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Showing posts from December, 2013

ZooLights At The Oregon Zoo - Happy Holidays!

We visited  ZooLights  at our Oregon Zoo for the first time.  What a gorgeous display they put on!  With this busy season of ours, celebrating the holidays, and celebrating the birthdays of Lily AND Katie with parties, friends and family, it was so nice to have an evening slowly strolling under and around the Zoo Lights. Happen to be in my sweet city of Portland?  Do yourself a favor and visit  ZooLights .  You can enjoy this experience until January 5th, with the lights coming aglow at 5:00 and blazing until 8:00 (8:30 on Friday and Saturday.) Prices: Youth $7.00 Adult $10.00. Ages 2 & under are free.  Purchase your tickets at the gate, or purchase on-line and either print them out at home, or have them sent by mail carrier.   There's plenty of hot cocoa to keep you warm while you stroll the light filled paths at ZooLights.  Visit the bats in their habitat, they're pretty entertaining munching on broccoli and bananas.  (My girls were trying to figure out how to pu

Most Used Blog Phrase In 2013

For this week I'm starting the week off... with a question. In the world of blog writing you probably have many ideas that flip through your brain hoping to make it into a post.  I know I do and should have caught on to the fact that it would be best to keep pen and paper ( wait... what are those? ?) next to my bed, or in the shower.   When it comes to actually creating the post many times I've said 'Where was I going with this again?' or 'Should I really be this honest?  What if they read it!'. I've asked myself many things pertaining to blogging over the years but one phrase came to the fore front in 2013.   My most used phrase: 'I'm going to PicMonkey the heck outta this thing'. If you use the site  PicMonkey , you'll know what I'm talking about.  If you don't, you should go check it out.  This isn't a sponsored post, or anything like that, I just use the tools on that site for every picture I add to my posts. What

New Talent - #WordlessWednesday

Our newly crowned 13 year old daughter Lily had a Cupcake Wars themed birthday party on Saturday.  Since she's discovered various cooking/baking competition shows she's getting creative in the kitchen.  Last night she wanted to break out her new cupcake baking kit. When did she get so tall?!? *sniff* Do your kids like to cook?  Bake?  If they have a favorite recipe, what is it?  Maybe Lily would like to try it out :->

Secrets Of Smaug The Dragon - #TheHobbit is Coming!

When it's the Holiday season of course we watch classic Christmas themed movies (personally I could watch "White Christmas" on a loop) but for us it also brings on the desire to put another log on the fire and watch... The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Now, there's nothing Christmas-y about this tale but it just feels like necessary viewing for this time of year. (Also, The Godfather Pt.1 & 2 and Harry Potter movies). Why? I don't really know. With regard to LOTR, The Hobbit second feature is coming out soon " The Desolation of Smaug ". I thought this infograph was fun to share. ( That Benedict Cumberbatch seems to be every where! ) Are there movies you have to see around the holidays? Themes that aren't necessarily Christmas-ish? I'm making up words all over the place ;-> Designed by financesonline.com | Author: Alex Hillsberg | Follow our Google+ (*Correction - Mouth of Sauron's sarcasm mocked Arago r n, not Aragon)

Strolling On A Chilly Morning - #WordlessWednesday

A chilly morning walk, with our dear Chocolate Lab Benny, strolling by the St. John's Bridge - Cathedral Park.

I'm Still Here. Are You?

Ugh! What is going on?? I can't believe I haven't posted in over a week.   I've been writing in my mind, does that count?  I need to get organized so if you have tips on organization I would appreciate hearing them. We hosted Thanksgiving dinner and now we're getting ready to celebrate our youngest turning 13.  Oh man.  I've been looking over pictures, shaking my head, tears coming to my eyes.  My, how time does fly. In a couple of weeks our oldest will turn 16.   * breathe Ann* The day after Thanksgiving I didn't deal with crowds - I grabbed my laptop and a cup of coffee and shopped from bed.  Christmas music on the radio and I was good to go.  My energy level has been down a lot lately so this kind of shopping was perfect. This time of year my mind reels with memories of working retail.  Holidays and retail = YIKES!  Lo-o-o-ong hours, customers that have short tempers and not having time to do your own personal shopping.  I was explaining what my