Instawhat: Week of 1/27

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So, I forgot to post this stuff last week, which is actually okay since I also forgot to take a single picture on my phone last week.  Which, really, isn’t a bad thing.  We had a great week and focused more on each other than the pictures :)

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My favorite foodie event of the whole year is Forks & Corks, which is put on by a local restaurant group that we belong to called the Sarasota Originals.  Forks is held in the courtyard of the beautiful Ringling Museum and consists of about 50 local, independent restaurants as well as about 70 vineyards from around the world.  The coolest part to the wine enthusiasts (my dad & I included) that attend this event is that many of the winemakers and vineyard owners come to our town to represent their wines.  It’s like meeting celebrities.  Tickets go for $85 ($150 for VIP)… this year, they went on sale in early November and they sold out of 1200 tickets in THREE HOURS.  Amazing.  Luckily, we get to be one of the restaurants there.  We served pork belly with edamame fried rice and a sweet soy drizzle.  We were named the Best of Show.  No big deal.  We also drank a lot of amazing wine.  While we served food.  Also no big deal.

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Bug loves helping wash the car.  He’s getting pretty good with the hose.  Also, it was warm enough on a January day to actually play in the hose.  Be jealous.

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Just doing a puzzle in my underwear.  With my tummy hanging out.  Big man.

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The Grammys

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I love watching the artists and celebrities in the audience singing along to the performances, especially when they are different genres.  There’s just something awesome about watching Keith Urban and Neil Patrick Harris totally getting into a Bruno Mars song, or the entire audience bopping their heads and smiling while Alicia Keys & Adam Levine performed “Girl on Fire.”  And, frankly, Alicia Keys totally deserves to have the likes of Bonnie Raitt and Adele getting into her performance, because that song is badass.

I like Kelly Clarkson.  I don’t really listen to much of her music, though her rendition of “O, Holy Night” is my absolute favorite.  Anyways, I just think she’s adorable as a person.  She always seems to be happy, smiley & positive and a good role model.  So, she wins a Grammy, and I’m telling Hubby on her way up to the stage these things I like about her.  Her & Miranda Lambert hug and their dresses stick together.  Kelly gets up to the mic and says, “I got stuck on Miranda Lambert — there’s a story in a song. For later. After alcohol.”  Hubby gives me a look.  But then she says, “Just kidding, children.”  Adorable.  Love her.

Jack White’s performance was a huge surprise for me.  I have long been aware of Jack White and his talents, and talented he is.  That being said, I have never really listened to his music.  I’m not sure why.  It’s not that I don’t like any of the numerous styles that he plays… I’ve just never picked up an album or downloaded a song.  Now, after that amazing, incredible, electrifying performance, I just may.  I don’t know how to describe it… just YouTube it and watch for yourself.

Okay, I’ll give ‘em that the crazy light effect thing on Carrie Underwood’s skirt was different and innovative or whatever.  But I didn’t like it.  I thought it was distracting.  Apparently she gave an incredible performance.  I didn’t really hear it because I was so damn confused/focused on the dress.  Plus, that dress was beautiful all on it’s own.

Prince is and will always be weird, regardless of how incredibly talented he is.  I love that he made a public appearance to present at the Grammys, yet he didn’t speak any more than absolutely necessary (although he did mutter that he loves the song that won the category).  He also did his best not to touch Gotye &/or Kimba when presenting them with the award.  He did, at least, smile a little tiny bit when Gotye gushed about being presented an award by Prince and thanked him for being an influence on his music, which was kind of adorable on Gotye’s part.

Oh, Frank Ocean.  You are talented, but that performance was rough.  Not totally your fault, though.  Well, the pitchy parts were your fault, but the biggest problem was that the sound mix was not awesome and the keyboard way overshadowed your pretty voice.  You did a great job whistling.

Yay, Mumford!  Way to win Album of the Year for Babel.  My favorite part of that… Bonnie Raitt was the first to stand for them.  She beat them for best Americana album, which she totally deserved, so it was nice that she was quick to be supportive of their win.  She’s one of my favorites.  Classy lady.

My Second Super Scary Mom Moment

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My first super scary mom moment came when Bug fell head over heels down half a flight of stairs when we were visiting my best friend Randi in Iowa.  I almost threw up and had a heart attack at the same time.  I shook for a good while after that happened, even though it was evident that he was just fine… survived, thank God, with just a goose egg on his forehead.

