I'm a honest to God, cross my heart, true sucker when it comes to little details. So, when I saw this on How About Orange, I smiled warmly. How can you not?


It's an easily attainable detail to do. She uses a plastic lid that she got from her local deli and cut out the words using an exacto-knife. Hmmmm, I still have a lid from the potato salad I bought from our grocery store. What shall I write?

I've been digging the knit boots by UGG for a few years now. But, I just can't seem to muster myself to prop down the $139 for them. I already have two pairs of UGGS that I barely use. I think I'm traumatized from them a bit because the last time I wore them, I was watching a movie and suddenly in the middle of the movie, I became extremely hot. Like hot enough to take off my boots. Thank goodness that your feet doesn't sweat in UGGS, but still. I felt weird taking my boots off in a movie theater. Don't worry. I didn't lay my naked feet on the floor. I put them on top of my boots.

Anyways, on a whim, I decided to check out Target's boots. Lately, they've been having some cute shoes. Guess what I found! Their version of the knit boots. I couldn't believe it. It's called Muk Luks Horizontal Tree and they sell for $44.99. A huge steal, yes?

They also have them in a lower cut which is what I purchased. They sell for $18.99. Even though, they are called "booty slippers," you can still wear them outside as they have a hard surface on the bottom of the shoe.

The only down part is that they don't come other colors. The lower cut comes in just one other color and that is creme. I wished they came in black or grey. But oh wells. I can't complain given the price. Hopefully, when they arrive, I'll instantly like them as I did when I first saw them online. A full post boot report will be posted shortly. I promise.

Our backyard is done. Yaaaaay!!!! So happy to be looking outside to trees and plants, instead of dirt and weeds. The even better part, Maddie can go out and do her biznatch-- privately! For a year, we've been taking her outside to the front lawn and I would get embarrassed when people would walk by and see her do this. It's bad enough that our lawn showed it, too! We would have random yellow patches on the lawn.

The stain lady did a really good job. She's a one woman worker and I can't imagine how she does lots that are way bigger than ours alone. Much kudo's to her! Thank you, stain lady. You rock!

This is a picture that is in front of our door. I caught Maddie doing "sprints" back and forth and through the bark causing some of the bark to get loose onto the cement. Oh yeah, also caught her putting her nose in the bark. Luckily, I caught her in time before she got to the tarp to do some serious damage. So, needless, to say, whenever we catch her on the bark, we tell her to get off. Sorry, girl! It's way too early to be messin' up the backyard.

Now, all we need to get now is some patio furniture. Having to wait on that since patio furniture is pretty expensive. It's like shopping for indoor furniture all over again. If you have some places where you can suggest for some reasonably priced patio furniture, send them my way!

Today, the landscapers kicked butt! They planted all of the plants and trees and placed the bark in between the greenery. It's looking really good and I'm just loving how its turning out.

Tomorrow, the stain lady will be coming to stain the concrete a brown color. I'm really more excited about this part if anything. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

I took my very first video of our backyard. Eeek, I hate hearing my voice. Maddie makes an appearance, too!

Our postage stamp backyard is slowly coming along. The landscapers started working on it about two weeks ago. Starting with putting in all the drainage. We were and still are a bit worried since our backyard had a bit of a slope. We got mixed reviews from our estimators saying that we should put a small retaining wall because of the slope to no retaining wall is necessary; it's all in the draining placements. Ultimately, we decided to not place a retaining wall and go with placing a proper draining called "decko draining."

The area we are located in is partly known to flood. So far, we haven't experienced any flooding the few times it has rained. Let's hope it stays that way!

Last week, they just slabbed on the salt cod concrete. So far, it looks really good! I can't wait for the acrylic lady to come and stain it with the chocolate brown/light brown colors we chose together. We chose to go with the salt cod concrete because it was more reasonable. What I would give to have either stamped or pavers, but it was just way out of our budget. I guess you can say that the salt cod concrete is a ghetto version of stamped? They place salt all over the concrete for a few days . After a few days, they wash off the salt and BAM, you see all kinds of dibbits in the cement.

Here, we plan on putting lawn. All for Maddie. Parents kept insisting that we get the fake grass. The one that looks and feels like grass. It doesn't look like the Brady Bunch backyard grass or the mini golf turf anymore.

But, I just kept thinking about when she poos and how gross it will be to wash that stuff off. Like, what if it still smells and such? Eww. Plus, since we weren't asking for alot of grass, alot of landscapers won't give you the fake grass or recommend against it because it cost more. So, that basically solved our dilemma.

I can't wait for it all to be finished. I'm hoping that once its all finished, we can throw a little bbq to celebrate and break it in.

The hubs has been doing quite the research on gas grills. Fortunately, we have a gas hookup for a grill, so we don't have to deal with propane stuff.

We found out that all Webers hardly ever go on sale. They are like Apple Mac's. The closest to a good deal we found on Webers was no tax, free delivery and no additional fee to put it together at California Backyards. That's how they compete with the other competitors who sell Webers. It's a good deal and we nearly got one there. So glad that we found out this information as we would have been going through all these stores comparing prices of Webers. As much as we would love to splurge on a Weber, I think we are going to go with Weber's other brand called, Ducane. Its made by Weber and has all the Weber like qualities, has great reviews, but not the price.

The hubs and I are pretty into eating gourmet sandwiches. When we started using our panini presser, we used it for days. We would think of various ways to make a mean tasting grilled cheese sandwich. Experimented with pears, various cheeses, breads. You name it. I think we narrowed our choices of bread to ciabatta and sourdough exclusively.

A few week ago, we were wondering what to have for dinner that evening. I had a plan of just making lasagna, but honestly, we weren't really feeling lasagna that night. When we saw Giada's, pork and fontina cheese sandwiches that afternoon, I think we both knew what we wanted for dinner.
Not your best picture. Darn iPhone doesn't have a flash. But, dammit, this sandwich was absolutely-finger-lickin-smack-your-lips- delicious!

The lemon and basil aoili added a refreshing and kick to the sandwich. I think that was pretty the main star of the sandwich besides the soft texture of the ciabatta bread. Oh, and the creaminess of the fontina cheese. Perfect blend, I tell yah!

I highly suggest you try this sandwich out the next time you are wondering what it is to eat for dinner or even lunch! It's super easy and cheap, too!

I finally bit the bullet and got bangs! I've been eyeing this bang trend for quite some time now and ultimately decided to dive into it with no reservations. A bit nervous? Hell Yes! A bit excited? More than you can ever imagine. I love changes. There's something about it that makes my adrenaline pump out like crazy and inspire me to try new things even more or to help me battle my security blanket insecurities.

During the "cutting" I had to keep my eyes closed as my hairstylist shears were close to my eyes. During this time, I was thinking, Did I make the wrong decision? I don't think I have the right size forehead for bangs. F. F. F. F. F

Finally, I opened my eyes and exclaimed, quite loudly, " OH MY GOD, I LOOK HELLA ASIAN!"

Poor hairstylist had to stop and laugh and honestly didn't know if that was a good or bad statement. I laughingly told her that yes, it's a good statement. I dig the new look. I look like a whole new person. A whole different ethnic person, mind you! ha ha. But, it's all good and I'm loving the new change.