my kid, the stylist

okay, the kid worked some flatiron magic and now i like the new cut a little more.  i guess i just need to get used to it.  *sigh*  i hope i don't wake up tomorrow all pissed off at what i've done.  although it doesn't matter - can't put it back!  at least the shit grows back.  fast (but not fast enough, sometimes).

and, she said "mom, you would look way better with less makeup.  like, just eyeliner and mascara."  so because she IS my stylist (and it cuts my getting-ready time down a bit. apparently, as much as it'll take to flatiron.  oy.), i'm listening to her.  ooh, i need some lipstick now.

and, here's a picture of the bean that i love a lot.  

bye!  happy weekend to all!

rain. yay!/boo.

no, i'm not starting up another yay!/boo. post.  i'll save that for another day.

the bean and i came down to my mom's house at the beach for an overnight visit, and of course it had to rain when we're not snug and comfy at our own house.  noooooo, the rain gods decided to grant us with some precipitation when i have to drive home in it.  bleh.  i love rain, but not when i'm 45 miles from home. ya dig?

the hub called me from smith & wollensky's in vegas last night and was quite excited to report that he'd been cleaning up at the poker table.  yay!  too bad he did most of his chip-scooping from the client he was out there meeting, who promptly got up and stomped over to a nearby blackjack table.  oops.  

it was nice hanging out with my mom and stepdad last night.  we sat at the table, eating pizza and catching up on family news (well, at least for me - i've missed the last several family gatherings and was WAY behind on the gossip).  we've got a pregnancy and an engagement in the family and i'm quite excited to hear about both.  yay!

the bean seems to thrive when she's near a beach.  she did so well during the maui trip, and then last night she slept like a damn log - i had to wake HER up to eat.  i wouldn't have bothered, except for the fact that the boobies were going to friggin' explode.  heh.

and i got my hairs cut last night.  nope, i don't have any pictures, and that's mainly because i'm not 100% sure if i like it yet.  i hate the way she styled it, but the cut seems cool, so i want to get home and play with it, with all my own products and tools and crap.  cross your fingers, because otherwise i'll be back to rant and rave and bitch and moan.  

and nobody wants that.

more domestic diva-ness

okay, this ebates thing is pretty cool. i got an email this morning that said i'd already built up my rebates to $25, based on my cyber monday shopping spree! who knew shopping online at target, gap, and sephora would actually pay off? at least, that's how i plan to spin it for the hub, after the magical holiday shopping is over. heh.

and last night's dinner was another smashing success. i brined the pork chops in the buttermilk/herb concoction in my recipe all day long (you're supposed to do it overnight, but i fell asleep the night before without getting it done), and between cooking those, some quickie noodle side dish, and steaming some broccoli, i had dinner on the table in 20 minutes. effing sweet. again, i couldn't take my own picture, but trust me...i'm scoring major points these days. ;)

my friend A and i were trading e-mails in the late afternoon, while i continued my online shopping and she killed time waiting for her hub to pick her up for the laker game. i managed to find some things i want to use as gifts for the hub's team/staff members, while A sent me several links to fun stuff she was eyeing for her list for santa. and it got me thinking about my own santa list - i can't think of much aside from some tall chocolate brown uggs (shut up, i heart uggs), tickets to see "wicked", a red le creuset dutch oven, a hot chocolate pot from williams-sonoma, and this:

a nikon d40 camera. i get so annoyed when i manage to snap off great shots and they're blurry, or not as fabulous as i'd like for them to be. and this camera has great reviews! i doubt it'll happen, though. i can hear "we already HAVE two digital cameras" in my head as i type this.

good lord, what a boring ass santa list. hot damn, i HAVE turned into a housewife.

domestic diva

armed with my fabulous moby wrap, i was able to spend a good chunk of yesterday being productive for once. i slid the bean right into that thing and we got through an entire hamper of laundry and i even got to eat lunch! i had to put a napkin on her head, just in case. that's kinda wrong, i know, but i was hungry.

i was flipping through my current issue of real simple magazine and came across an ad for a recipe site featuring cookie recipes (for the upcoming holiday baking season, y'know). this lovely photo caught my eye:

mmmmm. i scurried right over to the iMac and plugged in www.myrecipes.com to find the recipe for these lovely peppermint bonbon cookies. and i not only ended up saving it, but about 35 other recipes for stuff ranging from appetizers to dinner entrees. i picked a couple, made a shopping list, and we jumped in the car and headed to vons.

