Not So Espresso

 I think it was because I didn't use real espresso powder. They were supposed to be cappuccino with espresso cream center. They had not one hint of espresso taste. They turned out great anyways. But I know now that I need the real stuff.

 I also made banana muffins and fancied them up with a white chocolate chip. Just in case the kiddies saw us devouring our cupcakes.

La Jolla

 Today Maya and I went to Lean and Green to eat. Yum. Most of the stuff I can make at home but it's nice not to.  Plus my house gets soooo darn hot. I don't like to be there during the afternoon if it's 80+ freakin degree's in April! 

 After lunch we cruised around the block and went down to the beach. There was so much parking and hardly any people there. Maybe because it's Monday. We saw lots of seals, squirrels, beetles, and lots of boats hanging of the side of a building! I don't know how long that's been there but I've never seen it before.

 Anyways, back to the seals. I've heard that seals have a bark but I've never actually heard it until today. There was this one that sounded exactly like a dog. He or she was barking at another for space or something.  There were lots of little pups too. We got to see them follow mama into the water. And they haul booty! I was trying to film one but every time I started [S]he stopped. 

 We had fun but Maya isn't really much of a beach person. She likes to go to the beach but not near the water. We got home and she said in her little dissapointed voice "Aw, Mommy, we forgot the beach toys." I told her we would go back to the beach tomorrow. I need to even out the tan on my back anyways!

Finito

 The blossom fairies are done. I struggled a bit with the heads though. I couldn't find a technique that worked for me until the last two. They all have a piece of string attached to a safety pin on top of their heads to hang from Lady Spring at the May Faire. Phew! I Don't have a flier but it's May 3 at the Waldorf School of San Diego. And they are starting this year off with a May pole dance that starts at 11am.

Caffeine Overload

 Today I decided to get an extra shot of espresso in my latte and boy am I regretting it! I didn't understand what was wrong with me at first. I felt like I was doing something wrong but I wasn't doing anything different. I cut down my caffeine intake considerably in the past couple months and now can't handle what I was so custom to. (Notice all the c words in that sentence?) I'm still buzzing. I'm drinking a ton of water and decided to keep myself busy by cleaning out my closet. I'm done with that and now I'm looking at my room downstairs but can't bring myself to tackle it.

I think I'll move upstairs. I'm so jittery! Yuk.

Hairclips

 I just finished the last hair clip I was working on. The cupcake is for Maya, the rose is for me, and the bird is a birthday gift for Maya's friend. 

Supplies

 Today we went to Joann's to get a few things.  Maya's been watching me make the blossom fairies and wants one. The one's I'm making for the May Faire are about 3 inches and I want to make her's about twice that. So I needed to find cotton jersey for the head.  While I was looking I stumbled upon the eco friendly fabric section. Which I didn't even know existed. There were, at the most, 10 different fabrics. Man, I was so excited and my search stopped there.  There was a mix of bamboo and organic cotton. I got a little of both. One in brown and the other in an olive-y color. I wanted to get the pretty teal and pink but don't have a use for it right now. And they both had a little stretch to them and that's not something I usually work with. If I'm on my sewing machine I'm mainly piecing together blocks for quilting or pillow cases. But at least I know now that I have that option. Yay. Those 40% off coupons will for sure come in handy now.

 And of course Maya thinks we are always shopping for her (I guess we are) so she wanted to take something home she could work on. I found cute little picture holders she could paint. And when they were finished she asked me to take a picture of her with them. She's so proud.

Work Space

 So I'm in the middle of a few projects and this is what it looks like when I'm working. I'm working on some blossom fairies for the school's May Faire, hair clips, and neddle felting. I have a couple crochet projects going but I work on those in the lazy boy. Maya will sometimes sit at the table with her stuff while I work. Right now she has all her birthday cards and stickers out. And yes, that is a glass of Asahi. Yum. 

4-21-05

4/21/06

 4/21/07

 My baby's three!

Maya's Birthday Weekend

 My Mom flew in from Wa and we rented the same condo on the bay as we did last year for Maya's birthday. It turned out pretty good. We invited a few of Maya's good friends and Israel's posse. His close friends have been to every party of hers. They were in charge of the bbq which of course got off to a late start which made the cake and presents kinda late and some guest had to leave before we did that.  But it was good. I didn't get too many pics but our friend films her birthday every year so we'll have that.  We made yummy gluten free cupcakes that turned out great ( I thought). And a raspberry chocolate cream cake that turned out alright. I didn't get pics of it though which I'm kicking myself for because every time I asked Maya what she wanted for her birthday she told me a cow candle. I found one on e bay. It was cute.  My SIL found this cardboard cottage  I set up for the kids to paint.  It entertained them for hours! I highly recommend it for a party or craft day! I used Melissa and Doug washable paints which surprisingly washed off the cement (thank god!) pretty easily.

 Maya had a great time. She was really into it this year. The pics of her are before and after the party. If you look closer at the tu tu picture you'll notice a piece of velcro sushi hanging from it.

Car Wash

 Maya helped me wash the car today. I've had that car for a little over a year and this is my first time washing it. It's been washed before just not by me. And I really thought I had black rims. So, 

"whoever" washed my car before never touched the rims. I'm pretty sure I stained the driveway. 

