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?

It’s another Monday. I’m in a dreary mood, so here are some happy pictures from the past week, all taken with my iPhone:

My favorite shirt!!

My first gel manicure. It generally lasts 2-3 weeks, and I’m hoping that it’s true for me. I chip my nail polish about 2 hours after they dry whenever I try to paint them myself, and even professional manicures last maybe 3 days.

We (as in Tim – I only laid down 15 tiles, and grouted 5) finally finished the floors (WHEE!!), and it looks SO much better. This is the front entryway.

Part of the dining/living area. This used to be carpeted, but we decided to tear it out and extend the floors.

Yes, that’s Roux’s little foot and tail in the corner.

Yesterday, I drove to San Jose to celebrate Micaela’s birthday eve (March 7th is her actual birthday) with her family. Marco was getting over a cold, so he stayed home with Tim.

It was great to spend time with my awesome BF! We may or may not have eaten much cake and tacos. Not sayin’ for sure.

Monica made this awesome chocolate, cream, and raspberry sauce frozen dessert thing – it was tasty to the extreme!

Micaela and Buster

Make a wish!

Unfortunately, this morning I woke up with a nasty headache and a slight (101.2) fever. I had to call in sick to work, and that does not make me very happy;  with the conversion to new software going on at work, we’re all sitting on two week’s worth of catchup paperwork/emails. Now I’ll be an extra day behind. BLAH. Tomorrow is going to be ugly.

Here’s to another week!

Okay, the title kind of sounds like a really bad first novel (“A quirky girl from the big city heads to a small town hardware store…will she find true love with the dark, pouty man in the Flooring department, or stay with her Harvard graduate?!”)

President’s Day weekend…

Sunday we drove down to Livermore to visit the in-laws. Chloe, my sister-in-law, was home from college for the weekend! Marco was spoiled with kisses and hugs from his grandparents, aunt and uncle.

Today, we decided to take a trip to Home Depot and get some ideas; we ended up hauling home boxes of linoleum tiles, grout, and baseboard. We’ve wanted to get rid of the linoleum in our kitchen and bathrooms ever since we moved in! Finally, we’ve got both the bathroom floors replaced, and we’re set to get the kitchen, dining room, and living room floors redone. Tim’s doing all the work himself, and luckily, it’s pretty straightforward. The tiles themselves have an adhesive backing, and they don’t have to have grout – but you can space the tiles and it looks really nice.

Marco and I played with his toys while Tim slaved away in the bathrooms

Here’s a couple of pictures of Tim’s handiwork:

I only photographed one part of our bathroom because I had 2 pairs of slacks and 2 sweaters drying on the towel racks LOL

and the guest bathroom:

It feels so nice to walk into the bathrooms now! I am so excited to finish the floors!

With the help of my handy iPhone pics, here is a recap of Valentine’s Day!

Our friends Jacqi and Donovan were kind enough to watch Marco while we had dinner and went to a concert. They have two little ones of their own – I don’t know how they handled 3 kids!! Marco had fun playing, and (luckily) he behaved like a gentleman.

After work, we picked Marco up from day care. While waiting for Jacqi,  Marco (RELAX, we were parked) became very curious about the manual shifter.

Tim and I drove home, changed into more festive outfits, and headed out.

Dinner at Gott’s Roadside in the Oxbow

Ahi burger, veggie burger, sweet potato fries

The Fox! Totally my favorite venue now. It was AMAZING inside.

The Decemberists were fantastic live. Not only was it awesome because I love the music, but Colin Meloy is a true performer (interesting, funny, and VERY nerdy).

It was fun to be included in the performance;  when they played ‘The Mariner’s Revenge’, they made sure the entire audience were yelling, moaning, and groaning as if we were being swallowed by a whale (trust me, look up the song).

Very blurry

Marco and I got tee-shirts! Marco’s first concert tee – I was so excited that they had it in a toddler size – it’s too big now but he’ll be able to wear it soon enough.

How was your Valentine’s??

P.S. We were a featured pic on Busy Bee Lauren’s blog yesterday! Check it out HERE

Happy Monday, readers! How was your weekend? I had a pretty good one, if I do say so myself.

Saturday we visited with my mom and sister (who is 17 years old now – HOLY MACKEREL!), and had dinner at La Pinata in downtown San Jose (oh HAI Sharks fans). The food was just o.k., but the Blackberry Margarita I ordered was delicious!  Sunday I grocery shopped, surprised Tim with a matinee ticket to ‘Tron: Legacy’ in 3D at Cameo Cinema, and spent time with Marco while Timmy geeked out at the movies.

Look at this hunk:

This is how Marco kisses me: He pulls my face in, opens his mouth and makes contact with whatever is handy (my nose, lips, or cheeks). I end up with drool all over my face but it’s so cute I don’t even care. Ignore my scrubby appearance.

I’m ready to rock this week. I got so much done on Friday, that today should really be a breeze – but we’ll see how it goes. Tonight, I’m going to see ‘Black Swan’ (FINALLY!) right after work, and I can’t wait!

