NPOW

As promised, here is my "fun" Christmas nail polish. The plan was to make a candy cane pattern, but it ended up looking like zebra stripes. So I tried these thicker stripes instead. I ended up taking it all off not long after I took this picture because the clear top coat I put on made the white stripes melt into the red turning them pink! So I just put on a clear coat for now until I can get a manicure. But the idea of it was fun, no?

Nail Polish of the Week

OPI: Pretty at the Premiere

White stripes: Nicole by OPI nail pen

Christmas recap

You can read a detailed recap of Belle's Christmas here:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

It's a lot of work to try and write more than 3 posts about Christmas, so I'll just link you to those. But I will say that we were all very spoiled and surrounded by love and who could ask for more than that?

What's for dinner?

Have I mentioned that my husband is a fabulous cook? For a year after college I lived on my own and ate out for every lunch and had something made in the microwave for dinner. Thank God I married the man that I did or I'd either starve to death or weigh 500 pounds. Every time I sit down for dinner, my mouth waters just looking at whatever is on my plate. Here are some of my favorites:

Homemade burgers with McDonald's fries. The fries were my idea and when I suggested it Justin said, "I knew I married you for a reason". Plus it made me feel like I contributed to the meal by going to pick them up :) 

Homemade chow mein and Trader Joe's orange chicken. Granted, this isn't a completely from-scratch-meal, but when you make something like chow mein, it's ok to cheat a little. I also realize this serving is for about 4 people. Justin has a problem making too much and I only ate about a third of it. 

When I was pregnant he used to make ridiculous amounts of food just to see how much of it I would eat, but he didn't tell me that and I ended up cleaning my plate every time. It became his own private joke with himself that he only clued me in on after I gained 40 pounds, haha.

 Steak fajitas! Also a pretty easy meal (maybe I'm not really showcasing his talent enough?). But still, yum, right?

Spicy pork sausage and bell pepper pasta. So what if this picture was taken after I ate some of the pasta? It still looks good.

Bruschetta. My favorite thing he makes me for lunch.

This was our Christmas Eve dinner. Talapia and veggies. I'm not the biggest veggie eater, but this was really good!

Feel free to email me if you want any of the recipes. I'd post them, but I have no clue how to make any of this stuff and to sit down and have Justin write it all out would be a lot of work, but if you are really curious, I'm sure he could help you out. 

Update

You can now find my blog at aogdaily.com

And Belle's blog at babygomers.com

The old URLs will still redirect.

new segment

Phew, now that the holidays are over, I have a lot to recap for you all! But before I get to that daunting task, I thought I'd share my announcement. Starting in January I'll be doing a Monthly Resolutions segment. Do you make New Year's resolutions every year? I don't. You know why? Because not once have I ever kept one. But being Catholic, I do give things up for lent which I find much more manageable. So I decided, why not combine the two ideas? Instead of making a year long goal, why not make a goal every month? Goals that are more easily attainable and kept. And if I don't make it, well, there's always next month right? So I'm hoping you'll all follow along and participate in Monthly Resolutions. You can grab the button to the right (scroll down to find it) and stay tuned for my January resolution...

bew-ful!

That's how Belle says "beautiful" and I love it. I've been hearing her say it a lot this time of year and I thought that it was the perfect way to describe our tree and all the love under it. Not that love = presents, but each gift reminds me of how many people we love and are such an important part of our lives. Anyway, I know I said I wasn't going to post anymore after what, Monday? But I'm here and I want to share and since everyone else (see: here, here, here, here, here) is posting pictures of the gifts under their trees, I thought I'd join in. 

I take my wrapping very seriously (matching wrapping paper and elaborate bows) and Justin even made a comment, "wow, you really dropped the ball on wrapping this year, I could have just done that myself." What a comedian.

Anyway, these aren't Belle's gifts, these are just the gifts we are giving to friends and family. Santa is bringing Belle's gifts tomorrow night and I'll post pictures of Belle's Christmas next week. I cannot wait! She's finally old enough to understand what's going on this year and even tells us that Santa Claus says "HA HA HA! Verrrry Christmas!" So sweet. Happy Holidays all, see you on the flip side!

NPOW

Sorry this is a boring one, but it's sparklier in person. I'll have a fun one for Christmas that I'll post next week. I'm also very aware that I need a manicure, please don't judge.

Nail Polish of the Week

OPI: Bubble Bath

under OPI: Hollywood Blonde

our holiday card + more guest blogging

Now that I'm pretty sure everyone has gotten our card in the mail, I thought I'd post it here! I love doing a holiday card every year. If you want to see all of our cards from years past, check out my guest blog today over at my good friend and sorority sister La Tache's blog, Smiling is Good for Your Teeth!

yesterday, today, tomorrow and more!

So after a week of Belle being sick and sitting on the couch with her watching Dora, we had a very hectic weekend. Saturday morning I had a hair appointment, got home in time for Belle's nap, sat for an hour before Michelle and Marco came over, waited for the kids to nap and eat, went to Target, had dinner, went with Michelle to pick up Tim from the airport, came home and hung out for a while before the Dicksons headed home and we went to bed. Sunday we had to get up early because Justin's whole family came up for the day (mom, dad, sister, brother). The boys went to a Raiders v. Broncos game (his whole family is made up of die hard Broncos fans) and Justin's mom, sister and I ran some errands, came home for lunch and put Belle down for a nap (where she slept for 35 minutes). After the game, everyone left and Justin, Belle and I headed over to the O'Rourke/King house for Belle's best friend Abby's birthday party! We ended up staying later than we planned and Belle ended up having cake, chips and dried strawberries for dinner (oops!). We got home, put Belle to bed and watched the season finale of Survivor.