when the hub got home, he was pleasantly surprised to find that i had dinner all planned out. this has been a rare occurrence lately, but i vowed to make it more of a regular thing. we do a LOT of eating out, which is lovely, but expensive. and it gets tricky with the bean - timing is everything, y'all.

i served up a fabulous dinner of pan-seared steak with mushroom wine sauce, steamed asparagus, and au gratin potatoes. he was sufficiently impressed and i got all warm and fuzzy with his effusive, complimentary manner. and of course you know i'd have loved to take a picture of that pretty plate, but i couldn't. i wasn't in the mood for the stink eye. so here's the official photo from the recipe site:

of course, mine didn't look exactly like this, but who cares - it was scrumptious.

oooh! and i solved my problem of a gift for our upcoming anniversary. it's something really small, so i'm going to supplement it with something cool (which sucks, considering i'm running out of cool gift ideas for christmas for him). anyway, the traditional 2nd anniversary gift is cotton, so i ordered a pair of boxer shorts with "property of wan-nabe" (of course, it's my real name, but duh) printed on the leg. i'd rather have had it printed across the ass, but i couldn't find that option without having to order, like, 1,000 of these things. heh.

the long, long weekend recap

okay, so while my thanksgiving was lacking my own family, we had quite a nice celebration with the hub's side. mine had already made plans to gather at the folks' house down at the beach before i could get the word out to them that we were inviting one and all to our casa. oh, well.

the kid had spent the night at her BFF's house after their knott's berry farm extravaganza, so i was up nice and early to pick her up. we scooped up some yummy, greasy breakfast at mcdonald's and headed home to get the house ready for the party. she was actually going to her dad's at 4, so i hung out with her as much as i could, since i wouldn't get to see her again till this friday.

the hub's bro was over at the butt crack o'noon to get started on cooking dinner. we'd gone to the grocery store to buy all the goodies tuesday night (which was genius - the joint was empty, except for the dudes stocking all the shelves in anticipation of a plethora of last-minute shoppers the next day), so we were all set. luckily, the turkey had defrosted nicely and he prepared a fun mixture of salted water and herbs and things to make a brining mixture.

hub: "how long do we have to cook the turkey for?"
me: "um, like five hours or so."
hub: "cool. it's 1:00 and everyone will be here at 5, so they can have appetizers and we can serve at 6, then."

oy vey. talk about cutting it close. nothing like putting a 22-pound turkey in the oven at the last possible moment.

but as usual, he was right. grrrrrr. the turkey and all the side dishes (candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, and creamed corn, plus warm bread) were all ready at precisely 6:00, and we all sat down to a beautifully decorated table and the most delicious thanksgiving meal EVER. culinary school sure pays off.

we're not black friday shoppers. however, we have lots of fun watching the news reports about the crazy folks who CAMP OUT at places like best buy and the outlets at camarillo - starting on WEDNESDAY. so did they have turkey sandwiches while sitting on cold ass concrete, waiting to save a few bucks on electronics and other gift items? that's nuts.

instead, we finished up the last bit of cleaning around the house and then headed down to newport beach's fashion island. we were going to meet up with the hub's folks at their very favorite restaurant, the crab cooker, and it was nice to get out and away from the house for a little while. and no, we didn't buy a damn thing at fashion island - just lunch. it wasn't horrifically crowded, but i think we were still in denial about having to get started on christmas shopping. eek.

the hub is NOT a fan of crab cooker. it's a very casual restaurant (totally fine), reasonably priced (also fine), decent food (meh. barely decent. he doesn't get why they love this place so much), served on paper goods (and there goes the buzzer! my husband HATES paper goods, let alone at a restaurant). but i thought it was just fine and dandy. i munched on my crab cocktail, crab claw appetizer, and crab cakes quite happily. i like crab.

and then when we got home, i found that the mailman had finally brought the moby wrap that i'd ordered last week. my friend A and i were out shopping a few days ago, and this lady was walking around, as happy as can be, wearing this thing and keeping her baby snug as a bug in a rug. i know some of y'all are going to gasp, groan, roll eyes, vomit, or all of the above when you see what this thing is, but after a few days of using it, i don't give a shit what anybody says - it's fucking awesome. sure, i look pretty craptastic wearing it, but it lets me carry the bean around and still be able to do shit that requires both hands. seriously, i never knew that an 18-foot long strip of fabric would make me so stinking happy.

