Triple "P"

Last Friday night I hosted a ladies night at my place, and the theme was "Triple 'P'"


The first stands for Pink:

Everyone had to wear pink in honor of national breast cancer awareness month. Then I made every talk about self checks and visiting the doctor and all that jazz. And just in case someone wasn't wearing pink, I have Breast Cancer bandaides that I handed out when everyone arrived, so they had a pink ribbon on whether they liked it or not! Other than just wearing pink, I also made adult flavored pink ice pops! They were very good, and they hold well as long as you don't use too much alcohol... luckily for me, mine have fill lines on them!


The Second stands for Pizza:

We made our very own pizzas! I like to say that it was from scratch, but really I just purchased pre-made dough from Trader Joes, along with the sauce, and cheese. I didn't get any toppings just because I didn't want things to get too complex, so I let everyone know in advance it was cheese pizza unless they wanted to bring something to add to it for themselves... nobody brought any additional toppings. I realized after we were ready to start making them that I didn't have a rolling pin, so we used an empty wine bottle! It actually worked very well, not to mention it was pretty hysterical, to use a floured up wine bottle to roll out our dough. Surprisingly enough we didn't do half bad! and it tasted like real pizza!


The Third was for Play:
I wanted to have a ladies game night for a while, and because of Chan's contest, I had an excuse to not only have my ladies game night, but to incorporate her themes of pizza and pink for breast cancer awareness. Then I figured that sense every thing else started with P I would make it Play instead of Game. So we played a few games and had our pizza and ice pops, and it was a very fun night!

Tiny Apartment Warming

That's what the invitations stated... as my apartment is tiny and cute :)

I invited a few friends over so that they could see my place, and I could have a reason to entertain :) I made enough food for everyone, and I found wonderful serving dishes at Home Goods to display the goodies on. My favorite was this poppy plate... the color is so perfect and it was hand painted.. I love all the little details, and especially that it has the little dip spot in the middle!

I made a veggie plate with broccoli, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, cucumber spears, radishes, and sugar snap peas, with a dish of herb and ranch dip in the center.


I also prepared a plate filled with vegetable pot stickers, spinach and feta empenadas, and chicken with roasted pepper sausages.. in the center of this one there was soy sauce for dipping the pot stickers, which one of my friends was bringing, because of course I didn't realize until the last minute that I didn't have any!


And of course I had chips and dip! These are my favorite tortilla chips, they are sesame blues by Garden of Eaten, they are blue corn tortilla chips cooked with sesame which adds a wonderful flavor and textural element. I served them with guacamole, and salsa.


Then we hung out for a while while everyone showed up, I made margaritas and rum punch, then decided to play catch phrase. The food and drinks were a hit, and everyone mingled well with each other which is always good... especially in a tiny apartment!
Amongst us girls (because although I did invite some guy friends none of them could make it), we decided to have rotating game nights and girls nights at each others places.


The party was a success! And now my apartment is all warmed up for winter.. hopefully I conserve some of the warmth and use less heat! (wishful thinking, I know!)

Family Vacation In Las Vegas

My dad, Sister, and I planned a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate my Grandma's 75th Birthday, from the 16th through the 23rd of August. The three of them arrived in Vegas on the 16th and I joined them later on Tuesday the 18th.


On Wednesday, we went for a day trip to see the Grand Canyon! And along the way we crossed the Hoover Dam... I had never seen either one before in person, and both were great! The Hoover Dam is such a wonderful asset, not to mention it is just a beautiful thing! It is so wonderful how we are able to harvest all of that energy through it.
Then the Grand Canyon is just that.. Grand! I was so amazed by how big it is, even though I have seen pictures and videos of it, it is a whole other story to see it for yourself! All of the colors and the way it is shaped, it is just unbelievable. What a wonderful day.



Thursday, Jess and I went to Circus Circus to do all the rides in the Adventure-dome, and it was fun! Then, as our hotel was on the opposite side of the strip, we decided to walk the strip. Of course being in Las Vegas in August meant that it was a lovely 108 degrees... yikes! Good thing you can have any beverage you want on the strip... so my fabulous sister and I walked and drank our way down the strip--to stay cool of course!

When we got back home, it was my turn to make dinner, I made chicken carbonara. Then after dinner we went to Harrah's to see their "Show in the Sky" where they have floats attached to this track on the ceiling, it was very cool.

