little bits of happiness. volume 3.

hi lax // plane watching // big plane, little plane // computing // our view leaving la // airport playground fun 

these are big bits of happiness. nothing little here.
we are now in texas with family after a day of travel on wednesday, and there is no place we would rather be than with our family and friends! 


i linked up with mrs. stephanie for her little bits of happiness. 
what made you happy this week?

Raspberry Lemonade Margarita.

last week i posted {via instagram} a pic of a raspberry lemonade margarita and blew people's minds! 
margaritas go beyond the basic one made with sweet and sour mix and tequila. gag! i like real ingredient margs! none of this pre mixed stuff. 
b and i have perfected our margarita recipe and enjoy them frequently. since we didn't have all the ingredients we typically use, we used what we had and came up with a Raspberry Lemonade Margarita that is delish! 


Raspberry Lemonade Margarita 

2 oz. Silver Tequila

1.5 oz of Cointreau + a little for a floater

4 oz of Limeade (we use Simply Limeade but any fresh, NOT frozen will do)

2 oz of Raspberry Lemonade (we use Simply Rasberry Lemonade, but any fresh, not frozen will do)

1 oz Sprite

Cut limes for garnish

Salt for rim of glass

Combine all ingredients in a shaker, shake and pour! 

Super easy, good and perfect for the summer months ahead!

 *drink responsibly people. drinking and driving is no bueno!*

weekly photo dump. week 10.

10 weeks?!?!? 
there is no way i actually have kept up with this for 10 weeks! yay for a blog milestone!
this week was my first full week back as a single parent during the day. b went back to work and it's just me and the boy. and it is great. but this boy misses his daddy. a lot! so i have tried to keep him busy and keep his mind off of missing him. i think we had a fun week while doing so!

this week started off with sunshine! yay! saturday was full of rain. and cold! so cold! not your typical la weather. 
if you've never had espresso cheese from trader joe's then you are missing out on some major cheese coma. it's so good! i hung up my newest print from LivyLoveDesigns which is pretty much my motto these days! for dinner we had yummy pizza from cpk and caught up on tiro shows. 

monday we ran some errands and hit up target for some new crayons, diapers, and to browse. i fell in love with some chevron print boxes that i think would be good for all of my crafting stuff and d's art supplies. they have a ton of gorgeous stuff out right now. i want it all! after target we went to trader joe's where i bought some yummy falafel chips and d loved them. after nap we face timed with daddy and my mom! 

this morning i made mandy's smoothie recipe in hopes to incorporate more veggies into the little guys diet. it worked. he loved it and i have made 3 since! we ate breakfast and headed out for a walk at the track and then some time at the park. before nap there were a few firetrucks in front of our apartment so that was good entertainment for 20 minutes! 

wednesday we had a special playmate with leah, calen and traci at their house. i fueled with coffee and we headed out. the roses were from their house. gorgeous! spring has sprung in la. the had so much fun playing together! so much so that d fell asleep in the car on the way home! after driving around making sure he got a sufficient nap we came home and played on the iPad and i made some peanut butter, marshmallow cookies. soooo good! 

the morning started very early. we played, read some books, and then passed some time playing hex bugs. if you have never heard of these check them out. they are so fun! d and my cats love them! after breakfast we headed to bed, bath and beyond for some vacuum bags and then hit up the brentwood country mart for lunch. we sat a few tables away from ewan mcgregor and i drooled while eating. holy crap this man is gorgeous. 
later that afternoon we went out to enjoy the sunshine and watered our plants. which btw will not need watering for a month after today! he had so much fun so that is really all that matters!

friday's are gymboree days so we headed to class, had lunch with some friends after, came home for a nap, and then went to a book signing in santa monica. i got to meet courtney from pizzazarie and the author of push up pops. she was so sweet and has the best southern accent! i adore her site and it is full of party inspiration if you are looking for some ideas! after the book signing, i picked up a few cookbooks and then we had dinner at cpk where d devoured mac-n-cheese like he had never eaten before! 

today was a total waste. i was sick all day and did nothing. i hate days like this! i feel like we should be out enjoying the sunshine and doing something fun. instead i was laid up on the couch drinking coffee, reading cookbooks and being kept company by one of my cats. honestly this day was awful because i was sick but if it was any other day and i got to do this stuff it would have been rad! the boys played together and i napped. i felt a little better before d's bedtime so we had some fun with a baby samurai imitation! pretty good, i think!


hope you all had a good week! 
we are gearing up for a long trip out of town so this week will be buys washing clothes, shopping and packing. 


linked up with amy, per usual. 

little bits of happiness. volume 2.

this weeks bits of happiness.....

finding my favorite espresso cheese at trader joes // pie tasting for work // a new app // pink roses in the spring 

this week was full of the awesome! so much wonderful, fun stuff going on these days. 
what made you happy this week? 


