Downtown Disney

We are just rolling into lots of fun times. Our day ended yesterday with a much awaited and planned trip to Downtown Disney. Everytime we go to that place there's two things that the kids always talks about- 1. Rainforest Cafe and 2. Build-a-bear. Their wished was granted last night.




Here's a little "tourist" shot of me and the kids.

When we got to the restaurant we were told that it will take 30 minutes for us to be seated inside but there's available tables on the top patio. We didn't want to wait so we opted for the patio seating. Later I'd find out that people flock the inside tables cause the thunderstorm effects happen every 30 minutes inside. Oh well!

So here's the view from the patio...



There's a little pool of water behind us that has a little steam coming out of it. This really attracted the kids.

Here's some more pics...




I was able to print out a coupon for the restaurant and it helped a little but I have to say they were very pricey for the type/kind of food they served. Maddie got a kids' meal of dinosaur chicken and potato chips for $7. That's some gold chicken there! Mitch and I split a rib, steak and coconut shrimp plate. Marcus got a pepperoni pizza plate.

After dinner we ordered a cheesecake and got them to put a candle on it for Marcus to blow (we were celebrating his and mine birthday) and the waiters sang the fastest bday song I've ever heard.




On our way out, we went back inside and got someone to take a family photo of us

See my shirt? that's the cool $10 top I scored at Ross. Some lady even complimented my shirt. It just sucks that I didn't get the chance to tell her where I got it and how much I paid for it. A bargain shopper always wants to shout out how much she saved right?! hehehehehe

After dinner we headed over to Build-a-bear. The kids had a blast. We had a little trouble in the beginning cause we had "grouch" with us (aka daddy) and was complaining about all the costs. Even after I busted out my coupon! He later softened up after seeing the fun in the kids' eyes.




I enjoyed seeing the kids make their wishes for their bears with the tiny heart. So precious!




then they gave their bear and dog an "air" bath. They fluffed them like crazy.

After picking some outfits, naming them and paying for the bears we were out of there.... let me introduce you to the newest members of the Tolman family....

PINK


and SPOT


My kids has some great choices for names! That's all for now.

Till next time,
Grace

Food trip

My brother Gary always raves about these food places that he finds and I told him a while back that I want him to take me to a food trip on my birthday. I was very excited about this cause I've always had a fascination to experiment with different kinds of cuisines. Something about trying out new flavors really interests me.


So yesterday (Wednesday) he took me and the kids to lunch. We started at a Korean BBQ restuarant/buffet place over in Lakewood. This place was a simple restaurant without too much decoration but I got immediately excited when I saw the cooking pot/center on the table. Seeing the food cooked right in front of us will definitely be a fun experience.


This is my brother Gary and Marcus. See that pot infront of them? That's were the meat will be cooked. Really fun!


Here's me and Maddie. See her face? That's a norm now for her. She's definitely a diva lately.


They brought out tons of stuff for us. the raw meat, kimchi, potatoes, rice paper, squid, purple rice; bean sprouts and cucumber marinated in some kind of korean hot sauce. The picture above is the meat starting to cook. I let Gary do all the cooking.


Here's a pic of how you might put together all the food. You have the rice paper on the bottom, add some meat swirled in a sesame oil + hot sauce combo then layer with any side dish you want. Here I added cucumber and sprouts. Then you wrap it and put it in your mouth. Very delish!!!


I was even brave enough to try squid. It wasn't that bad but I have to say I'm not a fan of seafood. This one tasted very rubbery. I also tasted Kimchi for the first time. I have to say it's not that bad at all. Bec. it's pickled cabbage it had that usual vinegary, salty taste to it but different from Saurkraut cause the cabbage wasn't cut very thin.


When we were finished with out meal, they served us a small cup of ice cream (soft serve). Very cute and the kids enjoyed it. Speaking of the kids, they had difficulty with the chop sticks but were very determined to eat with them. They ended up using both hands (one stick per hand) scooping the meat and putting it immediately in their mouths. Very funny!

BTW this place is fairly priced. It was $10 for adults and 3-12 yr old kids are half priced. Remember it's a buffet and you can get as many things (meats, sides, rice) as you want. I think that's pretty good.


And if that wasn't a good enough experience for me, my brother takes me to Beard Papa's. Another very cool place situated in the middle of all of these furniture stores. Interesting location but their specialty which is Cream puffs were delicious! It's kinda pricey in my opinion but my brother was treating so I wasn't complaining. hehehehehehe.


the feel of the store was very modern. With the design (tiny tiles on the wall and the floor) to the modern chairs and table to the big mirror on the ceiling. The kids loved that!


We tasted two options for the cream puffs.


You pick what you want and then they fill it with cream. I think that's why they maintain the "puffiness" of the pastry cause they fill it afterwards. Very smart!




very yummy!!!

Till next time,
Grace

My Birthday....

You probably know by now (due to a previous post) that I just had a birthday. It was a great day! I didn't have too many expectations about it, which I think is the BEST way to go about your birthdays, and I enjoyed it. Here's some pics of my day....

