Random Fences.....

Yesterday I took my my little Leopard to the Orange Circle for Treats in the streets. All the shops at the circle give away candy to the kids, and they have a costume parade, and games and other randomness.... I have to say, that my leopard had to be the cutest little cat there.... don't you just want to eat her up?! and I'm not just saying that because she happens to belong to me!

She loves the furry tummy part... and she loves holding the tutu by the edge, tilting her head, and saying "cheese" lol.... Not at all like her Drama Queen Mother... no, not one bit!

So... because I wasn't so smart, and because I wanted one of my neighborhood friends to see my adorable little child (she always says hi to us on our daily walks) I parked near her house, (I also have to remind you that ALL of the city of Orange was at the Circle, so parking was pretty limited) SO we parked near our neighborhood friendly lady, but she didn't come out to see us... SOOOO that was pointless, but still okay, because I wanted Baby Mac to get all of her energy out.... She did great on the way there, she was so excited to have on her costume, and she was excited to see all of the other kids there. We had a blast! We got a WHOPPING 10 pieces of candy! (there were so many people there that we didn't get to many shops....) but she and we didn't need the candy anyway! She kept running out of line and taking off, so I figured she was "over it" and we started to just wander the Circle to see what kinds of things we could see....

I still had to go grocery shopping, and make cupcakes for the work pot luck, so we had to leave, and I have to say I was dreading the walk back to the car! (prob about 1 mile). But I was determined, and had no other choices... oh, did I mention, I didn't bring the stroller... because who needs a stroller with a wild almost 2 year old. who needs a stroller where there are 500+ people, who needs a stroller when you've parked about a mile away... I guess, ME! the brave one! The one who purposely adds in unnecessary drama....

The walk back wasn't so bad. It was fine, I was letting her run ahead of me, but then I had to grab her because there were so many cars, and I didn't want her running into the street. Well she turned to JELLO as soon as I got a hold of her, or as I call it "no bones baby". AND of course she had to do that while there was a family behind us with a baby, who was following McKenzie's example. I had to swoop her up and hold her the rest of the way... All of her 29lbs.... and her 10 pieces of candy, and my purse.... well apparently my blackberry (smart phone... lol) was in my pocket, and decided to take some pictures.... of this random fence.... I have to say though, its quite beautiful, it almost looks like it was taken on purpose. The Shadow looks pretty cool, and its in perfect focus. Its a picture you would see on someones computer wallpaper.... I'm thinking of having it printed, and frame it... just to remember this one moment, the moment where its just Me and My baby, Walking through town, a good day, a day that's so worth remembering. (uh, why are my eyes starting to get misty....lol)

Well, I enjoyed taking a min looking at that picture, then...... I snapped back into reality.... I remembered how I had to make Pumpkin Cupcakes, from scratch, because i love the added drama of it all. I thought they were so cute... so I posted a few pictures of them... and the link to the recipe...

This is where I got the recipe and inspiration for the cakes. Here is the recipe. I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and added 1 teaspoon of Cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon of allspice (in addition to the recipe), and instead of the Dulce de Letche, I used a Carmel Hershey kiss (upside down).

I just used glitter decorating gel to make the webs and spiders.

by the way.... this is what my boss said:

"I just want to say that your pumpkin cupcakes are wonderful……they are so wonderful that I don’t trust myself coming into customer service to tell you personally so I am sending you this email :)"

What a great e-mail!!!! I love it!!!!

No More Wedding Rings..... JOY!

So today I had to take my wedding rings off….. with JOY!!! Let me explain… See I’ve been on this weight loss journey for, well, most my life… but seriously in to it since June 2009. So far I’ve lost 30lbs, and I’m down 2 sizes, and today, I decided my fingers are just TOO THIN to keep my wedding rings on. Yesterday they kept falling off every time I washed my hands, and it worries me too much that I might lose them! Which is a good worry to have these days!!!

Think about it like this… I got engaged Nov 13, 2003, and have been wearing those rings (the same size) since then… and now… almost exactly 7 years later, they are tooooooo big!!! How exciting!!! I was hoping that I could take my rings, and “revamp” them. Make a new design, but I’m still not ready to do that yet…. I need to wait for 30 more lbs!!!

Here is My husband and I in May 2009

and here we are in Oct 2009.... together, 80lbs lighter...

We still have a long way to go... But I'm feeling great! and so Motivated!!!!

The Happenings.....

Well…… I’ve decided it’s time to change the name of my blog…. When I first started, I wanted to mostly blog about my cooking ideas, and my other handy crafty ideas that I do to make life fun around our home. But…. That KINDA fell by the wayside, and now I’ve decided it’s much more interesting to blog about the daily quirks, happenings, findings, and escapades that we incur on a daily basis.
I’ve been thinking of new, fancy, shiny blog names for days now….. Why is it so hard… it’s just a title, I mean… the title that defines your blog… your inner most thoughts that you’re sharing with the whole world… no biggie, right? I wanted something catchy, something Avant-garde, And Something much better than “cookin n craftn” although it’s cute…. It’s just not “ME” anymore, not what I’m “all about” (which is a story for another day!)
So, after much consideration, I’ve decided that the new name of my blog should be…………………….
The Happenings of a Self Proclaimed Drama Queen
I think it’s very fitting, and so do most of my family and friends… Thanks guys!

A day at the pumpkin patch

On Saturday, we spent the day at the Tanaka Farms Pumpkin Patch here in Irvine. We had a blast, here are some of our pics!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

My Grandmother

Here is a picture of my Grandma Ada, I thought it would be nice to share with all 4 of my followers. :) I never met my Grandma, although I would have loved to! She passed away when my dad was very young! This picture was taken in 1947. I don't even know how old she is here. She has 1 sister who is still alive and lives in Arkansas. I've been contemplating writing her a letter, I just don't know where to start. I want to know all about my Grandmother, but I don't want to bring up sad/happy memories for my Great Aunt. The last time I saw my Great Aunt, I was probably 14 or 15 years old (that was 12 years ago!) and she was telling me and my Mom how much I looked like my Grandma Ada, that we have the same eye color, hair color, hair texture, and even the same expressions. She started to get watery eyes, and had to get up and leave because I reminded her so much of her sister. It made me sad too because I thought, there was a person alive, who I looked exactly alike, and I never got to meet her, never got to ask her about the things she liked to do, never got to find out anything about her, never got to find out if I act like her. It seems like no one wants to talk about her, and I don't want to be that pest that won't shut up about her... I guess I'll start with a letter to my Great Aunt Sue. I'll just tell her about all the things that I've been doing, and see where it goes from there. I'm going to work on the letter today. Hopefully she will respond quickly, and I'll share the letter with you all! (all 4 of you!)