Monday, Monday

I am DYING to try this recipe for a pumpkin pie milkshake. Does someone want to make it and then report back??

My back has been out for about a week. I'm giving up and going to my chiro tomorrow. I miss being able to stand upright and to sit or walk without pain.

Did anyone else watch today's Oprah with Nate being a stay at home mom and then the other women who got the surprise from Rick Springfield? Oh that surprise made me cry. Rick Springfield is my friend Michelle's favorite singer (the Michelle who lost her husband to cancer in February.) I so wish I could surprise her with that cruise. And is there anyone in the world cuter than Nate?? I think not. And what did Rick Springfield do to his face?

Today was my world premiere webcast at work. It wasn't too painful but I'm so glad it's over.

Saturday was my darling niece Natalie's 5th birthday party (she's the blonde on the left.) I love this picture of her and her cousin/BFF Makenna (5 1/2.) Let's have a moment of silence for the cute pink headband that only lasted a few hours before my sister's dog decided to chew it up. Sigh.

I have to post this picture too, not because my mom is laughing so hard but because my 2 year old niece Rylee is actually sort of looking at the camera and smiling. Rylee is SUPER shy and it's a challenge for anyone (other than her mom) to get a photo of her. She's such a darling girl (as is my niece McKenzie in the middle.)

On Sunday we held our first practice for our Primary Program. Why does this event sap every last bit of energy out of my body? We practice again on Saturday and then the program is on Sunday. Is it wrong to wish it was 12:15 PM on October 25???

Is it bad...?

• Is it bad that I'm tired after spending 24 hours at a fabulous hotel/spa? So tired that I want to go to bed at 8 PM?
• Is it bad that I want to stay home tonight and not return my redbox movies and just pay the extra night's charges? In our beautiful hotel room, after a luxurious pedicure, we watched "Bride Wars" (enjoyable) and "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" (annoying and utterly painful to watch. I fell asleep about halfway through. Do not rent this movie.)
• Is it bad that I went to a fabulous hotel/spa and didn't take a picture of anything except the dessert we had at a restaurant on our way out of town?

• Is it bad that I didn't even think to bring my camera so had to use my iPhone to take these less than ideal photos?


• Is it bad that I took three pictures of the dessert? Well, you would too if you'd been there to share it with us. It was a s'more consisting of a homemade graham cracker, Belgian chocolate and marshmallows.
  
  
• Is it bad that we wanted to lick the plate when we were finished?

I just got back from returning the DVDs and saved myself $2.18. I know some of you are cheering right now. ;)

Holiday Weekend Perfection

What I did this weekend:

• Had dinner with two friends on Friday night, one of whom now lives in Australia. It had been almost three years since I last saw Sara and it was wonderful catching up, even though it wasn't long enough.
• Drove to Portland Saturday morning with Michelle. We stayed at a really nice hotel on the Columbia River. The weather was absolutely perfect -- high 70s and sunny.
• We stopped at some outlets on the way and I bought new clothes for summer. Yay!
• We visited the Saturday Market - super crowded and not really our thing but fun for people watching. Tons of tattoos, dogs and passed out people.
• We visited our second favorite Portland area mall, Washington Square (I love Clackamas the most.) We went to Williams-Sonoma where I spent my birthday money on a RED Le Creuset (Oregon has no sales tax - ours is 9.5% so it was like it was on sale. Almost.)
• We took the trolley into downtown and shopped, shopped and shopped some more. We experienced Anthropologie for the first time ever, which was very fun. We checked out the half yearly sale at Nordstrom, went to Macy's where I went a little crazy. Fabulous sales.
• We saw Star Trek. LOVED IT! I seriously seriously seriously love Chris Pine. Yum.
• I coughed so much at night. It was horrible. I tried everything to stop it and nothing worked. I haven't had a good night's sleep for the last three nights because of it. But I feel better overall.
• While we were in the hotel room, we watched a lot of the Jon & Kate Plus 8 marathon. I'd never watched that show before this weekend and I have to say Kate is mean. Jon has his moments too but Kate is so rude to her husband. And Maddie, one of the older twins, is a total mini-Kate, and that is not a compliment. I hope for their family's sake, they go into some sort of therapy. I also think they should stop doing the show so they can work on putting their family back together.

And finally, if you are a praying sort of person, will you please say a prayer for my blogging friend Michelle (not to be confused with the Michelle I spent my weekend with.) Michelle's mom is fighting liver cancer and they could all use your prayers. Thank you...