Thursday, August 15, 2013

Summertime Concerts!

We saw an 80's concert on the beach at Mandalay bay. Always check for concerts when you come to Vegas at the beach. It is so cool to see shows here! We have seen many and they are all fabulous!
You bring a blanket, sit on a sandy beach, when you get tired of sitting you can get up and walk in
the water, the stage is surrounded by water with gentle waves flowing by....nothing can compare to seeing a band play here!

The 80's bands were Animotion, Flock of Seagulls, Naked Eyes, and many more. We had a blast!

Next on the list:
Chris Isaak! I can't miss him when he comes to town. Always a great show, he is funny and entertaining! We saw him at the Smith Center, the acoustics in there are great for his crooner voice! He played all his greats and then threw in some Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Roy Orbison....Loved this concert! Next up is Buddy Guy and a 14 year old blues guitar prodigy, Quinn Sullivan! Stay Tuned!

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Travis's Motorhome Derby!

My son Travis is a Demolition driver, here is his latest derby from OC fairgrounds in California.
He is in the #77 motorhome! Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Monday, August 5, 2013

San Diego Weekend!

Got my hubby away for a weekend, we went to San Diego to see the Padres beat the Yankees! Both games!
Although we were so tired from walking around exploring San Diego Saturday we never made it to the game Saturday night, but Friday night was great and the Padres beat the Yanks both nights!

Here is a recap in photos:
Our cheap seats, as high up and in the corner as you can get!



Our view of the game!

The view from my seat when I turned around!

Going to go tour the USS MIDWAY NAVAL SHIP

My Tour Buddy!

I think he is finally getting the hang of this "vacation thing"!!

His new nickname "Chuck Smiley"

I was so excited to find a Tomcat!! My mom worked most her life building and inspecting
 the radar components of this fighter jet!

The Tomcat!

We stopped for a drink and lunch here, fabulous food, garlic bread,
clam chowder, shrimp cocktail, ceaser salad, wine and beer!

One of the street vendors was a rock balancer! Amazing!!
We watched him just pick up rocks and balance them, no glue, no magnets, nothing!

Dinner Saturday night, 2 pound lobster, I thanked him for providing us with a very delicious dinner!!
He was amazing tasting!!


My Drunken Sailors!
What a fun and wonderful time we had in San Diego! Charlie really relaxed and enjoyed himself, I was so happy for him, he works so hard and to get to see him enjoy the rewards of his work is so great!
I must close with this photo, I always loved this picture of the couple kissing after the war ended..they have a giant statue of them in San Diego...so cool! Kisses for my husband for taking me on these fun little trips, baseball and food and fun..just does not get any better than that!

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Ice Cream!

I don't normally eat Ice Cream because I get tummy aches, but I have found pure (expensive) or clean (vegan)  or homemade is usually fine in small doses. My hubby loves the stuff and since my goal in life is to make him happy 24/7, ( because a happy hubby is a happy life)
I bought the Ice Cream attachment for my kitchen aid mixer...how flipping cool is that?


KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker Attachment - Your Family Will Love This


I watched lots of YouTube videos on using it and getting recipes collected.
I decided to try a very easy recipe my first go round with it:
I chose Patricia's gelato recipe from ButterYum, find her here : www.butteryum.blogspot.com

Rich Dark Chocolate Gelato (Cioccolato Scuro e Ricco Gelato)
3 cups whole milk, divided
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of fine salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together 1 cup of milk, sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt; set aside.  In a large heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, bring the remaining 2 cups of milk just below the boiling point (bubbles will appear around the edges of the pan).  Add the cocoa mixture to the hot milk and continue to heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens (about 10 minutes).  Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.  Allow mixture to cool, then transfer to an airtight container and chill overnight.  Process in your ice cream maker following the manufacturer's instructions.  Transfer to an airtight container and store in the freezer.  Soften at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.  Makes 1 quart.  Base can be made up to 5 days before processing in an ice cream machine. 
Thank you Patricia for an easy and delicious recipe!

