Drazen Certified

Dave and I decided we love snow and we need to move more north. Strange since I’ve lived more than half my life by the ocean.

We have successfully entertained ourselves hanging out with our neighbors: Poker night, Beatles Rock Band, sledding, Xcountry skiing, preparing the house for the baby to come (maybe next week??), lots of shoveling and baking junk food. We currently have whiteout conditions outside, but the fireplace is on and we are cozy! Hopefully the power won’t go out like it did over the weekend. The news is saying the blizzard conditions are like an “arctic wasteland”, but I disagree. I don’t think this weather is as bad as it was 2 years ago when we took 3 week old baby Bennett to Ustaoset Norway. Read more »

Dave's Baseball Birthday Cupcakes

Last weekend I experienced my annual “Gotta make my husband’s homemade birthday cake” dilema. This request is bestowed upon me and usually includes which specific recipe I am supposed to make. Past years were carrot cake with avocado frosting, tres leches and some other anti-Betty Crocker ideas. This year my husband graciously asked for kid friendly cupcakes since we were going to celebrate at a bowling alley. Phew – it could be worse! I immediately looked to Allison Cafe to see what’s been tested in the kitchen by my friend.

Kid friendly requirements in MY book is: No nuts and lots of sprinkles. I don’t care about quantity of sugar or fat. If it looks cool, they love it. My kid is crazy anyway with or without sugar.

The recipe that seemed to fit the bill was Allison’s “Chocolate Cupcakes with Creamy White Frosting“. What I didn’t like about it was that it asked for things that I didn’t have in my pantry (buttermilk & coconut extract). Read more »

Nov. 1, 2009 Hi – we are back live with a blog!  Long story … and who cares now. We had a fun Halloween weekend.  Bennett sure had a great time and filled up on candy and candy wrappers. He wasn’t prejudice against eating paper.  Read more »

What the heck have we been up to!! OK this blog isn’t easy to update since it requires uploading images and using my brain. I’ll give a shot until Bennett wakes up from his nap.

We have had several weekends of visitors since March. Jeff and Erica were in town for work reasons. We tried to do minimal projects on the house (unlike the previous visit from them). Then we went to California for a week. Dave had work out there and I saw my family and played with my nephews. Immediately afterwards, we had Steph Mumma and Neil Dixion came in town for work reasons. We checkout out the cherry blossoms downtown with them and hung out. Read more »

This past winter I was very bothered by all the trash in the Fallsgrove neighborhood trails and streams. I found a Rockville city trash program similar to the I Love A Clean San Diego which I had participated in. The following is an article I wrote for my neighborhood newsletter after my 1st “organized” trash pickup event. Since this article was printed a whopping 2 people are interested in joining me. Not so great returns considering how large my community is. But, I’m proud that I did something about the problem and I know it will get bigger next year. I’m glad my karate friend Sarah Adams made me participate in all her trash clean-up programs in San Diego. Thanks Sarah and give Monte the cat a kiss for me! Read more »

March 21 – 28, 2009
We recently got back from a week vacation to Southern California! Ohhh – how I miss the sun and liquor being sold in grocery stores. Ok ok and my family too! Read more »

On March 1st I marked the calendar that Bennett took his first steps (as in 4 or 5). But today, he crossed the circle in our toddler Funfit class to get to our friends Danielle and Joana. I was happy with that. But afterwards when we went to Starbucks, his momentum really picked up. He walked 20 – 50 steps! Maybe it was Starbucks, maybe it was Danielle being a cute older woman. Who knows. Read more »

This long President’s Day weekend Dave, Bennett and I jetted off to Burlington VT thanks to a super cheap direct flight from Airtrans. We stayed with Dave’s high school buddy Neil and his wife Shannon. They live in Waterbury about an hour south of Burlington. We flew in late Thursday night and stayed up really late geeking out on Neil’s beer, photography and cameras. Read more »

We went downtown today to meet up with some Norwegian friends in town. (Goodman and Charlotte) Can you say – it’s crazy out! There is a buzz in the air and events going on all around the city. Everyone we encountered was super excited and friendly. There were so many people selling crap/memorabilia it was ridiculous. I was very tempted to buy an Obama bobble-head doll or the Obama family paper doll book, but no. Read more »

Wow am I behind on my blog! We just got internet today in our new home and as of 2 weeks we’ve been living in our new home. I have been busy unpacking and finding furniture. Dave’s been doing science with submarines by day and fixing house items at night.

We had a great time in California. Most of the time I spent with my mother so she could hang with Bennett. I helped with Cammie’s babyshower and went to Ali and Steve’s wedding. The time went by so fast! I was able to see a couple of friends, but mostly family. Sorry to all those I couldn’t see!!! While we were in town I used Claudine’s fancy kid photographer for Bennett and was very pleased with the results. Her info is on an older blog entry for all those SD friends with new babies! Congratulations to Gail and Cammie for 2 beautiful babes. Read more »