Sunday Favorites - Measuring Cups

 Sunday Favorites over at Chari's Place, Happy to Design. I hope you enjoy this favorite from November 30, 2008. Wow! I've been blogging quite a while now.

FAVORITE POST 

FROM NOVEMBER 30, 2008

 I was going back through the archives of one of my favorite blogs, Joanna Goddard's, A Cup of Jo. And I saw these cute measuring cups...

I thought to myself, “Self…would there perhaps be other cute measuring cups on the worldwide web?” And there were, lots of them.

I like the look of these because they stack, but they're pretty. And they would probably wash up really well, not like plastic. I would definitely like these in my kitchen.

And I would also be super happy to have either one of these in my kitchen. I think they're so fanciful and almost like what I would have wanted when I was a little girl, and we should never lose our inner child should we?

This one I want sooooooooo bad for my sister. She likes anything to do with the ocean and she would love these seashell measuring cups. Maybe I'll order them for her birthday? It's not til next year in October. Surely by then I can save enough money?

And these next ones would be perfect for my mom's kitchen because she has very limited space and doesn't like anything that takes up a lot of room. So collapsible measuring cups would be perfect for her.
On this next group the only ones I really love are the magnetic ones that attach directly to your stove. These others are very pretty, especially because you can hang them and they're so decorative, but to me their cold, there's no warmth to them. What do you think?

The rest of these I just thought were unique and you can probably only find these in antique stores, or perhaps eBay?

And these would be great in you want to get kids involved in cooking because they're such fun shapes and colors. It would be really hard to lose these don't you think?

Do you remember what kind of measuring cups your mom had in the kitchen when you were growing up?

Sock it to Me Baby!!! A Blast from the Past

Do you remember the Bee Gee's, John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever, Disco, Donna Summer? Do you remember Pop Rocks, Pet Rocks, Mood Rings and Lava Lamps? Do you remember Flower Power, Polyester, Smiley Faces and The Hustle?

Well I'm about to show you pictures of people who dug way down deep into their memories and returned us all to the "1970's".

The CAPC put on a great party this past Friday night where the theme was the 70's.

First, the grooviest of chicks, my sister Lisa!

Peace my Sista!

"Make Love, Not War"
Unknown

We had so much fun, from the picking out of the costume to the hair and makeup session before the party. This was the first time Lisa had worn fake eyelashes and she picked some gorgeous, glittery purpley ones! She added the bright green eyeliner and she looked perfect!

When we got out of the elevator and turned the corner we ran into these characters and I don't think we quit smiling and laughing the rest of the night! 

"Old hippies don't die, 

they just lie low until the laughter stops 

and their time comes round again."

Joseph Gallivan

"I do my thing, and you do your thing. 

I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, 

and you are not in this world to live up to mine. 

You are you, and I am I, 

and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful."
Frederick E. Perl

We also had a surprise guest join us. 
The one and only Gene Simmons from K I S S !
(Not the real Gene Simmons) Like my disclaimer?

C'mon people, now 
smile on your brother, 
ev'ry-body get together, 
try to love one another right now.
Chet Powers/Youngbloods 

"I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one.  
And I believe it could be someday it's going to come."
Cat Stevens  

"Imagine no possessions, 

I wonder if you can, 

No need for greed or hunger, 

A brotherhood of man. 

Imagine all the people 

Sharing all the world. "
John Lennon

There's No Place Like Home! But Seaside was pretty Close!

Well I'm home again. For those of you that didn't know I've been AFK (Away from Keyboard) since Thursday morning. I was in the beautiful city of Seaside, California staying at the beautiful, luxurious totally comfortable Embassy Suites pictured here. It looks exactly like that.

Before I show you more pics I did want to mention that in my previous post I used some chat lingo and I wanted to translate for you now.

AFK of course is Away from Keyboard.
BRB is Be Right Back.
LOL is Laughing out Loud.
AAS is Alive and Smiling.
TTFN is Ta Ta for Now.
H&K is Hugs and Kisses.

