DB challenge to come!

Hey... I'm still working on it!

Give me a break already :)

My (most humble) apology!

I've been gone for far too long. This past month and a half have taken a toll on me. There's been illness, death, robberies, etc. that has kept me away from my blog for some time now. All I can say is that I've miss you all and that I hope to gain your interest back. Due to my home being robbed, I no longer have a digital camera. I'm limited to what all I can show you, so just bare with me. Mr. J did say that it was ok to get another one.... so we'll see.

I received a phone call today from Ms. K.H. (I'm not going to insert her name, but she knows who she is). She told me that she was looking at my site and commented that I purchased my HOMEMADE pies at Marie Calender's. I'll kick her butt later for this comment, but it made me think about how long it's been since I blogged. Way too long, so I'm back... I hope you missed me.

-----
(about my phone call)
To know KH is to love her. This is Ms. "1RUFRYD"/ "RUFRYDR"/ 'You Remind Me of My Jeep' in the flesh (she owned a Jeep Wrangler when it was COOL). This crazy ass woman that introduced me to 3 things that I'll never forget: The Mirage (a strip club in LA/Inglewood, circa 1992), frozen peach cobbler (only sold at the Ralph's by our house) and how eating always made everything better (she also showed me how to truly piss off my uncle by painting his toe nails while he slept). I can't tell you how fun my first year of working out at LAX was because of my mom, my uncle and KH. Late nights and early mornings would have never been the same if it wasn't for all the ignorant stuff we use to do.

I acknowledge my learning to wear high heels, hoochie mama shorts and low-cut, revealing shirts to both KH and Be-Be, her sister (may she rest in peace). We would get up early on Sunday, attend church (at Mt Zion, off Broadway and Manchester), go back to Be-Be's house, eat, eat some more, sleep, make peach cobbler, get dressed and head out to the Mirage (all in one day). These women had all of the men in this place drooling all over them, and they never minded having a "young buck" hanging out with them. I was learning the ropes from the best...and I learned A LOT! (I spare you the details of how a friend of ours obtained the nickname of "screamer")

KH's favorite words back then were "E-e-e-a-s-s-y Tiger!"... a saying that I still use today.

Thanks KH for the call, I needed the boost.
P.s. Give the recipe for that damn gumbo!

Happy Valentine's Day!

From me to you!

Do I look 1 years old?

..and now the Cake!

So, Chris' birthday party was wonderful. Inspite of the rain, we had a packed house filled with friends and family. Thank you to everyone who made the trip in the rain, and waited patiently for me to finish the cake (that damn cake). Grandma, Jerome, Sindhu and Prasidini came ALL THE WAY from S.D.; Grandpa drove in from Temecula; G-Mama came in from Lawndale; Shawna, Jim and Maya came from Lakewood; Carla and Jayla came all the way from Hawhtorne (;>)and Aimee, Mariah and Chynna came from next door! Uncle Tom mailed in a beautiful blanket (he lives in Palm Springs but the blanket came from Alaska.

We dined on pigs in a blanket, sliders, spinach/artichoke dip, vegetables, etc.

It was truly a blessing to have you all in our home. We hope to see you all real soon.

So ON TO THE CAKE.
What started off as being a simple 2-layer chocolate cake in the shape of a football, turned into a 4-layer, 2-flavor cake, in the shape of a football.
Anyway, Chris didn't seem to mind, he loved it:


Here's the cake assembled...

crumb coated...

cutting into the cake...

fondant applied... (look at the swirl effect -that I wasn't trying to achieve)


The recipes came out of this book, which I recieved as a Christmas gift. I truly love this book.

Happy Birthday "Christian"

We made it!
Today we will be celebrating Chris turning 1 years old. It's truly a blessing for us to make it to this milestone. He's such a wonderful baby and more handsome than we could have hoped for. 1 year ago today (at 7:..am) I was eagerly waiting for the doctor to tell me to "push." It had been a long night with no progress in labor (I stayed at 3 cm for about 13+ hours). After 8:38 nothing else mattered as we were able to hold our little guy for the first time.


Here was chris' first diaper change (by his mommy):


...and here is the famous picture of our cable remote kicking Chris' butt (look how big that remote looks compared to the baby):


Well, I'll be back later. It's raining outside but I still have to prepare for Chris' 1st birthday party. It's a Super Bowl themed one (duh) complete with a football cake (that I'm making myself). Wish me luck.

T minus 2 (days) and counting!

Can you believe it? Chris will be turning 1 years old on Sunday (02.03.08).
This year has certainly gone by way too quickly. Watching him walk around, kicking
balls and trying to play with his big brother and sister is truly amazing.

Now begins the hectic "Pre-Party Shopping" to get ready for Sunday.

Wish me luck, I'm planning some cool treats and food for the day, Super Bowl style.
(Yooo Hooo TRISH!... we will be partaking on the dip, so I'll tell you how it turned out)