Webmaster here (aka Husband),

After many hours of hard work, the new design has been published!    Of course, we’ll probably change it another 20 times before we feel it is “just right”, but for the moment – it is in a finished state.  I hope it only helps to aid you in ever more enjoyment of my wife’s wonderful blog!  :)

Pass along your comments ( Love it? / Hate it? )  and we’ll count it towards any revisions we make.

Until next time…

-Tim

[The ubiquitous 'faves' post for 2010]

The past year was a beautiful, insane, yucky, badass one, for sure. I like to remember my years past with the music, books, photographs, and movies that defined the year for me… let’s take a trip down memory lane:

PHOTOGRAPHS
In order of occurrence, not of preference.

January 2010

Posts regarding the Baby-moon in Los Cabos: here, here, and here.

May 27, 2010

Posts regarding Marco’s birth: here, here, and here.

July 24, 2010

At Tim’s birthday barbecue with the Gomers

September 18, 2010

Posts regarding my birthday: here and here.

September 27, 2010

I just love his little face! This was taken after his bath.

December 24, 2010

<3 Marco’s cheesy-ham face. <3

MUSIC

Phoenix – ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix’
I know this came out in 2009, but I started listening to it this year, and BOY did I listen to it. Such a great, fun album. These guys have a very tight sound (and I mean that literally, not the ‘hella tight!’ way).  All of the songs are very carefully crafted. Favorite songs: ‘Lisztomania’, ‘Lasso’ and ’1901′.

Jimmy Eat World – ‘Invented’
Well DUH! My boys put together a lovely, lovely record. I think this rates in my top 3 JEW albums. Favorite songs: ‘Heart is Hard to Find’, ‘Movielike’, and ‘Mixtape’.

P.S. The MP3 version is available for download for just $5.99 on Amazon. CLICK HERE

The Black Keys – ‘Brothers’
HECK YES.  Those are my only words.   Favorite songs: ‘Tighten Up’, ‘Sinister Kid’, and ’10 Cent Pistol’

Brandon Flowers – ‘Flamingo’
I was already a fan of The Killers, but Flowers’ solo effort has his characteristic flamboyance and theatricality, yet retains the folk-rock sound that I like. Favorite songs: ‘Broken Heart of Mexico’, ‘Only The Young’, ‘Crossfire’ . 

LITERATURE

Once again, these weren’t all released this year, but I read them this year. So there.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

FILM

‘Inception’

I know you probably agree with me, so explanation isn’t exactly necessary; the story was super, the effects amazing, and Leonardo DiCaprio forced me to accept his talent as an actor. Also, Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a three-piece suit. OMG.

There’s my list for the year, folks. What’s on yours?

* H A P P Y N E W Y E A R ! *

<3

After our leisurely morning and afternoon at home, we drove down to Livermore for a celebration with my in-laws. We had lots of fun, and SO MUCH good food!

For my contribution to the feast, I brought along two wheels of double-cream Brie that I’d covered in Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough.  I sprinkled the dough with pecans and brown sugar. Baked at 350 for 10 minutes (just enough to turn golden), drizzled organic honey over the warm dough and served with the Keebler Club crackers. Totally delicious! I ate far too much of it.

In addition to that, there was prime rib (not for me, obviously! LOL), mashed potatoes, a great pear salad, and jell-o salad (butter-pretzel crust, cream cheese with whipped cream, and strawberry jell-o, layered). For dessert, we had cookies, rum cake, pecan pie…and even more!

Dad and Debi gave Tim a new drill (his old one JUST died, it was perfect timing!). I received some beautiful silver earrings (which I put on immediately), a cute headband, and a copy of An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin (WIN!). Marco received lots of books and toys from his Grandma Debi and his Great-Grandma Judy. Spoiled!

Merry Christmas <3

Marco and Aunt Chloe

Me and Cameron

We drove home in comfy, relaxed silence (Marco slept the whole way), and snuggled into bed late. It was a wonderful Christmas! I can’t wait for next year, when Marco is walking around!

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!

…considering it was last week!

The first part of Christmas Eve, I baked cookies (ginger snaps and pumpkin cookies!) and cuddled Marco.  We spent the afternoon with the Gomers. Marco had fun opening presents and playing with Belle.

Belle opening her present from us

My Pal Violet laptop!!

Marco’s presents!

He loves ribbon

Such a ham

Marco got some very cute outfits, and Tim received two Blu-Ray movies he wanted. I was very excited to open my present and find The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller! I used to work at Bouchon Bakery, and was lucky enough to have a beautiful anniversary luncheon with Tim at The French Laundry. OMG, AMAZING! Most of the recipes are a little too difficult for my culinary skill set, but there are a couple of things I want to try.

After presents, we had lunch from Picante (mmm!) and let the babies take a nap. We headed to San Jose around 4 to my aunt and uncle’s house for my family’s celebration. Marco was kissed, cuddled, and entertained by my mom and sister, as well as my cousins, aunts and uncles. A few of my uncles were…tipsy, to say the least (LOL) and became quite talkative. Very funny. Tim, Marco, and I drove home later that night, so we could enjoy Christmas morning alone.

Here’s the cookies and milk, complete with bites taken out of them…

Santa’s been here…

Tomorrow I’ll post the Christmas Day pics!