..::My Little Soapbox::..

Lyrics

2012-02-15T16:19:00.000-08:00

Do you ever wonder just how many song lyrics are stored in your brain?

I do.

I was driving today listening to my XM station 58 Prime Country and a old Judd's song came on. I immediately turned it up and belted out the entire song. As I was singing I realized that if you had asked me if I knew the lyrics to this song before it had come on, I would have said no. But as soon as the song comes on the radio I immediately knew all of the lyrics, the music, everything.

The human brain is quite strange. How does it just store that information?

Think about how many songs that you know by heart. Now try and think of obscure ones that you had no idea that you knew. I would love to know exactly how many I know. And I'm just a normal person. What about a singer? They not only know all of their library of work, but everything that they listen to as well. Crazy huh?!

Anyhoo, that is what I was thinking of today. I will leave you with this YouTube video of The Judds: I Know Where I'm Going, which is the song that came on the radio that sparked this entire post:

New Books!

2012-01-30T08:39:00.000-08:00

I received a $50.00 Barnes & Noble gift card for Christmas! So, I decided that it was time to get my butt down to my local branch and get some new books for myself.

I asked my friends on Facebook what I should buy, I wanted their suggestions. Some suggestions were serious, others not (read: Jon Hall - Berenstein Bears?!). These are the books that I ended up with:

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Ectoplasmic Man by Daniel Stashower

The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant

The Hunger Games, by Suzanna Collins

I can't wait to start reading them all!! I am waiting to borrow Outlander by Diana Gabaldon from a friend. I don't know when I'm going to carve out more time to read all these, not to mention all the other books that I already have at home that I haven't read yet. Oh well, you can never have too many books :)

What are you reading right now?

Favorite Apps!

2012-01-26T16:10:00.000-08:00

I have a small handful of apps that I certainly can't live without on my iPhone.

Facebook:

Yeah, I look at Facebook waaaay too often. There, I said it.

Instagram:

I have gotten lost in this freaking app. Some of the pics that people upload are absolutely gorgeous.

Pinterest:

This darn thing, this app right here... I have wasted HOURS of my time on this thing. I just keep learning about new crafts, new recipes, photography inspiration, motivational quotes, and places to visit. There is SO much on this website and app. If you want an invite, let me know :)

Amazon Mobile:

I always think that I will find it on Amazon for cheaper. How many times have you been standing at the store thinking to yourself, "I freaking know that this will be way cheaper on Amazon!". Well, this app will help with that syndrome! Now I price check everything with this app.

Starbucks Mobile:

I always have to know what my Starbucks Gold Card balance is. And wherever I am I know where the nearest Starbucks is to me. Of course I need this app.

What are your favorite apps?

(all images copyright the corporate whomever they are....I'm not trying to steal anything...)

Time

2012-01-25T09:17:00.000-08:00

I don't have enough time to do everything that I want to do. Perhaps I need to manage my time better? Who knows. All I know is that there are about a million other things that I want to do in a day.

I want to crochet a multitude of projects.
I want to read a new book that I bought.
I want to read a book I bought a year ago that I still haven't gotten to.
I want to exercise.
I want to go on a run with the dog.
I want to go out and take photos.
I want to blog about a recipe, or life event.
I want to sit and edit my photos from last year that I still haven't done.
I want to start re-modeling the upstairs loft.
I want to watch my shows on the DVR that are still sitting there.
I want to go to Disneyland.

Too many things to do? Do I have my toe dipped in too many hobbies? Nah. I just want to do it all!!

Maybe I will have to make a calendar...

Mondays - Crochet, Tuesdays - Photo Days, etc...

Oh, and bonus points to the person who can tell me where the above pic was taken ;)

But I don't wanna!!!

2012-01-19T12:57:00.000-08:00

Chores...

We all have them. Don't we all loathe them??

As you can see from the list above, which was made Monday night, the only thing I've done is the one thing that makes me the most happy. I freaking love grocery shopping. So obviously that one was done first. I next enjoy photoshopping the pictures that I've taken. And then the dreaded laundry... dun...dun... dun... As much as I love things neat and tidy and clean, I hate the chore of laundry.

When I think about the list of chores that I have to do, I usually start thinking about the things that I would like to do instead. I should make that a new section of the list. "Things I'd rather do".

I would rather go on a photo-taking expedition. Pack up the whole camera bag and roam about the city taking pictures. I would rather sit and crochet. I would rather snuggle up on the couch with Jonathan and the dogs. I would rather be hanging out with friends.

But thinking about that, I have now made yet another section of the list: "Things I should do".

I should be getting more wedding stuff done. I should make dinner tonight. I should organize the pantry.

Perhaps we should merge the "Things I should do" and the "Chores" sections of the list. That way some of the chores would be more fun! Bam! That just happened!! Maybe that will make the chores list less dreadful??

Instagram

2012-01-05T08:43:00.000-08:00

So, I posted about this early December...of last year. It still totally feels weird to say that...

Anyhoo, I did do more of this Photographing December than was posted on the blog here. I posted them on the iPhone app, Instagram. I just didn't feel like re-posting everything on here as well. I got a little overzealous when I started and thought that I would post on both locations.

If you have an iPhone and don't have Instagram, you are missing out...seriously. Download it now, you won't regret it. Look me up, my user name is hottymustang :)

Day 18, Party Attire

2011-12-14T15:38:00.002-08:00

Day 18, Party Attire

Yay fun Party Attire!! :)

(photo taken with my iPhone using instagram)

Day 16, Mittens

2011-12-14T15:37:00.001-08:00

Day 16, Mittens

This is the mitten/glove drawer. I have a ton of these little gloves due to a fantastic day after Christmas sale at Target one year.

(photo take with my iPhone using instagram)

Day 15, Christmas Cards

2011-12-14T15:36:00.001-08:00

Day 15, Christmas Cards

This is my favorite card that we've gotten in a number of years. Thank you Magness Family for truly picking out a great card for us.

(photo taken with my iPhone using instagram)

Day 14, Favorite Christmas Movies

2011-12-14T15:31:00.000-08:00

Day 14, Christmas Movies

Let's all be honest here...who has just one favorite Christmas movie?! Not this girl.
First and foremost, Die Hard is my favorite Christmas movie. Scoff all you want, it's a Christmas movie. And it's the best. Secondly, Love Actually. It's so romantic and girly and awesome. Hands down, one of the best movies ever made. Thirdly, Christmas Vacation. Because it just isn't Christmas without the Griswolds.

(photo taken on my iPhone using Diptic and instagram)

Day 13, Christmas Music

2011-12-13T19:48:00.001-08:00

Day 13, Christmas Music

I had two albums that are a must listen. And now I have three. First, The Chairman, Frank Sinatra. His album is my most favorite Christmas album of all time. Secondly, Mariah Carey. Because we all feel like we 'nail it!' when we sing her songs. Thirdly, and this was my new addition this year, Michael Bublé. He reminds me so much of Frank, but still has his own swagger.

(photo taken with my iPhone using Diptic and instagram)

Day 12, Boots

2011-12-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

Day 12, Boots

These are my new boots that I bought for myself on Black Friday. They are chocolate brown Jessica Simpson boots. And they are awesome. Merry Christmas to me!

(photo taken with my iPhone using instagram)

Day 11, Kissing under Mistletoe

2011-12-13T19:45:00.003-08:00

Day 11, Kissing under Mistletoe

Shockingly, I couldn't find Mistletoe. So my caption for this picture is as follows:

Imaging some kick-ass mistletoe over our heads!

(photo taken with my iPhone using instagram)

Day 10, Shopping

2011-12-13T19:45:00.001-08:00

Day 10, Shopping

I was doing some shopping here at the mall and snapped this picture off. Our mall in town is decorated super cute for Christmas every year. And yes, I did go shopping at Sephora.

(photo taken with my iPhone using instagram)

Day 9, Christmas Light Lookin'!

2011-12-13T19:44:00.001-08:00

Day 9, Christmas Light Lookin'

Well, I'll be honest. I haven't gone Christmas Light Lookin' at all this year. So, I got my bum off the couch and opened my front door...BAM! Lights! I snapped a pic real quick (and crooked for that matter) because, dang, it was cold out there!!

(photo taken with my iPhone using instagram)

Day 8, FREE DAY!

2011-12-13T19:42:00.003-08:00

Day 8, FREE DAY!

This is a Moon Pie. They are delicious. You should eat one. End of story.

(photo taken with my iPhone using instagram)

Day 7, Favorite Ornament

2011-12-13T19:42:00.001-08:00

Day 7, Favorite Ornament

These are awesome for two reasons:

They have both my name and Jonathan's name spelled correctly.
They are awesomely cute little snowmen/woman.

Also, Jonathans Mom is the one who bought them for us, so that makes then even more special.

(photo taken with my iPhone using instagram)

Day 6, Starbucks Coffee Cup

2011-12-13T19:41:00.001-08:00

Day 6, Starbucks Coffee Cup

Which one should I choose?!?! I do have a nice handful of Starbucks branded cups to choose from for this days assignment. I chose this one. It is the one we got from the Pike Place original store in Seattle. It reminds me of that trip, which was awesome, and also has their original logo on it. Both of which I like. So it's a win/win when drinking from this cup.

(photo taken with my iPhone using instagram)

Day 5, Pajamas

2011-12-13T19:39:00.001-08:00

Day 5, Pajamas

Who doesn't think Flannel when it's Christmas time?! Duh. So I took a picture of my pants...

(photo taken on my iPhone using instagram)

Day 4, Christmas Tree

2011-12-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

Day 4: Christmas Tree!

We have two trees. The one on the left is our fake one. I put it in the front of the house by the window. It's basically for the neighbors to see. The one on the right is our real tree. That's the one that is in the family room. I have to have a real tree every year. It's the smell... it's a must. I don't care how much mess it makes, I just have to have it.

(photo taken on iPhone using instagram)

Day 3, Scarves

2011-12-13T08:40:00.000-08:00

Day 3, Scarves

Scarves! I have a ton of them in the closet. These are my favorite ones!

(photo taken on iPhone using instagram)

Day 2, Nativity Scene

2011-12-13T08:10:00.000-08:00

Day 2: Nativity Scene

I don't have a Nativity Scene at my house... so I took a picture of this. It's my Snow Village Starbucks and 1964 Mustang. I received both of these items as gifts from my awesome friends Kate & Jared. I have them out every year. They also garner the most attention from whoever comes over. They are, in fact, a crowd pleaser :)

(photo taken on iPhone using instagram)

Day 1: Setting up Christmas

2011-12-08T08:04:00.001-08:00

Day 1: Setting up Christmas!

The first thing that has to go up in our house is the tree. Unfortunately, this year it was the last thing up. But no worries... it is up now and it's gorgeous!!

Photographing December!

2011-12-07T07:44:00.001-08:00

Photographing December ~ 30 Day Photo Challenge!

Yes! Another 30 Day Photo Challenge!! I love these!! I know that I am already behind, but that's no problem... I'll catch up soon enough.

I received this list from a friend of a friend. Her name is Julianna Morlet. If you want to take up this challenge as well, just email her @ juliannamorlet@gmail.com and let her know you are participating!! Also, if you are a iPhone user and use the app instagr.am, you can do the challenge right on the app! Use the hashtag #jmchristmasdays :)

The thing about this one is this: it isn't DSLR specific. It's just a photo challenge. IE- I can use my iPhone. PERFECT! That makes it even more fun!!

Hope to see some of you start this challenge as well!!

Owlie!

2011-11-20T13:35:00.001-08:00

This is my newest paint creation.... Owlie!

He is a Owl shaped coffee cup. Right up my alley right?! As if I needed another coffee cup in my cabinet, but I couldn't pass him up. He was too cute!!

I painted him at a little place in Temecula called Painted Earth. It's a really cool painting studio that has all the ceramics available for you to paint however you want. You just pick out what you want to paint, choose your paint colors...and then paint! They finish the piece by covering it in a food-grade sealant and then fire it in their kiln.

Hope you like him as much as I do :)

Wedding Stress

2011-11-18T11:13:00.001-08:00

(Image source: Google)

Wedding Planning.

Shouldn't this be fun for me? I am planning one of the biggest days of my life. Why does it seem like a chore?

I am loathing it. Don't get me wrong...I do enjoy reading the wedding blogs, magazines, and looking at boards on Pinterest. I just can not make a decision on anything to freaking save my life. No joke.

I feel like we've been engaged for for-e-ver and I haven't done anything. I'm getting anxious about when people ask me for more details and once again I can't give them any details at all. At this point I'm sure that people are thinking that I am holding out on them. I swear I'm not.

