Tuesday... Tour Day

Tuesday was fun because the boys DID go to school and Dad and I took Tommy, Beth and the boys on a tour of Temecula. They enjoyed seeing the sights and all Temecula has to offer... especially when we stopped at Gourmet Italia for lunch! They feasted once again, this time on Linguine Pescatore, Chicken Parmesaen, Clams with Linguine, Lobster Ravioli, Mussels with French Fries and Fried Calamari with peppers! Meal of Kings for sure! At the end of lunch, the school called, Logan was "sick" and needed to be picked up... (had nothing to do with his cousins being home!!! hahahah), so we picked up both boys and went to the mall. My phone was all messed up and I wanted to get the twins a TShirt that they could wear and think of us!
We did Yogurt, shoe stores, tshirts, build a bear and Tmobile... that's what happens when you go to the mall for 1 or 2 things... it's like Costco... go in for a $20 item walk out with $200 in items!!!
The boys picked their shirts... very cute and stylish! My boys got a pair of tennies... they go through one pair every couple months!!! UUUHHHHGGGGG!!! at the end of the hour and a half of the mall... my cousin was about to have a panic attack... he did NOT enjoy shopping, waiting, shopping, especially while the Celtic's were playing!!! So we headed over to Spuntino. It was Wine and Grub with our very own Wine, Olive Oil and other products labeled Poggio Leano. The kids ate and Papa took them home. Tommy, Beth and I stayed for an amazing experience with Alex (as usual) that can be read about on Temecula Night Out! Thank you to our friends at TNO for an amazing review!!! We had a wonderful time with great company, food and wine!! Then we headed home for a good night sleep because Wed morning we were headed off to Univeral Studios!!!!!

Monday... AHHHHHHH

Monday was a STAY in PAJAMAS ALL DAY day!!!! SO great! The boys were sick I think from so much sun... my house was clean, the clothes were all washed, ironed and put away... it was ucky and overcast and I sat on a couch, updated a blog or two and watched movies!! Now THAT is a great day!! Alex came home, cooked us dinner, my cousins came home from Sea World and we feasted on Pasta Cicci and Osso Bucco!!! YUMMMMMMMM Thank you love, for an amazing meal!

Sunday Family Fun Day!

So Sunday was a super fun day! We had a family reunion with my Grandma's side of the family. Family came from Sacramento, La Jolla, Santa Barbara, Washington and Rhode Island!!! well, the family from RI was the inspiration for the timing of this get together! My Grandma's 2 sisters and 1 brother were here along with their children and grand children! It was so special! I had 4 of us sisters out of a total of 7 here... we missed the other 2... other 1 is from my mom and this was my Dad's side! :)
We hung out all day, took a walk down to our garden and took family photos!
I am so blessed to be close to such an extension of my family! We have 3rd and 4th cousins that are like 1st cousins to us!
The night was topped off with a bon fire out front of our home. Smore's and casual chat was enough to make forever memories!