My sister Lisa is a District Secretary for our local cemetery and the reason we went to Seaside is that she had to attend the CAPC Annual Conference, for the California Association of Public Cemeteries. My wonderful sister chose to take me as her date. We left on Thursday as we had to be there that evening for a "Meet and Greet" at the hotel. After that we went out to dinner with her boss and his wife and two members of the board and their wives. We went to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. in Monterey.


When we arrived it was still daytime outside and this is the view from our table.

Here's a picture of the nicest group of people EVER! I had such a great time with them. They were so much fun!

From the left beginning with the man in the red shirt; Bill Prout (board member) and his wife Kathy (Mayor of Shafter); Beeb Anderson wife of board member David Anderson pictured right across from her. Vaughn Unruh wife of Tim Unruh (Cemetery Manager, my sisters boss) and Tim Unruh; then that's me peeking out way in the back on the right and my sister Lisa then David Anderson.

I just can't say enough kind words about these people, my sister is so blessed to work with them and they are so blessed to have her!

Then we went back to the hotel for the evening, here's some pictures from the hotel room, this was the view we had.

Some pictures of our room which was amazingly confortable. The staff in the whole hotel was great. I would highly recommend staying at an Embassy Suite next time you need a great hotel!

The next day, Friday, my sister had to attend the conference and I was on my own so I set out early with my Starbucks Coffee and three Vanilla Bean Scones. I know...lots of carbs, but hey! I was on Vacation! I decided to drive North on Hwy 1 just to explore and see what was out there. What was out there was a gorgeous drive! Unfortunately because I was driving I didn't have opportunity to stop and take photos, but there was one time that I glance out the passenger side window and I saw this beautiful field being plowed by a big green tractor and less than a mile away you had a gorgeous view of the ocean and the waves breaking against the rocks. I envied that tractor driver...trust me!

I headed back to Seaside planning to do some shopping at a shopping center I saw on the way up with a Ross, Marshalls, Target and Cost Plus World Market, but my sister called and said she was done for the day so I picked her up and we headed to Cannery Row in Monterey.

We walked around looking in all the little shops but I still hadn't had lunch so we decided to go to El Torito. I know...here we are on the coast with lots of fresh seafood restaurants and we go to a Mexican food place. What can I say, we love chips and salsa and margaritas more than anything. Plus they had an El Torito right on the water with a great view from our table...plus did I mention Margaritas?

Here I am outside of El Torito. As you can tell it was pretty windy.

Here's my sister Lisa...

And here are the both of us together...

Here's a picture of us in the restaurant waiting for our drinks and food.

A view from our table at the ocean. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful state.

That evening the CAPC had planned a costume event. The theme was "The 70's". We headed back to the Embassy Suites so my sister could get into her costume and we could do her hair and makeup. I'll follow up with a post tomorrow with photos and stories from that evening.

The next day, which was a Saturday my sister again had to attend the conference and I had made plans to meet my daughter in Gilroy, CA so we could do some shopping at the largest Outlet Mall I had ever been to. The Gilroy Outlet Stores. We had so much fun traipsing in and out of all those stores. Gilroy also has a Home Goods and I now know I love that store...my daughter loved it as well. Plus she brought my sweet little grandpuppy Chorizo. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures :-(

I headed back as that evening was the Awards Banquet for the CAPC and I wanted to be able to have time to dress and touch up the makeup and hair. The food was great. We had Pork Loin Roast with Roasted Baby Red Potatoes and Broccoli. Dessert was a piece of Opera Cake. I didn't take pictures but it looked something like this. 

None of us had ever had this type of cake. It was good, but I would have rather had Creme Brulee! According to Wikipedia, Opera Cake is a type of French cake. It is made with layers of almond sponge cake (known as Joconde in French) soaked in coffee syrup, layered with ganache and coffee buttercream, and covered in a chocolate glaze. The cake was popularized by the French pâtisserie house Dalloyau.

We returned home on Sunday but we took our time driving and we took the 17 mile drive and visited Carmel and downtown Salinas before finally heading home. I'll post pictures of that later on the week also.