I don't know what the hang-up is that won't let my brain make a final decision. Normally I have no problem making choices. I make them all day long. So why on God's green earth can't I make these ones?

Then I use this reasoning: Well, the reason that you can't make a decision is because you just haven't seen or thought of exactly what you want. When you see it you will know. Thanks brain, that really doesn't help at all. Not one bit.

Why can't I just make a decision and stick to it?! I have no clue. So, if you have extra decision making skills, and aren't using it, please send it my way... I clearly need it.

Tattoos

2011-10-20T11:30:00.000-07:00

I have an infatuation with Tattoos.

I love them.

I like to know the meaning behind the artwork that people chose. I like to know why they decided to place it where they did. I like to know the why behind all of it.

But, I will never get one.

Why you ask? Because I have an addictive personality.

It would start with a small one. I would be infatuated with it. I would look at it all the time. Then I would think of something else that went right along with that. See? It's already snowballing.

I also fear being a 80-something year old woman with two full sleeves. Strange visual right? Yep.

On the site, Pinterest (if you want a invite, email me), I have a whole pin board dedicated to the tattoos that I like/love. It's even titled: 'Tattoos I like but don't have the courage to get...'.

Here are some that I have bookmarked on Pinterest...

Can you tell that I am a 'Potterhead'?! I love Harry Potter!

These two peacocks are just gorgeous...

I love the whimsy of the hummingbird and the owl...

And who doesn't love a awesome Star Wars Sugar Skull?! And a Light Saber...

This one is just awesome. The detail work on it blows me away.

The lack of a black outline on this one just makes it seem so delicate... I love it.

Perfect for a full time photographer!

Um, yeah, I super fell in love with this one, although it's way too big for my arm. I also love that they put the kitchen reflection in the mixing bowl. I love the little details like that!

So appropriate for me... it's the molecule for caffeine :)

Another whimsical one that I can't help but laugh every time I see it.

Love Mickey & Minnie too :)

These last two I am really enamored with. The white ink is just so delicate and lovely.

As you can see, my interests vary. From really delicate looking things on the inside of your finger to a whole back piece. I don't discriminate. I like them all.

So there is a romp through my love for tattoos. Hope you liked it :)

Perspective

2011-10-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

We've all been there.... You get bogged down with the little details of life.

You had a fight with a friend.
You really want something at the store that is over your budget and you keep thinking about it.
You couldn't get tickets to a concert you were really looking forward to.
Traffic sucks.
People suck.
What happened to true Customer Service??
You're running late to dinner with friends.
Someone in the office is annoying you.
Dang it, I forgot something off of the list at Costco again.
You re-hash a fight with one friend to another friend and it gets you all riled up again.
You want to re-vamp part of the house/backyard/garage and don't have the time and/or money.
You want to go on vacation.
Your doctor overbooked and needs to move your appt to tomorrow.
Your family is annoying you.
You want a new car.
You should be going to the gym more.
You should eat at home more instead of going out to restaurants.
Your team seams to be on a losing streak and it's depressing.
A store closed that was one of your favorites.
Something got deleted off the DVR before you got to watch it.
Dang it, I forgot something off of the list at Target too.
Aaaaand a new iPhone came out, great, I totally want that now too.

Perspective.

How many friends or friends of friends or family or friends of family do you know that lost their house in the current recession?

How many people do you know that are out of work?

Did you know that one of the people you are closest too are on the brink of filing bankruptcy because their debt it out of control?

Did you hear that your neighbor had to get a job because their retirement fund can't cover all the bills?

Did you hear that your friend is going to Afghanistan for their third tour?

A girlfriend called letting you know that she had a miscarriage at five months along.

Perspective.

But aren't we allowed to get mad at these little things that bother us? Shouldn't we own our feelings and not be ashamed of them?

Yes.

I do think that we should never be ashamed of what or how we feel but we shouldn't rub everyones face in it.

At times we all need a wake-up call and do need to be reminded that we are being silly about very superficial things. I think that we do need to keep things in perspective.

Yes, I realize that there are starving kids in Africa, that someone is losing their house, that someone is getting a divorce, that someone found out they have a terminal disease, or that someone has lost their job.

I just think that we need to keep our minds and attitudes in perspective.

Be grateful. Say Thank-You to people. Say I Love You to the ones that matter. Remember your manners. Be respectful. Be thankful. Make the most out of everyday. Push the limits. And don't forget to LOVE.

(photo credit: flickr)

Hockey

2011-10-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

I always semi-loathed Hockey. I always made the joke that it was off for two years and no one noticed... I mean, did you notice?

Well that all changed when I actually went to a game.

I was sold.

I loved it.

WAY better in person.

It is super fast paced, adrenaline pumping, and just plain awesome. People screaming things at the players, slapping the glass when the opposing team gets pushed into the wall by the home team, slapping the glass all through the game, and generally screaming obscenities at anyone and everyone all through the game.

And then you spill your drink. And it smells like we got jettisoned to a Caribbean Paradise around us. No worries though, a fight broke out just after the drink spilling distracting us from the drink mess on the floor.

I thank you so much, Jon Hall, for talking me into going to the Ducks games with you.

We ended up going to two games in the last week of the season. Ducks almost made it to the playoffs.

I also have a whole new respect for the players. I always conceded that they are the toughest professional sports players, but now I know for sure. Those guys never stop skating. Ever. Until the period is over. They skate at full speed 100% of the time. They are throwing punches, getting punched, slamming into the ice or the wall....It's seriously intense.

So... I apologize for all the times I talked crap upon the fantastic game of Hockey. I can't wait to go to some games this season.

Love,

Tara
The newly reformed Hockey fan who can't wait for a good bloody fight on the ice.

Crochet Pics!

2011-10-05T08:39:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show you guys all my Can/Bottle Cozy Crochet Projects!

I also wanted a real professional feel for the pics. So you can really see the detail in them.

The lighting in my house really sucks to take pictures with, so I went to Jonathans work. He has a big professional lightbox there. I used it. I used it with a fury. Not really, I mean, how can you use a lightbox with a fury?! It sounded good in my head.

Anyhoo, lets get to the pictures shall we?

Here is my very first cozy. It's Hot Pink and I love it!!

Here is the Turquoise one that I made for Jonathans sister, Casey. I was going to give it to her, but then I decided that I would use it for our Cozy swap instead.

This is another Red one that I made similar to the Hot Pink one.

Here is one that I am proud of. I made the design myself. It has a 'grip' so to speak. It works best on bottles rather than cans. I really love it. Note to self: Make more of this type.

And finally, this one I absolutely love. I'm not sure if I am going to put this one into the Cozy swap yet....I'm a little attached to it.

Oh shoot! I forgot about this one! The cup sleeve!!

Hopefully you like my creations. I do. I'm quite fond of them myself. And if you want me to make you one just let me know!! I would love to make one for you.

Stitch 'n Bitch Crochet Club

2011-08-18T09:56:00.000-07:00

I have joined a Crochet Club.

I feel like I have aged. But have I? Nope. I'm hip. Apparently it's a very hipster thing to do. Boo-ya!

Our first project was a Tawashi. It is a little circular scrubbie.

Here is a picture of the one I made for myself:

And for this project, we drew names for who we were going to make them for. I drew Sarah. She picked her yarn color and I made this one for her:

Here is a link to the Tawashi project above: Tawashi!

Our second project was Nana Slippers. Once again we drew names and I drew Corrie. She picked a hot pink yarn for me to work with. Full Disclosure: I did love the hot pink so much that I also picked it for myself. Here are some finished shots of Corries slippers:

Our project that we are going to start next week is Mug Cozies!! I can't wait!! I can make a mug cozie for a coffee cup or a beer cozie for a beer bottle or beer/soda can. I seriously can't wait!

Here is a link to Sarah's Ravelry page where she has the pattern for the Nana Slippers. Slippers!

Also, I know that the above pics are little 'eh'. They are just cell phone shots, so I'm sorry about that. For our future projects I will remember to bring the big camera :)

And if you would like to become a member of our Crochet Club, let me know!

knock knock Are you still there??

2011-07-29T16:24:00.000-07:00

Well.... hey there!

Is this thing still working?! Sheeeeesh, I haven't blogged in a while. Since April 30th to be exact.

Lots has happened since that last post.... I have multiple topics to talk about...

I GOT ENGANGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have joined a crochet club.
I went to Comic-Con for the first time this year.
Started (and now stopped) a year-long photography project, Project 52.
I now enjoy hockey.
The last Harry Potter movie came out and its bittersweet.
I have to start planning a whole wedding, it's a bit daunting even for a planner like me.
My Grandma is moving about 2 miles from me and on the same street as my Mom. Yay!
I bought a charcoal bar-b-que.

Well I think that pretty much covers everything. I am going to try and post more often as well. I always think of doing a blog post, but then never follow through. Going to try and change that.... I promise.

Project 52 ~ Friends with DSLR's

2011-04-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

Over at the other blog, and my current fascination Friends with DSLR's, we are doing another challenge!

We were kinda sad that our challenge was over so I googled and found a couple differently themed 30 Day Challenges that we could do. But I was hesitant to do another 30 day one since it was hard to post every day... sometimes life just gets in the way of getting your photo blog picture up. And the other problem that we were running into was that as soon as you got a few days behind on posting and/or taking your picture it felt so daunting to try and catch up. So, no more 30 day projects for us.

I went back to my googler and that is when I found this: Project 52!!!

It is a weekly themed post. Brilliant!!

Everyone loved the weekly idea. Mainly because it won't be as much pressure to get your picture up everyday like before.

Our 'week' will be Monday - Sunday. So each new theme starts every Monday. And we are going to shake it up a bit: Each person will get their own post for that weeks theme. So if one of us has a little story to tell about their photo, or they simply couldn't choose just one picture, or wanted to talk about how their editing or whatever we want to say..by George we can say it.

We have also made the labels search-able. So if you are looking for any one of us, a certain week or a certain theme in particular you can click on our label and all the posts that we have contributed to will pop up for you!

Again, I hope that you enjoy looking at all of our upcoming photos as we have taking the pictures!!

Easter Bark!

2011-04-25T19:16:00.000-07:00

I was told that my duties for this years Easter celebration would be dessert. Fun!

I tried to find a very Easter-ey dessert. I'm not a huge pie fan (although the rest of the family is) so I didn't want to make one of those. Jonathan said he wanted something light, not like a heavy cake or anything like that. It should have fruit he said.

When we got home I went to town scouring all of my books to find something Easter-ey, light and that had fruit. It wasn't as easy as I thought. After I went through all of my books that I went online and googled Easter dessert. And this is what I found!

Easter Bark! by a website I hadn't been to before, Gingerbread Bagels.

Ding! Ding! Ding! I found it. Although it didn't have fruit it did meet all the other requirements.

Easter Bark

8 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips
8 ounces dark chocolate chips
7 ounces White Chocolate Chips (Or any colored chip that you would like)

1/2 cup Spring colored Oreos (cut up a bit)
1/4 cup Easter Candy Corn (I totally didn't find these, so I omitted it)
1/4 cup Mini Cadbury Eggs – cut in half (the hard shell ones, the store didn't have any when I went so I used M&M's Eggs)
1/4 cup Mini Robin Eggs (Whoppers)
1/8 cup M&Ms (You can use whatever kind you like)
Large piece of Parchment or Wax paper

~Lay out your parchment paper on the counter or on top of a platter (if you need to move it, put it on a platter.)

~Melt both semi-sweet and dark chocolates on a double boiler. When melted through, pour the chocolate over the parchment paper. You don't need to worry about a shape since you'll be cutting it up later.

~Melt your colored chocolate on the double boiler. When heated through put it onto the other chocolate in smaller dollops.

**Side note: The original recipe calls for you to melt the chocolate in the microwave. I didn't like that so I used the double boiler for the chocolate. Then when I was going to melt the white chocolate I decided that I would use said microwave technique. Don't do it. I got a large lump of a welded together substance that used to be white chocolate. Here is a pic. Please don't do it. It's a terrible mess to clean up as well.**

~Use a knife and drag the lightly colored chocolate over the regular chocolate. Make whatever design you want! Just don't cover up the regular chocolate too much.

~Then drop your candy bits all over the top! Make it any way you want, there isn't a wrong way to do it!

~Let sit for at least three hours before attempting to cut it up.

~Enjoy!!

DIY Recipe Book

2011-04-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

I've been looking for a good recipe book for ages.

