Janette the Beach Cottage Dweller

Do you ever have delayed reactions? I do! For example, when my best gal pal Val made my Hello Kitty Darth Vader cake for my birthday, I was floored and excited..... but the magnitude of its awesomeness didn't hit me until bedtime. I kept telling Lovey, "CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT CAKE???! IT WAS INCREDIBLE!" Things just take a while to process in my head. Exhibit A: The past two days...

Lovey and I were invited to stay in a beach-side cottage, with family, free of charge, at one of our favorite beaches, Crystal Cove. And just now...hooours after the fact...as I sift through pictures...am I finally registering how greatmazing it all was! WOW! It's was a blessed experience I will never forget.

Crystal Cove Cottages are the hot ticket, guys! Each  beach side cottage is a little vintage nugget of glory. I highly recommend you book a trip there at some point in your life.. Of course you have to book about 9 months in advance, but it's so worth it.

Gosh! I'm so thankful to the Lord. Seriously, for His blessing and protection the last few days. I'm soo grateful!

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Janette the Girl with the Banana Split Buzz.

If you follow me on Instagram you probably know that I was in a super funk yesterday. PMS, wedding shoot jitters, and confusion over my desire to continue with photography make for a baad combo. I felt like crying one second and doing happy handsprings the next…It was crazy!   Sad… Happy…. Jitters…. Handsprings…. It was a roller coaster guys (Pic 1). Oh yeah. And coffee DOES NOT help when you’re on edge (belated note to self) Anyway. After an emotional morning, my sister stopped by my work to drop off some hand-me-downs. Instant pick me up, right?   I asked her if she wanted to stay and get a pedicure with me cause I just needed some company…She, of course, is not one to turn down unplanned pampering, so she agreed . Woo hoo! Instant girly time!

First thing she says when she gets in my car??  “Lets get a banana split!” Can the woman read minds too??!!? Oh sweet relief (Pic 2).  After eating our treat we went shopping. Well she went shopping. I only window shopped (Pic 4) and tried not to pee pee my pants while laughing at her jokes and antics. Guys! She. Is. HILARIOUS! (Picture #3??? That’s my “no-pee-pee-please” pose. Goodness! I need to work those kegels double time! lol)

After my banana split buzz and shopping, I really could’ve called it a day…I felt great! But I had to keep my pedicure promise. And I’m glad about that. We actually had a really good time at the nail place (Pic 5). The lady helping us out was super fun. A rarity right? I mean, nail ladies barely talk to you (in my experience). But this one was making the funnies left and right. She even convinced us to get eye lash extensions (Pic 6). Her sales pitch? “$20 for one eye. And it’s buy one, get one free today. So you get 2 eyes for $20” Are you serious?? Where did this lady come from!???? Bahaha! 

What a day! What. A. Day! A great blessing....And I'm super thankful.

 

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Janette the Birthday Girl

 Remember how I staged a fake birthday to throw potential identity thieves off my online tracks? (The things I do. *shakes head*) Anyway. I'm finally going to post what I did for my real big day cause it was magical and AMAZING. Aaand my glorious birthday cake deserves a billboard...Or an award...Or a Pinterest pin, at least! Are you ready for this?

Ta da!! Is it INCREDIBLE or what? My best gal pal, Val made it for me... Hello Kitty Darth Vader??? BEST OF BOTH WORLDS! WOW! I can't even describe how amazing it was. I really can't. (Great job Val!) Am I loved or what? I really am. My friends and family made my day super special. For starters, my coworkers took me to my favorite restaurant, The Cheesecake Factory. Have you tried the Navajo Chicken Sandwich? It's heavenly!

And in the evening we hosted a birthday BBQ (Cheeseburgers!!! My fave!) for our closest friends and family. It's really a treat for me to see my parents interacting well with my friends. I love it!

And finally,the night ended with cake and presents. Yay! It was perfect...And guys...This man spoiled me rotten. NO JOKE! Lovey went all out with the gift giving. It was craaaazy...

He even purchased different kinds of wrapping paper he thought I would like and made sure that every gift had a curling ribbon (some of which he made by hand). And it made me cry. Seriously. I'm still crying about it now! I saved one of the ribbons, naturally. Why? Well, Lovey is such a busy guy. He's either working, eating, studying, or sleeping. No joke. That's all he has time for lately...But knowing that he took the time to make me a curly-q  ribbon so my presents would look pretty for me means the world!!

  I'll save this ribbon till I die.

PS. You may have noticed I changed my blog design a bit. And you may have also noticed my sponsor/friend section is gone, too. I'm sending an email about it to the friends I had featured on there. Thanks for your patience!

