The Honeymoon, Part 1: The first impression

This is the first part in a series of reports on our honeymoon. Yes, there will be lots of rambling on and pictures, so consider yourself warned.

We flew into the Cancun airport where we met our driver who took us to our hotel. The hotel was freakin' fancy and beautiful. It is called the Valentin Imperial and is an all-inclusive five-star resort located south of Cancun (between Cancun and Playa del Carmen). When we got there, they learned we were honeymooners and that the room we reserved had 2 beds in it, so they upgraded our room to this fancy-shmancy beauty.

And what is a fancy room without its own jacuzzi bathtub?

The lobby was also fancy, and the scenery was AMAZING!

The resort had a fantastic pool, and walking just a couple of minutes beyond it lead you straight to the hotel's beach (which was by far the best beach I have ever been on).

Almost there....

Just beyond the palm trees is this....

All we did the first day is lay out at the beach and pool. I got a little red in the face (as you'll see in future pictures). Allison got really tan.

Is it time for lunch? Just head over to the restaurant that's located on the freakin' beach.

There will be a whole entry dedicated to the food we ate, since it was all fancy (ex. I had escargot for the first time).

That's all for Part 1. Stay tuned for more of our multi-part series "The Honeymoon: Why the Heck did I Come Back?"

Back from the honeymoon...

Detailed reporting (including copious pictures) are forthcoming. Stay tuned.

Another college dance.

Another college page! I did this for a challenge over at Stamp Something. The technique I used was Faux Silk. I stamped on purple tissue paper with black ink then adhered it to purple rose paper. I used Fancy Pants, Bella Brush and Unity Stamps. I used some stickers I got at the $1 store that are awesome! Making Memories sentiment rub-on and Amanda Blu rub-on, the red circle.

Notes

I'm hoping Kristin got her package by now, but I haven't heard anything. Well this was the rest of her winnings (and some dove chocolates). I made this little personalized notebook for her. The stamps I used are by a new company called Unity. The dp is by Colorbok .

I used diamond embossing powder on this stamp which says Imagine. It is super sparkly which you could tell in real life.

Here Comes Mommy with Her High Heeled Shoes on

The title of this post is important. And if you are not in my immediate family you don't know how it is supposed to go. This is one of my family sayings that came from one of us (Matt, Holly or me) as kids. It is supposed to be said in a high pitched voice and there is a kind of tune to it.

What is a saying from your childhood?

Girl Friends

Another college page, yay! I had a few pictures of different times throughout my freshman year with Roxy and Jen. Decided to just have a page with all the pictures as opposed to a page with different friends on it. I made this page off of Lotus Paperie's sketch challenge this week

Morning Shot

I went to Livermore Tuesday night to scrapbook with Ashley. Therefore, Daddy put Rebecca to bed. He didn't put any pj's on her and when I heard her wake up on Wednesday morning she was standing in her crib. I put down on the ground and got the camera to take a picture. I have never seen this happen before. Its normally all the way off or just one strap holding it, not this though...(don't worry its been edited)

Summer Has Truly Begun

It definitely feels like summer when we go to river. We went for the first time this year on Saturday. It had been 100 the two previous days and was close on Saturday.

Here is Steve and RJ wakeboarding.
Here is the the fam, w/ RJ in her gear.



Here is Dad and RJ and friends Danny and son Max swimming.


Captain of the boat.










Also stop by Me-and-LilG for blog candy.

Being like Mommy

On Friday, I went in Rebecca's room to find her playing with her old car seat. She had put her dolly in it and was trying to carry it around. She didn't make it very far carrying it, though. She also had the diaper bag on her shoulder.

Sneak Peak of Kristin's Winnings

Here is one of the things in Kristin's package for winning the blog candy, a little stationary kit with 6 cards. I just sent it off yesterday. So this is just a sneak peak. The other thing I sent her, I won't post until she gets it.

Feeding Requirements

Lately the only way Rebecca will eat something is if she can do it herself. Here are some yummy pictures with yogurt!

Here is a picture from mother's day morning. I was exhausted when I woke up so I laid down on the couch and Rebecca came over to give me some love!

Today

This picture was taken while we were dating during the 2003-2004 school year. I did the layout based on a sketch challenge from here. I also did it for a First Somethings challenge and One Little Word, Today challenge. This was my first time to do a 6x12 page, first time to use these stamps I just got, Fancy Pants' Bella Brush. I love how this turned out!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Woke up this morning to have blueberry waffles, thick, crispy bacon, and yummy juice! Hope all you moms out there are having a great day too! I can finally post up my mother's day cards now! This one was for my mom in TX.

