Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Day 431

NEWS FLASH!!
I've moved platforms! Yippie Skippie. Visit me at jenniferwaycott.com where I'll be chatting it up about life, budgeting, vacations and everything else that comes my way!

xxoo
Mrs. Waycott

Monday, July 11, 2011

Day 415

...and so begins summer! I didn't realize that I passed over the 400 day mark until just the other day, and I said to myself 'WOW! That sure went fast!'

Summer is always my favorite season; maybe it's because it's my birthday in the dead heat of it. I'm sure of that actually. Maybe it's that I love being carefree and wearing sundresses. {If I could wear anything, it would be a sundress and a hat.} Maybe it's that everybody just seems happier with a little sunshine and a tan. I guess there are a lot of reasons why I love these next few months but I am sure of something, they always fly by.

Chris and I have been quite busy with some household projects that had been placed on the back burner for quite some time. We've been trying to downsize our wardrobe {yes, I said downsize} for sometime now and last weekend was THE weekend. Over the past 6 months, we've been donating our clothes to the Goodwill. We've accomplished our donations with over 30 bags filled to the brim and washed EVERY single item we owned. We still had a large wardrobe after the downsize so we purchased a new wardrobe from Ikea to fit everything in it. This was Chris' idea {you're thinking, yeah right} to buy this thing... and after a full weekend of screwing, hammering, shifting, nailing and hauling we finally got everything in. We're just about to intall the doors to it! If you're wondering if Chris' clothes made it in, yes they did! Our next project is to take our walk-in closet and make half a non-season clothing area and the other half, the shoe closet {HEAVEN!}.


Our beautiful exposed closet... not to worry, the doors are going in this week

A few weeks ago, I had a work road trip to Northern California, and Chris took a day off to go with me. We ventured into San Fran a few nights and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. I was so excited to drive across this bridge and as a Californian, it was my obligation. It was a little to chilly to get out and walk it but it was pretty amazing. On our last day, we headed to Napa for a few drop offs and a little wine tasting. We stopped at PEJU Winery; it's seriously the best wine ever. We signed back up for our wine club and just received our first box last week.


At Fisherman's Wharf at sunset


My view looking up driving across the Golden Gate Bridge


Peju Winery. I love Napa!

We have a couple things planned in the upcoming month and of course there is carmageddon, where we are not going anywhere... off to ikea to get our last items for the wardrobe and maybe some storage containers for my office {project office begins later this year}.

xxoo,
Mrs. Waycott

Monday, May 23, 2011

Day 366

I'm sure most of you saw my updates from good 'ole Facebook, so you know about how much fun we had for our 1st Anniversary {weekend}. Here's our recap {picture form} featuring our "We Did" ornament I had Melissa do for Christmas 2010. Thank you Melissa for making this, We Did made a lot of appearances!

We Did stop at The Waycott's to pick up our wine slings


We Did eat Goldfish on the way up to the Central Coast


We Did end up in beautiful Paso Robles, CA


We Did drink a lot of wine at the Paso Wine Festival


We Did eat delicious cheese there, too!


We Did stay at The Madonna Inn


We Did celebrate our arrival and went to dinner at their restaurant


We Did take tons of pictures in our awesome room


We Did love room 150


We Did get champagne and a busted balloon upon our arrival


We Did have Sweet & Saucy cake pops for breakfast


We Did take pictures in front of The Madonna Inn sign


We Did stay in the Romance Room, suite 150


We Did break the "We Did" but repaired it when we got home


We Did go to the SLO Mission and mosey around Higuera Street


We Did stop in Solvang for some sweet treats


We Did end up having both of our cakes for our anniversary


Our trip was amazing. We started our weekend festivities in Paso Robles and ended it in Santa Barbara at our favorite restaurant, The Palace Grill. What an amazing 365 days. Chris and I are so very happy and look forward to the many years ahead.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Day 365

Friday, May 20, 2011

Day 363

What a year! I just happened to open up my iphoto and started to reminisce over the last years worth of memories.
MAY

JUNE



JULY



AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER



DECEMBER



JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY


AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER...

