Author: Ali Carras

This past weekend was utterly delightful. Friday night I sold a dog crate on craigslist. I also cooked a meal for my man which ultimately ended in hot oil flying in my face and causing a burn which blistered and now looks like a massive zit fest but isn’t. Nothing serious, just scalding hot oil on my face, you know, the good stuff. The weather was so nice that we at my meal made for my man in the park right next to our loft. It was a jolly good time.

That night I asked my man if he had one last day in the bay area what would he do (we are not going anywhere, I was just curious). Well, he didn’t really have a good answer (ha!) so I forked up my ideas for Saturday: breakfast at the Cheeseboard, walk around North Berkeley, walk up to the Berkeley rose gardens, sit in the park, walk to the Cal campus, walk around Berkeley, go to a dog park, etc. So we did. We did it all. Even after all of this I convinced my man to get a blanket and a popsicle and go to our park (the one right next to our loft). So we did. Then we ran some errands and came home and made a delectable meal. At around 11pm I decided we needed cinnamon rolls for breakfast. So I made the ooey-ist and gooey-ist cinnamon rolls I possibly could prepare for Sunday. It was a grand and simple day.

Sunday was even better. We ate the ooey and gooey cinnamon rolls. We cleaned for hours and it felt really good. I worked out (only a wee bit). I put on a skirt which means the weather was nice out (I put a shirt on too). I walked my dog and sat in the park with my dog and watched bbq goers and volleyball players while Cooper met with a couple.  We made mojitos (rum for Cooper whiskey for me, ha!) and burgers and nectarine arugula salads. We shared both a fudgsicle and another cinnamon roll for dessert. We watched An Education and loved it. I didn’t spend any money on Sunday. It was an even grander and simpler day.

And then there is the little one…

At age two it is hard to be camera shy. In fact one of “Nor Nor’s” favorite activities while I was home was to “see Nor Nor doing ____” (insert, sleeping on the pillow, eating ice cream outside, dancing, singing, etc.) I’ll share more on this later when I have more videos uploaded. But as a teaser:

The many faces of “Nor Nor”

Getting toast crumbs on gma’s bed…

Or, contently playing with playdough while still in our PJs…

Or practicing the hula in preparation for their ma/pa’s trip home from Hawaii…

Or, thoroughly enjoying the Barney ride at Chuck E Cheese’s

Or blowing out your candles on your 2nd bday…

These girls make my day. This is all I’ll post about them (for now! said with a scary and loud chuckle).

The trip home to Colorado aka “Be a pesudo parent and take care of my sister’s two kids for a week” was a success. Word of warning: I know a lot of people don’t like mommy blogs that talk about their kids and how great they are. The following few posts will not be that. Instead they will be an obsessed Aunt gloating about her nieces.

First up: the little actress/dancer. This is during the first performance out of three that I got to witness (she is the one touching her toes..actually doing the moves).

A bit of a clown, I’d say.

Then off to play a flower and a card in “Alice in Wonderland”:

signing autographs:

Four things I loved/learned about being home and being a pseudo parent for a week:

1.) Spoiling my nieces for a brief period of time is an ideal way to give parenting a shot.

2.) I realized while watching Barney that there are no zippers on his costume at all. How does he get in/out of that thing? I would assume through the head but even so it has got to be a major challenge…and really hot in there.

3.) Waking up in the middle of the night and seeing my 4 year old niece sleeping like a doll (we had sleepovers every night) is an image I’ll never forget. She is so so so so so so so so precious. Even if she snores and kicks me in the side all night.

4.) Naps are an amazing thing and like Oprah and her “phone free zone” campaign I am going to start an “everyone needs to take a siesta” drive. Recharging even just for 15 minutes (but no longer than 45) does wonders for the brain and the body. It is healthy and should be celebrated by all ages. Seriously. Try it.

I’m off to Colorado for a few days to help take care of my nieces while my sister goes to Hawaii (I prefer to say Hawai-ya). The weather in Boulder looks like it will require hat attire but I don’t think I want to carry one on. I’m a bit of a novice hat wearer and my head is rather small so I always feel like I’m drowning in ’em. I suppose it doesn’t help that I buy a big honker of a hat. Life goal #2987293874 : become a better hat wearer (or grow a larger head, whichever happens first).

While home I plan to teach my nieces how to make cheese since they love the stuff so much. We’ll just be making ricotta but even so I think they need aprons…with their names on them…so I got bedazzled (and furry letter ironing)…

Hopefully we can make little chef hats to go with the aprons but if we can’t I plan to encourage them to wear berets while we cook. How cute would two little chefs (aged 4 and 2) be wearing aprons and berets? Not sure where we’ll get berets but if there is a will there is a way. Ha.

I had Cooper take a quick snap shot of me at work today…notice I’m sporting my wrist brace…

Our shelter dog is 100% spoiled. We picked up a safari pack of stuffed animals from Costo and he loved them so much (and they were such a cheap deal) that we decided to stock up on a few more sets.

He found the pile of new toys and every now and then he tries to sneak a chomp on them when we are not looking. I love this dog.

This is a poor me post. My hand and wrist really hurts and I don’t know what the problem is. My dad says it is probably just a sprain but it has been a good month and a half since it first started and the pain is just getting worse. It doesn’t hurt to type and I’m not having any numbness so I don’t think it is carpal tunnel…but maybe it is? Whatever. It isn’t a big deal and life is really good but how about I show you right where it hurts…

The ouchie is in my right hand which makes picking up a camera a bit painful but taking a photo of my right hand with my left even more painful (i.e. difficult!)

Wahhh wa.

We’re getting domestic up in here. Cooper and I are preparing a home cooked meal for some friends who just had a baby (congrats J&L!). Actually, I should say Cooper is cooking the meal because he is the one who has done all the work so far. I’ll take photos of the final outcome but here’s what’s cookin’:

A tart pastry.

Massaman curry (smells soooooooooooo good! I wish this was scratch and sniff. Instead it looks like bubbling barf).

And while Cooper cooks Ali will clean. Thus, it is only appropriate to wear an apron.

Take note that the fake skin area is actually padded boobage:

My mom gave this to me. Yes, this is what a Beckord mom gives to a Beckord daughter.

Yes, I just posted that. I found it on one of my favorite blogs, The Jealous Curator, who found it on Couture Boudoir by cristey rowe.

Guess what this is:

I bet the top two guesses were 1.) a straw bow tie and 2.) pasta.

Nope. It is a Swedish scrub brush.

Now guess how often I use it.

Answer: Never! It is decoration on my desk. Scrubbing anything is last on my to do list….especially not with a special straw brush direct from Sweden. Some people buy knick knack souvenirs from trips to far away lands. I buy scrub brushes I’ll never use.