40 days of birthday ideas, day 4

i never do my own nails because my cuticles are OOC and they just respond so much better and look so moisturized and healthy after they have been maimed and butchered by a cute little asian lady who spent a half hour talking ess-ech-eye-tee about me in her native language and laughing....but i wish i did. i really want to have a little basket of fun, happy shades under my bathroom sink along with cotton balls, polish remover, base coat, top coat and cuticle conditioning oil instead of 17 bottles of yellowed beige circa 2002 that have all seperated and/or have their tops stuck on so tight it would take a jackhammer to open them.

this seems like a lovely color to start off my collection, dontcha think so??

essie: clambake

40 days of birthday ideas, day 3

i really, really, REALLY am sort of obsessed with this cutiepie clutch wallet combo thing that one of my favorite bloggy girls PinkLouLou was raving about over at her blog confessions of s 20something . it's the Lauren from HOBO and it comes in a bevy of delicious colors and it just looks like the most efficient little thing! one of my best girlies, Michele got a HOBO about a million years ago and i must have remembered her raving about it because when i read about this on  LouLou's blog, it sounded so familiar that i texted Mich right away to ask of she already owned it....the thing is, i feel like kind of a poser-stalker-loser when it comes to Michele and all of her good stuff. she has THE best fashion sense of any of my friends, she always looks polished and put together, her style is impeccable, not to mention she is gorgeous and in fantastic shape. if i didn't love her so much, i would hate her with the fire of a thousand suns, BUT i do love her, with the whole of my heart.

see what i mean? (oh hi Mich! i stole this from your FB! today is their 5 year anniversary...happy anniversary you guys! i love you both!!))

this is her wedding, obviously, and have you ever seen a more beautiful bride? please.

oh hey! where did that come from?? (payback for having all the cool stuff i want and being tiny and adorable so none of it fits me. thanks a lot.)

anyway, i covet the entirety of her closet, not to mention all the furnishings in her house, the car she drives and her summers-off teaching job. so basically, i am always finding myself calling her up and going "omg wait till you see this totally bitchin' thing i just got!!!" and then i bring it over and show her and she's all "loser, i already have that." and then she shows me hers, which always looks sparkly and fabulous next to mine no matter what the item in question. *sigh* and then i feel like she must think i am hiding in her plants outside her window after she comes home from the mall, watching her unload her bags while furiously taking notes on her purchases and setting off on a wild goose chase to bloomie's to buy everything she has. i'm not, i swear. i guess we have the same taste, but the difference is that she is cool and hip ("hip"? really?) and...well....just COOL and she can wear the stuff and pull it off and look like a page out of lucky mag and me? i just look like a poser, pinning amazing outfits she probably already owns to my pinterest , collecting cool things i can't afford and stuffing them in the closet cuz i know i'm not fabulous like she is.

ANYWAY, enough of this...as this is the 3rd post in my "40 days of birthday ideas" series, i bring you this beauty....

i need it. on a scale of 1-10, 10 being somethng i want super, super bad and 1 being something i just saw that was cute, this probably gets an 11. i just can't figure out if i wannt (need) it in the celeste blue color

or in the infinitely more practical but somewhat less exciting shade called stone:

HOBO lauren that's the link for it on zappos where they have it in the blue, but over at endless, they are having a promo where you can get $25 off... they only have it in the stone color at endless though, but that really is more sensible, right? well, i won't be mad at ya, whichever color you choose...38 more days folks! ya better git to gettin'!

40 days of birthday ideas, day 2

i have had a major obsession with these earings for months. i want them super bad. are they not to die for gorgeous or what??

drops of jupiter earrings

ben's first road trip

last weekend was absolutely glorious, but way, way too short! we packed up the little boy and the little car (how everything fit in there i will never understand...) late on thursday night and headed upstate to spend some time with a few of the best people we know (who requested to remain anonymous on the internets here so...much as it pains me cuz i took over 400 pictures, i am only allowed to share a small sampling of the goods *le sigh*).

we arrived thursday at almost 1am...or possibly right after 1am....it was painful, but the sleep that followed was without question the best sleep i have had since december 27th...(thanks ben.) it is just so quiet and serene and peaceful up there and the house is so comfortable (and so unbelievably gorgeous!) and spacious...ahhhhhhhhhh free space! i had forgotten how amazing it feels to spin around in open space with my arms stretched out and not crash into a diaper genie or trip on the pack n' play....i basically never wanted to leave.