Wow it was amazing!! And delicious and I did not get a tummy ache!
Here is my churner at work:

I like that this recipe made just 24 oz of gelato, a nice little portion for me and hubby to snack on! That container is about 6 inches long and 3 inches high.
The whole process of making ice cream at home is kinda long, you have to freeze the bowl for 24 hours, ( I just keep it in the freezer all the time) then you cook the ingredients and put in a mason jar and chill over night, or I just kept shaking it and setting it in the freezer and checking on it, once the ingredients were really cold, 40* I was able to add to the freezer bowl, turn the mixer on and it stirs for 20 minutes on low. After it turns to thick creamy ice cream put it in air tight container and put back in freezer until really cold maybe 2 hours...but then you have it....your own homemade ice cream that is rich and delicious and not filled with chemicals!
I am going to make vanilla bean next, then a butter pecan! YUM!!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Whirlwind Weekend!

My sister came to town, then my son and his wife showed up too....we had fun running around town and doing all kinds of stuff!

We learned to solder from Tanya BeadandNeedle, we took a beading class at Colleen's Beadmetaler
We had a little pool time and fish tacos, then played a game of Obey the cards (qualf) hilarious game, you must try it out!!!

Went clothes shopping....and finished the trip with cheesecake from the cheesecake factory tuesday night!

We missed out on bingo and the fancy movie theater, there is always next time!

Bead class

Chrsity and I going to the show!

Love the music and show!

Soldering around rocks!
Napoli pendant front


soldered pendant back

Great show at the LVH
 

Old rockers that can still rock it out!

My outfit (JLo's short/skirt) and a sheer blouse with hearts on it! love it!!



Monday, July 8, 2013

The Lone Ranger


I saw this movie this weekend...I loved it - but then I love everything Johnny Depp is in! I remember 21 jumpstreet back in the late 80's. You knew he was going to be great! Also, just bought the Rolling Stone issue with JD on cover and read his interview on the plane home from San Diego, makes you love him even more...what a cool guy with a great attitude.

GO SEE THE LONE RANGER, he did not act like jack sparrow, he acted like Tonto from the old black and white Lone Ranger shows, I remember those, my mom watched them....Tonto was always shaking his head and being sarcastic with LR, and also getting LR out of trouble! It was a hoot!! Johnny did a great job bringing him to life! And Silver (LR's Horse) was the same way with LR....so funny!



Review: “The Lone Ranger” rides high on comedic action as Disney's
Silver steals the show! Loved him!
 
BADBOYS DELUXE: THE LONE RANGER 2013 - DISNEY MOVIE
 
Johnny Depp HD Wallpaper #

Monday, July 1, 2013

Town and Country Resort San Diego



I just spent 4 days at the T&C Resort in San Diego, Wow, Great place!
I recommend only if you are attending a convention though, or go when no convention is scheduled.
Since it has a convention center connected to it, some of the convention goers get loud and rowdy at night and makes sleeping difficult, but if you are one of the convention goers and have tuckered yourself out scrapbooking all day then no problem, you will be dog tired and fall right out!
We had 3 conventions going on: Bot.com (think transformers and nerdy geeky people with action figures to buy and sell) Then we had a scooter convention (think vespa riders all decked out in leathers) and then we had Scrapbook Expo (think women with enough paper, tape runner, cutters to rule the world). So all in all not too rowdy of a bunch.
The grounds are fabulous...
You check in on one end and they golf cart you to the other end where the rooms are, from there you walk back and forth to wonderful restaurants and the convention center. Stroll along the pool areas and gift shops, during the day they set up BBQ stations and deli stations to feed you.
Here are some pics I took:
Rose bushes everywhere!

Little alcoves to sit and rest, birds were using the houses,
Yeah, I would live there to if I could!

Fountains, this is the Lion Fountain!
After touring the grounds, it was time to get scrapping!
Christy and Mary
Mary and Me
I can't wait to go back next year!!
My Balcony- Room 1202

The view from my balcony