What I really wanted was something that I can put my print outs from online, my written ones, ones ripped from packages and magazines, etc. At first I scoured Target, Wal Mart and Staples for a box that would hold either 3x5 or 5x7 cards and full page papers that I could organize with tabs. But it also had to be cute, that I wouldn't budge on.

Did I ever find that? Nope. Nothing, nada. Couldn't even find anything like it.

That's when I just simply wanted to find a box. Couldn't even find that! I just wanted to be organized, why can't the organizational gods let me find this?!

That is when I found this link from The Kitchn: Recipe Book. And then a link to a DIY one: DIY Book.

Hallelujah! EXACTLY what I was looking for!!

Now I had a conundrum, just buy the journal (how freaking cute are those pages?!) or make the other one. How do I choose?!

I chose the DIY one so I could use a larger binder with a D-ring instead of the smaller O-ring journal.

I bought the large package of sheet protectors, the dividers and binders. That's right binderS. I couldn't choose between the two that I really liked.

The first one I found was the USA one. I do love the mosaic and scrap book-ey feeling that it has. --->

And the back of the USA one --->

<--- London with Big Ben on the cover. How could I not buy this one?!?!

<--- The back of London.

The dividers that I bought. I thought they had a cool design. And they are breakaway. They are plastic so if you pull too hard on them they won't tear, they will just breakaway. Fun huh!

Then I had to get all of my stuff out to organize and get straight.

Organized into appropriate piles:

All into the binder. I chose the USA one first. But I ran into a snag... It was 100% full.

So then I had to transfer some to the other binder. I chose to take out Pasta and Main Courses and make them their own binder.

Done!

I am so excited to be able to use this rather than have to root around in the kitchen drawers to find a paper that I left somewhere. And to not have to reprint because I spilled on the paper. Since they are in their protective sheets I can just wipe it off! Exciting!

I realize that this may not be as mind blowing as I thought it was, but it was the answer that I really needed to my problem.

Hopefully it inspires you to make your own recipe book!

Friends!

2011-04-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

I know that I've already told you about my project with my friends, Friends with DSLR's.... but we finished!!

That's right ladies and gents, we did a whole 30 days!! If you haven't been checking it out, please do. If you have, then thanks so much for sticking with us!!

Not all of us got all 3 days posted, I finished barely on time, but that is neither here nor there. I finished!!

So go on over and check us out, even leave a comment if you like :)

Friends with DSLR's

Backyard Renovations

2011-04-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

So a while ago I teased you about doing some really huge things with the backyard. And then proceeded to not blog about it at all. What a tease I am.

Well I'm here to show you what went on that cold February (yes, that long ago) morn.

We poured 13 yards of concrete in our backyard. Whew, glad I got that out there.

It was amazing, exhilarating and just plain fun to watch them pour it.

Then came the time for it to dry a bit before they could mold and shape it. That was bor-ing. Like watching grass grow. There is nothing you can do to help it. It just has to dry in the sunlight. Which, unfortunately is a problem in our backyard in the winter time. Hence us pouring the concrete. We had to get rid of the terrible mud that is persistent all winter in the backyard. I've had it up to here with the mud. Not only when we walked in the backyard, but the dogs had muddy paws, which made muddy concrete, muddy garage floor and muddy sliding glass door. Too much mud for me. Way too much. So we poured concrete. And lots of it...

As of right now the concrete still looks like that. All spotty. Since it hasn't been sunny for a long period of time, the concrete technically still isn't dried. So as it dries all the way through it will lose it's dark gray color and turn into the normal concrete color that we all know and love.

Having this all done is awesome. As you can see, you can walk all around the house and not have to step in any kind of mud or grass. The trashcans are easier to get to, the dogs don't track mud all into the garage or all over what was our small patio and my slider door is so much cleaner. I love it!

So this summer, we will have a large party on this newly-ish poured concrete. Complete with new patio furniture and large tub of Sangria, ice cold beers and large steaks on the grill. I can't wait!!

ROTW: Sour Cream Noodle Bake

2011-03-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

When I saw that Ree on Pioneer Woman posted this, I immediately wanted to make it. I love to make casseroles and baked main dishes. Something about them is so comforting to me. So I starred it on my RSS feed and put it on the semi-back burner of my head.

Well, the other night I was digging about the cabinet to check my stock on a few things and saw that I had a bag of wide egg noodles. *click!* I just read a recipe that needed egg noodles...what was it?!? Sour Cream Noodle Bake!!

I decided to make it the next night, since I already had dinner on the stove for that night.

Sour Cream Noodle Bake, by Ree Drummond on Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

1-¼ pound Ground Chuck (I used 2lbs 4% Ground Beef)
1 can 15-ounces Tomato Sauce
½ teaspoons Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
8 ounces, weight Egg Noodles (for my 2lb beef I should have used the whole 12 oz bag, FYI on that)
½ cups Sour Cream (I used 1 cup since we enjoy Sour Cream more so than Cottage Cheese)
1-¼ cup Small Curd Cottage Cheese (I used 3/4 cup)
½ cups Sliced Green Onions (less To Taste)
1 cup Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese (I used about 2 cups Medium Cheddar)

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350.

Cook your noodles according to package directions. While noodles are boiling you can start

Brown your meat in the pan. If you are using a higher fat meat, drain off the fat when done. Add the can of tomato sauce and stir. Add the 1/2 teaspoon salt and loads of freshly ground pepper, stir. Let simmer while you prepare everything else.

Mix your sour cream and cottage cheese into a bowl. Drench in freshly ground pepper. Don't worry about the loads of pepper that you are putting on, it'll be delicious! Pour drained/cooked noodles into mixture, stir. Add green onions, stir.

To assemble in your casserole dish, put half of your noodle mixture in the bottom of the pan.

Top noodles with half of your meat mixture.

Top meat with half of your cheese. Repeat.

Bake for about 20 min, until it's all warmed inside and the cheese hot and bubbly.

Enjoy!

I did not get a picture of it directly out of the oven because Jonathan and I were so hungry that I forgot.

It was really good, seriously. But as I do have a soft spot in my heart for baked main dishes, I believe I liked it a bit more than Jonathan. Oh well. I will make it again. I think that there are a ton of variations that you can do as well. I see a Mexican version in my future along with a ground Turkey version...

New Blog!

2011-03-21T15:41:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

Just wanted to show you my new addiction...photography. My friends and I are doing a 30 Day Photo Challenge. Today is our first day...check it out to see if you like it :)

I haven't been able to post or take my picture for today yet, but we will all be posting our Day 1 photo some time today.

Hope you like it!!

Friends with DSLR's

30 Days of Blogging: Day 27-30

2011-03-16T08:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, I sucked at this. Way to not finish this thing out. But, I will now. And you will like it!!!

Day 27: Show off your tattoos or tell everyone why you never got one.

I will start off by saying that I really do adore tattoos. I am fascinated by them. I like to know the reason why people got them, the story behind why that symbolizes a tragic event in your life...I am mesmerized by it. I don't think that I've had anything in my life that was powerful enough to make me get a tattoo about it. Not saying that nothing has happened in my life, but nothing that I feel that I need to memorialize. I am not the kind of person, I think, that would just get something that I like tattooed on me. Like a Starbucks logo or something because I'm addicted to coffee. To me that isn't the meaning of a tattoo. For some people it is and that is fine for them.

I also think that if I started with getting a tattoo that I won't be able to stop. I have a very strong feeling that I would get addicted to it and it would go spiraling out of control.

Day 28: A photo of our favorite place to eat.

Well, this answer really depends on what city we are in.

If we are in Murrieta/Temecula:

If we are in Santa Barbara:

Day 29: Why are you doing this 30 Day Challenge.

I am doing/did this 30 Day Challenge because I thought it would be fun. I had a couple friends that were doing it and had done it in the past. It was fun to do it. I googled a couple different ones and meshed them into one 30 Day Challenge that fit me exactly. Cheating? No. Awesome.

Day 30: Current fascination.

Photography.

Completely enamored with it. My friend Jon Hall and I took a DSLR class last week and now I can't get enough of it. This past weekend we went to the Rod Run in Temecula and put our new skills to use. I haven't uploaded the pics from it yet, but I'm hoping that they are at least marginally better than what I normally get.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 26

2011-02-28T08:19:00.000-08:00

Day 26: My favorite Season.

Another easy one...

Summer!!

What true California native doesn't use summer as their favorite season?!?

I love it because: It is warm (duh), I never have to worry about taking a jacket with me, I don't have to worry if it will be too cold to wear a certain outfit, I can wear flip flops every day, I can wear my bathing suit under any outfit and no one seems to mind.... the list goes on and on. Tanning! Don't forget backyard tanning!! And sitting poolside with a nice super cold beer or pitcher of Sangria....oh yeah, I can't wait for summer to get here!

30 Days of Blogging: Day 25

2011-02-28T08:15:00.000-08:00

Day 25: Something you could never get tired of doing.

This one is easy...Cooking!

I enjoy it so much. It really makes me happy. I love to do it and I love to cook for other people. I like to see their faces when they eat and enjoy. I like to know that I made their tummies full and their taste buds celebrate.

I love to try out new recipes, even if they fall flat on their face. I love going grocery shopping to buy those ingredients to make whatever meal I am making.

I love it. I really do.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 24

2011-02-28T08:04:00.000-08:00

Day 24: Something you don't leave the house without.

My first thought on this is my phone and purse. But I think that's just too easy of an answer. Right?

So now I am racking my brain to think of something that I don't ever leave the house without.

Hrrrmmmm........

I seriously can't get past this. I always have my phone and purse, and anything else I always forget or leave in my car so I don't forget.

So......we are just going to go with the phone and purse.

**I know this was supposed to be Fridays post, but I forgot to complete it... Subsequently forgetting all weekend to do my daily blog posts. I'm a terrible blogger at this point. But, I'll make it up to you! I will try my darndest to get all these missing days up today, Monday 2/28. I won't let you down now!!**

30 Days of Blogging: Day 23

2011-02-24T22:27:00.000-08:00

Day 23: 25 Things you want to do before you die.

A bucket list then, huh? Ok then. Here we go! These are in no particular order...

Get Married.
See Europe. Mostly go to Britain, Ireland, Germany and France. From that I will stem it out (but not waste another number on) all the sites these countries hold.
See Japan.
Skydive.
Drive on the Autobahn.
Go to a football game at Lambeau Field while it's snowing.
Go on a BallPark Tour vacation. Which is basically hopping from city to city going to different baseball stadiums seeing all the teams play. Fantastic huh?
Drive across the great 'ole USA seeing all the weird stuff. Like the Worlds Biggest Ball of Yarn. I need a picture of myself with the Worlds Biggest Six Pack of Bee r.
Eat in a 3-starred Michelin restaurant.
Learn a different language.
Go to a Formula 1 race, preferably Monaco.
Meet the President of the United States. Go POTUS!
Meet Gordon Ramsay, Tom Coliccho, Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, Michael Symon, Richard Blais, etc... Sit down with each one to eat dinner and get a cooking class from each one.
Travel to the little island of Ko Phangan, Surat, Thailand to visit one of my best friends.
To perfect any recipe I try.
Own a Bassett Hound. I'm a sucker for long ears on a dog.
Own a very large home on a very large lot in Montecito.
Throw the first pitch at a MLB game.
Drive the pace-car at either a Formula 1, Indy Car or Nascar race.
Walk on the Great Wall of China.
Use Richard Bransons spaceship and go into outer space.
Scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef.
Visit all 50 states.
Own a supercar. IE- Ferrari, Lamborghini...
To always be with the love of my life.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 22

2011-02-23T08:05:00.001-08:00

Day 22: Guilty Pleasures

Guilty Pleasures. Oh boy.

MTV Programs such as: Teen Mom, 16 and Pregnant, I used to be Fat, Real Life...
Girl Scout Cookies (stashing them, not just eating them)
Any of the 'Housewives' shows; Orange County, Beverly Hills, New York, New Jersey... I get sucked in to them every time. Although, with Atlanta I draw the line (as if there was one), I can't watch that one.
Moon Pies
Listening at random intervals to the following stations: KIIS FM and 99.1 KGGI. Sometimes you just need a Pop music fix.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 21

2011-02-22T07:09:00.000-08:00

Day 21: If I could choose a different time period to live in it would be...

This is hard. I have a knee-jerk answer, which is the 1950's. But as I sit and think about it, I don't know if that is exactly where I would go back to. Then I would pick the 1960's. I seriously can't pick. So I will do this. I would go back in this general time frame: 1955-1969. I have reasons. Reasons I will outline.

