advance for keeping me focused on my self-subscribed challenge and for your encouragement. I look forward to getting started. Stay tuned for tonight's post!

Good TV: Monday Nights!

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a fan of television. The truth is....I'm a bit of a tvoholic. I am! I'm not ashamed!! ;) So, every now and then I'm going to devote a blog about to particularly good TV. Today’s entry is about Monday Night TV b/c it's that good.

The night kicks off with Prison Break on FOX. Somehow, even tho the boys are free from prison this season the show is still surprisingly enthralling! And this week Tea Bag made off with the loot. Very sneaky. The addition of the alien cop from Invasion as the crooked FBI agent is a good move. We want to hate him but something makes us curious about him? Good actor. The girl we could do without but she makes a good story line AND were we sad to see the kid get shot to pieces 2 episodes ago? 'Does my momma have big breastes?' Nuf said. Love this show.

Then we move on to NBC's Heros. Such a freaking good show. I'm a comic-book dork wanna be. I love all the comic books come mega movies but I've never read one. No, not one. BUT my Grandmother sold all of my dear dad's beloved (and extremely valuable) comics about 100 years and I think he's just now coming around to forgiving her so I have to believe that the love of comic books & their heros might just run in the blood. And I married a comic book loving man! Anyway, if you haven't; you must. It's so good. It is suspenseful, confusing, funny, intriuging, confusing...all the things you want from the small screen. I'm hooked. [Dad - are you watching this show? If not, rearrange your life around it. You'll thank me.]

Finally, there's Studio 60 also on NBC. It's just great. Just great. The writers outdo themselves every week. The actors are brilliant (especially Amanda Peet who plays Jordon McDeere, the lovably goofy but genius network president). And the story lines are interesting and powerful - much like it's grandfather West Wing - but so funny and charming. It's really sort of disarming. I'd for sure date Studio 60 were it a living, breathing man.

My sweetie and I can sit next to each other and communicate only on occasion and usually only with grunts and facial expressions that say "oh...my....gosh" or "uh-huh, that was funny" and be perfectly content with life. We can always talk at 11pm when we're climbing into bed exhausted and stuffed full of good TV. ;)

Oh Great Pumpkin!

Brody and Miss Maddie Wold (Sturm). She is 8 months and an absolute doll. Brody, at 18 months, is either totally loving and smothering her with himself or irritated about the intrusion of another and trying to pinch, push, or throw things at her. I think he's flirting but it's totally inappropo. We're working on it.

My First Digital Scrabpook Layout!

There was a time...

...not so long ago (even tho it was) I was a half-way decent cheerleader. I don't want to get into the 'atheletic sport' debate (it is, by the way) but I think we can all agree that there is a certain amount of coordination involved with being a half-way decent cheerlearder. That said, I think I've lost all capacity to even pretend that I am or ever was a half-way decent cheerleader. Today, while visiting with my Freshman cheerleader neighbor, I was so bold as to imitate a motion. Do you know what she said to me? "Stop! You look just like my parents." Pause. I was horrified. I absolutely remember telling my mom (the captain of her HS drill team squad, mind you) to 'STOP! YOU LOOK REDICULOUS!' Oh...my....gosh. I'm an uncoordinated, uncool, uncheerleader mom-type now. How the hell did that happen? And how do I make it stop!??!