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Day 358

It's exactly a week away until the BIG 1 year anniversary date. When I started this blog; I didn't really think that these past {almost} 365 days would be this eventful. I look back and smile at every circumstance whether it was good or bad {and let's face it, there were plenty of bad to go around}. We'll be celebrating our first anniversary in San Luis Obispo/Paso Robles- soaking up the sun and drinking wine {what we do best}. I'm sure you know, we are very excited for this mini trip.

This month marks a lot of celebrations. When we decided to get married in the month of May, we knew we'd be sharing the month with so much going on; but what you don't know is that we chose this date out of a hat. Chris and I couldn't really decide on a concrete date, so we placed about 6 dates in a hat and drew them out. When May 22, 2010 was drawn, we smiled. That was the date we'd celebrate forever. This month is what I call an 'expensive' one. It's shared {in chronological order} with:

Cinco de Mayo {oops, how did that get in there}
Dad and Karen's Anniversary
Mother's Day {remember, 3 mom's and 2 grand-moms}
Mom's Birthday
Layla's Birthday
{Our Anniversary}
Dad's Birthday
Karen's Birthday
Memorial Day {whew, a day off!}

... and to follow into June with Mom and Royce's anniversary, Father's Day and Nancy's birthday. Like I said, LOT'S of celebrations. We would never change it for the world and May is truly our favorite month.

This weekend we celebrated {could you have guessed that} the Little Layler's 4th birthday! I love this kid with all of my heart, even though she's a royal pain in the rear end. The Layler's looked so cute in her handmade Tutu and tee-shirt made by "mommy". We gifted Layla with an outfit {of course it had hearts, why would you ask that} and a custom frame. A few weeks back {Easter weekend}, Layla and I took the cutest picture. Staci suggested that I give it to her in a frame that say's I love my Auntie. So that's what I did. I painted her a wooden frame to imitate Sponge Bob {her favorite; plus it matches her room} and gave that to her for her birthday. Her face was priceless when she opened it. This kid was showered in gifts and sweets. I would have to say was a wonderful birthday to remember forever. There were tears, smiles, laughter, blood {yes, she bit her lip} and fun.


80 cupcakes later. Decorated like the Yo Gabba Gabba characters.


She is in love with her frame!


Happy Birthday Little Layler's- WE LOVE YOU!


Another big event happened this weekend! Grandma Marie moved back to California. We spent the better half of Saturday welcoming her home and catching up. We're excited to share a lot more memories with her in her new home. I'm sure she'll pop up in the blog a lot more as the months dwindle down.

Other than that, it's chore day and getting ready for our fun-filled weekend next week. Until then...
xxoo Mrs. Waycott

Monday, April 25, 2011

Day 338



If we are Facebook friends at all, you'll know by now that I have an 'official' countdown until our 1 year anniversary. There's something about looking forward to counting down the days to something that makes me smile. I do it all year with my birthday, Halloween, our dating anniversary (although I'll stop this year) and of course Christmas... but this countdown is different. It feels like we are going to surpass the first hurdle; the hurdle that everyone tells you "The First Year Is The Hardest". I have to say, this year was not necessarily "hard", rather challenging in its own way. We have been happier each and everyday. We discuss EVERYTHING and when we disagree, we figure it out. I guess you can say, the two of us have become adults in the past 338 days. We've learned to really build a bond with each other that nobody can break. We've become better about budgeting (I sure do not like that word) and sticking to it. I have to give us some credit, we've done good.

So what are the plans for the big day you ask? We have no idea. We've been contemplating on where to go. It's the week before Memorial Day, so things are a little pricey around this time. What we do know is, that we are eating our cake. Did we mention that we kept the top tier of the wedding cake? It's been in Chris' parents freezer at home. They are going to be so excited for us to get that thing out of there. Are we excited to eat it? SURE! Do we think it's going to taste good? NOPE! I'm going to order a mini cake just in case... hey, we do need to eat something ahhh-maazzzing to mark the special day.

