Medieval Times

My friend Andrea, Pat, and I randomly decided to go to Medieval Times a couple of weeks ago.  Pat and I have both never been and Andie only went once about 10 years ago.  We figured, why not?  I figured why not share a few shots I got from the night.  I didn't get many good action shots since the lighting was bad and they put a net down in front of us.  But here are a few good/ok ones.

Waiting for the show we saw some of the horses...

Pat posing with some expensive armor

The three of us in the courtyard (taken by a kind stranger)

Pat and I before dinner

Whoo!!! Andrea was thrown a carnation by our knight =)

Notice the bot behind her...he kept hitting her in the face with his flag and I kept laughing.  Sorry Andie-but it was funny!  

One of just a few good action shots I got without the net in the way.  I think it is pretty good considering-plus he got the ring on his lance!

All of the knights...ours was the black and white Knight, though he lost first =(

It was fun and we had a good time.  Definitely a great evening out for entertainment and food...every once in awhile at least.

Annoyed...

Let me start off by saying I still want to teach...

But, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see that happening, at least any time soon.

What I don't understand is how someone who has taught for FOUR years is not selected to interview as a SUBSTITUTE!  

I know times are tough, but if teachers aren't even given the chance to continue working in the field they love, then how are public schools expecting to turn things around?

This frustration stems from the first opportunity I have had to apply to a district since I moved here in August.  I'm not talking about a full time position in my own classroom; just the opportunity to sub every once in awhile.

This has got to turn around soon...

Or maybe I need to reconsider my career choice?  Hmmm

Any ideas?

A Valentine's Day Surprise

Let me start this post with a disclaimer...I know I am a dork, I am proud of it!  If you didn't know, then reading this post will give you a pretty good idea about how dorky I can be.  

I love trivia, games, and logic puzzles, among other things.  With that also comes a love for torturing having fun with my man and making him work for his gifts.  

I missed Valentine's last year for an annual Girls' Weekend in Vegas (I know, shame shame for missing the first V-day married).  I figured I should do something nice to make-up for it.  I had an idea in the works for almost a month before hand, but the final product didn't actually come about until the day of the surprise.

It started with baking some cookies...

I found this really great, and easy, sugar cookie recipe here which actually doesn't need refrigeration!  It was so great and tasty.  So tasty, in fact I am eating one right now.  I skipped the almond and just went with 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract instead.  The cookies only needed about 6 minutes and they were delicious!  I suggest taking them out after 6 minutes, before they get golden  brown on the sides, like it is suggested.  Those ones dried out too much and became too crispy.

Then came the decorating with royal icing...

I have wanted to try this for some time so I figured it was the perfect time.  I just searched on youtube for a how-to video and went from there.  I am excited to try it again, hopefully making it look even smoother next time!

Once the cookies were decorated, it was time to make his card.  Thanks to Martha Stewart Living magazine for the idea I found the day before the surprise!!!  click here to see...

So here is where the dorky side of me kicks in.  I decided to spell out his big surprise on cookies and make him unscramble the clues. To make it even more annoying for him fun for me, I decided to spread the cookie letters throughout 5 bags.  

I hid them throughout the house and put clues to their location on little cards which went into the envelope card.  Extra crazy...I made the clues into Haiku's just for fun.  

Here are a few of the clues with their locations...

"Not used too often
So it hides beneath the tray
Of Beautiful wood" 

The clue led him to one of the bags sitting beneath my dad's office desk

Poor Pat, he had to wait for quite awhile, with building anticipation (not necessarily a bad thing), all weekend.  When he finally got to open his card, he was just overjoyed with the prospects of playing my little game!  Strong bit of sarcasm here.  Of course, I don't think it helped too much to have me laughing with glee the entire time he was figuring out my clues.  

Once he retrieved all 5 bags, he thought he was done; but no, I still had the word for him to unscramble!  

It was a 10 letter word.  I did make it a little better by letting him know that I made the decorating a pattern.  He really thought it had something to do with "San Diego" at first...but the letters just didn't work!

A few minutes into the struggle fun, I gave him the middle 2 letters of the clue.  "E and Y."  From there, he didn't need too much longer to finish the clue!

Yep...I was taking him to Disneyland!  Or, as he calls it, the "House of Mouse."  I had purchased the So-Cal 2 day park-hopper at the store awhile ago which will also let us go one more time before May.  We have been a few times throughout our relationship; including the week of our wedding, but we have never gone with just the two of us!  

So, there you have it... a look into the games I love to play with gifts.  I can't wait to do this kind of stuff to our kids, just like my parents did to us every once in awhile.  I hope you enjoyed some quality time with your Valentine!

B-day and super bowl weekend

This year my birthday fell on the Saturday before the Super Bowl, which means next year it will be celebrated with the world as we all party for me, I mean for the Super Bowl!

I didn't have much planned, really just wanted to hang out with family and friends.  I enjoyed some quality time with my best friend as we enjoyed BJ's for lunch and a little shopping.  

Relaxed a little at home watching the Glee marathon (YAY!!).  

Then went out with family and friends to Citrus City Grille and enjoyed some good laughs.

The best part of the birthday is of course the cake.  Sara and I wanted to keep doing trials of cake pops so we worked that into the design.  Yes, I helped with my cake-just the pop part of it though.  My mom and sister did the rest!

I love fun-fetti cake so it was what we used for the cake pops this time around.  

We used a square fondant cutter to shape the balls into presents and also shaped them into balloons by hand.  Sticking with the fun-fetti color scheme we went with blue, green, and pink balloons and white presents with green and blue ribbon.

They were so tasty and I think it really made the cake look extra festive!

For the super bowl we made football pops, but this time without the sticks.

My dad has this great place mat for just such an occasion...

For our small party, we decided to do more than just the standard pool for money.  We made a list of all kinds of different events that could happen in a game, and then randomly assigned two events per person.  When the event occurred, that person would have to take a shot.  It worked out great for me (or horribly depending on how much you like to drink) since there was only 1 challenge made.  My other event was very rare and didn't happen.  

Pat was the big "winner" of the day as he had offensive passing TD's.  He was lucky enough to have to take 6 shots!!  My dad was 2nd with 3 or 4 shots.  My mom even had to take a shot!  

I love the last look of mom...it is either a look from take the tequilas  (yes, my mom is cool and shoots tequila =), or it is a look of why the hell are you taking these pictures.  I'm going with the effects of tequila.

Sara didn't get to take any (I think, or maybe she got one at the end of the game?)  Can't remember anymore.  With a good, close game and family fun; Super Bowl Sunday was lots of fun.  

Can't wait until next year!!!  Party at my house!!! =)

And just because...my cat Tigger has a huge brother "Charlie" which belongs to my sister.  He is funny with his resting choices...

You can go here to compare him to Tigger...they do look a lot alike.  My parents get real confused when they are both in the house together.  =)

Cake Pops trial run

The inspiration (courtesy of Bakerella's Cake Pops book)...

The Supplies...

The cake, which unfortunately is just a box cake, but still delicious for a trial run!...

 Crumble the cake and mix in some frosting, then roll into balls...

Melt some candy (a Wilton product purchased at Michael's)

Insert in the popsicle sticks 

Dip and let dry (these needed two coats)

Add candy decorations...and your done!  These were just missing the eyes, somehow my black icing tube I purchased didn't make it out of the store =(

So,  what do you think???