Pinterest Dinner

Hi, my name is Aubrey and I am Pinterest-oholic. Catherine introduced me to the website and I have spent countless hours pinning recipes amongst many other ideas to my virtual bulletin boards.

I was in the mood to change up our typical chicken, potatoes, and vegetable dinner. I remembered I had pinned some ideas so I pulled up the website and started searching. I came across a pin of Crash-Hot Potatoes and "the best asparagus" (which I never had, but was willing to try). 45 mins later dinner was ready and it was delicious! I highly recommend Crash-Hot Aussie potatoes and the asparagus was pretty tasty too for a vegetable.

Happy Birthday Paisley!

5 years ago I became an Auntie to an adorable little girl. I loved her when she was in her mommy's tummy and fell madly in love with her the moment I laid eyes on her and couldn't contain my excitement to hold her in my arms.

I was in dental hygiene school and was at a study group when Michelle My Bell called me. I didn't think much of it since I knew Paisley wasn't supposed to arrive for a few more weeks and continued on studying for multiple quizzes and exam that were coming up. When I got home my mom ask if Michelle got a hold of me and I said, "I missed the call and need to call her " My mom spilled the beans and said she had Paisley early. I immediately grabbed my truck keys and drove straight to the hospital.

I was in awe of Paisley. How could I have so much love for her when I just saw her for 1 second?! I mean she is amazing.

I have loved watching her grow up into the little lady she is becoming. One of my favorites is when she calls me and we can have a full conversation on her day, school, outfits, and her "boyfriend". She is wise beyond her years. I can't wait until I can see her again and spoil her rotten like an Auntie can!!

Miss. Paisley, I love you so much and miss you terribly. Hope you had a wonderful birthday party at Monkey Business baby girl!!!

To Do List: Garage Shelving-check

We have lived in our house for 2 years now and have had a list of things we wanted to do. We have accomplished some but not a lot. A couple of weekends ago Josh decided that he wanted to get some shelving at Costco. We went and purchased the shelves and came home to tackle the project. Josh said "don't worry it will only take two hours." SIX hours later we finished the garage.

The project took on a life of its own. We had plans to put it on one side of the garage so we cleared it out and after building the shelves we realized the wall was too short. Then we needed to empty out the other side

The six hours of cleaning, organizing, throwing out, and a donating pile, I am happy to say that the garage is finally organized and clean.

To be a kid again....

There are just times in life that you want to be a kid again. I had the sudden urge the other weekend when Josh an I were doing some shopping at Costco. Josh wanted to buy some shelving units so we could organize the garage. I was excited for the orange flat cart. While we had other shopping to do I decided that I was tired and didn't want to walk anymore. I jumped on the cart and made Josh push me. Needless to say he was embarassed and made me get off after pushing me just one aisle. I had a blast while it lasted and as you can tell Josh was annoyed.

Sunday Funday Wine Tasting

We went with our good friends Jimmy and Sara and Sara's friend,Natalie, out to the Temecula Wine Country last Sunday.  This was my first time wine tasting and wasn't too sure what to expect sine I am not a big into drinking wine.  We started out at Wilson Creek Winery and made our way to the "Members Only Bar", thanks to Jimmy and Sara being members, and did our 5 tastings. I loved 2 wines and of course the Almond Champagne.  We enjoyed the atmosphere and what the winery had to offer to their Members Josh and I deiced to get our own membership.  Once we were done at stop #1 we made our way to winery #2: Faulkner Winery where Jimmy and Sara had their "I do's" in October of 2009 for more tastings and fun times and finally finished at winery #3: Vindemia which is an up and coming winery that holds its tasting in their rose garden. If you go there you have to have Cowbell, so yummy!

After an extremely fun day wine tasting  we were headed for dinner.  When we got in the car turned on the radio and had a little dance party and singing our hearts out to awesome 90s music, Vanilla Ice: Ice, Ice, Baby and Paula Abdul's Straight up! I think Jimmy was happy it was a short drive from the Wine Country to dinner.

We had dinner at Spuntino Pizzeria we order appetizer's and Pizza Hawaii and Patatina. By far the best was the Pizza Patatina, how can you go wrong with pizza and french fries?! We will definitely be going back to check out more of their Menu.

 ...Natalie, Sara, Jimmy, Aubrey, Josh...Faulkner Winery...

 ...Cheers...

 ...Us Girls...

...Cheers-ing to becoming Members at Wilson Creek...

...Jimmy, Mike (bartender), Josh at Vindemia...

...Sara and Josh enjoying Cowbell in the Rose Garden at Vindemia...

...Jimmy and Sara...

...Us...

...Sara dancing to Paula...

...Pizza Patatina...so good...

No, I am not ready to go outside!

It is amazing how much a dog can be so much like his or her owner.  My Charleigh Grace is just like me...yes it is true, we hate mornings. This is Friday morning. She got up after yelling at her for 10 mins to move and she makes it to the landing and lays down.  Basically this her ignoring me and doesn't care that I want to go start my day.  Finally after 5 more minutes she finally got up and went outside...it only took 3 Beggin' Strips to coax her down.

Sushi Anyone?!

