Life of Larisa or LOL

...and his last. That beach is beautiful, no doubt about it. But the sand is the pits. It is super duper extra fine. It is super duper extra sticky. And it is super duper extra irritating when you have a five month old in tow. However, we survived and managed to walk away with some super duper extra cute photos from Zach's first trip to Lanikai. Enjoy with a smile and a giggle.

The February Photo Challenge continues. I am having a hard time multi-tasking. If I am busy taking award winning photos with my iPhone then I can't possibly blog also. That's my excuse for my lack of blogging. The photo challenge continues to be fun. Another version of it I would like to try would be all the same topics but as they pertain to Starbucks. I might actually have to get creative. So here's what you've been missing... Day 15. Phone... this is my new phone case. It doubles as Zach's chew toy. Day 16. Something New ...love finding a new snack. Chicks are the new goldfish. Day 17. Time ...the time I was desperate for my caffeine and received it from my trusty old friend Starbucks. Day 18. Drink ...an ice cold Coke from a glass bottle. Almost as good as Starbucks. Almost. Day 19. Something I Hate To D o...Mad Libs. Mad Libs with an 8 year old. Love my kid. Dislike his idea of a funny story via Mad Libs. It's almost as bad as laundry. Al...

I have neglected to post daily. But here's the gist of what's been going on with the photo challenge. Still fun. Still happening. Still bad photography. Day 8: Sun ...too bad my sunshine wasn't smiling. He drew me a nice sun to take a picture of though. Day 9: Front Door ...of the my newest breakfast place discovery. You can eat chicken and waffles here...or if you are vegetarian, a fried Twinkie. Day 10: Self portrait ...although does it count if the hubby took the picture? This was me on my 36th birthday. Reading and lounging. Day 11: Makes You Happy ... Day 12: Inside Your Closet ...my hall closet. Here you'll find Twilight and Hello Kitty posters and a bunch of junk. The posters are not in the junk pile. Day 13: Blue ...I was happier than a person should be that Blue Monday came up on my iPod playlist on Monday and on the "blue" day challenge. I'm officially a dork. Day 14: Heart ...well, this was too easy.

Button, button, who's got the button? I do. I've got a cute button nosed baby boy. Cute as a button with his big blue eyes. I couldn't resist snapping this photo of baby button for today's photo challenge---button of course!

Half eaten pizza. This represents a typical dinner...snack...lunch...breakfast for me. Day six photo challenge was dinner. We didn't have anything extraordinary, but I guess none of the photos from the challenge have been extraordinary. Just fun. I'd like to do a month long food photo challenge...that would be fun for taking the pictures as well as eating. Look for that in March...

Pretty exciting stuff around here. On tomorrows agenda, watching paint dry. I always thought a house with two boys would be chaotic and wild. I guess not at ten in the morning.

...very sad to say that my "stranger" was fruit. Not a person. I couldn't muster the guts to take a "people of Wal-mart" photo. Fruit has never been my passion. I know it's weird. But, over the past couple of years I have actually gotten better with my lack of fruit consumption. I probably did the best I've done my whole life when I was pregnant with Zach. I tried to eat a banana or apple every single day. So, for the non fruit lover, a lot of fruit was consumed over a nine month period. And then my little bundle of joy arrived and I was over all the fruit. Almost six months have passed and until taking my mango photo, I hadn't thought about fruit. So, I guess it's time for a strawberry cupcake or something.

How handy. A book. Hands down a favorite book...and it's all about...HANDS. Perfect for day three of the photo challenge. Today was the easiest so far. Books and food are my favorite things to photograph so I was happy to incorporate a book, even if it's a book for kids, in the picture challenge. This book shares all the things a monkey could do with their hands...except taking pictures. Maybe in the remake.

Surprisingly I did not go for a book for day two's challenge---words. And I guess technically it is only a word, not words. But, this was my view (incorporating day one and day two together) of words---Zach's onesie . In one word I get humor, truth, and simplicity. Perfect. Day two, checked off.

...who knew a picture of "my view" would be so hard. The first day of the photo challenge was...challenging. The obvious picture would be palm trees, a rainbow, mountains, the beach. But on Wednesday that honestly wasn't my view. Below were runners up for what I could have picked for my view but in the end I chose the picture at the top...a trashy magazine and my newest baking tool. "My view" was reading about celebrity gossip while my brownie pops baked. I had to keep it real. My musical view... My boy view... My constant view... My Zach napping view... My couch view...

...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...