how lame is this - i don't even remember what we did on saturday. so i'm just skipping it like it never happened.

and yesterday, we finally dragged our asses out of bed at a decent hour and went to church. the hub got his hairs cut afterwards, we grabbed some del taco for lunch, and went home to change. we were SUPPOSED to meet my brother and his girlfriend at 3rd street promenade in SaMo, but somehow they decided that free tickets to the laker game sounded like more fun than hanging out with an old married couple and their kid. hmph. where the hell are your priorities, brotha?? ;)

so instead, the bean and i ended up taking a really, really long nap while the hub went through the remaining boxes in the garage. heh.

our long thanksgiving weekend was capped off with dinner at the newly opened corner bakery, during which we wrote out our list of christmas gift recipients and munched happily on warm comfort food.

and today, the hub went off to work while i took advantage of cyber monday and tackled some of that gift list. 7 down, 23 to go. and i'm sure that's not completely accurate - we'll be adding other names to the list, fo' sho'. yay for the holidays!

happy thanksgiving!

what a wonderful year 2007 has been. i have so many blessings to count, i've run out of fingers.

and toes. hee!

have a fabulous turkey day, everyone. hug your loved ones, eat a lot of delicious grub, and send happy thoughts to our troops all around the world.

:)

i'm such a sucker for fun stuff to buy.

during our weekend shopping extravaganza, we made a pitstop at borders to find a book for the kid's book report. while she perused the "young adult" section, i found this:

i was fairly certain there wouldn't be much in there that i didn't already know (sugar is the devil, avoid alcohol, exercise is key), but as i flipped through the first few pages, these lines jumped out at me:

"Cigarettes are for losers. They are so 1989 and totally uncool. Not only do they screw up your body chemistry, but they also kill your taste buds. No wonder you eat shit and garbage. Smoking's out. Give it up."

"Coffee is for pussies. You should not need anything to wake up."

and my favorite (so far):

"Your junk food has a shelf life of twenty-two years and will probably outlive your fat, sorry ass."

i had to scoop up this book and take it home. i was attracting all sorts of angry stink-eye stares from the incessant giggling in the bookstore. the kid eyed my selection and cracked up.

and then we went shopping at target yesterday and came upon this fabulous item, called "tooth tunes":
yup, it's a musical toothbrush. it plays the music ONLY if you're brushing your teeth, and you get a full 2 minutes of your favorite song while you keep the cavities away. awesome.

there's a limited selection of songs as it's targeted towards kids, but i wanted one. too bad i couldn't find anything more grown up than queen's "we will rock you".

what song would keep you brusha-brusha-brushing away for a full 2 minutes?

the happy place

i keep forgetting to show off the other project that the hub tackled before our ginormous dinner party this weekend. the finishing touches in the nursery should've been done for the meet-and-greet a few weeks ago, but as usual, we ran out of time. and the kid helped too - she handled the painting of the letters and big ass diaper pin.

here's a few pictures of their handiwork:

i really, truly heart this room. and the bean always grins when we're making use of that changing table - it's her "happy place".


i just hope that when we have to move next year, we can recreate it. every home should have a happy place.

all clear.

today was the dreaded postpartum check-up. and i was pleasantly surprised to find that, even though i was required to undress completely and don a lovely hospital gown, i didn't have to endure an icky va-jay-jay check.

oops. i apologize to any male readers i may have. and anyone else who's creeped out by bajinga talk.

so anyway, i was sitting there waiting for the doc and found this insanely comical:


maybe it isn't that funny, but i kept reading it aloud to myself with a horrendous accent.

that is all.

one down, one to go.

so we got through last night's ginormous dinner party relatively unscathed. turns out that the hub and his parents had a master plan that worked out quite wonderfully - especially for me. i've mentioned before that his brother is a current student at the local cordon bleu culinary arts institute, right? well, they hired him and another recent graduate to do ALL the cooking.

