More Placemats

As you know, I am refining my sewing skills as much as possible. Well, over the summer I worked on some placemats for my good friend, Jennifer Peacock. After we both got back from vacation and things settled down, I was finally able to give her her gift. I knew she was looking for some dark blue fabric with nice design, so I thought I could find it and make her something.

On one side....indigo blue with a diamond design



On the other side....rabbits b/c it is the year of the rabbit.



I was going for a fun and more elegant side based on the occasion. She really liked them and I am glad. Definitely much better than my first attempts with the crab placemats. Off to my next project, which is secret until its finished!

Autumn is in the air

AUTUMN/FALL.....is finally here. YAY. I'm so excited that the weather has started to get cooler and pretty soon the leaves will change.

In honor of Autumn arriving, it was time to change the decorations in the house. I know Mike was super excited for that. Anyhow, today is actually Autumn Equinox day and a holiday here, so what better time than today to make some crafts. I had bought all the stuff already, so craft hour began during the afternoon.

So I made an Autumn wreath to put on the door...a little welcome for anyone who comes over. I wasn't sure what decorations to use, but was slightly limited, so pumpkins are this year's go to item. In addition to the pumpkins, I had some fake leaves and bought some gold with glitter to make them shiny. After spending some time with the glue gun and painting, here is the final product:


Now inside the house, there isn't alot of places to put things, but I of course, found a place. If you remember our coffee table has a square removed...


Now its not ridiculous decorations, but just enough to make it festive for the change in season...Happy Autumn everyone.

Tokyo DisneyLand

Tuesday we made it back out to Disney, without Mike, but still had a great time and spent the day at Disneyland, the most magical place on earth! It's also Halloween time and the decorations are absolutely amazing and makes it so festive. Not to mention that people can come dressed up as Disney characters until October...we definitely saw quite a few adult Minnie Mouse's


Our first ride of the day...race driving


We also made it on Dumbo the flying elephant, Its a small World, and Peter Pan. We also encountered Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs along the way as well...



Since its Halloween, there was another great, festive parade for everyone. Rob and I jetted off to ride Space Mountain, but Allison got some great picture...





Right before we were going to leave, a whole bunch of characters came out at the front of the park and it was so much fun...Taylor and RJ were quite a hit and we got some great pictures.
The fairy godmother was SOOOO in love with RJ...she didn't let us leave

too cute

Family time + Amanda


Then it was time to say goodbye to disneyland...we'll miss you, until next time.

Tokyo Disney Sea

is where we went on Monday. Disney Sea is only in Tokyo and atually really cool. Unfortunately it is geared more towards adults, but there were some kid rides. Disney Sea is also home to "Duffy the bear" and "Shellie Mae," Duffy's gf. They also happen to be Mickey and Minnie's bears, who are a hit with the Japanese. They even have costumes you can buy for the bear. I, of coure, had to get a bear, b/c when else would we go back to this place. Here's Duffy dressed as Mickey, the sorcerer, hanging with the Halloween decorations (not my bear)


So we started out the day at Tritan's Sea, where we got on Scuttle's wings first. Then we headed inside to Tritan's Sea, which was really cool. Lots of kid friendly rides and it was designed amazingly.
Here I am enjoying the ride.

Under the sea...


Throughout the day we encountered a few characters, especially with the help of Taylor and RJ.


While the Riess family went to catch a parade, Mike and I went to ride "Stormrider," which wasn't great. However, after that we found a Halloween parade of chip and dale chipmunks dressed for "dia de los muertos" Of course, I had to buy these guys which I will be putting on my christmas tree this year!



Later we did manage to find another ride with a short line, so it was off on a magic carpet ride for us, in Aladdin's paradise.


We had a great day and stayed for the last parade of the night...unfortunately, so did everyone else, so we didn't get great pictures as it was packed. The kiddos were pretty wiped out by this point and had the right idea, sleep. But it was fun.

Riess family in Tokyo

Our good friends, Rob and Allison, along with the kiddos, Taylor and RJ, came to visit us last week. Oh what fun we had with all of them. They kept us pretty busy, but we all had lots of fun.

Friday night we went to the "highball" garden to drink beer and eat okonomiyaki, which was good. No pictures to show, but it was fun.

saturday we headed out to the Belgian Beer Festival, which included live music, tons of beer, and beligan food.


Of course we had to get the food and what goes better with beer than sausage...


