More from Mexico

This tile is one of the many goodies we brought home from Cancun. At our resort, there were artisans each night plying their trade, and most of them where cheesy. But one night there was this guy who painted these tiles with his fingertips in less then 10 minutes each. So we stood there and watched him for a few minutes, and then I came back later with friends, and then I watched him make four tiles for friends, and then I got really specific and detailed with my tile idea and watched him make ours. I was adamant about there being no signs of civilization through the arch. He kept asking if I wanted a boat or a house somewhere, and I kept saying no. Casey was back at the room, with a bout of the sickies so he didn't get to see this till we got home, 5 days later. We love it, and it stays on our mantel where we both comment every now and again how pretty it is.

While I was down on the ground catching the sunlight to get the tile picture, I noticed the dog craziness going on outside. The mornings around here usually include a mad game of chase the Archie by the girls. Betty, being herself is usually just wandering around looking for just the right spot to do her thing. I was able to catch her wandering back up on the deck, where she could smell me, but she couldn't see me, and was more than confused. See she didn't even notice that she is sporting some grass on her nose. Sweet girl.

Then this booger bum rushes the door and I notice all the dark rich looking soil on him. Which means this fluff ball and the three big girls have been chasing through my garden, which I just spent an hour turning over the soil. Good thing I hadn't planted seeds yet or they would most likely be gone. Silly dogs. Archie even has dirt in his teeth. The nerve of puppy play!

Monday DayBook

For Today...Alex has been taken to Daycamp so he can swim and play. I might try to squeeze in Dark Knight solo.

I am thinking...that I need a pick me up

I am thankful for...my hardworking husband, our home, our stocked pantry and fridge, our smarty pants kiddo.

From the kitchen...apple monkey bread. yum.

I am creating...a new reworked budget, loving the new style and setup. Need to crunch numbers today.

I am wearing...jean skirt, green hippie top and a ponytail.

I am reading...still plowing through the Omnivores Dilemma

I am hoping...for good conversation, with open ears and hearts.

I am hearing...the humming of my fan and the occasional tinkling of wind chimes.

Around the house...is pretty clean, so its time to start some deep cleaning this week!

One of my favorite things...is slowly waking up with the sun.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...deep cleaning in the house, most likely a donation trip, a trip to the library and grocery and maybe a swim day or two at the pool.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

Betty has been doing a lot of this and for a dog that sleeps 80% of the day it is slightly alarming. I have a feeling that we need to squeeze in as much love as possible into her days.

If you want to join in then go check out Peggy's blog! She would love to have you.

Cookies and Cabinets

Yesterday was a day full of scratch cooking. I made these amazing chocolate chip cookies using the recipe from the latest Cook's Illustrated Magazine, which is fabulous by the way. I also made potato salad, meatballs, and marinara sauce. Dinner was great.
While puttering about yesterday I found myself over and over again at my favorite kitchen cabinet. It is full of some of my favorite kitchen things, dishes, cookbooks, straws, vases, and napkins. It is pretty and functional at the same time. Love it.
Take a look at who is sleeping off last nights slumber party. He didn't sleep till 6 am! No wonder he is sacked out.

This post was brought to you by the what the duece corp.

I swear the universe is telling me something.

We ( really meaning Casey) just dropped a lot on the BMW. I got it back yesterday and on the way home discovered that the driver's side seat won't move back. The stickler on this one is that it is a motorized seat and there is no manual bypass. So I drove home two inches closer to everything that I normally do. Not bad, but uncomfortable. I can handle this till my dad and I get in there and tinker. No biggie.

Then today, the day that DOLLY dumps her tropical storm on us, I am driving home from work, ready to get to bugman and get home since there was four tornado's today. And what happens??? My damn driver's side windshield wipe breaks off and is barely hanging on by the metal army thingy. So I pull into the nearest gas station in the pouring rain and spend 10 minutes up against a wet care figuring out how it goes back on, only to discover a key locking bit has broken off. So I jerry-rig it and head home. Two exits before I get off the freeway, it breaks again, but this time I have to deal with the rain and road spray because I am not going to lose that damn wiper to the freeway. I finally get safely off at my exit and stop at yet another gas station to "fix" it.