So after our crazy weekend, I woke up today feeling awful! I think I caught whatever Belle had last week. Justin was sweet enough to take care of everything around the house today so that I could rest. After a good dinner and some Advil, I am feeling a little better. And just in time because tomorrow and Wednesday Abby will be playing over here at our house. Thursday is cleaning day and Friday is Christmas Eve! And then we all know what this weekend is :) Phew, I'm tired just thinking about it all.

Anyway, I will probably be MIA for the rest of the week but I have a fun announcement to make next week! I am going to be trying something new on the blog starting in January and I am hoping you all will play along, so stay tuned...

MIA

If you're wondering where I've been all week, here's a peek at what my last 3 days have been like:

My poor daughter has never been sick in her short little 22 months of life, but this week changed all that. I'm not exactly sure what she has, but she's been coughing, sneezing, wheezing, stuffy nosed and miserable! And unfortunately they don't make cough and cold medicine for anyone under the age of 4, so we've been getting by on humidifiers, baby tylenol, honey throat elixir, and lots of couch time with Dora. I have also become a human pillow and Belle will not let me leave her side. If she's not sleeping on me, laying on me or hugging me, I have to be nearby. If I get up to go to the bathroom, I just hear "mommy! mommy! mommy!". Nap time and bed time start in mommy and daddy's room with a story and end with her asleep in my arms, transferring her to her own bed. Hopefully she feels better this weekend though because we have a lot of plans. Tomorrow Michelle and Marco are coming to visit and Sunday all of the Gomers are coming up (the boys are going to a football game) and Sunday evening is Belle's best friend Abby's birthday party!

NPOW & guest blogging!

Nail Polish of the Week

China Glaze: Light As Air

under OPI: Happy Anniversary

Also, check out my guest blog post today on Simply Smithwick!

Book: The Lost Symbol

So I finished this book over a week ago, but haven't gotten around to writing a review about it. The Da Vinci Code is one of my favorite books, but this book is not. First of all, there is so much buildup and anticipation for a conclusion that left me very unsatisfied. Not to give anything away, but there are also a few plot holes and leaps you have to take for the story to make sense. I'm glad I read it and it definitely kept me wanting to read more, but when I got to the end, I was like "What?! That's it?". I'd say if you've read The Da Vinci Code, there's no need to read this one and if you haven't read The Da Vinci Code, I'd recommend reading that instead of this.

Our Christmas Tree!

I can't believe I haven't posted pictures of our tree yet. I'm hoping one day our tree will be full of handmade ornaments made by our kids, but for now, we'll have to settle for all of the blue and silver ornament sets that I bought when Justin and I had our first Christmas living together 3 years ago. Blue is my favorite color and growing up, we only had white lights on our Christmas tree (my mom took Christmas decorating very seriously), so I'm partial to the white lights. Anyway, here's our tree!

during the day

all lit up at night

Holiday Celebrations Part 1

If you live in the Berkeley area and have kids, you probably know about the Tilden Park Merry Go Round. It's Belle's favorite thing in the world, it's like Disneyland for her. Well, this month they have it all decked out for Christmas and every weeknight Santa comes to take pictures. We decided to take Belle on Tuesday night and she had a blast! I just wanted to share some pictures and decorations with you, it was really cool.

The front.

I'd hate to be the one that has to put the star at the top of that thing.

We taught Belle to go up to Santa and say "toys please!"

Riding the Merry Go Round! We liked the tiger that day.

Some of the cool decorations and trees...

UC Berkeley represented... on a pole?

Mardi Gras display

The trees lined the perimeter of the MGR.

World Series champs!

Twilight tree, really?!

The hippie tree, my favorite.

A Mardi Gras tree...

...that had my favorite ornament :)

A giant carousel horse in a tree. Weird.

Tree Choppin'

Last year we bought our Christmas tree at Target and it was dead within a week. I still find brown pine needles in random corners of our house. This year I really wanted to chop one down so I knew it would be fresh. Luckily, our friends the Dicksons cut down their tree every year at Peterson Family Christmas Tree Farm, so we decided to join them this year! Belle had so much fun running around and picking out trees that were smaller than her and laughing hysterically at everything. Here are some pictures from our trip:

Just like the balance beam in gymnastics!

Marco, the Christmas tree finding elf.

Michelle's tree is speaking to her. It's saying "I know I'm a bit tall and sparse on one side, but please pick me, pick me!" It was the perfect Dickson tree :)

Kisses for Marco! We will definitely be showing this in the slide show on their wedding day.

The Gomer tree has been found!

Uhh, are you gonna cut that thing down or just pose all day? :)

NPOW

Nail Polish of the Week

OPI: Little Red Wagon

under China Glaze: Ruby Pumps

guilty cookies...

...magic bars, layer cookies, whatever you want to call them, these are my guiltiest dessert pleasure. My mom used to make them when I was little and I've never made them for myself, but I figured, why not give it a try? Plus I am a complete sucker for anything with a graham cracker crust. So here they are (please forgive my hideous kitchen counters, I didn't pick them)...

I don't have any measurements for anything, but it's pretty easy to figure out.

Step 1: melt 1 stick of butter.

I cut the butter up because it melts faster and more evenly that way.

Step 2: Pour butter into baking pan (you can also use a 9x13 pan if you want more)

Step 3: mix graham cracker crumbs with butter and press to bottom of the pan

Step 4: add a layer of chopped nuts... any nuts will do. I used walnuts.

Step 5: pour condensed milk over the nuts. This is kind of the glue that holds everything together and you can really add it in between any of the layers. Some people add it over the top at the end, it really doesn't matter.

Step 6: add a layer of chocolate chips.

Step 7: top with coconut, as much or as little as you want.

View from the side

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until coconut is brown, like this:

Set for at least 30 minutes, if you cut too early, it will be a big mess, but still delicious!