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Janette the Sad Aunty

Today my sister and her family moved to their new home. It's literally on the other side of the world. (Sighs) I know there's Skype and emails, and I'm soo thankful for that...But I cannot hold my niece's little freckled hand over the internet...

How do you guys cope with long distance family relationships?

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Janette, the Busybee

Heyyy friends! What's up?? WOW! What a week! What. A. Week! I'm exhausted and it's only Tuesday. How does that happen you ask? Well, it happens something like this... Barbecues, dinners, birthdays, weddings, teen-sitting. Yup. Teen sitting! It's like babysitting but for teens... Except you can boss them around more and order them to make you breakfast and dinner. It's great. My teen niece is staying with us for a few days, and we're spending 24-7 together. She's even working with me! WOW! It's been a blast but I'm kind of tired of shopping already (which is all she wants to do in her free time). Anyway. More on that later.. Meanwhile.. Here are some images from the past couple of days...

More shopping and girly movies await! Gotta run! Adios!

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Janette the Whirlwind Sightseer

WOW! Holy star spangled banner guys! I don't even know what to say about yesterday.  It was wild! I'm not even sure why I was lamenting the midweek holiday in the first place. I guess I was fearing that one day off was simply not enough to do anything significant. But duuude! I was ever wrong! Here's how my 4th of July went down..

-Got ready and left house by 7AM.
- Took PCH starting at Santa Monica
- Stopped @ the Malibu Sport Fishing Pier and walked around a bit (pictured)
-Drove some more on PCH
-Stopped @ another beach whose name eludes me at the moment.(pictured)
-Waded in the water @ anonymous beach
- Froze mah toes(pictured)
-Back on PCH
-Drove through some mountain passes and thick fog
-Stopped at Lake Cachuma for pictures and a 5 minute hike.(pictured)
-Met a nice Italian couple who "make a picture for us" (CUTE!)
-Drove through some vineyards.
-Arrived @ Solvang (pictured)
-Saw a 4th of July parade
- Ate some Danish pastries (Wow!)
- Shopped.
-More like.. Watched Lovey shop.
- Ate abelskivers (pictured)
-Walked some more through Solvang (pictured)
- Went to a historic mission
- Bought some amazing cheese and crackers
-Shopped some more
- Got a little sick after abelskivers
- Drove homeward.
- Met P&V for Shabu Shabu
- Watched local firework show from street corner. (pictured)
- Got home.
- Praised God for an amazing day and getting home safe!
-Amen!

Whirlwind right?!??? Happy 4th of July to me! What'd you guys do?

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Janette, the Marathon Shopper

 I asked my boss if I could get the day off yesterday... He asked why... I said, "Cause it's summer and I want to go see my sissy and go shopping all day..."  Those were my exact words. To which he replied, "OK." Yup. My boss=number 1 ! I'm sooo grateful guys! Cause seriously, it was the mother of all days off! I got to my sister's house early and she made me waffles (pictured) and coffee (not pictured). Fantastic start???! I THINK SO! After breakfast we went shopping like none else and hit up the following:

-Indoor swap meet (we visited 10 of the 20 shops)
-Costco
-Ross
-Water store
-Burlington Coat Factory

We walked around for about 6 hours! CRRAZY, right!??? My feet=mashed potatoes. Or some other mooshy substance... NOT GOOD!! We were goners by Burlington Coat Factory and my sister and I collapsed on the fitting room floor while we watched my niece try on a billion babe-in-the-making dresses.. Regardless, it was a blast!!!

Mostly I was making my niece and sister laugh at my awkwardness and mishaps. At one point when I ventured off alone at the swap meet, one of the shop owners (in very broken English) said to me, "Come in....You like... Try on......" No big deal, right?!! It was a belly dancer costume shop, guys!!!!! BAHAHAHAHAHA! So as you can imagine, it was a big joke the whooole day.

Oh yeah! My niece also gave me a makeover. I guess I needed one! She straightened my hair and did my makeup(pictured)!! What. A.Cutie! And to end it all my sissy made me a patty melt and her famous potato salad (pictured) cause she loves me..And cause I'm the baby in the family. And cause she's trying to make up for how mean she was to me when we were kiddos. A simply perfect day! Sometimes I think that Pandora can read my mind cause as I pulled away from their driveway to go home, U2's Beautiful Day came on. Yes. Yes, I know.

PS. I really really really wanted those Hello Kitty glasses..but alas I concluded I'm too old. Boo!

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It's Later Than You Think.

 It was a bittersweet weekend. As I mentioned last week, my family is in town. It's been grand, but  in between the guffaws, inside jokes, and reciting Nacho Libre lines, I couldn't shake some sadness away. I found out recently that one of my sissies is moving far, far, far, far away. Like, "we may only see each other once a year if we're lucky" far away.Yeah. I'm bummed. So as you can imagine, I was trying to spend as much time with the fambam as possible.

