What seems like an eternity ago.

My computer broke. Like in half. The screen on my lap top now lays completely down and when I turn it on it makes a sound like a small child screaming. So I have been without.

Even though my birthday was like 3 weeks ago I thought I would still document my fabulous week.

My actual birthday was on a Wednesday this year which means it was full of piano lessons and mutual. Cody also had interviews for clerkships all day, so I was pretty sad. I did enjoy some krazy sub with my sister Dee and swimming in the afternoon. Cody was a stud and showed up at my mutual with a DQ cake with a billion candles on it. I was embarrassed. He is sweet.

The following Saturday Cody took me to this amazing little restaurant/...gay bar in Phoenix called Switch. The food was absolutely amazing. Cody got an apricot and barbecue chicken sandwich, which sounds gross but was actually mouth wateringly good. The place was really good, and I love trying out new restaurants, but there were mysteriously A LOT of middle aged gay and lesbian couples there.. and the song "Ladies night" was playing in the background. I definitely want to go back, but maybe during the day for lunch. ha ha

Me and Cody also went to the dollar theater to finally see the new Twilight movie. I loved it, but seeing as how that topic is ridiculously old now I wont go on.

I ate some ham and Gouda crepes. Fantastic.

My friend Alana made me a cactus cake for my b-day. I love saguaro cacti. I think they are so funny looking and they strangely fill me with AZ pride! Alana, knowing this, made me a cake. Oh Alana, you are funny. Thank you, it was delicious.

On a side note, mack loves chef boyardee. It kindof grosses me out, but I still let him eat it anyway, does that make me a bad mom?

Thank you to everyone who made me feel special on my birthday. I am so lucky to be surrounded by people who love me.

Monday night/Sub Zero

Monday night me and Cody ventured to Sub Zero. This is a new Ice cream place on Baseline and Stapley that is amazing! I was given a coupon by my friend Erica Faller, and so I decided to give it a try. (I am a sucker for coupons) This place lets you choose what percent of cream to use in your ice cream making it ice cream, custard, or frozen yogurt! ...I of course chose custard. Delicious. Then, you choose your flavor and mix in. I chose sweet chocolate with the mix in of raspberries. Then they mix it with liquid nitrogen in front of you and turn it to ice cream! I was skeptical thinking it would be one of those things that were just cool, but didn't taste very good, BUT I was extremely pleasently surprised with the results! Yum... everyone go try it. My only hold up was that the line was extremely long, and it was very expensive... once again, I love coupons!!!

Cody got peach raspberry. Yum (these pictures were taken on his iPhone .. the blur in the background is actually a girl. ha ha ha.)

A blurry picture of my sweet chocolate and raspberry piece of heaven.

HA HA HA HA HA his head is extremely large!

Weekend Festivities

Sunday Mack had his first week of nursery! It was glorious for me... even though Mack was less than enthusiastic. Mack has a problem with little kids. He doesn't like them. So, being forced into a room that was swimming with them may have been a little traumatic. I feel so bad for the nursery workers that were forced into holding my child the entire time. Does anyone have any suggestions for this?

... and if you tell me to have another kid I will kill you :)

The Huffs celebrated my birthday on Sunday! It was glorious filled with cafe rio burritos, delicious cupcakes, and presents galore. Thanks to the absolute best in-laws a gal could ask for!! Darin (father-in-law) and Jaxon (brother-in-law) are restoring this bla bla bla (Year) blah blah blah blah (make) Jeep. All I know is that it is beautiful and bright orange! Mack loves it. And yes, that is Cody making an extremely creepy face in the background.

Because Cody needed new jeans, and because we had a groupon for 50% off, (Groupon is the best thing ever. if you haven't heard of it immediately look into it. It is a sight that sends you a local coupon every day.) we ended up at gap this weekend. Mack didn't understand why Cody left and immediately investigated. Don't worry, we were the only people in the dressing room.

A trip to Five Guys was in order this weekend with Deanna and Michael. I had heard a lot of great things about this restaurant so I needed to try it out!

Verdict: I really liked it. It was delicious, but in my opinion overpriced. would I eat there again? Definitely.

Horrible picture of me and Cody eating the monsterous burgers. Ha ha

Mack is very serious about food. ...I have no idea where he got that from.

We also went with our friends Blake And Alyssa to see Lamb of God. (not to be confused with the heavy metal band) It was songs about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ composed by Mark Gardener. It was beautiful and brought me to tears. No pictures though, sad day.

Movie of Choice

I am obsessed. 500 Days of Summer.

Have you seen it? I am in love with it!

This movie made me love Joseph Gordon-Levitt and I love Zooey Deschanel too. They are beautiful together... or not together as the case may be. I might as well just leave this movie in my DVD player on repeat because I watch it so often. I seriously love everything about this movie. The way it was filmed, the ending, the way it made me identify with the characters, the music. Everything is golden in my eyes.

I don't hate Summer in this movie at all, maybe its just because we have all been on her side of a relationship. I get her.

This movie also inspired me to cut my bangs (hate that word) like hers.

I love the way they are dressed throughout the film. I love Tom's skinny ties and cardigans. Classic.

They are adorable.

This scene makes me laugh out loud every time. Stupid youtube version cuts out the part where he sees his reflection as being han solo. Ha ha ha.

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Labor Day Breakdown

I have family that lives in San Diego.

We visit them any chance we get.

This labor day we once again found ourselves there. It was such a blast getting to see the beach from Mack's eyes. He loved it. My favorite was watching him get his hands completely sandy and then looking around and seeing no other option, would wipe his hands all over me. ha ha. I love this boy. Look at him. He melts my heart. I love watching him laugh so hard (at Dee) that he throws his head back to laugh. I'm afraid he got that trait from me.

I love the beach.

Posole Recipe

There isn't really a set recipe for this posole, which is why I didn't post it in my initial posole post, but I will try to write it down as best as I can. You start with a pork shoulder. I usually get one around 1 1/2 lbs. The way you cook this is in a pan with salted water just covering it. I drop a few cloves of peeled garlic down in the boiling water with some oregano. Bring to a boil over medium heat and then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 45ish minutes. Keep the broth, but skim off any foam on the top. After the meat has cooled, shred.

If you are feeling lazy, costco sells a great precooked pulled pork. It adds a slightly smoky flavor to the posole, but is great and makes the soup making process SO much easier.

In a pot cook a half/whole onion and two cloves of chopped garlic in a few tbsp of oil. When the onion begins to turn translucent add..

The pork

1 can of drained pinto beans

1 can diced tomatoes

1 29 oz can of drained hominy

at least 1 tbsp of cumin, adjusted to taste

tsp oregano

1/2 tsp cayenne

Salt to taste

When it is finished add grated cheese on top, and serve with a tortilla.

You can add more or less of anything until you find the way you like it. I have also added green chilies and it tasted delicious. It really is a delicious and healthy dinner, and the only thing I have ever eaten hominy in. ha.