Wicked

Last weekend Ben and I went to Wicked. Jim had given both of us tickets for our birthdays and we were looking forward to it. I didn't know if I was going to love it as much as most people do because when I saw the Phantom of the Opera in London many, many years ago I was a bit disappointed (blasphemy, they say.Don't be like me). So I just thought it would be ok. But I was wrong! We LOVED it! It was so much fun and I was in love with the sets. Beautifully executed!

Plus, I adore the Wizard of Oz so it was quite a fun twist on the story! Very clever!

Anyway, here are some pictures of our fun date night!

In the car, driving there. (actually, we were stopped at Jim and Robyn's driveway. I wanted a car picture but Ben was worried because he was driving. Are we getting old or what?)



At Zola having dinner before the play. Mac and cheese, kobe beef sliders, gorgonzola fries and swedish meatballs. $20. Nuff said.



The program. The free one. We weren't going to pay $20 for a program! Don't be like us.




The set. Pictures were not allowed during the play but I thought I'd snap one before it started just because I loved the set so much.

It was a fun night and we are looking forward to Mary Poppins and Beauty and the Beast next year.

30 outfit project UPDATE!

Remember when I posted about my 30 outfit project 3 weeks ago? No, I didn't forget about it at all! I just didn't have time to take a picture with my rewards until Sunday.

Well, the idea behind the 30 outfit project was that I would buy all 8 pieces from a Good Housekeeping article to make 30 outfits. One a week. AS LONG AS I lost 1 pound that week. So 8 weeks, 8 pounds, 8 pieces = 30 outifts! Cool huh?

Well here is the original post:

http://benandana.blogspot.com/2011/05/30-outfit-8-week-project.html

Anyway, the first week of the project I lost 2 pounds which meant I could buy 2 out of the 8 pieces. I got the navy dress at TJMaxx and the red cardigan at Ross. Love them both! The third week I maintained the weight so I didn't get anything! = (

We did go to PFChang's, Zola and The West Wing this week so, let's see how it goes!
Here is a picture of me with my new purchases:


Wish me luck!

Just another day...

I know I haven't had anything major to blog about. But our daily lives are pretty fun. I swear!

Here is one of our trips to our beloved Stop Sign at the end of the street






:

Ok, maybe I just wanted to show off Bella's cute outfit. Pants by Grandma Hopkins and denim jacket by Dad (inspired by my 80's style according to him!)

(very) Random happenings!

Disclaimer: This post contains lame photos with in camera flash and a messy house due to deep spring cleaning. Don't be like me.

I haven't blogged in a while. I haven't done anything except clean and organize in a while. I have no idea why, but I decided that every.single.room and every.nook.and.cranny in my house needed to be re-organized and deep cleaned. Maybe it's the spring. Wait a minute, it's 40 degrees outside! It doesn't even feel like spring! If I didn't know better I'd think I was about 7-months pregnant and going through some major nesting. But I DO know better, so it might be some hormonal imbalance (or balance! let's hope it sticks!)

Anyway, in the middle of all that:

I have a child who is thoroughly obsessed with the instruments in an orchestra AND letters:

A child who is also obsessed with going outside, which has proved to be difficult since she has had a bad cold for over a week and the weather hasn't been cooperating at all! So she just begs me to go see the stop sign at the end of our street and more recently, she begs to go "molhar as plantinhas" (water the plants). I felt bad for her today and although the plants couldn't even see another drop of water without feeling like they were going to drown, I took her outside to water the plants.

We try to have fun among the chaos! Ben was pulling and pushing Isabella while she was in this tote. She loved it so much she even looked at the camera! AND SMILED! WOW! She really loved the tote ride! (On a side note, every time I say cheese for her to smile at the camera, she looks away and says SALAMI. She watches an episode of Sesame Street that has a cheese and salami sandwich and Elmo repeats the phrase cheese and salami quite a bit so I think she connects the two words. But that really shows her personality. I say hello, she says goodbye. Oh my, I can't wait for the teenage years!) I talk (or type) too much! Don't be like me.

Last, but never least, I've been organizing my recipes and looking up new ones on Pinterest. So I decided to try this delicious Gruyere and Asparagus Tart. You had me at Gru! Easy, fast and so yummy!



Here is the link to the recipe if you want to try it!

http://shootsandroots.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/asparagus-and-gruyere-tart/

I should've taken some before pictures of my house but I was too embarrassed. I'm definitely posting after pictures soon! Well, maybe not soon. But one day. Don't be like me.

More SLC

A couple of weeks ago I posted about our trip to Salt Lake City, but Grandpa Jim just sent us some photos he took and I LOVE THEM! So here they are! Thanks Jim!

