The Beginning Of My Vacation

This year marks the first year I have ever requested and taken a set vacation time off work.  I was so excited to top it off, and then some amazing news hit us.  My sweet baboo landed a new amazing union job, suddenly my vacation time off wasn't going to end up being HIS time off.  We originally planned on taking our annual camping trip this year, and still might since my vacation time lands during the August long weekend, may not happen.  Regardless I plan to make the most out of my vacation time whatever it ends up being, especially since I highly doubt we'll be able to get a camp ground for the long weekend.  I mean everything in B.C. is on a first come first serve basis for summer, making August long weekend a VERY desired date.  Especially for working families. 

But just because my hubby may or may not be able to get a full vacation like we had all originally planned I will still be taking my full time off.  I mean after all I have been working and I deserve a "break".  As much of a break as I can get with two boys in the house.  I also plan to take the time to collect boxes, and start packing up our house for the big move!  We are so thrilled to have gotten a GREAT three bedroom even closer to my sons school, making dropping him off and picking him up each day a LOT easier for mum.  The move is NOT gonna be easy so a little break before hand will be much appreciated lol.  By Sept 1st we'll be moved in and less condensed! 

Anyways to kick off our "blogcation" here I would like thank all the guest posters that I have taken the time to do a little something for me, making this vacation just that much easier.  So expect some awesome posts from some really awesome bloggies of mine!  So let me finish this post off and start my vacation with some pictures of camping trips past!

Eldest @ 6-ish months on our first camping trip as a family

Weaver Lake B.C.

off the edge of our camp site, gorgeous!!

the hobbit trail in the woods, I loved the moss EVERYWHERE, looks almost untouched.

Eldest enjoying his camping snack, gosh he has grown sooooo much!

See you when I get back everyone!! oxoxoxoxoxoxo

Cotto Enoteca Pizzaria

I have to share this with you, and I had to do so as soon as possible, why??!  Cause it was orgasmic and I have a ton of "food porn" here for you!!

Last night I got the chance to hit the cold opening for the Cotto Enoteca Pizzaria right across the street from my house.  I have been excited about this place opening once I started stalking their fb page, twitter and the head chefs, Alex Tung's, blog.  You go there you can see immediately why I was soo thrilled to try this place out.  Not to mention, use it as a way for me to break into the Vancouver restaurant blogging world. 

Hubby and I got all dressed up... well I got all dressed up, of course in one of my signature dresses and we picked a table out on the patio, of course right beside their potted herb garden.  Amazing and it even served as a "lap area" for the children there lol.  I really loved that little aspect.

Our waitress came around and I jumped right in on their Limone Cosmopolitan (made from their house made limoncello), by the way I really want them to sell that stuff by the bottle omg!!, which was to DIE FOR.  Oh my goodness I haven't had a cocktail so yummy and it wasn't too sweet which I LOVED.  I hate really sweet drinks, never work out for me, this was perfectly balanced and delicious.  It wasn't the only one I tried either but I did go back to it at the end of the dinner cause I just HAD to have another.  As I tweeted, if I am not home I will most likely be across the street drinking one... a few... of these lol!  Honestly I am wanting to go over there right now with both the kids just to have one again.  I may hit the "corner store" this evening and sneak in for one... naughty me.

Limone Cosmopolitan  

House made limoncello, Stolichnaya vodka, Prosecco, white cranberry juice

After we had settled with our drinks and finally made a couple choices on our appies we ordered two things, their calamari.  Honestly some of the best calamari I have ever had and I am willing to say they completely beat out Feenie's.  I definitely preferred this and the green salsa they paired it with I would lovingly let replace tzatziki for the rest of my life. 

Calamari Fritto

Crispy fried squid, marinated roma tomato, salsa verde 

as you can see I clearly deeply enjoyed my calamari

My hubby ordered the meat balls and they were just divine he said, served with fried pizza crusts to dip.  All night hubby and I kept saying how you don't need teeth to eat here everything just melts with goodness.  I would have licked my plate... granted that was socially acceptable, sadly it is not... frowny face...

Cotto Polpetti   

House made meatballs, crispy bread crumbs, San Marzano tomato sauce, fried pizza dough

In between our appies and main course we decided to try a couple more yummy drinks and I chose this one  made from a wild strawberry liqueur, I found it just lovely.  If you can see there are even miniature strawberries in the bottom of the glass there, they were very tasty too, not to mention adorable.

Fragoli Passione 

Fragoli wild strawberry liqueur, Prosecco, Tanqueray gin

Little Italy  

Crown Royal, Stock Rosso, Luxardo maraschino liqueur, bitters

I have to also mention that hubby found this lovely beer that night,the: R&B Brewing Sun God Wheat Ale, and he is completely in love.  He will be more in love when I tell him you can even bring your own wine to this place and for an uncorking fee for 20$ they'll happily serve it for you!  Not that you will need to bring in your own they have so many amazing choices I would suggest just trying a few different things and get adventurous! 

