Vinegar = Miracle Stain Remover?

If you know me, you know I'm a tad clumsy at times. Well, the other night was no exception. I was trying to cork some fancy new balsamic vinegar we received for the holidays when the bottle flew out of my hands and Balsamic Vinegar (you know the VERY dark colored one) flew every where - the table (no biggie), our cream colored linen West Elm chairs (HUGE biggie), Adrienne's grey knit UGG boots (even BIGGER biggie) and the light beige carpet.  Can you say freak out attack?  

I was calculating the cost of this spill in my head- one new chair $100 something, new boots for Adrienne $100 something, stains on the carpet that I have to look at until my landlord replaces it (you can't even put a price on that with my OCD) and then JILLIAN ROSE saved the day.  

"Just use white vinegar and it will remove the stains," says Jilly.  Thank goodness for Siri, blog author of Siriously Delicious I had white vinegar on hand from all the experimental cooking I've been doing these days with her fabulous recipes. 

White Vinegar I have a NEW found love for you!

(even though you stink)

 All we had to do was dab the excess balsamic and put some white vinegar on a towel and start spot cleaning the spots.  Other than everything smelling like an Easter egg dying fest, the chairs, boots and carpet are all clean. 

Here's Jilly assisting on a little more spot cleaning of the carpet. 

 

 If you know me, you also know I'm a total clean freak, so while we were on the ground spotting, I grabbed some Resolve and cleaned a few more spots. 

Phew, thank goodness for wacky remedies that work. 

Happy Cleaning!!

XO, 

S

The Boys & Girls Guide to Getting Down

Yup that's right, that's the title of a movie we recently borrowed and watched twice already.

Leave it to Larry Castruita to know about this movie. 

The Boys & Girls Guide to Getting Down is classic!

If you have ever lived and partied in LA, especially in the 90s you will die laughing!

WATCH IT. LIKE IT. LOVE IT.

Enjoy.

XO,
S

Ho-Ho-Holiday Highlights!

 Meeting Cooper...

and seeing Kether and JJ! (of course)

 Bloody Mary's at the Ritz in Half Moon Bay.

The start to lots of tasty beverages along the way!

 The Creedons. 

I love them ('nough said)!

Oysters at Willi's in Healdsburg! 

A must go to restaurant.

Our sweet, sweet Bed n' Breakfast.

 The Grape Leaf Inn is such a treat.  

Each room unique, with steam showers and soaking tubs, wine tasting in their cellar daily, homemade breakfast with every last detail.

 The Chiurcos.

Another amazing couple we don't get to see nearly enough.  :(

The kids/family!

Seeing Susie getting better each day! 

And watching Steve (Dad/D3) be the incredible husband and dad we all know and love!

Holidays 2010 complete! 

Now for New Years and 2011.

XO, 

S

We're BACK! Phew!

Our Cali Tour has ended and we are back home! 

Hip hip hooray! 

Half Moon Bay
San Francisco

Novato

Santa Rosa

Healdsburg

Petaluma

Back to Novato

Can't wait to post pics from my fabulous new camera (thanks to my loving husband).

We had a wonderful time visiting friends along the way and seeing Shane's family.

We were spoiled with good food and great hosts!

One car full of presents, wine, way too much junk food

(breaky burrito, laffy taffy, sour gummies, soy lattes, sunflower seeds, Cheetos, Twix to be exact)

tummy aches, 8 hours of driving and then needing to stop at Best Buy for more gifts for Shane's staff and we were home last night! 
I'd say, NEVER again, but I know come next  year I'll be ready to do it all over again.  

Hope everyone had a Happy Holidays!
I am feeling very blessed and thankful for mine. 

Looking forward to ringing in the New Year with the Peykoffs!

XO, 

S

P.S. The cookbooks were a HUGE hit.  I highly recommend this gift.  www.blurb.com

How cute is this?

I picked up this little ornament for our bowling team!

 

I put the year, each person's bowling name (Britney Spares, Daddy Dizzle, You Good, Z-),

and our Team Name (Spare Me) on the bowling pin.
Can't wait to get them in the mail. 

