PRODIGY...

I've been 'burning the midnight oil' at work a lot lately...

I absolutely hate gettin off work late and then having to go home to make dinner.

Don't get me wrong, the boys would make dinner but they need a lot of direction. Chris {18 yr. old brother in law livin with us} has decided that he wants to be a master chef, so he has been insisting on making dinner {which I LOVE!}

He decided that he wanted to make Fettuccini Alfredo, but did not know how.

I found an easy recipe and walked him through it...

Basically, cook your fettuccinin noodles {a whole box for us}

Season chicken with 1/2 italian dressing and garlic salt {3 breasts}

Add 1.5 cups chopped broccoli {fresh or frozen} to the noodles the last 5 minutes

Get a jar of Alfredo sauce {we got Ragu}

Add chicken to the sauce and 1/4 cup Italian seasoning.

Heat in sauce pan, then pour sauce over drained noodles...

 YUMMY!



So proud of my little Betty Crocker!

Day of Birth Celebration

I'm sure that I have mentioned before that my husby does NOT like to celebrate, well, anything really. Holiday's, birthdays, saturdays... nothing.

I cannot just let the day of his birth just slide by unnoticed... even though Im sure he would {I think he doesnt like to be the center of attention}

This year, momma was in town AND it was president's day so I didn't have to work... perfect combination if you ask me!

We were planning on going to the beach that day... and PRAYING that the weather would cooperate with us... and YES IT DID!! So dog beach it was...


Richard didnt go, so Chris was our escort for the day... on doggie duty

It was a tiny bit chilly, but we lived it up and loved it! We even got brave and let Kobe off his leash... that boy was in LOVE!
He pretty much collapsed once we got home, he had SO much fun!

That night we had some BBQ- on our newly redone patio-

I have promised Richard a LCD TV once we get our check in the mail...but new clothes are always fun too!

Of course husbie doesnt take pictures either, but we sure are cute!

 guy is getting up there...HAPPY 27th BIRTHDAY HUBS!

Isn't It Ironic?

Everyone knows that the MAIN reason that people come to San Diego is for the beautiful weather and the beach... Sure enough, my mom left DISGUSTING, DRIZZLY, SLEETING, COLD, YUCKY Washington to come get some Vitamin D...

Of course the Kimmie Curse couldnt take a day off... the DAY AFTER she got here... rain and clouds of death... not only that but flash flood watch... YUCK!

I swear the day before she came was 80 degrees and sunny... remember my beach post just last week?

Heneyway- We decided to pretend like it was sunny and work on making over my stupid patio.

We looked around Ikea and Pier 1 for some ideas... I would LOVE to just spend $500 and get some cool patio furniture from Pier 1 with super cute personal touches... but alas not this year...

I hate this patio because #1 there is no privacy... this ginormous window allows every passerby to see ALL THE WAY into my bedroom... basically every inch of the house in full detail. #2 kids are literally running through my patio at all hours of the day, ryling Kobe up

{he likes to run with the kids from the inside of the window, its so sad to see him sitting there wishing he could be outside}

Our solution- put some plants out there to block their way...

We got these clay pots at the DOLLAR STORE! Hello! $1...

Of course, no craft is complete without some AlliOriginal custom art work... SO CUTE!

Richard's brother gave us this amazing grill... now I am SO excited to grill up some happiness

{AND make the kids run around the patio instead of through it, its super annoying}

Now all we need are a tiny table and some bright chairs and we are ready for summer!

Do Red Head's Have More Fun?

Right before we moved back to San Diego, I decided to go RED... a color that I had never tried or really even considered before.

My mom is a red head and had NO children that carried on the tradition. She was super happy that I decided to try that AND bangs!

The bad thing about dying your hair is the upkeep. And since I havent had any dramatic color that far from my natural {disgusting mousy} brown, I forgot that the roots would be SUPER apparent.

While mom was here we decided to have a movie night {we watched RED, ironically, I didnt like it} and dye our hair.

The "BEFORE" picture

Mine went from faded red to darker redish purple...

Mom's went from strawberry blonde {she already had highlights} to more dark blonde...

LOVE!

I Couldn't Be Happier... unless I won the Lottery...

My mudder is here visiting for an ENTIRE week... and its a little slice of heaven.

I love that there are no big events and really nothing to do... we can just do what we want.

My favorite part is just having her there all to myself to just talk to.

We have been relaxing in the hot tub, window shopping at Ikea, Thrift shopping {yuck, dont thrift shop in the ghetto}
Mom's been teaching Christoph how to play cards

AND... we have been doing some crafties of LOVE!

I just happened to get a $100 gift card in the mail at the exact right time, and while I should have used it for you know bills and food, I decided to use it for purely selfish purposes.

I have been dying to redo my room for a while. It just didn't feel right. I think a bed room should be a retreat, a place you can go to relax and clear your head. My room was too busy and juvenile looking...

Enter Mother to solve the problems at hand... 
AWFUL BEFORE PIC...

First step, AMAZING bed linens.

So we headed to... where else but IKEA!

I got a beautiful duvet cover and pillow cases for $39.99

Sheets and pillow cases for $22.99

Step 2: Cool Rug  for $19.99 and Candles $9.99

Step 3: home make an AWESOME head board

{my mom made a similar one for my sister... check it out here...}

Head board fabric $18

HELLO... what a steal! Thats why I LOVE IKEA!

We still have a couple of key items to purchase, but so far I LOVE it!

