…simply about g

For most, the holiday weekend has already begun. As we prepare for our ritual BBQ and potato salad and spend time with our family playing baseball and watching fireworks, I hope we all take the time to remember the reason we celebrate in the first place. We celebrate because 233 years ago 380,000 men fought and 25,700 of those gave their life for our freedom. So long ago, and yet we still fight today. Not because we have to, but because we are a blessed nation and fight for the freedom and justice of others.I am so proud to be an American. It’s a privilege to live in the greatest country in the world.

I’ve plugged Soldier Angels several times on here and, it’s my blog, I’ll do it again. Please consider showing your appreciation to the men and women fighting so far from home, away from their families, by joining this great organization. If you can’t commit to writing letters, you can go their website and purchase a care package or coffee for $20-$30, they’ll send it for you. Or next time you see a uniformed soldier at the gas station or Chic-fil-a, go shake their hand, tell them how much you appreciate them.

I wish everyone a safe and happy July 4th. Celebrate your independence, but remember, it wasn’t free.

We’re back! Got back to Baton Rouge about 8pm Saturday night and was missing the California weather the second we stepped off the plane. Only in Baton Rouge, do you get off the plane outside instead of inside the terminal. It was about a 20 degree difference than what we enjoyed the previous week. But, what else would we expect in south Louisiana in June.

We had a great trip though, we did so much fun stuff, and it was still relaxing. We didn’t have internet at the hotel, so we visited The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf once a day for their free Wifi and delicious beverages.  But didn’t hang around lond enough to upload photos, so here they are. BTW, you can check out all our pics on Flickr.

Hollywood:

Beautiful Rodeo Dr. ( I saw Kim Kardashian leaving Rodeo in her white Mercedes)

This is the Actual General Lee!

There was a car show on Rodeo with some amazing cars. Wes took tons of pictures, but they don’t do the cars justice. Check them out on Flickr.

Beach:

About to go surfing

Wes looking hot in his wetsuit

me too, haha

Walking on the beach @ sunset

We misjudged a wave!

I am happy to say that I did not have to be rescued this time

It was a great trip. Oh, how I would love to live there. I’d move into this lifeguard stand, haha. Wish we could go there every year, but there is much more world out there to discover.

Day 2

It was pretty chilly today, so we decided to drive out to LA instead of freezing at the beach. So we headed out to Hollywood and spent the day sight seeing. Found the Kodak Theater and China town. I was happy we found it this time. The GPS is coming in very handy on this trip. Also went down to Rodeo Dr. where we saw Kim Karsashian in her Mercedes. They had an awesome car show on Rodeo for Fathers Day, some incredible cars. I will post pics later as they are not uploading quick enought.

After seeing all we needed to see in Hollywood, we headed back to the beach. But stopped at In-N-Out burger, which I will say would be reason enough to move out here. Seriously the best burger I ever had.

Day3

Got up this morning and it was a little overcast. Wes and I chilled out in bed and watched Sports Center till about 10, then headed out to the beach. What a beautiful day it turned out to be. I think Wes got a little more sun than he bargained for but not too bad. I spent most of the time in the water while he laid out in the sun. I guess the water was a little cold for him.

So anyway, I’m wrapping this up and we’re going to go grab some yogurt at Pinkberry and head to the baseball game.

Got Homeland Security’s jockies in a bunch today when I packed all my liquid toiletries in the wrong suitcase. I stupidly put them in my carry on instead of the checked bag. Got pulled aside and searched. No biggie, but I had to run the bag down to the check in counter to to put it in my other bag before they loaded it on the plane. That took about 35 minutes to get someone to help me. But I was entertained. On our way to California, but I see my first celebrity in the Baton Rouge airport. Josh Brolin! Now, Wes had no ides who he was. He’s not the most famous actor, but I knew who he was b/c I had a huge crush on him when I was a kid and we watched The Young Riders. Anyway, he ended up sitting 2 seats behind us on the plane to Houston. The rest of our flight was uneventful. It was a 3 hour flight from Houston to LA.

So we get to LA and get our bag from baggage claim and they did not put our toiletries in our suitcase. So we had to find a wal mart to buy them. Oh well, I guess they airline had better things to do.

Met up with one of Wes friends and his fiancee from San Diego. They took us out to dinner at Duke’s on the beach, it was beautiful. Then took a walk on the beach.

I will have to post pics later.

Hotel doesn’t have internet. Loving California, beautiful weather. Coffee bean closes in 7 minutes, so I’ll try and post a real blog tomorrow.

