This weekend we:

Went to Old Town,

Ordered vegetarian pizza

Can you believe Emma ordered a Spinach Mozarella Quesadilla? 

My baby is growing up. (Sniff)

Went to park

Played with snails

Practiced Zen Tangling

Hung out with Trouble!

Went to Los Angeles and did what any good Angelino would do...

Attended a Dodger's game.

A nice weekend to kick off summer vacation.

I AM NOT ALONE!

I just had to share this with you, as often, I feel you think of me as mildly retarded for some of the things that I do.

This PROVES that:
A. I am not mentally retarded OR
B. That America is filled with retards like me.

I'm not sure that the second option is very comforting, but it's better than the first option not being true.

The following is taken from my favorite blogspot blogger, written by Jana Matthews.
AKA "The Meanest Mom" (Click on link below to go to her original post)

The Walk of Shame

"Last week, we checked out 12 books at the library, which is 12 more than we should have checked out.

I know better. Over the past six months, 2 DVDS and a Babysitter's Club novel haven't made it out of our house alive. After our last mishap, I swore that I would never step foot in the public library again.

But then school let out for the summer and my morals fell by the wayside.

"My name should be up there," I told my brood while we waited in line at the circulation desk. I pointed to a gold plaque listing the names of the library's biggest donors.

Kellen was carrying the corpse of our latest victim in a plastic shopping bag. Exactly what happened to the book is certain; by the time I found him, its body was barely recognizable.

"Cameron dropped it into bathtub!" my daughter screeched.

"I saw him throw it in!" added Cortlen.

Clearly several people witnessed the assault, yet it didn't occur to anyone to try to do anything about it.

"What could we have done?" Cortlen asked incredulously as he covered his hands with his mouth to stifle the grin.

"You could fish the book out of the water," I suggested.

[insert blank stare]

While at least one of my kids would like me to believe that he isn't playing with a full deck, the second witness was smart enough, however, to realize that time was of an essence. She knew that the book wasn't going to last long before it turned into a pulpy mush. That's why she screamed at the top of their lungs for the third to join them.

I found everyone in the bathroom, giggling hysterically.

"You think that's funny?" I asked.

Twenty-four hours later, I had to make the walk of shame. I timed my library visit so that it would coincide with the lunch break of the Children's Librarian.

"Ooooooooh!" The librarian on duty almost fainted when she saw the book. She spent the next few minutes looking like she was mourning the loss of a close relative.

It was almost too much to take.

"What do I owe you today?" I asked, pulling out my wallet. Most libraries let you buy the exact same book on Amazon and pay a small replacement processing fee. This library makes you give them half of your liver.

The librarian was willing to give me a number (which wasn't as bad as I thought), but only after she showed the deceased to all of her co-workers.

All I needed was a scarlet "A" pinned to my breast.

The only consolation in all this was that while the librarian was showing off my latest example of bad parenting, my toddler was using his fingers to make irrigation holes in a large potted plant in the lobby. Usually I would have grabbed him, but for some reason, I didn't have a lot of motivation. By the time the librarian and I were finished settling up, the ruined book was put in perspective." ~ Jana Matthews

Nothing says I miss you like Spinach Artichoke Pasta

One of the things I hate most about living on opposite sides of the country is that you aren't in my kitchen.
This is where I like you to be; this is where you belong.
You always know what seasoning should go on top of my meat or which pasta and vegetable would make the perfect side dish - which you will promptly be able to make without a recipe.
Consequently, I am very lonely in my kitchen. And in my world, loneliness breeds boredom.
And when I get bored, I get restless.
And when I get restless, you should probably watch out.
Which is why, last night, I decided to make my first attempt at producing a Food-Blog-worthy entry.
This was nothing short of embarrassing and disastrous.
How do all these people make such beautiful dishes?
I shall tell you!
EXPENSIVE CAMERAS.
And an eye for dish presentation doesn't hurt...

I mean, let's be honest - that doesn't look remotely appetizing!

Especially when you compare it to this:

Which would you rather eat?

(You don't have to answer that).

And when I photograph my Spinach Artichoke Pasta,

THIS -----------> 

doesn't even come close to  

THIS-------------->

I've had a long day, and I've lost my wit.

I think the point was, Spinach, Artichoke, and Pasta aside - 

I wish you were here.

No Comment

WHAT?

                                                       She started it!

But failure never tasted so good!

So I'm always pushing the creative boundaries of what David will tolerate from me. Earlier this week we had an interesting run that I was hoping I would be able to put together in a visually new format. Unfortunately, as of yet, I am unable to produce the work I had intended, as the file format is incompatible with the program I was trying to use. There may be a way around that, but this week has been so busy that I haven't had a chance to play around with it. Keeping my fingers crossed.

This last week and a half has been an utter failure for David and I. A combination of poor weather, the demands of Navy Recruiting, and a week of Cub Scout meetings (we are both volunteering for this summer's Cub Scout Day Camp), volleyball games and practice (of which David and I are both coaches), orthodontist appointments, band concerts, and my sister's graduation - we fell hard from our running routine. Not only that, but we haven't been watching what we're eating. With a Chinese Buffet dinner of rice, sushi, dumplings, beef, and sesame chicken (to name a few items), and a rich IHOP brunch of Spinach, Mushroom, Tomato Omelet with a side of stuffed Cinnamon-Raisin French Toast filled with sweet, smooth cream-cheese and topped with strawberries and cream under our belt, who could blame us for not being able to resist this decadent temptation after the unrelenting schedule and stress of this last week?

Mmmm!

Consequently, and perhaps not so surprisingly, both David and I have each gained 4lbs in less than 10 days.
To be honest, I was a more than a little bit shocked.
Not that I wasn't expecting to see a difference on the scale.
But 4lbs?
I wasn't prepared to see that at all.
And let me just say that the pictures of your gorgeous new frame are doing nothing to alleviate my guilt over having failed so miserably this last week! LOL
That being said, I'm jumping back on the band wagon. It feels awful to fall so hard...and so fast!
I know you are familiar with the struggles of eating temptations and dealing with the disappointment that comes with letting yourself down.
Hopefully, within these next two weeks, I can recover the ground I lost and push myself harder to make even bigger gains.
Summer is coming, and with it, the urge to sleep in and lounge at the beach.
I'm hoping you can help me stay on top of things.
Posting your running time today, I realized, was a good way to challenge myself to see if I could meet or beat your time. So that's where I'm going to start.

I was a good girl for lunch today.
Even though Sophia begs me for macaroni and cheese most days, and most days I eat it with her,
I resisted the temptation to eat a crap lunch.

Chick-pea Tomato Salad with Feta, Basil, & Mint

 It's sinful how easy it was to prepare this lunch, and heavenly how healthy it was and good it tasted.
Here's the Chick-Pea Tomato Salad Recipe in case you want to try it.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:)

We all fall off the wagon sometimes. This time it was my turn.
Time to jump back on and take this pony for a ride.
Yeehaw!

Finally

Lots of (the same looking) pictures of my butt. :}

Why we run hills...

...well, you were going to see why, but this stupid blog site is having issues loading my pictures.
Hmph, again.