I would like to be in the late fifties for just the time frame itself. The fashion, the 1955-1957 Chevy, the innovations...I want to be there and be fascinated by them. The 'pill', the first computer modem, the Hula Hoop, cassettes, silicone breast implants, Astroturf, contact lenses, microchips, electronic fuel inejection, the first artificial hear, the ATM, RAM for your computer, bar codes to scan... I can keep going on. These things that we take for granted, things that we have everyday. How cool would it have been to be there when it first came out.

I want to be there for the birth of the great American Muscle cars. The 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang, the 1965 & 1967 Shelby Cobra Mustang, 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, 1969 Mach I Mustang....shall I go on? Ok, the 1967 Pontiac GTO and the 1968 Firebird.

Then there are the non-muscle cars. The 1964 Lincoln Continental, 1959 Cadillac (preferably Pink), 1957 Corvette (wait, that is kind of a muscle car, put that in the list above, kinda), the 1955 Corvette, 1962 Nova (en Espanol it means 'no-go', FYI) and the 1959 Thunderbird. I want one of each one.

And the racing. The birth of Nascar, the awesome-tastic deadly races of the early years of Formula 1.

The Worlds Fair.

The movies!! To see the 'classics' that I love so dearly in their original formats in theaters. And the television! I Love Lucy, Dick Van Dyke, Andy Griffith....Imagine sitting on the edge of your seat when Dick Van Dyke or Any Griffith was first broadcast in color. How awesome!!

And oh the music and concerts. I would give up a lot of money to see the Ole Blue Eyes in concert. Imagine...go ahead and close your eyes and imagine seeing Frank Sinatra in concert. Oh wow. My mouth just watered. Not to mention Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole, Johnny Cash, The Temptations. These are the foundation for the music that we listen to now. To when people had true talent and a voice, not how it's too overly produced as it is now.

When everyone was genuinely nice (or so I think in my head).

I want the me to wear a suit and tie to work and I can wear a dress and heels everyday.

Re-reading my ramblings, it is in fact ramblings. But they are still all true. So take it as face value. I mean it, I really do.

What would your time frame be?

30 Days of Blogging: Day 20

2011-02-21T19:44:00.000-08:00

Day 20: The last piece of art that you made.

The last piece of art that I made was this, my Santa Butt!

I painted it a local place called Painted Earth in Temecula. It was obviously one of the seasonal Christmas items that they had available. I love it. It is supposed to just be his regular red pants butt, but I put my own flair on it. I think it makes it that much better. It also does hold a tremendous amount of coffee too, which is a bonus.

You know you're jealous of my Santa Butt!!

30 Days of Blogging: Day 19

2011-02-20T21:25:00.000-08:00

Day 19: Top 5 Pet Peeves

I don't think these are too extraordinary. But, these are the ones that usually bug me daily.

Improper use of grammar. Can't people write a whole sentence and write out the whole word anymore?!?
Children in stores without shoes on. Why parents? Why?
People who are late. Why set a specific time if you're not going to abide by it?
People who talk during movies at the theater. Don't do this, whatever you do.
People who stand too close to you in line. There is a personal bubble space, don't get in my bubble.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 18

2011-02-19T16:14:00.000-08:00

Day 18: Something you crave a lot.

Duh.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love my coffee. It's a must have.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 17

2011-02-18T08:27:00.000-08:00

Day 17: What is in your purse?

Well kids, today you are almost lucky! I recently cleaned out my purse, so it isn't as bad as it could be. Believe me, I've pulled things out of my purse that had me going huh?!?! And it's my purse!

~Wallet
~iPhone
~Car keys
~Business/Home keys
~Lip Gloss (3)
~Lipstick
~Chapstick
~Gift cards (7)
~Starbucks Gold Card
~Flash Drive (2)
~Credit Card Bill
~Pen
~Recipe print-out (2)
~Lotto ticket (Need to take that in!)
~Digital Camera
~Loose change
~iPod earbuds
~Costco coupon book
~Gum
~Mints
~Purse Holder
~Tampon (I hesitate to put that in, only because boys are so squeamish. But we are all adults here.)
~Barley & Hops Century List

See? Not so bad. Had this been Monday we could have had all number of things in there. Now if I were a Mom, there would so SO much more in there. But all I have are my dogs and they don't need me to carry things for them on a daily basis.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 16

2011-02-17T07:32:00.000-08:00

Day 16: Your celebrity crush.

Ha. That sentence implies a singular crush. Who has just a singular crush?? I certainly don't. So instead of narrowing it down to just one, I will list the ones that pop into my head.

~Matt Bomer:

For those of you paying attention, I've mentioned him a couple times here on the 'ole blog. He is so freaking cute and sexy it's not even funny. To steal a line from mu friend Katie: "He can Bomer me anytime!" No, seriously. Watch his show White Collar, and you will understand.

~John Mayer:

I love John Mayer. Jonathan and I have seen him in concert, and it was amazing. He has some serious talent. I don't care a bit about how people label him a player or a womanizer. I don't care I tell you!! He has a super dry sense of humor, can rip to shreds any guitar and I love to listen to him sing.

~Tom Selleck:

What can I say? I'm a sucker for this guy, especially Magnum PI days. And then he was on my all time favorite show ever, Friends, and that just sealed the deal really. He can't ever not not his mustache. Ever. In my heart I will meet him on the big island one day while driving the Ferrari.

~Peyton Manning:

I know that this one is a little out there, but I can't get enough of him during football season. I just want him to be just like he is in his commercials. I love his sense of humor, although I'm aware that commercials are scripted, and his delivery. Not to mention that fact that he is a fantastic football player too. I do have a Manning jersey in the closet for such occasions that I am watching his games.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 15

2011-02-16T08:20:00.000-08:00

Day 15: Put your iPod on shuffle and list the first 10 songs that play.

I don't ever have my iPod on me, so I will use the next best thing. My iPhone. I will open up the iPod app and put it on. Let's see what happens!!

Scorpions: Don't Believe Her
Zac Brown Band: Chicken Fried
Salt-N-Pepa: Shake Your Thang
Brad Paisley: The Pants
The Fray: Heaven Forbid
Darius Rucker: Be Wary of a Woman
Michael Buble: Quando, Quando, Quando
John Williams: Entry into the Great Hall
Jay-Z: Real As It Gets (feat. Young Jeezy)
Taylor Swift: Love Story

Wow.

That's a heck of a list huh??

PS- How did the 'Scorps get first?? Weird.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 14

2011-02-15T08:20:00.000-08:00

Day 14: A TV show you are currently addicted to.

I seriously can't narrow that down to one. I narrowed it down to ten yesterday...sheesh. Well, going from my top ten I made yesterday I shall choose from the newest that I've added to my current DVR schedule.

Ok I can't. All of those are my go-to's, my standards. I am already 100% addicted to those shows.

I must pick a new one. Something that hasn't quite made the top ten yet, but is creeping up. I got it!

Perfect Couples

Jonathan has gotten me to watch it. It is hilarious. Not Modern Family hilarious (damn it, I forgot that for my top ten yesterday...ok, Modern Family is #11 on the top ten list for TV), but it's up there. I highly recommend watching it.

The banter of one of the main couples really reminds me of Jonathan and I. The way we make jokes to each other and talk about things.

Watch the episodes on Hulu or NBC or however you want to watch. I'm pretty sure you will enjoy it.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 13

2011-02-14T08:41:00.000-08:00

Day 13: Top five movies and television programs.

Well, now isn't that not enough. My lists are ever rotating and at the same time never changing. I'm going to give you a top ten of each, both in no particular order (because I can't make up my mind how they rank).

Top 10 Movies (in no particular order)

Dumb & Dumber
Hot Fuzz
Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr Edition)
Super Troopers
Bad Boys II
The Postman Always Rings Twice
His Girl Friday
The Thin Man Series
Mean Girls
Harry Potter Series

Top 10 Television Shows (again, in no particular order)

Friends
30 Rock
Sons of Anarchy
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
White Collar (oh, Matt Bomer...)
Magnum P.I.
Anything Gordon Ramsay
Top Gear (UK)
CSI (The OG, Las Vegas)
Dirty Jobs

30 Days of Blogging: Day 12

2011-02-13T22:47:00.000-08:00

Day 12: A photograph of the town I live in.

Well, welcome to Murrieta, California!!

This is an old picture, our population has increased to a little over 100K people now.

And you can't forget the Adobes, on the Santa Rosa Plateau:

And that's Murrieta! I might have some time to take some more pictures from around town later this week. And then maybe I'll post them up :)

30 Days of Blogging: Day 11

2011-02-12T09:48:00.000-08:00

Day 11: What's in your make-up bag?

Well, this question is a big vague. I have two bags. What I really need is a secondary question from me: My everyday bag or the travel bag? I think that they are requesting the everyday bag, so it is as follows:

~Bag: Betsey Johnson
~Powder: Chanel Poudre Universelle Libre
~Foundation: Chanel Pro Lumiere
~Mascara: CoverGirl Voluminous
~Eyeshadow: MAC - assorted colors.
~Eye Liner: MAC Kohl Eye, Black and Brown
~Lotion: Lancome High Resolution Refill 3X
~Lip Gloss: Lancome - assorted colors (glittery and plain)

Now that I look at it, there really isn't much in it if I don't type out each eyeshadow. They take up a whole heck of a lot of room... But, a girl has to have options right??

30 Days of Blogging: Day 10

2011-02-11T07:55:00.000-08:00

Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad

Happy: Oh, this is a myriad of options. Here are some top ones:

Zac Brown Band: Toes
Zac Brown Band: Chicken Fried
Katy Perry: California Gurls
Taylor Swift: Love Story
Brad Paisley: American Saturday Night
Brad Paisley: Alcohol
Brad Paisley: Online
Lily Allen: The Fear
Lily Allen: F&#k You
Bryan Adams: Summer of '69
John Mayer: Waiting on the World to Change
John Mayer: Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
John Mayer: Free Fallin' (Tom Petty cover on the live album...ah-mazing)
John Cougar Mellencamp: R.O.C.K. in the USA
John Cougar Mellencamp: Jack and Diane
Tom Petty: American Girl
Tom Petty: Here Comes My Girl
Neil Diamond: Sweet Caroline
The Fray: Over my Head (Cable Car)

*Not Listed: everything else in my iTunes library. When I'm happy I can listen to pretty much anything. The list above is just what I thought of off the top of my head. I don't think that you want to me to list EVERYTHING, that would take days to list.

Sad/Mad (to me it is the same music):

Jay-Z: Young Forever
Jay-Z: Empire State
My Chemical Romance: Helena
My Chemical Romance: Give 'em Hell Kid
Avenged Sevenfold: Beast And the Harlot
Avenged Sevenfold: Burn it Down
Alright: Darius Rucker
B.O.B: Airplanes
Infant Sorrow: Bangers, Beans & Mash

Hyped:

Monster 80's Discs 1 & 2

Bored:

When I'm bored I usually resort to my Playlists I've listened to thousands of times, or an audio book. Or podcasts.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 9

2011-02-10T07:54:00.000-08:00

Day 9- Something you’re proud of in the past few days.

I am proud of two things in the past few days.

#1 ~ I am so happy about the backyard renovation that we are doing. I am photographing each stage and will completely blog about it when it is all done. Let me tell you that I can't wait for it to be done. It will fix so many things that I dislike about the backyard. Did I mention that I can't wait for it to be done?!?!

#2 ~That I started eating healthier this past couple of weeks and I'm loving it. Eating fresh veggies and home made meals. Fruit shakes in the morning, a semi-sensible lunch and a nice home cooked dinner. And I get to make so many recipes that I always said I wanted to try. Who'da thunk it?!

30 Days of Blogging: Day 8

2011-02-09T08:14:00.000-08:00

Day 8: Short term goals for this month and why.

This month I would like to stay on track with my running. I recently started the Couch to 5K and I would like to finish it. No, I won't be finishing it at the end of this month; what I want is to finish the month without stopping. I recently, as in last week, took a whole week off from the program and I paid for it. I went running last night with my friend Roxana, and it hurt so bad. My legs were like jelly and I was way out of breath. The last time I ran I thought that I was seriously making progress with it and I was feeling great about it. Now, not so much.

Not to mention that in April my friends and I are doing the Warrior Dash. I need to be prepared for that. As I've outlined in my previous post about the Couch to 5K; I did a mud run last April and wasn't prepared for it at all and it was quite hard to finish. This is so much more than just a mud run...I am well aware that I need to be much much much more prepped for this one. But hey, when I finish the Warrior I get a fuzzy Viking helmet and a medal...totally worth it.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 7

2011-02-08T09:10:00.000-08:00

Day 7: A picture of your most treasured item.

