fuzzykitty

Wow! It’s been awhile since I last updated!  Hera Marie was born September 18th and is now six weeks old!  She is keeping me very busy.

 

Six years ago today I made a great decision and married that wonderful man with the monkey on his head.  To celebrate our anniversary we are spending the weekend exploring St. Augustine together.

Last night our awesome neighbors invited us over for dessert with their family.  I had already planned on making pumpkin pie for us and made that the day before.  I had a extra pie shell on hand and a lemon so I put them to good use and made a lemon chess pie.  The pie was new to me and turned out really well.   It reminds me a lot of a more sweet than tart lemon bar with its light top sugar crust and creamy custard filling.  Darrell even made whipped cream for the pies!

Darrell, Kitty & I wish you a very Merry Christmas!

I forgot to mention that we had a great trip to Mexico (here is the proof!) and for the first time in a long time I did not get sick.  I also did not take any chances and reduced my risk by only eating cooked veggies and other cooked items.  The only fresh food I couldn’t resist was salsa.  I had my picture taken with the birdman of Playa del Carmen and also some monkeys.

Soon after returning from vacation we visited the dentist who promptly suggested that we come in to have some work done the following week.  I am glad we could spend that time together but did not enjoy having my extra gum tissue removed (via laser!).  I am still recovering. ow!

Our community is having a cookie exchange tomorrow so I made sugar cookies, cut them out with Santa head cutters and frosted them with buttercream and chocolate.  I am pretty sure these cookies will go over well because of their  generous amount of frosting.

We are in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.  Darrell has lots of frequent flyer miles and has earned an elite status so now he is usually upgraded to first class.  On the way from Atlanta to Cancun the flight was pretty empty, including the seat next to Darrell so he asked if I could join him in first class so he wouldn’t be lonely and I was upgraded for free.

When we landed at the airport in Cancun the lines through customs was short and we got the green light so no additional checks were needed.  We took our usual $9 bus ride into Playa del Carmen and checked into Playa Maya where we have stayed at for the past four years.  After all of this traveling we were pretty hungry and went to La Caprichoza for dinner where we had yummy kebabs.  We ended the night early after wandering to the churro cart for dessert.  That’s Darrell ordering us some churros in the above photo.

Our beach front hotel is clean and simple.  It is also pretty quiet except every once in a while I hear a noise that reminds me of the smoke monster from Lost.  We decided to try out the hotel for breakfast.  I had the “American” which came with toast, scrambled eggs and ham,which I had requested be placed on the side but arrived mixed in with my eggs.   Since I don’t eat ham Darrell had a lot to eat.  Luckily, I found a yogurt shop near bank.

We walked to the grocery store called Mega where we bought several tasty and cheap pastries, shampoo, band aids, rubbing alcohol, water and vanilla for $10. We decided to spend the rest of our afternoon on beach drinking Sol and eating shrimp tacos but after lunch it started to pour so here we are, inside.

Today is Darrell’s Birthday!  Once again he is not spending it here at home so Kitty, Max and I celebrated on our own and wished him a happy one on the phone.

Darrell got a new camera for his birthday!  He got a sleek ultra compact Canon PowerShot SD550 which he had been begging me for! Actually he got my ‘hand me down camera’ since his old  Canon PowerShot s400 finally died.  I bought myself a new Canon Rebel XSi for a fair price and can not wait until it arrives!  I am excited to take some pretty pictures but sadly it does not come with a ‘food’ setting.

Max and I are still attending obedience class and have mastered the ‘down’ command where Max will lay down if I bribe him with a tasty treat.  He loves chicken! We are having a hard time with the ’stay’ command and are getting better at leash walking.  We went to a “Doggie Social” yesterday at this beautiful home on the St. Johns River.  All of the dogs played and played except Max, he just greeted new dogs (there were at least 10 of them there), explored the yard, peed on as many things as he could, and begged for human attention.  I am glad that he is not one to start fights or be rough with other dogs.  He seems pretty content to do his own thing.  Yesterday, I was walking Max near our home when he started to crowd the sidewalk.  I stepped onto the grass  and into a hole and then fell down and skinned my knee.  ow

We had a nice trip to San Antonio. It was great to hang out with Darrell’s family and see some old friends. On one of the days we got to take Darrell’s nieces and nephew to the Alamo Drafthouse for lunch and a movie. After the movie we went to Cupcake Junction, where the youngest enjoyed her cupcake so much she ate the cupcake liner.

I tried to sneak away to a couple of cupcake shops (The Cake Shop, Cupcake Junction, Upper Crust Bakery) but most of them were closed (The Blue Cupcake – out of business, Kate’s Frosting – took a long vacation during my stay, Hello Cupcake – closed Mondays). I am still jonesing for cupcakes and hope we can visit Vanilla’s Cupcakery again soon so I can order up a birthday cake cupcake. I also bought a really neat cupcake book called “Hello, Cupcake!“. I can’t wait to make some cute cupcakes!

Darrell and I are headed to San Antonio for the week to visit with Darrell’s family. It’s been ages since we have seen his sister and her family so I am really looking forward to it. I am also going to work with my team on one of the days.

We hope to spend some of our time visiting the places we weren’t able to during our last visit when Darrell was in terrible pain from his evil kidney stone.

I hope I can sneak in a visit to Hoover’s for lunch if we go to Fry’s! I remember how sad I was when they closed their San Antonio restaurant. Oooh! Maybe I can twist Darrell’s arm and talk him into taking me to some cupcake shops in Austin too! Possibilities endless!