Noca

We went to Noca last week for my friend Lee Anne's birthday.


We forgot to bring Greg's digital SLR, but Lee Anne brought hers, so she took most of the pictures. (I was playing around with the Photoshop Elements that Greg just got me and added names to the group photo! I foresee this being a useful tool . . . once I learn how to use it.)


P.S. I am short. I am reminded of that every time I see myself in group pictures.
Before our dinner actually came, we were served a bunch of bite-sized hors d'oeuvres (amuse-bouche: fun + mouth = fun in my mouth!)

Apple butter with blue cheese foam:


Carrot soup:


Green bean salad with Spanish almonds
Crab salad with poached grapefruit and avocado
Spinach mezzaluna (same thing as the entree below, but only one for the amuse-bouche):


Greg's entree - Steak Frites:


I got the Agnolotti, which is basically a stuffed pasta.

After dinner, they serve you a bowl of cotton candy - apple-flavored when we were there. I haven't had cotton candy in a long time - it just melts in your mouth!

Lastly, when you leave (instead of giving you mints or whatever), they give you a little treat wrapped in a cellophane bag and tied with a ribbon. We each got a little slice of short bread with dark chocolate chips (I ate the shortbread before I remembered to take a picture).

It was fancy schmancy, with the amuse-bouche and the cotton candy and the treats . . . Also, the service was stellar. My water NEVER fell below half-full during the entire dinner.

Floral Silhouettes

I've seen this rather ubiquitous Stampin' Up stamp on a number of projects by various bloggers:


Upsy Daisy
I was reminded of it when I saw that Unity Stamp Company released this stamp, the design of which is reminiscent of the Stampin' Up one above:


Feel the Joy
I'm coveting it. I saw lots of sweet projects with the stamp on the weekly Unity Stamp Company Blog Hop.

The design also reminds me of this Basic Grey paper:


Offbeat - Eccentric

Basic Grey consistently produces paper that I tend to hoard. I originally bought this piece to use with scrapbooking the sunset pictures of me and Greg (such as the one that is currently on my blog header), but I decided it wasn't the right shade of blue, so I found a different piece of paper that worked better (AND I already had it in my paper stash, so YAY for using up paper that I already had).

In other news . . . Yes, it is late. Yes, I should be in bed. Yes, I still have to get up and go to work in the morning. I took a "power nap" earlier in the evening though, so hopefully that makes up for it?

One Cat Per Drawer, Please

We chilled at home on Sunday. The kitties chilled with us, particularly Greg:


One cat per drawer, please . . . They don't like to share drawers.

A neighborhood cat came to roam in our yard. The kitties checked him out through the window:


But kitties are not friendly to other cats, so they hissed at the white kitty when he came over to be all like, "Hey ladies . . . how you doin' today."

How to Make Your Own "Snuggie"

How to make your own "Snuggie":

Step 1: Buy a men's XL robe (preferably full-length).
Step 2: Wear robe backwards.

I have not only seen Snuggie commercials on TV, but also on Facebook. Facebook! Does anyone else think it's a little on the silly side? Blanket with sleeves?

"I'm a PC and I'm 4 ½"

Greg wants our kids to be as cute as this little girl:


The Rookies: Kylie, Age 4 ½

Rainbow Donuts and Melrose Vintage

After Greg's repeated claims that Rainbow Donuts is as delicious as hot, fresh Krispy Kremes, we made a visit to Rainbow Donuts this morning so that I could taste the deliciousness for myself. Even Rainbow Donuts purports to have the "Best Donuts in Arizona":



I had a chocolate sprinkle donut and half of an old-fashioned donut. They were indeed delicious.

Greg also (out of the goodness of his heart and also because apparently I lied by omission by not informing him that there was scrapbooking stuff involved) took me to check out Melrose Vintage. They have antiques and stuff of the "shabby chic" variety. Also, their scrapbooking section is bigger than I originally thought, so I'm happy to have found another source for scrapbooking stuff. I got this wire basket:


I think it is probably new old instead of old old. Now I just have to think of what I'm going to do with it . . .

Wedding Guest Album

I finished making the guest album for Kati and Dan's wedding! I finished last week, but didn't get around to taking any pictures until today.







I only took pictures of the pages with pictures. And I was too lazy to try to get pictures without glare. But you get the idea.

Turnaround Trip to Disneyland

The Rudds invited us to go with on a quick trip to Disneyland last week - leave Friday night, spend all day Saturday at Disneyland, then drive back late Saturday night/early Sunday morning - and we took them up on it. We've never seen Disneyland that slow, but it was great. We were able to squeeze in so much since the wait times were ridiculously short (5-15 minutes for many of the rides):

• Space Mountain, 4 times
• Buzz Lightyear, 2 times
• Indiana Jones, 2 times
• Pirates of the Caribbean, 2 times (the 2nd time we went, there were like 2 people in line)
• Splash Mountain
• Matterhorn
• Big Thunder Railroad
• Jungle Cruise
• Finding Nemo
• It's a Small World
• Star Tours
• Innoventions
• Roger Rabbit
• Mark Twain
• Dinner at the Blue Bayou
• Fantasmic show

We left after the Fantasmic show, but I don't think we could have squeezed in so much stuff in one day if it weren't (a) a slow season to begin with and (b) raining for the first half of the day.


Greg is happy that he was able to squeeze in an extra trip to Disneyland this year.

There is hope!

For a Cardinals Super Bowl win!

It's kind of like watching Game 7 of the World Series with the Diamondbacks in 2001. (Kevin, my brother, and I were reminiscing about the win - there was lots of jumping up and down to be had). I'm nervous . . . there is only 1:50 left in the game!

[Edit at 8:01 PM]: Eep. Looking not so hot for the Cardinals. Very not hot. :(

[Edit at 8:10 PM]: Bummer.