where was the vanilla-roma when we needed it?

While our drive up the Bay Area this week was not nearly as bad as our close to 9-hour debacle of a couple of years past it was as they always seem to be these days -- a doozy.

About an hour after we left our house this girl...

threw up in the car.

Of course there were no exits for miles, so we pulled over on the highway, cleaned and bagged everything the best we could and climbed back in because we still had a LONG way to go.

Mo was a trooper, and didn't even cry when she was puking or when she got stripped down on the highway shoulder (she was swishing the vomit around in her mouth which thoroughly grossed the rest of us out).

Nothing like trying to ignore the smell of puke in the car for 5 hours.

Oh and,

Happy Thanksgiving!

bag it

My Canon Rebel is sick.

It's been sent away to see if it can be cured. I'm sad without my SLR.

I think I'm going to ask Santa for a camera bag this holiday season. Emera bags have long been my favorite, but I'm usually in jeans and a t-shirt (or worse) and frankly you just need to dress better to carry an Emera bag.

I've got my eye on these three which mesh better with my more casual (read: not put together) lifestyle.

yellow bird by ketti

rose by jo totes

the bowler by acme

What do you think?

What do you use for your camera bag?

knock knock

happy friday!

arg, matey

Each day when I pick Katie up from school she hands me the tiniest paper cup.

I placed a crayon there so you can see just how small the cup is

Inside of it...

Treasure.

Apparently the school scatters colored rocks and other such little things in the sand.

She is now always on the hunt for treasure in and out of school.

The other day we went on a hike. I told the girls we could collect some pine cones or other pretty things to make a wreath.

Katie kept picking up -- well, trash -- little pieces of plastic, broken bits of glass, etc.

"Treasure!" she'd yell each time she found a strand of plastic Easter grass, a piece of metallic confetti or a sequin.

She even has her sister looking out for "treasure."

Excellent.

moody monday

Sometimes things can feel a bit blah in my generally positive world.

Especially on Mondays.

As per usual the weekend was crowded with events, classes and more. We also had the class guinea pigs at home for the long weekend. I feel as if I was constantly cleaning that cage.

I am finding hay everywhere.

My team lost last night.

My house looks like it is about to be invaded by a house-cleaning reality show.

We did see a gorgeous sunset at the beach this weekend though.

And, I still love these three more than anything else in the world.

oh my oh pie

We've had an uncut pumpkin sitting on our front porch for awhile now so I thought I'd try to make something from it.

I went online to read that jack o' lantern type pumpkins are not ideal for baking, and that you should use 3-4 lb. pumpkins for pie, muffins, etc.

Well, I didn't have a 3-4 lb. pumpkin on my porch I had a big, fat 10+ lb. pumpkin.

I went ahead and baked it and made my very first pumpkin pie yesterday.

Turned out pretty good, and it was fairly simple to make. I sort of tweaked a bunch of different recipes to make my pie (basically using the ingredients I had in my fridge/pantry).

Today, I've been combing through Dana's post to find some more recipes because I have an additional 4 cups of pumpkin puree.

Hit me up with a good recipe if you've got one...

Pumpkin Pie

1 unbaked pie shell (I did not make mine from scratch)
1 3/4 c. pumpkin purée
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 c. whole milk
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. pumpkin spice
1/4 tsp. salt

To roast your pumpkin split it half (or quarters if it's a big one). Scoop out seeds and hairy stuff. Bake in large pyrex/cookie sheet for about 60-90 minutes at 350 degrees. When you can insert a knife like butter through the pumpkin it's done. Cool, scoop out pumpkin from shell and puree.

Preheat the oven to 375˚. Line pie dish with the pastry. Combine the pumpkin with all remaining ingredient and mix thoroughly. Pour into the prepared crust and and bake for 50-60 minutes, until custard is set. A toothpick should come out clean halfway to the center of the pie. If the crust browns too quickly make a ring of aluminum foil to protect it during baking.

little voices

I love listening to just about any two-year-old. Their little voices and they way they talk crack me up. Like when Mo sings Jack Johnson's "Breakdown" it sounds like "Beek-town."

I realized I have very little video of her talking or singing, so I've been trying to capture more because I know I'll blink and she'll be using triple-letter-word-score language.

and part korean too

Auntie Amy makes a statement about how we are Asian.

Katie: "I'm not Asian I'm Chinese and part white!"

it's starting to look a lot like

Christmas. At least the mall sure looked like it today.

I was informed on Saturday that I'd better go buy more Halloween candy "just in case."

When I got to the seasonal candy aisle what did I find? All Christmas candy. I had to search out the uber-small selection of Halloween candy.

I know this complaint is not an uncommon one, but we were really jipped out of our normal summer this year, so I think that's why I'm a bit more puffed up about this than normal.

This morning -- Nov. 1 -- we were greeted with gorgeous weather.

So, not ready to adopt any sort of holiday spirit quite yet we hit the beach this afternoon.


Mo has finally embraced the water and was literally pouring buckets of it on herself today.

While the weather was nice, the water is NOT warm right now.


The more than frigid water did not bother Katie one bit.

The girl can be straight fearless when it comes to cold water.

She just runs in and plops herself down in it.

Everyone in the water were in full wet suits and there's my little girl fully submerged trying to body surf like "what? who thinks it's cold!?"