Surprise number two!

And today we pulled off our second great surprise of the weekend; a party with 70-plus guests to celebrate Hanna's grandparents' semi-retirement. We asked them to spend the day with friends {not sketchy at all} and be home by six. Michael's dad wouldn't open the door last night so instead of coming right in tonight, he rang the doorbell trying to play the same trick on Michael. After several rings Michael gave in and opened the door but he still got the last word, so to speak, considering the many people eagerly waiting to shout "surprise" in the house.

What a wonderful night it was and my husband, along with his brother, and their aunt and uncle did a stupendous job planning and executing it all; way to go!!!! And happy semi-retirement to my in-laws, they certainly deserve some extra time to themselves!
xoxo, natty ♥

Woodland creatures.

Hanna Lu had a great day with her grandparents today. Mom got some time to herself too.

 

We're getting on a plane very late tonight; wish us good and safe travels!

Feliz Navidad.

Due to travel dates, we celebrated Christmas {& my mother-in-law's birthday!} with our Arizona family today.

Maybe more to come later but for now it was a very fun day and Hanna Lucy Lu is an extremely loved girl {as is her birthday girl grandmother}.
xoxo, natty ♥

Some dough.

We're loving Arizona...family, the space, the lack of traffic, and the temperate weather!!! For lunch today we went to an Italian restaurant I've heard so much about for eight years but never visited.

They give kids a ball of pizza dough to play with and our little one was thrilled. We kept her pacifier in so that she wouldn't eat the stuff. Roasted brussels sprouts, pizza, and salad made for a great meal together and Hanna even tried her very first pizza - a new favorite.
xoxo, natty ♥

Pre-requisite temperature shot.

We're staying up a bit later than we had planned to because we got wrapped up in the BCS championship game. In other news...

1. Here's what I mentioned in the post's title:

 

I sincerely hope that those without a warm home are able to find shelter this evening and that people stay safe tonight. I am very grateful for our little apartment and the furry dog that helps to keeps us warm.

2. Is this nesting? I'm feeling some major motivation to actually get baby-related things done. Note the "baby-related". #ihatemultitasking

3. We all three made it home safely from Arizona; I always breath a deep sigh of relief upon returning home.

4. My dad and stepmom are safe after their brush with a large and unfortunate buck last week; this was a big scare and could've turned out much worse than the minimal car damage that happened and we're all relieved.

5. Michael, Guinness, and I had such a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful time visiting out families and friends in California and Arizona. We are so lucky that we had the time and were able to fly to those faraway {to us, at least} places to spend time with those who love us {and whom we love dearly!}. This was a true blessing and, again, we are very grateful. 

How are you today Reader? Wrangling with nasty cold temperatures as well? Happy to have had a bit of a respite over the holidays?
xoxo, natty ♥

This one's for you!

"you" being my dear friend Becs.

That's a tree full of grapefruit, the juice of which I've actually been enjoying granted it's cut nicely with some Sprite {or "Spite" as certain members of my family call it}.

We're loving our last few days of break and trying to soak up as much sun and warmth as we can. The weather here is actually toastier than it normally is so we're feeling especially grateful.

And I do have some 2013 recaping and 2014 look-aheading planned, it's just that we've been so busy with days filled like this:

Here's to a good rest of your week, wherever you are!

xoxo, natty ♥

Time warp..

I'm in that funny vacation place, the one where it's easy to lose track of the days...in other happy news:

1. Today {& the forecast for the next few days to boot} was gorgeous; mild and warm in the sun. I'm certainly soaking up this sunshine to help me through the cooler days ahead of us back in DC.

2. My dad who's also visiting here in Arizona hit a deer tonight while driving up near Flagstaff. The good thing is that he and my stepmom are OK and that the biggest damage to their car seems to be an antler-punctured tire and some left over deer on the bumper {gross}. I'm SO happy they're safe.

3. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve...time to reflect and look ahead.

4. Despite hating grapefruit {this one's for you Becs!}, I'm loving the pink grapefruit juice/club soda/Sprite concoctions I've been whipping up while here. The juice comes from the fruit of the trees in the back yard.

5. I'm still feeling bouncy and happy from the two wonderful baby showers that were thrown in our lucky daughter's honor.

I hope that you're enjoying your week and looking ahead to 2014!!
xoxo, natty ♥

Rocks and gifts.

Today dawned a beautiful day in the Valley of the Sun. We took my dad and stepmom {who drove down here for the baby shower} to climb up some pretty rocks and get a good view of Phoenix.

Then my dear, dear mother-in-law threw both of us a fabulous baby shower. It was a big family/friend/neighbor affair and we had Mexican food - we were so happy! Our little girl continues to be the best dressed fetus and we are feeling extremely blessed after a full and wonderful week of family in two states and showering of baby love.

Here's to a good week! 
xoxo, natty ♥

Tired kitty.

Last Saturday, as I mentioned somewhere on this blog, we went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona. It was Right Up My Alley.