Reality Rally

So Saturday morning, when Tommy and Brandi's family all arrived, we had all the kids put on their Charity for Charity t'shirts I made. They looked SOOOO cute! Bran, Tommy and I had to leave... we had to be in Old Town early for the race. Dan, Beth and Dad had ALL the kiddos. Where was Alex? Sleeping... then getting the property ready for the party the next day. So we get down town and checked in. Thursday night, late, we had received an email for Gillian, the creator of Reality Rally, telling us who our Reality Star would be. Brandi called me at 11pm to talk about it. We were assigned Lane from Big Brother Season 12, so we Googled him. He was this big football playing looking cute guy, young and came in 3rd place for his season. We were stoked! He is known to be really competitive and fun! SO! Once we arrived and checked in, got our white "racer" t-shirts, we looked around looking for where we should go. It wasn't really clear, so we followed all the red shirts "Reality Stars" up into the City Hall room. We searched for our celebrity so we could meet him since we missed the night before "Meet and Greet". Lane... Lane... where's Lane???? We couldn't find him, but they did start serving chicken sandwhiches, so we got in line. It was a good idea to eat now, rather then at the end of the race at 4pm! While standing in line, I notice a gal that I recognized. I totally knew her... but why was she wearing a red shirt? You mean, not just our local reality stars, "dancing dad's" were here, but this gal too? Wonder what she was on? So I tap her shoulder and say, "I know you!" She smiled, covered her name badge and said, "I'm not telling you what show I was on"... she didn't refer to living here, seeing me at the restaurant, going to school with me... she strictly referred to the show. I starred blank for a split second and then it hit me! I yelled, "Apprentice!!!!" I remembered her from watching one of my FAVORITE reality show!!!!! Tiyana. She was a sweetheart! She talked to us for a bit, when this GINORMOUSE Dreadlocked black man walked up and says, "excuse me, I have to ask you to leave since you don't have a lineyard on. Ya, we got booted out!!!!! So, we took our sandwhiches and left the building. We still couldn't figure out what to do... there were only a couple other teams hanging around. Brandi then spotted the La Masters Motorhome!!! Leah!!! So we headed over to the motorhome and headed on in!! There was Leah, Caryann and Whitney SO adorable!!!! They had matching socks, had blinged out their shirts, cut them up and looked adorable! We did a touch of that with out gold and black ribbons and Charity for Charity hats. We were already sweating because it was the hottest day of the year to date, so we grabbed the scissors and took to our shirts. They definitely won best dressed (no official category) but we had to be second place!!! :) hahha! So, after hangin in the motorhome and cutting up our t's, it was time to gather at the steps of City Hall. Brandi decided she should use the potty before we were ready to start, so we headed up to the restrooms that were by the Reality Star "holding room". Tommy and I waited for Brandi and I we were, Chuck Washington, a friend of ours for years and our City Councilman and his wife Kathy see us. No sooner could I say Hi and give a hug, did Chuck grab my hand and start pulling me into the Reality Star holding room! I couldn't even tell him I just got kicked out cuz he was moving so fast. He heads right towards the front of the room where the podium is and I start freaking out! What is he DOING WITH ME????? He stops JUST before the podium and turns to a table of stars and says, "Ragan, THIS is Charity!". I'm thoroghly confused!!! Why does this reality star want to meet ME? And by the way... where is our guy, Lane??? So, Ragan and Chuck explain that Ragan is my team mate! Strange.... Ragan is opposite of Lane, which is the name we were given. Ragan is of small stature, would NEVER be caught DEAD playing football (if you know what I mean) and is a college professor!!! "Well, that's cool, but we were told we had Lane" I said. "No, Lane isn't here, I don't know what happened with him. BUT I'm the better of the 2 of us and I'm SUPER competitive!".. okay! Sounds good... I HOPE!!! We head on down to the starting pen and Aunt Becky (our Fed Ex lady from a few blog's ago), Uncle Gus and cousin Jackie showed up to cheer us on! Dad, Beth, Dan and the kids showed up shortly after and were SOOO cute and SUPER excited to cheer us on!!!!