Anyways our main courses showed up and both of us nearly died.  I mean dear lord, I even cheated on my vegetarian diet to snag a piece of that steak.  Dear lord, I have no idea what kind of horrific leather I have been given at other places but nothing can be called steak after that.  I think this cow was either massaged to death or poked to death by babies, honestly no need for teeth you could suck this.  Oh my God, I am salivating just remembering it.  And mr. picky pants HATES balsamic vinegar... ate the WHOLE thing.  Again AMAZING, you HAVE to eat this, I can't stress this enough.  In fact all my friends will be forced to eat here... just you wait buddies, just you wait!

Bistecca alla Toscana  

Pemberton Meadows flatiron steak, arugula, grape tomato salad, Parmigiano-Reggiano, balsamico

As for myself I ordered this incredible prawn dish that I had to have, I have to admit the spicy whore sauce was really hard to pass up on, I just HAD to know!  Not to mention I am a lover of olives and capers so this was a no brainer even though it took me a good half hour to actually decided what I wanted.  I mean I can always come back across the street lol! 

Strozzapreti Gamberi Diavola   

Prawns, Sicilian olives, capers, tomato, spicy whore’s sauce

note that garnish is crispy basil... YUM!

I was completely full but wishing I could eat it all over again, we of course decided to end the night milking the baby sitter and taking a lovely after dinner walk, and when mommy's heels come off in the grass you know it has been a really lovely night. 

Overall:

• Great restaurant, lovely outdoor area with herb garden, staff was super nice!
• Orgasmic food, and incredible cocktails, wine and beer selection.
• I really loved the vibe of the place, all smiles and the kids were all having a ball being there and eating.
• Nice and close to my house, not necessarily a perk for you but for me I LOVE IT. 
• I really loved the work they went into making sure their staff had tasted all the food, really made the place stand out just that much more. 
• my hubby loved the fact that they had grappa, he ended the night with a shot lol!

I highly suggest this place HIGHLY.  

#ManCandyMonday - Channing Tatum

Today is a lazy monday for me, I had an amazing dinner last night and I am on my vacation time to late night mornings are definitely a norm right now.  In fact writing this I have been interrupted a few times already... I am only a sentence in...  Anyways I was racking my brain when I realized I haven't done a Channing Tatum #ManCandyMonday yet.  I think the main reason is that hubby still hasn't taken me to Magic Mike and our torrent site is down right now so there is no telling if I will get myself a copy of that to watch anytime soon.  I heard there wasn't enough nudity, I mean come on, we may be women but once in a while we like to completely objectify men too... hopefully without threat of an actual story line we have to follow.  Mindless sexy men, sounds good to me!

f YES please, I love these men... I can't even stop looking at Bomer, hell I need to see this movie

don't rub your eyes... this is the REAL stripper channing heehee bleach blonde hair and eyebrow piercings... so 90s

yes... whatever you want YES lol

um... can I have a peep hole into this change room??!

why yes I would love a beer thank you!

I would like to also take this sexy time to welcome our new visitors/followers from the Naptime Review Monday Mingle.  I love this blog hop, lots of people, I always find someone new and amazing.  So welcome, it is really nice to meet you! Leave a comment, follow me and I really look forward to getting to know you!
Happy #ManCandyMonday!

all images from google images

How am I messy you ask??

As some of you know I had a chance early this month to write a featured article for the Organized Mom Awards and I was so excited I jumped at the chance.  I happily wrote about how I manage to stay organized, as best as possible, running an in home daycare five days a week and having all boys.  Not to mention my sweet baboo.  So I thought that today I would take a different route and talk about how I am horrifically messy.... I am not going to enjoy this... not at all...

the couch is in there somewhere....

1. I hate folding clothes and my room is always a horrible, horrible mess.... no jokes... I have a couch in my room that isn't a couch anymore it is a mountain of clothing that I refuse to fold.  I really hate doing it.  With youngest always tearing apart his dressers we've gotten to the point where we don't fill them anymore.  Honestly he will throw it EVERYWHERE!! 
2. I have a stroller parked in my front hallway that always ends up as a shoe hiding spot.  Mainly for when I vacuum... that way I can push it around out of my way etc... God I need a shoe rack, perhaps a clean front hallway closet.  
3. Lastly my sink is CONSTANTLY full of dishes even when there is a dish rack full of dishes right next to it that I have already done many an hour before hand.  Reason I need a dishwasher or at LEAST two sinks! 

our shoe rack... its mobile!

mummy's never ending battle... Venus fly trap understands me...

