"yes......there is a dresscode"

Here are some of the outfits I am taking to Vegas.
(not the one I have on, that's just what I wore to work today to try and stay cool cause it was so HOT! Anything over 100 degrees is too much for me). But I might throw it in.
Kambria needs to START SHOPPING! These pics are actually for her cause she wanted to know what I was taking to wear. Some (most) of them are new. But I am a BARGAIN shopper and she wants to do it all in one day and only spend $100 dollars. It's possible, but don't expect to find what you want the day before we leave!!!!!!
This is where we differ drastically. She's ying, I'm yang.
I have been looking/bargain shopping for awhile. She will wait till the morning of our departure and go to Old Navy and buy "what works". ha ha. I have to give her a bad time cause that's what we do! :) I was gonna try everything on and have a little fashion show for the girls, but it's too hot. And I'm too tired. So I tried my best to get decent pics. But you get the idea. (and obviously I am into prints right now?)
*Now I'm thinking about accessories. And most of these outfits do have an alternate shoe option.* Too many choices to post. Oh, and I need handbags/purses.....hmmmmm.
(How many days are we going to be gone????? ha ha. I need options!)
I want to be comfortable and cool. Oh, and cute!

I might wear the purple one below on the plane. It's cotton and cool and it's my BIRTHDAY!

Here is my pool attire. Kam is going to laugh her *ss off.

Got my cover-up. Bling-y beach bag. Sparkly flip flops and floppy hat. Oh, I will probably have accessories for it too. ha ha ha hahahhahahahhhhahahaaaaaaaaa.

T-shirts that are pilley and BROWN are not gonna cut it sister! ha ha again!

This might be my Birthday dinner dress.Found these awesome shoes at Kohl's for $10 on clearance. I wore them around the store while I was shopping to make sure they were comfortable. They are. My son wasn't even embarrassed since he was with me. He's used to it. Poor kid.

More bargains. Earrings 80% at Kohl's. Gold flip flops Pac Sun $5. Liz Claiborne Shorts $14. Gorgeous shirt $20. See. You can look fab on a budget.

It's going to be hot, so I wanted to wear light, comfortable sundresses when we are not lounging by the pool. or at the spa. or eating. or drinking. or sleeping (have cute jammies too, but didn't post them!)

On a random note.

*I have some great pics to post from the lake on Saturday. Took the kids. Will post later.

*Is ice cream considered dinner?

*How many days are we gonna be gone again? Cause this isn't all my outfits, just the ones I got on this post so I can go to bed.

*Kambria's daughter asked her why she never wears her hair up? Kambria's response "because I don't like my face". It's not funny, but I was there and it was funny and I laughed my ass off.

*I am taking mostly white bottoms. shorts/capris/pants? I guess because it's cooler. But random that I just noticed. oh and all my dresses are a print?

*So excited! 2 more weeks. Gonna be a busy weekend.

My 20th class reunion is Fri & Sat night. 14th & 15th.

Birthday (16th) and fly out to Vegas on Sunday. Will have plenty of inappropriate pics to post when we get back!

"poolside with my peeps"

Took the kids (Nicole, Jasi, Cassandra, Tyler) to Otter Beach in Corvallis on Monday. So much fun.
Girls layed out.
Weather was perfect.
Met BFF and her kidlets (Maddy and Calvin, who were MIA entire time and I didn't get one single pic of them).
Brought healthy snacks and a book. Best day ever.
Not sure why Jasmine doesn't have lower part of her legs. Funny pic.
Nicole is obsessed with zebra print everything. Even her bikini.

Tyer loves the river pool with the whirlpool. . I probably went around in it with him about 40 times.

(oh, I see Maddy in this pic. Laying out. Yellow bikini bottoms! :)Layed in my lounge chair next to Kambria and we talked and read and swam and hung out with the kids. Best day ever. Wish every day could be like this.

"kam......i'm not sure......."

that Vegas is ready for us......................... :)

"new york city"

I have so many awesome pictures from our trip.
These are from New York City, downtown Manhattan.
This is one of my favorite pictures.
It sums up what you think the streets of the city look like.
Hot dog stand with umbrellas and cabs and bright colors. I did get a "dirty water dog". Pretty good if you don't think about it! ha. But I can say I have eaten a hot dog from a street vendor in New York City...... check that off my list! My two favortie girls. We were headed out to a Broadway play. On Broadway. On a Saturday night. What is cooler than that?

The Chrysler Building is such a familiar landmark. Cool to see it from the street.

The ferry boat ride out to the Statue of Liberty was awesome. Was morning and cloudy but serene. I love boats and being outside. The rain subsided so we didn't get wet until we got to Lady Liberty!

My gorgeous girl LOVED the city. She wants to move there!

I can't remember the name of this street, but I'm going back someday. It is a street full of different restaurants and has tables outside. We walked down it and I wanted to stay.

So enjoyable.

I can just picture sleeping in, going to a deli for coffee in the morning, doing a little shopping and coming here from lunch. With my BFF and our girls.......

We walked down to Wall Street.

Was really cool because I used to work in that industry. (for a stock broker at an investment firm).

In front of the New York Stock Exchange.

Ground Zero.

This restaurant Delmonico's was the elite of elite back in the day. Rich people would come from everywhere to see and be seen.

It's still open but has had a lot of turnover with owners. Gorgeous building.

I have so many pics to post. More to come.....................................

