May 2010 - Page 2 of 4 - Angry Julie Monday

Orange County, California

May 20, 2010

Today, Kelly from Kelly’s Korner Blog is doing a Blog Carnival about “Show Us Where You Live”. Rather than show you my particular town, I thought I would highlight the entire county that I live in, Orange County. The town I live in, is decent size but I do many things throughout the actual county rather than just my town.

The Huntington Beach Pier-The beach, downtown stores, and restaurants.

The Ferris Wheel at the Irvine Spectrum-Shopping Center with stores, and restaurants.

Dana Point Harbor-Fishing, Boat Docks, and Whale Watching.

Anaheim Stadium aka Home of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Baseball Team. They also host other events there too.

The view from the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel. The Ritz Carlton is a beautiful resort.

San Clemente Beach Trail. A great beach to run on. There is a paved path.

Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure. We try to go here at least once every two weeks. We live about 15 minutes away and have Season Passes.

Oh, and we have the Real Housewives of Orange County. The original Housewives. It’s pretty hard to compete with that. I’ve seen almost all of the women around the area, either at the mall or Starbuck’s.

I can’t wait to check out other people’s hometowns!

Filed Under: Orange County 23 Comments

Angry Kid had his Family Birthday Celebration

May 19, 2010

It has been quite the week in the Angry Household. I switched my work shift from nights to days, and had one day off. I’m working a different schedule for two weeks, and then switching again. It has been hard to fit in swim lessons, and party planning in between everything.

Today was Angry Kid’s 5th birthday. We are having a bigger party on Friday for him at a bounce place (nothing that I have to clean up after). I packaged up 12 goodie bags (loathe these, they need to be extinct), and some mini muffins (no cupcakes, etc. allowed) for his preschool. Angry Husband promptly dropped him off since I was at work.

I came home from work and set up a birthday sign and Angry Kid’s gifts. We went with a Star Wars theme, of course. I live in the Star Wars house. I really have no choice. Angry Kid walked right past his gifts when he got home. I was shocked. He came and gave me a hug and hung out with Angry Husband’s BFF, Eric.

And then, he went for the gifts…

Angry Kid was quite excited to open his gifts. We got him a Star Wars Clone Trooper Helmet, Star Wars Clone Commander Blaster, and a Nerf Gun. Yea, um, we buy our five year old guns. They are science fiction, right? Really, there’s no way that we can get any “gun” themes out of our house.

For some reason, I think Angry Husband picked out birthday gifts that “he” liked. What do you think? Although, Eric had to get into the action and play with the toys too. Angry Kid was running around the house while they shot Nerf balls at him. It’s probably a good thing that we have nothing “nice” in our house.

After unwrapping the gifts, my parents came over. My mom got Angry Kid some clothes. He gave her that look, you know the where are the toys look. Even my dad said, “you didn’t buy him any toys?” My mom said that she would take Angry Kid to Target while we are out for dinner.

We headed out to dinner at the Irvine Spectrum, which is a local outdoor mall. Angry Kid changed his mind on the dinner location, so we ended up at Red Robin. We preferred the choice. He sucked down some chicken, fruit, and a gallon of strawberry lemonade.

My kid is not shy at all though. He is nothing like Angry Husband. Angry Husband warns me every birthday to not tell the waiter that it is his birthday. Not my child though, he YELLED at the waiter that it was his birthday, and he wanted dessert.

We headed to Target after dinner and walked out with another pricey Star Wars Lego toy. My mom bought it though. She let Angry Kid pick it out. It was pretty hard for him to chose though, because he already has several of them. We then walked around the mall. Angry Kid attacked a Directory Sign, and I dreamed of going into Anthropologie which was right behind that sign. I knew that I would get the angry look from my family if I disappeared into the store, sigh.

We then headed for the car, but alas got detoured by the candy store. My mom picked up some treats from the pet store for the dogs. Bruiser thinks that this ice cream cone dog treat was quite delicious.

Well we survived the day of Angry Kid’s 5th birthday. Angry Husband is now putting together a very complex Lego set. I’m exhausted, and we still have the big party on Friday. I can’t wait to chill out and relax this weekend.

Filed Under: Holidays, Parenting 12 Comments

Wordless Wednesday: Happy 5th Birthday Angry Kid

May 19, 2010

Welcome to “Angry Julie Monday’s Wordless Wednesday Linky”! If this your first time here, HELLO! I am doing a link-up every Wednesday! Post a picture(s) that you took in the past week and link back to it here.

I’m using a new thumbnail version of linky. By using this version, you are able to see a thumbnail of all of the pictures. Please use a thumbnail of the photo for your Wordless Wednesday Post.

