Last night Eddie and I had a long overdue concert date night. It started with a delicious pizza dinner at Pizza Otto up the street from our house, where we savored a wood fired pizza topped with crispy sage leaves, rabbit sausage and Chantrelle mushrooms along side an endive salad with fennel, cucumbers tossed in a tangy buttermilk dressing. Delicious! 

The band we went to see was The Kills. I had bought these tickets way back in February and frankly, almost forgotten about the show these past adventuresome months, with all that has happened. We haven't seen a music concert together in months, too. The Kills played at the Roseland and it was interestingly, an all-ages show. The Kills took the stage at 10 pm and the encore ended just before midnight. Great show, but everything started to sound the same to me (sound and beat wise) after awhile. I like The Kills, but I don't need to see them in concert again if they come to Portland in the future.

I'm waiting to see Patrick Watson in October. He seems to play in Portland regularly every year and I've not been able to see him as his concerts were usually on a week night with two opening acts. This time, it's a weekend night so I'm super excited for the opportunity. Even though, I work from home now. 

We surprised the girls with a visit to the Hello Kitty Super Cute Friendship Festival held at the Veteran's Memorial Coliseum. After a sweltering week of hot weather, an air conditioned venue was a welcome relief!

Eddie kept saying that he wanted to see the looks on the girls faces when they realized at the venue what they were going to, how excited and surprised they would be. 

"Are you sure 'YOU' are not the one whose super excited for this?!" I teased him. Everyone who knows us and Eddie know HE is the biggest Hello Kitty lover in the family.

Inside there were a lot of families and just enough stuff to see and do during the four hour festival. Interactive displays where you could learn to draw the different characters on a tall white board, to evening fashions inspired by Hello Kitty and her friends. There was a main stage with performers throughout the afternoon, and Hello Kitty and her friends were included in the show.

Eddie, naturally, couldn't help himself and purchased the Musubi sushi set. It comes with a can of Spam to get you started and the form to mold your rice so it forms the head of Hello Kitty herself.

Bean is super cute in her Hello Kitty ears. We all wore them, as did all the other guests, at the show.

Bean's favorite part of the show was the Hello Kitty bouncy house!

Lulu bought HK balloons and an HK slap bracelet as souviners. Eddie says he was really proud of Lulu. They waited in line at one of the merchandise tables while I went to the bouncy house with Bean. When they got their turn at the table, Lulu like a pin set but then balked at the $30 price tag, telling Eddie that was a little too expensive [to spend]. She decided on the HK slap bracelet as it was a more reasonable $5. He was so proud of her financial decision-making skills as was I when he relayed the story to me, proudly, a few days later.

Lulu was just a little too old for the event, I noticed she seemed embarrassed at some of the things and activities, but then conflicted as she wanted to participate with everyone else. Bean on the other hand, had a great time! How could I tell? She did the same thing she did when she went to ride the ponies at Halloween a few years back. She gets overwhelmed with excitement, which comes off as shyness, and just grins a huge grin but then buries her head into my shoulder.

She looks super sweet in her real HK ears above!

We love us some Cincinnati Chili at La Casa de Camarillo! We used to make it quite a bit when we lived in Vegas. Lulu is finally getting to the age where she is getting adventuresome in trying different foods. She has discovered the magic that is Cincinnati Chili, much to our delight, so I decided it needed to get added to the blog.

La Casa de Camarillo Cincinnati Chili

2 lbs ground beef (bonus points for grinding and using your own hamburger!)
2 cups chopped yellow onions
4 cups beef stock
2- 8 oz cans tomato sauce
2-3 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 oz grated unsweetened chocolate, or 2 3/4 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp minced fresh garlic
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red ground pepper or cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1-2 dried bay leaves

1 package spaghetti noodles, made according to package directions

Chili Toppings*

grated cheddar cheese
drained & heated kidney beans (optional)
chopped green onions (optional)
chopped yellow or white onions (optional)
sour cream (optional)


Brown your beef with the onion in a dutch oven. Drain fat. Add beef stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Add remaining 13 ingredients (up through the bay leaves) and simmer uncovered for 1 hour. Remove bay leaves and skim off any remaining fat. Serve over cooked spaghetti noodles or over hot dogs in buns for chili dogs.

The chili mixture once made freezes well!

*Cincinnati Chili is served different "ways" depending on how many toppings you wish to have added on.  Cincinnati Chili should always be served with grated cheddar cheese, no matter what. I like mine served to me "three ways" and includes green onion, kidney beans and sour cream on top.

Delicious!!!

The girls are both going to Irvington Extended Day Camp this summer. I've sent Lulu there for the last two years. Very, very affordable as far as summer day camps go and Lulu's come home with some adorable art project in years past (a fox mask and a 'clucking' paper chicken come to mind...).

This year, I think the director has outdone herself. My favorite art project, hands down, between what Lulu has done at school and in summer camps. It's terribly clever, as well. That may be the main reason why I am so enamored with it!

Let me note that this weeks camp theme is Space/Aliens.

Below, the start of the week's art project titled, "Alien Abduction":

In the top of the flying saucer, is a pretend tea light candle. When you turn it on, it casts an eerie glow and flickers randomly. Quite effective, I might add. These pictures unfortunately don't do it justice. But I plan on keeping these art projects around for awhile so if you come over, I am more than too happy to show them off to you.

Lulu accessorized the inside of her alien space ship with a little green man!

Bean's poor lion is going to be abducted by the space ship!!!

It's a happy space ship, though. I'm sure he'll have fun once he comes on board.

Last night we had a terrific and much overdue rainstorm! The girls ran outside to dance in the rain it was coming down so hard. When they had enough, and were soaked through, they decided to hunker down in front of Agatha to dry off.

Yep, this was before the "who has to brush their teeth first" meltdown that happened a little bit later in the night.

And you can really see from this picture below, why we've always referred to her as "Long Legs Camarillo"

Lulu was quite smitten with the buffet meals she and grandma had on their recent trip to Yellowstone. So much delicious food to choose from and all those dessert options.

However, Lulu pronounces the word 'buffet' as "Bah-Fetes".

I have always heard it as and pronounced it myself as, "Buh-Fay"

Though once, a long time ago, I had a customer pronounce it several times during our conversation as "Boo-Fay" even though I would pronounce it as "Buh-Fay" when it was my turn to speak.

It's a quandary.

Last night I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner while Eddie tried to wrangle the girls to get their teeth brushed and get ready for bed. There was big drama in the front room because Lulu volunteered her sister to go first so she could keep reading her new book. Bean was having a meltdown because Lulu always volunteers her to go first when it comes to having to brush their teeth at night.

I should note, they are no longer allowed to brush their teeth at the same time in the bathroom as too much fighting and bickering ensues.

Eddie, being the diplomatic father that he is, organized a coin toss. Whomever the loser was, got to go brush their teeth second.

I got distracted as I was finishing up the dishes in the sink by the hooting, hollering and then crying, by the one and only Lulu, moments later. What on earth had happened in there?

"How does someone get hurt in a coin toss?" I asked him incredulously when he came into the kitchen a short while later.

"Yeah, that's the kind of sisters they are..." was his reply.