Jonathan.
Followed closely by:
Norbert.
Rhett.
Jett.
Then all the family and friends...hahaha...neener!!
I love all my friends and family, but I need those paws and Jonathan every single day...

30 Days of Blogging: Day 6

2011-02-07T07:29:00.000-08:00

Day 6: A picture of a person you would like/love to trade places with for a day.

I seriously had to think long and hard about this. Would I like to be a important and powerful person? The President? A celebrity Chef? A movie star? My favorite musician? Possibilities are endless. I really couldn't make up my mind on who I would love to be. I finally decided on two people....I couldn't make up my mind.

<--- Sabine Schmitz

I picked her because she is the best driver in the world, well, besides Michael Shumacher. She was the fastest 'taxi driver' at the Nürburgring in Germany. She is the "Queen of the Nürburgring", having been around the track more than 30,000 times. She appears frequently on one of my favorite shows, Top Gear (UK version). She is also quite funny and very sarcastic, my kind of humor. She is a role model to me. And the reason that I picked her as one of the people I would like to be is this: I want to go around the Nürburgring in all the cars that she has at her disposal. To know that I can take all those cars to their limits, to really use them as the manufacturers intended. I would revel in it. Love it. And I would be able to be at the Nürburgring all day. And drive on the autobahn. That would also be awesome.

Gordon Ramsay --->

Full confession: I love Gordon. I know that a lot of people don't particularly like him. A lot of UK people think he is a a-hole and that he has too many TV shows or whatever. I still think he is awesome. He holds a total of 16 Michelin stars and owns appx 20 restaurants worldwide. And I am quite fond of all of his shows, even the UK ones (thanks to BBC America). I would love to be him for a day so I could have his cooking abilities. Also the presence he commands in the kitchen, to learn how he leads his brigade. To be able to produce a Three-Starred Michelin meal. To be at the Savoy in London. All of those things would be awesome. Oh, and to be able to say f&#k every other word. And bollocks.

Backyard Renovations!!

2011-02-06T20:14:00.000-08:00

We are embarking on a new set of backyard renovations. I had an idea about trying to cut back on some of the mud in our backyard.

We were 'blessed' with super crappy dirt back there. It has so much clay in it that it just doesn't absorb any water. It all just sits on top. In short, it freaking sucks. In the winter time its always muddy and in the summer time its always dry. There is never a happy medium. Did I mention it sucks?

So we are on the path to fixing part of it. And getting rid of a problem area as well. It is a place that my dog likes to jump up into the window to see us in the kitchen. Just below the window is a planter, so when it's all muddy (read: all the time) he gets muddy paws as well as the side of the house all muddy. I can't wash off the side of the house because then it will just create another muddy area. It's a vicious cycle.

I have taken 'before' shots. I will post the before and after pics when the project is all done.

Did I mention that my yards mud issues will be resolved?!? I'm so happy!!!

30 Days of Blogging: Day 5

2011-02-06T09:31:00.000-08:00

Day 5: A picture of somewhere you have been.

Well, our most recent trip was to Seattle & Vancouver, BC. So I will show a little of those for you:

The End! (of that trip)

Honorable Mention:
Santa Barbara (see post #1, I would live there if I could)

Not listed:
All of Southern California
Oregon
Las Vegas
Phoenix
Buckhorn Ranch, Loveland, Colorado (My moms place)

30 Days of Blogging: Day 4

2011-02-05T08:36:00.000-08:00

Day 4: A habit you wish you didn't have.

The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that I constantly play with my hair. I twirl it, touch it, run my fingers through it. And it isn't a vanity thing. I don't ever check it in the mirror. It's like a security blanket. When I'm thinking real hard I twirl. When I can't think of something I twirl. While sitting on the couch watching TV, I twirl.

But then I think about that fact that the question is 'a habit you wish you didn't have'. I don't know that I wish I didn't twirl my hair... In fact,I would miss it so.

So, as a full answer to the above question I will respond with: I wish I wasn't so much of a detail planner. It really does get in the way sometimes. It's hard to just go with the flow when I don't know where the flow is taking me. I have to know. Even loose plans are ok. A general outline of how the day is going to go. It really does get on some peoples nerves. But, the flip side is that I never get surprised with anything because I am the planner...which is a bummer. But, hey, I am in the know on everything else. I think it's a good place to be.

ROTW: Curry Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

2011-02-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

Jonathan loves Butternut Squash Soup. He wants me to make it for him and as a loving and good girlfriend I am, I oblige him.

I kinda came up with this one off the cuff. I had perused some recipes online, got some pointers, and meshed them all together. And then I added a little personal flair. So here goes:

Curry Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

~1 medium/ large Butternut Squash, cut into small-ish cubes
~1/2 onion, chopped finely
~4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
~1 Tsp Cumin
~1 Tsp Garam Masala
~1 Tsp Onion Powder
~2 Tsp Curry Powder
~2 cans Vegetable Broth (Chicken can work too)
~Sesame Seeds
~Olive Oil
~Immersion Blender or Food Processor or Blender

Now, anyone who has cooked a Butternut Squash knows that they are a pain to peel and cut up when they are raw. I personally like to peel them raw and cut them up. But you can also cut it in half and bake it in the oven for a while and the skin just comes right off for you. I think of that as cheating. So I will not instruct you to do so. If you choose to do so, you can google it.

Take the squash and cut it in half length ways and then again in the middle. This makes for better peeling (I didn't get a pic of it like that, just the length ways). Now peel the whole squash. Then cut it up into 1-inch-ish cubes.

In a large pot warm your olive oil. When warmed stick your garlic and onion in. Cook until translucent. Then add the squash and stir. Add all seasonings and then stir again.

Pour in your broth and then bring to a boil. When it is boiling turn to medium-low and cover. Cook until the squash is squishy. It's usually 15-20 min until you get to this point.

For me, I take my Immersion Blender and bend it right in the pot. If you're using a blender or food processor work in batches until it's blended. Blend it until its smooth.

Enjoy!!

PS - Butternut Squash buying tip! If you see the one I bought (above) you'll notice that the bottom bump is almost the same size as the top part. Try to buy them shaped like this, its much easier to peel. A round bulbous bottom is so much harder to peel than a straighter one like mine above.

30 Days of Blogging: Day 3

2011-02-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

Day 3: A picture of you and your friends

Well, there are so many...Here are a few of my newest & favorite:

30 Days of Blogging: Day 2

2011-02-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

30 Days of Blogging

Day 2: The meaning behind the name of my Blog

My blog address is Soapbox for Tara. I named it that because my own personal blog is a place where I can stand on my soapbox. I can tell you what I want, when I want to.

My Little Soapbox.

Soapbox for Tara.

So if you don't like what I say, then click away. Sometimes I use improper grammar (even though it's on of my pet peeves <--Another 'me' fact!). Hopefully you stick around long enough that I can quit my job and live on the money that I generate from ad revenues from my blog. No really, please stay...

30 Days of Blogging: Day 1

2011-02-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'll jump on the bandwagon. A couple of my friends have done this, so I guess I will too.

30 Days of Blogging....

Day 1: A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself:

This picture was taken on our Seattle Trip 2010 at Pikes Place Brewery

My name comes from the movie Gone With the Wind, so my Mother tells me.
Jonathan is my best friend, (sometimes) better half, the love of my life, he keeps me calm and I couldn't get through my days without him. I love you babe!
I have three dogs: Norbert (Beagle), Rhett (Yellow Lab) and Jett (Black Lab).
I love baseball. Go Angels!
I work for the family business.
I can't narrow down a type of food or particular restaurant that is my favorite. There are too many.
I love Santa Barbara. If I could live there, I would in a heartbeat.
My belly button is pierced.
I really enjoy listening to audio books. Like really really enjoy it.
Harry Potter is a very guilty pleasure. I love me some Harry Potter.
I have a Annual Passport for Disneyland. One of my best decisions. It's the Happiest Place on Earth.
I am constantly cold.
History is my favorite subject. I love it. I need to hear the back story on everything.
I loathe and love reality TV.
If I could have any other profession, I would be a Chef.

Dream Weaver

2011-01-28T10:47:00.000-08:00

I don't know what it is lately, but I have been having a dream almost every night. Jonathan tells me it's because I am getting more REM cycle sleeping and that is when you dream. I say nonsense.

None of the dreams make any sense though. I know the people in them but they are either doing weird or mean things to me or other people I know. It's all just very strange. I don't know what to make of it.

I sometimes recap them to Jonathan and he just looks at me with a look on his face with a caption of: REALLY?!?!? Totally. I meant every word of it. Some of them are as if I fell asleep on LSD or something. They are trippy.

I will just recap one, because I know that everyone loves to read about someone else's dream. In one I was in this house that I've never been in and I had to use the restroom. The only one that I could find was in another wing of the house and it was someone else's. So I get into the actual toilet area and instead of regular flooring it was all black. It perplexed me. So I bent down to figure out what it was and it was feces. I freaked out as I've never freaked out before. And at that point I suddenly woke up, heart racing. Weird huh??

Anyways, I'll leave it at that. But as I struggled to come up with a name for this post and then came up with the name, all I have had in my head is this scene from Wayne's World.

Enjoy:

PIZZA!

2011-01-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

Making your own pizza; it really isn't as hard as you think.

To me it was getting the dough perfectly round, even thickness and setting the toppings on perfectly. But, I am somewhat (really?) of a perfectionist and I want it to look as if a professional pizza-pie maker made it.

Am I going to get frustrated and lash out at the pizza dough when it doesn't cooperate with me? Yes.

Am I going to get peeved that all the pepperoni or basil leaves aren't perfectly sitting on there just so? Yes.

But it is homemade after all, and it should look like it was made with love and care. At least this is what I tell myself after I look at this oval-esque shaped dough with toppings on it.

Anyhoo, these are my pizza creations:

Pizza Sauce:

1 can (15 oz) Tomato Sauce
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 shallot, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon oil
Red Pepper Flakes (to taste)

~In a medium skillet on medium heat melt the butter and oil together. Add shallot and garlic to pan. Cook for about 2 minutes, or until onions are clear.

~Add tomato sauce to pan. Turn heat to low and cover. Let simmer for about 20 min or until it gets a little thicker.

**This makes enough sauce for one pepperoni pizza**
**This exact recipe also came out a bit runny, just FYI**

Pioneer Womans Pizza Dough:

4 Cups flour
1/3 Olive Oil, and a little extra to drizzle
1 Teaspoon yeast
1 1/2 cup warm water
1 Teaspoon Salt

~Pour the warm water into a bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. And then leave it alone.

~In your mixer (with the dough hook attachment) mix the flour and salt on LOW speed. Then slowly drizzle in the olive oil into the mix until just incorporated.

~Stir the yeast mixture. Then slowly incorporate it into the dough mixture until just mixed.

~Coat a large bowl with some olive oil and then drop the entire dough ball into the bowl. Cover with a warm moist towel in a warm place for about 1 - 2 hours if using it now. Or cover with saran wrap tightly in the bowl and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

To cook Pizza:

~Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees. If using a pizza stone, stick it in there while the oven is pre-heating.

~Cook pizza for 8-11 minutes or until edges are a little browned.

And enjoy!!

The dough after it had risen over night :

My nicely shaped pizza on the cookie sheet:

All the toppings on before the oven:

Done and out of the oven:

And the 'specialty pizza'! This is a Basil Pesto with Roma tomato slices, shredded mozzarella and a few pepperoni slices on top (another PW recipe, but I added the pepperoni)(before):

And, out of the oven and smelling delicious:

Going Back

2011-01-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think I just want to go back.

Go back to when my only worry was a upcoming test.

To summers away from here.

To when I didn't live in California.

I miss simpler times.

I'll tell you what triggered this latest batch of nostalgism (just made that word up): Facebook.

Since signing up for Facebook I've tried to connect with some of my old friends in Oregon. I LOVED living there. I lived there full time for a short period, but was there every summer that I could to be with my grand parents. My Grandpa is buried in the little town I lived in. And by little I mean a total population of 5,760 people (which was the larger of the two they lived in, the first town they lived in was only 580 people).

I see them doing certain things, going to activities that I miss going to. I get a little sad. I miss how much fun I had there. I miss the small town. Everyone knew everyone. You couldn't just rush in and out of anything. Although, as a child it was sooooo annoying having to stop and talk to everyone. But now, looking back, it was so cool. I miss the weather (weird since I think anything below 70 is cold). I wish that I could have grown to an older age there than I did. Mostly I wish that I could have done some high school time up there.