But what is this all about Eschelle??

Why are you telling us what a horrible pig you are??

Well it is all leading into the fact that the wonderful people @ Stuck on you, who are also helping with the organized mom awards, are giving away to TWO winners a 50% off voucher to their website!  That is AMAZING they have some GREAT stuff that you will really want to have with school comes back in September and that is only just a little ways away!! So I suggest you enter, tell your friends and get to winning!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

A while ago I went to a baseball game and forgot to tell you...

So last weekend, the 21st to be exact, we all headed out on a great night.  We were all stoked to be without the kids for a night and completely took advantage of it by inviting a friend of ours along.  We were stoked!!  Since I took so many photos I figured I would give your heads a rest and just give you a look at some of our pictures from the night! 

the lovely view from our seats!

we got in with the beer guy cause that is necessary and we apparently know him, been there since he was 13yrs old!

clearly enjoying ourselves!

more like "no fun section"!!

again the view from our seats... sun is going down...

really into the game! By the way those fries she is eating are the best fries I've EVER had!!

the sweepers break out in dance SWEET! now I know why there are so many women in the crowd...

me enjoying myself... yes I'm using my bra as a purse don't judge me...

the fireworks @ the end of the night were sooo awesome!

We overall had a great time, were lucky enough to have a ton of $5 coupons that we only paid for one beer there, and the best part... they were only 5 bucks!!!! I would suggest this even if you aren't into baseball, trust me you will get into it!! You should check out Nat Bailey before the season is out... every Saturday is a firework night!!

Stan's Pizza Joint

Alright last night I didn't want to make dinner, I had just done all the dishes and I wasn't up for making a huge mess.  I have no dishwasher, only one sink and ALWAYS have a full sink.  In fact I can do dishes, walk around the house and end up with a full sink all over again.  I have such a problem with dishes that I have a rash on my right hand that doesn't get a chance to go away BECAUSE i do dishes to much.  Honestly the dr. told me I do dishes too much, i need gloves blah blah blah.  If you have ever used rubber gloves you know just how hard it is to do dishes with them on... it is horrible and I take twice as long.  Not to mention I end up with still greasy dishes so I gave up trying to use them again.

Anyways all these factors and more lead me to open up my takeout menu stash.  I save all the menus we get in the mail for coupons and more dinner options when we're in a pinch.  We only really get take out once a month really so when we do we want something yummy.  Now that I am a vegetarian I am all for variety without ordering from two different places or ending up with a lame cheese pizza.  You know since hubby and the kids would rather remove their teeth than chew on a vegetarian pizza.  So I thought well heck why not find something new.

I went with pizza....

but here is the clincher, I found a place with variety much like Hot Oven (another pizza joint hubby isn't much of a fan of something about the crust... the crust I LOVE) that had more than a few different pizzas I knew I could get into called Stan's Pizza Joint.  My hubby is super picky so I knew he was having the hawaiian or what they call the "Aloha Special."  For myself I had it narrowed down to THREE choices:

The Santa Fe: Fresh cut spinach, sun dried tomato, artichoke hearts, feta and red peppers
The Popeye: Fresh cut spinach, artichoke hearts, feta, black olives, and tomato
Pesto Amore: Pesto sauce, sun dried tomato, artichoke and feta. 

Clearly I had a hard time narrowing it down but decided on the Pesto Amore since it has been a while since I have had a chance to enjoy a slice of pesto pizza downtown.  So I called in my order to a really friendly sounding dude, was told 45 min and I happily waited whilst giving the brats a bath.  When they arrived all of us were VERY ready to chow down and fill our bellies.  Since they have a great 2 for 1 option my total was under 30.00 for two mediums, very happy about that! 

Aloha Special

Pesto Amore

DELISH!

As you can see we dug in before I remembered I needed pictures lol!!! Both were a hit with both the kids, and of course hubby wouldn't eat the pesto one but he LOVED the aloha special.  Even I wanted to cheat on my veggie diet to give it a taste, but I didn't.  As you know I don't like fruit and meat lol!!

Overall:

• I was happy with the service over the phone: friendly and efficient.
• The pizza arrived on time and SUPER HOT, delivery boy was cheerful and friendly as well. 
• Both my kids sat down and ate willingly, asked for seconds and enjoyed my vegetarian option. 
• Picky pants loved his pizza thoroughly and even ate more later that night... he has been eating twice as much working this new job. 
• Plenty of toppings and super tasty!
• Nice cheap price, and free delivery within 5km!

I was definitely happy and will be ordering again for sure!


This review was done out of my own pocket as a way to enter the "restaurant review" world here in Vancouver... not that I go out much... but when I do... expect to hear about it!

