Sweet & Spicy

I LOVE sweets.
I LOVE spicy food.
I'm discovering that I quite like them together.  I love the bite of ginger mixed with chocolate.  But pepper is surprisingly yummy too!  I had forgotten about a very tasty holiday cookie I made in 2011 featuring crystallized ginger, black pepper and cardamom when I had a cayenne pepper mousse at Estebans when I shared tapas with my boss.  It inspired me to buy a little bar of dark chocolate with sea salt and black pepper a while ago at Trader Joe's.  And then I let curiosity overcome me when we were out for our anniversary and I saw "Hot Mess" on the cocktail menu at Firefly: Stoli Hot, watermelon puree, agave, fresh sour.  It was amazing!

Here are some interesting recipes I'm dying to try!
Stoli Hot Starlet (Stoli Hot N’ Juicy)

Chocolate-Black Pepper Cookies

Mexican Chocolate Mousse

Are there any odd combinations you like that are unexpectedly delicious?!

Four of Fifty-two

1) carefully writing and drawing in a super teensy notepad
2) smeared with chocolate frosting, having fun at a birthday party

The Weekend

I met one of my husband's friends at the Venetian.  Her friend was having her first evening of bachelorette festivities at Tao.
Tao wasn't any better than the last time I'd been.  But it's cool looking inside and it was fun to chat up the old friend.  Plus, any excuse to pile my hair onto the front of my head for another Thandie-Newton-bun-knock-off.

Yawn

Damon and I stayed out late to celebrate our anniversary a little bit ago.  Also, my hair is big and crazy.  Enter a new look I'm hoping really catches on: zombie chic.

Coat: H&M
Scarf: Target
Top: Sparkle & Fade via Urban Outfitters
Necklace and bracelet: NY&Co
Pants: Top Shop via Nordstrom
Shoes: very old Nine West

No Problem

I believe kids need to wear undershirts in the wintertime.  But I have lanky kids.  I bought Bauer the smallest undershirts I could find and they are of appropriate length, however I can grab a fist-full of fabric on either side, and the collar can almost hang off of his shoulder.  They do not fit too neatly under his clothes.
Le sigh.
He does have a 3 pack of Carter's 18mo onesies from last winter that have perfect arm length and collar and waist circumference, and without diaper bulk, were even long enough.  Problem being that they're onesies and he can barely get up on the toilet by himself, let alone finagle crotch fastenings himself.  So I cut the snaps off.
Viola.
I don't think it *needed* hemming since knits don't tend to fray and unravel, but I decided that I'd prefer it to look a tad more finished and also, I haven't used my sewing machine in months and needed to prove to myself that I could actually still operate it.  I can.

Three of Fifty-Two

1) "working out"
2) shop shop shop!

Casados

I've always been a fan of Latin food so my trip to Costa Rica and my thorough enjoyment of "casados" renewed my love for beans and rice.  It's really such a cheap, easy, and tasty meal.
I like making it all in one pot and making enough for plenty of leftovers all at once.  I think the secret to an especially delicious rendition are a well seasoned meat and "sofrito:" a blend of garlic, peppers and onion sauteed down to almost a puree.  Yum.

Jalapeno chicken sausage starred in this weekend's dish

Cooking down the sofrito

seconds {or maybe 3rds}

On Top

I think a lot of moms spend a lot of their time keeping on top of everything for everyone else.  Because you'll never forgive yourself if you should have been doing something for your kids, but you didn't.  But who cares if you should have been doing something for yourself... you'll survive.
Case in point, I hadn't been to the dentist in over 4yrs.  And you know after so long, it gets harder to go because you don't want bad news (if you never go, they can never tell you! Right?  Right!).  I got a referral from my friend and went.
Great news, they don't have to pull all my teeth out and give me dentures!
But I did have to get a cavity filled for the first time since I was a pre-teen.  The experience wasn't bad, but when one's life revolves around eating {ahem}, having a sore jaw for days is not the business.

{holy huge hands}

In 2013, I'm going to take better care of myself.  An eye exam is next.  I suspect I'll soon be doing posts about cute glasses.

Sweater, belt, boots: Target
Necklace: F21
Pants: Topshop via Nordstrom

Two of Fifty-Two

1) Racing Mama home.
2) Camping out in the hall with blanky waiting for sister.

The Weekend

Editorial

I was having fun with the self-timer and some editorial-style posing.

But the pictures were missing something...

A mini-photo-bomber in jammies who's made it his mission to be in my outfit pictures.  He has no idea why I insist on taking pictures by myself and he thinks it's wrong.

Shirt: J.Crew
Top/vest and shoes: Target
Belt and necklace: NY&Co
Jeans: Topshop via Nordstrom

a year of portraits

One of my favorite blogs is doing a series that I want to do too.  I told the kids, I would take a portrait of them every week all year.  Their reactions:

The Weekend

Honestly?
It was pleasantly boring.
I reorganized my pantry and took a shelf out to make room for a garbage can.

Before

After

And then there was the time that Bauer mocked me in my sneakers: "I'll be right back."  I didn't believe him any more than he believes me, but I had the power to stop him ;)

Leather Pants

Right before Christmas I saw these vegan leather pants over on Baby Shopaholic, however even the sale price was still a bit steep for this cheapskate!  But then I happened upon a similar pair at H&M for $30!  Holla!

Top (very old), necklace and Sunnies: F21
Shirt: AE
Bracelet: NY&Co
Watch: Guess (xmas gift)
Pants: H&M
Shoes: Sperry via Nordstrom

Happy New Year!

What better way to stay awake until midnight* than to have a photo-shoot on the living room floor?!
Staying in? Get fancy anyway {I even let Emberly put on some blush and gloss}.  And take a picture one million pictures.

Happy New Year!

{fyi, Bauer's idea of "fancy" is "nude"}

*midnight EST for the littles. we're not crazy. yet.