This was one of the best vacations I've had in a long time. The past two years I've used my vacation time for surgery for Thyroid Cancer and also for Radiation Treatments...so it was nice to take some time off and actually visit somewhere and have a great time.

AFK

If you know chat room lingo then you know that AFK means Away From Keyboard. It's almost like BRB which means Be Right Back.

Well I'm going to be AFK until Sunday.

I'm going to be here. And I'm going to be LOL'ing and AAS'ing all over the place! TTFN!
Cya all on Sunday. H&K's!

Iwanna Wednesday and more excuses

Wow...so Alicia is making excuses again for not having an Iwanna Wednesday post for us! What's up with that?

Well in Alicia's defense, blogger is having hiccups with letting us upload photos. It's a bit difficult for me to show you what Iwanna if I can't upload photos right?

I acutally have it all written and just put little (insert photo here) where I need the photo. Hopefully if tomorrow isn't too busy I can finish it on my lunch hour and still get in under the wire.

Think positive thoughts for blogger that it gets the little bug fixed. C'mon Blogger, I'm rootin' for you!

Mosaic Monday - Birthday Cake, Purple Tongue and PF Changs

This past week was super busy for me. My cousin Stella who I wrote about here, came to visit with her lovely granddaughter Roni short for Veronica. We also celebrated my daughter April's birthday. On Thursday I left work at 2pm and picked up my mom, Stella and Roni and we headed to Fresno which is about an hour and a half North of Shafter where I live. April met us there as she lives an hour an a half  North of Fresno.

We got to Fresno about an hour before April so we went to Home Goods. I had never been to Home Goods but I'd heard lots of raves in blogland about this store and the great items you can find. It didn't disappoint! I loved it. Stella who lives in San Diego where they have a couple of them said she loves to go there when she needs to finds gifts for weddings and such.

I could have spent the whole night there, and probably half my paycheck :-)
I bought a set of pillows as my old ones have a permanent indentation where my big head lays. I also bought a little gift for my sister; some removable wall stickers with shells. There were four and they were so pretty. As soon as she has them up on her wall I'll make sure to share photos. I also bought a huge plastic bag that had such a pretty design for 99cents and that's what I wrapped April's gift in.

I could do Iwanna posts for days and days just with all the items I wanted at Home Goods. If you have one near you GO!

Finally April and Chorizo arrived and we drove to PF Changs to meet them. April had requested PF Changs for her birthday dinner. Roni of course was enchanted with Chorizo and who doesn't love to watch a little girl and a puppy play? But we were starving so we headed into the restaurant.

For those of you not familiar with PF Changes, it's a Chinese Bistro and they have the yummiest food. Even my mom who is a very picky eater loved it. We started out with their famous Crispy Green Beans. Sorry that we had eaten half almost all of them before I remembered to take a picture. They are so good I could make a meal on them alone.

Mom ordered another appetizer instead of a main course as she's not a big eater. She order the pork spareribs and they were delicious, falling off the bone, tasty!

I ordered the Better Lemon Chicken with the Shanghai Cucumbers. Loved, loved, loved the cucumbers. Wasn't thrilled with the chicken.

The birthday girl ordered the Kung Pao chicken and it was heaven on a plate. Next time that's what I'm getting.

Stella ordered the Beef and Broccoli and it was very tasty. The beef was very tender the broccoli very crisp. We all also had white and brown rice.

PF Changs also has the most ATTENTIVE servers ever. They took the cake from me when we came in and then our server brought it out and lit the candles and sliced it and served it on plates (I had forgotten to bring plates).

Roni was hilarious and had us laughing the whole time. At one point in the evening she shouted out, "This is the best night ever!" Needless to say that made April feel really great that everyone was having such a great time at her birthday dinner.

Roni also really wanted one of the deep purple flowers off of April's birthday cake, so you're going to love the following mosaic. It shows my cousin Stella (a beautiful lady) and her granddaughter Roni having a great time and Roni's tongue and teeth after eating the purple icing flower!