There wasn't too much information given to us prior to the race, but we were given envelopes that couldn't be opened until the race had started. So the gun? bell? buzzer? I don't even remember.... something went off to tell us we could start and everyone started running! No one knew where they were running to at first... so we stopped and read the info. We had 2 choices... find home stuff at Farmers Market or nombs in the windows of stores in front street. We chose front street because I thought it would be easy for me and I thought Farmers Market would be PACKED and hard to get around. Well, BAD CHOICE!!! Old Town Front Street is a little less then a mile long!!!! When you have to RUN trying to find answers to clues or nombs in windows and they are not all along the street... it's EXHAUSTING!! "We were JUST there" seemed to be the most common thing said between us all. We were so tired and it was SOOOO hot! Did I REALLY say I wanted to try out for Amazing Race? REALLY!!???? RIGHT!!! After going crazy up and down front street for an hour, we finally got our clues to the next leg and headed for the trolly's. And from there, it was a hopeless feat. We didn't know so at the time... Ragan WAS very competitive and took control of the next challenge selection. The trolly showed up, and we boarded after 20 minutes of waiting. It was a slow ride to Mt. Palomar Winery, where the next challenge was. We chose the "luck" challenge out of the 3 choices. This challenge turned out to be poker. Every player sits down and the winner of each hand, gets up and throws bean bags into the holes of the cards in their best hand. I ended up with 3 5's, a J and a K. I have a very good aim.. USUALLY!!!! I don't know what happened!!! I'd aim at 5 and make it in 6, I'd aim at J and make it in 10, I'm aim for K and make it in Q!!!!! I was SOOOOO frustrated!!!!!!!! We all had to do the same thing.... it wasn't nearly as exhausting as the Old Town Challenge, but more frustrating for me FOR SURE!!!! Right when we were finished and running back to catch the next trolly, our whole family showed up!!! It was so cute! they missed the competition, but it was great for a photo opp as you can see above!! So we wait for a trolly that finally shows and it's not our "color" but it's going to the right place... the Mall!!! So we board!! A whole trolly of teams headed to the mall, but on the Red line instead of the Brown line! Oh well... first year, a little confusing, we were headed in the right direction! AND I knew the driver! So we pull out from Mt. Palomar onto Rancho Califronia Rd. and no sooner do we straighten out.. the trolly engine dies! He tries starting it up several times, but it's a NO GO! We are broke down on Rancho... miles away from the mall!!! What do we do??? It's "illegal" or disqualifying to take "unmarked" transportaion... but Alex is right up the road!!! He called right then and asked where we were. He hadn't seen us all day! So I told him to come with his truck and we would load as many people as we could. OOPS! Cancel honey... another trolley cruised down the road and pulled over. We all ran and piled in... "no, we can't take you... we have a route we are on and it's not going to the mall." SO off the trolly we go.... do I call Alex again or do we wait.... what now??? We have no chance of redemption now!!! After almost an hour, the "working" trolly gets the okay to take us to the mall. Alex pulled up as we took off, so he followed us all the way there. We got off the trolly and thought Alex was parking, but he never showed up. We went and did our "fashion" challenge at the mall where a team member (brandi) had to get dressed into an outfit from a photo on the table (we had to search for each piece on a rack) and then model it for a pagent pro. We were down Ragan because there were 2 ladies waiting at the mall for Ragan to show up! Yes, they were his BIGGEST Fans!!!! hahaha!!! So funny! He jumped in before the modeling and got our stamp of completion! Off we ran to the trolly stop and waited again. This time for over an hour!!! We visited with several reality stars there .. Annie from Ragan's season of Big Brother, Laura from Survivor Somoa and Elvis... from... uh.. I forget... but some car racing reality show! Elvis was a teddy bear in disguise! He is an ecsentric character with a long hair mohawk and skulls and skeletons ALL over him, inlcuding braided into his 3 foot long goateeeee!!!!! (In the photo above)... so after meeting him and talking to him for a while, I look him up and down and say, "You would go perfect in my son's bathroom!" You know the saying, "out of the mouth's of babes????? well, there's another one when you know me! "Out of the mouth of Charity". As Michelle says, "there is NO filter"... but not in a foul way... in a way where the majority of people think but don't say... I think and say before I think again!!! I thought he was going to die! He didn't know how to take that! He didn't know me to know better! There was a reality television show filming and he started filming Elvis, when Elvis pulled me into the shot and asked me to share my comment!!! It was hysterical! See.... at least the whole time we were waiting, we were entertained or entertaining!!! hahahha! FINALLY... the Grapeline shows up and loads us up.. "to Big Horse please" we all ask... "it's over you guys" was her exact words!!!! "The race is over, the first place team has been back for at least an hour!!!" GREAT>>>>> darn it! We wanted to finish the race!!! Ya, she wasn't going for it!! Back to Old Town we went... got off the bus... people were packing up... we checked in as team #29!!! WOW! I think Ragan was SUPER excited to be done with the race and us!! he was fizzled out after the broken down trolly ordeal. We make the best of everything... guess he plays his game a little differently :(. Oh well... thanks for playin Ragan! We said goodbye and we'll see ya at the pit party and we headed out. We stopped by to see Leah and see how they did... Aubrey and Stan said they got 6th and were celebrating at Public House. So we headed off to have a victory toast with them. At that point, I realized that I had not confirmed a sitter for the night! Shoot! I had asked Cousin Wes a couple weeks ago, but there was some communication break downs and he made other plans. He asked if I could call someone else, so I did.... Karisa thought she could cover it, but wouldn't know until the morning of the race, when she texted me that she couldn't do it. I texted Wes before the race, but when I checked after the race... there was no reply!!!! I started to panic... I texted and called everyone I knew who had a kid between the ages of 12 and 25 to babysit all 7 of our kids under age 9!!!!!! yah.... good luck you say????? That didn't help! It was so nice of everyone to respond... unfortunately they were all.... NO!!! CRUD!!!! Well, we minds well go have a toast with Leah and the girls since we may not make it to the after party!!!!!! It was fun to share stories with Leah and the girls and their great star Shaz (Survivor). Time was ticking though... at least that is if we had to get ready for the pit party.... but still no word from Wes.....