Go here for your personalized ornaments. 

coupon code: THANKS226

for 20% off your order

Happy Shopping!

XO, 

S

Holiday Cards are out!

We aren't confused, I swear.

At least not about the holidays. 

To us, they are about food, family and presents!

We (I) decided to try and be somewhat original with our holiday cards this year.

So here they are!

Don't discriminate...

Celebrate it ALL!

 

We do. 

  

 These were our stamps, check out  this website for your photo stamps. 

I almost like the stamps more than cards these days.
Thank you to our good friend Jillian Rose for the fun and fabulous photos.  

Check her out at http://www.jillianrosephotography.com/#/home/

Special thanks to my momma for the hand knit Santa hats that are too cute for words! 

XO, 

The Balls

A funny childhood story and then what today's kiddos are into!

When I was young it was ALL about Cabbies (Cabbage Patch Kids).  

I received my first one for Christmas from my dad.  

He went shopping Christmas day (in very typical last minute dad style),

so there weren't many choices of Cabbies left. 

For lack of better ways to put it my first baby had darker skin.  

She kinda looked like this

Her name was Pauline Essy. 

And I LOVED her more than anything. 

What I love more is that I was raised to be appreciative of ALL gifts and the color of her skin didn't even cross my little mind until I returned to school from Christmas break... 

The reason I even bring this up is because I was reminiscing about my childhood and dollies.  

You see, tomorrow night, one of my BFFs Kelly is arriving for a last minute visit with her hubby and little girl Ella and on Thursday we are headed to American Girl at The Grove. 

I don't know who's more excited, me or Ella? 
Probably me because she has NO idea what she's in for yet.
And I do because I was just online designing my very own American Girl doll that looks just like me (unlike you know who). 

It's Ella's 4th Birthday and what a birthday it will be. 

She gets to visit her Auntie Sam and Uncle Shane, go to American Girl and get a doll, see Bon Bon, then off to Disneyland for her first time with mommy, daddy and the Ange family.
She's one lucky chickie and I can't wait to share these special moments with her.

Can't wait for the Creedon family arrival tomorrow night!

XO,
S

AMAZING tantilizing flavors, oh me oh my!

Do yourself a favor, do not stop, head straight to Trader Joe's and your local CVS, market...

and buy the above!

You will NOT be disappointed or be able to eat just one. 

To the left, peppermint pretzel thins oh my, these white chocolate covered pretzels with a hint of a peppermint candy cane crushed up, are TO DIE for!

To the right are white chocolate peppermint Hershey kisses, yummo! 

My mom and I are thinking these could be quite tasty pressed into a snicker doodle or sugar cookie?

Enjoy all the seasonal things big and small!

Happy Holidays!

XO, 

S

Happy 3rd Night of Hanukkah and My Cookbook

Here's a little picture of our festival of lights!

So far so good in lighting our candles every night and opening gifts, lets see if we can make it to the end.

In a recent post, I blogged about the cookbook I made for our family with Blurb for the holidays. 

Yesterday, I received the final product in the mail and in trying to make myself feel better about it's miniature size I went and got out several of my cook books. 

You see mine is the blue one, so it's not the smallest I've seen, but...

It could be used for a cabbage patch kid or you can take it with you in your purse to the market, so you have the ingredients for the recipe you're shopping for.

At least these are the silver lining bright side of things I'm trying to see right now. 

Hopefully the family will love it non the less and not ride me too hard about it's wee size. 

I'm still trying to get them to forget my little Carlin/Lopez gift mishap a few years back. 

The moral of the story is maybe buying gifts is better/easier than making them after all!
And order 1 copy before ordering all 18. 
The end. 

Happy Holidays!

XO,
S

Happy Hannukah!

I would really like one of these for our couch. 

It just makes me happy! 

(maybe I should break down and spend some of my Pottery Barn gift cards from our wedding that have been rotting in my purse?)

 

Looking forward to lighting the candles tonight and celebrating the first night of Chan with Shane and Jilly! 

1st Wednesdays at The Brentwood, can't wait to see what it's all about. 

 

XO,
S