Our new baby kitty, Sgt Pepper!

It’s like when Anne Shirley and Diana Barry met for the first time. BOSOM FRIENDS. Which totally makes Stabler the Gilbert Blythe. “Carrots” and “Crow-head”, am I right?!

Yes, she sleeps like that. How do you even respond to this cuteness?

It’s Mother’s Day – possibly my favorite holiday EVER. See 2011(part 1 and part 2) and 2010

I get to be mommy for these precious babies…

Marco

Stabler

Roux

Chloe (with her sarcastic face!)

And that is reason to celebrate.

Happy Mother’s Day to all mommies – whether it be people babies or fur babies!

 

Yesterday was my first day back at work, and though only a half day, I found myself exhausted!

So, now I’m feeling a little lazy, and figured a post of photos from my iPhone was the least tiring type of post

New Year’s Eve countdown with Marco

Marco and his aunt Chloe are silly geese

My beautiful, sweet friends Adrian and Micaela visited me last week to cheer me up, keep me company, and fatten me up a little, LOL. In addition to the Gott’s lunch we had (complete with milkshakes!), Adrian brought Timmy and I dinner – a tasty lasagna! Her recipe is HERE

Flowers from my bosses and coworkers

The best way to wake up in the morning!

I love my flats! – REPORT ‘Foley’ 

Dinner at home – black bean ‘burger’ in pita bread, with spicy hummus, yellow bell pepper,tomato and fat-free feta

My pretty girl, Roux

Creepy kitty… ha ha poor Stabler

Sorry for the late recap, readers!  Here’s my weekend update.

Read on for deets on the debauchery that took place in my household…

SATURDAY

I was awoken by my adorable girl Roux massaging my neck (seriously, I have pictures):

Then, I was surprised by Marco and Tim, who brought me a Skinny Caramel Machiatto (only 140 calories, which makes me feel less piggy) in bed.

After a leisurely morning, the three of us headed out for a few errands. We stopped at World Market and ended up purchasing two awesome leather chairs for our living room…and a HAMMOCK. YES. You will probably never seem or hear from me again, because I shall be reading and sleeping in MY HAMMOCK. Pictures to come once it is set up.

I then hit up the matinee of “Midnight in Paris” at the Cameo.

I really liked this film. I like a good portion of Woody Allen’s work (“Match Point”, “Hannah and Her Sisters”, “Annie Hall”), but I was not sure if I’d enjoy this particular piece, seeing as how Owen Wilson was the star; I don’t really like the actor. My advice: don’t avoid this movie for that reason. It’s adorable and fun; given to flights of fancy, and requiring a suspension of reality – but lovely!

Did I mention the walk with Tim and Marco to pick up frozen yogurt?! Will my devilish behavior ever cease?

Thanks, Yo Belle, for the delicious Plain and Blueberry Tart flavors

Although I didn’t get as much of it as I expected… SOMEONE basely stole my spoon.

At home, I cuddled, tickled, chased, and kissed Marco until his bedtime. Tim and I finished the evening trying to stay awake through “The Runaways”. Don’t really recommend. It doesn’t tell you anything you didn’t already know about the band, and in my opinion, gives you no reason to even care. I love Joan Jett, but I didn’t see much spark in the way she was portrayed, and Kristen Stewart will never have the amount of cool.

SUNDAY

We watched Sesame Street with Marco, and cleaned up the house a bit. After a trip to the gardening section of Home Depot (my new favorite place), we stopped off for a tasty lunch at Gott’s with my two men.

Marco DEVOURED his grilled cheese on wheat (happy camper!)

Tim ordered up the Wisconsin Sourdough

I had a green salad with sliced avocado and artichoke vinaigrette.

Before you think I was eating super-healthy, feast your eyes on the mounds of sweet potato fries and garlic fries present. Yummy in my tummy.

Some gardening, pedicuring, and a nasty bump on the coffee table (poor Marco!) later, it was the end of our weekend. SAD FACE.

I told you it was crazy around here.

What did you do last weekend? Spill the beans!

Wednesday night I attended the long-awaited concert at the Warfield in San Francisco. Unfortunately, Tim could not join Micaela and I in enjoying the beautiful music! He had to work really late on a phone issue, and couldn’t make it.

I started listening to Iron and Wine after I saw the movie ‘In Good Company’; the song “The Trapeze Swinger” plays during the end credits, when Topher Grace is running on the beach. After almost 10 years of enjoying Sam Beam’s music, I finally got to see him live! It was a very exciting event for me.

I couldn’t take my camera with me, but I do have a few iPhone pictures to share:

He changed up some of the songs, so that a slower tempo song became upbeat, more jazzy… Sam told us audience members that he didn’t want to just give us the songs we could listen to at home. I agreed and disagreed; I fell in love with the sounds on the album, but I did enjoy his new versions of some of my favorites! His voice was AMAZING! All appreciation I had for his recordings became heightened by the knowledge that he sounds just as good, if not better, live.

The last picture is of Mr. Beam singing “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” without accompaniment (other than a few spare notes on his guitar). I gotta tell you: I felt shivers in my spine. It was so freakin’ awesome. Thanks to Adrienne for keeping an eye on my boy while I attended the concert!

Marco’s birthday AND birthday party were a beautiful success. I cried, we all laughed, and I smooched Marco about 100000 times. I have a 1 year old child! Wow.

He looks so much like a big kid now!

Carrot cake cupcakes with low-sugar cream cheese frosting! I made these for Marco’s classmates and teachers. The recipe for the frosting called for cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and 1 whole box of powdered sugar! Ewww! I put in half the sugar, and the flavor was perfect for the carrot cake. I may share with you my super-secret-but-not-very-complicated carrot cake recipe. But I might not. We’ll see… LOL

Marco’s party was a lot of fun! We had about 28 people at our house, and they all wanted to talk to, cuddle with, and kiss the birthday boy, and Marco was a total champ! He even took a few steps for his family and friends. I’ll post more pictures of his party later.