April was super happy that her Nana, my mom came with us as it was a pretty long trip for her. Here is a mosaic of the three of us and the yummy chocolate cake. Happy Birthday April! We love you!

Linking to Mosaic Monday with Mary from Little Red House, be sure to go by and visit all the others participating today.

My April Fool Surprise

Today is the birthday of my first born.
My daughter, April.

I remember coming home from the doctors office after having been told that I was pregnant.
I walked into our apartment and was suddenly starving.
I made myself a fried egg sandwich and devoured it without breathing.
Then I immediately threw up and so it continued for the first three months.

I remember her dad calling me as he was out of town for work and was unable to go with me to the doctor.
There were no cell phones then so her dad called my from a pizza parlor he stopped to have lunch at.
He was excited to hear and when I told him yes...I'm pregnant. He let out a joyous yell that everyone in the restaurant heard. Everyone congratulated him and he gave me the biggest hug ever when he got home, then released me in a panic he might have hurt the baby.

I remember being pregnant and feeling April move inside me.
She liked for me to lay on my back and sometimes I would turn on my side and she would kick like crazy.
When I wanted water in the middle of the night I would turn on my side and place my belly against her dad's back and she would kick him awake and he would go get us water.

I remember the day I knew she was going to be born.
I woke up feeling it.
I woke her dad who called my mom.
My mom immediately got ready to come over and spend the day with me as he had to go to court to testify for an arrest he had made.
I remember feeling really great, serene almost.
When the pains got closer and I knew that I had to go I paged my husband, again no cell phones. He called me and told the judge he had to leave as his wife was going to give birth.
He told me the judge told everyone in the court and they all clapped and congratulated him as he left.

I remember being in the hospital and hoping I would have my baby before midnight so she wouldn't be born on April Fools Day.
I remember yelling at her dad because he was watching tv while I was having contractions.
I remember going into the delivery room and the pushing. I don't remember the pain.
Then I remember my baby girl coming into the world...on April Fools Day.
I remember her little head coming out of my body and that she had so much black, black hair.
I remember them cleaning her up and I couldn't let her out of my sight.
I wanted her in my arms NOW!
I remember when they put her in my arms and I saw those big black eyes looking at me like she knew me already, like she had no fear and it was normal to be in my arms.
I remember looking up at her dad who was in tears and I remember saying, "I want another one".

Then we took her home and life has never been the same again.
I love you April, my daughter, my first born.

Mom

Iwanna Wednesday - Easter Treats

I've been on a diet. Well...let me rephrase, not really a diet but a new eating plan. I've been dieting since I was 13 and I've tried them all! The only thing that has ever worked for me is reducing the amount of carbohydrates I eat. I learned this by doing the Atkins plan several years ago and also by taking the Curves Weight Training class.

I have a slow metabolism and it's been made even slower by the removal of my thyroid due to cancer. My endocrinologist told me I would either lose a lot of weight after my surgery or I would gain alot. So guess which happened to me? Yep, you guessed it, I gained weight, at least 20 pounds since the surgery.

Add to that the fact that my mom moved in with me a year ago and she feels; bless her heart, that her contribution to our household would be to always have dinner ready for me when I got home. Did I mention my mom is Mexican and that means Mexican food? Who can resist Mexican food? So needless to say I gained another 14 pounds!

So that's 34 pounds in the last two years! I finally decided enough is enough and I'm now doing the low carb/high protein diet that I know works for me. (Just something I thought was funny...as I am writing this post there's a knock on the door and it's a young girl selling Snicker Bars for her school...in a huge box! Snickers, my favorite! Ironic isn't it? I didn't buy any.)

I've been doing really well on my new eating plan. I've lost eight pounds already. Besides watching my carbs I'm also playing tennis, riding my stationery bike and climbing the stairs at work. Also lots of yardwork for exercise.

So what does all this have to do with Iwanna Wednesday? The day I can want anything? Well I would love to be a size 6 but how much fun would that be for you to read if I just said what Iwanna today is to be a size 6, thank you for coming and good night?

