Keeping busy and all that jazz!

SO I've just been trying to keep busy while I look for a job. I celebrated my birthday in a variety of ways. First Mum, Dad, Lauran, Dustin and I went to the State Fair!

We sat through a really cool pie demonstration and Dad won 2 pie crusts! Not a bad day!

Then, early EARLY EARLY that weekend was our not-quite-annual Fish Lake trip where we braved the rain and cold for "my birthday" to eventually out-fish EVERYONE on the lake with nine fish!

I'd made plans for a Hobbit party but it was later scaled down and turned into a "Bon-Voyage" party for Tuima as she is moving to Boston to become an even more accomplished chef.
(The decorations are all organic. The pumpkins are merely covered in glitter. Apparently they'll last for a month of two. All I did was paint the pumpkin in regular white glue and then covered them with a generous coating of glitter. Everything I read said to use the ultra fine glitter but I used the regular kind and I think they turned out quite nicely. Thanks to the Fuller family for providing the tomatoes, pears, and grapes.)

And, just because I couldn't get over the Hobbit theme, I made a GIANT CAKE! (In all fairness, it was meant to feed 20 people, but it was TOO much fun to actually make.)

(And yes, the sliced piece is sitting on a cookie sheet. We couldn't find a big enough plate.)

Everything was perfect...or so we thought.
The next morning revealed that the cake had collapsed under its own weight!

The crumbled cake filled 5 plates and made all the recipients very happy. :)

And finally my lovely sister and I went to Tucanos Brazillian Grill to wrap up the best month ever.

So, happy September to everyone! Here's to a great Holiday Season coming up with parties, crafts, and awesome people!

Still Dreaming of California

Going to see the Giant Redwood trees was a MUST on our trip!

We kind of lost Tuima for the rest of the trip

By the way...that was us going INSIDE a tree!

After a long day of becoming one with nature we decided to get back to the kid in all of us and hit the boardwalk!

All in all, not a bad day spent with friends. I love these girls so much!

California Dreamin'

Back in February I wrote a post on being so super busy and said, "You know, I get SO busy and run around ragged that all I do is dream of having an entire day to myself."
Well, I got my wish back in June. My team at work had to downsize and I was let go. I was SO SAD! I made some awesome friends there and was sad to say goodbye. (Thank goodness for Facebook and texting.) So I found myself with quite a bit of unexpected free time, which I took full advantage of and promptly took a road trip to Cali with Tuima and Eredolyn to visit Dilly.

Dilly took us on a whirlwind tour of the little town and made sure we saw the local seals, much to Eredolyn's delight. We then spent a good portion of the day at the City Aquarium and wow. All I can say is WOW.

After a brief rest we hit the Fisherman's Wharf. And yes, I AM wearing a coat. It was July, but it was COLD!

We hit 17 Mile Drive on Sunday and had a blast. A 17 mile drive along some of the prettiest parts of California with best friends and awesome music blasting in the background like Fairground, Undying Love, City of Lovers, and New Tail.

(I took a couple of me, just to prove I was there! :)

The rocks were Awfully hard.

Also, some guy's surfboard washed up on shore. He did too eventually, alive and well. But I wanted a pic before he made it back!

This trip was all about indulgence and the Ghirardelli Chocolate Store was NO disappointment.

Next Part Deux!