Blazing a trail to 2013
This year has flown by. With a busy household time seems to slip through my fingers.
That's why I am so excited to have friends like Jora to hook me up with great family-friendly recipes.
This one for crockpot carnitas couldn't be any easier! And it is what is going on the table tonight.
Luckily, we live near a fantastic Tortilleria , so fresh.

In other happenings my favorite local Artist, Michael Flohr, a.k.a my husband is slated to have surgery on his cervical spine next month. He has been able to paint, luckily, but has been feeling the effects of a blown out disc as a result of excessive nagging. Poor man. Keep him in your thoughts. Painting is his biggest passion and this injury definitely scared him a bit. Loss of feeling in his right arm- a big problem. Here are some of his latest and greatest masterpieces that are now available as fine art prints.

In other news we are hosting Thanksgiving this year, I'd better get going and plan that menu!

xo

I don't think I have ever been this exhausted in my life. Thank you, Dinner A Love Story blog for the easy, delicious meal tonight. xo

Mixing work with pleasure

Last night the Hubs went in to the gallery to do a painting demo for clients who happened into the Gaslamp location. Many times people stop in just to meet the artist whom they collect but have never met. My in-laws volunteered to have the boys spend the night at their place. As a last minute request I asked my mom to watch our baby girl and VOILA! Date night. It was so fun spending time in the gallery watching my husband paint and talking with clients. Just spending time with adults was glorious! We ended up going out with friends afterward and had a great time. Here is the kicker; as much as we crave time without our kids around, we each started to get butterflies when we went to pick up our daughter. We were so excited to see her, and I'm sure we'll have the same exuberant feeling when we go to pick up the boys this afternoon. It's a funny thing, being a parent. Prior to having kids, I never in my life would have imagined how much work it is. So. Tiring. And yet, I love it, over and over again.

A nice little recipe

Made this with the leftover turkey from my do-over Christmas meal on New Year's Day dinner. Phew! Loads of leftover bird and black-eyed peas with andouille. Made this soup. Added some of my own thyme however, thought it was yum. Here, try if you are so inclined...

It's about time

I must say that this space has been heavily neglected. Friends, sometimes it takes a gal some time to get her shrizz in order. I am that gal. Apparently getting a household in order while raising mucho kiddos is not an easy task for me. I love it. I love it so, so much that my goal for 2012 is... Spend more time actively engaging in playtime with my kids. (Clean house, laundry & chores need to come second to my children and husband.) SO, basically more of the same except stop feeling guilty and worrying about it.