So what Iwanna today is some treats. Easter Treats! Don't we all love all those yummy, ooey, gooey Easter delights?

One of my favorites is the Peep. I love Peeps, any color. Be it the little chick or the bunny I love Peeps. You can get them for several other holidays now as well, but they only tempt me at Easter. Don't you love the one yellow one in this picture amongst all the blue, purple and pink ones?

And what's Easter without the famous Chocolate Bunny? And this Bunny is even more special as he comes from my favorite candy store, Dewars Ice Cream and Fine Candy Shop. Located only in Bakersfield; it's a local tradition.

Iwanna also to have some Jelly Beans. I love them. Especially the Jelly Belly ones that are all mixed up in the bag and you never know what flavor your going to get. I always remember my mom would buy jelly beans at Easter and I loved the black ones, which was great cause no one else liked them, so they were all MINE!

And they didn't have the Reese's Peanut Butter eggs when I was a little girl, but they have them now! And I love them. Chocolate and Peanut Butter...is there anything better? My mouth is watering!

This next one has always been my kids favorite...the Cadbury Cream Egg. I've always loved the one that has the yellow goo in the middle, my kids prefer just the plain ones.

I remember the little foiled wrapped ones from my childhood. I loved to let them semi-melt and the just pop the whole thing in my mouth, foil and all and suck all the chocolate out of it. Disgustingly wonderful the things we did as children isn't it?

And you know what I love? I love this time of year when Hershey's Kisses changes the foil color for Easter.

Mmmmmmm! Iwanna have lots of these at Easter. Which one's are your favorite? Or do you make some special treat at Easter?

Elephant Seals of Big Sur, California

Last weekend my daughter April and I and my grand-puppy Chorizo took a day trip to the coast, which is about 2 hours from Shafter. I've been to Pismo, Morro Bay, Cambria, Cayucos, Avila Beach, all those little coastal towns a million few times, but I'd never been to Elephant Seal Beach at Piedras Blancas in the southern range of Big Sur, near San Simeon. Count on April to show me something new, she loves to explore and visit new places.

She took me to a wonderful spot on scenic Hwy 1 to Elephant Seal Beach. Why I had never known this place existed is beyond me!

First off, the drive from Morro Bay to Elephant Seal Beach is gorgeous. Hwy 1 is known for it's beautiful ocean and mountain scenery. It seemed like the temperature changed every 5 miles. First it's foggy and overcast and cold then all of a sudden it's sunny and green and gorgeous. The drive alone was worth going.

But what was really amazing is that there is a small strip of beach known as a Rookery where these fascinating mammals come to birth, breed, molt and rest. Depending on the time of year that you are there you can watch  the males battle for breeding rights, you can watch seals give birth, and you can watch them sun themselves on the beach.

That's what we witnessed, the sunning on the beach, and it was awesome! I couldn't believe it when I first saw them. They looked like dead lumps of flesh that had washed up on the beach. But as we got closer we saw that they moved. The most hilarious part is while they lay there on the beach every once in a while they flip sand onto themselves with their flippers. There are several signs along the beach explaining facts about these seals and they say that while they don't know for sure why they flip sand it's probably to keep themselves cool from the sun blazing down upon them. (Click to enlarge)

It was so funny to watch them. When they moved they kind of just bounced around on the beach to get to where they wanted to go, not that they ever went very far. My daughter April said that other times when she has been there the beach is so packed with seals that you can't even see the sand!

If you ever get the chance, please visit this beach, it's worth it and if you have kids they will love it! We only had Chorizo and she loved it as you can tell in the mosaic below. If you would like more information I found a great website that gives lots of details and has an awesome slide show. It's from the Friends of the Elephant Seal and you can visit it here.  (click to enlarge)

And the view is awesome as you can see in the mosaic above. Chorizo just didn't know what to think. She would look at her momma and then back at the seals and you can tell she was just overwhelmed by all the different ocean smells. She loved it! She's a true water dog.

Linking up to Little Red House Mosaic Monday hosted by Mary. Please click here to visit all the other lovely mosaics.