Life of Larisa or LOL

Ended the holiday weekend with a two-ish mile brisk ravine walk that turned jog and trip to the Farmers Market. Usually the ravine hike is a weekday morning excursion. A me and Zach only excursion. Today Isom and Gabe tagged along and we took a pit stop halfway to play in the open field. Zach took the opportunity to steal big brothers hat and pretend to graffiti the sidewalk. Several other families were out and about taking what looked to be family Christmas photos. Good thing we wrapped that up already. That freed up today for ravine-ing and farmers marketing. Our finds today included eggplant, kale, tomatoes, bananas, and POG (passion orange guava) jelly. Since the addition of Isom and Gabe didn't hinder our walk and even garnered goodies from the farmers market, I guess we will allow them to come ravine-ing with us again sometime.

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. A baby that cries with Santa, a 9 year old who set boobie traps on Thanksgiving...and being on the other side of the retail counter this year. No waking up at 10:00 pm for a midnight shift. No leaving the house an hour early to find parking. No folding piles of t-shirts only to be messed up seconds after straightening (at the store by a customer anyway). Instead, I got my hair cut, ate pumpkin cheesecake, took the boys to see Santa, and got an early Christmas present. I'd say my Friday was golden, not black. We were even productive---we took the pictures for and ordered our Christmas cards and had salad to cleanse ourselves from the gluttony of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving 2012, or pig out at The Majors, was fun (especially eating and drinking while admiring my new wainscoting). I even enjoyed some Turkey...Oreo ice cream turkey, much more enjoyable than the usual kind. So thankful for Baskin Robbins. And my friends and family, yeah yeah.

...the restaurant, not the plant, was a big hit for me. Saturday evening was my second night out in a row. Feeling lucky. The girls and I tried a newish Mexicanish restaurant in Kailua called Cactus. It's very fancy Mexican food. I had cilantro risotto with goat cheese mousse. Clearly a step up from Taco Bell. I washed my delicioso entree down with a guava/pear margarita (with salt) on the rocks. I know I'm always raving about how good my food is, but this was seriously better than good. Better than "yay I'm eating without the kids". Tastebud explosion. Our waitress was better than good too. Although it would appear I was on a date with my margarita drinking sidekick, I wasn't, but thought how nice it'd be to slurp margaritas and eat fancy guacamole on a date here with Isom. Cactus for drinks or elegantly crafted Mexican favorites, either or both were worth the drive over the mountains and through the tunnel. And the company was better than good too.

I had to add the "s" because I need to include myself. I was a warrior with my two boys this weekend while Isom was a home improvement warrior. I've always loved the look of wainscoting. I have always wanted a room in my house to have it. Isom granted my wish this weekend. It started with a slight nudge, nag, whatever, from me to him to fix our one dining room wall. It has been drywall without the prettiness of plaster and paint for quite some time now. I tried to make it work to my advantage at Halloween. That week was the only week I didn't mind the unfinished look too much. As with most of the improvement projects around here, a simple "pretty up my wall" project turned into new chandelier, full room paint job, and wainscoting. I'm happy with the end result, but the fumes drove me nutty for a bit, so I actually went for a two mile walk and then swimming just to avoid it. That was today. Yesterday's fume avoidance was a bit more indulgent---Starbu

I'm not sure if I should be pleased or disappointed with myself that the only "challenge" I can dedicate myself to at this time, is an Instagram monthly photo challenge. I am halfway through November, a week from Thanksgiving and Black Friday, and hours away from watching the highly anticipated Breaking Dawn 2. I thought I would share my amazing pictures from this prizeless challenge thus far. Enjoy. It's mostly food...again.