I remember when the Roth's Market opened up in town. People went nuts. There was a huge grand opening, a soft opening only special people could go to (we didn't, apparently we were special enough). It was a big deal. Kids were talking about it at school the next day. It was as if the President was in town. It was a grocery store. I didn't see any difference from the ones that I was used to in California. I thought to myself, why are people getting so amped up about this?!? It's a grocery store for goodness sakes... But it was so big to them, so cool to them.

Looking back now, I'm so grateful that my grandparents moved up there when I was a kid. When I was young enough to be sent away for the summer to go with them. I got to herd sheep and cattle; compete in a 4H event on my horse; learn to drive a tractor and lots of other farm equipment; cleaned out horse stalls; played a mean game of tag using horse whips; learned how to properly shoot a gun and use a hatchet...the list goes on and on. I had responsibilities but also had so much free time on my hands to make up stupid games that we played....like horse whip tag. That particular game was quite brutal. As we got older we stepped it up by playing while driving the golf carts. We were very serious about our horse whip tag.

I wish that every kid could be in that kind of environment. That every child get to experience a loving community of people. To live in a place where your word is gold and a handshake still means something.

I just miss it.

I just remembered the tractor races. Those were beyond awesome. I miss those too.

PS - throughout writing this whole post I've had a song in my head, I Go Back, by Kenny Chesney.

Couch to 5K

2011-01-18T08:10:00.000-08:00

I am starting this again. I say again because I started this in February of last year and did it for exactly two days. And then I did a 5K mud run and couldn't hack it at all. This year, I am going to rectify that.

I want to do another mud run this year without being totally out of breath and wiped out from it.

The Couch to 5K is a nine week program that starts you off slow. It builds you up in implements so you don't get too overworked too fast. Also, there is a iPhone app! So I just plug in my headphones, start my music then my program and head out. I'm sure there's a Android app too, for all you weirdo Android users, so you don't feel left out ;)

I did the first run last night when I got home. It felt amazing. I loved being outside. The sunset was gorgeous. It was just the right temperature. A perfect first day to start the program! I took our big dog, Rhett, to run with me so no one got any crazy ideas about snatching me. And he had a blast. He loved it. So I have my official running buddy now.

Fire Pit!

2011-01-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

For Christmas my Mom bought Jonathan a fire pit.

We have been wanting one for some time, but had never found one that was exactly what we wanted. Or in the correct price range.

Well, my Mom solved this dilemma by just buying one. Which is her solution to a lot of things. But she picked out a really nice one! We really like the design and the coloring on it.

Put together in the garage:

And it in use five minutes after the picture above:

Tonight we will sit on the patio with a little fire after dinner. This weekend, we are cutting up the Christmas Tree and having a larger fire :)

Spy Games

2011-01-06T08:57:00.000-08:00

Last night I had a crazy dream. I actually remember most of it, so I would like to share with you. Mainly because I think it was really cool. But I'm a little biased when it comes to my dreams.

It started with me going into some type of bank, law firm, a tall towering of a building or something like that. I was wearing my UCLA hoodie. I needed to get a piece of paper from someone. That paper had secret codes on it (duh.) I went into the building and walked around and finally found who I was supposed to see. I got the paper from him and stuck it under my hoodie against my shirt. Then I decided to walk out and walk to my car.

As I walked outside I heard a man yelling things at the top of his lungs and people were just continuing walking to their cars. I asked someone about it and they told me to just hope that the person screaming wasn't standing at my car because it means that my tire or tires would be slashed and I would be fired from my job and possibly killed. I knew I didn't work there, but I was still scared.

So as I walked around the parking lot I couldn't find my car. I kept hitting the keyless entry to try to find the lights blinking. I walked all over the parking lot and finally realized that I had my Moms car rather than mine. And guess who was standing at yelling at my car. That's right, crazy yelling guy. Fantastic.

I walked up to my car and this huge football player dude is standing there and starts interrogating me about who I was, what I was doing there and I needed to empty my pockets. Well mysteriously in my hoodie front pocket I produced all kinds of legitimate paperwork. The man looked at my paperwork (which was actual paperwork that I use at work), cleared me for being there, apologized for slashing my tire and called people over to fix it for me. I thanked him.

Next scene I was in a car with this man and we were in another large parking lot. And people were shooting at us. I ducked out of the back passenger side door and hid behind the wheel. Bullets were ricocheting off everything and some were hitting me. It hurt quite bad.

Then all of a sudden I was back at home and people were asking me about my harrowing experience. And when I got to the part when I was telling people about the shooting I showed them the place on my leg where I was hit by the ricocheting bullets. There were five large swollen red lumps on the side and back of my left leg. And a man walked into the room and asked for the paper that I was supposed to steal. I took it out from under my sweater, totally forgetting that I had it. I handed it to this man who started to look at it with only one eye open. I asked why he was looking at it like that. He said that since some of the words are supposed to be together and the only way to know was to look at it with one eye closed. Oh, ok then.

And then I woke up.

I went to bed falling asleep to The Antonio Treatment on HGTV, so I have no idea where all of this came from. But it makes for a great blog post doesn't it?

Product Review: philosophy: the microdelivery exfoliating wash

2011-01-05T07:59:00.000-08:00

Bliss v. philosophy

Fabulous Foaming Face Wash

the microdelivery exfoliating wash

I will start this post off by saying that less than 6 months ago I would only let Dermalogica touch my face. To me it was the best face wash known to man. Jonathan had his own bottle for him and there was the bottle for me. It was fantastic. It was everything I'd ever hoped for in a face wash.

Then Dermalogica changed their formula for my favorite wash, why I don't know, and it wasn't working as it once was. A pimple or two was getting through. I was now unhappy and didn't have a clue as to wear to look to find a new one.

I received the Summer Sephora catalog in the mail. It was full of so much stuff. I thumbed through the whole thing and decided that I was going to try out the Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash.

I used it that night and was completely enamored with it. Why hadn't I tried to branch out sooner? Why?? I was in love with a new face wash. To heck with Dermalogica!

It has this wonderful chamomile scent with just a slight hint of abrasives. It removed my waterproof mascara wonderfully. My face felt very refreshed and clean afterwords. No pimples. It was perfect.

Then the Holiday Sephora catalog came in the mail. All the philosophy holiday scents were out. I needed one. I had to have one. So I drove on down to my Sephora. Standing there I was testing every single body wash scent and it dawned on me....philosophy makes face wash too! Oh boy. Was I ready for another face wash? I just switched.

So I stood there at the face wash area for philosophy trying to find another face wash that was similar to the Bliss one. I ended up buying the microdelivery exfoliating wash. It showed to be a little more abrasive than the Bliss, but I was ready to give it a go.

Again, that night I tried out a new face wash. Heaven. Again.

It was much more scrubby (read: exfoliating). I liked that. It felt like my face was somewhat cleaner than when I was using the Bliss. However, I had to use a bit more time on my eyes with this one trying to get my waterproof mascara off. But that extra few seconds is far out-weighed by the more awesome that is this face wash.

I completely abandoned the Bliss bottle in the shower. It just stood there, lost, lonely and hoping someone would use it. So I had to go back and finish out the bottle. When I was using it, I realized that I made the correct decision to stick with the philosophy.

My face feels so much better, it feels firm and really clean when I get out of the shower.

I highly recommend you trying this face wash out. Obviously I prefer a more exfoliating wash, but philosophy has a wide range of options for you to try.

Oh, and I did buuy a new holiday scented body wash and lotion, Snow Angel. It smells awesome!!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T09:47:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Welcome to 2011!

I am not making any resolutions this year, other than some guidelines. Mainly a sort of list of the things that I want to try and do this year.

I want to blog more. It gives me a release. I like to tell stories, share recipes and fun pictures. I think that I might go and take some pictures from around town here (that sounds as if I live in a small podunk town, I don't.).

I want to take some photography classes. Learn how to properly take pictures. And Photoshop, I have no idea how to use it and would like to learn.

I would like to be able to take more trips. See more places. Maybe revisit places that I've already been.

Don't take things for granted.

What are your 'guidelines' (does anyone else get Pirates of the Caribbean on their head? "They're more like guidelines rather than rules")?

ROTW: Pioneer Woman Simple, Perfect Chili

2010-12-30T08:17:00.000-08:00

Straight from my Christmas present, The Pioneer Woman Cooks! cookbook, comes this weeks Recipe of the Week.

It was delicious. It was hearty. It was simple. It was easy. It was awesome.

Jonathan said it was some of the best chili that he has ever had. I concurred.

Unfortunately, I was so excited to eat, I forgot to take a picture of it in the pot in its glory. So here is a pic of it in a bowl of glory (pre-Fritos).

Pioneer Womans Simple, Perfect Chili
(from her cookbook)

2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon ground oregano
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional, I did, we love spicy!)
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 pounds ground beef
One 8-ounce can tomato sauce (I used a can of Pato)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup masa (I didn't do this at all)
Optional Ingredients
1 can pinto beans, drained
1 can kidney beans, drained (I put one can of these in.)
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely diced (I used one jar of diced jalapeno, Ortega brand)
1 can diced tomatoes and chilis (Like Rotel, I didn't use this.)
For Serving
Shredded cheddar cheese
Chopped onions
Fritos

Place the ground beef in a large pot and throw in the garlic. Cook the beef until brown and then drain off the excess fat (if you're using a higher fat ground beef. We usually use the 7%)

Pour in the tomato sauce. Followed by the spices and the salt.

Stir together well, cover, and reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. If the mixture becomes overly dry, add in ½ cup water at a time as needed.

After about an hour, place the masa in a small bowl. Add ½ cup water and stir together with a fork. Dump the masa mixture into the chili. Stir together well.

Taste, adjust the seasonings, and add more masa paste and/or water to get the chili to your preferred consistency, or to add more corn flavor. Add the beans, jalapeño, and tomatoes if desired. Simmer for 10 minutes. Serve with shredded cheddar, chopped onion, and Fritos.

Enjoy!!

It is seriously so delicious!

I'm looking forward to tweaking it a bit too. I'd like to try it with ground Turkey or Chicken, maybe add some hominy in there as well.

Happy eating!! :)

Awesome Gifts!!!

2010-12-26T10:37:00.000-08:00

This year I received some really awesome gifts from friends and family. But there are three that I was so super duper over the moon excited about.

Jonathan got me the Pioneer Woman Cookbook!!!! I love love love this thing. I had held off buying it for myself because I always buy the cookbook, but never actually use it. But as I sat down on the couch last night reading every page of this thing, I know that I will for sure use it. Great gift babe!!

And not to outdo himself with another gift, Jonathan got me this. The Le Creuset crock of tools!!! Of course he knew the color to my heart, Red. (Although had they actually make this in Chocolate Brown, the color choice would be harder. Actually scrap that color choice, I think it might look quite poo-like. Which is probably why they don't make that color...sooo....moving right along....)

And then Corrie (Jonathans sister) got me this! A little Le Creuset Mini Cocotte. In red. Fabulous!!

Of course I drooled and wanted to immediately cook something as soon as I received each of these three awesome-tastic gifts.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their family, friends and loved ones! :)

Isaiah 9:6

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T03:00:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Love,

Tara, Jonathan,

Norbert, Rhett and Jett

Homemade Christmas Gifts!

2010-12-24T11:25:00.000-08:00

This year I decided that I wanted to make everyone's Christmas gifts.

The first thought I had was to make everyone a awesome little gift basket full of holiday cookies and candies. I went about searching online for the best Christmas dessert recipes.

And then I found it.

I'd never seen this particular thing before. I saw it, then I saw the first options name. I knew immediately that I had to make this and that everyone would love it.

I am 'making' cookies in a jar.

What it is, is a jar full of all the ingredients it takes to make this particular cookie. All the ingredients layered up in a very cute mason jar. All wrapped up with some super cute ribbon and a bow on top.

Now this is what got me hooked to make this for everyone. The name of the cookie: Cranberry Hootycreeks

Who doesn't want to eat a cookie that is named hootycreek!?!?

The jars did take me a while to do, I'm not going to lie. And I hand chopped the pecans because I felt it was more authentically hand made if they were. I was calling myself crazy after I was in the middle of chopping up ten cups of them. But when they were all done, it felt really good that I did it all myself.

The paper that I typed out an folded into each persons/family card:

This is what the jars looked like when they were done. The Merry Christmas ribbon is hiding the brown sugar layer.

Favorite TFLN's

2010-12-22T16:19:00.000-08:00

A good friend of mine, Stacey Jean Speer, showed this website to me a while ago.

It's now one of my favorite things on my Google Reader.

