The Sweetness of the Puget Sound

With my mom up we decided our adventures for this trip would be discovering some of the sweeter sides of Seattle. Since I had been to many of them it was my treat to share them with my mom. One day we headed up to La Conner to eat at the Calico Cupboard. It is definitely one of my favorite places for calm chowder, and the desserts are way yummy!We always get a peanut butter bar and a rocky road bar. They are so good!!! I already want to go up and get more!
No sweet trip is complete without a stop at Cupcake Royale in Ballard. I had told my mom about this places for many years, but this was the first time she had ever been.
Lenna really really wanted some of the cupcakes and screamed until she got some.
You can get free bumper stickers there too.
Yummy!
This plate is very wrong. I think all these sweets aren't doing my booty any good.
After Cupcake Royale we headed to Fremont to go to Theo Chocolates. I had heard a lot about this place, but truthfully it was a MAJOR let down for me. Either I just really love some sweet chocolate, traditional flavors, or something. Seriously I tried a ton of pieces of chocolate and not one of them said buy me! And the coconut curry flavor was ugh! Those two flavors shouldn't be combined with chocolate in my opinion. However it was worth the experience.
Another sweet spot during the week was to Trophy Cupcakes. It is important to go to two cupcake places so you can compare the two and decide on your favorite. My loyalty still remains to Cupcake Royale, but if you do go to Trophy Cupcakes I suggest the Peanut butter flavored one it is very decadent.
The peanut butter one is on the left and the other flavor on the right is Samoas (which is my favorite type of girl scout cookie!)
To end the sweet tour this time around we went over to Capitol Hill and had dessert at Dilettantes. This place is known for its desserts and often gets voted the best dessert place in the city, or so I read.
My suggestion is always the ice cream sundaes here. The cakes and other stuff is just okay, but the sundaes are yummy.They were so good that Jared dropped some ice cream on Lenna's head. Poor Lenna! But beware this place doesn't have high chairs so bring your booster with you, so you can enjoy sweets without your little ones on your laps. And then you will less likely drip things on your kiddos too.
Another fun place to go to for ice cream shakes is Dick's. We didn't get ice cream just burgers on our stop here, but I figured I would mention it. It is very old school which makes it a fun place to go.
That concludes my sweet tooth for the last few days. What places do you like to go to when you are in the Puget Sound? Next time my mom or parents are up we need to hit the Crepe place in Kingston, and Starbucks the original in Pike's Place Market.

PS We had other fun adventures that didn't help increase my waist line but that is for another blog post after I get my laundry and other chores I have been neglecting done. Yay for sugar overloaded weeks!

Whining can be beneficial sometimes

I have been whining it is true (actually I probably whine a lot more than I realize). Luckily for me I have the best mommy in the whole wide world! I was complaining about having to plant my planters a little while ago and telling my mom that whenever she plants my planters for me it looks a billizion times better. Well not too long after I got a pleasant surprise that she would come up and plant them for me! Hooray!
See look she is doing all the work. I did fill in some dirt here and there, but really I just took pictures. Oh and last week I gathered all the supplies for the planters too.
She did the arranging, and the separating, and well mostly everything.
I am pretty lucky! I am going to have awesome looking flowers all summer long, and I get a week of having someone to hang out with that truly talks to me instead of grunts at me. I love you Lenna, but I like having 2 way conversations too. Yay for mom visits! Yay for exciting adventures! Yay for life!

Krispy Kreme and Giggles what could be better?

Today Jared was off at Vashon Island doing service so Lenna and I were flying solo. To make the best of it we headed to Krispy Kreme for an outing. Lenna liked the little bit of donut I shared with her. Actually come to think about it, I am pretty sure my little one has a huge sweet tooth.

Apparently eating donuts is serious business!Well that is until you get attacked by the tickling squad! Ahh they all have a good laugh!

See how Lenna's face is red? Yep it is because she was laughing so very hard.My favorite part of Krispy Kreme's was the great company! Thanks for the outing! I also liked that I had free donut coupons so my donut was free. But I would have paid for the donut just to hang out with my buds!