After the festival, the boys went to play simulation golf, while us girls played with the kids. Then it was switch time as the girls went out. We had a date: Allison, I, and Louie R....he was amazing: crisp, refreshing, and absolutely perfect.


Sunday was another fun day...We went to the aquarium where we saw a great dolphin show. I'd show you pictures, but my record stands, I can't take good pictures of dolphins. I always miss the jump or trick. Oh well. The boys golfed again and then we all watched a movie to get ready for Monday and Tuesday....

Margarita Saturday

Oh yes...we had margarita Saturday the weekend after we returned from our trip.

So I make margs using limeade, which is simple. There is no limeade here and a cheap substitute just wasn't going to cut it. NO bueno. So we made them the old fashioned way, squeezing sh****t loads of limes to get little liquid, which we added to the tequila and contreau and a little lime syrup.

Mike and I made a first batch for when our guests arrived, but they were still a bit tart, so we made some adjustments. Finally, we got the amounts of each correct:
1 shot of lime syrup
2 shots of lime juice
3 shots of contreau
4 shots of tequila

Lorena and I after a few margs....



Making another batch....

Our guests


So after countless margs and munchies, it was time for bed. Oh, we all had a good time, but those margs kicked my ass in the morning. I couldn't walk, my head hurt so much. I've stayed away from the margs since....
HOWEVER, I've decided that next time (yes, there will a next time), that I'll make the dinner so we have food to coat the stomach and hopefully reduce the hangover.

El Paso bound

With the first leg of our trip over, we headed to El Paso to spend the next 5 days with my family. We had a great time and we able to relax a bit more.

On the 2nd night there, we had mom's mexican cooking, whichw as so good. I think I stuffed my face way too much! Then we had an Easter egg hunt, because why not...we're mexican and in El Paso.

getting Ella with the eggs!


It happened to be tax free weekend in EP and Mike decided to make his annual shopping trip coincide with this weekend. UGH. Well, we went shopping on Friday to beat the crowds...while at the outlets, to beat the heat, Little Gabe had the right idea.



While in El Paso, we had to go to Peter Piper Pizza, because it's a stable in EP and Mike had never been. Off to eat pizza and play games! I even won a "minnion" from the claw game and Little Gabe took it from me.


So one of the main reasons to go to EP was to baptize Ella-bean. It was Saturday morning followed by more family time. Here we are at the church



For the rest of the weekend, we just chilled and had good food. Here are some last favorites of mine.
Mohawk time....

mike with a beer rest and lil' man playing angry birds on my phone


So our trip was really good and we enjoyed spending time with the families. It was a rough flight home and I was so exhausted that I even slept when I got home.
fun times, but now its time to get back to the swing of things.

St. Louis Time

Ah, so many things have happened in the last couple of weeks. Now that summer is over and people have come back to Tokyo, things are busy, busy, busy.

So our trip back home was great and just what we needed to give us a boost to hang out until our next trip. So we started out in STL and spent 5 days there. The first 3 days, Mike and his dad, spent playing golf. It was a big deal for both of them, especially since Mike had wanted to play in this tournament for the longest time and Ron was running the show. For me personally, it was my first official golf tourney, so I learned alot.....hmmm
Here is a great picture of Mike and Ron before they started the tourney. They could be twinkies!


So during this tourney time, Jan and I had a date to see STL, since I don't really get to see it. She took me to the STL botanical garden and Lois joined us. We also had lunch and drank the famous "fish bowl" at some Italian restaurant and had a mani/pedi, plus a pit stop at the casino. Jan and I also played a mini tourney for the women and that was fun. The team we were playing with were super good, so I of course felt out of place, but it was fun.
After all the golf, we had a banquet to attend, which was nice. I got to wear one of my new favorite dresses. Here's some pictures.




So after all the golfing was done, it was time to see Owen!!! We went to Grant's farm, which was fun. Another first for me and I think Owen had a good time with the animals!


We spent our last day with Owen as well and took him to the pool. Oh what fun it was. Mike did all the hard work!

One of my favorites


We also had a good-bye bbq, where I finally got to eat a hot dog! I know that sounds weird, but sometimes you just the simple things that America has to offer. I was super excited. Not to mention, my excitement increased when Lois brought over some gooey butter cake, another STL favorite.
We had a great time in STL...we missed Matt, but hopefully we'll see him next time around.