Texts from Last Night

Basically, people submit their funny/terrible/awesome/wow-moment texts. They are rude, crude, funny, terrible, awesome and epic all at once.

Here are a few of my most recent favorites, the area code is in front of them in parenthesis. It always makes them a little more funny when it's from an area code that you recognize.

**DISCLAIMER** - Of course I don't endorse anyone to do anything mentioned in these texts from some idiotic person. And no, these are not my opinions. But it sure is funny to laugh at them huh? :)

(219): My Grampa even called her out for being a cock block at the bar...it was that serious.
__________________________

(513): apparently i'm the only person who has heard from her since saturday. she texted me "burt reynolds" at 2am sunday.
__________________________
(619): im downtown. alone. lost. drunk. dressed as santa. dont find me. i just heard someone say mechanical bull.
__________________________
(913): i put his shirt in a ziplock bag to preserve his smell
(816): please tell me you are kidding me.
__________________________
(480): How creepy of a mustache can you grow by wednesday night?
__________________________
(732): I cant believe she fell for the mistletoe belt AGAIN.
__________________________
(513): i mean, i stole her boyfriend and beat her snake score on facebook within 48 hours. not her week.
__________________________
(207): I had to do a class evaluation today & the girl beside me didn't fill in any bubbles she just wrote in huge letters RETIRE across the whole sheet.
__________________________
(709): a cabby told me that vodka is the coors light of liquor, and then gave me his number.
__________________________
(614): she uses eco-friendly sex toys. she is the literal definition of a hippie.
__________________________
(817): Being a responsible DD does not include attempting to coordinate a 4 taxi caravan to bar #3.
__________________________
(703): Ahhh November 1st. National Untagging Day.
__________________________
(240): Ummm so I just found the baby pumpkin that was on my porch last night in Village Pizza this morning on their counter. The cashier said some drunk girl came in and told him it was a present.
__________________________
(314): hey remember that 14 year old i met 5 years ago who i said i would bang 5 years from then?
(636): Yup.
(314): Yup.
_________________________
(416): I've made out with men from every corner of the globe. Sex-wise, I've almost conquered europe. Take that napoleon.
_________________________
(203): She sent me a text saying she picked out 17 different Halloween costumes for our kids when they hit the age of 4... The cling factor should have me running right now but honestly I'm just curious.
_________________________
(781): I was just told by a cop that my party was the most epic party they ever crashed

Baking Fiasco 2010

2010-12-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

It was a disaster...

Bodies everywhere...

Meltdowns...

Promises to never bake again...

But Jonathan pulled me back from complete chaos and total mental breakdown.

It all started with a Cookie Swap Party.

I decided not to go with the standard Chocolate Chip Cookies and try a true holiday cookie. So I googled. I found three recipes from three trusted websites that I use often. I was confident.

This swap was last night, Friday, so I started baking Thursday night. I figured that I would get a jump on it. So I decided to make Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Brownies. Sounds delicious right?

Well, the recipe called for bittersweet chocolate. And I went against my gut instinct to just use my milk chocolate, don't ever go against gut instinct. I didn't have bittersweet so I called Jonathan to ask him to stop and get me a bag on the way home. So until he got home with said chocolate I did all the steps that I could. Well, the brain is a powerful tool. I honest to goodness read the directions, but I also read what I wanted to read. Suffice to say that I ended up not exactly following the directions. I didn't realize this until Jonathan got home with the chocolate and I read step #1 of the directions.

So since I didn't follow the directions correctly, I decided to combine steps 5-7 as well.

When the brownies came out of the oven I immediately regretted my use of the bittersweet chocolate. It was too bitter. It also needed something to help punch up the flavor.

I decided that I wouldn't be bringing that baked good to the party.

It was already approximately 10pm at this point, so I made a play call. I decided that I would then bake Chocolate Spritz Cookies for the party. But since, on paper, they looked quite easy I was just going to leave work a little early Friday and bake them just before the party.

Friday night: I've come home from work and with a smile on my face and am going tot tackle these Chocolate Spritz Cookies.

I had all the appropriate ingredients, and was ready to read the directions in order.

Or not.

Once again I didn't correctly follow the directions and it went all to h-e-double hockey sticks.

I was standing there looking at the dough that was too dry and all I could think of was that it was a Top Chef Quick Fire Challenge. I had to make this work. It was Friday night, the night of the party. I had to bring something. So I added a bit of milk and one more egg to the dough. It seemed that was just enough wet ingredients to make it pliable. Excellent. One hurdle passed, I still had a good amount of time left until we had to leave, I was confident.

After rolling it out and cutting it with the cookie cutters I put the first sheet of cookies into the oven. Pulled them out, and they tasted.......terrible.

How can this happen again?!?

They just tasted like flour. I know I measured all the ingredients correctly. I had no idea how it happened.

Just then Jonathan called on his way home. He could sense the breakdown coming. I asked him why he was leaving work so late (15 min later than normal mind you) clearly knowing that I needed him here with me. As If he had magical mind melding powers.

By the time he got home I was on the third cookie sheet into this terrible batch of cookies, somehow thinking that if I just kept baking them that they would get better. They didn't.

I was on the verge of tears. I couldn't not bring anything. I was almost all out of ingredients since I had two failed baking batches. The entire center island of my kitchen looked like a baking bomb went off on it. I had flour all down the front of me. Dough under my nails. Cookie cutters strewn about. I was a mess and so was my kitchen. It was now 615pm, with the party starting at 7pm. I was rapidly running out of time and options.

Jonathan tries a Chocolate Spritz. His constructive criticism: Maybe they are meant to be frosted. Ok, I can make that work. I whipped up some frosting and frosted a cookie for him. He tasted. Then said nope, that didn't work. Now they just taste like frosting. Great. What was I going to do now?!?

He stood there, thinking. I wasn't. I was just staring at him blankly. My mind was blown. I had nothin'.

Then he came up with it.

Peppermint Bark Chip Cookies.

I had just enough ingredients to make them. Well, almost. He grabbed the peppermint bark out of the pantry (from Costco) and started to chop it up. He made the executive decision.

Meanwhile I was having a pity party of one, and was like, well I don't even know if I can bake anymore. Apparently I'm the suckiest baker that ever was. I can't even bake good cookies. I just shouldn't bake ever again....

He made me make the dough for the cookies. I didn't have enough all purpose flour, so I had to use half all purpose half cake flour. Which in my mind was going to just completely ruin the entire batch of cookies and we were going to be right back where we started. But with another batch of terrible cookies.

I made the batch and scooped two trays full and popped them into the oven. And waited.

When they came out, they smelled excellent. I was still wary. The Chocolate Spritz also smelled delicious.

But when we taste tested, they were excellent. The bottoms were the exact proper color. They had a fantastic hint of peppermint within the chocolate flavor. My confidence as a baker was fully restored.

At that point I prepped the next two baking sheets with their dough balls and put them in. I gave Jonathan the job of watching over them for their specified seven minutes, and went upstairs to go gussy myself up to go to the party.

Everyone loved the Peppermint Bark Chip Cookies.

I also brought the Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Brownies along with the Chocolate Spritz Cookies. The brownies I put in a cute little dish with clear film on top. The cookies I stuck in a tin pan with foil on top. Written on the foil was a very large 'F' in sharpie. For what? FAIL. They were the fail cookies. People tried the fail cookies. They said, No, you couldn't have messed up that bad, you never do that. I indeed did mess up that bad. No one could finish a whole cookie. Their only redeeming quality was their very cute Christmastime shapes from the cookie cutters.

So thanks babe, for bringing me out of the depths of baking despair...

Product Review: Boos Blocks Board Cream

2010-12-17T10:40:00.000-08:00

This is one of my best kitchen purchases this year, and I didn't even buy it.

Jonathan did. He bought it at Sur la Table.

We used to always buy the oil for our board and we went through it so fast all the time. He was at Sur la Table buying my birthday present and this was near the register. Of course he bought it!

He got home, hid my present (which I never found), and put the cream on our board.

Magical I tell you. Magical.

The board got SO much color back, most of the markings on it went away and it felt soooo smooth.

Now I know it is Boos Blocks brand, but I am sure that you can use it on any type of wood cutting board. Ours happens to be a Boos Blocks brand as well.

It's been almost a month since Jonathan has put the cream on our board, and it still looks awesome. Now if you've ever used the oil, you know that the oil would have never lasted this long at all.

So pick up a tube today!

(I just got the I Love Lucy Vitameatavegamin episode in my head. "So buy a great big bottle....of this stuff." hahaha...)

Christmas Music!

2010-12-16T08:53:00.000-08:00

I L-O-V-E Christmas Music!!

I do have some favorites that I must listen to...

Elvis Presley: If Every Day Was Like Christmas

A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra:

Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas:

I absolutely love Frank's version of Jingle Bells. If you've never heard it, please go to iTunes and listen.

And who doesn't love Mariahs All I want for Christmas Is You?!?! It is/should be one of everyone's favorite Christmas songs. And if it doesn't remind you of the movie Love Actually, then you are seriously missing out. You need to go buy/rent that movie ASAP and watch it. It's one of the best movies of all time.

What are the albums/singers/bands that are your go-to Christmas albums?

The Little Things that Help

2010-12-13T07:57:00.000-08:00

I will not label myself a tree hugger by any means, but I firmly believe that there are little things that we can all do to help. And if we all do a little bit, it will help in the long run...right?

And some of them help you to save money! Who doesn't like that?!?

~Reusable Bags:
I have about ten bags that I keep in the trunk of my car so I don't ever forget them. Target gives you .5/cents off for each bag that you bring in too!

~CFL Bulbs
We have replaced all the bulbs in the house with these bad boys. A CFL 100w bulb uses only 23w. So we are driving down our electric bill massively. The only downside to these is that they have to 'warm up'. So when you flip the switch to turn on the lights they come on real dim at first, and in a couple minutes they are fully on and bright as all heck.

~Recycle, Reduce, Reuse (and close the loop!)
Now I'll be honest, the only reason that we recycle our bottles and cans is to get the money back that we've already been charged. We have a place by our house that is a self-serve station that gives you the full .5/cents per bottle or can. Although they still make us weigh the glass bottles, they have a pretty good price per pound for them.

~Reusable Cups:
I have quite a few of these cups. Some thermal, some cold cups (with candy cane straws!) and some porcelain. I try to bring my cups with me when I hit my Starbucks, but admittedly, I forget sometimes. And you get .10/cents off for bringing your own cup.

~Silverware/Dishes/Cups
My Mom is the biggest proponent of using disposable everything. Plastic forks/spoons/knives, paper plates, plastic/paper cups...the list goes on and on. I try to use those as little as possible. I mean, I've already paid for my nice silverware with all the dishes and cups right? Why not use them? Less waste in the cans and the dumps. I also kinda feel a little shmancy when I use a nice glass to drink my Coke out of .

~Leftovers
I know that this one sounds silly, but seriously. You've already paid for the food? Why not have the rest of that dinner for lunch the next day? Or dinner again? I use to be really bad about leftovers. I would always make sure to take home the box, but then proceed to never eat it. Now I've really been on myself and Jonathan about eating all of them. And not just restaurant leftovers either, home cooked meal leftovers too. I always feel terrible about throwing out food (normally to make myself feel less bad I feed it to the dogs...at least it's getting eaten right?).

What little things do you do/use to help out?

Thoughts

2010-12-05T20:01:00.000-08:00

You know as you go through your day and you have some totally random thoughts? I do. And then I think to myself, I should write that down...Well I started to. Here are some thoughts and opinions. With some of them you can see what kind of day I'm having.

