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Cereal is one of Elli's favorite meals. I know most people would probably say cereal for breakfast is a favorite. But for Elli eating cereal anytime is a good thing. So when The Clever Girls asked all of us CG's if we'd like to try a sample of a new cereal I said yes before I even read what kind of cereal it was. I'm always buying cereal so a few free boxes sounded good to me. Even if they're only sample sizes. We wouldn't receive compensation for a review. But we would get the cereal shipped to us. A few weeks went by and I got a box in the mail. Don thought I ordered something and looked at me with a little bit of curiosity on his face - which I find hilarious. The man is addicted to buying things online - so why would he care if I ordered something too? Sheesh. Anyway, we opened the box to find two neatly packaged boxes of cereal on top of red shredded paper. A tag was glued to the lid with the promo info. The presentation was very professional. I ...

ahhhh. The sequel to the blockbuster comedy. Good idea or not? Sequels are tricky. Especially when it's a funny, slapstick comedy that had you laughing so hard you nearly spit out your coke and choked on your popcorn. Those movies often pop out a sequel. Mainly because they made so much fricken money the first time around. Of course they will tell you it was because they had such an amazing time making it they want to get together again. Uh, yeah. We're not stupid ya' know. We know you made a slapstick comedy, it was a way bigger hit than you expected, and you can now shop at Whole Foods without looking at the prices. And you're kind of digging that. So here we are with The Hangover Part II out this weekend. Don and I loved the first one. It was one of those movies where we kept recalling scenes and laughing all over again - the tooth scene, the tiger in the bathroom, Heather Graham, that crazy guy in the trunk, and Mike Tyson. Do you think that was real...

We got a fun prompt for The Red Dress Club and it has me totally stumped. I have been thinking about what to write for days and I can't think of anything that will get me from point A to point B. The prompt was to start with "This was absolutely the last time" and end with "she was wrong."  This was absolutely the last time ..... I would be single.....too cliche I would reach in the big ol, now almost empty, bag of cheetos.....too cheesy I would walk down this hall....and then what? I would say frickin.....okay I would drive the old smelly Cutlas.....yes, but.... I would.........blaaaah. I got nuthin. The culprit? The second part of the prompt "she was wrong" made my forehead thump. grrrr. "She" is my enemy right now. In fact, since "she" is wrong "she" should go away. Shoo. Shoo!!!! So here we are. I'll be reading my pals posts over at TRDC. But no linking up for me today. Finding a job is really ...

  Last weekend we were visiting my sister and her family in Buellton. It's about 300 miles south of here. Kind of a long drive for a regular, non 3-day weekend. But it was worth it so we could see my niece dance in her ballet recital with the Los Olivos Dance Gallery . Maya was amazing in the recital on Saturday. The dance studio is so popular the show is 3+ hours. Don and the guys took a little break from all the fun and went to a local pub at half-time, aka intermission. They missed all the big girls dance, and we missed all the heavy sighing and constant shifting and fidgeting in their seats. Ha. Not really. It was a gorgeous, sunny day on Sunday, so we all decided to visit a winery at lunchtime. We went to Sunstone first, where we all ooed and aah'd over their Merlot.  And then headed to Gainey Vineyards for wine tasting and a picnic. It's a gorgeous place with really yummy wines. We tasted five. Each one of us had our favorite. Here's what the family had...

The box was high on the shelf in the closet underneath Monopoly and on top of Clue and Scrabble. The gray corners dinged and torn. The top creased and scratched from years of use. We'd grab a chair and stand on it so we could reach it. The tips of our fingers tapped the edge of the box and tilted it until it slid and dropped into our hands. You could hear the game pieces clink together as we juggled the box. We'd toss it on the floor with a thud and rip open the top claiming our color before we even had the board unfolded . "I'm red." I'd shout. "Blue." said my brother. "Yellow." said my sister. "Ah, I don't want to be green." my little brother would say. "You snooze you lose." we'd chant and laugh. "Ok. I'll be green." he'd say with a shrug. We would immediately put our pieces on our start color and start shuffling the cards. The deck was bent and worn from dozens of games o...

We had this CALI 351 chardonnay for the first time the other day. Oooh la la me likey. This is one Chardonnay I will definitely buy again. '06 CALI 351 Chardonnay Here's what Wine Enthusiast had to say. 91 Pts & Editors' Choice - Wine Enthusiast "This is a classy Chardonnay. Grown 1,200 feet above Calistoga and fairly well-oaked in new barrels. It's rich and complex, with flavors of grilled tropical fruits and toasted meringue. The structure is greatly improved by a crisp, mineral edge of acidity." As I sat here drinking a glass with Don I thought to myself. Gee, this wine is pretty good. I should take a picture. It's not too oakey, sweet, but not too sweet, hints of pineapple and lemon. Very tasty. And then I looked at the bottle. Oops. It's almost gone. Should I try to pour my wine back in so it looks full? Nah, I might spill some. And that would be really, really sad. So here it is with about one glass left. It runs about $2...

