Marci and I did the This or That Summer Tag together. Looks like we might not be the best summertime friends. Here’s hoping we get along a little better during the other seasons of the year. Otherwise, it’s OVER between us:
Archives for June 2015
Razzy Blue Lemonade!
I had high hopes of recreating a red, white, and blue drink for the 4th of July, but as luck would have it…no.
The Razzy Blue Lemonade did not want to have any red in it whatsoever. I did manage to add my own decorative spin and salvaged my festive drink!:
(video here)
You can find the full recipe here!
Or you can just pour a shot of vodka and blue curacao into a glass, add a bunch of lemonade and top it off with that raspberry liqueur you don’t own.
On second thought…a bottle of wine goes a long way and is a heck of a lot less work.
Cheers to the weekend!
Britain Is In England
5. The last thing that made you laugh.
“Mom? I know you’re going to say no, but…”
This almost always result in me saying no to something, but I like to entertain the question nonetheless.
“Erica says I can go to a Little Mix concert with her, but it’s not in this country.”
(Quick pop culture lesson for my fellow old people. Little Mix is the 2015 version of The Spice Girls)
“You’re not going to Canada for a concert.”
She’s TEN.
“No, not Canada!”
I look at her like there isn’t possibly another country she could be talking about, because if not Canada then WHERE?
And she was all, “It’s in Britain.”
And I was all, “No.”
And she was all, “Mom!!!”
And I was all, “Laina, Britain is in England.”
And she was all, “Soooo!”
And I was all, “Well if Erica’s Mom wants to take you then that’s fine with me.”
And then I texted Erica’s Mom to thank her for the overseas invite that she was completely unaware of.
Laina and Erica were soon discouraged from seeing the concert in Britain, but about 30 minutes later Laina approached me again, “Mom? Is there a “United Kingdom” around here somewhere?”
God bless her.
She inherited my knack for Geography.
Maybe this can be one of those things where she grows up to take her own daughter to Europe for a teen bop concert because her own mother never did it for her.
I hope she takes me with her.
My Guilty Pleasures
Today I’m sharing all of the things that make me feel guilty, but I love too much to stop in the guilty pleasures tag. Thankfully there are only eight of my guilty pleasures to sit through and truth be told, I don’t feel THAT guilty about them:
(video here)
A Really Terrible Looking Father
Laina came home after school last week with a Father’s Day gift for Pat. It was a cut out of a giant brown man that she had drawn herself, but it was too big to fit in her backpack so she carried it home.
By the time she arrived she was in tears because Maile had been teasing her about the gift and I was all, “Well, that wasn’t very nice of her…”
I threw Maile a look that said I’d be dealing with her later, but first I wanted to make Laina feel better about her artwork.
“I think it’s a wonderful chef!” I said.
And Maile threw Laina a look that said, “I told you it looks like a chef.”
And then I threw a quick please let that be a chef prayer to the Lord and was all, “Is that a chef Laina?”
And of course Laina sunk into a puddle on the couch because Maile had been calling it a chef all the way home and now here her own mother also called it a chef when it definitely was NOT a chef, but rather obviously it was Pat with a chef’s hat on.
Naturally, I assured her it was a beautifully accurate portrait of her father.
And then I told her a relatable story about how when I was ten I was crying about Father’s Day too, not because I made my Dad look like a chef and was in denial about it, but because my Dad wasn’t even alive to give my chef portrait to.
I had to give my Father’s Day chef portraits to my mother and she was actually a really terrible looking father.
So…see how the glass is half full now?
I definitely turned my Mom Fail into a winning lesson in feeling grateful your dad is alive.
And Pat loved his gift.
Everyone wins.
Except for me.
Because my Mom still makes a really terrible looking father.
Bridesmaid’s Punch!
You don’t have to be a Bridesmaid to enjoy this week’s Pinterest drink! Marci and I tossed together Moscato, pink lemonade and 7 up and the results were perfection. I would keep the Bridesmaid’s Punch in my refrigerator at all times if it didn’t look like something my kids would want to get into it:
(video here)
Have a great rest of your weekend!
Don’t Worry, It Will Be Fun
3. Share something you learned this week.
I don’t even like to hike.
I must have seen some sort of local news show that talked about Discovery Park in Seattle and how there’s a beautiful lighthouse at the beach there. I realized I had never actually been to Discovery Park so I proposed we go on Sunday evening. My family has little say when I get my mind on something. They’re at the mercy of my every adventure.
“Don’t worry, it will be fun!”
The website said the beach and lighthouse was a 1.5 mile hike from the parking lot and that sounded manageable.
A sunset hike!
How lovely!
It was awful. The entire hike was downhill. So many stairs. So much dirt. So many complaining kids. It took us somewhere between 20-30 minutes and flip flops were a terrible walking choice.
When we made it to the bottom I made the mistake of saying, “Boy I don’t even want to THINK about how hard it is going to be to walk 1.5 miles back UP HILL!”
Laina burst into tears.
I didn’t even bother consoling her because she was right.
There was an eclipse of time where everyone was happy. The lighthouse was beautiful. The kids frolicked in the sand. The water glistened!
But we had to hustle up and leave because while a sunset hike sounded lovely at the time, it means the 1.5 mile trek uphill will be dark.
When we finally made it the van I collapsed and cursed myself and my stupid idea, but my crossfit husband was all, “thanks for the hike!”
And then he was all, “Seriously though, does it concern you how out of shape you are? I mean, what would you have done if you were by yourself and there was an emergency?”
And I was all, “like what?”
And he was all, “Well if a bear attacked, what would you do?”
And I was all, “I’d lay down. I don’t fight bears and I don’t like to be chased. What would you do big man? Wrestle it?”
And he was all, “Well if I had the kids with me I would tell them to run and then I would sacrifice myself to buy them more time.”
And I was all, “Oh well you don’t actually have to be in any physical shape at all to allow a bear to eat you. So I guess I’m good.”
I suppose I learned a few things this week. I learned that the thing I hate most about hiking is the walking part. Particularly if any portion of the walking is done at any sort of incline. And I learned that you don’t need to be in any physical shape at all to sacrifice your life in a bear attack. So there’s really no point in me being physically fit like Mr. Crossfit over here.
But maybe most importantly I learned that starting a hike at 7pm on a school night is the worst possible idea and that any time someone says, “Don’t worry, it will be fun!” you should definitely probably worry. Especially if that someone is me.
We got home at 11pm after a late night Burger King dinner.
It’s okay.
I’m safe now.
Next time, I think we’ll opt to park in the parking lot that was DIRECTLY NEXT TO THIS LIGHTHOUSE.
It really was beautiful though.