We get in the car and start heading home when we get the text... "I cancelled my plans, I'll be there at 5:45" -Wes. WHOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! He pulled through!!! WE LOVE YOU WES!!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

SO we got home, showered, got ready for the night.

Headed down to Temeku Hills and checked in. Food, Drinks, music, reality stars and local familiar faces!! Story telling about each teams experience about the race and laughs. Michelle and Brian and Jen joined us too! We reunited with a few of the stars we met that we liked (inlcuding Laura and Elvis) and met some new ones! Dad was the live auctioneer... poor thing! There were 4 items, less then half of the people paying attention and not a lot of money for each item. But HE did a great job.. as always! I was the 2nd to bid on a condo in Cancun... my bid was $750... I outbid bidder of $500... going once, going twice, SOLD to ME!!!! My Dad was worried I didn't mean to bid... but I did!! My brother in law walks up and says, "You OUT BID MEEEEEE"!!! What?!?!!? Hahhaha! I had NO idea!! hahaha! That is SO ME!! Bummer thing is that the event person wouldn't let the vacation house go for less then $2500, so I was bummed! Oh well, it was fun to win in the moment and added to a funny story of out bidding my own family!!!

We were done at that point, hungry for a meal... so we decided to say farwell to a fun event and head down to the best restaurant in town Gourmet Italia!

We arrived ready to order steak, fish, chicken, pasta... all we could eat... but a second to late... the kitchen was closed. BUT! My hubby didn't let us down. He sat us to a table of appetizers and salads. An enjoyable end to a great day! Now it's time for a good night sleep... big family reunion tomorrow!!!

MIA... sorry!

WOW! SO much to tell from the past week!! So last week... Tuesday we had a great Charity for Charity meeting. We discussed our beneficiaries wishes, our upcoming concert The English Beat and our new Office Manager Sharron who ROCKS!!! Everyone is pumped about the concert!! That evening we went to Logan's open house. He was so proud to show us all of his great work and the things that he did that included his brother (stories and pictures). It was adorable! Wednesday I had a meeting with the staff from Spuntino. It was a good meeting, although I'm not sure more then 5% of it stuck! Sometimes it's like I am talking to a wall!! Hopefully the right things sunk in for the right people. Right after that, I had to rush to my doctors office for a procedure to remove my Marina that "disappeared" on me. Very uncomfortable, but Dr. Glaser is so kind!!! The great news is that I am PREGNANT PROOF for another 5 years!! WHOOO HOOO! That night we went to Luca's open house where he shared all of his great work and the same with him... he had stories and pictures about his brother. It is so special to a parent to see the love between their children... especially since so many times they are beating each other up! hahah! Thursday was running around, getting final touches done around the house since we had my cousin and his family coming out from Rhode Island. I started decorating the boys room like a pirate ship about 3 years ago... it's still not finished and the bathroom hasn't even been started on. Well, since my cousin has twin boys age 9, I thought a pirate bathroom would be more "cool" then a baby jungle bathroom... so I shopped over the last week online and in stores and pulled off a pretty cute bathroom. I have much more to do, but it's cute for now. Friday I spent the day cleaning and ironing. I LOVE to iron... not sure if I've mentioned that, but I do. I put on my Lifetime channel and iron for hours. The only problem is that I put it off for about 10 loads so I have HOURS of ironing at a time. It puts a lot of pressure on me when I'm having a party cuz I like everything ironed and put away for those things. Friday night was a little celebration for one of my BFF's at Happy Buddah. I showed up late, but visited in the DEAD SILENCE> everyone is relaxing so you're not supposed to talk or be loud... DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD THAT IS FOR ME?????? I did okay... but I wasn't silent. I whispered, but talked the entire 40 mintues that Jen was getting her massage. When her and a few other friends were done, we headed over to one of the gal's house for wine and pizza. I could only stay an hour because I needed to go into Spuntino. I called every half hour to check in since I didn't want to have to leave too early from Jen's bday celebration if I didn't have to. Well, I called at 6:35, then again at 6:50. 6:35 they had 3 tables and no take out orders... at 6:50, they didn't answer the phone. That's not good, it usually means they are too busy to answer... not good... I jumped up and said my good byes. I kept calling the whole way there... finally when I was 5 minutes away, they answered... Yan said, "Charity GET HERE"!!! I walked in at 7:05 and it was PACKED!!!!! I was pumped... I jumped in and we rocked it! It was a fun crowd and it hopped for the next couple hours! I even met a great British family who founded a Rugby team here locally. Their boys are a year older then each of mine and adorable. They have the cutest British accents! After getting the information, we'll be going to the practice a week from Sunday to try it out! :) Saturday... this was an eventful day! We got up in the morning and got ready... Brandi (my sister) and her family, my cousin from RI, Tommy and his family, and Dad all drove out by 10am. Brandi, Tommy and I were racing in Reality Rally that day..........