She likes corn!

She loves corn. She calls it "corn the cob". She is just adorable!

SO cute!

Because I never want to forget how cute you look right now. I ♥ you!

Jam sessions at the Hopkins'

Isabella has been so interested in musical instruments that we've been letting her play on the keyboard everyday. We sit her in her high chair and let her just play around with different instrument sounds (she loves the drumset!) and all the presets. Sometimes she will say; "Guitar!" because she wants her dad to play a duet with her. It's so fun to watch!




I hope she grows up loving music and that she can one day play a musical instrument!

Published!

These are the ads for two local restaurants featuring my food photography work. #doing the happy dance!



Check out The Flying Goat for amazing pizzas and a fun outdoor patio!
Don't miss the gorgonzola fries at Downriver Grill!

At last

It's sunny at last. We've been having fun in the sun. ♥ sunny days

Family Portrait

Yesterday we went to Riverfront Park with our friends Danny, Kristine, Aiko and Maya for a picnic. The weather was beautiful and we had fun. On our way out we took Isabella to see the ducks, geese and seagulls. Ben turned around and saw how cool our shadows looked and decided to take a picture. I think it turned out amazing! Such a great family portrait! We are having it framed soon!



Then we went to the mall for a while and Isabella had so much fun looking at herself in the mirror at Nordstrom.



Ben felt like on of THOSE parents, filming his adorable little girl as she smeared the spotless mirror. We apologized. Don't be like us.

After complaining at the MAC counter for the appalling service they provided me yesterday I got a Smashbox goodies bag with a full size lipstick, eye shadow trio, a travel brush, a brow and cream eyeliner kit and a foundation primer. It was really worth it being mistreated! LOL!
Then I had to run away from Ben(with his debit card!) to buy a pair of jeans he had tried on and loved but felt he shouldn't buy because of their price. I felt so good that I was able to surprise him for once!

We got back home and Ben was finally able to make a video of Isabella counting her fingers. He's been trying to record that for a long time but whenever he tried she would just stop. So here it is:


Fun times!

Mother's Day 2011

I have the best husband in the world. He gives me the best gifts AND puts up with my demanding attitude whenever I ask him to take pictures. Don't be like me. Be like him. Thanks.

That being said, I had a great mother's day. I'm so grateful to have Isabella in my life and to be a mommy to this beautiful, sweet, smart little girl. Ben got me two awesome gifts. He is the best at getting me cool surprises and remembering things I want. He got me this perfume gift set:

It is the best perfume I've ever had! I absolutely love it! Funny story about how he bought this perfume. We were flying to Salt Lake last week and I smelled that perfume in one of those magazine ads. I knew it was perfect for me! A few days later, when we were back in Spokane, Ben insisted on going to the mall one evening. I thought it was very unusual that he wanted to go there but he said he wanted me to use my Body Shop Groupon and that he wanted to take Isabella to the play area. I'm not one to deny a trip to the mall so away we went. He said he was going to take Isabella to the play area while I was shopping. I was a little suspicious but it didn't take me long to get back and he was right there so I was convinced that he didn't have a hidden agenda. On our way out, we cut through Macy's and I decided to try the perfume. The lady was really friendly and I went on and on about how I loved this perfume. I was not going to buy it right then because Ben usually gets better deals online but I joked a couple of times that it was a hint for my next gift. When we got home, Ben asked me if he could give me one of my Mother's Day gifts and I wouldn't turn that down! So, he gave me the box with the gift set for that perfume! He had called the store the day before and asked them to hold the gift set till the next day because it was the last one in the store. While I was shopping, he picked it up and took it to the car (It must have taken me longer than I realized!) He also told the sales assistant at Macy's that I would probably want to go there try the perfume and she was supposed to try to convince me not to buy it right then as they were going to be getting a great gift set for it the following week. Am I predictable or what? It is the perfect perfume for me and the perfect gift set too because you usually get a deodorant or lotion that you end up overpaying for and not using, but this gift set comes with 2 bottles of the same perfume plus a make up bag. What's not to love?

The next day, was our dinner at Sante (you can read about that in the previous post). Right before we left, Ben took a little black box out of his pocket and told he thought I should wear that for the dinner. When I opened the box I saw a beautiful pair of diamond earrings. The exact type that I love! He is just the sweetest!

Here are some photos we took on Mother's Day!

On Sunday, we went to dinner at my in-laws house and it was great.

I was sad that I couldn't be with my mom on Mother's Day but my brothers and my dad had lunch with her so I know she was in good company.

I'm blessed to have my wonderful daughter and to be a mother. I am also very blessed to have a wonderful mother and mother-in-law!