Friday was our free day... not free as in we had no plans, but free as in Vegas has a handful of really fun activities free of charge, so we filled the day with a few of them. We started out by viewing the models of the new hotels and condo's they are building. The Bellagio has a studio with models of the finished product, architecture is something that I have always been intrigued by, and I drug the rest of the group along to see it. Then while we were at the Bellagio, we went to see their botanical gardens. They were very cool, they did not cover a huge area, but they were by far huge! They had huge blown glass flowers throughout the garden, as well as big insects made of flowers, and a ferris wheel that had used flowers planted in the seats. It was awesome.
After that we ventured over to Caesar's Palace to see the Live Statues, which was neat, but I imagine that if you were a young child you might be a little frightened. While we were waiting for the show to start we saw a sign offering a free tour of their aquarium systems in the basement so we went on that too. We learned all sorts of things about different fish, felt some things in a touch tank, saw the salt water filtration system, and I even earned a Girl Scout patch (I'm a lifetime member). After that we went back to the hotel and my dad made dinner then dropped Jess and I off to see the Chippendale's show...


Saturday was our free day, as in we didn't plan to do anything during the day so we stayed home and played games and just did family stuff... then in the evening for my grandma's birthday we went to Excalibur to see the Tournament of The Kings. We ate with our hands and "Hazzah"ed as our king jousted and was involved in all of the merriment. it was very fun, and we made our grandma wear festive head ware with Jess and I.


Finally Sunday, Grandma went to the airport to fly back to Montana, while Jessica, Dad and I had the rest of the day still. So we cleaned up the Hotel room, packed up, and went to a brunch buffet, then played some penny slots (I won $85 on a penny slot after borrowing $5 from Jessica.. then I payed her $10 back), after that Jessica and I played Roulet (how do you spell that?) and I won something like $75.. so for all of that gambling I didn't do in Vegas, I took home a pretty penny.


It was a great vacation with the family, I had some good quality time with Jessica, sense I rarely get to have that. My grandma had a happy 75th! And my dad survived to tell about it :) It was so nice to have this fun trip!

Yankees Game!

On The Fourth of July I went to Yankee Stadium with Mr. McGregor, and we watched them play against Toronto... winning in the 12th inning! I was great! We took the train down and back (and I had my knitting with me, to occupy me on the ride), then had a beer at the Hard Rock Yankee Stadium, it's actually in the stadium, so we could get the souvenir pilsner glasses, and then settled in to watch the game...
It was an afternoon game on an absolutely gorgeous day, it was a blast! Our seats were amazing too, three homers were hit to the section directly right of us... like no more than 10 seats away! wow! We will definitely have to do another ballgame this season :)


Then we went to the fireworks display.. I think this is a pretty good picture of us from before the fireworks started after we were back from the game..

Happy Independence Day!

I had a wonderful and action packed weekend, but for now I just want to show you some fireworks. We went to two different displays this year: The first on was the town's display, and the second one was a friend of a friends neighborhood blow up competition.


They were both right by the water, and were great.. the town had a beautiful display that lasted about a half an hour, and then they actually controlled traffic pretty well, so that everyone could get out without much hassle.
The neighborhood display, was also right on the water, and they basically had 5 blocks of beach blocked off, and 3 different blast sites putting on shows from the beach and we were all watching from the street. It was so crazy, it lasted for two and a half hours!! These people must have spend a fortune on fireworks! But it was beautiful, in both instances the fireworks would reflect in the water, and they had such a variety that it was just a great show.
The above pictures are from the town show, and here are some from the neighborhood show..





I did these last ones, one with the flash on, one with it off, so you could see the fireworks, and the people. I'm sure there is some fancy computer techy way to overlay the pictures so that they become one picture of the people with the fireworks, but I'm not tech smart.

Hope you all had a Happy Forth!

Any time here is good time here!

Here being Seattle visiting with my family and a few good friends.