Lenna is finally deciding that walking is faster than crawling. She will stand herself up with no help from me or anything around her. It is cool to see. Her favorite toy at the moment is the 'Green Eggs and Ham' puzzle G. Princess got her forever ago. She carries Sam-I-am, or Friend (did you know that is his name? He doesn't have a name other than friend! WEIRD!) or both around for as long as she can.She also likes to share. Here you can't see but she is trying to hand me friend so that I can play with her.
Happy Saturday Friends!

To the best Washington Aunt Ever!

Today Lenna and I were privileged to have lunch with Melissa. One of my best-est of friends ever! Since her family has adopted me that makes Melissa Lenna's Aunt. It has been too long since Melissa and I have just been able to sit down and talk. I am glad we got to do it over splitting a Red Robin burger and a milk shake, YUM! Lenna adored Melissa and loved that she could share with her. Lenna is really into sharing things right now. Anyway a few awesome things everyone should know about this gal: 1. She will do crazy things just because you dare her to (like drink a whole glass of maple syrup just after eating tons of Oreos and milk). 2. She is unconditional; if we don't talk for days, or months you know she will still be your friend and will be there for you for anything. 3. She is way responsible and righteous; two must have qualities for best-est friends! 4. She is gorgeous; seriously when we met in college I really thought she was so cool that we couldn't be friends (lucky for me we became friends!). Anyway my list could go on to like a million, but I just wanted you to know a few things about her. All this talks about best-est friends helps me remember how much I love the people I have met up here, and how I still love getting together with all of them. Maybe I should apologize to the many people I keep in contact with because you can't get rid of me wahahaha...I always want updates and get together rendezvous...Kim, Carrie, Melissa 1, Melissa 2, Kari, Jeni...okay I know I will forget someone so I am just going to stop with my silliness. And I need friends with different names, lol. You all have the same names.

However, with all the excitement of lunch Lenna just didn't want to take a nap this afternoon. Since I hadn't got my run in since Lenna doesn't really take morning naps anymore, and the afternoon turned out to be nice we headed out to do some laps at a nearby park. The ride must have been comforting to Lenna because she just couldn't take it anymore and passed out before we made it home. So with the very short down time I got today I did something nice for Jared. I washed his car. I think I should get bonus points, or a nice mother's day gift. Speaking of mother's day gifts what do you normal want or get? My list is nothing because I can't think of anything I really really want.
The shopping deal/brag for the week was today at Walgreens I got our ink cartridge refilled for 1 dollar and 10 cents after tax. Now I never have to feel guilty about the cost of ink for printing off all my coupons since 1 coupon will make up the difference of a dollar! I also did well at grocery shopping. I bought some produce for Lenna and our dinner as well as 3 jars of pasta sauce, and some other items. The total had come to 22 dollars even before my safeway card was entered. Then after coupons it came to 6.34 cents that is 71% savings. The best part was the pasta sauce; they were on sale for 1.50 each if you bought 3. I had a bogo coupon and they gave me the full price off one instead of the sale price aka 3.40 instead of 1.50. So I got 3 jars of yummy pasta sauce for 1.10 that is 37 cents a jar! Woot!

Anyway this blog post is also very random, so to end on one last randomness I am totally happy Lenna finally decided to give up her morning nap now when spring is approaching instead of the winter. That way I can just go out and run with her in the morning instead of running on my elliptical. Win-win in our house I get exercise Lenna gets to go outside. I am so happy spring is really here!

Changes in the air

We have been keeping busy the last few days. Seattle has had some beautiful days and some rainy days, but I definitely think summer is approaching. So to prepare for summer we have been collecting flowers.
I have also been getting rid of "flowers." I think Seattle breeds out of control dandelions. I swear that I have taken up some plants that have 18 heads per plant! Mutant dandelions is what I should call them! Anyway I have been keeping busy by doing a lot of weeding.
We have also been keeping busy by playing this Nintendo DS game a lot. Seriously it sucks away time like no one's business. We also just have one copy of it, so it is a battle between Jared and I who gets to play it. This happens with Zelda once someone starts playing it the other wants to play it then it becomes a battle of who's turn it is. Ahh it is like we are teenagers all over again!

