Life of Larisa or LOL

...yes, you read that correctly. Me. The one who only uses her iPhone to capture life's brilliant moments. Me. The one who has a bad eye for what will photograph well. Me. The one who tends to have a shaky hand and therefore blurry photos. Me. The one who is beyond excited for this little challenge. Each day in February (so tomorrow), I will have to take a photo from a list I have been given from my friend Tobi. Thank goodness February is the short month. Each day, I'll take my pre-determined photo and each day I will write a little post about it here. Yay. I don't have to come up with February topics...it has been decided. Thank you Tobi. To get things started, I'll end this post with a photo entitled "Gabe In A Dress". Thank you Tutu.

...you know when I find something good that I like, I always have to share. Here is my latest find via Tobi . Admittedly, I have not used my Kindle as much as I would have thought...still buying books in their natural state. BUT, when I do take a trip or finish reading all the books in my "to read" stack, I do intend to use my Kindle like I eat dessert...so, a lot. Thus, I need a cute Kindle carrying case. Luckily I know just the gal with cute taste and an obsession for reading just like me. Thanks to our friendship that is super techie these days (really does help to bridge the distance gap), I saw another version of my super cute Kindle case on Instagram. I was smitten. I had to order one of my very own right away. So I did. It's a short love story really. Saw it. Loved it. Ordered it. Got it. Still loving it. You too can fall in love at goodnightmoontheshop on Etsy .

Happy birthday to the dad that likes to coordinate with Zach... Happy birthday to the dad who is not squeamish about hospitals and operating rooms... Happy birthday to the world traveler...this was Thailand... Happy birthday to a world class daddy for Gabe... Happy birthday to the husband who humors me in going out to eat...weekly... Happy birthday to the beach goer... Happy birthday to my pleasant, easy going friend... Happy birthday to you whether we are in the same place or not...can't wait to celebrate with you when you return from this trip and add to the collection of photos and memories. Happy birthday to my favorite husband.

...can also be perfect coconut cupcakes. Just add frosting and sprinkles. I enjoy baking projects...you might have noticed. I especially enjoy baking when I need to take my mind off Isom being away on business. I even more especially enjoy baking (like that good grammar?) when the ingredients some how include coconut. These muffins are on the top ten muffin list. Perfect degree of moistness. Perfect texture. Perfect snack. Perfect breakfast. Perfect dessert. Perfect taste. Thus, the perfect coconut muffin. And they are perfectly photogenic.

Thank goodness for the library. There's no way I'd have room in my house for all of the great recipe books out there. Like the proud hoarder of books that I am, I would obviously want them all. I look at the library as my storage unit, holding all my books for when I need them...once or twice a year. Today marks Isom's birthday eve, a day off from school for Gabe, and the observance of Martin Luther King Jr's birthday. Obviously we took this opportunity to bake brownies. From scratch. We melted our butter (stove top, no microwave). We melted our semi sweet and unsweetened chocolate (also stove top). We mixed our eggs, sugar, vanilla, flour and salt together. We greased our pan. We waited anxiously for the ingredients to magically meld into a delicious mid morning dessert. After exactly thirty minutes at 375, our fudgy brownies were ready. After a few minutes of cooling, we cut into the pan and discovered a perfect batch of brownies. Gabe enjoyed it so mu

...and I take the most boring pictures of the big event that you can imagine. I also discover that I have got to start taking pictures with an actual camera and not my iPhone. Even I am realizing how ridiculous it is to have the second child's life moments captured solely on a phone. After the previous post, it's hard to look at any picture that isn't superb. I'll try to manage though. This is when having your own personal photographer would definitely come in handy. We recently took Zach for his four month well baby check up. We learned that he is a whopping 20 pounds. A lengthy 27 inches. And ready to try something other than breast milk for nourishment. Enter rice cereal...and breast milk. A winning combination. A sticky, slightly messy combination. Although you wouldn't know it based on these pictures. Zach maintained a relatively clean face and high chair for his first solid food feeding. There was one spoonful that made it to his hair and his ey

There aren't many places where you can be poolside with friends in January. I feel lucky that I live in a place where you can. I also feel lucky to have great friends...especially ones so skilled in the art of photography. These pictures aren't from a professional photo shoot but I feel like they are. They are spectacular. I love them. And of course I had to share them. Thanks to Malia for the fun impromptu pool play date. Thanks to Mai Ly for capturing a Hawaiian afternoon in the sun on film. I hope you enjoy these pictures of the boys as much as I do. When I look at these photos, I am reminded of all that's good in my life right now...and it's a lot.

...fun with cookie dough on a stick. Lately I have been taking baking inspiration from Pillsbury. That fat dough boy has some good ideas. A cookie on a stick is one of them. You too can be the master of the eight year old set when you mix up your favorite sugar cookie recipe (everyone has one), roll the dough into small sugary balls and insert a Popsicle stick. Once your cookies have baked and cooled, you add your favorite frosting (homemade or store bought), sprinkle sprinkles and the only cookie that doesn't get your hands dirty has been created. It was a fun last baking project before Isom's trip to Japan. And now I know what treat I'll be baking up for Valentine's Day---pink hearts on a stick.

I have been spending a substantial amount of online time on Pinterest. I can't explain why it is so addicting. I can't explain why every idea on there seems like the best idea you have ever heard of or seen in your entire life. Here is one of them. For New Year's Eve, the menu was pupus and desserts. For our part, we decided to make a Greek Yogurt dip with Pita bread for dipping (the pupu) and bite sized caramel apples (the dessert). The photo above was the Pinterest inspiration. The photo below was our take on it. Both dip and dessert turned out terrific...you can tell by the happy party goers below...

...the year of the dragon that is. My year...every twelve years anyway. I'm excited to start this new year off. Although I already haven't done a good job of keeping up with my blog in the new year. Here four days have already passed by and I am just now getting around to writing a post. I'm hoping for more of a daily regimen...my exercise for my fingers. I have not troubled myself with making, keeping, or breaking any resolutions (unless you count the goal of trying to blog more frequently). I have however, been thinking about fun ways to incorporate a theme to my baking/blogging for each month. For example, January could be all about brownies. All baking in January would be some sort of brownie inspired creation and post...February could be all about muffins. You see where I'm going with this. We'll see if it actually happens. In the meantime, since I last set fingertips to keys, we have been entertaining ourselves with holiday fun and food. I think I gained ten p