I am sure that there are plenty of people in my life who can tell me what the universe is obviously screaming in my direction. Maybe that I need to slow down, or get a clearer picture of where I am going, or maybe it is to plan ahead, or be better prepared. But I do believe that my interpretation is the only one that counts.

I think that the universe is telling me to shrink two inches and drive on only sunny days.

Damn it.

HuMp DaY!

Finally a Wednesday that I have off. I really like Wednesday, they shout out that the weekend is closer and they are usually easy going but full. Love that combination.

This week's hump day is great so far, we both woke up slowly and snugly. The dogs behaved themselves during the night ( no messes) and all five are now enjoying the cool windy air outside. Dolly is hitting the coast so we are set up for days of bad rainy weather. The laundry is sloshing with more ready to start the process. The kitchen is clean and waiting for some bread making or soup simmering. My buddy the Dyson is prepped for Betty hair removal, it is incredible the amount of fur that dog sheds. And finally my to-do list is all about home stuff. No errands for me except a trip to pick up the car from the garage. Hooray!

Even this shot of a mess won't bring me down, not on a Wednesday. If it was a Tuesday I might have said, "How the hell did this happen??" But its a Wednesday so I say, "Woo Hoo more laundry and books to stack and sort. Oooh my Kate Spade I had wondered where I had tucked you."

See Wednesday are good, they are my Kate Spade-ing finding days.

I appreciate...

It has been a week of Casey days in our home. Casey travels alot, alot is not an exaggeration, so when he has a week at home it truly is special. We just had 11 days of Casey. 11 days to spend with our Mister Man.

In that time frame Casey slept in, but had breakfast every morning with us.

He also did hours of work on the yards, but spent hours converting Alex's old slip'n slide into a Mega water slide for his playset. He then fixed up the playbox so it was safe for Alex, by filling in the random holes with more pea gravel.

He also cleared all of his laundry baskets that were full of random clothes that needed drycleaning or were donations. Now his side of the bed looks great, mine not so much.

He flagged down the ice cream truck for special evening treats.

He ate three serving of my cinnamon rolls in one day, because they were good.

He stocked our freezer full of fresh meats and grilled the best flank steak ever.

He made fajitas last night, even dicing up the onions and bell peppers.

He gave our pups love all day long, always stopping for a snuggle and ear rub. Our pups worship him, and he always is up for pup playtime.

He played dozens of games of Lego Starwars. Dozens!!

He read Alex's devotional and story books every night. Complete with voices and tickles.

He watched trashy celebreality with me. Even late night Big Brother.

He works very hard to provide for his family. Never complaining about the trips, never complaining about the work. Always diligent in his business and time away from us.

I appreciate Cassey and all he does.

I also love pictures like these...

Blah but a Happy

Sorry for the absense folks, this Nicole hasn't been feeling up to much of anything. For the last week+ I have been under the weather, not enough to alarm, but enough to be uncomfortable and make me grumpy the longer it goes on for.

So instead of being grumpy today I am going to post a picture that makes me happy. Our group in the river caves at Xcaret. Casey is of course being Casey, which I love him for. :)

Cancun

Casey offloaded all the Cancun pictures from his laptop today. Unfortunately our crappy waterproof camera has eaten all the shots we took para sailing and at Xcaret, so I will supplement from the pictures from our friends.

The way I started our trip, perched right at the window watching the clouds listening to Coldplay.

View from our balcony, the water was seriously so turquoise in color.
Tom, oh the stories I have about him. Him and his wife Tracey were so fun to hang out with.
Part of our group the day after snorkeling I think we were going to Xcaret.
Xcaret's cemetery, it was AMAZING. A big mound of graves each one covered in images, toys and carvings.
Puma at Xcaret, more to come about this spot.

Our friend Christina who we met at the resort. Her husband Billie is in some of our shots as well.
I didn't catch the looks on our faces till later, but this is sums up Casey and I in Mexico. :)
Elizabeth with the natives at Xcaret. Nothing was hokey at this place, when you walked into the stadium for the show, you seriously felt like you were traveling back in time.
A happy Casey during our beach side lobster dinner.
The pole dancers at Xcaret. They were balanced on top of a 100 foot pole dancing and then they would swing down with ropes tied to their feet.