This is the gorgeous sunset in NYC that I drove far enough away from to get a great picture of on my way to the airport.
I arrived Late Wednesday night, got dropped off at my parents house, and saw them when I woke up Thursday morning.
Thursday morning I woke up, went with Mr. Jay to pick up a car for the weekend, to sort of test drive it to see if it could be my new baby... turns out, I don't love it, and unfortunately I look for love in vehicles.
Later I brought my mom lunch at the office and we hung out for a good portion of the afternoon.
Thursday night A group of us went out to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (if you have one in your neck of the woods, you should try it because it is quite delicious).

Friday I woke up, and hung out with my mom until it was time to leave to go buy her a new sewing machine... she was very excited! Then we ran around shopping at the craft store, and buying some new jeans, and making our way to the yarn store.
We sat at the yarn store for quite a while knitting away, and having tea! I had my mom help me pick out the buttons for my cardigan, and buttons for the cardigan that will be made for the sweet baby that I will eventually babysit (not G & S's bundle of joy but another baby to be), and a button for a case that I am making for Krykit (the kindle). That was a blast to hang out and knit with my mama, I love doing fun things like this together with her, and being across the country limits these activities. We have to call each other and pretend :)

Later I went and got pedicures with my two besties, and followed that up with some shopping, dinner, and a drink before I was entirely too exhausted to keep my eyes open and went home. (after all my body is set 3 hours later right now!)

Saturday, I woke up, had coffee with my grandpa, a little tradition of ours, that before I moved was something that followed swinging our golf clubs, but sense I've been gone we just do the coffee when I come home. After that, I was home for a minute, then out again with bora bora. We had lunch, and then continued the previous days shopping.
Later I asked my mom and mr. J if we could hold game night. So we ordered some pizzas, got some snacks, and played games with the same few good friends and family that I came here to see.

Today, I have planned to go out to breakfast with my dad and sister, as well as some good family friends, then to go check out some new glasses with my sister, and later I have a surprise activity planned for mr. J and I.

Sorry this post is soo wordy, I haven't put all of the pictures on my computer yet, but will soon, and then you can see.
Hope your enjoying your weekend too!!

Jello is dangerous!

My actual birthday was more of a recovery day, and my Friday night was the celebration! It was quite a lot of fun! And I didn't drink too much..I ate too much Jello!! Jello shots that is...so delicious, but sooo dangerous! Don't worry, I didn't eat all of them!



My friends were so great to all come out and celebrate! We had a delicious dinner at my favorite Mexican Restaurant, and then moved into the bar.. I got to wear the hat 3 times! I'm not exactly sure why they kept singing to me, but it was fun anyway, and everyone was buying my drinks and shots, and my dinner, so I got out without paying a dime! It was fun to go out for the night to celebrate with my friends, we all had a blast, and I really let loose! I never drink in excessive amounts, because I really don't enjoy the aftermath... but for my birthday, it was ok :)



Thank you for all of your birthday wishes! :D

What a ride!

Or 8 different rides! When Laura was here we went to Hershey Park in Pennsylvania for a day after going to DC. It was fun! On our way we stopped at the Ace of Cakes Bakery (which is only open by appointment because they are so popular) and we took some pictures, like geeky touristy girls :)


Then we preceded into PA and the Hershey Chocolate Factory. We went on the chocolate tour, and did you know that Chocolate is actually originally a fruit? Does that mean I can have 5 servings a day and tell everyone that I'm being uber healthy? :)



Anyhow, we then ventured over to Hershey Park, and all of the roller coasters. We were able to ride on 8 of them before the park closed... and they were all insane! Insanely amazing and fun that is!! What a great thing to spend your day doing! Flying round on rollercoasters that make you feel like your going to pee your pants, only to get off and say, "can we go again?!" Needless to say, it was a blast! :D
Here are some pictures:


(I was too cheap to buy the pictures that they sell, so I just snapped a few of the screens that you preview them on....is that even aloud?)

Kelsey Came for a Visit

Kelsey came for a long weekend, 4 days, in the very end of June. We did had the most relaxing weekend ever! We did tons of at home facials and rented all kinds of movies, and spent every morning at the beach... in an effort to save some moola we only went out a few times, and it was a lot of fun!

So...Florida was pretty much amazing!

