2008: Year in Review

2008 was a fun year at our house.

Here's a recap of my year:


January-Sophie decides to pull her weight around the house

February-We do some remodeling


March-Another trip to Mexico













April-A first hair cut


May-A law school graduation


June-A move


July-A massive rainstorm


August-A (Sophie-less) trip to San Diego


September-An independent woman


October-A second birthday


November-A night with Ben Folds


December-An inventive little girl



And here's to 2009!
How was your year?


(visit my 2006 & 2007 if you wish)

Our Christmas Best

Here is how adorable Sophie was supposed to look last Sunday for church. Isn't she just the cutest in her cream & gold?

Instead, this is how she looked:
Miserable from a diaper rash that left her unable/unwilling to sit for 24 straight hours, and that kept her, her Mama, & her Papa, up all night.


That aside, we still had today to redeem her cute Christmas ensemble, until you take a closer look at her:
One shoe. That's right. These are her un-worn pair of new Christmas shoes, kept safe in her closet for 2 weeks, only to reappear this week as a single shoe.

This was just not meant to be.

Christmas Morning

Here is Sophie opening her big Christmas gift.

Here she is jumping backward once she realizes what's in the box.

It is a bunch of vintage Little People.
She also got the Garage and the Air Plane.

Other gifts included a Mr. Potato Head, homemade doll clothes, and a Dick & Jane book. She had a fabulous time all day visiting everyone she loves & eating the things she loves too. And so did we.

Merry Christmas.

Foodie Friday #11 - Humble Pie

Welcome back to Foodie Friday.

(for an explanation of the ratings, see here)

Humble Pie
Scottsdale Rd/Lincoln

photo from Phoenix Mag

Price: $$$

Taste: * * * * *
S&A: * * * * *
Value: * * * * *

That's right. You're looking at the first FIVE STAR review of Foodie Friday. And it is well-deserved too.

Humble Pie is a small pizza place that serves wood-fire pizzas. Again, we went with a big group, which actually makes this place even more affordable, as we shared 5 pizzas among the 8 of us (but with 2 people, we probably would have still ordered 2 pizzas - for variety's sake).

We started off with 2 orders of their french fries, which were seasoned with parmesan & garlic, and were delicious. Sophie proclaimed them to be spicy, but ate them like candy.

We then ordered a Margherita, a Wild Mushroom, a Proscuitto & Pear, a Sausage, and an Artichoke pizza. Everyone liked all of them, and I think the Pear pizza was the favorite of the majority, with Margherita coming in at a close second.

I think you could go there and order anything, and be completely satisfied with your meal. Definitely a place we will visit again soon.


Overall Rating: 5 Stars

Foodie Friday #10 - Tradiciones

Welcome back to Foodie Friday.

(for an explanation of the ratings, see here)

Tradiciones
1602 E. Roosevelt, Phoenix

Price: $$$

Taste: * * *
S&A: * * * *
Value: * * *

Jake and I had been to Tradiciones before, and returned for one thing: the fundido. It's an appetizer, and it's basically a small pot of melted Mexican cheese & a pile of tortillas. And it's delicious.

We went as a big group this time, and when it came time to order our meals, Jake and I couldn't remember what we had ordered the last time. And then after our meal, we figured out why. Everything we got was average or worse. The meat was poor quality, and anyone that ordered a seafood dish left disappointed.

Some highlights though: there's no skimping on the guacamole, the beans were good, and so was the flan.

What we learned from the experience: Stick to the basics. This is a traditional Sonoran restaurant - order accordingly. I think if we had all ordered more wisely, we would have all been more satisfied with our meal.


Overall Rating: 3¼ Stars

New Signs

Sophie is taking talking at her own pace, so I'm pretty glad I taught her some signs to get us by in the meantime. We don't use too many signs - just the everyday basics. But then a couple of weeks ago, Sophie invented some new signs.

Sign #1:

Index fingers and thumbs together, then
open arms as wide as possible, very dramatically.

This means "straw", as in, "Please include a straw in my glass of milk."



Sign #2:

Scrape fingers over tongue

"Spicy"

Christmas Lights

Our Christmas tree is up. And because of a Design Mom tip I followed last year, it was super easy to do. She recommended rolling all your lights into a ball (plug at the outer end) for storage. It looks like a big mess, but it was the BEST. Not only did they not tangle at all, but they're a cinch to wrap around the tree.


Definitely something I'll do every year.

Sophie's Goal for the Day:

Sophie's To-Do List for December 1st, 2008

Goal: Grow an Inch

How:

• Sleep a LOT

(She slept in til TEN THIRTY, and then still took a THREE HOUR nap this afternoon)

• Eat a LOT

................ (See below)

Results:

check and check

Outcome: You tell me.

More Christmas Decor

Before: ................................................After:





















I used double sided tape to add Christmas wrapping paper to the backs of each of the shelves, and then simply added all my decorations.

Foodie Friday #9 - Slices

Welcome back to Foodie Friday.