we've got our EYES on you!

So I woke up yesterday thinking about how many things I was going to get done! It was Friday day and I only had work at 6pm! That's 9 hours to do laundry, clean house, run errands... etc! So, I did. I started laundry and started picking up the house. Alex woke up and remided me that we just got an intercom/camera for our new gate and he went over to check the red flashing light. He explained to me how it worked then he checked the recording. He was all excited for there was someone recorded on the "gate cam" from earlier in the morning!!! Laughing hysterically, I joined him in viewing our Fed Ex driver who happens to be my "aunt" becky. (it's my Uncle by marriage but minds well be my blood uncle, so we call of his family our aunts and uncles). We forgot to leave a note for all the delivery people and she was surprised by the new gate. It's as though she was confused as to how the key pad worked and the camera shows the faces, the closer they get like the horse in Pete's Dragon when Lampy saw him through the window of the pub. She was recorded in pieces so she was in slow motion with a frazzled face pushing buttons. Well, we were sleeping so she had no response to her call and left. This is going to be fun!!! People have no idea what they look like or what we see... too bad we don't have too many drop by's! We could have an evening of entertainment every night! Especially if we lived in a neighborhood where girl scouts and Jahovah witness were knocking! Hahahaha!!! The cleaning lady was next, but we heard that ring! We were all excited... all 4 of us ran to the unit on the wall to buzz her in! We laughed at the same sight as Aunt Becky except, when we rang her in, she hurried and rushed to jump in her car as though the gate would only open for a second and she might miss it being outside of her car! (By the way... the way our gate is set up, you can't drive up to the key pad, you have to park, get out and walk up to it... sorry for you... if it's raining!!!!) So the cleaning lady and I cleaned the house while the boys went room to room leaving their little messes of "love" behind. Alex did the same, but got ready for his day and left shortly there after. Alex asked me to contact some wine rack companies to get some quotes for our new wine cellar, so I spent some time doing that, laundry and then made lunch. By the end of lunch it was about 2pm and that's when I realized it was FRIDAY... I didn't have the day to stay home and do "nothing"!!! I had Sharron, our Charity for Charity office manager in the office to work with!! I felt so bad, not to mention embarressed... have I lost my mind? She was gracious and fortunately had Leah (our Treasurer) there to work with her!!! I readied (is that a word?) the boys and myself and thought I would give the cleaning lady some "alone" time. This way, by the time she left, the house would actually be clean! :) I had a couple things on my list to do... Alex had a new pair of Dolce and Gabanna pants he bought in Italy to replace the ones he bought last year. He wore those things OUT... and I'm not kidding! They had been to the tailers 5 times to repair holes throughout them from him wearing them so much! But he loved them enough, so when he went back in March, he bought the exact same pair. But they come with now hem, so I had to take them into get them hemed so he can begin to wear these ones out! The other thing I had on my list was one that has been on my list since July, 2003. When we moved into this house, there were a few things that the contracter left undone. The story is that he ran out of money and had to sell it for only what he had into it. The next owners forclosed on it, then the next owners were beginning to forclose until we stepped in and saved them! But still, only 6 years old and the house was a structure on a dirt lot with several things left undone. We had a few things done that summer while we were in Italy, but not everything... one thing that remained was the fireplace. It was and is the metal surface that it was when they installed the thing. I have had umpteen million parties, many that have been "set" in the living room with the unfinished fireplace. It seemed so simple to tile, and I thought for the past 8 years that I was capable of figuring out how to tile it, that I would get all the supplies and do it. Well, I am thrilled to say, after 8 years, I purchased all the tools to attempt this project! Today, I will be taking on this new challenge and I am SURE that it will be something to write about.....

