whatchama-who-it?

when i'm in the mood to make something different, the first thing i usually do is turn to pinterest and peruse my "stuff I wanna eat" boards. i've amassed quite a collection of recipes both tried-and-true and "must-try."

when i was younger and a craving hit, i used to walk a half mile (seemed so much longer than that back then) to 7-eleven with, like, a dollar to pick up something sweet. and something salty to balance it out, because that's how i roll. and more often than not, the bag i toted back home would contain one of these:

i'd recently pinned something that looked super easy and sounded really delicious - whatchamacallit popcorn. air-popped corn, a basic homemade caramel sauce, peanut butter, rice krispies and some chocolate. that's a whole lottagood stuff in one snack, and i had to give it a try.

the bean was more than happy to help, and quite enthusiastically poured the kernels into the most awesome hot-air popcorn popper that ever was. 

we flipped the switch and waited for the magic to happen.

in no time, the bowl was full.

into my saucepan went some brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and a pinch of salt. 

when it was all melty and golden and perfect, I stirred some peanut butter into it and then measured out some rice krispies. 

I busted out the roasting pan, stirred everything together, and popped it into the oven for an hour.

meanwhile, i unwrapped the candy bars and chopped them into little pieces.

when the popcorn was done, it got spread out onto some parchment paper and topped with the candy. the recipe called for chocolate chips to be melted and drizzled on top, but i decided to just sprinkle mini chips on top and let it all cool completely. 

this stuff is good, you guys. the recipe says to keep it in an airtight container for 3 days. 

let's be real here. it's not gonna last that long. duh. 

chomp, chomp. 

song and play time with mimi

the barrage of birthday parties continues. although they're extra fun when not only does the bean get to play with her friends, but i do too. this shindig was in celebration of our friend nanette's baby girl, mimi. she's the cutest 1-year-old i know.

nanette asked me to make cookies to hand out with the favor bags:

the party was way out on the west side, so we took the hub's tahoe and picked up lilcee and mini cee on the way. i told the bean she could choose a movie to pop into the DVD player, and the three of them sat back there and enjoyed it together. 

it was "cloudy with a chance of meatballs 2," in case you were wondering. it was the bean's valentine's day surprise and is her current favorite flick. 

the party venue was mimi's gymboree dance and play studio. i remember taking the bean to gymboree classes, which was so much fun. of course, she has zero recollection of it and so she was totally entertained by the place. 

although she's technically a smidge too old to play on the equipment, the staff very nicely allowed her to join in on the fun anyway. this was really nice, because although i'd prepped her to expect to sit on the sidelines, i knew she was dying to play. she was a great sport about it when we thought she could only participate in the song and play portion, though. she's a team player that way. 

the teen was just slightly less entertained by it all.

but it was funny to watch her get into it, too. 

the songs and group activities were great fun for all the kids. 

photobomb!

and the teen made a new friend in the form of sweet annie. 

but she was quickly dropped when cake time rolled around.

before the party wrapped up, we managed to capture an awesome group shot. this right here is the largest gathering to date of SFAM 2.0:

i can't wait till we can get all of us together again. the SFAMily is continuing to grow...stay tuned.

i need someone to dress me

the hub managed to rally and get himself feeling back to normal in time for our planned date night. actually, it was a double date with one of his friends from the cigar lounge and his wife. it was a nice change to head out for an evening with another couple, and after a little deliberation, we ended up at this place on sunset boulevard:

i hadn't heard of it before, but a little yelp research told me that it used to be the location of blt steakhouse and is a great spot for spotting celebs. except that saturday night doesn't tend to be a great time for stargazing, so i had zero expectations for any fun sightings.

i had had the teen help me figure out what to wear, with a lot of wisecracks on the side from the hub. this was no easy task, people. my closet is half full of workout gear, and the other half...well, i'm a stay-at-home-mom. there is nothing remotely sexy or trendy in there, and definitely not much worthy of a night out in hollywood. i ended up clad in a pair of skinny jeans (that don't really fit me right anymore and are baggier than they should be), a white tee, black fitted blazer, chunky necklace and an old pair of stiletto platforms. it sounds good types out, but trust - my ass was completely "mom" looking and dowdy as fuck. it was so bad that i have not even one picture of myself from the night. 

since we're nobodies and were probably lucky to get a reservation at all, when we arrived the place was empty. literally. like, we were the only patrons in the whole joint. granted, we were eating like old people, arriving at 6:30. that's actually our normal dinnertime, but in west hollywood, that's practically 4 in the afternoon. heh. given the choice between the dining room and the enclosed patio, i opted for the latter. i figured there would at least be a little bit of peoplewatching from our table facing the street. 