AND... Mema is LOVIN her some Kobe time!
He is in heaven and just follows here everywhere... she might just try to take him home with her

One of my favorite things...

We LOVE LOVE the beach

 and an amazing thing is that San Diego has a  DOG BEACH!

 {aka Heaven for Kobe}

One amazingly beautiful day in FEBRUARY in San Diego (it was probably 78 degrees!) we decided to drive down to the beach and check it out

Kobe was a little hesitant about the sand at first... but once he got going... oh love of life!

Kobe is still a puppy {only 8 months} AND he has big man syndrome... he thinks he is a huge dog and is NOT afraid of any other dogs... if we let him off the leash he would take off and jump into the ocean with the other Great Danes and Rotweillers...

 He LOVED the water, he LOVED the other dogs... I'd say it was pretty much his most favorite day of his life... even though I had to save his life a couple of times when he tried to play with the big dogs...

PS, I am never wearing that dress again... I look 50 lbs heavier or pregnant...AND pardon my whiteness...

AND I had to put this picture on here... this is the BEFORE shot when Richard decided it would be fun to jump off some rocks and fracture his foot... but he is the KING OF THE WORLD!

If I Could Turn Back Time

I am actually mad at TLC right now. They have too many dad blasted wedding shows. I'm annoyed that I love these shows and Im also annoyed that they have marathons every weekend.

This weekend I was determined not to be sick and in bed all day, so I opted to DVR the 'Say Yes to the Dress' marathon... ugh... I love that show.

I also love '4 Weddings.' Every time I watch that show I get annoyed at my wedding.

When you're in the moment, planning your wedding, its too stressful. You end you just compromising on too many things, and in my case I was too stressed to enjoy it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure my wedding was fine BUT if I could turn back time, I'd do it all differently. 

I have a different perspective now... all the things I thought were important actually weren't.

#1- I would have spent a lot more time and money on my dress. At the time I just picked something that I didnt really love because its too difficult to find a modest wedding dress.

I would have loved to have something more fun and dramatic... the pictures would have been way better.

This one is my fave!

Watching Say Yes To The Dress makes me wish I could have had a fun dress shopping experience with my mom and sisters... which I didnt... AT ALL!

#2- I wouldn't have had a reception. Really we should have just had a dinner with our family. All the traditional stuff like first dance, throwing the bouquet and all that really isn't necessary. Rent out a room at a nice restaurant, throw some amazing center pieces in there, some fun pics, and you're good to go.

My sister wanted to just go alope to Fiji... which I think would have been an amazing idea... then just have a big celebration party when you get back... then you honestly can just share your wedding day with your spouse and thats the most important thing really.

#3- I loved my cake, but if I could do it over, I would have been a little more creative and have a fun cake

Looks delish!

SO cool!

AMAZING!

What would you do differently at your wedding?

I Just Can't Help It

It's no secret that things have been less than desireable this year, and last year...

We are off to a rocky start to put it mildly... so bad in fact that my family has created

the phrase 'The Kimmie Curse'

anything bad that could happen, will happen to Kimmie

Everyone always says, 'bad things happen for a reason', or 'dont worry, it wont last forever'

Stuff like that ticks me off mostly because, obviously THIS particular trial will soon pass, but that doesnt change the fact that I have to deal with it at that moment... and not only that, but 'THE KIMMIE CURSE' can assure that another trial is not too far behind, or in most cases about to overlap the current crisis...

Sorry, I didn't mean to go off on that tirade my point is... I'm ready for it to end.

Just when I thought 'this is really rock bottom' and I was about to get mad at someone telling me, 'there's no where to go but up,' something happened...

I was sitting at work, staring into the abyss and wallowing in self pity when I decided to check my email.

I almost passed out...

I honestly think that I shrieked a little...

There in my email in-box was, a TRAVEL ITINERARY!

What could this be? I cautiously clicked on the email AND wait for it...

MY MOM IS COMING!!! MY MOM IS COMING!!

I'm tearing up right now just thinking about that sentence...

Not just coming, she will be here NEXT WEEK!!!

For those of you that don't know, my mom and sisters are my VERY BESTEST FRIENDS!

We live in 4 different states and don't get to see each other very often.

Last year I got to see my sisters probably 4 or 5 times.

But my mom... oh my mom... I haven't seen her since LAST APRIL 2010... longest time ever

I'll let you in on a little secret... My mother has MAGICAL POWERS. True that she cannot wave a magic wand and make all the bad things go away. But really just having her around fixes everything. I'm not sure how, but like I said... MAGICAL POWERS.

She is AMAZING!

WE will craft, sew, scrapbook, shop, decorate, eat chocolate, cook, watch some chick flicks, beach it up... all the things that people should have in their lives and I wish I had on a daily basis.

I live with 2 boys, manly men, and I NEED a mommy fix in a BAD WAY.

Truly this is the BIGGEST BLESSING at the PERFECT TIME

Finally I can say... THINGS ARE LOOKING UP!

The Non-Holiday

I'm bit by the holiday bug... 

We don't celebrate Valentines day, but I've been seeing MILLIONS of cute decorating ideas on every blog and I was craving to do SOMETHING...

So I figured a harmless banner could not hurt. I found this cute idea for making valentines snow flakes out of coffee filters... here is how it turned out

I have these awful blinds that cover an entire wall and there is no way to hang curtains... so holiday banners it is!

We still wont celebrate... but at least my craving was satisfied... bring on St. Patricks day!