Thank you to Yahoo! Mail for sponsoring this post about staying connected. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective , which endorses Blog With Integrity , as I do. "You're obsessed." he said. "It's like an addiction." "No I'm not, I'm waiting for something." I responded with just a little bit of attitude. Of course it didn't look good. I was curled up on our favorite chair in the living room zoned out checking email. In the dark. At 6am. I knew this is would happen the minute I got a smartphone and could access my email anytime, anywhere, including in bed under the covers.   Am I obsessed? Maybe. Okay, yes. "My name is Kris, and I'm an addict." There, I said it. I have five, or six, email addresses. Each one serves a different purpose. Two for work, one for the blog, one for friends and family, one for retail/junk stuff, and one other that is still fresh, and untouched. I...

Look what's new in my kitchen? I got this for Mother's Day from Don and Elli and I forgot to tell you about it. Isn't it awesome? Chef Curtis Stone designed it. It's shiny, stylish and functional. Looooove it. I feel fancy when I use it. That sounds funny. But it's true. They also gave me a super cute apron and new dish towels. And a really, really sharp knife. I've been chopping stuff like crazy. Want some diced celery and carrots? I'll get it! Need to debone a chicken. I'm your gal. Need someone to finely dice an onion. No problem. I don't have a picture of the knife. But it is shiny. And awesome. And safely waiting in my knife drawer for me to chop something. Hungry? Want me to slice an apple for you? I'm starting to get my cooking mojo back. So watch out. I saw a killer recipe in Wine Spectator that I want to try.  And I'm in the mood for lemon bread. Better get baking.

We went without the use of our cell phones all weekend. And you know what? I actually didn't mind at all. I rarely use mine to talk anyway. I did miss checking emails every 5 seconds. But I got over that too. Ok, so yeah, I did check it for like two hours straight to make sure it wasn't really working. It wasn't really working. My observation? Being able to reach people 24-7 kind of sucks. I sort of miss the old days. We had more freedom and were less stressed out. I was slightly less freaky. I've had a cell phone forever. I was one of the first of my friends to get one. But I am the worst cell phone user ever. I always forget to turn on the ringer. I also forget to call back right away. I have a terrible habit of accidentally deleting messages before I hear them. I leave the phone in the car when I go shopping. I don't really do it on purpose. But I guess I kind of do. I mean really, I'm in Safeway for 10 minutes. What could you possibly want to talk ...

I'm hungry for something sweet. Just a little something. I can't think of anything in the fridge or pantry that sounds good. And then I see the Easter basket on the counter. Elli is in school. She won't notice if I take a few pieces of candy. I stretch in my chair to see if I can reach it without getting up. I reach as far as I can without tipping over in the chair but it's just out of reach. Bummer. I stare at the basket for a few seconds then get up to see what's inside. There are at least a dozen plastic eggs, chocolate rocks, gummy bears, gum, cherry sours, M&Ms, jolly ranchers, chocolate eggs, bunnies and kisses. Oh, yeah. So I start shaking eggs. I open a purple plastic egg. It's full of light-orange jelly beans. I eat a few. They taste like tangerine. Perfect. I go back to my computer at the kitchen table. But I can't stop thinking about candy. Now I need some chocolate. I know she got some chocolate eggs so I go back to the basket a...

This is funny. You must watch it now. 'Cuz I think it's hilarious. Bentley is barking at me as I type. He doesn't think it's funny at all.

Today's TRDC topic was to write about sand. I have not been able to draft the perfect story. I have so many memories of sand I couldn't decide which one to focus on. It literally fogged my brain. Good thing I'm not in school because I would have failed this assignment. I started writing about Matheson Hammock beach, one of my favorite places as a kid. We would hang out with my family, grandmother and cousins on our spring break vacation. It was perfect for little kids to play in the sand and splash around in the calm waters of the lagoon. You were safe from the open ocean with its big waves and jellyfish. We played all day making elaborate sand structures decorated with palm fronds and flowers. If we were really good my mom would treat us to a Slushee at the concession stand, which invariably ended up with a fine layer of sand lining the bottom of the cup when we were finally done. I thought about the amazing and huge sand castles I've seen in San Diego and in...

