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Category Archives: Photos

A new way to cook tomatoes.

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We’ve had a lot of tomatoes this season and we just can’t eat them fast enough (the kids don’t like them). I’ve been parboiling them to peel them and then cooking them down. It’s a bit of a pain but I do it. And then a friend posted her tray of UNpeeled tomatoes and onions and it was a lightbulb moment.

I roasted them for a few hours and they. are. amazing. Woohoo!! Now I can’t wait for more tomatoes!!

Double date night!

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Jami and I picked a restaurant at a random restaurant that had good reviews—Roka Akor—and it did NOT disappoint!

Everything on the menu looked divine and I hated to pick one thing, so we all agreed to do the Chefs tasting menu (the decadent version, of course, because it was only like $25 more per person). Holy cow, what a dinner: 6 courses and (I think) 12 or 13 plates. Maybe 14. We took pics of everything, of course, but at the end realized we missed some! We had a few types of sashimi, beef carpaccio, scallops, crab, lobster tempura, mushroom risotto with truffles, and my first ever wagyu beef (two ways, including with bone marrow). We pretty much ate divine food non-stop for two hours.

Overall it was excellent food, excellent company, and an excellent birthday celebration!

Date night face!

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We were going out to a nice dinner with friends in another city so I decided to do a full face! This is how many pics I took trying to get some good new ones. Of course they aren’t all winners…but I did get some great shots.

I spent a lot of years hating how I looked and having to take 50 pics in the hopes of getting a single decent one. So it still blows my mind when I take pics and can’t pick a best one…because there are SO many good ones. Of course it helps that I have awesome anti-aging skincare and makeup products to compete the look!! 💄

I don’t often get this dressed up–and I use fake lashes even less–but it’s fun to do now and again. I considered this a dry run for formal night on our upcoming cruise… 🚢

I couldn’t decide on the best pic from the night, so here’s 16 because why not. 😍

And then to these. 🙂

Of course I had some photobombers.

But that was okay because I needed Owen to take our picture. 🙂

And the impressive before and after…showing that even plain janes can look gorgeous with a little bit of work!

Free wood cost us damn $75!

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Someone on NextDoor was giving away free wood—plus they actually delivered it—so we were excited because we can always use firewood. However, the pieces were soooo big that there was no way Tom could chop them with his axe (he tried, and after 30 minutes he just had a few shards off one piece). So we had to rent a log splitter. Four hours and $75 later we have a huge pile of wood! 🙂

Owen helped but he wasn’t thrilled about it.

Be careful what you wish for…

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Every year for school pictures I want the digital download but you have to order it WITH a package. The download was $10, so with the cheapest package, it ended up to be about $25. The bonus being you got just a few hard copy photos and it was perfect for us since we don’t need many pics.

So now this year they offer the digital download standalone…but it’s $25!! So to get any prints I have to order from Costco or Sams (I’ve done it before so not a huge deal) but annoying when I could get what I wanted before (even if I was annoyed at having to buy a package + the download).

The cheapest package NOW (adding on the digital version) is $35. The cheapest package that INCLUDES the digital is $51.

I guess it’s time to stop buying the digital photo. I did it before because it comes with the rights to the photo, and since I used to to lots of photo books, I wanted to have that just in case. I have gotten away from the photo books (just don’t have time) so I guess I don’t need that anymore…

Amazon makes Katie happy!

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Katie has been bugging me for a doll stroller for awhile now. I wasn’t going to get her one because she doesn’t need anything else…but then I remembered she had Christmas money from Grauntie Rose and Gruntie Jim. So she and I looked at them on Amazon and two days later, we had a happy little girl.

She walks it all over. Takes it down to Sofia’s. Takes it down to the park (almost a half mile walk!)…

Cheers to new friends!

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Remember the mom I met at the back-to-school playdate that I totally hit it off with? Well, we’ve been hanging out randomly and they invited us over for dinner tonight!

I know they are my people because when we got there, it looked like their office had exploded–crap all over the floor, spilling out into the hallway. It’s real life, y’all, and it’s how we live and I couldn’t care less. They’re just like us!

We had a blast. The kids all get along. Dinner was delicious. And her hubby likes to bartend so made us yummy drinks all night long!!

After school PTA playdate

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It was a gorgeous day so I took the kids to the PTA after school playdate at Owen’s school playground. It’s always disappointing to see how few people show up for these things—I think there were like 10 kids there when we got there (for a district-wide event that’s nothing). That said, it was terribly mosquito-y so we didn’t stay long, but the kids had fun with a parachute!

Shopping for backgrounds.

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I decided it was time to get some material to hang in the bathroom as a backdrop for when I do my live Facebook demos… So Heidi and I went shopping. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted—something natural like wood or stones—but there was nothing good. Or I thought I liked something but when you held it up behind you it didn’t work (the pattern was too small).

Here were the contenders. I imagine you can tell the one I decided on?

The bonus was that it was on clearance…and then when they rang it up it was half off again! So I paid $17 for four yards of fabric! And the type of fabric it is won’t show wrinkles—woohoo!!

PSL

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Are you a PSL fan? I didn’t even know what that abbreviation stood for until this past weekend! 😂 Needless to say I am not a Pumpkin Spice Latte fan—and if I was, it would be a dessert and NOT a coffee…and even then I wouldn’t be thrilled with it. But a PSL lip? BRING IT ON!!