i'm linking up with the lovely mrs. stephanie for her little bits of happiness link up! 

weekly photo dump. week 9.

what a nice week we had!! 
we did a few things together and then brandon went back to work and it was just me and the little guy!

we enjoyed the extra sunshine with a nice walk, some raspberry lemonade margaritas, and lots of bubbles! i might be the only one who likes daylight savings. i love the extra sunshine in the evenings. especially when we live in a city that is sunny 90% of the time!

tuesday brandon had a morning work call and once that was done we decided to head to lacma to see the levitated mass start up, check out the kid painting room, and have some lunch. the restaurant didn't have a high chair so d sat in a big boy chair and ate his crackers and fruit. he loved it and was so good! brandon and i shared a pizza and some wine. it was such a great day and i was sad to see it end since brandon goes back to work wednesday. 

wednesday started with some morning cartoons and then we were off to have a play date and lunch with a some friends. d and paige played and ran around so much that he feel asleep after lunch not 5 minutes into the car ride! that night we perfected the shampoo mohawk and this one was one of the best to date! 

thursdays at the grove is "kids club" day where they have musical guests and stuff for kids to do. we had a great lunch, listened to some music, walked around and did some window shopping and finished it off with a Jamba Juice and a trolly ride. we love the grove and the farmer's market and there is always something fun to do there! 

friday we hit up gymboree for some playtime and after we watched some traffic and counted buses while d snacked on snap peas! after a nap we had some facetime with leah, d's girlfriend! it was the cutest thing i have ever seen!! they were so happy to see each other and d laughed as leah ran around her house! they are so cute together. 
that evening there was some pie tasting for work! not a bad gig! 

today was full of rain and birthday parties. we celebrated 2 birthdays and had a great time seeing some friends. d fell in love with a kitchen set a both places and was in tears when we left. guess we will be buying a kitchen soon! 
that evening we had some green beer to celebrate st. patrick's day, which by the way is just another day when you have kids!


hope you all had a great week! 
as usual, i am linking up with amy for a good life.

happy st. patrick's day!

happy st. patrick's day friends! it is cold and rainy in always sunny los angeles. we are bundling up to attend 2 birthday parties for d's friends today. this boy has more of a social life than i do! 
i love st. paddy's day! there's always so much fun to be had, yummy food, and lots of bailey's! celebrating has taken a nose dive since we had d but we still do something at home once he goes to bed! next year he will understand the fun a little more and i plan to do some fun stuff. 


here is a little flash back to st. paddy's day for the last 2 years. amazing how much d has changed!

year 1

year 2

tonight i hope to make shepherd's pie and have some green beer! 

enjoy and be safe!

xoxo

little bits of happiness. volume 1.

i love mrs. stephanie's blog and instagram! she is adorable and her little lady is a doll! 
when she came up with the meme i decided i had to take part. 
there are so many things i am so very thankful for every single day. despite having hard days here and there and being away from family when times are hard for them, i count my blessings. i have a wonderful life full of love and happiness and i need to remind myself of that more and more. 
this is a great way to do so. 
little pictures of the things that made me happy this week. that made me smile. that made me so grateful for all that i have and who i am lucky enough to share it with. 

mama and declan time // my boys // morning cartoons // enjoying the extra daylight // lampposts at lacma

weekly photo dump. week 8.

we were so busy this week!
i am late posting this due to spending lots of family time together before brandon goes back to work.

it was a hot day spent in rain boots (toddlers are weird), sweet rolls for breakfast, and a mani pedi for mama! loving the accent nail these days! 

monday we purchased a basketball hoop for the little man and he loves it. future basketball star right here! i also made my grandma's no peek stew. so easy and so quick. and soooo yum!
this is the one recipe that the little guy usually eats but of course tonight, dinner fail for him! such odd eating habits by toddlers in general so i am gonna try not to sweat it! 

the first tuesdays of the month are free at the natural history museum so we packed up our stuff and headed out to see some dinos! super fun day that ended with chick-fil-a, some waffle fries and a nap! we are slowly getting back to napping around here. thank the lord!

wednesday we stuck around the house and did some arts and crafts, tons of reading and played with magnetic letters on a cookie sheet! hours of entertainment were spent at the dinner table and in the high chair! i love when we go out and do things as a family but days at home are just as special! 

d loves trains so much and we have been wanting to go to the griffith park train ride and also travel town to check out all the trains. we had a blast! we rode the train at both places and then ran around travel town and  got to go in some of the train cars and run around! see below! i think we might have found our next birthday party location! 

today was a gorgeous day so we spent it with a quick run for coffee, then off to the farmers market and the grove where we ate delicious food and rode the trolley. and then picked up stuff to make some grilled pizzas! this is our new favorite way to eat pizza. i think i will blog about how easy it is! really, so easy and fun!

