donuts...and a winner

The winner of the Christmas giveaway is Esmeralda Gatsby!

A couple days ago my mom and brother went shopping in downtown Portland...

and brought me home this donut.

It's from Voodoo Donuts, a shop that Portland is famous for, but I've never been to. 

It has super bizarre donuts, like maple with bacon on top, but this one is my kinda crazy.

Fruit loops.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE fruit loops??

Well, I do.

And I love my mama and my brother.

The end.

Annual Labor Day beach trip and shopping spree (!!)

This past weekend, the ladies of our family, including my two nieces and sister-in-law, went on our annual Labor Day outlet shopping beach trip.

(this is gonna be a long post just so ya know...)

It starts out with bashing around the outlet mall, going to stores such as Van Heusen, Coldwater Creek, Claire's, Old Navy (everything was 40% off!), Bath and Body Works, and then Carter's... 

...where everyone spends the last of their money. ;-)

My loot is pictured above. Plus Johanna, my pregnant sis. ;-)

I had incredible self-control this year, however, and only bought one baby outfit for myself. 

How could I resist this color of green PLUS camo PLUS monkeys??

Bethany's loot. She didn't spend as much as me...

Close-up of her gorgeous coral cardigan. I got this in dark grey, and Mama got it in teal.

Mama's loot.

My sister-in-law Katelyn's loot. :-)

And finally... Johanna's loot. Notice the high percentage of baby clothes?

We stayed in a super-nice condominium right on the beach. Looking out the window from most angles made it feel like you were on a cruise ship out on the water.

Forgive these many food pictures... but the food was scrumptious!

The love of my life.

We ended up eating a lot of baby Katie's animal crackers.

Amazing Mexican omelette.

The love of my life Part 2.

Hot chocolate with whip-cream from a can. Yes.

I took this through the window during breakfast.

This was an awesome TV. It had amazing color and it was widescreen and HD maybe? I'm not terribly knowledgeable about the whole TV arena. Anyways, it was a sight better than our TV, and it made every shot in a movie look like a stunning photograph. I loved it.

Miss Ruby, sporting her brand new polka-dot onesie from Carter's. 

Serious Katie.

Katie high-fiving Bethany. Or Aunt Boppy, which is Katie's current name of choice for her.

Some of my beautiful birthday presents...

I had a birthday a couple weeks ago. :-) And I got some pretty awesome presents.

And...I haven't gotten around to doing a post about them until now.

I got up in the morning to find this on my computer!

My very own entire box of Krispy Kreme donuts, from Benjamin. :-)

I did share them.

A few of them.

Along with the cupcake liners and some other cupcake-making equipment, 

I got this book FULL of recipes. 

I can't wait to get started.

Lovely pashmina from my friend Beka... who got it in New York City! :-)

Red AND leopard spotted!

Leopard umbrella! It almost makes me excited for rainy days.

Benjamin gave me "When in Rome". We watched it that night... oh, wow. I love it so much.

Read my post about it here.

I also got an adorable polka-dot apron... I'll have to have a photo shoot with that sometime. ;-)

I did get some other awesome books and such, but these are the presents I wanted post about here. 

Day 14: A guilty pleasure

Goodness... I have so many. But here's the top two.

Donuts. Oh yes.

And Lipton sweet iced tea.

It's caffeinated, and loaded with sugar. I get shaky and nauseous every time I have it.

But it's oh-so-yummy.

Beach Trip Part 1

First, ate this.

Drank this.

Found like six wild bunnies in the grass.

Wanted to cuddle them. Got so close. This picture is not zoomed.

Admired this.

Changed Katie's diaper. Worst experience of my life. Had to give her a bath it was so bad.

Then I gave her this hairdo which made me happy.

Departed from Johanna's house, leaving Bethany there.

Finally got to the beach.

Poked around downtown. Took this picture of a display window because this outfit makes me so, so happy.

Went to an authentic Mexican food restaurant. Ordered something ridiculously huge.

Ate it all.

Found this gum ball machine. Took a picture of it for Beka. Didn't get anything out of it. Because all I had in my purse was a nickel.

Watched the sunset. At 9:15. Crazy.

Went back to to the motel. Watched Leap Year. Good. More on that later.

I have an amazing brother.

This is my brother. Usually he looks less creepy than he does in this photo

He is awesome.

So you know how I posted about National Donut Day yesterday?

My brother was coming over to the beach to spend the weekend with us, and when he got here...

he brought a donut.

Because he read my blog post and went to Krispy Kreme and got me one.

The donut was amazing. And so is he.

National Doughnut Day

Today is National Donut Day!

Krispy Kreme is giving away free donuts, so if you are lucky enough to be close... go get one! And then come to the beach and give it to me. I'm hungry.

Apparently it got started to honor the ladies who gave donuts to the soldiers during World War I. Which is pretty cool. Check out the Wikipedia article here. 

We are at the beach for a writing trip, which is including me working on my Shine as Lights blog, so you should check that this weekend for updates. And if you find it in your heart to bestow untold happiness upon me... follow me. :-)

Meet the Love of My Life