My new blog has now been moved to My Angel’s Kisses.com, so for any new updates, please head over to my new website. I have also imported all entries from the blog, so if there is something you are looking for here, you will still be able to find it at the new location.

Thank you to EVERYONE who has been a reader. I appreciate all of your support.

I got in the car this morning, on our merry way… and what do I hear?? You may want to get ready to run to the fridge (or store) for this… Today, July 30th, has been National CHEESECAKE Day!!

No… I am not pulling this out of my sleeve. No… I did not make it up JUST for sweets, either!!!

If you are still looking for dinner plans… head on over to Cheesecake Factory if you’ve got one close! All day today, they are honoring this, sweet, day by offering all slices of cheesecake (get ready again…) …… half off!! And another thing I will mention is that they are offering gift cards for a free slice of cheesecake with a $30 purchase good through September 17th. This I know, because we got TWO gift cards.

I jokingly asked DH if we could have Cheesecake Factory for dinner tonight. His computer decided to die on him again just after I asked, so he said that his computer decided that he needed to take us to dinner. /GRIN! It was a very good dinner – and their children’s chicken strips, are amazing!

It was so sweet of him to take us out tonight! So… if you have no plans for dinner tonight… Go snatch some cheesecake!!

We got home to find something quite cool waiting for us. We now have valet service… for our TRASH! That’s right. Every night of the week, minus Fridays and Saturdays, all we have to do is tie up the garbage and stick it outside our door at the given time. They come by and take it all away for us! Gee, now I may never have to walk to the garbage ever again while we live here! Not that that was particularly difficult to do seeing as the dumpster is right behind our building… but still!

Anyway, I just thought that was the coolest thing. Talk about spoiled!!

Although, I can’t count the time as a COMPLETE disaster (even though at least 90% has been). I got to meet and talk with Rob Alexander who is a fantasy artist for the whole weekend. This morning, he even – personally :) – showed me around his website and requested to see the ones that I have done myself. He even really liked my work and said if he didn’t already have a site he would be using me!!! Can we say MAJOR compliment??!!!! I love fantasy art, and even though I can’t stand Magic: The Gathering, he does a ton of other work… and it’s all, spectacular!

So tomorrow we get to wake up and begin the, very, long 8 hour van ride back. But, at least we won’t have to be waking to an alarm, or rushing to get ready for anything. Once we get everyone dropped off, THEN we get to go get our Baby Bug!

Ironically, it was just meant to be today I assume. I had JUST been thinking about this picture of our younger 3-year-old cat named Izzy. Being ready to curl up once again in my own soft bed, tucked in and warm. And there’s also just the fact of, who doesn’t love just browsing through pictures of cute animals and reading the history of the shot taken.

So, here is our Izzy, all curled up and ready for bed one night.

I have never been a fan of these tournaments that I have been escorted to this weekend. But I will admit, that I usually end up meeting some pretty cool people. This weekend I have been chatting with Rob Alexander, an artist that creates some of the pretty neat images for the cards in Magic, The Gathering – like this meadow picture, pretty… no? He kept walking by as I sit in the same ol’ seat watching the people pass by and eventually started conversing. And as I get a little side-tracked this morning, he came by and said a good morning! Ah, the interesting people you can meet.

I now have my comfy seat back. See, I knew I was going to outlast anyone who would be working this morning! Ok, that’s a little sad, but if I am going to be sitting here browsing through blogs and thinking of grand new things to write, it’s good to be comfy, no? I even found my own room service here in the lobby! Alright that’s exaggerating… DH came by and took the money, so I sweetly asked for a Starbucks.

On to another day… have a great weekend!

I have been so blessed to be offered a position with 5 Minutes for Mom and 5 Minutes for Giveaways as their Contests Administrative Assistant. These are the most wonderful group of ladies, pretty much, ever! I will be doing my best to keep everyone in the loop for your own chances to enter… so keep checking back!

I am SO excited that my little Bug will be turning two on August 17th!! Well, OK, I can’t lie. I’m excited, but it’s also depressing to see my Angel be already getting – so – darn – BIG! Is it a little sad that the biggest thing that I am looking forward too will be making his cake?! He LOVES the color green; anything green. For his first birthday, we made him a turtle cake… this year… he’s getting a full 3D dinosaur!! The trial cake has already come and gone, so I will leave the pictures until after his party. It’s just about too cute to devour, that much is for sure!

I think I forgot to mention – I am posting this weekend coming from Kansas City! I am only here by request of my lovely DH, who is in a tournament over the weekend. Now, I’m a traveling girl. I LOVE traveling, road trips, and everything involved. But man, oh, man! This had to have been one of the most strenuous drives, just about ever. So while the boys are off doing their own things in their tournament, I am lounging here in the lobby with my computer plugged in, my notebook conveniently opened for noting important things, and my bottle of water next to me. I can’t complain too much! Except I will say, that Bug is staying with my in-laws while we are away. Five days without my little Baby Love… it’s going to be a very – long – five – days. I miss him already.

Until next time, keep a lookout for links for fun contests! And I will also be finding more of my great recipes to keep everyone in the kitchen. It’s always fun cooking with friends (even if it is virtually), no?

So, for anyone having a bad day, just remember……

STRESSED is just DESSERTS spelled backwards!!

And we all know that Life is too short, so you should always eat dessert first. So… go indulge a bit!

To start, I am the kind of person who MUST have my day, or week, or month, what have you, mapped and scheduled down to the letter. I thrive on organization, make a million lists every day, and go insane without things all sitting in perfect angles where ever I’m working.

Today was supposed to start off pretty simple. My Little Man had to stay home sick today, so we had a short little list of priorities to tackle and then it would be home to relax. Well, I guess the words “were supposed to…” should tip off the direction of my day’s story…

The list was simple. Get up and ready, head to the store for waters, Gatorade, and some ice pops since my son is on an all clear liquids diet. Then head to one last store to find him a good pair of little sandals. Easy enough, right? Wrong.

As we are walking to the car, all psyched for our outing, Mommy looks in the car and it hits… the car seat is in Daddy’s car, with Daddy at work! So we take a little detour and tromp around our neighborhood for a while. By the time we got back, it was nap time as we waited for a car seat delivery at lunch time.

Time goes by, the car seat is delivered by my great husband who came home for us and naps come to a close. And then, the real fun begins… !

We load up, stop at the gas station to fill up, and head out to Kohl’s department store – one of our favorites. We chat with a few employees that I used to work with, find Little Bit his prize sandals (that he, of course, wanted to wear to bed…), and start of to the grocery store for the last bit of our journey. Only to be caught with just a LITTLE snag… I turn the key and our van wouldn’t start!!!

Back into the store we go. We make our way back to the customer service desk and call my husband. He comes to jump the car, and has to take it back with him to work to change the battery…

So all in all, the car seat ended up back in Daddy’s car. Daddy had to take two extra long lunches to rescue us from stranded fun (or maybe that’s from spending extra money at Kohl’s he was saving himself from?). And our sick little boy has not gotten any better.

Oh, such fun days!

Oh! I almost forgot! I had made a trial dinosaur birthday cake for a certain someone turning two in August. Hubby had taken it to work, since it wouldn’t have gotten eaten here at home. And then, Mr. Dino decided that he didn’t want to be eaten and slipped off the tray as Daddy was getting out of the car. Sad dinosaur!