A fun weekend, and a new sport
I was reading a post on my sister's blog about the fun weekend that she and her husband had - they sure do live a different life than we do! They live in Mexico City and have opportunities to go to all kinds of beautiful places and do things like sit by pools and sip tequila. I have to live vicariously through her by reading her blog because my weekends are so the opposite of that!
Our weekend was also lovely though. On Friday I knocked off work a little early and we all relaxed at home, which was so nice after a long busy week at work. Saturday my husband went out in the morning and I hung out with the girls. We were going to go to the grocery store, but instead the baby conked out and the big girl and I watched cooking shows together, wrote down recipes, read books, and cuddled in the living room. When the daddy got home, I took the big girl to the grocery store and accidentally spent over $20 on vanilla extract. My reasoning was that I should get a lot so I wouldn't run out, and that I should get a high-quality kind so my baking would taste good. I did not realize it meant I was going to spend over $20! Oh well. Maybe it will give me a good excuse to bake more.
That evening my husband and I were scheduled to go to my company's holiday party. Yes, I know, a holiday party in January? But it's much easier to get more people there after the craziness that is December. This way there were lots of people (we have about 90 people working at our branch office) and it really was fun. The party was at a fancy country club not far from our house, and the food was amazing. First there were butlered hors d'oeuvres for about an hour and a half, and then there was a sit-down dinner and dancing. At first no one danced, so the boss and his wife had to get up and get the crowd going. The band was really good, but I guess no one told them it was a party for a bunch of computer nerds. It was kind of a tough room. Eventually people did get up, and then apparently one guy suddenly busted out into this fancy breakdancing move that involved spinning on his back on the floor, but wouldn't you know it, I missed it because I was in the ladies room. Doh!
Sunday morning the hubby took the girls to the laundromat we own, so he could collect the quarters from the machines and restock the vending machines. I took that opportunity to bake a lemon bundt cake for the dinner we were going to at a friend's house that evening. I had found the recipe in Cook's Illustrated and was really looking forward to making it. The batter came together beautifully and I thought it was going to be great. NOPE. After the appointed baking time I went to check on it and the inside was raw. RAW. I kept checking on it and leaving it in a little longer, and a little longer, until I finally took it out and saw that it could not be salvaged. Raw on the inside, burnt on the outside. No good. I think the problem was that I used a silicone pan and it really needs to be done in a metal pan. Oh well! Was a bummer though, I thought it was a great recipe. I better try it again with a different pan. So we had to go to the grocery store and get a cake to bring to the dinner.
But after that, we did a super cool thing: I took my daughter to her very first ice skating lesson. A few weeks ago we were watching TV and we found some figure skating to watch. She was mesmerized. She said she wanted to learn how, so I signed her up for a few individual lessons since she had never been on skates before in her life. So yesterday was her first. She was amazing! She did fall down a lot, as anybody would their first time on skates, but she kept getting back up on her feet, and the instructor taught her how to put her arms out and stand up on her own. She was able to move slowly across the ice by herself a few times, and by the end of the lesson she had begun to get her "ice legs." I was so proud of her! So I think we'll do a few more individual lessons and then if she really wants to continue, we'll get her into the kids' group lessons on Sundays. Should be a hoot! The instructor told me they also teach adults so I thought well maybe I could learn too, since I'm going to have to be at the rink anyway! Haha, I know that's kind of funny, but honestly the few times in my life I have gone skating I've really enjoyed it and always wished I could learn how to really do it. So we shall see.
Now it's Monday and it's freaking cold here. But I guess that is to be expected in January.