(while we're at it, i am entering this picture in the Show {off} Your Shot photo challenge because i just think it turned out really cool and because it was my first time crawling around on my belly on rocks in an effort to capture the feeling i was after. i dig it :)

friday, ben got to go out on the lake for his first boat ride and he LOVED it! the kids water skied and he watched the whole thing, transfixed. we had doritos and sunchips and cheese doodles and beer for lunch, laid around in the sun and then went out for an awesome dinner...

just maxin' & chillaxin'...hey mom, can you grab me a beer? i mean a bottle...duh...of course i mean a bottle.

there is this ice cream shop up there attached to a mini golf course...omg you guys...i have no words. first of all, you can get like 7 scoops for about $3 which is insane, and they have a million flavors and the ice cream is like fall-on-the-floor-slap-yo-mama delicious! i got panda paws, which has these chocolate covered paw shapes filled with peanut butter and....i could just probably cry thinking about it....and look who had his very first taste of ice cream!!!

apparently, what followed was some wild partying around the fire but *somebody* fell asleep trying to get ben to go to sleep and missed the whole thing....i'm quite a party animal, the rumors are true. i blame the panda paws. or possibly all the beer......

saturday was more of the same, with a trip to the outlets thrown in....more sunning and snacking and drinking and some tubing for the kiddies....i know they asked that i keep them off FB and the blog, but you can't really see them can you? and look at how much FUN they are having?? i seriously must have taken 300 pictures of them tubing....something about seeing kids just being kids and making memories like that just fills your heart with a major load of warm fuzzies!

much to my dismay, we headed home late saturday night in an effort to keep ben on his schedule and give us a little free time to float and do laundry (drudge) on sunday (as you can see, benny was wiped)....i was really fighting it at the time, but once i was out on the floaty in our pool, i guess i have to admit leaving saturday night was a good idea.....what a wonderful weekend!!

40 days of birthday ideas, day 1

so, i'm starting a little series here on my blog that i am calling "40 days of birthday ideas". in an effort to lessen the gloom that befalls me every year around this time...IBD...impending birthday doom. i coined that phrase, if you suffer from this affliction as well, feel free to take that and use it as your own. i hate that i feel this way...i hate that any of us do! a birthday is supposed to be a celebration of your LIFE! but IBD is more common than you think. i've found, when you start bitching about your upcoming birthday, you'll be suprised how many folks chime right in with tales of woe about how they are dissapointed every year, how the day they build up in their head never lives up to their expectations, how all their boyfriend got them was a swiffer wet jet and so on...

i find that most cases of birthday doom are caused by having such high hopes...and why shouldn't you?? it's your BIRTHDAY! the one day of the year where you should be treated like a pink, sparkly, candy coated princess for crying out loud, right? i tend to make things up in my head and expect the people who love me to read my mind because naturally, if they LOVE me, they should know me well enough to know how to make my day everything i could hope to want and more without me ever uttering so much as a cryptic hint, right?

yeah. needless to say, it never quite works out that way.

i usually spend roughly the better part of july and then 3 weeks in august moping around, already being pissed off that nobody is going to treat me special enough or buy me fabulous things that they should have just telepathically KNOWN i wanted... wow. with that attitude, no wonder! i'm a whiny pain in the ass.....but i made an amazon wishlist...i mean, i'm making it easy! ;) and the truth is, really, if at the very least, i get to float in my pool and have some fudgie the whale cake, i am mostly content....but if you really want to WOW me....i present to you...

40 days of birthday ideas!!!

starting today, there are 40 shopping days left, folks, and i have rounded up some glorious little picks that would delight me to no end, but also might be great ideas for the whiny pain in the ass in your own life who is suffering from a bad case of IBD. IBD hurts, peeps....prezzies can help!!

gift idea numero uno is something i have been dying for for quite some time....