"happy 4th of July.....a week later"

For lots of years we normally go to our good friends the Bagenski's for the 4th of July. This year we went to the coast and missed the party at their house. So we decided to celebrate last night (just a week late) with a very impromtu BBQ. (actually I texted and invited us down!) Mark just finished his last round of chemo (yay!!).
So we decided to keep it casual. Burgers, hot dogs, chips and I brought down a bottle of my favorite wine for Becky to try. I only brought ONE bottle. Well once we finished that we decided we needed more. We sent the guys and the teenagers (dont judge us!) to the store for a "few" more bottles, (once again, don't judge). Their dog Molly loved Nicole. Nicole carried her around the entire night. They want to breed her and Nicole wants a puppy. Hmmmmm.....she will have to talk to her dad about that one.

We got a tour of their neighbors lovely home. Here is a view (Bagenskis house is on the left). Beautiful.....................

We had good conversations with the girls. Talked about tatoos, peircings, boys, college, drinking (ha!), and they made brownies and we didn't tell the boys and we all ate the entire pan! shhh. don't tell anyone and again, don't judge!

After about 3 bottles of wine, some slushie thingy and some pom martini thingy (lol) we ended up downstairs in Gracies room with all the kids. They were playing and laughing and being loud and all of a sudden they all took off because the big boys were gonna light off fireworks. Gracie (age 4) comes back into her room and looks at us mamas laying on her bed with our wine and gives us an evil laugh, turns off the lights and runs away.

So we layed on her bed, in the dark, visiting. Some time later LeRoy comes in an makes fun of us.

Like I was gonna get up and turn the light back on.

Actually by then I could have just fallen asleep.

So we go back up to the kitchen and Becky busts out these homemade doughnut holes her mom made in the morning. OMG. So good (after we had devoured an entire pan of brownies, stop judging me!). So I MUST have this recipe and write it down.

Not sure why I needed it on my forehead, but whatever.

So her mom happens to text her while were eating donuts. By now its about 11:30 pm. So we have the bright idea that nana can make us some FRESH doughnuts. RIGHT NOW! She only lives around the corner and was up so she said come on over. Is she crazy?

(Becky, I don't want to hear a word about this pic. I told you when I took it that it was goin up on my blog!!!!!!! :)

So all 10 of us (plus the dog, she didn't want to get left behind) pile in the mini-van. No seatbelts, LeRoy driving, kids giggling their pants off, and the dog (oh, and Becky thought we needed 2 more bottles of wine). (which we DID NOT drink! I know my limit and switched to water!)
Off we go to nana's.

It was like an episode of COPS.

We all pile out of the van (no one was wearing shoes either???) and bust in for doughnuts. Debbie already had the batter ready and oil heated. She rocks. So we ate warm, fresh, yummy, homemade doughnut holes at midnight. The kids were WOUND UP. I think they had been drinking soda and all that sugar from the doughnuts. And we were keeping such a good eye on them! Luckily they live up on a hill with only 2 neighbors it's like living out in the country. They can keep an eye on themselves!

Nana didn't seem phased at all with the chaos, kids running around, dogs barking, adult mom's a little tipsy and frying dough at 12:00 midnight.

We had a great visit, the kids ran around and were a little wild and we got home about 2 am.

So glad Mark is done with chemo. On the road to recovery.! Next time we go down I think I might bring a 2 liter of diet pepsi. :)

"independence day"

This year we went to Newport for 4th of July. We went with Grandma and Grandpa Mary. And my "toasted marshmallow" daughter Cassandra went with us. It was foggy and cold. Just the way I like it! We left town on Friday and it was a blazing 96 degrees in Albany and when we rolled into Newport it was a cool 61 degrees....... We walked down on the docks and people were crabbing. One of the crab pots had a starfish and the guy asked the girls if they wanted to hold it. Cool. Then they put it back into the ocean.

I love my family :)

So foggy on the 4th we could hardly see the bridge. This is from our hotel balcony. Fireworks were hard to see but was cool and looked like colored lightning in the sky. Fog relfected it and lit the entire sky.

Cassandras family came over on Saturday and stayed in the same hotel and we BBQed and watched fireworks.Sunday we took the kids to Nye Beach. Was windy and FREEZING. We were going to attend the clam bake on Saturday at Nye Beach but never quite made it. Went to Lincoln City and went shopping instead :) Was a fun day. I packed a lunch and we enjoyed our day.

Tyler didn't care that it was so cold. He still wanted to dig and get dirty. LeRoy and Nicole went to the warm car. ha! So typical. I didn't mind.

My Boys.........Grandpa, LeRoy and Tyler. Definately can tell they are related!

"hair.......before and after"

So my dear sweet 9 year old boy decided he was done with his long hair.
"Mom, I want a haircut. Short. Like in my passport picture. It's too hot. I'm ready".
I was excited but a little sad to see it go. I loved his long hair. But his face is so cute, now I can see it better with short hair. So, off to the salon we go. Good bye hair.
Hello mister man.
(Mighty fine haircut if I do say so myself.) I really enjoyed the conversation while I cut his hair. Funny how people sit in my chair and the conversation flows. He talked about baseball (the main reason for the new do, he said when he was out there pitching, he was so hot he thought he was gonna pass out!). And about how his sister had a little influence on the haircut. She decided short hair was cool. How he is excited we are going to the coast for the 4th of July to watch fireworks.

So here's my hansome man. Makes him look older. sigh..........

And speaking of new do's. I found this in a magazine. Thinking this is what I want for myself. Maybe just the cut not the color. Any opinions?