brows, blowout, beautiful!

my poor teen - she caught a cold last week that turned into a sinus infection.  she's now on antibiotics for the next ten days.  she missed two days of school, and when i picked her up yesterday i had a little "hope you feel better and didn't have a shitty day at school" present for her:

and it was awesome when she got in the car, grumpy from her last class, and totally brightened up when she found her little surprise. 

i still had something else for her - a trip to the salon to get our brows done.  we'd both been bitching and moaning about how badly we needed it, and i thought it would be nice to pull up without a word.  we were munching on a snack when i parked, and as we sat there chatting, i saw a flash of movement just outside her window. 

"OMG, dude, that chick totally ate it just now," i sniggled as she whipped her head around to look.  but her interest didn't go unnoticed as the girl noticed and screamed out "what the FUCK are you looking at?!?"  yikes.  and i was most amused because she was so obviously twisted - at 3:30 in the afternoon - and as she fell, held her cup in such a way that not a single drop of whatever poison was in it came splashing out.

as she stumbled away in her drunken stupor, the humor of the situation hit me and i burst out laughing and snorting uncontrollably.  damn.

but the joke was on me, because the first thing we laid eyes on as we set foot inside the salon was her dumb ass, sitting on a chair, mumbling incoherently as a couple of salon employees helped clean her cuts and cover them with band-aids.  i just hoped she didn't recognize the teen and say something to her that would make me have to pull my inner bitch out and get my ass beat.  heh.

luck was on our side, as she hardly took notice of us and continued to ramble on and on about how she'd fallen in the parking lot but her nails were a mess and she really needed a pedicure.  and when she heard us ask for our services, she decided to add an eyebrow wax to her list of needs. 

except that they didn't really want to work on her drunk ass with bloody feet and told her that she should go home, take a nap, and come back the next day.  when she finally figured out what they were telling her, she got crazy belligerent and started spouting off all sorts of obscenities.  "don't any of you speak english?"  "i pay you people good money, you do what i tell you!"  and other loveliness.  i personally would have thrown her ass out, but they decided to shut her up by sitting her down in one of the spa chairs and doing their thing. 

you KNOW i had to.

damn, she totally busted me.  i was trying to be so stealth, too.  i don't know that she realized what i was doing though, because she didn't say a word to me.  instead, she continued to ramble on and on about how she couldn't understand anything they were saying, demanded translations, whined about the water temperature, and so on and so on.

when we were finally done, it was time to scoop up the bean and take her for some beautifying too.  her hair had gotten really long from the last time she'd had it cut, and it was time to chop it again.

we'd been talking about going for her haircut for a few days, so she wasn't freaked out by it this time.  she still wanted to sit on my lap, though.  no biggie.

snip, snip.

she even got her first "blowout."

and then she was all done.

cute, yes?  oh, and speaking of cute - behold, the teen's official sophomore portrait!

man, i've got me some super fabulous girls.

this ain't your grandmother's junior league

it's hard to believe that i've been in the junior league for a whole year already.  seems like only yesterday i was attending that first open house, and then making the decision to join a fun group of women who work together to improve lives within the community.

anyway, last night was the first general membership meeting (GMM) of the year.  i managed to get myself placed on the fundraising/events committee for my first active year of membership, and we've already had a handful of meetings to start planning our one big, splashy fundraising gala.  it's called the "chocolate chip ball," and although i missed it last year, i'm kind of excited to have a reason to HAVE to attend the next one.  i love getting all gussied up, you know.  plus, it's a really special year for my junior league - it's our 85th anniversary! 

although my wardrobe is severely lacking in gussying-up attire.  so when the call went out for as many committee members to arrive at the GMM dressed to the nines to generate excitement for the ball and announce the venue and date, i was kind of conflicted.  i wanted to participate and be all in the spirit of things and all that, but WTF did i have to wear?  the ball is black-tie optional, and i sure don't have anything in that caliber (except my wedding dress, but no way).  i decided to just do the best i could and busted out my beloved kate spade LBD.

i pulled up at kidspace just in time, and waited a minute before emerging from the car in all my finery until i saw another committee member trudge across the parking lot in her floor-length gown.  chicken, i know.  hee! 

anyway, i was pleased to note that there was a good handful of suckers good sports in attendance, and we gathered to take a group shot.

it was a lovely meeting, and it was nice to see a lot of my fellow newbie active members.  we all got spread out across the dozen or so different committees, so we don't get to hang out as much as we did last year.  and our keynote speaker was fantastic.  she was really inspiring and funny, and it was interesting to hear facts and tidbits about the differences between the junior league of 1926 and now.

and on the way home, i got to thinking about what the hell i'd wear to the ball.  granted, it's in april and i have months and months to figure it out.  and then i thought about how one of the girls asked me if i'd made the dress i was wearing (ha, i wish!), and an idea sprouted in my peabrain:

what if i make my dress myself?

i could look for a really good, patient teacher to help me with the process - selecting a pattern that would be flattering, formal, and comfortable, choosing the right material, guiding me through the actual dressmaking.  i'm so proud of silly little things i make, like my iPad cover and the few garments i've made for the girls - i would be BEAMING with pride over being able to rock a dress i made for myself for a black-tie event.

hmmmmm.

cookie monster

these have become my newest addiction:

mini mint chip meringue cookies!  they aren't perfect, and with those cracks that i can't seem to avoid, certainly aren't pretty.  but they sure are tasty.  i don't even remember what blog it was i was reading, but once i caught sight of them, my mouth started watering and i couldn't stop thinking about 'em.