on saturday, we hit up pier 1, williams sonoma, and target to pick up all the decorations. i always kind of sit back and chuckle as the hub scurries around, picking up vases and candles and various decorative items in preparation for a gathering. it's something that happens on a regular basis, plus during every major holiday. anyway, his parents met us at some point and then we split up to tackle the rest of the shopping - the boys went to costco to buy all of the food, and the girls went to paper source to pick up some of those "i am thankful for___" cards for the tables. plus, i needed some supplies to start working on a design for our christmas cards. hell, i don't even have the birth announcements out yet. ugh. i might as well send 'em all at the same time! ha. just kidding. maybe.

we have our christmas card photo shoot coming up later this afternoon, so we hit up the macy's one day sale to see if we could find something to wear. and because it's totally okay to be cheesy for christmas cards, we got matching red lacoste polo shirts - except for the bean. we had to get her a ralph lauren one, because that's all they had, and we simply didn't have the time to go all over southern california looking for just the right one. we'll wear them with jeans and uggs, and it'll be fun and festive. yeah, and cheesy. :)

we ended the day by sharing two giant pizzas from a local italian restaurant with the ILs. mmm, it was so delicious. and then we went off to bed to rest up for what was next.

there's a local pancake house that's really yummy, and i'd been a couple of times with friends, but the hub and the kid had yet to give it a try. and yesterday, we kind of slept in a little longer than we'd planned. so the hub asked the kid "do you want to go to breakfast, or to church?"

DUH. what a stupid ass question.

and as i hopped into the shower, the phone rang, and it was my mom looking to take the kid out for breakfast. since we were already planning on going out, we invited my mom to come along. then as we were getting ready to walk out of the house, chef BIL happened to stop by on HIS way home from church. we told him to hop in our car and off we were for some delicious breakfasty grub.

when we got home, it was time to clean the house and prepare for the party. the kid got right to work cleaning her room, the hub was scurrying around in the back yard, and the bean and i did what we could to put stuff away that had been piling up on tables and desks and things. the rental company arrived with the tent and heater, and the hub shooed us out of the house to find new uggs for the kid and the bean, and to get our brows waxed. haha! he just wanted to get rid of us because, as he put it, he'd be able to get stuff done faster with us out of there.

and he did a fabulous job. here's the tent after he was done:
and i'd finally managed to talk him into using disposables for the plates and flatware. he was dead set on buying caterer's sets from pottery barn, and the only thing that kept him from doing so was the fact that we ran out of time to even GO to pottery barn.

we found this stuff that's plastic, but actually does look like real china and silverware:

i was thrilled not to have to wash and store those pottery barn dishes. yay for me!

our chefs spent most of the day hard at work. i kept trying to offer to help, and kept getting kicked out of our tiny kitchen. the final menu consisted of pork roast, haricots verts with garlic and olive oil, mashed potatoes, and creamed corn - plus salad, bread, and homemade pan gravy.

the ILs were running around, helping the hub get everything else set up, and when i offered to help, i got shut down there too. all anyone would let me do was sit on the couch and take care of the bean. not to mention, when the guests began to arrive and took their seats out in the tent, i was shuttled right out there with them and told to sit down and eat - while the ILs did ALL THE SERVING.

dudes, i was like a guest in my own home. a little weird and a bit disconcerting. but i couldn't do a damn thing about it. and the most uncomfortable part for me was when the guests were gushing with compliments on the food, the decor, the tent, etc. - and i hadn't had a single fucking thing to do with any of it.

all in all, the entire evening was a smashing success. the food was really delicious, the guests enjoyed themselves, and they even got started on discussing the zimbabwe 2008 mission trip. i don't know if the hub plans to go on this one, though. the selfish part of me hopes he doesn't go, but i know it's all for a good cause. they changed a lot of lives this summer, and they're hoping to help more families in other villages this time.

we even had a celebrity in our midst - one of the team members' sons has a regular role on a nickelodeon show called "iCarly". his name is nathan kress, and he's an adorable little guy who happened to be celebrating his birthday yesterday. although i guess i shouldn't necessarily call him a "little guy" - he turned 15, which was a shock to me because i thought he was the same age as the kid. we chatted with him a little about the writers' strike, and he seemed to be taking it in stride (what choice did he have, though, right?). "just an extended hiatus", is how he chose to look at it.