The boys are back in town!

SO! I picked up the boys yesterday... met mom half way for a little shopping and lunch. When we got back to town, Alex wanted to see them, afterall, it had been Sunday through Thurdsay since he'd seen them! We tracked Alex down and found him at Spuntino. A quick hello and he was off to eat lunch. Logan wanted to stay with him, so he tricked Luca to stay in the car... when I realized what he was doing, I got him back! Luca and Logan LOVE to go to "Auntie Grandma's" (my Aunt), so I told Luca to act sad in the car, but not to worry... we were headed to Auntie Grandma's House!!!!!! He was SOOOOO excited! Especially cuz we got Logan back! So we hung at Auntie's for a couple hours and met up with Alex and Logan at Gourmet Italia and also got to meet up with some friends who have been MIA for a while! :) It was great to catch up and have some laughs! The kids were great, played on the computers for a couple hours while I sat and visited. Around 6:30 it was time to head off to the grocery store, pick out some din din and head home in time to watch American Idol!!! Shame on us for not voting! The show was a let down in a couple ways... who the heck is IGGY??? Someone who should have NEVER been given a microphone, but they did... and he forgot his shirt! EWWWWW His face is possibly 70 years old and his body was similar to that of Mick Jaggers! Then, the end of the show... PIA is booted!!! WHAT!??!?! Her first time in the bottom 3 and she goes????? Something is seriously wrong with this!!! I know I only have myself to blame... I didn't vote, but really???? Almost enough to make me wanna cry.... like everyone else did!!!! SO SAD!!!

a couple days without the boys...

I left the boys with my mom on Tuesday... headed home around 3. Had Wine and Grub with Weins at 7pm.... what a wonderful evening we had with David from Weins! Our die hard gang was there... strange, we have had 30-40 people the past 5 W&G's and oddly, this night there was a small, intimate group and it was kinna neat!! Filippo always comes up with the greatest food and you pair that with amazing wine and wonderful people and you have a special evening that gets you through the week with a smile! :) After that, I had the wonderful idea to spend a great night with my hubby! After all, I have a night with no children!!!! Well, the thought was nice... but timing is EVERYTHING!!! WRONG TIME!!! It took one little nonsense thing and I was headed home ALONE! Is there MAN menstrual cycles???? I think there is!!! I don't have woman ones, but my love has MAN ones!!! Hahah! That's okay, I had to catch up on watching Celebrity Apprentice anyways! That was a treat!!! Meatloaf had a breakdown that was quite entertaining! I was happy to see him make it right in the end... and the funny thing is, I had a similar issue with a couple of the guys at work 2 days later! I had to play interventionist and help them make things right in the end... funny how these things work! It kinda helped me help them after watching Meatloaf... THANKS MEATLOAF!!! Hahaha!! Yesterday was a long day! I had an appt at the Breast Center that took 2 hours. I had a mammo, ultrasound and meeting with the doctor. I am scheduled for an MRI since I am too "dense" to tell what is going on inside! But there is a binine lump that they are going to remove, but not until they get the results from my MRI and rule out any other possibilities. It's amazing how much they can do these days and it's so vital for us women to take these steps to keep a constant eye on us and catch anything that could appear before it gets out of control! I am grateful for the research that has led to all of the amazing machines and tools that our medical world has today! After my appt I went to Gourmet and was fortunate to run into a FAREWELL party that I had committed to be at, but for some reason, the schedule in my phone didn't remind me of! I met a really great musical couple that was invited to play. She's a pianist and he is a world renown musician, playing the guitar at the party. The gathering lasted a couple of hours and then I was off to shop for mexican food and margarita's! A couple of the gals from work and I planned on dinner and watching American Idol. Bryn and I have made it our weekly tradition, to watch American Idol together (my favorites are James, Paul, Pia and Lauren). Bryn brought the margarita mix and I did the food. Alicia came up after working for a while... she made it just in time for tacos! Bryn made Jose Cuervo Silver Margarita's after telling me that she doesn't like the pre-made stuff because it is too sweet. Well... the problem, you see, is that when you "make your own" it seems that you tend to put MORE tequila then the recipe calls for. And, that's exactly what she did... but I didn't realize it until the end of the second glass!!! We ate dinner and went to the couch... but on the way I felt a little off balance. I've had 2 margarita's MANY of times and haven't felt a thing! As happy as I felt, watching American Idol, drinking my margarita and finishing a yummy mexican dinner, I didn't feel myself. Hmmmmm????? I sat on the couch, not moving too much, changed the channel after Idol to "The Blind Side", an all time favorite movie of mine. Alicia hadn't seen it and Bryn loves it as much as I did, plus, she had to relieve her babysitter in 45 minutes so she couldn't stay for the whole thing. As I was watching, I realized that it was hard to keep my eyes open. It was only 10 o'clock and I'm never falling asleep that early, but last night I WAS!!! Then, all of a sudden, I excused myself to the restroom! I actually got SICK off of those DARN margarita's!!!!!! EWWWWWWWW! I know, TMI! BUT I couldn't believe it!!! That just doesn't happen to me (well maybe once or twice 15 years ago!)!! Alicia left before the end of the movie and it wasn't soon enough for how I was feeling, but I didn't tell her, afterall, why should I ruin her chance to see one of the greatest movie's ever??? I walked her out, went back on the couch and thought I would watch the end of the movie then go to bed. Guess I feel asleep there because I woke up, turned off the TV and went to climb into bed, when to my surprise, I walked into my HUBBY already in bed watching TV!! "You're home???" I asked! He said, "ya, i kissed you when i came in, you didn't feel me?" OOOOOOOO wow! No, I didn't feel him... THAT DARN JOSE CUERVO SILVER MARGARITA!!!!!!!! I crawled into bed and fell right to sleep!