And it's been a little learning experience. There I am with  my nieces, taking a walk, holding hands... And I think to myself, "Wow. Right now I'm just walking...  Enjoying the sunset. Enjoying the breeze. Nothing special. Just walking." That's all it is. At. That. Moment. Yet, in a few weeks...months...years...that moment will have metamorphosed itself into a memory. A treasured memory of holding tiny hands on a perfect spring evening. So I spent my time with my family with this mentality: Moments become memories. So make them good!

It's safe to say that I lived deliberately and fully this weekend...conscious of the fact that I wasn't just living mere moments. I made the most of it...I made the most of everything! I drove over to my mom's (which is a ways from my house) about 4 times this last week, not caring for gas, time, or money. I drove over just to have a 30 minute lunch with everyone (my drive there is just as long) and then went back home when we were done.

I guess that's why I had such a lovely time. I really and truly tried to redeem my time with everyone. Who knows when we'll all be together like that again??! It could be years. Anywho.. I guess it all boils down to this.. Looking back on the past few days I realize that I was exhausted the whole time and spent waayy too much money... But it was all worth it. I really wish I could live my life like that more...always. I want to! Truly, life is precious, and if you are conscious of it and treat it as such.. it will become just that...Amazing!

Enjoy yourself! It's later than you think!

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Excuse me while I have a blast!

The next couple of days are looking promising!! My sister and brother are in town... This equates to copious amounts of laughter, chasing after kiddies, and hanging out at my parents'. Good times! Good times! Oh yeah. And lots of good food too. Mmmm!! I had a BLAST yesterday hanging out with my sisters and sister-in-law (aka my best budt. She can't say "bud". So she says "budt".CUTE!) And especially my nephews and nieces. They're hilarious! One of my nephews, Christian, asked his cousin, "Hey Josh... You have a zit, can I pop it?" Josh says, "Yeah, where is it?" And Christians motions "all over your face..."

BAHAHA!

Oh kids. They grow so fast... But you know what's the best part of my nephews and nieces growing up? Is that they finally get that their aunts and uncles are hilarious. Before, they thought we were weird, or silly, at best. But now!!? They finally understand. Oh sweet vindication! Hehe!

Anyway.. I'm off for another day of adventure. Hope you guys have a nice weekend! I will!








PS. COOL. NOT COOL. UNDECIDED. Link up party tomorrow! FRIDAY! FRIDAY! FRIDAY! LINK UP prettypies! Please?

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Chili's. Children. Cherries.

 

‘Ello mateys! What’s up?? What’s new? Hope all is well ‘round your neck of the woods. All is well here in mild-weathered So Cal! A few things I just wanted to document for the ol’ memory bank. Nothing exciting. Nothing life-changing. Just little things that I don’t want to forget.

Chili’s

We went to Chili’s recently, and I was kind of bummed. Is it just me or did it taste better before?!! I wasn’t impressed with their avocado burger. And besides, my 3 year old niece got “mad to me” because she thought I called her “a Chili’s”. I spent about 5 minutes trying to explain because I didn’t want her “mad to me” cause she’s always “mad to me” for everything!! Even when I open doors for her she gets “mad to me.” Go figure.

Cherries

Cherries are my current fave fruit. Oh wow guys! I could eat a whole box.

Children

My baby nieces needed to go to the park after a rough day…So I took them and we had a grand ol’ time They’re such dolls! We made flower crowns, ran up hills, slid down slides holding hands, ate goldfish and enjoyed some nice views. It was perfect! Well except when this little toddler attacked one of them. I thought he was going to hug her, but he slapped her and pulled out her hair. I wasn’t really sure what to do. Other than try to intercept the hair grabbage. He was just a baby. What do you do in that situation? Slap him back? (JUST KIDDING!!!) No, but seriously. What do you do moms?

Monday

Usually Mondays are a drag, right? Not so! Not so! This past Monday was glorious. I went to work, but Lovey had the day off so he took me to lunch. We went to this Japanese-Vietnamese-Korean-Chinese Food buffet. They had it all! We paid for both of us, but we shared plates. There’s something so sweet and married-like about holding hands, scouring rows of food, one plate in hand, saying, “Ooh! Look at that! Let’s get that!”

Midweek BBQs

We had a BBQ last night! Chicken. Beef short ribs. Grilled zucchini. Corn on the cob. I forgot to take a picture of it all...But guys..take my word for it. It was magical! A magical BBQ! Yes. Yes it was. And the best part??! I got to quote Nacho Libre when I told Lovey, “Get that corn out of my face!” (I love that movie!) Dinner=made! Ooh! QUESTION!!!!! We want to try to grill more, but it’s super time consuming… Do you guys have gas or charcoal BBQ grills? I would like to get a gas grill. Just for the sake of saving time.