luckily, my friend google turned up a recipe that was so easy, i skipped into the kitchen immediately to make a batch.  i separated the eggs, put the bowl and beaters in the fridge, and let the whites come up to room temperature.  it didn't take too long, and the meringue mixed up quickly and painlessly.

i poured it into a disposable decorating bag (which i stood up into a glass for easy filling, i'm such a genius):

and then i piped out a little army of cute little cookies.  yeah, yeah - my piping skills need some work.  okay, a lot of work.

they're seriously so delicious, i can't stop munching on them.  and i've actually made, uh, three batches of the damn things in the last couple of weeks.  heh.

yesterday, i decided to try out another recipe that caught my attention - for peanut butter bacon cookies.  baconfest is never over, people. 

and this recipe was so simple - only a few ingredients.  peanut butter, brown & white sugars, a bit of baking soda, and an egg.  it's actually a thumbprint-style cookie, with a big dollop of chocolate in the middle, but although i love chocolate more than most things in life, i don't really dig a big blob of it on top of a cookie.  i much prefer spreading the love, so i decided to throw my own little twist on it.

i was a little alarmed at how oily the cookie dough seemed to be, but i knew it was due to the natural peanut butter it called for. 

and once they were all baked, they dried up quite a bit.  and my twist - i melted some dark chocolate, poured it into a ziploc, snipped off a corner, and drizzled it on top.

pretty, right?  and i was pleased to find that they taste as good as they look.  for you baconphobes, i gotta say that the porky goodness really wasn't very noticeable.  they're just a super moist and chewy cookie.  in fact, the hub (who never comes near any of my bacony sweets) spied the cookies on the counter and ate one, and just thought it was a regular ol' peanut butter cookie.  he was pretty surprised when i figured out that he'd snacked on it and told him what it was that he'd eaten.

and then i laughed my ass off.  heartily.  for about ten minutes.

your love is like a heat wave

ten years ago today, the hub and i went out on our first date.  i can hardly believe it.

he's been putting up with my silly ass for an entire DECADE!  amazing.  happy date-aversary, dear hub.  every day is an adventure.

speaking of adventures, one of our favorite things to do is to hop in the car when it's butt ass hot (like it was this weekend) and head off to the beach.  and we often find ourselves heading west, to a sweet little sort-of hidden spot in malibu.

of course, nothing happens without some sort of glitch.  as we're driving along, with my nose in a magazine and the bean engrossed in a DVD in the backseat, the hub stomps on the brake.  "holy shit, that car just flipped over!"

yikes.  i looked up, and sure enough, two cars in front of us was a big ass cloud of smoke and debris flying into the air.  the hub immediately dialed 911, stopped the car, hit the hazards, and ran out to help.  shockingly, his call was answered even before he'd opened the door, and he was reporting the accident within minutes of it happening. 

a couple of other cars stopped, too, and the drivers got out to check on the victims and try to move the bigger pieces of debris out of the lanes.  the cars behind us were annoying, though, as they honked and yelled at us.  seriously, people?  WTF!

first on the scene was a traffic cop who was absolutely no help whatsoever, and disappeared as soon as he heard the fire truck sirens.  CHP arrived soon after, and the fire trucks pulled up in front of and behind us.

luckily, the couple in the car wasn't seriously hurt.  they were being taken to the hospital anyway, and the hub had the task of calling their grown son to let him know what had happened to his parents.  geez.

the cops and firemen thanked him for his help, and then we were on our way.  we hit a little traffic as we got off the freeway, but it was worth it - there was a 30-degree difference between here and home.

along the way, we passed a long line of valets parking cars in a nearby lot, and i wondered if we'd get to see anyone interesting.  alas, it appeared to be a gathering of the l.a. clippers - with no paparazzi around but me.  ha!

 we stopped at a grocery store to pick up some snacks and then made our way to the beach, where we found that our cute little hideaway wasn't so secret at all.  but there was still plenty of room for us, and we set up our towels and umbrella and basked in the beautiful weather.

the bean was anxious to hit the water, and the hub was more than happy to oblige.  it's so funny how willing she is to play in the ocean now, considering she was super scared of it before.

they frolicked at the edge of the water for a while, while i stayed behind, relaxed in the shade, and munched on some grub.

btw, a tip:  don't buy those whoopie pies.  they sure looked good, but the filling was so full of yuck.  i've just gotta make some myself.  after all, i have a fabulous new cookbook dedicated to those little nuggets of yum.

and then she came back and tried to get me to come along.

"come on, it's fun!  i'll show you."

"the water tastes yucky, though."

"ah, forget it.  i'm going back in."

when she'd had her fill and teeth started to chatter, we packed up and headed off for a drive.  along the way, i noticed this party set-up at one of the beachfront homes and thought of how lovely the rest of it must be:

i always grin when i see this house.

we wove our way along PCH, going through santa monica to marina del rey to torrance before finally hopping on the freeway.  the bean had fallen asleep within minutes of getting buckled in after romping on the beach, and we took advantage of the quiet time to chat and take the long way home.

i'd seen on twitter that the tropical shave ice truck was in chinatown at the moon festival, and managed to talk the hub into stopping.  by then, the bean had woken up and brightened up at the prospect of a sweet and icy cold treat.  after doing a bit of circling, we finally found where a bunch of different food trucks were stopped.

and then i found it!  whee!

the bean was quite happy to share this giant (regular-size!) shave ice with me, with grape & bubble flavor plus ice cream at the bottom and a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk on top.

from the slammin' sliders truck, she got to nosh on some kobe beef yummies.

i may have taken a bite or two.  heh.

it was a lovely way to beat the heat and spend some quality time together.  and i can't wait to see what other adventures we go on together in the years to come.  awwwwww....