this month is full of birthday parties. we had one saturday and have 3 next weekend! today we went to pasadena to help celebrate d's friends birthday at amy's playground. this place was so cute and had so much to do for the kids. and it was clean! yay for clean play places! d loved the bounce house and the play kitchen and house and cried when we had to leave! the sign of a good party! after the party we stopped for some cupcakes to try out on my never ending quest to find the best cupcakes in la. these were pretty good! 

saturday night i went out with traci for a girls night! we went to dinner at cube, one of my favorite places to eat in la. it is a great little restaurant that specializes in cheeses and meats. we had a great meal, some champagne, a delicious dessert and great convo! it's always nice to go out with girlfriends from time to time! afterwards i made traci drive my lacma to see the lamp posts lite up! i love this place so much and had to share it with her. 

hope you all had a great week! 

next week brandon heads back to work and i try not to freak out to much that he will be gone and it will just be me and d! 

11 Things.

i was tagged by two people for this but thought i would spread them out so as to not make you all nauseated by facts about me, etc! i will do the next one thursday! 


random facts about me! 


1. i'm an only child and never really wished for a brother or sister.


2. i worked on a cruise ship for 6 weeks as a child counselor. i went alone, not knowing a single person on the ship and left with some great friends.


3. i hate raisins thanks to od'ing on them when i was little.


4. my mom was adopted and i have always wanted to adopt a baby since i was young and could understand adoption.


5. i met my husband on a plane. we sat next to each other and struck up a conversation, exchanged emails, and i moved to la 10 months later to be with him. we dated for 6 years and have been married for 3.


6. i played sports in high school and love basketball.


7. i met one of my college roommates from an add in a newspaper. she is now one of my dearest friends and was my wedding planner. 


8. i am really tall. like 6 feet tall!


9. my husband is a movie freak and works in the entertainment business but i haven't seen many movies at all! i have never seen back to the future! 


10. i had a blankie up until 3 years ago when my cat hijacked it and eventually shredded it. 


11. i love to travel and went to europe for 4 weeks with a friend and wanted to keep traveling but ran out of money! 

Eleven questions asked by Rebecca :

1. What is the first thing you do when you wake up and the last thing you do before you go to bed? wish i could sleep a little longer! 

2. Are you what you wanted to be when you grew up? yes, i have always wanted to be a mom. nothing greater. 

3. If you could go anywhere for a vacation where would you go? What would you do? i would love to go to Fiji and do absolutely nothing but drink on the beach and soak up the sun. 

4. If you had 30 seconds to get out of your house and you could never go back, what 5 items would you grab? (Assuming all people and/or pets got themselves to safety) photos, diapers for d, a set of clothes, d's blankie, and my phone. 

5. Coke or Pepsi? diet coke 


6. If you could stay one age for the rest of your life would you? What age would you be? Why? i would love to still be 32. that was when i got married and found out i was pregnant. it was a wonderful, memorable year!

7. 80s Hair bands or 90s Grunge bands? 80's hair band for the win! 

8. What is the soundtrack of your life? not really depicting my life but i have fond memories of john mayer's inside wants out. 

9.  Are you a morning person or a night owl? neither. but i tend to stay up way too late for no reason! 

10. What would your last meal be? my grandma's chocolate cake with some ice cream

11. What was your favourite show as a child? three's company 


11 questions : 


1.if you could be on the cover of a magazine, which one would it be and what would the caption be? 
2.worst job you've ever had and why? 
3.favorite cocktail?
4.if you could meet any celebrity who would it be?
5.if you could eliminate one hour of the day, which hour would it be?
6.the best quality in your spouse that made you fall in love with them?
7.biggest fear?
8.if you could be on one tv show what would it be and who would you play?
9.if you could be anyone in history who would it be?
10.favorite historical person?
11.if you could have a supernatural ability what would it be and how would you use it to your advantage?


i tag Eileen of Bringing Up Bronwyn, Amanda of Hello Pretty Eyes, and Diana of Livy Love, Johnna of Domesticated Delight, and anyone else who wants to play!

Dino Declan!

yesterday we went to the natural history museum for a fun day of dinosaurs and animals! d has a sudden interest in dinosaurs and the first tuesday of the month is free, so we hit up the museum for a few hours and got our dinosaur love on!

they have a kids room that is hands on and eye level to make exploring a little easier. d loved the binoculars and looked out the window for stuff. it was beyond adorable! 

plus, the massive polar bear is so rad! 

d loved it and "snuggled" it forever. 

after the dino exploring we hit up chick-fil-a for lunch where d fell in love with waffle fries and we scarfed on chicken sandwiches. 

i freakin love chick-fil-a. too much, really! 

and to end a wonderful, family filled day we did a little of this! 
guess we have to run around the museum more often since the napping has been practically non existent these day! 

we had an awesome day!
i am getting sad that brandon is heading back to work soon so we are squeezing in as many fun things as we can as a family!