Getting ready for my Valentine's Day Date!

Hey everybody, I have a date tonight with my Valentine. He is my daddy of course.
He just sent me an email letting me know he will be here in 1 hour. Time to get ready!

I am a natural kind of girl, I just like a little blush. Sometimes I like to lick the brush for good measure.


Oh boy I look pretty!
I always have such a hard time with the blending.

Ta Da! I'm ready. Do you think my daddy will think I look pretty?

I bought him a rose. I think its lovely. Just in case you were wondering, it's not food. I tried it just to be sure.


He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me he loves me not. He loves me he loves me not.

HE LOVES ME!
Does my hair look okay? Okay great. I think I am ready then.

Now off to the kitchen.


I think the table looks perfect.

And the food tastes delicious. This should be a divine Valentines Day! Happy Valentines day everyone!

Getting Ready for V Day

Valentines day is a love/hate kind of holiday. On one hand, it's a pretty lame made up holiday. On the other hand you get jewelry. I bet you can guess which hand wins with me.

This year we are having Lori and Phil over for dinner. Menu still somewhat up in the air, but I have my ideas.

I was out-and-about today getting a few things for the table and I saw men with dazed looks in their eyes all over the malls. They were asking overly made up 18 year old mall employees for advice on which present to buy their sweethearts. The best guy I saw had his 10 year old daughter giving him a tour of the fragrance counter. She must have sprayed 10 different perfumes on the same wrist. Poor sap. I am sure my Adam needed no help because he is just good like that.

I have the table all set. My tip for flowers is Trader Joes. Same price for roses as any other day, and they are fresh. Gotta love that Joe.

I also gotta love my Annie. I walked up the stairs to the playroom and she looked up from her story time and said, MaMa!!! And reached for me. My heart is melted.

Down came the rain and washed the spider out..

...out came the sun and dried up all the rain...and little Annie Heller went out to play again!

I have been so excited for Annie to wear a rain coat and boots. I really have no idea why, but puddle jumping and mud exploring just sounded really appealing to me. Annie seemed to agree. She spent about an hour running around the soggy backyard in Fresno sticking her finger in puddles, trying to figure out how to walk in her boots, and squishing all around.

The break in the rain was just what we needed to get her out of the house!

[UPDATE: Added Video]

Grumps and Grammy

It was our turn to head to Fresno to see Grammy and Grumps so off we went. It was a bit rainy, but more on that to come. We had a wonderful rack of lamb dinner with fingerling potatoes, no pictures of it, but it was a 10. Adam and I also got to go see Avatar. Incredible. We saw it in 3D at the IMAX and it was just amazing. Maybe not the most engaging plot, pretty predictable, but the graphics were breathtaking. Sunday we went to Dim Sum and did a bit of shopping.

Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose

A few of our friends had great things to say about this museum. With Annie walking it was a good time to check it out. I went with Annie today and we had a blast. Annie spent her time:

1. In General Mayhem: Annie has been walking a month now and boy does she like to walk...and walk and walk and walk. She was really hilarious carrying all the toys around. While all the other kids would pick up one toy and play with it, Annie would pick one up and play with it, pick another one up and bang it against the first toy, and pick up another toy and walk around aimlessly as she tried to figure out how to play with three toys at once.

I love the end of this video. You know Annie is cute when you have other toddlers wanting to take her picture.

2. People Watching: I think she won a couple of staring contests today.

3. Exploring the Universe: Or just eating sand and playing with gadgets.

4. Repairing the Mother of All Leaks: Before I get a bunch of hate mail, all of the waterproof aprons were too big for her. Did I have a backup outfit for her? No. However, I stripped her down to her diaper in the car and jacked up the heat. She was comfy, I sweated on the 30 minute ride home.

A simple dinner

Tonight I was tired. So I gave up. No cooking. But I did want to try something new so Adam and I opted to head to Whole Foods and try some new cheeses, fruits, and wines.

We did 3 new ones and one old favorite. The wine we tried was a blend called Ménage à Trois. It was bold, need I say more? ;-) We paired the cheeses with fig spread, cranberry chutney and fresh baked bread, it was simple and delicious. Sometimes easy is sweet.

I love the cheese platters that Rupal bought us for our wedding. The H's on them really make them one of our favorites!

Desert was a bite size piece of mocha cheesecake and fresh fruit. Simple pleasures are what this year is all about.


The clean up was a breeze!

Annie goes rogue

Annie finally has grown tired of being confined behind the baby gates that separate her from the rest of the house. She feels there is much to be explored, banged upon, shaken, bitten, tasted, and slapped. She would be right.

Beyond those gates are stairs, thumb tacks, glass bowls, beer bottles, and left overs from her breakfast that have rolled beneath her seat. In other words, baby heaven. Her newest favorite activity is to stand at the gate and shake it and scream.

Today I let her free a bit and took some snaps of her enjoying the freedom. 10 minutes in she had tumbled off the bottom step and bitten her lip (yes she is fine) but the incident only reinforced why we keep her behind bars. So sorry kiddo.

Hyacinth Heaven

Hyacinth are my favorite flowers. I bet you did not know that. They are not very good for cutting but each spring I look forward to the nurseries being flooded with that sweet fragrant smell of the pastel candy colored flowers. They come in a few colors: pink, white, blue, purple, yellow and I'm sure some I have not seen. My favorite are the blue.

Today while out-and-about I grabbed two for the house. Only getting two showed great restraint on my part. I can remember one early spring when Adam and I first started dating and I think I had one every 4 feet. The smell now brings back fond memories of Adam and I in my little apartment.

I recommend everyone go out and get one now right now!