Sunday Topping

Winding down. Yes, swimming is over for my 13 yr. old & tennis is winding down too. We are starting up with other sports too but my daughter has some down time.


She has opened a book called "Seams to Me" By Anna Maria Horner. It is a starter sewing book with so many cute crafts. Her first project is a dog bed for our new puppy. Cross your fingers, it should look good & be extra comfy for Cooper!

I too picked up a recipe book called Fast Fix meals. It is full of easy meals that i know my kids will like. The first meal I want to make is chicken turnovers. I already made the fantastic Rah-rah Buckeye Bars. Oh sooo yummy & almost gone in less than 24 hours.

I am truly ga-ga for these pants & can't wait to order them for the fall. Boden is my favorite line. Boden pants

Busy week coming up! Enjoy yours!

Click

Where is my camera? Why is it so hard to blog without a camera? Well, we are getting a new one. But it is not ready yet. I have 4 shots in my head that I know I want to show ya!

My husband took the memory cards out of my other camera to reconfigure them too. Yikes. I did not understand how much I loved using it now.

My daughter took one photo with her camera phone but does not know how to get it to the computer.

So picture in your mind:

a romping puppy who has recently taken to "killing" his stuffed animals & leaving body parts everywhere.

a HUGE pile of flip flops in my mud room near the door; chaos or organization?

a nipped nose from the puppy that sent me to the hospital & now I look like I have wax on the end of my nose.

a daughter's last tennis game & a son beginning football. Sweaty but happy kids.

Does this all click with you too?

Sunday Toppings

Sunday is not Monday but somehow the time keeps getting away from me.

I "helped" my sister clean out her car yesterday. I bought her a car caddy too. It is cool & has a place for all your stuff even your lap top. You can zip it up & hide the lap top from view too. Why do we have so much stuff in our cars? It is insane the stuff we now need to tote around. Where did I find it? Where else? Target!

I have been looking & looking for a rug for my room. My old dog ruined the other two. I can't find one that fits, looks good and is cheap! What is this world coming to? I am going to the Pottery Barn Outlet next week & hopefully something will be there.

http://www.potterybarn.com/cust/outlets/content.cfm


I also need to cut down on my calories. I had a little too much fun these past weeks. I am getting some help from this web site:

http://www.thedailyplate.com/

Good bye wine & chips. I will see you in a few weeks!

Hope you enjoy the pattern at the top. I wish I could make them work in my blog!

Backyard

I love my backyard. I hate my backyard. I am having a backyard crisis. I feel a backyard makeover coming on but how much & what to do?

Big plan - get rid of the deck & make a great big patio with a built in fire pit

Mid-range plan - add on to the deck & make a patio with a fire pit

Small plan - suck it up & just buy a fire pit, set it out in the yard somewhere anywhere

Must-do plan - say "bye-bye" to the swing set. It is time.

Dream plan - move to Cancun & make the ocean my backyard.

What to do?

Sunday Toppings

Bathing suits are the 1 craziest piece of apparel for women on the planet. I spent the last month trying on & trying to find bathing suits for our trip. All I can say is "Yikes!".

First of all what is the scam about paying for both the bottom & the top separately?

Secondly, they all fit horrendously & are so much money. Thank god for Old Navy & Target.

Never go out intentionally looking for a suit. Let it find you. Casually wander through the racks & pick up 1 or 2 but never let it be known that you are looking for one. The right one will turn up. Once you find one, sneak into the dressing room and try it. Remember behind closed doors to do all of the tricky moves that are done at the beach like bending over, laying on your stomach and applying tanning lotion to your own back. If your suit stays then it is a winner!

Plus bathing suit designers, I am not into big hibiscus flowers on my suit nor 3 different color blue stripes with 1 blaring orange stripe in between them. Gack! Who thought of that?

So what did I find? I found an awesome black bikini top from Old Navy that I mixed and matched with a small black printed two piece from Target. The top of the two piece was a tankini to cover me in case I received some good burns which I did. I also relied on my brown bikini/skort that I bought 5 years ago that still works so well.

It worked out great & 1 day I may have the courage to write about bikini shopping with my daughter which takes hours and many handfuls of cash...but that involves colors, styles, tops that must not match bottoms intentionally, etc., etc., etc.

Enjoy your week in the sun wearing something cool & fun!

Paradise

Sooo it has been awhile since I have been posting but I have been in paradise. We took the kids & went for a luxurious, exciting, peaceful, restful, much-needed vacation in Mexico.

They had beds on the beach! Yes, beds. Beds that allowed you to relax & enjoy this paradise. And I did.

Top 10 things about this vacation

1. beds on the beach
2. everyone in the family happy
3. snorkeling on the river
4. beautiful blue ocean
5. drinks, lots of drinks including a Miami (everyone's favorite)
6. sundresses & flip-flops with bathing suits underneath
7. 89 degree weather that was never felt because of the breeze from the beach
8. new fruit to taste including guavas & prickly pears
9. 2 pools plus the ocean
10. speaking Spanish & being understood!

Ah, dreams do come true!