Playing Tourist- Weekly Winners 5/4/08

This week we did the tourist bit in Santa Barbara. Although it's all old news to me at this point, I have to remind myself that it's all new to Dylan. SO, with that bit of motherly thinking, we packed up and saw the sights. The Mission, Mission Rose Garden, Pier, Sea Center & lastly, Member's Night at the Zoo. It was awesome. We wish you could have joined us. Perhaps sometime soon?! Because you're totally invited.

Cousins

Now go visit Lotus (and leave her some love, she needs it right now) for more Weekly Winners.

P.S. Next week, we'll continue our tour of Santa Barbara. The plan is to visit the Botanical Gardens...hopefully that will actually happen.

The Beauty of Nature (and Zach)

We went on a search for wildflowers...and we failed miserably. There are plenty along the side of the highway, but apparently as soon as you leave the freeway, the wildflowers shrivel up and die. The trip wasn't a total bust as we headed UP, UP, UP, UP, OVER, DOWN, DOWN, DOWN and DOWN the mountain. It was purdy.

Okay, so we saw a FEW wildflowers...from afar.

And because everyone deserves a good Zach fix, here you go.

Pre Dunk

Post (Unintentional) Dunk

Mmmmm....Prunes!

Having a bottle...and holding it all by his-self!

For more Weekly Winners visit Sarcastic Mom!

Spring Has Sprung

I was working on all these photos on Picnik and was going to post them here for all to enjoy, when I realized that if I did that, I might as well jump on the Weekly Winners bandwagon.

So, here you go! My first Weekly Winners contribution!

For more Weekly Winners visit Sarcastic Mom!

I Packed A Picnik For Us & I Brought Wine

I didn't really bring wine. But I got your attention didn't I?

If you're not already on the Picnik bandwagon, you should be.

Spurred on by the gentle prodding and good words of Oh Mommy and Tootsie Farklepants I finally gave it a try.

Here are a few of my experiments, using the ever adorable and smiley Zach. I think I need to get him an agent.

Before

Picnik'd

Before

Picnik'd

Before

Picnik'd

Before

Picnik'd

Okay...now go. Go. Now. What are you waiting for? I TOLD you Tootsie Farklepants recommended it, you know you wanna try it.

Friday Recipe & Friday Morning Potluck

You're all in for a treat today. I've got SO much on my mind that I'm going to forego my usual Recipe posting only and steal copy June Cleaver Nirvana's Monday Morning Potluck. We're hosting a Friday edition.

To start, and because I KNOW you guys rely on my Friday recipe's, I'll direct your attention to this:

Looks down right YUMM-O-LICIOUS, doesn't it?

That, my friends, is Santa Maria Tri-Tip. You can find a recipe and tips on how to find it in your area (it's not known as tri-tip throughout the country, just in our little corner of the world) here. And btw, I don't smoke mine. Don't tell anyone around here, because that's TOTALLY ILLEGAL (kinda) but we just BBQ it on our good ole Gas Grill. Santa Maria is GASPING! Shhh...it'll be okay. So there's your recipe.

Now onto a fashion question, which may or may not ignite STRONG debate. And, if I had the time to wait for next week, I'd totally ask Tootsie Farklepants for her advice, but I don't have that kind of time. I need to know NOW. What are your feelings on Crocs?

A certain family member (who reads this blog, comments, and shall remain nameless) who is currently visiting, was SHOCKED yesterday when my stepmom their spouse and I informed him them that Crocs, while comfortable, are not, necessarily, uh, fashionable. At all. But, that's just our opinion. What are your feelings? Please leave a comment, or, at the very least, vote in the poll to your right. Your individual poll choice will remain secret, much to my chagrin, as I have NO WAY of figuring out who voted what. Damn. Gracias, amigos/amigas.

Next...please leave the above fashion question at the door. Or, as they would say in Court, strike that from the record, when you begin this next section. Cleared your mind? Okay good...continue on.

Dylan recieved his first Birthday present yesterday from my Dad and Stepmon who are currently visiting. It's this:

And it's AWESOME. He's been busy taking all kinds of pictures, which, after we finally got him to point the camera in the right direction (see self portrait below) he's starting to master. See for yourself.

DJ did not take this photo, but it was declared his "favorite." I think it's my favorite, too. The girls look pretty good. Even considering the use of a massive white nursing bra.

Plus, this means he'll keep his grubby little paws off my camera. Which may even be used to convince DJ to agree to the purchase of a new camera. Specifically this one:

I'm going to need a lot of luck with that. A LOT.

And finally, Sweetney had this video posted on her site. Cracks me up. I thought about saving it for Make Me Laugh Monday next week, but couldn't keep it to myself that long. It's funny. And sad. Scary, really. Kinda brings me back to this post that I wrote a few weeks ago.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, that tiny little frivolous number? The number of US Troops killed in Iraq? It's 3,973 now. And also, in case you're wondering, and I know I'm going to hear from "Anonymous" or someone else about it. I DO NOT support the immediate withdrawal of US Troops, although it does sound mighty wonderful. We went in there and got them into this mess, we need to clean it up. I just hope we can figure out a way, rather quickly, to get most of our people out of there and still be able to get things settled down. Saddam Hussein was an asshole who did very bad things to people living in his country. And because I don't want to discount the loss of innocent Iraqi life, since January 2006 approximately 38,817 Iraqi civilians & Iraqi Security Forces have been killed.

Moving on to something that really is FUNNY and highly inappropriate....one last YouTube Video. This was a submission for Make Me Laugh Monday a few weeks ago and it cracked me up. It was submitted by AFRo.

Happy Leap Day!