Table Topics

Recently, I was at Z Gallerie looking for stuff for our house and saw this little game that I thought looked fun. It's pretty basic, there's a deck of cards with questions to ask and answer. This one was food and wine edition, so it was all questions about dining, eating, cooking, etc.

We have had so much fun playing it with friends or even when it's just the two of us. We went through the food and wine edition so fast that I went back to Z Gallerie and bought the original edition. Just a fun mindless game that starts conversation. I think everyone should have it for when they have a get together!

Sylvie and Cal are going to be big sister and brother to a.....

Baby GIRL!!!!!!! Yay! I know if we heard it was a boy I would be excited too, but for some reason I'm SOOOOO happy she's having a girl. I guess so Sylvie has a sister she can be close to! I know Kristie was having more trouble coming up with boy names rather than girl names too!

Congrats Boekers :) I'm sure baby girl Boeker will be as cute as the other two!

A sad goodbye :(

I've lost a very important part of the last 12+ years of my life...the GREATEST brush that I have or ever will know.

I don't know exactly how long I had it, but I do know that I had it when Kristie butchered my hair in 8th grade (that brings back fond memories of the "bob" that turned mushroom cut because I trusted my sister with cutting my hair), which means it has been a part of my life since before I was 13.

Every time I see my sisters and certain friends they can't believe I still have it. It has held up like a champ. It helped brush my hair nicely for various school pictures, high school dances, "going out" in college, graduations, dates, and my wedding. It has traveled everywhere worth noting that I have traveled and lived with me in at least 4 houses in Morton, a dorm/sorority /apartment/house in college, a house in San Diego, and now our first home we own. It even inspired my niece Lexie to search for one for her bday last year but she had to settle for a smaller rounded version (that isn't the same).

One feature that my brush could not help my hair with, however, is shedding. I have to clean our my brushes so much and I swear I could supply about 100 barbie heads hair each month just from cleaning out my brushes. On this very sad day, I went to clean out my favorite brush, pulled a little too hard, and this happened:

The top part had been loose for some time and I have managed to wedge it back in and make it useable. I tried and tried to get it so that it would stay down without ripping my hair out, but finally realized it was time to say goodbye.

If I knew the brand, I would advertise for them because it's not very often a brush lasts longer than most pets, but until then, I will be on the lookout for a new brush that is as great as THE greatest brush in the world.

Mommy Poo Parker

Well, I guess I can announce the news without getting in trouble since people have been telling me "they heard" that my BFF Kristen is PREGGO! Oh my gosh, I know people my age that have kids, but the fact that it's Krishy makes me feel officially like an adult (you would think getting married, a job, etc. would have, haha). Anyhow, I'm super excited for her and Kirk and know they will be great parents.

I have a zillion memories from when I was little with Kristen, we were some STRANGE kids but always had tons of fun and were with eachother and our families all the time. Naturally some nicknames started flying around. Her mom Sherri we call Sherrs. Sherri calls me "Molly B". My family calls Kristen "Krishy P". Kristen calls my mom "Lynnie". We call eachother Arnie, Gilbert, Gibler and Tannerino sometimes (like I said, STRANGE). The best nickname of all, however, is "Sissy Poo Parker", which her brothers used when they were little and Sherri carried into adulthood. Now, however, "Sissy" is going to be a mommy, which makes her "Mommy Poo Parker" :)

To keep the tradition going, if she has a girl I'm going to call her Sissy Sue Shick. If it's a boy...well, I'll think of something!

Fresh Clams!

While we were at the beach this past weekend, Lexie and her friend Shelby decided to look for shells and noticed one of the big ones they had found started moving and a little flesh kept poking out. Turns out they had found a little area of the beach that was loaded with clams. The minute Adam heard about this, he was right out with them digging in the water for some fresh seafood. We took them home and Adam looked up a recipe for how to get the sand out of the clams and how to prepare them. I have to say, I was a little skeptical about how they would turn out and if I would even be able to try one, but Adam grilled them, made a sauce, and served a great appetizer! See the pictures below. I think Adam's clams were better than any type I've had from a restaurant.

Roley's Beach Weekend

Katie brought her family here this past weekend to go to the beach all day Saturday. It's so hot in AZ that she wanted to bring them here to escape. It was great having them here. I gave Ellie her bday gift since I missed her real party-a pair of Heely's. She was good on them and looked so cute! I didn't get any pictures of the beach (Katie took care of that :) but here are some picts of the kids playing around our new home. Lexie also brought her friend Shelby, so they babysat Saturday night so we could go out to dinner.

Link to Katie's blog: http://theroleyfamily.blogspot.com/2009/08/trip-to-beachso-fun.html

Creme Brulee

My boss had a little dinner party last night and we've all heard about his "famous" creme brulee. Well he made it for us last night (he pulls out this huge construction looking blow torch and lit those things up). See below.

I think it tasted even better than it looked! We were excited to try his dessert, but I think Adam was even more excited when we arrived and Dr. T was mixing a huge pitcher of gin and tonics :)

Glad I have a fun boss!

Visitor Map

I think it's interesting to look at my visitors map on my blog. For the most part, I know who reads it regularly and most days the cities that have viewed it are places where I know people. After all, that's pretty much why I started it, living this far away from "home" makes it super hard to update everyone with everything going on on a regular basis. I honestly wish everyone I knew had a blog so I could keep better in touch with what's going on in people's lives!

Sometimes when I look at my visitors map, there are visitors where I don't think I know anyone. I think people go to this website by accident at times and I know that because there has been VERY random places that pop up once, like Peru. I've googled stuff before and ended up at a blog, so I know it can happen.

Surprisingly though, there are about 5 locations that pop up on a regular basis where I don't think I know anyone. Maybe I'm wrong and I do know people in these places (perhaps someone who moved and I don't know about it, someone from college, etc.), but regardless, I'm curious who it is. If any of you mystery blog readers want to identify yourself, I'd be interested, haha. Just makes me curious!

Update

I haven't written anything lately because we haven't really done anything that great. The last two weekends revolved around our new home. Last weekend we organized and got new furniture (all is in except we're waiting for a chair for the living room). We did make some time to people watch at Comic-Con, which was hilarious. All week Adam built shelves and made more storage while I found places for all of our unpacked stuff to go. By this weekend, everything had a spot and it looks much better!

Our problem was that Adam's truck was FULL of stuff from our old house that we aren't using, so Saturday we went to Crown Point to Joe and Leigh's house and had a little yard sale there. It ended up being pretty fun. We set stuff up, sold a good amount of our things, Joe grilled some lunch, and Adam made a sign on an old surfboard that said "Yard Sale" and seriously jumped and danced around trying to do tricks all day trying to direct people to come (yes, he had had a few drinks). Sunday we went up the coast to the Cedros Design District to look for decorative items. Cedros is a street with a bunch of home decor, furniture, and antique shops. We didn't find as much as I hoped (I got a few little things), but it was fun to look around and we ate lunch at a cute little street cafe.

Slowly but surely we're getting more and more settled and making our place look more and more like a home! It's not completely ready, but we have our first set of visitors this weekend. The Roleys are coming from Tucson (Lex is even bringing a friend) so it'll be one big slumber party! Can't wait!