We survived the day!

When we arrived at Brandi's in Ladera, the boys were "sick"! I took the Ortega Hwy for a nice Sunday drive... they never got sick before! Poor guys... they FELL into the house and crashed... "oooooo we feel so sick"!! So Dan and I unloaded the car... a little settling of the stomachs and the luggage and it was SWIM TIME!!! The pool was 80 degrees when we arrived, but that wasn't "warm enough" for these OC'ers... no, 90 degrees was what they were waiting for! Swimming in BATH temperature!?!??! Really!?!?!? Well, I wasn't in the pool, maybe I would have enjoyed feeling like I'm in pee! Hahah!!! Hours of pool fun and munchies led to dinner time! Brandi and I decided it was time to make din din... she had bought spiral ham, asparagus and potatoes. After playing tug o war over who could make the best asparagus, I gave into her style :). They were okay, but mine would have been better! hee hee! I made the potatoes and we heated the already cooked ham. She popped open a bottle of Chianti and we "cheered" to us and our cooking! After dinner, the kids ate EVERYTHING (guess we are pretty good cooks!) and we were ready to rock again! This time we decided to play Just Dance 2! Okay, that was so much fun! I started with the microphone, singing while they all danced! I love to sing! Not that I CAN, but I love to! And thanks to my family, they let me think I can! :) So I sang and the kids and Brandi danced... so funny!

GOOD TIMES!!! LOVE that you can't hear me singing in the background. For some reason when I upload videos from my phone, it doesn't bring the sound :(.

Once we got settled down from Just Dance 2... we watched the Academy of Country Music Awards! My favorite performances were Steven Tyler and Carrie Underwood and of course, Sugarland! Many of the other entertainers sounded strange for me... oh! but I did also like Keith Urban! They kept giving us "teasers" about WHO WOULD WIN ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR??? but, as I am new to Twitter, I checked it often last night and Ryan Seacrest, who I follow, said congrats to Taylor Swift since he was the presenter, LONG before they announced it on the show! Previously taped show, Ryan spilled the beans and killed the suspense! Oh well! Lesson learned.. don't use the internet if you like surprises!!!

Sleep was pretty good, a little chilly sleeping under a fan and was too lazy to get up to turn it off...

Today, we are taking the kids to HOP! Can't wait! Looks so adorable!

BTW - Missed my show, Celebrity Apprentice... guess I missed a Meatloaf Meltdown!!!! Glad I recorded it... I'll watch it when I get home!