Roux also celebrated her first birthday (May 26th), and she was happy with her very own tuna cake!

ALSO!! Our garden is doing very well, and we’re finally getting lawn in our backyard! It’s so exciting to see the green shoots. Proof of my gardening skills:

My very own strawberries! Small, but delicious. I feel like a real farmer! LOL, not exactly…but it is fun to grow my own food.

Speaking of food, I almost forgot to mention my big decision: I decided to become a full-fledged vegetarian! After 3 1/2 years of a mainly meat-free diet (chicken only – no fish, fowl, beef, or pork products), I finally took the plunge. I’ve been ENTIRELY meat-free for 2 weeks now. It’s a little difficult, but I managed! I didn’t give up dairy products, though! More power to the vegans out there, but I love cheese too much.

Phew! That’s what I get for slackin’ on the posts!

What have you been up to?? I hope you have wonderful weekends!

I finished my first round of antibiotics last week, and, unfortunately, the strep did not die off. I had to go back to my doctor today, and this time I got the business end of a sharp needle in my butt cheek (THEY called it my hip – riiiiiggghhht), and a new prescription. This had better work!

Luckily, even strep didn’t keep me from enjoying my weekend. The three of us had a fantastic brunch at Gillwood’s. Marco loved his scrambled eggs and avocado.  I managed to hit the gym for an hour, too (worked off the brunch, lol)! After running errands and playing outside (‘This little piggy’ about 100 times- it’s Marco’s favorite – and crawling around the lawn, eating bits of grass), I arranged my flowers from Whole Foods. I love spring! That night,  Tim and I fired up the grill and made a feast of fresh veggies and chicken for dinner.

Sunday, we had a birthday party (Isabella turned 1), and more errands to take care of (never ending). Marco enjoyed himself eating cake and visiting with friends at the party.  Tim and I closed the evening by loafing around the house, and eating snacks.

Alright, onto the pictures!!

Isn’t my boy getting more beautiful by the second!? Oh, and yes, those are my favorite jammies. The last picture is also something of a proud moment for other reasons: Marco has successfully transitioned off of the bottle, and it was far easier than we anticipated (suh-weet).

Last night, I sipped a delicious blended mojito and nommed chicken tacos at Compadre’s (happy hour!) with a few of my coworkers. I’d never been a huge fan of the food there, but they always have fantastic drinks – and the crispy tacos were actually very tasty this time! Maybe they changed recipes since I was there last (which, to be fair, was several years ago). Anyway, it was an enjoyable evening, and I’m hoping that I will feel a little less lonely at work.

Tomorrow night, Tim and I have our long-awaited date. We’ve been planning it for, oh, two months now… it was supposed to be two weeks ago, but I was so sick that we had to cancel.  Tim and I are thinking of seeing ‘Hanna’. Anyone see this? Should we see ‘Source Code’ instead?

As a kitten, Stabler loved to crawl onto Tim’s shoulders and just chill. On New Year’s , Tim decided to see if our cats would like to revisit.

Unfortunately, after a few comfortable moments, they got a little nervous and the claws came out:

I laughed ’til I cried when I saw the preview of this picture on the digital camera. HA HA

Sorry, Timmy! I HAD to post this!

Christmas morning finally arrived! Santa left some interesting packages under the tree…

Marco digging through his stocking!

Cool shades and board books

Presents from Santa Claus! Don’t worry, those LifeSavers are from MY stocking.

Woo hoo! Ready to hit the open road!

What’s THIS…?

My Pal Scout!!

This toy is so cool…it can be programmed to say your kid’s name, favorite color, animals and food. Plus, the songs aren’t annoying and can be swapped out whenever you want. Marco loves it.

Tuckered out!

Tim and I opened our gifts too…

I received a pair of rain boots (whee! gimme some puddles to play in…), the latest book in the ‘Scarpetta’ series, a docking station/speakers for my iPhone so I can listen to music at work, and a new lens. The lens hasn’t arrived yet, but I can’t WAIT to use it!! I hope it shows up tomorrow.

I gave Tim a couple of guitar stands, acoustic picks, and two guitar hanging devices. Now all of Tim’s instruments can be displayed in the front room. Marco gave his Dad a copy of ‘The Dark Knight’ on Blu-Ray.

Chloe, Roux, and Stabler were very happy with their treats and toys. Stabler and Roux also got a kitty-condo, and so far, Stabler likes having his own place:

I SWEAR, the last Christmas post will go up tomorrow!

I was so excited to do this giveaway with Kate! I had 43 entries to choose from, and am thrilled to be able give something fun to my readers.

In honor of the San Francisco Giants winning the Pennant, and going on to the World Series (yay!!) I used my baseball cap to hold the entries.

Marco picked the name…

And Roux sniffed the paper. You know, just in case.

Drumroll, please….

Julie, of Brown Eyed Belle!! Congratulations, Julie!! Email me at michelle at booksnshoes[dot]com so we can get the awesome Flapper Doodle calender sent to you!

Thanks to everyone who entered! I can’t wait to do another giveaway for you.

We brought Roux home on Saturday! I am so happy that we have her. She’s a little scared of Chloe, but is slowly getting used to her. Roux loved Stabler immediately, and has taken to Marco in a big way! I love to cuddle with her – luckily she likes the snuggling.

P.S. Yes, that is Tim’s unorganized shoe closet!! It’s a mess!!

P.P.S. Look at our matching stripes!! tee hee MEOOOWWWW