Anyway you might be wondering what has been happening with this little one since we are playing the Nintendo after she goes to bed.
Well we have been doing a lot of practicing of walking. Actually Lenna has the hang of it now, but she just needs to learn how to pick herself back up without my help or the help of furniture. Anyone have suggestions on how to do that?


We have been trying to get out and about. Yesterday we went to story time at the library. She didn't like it as much this time around as last week. I think it was an off day. She was pretty much grumpy the whole day. Those days are really hard for me because the whining really tries my patience. But today was better so hooray!She loves to play with her friend Joel. She just chases after him. It is fun for me to watch them interact since they have been great buds for so long they play so well together.This I thought might be a good picture, but then she got her head stuck inside the netting (yep total choking hazard) then she almost fell and hit her head on the metal frame. Yep bad mom moment. Instead of saying hmmm what you are doing isn't so safe; I thought great picture time! Luckily she didn't hit her head or choke, but we will try to be safer next time in the soccer goal.We have done a ton of walks in the stroller and not in the stroller. On Sunday she was so tired from everything, that for the entire walk she leaned her head against her stroller as shown in the picture. Lenna hardly ever does things like that.
The other busy things we have done is we went to the zoo on Saturday. Lenna had lost one of her shoes at the zoo on my birthday and I was too tired to go and search for it that day. So we figured we would buzz in on Saturday and see if it had been found. Happy day, it had! Now Lenna has both shoes again. We also looked at a few animals since we were already there.

I also made Jared and Lenna do a lot of random shopping with me on Saturday. We went to Costco and got churros, and we looked at a few stores to find coconut kisses with no luck. But the hardest purchase I have made these last few days was Lenna's next car seat. Here is what we got!The hard part is I feel like she will be a big girl in this car seat. I mean it has a cup holder! But Lenna is out growing her car seat in the height department, so I am not sure she will make it too much longer. So we figured we should order it so we have it when it is time to move her up. The cool thing about this car seat is that it will be her's for the whole time she needs a car seat. It moves from toddler size, to little kid, to just a booster. I think that is pretty neat! Since it will be her car seat for the whole time we got super girly because it would be just for her! I love it!

Okay hope you enjoyed the random update. We haven't really been up to anything horribly exciting, but sometimes you have to have chill days to enjoy the exciting days.

Bday Parties, and Sunny Days

This week we were able to go to this beautiful girl's birthday party! She turned 1 years old.Lenna was way excited to see her friend again. But since Leah had just woken up from a nap she wasn't really ready to talk to anybody. Actually Lenna made her cry.
But Lenna was still very excited to be at the party! It was a PJ themed party, and super fun!
The kiddos loved playing with all of Leah's new toys.
We had to get a picture with all the kids that were there. I am impressed that my camera got them all looking up. Sadly the flash or something didn't work out so well and so the picture is a little dark.
Okay I played around with gimp and learned how to fill in the flash. I am really loving photo editing! See the difference?Lenna crashed as soon as we got home. I really have no clue how this position could be comfortable but this is her new favorite way to sleep.
Lenna seems to be growing up and looking like a little girl to me. I took this picture because I remember when her head didn't go above the high chair, she also didn't have as much hair. I remember 6 months ago when I thought she had a lot of hair, wow was I wrong. Anyway I think she may have even grown since her doctor appointment in height. She can reach things now that I didn't know she can reach like things on the kitchen counters, and shelves in the bathroom. I am learning to child proof at a whole new level!
We had a beautiful day yesterday. Sadly today is not as beautiful. But to get out of the house since we had nothing planned we headed to Richmond Beach. I had brought her shovel and bucket so we could play in the sand, but I got too cold since I didn't bring a jacket for myself, and we retreated a little bit up from the water to the playground. Every time I go to parks on the water I remind myself that I never ever want to leave Seattle. Even if housing is ridiculously expensive. I mean look you have a swing set where you can see the water and the Olympic mountains all at once. How awesome!Lenna also reached a new level of coolness yesterday. She spent most of the time playing with the wood chips instead of eating them! Hoooray!!!
She also thinks she is too cool to hold my hand and walk anymore. She keeps letting go and then walks where ever she wants to go. It is teaching me extreme amounts of patience to let her walk on her own and at her own pace. It takes us like 20 minutes to walk maybe 30 feet. But I want her to learn how to walk so I must be patient.With the sun and warm weather we had the last few days it makes me excited for Summer!!!