In the morning I was able to do some shopping, by myself, and got some great deals. Here's some bday presents for myself. *wink*


I'm so proud of myself for scoring some great deals with the items above. The plaid top I got at Ross was only $10 and the shoes from Payless came out to $7. I got the papers 30% off from Micheal's, the Photo paper that was originally $12, I got at the clearance section for $5, the butterfly punch was purchased with a 40% off coupon and the 50 pc. card pack with envelopes was purchased at walmart in the clearance section for $3. The striped shorts was clearanced to $5 from $30 from Ross and the cute flower accent was also in the clearance rak in Claire's for $3. So who said you have to spend hundreds of dollars to look cute?


For dinner I made some pasta with italian sausage. I know, you might be surprised that I cooked, well we have planned to eat out on Wednesday so I figured we'll just leave the spending that day.


Mitch did get me a cake. I had wished for a Tres leches cake and he did deliver.

Unfortunately it wasn't like what we've tasted before but it was still good. If anyone knows of a great place to purchase these cakes in the southland please share.

Our dinner wasn't long cause I had to go to work but the family did sing me a birthday song and Marcus made me a really cute handmade card. He tried to write my name without help and Grace became "Garas". At least he's not forgetting to go back to phonics to figure out how to spell things. He's too funny.

That's it for this post and more to come.

Till next time,
Grace

San Onofre Camping trip

It's been a week since our camping trip at San Onofre. Sorry this has been a delayed post. Anyways, we had fun. I have to be honest though, there were many things that went wrong like- our camping site was soooo tiny. We were literally elbow to elbow with our neighbors. We couldn't even fit two big tents (one for each family) in our site. Very small space; The camping site were up in the bluffs so for us to get down to the beach we had to hike a little. The hike wasn't that far but it was a little tricky cause it was kinda steep in some areas. I was more worried about the kids falling down than me. We all agreed that it was a work out doing those hikes; The beach was not what we expected. There were tons of rocks and the waves were pretty hard. Our friends' older boy even had to be rescued by a lifeguard cause the boy didn't realize that he was being pushed by the water curent (sp?) very far. Thank goodness for lifeguards; And Marcus got scrape a few times from the rocks too.

But despite that, we had a blast. The kids got really dirty exploring and playing around; I learned a few recipes to cook in a dutch oven and we all got to be lazy for a weekend doing nothing but eating, playing and talking. Here's a few pics from our trip....


After pitching our tents on Thursday, we explored down by the beach and here's a pic of what we saw that afternoon.


love this one! it brings such a quiet and serene feeling for me.


here's the group trekking away.


Mitch found a really cool, kinda transluscent rock. When placed over the sun it shines really well and clear. It reminded us of the rocks that the Lord lit up for the brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon.


the following day we spent most of the day by the beach. The kids played in the sand.


while the adults played "Phase 10". Mitch won (as always) and everyone got a few laughs here and there.


finally a pic with me in it. This is hard to come by so I made sure I post this.

This was definitely a fun getaway and I can't wait for the next one.

Till next time,
Grace

29 things I wanna do this year......

Today is my DAY. It's my 29th birthday. Had a great couple of hours this morning all to myself. Got some great deals. I love shopping without children. (thanks bro.)

Anyways I've been thinking a lot about my age now. I don't feel any older but I do feel a little bit wiser. Since this is the last year I'm going to be in my 20s I've made a goal to finish 29 things before I turn 30. Here's my list....
1. to rock/wall climb
2. to loose another 10 pounds
3. be a featured designer for a major scrapbook company
4. get a professional photographer to take photos of my family
5. get published 29 times in the magazines
6. finish our kitchen (soon!!!)
7. paint the walls of our front room
8. reorganize my bedroom (make it look like an adults' bedroom)
9. reorganize my scrapbook albums
10. Finish one Jane Austen novel.
11. find a big and nice basket to place all my mini albums
12. go to sea world
13. watch a play
14. ride on a boat/ship/ferry
15. ride on a plane
16. ride on a train
17. visit 3 different states
18. ski
19. meet five of my scrapbook idols/inspirations
20. go to a photography class
21. get a new lens for my camera
22. create a library area/shelf in the house
23. get a shopping spree at a scrapbook store
24. get back to sewing. Accomplish a simple sewing project.
25. prepare a gourmet meal
26. own an authentic coach purse
27. do charity work
28. recycle more
29. live life with more optimism.

If you wanna help me accomplish one or more of these things, contact me and I'll take you up on it. *wink*. Hope you're having a great day!

Till next time,
Grace

I'm so excited....

and I just can't hide it. lalalalalala!!! You know how that song goes. Right?! Well this weekend my family and I are going camping... by the beach!!!! I'm definitely looking forward to getting away with the family, eating camping food (especially Smores) and being with one of our good family friends at church (the Williamson's). I'm crossing my fingers that the water is not too cold though. I know last week when I took the kids to the beach, the water was still on the cold side.

Well anyways, before I head out the door, I wanna share my latest projects and what challenges inspired them....

