highlights #85

What have you been doing this week?  Because I've been watching Olympics, Olympics, and more Olympics.  I keep laughing at myself because I am not a big sports watching fan girl (except for during BYU football season, and even then...), but I can watch ice skating, downhill skiing, and luge all the live long day.  I'm even all over curling and cross country skiing!  (More so when the US is prominent, but still)  And then (laughably so) I feel like I actually know what I'm talking about after listening to the commentators. 

Oh Olympics, I will be so sad when you're over.  While I stream the women's giant slalom, here are a few fun posts from around the web:

speaking of the Olympics, this makes my heart smile

also, this is madness

who knew?  Go Norway!

and a useful pizza algorithm for your Closing Ceremonies party ;)

some of the prettiest ring bling

why does my phone battery die so fast??

love this

I've always wanted to know how to make these

a charming night

this necklace is simple and perfect

measuring spaghetti (already used this twice and it works!!)

gorgeous travel guides

part of me wants to make these so bad

and I want this sweater in my size please??  Go USA!

xo

15th is the new 14th

Valentine's Day.  Something about me still loves it: all the lovey dovey-ness, chocolates, and husbands running to the florist after work to pick up a bouquet for their misses.  It gets me every time.  But since David's flight home didn't touched down till 9:30 in the PM on Friday, we were short on celebration time and were wiped out to boot (he'd been traveling/ working all day and I was in the car for 4ish hours that day - darn you Jamzilla!).  So we rescheduled for the next day and went right to bed when we got home.

Turns out I married a pretty sweet guy.  I woke up to the smell of pancakes and walked out to find two huge bunches of tulips on the table.  There are definite perks to his internal clock still being on central time: he'd gone to the grocery store (at like 6:45 AM) to get all the fixings.  What a doll.

Those chocolates are almost gone, the pancakes were heavenly, and we topped the day off with a showing of The Monuments Men, which was pretty great.

It can be belated Valentine's Day every Saturday as far as I'm concerned.

a wrap up

Well, two weeks ago this was what happened:

See ya later alligator!  He was off for two weeks away in Kentucky for work and tomorrow he comes hommmme!  I've decided two weeks away from each other is entirely too long and I'll be happy if we don't have to do something like that again anytime soon.

So for the first week he was gone, my view was lots of this:

Lots of kiddos and puppy dogs.  I was off to basketball practices, dance classes, talent shows, and all of that ilk.  Not to mention making lunches, getting kids out the door to school, and entertaining a 4-year-old for most of the day.  It was motherhood by fire and really a lot of fun.
And also exhausting.

On Friday night I ran home, repacked, and came down to Orange County to hang out with my family...and Bob Costas.  The Olympics have been on, more or less, non-stop since the Opening Ceremonies in this house.
As it should be.

We also make a lovely pilgrimage down to my favorite beach and dug up some family treasures in the garage. 

And now...it's just me and the dog.  The parents and the little sis were off for a long President's Day ski weekend up in Utah and I'm holding down the fort till David gets back to the west coast tomorrow. 

Ready for that guy of mine to be back home.

highlights #84

Well, I'm officially a single mom of five + a beagle till Friday.  So far, so good (ie: all the kids are still alive), and I'm learning a ton about how to keep a 4-year-old entertained.  It's a whole new kind of adventure.  While I pack up the Yukon (aka: the tank) for swimming, basketball, and lacrosse, here are a few things from around the web:

this is on my wish list

a perfect Vday shirt

the power of intentions

the skinny on Google

the cutest cake to get pumped for the Olympics (anyone else totally psyched?!)

a perfect picture

now I want a disco ball...

the deets behind NYC neighborhoods

the cutest chocolates

I always liked Ron and Hermione together anyway...

these are all true

and I need every. single. one of these dresses.  Seriously.

xo 

Newhall, CA

A Saturday afternoon walk was just the ticket.  It was organized chaos refereeing three pre-teens all morning, so when we got home that afternoon I immediately decided Dave and I needed to go for a walk around the neighborhood.
Nothing quite like fresh air and the setting sun to calm the nerves and settle the head.

Plus I love all the lemon trees in this part of town.