Think About it Thursday [p2]

I have been given the honor of co-hosting, along with my other two great buddies: Home Made Simple and Tim and Angi's Blog, to bring to this great meme we have created; you know I talked about this on it's birth date and of course again when we saw it begin last week!  We of course named it Think About it Thursday, this week I would love to see even more linkers to this amazing meme!  So let's all get started!!




<a href="http://www.mumfection.com/"><img src="http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa339/HomeMaidSimple/ThinkThursday.jpg" alt="BWS tips button" width="150" height="175" /></a>
This week's topic:

What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?

When it comes to this topic I have a really simple stance on this... the south park stance.  I agree with them completely on the fact that if you can't joke about everything than you shouldn't be able to joke about anything.  I agree with the fact that you can't censor this kind of stuff.  I mean life is horrible sometimes... if you can't laugh or joke about it what can you do?!?!?!  Cry and dissolve in a corner that's what! So I think everything should be on limits.

Look at South Park for instance, the entire backbone of their show is based on being able to make fun of, satire, mock, and down right bully EVERYONE.  No one is off limits to them and they shouldn't be, I mean hell if they were THAT would be discrimination RIGHT?!  I know things are touchy subjects sometimes, there are things that I don't even think are funny, walk out of the room for but I wouldn't by any means want that censored.

Us moms here in the blogging world know all to well what censorship can do to the soul.  It is so hard to really be yourself out here and put yourself and everyone in your family out there on the web.  Some of us do and some of us don't and I respect everyone whatever their choice. 
 
Next Weeks Topic:

"Has education become more about temporary results and grades than long-term success and knowledge?"


The ground rules:

1. No Giveaways or reviews please, we want to stick to our topic or whatever thought provoking topic you have decided on your own.  We want to get to know you personally not what you like or give out right?  
2. Make sure that you follow all the hosts via GFC and/or Facebook! (Mumfection, Home Maid Simple, Tim and Angi's)
3. Only thought provoking posts, which is why we always have a great topic for you prepared in case you are just having a blank day. 
4. Make sure your post has our Think About it Thursday button!
   
5. Have fun, make some friends, follow, comment thoughtfully and above all else be respectful! Don't forget to let people know which hop your visiting from!   
6. Suggest a topic, this is not mandatory, but we would love your input and we will definitely consider it for future meme's!!  If your topic is chosen you could end up receiving an e-mail giving you a chance to be one of the co-host's!!! 

So link up and have some GREAT fun, meet some great new bloggers and of course welcome to all the new visitors and followers!! I love your comments and I can't wait to go check all of you out! Remember you aren't obligated to stick to the topic, heck talk about something that you're thinking about today, just keep it meaningful!! :)


images courtesy of South Park.... DUH

Hard Lemonade and Bubble Wrap!!

Yesterday I was interrupted by a really obnoxious buzzing first thing in the morning (of course during circle time), I answered and it was clearly a delivery man.  As he walked up the stairs I remembered him right away, last time I saw him I asked him how he was and he responded in a grumble "Oh, i'm just livin' the dream!"  Clearly hates his job.  This time I just didn't ask and signed as quickly as possible... after all he did carry this all the way up three floors of stairs.  No I don't have an elevator... that's one reason I will definitely be happy to move lol.

Once I opened the package I just started laughing. I have never received BOOZE in the mail before, I can honestly say they should make this happen cause it is pretty awesome!  I quickly emptied the contents into my fridge to chill for the day and prepare themselves for genocide once my work day ended.  In the mean time I made sure to pass along that AMAZING bubble wrap to the kiddos!  It was a HUGE hit.

All day long I could hear them calling my name from inside the fridge, I had to go give them a stern talking to a few times and informed them I they had to wait and to stop pleading for their lives.  They were doomed.

First victim...

Once my hubby had returned home and all the kids were out of our hair I sat down with my first victim of the evening.  Informed it that it's end was near and there was no one to save him....

a hole in the head = delicious for me!

enjoying my mass genocide a little too much...

Oh and the wait was so well worth it.  A lovely ice tea trickled down my throat and my tummy was happy.  A long day with a GREAT treat at the end of it.  A well deserved moment for mum and dad.  I didn't even feel guilty about it, all made from natural pure leaf tea and cane sugar!  American Vintage Hard Iced Tea contains no preservatives or artificial color and is 100% derived from natural ingredients.  They taste like a spiked Brisk Iced Tea if you have ever had one of those.  I really enjoyed them... even if I didn't complete the mass genocide lol.  I was even thinking, since they aren't carbonated, that they would work really really well in slushee form!!  Imagine?!?!  PERFECT for a summer party, BBQ etc... heck even good to take to the beach in a cooler!  So go grab some and make your Wednesday just that much better!!!