Legoland = AWESOME

While I suffer through the after-effects of a grueling 3 hour dentist appointment (note to self: FLOSS DAILY) (additional note to self: good job picking a dentist 3 blocks away who also puts pillows under your head and ALSO plays Lifetime movies for you ("Last Trimester" was messed up, but awesome!)), I decided to sort through some pictures from this weekend.

Saturday morning marked Sebastian's 5th birthday party at LEGOLAND!  Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a certain affinity for Legos, so this party was right up my alley.  Plus, Cheryl's kids are pretty darn adorable and it gave me a chance to practice my photography skills with crazy kids running around...and low light conditions galore.  Given that I don't have a flash for my camera yet, there will be no plethora of beautiful pictures this time around, but I have a few worth sharing.

First up, the birthday boy and his mom.  Notice the Blackhawks jersey that's about 3 sizes too big on him.

And then there's Liam, Sebastian's baby brother who also shares my affinity for Legos.

We learned how Legos are made (I may have taken one of the Lego bricks they give to just the kids)...

...and got to play with plenty of Legos ourselves.

Liam and Daddy, Ryan

Sebastian raced his Lego car down the car ramp...and it broke into a million pieces.

There was even pizza and (dinosaur?) cake.

I know, kid.  I'm smacking my forehead at that dinosaur, too.

And when Liam got a bit too fussy (a room full of 20 five-year-olds running in a circle screaming "LEGO PIRATE!! LEGO PIRATE!! will do that to ya), I was able to steal take him away for some Lego time on our own.

You're going to have a hard time convincing me to not have my party at Legoland this year. (KIDDING!) (I think...)

How I got an All-Clad pan for $30

I've wanted an All-Clad frying pan ever since one of my first visits to Seattle where my brother and his wife (then girlfriend) stopped by Bed, Bath & Beyond and showed me the glory of all things All-Clad.  That was probably over 10 years ago (wow), but I finally bought one.

...And I only paid $30.

Allow me to show you how.

How to be awesome like me and get an All-Clad pan for $30
All-Clad 4qt. Fry/Saute Pan	$170
Williams-Sonoma instant rebates from Christmas presents	-$70
Williams-Sonoma gift cards from successful referrals at work	-$50
Visa gift card from being awesome at work	-$25
Total	$25 (plus tax)

So maybe there was no special trick, or even anything more complicated than using coupons and gift cards, but I was pretty darn proud of myself as I walked out the doors of the uber expensive Williams-Sonoma paying only $30 for something that should have cost me $180+.

There's something to be said for being Dutch.

''Cause after all, you're my photo wall"

10 points for anyone who catches the song reference/pun!


Ever since I've gotten my own place, I've wanted a wall filled with pictures.  And ever since I moved in with Hubs, he's commented on my...plethora...of random frames that used to line the floor of the front hallway.

So, needless to say, enough was enough and it was time to take the bull by the horns.  I had no idea where to start, so I just laid everything out on the floor and shuffled them around until it "felt" right (I'm being really technical here, can't you tell?).

Clearance Target frames FTW!

What I thought would be the hard part (figuring out how to hang them) was actually the easy part. The hard part was actually hanging them. Laying things out on the floor doesn't exactly give you a concrete plan for placement.

So, over the course of 3 nights, I hung every frame bit by bit. When it was done, I was pretty happy with it. The only problem was that I didn't have all the pictures to fill the frames...and it sat half-done since October.

Fast forward to Monday.  The impending blizzard was all the motivation I needed to finally finish picking out all the pictures for the photo wall.

But!  I didn't stop there! (Most of these have been done for awhile, but I wanted to give you the full "picture.")

Another project down. Finally.

Virginia is for Lovers

Now that I've effectively creeped out what little readers I do have, I'd just like to say that it's completely justified - Hubs and I are going to Virginia in 3 weeks!

Hubs already has to go to Alexandria for a business trip, and he surprised me tonight by suggesting that I come along!  He remembered that I've never actually been to Washington DC and started researching flights and hotels.  Turns out, it's pretty darn cheap to fly to Virginia in the dead of winter (go fig), so we'll be flying in a few days before he has to work and spending the weekend there to check out DC's museums and other attractions (I'll fly home on a Monday, and he'll be there until Thursday).

I was pretty darn excited as it is, and then I read that our hotel has a Starbucks in it.

Couldn't. Be. Any. More. Perfect.

Snowpocalypse! Digging Out...

This title is a bit misleading.  Unlike the overwhelming majority of homeowners, we don't have to shovel.
:: Doing a happy dance in my PJs ::

Anywho, Snowpocalypse has come and gone, and now all that's left is the cleanup (DG totaled 21.1 inches!!)...and the impending subzero temps.

The view from our balcony this morning...still snowing

Hubs and I decided to take a walk downtown to see how the cleanup efforts were going.

Looks like the person parked in our "visitor" spot won't be visiting for a short time!

Hubs is 6'3"...the snow piles had him beat

Downtown was deserted...and buried in snow

Sniff, sniff :(

If I were still a kid, you can bet I'd be doing exactly what this kid was doing:

This pile is up to the roof of the coin shop!

And of course, the bulldozers were still clearing away tons of snow.

Practically everything was closed, aside from Ballydoyle.

And Patti and Steve...in case you were wondering how this snow ended up on your window...

...here's your answer.

Happy shoveling!

Snowpocalypse!

Things are getting a bit scary over here with Snopocalypse (or SnOMG, as coined by the RedEye).  Here's what it looked like around 5PM:

I couldn't quite capture the horizontal wall of snow...

And now, at 10PM:

It actually looks quite a bit worse than this, but my ISO was at 3200 or something ridiculous like that.  Let's just say that the haze is allllll snow.

The power is flickering and there's "snow thunder" (??). Can't wait to see what this looks like in the morning!

Braddy Turns 31

Seeing as how today is Braddy's actual birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRADDY!), it is only fitting for me to cover the recap of his birthday bash at our place on Saturday.

The theme?  SPICY! (Anyone who knows Braddy, knows that he likes spicy food.  Awesome job picking out the theme, T!)  The whole family was over, including Braddy's mom and dad.

Everyone was required to bring spicy food...and goodness gracious, we had a lot of it.

There was lots of story time, courtesy of Pops (Braddy's Dad).

Note: Hawaiian shirt makes another appearance

And of course, Braddy was showered with presents.

Everyone spent time pondering the use of the notch on top of his new claw hammer...until Theresa read the  label (GASP!).

Instead of a cake, Braddy requested bread pudding.  It was my first time making bread pudding, but WOW was it good (at least I thought so?).  And finding the challah bread?  PAIN IN THE BEHIND.  But I'll save that story for a different post.

On a side note - Hubs tried to light the sparkler candles with his blowtorch.  Yes, a blowtorch.  By the time he figured out how to use it, I had all the candles lit already.

Step 1: Tinker
Step 2: Tinker more
Step 3: Success!

And what family gathering would be complete without a few rounds of a game - in this case, Pictionary Man (remember this guy, Pin and Ingy?).

All in all, it was a pretty good time.  Good enough for Hubs to break out the blowtorch again to light his cigar out on the patio.

P.S. - A huge 'thank you!!!' to Hubs for doing practically all the cleaning and shopping for this event, so all I had to concentrate on was the appetizer and bread pudding.  You make quite the host, baby. :)

Want to see more?  Here's the link to the full photo set!