stick a fork in it.

lately, crafting has had to take a back seat to life. i have to admit that i have yet to break out the sewing machine since charlie's been born... there's just too much effort involved. so, when i can come up with a project that is quick & easy, i get a little giddy & go just a tad bit overboard.

recently, i was on the hunt for some vintage (otherwise known as someone else's unwanted junk) spoons, for another project i had in mind. i ended up purchasing a whole bag of vintage forks as well, figuring i'd come up with something to do with them. although i still haven't gotten around to the spoon project, i did manage to make a thing or two, with a couple of the forks... i'm loving my new repurposed (or is it cooler if i call it recycled? or is up-cycled?) fork photo holder & fork easel. the photo holder is perfect for holding little snapshots (or possibly a to-do list) on the fridge, while the easel is now proudly displaying some of my favorite recipes. stick a fork in it... i'm done.

my happily ever after.

once upon a time, in a land so very far away... a girl met a boy. the setting was picturesque, a quaint little ski village nestled away in the mountains.

as the fates would have it, late one afternoon we find both the boy and girl - alone, in this magical winter wonderland. & as if destined to meet, together they rode the last chair lift of the day, to the top of the mountain. just as their journey began, the snow softly started to fall, each little snowflake glistening like diamonds. & the sun was slowly setting, casting a beautiful, soft candle lite glow. and, just like in the fairy-tales... it was love-at-first-sight. by the end of that momentous chair life ride, they had fallen madly in love, each knowing that they had finally met "the one".

okay, so maybe that really isn't exactly how it happened. but we did meet at sundance, & for one of the parties involved there may, or may not, have been a slight inkling of love-at-first sight, although it may have taken the other party a couple of months to notice (let's just say that i am definitely a blonde, & often times can be a bit oblivious. i thought we were just friends). & it definitely was fate, because honestly, i'm really not that good of a snowboarder, & to think that someone actually hired little 'ole me to instruct others in the art of snowboarding? yes! no question about it, it was definitely fate. but, eight years after pledging our eternal love to one another, we are still just as happy, & more in love than ever.

as they say "life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." and together, jeffy & i have had plenty of take your breath away type of moments: we've feed the sharks in bora bora, rocked out at more concerts than i can count, survived the wilds of australia. had two wild & crazy boys, a baby girl (with a boys name) & a pup named gigi. sailed the spanish coast. remodeled our entire house - ourselves. got literally lost in italy (to this day, i'm still amazed we aren't still lost wandering around the italian countryside). went to the winter olympics. surfed in hawaii. cheered for the angels more times than i can count. snowboarded beneath the shadows of the matterhorn (the real one, not the one at disneyland). made it out of canada alive. practically lived at disneyland - we've been so many times. lived like the flintstones in turkey. kissed with the eiffel tower looming overhead. graduated law school. passed the bar exam. kissed the blarney stone. finished my MBA program. scootered around greece. attended the tour de france & to many other adventures to name.

what's even more amazing? it's only been eight long short years. we've still got the rest of our lives ahead of us. i'm not saying our life together has been "practically perfect in every way." we've definitely had our share of ups & downs. but if we've made it this far, i know we can weather every & any storm. i can't wait to see what the future has in store for us. i'm definitely looking forward to continuing to live... happily ever after.

playing swiss family robinson.

maybe i'm crazy, but THIS seems like it could be a fun little vacation. i know my kids would absolutely LOVE it, can you imagine? maybe we will have to head up to oregon next summer. there are so many different choices! i'm not sure which TREE HOUSE is my favorite...

image via out 'n' about

8.15

sorry for the rather quick & sudden disappearance. being a mom to three can sometimes be just a wee bit stressful and overwhelming (but so, totally, totally worth it). so, when life gets crazy & hectic, little things start to drop... the laundry, showering, making dinner, & unfortunately blogging. but i'm back, at least for today.

