it all started in sin city

little did i know that when i went on my girls' trip to vegas, my grandma would introduce me to my newest obsession: sugared peanuts. i cannot get enough. i even went hunting for my very own cast iron skillet so i could make them myself.

what makes these peanuts SO good is the coarse sea salt that gets sprinkled on right before they come off the stove. perfect combination of sweet and salty. 

craig cannot get over how heavy my skillet is. "wow, this could really hurt someone." scary, i know. but i still love my odd little peanut.

sugared peanuts

2     cups raw peanuts (without the hulls, please)

1     cup sugar

1/3   cup water

4     healthy pinches coarse sea salt

*place peanuts, sugar and water in skillet over medium heat. continue stirring until water is fully evaporated and sugar begins to turn a golden color and coats the peanuts (about ten minutes). sprinkle salt on peanuts evenly. hoover those puppies up.

needless to say: my baby is feeling better

and what better way to celebrate a clean bill of health than to partay-partay at the family fun center? tagg was running around and having such a great time that i had a hard time getting him to sit still for a picture. hence the fuzziness. 

he got his little VIP bracelet and was ready to hit the games. 

his favorite was this zoo game. which reminds me that i want to take tagg to the real zoo as soon as we get some decent weather. 


he loved pressing all the grimy buttons. 

but he quickly grew tired of arcade games and dreamt of playing with the big kids in kidopolis.

it was huuuularious watching tagg climb around in the ball crawl. he was pretty much trampled by all the other kids but didnt mind one bit. he loved every minute of it.


it was well worth the treacherous climb to the top.....SLIDE TIME.

we went down the slides like a hundred times. look at that face!

totally pooped out. i cannot explain how happy/relieved i am that tagg is feeling better. i am one nervous nelly. i was convinced he had meningitis.

one sick puppy.

bad news? tagg was up all nite with his first fever. 104 degrees! we paid a visit to his doctor this morning and his fever has gone down a little since. but he is still one sick boy.

good news? he got to lounge around in his new spiderman pajamas and eat a couple chocolate chips today.

do we do anything else with our lives...

except make junk food? nope. but since my mom's elliptical literally fell apart today while i was on it i should probably slow down with all the sweets.

but craig was taking all the young men down to UW for a tour of the dental school so i had to make these cookies for everyone. the bristles are my favorite part.

and as for all the cupcakes lately, there is a method to my madness. my mom, megan and i are planning for our cupcake classic 2009, a party that is everything cupcakes. so naturally, we must try out all of our cupcake and frosting recipes so they will be perfected for the soiree. 

these little numbers were made per megan's birthday request. they are banana cupcakes with buttercream frosting topped with banana chips. to die for.

tagg is his mother's son.

and loves celebrating each holiday to the fullest. happy saint patrick's day, everyone!


we put on our finest st. patty's day attire and searched for our pot of gold in the front yard. side note: my roots are getting out of control. yuck.


megan brought over her newest creation yesterday: the coconut/lemon curd cupcake. i helped her inject the coconut cupcake with homemade lemon curd and then we topped the whole thing off with seven-minute frosting and toasted coconut. they were deeee-wish-us.


forget texting while driving; tagg has a problem texting while walking! he is the cutest darn thing i have ever seen.

its on like donkey kong...

to anyone that tries to tell me about global warming ever again. it is march ninth, and i was stuck inside all day due to a freaking snow storm.


lemon-y situation: snow in march. lemonade: taking cool pictures of stuff with snow on it.


stuff with snow on it.


i love how this shot captured the snow falling.


poor little tulips. they thought their time had come. but gross seattle weather had another idea. i need sun.

my old stomping ground

my fabulous cousin, anna, with her tolo (a girl ask guy highshcool dance) date. they made such a cute couple and i loved the blue scheme they went with.

no one knows what my uncle david was doing in this shot. but i thought it was such a cute moment. 

the best part of the nite was that my mom, aunt and i chaperoned the dance. and better yet, it was at my old highschool. we had a ball trying to bust kids that had come to the dance intoxicated. or watching couples get nasty on the dance floor (we were told not to regulate that sin). 

but our favorite part of the nite was gawking at the little pieces of fabric the girls tried to pass off as clothing. it was SHOCKING. i felt a little too overdressed/old housewife mom-ish. so my mom and megan helped me out. :)