The beach at Tulum, crystal clear about 100 yards out.
Flowers.
Me with more of a tan in the wind before we hit up the bar. :)
Us before dinner.
Me and the chili verde pasta, so good. And you can get a glimpse at the bracelets we had to wear for the duration of our trip. The bracelets let you get everywhere and not be hassled. Ours was the VIP so it was pretty much carte blanch.

Casey at Tulum before we entered the grounds.
Tulum, isn't it fabulous that there are still places like this left around. I loved it there.
It is a massive compound and incredibly HOT.
The view from the cliffs at Tulum.
This is the Jade house where you can still see the paintings inside the temple. If you look up top you can see some red hands prints which was the painters signature. This temple use to be entirely covered in Jade.

Kelly and Keith, our mucho gusto friends and "wall mates". Our rooms butted up to each other, so we ended up just leaving the doors between our suites open during the day.
Riska and Roland our amazingly generous hosts. Love them to bits!
Happy Casey at dinner.
The view from our Lobster dinner.
Me at Tulum, we had just seen a bunch of wildlife on the trail to the compound.

Day 1 at the resort.
My favorite tree, it looked like it had 3 foot long vanilla bean pods hanging off of it. Our resort was beautiful!
One of three pools, all in the row leading to the ocean.

Is it Revenge?

It seems that Mexico is still saying Good Bye to Casey and I. Montezuma's Revenge might be possibly knocking at our back doors (Ha the whit! It slays me!). Either that or our yummy Sunday lunch out is getting to us, because Alex says he has an upset tummy too. All I know is he is not doing the bathroom dance like Casey and I are.

Ugh, somethings are better left in Mexico. Yeah we have been home for over a week, but I could only bring myself to talk about it now. Because its gross.

That time I fought an Iguana in Mexico...

I am sporting an "awesome" souvenir from our vacation, a huge non healing scab on my knee, all because I fought with an iguana and I sort of won. Well not really, but that is what we told Alex because as usual the story is truly just an average story for this Nicole.

So on Tuesday of our vacation we went snorkeling, the second biggest natural reef in the world. We loaded up a huge air conditioned bus with our party, drove 40 minutes past Cancun and up the peninsula, and then drove down a dirt road in a forest of regrowth from when the last hurricane hit. And then we ended up on the beach of a resort somewhere. Where they promptly put all 20 some odd of us on a huge catamaran, fitted us with life vests, masks, fins, and snorkel things.

Half an hour later we were at our first diving grounds, where we all jumped off the boat and made elephant noises through our snorkel tubes about the beautiful scenes we saw below us. There was amazing new coral reef, vast amounts of reef skeletons, lobster, massive schools of fish and a guide who continuously yelled Yooo HOO at the party of floating gringos. All was well there except I struggled with my mask and I lost my hair tie so my hair, which is a beast in itself, was everywhere.

Ever try to snorkel with lots of long hair not restrained?

An hour later they loaded us all back into the boat and took us to another diving ground, this one with many many more fish, sting rays and eels. And we were right up against the reef. Towards the end of our hour there I decided to get back on the boat, and I successfully managed the ladder out of the water and back into the catamaran. Now let me explain a little something about the boat, it had a hard deck that basically had the texture of a cheese grater covered in plastic, not bad to walk on, but not something that you would want to fall on.

Which is exactly what I did. I unfortunately slipped when our boat hit a backwards swell, which wasn't the bad part, it was when the boat dipped back to level that my knee that was planted on the deck decided to shred itself. And because I had been in the water for the previous two hours, I bled like a stuck pig. Like seriously bleed.

But I was lucky enough to be with some great friends and was even luckier that one of our unexpected guests (a women who was invited to join our party from our resort) happened to be a Russian Holistic nurse. So between Carla the nurse, Dana my well supplied friend, and a rousing rendition of 99 bottles of beer on the wall to cover up any curse words I might utter when we scrubbed it out with alocohol ( Did I mention that there were two sweet very young Mormon girls in our party) and half an hour of constant pressure, we finally got my knee to stop bleeding and sort of clot.

So with that story, I left a little bit of myself in Mexico and I sort of wish I had got this wound from an iguana fight because as Tracy tells me, iguana's have 127 serrated teeth.

And I hadn't even had a drink yet. I swear.

The Simple Women DayBook

I have decided to start partcipating in Peggy's Simple Women Daybook posts. You can join in too or read what others are up to right here! It is a great reminder of our daily lives and the small things that I try to remember.