speaking of the kid, she'd decided to spend the day with her BFF instead of being bored to tears at the party, even though she knew this guy was going to be here (she watches the show regularly). she texted me during the party to ask if i could send her a picture of nathan, because her friend didn't believe her when she told her he was here. haha! and i felt kind of silly asking him to pose for my phone, so i made the hub do it. of course, he rolled his eyes, but he did it. he's such a good guy.

so...one thanksgiving gathering at our house down, and one more to go. but at least the next one will be a little less hectic - it'll be all family, although i'm sure the hub will still be all about making the house look pretty. good thing the candles we bought are huge - and most of the flowers are fake. now let's just hope we can still find a turkey at the grocery store.

interesting.

courtesy of mrs. shortycake:

you are lavenderblush #FFF0F5

Your dominant hues are red and magenta. You love doing your own thing and going on your own adventures, but there are close friends you know you just can't leave behind. You can influence others on days when you're patient, but most times you just want to go out, have fun, and do your own thing. Your saturation level is very low - you have better things to do than jump headfirst into every little project. You make sure your actions are going to really accomplish something before you start because you hate wasting energy making everyone else think you're working. Your outlook on life is very bright. You are sunny and optimistic about life and others find it very encouraging, but remember to tone it down if you sense irritation.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

i'm not too sure how accurate this is, but i giggled at the last sentence. ;)

misty water colored memmmmmmmories...

day five (sunday):

oh, so sad. i was bummed that the trip was coming to an end, although the hub remarked that it was a pretty good amount of time - not to mention it had been an all-expenses-paid vacation. yeah, we didn't get to spend a ton of time together, but when the clients are paying, you do whatever they want! and these clients are so sweet and so much fun that it never felt obligatory. that made it even better.

as planned, we got up fairly early and finished off the rest of the packing. and i heart in-room check-out via the tv! makes the process painless. the bellhop came up, took our bags to store until we were ready to leave, and off we went to the four seasons for that walk down memory lane.

being the uber-sentimental sap that i am, i TOTALLY teared up as we walked down the path that served as our "aisle", rounded the corner, and came upon our ceremony site. almost two years ago, we'd stood at that very spot and pledged our love and lives to each other for all eternity, in front of our closest family and friends. i could still remember how i felt and what i was thinking that day, and when i looked at the bean, i marveled at how full and sweet our life has become in that short amount of time.

i really missed the kid right then, because she'd walked me down the aisle, and it would've been made the moment just perfect (although you KNOW she'd have been rolling her eyes big time - "mooooooom, you're sooooo emo."). heh.

*sigh* we chatted and reminisced about our wedding the whole way back. and then the hub's phone rang, and we were off to the shops - again - to meet his partner and his wife for breakfast.

at longhi's.

yes, again. i'd really wanted to get to cheeseburger, but it didn't look like that was going to happen on this trip. damn. well, next time. hopefully we'll get back to maui before i'm completely old and decrepit.

it was nice to have some time for just the four (well, technically, five, but the bean didn't do much talking) of us to hang out and talk. and, as always, longhi's breakfast was yummy. and before we knew it, it was time to go back to the hotel, pick up our luggage, and get our asses to the airport. boooooooo.

after running through the abc store one more time to find stuff for the kid, plus a stop at the louis vuitton store (the saleslady had forgotten to put the little lock for my speedy in the bag - horrors!), we met up with the rest of the group to catch the shuttle. well, most of them caught the shuttle, and we rode with the one couple who'd rented a minivan. funny - that van got used exactly twice. once to get to the resort, and now to go back to the airport. we'd never been on a vacation where we stayed on property the whole time - typically, we're wanderers who like to drive around and explore wherever we happen to be vacationing.

the rest of our time on the island was spent sitting at the airport, waiting to board our plane. i'd remembered the day before to visit the business center at the resort to check in online and print our boarding passes, and managed to reserve the very last aisle of two seats in the "economy plus" section. yay for me!

and as on our flight out, this one was blissfully uneventful. well, there WAS one family a couple of rows in front of us who had a lap child a few months older than the bean, plus another who looked far too old to be sitting on a lap for five hours. and that kid never stopped screaming and whining and running amok the ENTIRE TIME. ugh. but the bean was, again, the perfect little traveler. she slept and ate the whole way home - all the way through the flight, past baggage claim, through the car ride home, and only woke up when we pulled into the driveway.