Time to sign off and get ready for my day! Safe flight to Daddy, flying SOUTHWEST (yikes) to go up to help Cami since she's out with her ELBOW!!! Pray for her and Daddy's flight!

Ciao until tomorrow!

Poor hubby is sick in bed so we are OUTTA HERE!!!

Well, of course I started to blog again and Alex is laid up feeling awful! Yesterday it was fine, I was just catching up from 2 years of no blogging, but he is a great part of my crazy life and he's just not able to participate right now! hahaha!!!! Oh well, there's plenty of time for him! Today me and the boys are packin it up and going to church, then off to the big OC! Going to stay with Brandi and the family for a couple days... this should be fun and something to write about! She's got 3 kids 7 and under and I've got my 2, Daddy will be there until tomorrow and of course, Bran's hubby is always fun! After that I'll be meeting my mamma, going to the dentist (my stepdad) and leaving the boys with mom for a couple of days. Wish me luck on this couple day adventure... I will be checking in.... By the way.. please pray for my oldest sister Cami who lives in Washington (until we get her moved down here!) She tripped on a pitch fork at the barn and crashed onto her elbow! Shattered the darn thing and has to have a surgery to reconstruct it! Right arm and she's right handed!!! Poor sissy!

I'm baaaaaaaccccckkkkkkkk!

Wow! I can't believe it's been 2 years since I last blogged! Time sure does fly! There's many things that have changed since I last blogged, including my purpose for blogging. Before, I went from giving updates on my crazy life, to blogging about the Love Dare. I really enjoyed that journey, but once it was over, I lost my direction and got wrapped up in readjusting my life. Today, I feel I am in a more stable place. We have downsized our businesses, meaning we only have 2 restaurants now! I am thrilled for this! We have Gourmet Italia, Alex's first restaurant in America. GI has been open for 11 years. Alex has evolved that restaurant into the most incredible place around... for me, one of the best restaurants I've EVER been to! It has out of this world food, amazing and comfortable atmosphere and Awlex's passion and enery that is untouchable! Almost 4 years ago we opened our pizzeria/deli, Spuntino. This is my baby! it's casual, quirky and FUN! Not to mention offers the BEST pizza and the same great quality Italian food as Gourmet. It's known as the "Italian Cheers". You can find me there often throughout the week and always on every other Tuesday when it's Wine & Grub night! Outside of the restuarant business, I celebrated the 5 Star Celebration of Stars of the Valley, Charity for Charity's big annual event that honors 2 beneficiaries from the Valley and fulfills wishes for them. With a team of several of my closest friends, we put our "friend time" into making a difference in our community! We were beside ourselves when Inland Empire Magazine contacted us and asked us to do a photo shoot at South Coast Winery and they would provide the make up and hair... we were to bring gowns and jewelry! Without knowing what their plan or angle was, we had a blast feeling like "models" for a day. Weeks later, the owner of the magazine contacted me and asked if we would be willing to do a "signing" to autograph the magazine article/photos.. that she was excited for us to see it! Of course we agreed and contacted lots of our faithful friends to show up at the Collective in Old Town Temecula. When we arrived and saw the article, we were FLOORED! We had FULL page photos of all of us and a 2 page spread of the group shot! They called us "The Real Women of Temecula" and wrote a very special article about what our purpose was and Stars of the Valley! We were personally honored and touched, but every one of us hopes that this article will bring attention and more support to our organzation and help us to help more individuals in our community! AND NOW... if you followed me when I was doing the Love Dare, you may be wondering how my modern day "Ricky and Lucy" marriage is going? Well, no doubt we are still holding up to the comparison to Ricky and Lucy! That is definitely what keeps our life exciting! We both struggle with coming from different worlds, but as time goes on, it seems that we are beginning to appreciate and enjoy the differences. Some things we stand our ground on, but other things, we are learning to actually enjoy being different from one another. We will be married 10 years next February and we have been through more then some couple go through in a lifetime. Merging two cultures and two different upbringings AFTER having children makes it interesting to raise the children. Makes it FUN too! Lastly, I have a new project that I'm working on! I can't wait to share it with you... but I'm going to wait until another blog to do so... it's something I am very excited about!!! Since I am just trying to bring you all up to speed, I won't detail today.. but from here on out I will share the fun and funny of our lives... as well as anything else interesting that I come across on a daily basis. Life is interesting in my world... just you wait and see.....