For Monday July 7 2008...

Outside My Window... Is a much needed rainstorm. It is fabulous to finally have some rain, the trickeling sounds from the windows are great.

I am thinking... that I have alot to accomplish this week, so I best make a list!

I am thankful for... my hard working husband. He left just days after our return from vacation. A vacation that was gifted to us due to his talent and hard work. Thank you Casey!

From the kitchen... Black bean burgers and guacamole, I guess I brought a taste for mexico home with me.

I am wearing... Jean shorts and a tank, all slightly damp from our mad dash through the rain with our Costco supplies.

I am creating... A massive to-do list, and must admit to a strong hankering for scrapbooking. Plus I have Christmas presents that are in the works and I would like to finish so that I am way ahead of the game.

I am going... nowhere for the rest of today. Only up and down our stairs.

I am reading... World War Z. I put it down so I wouldn't read any accounts of zombies in Mexico while I was IN Mexico.

I am hoping... for a busy fruitful week. So much I would like to do. Nothing like being away from your home for a week that makes you want to "make more home".

I am hearing... Alex make X-Wing sounds. That kid loves his Lego's and the challenges of making Star Wars lego figures. Apparently he watched all three original SW's at my parents house every day last week. I believe it.

Around the house... is laundry piles, (how did I get so much so dirty when all I wore last week was my bathing suits and sarong), suitcases, and various other things that have proper homes but haven't found them yet.

One of my favorite things... is the luminare that Casey and I made for Alex. Picture to come soon.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:

Cleaning, Laundry, some work days, some play days, and time in the garden!

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

The Tulum ruins, the Mayan Fortress was amazing, huge, and filled with Iguanas. And HOT, really really HOT, like I have never been that HOT in my life. Ever.

Two of the few

A picture post will have to wait a wee bit because I had off loaded all the images from our cameras to Casey laptop each night, and forgot to transfer them over before he left for a business trip. Oopps.
But I do have these two shots.

This is a sand sculpture that we watched a German family make while we lounged at the beach for the whole day. It is about 5 by 5 feet big. The ocean in the background is usually much much brighter, but we had a heavy storm blowing through. You can also see the sandbags that they are using to rebuild the beaches. They are huge, hard, and very slippery when in the water.

Casey and I at dinner. We both have our tans/burns in high gear, had a couple of margaritas and where starting off a four course Mayan dinner. It was fabulous! It started off with a shot of cinnamon tequila. Next I had the Chicken tamitilos and Casey had the Pastor burritos. Then it was green chili verde pasta for both of us, adobo steak and veggies, and finally Wild Chocolate cake. Yummy. We had dinner with 20 of the people from our business group.

It was amazing how well we all gelled together. There was 8 of us who spent pretty much all day everyday together. On the way home Casey and I realized that we actually only had dinner alone once out of the entire trip. Pretty amazing! Everyone that we were with on this trip was so much fun and we had a great time getting to know each other, especially playing " The First time I ever..." the night before we left.

And I just have to say that we went through four huge bottles of sunscreen, half a gallon of Aloe, and I was so thankful that I had the foresight to buy waterproof mascara. *grin*

A quick vacation list

We are home safe and sound, just to get it out there before we forget here is a quick Cancun list.

• A real thatched roof in our cabana.
• snorkeling and reef diving the 2nd largest reef in the world
• Tulum, so amazing and SO hot.
• para sailing, bliss!!
• hours on the beach, I actually got a tan!
• on the beach lobster dinner, so romantic even with 7 of us.
• business meetings, so I had time to unpack and read.
• AC was painful so I quickly adapted to the heat.
• crystal clear Caribbean waters.
• XCaret, AMAZING under ground river tours. Floated in caves for an hour.
• beautiful resorts
• beautiful ruins and temples
• sarongs are my favorite thing to wear.
• Casey singing the Indy theme on the jet ski.
• playing Marco polo with the Greggor clan, we missed Alex so much at that point.
• nutria and iguanas and spider monkeys everwhere.
• friendly people, amazing pottery.
• falling in the cool tub with Kelly and Keith, some how not spilling our drinks.
• it is possible to get kicked out of the ocean, the pool and a bar all in one night.

More to come later with lots of pictures... now it is time for laundry, groceries, emails, puppy love, Alex super snuggles, and maybe a nap.