So I made a heart pocket and then I made the little tag which says "you have started a legacy of love". Then I decided I wanted a little vellum pocket to put in the heart pocket. So a pocket in a pocket! I decided to glue the vellum pocket on to the heart pocket to stay.
Inside the card you can see the stamped heart border that I then matched on the outside of the envelope! Love it!

This card was for my mom in CA. Inside are four pockets. Inside the pockets are pictures of her four children and their families and on front of the pocket is a message from them. You can kind of see inside below.

Digital Saturday

Hope you like! Happy Saturday!

a little dance

Mini Book

Here is the inside of the mini book! Some pretty purple paper. Plus, that gold hole-y paper is the negative of making sequins.
Then there is this transparency paper with brown print on it.


Plus there is this beautiful butterfly paper that was white until I painted on it. It is embossed and gorgeous!! This next paper feels so cool. You have the beautiful gold and then the darker orange, like in the bottom right hand corner is fuzzy!

Class Fun

At the all day scrapbooking, there were two mini classes. The first was this 3x3 canvas. How cute is it?! I love how it turned out! I painted on it; I used oil pastels; it is trimmed in gold and has a pretty flower and bling!


















The next class was this mini album about Passion. It is supposed to be filled with what we are passionate about. It has quotes in it and all the paper is handmade - so it is awesome! I will post more pictures tomorrow of the inside.

Lots O' Candy!

Drum Roll.....The winner is Kristin! and I decided to do a runner up: Anita! So email me your address and I will get the packages together this week to send off. I want it to be a suprise, but I also want to post pictures up. So we'll see what I choose.







For those of you who didn't win, head over to The Card Grotto for a chance at some more blog candy. Or to Kittys Krafty Blog.

National Scrapbooking Day!

Yesterday was National Scrapbooking Day and my local scrapbooking store, My Daughter Wish, had a fun filled weekend. Ashley and I signed up for Saturday's scrapbooking all day. Here are some pictures from the day.

Here is when we first got there and the table was all clean! And our place cards that told us where to sit.


Here is a picture before lunch, showing the mess we have going on our table.

This is one of the two main scrapbooking tables. Ashley and I are on the end closest to the front. There were about 25 women there.

Here is Ashley!

Here is the other table.


There were two mini classes during the day which I will post pictures of in coming posts. Also, I went to the Thursday night ATC roundtable and made three ATC cards, which I will also post. Plus, I accomplished 2 more months of RJ's scrapbook and started on a 3rd. Only 2 more after I accomplish that one. Getting close!!!!

Indian and English

Steve and I love Indian food!! But it can be kind of expensive to eat out every time we want it. I bought a bottle of sauce at Target once. It wasn't that great. But what I made for dinner last night...Yum!!! Butter Chicken, which is our favorite dish at Bombay, our local Indian restaurant here in downtown Walnut Creek. This didn't taste exactly like it, but it was good. The box is strictly spices. But it has the recipe on the back. I got the box of spices at an Indian grocery store in Pleasanton right by the Papa John's (also a favorite place). Almost all of the measurements on the box are in grams. So I had to convert it all. About 1 lb. of chicken, 1/4 of an onion, 1 can of tomato paste, 10 almonds. How easy does that sound?


Now the odd thing is that you make a past with the onion and an almond paste. Put the onion in a sauce pan with 1/4 c. water and let it simmer for 15 min. The almonds need to be blanched and peeled and then blended with 1/4 c. water to make the paste. I don't have a food processor, but I want one badly. So it was finely ground not a paste and it was fine. Now cut the chicken into pieces and cook over medium/high heat with oil and onion paste until onion paste is translucent (10 min.). Then add tomato paste, almond paste, 1 Tbl (if you like it spicy, or less if you don't) spices and water (how much water? about 1 1/2 c. but you just add it until it looks right). Let it cook for 15 min. then add heavy cream. Ta-da!!! Butter chicken!




Then today I made scones, which I've been wanting to do for awhile. Chocolate chip scones with fake-out clotted cream and lemon curd. So good!! The fake-out clotted cream recipe was so easy. And Kirsten or another reader who lives in GB and knows clotted cream, this is not the same. 1c. heavy cream whisked into stiff peaks, then hand whisk in 1/3 c. sour cream and 1 Tbl. powder sugar. The lemon curd here is store bought, though I have made my own and I think my own is better, but store bought is easier.

Also there is still time left to enter win blog candy, just click here.