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One gray morning a few weeks ago, Bug and I headed to this awesome new playground in Sarasota.  There was hardly anybody there even though it was like 10:30, which is prime preschool-age playtime, if you didn’t know.  By the time Bug had his accident, we were the only people there.  Cloudy skies make for scaredy-cats.  Let me start by saying that Bug is not an uber-adventurous little boy.  He is not, nor has he ever been, a climber.  He is very cautious.  This particular day, however, Bug actually wanted to climb things.  At first, he wanted my hand on him at all times.  About half an hour into our playground adventure, he was telling me, “Hands off, Momma!”  Still, though, I was constantly standing super close, ready to catch him.  Something about this playground… although it is awesome and fantastic, some of the high up spots are hard to get to for parents.  Bug climbed up some stairs and was going to go down a slide, where I was standing, but instead took off a different direction to climb down this series of ladders (he was positioned kind of between two ladders).  I told him to stop so he wouldn’t fall before I could walk around a climbing structure and another slide.  Of course, he didn’t listen and started to climb down.  He slipped and dropped about 5 feet to the ground, landing kind of on his knees and then onto his belly.

I dropped my camera and ran to my crying little boy.  I looked him over and didn’t see anything wrong.  Because he pretty much fell straight down, I knew he didn’t land on his head or neck.  I thought maybe there was a chance of a sprained ankle or wrist, but nothing major.  He was already starting to calm down when I saw blood on my arm.  I immediately looked in his mouth, since he ended up face down after he landed… nothing.  I looked at his ears… nothing.  And then I realized that there was a lot of blood and that is was mostly on my arm.  It was gushing from the back of his head.  There was a gash about a quarter of an inch long, and deep.  He must have hit the back of his head on the ladder behind him at the beginning of his fall.  I calmly picked Bug up, picked up my camera and headed to our bag.  I took out a clean pair of underwear (because it was either that or pants) and held them to the back of his head while I called my mom & Hubby & his pediatrician to see where I should take him to get it looked at.  He stopped crying and just leaned against me while I held undies on his head.  After a few minutes, most of the bleeding had stopped and we went to the car, where I cleaned most of the blood off of our skin with a bottle of water.

And then, we went to the Urgent Care clinic.  I was expecting numerous ER visits with having a boy, but I wasn’t expecting the first to be when he was only 2.  After I explained that we weren’t going to his usual doctor, who he LOVES, he was very concerned with what this new doctor’s name was going to be.  He must’ve asked 100 times before I could finally find out the clinic doctor’s name.  Once I told Bug that his name was Dr. Choy, he was just like, “Oh.” The doc checked him out and decided that although he probably could’ve used a stitch, it really wasn’t necessary.  The nurse cleaned it and gave Bug a Beanie Baby for being so brave.

And let me tell you… brave he was.  My bug didn’t cry the whole way to the doctor, even though he couldn’t lean his head back against his car seat.  He didn’t cry one time at the clinic, either, even when the nurse was cleaning out his wound.  He was polite and chatted nicely with the nurse and doctor.  I was insanely proud of him.  And, on top of all of that… he didn’t have an accident in his underwear the entire time.  It had probably been 2 hours since I’d taken him potty, and I didn’t even think to take him before we left the playground (where the potty was far away, anyways) or right when we got to the clinic.  So, we peed in the potty at the clinic, said goodbye and went to McDonald’s for a celebratory first real injury lunch.

We called Namaw (my mom) and she asked how he got his boo-boo.  He said, “I fell at the awesome playground.”  Later that night, Hubby asked Bug how he got his big boo-boo.  He said, “I was climbing, and I fell and Momma didn’t catch me.”  Ouch.  Break my heart, why don’t ya.

A note on this scary moment versus the first… this was much less traumatic for me, even though Bug was actually injured this time.  Maybe it was because the fall itself wasn’t as scary.  Maybe it was because I saw how he landed.  Maybe it was because as soon as I heard him cry I knew he was ok.  Maybe it was because when he fell down the stairs, I was right next to him and couldn’t catch him in time.  I am just thankful that he wasn’t seriously injured.

Double Chocolate Snowquakes

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One day, probably 3 years ago, Hubby was bored at work and scouring the internet for delicious things for me to make so that he could eat them.  This is how you know he was bored.  He was spending his time looking online for recipes for his wife.  Out of all of the decadent and intricate recipes on delish, he chose these guys.  For as unassuming as these cookies look, though, they are actually pretty decadent on your tongue.  Rich and chocolatey with a sweet powdered sugar crust, Snowquakes are easy to make… and also easy to eat.