and that's my story! maui trip, check. now - on to thanksgiving. it's going to be one hell of a week. the hub volunteered us to host a pre-thanksgiving dinner at our house on sunday for his africa team members, and we've got 32 people coming. oh, oh, oh, and then? we're hosting his family for thanksgiving dinner here on thursday.

no, i didn't smack him. but i want to.

no longer a louis virgin.

day four (saturday):

okay, we managed to sleep in until....[drumroll]

9:30! woohoo!

so we got up, got ready, and headed out to grab some breakfast. after a bit of debate about the best way to get to the shops at wailea (you'd think the boy would take my word for it, after having walked over several times, but nooooooo), we ended up going "his" way.

which was via a dirt road that wound around the back end of the resort.

uphill.

and you know what that means - we arrived at longhi's (yes, again) two sweaty ass monkeys. ugh. it took gulping down two glasses of water for me to cool down and relax. i talked him into ordering the fabulous french toast i'd had the day before, and i went with ordinary, basic bacon and eggs. he proclaimed the french toast delicious, but too rich - and gave up after one piece. wuss! i hoovered up my meal and proceeded to enjoy damn near the rest of his. ha! um, all that walking made me extra hungry? the tropical air really revs up my appetite? eh, whatever. he watched me eat with an amused look on his face, paid the bill, and then we headed out.

we shopped for a few souvenirs for the kid and his assistant at the office and checked out a few more stores. i spied the louis vuitton shop, which i'd not yet visited, and decided to see what they had going on in there. i told the hub "i would love to rock one of those obnoxious logo bags, ha!" i was joking, i SWEAR.

and what does he say?

"you should get one."

[blink, blink] "really??" i didn't own a single piece of LV - i have kate spade, coach, juicy couture...but had yet to pop my vuitton cherry.

so off i went to inspect the merchandise. i found myself heavily debating between these two:

that's a "speedy" bag in their new monogram mini lin print, and a "neverfull" tote. here's the ridiculous part: i couldn't decide which one to get because i wanted my selection to be practical (the tote), yet i loved the pretty pinkness of the speedy.

rrrrriiiiiiight. i wanted a PRACTICAL louis vuitton bag. that makes tons of sense. good lord.

after watching me go back and forth for a solid ten minutes, the hub sighed and said "just get 'em both, would ya? let's get outta here."

the saleslady who was helping me perked up instantly. "oh, could i call my husband and have him come and listen to you? please?" heh. and then, the kicker: "you know, the prices here in hawaii are lower than those on the mainland. plus, our sales tax is half as much as yours in california."

so, yeah, um...i walked out of there with a nice big brown LV shopping bag with precious cargo inside - BOTH bags. hee hee!!

it was time to go and change for the beach. mind you, this is DAY FOUR and neither of us had even stuck a toe in the sand yet!

but i guess sleeping in till past 9 wasn't enough, because as soon as we set foot in the room, he flopped onto the bed and promptly fell asleep. i got the bean ready, took a few pictures, and waited for him to wake up.

and waited. and waited.

finally, i poked his ass a few times - we were in hawaii! i didn't want to hang around the room too much. we could sleep on the plane going home, dammit!

so we walked down to the beach, watched the waves roll in, and put the bean's toes in the water - just to say we did :)

our last dinner of the trip was at ferraro's - located in the four seasons resort next door. we immediately recognized it as the site of our food tasting, way back when we were planning our wedding and still considering doing a small reception there. the food was absolutely fabulous, but we decided to forego it in favor of a nice steak dinner at ruth's chris. besides, that way we wouldn't have to have flowers, music, etc.

i finally broke free of my usual fish entree and went for the meat. a fat, juicy filet with bleu cheese melted on top, plus steamed asparagus and mashed potatoes. oh, yum. and i was able to eat the whole thing, because we didn't have any appetizers - that client who loved to order one of everything was on his way to the airport to catch the red-eye home. boo. that dude and his wife were hil-fucking-larious. they were seriously a party in a box! oh, well.

after a few wistful glances around the grounds, the hub and i decided to get up early the next morning, pack, check out, and walk back to the four seasons to take a trip down memory lane. it was the first time we'd been back since our wedding, and with our anniversary only a month away, we wanted to be a little sappy and take some pictures at our ceremony site.

and when we got back to our room, it wasn't long before he flopped back down on the bed and fell asleep, with the bean in his arms - both snoring soundly. i watched them for a few minutes, cracking up at their harmonizing, and decided to start packing. i got most of it done and then plopped into bed and watched tv till i finally fell asleep.