New Hide Out

 Maya found a new house in our closet. Doesn't that look cozy? We eventually moved a basket so she could have more room.

Yummy

 They're just blueberry muffins but they are good. I guess it's because I haven't been eating too many sweets, or what not, due to a horrible skin reaction  I had to something. But now that I'm healing I'm in the mood. We usually have a small playdate at my house on Tuesdays and I try to have some kind of snack. In addition to all the fruit you could possibly eat! They did turn out a little crispier on top than I would have liked because the recipe said to bake for 50 minutes to an hour! Yeah right! They took about 30. I'm glad I checked. 

Flight of the Conchords

 Funny? Yes.

 Embarrassing? Yes. 

 Annoying? Yes.

 Does it make me want to sing everything that comes out of my mouth?  

 Yes.

Future Farmer of America

 We went to City Farmer's Nursery today to pick up some pots and soil to re-pot my rosemary plants and last year's Christmas tree (that will hopefully make it to future Christmas'). Oh, and I re-potted my jasmine in the old Christmas tree pot (I don't know what type of tree it is).  Maya had fun shoveling new soil into our other plants and the rosemary already looks happier. We also planted a tree for Earth day that Kate Quinn Organics sent to us. They sent it with an order I placed. I thought that was pretty cool. 

Encinitas

 The other day Maya and I went to Encinitas to check out what the Magical Child had to offer. Her birthday is coming up and I found a couple things that she is really going to like. Afterwords we went to my new favorite park. I'm sure it gets packed in the summer because it's practically right on the beach. As we made our way back up the path to our car a squirrel stopped to say hi. He was really into us for some reason. Every time someone came by he ran into the bush and back to us when they were out of site. It was pretty bazaar. We must have smelt really good.

Spring Collection and Accessories

 I made Maya a couple of flower children for our Spring collection. I didn't use wool felt which made a huge difference. But I plan on making a couple more when I do get wool. She really likes them. She couldn't wait to show Daddy. I needle felted the Spring maiden last year and have another in the works. 

 I finally finished a necklace for my Mom I started last year! I don't know why it took me so long. I think she bought the flower in Hawaii and we bought the pearls at a really cute bead store In WA.

 And I thought I would give hairclips a go. Maya loves doing her hair, or at least accessorizing it. I'm not that good at free hand embroidering but these were super simple and fun to make. Check out Urbanhousewife's hairclip collection here. Fabulous!  And I just now learned how to do that cool linky thing. 

It's Still Christmas in Maya's Mind

 Today she said to me, and it's not the first since December, that Santa Claus was here and that she needed to decorate her tree. So she strung the "lights", which I might add, she's pretty good at grouping colors and shapes, put the star on top, and asked to help her tie the "lights" on.  The End

Wild Parrots

 Just a few days ago we had another fun bird sighting at Peoples. This time there was a tree full of the wild parrots that fly  all over OB. I've seen a flock of them in my neighbors tree in PB months ago. I kept hearing this horrible noise that wouldn't end and looked out to see a bunch of parrots on the wires and trees. I still think it's cool to see them because it's something you expect to see at the zoo or pet store.  Anyways, I got my camera out just in time to snap one and a few flying away. Go ahead, click on the pictures. 

Matching

 Lately with Maya everything has to match. If she's wearing blue she has to play or hold her blue toys. Her socks and hair ties have to match too. She always ask if I have matching shoes for her outfit. A woman gave her a Dora sticker at the store and today she told me that she needed a Dora shirt, purse and shoes to go with it. Earlier she said she wanted zoo shoes to go with her new zoo shirt.  The other day she had to wear her star necklace because it matched her star dress. In this picture the butterfly necklace, eyes, and bucket match her butterfly wings.  Did I somehow create this? 

Catch up

 Well, my niece from Washington came down for a week. Though it was fun I feel like I didn't get anything done. And I'm not quite sure what all needed to be done but I feel like I played for a week instead of....ummmm.....cleaning? Paying bills? Is that all I do? 

 Let's see. My niece is 15 and soo easy going. Anything we did was fine with her. She was happy just to be in the sun. It snowed up there just before she came!

 So I took her to the zoo, Old Town, the mall, OB, PB, and MB. She did a little shopping but only bought things that went towards a cause. Mostly endangered species and wildlife. That sort of thing. She also mentioned to me that she didn't like to watch movies with animal scenes. Also, she took her name off of Victoria's Secret's mailing list because the models were modeling with real fur rugs. She even called them to see if the rugs were real or not. She definitely shocked me. I told her that most everything in our house (except maybe some shoes) was cruelty free and not tested on animals. She thought that was really cool.  

 When she first got here she asked if the fruit was real. Funny. I made breakfast and dinner every night for us but showed her our favorite restaurants for lunch.  She wanted real Mexican food but only ever orders rice and beans. I took her out for sushi and she only had rice and terriaki sauce. I ordered her a miso soup to try but she said it tasted like fish and gave it to Maya. I tried. I'm glad she ate all the food I cooked.

 I only posted a couple pics from the Zoo that I took. I didn't get very many.