Long Weekend Part II

My dad loves to grill. Of all the things in our house, the barbeque (seen below) was probably the best investment. We barbeque about twice a month (sometimes more) so of course the 4th of July is no exception. This weekend, like most families in America, we had a BBQ with close friends.

My dad flipping burgers

Shrimp skewers

In the spirit of trying new things, my sister bought this croquet set. We never did get around to trying it.

I baked a red, white and blueberry cake.

Okay, so that is box cake mix, and the frosting is from a can, but I really suck at baking cakes from scratch. I think taste overrules being able to say "I made it from scratch!" so for now, I'm sticking to Betty Crocker. I saw a couple of variations of the strawberry/blueberry 4th of July cake decorating technique, but you wouldn't believe how fast and easy this was. I made a simple 2 layer white cake, filled and covered with vanilla frosting, and adorned with strawberry halves and blueberries. If ever decorating with strawberries, beware of their drippiness! I had to clean up/re-frost a few small sections before serving, but it certainly added a bit of festivity to the dessert table.

Good food and company aside, I'd have to say the highlight of the night was my 4 year old niece shrieking out of excitement when the fireworks started; we're lucky to have a decent view in our backyard of the fireworks from surrounding cities on the 4th of July. Not as good a view as last year, but oh well :)

3 More Days

I can't believe the holiday season came and went just like that.

A Few Of My Favorite Things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...Okay not really. I do love The Sound of Music but that has nothing to do with this post.

THING #1: Disneyland! I'm not sure if it's a Southern California thing, but I love love love Disneyland. I would be willing to go on any given day. It's clean, bright, well maintained & organized, and they put on an amazing fireworks show. You can't help but feel like a kid after spending a few hours at the Magic Kingdom, which can be a nice break from all the chaos and drama in the grown-up world.

THING #2: The Holiday Season. Yes, it's true, I don't celebrate Christmas. I still can't help but be enamored by the lights, decorations and holiday specials taking over the radio and tv. There's also a slight weather change around this time of year, so you're finally able to take out your winter coats.

We've had family visiting since Thanksgiving, so we took them to Disneyland yesterday. You can only imagine how thrilled I was to see Disneyland taken over by Christmas. Lights and trees everywhere, christmas songs, a holiday parade and fireworks show, fake snow as the park was closing...it was so cute and I'm glad the kids we took got to experience it. Some pictures:

THING #3: Home Alone. This kind of falls into the holiday category, but I thought it deserved its own spot on the list. I love this movie, it's such a classic! Conveniently enough, it's also in heavy rotation on tv between Thanksgiving and Christmas. There are few things in life I enjoy more than sitting on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and watching Home Alone.

On a side note, I am avoiding all malls and shopping centers for the next 28 days.

Happy Holidays!