so, by now, you are probably wondering what today's title means. any guesses? 8.15... is it a date? a measurement of time? perhaps it represents a distance of some sort. actually, it's a measurement of weight: 8 pounds 15 ounces. that's how much charlie weighs today. woot! woot! confused? wondering what all the excitement's about? well, to make a long story short-ish, little baby charlie has what's called "failure to thrive." never heard of it? basically it means that she is having a hard time gaining weight. maybe now, you can better understand, that all-too-sudden & definitely unexpected blog vacay... finding out you're practically starving your baby, tends to leave a mother feeling like a complete & utter failure.

at birth, charlie weighed 7 pounds even. definitely not huge, but she wasn't exactly tiny either. unfortunately, battling an awful case of thrush & taking some heavy-duty antibiotics. (the side effects of which include: nausea, stomach pain, low fever & loss of appetite. all of which charlie experienced on daily basis for about a month, which resulted in one very, very un-happy baby doll.) well, all this drama, caused little charlie to slowly eat less & less, which resulted in me producing less & less milk, unbeknownst to me. so, at 2 1/2 months charlie weighed just 7 pounds, 11 ounces & was taking in only about 1 and 1/2 ounce, of the suggested 4 ounces needed at each feeding. ay crumba! upon learning the news, that not only was charlie teeny tiny for her age, she had completely fallen OFF the growth chart, suddenly we went into survival mode, as you can imagine... feeding her every 2 hours, round the clock (sorry charlie! no more sleeping in for you!), nursing her, & then supplementing her with formula. oh heavens! i feel like all i do is feed this poor child! now, at 3 whole months, charlie weighs a whopping 8 pounds 15 ounces. still really, really small. & i still need to closely monitor her eating & feeding. but, she is once again, back on the growth chart. wahoo! don't believe me? here's the proof.

so, while we aren't completely out of the woods, yet. i can safely say, we are on our way. i hope you don't mind if we celebrate the little weight gains along the way. next week are hoping to cross the 9 pound mark - now that will truly be cause for celebration. one day, i'm sure, little charlie will complain about how hard it is to lose weight. i'll just have to remind her of the days when we were absolutely thrilled to hear she had gained a pound.

devoured.

so, i'm really trying to be good. but, sometimes my diet is so hard, especially when dessert is staring me in the face... at a recent bbq, a friend brought this "cheesecake." at first it was easy to resist, because i don't typically like cheesecake. but then, i took a bite, and then a small slice & i ended up having a second (rather large) helping. when she told me the recipe, i didn't think i'd be able to replicate it. not because it was hard, but because it was one of those play-it-by-ear types of recipes & i'm never good with that. but, i went home & tried it. & amazingly enough it turned out. so i made it again & again. now i'm sharing it with you. it's super-duper easy (even with the play-it-by-ear measurements), although don't be expecting a true cheesecake, because it certainly isn't.

not very cheesecakey, cheesecake
ingredients:
1 graham cracker crust (bought or home-made, there's a great recipe HERE)
3 8-oz packages of cream cheese (i used the lite versions, without a problem)
1 quart of heavy whipping cream
sugar, to taste (i used approximately 2 cups)
fruit (fresh or frozen)

directions:
now, it should be noted that the above ingredients make enough "cheesecake" to fill a 9x13 pan. if you want to make a smaller portion, half the recipe & it will still make enough to fill 2 pie tins.

1. make your crust (or open it) & set aside.
2. using your electric or hand-held mixer, cream the cream cheese & sugar together. (i added sugar about 1/4 cup at a time until i got the sweetness i liked)
3. once the cream cheese & sugar are mixed well, add the whipping cream. continue mixing until the whipping cream "peaks" & is stiff, almost like whipping cream.
4. fold in your fruit by hand (i used frozen raspberries)
5. spread mixture into pan & crust.
6. cover & freeze for about an hour, then store in the refrigerator.

yum! next time i think i might try it in an oreo cookie crust.