Date Night

Craig and I had a long overdue date night last night. (I think this was our third one this year. Sad, I know.) It was so great.

We ate here: (Mi Cocina)

I had brisket tacos. Uh ya - that's right. Yummo!

Saw this movie:

LOVE IT!!!!! Can't put enough exclamation points for this. It was so great. I laughed till it hurt, it made me cry, there was nothing shady and I still felt great when we walked out. Best movie I've seen in a long time.

Went here for dessert:

Can you say White Chocolate Peppermint Steamer and Cinnamon Chocolate Cake?! AHHHHH....(Not ahh like a sigh, ahh like an opera singer) AHHHHH!


And did a little Christmas shopping for AJ:


This thing kinda freaks me out - it's a little too realistic, but it's better than getting a real cat anyday!

To my hubby - thanks for a great night out. Let's not wait another four months to do it again! I kinda like ya. ;)

Hope you all had a great weekend too!

Like A Kid In A Candy Store

As promised, here are my finds from Canton. Nothing too exceptional, but I was a little short on time (and funds) so overall, I think it went pretty good. Craig came with me and was a total good sport the whole time, pulling around my wagon of loot. What a trooper! Thanks honey! So back to the goods. I got:

This cool picture frame for the bedroom. It's going to look fabulous when I'm done with it and it matches my furniture perfectly.


This bedside lamp was too perfect a match with my bedspread to pass it up, so I bought a pair.


I am going to have to paint them silver, but that's on the bottom of the project list right now.


This cute, funky jacket. It's so Romeo and Juliet (Claire and Leo version)

It makes me look hot, even at 2:00 in the morning, see? Talk about all dressed up and nowhere to go...



And check out the back! Love this - Can't wait to wear it out.



I took a tip from my friend Rochelle and got this cross to help organize my necklaces (which brings me to my next great find...)


This Fleur de Lis necklace (or as Craig calls it my "New Orleans Saints necklace") could be my new favorite piece of jewlery. I want to marry it!


And what would a trip to Canton be without a new little hairbow for AJ. Now everyday is "I wanna wear the bow with my name on it!" day.


I also found some other great finds for Christmas gifts, but posting them would spoil the surprise.

And I figured since I wasn't a blogger the last time I went to Canton, here are some of my favs from the last trip.

Who says you can't buy happiness! All this stuff looks like a whole lotta' happiness to me. :)

I'm Baaaaaack...

Bet you all thought I died of a heart attack from eating all the fair food. Close, but no cigar. It just made my butt grow so big I couldn't fit in my computer chair and blog. Much to your relief, I am back to normal and ready to go. I tracked back through some blogs today, and realized how much I love it. I've missed you, invisible friends! So here's a quick recap of what I've been up to since the last post:

I painted AJ's wall mural (what a chore!) and now it should only be another 2 years before I finish the rest of her room.


Craig's brother and sister and her husband came in from Utah to visit. We went to:

The Water Gardens,




Medieval Times,



(Which AJ LOVED! This was her pretty much the whole time),




And Six Flags, just to name a few.



Since my last post, we went to a kick-butt Halloween party as the American Idol Judges.


We also celebrated Halloween with AJ. This was her first year of really getting excited. So fun!

Her Costume:



Her Pumpkin:



Her Trick-or-Treating Grounds:



Her Haul (AKA mom's new scrapbooking junk food stash):


OK - Lame boring post, but at least I'm semi-caught-up and can hop back on the blogging bandwagon. Coming soon, my Canton finds...

A Fair is a Veritable Smorgasbord, Orgasbord, Orgasbord

Ahh, the State Fair. The one a day a year I can consume enough calories to feed a small country and NOT feel guilty about it. (The other several days of the year when I eat that much, I feel the pangs.) But not at the fair. This year, it was all business. I got online ahead of time, looked up what ridiculously fattening foods would be available, wrote down a list and took it with me. I'm please to announce that I ate all but one and I've never felt more pleased with myself. I guess my high school guidance counselor was right - goals ARE important!

Here's my delicious list:

Corn Dog - right out of the gate...


Cheese curds - honestly, I REALLY wish I was munching on some of these right now...


Fried Guacamole - these would make a great party treat (at a Get Fat Now party)...


Fried Cookie Dough - this was Craig's favorite, and rightfully so. Friggin' good...


Roasted Corn - A vegetable; yeah healthy me... (ahem, please disregard the butter soaked paper towel)


Fried Banana Pudding - a little slice of heaven...

And why not wash it down with a big 'ole glass of fresh homemade lemonade...


And some cotton candy...


And popcorn.

That right folks - no guilt. It only comes once a year and I love it! The only depression I'm feeling is from the one thing I didn't get around to. Even in my glutinous behavior, I was too full (sick) to stomach the Fried Frito Burrito. Oh you heard me right - FRIED FRITO BURRITO! (I'm such a pansy!) I'm totally regretting it now. I should have just taken my chances. Well, there's always next year. 364 days and counting.

I may be biased...

But think my child may be a genius. Sure, she may say funny things that make me laugh. Like:

We had a bowl of mangos on the table. She brought one to me and said "Mom, can I eat this flamango?

All of a sudden she thinks when cats meow, they are saying "Smell" but it sounds more like "smeeeyl". She got a cat costume for Halloween. She walks around practicing "smeeeyl, smeeeyl, smeeeyl."

She can sing every word of "Good Morning Baltimore" from Hairspray. I'm not exagerating - THE WHOLE SONG!

She grabbed my (ahem) love handle and said "What's these?" Since she's (almost) a genius, I corrected her and said "You say "What's this" - after all, she was only squeezing one.

We actually had a successful use of the potty last night (I'm telling you GEN-IUS!) OK, so it's the first success in months, but it was a gifted moment for me.

I hope everyone knows that I'm joking about her Mensa status, but all that aside, she did do something that blew me away last night. I was sketching some stuff for her room and she had some paper and markers and was sitting on the floor beside me. I wasn't paying much attention to what she was doing, but she stood up and handed me a paper and said "Look mom, I made a kitty." This is it.

My two year old! Drew this! All by herself! I'm sure nobody thinks it's as amazing as I do, but I was flabergasted that my child, who up until this point has only scribbled circles, actually drew a legible cat. For a few moments, I was the proud momma of a child "genius". Then she moved the paper in front of my face and said "smeeeyl."

Rainbow Connection

There was a beautiful rainbow out tonight after the storm and AJ spotted it. I was so excited, not just because she could actually see and recognize it, but because she was SOOO excited about it. She was naming off all the colors and had this look on her face for 10 minutes.

It was so cute!

BYU - Not As Good as They Once Was

So much for having time for my multiple new posts - AJ's sick now. So here's another quickie.

Craig's brother Paul flew in a couple weeks ago and he and Craig went to the BYU game in Oklahoma. The went up early and did the whole tailgating thing and spent the night after the game. Unfortunately they lost, but Craig said they still had a good time. They had front row seats and Craig even stopped to take pictures for my blog, and I wasn't even there to pressure him into it. And to think, it only took 8 years to train him...



He may make fun of me and my girlfriends and our crazy nights out, but we are never seen in public wearing matching T-shirts. Seriously!


And speaking of seriously, I loved the Grey's Anatomy season premier. The teaser previews had me freaking out thinking Derick was going to end up with Meredith's sister. That show would have been so over (at least for me.) But alas, they heeded my telepathic warnings. Ahh... so glad it's fall again.