We arrived On Wednesday at 11-ish (pm). Laura came in from Seattle to meet me for my birthday! What a great gal!!! :) Anyhow our flights arrived within 10 minutes of each other, and we rented a car and head off to the hotel--which had a balcony and an amazing inner-coastal view!!. We figured that by the time we got to the hotel, we could quick primp and change out of airplane clothes, and head out for one drink. By the time we would get to the bar it would technically be my birthday so it would be a birthday drink and hang out a little, then off to bed. Well when we got to the bar, we discovered that they were open until 5 am! How frickin ridiculous is that!?!?! Who stays out drinking until 5 am? Not us don't worry... we left at 3:30 :)

Anyhow we were both still set on schedules... Laura's being West Coast time, and mine being to wake up and be to work at 7:30 every morning...So we woke up at 8. 4 hours of sleep...... that equals to cranky ladies!! Watch out..
We got ready to head out and went straight to the beach (after getting our morning coffee of course!). It was wonderful! The weather was in the 80's and the water temp was 70-75 somewhere, not to mention that the sand was the softest sand I have ever felt in my life... it felt like chinchilla fir! It was white and glorious, and the water was that turquoise-y blue.. which I wasn't expecting. But it was beyond gorgeous! So it was quite the relaxing morning... filled with all kinds of birthday love! if you haven't gotten the memo... it was my birthday and I love, love, love my birthday :D
Anyhow after enjoying the rays, we went off for lunch and to get ready to meet my grandpa and uncle for dinner. (oh and these are the dad's side relatives... not the grandpa that I used to go golfing with back home). For dinner we went to this place called the Okeechobe Steak House...... such a fun name to say Oh-key-cho-bee. Anyhow it was excellent food! In fact the food was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip! I had steak and lobster... mmmmm..
After dinner we went into the down-town area of West Palm Beach, where all of the quaint shops and restaurants are. We each had one martini at this place called the Blue martini, before heading home.... back in Boca Raton, we were going to try to find another place to go out to, but decided that after 4 hours of sleep we were both to cranky and tired to deal with it so we went home early (around midnight). Definitely up there on the list of great birthdays.. My golden birthday was pretty sweet too... :)

Friday we slept in so we were all caught up in that department, and we needed to catch up in the becoming tan department! We are soooo white!!! So off to the beach we went again.. and again we only stopped first to get our java! It was a very windy day, but it was perfect because the wind would blow the heat around, and so you felt just right! The water was a little more wild, so we didn't stay in it for long... also we noticed the dangerous aquatic life flag that was flying... later to lear that it was due to Jelly Fish and Man-O-Wars. Other beach-life included, the strangely well-behaved seagulls and the ridiculously orange leather people. Today we left the beach only to get subs and beverages and then to return to camp out some more.
When we actually came in, we decided we needed to find the local shopping.... we love to shop! (its sort of a problem... we've even developed a way to shop together cross country--picture messaging is a wonderful thing!) Surprisingly enough neither of us bought much. I bought some new flip flops b/c mine broke on the walk from the beach, and then we each got some cute clearance sweaters at AE. We had dinner at a place called McCormick & Schmicks..... it was sooo incredibly amazing, Oh yea....
I had the Atlantic Salmon, stuffed with Crab, Shrimp and Brie, and Laur had the swordfish with lumps of dungenous Crab on top. Again just an amazing meal.


Saturday we went out to spend the day with the family again. My uncle builds houses in West Palm. They range in selling price between 4-19 million dollars when they are done! Yowzahs! These were some pretty crazy mansions. This is just the maids suite at one of the houses. We were able to see 3 different houses. They were awesome.... Stuff like this really fascinates me too...I love to see different architecture of houses, ant then all of the details that go into them, and it is just obscene the extremities that these people go to. I'm talking, each bedroom had a full bathroom, a walk in closet, and a balcony! It was nuts! And I loved it! Then we went out to lunch with the relatives, and then back to Boca to get ready for our last night out.
We decided to go to this italian restaurant that night for dinner, and boy am I telling you, we found the most wonderful restaurants to dine at! They were all just scrumptious. And it was a really fun atmosphere, so we decided to go home and change into our night clothes... gotta be dressed up for the last night out, and then we returned to the same restaurant for drinks. It was fun... and within walking distance of our hotel.. even better!

Sunday, we woke up early and ordered room service. Then packed and loaded into the rental.... and of course we used our last hour of time to go to the beach one last time. Do you blame us.. it was such a fun time! And then it was back to real life :(

A great way to start off 2008 and my 22nd year! hooray!