Last weekend, we celebrated Passover (with my mom) and Easter with both sides of the family. This year was different than others. It felt very relaxed and non-stressed for all parties. Lots of candy and fun with the kiddo's but a little mishap with Adam. We won't go into specifics, but he broke his arm. Poor guy, at least he spent Easter with family and not at the hospital. Speaking of hospitals, Dad is doing very good! He's regaining his strength in his lungs day-by-day. We're very proud of him with the whole smoking thing. It's very tough to give the habit up, but he's about 3 months strong.

Here's a couple pictures of what you missed...


The Booger before she had candy


Chris is a great babysitter, as you can see.


Goofy Auntie Jen and Laylers


Layla "found" Uncle Chris in the Easter Egg Hunt.

Almost there... just a few posts away. I'll be on the East Coast next week, Mother's Day is that following weekend, Layla's 4th birthday and then here we have it, our 1st anniversary. So much to blog about in the upcoming 4 weeks. Enjoy the rest of April Showers, it's time for May flowers!

xxoo
Mrs. Waycott

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Day 323

I'm away from home on a trip to Nor Cal. Love the gorgeous weather, rolling green hills and incredible views on my drive. I took this picture outside of Pleasanton, CA.

Miss my hubby and family but will be home soon.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Day 316

So this weekend marks the official countdown until our first wedding anniversary. Only 8 more weeks and I'm more than positive you will hear the countdown often if you speak to me on a day-to-day basis or week-to-week basis. {So be prepared} Chris and I haven't really made permanent plans for the big day, but we do know that we are going to be in town that weekend. Our friends Monika and Rick are getting married two days before our wedding anniversary. We've been talking a lot about the 'paper' anniversary; and so far we came up with tickets to something {hockey game, flight, you get the picture}; hey, it's paper! I'm sure I'll share the news as soon as we figure it all out.

For a few months now, Chris has been begging me to go hiking to this one place in Castaic. If you don't know where Castaic is; it's just next door to Six Flags- AND I'm sure everyone knows where that is. After reading online about some history about Castaic {yes, that is my husband} he read that there were lost caves in what is now known Castaic {his childhood home}. Researching further he came across a map and plotted the adventure. Because this map was more topographical and did not include modern day roads, he placed google maps over the image to find out how to access the caves. TODAY, was that day.

We headed over to the Castaic industrial center and headed on our adventure. It was an incredible day with temperatures peaking in the 70's with a bit of cloud coverage. We hiked a good portion of this adventure with the tallest grass I've ever experienced. There were no trails; we created our own. After a short break, we scouted the area to find where on earth these caves could be. We looked over the ridge and saw what could be the destination, but it looked about another 500 feet up {yes UP}. We contemplated if this is where they were as we still were unsure. About a few seconds later, a nest of Quail evacuated their nest in some shrubbery and scared the living daylights out of me. I went running, no joke! We decided to head back and further investigate the location for a future trip. TO BE CONTINUED...

Here's the link to article about the Bowers Caves


This is the map, Chris found online


Of course a self-picture, I couldn't resist.


After an adventurous hike, we were pooped!


Chris is prepared for anything, he brought his binoculars.


We think the caves are at the top of this ridge.


The scenery was perfect for close ups. This was by far my favorite!


The end of our hike looked like this; what an incredible looking day!

And I can't forget about one of my favorite moments of the weekend, LAYLERS! We had breakfast with Mom and Royce this Saturday and of course the munchkins came. Layla was so funny and here's just a few pictures of her and Uncle Chris riding with Fozzy and the choo-choo train.


Chris really loves being a kid, can't you tell?


Yah, that smile is pretty deceiving.


Fozzy is her best friend, really!

Like I said, TO BE CONTINUED; I'm sure we'll be back at the Bowers Caves. I hope we get to find some cool artifacts, if there is any left.

xxoo
Mrs. Waycott