Yes. I fell in the bath tub. I felt like that lady in the commercial who yells "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up." Except I did get up. In fact as soon as I went DOWN I popped right back up and glanced around the tub to make sure no one saw. As if Candid Camera had set up shop in my shower for some show called "NO ONE WANTS TO SEE THIS!" I had turned around to grab conditioner. Squeezed some in my hand and turned back around to face the shower head. As I was turning back around my foot stepped on some conditioner and it suddenly felt like I was on a slip-n-slide. My feet slid and I went down hard. My left hand grabbed at the wall. But I couldn't stop myself from landing with a THUD. The whole upstairs shook as I fell. I seriously expected Don or Elli to come running upstairs for fear that the sky was falling or to see if the house had been hit by a plane. It had to be loud downstairs. I stopped and listened. Nothing. No one curious. No ...

Happy Mother's Day weekend ladies!!! Don and Elli have something secret planned. Elli has almost spilled the beans on more than one occasion. It's killing her to keep quiet. She keeps trying to skirt around the surprise to tell me something and Don keeps hushing her - which of course she doesn't like. So she gives him her famous you're-making-me-mad-look. I am proud to say she got this from me. Ha. "Don't shush me, daddy." I'm looking forward to a relaxing day with the family and lots and lots of smiles. A little chocolate and coconut sorbet definitely helps with the smile factor. Not sure if you've ever had this sorbet but OMG is it good. We tried it at the local farmer's market in San Rafael and have been nibbling away at our small container for a week. It's a bit pricey. Ok, it's expensive. Ten smackers for the container. But man-oh-man is it good. Enjoy your weekend! Ciao!

Back in 2011 I was part of a fun, online writing club called The Red Dress Club. We would have different topics and word counts each week. The topic for this piece was Jealousy. We all have it. We all feel it.  Word limit was 600. The bar was three deep, everyone anxious for that first cocktail. Small talk with co-workers is fun when it's your pals. But when you have to chitchat with people you hardly know it can be a bit awkward. Hence the mad rush to the bar. The drinks went down fast. Pretty soon tequila shots were getting passed around and the room really started to buzz with laughter and smiles. Everyone was starting to relax and have a good time. The DJ was playing good tunes. It was too early to start dancing. But it wasn't too early to pick which song you'd sing for karaoke. The book of songs stared at me like a book of death. This was my most dreaded part of the party. The mere thought of singing in front of my co-workers made my stomach do flip flops. ...

Have you tried this? You really should.  It's really crisp and refreshing. Especially on a hot spring day like today. And it's only $10.99. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need a glass, or two, when this day is over.  2009, Kris Pinot Grigio Wine Characteristics: It's pale yellow in color with aromas of flowers, citrus, tangerine, and hints of apricots and almonds. Very refreshing on the palate with hints of blossom and honey. Food Pairings: Recommended with salad, roast vegetables, risotto, lightly flavored pastas, omelettes, quiches and grilled white meats or salmon. The only problem with this wine is that it tastes so good it goes down like a glass of iced tea. Before you know it Don and I have polished off the bottle and it's all gone. Give it a try and let me know what you think. I know you can buy it at BevMo and Cost Plus World Market .

I was helping a woman in our store the other day. She was looking for fabric to recover her dining room chairs. "I'm 80. I only need them to last another 10 years." she said. Then I'll be dead. Believe it or not, this is not the first time I've heard a customer say that. I needed a little direction to help her find the best fabric. So we started chatting about her house. She told me she hates her house. And she really hates her dining room because it doesn't have a window. "Who would make a dining room without a window?" she asked. "And it's in the wrong place too. It's right by the front door so everyone dumps their stuff on the table. I have to cover it with a tablecloth so the beautiful wood isn't ruined. A man must have designed my house. A women never would have put the dining room there." she scoffed. "Why don't you blow out the wall and add a window?" I asked. "Well my son offered to put in ...

I started my job knowing it would be challenging. When I interviewed for the position they told me the client was difficult. I had dealt with difficult people before. I had learned how to manage over-the-top personalities. Or so I thought. I was completely unprepared for this client. He knew marketing. He knew media. He was also irrational, controlling, outrageous and unbelievably demanding. He was a maniac with a bad temper. He knew exactly what he wanted and when he didn't get it he would explode. He would yell so loud the ground would shake and the walls would rattle. There were times when I couldn't pick up the phone receiver fast enough before he started going off on a tirade on the speaker phone. I was in shock the first six months. Learning the job and learning how to deal with him was more than I anticipated. Plus we had just purchased our business and Don was under tremendous stress trying to learn the ropes. We were both a wreck. But as I figured out what m...