I am one of the pickiest eaters.  My meals usually consist of chicken, pizza, spaghetti, and bean and cheese burritos to name a few.  Josh came down for lunch and stopped by my parents house for some stuff.  He ended up staying longer than expected and my dad mentioned what was for dinner.  When my dad asks that question it usually means two things, he either wants 1) In N Out or 2) Sushi.

Since my mom was at school I decided to join the guys for Sushi at Hana's. Everything they ate did not look appetizing to me and Josh ate something that still had a head and eyeballs. I stuck with the "White people menu" as my brother told the waitress "Oh, and she'll need a fork too." (he knows me well) and had Teriyaki Chicken and Rice (which was very yummy).  But then again all three said, "How hard is it to screw up chicken and rice?"  Despite being disgusted by the food I had a great time hanging out with my Daddy, Brother, and husband!

...Daddy, Christoper (ugh, that Mullet)...

...Enjoying the first round of food and watching Sports Center...

...Some of the rolls they ordered...

Happy 4th Birthday Charleigh Grace

I can't believe my first born, my sweetpea, Charleigh Grace, is 4 years old today.  To say she is the light of my life is a true understatement.  I first laid eyes on Charleigh as she was sound asleep in her cubical at the mall pet store.  Yes, I asked the sales woman, "how much was that doggie in the window?".  I came home and told Josh that I found my dog and that we needed to bring her home tonight!  (little back story...he wanted a boxer, but said if it was a Red Female Bloodhound I can have one because I wanted a black/tan boy).  You never know how an animal is going to react to you when they put you in the little room to play with them, but she came right to me and gave me tons of kisses and the twinkle in her eye melted my heart (and Josh's too) and so we brought her home.

Charleigh Grace, you are my everything.  You came into my life on one of my darkest days and gave me hope that I can love unconditionally and that everything was going to be okay.  You may never know how much you mean to me, but know no matter what you do: the chewing, houdini antics, escaping to visit the neighbors unannounced, twice, scratching at the back door, and just your plain ol' attitude, I will always love you. I am and will be forever indebted to you for giving me your unconditional love at the time that I needed it the most.  You knew exactly when I needed that slobbery kiss, time to cuddle, and laughter in my life.

So Charleigh Grace, today we celebrate you. I hope you had a wonderful relaxing birthday spent inside sleeping on the nice warm couch (don't get to used to it because come tomorrow, Daddy will make you get off) and enjoyed your dinner and bone.

...I Love you Sweet Pea...

Gotta Love Facebook!

I check Facebook twice a day...okay, more like 5-10...hey it's interesting and I love looking at US Weekly.  Most of the time though it is to keep up with friends and family.  I love being able to comment on their status updates and see what other mutual friends or their friends I may not know have to say, (some are very hilarious).

I do have a point...really...so here is goes....

Catherine, one of my best friends and the one who got me started on blogging, always talked about her friend Ashley and how she is so much fun and that we would get along great.  A few months ago Catherine posted that it was Ashley's wedding day, so I just posted a "congratulations, and have a wonderful day" (or something like that) to the couple after that one comment its been a wonderful Facebook friendship.  We have come to find out that we enjoy the same reality television shows, same celebrity gossip, and so much more.  We finally got to meet in person over the weekend because we both have the honor of being bridesmaids in Catherine and Scott's wedding and both had to have our fitting and see the dress and color in person.  Meeting Ashley was like going to school on the first day. You know its going to be fine, but still nervous. I mean would we really get along in real life?! 

Needless to say, the minute I saw her wearing a Top Gun T-Shirt and carrying her Louis Vuitton (two of my favorites, here and here) and knew it would be a great day and it was.  We had a wonderful G.D.O. at Fashion Valley mall eating lunch at CPK and window shopping...well we did spend some time in the Louis store.  

I am so happy we finally met in real life and look forward to the next encounter.  We were too busy gossiping and shopping that we only snapped this one photo, thanks to Catherine's awesome one arm camera skills.  ...Here is to a fantastic friendship from Facebook to Real Life...

They are like Peas and Carrots

Hadley and Maverick are the best of friends. They are always close to one another.  It is so cute to see how they interact.  These two make my heart melt...

Hadley's New Dog Bed

This picture is from a few days ago, but it deserves its own post.  I was doing some holiday baking and looked out in the backyard and saw Hadley, who is now 65 lbs., laying on top of Maverick with a stick in her mouth sound asleep.  Mind you there are the 2 dog beds, 3 blankets in the garage and 2 dog houses with blankets to choose from on where she can lay her little head, but instead she chose to lay on top of Maverick.          

...He is such a good boy...

  

Happy New Year 2012!

2011 I think was one of the fastest years of my life and quite a ride.  We had our ups and downs, but without them it wouldn't make life interesting.  One of the best things that came out of 2011 was adding to our family. A Great Dane we named Hadley Marie. I love waking up to her every morning chewing her nails waiting for the alarm to go off because she knows that Mom is awake and its playtime. 

We rang in 2012 at my favorite NYE destination, Glamis.  We met up with some friends and had a great time in the dirt playing in the dune buggy's. 

I am excited to see what 2012 has in store for us.  I know for certain the summer is going to be killer since Christopher & Natasha and Catherine & Tater are getting married!!!!

Cheers to a great and eventful 2012 friends!