i heart ... the renaissance festival

i took ammon to the renaissance festival.

he had gone to the scottsdale arabian horse show
(busy boy!)

where he won tickets for the renaissance festival
and i was the lucky person who got to go to the festival with him!

they had a little petting zoo ...

... and we watched juggling ...

... and they had these scrumptious orange icee things ...

... of course there was jousting ...

... and to top the day off - bungee!!!

(and please excuse this layout because, as usual, blogger.com will not let me space the way i want to!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's so frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

i heart ... hearing, "pauuuulaaaaa..."

tonight i was standing in the kitchen

when i heard the door open and a little voice calling,

"pauuulaaa!"

it was paulina.

she learned how to say my name today!

and she says it perfectly!

and it is officially her favorite word

(at least for today)

and i know this is her favorite word

because she repeated it over and over and over and over

the whole time she was visiting.

and i loved hearing it every single time!!!

i heart ... the drive-ins!

i went with stacy and her family to the drive-ins.

there was a double feature:

race to witch mountain

and

confessions of a shopaholic.

it was so fun!

we're definitely doing it again!

i heart ... sierra and great pizza!

sierra and i went to pizza fusion

and got the "shrimp and pesto pizza".

i didn't want shrimp on my side of the pizza,

so that's the way we ordered it,

and then we thought about it after the fact -

hello, we could have just ordered the pizza as is

and i could have given my shrimp to sierra!

oh well. next time.

also, we ordered our pizza with vegan soy cheese

and it was good!

but the best part was the pesto.

perfect!

i heart ... ireland

i've been debating whether or not to write this post.
on monday and tuesday this week "the today show" broadcast from ireland and it just really, really, really made me want to be in ireland!
and it made me think about my own trip to ireland with brook and jody.
i just thought if i did write this post

that it would only interest brook and jody.
and i finally decided that was okay with me!
so go ahead and just skip over this post if you're not interested.
i won't feel bad!
this is for me and them!

(view of ireland from the ferry)





i remember being on the ferry from wales into dun laoghaire, ireland
and getting my first glimpse of ireland and panicking a little bit -
wonder if ireland was not all that i hoped it would be???

well, it was - and more!

we took a bus to the airport to pick up our rental car.
driving on the left side of the road?
not as hard as i thought it would be.
and even more surprising,
i could actually do stick-shift with my left hand - and i am soooo right handed!
the hardest and weirdest thing was judging how far the left side (passenger side) of the car was away from things, like hedgerows and curbs and other cars!
i never got the hang of that, but i also never lost a side mirror or hit anything (or anyone!).

we drove to laragh, co. wicklow where we spent the night
and went to the nearby monastic ruins at glendalough the next day.

(st. kevin's church)


(the round tower)

and the next day to powerscourt house.

next we took the country roads down to waterford.

at one point one of the road we were on wasn't even on the map!

we did have to ask directions twice,

but i think we did a pretty good job because we made it to waterford.

we spent the night in waterford and the next day went to

the waterford crystal factory.

next we drove to blarney castle

where yes, we did kiss the blarney stone, and no, we did not contract any diseases.

from blarney castle we took a drive around the beara peninsula.

the clouds were very low and misty and made everything more green
and gave the place a very magical feeling
just like ireland should have.

we spent the night in killarney
at the aghadoe an oige
(sure, it's beautiful, but there are some awkward memories there that will never be revealed!)

the next day we drove to adare manor








and then on to the cliffs of moher
where we crawled to the edge of the cliff and peered over
and it was scary! and thrilling!








next we went to galway.








we stayed at the woodquay hostel, which was just fine...














...but next time i'm staying here, at the g!














we shopped on the cute and cool quay street ...














... where we bought our claddagh rings at thomas dillon's,
the original makers of the claddagh ring!

we did go to claddagh quay, but funny thing, there were no ring shops there!

that's okay. we wanted the original anyway.

next to dublin

where we strolled through st. stephen's green ...

... on our way to trinity college ...

... where we took a tour and saw the beautiful library ...

... and the even more beautiful book of kells!

(my favorite image from the book of kells)

next we visited dublin castle ...

... and hung out at temple bar

(which is an area of dublin, not a bar!) ...

... and went to the cute ha'penny bridge over the river liffey.

next we enjoyed the cute famous doorways of merrion square ...

... then st. patrick's cathedral.

we strolled down grafton street ...

... ireland was more amazing than i ever hoped it would be

and there is sooooooooooo much more i want to see!

can't wait to go back!

i heart ... st. patrick's day

today was a good st. patrick's day, or should i say,

"a fine st. patrick's day"!

stacy's children - brennan, sierra, kaitlyn and ammon - threw a super fun party and invited me, along with 60 gazillion teenage girls and a few boys.

(no, kaitlyn does not have a deformed mouth - that is a cookie!)

did they invite me because they think i'm such a fun aunt


or

is it because they knew i'd bring goodies?


i don't really know


but

i did bring goodies that turned out really good!

i was surprised they were good, because really the only reason i chose this certain dessert is because it's green.

yay for surprises!

(the recipe is at the bottom)

and stacy made this yummy spinach dip and served it in a cabbage.

cute!

midnight mints

1/2 cup butter

5 tbls. cocoa

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 cup coconut

combine first 3 ingredients. bring slowly to a boil. stir in egg to thicken. remove from heat and add crumbs, nuts and coconut. pack firmly into a greased 9x9 pan.

1/4 cup butter

3 tbls. milk

1 teas. peppermint flavoring

2 cup powdered sugar

green food color

combine all ingredients in bowl. mix well, adding more drops of milk if needed, for easy spreading. tint light green. spread.

(i made this the top layer because i wanted the top layer to be green)

2/3 cups chocolate chips

2 tbls. butter

melt chocolate chips and butter over low heat. spread on top. chill. cut into 36 squares.

i heart ... xxx shine lip gloss!

earlier i posted about the urban decay primer potion that i love...

but today i'm posting about my favorite product from urban decay.

actually, it's my favorite product of all make-up products... period.

it's urban decay xxx shine lip gloss in "ozone".

it's my favorite lip gloss because it is long lasting...

but most of all because

it's über glossy and shiny!

i heart ... beignets

beignets with chocolate, raspberry and creme dipping sauces

let me tell you a story.

a little while back, i went to grand lux cafe with my friends mary and lindsay.

mary ordered something called "beignets".

beignets are a kind of french donut.

mary kindly shared her beignets with lindsay and me.

heavenly!

i couldn't wait to return and have a basket of my own!

so last night we did return - mary, lindsay and i - and also debbie and breann

because they wanted to try these famous beignets, too.

we each got our own basket!

and we ordered them first!

yes, we had dessert before dinner.

next time, we're just getting the dessert!

i heart ... orange blossoms

it's that time of year!

orange blossoms!

my absolute favorite scent!

in the evening, when the scent seems to be the strongest, i love to sit outside and read and just try to take the scent all in.

that's what heaven will smell like,

i just know it!