more maui madness

okay, please forgive me for yesterday's bikini photo. and, to answer R's question, the hub actually thought it was cute, like i did :) when i'd originally [jokingly] suggested finding a baby bikini, he was horrified. but i'm finding that his opinions post-bean differ from those pre-bean. interesting.

anyway, on with the recap:

day three (friday):

the hub's 4:45 wake-up call came far too quickly. luckily for me and the bean, it meant absolutely nothing. we both kind of grunted and went right back to sleep. neener neener neener! he gave us both goodbye kisses and went on his merry way. no walking to the cafe for starbucks this time.

the wives invited us to join them for their morning walk along the beach and then breakfast at the shops, so the bean and i got ready and headed downstairs to meet up with them. sadly for us, our clock in the room was off and we totally missed the meeting time by about 10 minutes. boo.

but since we were already up and about, i steered the stroller onto the pathway and we took a nice long walk, with me chatting about silly stuff to the bean while she cooed back at me. i took a shortcut through the wailea marriott and ended up at the shops about 20 minutes early. and it WAS early - like 8:40 - so there weren't too many shops that were open. we walked around the general store and then went back up to the abc store to look around for souvenirs and snacks (i'm forever in search of yummy snacks, if you hadn't noticed).

breakfast was at longhi's - voted "best breakfast on maui". i hadn't been there before, and i love breakfast, so i was really looking forward to it. although once we were seated and given menus to peruse, i was slightly disappointed at what looked like a pretty ordinary list of choices. there was a crab cake eggs benedict, island fish and eggs, and the rest of it was pretty basic - quiche, bacon and eggs, waffles, pancakes. i opted for the "longhi's style" french toast - thick slices of bread dipped in egg batter with cinnamon and a touch of grand marnier, topped with diced macadamia nuts. mmmmm. this was the ONLY food picture i managed to snap over the entire vacation:

i always read my buddies' blogs and they always have such great descriptions and pictures of their fabulous meals, but i rarely get to take pictures of my meals. with the few i do manage to snap off, i endure the stink eye from the hub. oh, well. anyway, after breakfast, everyone went their separate ways - some to shop, others to change for the beach. i went into a cute little store to pick up some sunglasses for the bean - shut up, babies' eyes need to be protected from the sun too! it was such a gorgeous day, so we sat out on our private lanai to relax a little (as if we'd done much of anything else). and eventually, we fell asleep, just me and the bean. we woke up when the hub got back from his fishing expedition (unsuccessful - they didn't catch a thing, haha!) and i realized i had about half an hour before it was time to hit the spa for my cocoa butter massage and wrap. doesn't that sound lovely?

once i arrived and got checked in, i was given a tour of the facilities of spa grande. included in my massage was an hour session of what they called terme wailea hydrotherapy. there were wet and dry saunas, a roman bath, cold plunge pools, a cascading shower (which was like a massage in itself - so wonderful), and a set of five different aromatic baths. i tried them all - hawaiian healing bath, moor mud, seaweed, papaya, and aromatherapy. it was all quite fabulous, and a great way to relax BEFORE my relaxing 80-minute massage. i'm told that this spa is in the top ten in the country, and i could definitely see why!

after a quick shower, i met up with the hub and the bean at the pool, where i indulged in another order of those wonderful crab cake poppers and waited for the sunset. not surprisingly, he was catching up on e-mails on his crackberry, while the bean slept peacefully in her stroller next to his beach chair. not a bad way to take care of business, eh?

that night's dinner was at joe's bar and grill, a casual spot at the nearby tennis club. and even though it wasn't the fancy-schmancy type of joint we'd gotten accustomed to, it turned out to be the best dinner of the entire trip. the hub went for ahi (which seemed to be his entree of choice, as it seemed like he had ahi EVERY night), and i chose the special local fish (i wish i could remember what it was called, because we totally made fun of the name all night long). plus, one of the clients had this great habit of ordering one of every appetizer (and dessert!) on the menu and passing them around for everyone to try. yummy. i had so many crab cakes on this trip, and yet i could go for some right now!

the hub was looking forward to being able to sleep in the next morning. no wake-up call for us, at last! we climbed into bed and watched tv till we passed out. awesome.