the menu offered all sorts of delicious sounding tidbits, and we decided to start off with some white shrimp sautéed with lemon and garlic, plus some lovely burrata with tomatoes. 

i'm pretty sure that my husband isn't really a fan of burrata, but orders it to make me happy. he's a keeper, that one. 

because it happened to be national margarita day, i decided to celebrate. 

i liked the giant ice cube in the middle of my drink, and poked at the ice sphere served in the hub's scotch. 

also, scotch. my husband drinks scotch, smokes cigars and wears sport coats. i'm seriously married to an 80-year-old man. and here i'd always thought i was the oldie in this relationship. newp. 

as we sat and chatted about all sorts of things, we noticed a flash go off outside. a bentley had pulled up at the valet and a couple was walking briskly towards the door, with a photographer scurrying in front of them to get as many shots as he could snap off. i didn't recognize them at all, and our server hadn't seen them arrive. oh well. she said she thought it might be the maloofs, former owners of the sacramento kings and current owners of various vegas hotspots. oh, and i think some of them are on "real housewives of beverly hills." i don't watch that show, so i didn't really care much. 

a few minutes later, though, we saw more flashes and this time, i had a better view of who it was. the big hair, trim figure, and the dog in her arms told me that it was another RHOBH cast member. although my us weekly studying failed me and i couldn't remember what her name was. 

yes yes, i know now that it was lisa vanderpump. whatever. i really didn't care much since i'm not a fan of the show and besides...the food had just been served. 

chilean sea bass for me:

peppercorn filet for the hub. 

we'd ordered some asparagus and broccolini as sides, but those weren't anywhere near as delicious as these - lobster mac & cheese and truffled lobster mashed potatoes. damn. so good. 

even though i stuffed myself silly, i couldn't pass up dessert. do i ever?  we ordered "milk and cookies":

and this super delicious godiva "frozen candy bar."

outside, we chatted up that paparazzo, who happily showed us the photos he'd taken. 

turns out the maloofs weren't there, but the couple we'd seem walk in was part of the "shahs of sunset" cast. yet another show i can't get it up for. i always thought i watched a lot of tv, but i guess my addiction isn't as bad as i thought. 

we hung out at bar marmont for a little while before heading to a new-ish place called no vacancy. 

the hub had heard that this was a restaurant-slash-bar-slash-cigar lounge and wanted to check it out. but do you see that up there? yeah, there was a line to get in. and it was totally one of those shitty places where the bouncers look you up and down before deciding whether to let you in or make you wait. clearly, we didn't look cool enough for immediate entry. 

after chatting it up with some dude who tried to make himself look important as he chatted busily on his phone and gestured to the bouncers, the hub learned that there were no cigars to be found inside after all. 

and because we were a group of olds with kids who keep us on a schedule, we were all pooped and ready to head home. 

it was 10:00. bwahahahahahaha. 

OLD PEOPLE!

doing it military style

for our february 5K, the hub and i had chosen race on the base. it's the one i would've done last year had i not signed up for the princess half in florida instead. the venue was a military training base down in los alamitos, and i was kind of excited to earn the dog tag-style finisher's medal.

too bad for both of us, the hub ended up getting really sick the day before the run and had to bow out. i tried to give his bib away, but with the late notice i ended up going it alone. 

as with most other races, it was an early morning. i was out of the house by 5:30 and arrived in time to catch a pretty sunrise.

i killed some time in the car, putting off going out in the chilly morning as long as i could. finally i dragged my groggy ass out and joined the line of racers heading towards the start. 

bib, check. sparkle skirt, check. team superhero shirt, check. 

princess half hat...check. 

one more thing:

i met up with a couple of fellow superheroes just before race time for a blurry team photo. 

since they were running the 10K, we parted ways and headed off to get ready to run. 

let's do this!

i found myself running next to these guys for awhile. 

every so often, they'd stop to do push-ups or burpees or sit-ups. 

mile 1!

i haven't been able to do a lot of running lately, with most of my energies focused on that 30-in-60 barre challenge. still, the adrenaline rush i usually get during organized races kicked in and i was feeling pretty good, thankfully. 

more than halfway done. 

not too far beyond that was the 5K/10K split. 

  

this is always a happy sight. 

this one's even better. 

done!

not bad for having only run a handful of times in the last month.  i came in 475th out of 1623 runners, 23rd out of 140 in my age group.  i'm satisfied with that.

on my way back to the car, i was snapping this when a nice man offered to take a picture for me. 

well, sure. i rarely pass up a photo op.

i'm bummed that the hub didn't get to do this with me, but i'm happy to report that he's all better now and ready to take on the next race on our calendar next weekend. 

at least, i hope so.