This is one of those old standby recipes that I’ve made time and time again.  That’s saying a lot for me, too, because I would rather make something new 9 times out of 10.  Try ‘em out and let me know what you think!

Here’s what you need: (Adapted from delish.com)
Makes about 48 cookies

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
  • 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips (I usually use a mix of milk chocolate and dark chocolate)
  • 1 cup or so confectioners’ sugar

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, coca powder, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, cream the butter with a mixer (either stand or hand-held) on medium until light & fluffy.  Add both sugars and continue to beat on medium until combined.  Add the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla and beat for a minute or two to make sure everything has been incorporated.

Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and slowly add in the flour/cocoa mixture, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.  Make sure you get all of the flour that makes it’s way to the bottom of the bowl.  Dump in the chocolate chips and fold in with a spatula.  Cover with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge for an hour.

Just before you take the dough out of the fridge, preheat your oven to 350′ and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.  Pour confectioners’ sugar onto a plate or into a bowl.  Scoop dough by the tablespoon, roll into a ball, and then roll in sugar.  Don’t be afraid of the sugar… coat ‘em good.  A stainless steel scoopis awesome for this, because then you don’t really have to roll the dough into a ball.  Saves time and soap used to clean super messy dough hands.  Place sugar coated dough goodness about 2 inches apart on baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes… they’ll be puffed and crackly looking.  Scrape the leftover dough from the bowl while they are cooking and savor it.  Trust me on this.  Transfer cookies still on the parchment paper to a wire rack and let completely cool.  It’s okay to pop one or seven warm cookies into your face.

Make these.  For your husband, your girlfriend, your office, yourself… doesn’t really matter.  Just do it.  You’re welcome.

Instawhat: Week of 1/20

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Superman and his muscles.  I die.

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“Mom, I’n a princess dragon!”  Almost peed my pants laughing so hard.

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Namaw (my mom), Bug and I went to Mote Marine on Thursday, and then to Chick-Fil-A for lunch.  We had such a fun time.  This is Bug on the way home, ballin’ with his sunglasses on and chocolate chip cookie all over his face.  As my friend Stef said, “They see me rollin. They hatin.”

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Thursday was the best day ever, except for the thirty minute I refuse to go potty unless you let me take off my underwear by myself, wait no you do it for me, wait no let me do it, oh crap I lost my chance to do it myself now I’m going to scream tantrum Bug threw before dinner.  After he calmed down and started acting like a big boy, the three of us went to Bogey’s for a fun family dinner.  We played video games and chatted and had so much fun that Bug got to stay up until 9:00.

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On Saturday, Nana, Pops, Aunt Annie, Hubby, Bug & I all went out to O’Brien Family Farms in Bradenton to do a little strawberry pickin’.  Bug was totally into finding the reddest strawberries and was a pro at picking them off their stems after like 5 minutes.  We had a blast picking berries, lettuce and broccoli, and then we wandered through their blueberry bushes, played in the mud and bought some veggies from their farmer’s market.  I am a sucker for farmer’s markets, especially one like this, where they grow everything on the property.  Amazing.  Also, the most delicious strawberry milkshake ever.

I might try to actually write some real posts this week, but no promises!!

Instawhat: Week of 1/13

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So, last week, I was all, “I’m totally back on the blogging wagon, ya’ll!”  And now, holy cow, it’s already Friday and I realized this morning that I didn’t blog even once this week.  Yeehaw.

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Last Monday, we had some good friends over for dinner.  We grilled some bacon basil wrapped BBQ shrimp.  They were tasty.  I also made brussel sprouts for the first time.  I oven roasted them (oven on 375′ for about 40 minutes) with some garlic, olive oil & almonds and they were delicious.  Seriously.  Awesome.

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This is how we play in January in Florida.  Bug insisted that it was “too hawt” to put on a shirt.  I agreed.

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Now, at this point on Thursday’s visit to the coolest playground ever, the explanation to this picture would have said something along the lines of: we played at a super awesome new playground and Bug was a big boy and actually climbed on things.  However, now the explanation reads: this was taken about 15 minutes prior to Bug falling and splitting the back of his head open, warranting a trip to Urgent Care, where he, thankfully, didn’t have a concussion nor were stitches absolutely necessary.  That will be a whole post unto itself.