I got up at an unusually early hour this morning after going to bed ridiculously last night. So, I’m a little tired but really excited to be on vacation. Wes and I will be headed to the airport in about an hour, and I am almost done packing. I am such a last minute packer. I had all day yesterday to do this, but just couldn’t. I just stared at the empty suitcase like I’d never seen one before. But I think I got everything and if not, I guess we’ll find a Wal-Mart in California.

I didn’t go overboard planning this trip, we’re just going to hang out and relax at the beach. Here is what is on our itenary.

Monday night: Colorado Rockies vs Anaheim Angels 7:05pm

Wednesday : Surfing Lessons with Zack

At some point while we are there:

Universal Studios

Pinkberry

In-N-Out Burger

I’ll be sure to take lots of pics and maybe even a post or two.

Sorry, I’ve really been meaning to post, but I don’t have anything to post about. So I will just leave you with this Fire Safety PSA or as Fire Marshall Bill would say, “Lemme show you something.”

Kayla is going through a new phase, we like to call HELP. For one thing, “help”, is her new favorite word. She will belt it with conviction, weather she is hanging upside down from her highchair or drops a tissue on the floor. She also can’t get up off the floor by herself, she reaches up for you and cries, “help”. While, sorta cute and funny, it does get old when she screams it and you come running to save her, only to find that she accidentally changed the tv channel. It may be time to find her a copy of, “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”.

But the phase doesn’t only consist of the word and receiving help, she also likes to help. From unloading the dishwasher, to taking things to the trash. Last week she dusted the tile floor with pledge and 409′d the couch. So while her intentions are good, “helping”, isn’t always helpful.

That being said, I couldn’t even get mad at this today. It was actually hard not to laugh. One of the things that she is able to help with is feeding Prissy. She loves to get the bucket out of the pantry and scoop the kibble into Prissy’s bowl. Normally, I fill a water bottle or glass with water and let her pour it into the water bowl. Well, she saw that Prissy was out of water this morning, so she helped her out.

Any guesses? It’s Strawberry syrup. I guess she figured if it was good enough for her milk, than it was good enough for Prissy to drink. She may be disapointed tomorrow morning when all the strawberry milk is, “gone gone”.

So, anyone that knows me would know that I am not a bragger or trash talker. I usually keep my mouth shut because the minute I say something, I will mostly likely have to eat those words. But in this case, I don’t mind eating these because last week, I think I perfected the cupcake. At least I outdid myself and now have a new standard to “bake” up to.

I give you, the fauxtess cupcake…

Seriously, these thigs were awesome. I had to share them to get them out of the house before I ate all of them. I didn’t really even get any good photos of them because I was too busy cramming my face.

I’m not going to be cruel and tease you with them, I will give you the recipe and you can try them for yourself. Sorry, I can’t make them for you, because I will just eat them.

Chocolate cupcakes:

1 box devils food cake mix ( I used Betty Crocker)
1 box (6 serving) instant chocolate pudding

Mix ingredients suggested on box plus add the box of pudding. Bake according to package directions.
Cool completely on rack.

Marshmallow filling:
( sorry, I don’t measure anything)
60% of your favorite vanilla frosting ( I like Betty Crocker classic vanilla)
40% marshmallow cream

It’s your filling, mix till it tastes good. Fill a decorator bag or ziploc bag and pipe into center of cupcakes. Approximately a teaspoon in each. I recommend using a decorator tip to fill them, doesn’t really matter which one, you won’t see it anyway.

Chocolate Ganache:
(you can actually make this while cupcakes are baking or cooling because it needs to cool also)

1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

I use the double boiler method. Pot of water, bring to a simmer, bowl on top not touching water. Mix chocolate and cream together and melt slowly. Stir till smooth. It’ll be runny, take bowl off too cool, will thicken as it cools. Frost cooled filled cupcake.

Then, make frosting squiggles on cupcakes with remaining vanilla icing. Decorator bag and a #3 tip if you have one.

That’s it. Don’t freak out, they are simple to make, just a longer process. They are so worth it though, I promise. Let me know if you make them, ( or if you were lucky enough to get one from this batch), I want to know what you think.

Really day 3, posted on like day 6.

So after my last post, I decided I was going to pair honey vs vinegar to prove or disprove once and for all. So I decided to dispose of fruit in a jar and red wine since they didn’t work… or so I thought.

This was the shot of the red wine before I dumped it out

This is after

So anyway, there you go. Red wine is the clear winner, hands down.

I did go ahead and put out a glass of honey along with some fresh vinegar and vinegar wins. Not one single fly stuck in the honey. Thanks to Dave for sharing this informative comic.

Ok, now the fruit fly experiment is over and this is the last I will post about it. Thanks for bearing with me.