26 years,13 Months, and 1 eye infection

I turned 26 this week. It was an interesting birthday, but good. I am reminded that I have so much family and friends who love me and make the effort to make my day extra special. I got to talk to both of my brothers which is an extra treat since I don't talk to them both very often.

To make the day exciting, since I literally had no plans what so ever, we headed to the zoo. We saw elephants.

Crazy looking birds.
Rare animals having fun, oh wait that is just Lenna.She loves blocks.
However, during the zoo adventure Lenna's eyes got really gunky to the point that after her afternoon nap she couldn't open them. So miss Lenna got her very first prescription ever on my birthday. She gets to have eye drops every 4ish hours during the day for the next few days. Have you ever tried to put eye drops in a 1 year old? Let me tell you it is not easy. The label says "Gently open your eye and place 1 drop in the affected eye. Do not blink, but let the solution sit in your eye for 1-2 minutes." Well I just feel happy if we can get some into her eye. She screams, she wiggles, and she shuts her eyes tight. Let's say it is a challenge. But only after 2 rounds of her eye drops her eyes started looking better.

But my birthday wasn't bad. I was visited by the birthday fairy who decorated my door, left balloons, and an awesome flamingo pen. I love the birthday fairy(ies)! I think everyone should have fairies who randomly visit them throughout the year ;) I also go lots of other things too. Yet I did not spend the day in super luxury. I weeded, I mowed the law, and did laundry. It is crazy how having kids just changes what you do on a day to day basis and on special days too. I did get to have Thai food, and cake, and I loved getting the phone calls, emails, and fb messages all day long. Made me totally feel special! I think 26 will be a good year.
This little one turned 13 months yesterday. Here she is in all her glory. Since we were home bound on her 13 month mark I didn't even do her hair. I let her go wild!
She has been getting lots of sleep!And lots of entertainment from mom and dad so she can stay happy! Jared thought it was funny I would put Lenna's pants on my head and act like it is a hat. Lenna loves to take off and put on hats so she thought it was the funniest thing ever. I am just glad she is already feeling better.In other news. I started my garden yesterday. Well I started it outside yesterday. As soon as we got home from the great Lundell vacation of 2010 I started seeds inside. Since the 10 day forecast says it won't get below freezing and I wanted some counter space back the beans and peas got kicked outside. My garden is always small since I don't have a large area for a garden and gardening takes A LOT of effort. So I always try and keep it simple. Next week we get tomatoes from our scout's plant sale to add to the mix of things, and I will put seeds directly into the ground at the beginning of May to add to the garden.
The other happy news this week is I finally have been able to use my elliptical again. I told Jared that all I really wanted for my birthday was to run on my elliptical. Sadly due to Lenna's eyes that didn't happen, but every other day this week I have been able to run, and after a month of being on vacation and being sick it has felt great!

Lastly I would like to brag about my shopping deal of this week. I would first like to make the statement that I never find my own deals, I use the blogs that post deals for me to find them. There is my couponing 101 suggestion; find someone who is good at posting deals then follow their advice. Anyway we went to Target this week and I spent $10.12 after coupons and got 5 items. 3 cleaning items call scrubbing bubbles, and then I bought a package of wipes for 66 cents, and a small photo book (which sadly wasn't on sale, but I was too lazy to go to the dollar store to pick one up). So after my 10.12 purchase I got a 5 dollar gift card for Target, and my cleaning supplies allowed me to mail in a rebate for 5 bucks! So I spent 10.12 but got 10 dollars back, well 9.66 if you deduct the stamp. The photo book is my favorite buy though. I had asked my friend Diana how she organized her coupons and I copied her idea (see copying again, I am really good at doing that with deals!) So now I feel like I can find my coupons so much faster and it is more compacted in my diaper bag! Yay! Happy almost weekend everyone!