Happy Friday!

Instawhat: Week of 1/6

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Bug has liked playing with “Mr. Totato Head” since he first saw Toy Story.  We had lost enough of the original pieces that I think the spud only had eyes, one ear and his nose left, so for Christmas we got him the Mr. Potato Head Silly Suitcase.  Booger loves making “silly guys.”  Funny though, he refuses to use two different ears or two different arms.  They. Must. Match.  A boy after his Momma’s heart.

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My dear friend / faux sister Amber got married on the 11th.  Her big sister Ryan and I became bestest friends when we were three and Amber was just a baby.  We grew up in the same neighborhood and we went to college together (can I get a Go Gators for the blue dresses?!?!).  I love her dearly.  She was the most beautiful bride.

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There’s a traveling circus in town.  That’s something I love about our city.  The Ringling Brothers circus used to winter here, and the circus still has a pretty big influence on the area.  Just about every year, a small traveling circus will set up their big top in a random parking lot and do shows for a few weeks.  This was Bug’s first circus, and he sat for over two hours just like this.  Awe in his little eyes and mouth open.

**Update**  Pops (my fabulous father-in-law) pointed out that I neglected to mention the best part about the circus!  They had a clown type dude that entertained the audience between acts, and he walked directly up to Hubby) and pulled him into the ring.  Little did that clown know that Hubby isn’t even a little bit afraid to make a fool of himself.  The clown dressed Hubby up in a pink skirt and headband and they played a fake tennis match, including a fantastic slow motion replay.  Pops, Nana & I were in tears from laughing so hard.  If you ask Bug what his favorite part of the circus was, he says “Daddy.”

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Someone got a snow cone during circus intermission!  Because snow cones are actually quite necessary in Florida in January.

Instawhat: Week of 12/30

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Heyo!  So, I took a little blog sabbatical.  Mostly, I just haven’t had time… what with work and the holidays and the toddler.  But, I’m back.  I’m going to ease back into this blogging this slowly… so forgive me if you don’t see more than a post or two a week for a little while.  We’re going to start with a couple of Instagram posts from the last couple of weeks.

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Bug is pretty much in underwear all of the time now, which is awesome.  This prompted us to move his changing table out of his room and put more of his toys in there instead.  He never really played in there much before, and it’s been really nice to have a quiet place for him to go play!  We’ve been building a lot of roads out of wooden blocks, and then lining up all of his cars and trucks and tractors.

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Bug got this cool Cubebot in his stocking from Nana.  It was one of those things that she wasn’t sure if he would play with but just looked neat.  Turns out, it’s one of his favorite new toys.  The little pieces of wood are held together by elastic strings and starts out as a cube.  You manipulate it until it you can get it into it’s robot form.  Bug can’t put it back into a cube, but he can turn it into a robot, and he loves to have it fight bad guys along with his superheros.  Also, it’s one of my favorite new toys.  I can put it back into a cube… in record time, at that.

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Fall in Florida lasted three days.  Three days at the beginning of January.  Sigh.  It is now apparently spring again, considering that it is has been 80 outside for the last week.  Not that I’m complaining.  I heart warm “winters.”

Instawhat: Week of 12/9

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On Sunday of last week, we went to Mote Marine with some good friends to see the new sea lion exhibit and show.  It was so much fun.  This is Karley and Timothy, the children of one of our best friends.  Timothy is 7 and Bug pretty much idolizes him.  Timothy is so sweet and holds Bug’s hand and plays with him.  It’s too sweet.

Bug used to LOVE the hurricane machine (see this video for proof!).  He was having fun up until about 50 mph.  And then he started freaking out.  Luckily, you can open the door while the wind it is on!  Karley & Hubby helped him out.  I stood my ground and took a picture.

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We cut Bug’s hair!  And then I spiked it!  He looks like a totally different kid, and like such a big boy!

Bug loves to play with Play Doh, but he loses interest in making his own creations pretty quickly.  He would much rather dictate to you what he’d like you to build.  This is Frosty the “Towman.”  Bug made the broom and the hat.

This is Rudolph pulling Santa’s sleigh.  It’s hard to see, but Santa is in the sleigh with a bag of toys sitting on top of him.  Bug made the toys.

After the snowman and Santa and Baby Jesus, Bug said, “Mom, we need Joseph the Dadda and Mary the Momma.”  Love.