Marc and Shelley Adventure Time (you should kind of sing that in your head)!

This Saturday when Marc and I woke up we made a decision to go adventuring. We were like, "hey, let's avoid our responsibilities and instead drive around looking for beautiful scenery and good food!" Luckily we live in the Bay Area so we don't have to go very far to find both.

We started in downtown Benicia because we've never been before which is super lame since we love anything that is by water and this little downtown is uber cute and right on its' own lovely marina. 

We walked all around and spent a good amount of time contriving plans for how we could buy a boat and live on the water. Never mind objections about where does one keep a washer and dryer on a boat; we like to dream.

Then we got breakfast at First Street Cafe and ordered the open face dungeness crab sandwich and the waffle sliders with chicken sausage and an egg. Then we ate every single stinkin' bite because it was so so good! The sandwich was featured in Bon Appetite magazine so it was like breakfasting with the stars. A little.

I plan to go back and order this again.

Next came more wandering the highlights of which were the gorgeous stained glass windows in an inn (that is a funny group of words, "in an inn"),

and a view of this metal scrap lot by the water.

Marc informed me he dreams of having his own metal scrap yard by the water. We do not share this dream. This dream is only for him, since it is, I don't want to hurt his feelings but I'm going to say, dumb. I'm back with the boats.

When Ellie Made a Splash at the Super Bowl!

My kids love hearing stories about the funny and embarrassing things they did when they were small. I think it's because the persons who were embarrassed were me and Marc so it's kind of like we are the punch line of every story, "...and then mom had to drag me away with her face flaming red, her head bowed in shame and a fierce vow never to let me out in public again. Mwah ha ha..." What's not to love?

So in honor of the Super Bowl (Go Broncos!), I bring you the story of when Ellie made a splash at the Super Bowl.

It happened when we first moved to California. We came here for Marc's job and he had only been working at his new law firm for six months when our family was invited to a Super Bowl party at one of his colleague's home. A colleague who is, naturally, a big deal partner at the firm. In spite of his intimate knowledge of our family and how weird we are, Marc was very intent on all of us going and making a good impression. I know, right?

I'd like to insert an aside here where I wonder how some people get children who are quiet and docile, attached to their parents, and only interested in silent reading. Is it a levels of karma and reincarnation thing? And if it is, am I more evolved and the universe thinks I can handle crazy kids or am I less evolved and, well...?

But I digress.

So we all six go to this fancy party at this ginormous and beautiful house where the couple hosting have no children but instead a massive collection of original artwork including sculptural pieces grouped on low side tables scattered tastefully throughout the home, and outside (Heaven help me), a crystal clear pool with attached hot tub. In other words, hell. 

I need to add that this was about seven years ago. Ellie was an adorable and incorrigible six year old.

Marc and I swiftly assessed the situation and ascertained that the pool/hot tub combo was dubious but still a better fit for our family than hanging out inside with the priceless art collection. We immediately impressed on each of our children the extreme importance of staying away from the water and the equal importance how much we were going to kill them if they could not stay away from the water.

So Jonathan and Ellie started playing by the water.

Here they are around that time. Cute little devils.

What follows cannot be blamed on us. We parented. We warned and threatened and redirected and distracted and ALL THE THINGS. For reals, not our fault!

At some point people tried using this social event filled with firm employees and clients to schmooze with us, clearly not understanding the eminent danger of embarrassing us that our children teetered on the precipice of, and in an attempt to be polite and perhaps a little shmoozy ourselves, we took our eyes off the children. 

Cue horror music.

Our eyes, and everyone else's, were brought back to said children when Ellie started screaming as she wrestled her way out of the hot tub (where she'd been fully dunked)and began clawing at her brother like an angry wet cat. Do you have kids? Do you know how loud a mad six year old girl can be? It's loud. And not to be shushed or reasoned with.

Oh boy were we mortified! Marc basically scooped up Ellie and made a b-line for the car. I understood intuitively that I should grab the other kids and quickly follow. Sometimes our minds work as one. That is what the crucible of parenthood does to you.

And that, my friends, is how Ellie made a splash at the Super Bowl.

Fun fact: Marc was so upset about this that we didn't bring Ellie back to the annual Super Bowl party for three years. Each year she would be angry and insist that it wasn't her fault because Jonathan pushed her in, and each year we didn't believe her. But two years ago Jonathan decided that the statute of limitations was up on punishment for past crimes and admitted that he HAD pushed her into the hot tub.

Sheesh.

This year Ellie came with us as her sweet and socially amazing self. In fact, I was able to sit and visit with friends while she worked the party with her dad, shmoozing like a pro.

The Easiest Way To Sew A Zipper Pouch

Clearly you don't need me to tell you about all the reasons you want zipper pouches. But whatever, I love them for makeup, crochet hooks, pens and pencils, and organizing my purse. Seriously, the best organized bag comes from having several smaller bags inside it! Plus, CUTE!

So I've wanted to learn how to put in a zipper for awhile, but I had this idea that it would be SUPER hard (it's not) and I finally took the time to figure it out. I read through a bunch of tutorials and tried several things and here is what I've found to be the easiest way. They come together really quickly, especially with the shortcuts I'll show you. Get ready, you're going to want to make all the pouches!