Filed Under: Parenting, Photography, Wordless Wednesday 13 Comments

What To Do If You Have An Accident

May 18, 2010

My mom inspired this post today. She called me freaking out about her car. She got into a little fender bender in the grocery store parking lot earlier in the evening. I really couldn’t understand what she was saying under all her angry undertones. It must run in the family.

She kept remarking about how her car is damaged, how it is not perfect anymore. She has a 2005 Mustang GT. She has low mileage. She barely drives it because she is afraid of it getting scratched, rained on, etc. I started to ask her the pertinent questions and her answers were pretty vague. She told me that the woman was driving a Mercedes, and that her son was a manager at a car dealership. My response was, “and…what is her name, the license plate, the insurance information?” My mom responded with, “she told me to call her son.” The woman was elderly, but lived locally (so she said).

My mom called the woman’s son, and he told my mom that the accident was 50/50, and both of their fault. But, in reality, the woman backed into my mom. My mom called me back for the third time, and I made Angry Husband talk to her, while I rolled my eyes. He told her to call her insurance tomorrow.

I’m annoyed, because my mom knows better. I was involved in a traffic collision when I was eighteen. I was sued over this accident. I didn’t win. She knows what we went through.

So I thought I would share some tips on what to do if you are in a traffic accident:

1. Stop your car. If you can move it, pull over to a safe location.

2. Check to see if anyone is injured. Immediately call “911” if there are injuries.

3. Contact the police. Some police departments only take injury traffic reports. Tell the dispatcher the details of your accident.

4. Collect Information.

a. Exchange contact information with everyone involved, including:

Name
Address
Phone Nimber(s)

b. Get the following information about all vehicles involved:

Year, Make, and Model
License Plate
Insurance Carrier
Insurance Policy Number (make sure to check the policy expiration dates)

c. Gather contact information from any witnesses at the scene, including:

Name
Address(s)
Phone Number

5. If you have a camera, take pictures. Even if it is your cellphone camera. Take pictures of the damage to both cars, and the license plate.

6. Call your insurance. I don’t care if the person says that they are going to pay for the damage. People lie. Do you really want to end up paying for a $1,000 worth of damage, when the other party flakes?

Photo credit from Flickr. Tips from Geico.

Filed Under: Just Julie 12 Comments

Krazy Kars Light Up Marble Racers

May 17, 2010

Angry Kid is a huge fan of cars. I think we have several hundred in our house. I’m not kidding. Angry Husband, my parents, and Angry Husband’s grandparents love to buy him cars. I would rather him play with these cars than some of the other delightful toys that we have in our house.

I was excited to see these Marble Racers by Krazy Kars when they arrived in the mail. As soon as I opened the box, I could see the blue and red lights flashing from the cars. I saved them for a special time (when Angry Kid was being good) to play with. He squealed with excited when he opened the package. He loved how they light up, and that you could decorate them with the stickers provided.

I’m also having a GIVEAWAY of these Krazy Kars Light Up Marble Racers!!! You can win SIX of them!

Please leave a comment at the end of the post telling me whom you would like to win these Marble Racers for. Please only one comment per person. I ask that only US residents enter this contest. Giveaway ends 05/24/10 at 12pm PST.

Krazy Kars Light Up Marble Racers can only be purchased at CVS.

Disclosure: I was provided six Krazy Kars Light Up Marble Racers for review purposes. I was not persuaded to do a positive/negative review in any way.

*** WINNER*** Comment #4 Dana B. “those look awesome! my son who is 4 1/2 loves cars and even more loves things that light up.”

Filed Under: Reviews

A Photo Gift for Dad

May 17, 2010

This is a flashback to 2006, before I started my personal blog. I’ve never posted this gift, and I’m quite proud of it. I was looking for a Father’s Day gift for Angry Husband’s 2nd Father’s Day. Angry Kid was born in 2005. Angry Husband is quite particular, and really a total pain to buy for. I saw this idea on one of my parenting forums. My BFF, Stacey also did the same gift that year.

All you need for this project are the following things:

Wall letters: D, A, and Y
Kid or Kid(s)
Camera
Printer or photo service
Picture frame, collage frame or otherwise

How to do this project:

I grabbed Angry Kid, Bruiser (dog), and the wall letters. I headed out to my front yard. Angry Kid was walking by this time, and he was quite fast. I wanted to take some pictures, before nap time melt down and somewhere, where I could control him. I ended up taking several hundred pictures that day. Here are some of the photos that I took.

I then went through all of the photos and picked out the best ones. Here’s a simple collage made with a computer program of the photos.

For my final project, I ended up getting 4×6 photographs printed in a matte finish. I then placed them in a Pottery Barn 5-Picture Collage Frame. Angry Husband was a little shocked when he opened the gift. I probably haven’t been that creative for gifts since then. I need to find some inspiration this year.

This collage is in the hallway of our house. I walk by it every time I go into our bedroom. It always makes me smile. Sometimes I need to look at it, especially when Bruiser (the dog) is barking his head off and I want to scream at him.

P.S. I took the first (finished) photo tonight. It is not easy taking photos of framed pictures. The glass makes a huge glare when you don’t have that special cool, anti-glare glass.

Filed Under: Photography 35 Comments

Giving Away My Books

May 16, 2010

I recently got a Kindle. I also live in a small house so I’m also trying to organize my office. I have a ton of books that I’ve read in the past two years. I want to pass these books onto other people, whom also like to read. If you live locally in Orange County, I will meet you to hand off these books. If you live elsewhere, I have a ton of Flat Rate Priority Mail boxes. I can mail you the books. All I ask is reimbursement for the mailing fees.

Here is the list of books in no order:

Cocktails For Three-Madeline Wickham
The Friday Night Knitting Club-Kate Jacobs
When I’m Not Myself-Deborah J. Wolf
The Teahouse Fire-Ellis Avery
Saving Fish From Drowning-Amy Tan
The Little Lady Agency and The Prince-Hester Browne
The Street of a Thousand Blossoms-Gail Tsukiyama
Gap Creek (Hardcover)-Robert Morgan
Don’t Make Me Choose Between You and My Shoes-Dixie Cash
Comfort Food-Kate Jacobs
Chasing Harry Winston (Hardcover)-Lauren Weisberger (TAKEN)
Falling Out of Fashion (Hardcover)-Karen Yampolsky
The Girls from Ames (Hardcover)-Jeffrey Zaslow
High Tea-Sandra Harper
A Rather Curious Engagement-C.A. Belmond
Middle Place-Kelly Corrigan
Wife in the Fast Lane-Karen Quinn (TAKEN)
To Hell with All That-Caitlin Flanagan (TAKEN)
The Guy Not Taken-Jennifer Weiner (TAKEN)
School of Fortune-Amanda Brown and Janice Weber
I Was a Really Good Mom before I Had Kids-Trisha Ashworth (TAKEN)
April Shadows-V.C. Andrews
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio-Terry Ryan
Bright Lights, Big Ass-Jen Lancaster (TAKEN)
Family Baggage-Monica McInerney
The Devil Wears Prada-Lauren Weisberger
Everyone Worth Knowing-Lauren Weisberger (TAKEN)
Alphabet Weekends-Elizabeth Noble (TAKEN)
Snobs-Julian Fellowes
You’ll Never Nanny in This Town Again (Hardcover)-Suzanne Hansen (TAKEN)
Baby Proof (Hardcover)-Emily Giffin (TAKEN)
The Devil in the Junior League (Hardcover)-Linda Francis Lee (TAKEN)
Lipstick Jungle-Candace Bushnell (TAKEN)
The Gatecrasher (Hardcover)-Madeline Wickham
Shopaholic & Baby (Hardcover, missing cover)-Sophie Kinsella
The Interruption of Everything (Hardcover)-Terry McMillan
Love The One You’re With (Hardcover)-Emily Giffin (TAKEN)
Savannah Blues-Mary Kay Andrews (TAKEN)
Shoe Addicts Anonymous (Hardcover)-Beth Harbison
Remember Me? (Hardcover)-Sophie Kinsella
Naptime Is The New Happy Hour-Stephanie Wilder-Taylor (TAKEN)

Filed Under: Uncategorized 14 Comments

Spotlight Saturday: 05.09 to 05.15.10

May 15, 2010

Here are FIVE of my favorite posts from the past week. Each week I will be highlighting some of my favorites. I have many blogs in my reader, as I have many friends with all different types of “niches” or “non-niches”. I will post serious stories, fun stories, pictures, recipes, etc. They will most likely be in a random order.

1. Mama’s Losin’ It-How To Grow Your Blog

Some great tips there. Her tip “titles” are pretty hilarious too. Who wouldn’t laugh at, “And Most Importantly…Write Gooder.”

2. Mommy Niri-5 Reasons Big Bloggers Need to be Nice to Small Bloggers

The blogging world can sometimes be like high school with cliques and mean girls. She outlines why everyone should just be nice to each other.

3. Life with my 3 Boybarians-Sweet Shot Tuesday

Darcy hosted a photo carnival every Tuesday. She always has great prizes too. You do not have to be a professional photographer. It is a great blog/post if you want to show off some great photos that you took. I’m always up late Monday nights trying to get my photo post done.

4. Let’s have a cocktail-Homeade Peanut Butter Cups

One word: YUM! Don’t these sound delicious.

5. Momfluential Media-Fashion Haul Friday, Share Your Shopping

Ciaran talks about a new trend-Fashion Hauling. She does a vlog (video blog) showing some of the things that she recently bought. This is a great way to get into vlogging, as you have a topic to easily vlog about. And really, who doesn’t like vlogging?

Filed Under: Blogging, Photography 2 Comments