(for an explanation of the ratings, see here)

Slices
Mill & 6th St, Tempe
(Other locations in Phoenix & Tempe)

photo from Get Out AZ

Price: $

Taste: * * * *
S&A: * * * *
Value: * * * *

From a recommendation from my mom, we headed to Slices last week. Its a tiny restaurant off of Mill Avenue in Tempe - just an order counter and 2 or 3 tables. But the pizza selection was huge. We had our choice of maybe 10 different pizzas to buy by the slice (you can also order whole pizzas - like 30 different varieties). We ordered 3 slices to share between the 2 of us - Tomato Basil, Pepperoni & Mushroom, and Ham & Pineapple.

When your pick your pieces, they go back into a warming oven for a couple minutes, so you have a piping hot piece of pizza, which was very nice. The pieces were huge and all of them were delicious. My mom has been known to go out of her way to go there for a slice of vegetarian (which I didn't know beforehand, or I would have tried it).

Very tasty, very convenient, very fast.


Overall Rating: 4 Stars

Christmas Crafts

No, we don't have Christmas set up at our house.

But, we did have to dig deep into our storage closet - past the Christmas decor - last week for an unrelated item. So while the storage bins were out, I dug up the Christmas projects I put away last year, and decided to finish them this week.

I bought a bunch of clearance fabric last December for a Christmas throw blanket (and the backing came from here). It seriously only took me 3 Sophie naps to finish.

Really.

From a pile of fabric to a comfy quilt in 3 naps.

And now, before you think I'm too crafty, I'll let you in on a little secret about the pillows. I found them, as place mats, at a thrift store last year. (yes, felt place mats.) I simply opened the seam 4 inches, stuffed them with batting, and sewed them back up. They came that cute. I just awesomerized them.

The Zoo

It's fun to go to the zoo with Sophie, cause as far as I can tell, she thinks we're just walking around a park or something when we first get there and then BAM - there's an elephant at this park.

This first picture didn't really turn out.

Sophie watching the giant tortoises.

Foodie Friday #8 - Chase's Diner

Welcome back to Foodie Friday.

(for an explanation of the ratings, see here)

Chase's Diner
2040 N. Alma School
Chandler

Price: $$

Taste: * * *
S&A: * * * * *
Value: * * * *

A coupon in the 2009 Entertainment book led us to Chase's Diner last weekend. Due to a headache, I was in search for a regular American meal. Chase's Diner is exactly what you hope for when you want to eat at a diner: red vinyl booths, checkerboard floors, & 50's music playing in the background.

I ordered the pot roast, which claimed it came with "today's vegetables" and a side of my choice. I chose the dinner salad, which was quite large, but disappointing. It was your typical salad-in-a-bag, plus a tomato & croutons. My pot roast was tasty and filling. My only gripe was that the carrots were baby carrots, which never have any flavor. Oh, and that it didn't come with a side of vegetables. But it did come with a delicious homemade biscuit, so I forgave the vegetables.

Jake ordered the bacon cheeseburger, and had no complaints. His fries, like my salad, appeared (and tasted) as if they came from a bag though.

Chase's redeemed themselves fully, if not more so, though, with their chocolate peanut butter shake. If I was reviewing just the shake, I would have given it 5 stars. It was real ice cream, real chocolate, and real peanut butter. And real delicious. Perfect for a girl with a headache. Or anyone really, who wants something sweet.


Overall Rating: 3¾ Stars

I Was Never Cool.............In School

Ben Folds was, um, awesome last night.

Has Anyone Seen the 80s?

photo from FunWirks

So, a week and a half ago (Halloween), Arizona experienced extremely warm temperatures - mid 90s - which were 10 degrees higher than average.

Fast forward to today - we're experiencing temperatures 10 degrees below average (a high of 69 degrees today).

Um, what happened to the 80s? Where is our beautiful fall? (I know, only an Arizonan would complain about 69 degrees). I mean, it's still nice outside - great long sleeve weather. But I want my non-sweat / non-sweater park days!

Foodie Friday #7 - Arizona State Fair

Welcome back to Foodie Friday.

(for an explanation of the ratings, see here)

The Arizona State Fair
Closed for the year, sorry.

Price: $$

Taste: * * * * *
S&A: * * * * *
Value: * * *

When you decide to eat at a State Fair, you are expecting overpriced, greasy, fried food in huge portions. And the Arizona State Fair did not disappoint. While the fair is known for its fried, well, anything, we stuck to pretty basic stuff.

I got a taco salad from a Mexican joint. It was very good and bigger than my head. Jake stuck with the fair classic: the foot long corn dog. We then split a honey & powdered sugar covered Indian Fry Bread. Mmmmmm.


Overall Rating: 4½ Stars

All By Herself

Sophie decided to put her shoes on this morning.
By herself.
Over her footie pajamas.
On the wrong feet.

"Sophie, can you smile?"

We're Seeing Things

Jake discovered this odd smudge on our kitchen table last night.

Take a closer look.

That's right. We had a visit from a crazy alien skull, in the form of a dried up spill from Sophie.

Happy Halloween!

YIP. yipyipyipyip. Yip. Yip. Ohhhh.
Hello. Greetings. Oohhhhhhhh. Yip yip yip yip.