Moving on to today, I finally plugged my little camera-phone into my computer and got a glimpse of the pictures from that trip and this one caught my eye.

This guy was conked out in the partial sun and doesn't everyone love how good that feels?

On that note, Good Friday to You!
xoxo, natty ♥

The past few days.

Yesterday we went on an amazing family outing to the Arizona -Sonora Desert Museum which Rebecca reviewed last spring. I loved every minute of it and will get up a post explaining our day in the next week. Today we went on a walk and had a yummy breakfast; it's been a great weekend!

On Friday we went on a walk around the Tempe Town Lake. When we were meandering I noticed a pair of women with six bulldogs; six! They were snorting and jumping and pulling. I've been missing our little guy and trying to pet every dog I see walking around to get my canine fix so I totally zoned in on these guys.
I hadn't seen a bulldog up close, as far as I can remember, and these guys and gals were a delight.

Hollywood and I made a special {& slobbery} connection.

In 2011 I read an interesting article about this breed regarding its popularity/trendiness vs its over-breeding {trouble breathing and mating/giving birth on their own}. It was a really interesting article which can be read HERE.

I was glad to find out, then, that these six guys {& gals} were having a photo shoot so that they can be advertised for a bulldog rescue/adoption organization on its website {not a plug, I'm just wanting to keep track of them for myself}.

We enjoyed the rest of our walk. Last Thursday was my official "coming out" after a solid week of sick-bed couch time and it's been four days of walking and going around town. Hopefully I can get back up to running later this week when we return to DC; it's so weird feeling as though I could get back to where I was physically after feeling really week and coughing SO much {I still kind of am ;(} but I know I've done it before and I can do it again.

I hope that you had a lovely and enjoyable weekend and that your week ahead starts out nicely!
xoxo, natty ♥

Things to do when ill.

I'm pretty lucky {in many ways!} and I don't get so sick very often. It's usually just a little sinus situation or maybe a small cold but it had been quite a while since I've been decommissioned like this.

It's a good thing, then, that I'm very fortunate enough to be visiting my lovely in-laws in Arizona and to have them taking care of me.

My mother-in-law was generous enough to take me to Wal-Mart to pick up a prescription. While we were there I saw a man wearing a bathrobe over his clothes and he was not being facetious.

I've been enjoying A LOT of couch time, tea, and broth. There's also some football and card gaming involved.

I think my favorite thing to do when sick is to nurse a mocktail of gatorade and sparkling water with an Oriental flavor ramen on the side but for some reason I've recently switched over to cold apple juice and we made a happy stop at Trader Joe's after our Wal-Mart experience to get me some of this magic juice. I also picked up some less-sodium-rich Annie Chuns noodle bowls to replace the Top Ramen.

What's your favorite feel-better technique? Have you been experiencing some winter woes yourself? If so, feel better {that's YOU Becs!}!!!

xoxo, natty ♥

Ouch.

Still coughing and aching over here.
Let's rally for New Year's, ok?
And let's look at something pleasant to make us feel better.

Just look at that precious creature!!! He's being well taken care of by friends in DC and I miss him something FIERCE.

That's better.
Good weekend to you!

xoxo, natty ♥

Storage Space.

I'm still without more storage for pictures for this old blog, but I'll hopefully get on that in the next few days...until then, some niceties?

1} Though still drizzly outside {see YESTERDAY}, it's up in the 60s today.
2} I've been trying to cook my way through our perishable pantry since...
3} we're going to be heading out West for quite a while very soon!!!
4} Back to #2; we've had SO much soup {several butternut squashes, watercress/pea soup, sunchoke soup} but I've also been stockpiling almost half of it in the freezer so that there can be some easy dinners in the future. The best thing about the squash soup, in my opinion, has been that I don't even have to follow a recipe, I just crockpot chopped up squash {& usually an onion or two} along with spices {salt, pepper, nutmeg, & minced garlic} and four to six cups of water, leave it on low all day, and then blend it using our immersion blender {wonderful wedding gift!}.
5} Did I mention that California and Arizona are in our very near future??!!! 

What's lovely in your neck of the woods today Reader? Any SNOW?!?!?!

xoxo, natty ♥

Just keep running...

The eagle has landed in Arizona. Tonight we flew, alongside a plethora of Santa Clara students returning to the Valley of the Sun, and are staying at Mike's folks' house. Tomorrow we'll drive the two hours to Tucson to prepare for our 26.2 miles early the next morning...5 AM early! Every runner MUST take the shuttle out to the start line which is in the chilly morning desert...eek! I'm starting to get really excited though which is what I need because I had a crushing week.
I'll have more to come mañana after a trip to target to pick up everything I forgot in San Jose in my frenzied rush to pack in between a horrible work day and getting to the airport {where I promptly devoured a slice of Big Sur at Pizza My Heart [perfect pre-race eating, I know...]}.
I'm so glad to be at my in-laws' house with a fun two days ahead (I'm not thinking about Monday morning yet).
Happy Friday to you all!