Well. That’s it. I couldn’t keep going with the "ch-" alliterations. But I’d say I did pretty good! Haha! Happy Wednesday friends!

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My Mommy is #1

Some day I'll get goodies and a BBQ on Mother's Day from my 8 children and set of twins... Haha! Yes, I fantasize about having lots and lots of babies. Okay. Okay. I'm kidding. Sort of. I would like at least 5! Until that day comes, I gladly focus on making my own mother's day, special. (That makes no sense if you read it fast) And what a glorious Mother's Day it was! We had a BBQ, ate outdoors under my dad's pecanless pecan tree, basked in the beautiful weather,  and tried our best to not let mi madre do any work. It was perfect for us all.

The BBQ setup:

Daddy in his yard:

The Golster had to be put in the garage during our meal. Cause she just goes cuuuh-razy!

The cake.. (I just wanted one of those chocolate swirly thingies) Didn't get one. Boo!:

Our gift:

Typical:

Woman of the hour (Do we look alike? I don't think so. We are lip twins though!):

 What is up with mah hurr?? lol Looks like a lion's mane... Raar! Raar!

Oh my sweet mamma!I resent her for not giving me her greenish eyes. Or the fact that she looks more like one of my cousins than me... But oh how I loveth that woman!! Always helping, always generous, always in a good mood, always funny... She has a capacity for love and charity that I've never seen in anyone else. I hope I grow up to have her beautiful heart... Love you mi mamacita y buena amiga!

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Memory Lane: Knott's Berry Farm

I'm gonna cheat and say that this is a Memory Lane post... Why? Well, I sort of forgot to post about my Knott's Berry Farm adventure from January (or was it February??)... And these collages (made a while ago) need to be memorialized cause it was quite a magical day.

This fun excursion was a last minute decision and I ended up going without Lovey (who was working). I know they're not pictured, but I swear my sister and her kiddos and my brother and his wife went with me. And from what I remember of the day, we started out the morning going on crazy rides...One right after the other. No lines! After a few hours of that, my brain was scrambled and even looking at anything in motion made me dizzy...I'm glad I wasn't the only weakling of the bunch..And I'm also glad I didn't puke like my sister-in-law.  Pretty much all the adults felt the after effects of the rides by noon. So we opted to entertain ourselves with food, shows, and the cheesy train ride for the remainder of the day. The kids on the other hand, went on all the rides for a second time and rode Ghost Rider 8 times in a row... Crazy kids!

It was such a memorable day. Yup! And the best part was probably trying to squeeze everyone into a photo booth for a group picture (9 people!) Wish I had the digital file of that to share.... It was too greattt! NO wait! The best part was taking pictures with Snoopy and having his bodyguard tell us we were hugging him too hard. But we couldn't help ourselves! He was just the cutest! Ahh! Such good memories! Good times! Good times!

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Super FELIZ FRIDAY!

So my weekend is turning out to be fantastic! Lovey is bringing me lunch today, my sister dropped off a HUGE bag of clothes she doesn't want anymore, and I just found out my other sister is coming to town this weekend!!! Funny how so many things had to be canceled and happen for everything to work out this way, (This all happened today within the space of an hour) but I'm so grateful to the Lord.

Here are some images that made me happy this week...

 via 1 via 2 
via 3 via 4


Le sigh!

Have a terrific weekend Prettypies!


What's on the schedule?????? 

 

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Thanksgiving Weekend

Have I mentioned that Thanksgiving is my second favorite holiday ever?? Well... It is.. And it's worth mentioning again...and again...Anywho.... This year's was memorable to the maxxxx! It was the first Thanksgiving that was not spent with my family. And I confess I was a little sad...a little down-trodden...No Mommy asking me to tell her what I thought about her turkey this year..."Too dry mija?" "No ma! It's better than last year!" "That's what you said last year mija.." "But it's the truth ma!" Nope, this year, was different indeed. I spent most of the weekend with Lovey's family..and caught a glimpse of mine on Friday.. Don't get me wrong.. It was a blast hanging out with Lovey's fam...but  part of me was still a little homesick and sad that I didn't get to help my mom slather the bird in butter and sour cream... Boo! Anywho.. Enough with the sappiness.. Instead, I'll tell you what I did do this weekend that brought me elation beyond imagination...Hey. That rhymed.

Highlight of this year's Thanksgiving was my creamed corn (it will change yo' life!) and getting my makeup done by my sister-in-law. (not pictured)


Yeah. I was blessed...

So what was your highlight this Thanksgiving?

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