My fave

Over at Method Playground blog, the latest challenge was to use a chipboard as a template for stitching. I have to tell you that I've never done this technique before and I'm glad I jumped in the challenge. It was very easy and being that there's soooo many chipboard shapes out there, the possiblities are endless. You betcha that I'll be trying this trick again soon.


This page will go on my "Me" album and it just documents my LOVE for Spaghetti. I seriously can eat this dish for every meal of my life. Seriously is that good for me!!!


I marked around the heart shape chipboard with a pencil and did some stitching with embroidery floss. I finished it off by making heart shape lines with pen.

Ur a Hoot! Card

this one was done for the Be Inspired #39 challenge over at the Cuttlebug blog. We were to use a woodland creature or nature things and the color scheme provided. I love, love, love joining in challenges that have specific color schemes to use cause I get to try out different combos that I would've never put together myself.


I used an owl stamp that I got at the Michael's dollar stamp bin and fancied up my handmade tree branch with a cuttlebug embossing folder.

Thank you for looking.

and I'm off!!!

Till next time,
Grace

lookie look.....

GCD Studios is showing off the Summer Releases over at the blog all this week. Check em out. You won't wanna miss this one.

Here's some of the ones I'm drooling over....

From the Vintage Boy line





From the Sunny Days line




Don't forget to stop by everyday this week. I'm telling you, they're Y-U-M-M-Y!!!

Till next time,
Grace

I {heart} challenges

I am generally inspired by an outside prompt and that's why I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE challenges. They have been a great foundation for me to start projects. Here's some of my most recent ones.

One little word- JOY
The latest word is JOY. They've actually done the word before but I didn't mind. The word still brought "joy" to me. Get it!? hehehehehehe. Anyways here's my take on it....

The Joys of Motherhood

When I think of the word Joy, my kids always come up first. That's why it's not hard for me to make a page about my feelings about my children using the word.

I wanted to paint my reality as a mother here so I focused on some of the negatives and shown the positive side of these "trials"/hardships.

Journaling:
Being a mom has been hard for me, even from the very beginning. I don't have easy child birth stories to share, but I did have beautiful babies to show off; I can't say that I'm the most patient parent around, but my kids do know that I mean business when I start yelling their full names; and it's harder now to juggle everything since I'm working part time outside of the home , but we still manage to keep the routines going. I'm sure the road won't be straight and easy to trek but I'm always comforted to know that despite the hardships of being a mother, my life with Marcus and Madelyn in it is a very joyful one. May/ 2009

Q&A

this one was for the latest challenge over at American Crafts Studio blog. We were to use red, white and blue in our layouts.

I didn't want my page to be too close to the theme of the most recent holiday so I used the color scheme to make a page about me instead. It just so happens that it works here since what I'm wearing in the picture IS the same color scheme.

I took the q&a questions I had to fill up for my Crazy Daisy kit design team "getting to know" you spot. I think it was a great little reminder of the "me" right now so I saved it as a layout.
Journaling:
1. I can’t imagine my life without …
my family and papercrafting. Life without scrapbooking is just boring and life without family is unimaginable. What will I scrapbook if I didn't have my family. *smile*
2. My least favorite chore is …
cleaning the bathrooms. That's why I'm glad that I don't live in a big house. I have two bathrooms and I already dread everytime I have to clean both.
3. I would love to win a shopping spree to …
Scrapbook store and Target. But then again I pretend I'm in a shopping spree when I go to those stores. I always end up spending way more than I've planned.
4. My must have treat and music when scrapbooking is …
treat- none. I'm kinda clumsy so food and papers don't really go well with me. Music- anything upbeat, lately it's more toward pop and r&b music.
5. When scrapbooking, I love to use …
my fiskars border punches and pop up dots. I love em!!!
6. My favorite creative project is ...
Mini albums. There's a lot more room to add photos, journaling and products.
7. I thought I would never …
Go back to the work force.
8. My worst habit is …
too much computer time. I spend waaayyyy too much time surfing the net.
9. If I were a superhero, my super-power would be …
Stopping time. Imagine the amount of things I can do while my kids are frozen in time. (just kidding)
10. You would never guess it, but I …
thought I didn't have any creative bone in my body when I started scrapbooking, 5 years ago. During my school years, my artworks would always be average. Nothing too fancy with them, that's why I even surprised myself when I've realized that I CAN be creative.

American Crafts products used:
Pattern papers- Travel line
Letter stickers- assorted Thickers line
Ribbon (circles)- Elements
Embellishments (chipboards, flower and felt)- Everyday line
Frame rubons- Accents book two

and finally a card...

Let Freedom Ring

over at the Cuttlebug blog, the latest challenge was to make a card/project that has red, white and blue scheme plus stars and bonus was to use swiss dots. Got them all here and I enjoyed putting them all together.

I went a little bit vintage here, using Jenni Bowlin Studios buttons, journaling block and letter rubons.

I cut out the star die cuts from Cuttlebug and added a white strip in the middle of the card with embossed swiss dots on it.

Thank you for looking. And if you're looking for some creative jumpstart, click on the links I added for each of these challenges and play along. You never know how it will help get those creative juices flow.

Till next time,
Grace