Adobe PSE 9

i'd love to start doing some editing to my pictures, using actions etc. and frankly, all that fancy stuff just isn't compatible with MS paint (lame).

so there it is....the first installment...go forth and shop....

xoxo

shells with chicken, veggies & basil cream sauce

i made up something totally delicious last night for dinner. seriously. i am really impressed with myself again. the thing is, i am super hit or miss when it comes to dishes i create on the fly, and then, when i happen to homer, i never write down what i did and then i can’t ever make it again and it’s lost forever. i am putting a stop to that nonsense today! i really thought last night’s grub was going to be a total bust. i was not feelin’ it, not in the mood to cook, was working mainly with my leftover chicken from friday’s dinner as a jumping off point, and spent a good part of the picture perfect afternoon at urgent care getting a tetanus booster after stepping on a rusty nail (classic) while trimming cilantro. ben was fussy and weird all day and to add insult to injury, it was Sunday which meant my glorious 3 day weekend was picking up steam and closer every second to being gone, gone, gone (please sing that to the tune of “gone” by n’sync. if you don’t know “gone” by n’sync, why are we friends?)

 

regardless, i am here today to say i triumphed. i even almost took a picture of it, cuz i think all good recipes should be accompanied by a picture. especially these days. there’s just no excuse not to….except for one: laziness. i was too lazy to style it. lame, i know. but trust me, this is one ridiculously delicious, thrown-together mish-mash of leftover perfection….

 

shells with chicken, veggies & basil cream sauce

(really need a better name for this….)

 

• what you need:
• 2 TBS butter
• 2 TBS evoo
• 1 small onion, chopped
• ½ - 1 whole red bell pepper, medium dice
• tomatoes, chopped. i used 4 camparis, but you could use 4 romas or even half a pint of cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 2 cooked chicken breasts, sliced or 1’’ dice
• white wine (maybe ¾ cup?)
• chicken broth (a cup?)
• pinch of crushed red pepper (1/2 a tsp?)
• heavy cream (about ½ cup….i used whipping cream because that’s what i had. dear lord, who do i think i am? paula deen? And i wonder why i am still wearing my maternity pants…next time i will use half & half…cuz that’s dietetic or something)
• a whole lotta fresh basil….like 20 big leaves. or even more….the more, the better)
• Grated parmesan cheese (at least half cup, i probably used closer to ¾ cup)
• medium shells or pasta of your choice. i think this would also be good with rigatoni, penne or cavatappi…not so much with the spaghetti types though)

 

so…you’ll melt the butter and evoo together in a pan over medium heat and then cook the onion till it is almost translucent. throw in the bell pepper, tomatoes and garlic & let that cook for a minute or so to soften it, then throw in the corn and the crushed red pepper and cook that around for a minute or so….season this all with salt and pepper to taste…deglaze the pan with the wine (honestly, i didn’t measure the wine, i poured it in straight from the jug…er…i mean the bottle), let that cook down for a couple of minutes, add the chicken broth, let that cook down for a couple of minutes, throw in the chicken and let it warm through and then add the cream or half & half (make sure the heat is not up higher than the lowish end of medium or it will break and look gross). bring the whole thing to a bare simmer and let it simmer away while you cook the pasta so it thickens. if it gets too thick, add a little more chicken broth, you don’t want it too thick because you’ll be adding cheese. thicker than soup, thinner than alfredo sauce, ok?).

 

cook the pasta in SALTED WATER (for the love, please salt your pasta water. a lot of salt. lots.) for a minute less than the box says for “al dente” and then toss it right into the pan with the veggies and sauce. throw in two giants handfuls of chopped basil and the parmesan cheese and stir it all around. add another handful of basil if you’re feeling frisky….then throw in a little more cheese, season with salt and pepper to taste and fall on the floor in a coma of deliciousness.

 

you’re welcome.

 

i think this is delicious beyond words as it is, i truly do, but i am already thinking about adding more veggies next time and making it sort of a primavera style…lots more corn, lots more tomatoes, maybe some quartered mushrooms and some zucchini or yellow squash, extra chicken….more basil….maybe a chipotle in adobo instead of the crushed red for a little smoky flair? holy yum. for real peeps, i only post the “must-makes” on this blog and this, my friends, is a dish your days will be considerably less delicious without.

 

 

when life is simple

this sweet little boy in the pool yesterday. he just learned how to splash and it's safe to say it is pretty high on his list of favorite things to do in life. if his infectious laughter doesn't bring a smile to your face and warm fuzzies to your soul, then your heart is made of made of stone, for sure....

behold, perfection: