Any Regular Day...

Not much to report on today except that I vegged out the first half of the day.  Woke up with a bit of a scratchy throat and that feeling in your glands that something is about arise.  I hung out in bed and snuggled up with PD and did NOTHING and it felt great!

After focusing on doing absolutely nothing, I decided to go out and search for some face paint to play around with the girls.  I am inspired to create a masquerade look and do a video tutorial.  I've never done one before but, hey, there is a first time for everything.  Wish me luck and I'll post it whenever I actually get to do it.  :-)

TODAY'S HOLIDAY:  National Pencil Day

The girls helped me create a pencil sunburst to help celebrate this joyous day devoted to lead.  Put down the pens folks and pick up a pencil.  Draw something beautiful!  Have a great evening!

A Visit To Sherwood Forrest...

Sherwood Forest Faire in Texas

It was a another beautiful, sunny and breezy day for an outdoor activity.

Emma and Mommy are ready for some fun!

First things first...gotta get your face painted.

And of course, you gotta get your cardio on and do a little belly dancing.  These gypsies at the faire were so good and looked so beautiful in their outfits.  Gracie was just awe-struck watching them.

Then the girls decided to torture Mom on the spinny thing.  I was finally paid back for all the times my dad would take me on these kinds of rides only to have his sweet little girl do everything in her power to make sure he got dizzy enough that he couldn't see straight for a week.

Being her mother's daughter...Emma had to stop on the sandy road and make a little masterpiece...

...while Daddy (Dean) toasted with the town Royal Jerk.  This dude played his role too well.  He scared the girls by growling at them and telling them to give up their "pounds" for lunch.  

He loved the fact that our last name was Royal!

A cool picture that Deano took after I joined the girls and got my face painted.

And me waiting for Emma to finish her "bidness" in the luxory port-o-john.  And I mean luxory.  

It had granite counter tops.  Quite impressive.

There's nothing like clutching on to Daddy after a long day playing in the sand, getting Mommy dizzy, shopping till you drop and taking belly dancing lessons.  Night night Gracie.

Anyone interested in checking out Sherwood Forest Faire...I totally recommend it.  There are more photos of the sights on my Facebook page so add me as your friend, take a look at the pics and then check out their website:

www.sherwoodforestfaire.com

TODAY'S HOLIDAY:  Eat Something On A Stick Day

That's exactly what I did.  STEAK ON A STICK!!  Mmmmmmm

Have a great Sunday night and may your week be filled with beauty.  And may you NOT run into any Royal Jerks!  Be well gents and faire maidens.

Some Awesome BBQ...

City:  Lockhart Texas

Mission:  To have some yummy BBQ

The Place:  Smitty's 

Crazy line outside the restaurant at 1pm this afternoon.  This line ran through the restaurant and across the parking lot.  Luckily this was after we had eaten.

There is a rush of heat when you enter the door and then you turn the corner to find the fire pit at your feet.  

You look up to see the old smoker slowly cooking brisket, sausage and ribs.  Mmmm.  You breath in and smell the smouldering logs followed by the intoxicating sent of the smoking meat.  Every time the lids are lifted...your mouth waters with the sent becoming stronger and stronger.

This, my friends, is what we sat down to feast on.  We fed an army on this and still had plenty to bring home to my husband, Dean...who got to experience the same little piece of heaven we had enjoyed earlier.  AWESOME!

My last wonderful surprise was the ice cold bottle of RC Cola.  Nothing better than an ice cold soda from a bottle.  Here I am after poopin a top once I got home.

It was a great day hanging with family and making some memories.  

TODAY'S HOLIDAY:  National Kite Flying Day

It was a wonderful breazy afternoon which would have made it a perfect day to fly a kite but we had made the fortunate decision to fly high on BBQ instead.  Not a bad trade off I have to say.

Share all your love and maybe half your brisket.  Have a wonderful Saturday night and be good to one another.  Love, Paiger

I Treasure Found....

Hello Friends!
I am writing with a euphoric attitude this evening.  I have found a diamond hidden in the center of Cedar Park Texas and it's name is Food For Life.  A Gluten Free cafe with one very important goal in mind...to help educate everyone on how your diet can make all the difference in your life.

When we walked in, we were immediately greeted by the owner Sherri Kjar and her father Billy Jack....
They walked us around the cafe and market area giving us a full "rundown" on what they offer and how they make it.  They were so warm and welcoming.  I am still a bit intimidated in this new healthy way of eating but didn't once feel that way talking with Sherri.  It was such an enjoyable experience.  For those of you who know me, you know how I've been sick my whole life, right?  Well, living Gluten free has completely made a difference in my life.  I'm healthier,  I have more energy and I can run around with my children and just enjoy my life.  Living with Celiac Sprue Disease is not such a burden in my life anymore. I control it now and it does not control me!  YEAH!

Too make what could be a very long story short as far as my health drama...I will end by saying that walking into Food For Life today was amazing and I plan on making that my weekly stop for all my Gluten Free meal planning and supplies.  The food is amazing, the people are unbelievable and they care about my body and what I put into it.  Thank you Sherri, Billy Jack and all the rest of your family!!

Read their story here:
http://impactnews.com/leander-cedar-park/107-business-profiles/5909-food-for-life-cedar-park

See the store here:

Food For Life

Gluten Free/Casein Free Cafe

http://www.gfcfcuisine.com

Have a great night everyone and be good to eachother!

Mucho Love, Paiger

TODAY'S HOLIDAY:  National Waffle Day
Hmmmm, interesting....The cafe above serves Gluten Free waffles.  I haven't tried them yet but I'm sure planning to.  I love my waffles with peanut butter and jelly.  Always have.  Makes me feel like a little a kid again.  Soooo, have some PB & J waffles, follow it with an ice cold glass of milk and sleep tight everyone!

A Great Thing About Being A Mom...

It's a rainy night here in Texas AGAIN.  What up with the weather?  I tuck my girls into bed and the thunder storms start.  Emma and Gracie get so upset and just start freaking out.  I start getting a little freaked out myself when a wave of calmness passes over me, I grab the girls, sit on the bed and proceed to tell them what my father used to tell me....

"Let's imagine we are in a bowling alley", I tell them.  "It's noisy, there are people talking and laughing, balls are rolling down the alley one right after the other and the lights flash on and off everytime someone hits a strike".  The girls immediately light up.  I tell them that the thunder is the sound of those balls and the lightening is what happens when the pins get knocked down.  They ask me what the rain is so I had to dig deep and I must admit I scraped the bottom of the barrel on this one.  "God is so happy when the angels hit a double that he cries out in happiness!"  Again, the girls light up brighter than the lightening outside.  "NO WAY?" Emma yells out.  She runs out of the room and returns with a pen and paper and says, "Okay, we need to keep score because it sounds like they're hittin Turkeys up there Mom".  Ha!  Are you serious?  I couldn't help but smile.

Paiger was a happy camper at that moment and I couldn't hug my girls tighter.

I love being a Mommy to those two little Monkeys!

Have a great evening everyone and if there is a thunderstorm coming your way...just cheer on the angels that they're hitting Turkeys upstairs.

Mucho Love,  Paiger

Happy National Puppy Day...

Me and my little guy, PD (which stands for Preowned Dog) decided to celebrate this splendid day by having a photo both session with my laptop.  We had good intentions but as you can see it took a few shots to get it right.

Had trouble looking in the right direction.  PD couldn't help but admire how handsome he is.  The ear gave us great reception from the radio though.

A little freakout moment....

Better but he got distracted when the girls came running in.

AND FINALLY!!!
There's me and my little puppy guy!

TODAY'S HOLIDAY:  National Puppy Day!  It doesn't matter if you have a big puppy or a tiny puppy, a young puppy or an old puppy.  God gave us these best friends.  Give them the unconditional love that they give you.  They are there for us when we are sick, they run in the park with us when we are healthy, they love our children and they snuggle up and steal the covers from us at night.  Thank the Lord for these furry, funny, beautiful creatures.  Here's to my PD....today is your day bud!
Have a wonderful rest of this beautiful afternoon!  Mucho love!  Paiger

Cake Anyone...

Hi Everybody...
How was your weekend?  It was a great one for the Royal household.  I finally got over being sick which was awesome.  I'm trying this new organic/herbalistic/Gluten Free way of thinking and I must say that it is working wonders on this ol girl.

I got the incredible chance to hang out with my family and a few friends this Saturday evening which was one of the greatest nights!  We grilled up some burgers, listened to great music, had a few cocktails, shared hilarious stories...and celebrated our "surrogate cousin" Wyatt's birthday.  I even made him one heck of a great cake I must say......

He's an Aggie fan so I had too put a Longhorn koozie on that sucker.  What do ya'll think?  It was a rum soaked vanilla and red velevet 6 layer cake.  So, in honor of Wyatt's birthday I decided to share a few of my favorite cakes that I've made over the past year...

I have to lead with the Longhorn cake I did for my father-in-law.  Of course!  HOOK EM!

This was one I did for my mom's birthday!  Mmmmm

My mother-in-law's tropical themed birthday!  

My second cousin, Hunter loved his fireman cake...

Complete with a sugar dalmation!  What's a fireman cake without his trusty doggy?

And finally my sister's birthday.  My mom had me make this to help reveal the surprise that she was taking us to see Wicked.  Which was AWESOME!!!!!

Those are a few of my favorites.  I'll post more in the future along with some of my paintings.  Hope you enjoy.  Maybe someday you can have a Paiger Cake too.  :-)  There's always room for it, right?  

TODAY'S HOLIDAY:  International Goof  Off Day!  Wow, couldn't be more fitting for me right now seeing how I'm blogging at 11pm.  You still have an hour to celebrate this day by doing nothing...which I hope you do since it's too late to be playing on the computer anyhow.  Ha.  Goodnight everyone and may your dreams be filled with rum soaked cake!

Takin A Sick Day...

I'm on a mission today to NOT get sick.  Last night I started feeling the crud and felt it worse this morning. After running my errands and doing all my chores for the day, I decided it was time to take my vitamin C and all the herbalistic rememdies I could find in the house and crawl into bed...BUT....not before taking on a very small crafts project.  I'm falling back into a touch of my 80's glam rock look so I took one of my favorite cheapo shirts from Target and decided to tear it up a bit.  I'm diggin the look!  I even took a pic of my sick 'ol self to show you what I'm talking about...left my snotty face out of it though.  Ha ha ha.

Have a great day everyone and please stay healthy out there!  Mucho love!

TODAY'S HOLIDAY:  "Awkward Moments Day"

My favorite go-to awkward moment was during the holidays...I'm super focused when I'm doing my Christmas shopping at the mall.  I have a list, I follow that list and I get in and get out as quick as possible.  Everytime I walk passed the kiosks I knot up like a giant stress ball because those people are so intense and aggressive tring to sell their sand paintings, straightening irons or magic exfoliating body scrub made from sea salt, kelp and Neptunes fingernails..... whatever.  Anyway, to avoid these enthusiastic sales people, I always pretend I'm on the phone.  It's always an intense phone call.  I will act like I'm doing business, telling a story to my friend or having a heated discussion of how I couldn't find that thing that I couldn't find at that store.  My awkward moment comes in from last Christmas.  Imagine it...I'm walking by the kiosk lady, she tries to talk to me, I graciously put my finger up as if to say, "allow me to finish my conversation please."....and.....then my phone rings.  BUSTED!!!!  

HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!

Have a wonderful day!
Smile at everyone!
Use today as an excuse to pinch somebody cute.....uh.....I mean somebody not wearing green!

Enjoy this clear sunny day!  Much love to you all!

Something To Smile About...

So, it's been a rainy day in Texas which cancelled my plans to take the little ones to the park for a picnic.  We spent the morning creating flowers from construction paper...

Not too bad for only finding blue and black paper!

After watching Monsters vs Aliens, making homemade spring rolls, cleaning house, paying bills and doing laundry I sat down and searched through some old photos on my laptop.  I wanted to share two of them with you.

How can you NOT flip out over this?  

This one is just beautiful and brilliant!

Not much too write about today.  I'm looking forward to tomorrow playing in the park with the kiddos and enjoy some sunshine.  Have a wonderful evening and a bright tomorrow.  

Enjoy the beautiful symphany that is LIFE!

Take Me To Wonderland...

I have decided that I want to fall down a rabbit hole and find myself in the middle of Wonderland.  I saw Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland last week and it is STILL fresh on my mind.  It was a beautiful movie.  It had a classic elegance shared with the gothic influence that is Tim Burton.  It was dark, funny, emotional and experiencing it all in 3D made it all the better.

What was my favorite character you might ask?  Well, I would be glad to answer that one.  THE WHITE QUEEN.  I loved everything about her.  Her dark eyes, red lips, beautiful gown and of course the way she glides across the screen...both hands up and pinkies in the air.  A lady.  A little over exaggerated but that is what made the White Queen so loved by me, by Alice, The Hatter and by all her people.  Her vows were to be good, love everyone and never hurt a living creature.  Pretty awesome way to live.  Long live the White Queen!  Long may you reign!

.......until a sequel is made and someone challenges your crown again.  Ha Ha Ha