Paparazzi should have limits. No more than X amount of feet close to a celebrity or the place they are dining, their car, house, etc...
Why do you always forget something downstairs? Always.
The power cord for the Macbook needs to be as long as the cord for a Dyson vacuum....that would be awesome!
I hate getting the mail, and I don't know why I do.
Disneyland is seriously a magical place.
I dislike when people ask stupid and mundane questions. There is such a thing as a stupid question!
I'm thinking of getting another fish. Jon really liked having a fish, until my Mom killed him. RIP Steve the Fish.
I love tattoos, but I don't think I'd ever get one.
The people closest to you irritate and/or piss you off the best. They know the buttons to push.
Sometimes I don't feel like cleaning it up, I just want to walk right past it to the couch and veg-out.
I have weird man-crushes. John Mayer, Robert Downey JR, Tom Selleck, Jeffrey Donovan, Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cornell, Matt Bomer, George Clooney...ok, maybe it's not so weird.
I love porcelain re-usable cups with lids. Genius.
There really should be the Fashion Police. Some people just need to be told.
Have your fingers ever gotten so cold that it's hard to type? It has happened too me...
I would love a vacation right now.
I am such a planner, sometimes it even annoys me.
I love Christmas music, I think I could listen to it all year. Seriously.
Why can't people use proper grammar? Why? Why? Why? Is it that hard to type 'you' instead of 'u'??
There is a difference between there, their and they're. Figure it out people!!
Peppermint Mochas = I love them so much!! I want them all year 'round!
I wish more people would ask if I wanted a receipt before printing one and handing it to me.
Advil tastes like candy when you are taking them.
Have you ever eaten about four different things for lunch? I mean, like you ate all the tiny bits of leftovers in the containers that were taking up ALL of the fridge space....'cause I have.
I wish it would stay cold so I can wear all my very cute scarves and coats.
Did you know that Belgium has the only fully lit freeway system in the world?
Lazy mornings make you feel great.
Ever just have a day when people just annoy you? And for no particular reason. They didn't necessarily do anything, but they are just on your nerves instantly.
Sometimes you just need a good cry. And a nice hot bath with some really nice smelling salts or bubble bath.
Getting a mani/pedi is the best. I feel so good after I get them done!
Sometimes I feel like dressing up real fancy shmancy. I go through phases of wanting to be super casual and super dressy.
Did I mention that I'm addicted to coffee? It's kinda my thing.

Recipe of the Week: Creamy Tomato Soup

2010-11-18T11:12:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't love Creamy Tomato Soup? Whenever I make this soup, it's goes without saying that we will also be having grilled cheese sandwiches. Duh.

Creamy Tomato Soup
~4 Large Tomatoes (Or about 6-7 small Roma Tomatoes)
~1 cube of Tomato bouillon (totally optional, it tastes fantastic without it as well)
~1/2 C Heavy Whipping Cream (I also use milk or half & half when I'm out of cream, which is most of the time)
~2 cans Vegetable Broth
~Salt/Pepper
~1 pad Butter

Equipment:
~3 QT Saucepan
~3 QT Pot
~Immersion Blender (or just a regular blender or food processor, whichever you have)
~Fine Strainer

You can start by cutting up your tomatoes. They don't need to be cut up all pretty, just so they are somewhat cubed.

Throw them in your saucepan with the butter and salt and pepper to your tasting. Turn on the burner to about medium-high, and stir those tomatoes. Leave them in the pan, stirring occasionally, until the skin appears soft to the gentle spatula touch. Here is what the pan looks like before the next step:

Take your cans of broth and pour them into the pan, along with the bouillon cube if you're using it.

Bring to a boil, then turn it down to a medium to medium-low heat and let boil for 18-20 minutes.

Take your Immersion Blender and blend the tomatoes until they are completely pureed. If you're using a regular blender or food processor, you can work in batches getting all of it blended.

Then pour it through your strainer into the pot. Make sure you don't get any seeds or entrails of any kind through the strainer, it really sucks to get those in your mouth.

When you're done with the strainer put the heat back on low, and slowly stir in your cream or milk.

Voila! You're done!

Oh, don't forget to make your grilled cheese sandwich too (beer optional) =)

The Most Opportunistic Homeless Man

2010-11-16T11:17:00.000-08:00

While Jonathan and I were in Vancouver, Canada, we stopped at a pub to have some beers after dinner.

It was raining outside and all the businesses with their neon lights on just looked so pretty. I decided that we needed to have a picture of us with this street in the background. So I take out the camera and hand it to Jonathan to snap a pic of us. The first one was blurry, so he tries again.

Then we hear someone ask, Hey do you want me to take that for you?

Yeah, sure, that would be awesome, thanks.

(Disclaimer: it was dark, still rainy, and the lights were shining into our faces at this point)

So this 'Good Samaritan' snaps a picture of us. Then, as I get close to him to grab the camera back, I smelled him and had a chance to see him fully for the first time.

Jonathan thanks him for his photography skills, and we turn to leave.

Homeless Man: Hey, so can you spare some change?

Jonathan: No man, I actually don't have any Canadian money on me at all.

HM: Just a Tooney or a Looney?!? Just a little something for my troubles for takin' the picture for you.

J: No man, I would if I could, but I don't have any Canadian money on me.

HM: (points behind him) Well there's an ATM right there, you can get some more money!

J: (heartily laughing) No man, my ATM doesn't work up here. But hey, thanks for taking the picture for us.

I was just watching this in awe. I was like, the rocks on this guy to ask us to make a ATM withdrawal for him....Are all homeless people up here this up front about this?? I've never been asked to specifically make a withdrawal, or for that matter, been this close to a ATM with a homeless person begging.

In awe, we walk away from him.

I ask Jonathan, did he say Looney Tooney?!? Jonathan says yeah, I think he did. We chalk it up to him just being drunk and us not understanding him correctly.

Then next morning I had go to the mall that was near our hotel to change some money over to pay for our parking. On the counter laminated was a 'Guide to Canadian Money', low and behold, there is coin money nick-named a Looney and a Tooney. A Looney is a $1 coin, Tooney a $2 coin. I was flabbergasted. I laughed out loud and motioned Jonathan to check it out. His comment, 'So I guess that guy wasn't speaking gibberish.'

Most Opportunistic Homeless Man. Ever.

Product Review: Starbucks Via - Mocha

2010-11-11T08:55:00.000-08:00

I received the email from Starbucks that they have flavored VIA Ready Brew packets. Mocha, Cinnamon, Vanilla and Caramel.

Now I'll make a confession: The regular VIA packets have been on the market for a while now, but I haven't tried them yet. I'm not a huge fan of instant coffee to begin with, so I stayed away from it. Then they came out with the Iced VIA. That sparked my interest more so, but I still never actually bought it.

Then they tempt me with flavors.

Now usually I drink my coffee with either milk/half & half with a tiny bit of sugar or flavored creamer, Irish Creme. So flavored coffee usually doesn't make the grade, IE- I usually don't buy it.

My drink of choice at Starbucks is a Non-Fat Mocha, no whip; so when I saw that one of the flavors was Mocha I knew I had to buy it. So I did. They don't sell the flavors in single packets, or they just weren't at the location I was at, so I had to buy the six pack.

The first time I drank one was at work, and I did it plain. Just water from the insta-hot. It was eh. It was ok. It really didn't rock my world. I won't lie, I was more than disappointed. I didn't like it at all.

Now what was I going to do with the other five packets at home? I was going to have to figure something out.

So at home in the afternoon and craving a mocha, I remembered the packets. So I heated up some heavy whipping cream (we were out of milk) on the stove. I mixed the Via Mocha packet with the hot cream and some more water from the insta-hot. This attempt came out way better than just the coffee! It didn't exactly taste like a mocha from the store, but with the cream it gave it a much more palatable taste.

Next time I remembered to use it, I grabbed a packet to take to work with me. When I got to work, I saw that the milk I thought we had was gone. I thought to myself, great, I already know that I don't like the packet by itself. I was looking forward to using just warm milk with this packet. As I moved everything around in the fridge to try to find the obviously hiding gallon of milk I saw it. Coffeemate Original Creamer. It's kinda like milk right? Right. So I get out my cup, drain the packet into it and fill the cup almost all the way with hot water to stir the packet with. Then I topped off the cup with the Coffeemate. FANTASTIC!! This is by far the best combo that I've made so far. It is the closest to the actual barista made Mocha. It was awesome!!

Today I grabbed another packet and the gallon of milk from home to take to work. I heated up the milk in the pot, stirring often so the milk wouldn't burn and taste icky. I had my cup and lid all ready. I poured the hot milk in and stirred quickly so the packet fully dissolved. Then I waited a few minutes, warm milk stays quite warm for a while. Then I popped my lid onto my cup and tasted....Heaven!! Oh my goodness it tasted so good! This, my friends, is the perfect at home flavored coffee. Everyone must make one just like this!!

So, in summary, the Starbucks Via can be used but just not as the packet tells you how.

Have you ever tried any of the flavors? Or just the regular Via coffee? How did you make them?

Obessive

2010-10-29T14:48:00.000-07:00

I have realized that I have a obsessive personality.

By that I mean that I get seriously obsessed with things, once I realize that I like it.

Example:

For forever I made fun of the people that liked Harry Potter. Not that I went out of my way to make fun of them, but I thought to myself Really? Really with witches and wizards and wands and casting spells on people? Really? I even made fun of Jonathan for reading them. Finally he wrangled me into reading the first one.

I was hooked. Big time. I love them, I mean I really love them.

I can't get enough of them. I don't get tired of them. I can watch them all back to back and won't fall asleep. I have them all on audio-book as well. They are on my iPod, my iPhone, my work computer, home computer and laptop. I listen to them constantly. Now Jonathan makes fun of me for liking (loving) them more so than he does.

Sooooo... that's what I mean. Now that I've started reading my JD Robb books all in a row, I'm now crazy obsessive over reading them. I am reading them like a maniac every night before bed.

I always have a book that I am reading, but I usually leave it at home. Unless I know wherever I'm going I will have time to sit an read. But now, I'm carrying a book with me everywhere. I'm the weird person.

I do it with all kinds of things. When we started watching 30 Rock, we Netflixed all available seasons and watched them all in a couple days. Same goes for Burn Notice. I was so into it I was having spy dreams with myself and Michael Weston.

The newest one: Photography. I really want to know everything about it. It now fascinates me. Jonathan knows a lot about it, so I keep asking him questions. I want to buy a better point-and-shoot. I keep trying to use Jonathans Canon DSLR, and I think he gets annoyed sometimes... I tried to get into a class at a local college, but I had the thought too late to get into a class this semester. So I reserved a book at Barnes & Noble to read on how to take proper pictures and use my camera.

Long story short: I can't do anything 'a little'. I do it 100% or not at all.

Dorot - A Fresh Secret!

2010-10-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

There I was, just perusing the frozen veggie aisle at Super Target. I saw it right next to the Butternut Squash I was looking for. It caught my eye, and I had to pick it up. Dorot.

Dorot - Crushed Garlic
Dorot - Chopped Basil

I picked it up and read. It was fresh garlic and basil, chopped and frozen into a little cube tray. 1 little cube of the garlic is one clove crushed garlic, 1 cube of basil is one teaspoon of chopped basil. How can you go wrong?!?

Needless to say, I bought them.

And then I proceeded to fall in love with this product. It is so awesome! Because I don't always to remember to grab the cilantro, garlic or basil; I get these bad boys and I always have them fresh on hand. They are so great!!

I've been buying them for about a year now. I've never seen them anywhere else other than this particular Super Target. I usually buy the garlic, basil and cilantro. I wish that Target would carry some of the other flavors like ginger, stir fry mix and dill.

So, look in your local grocers freezer! You won't regret it!

Oh, and they are Kosher too! :)

Tom Sellecks Mustache

2010-10-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

I have this thing for Tom Selleck.

My favorite part? The mustache. Oh I do love that thing on him.

Where it came from, I don't know. I just think that he is super sexy. I can marathon watch Magnum P.I. like nobodies business. I had all eight seasons on my Netflix instant queue. And then they deleted them! I was so sad.

But last night I had this dream that Tom Selleck and I were going out. Oh yeah.

He took me to a baseball game. We didn't make it through the whole game, we had to leave early to get to something else (which I honestly don't remember). The whole dream was a mash-up of various Magnum P.I. episodes and snippets from Mr. Baseball. But we weren't in Japan ever. Nor were we in Hawaii. I actually don't know where we were, we were indoors a lot, if you get my drift. The house that we were in wasn't from anything I've seen Tom Selleck in. It was the house that I've envisioned in my head that belongs to Roarke, from the J.D. Robb 'In Death' series. It's massive. Huge landscaped grounds, wooden walls, huge libraries, huge master bedroom with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the New York skyline....I'm getting stuck on house details. You can just envision the shmanciest house ever.

Together we solved a crime using his in home high tech computer system. It was high intensity fun, I'm not going to lie it was really hot.

He did scratch my leg at one point from trying to pick me up, and it started bleeding. He went into doctor mode on me (a la Magnum), and it made him even more sexy. Oh man was he sexy.

Ok, I just read that and I creeped myself out a little bit, so I'm going to stop at that.

Happy dreams girls!

Sometimes....

2010-10-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

Do you ever just think: If I could, I would just move away.

I usually have this thought while traveling. New places to eat, to shop, new streets to walk down, new friends to make. We become enamored with wherever we are at.

Then during the trip Jonathan and I talk about what we would do if we lived in said city. What new hobbies we would have. Some of the thoughts and rationals that we go through, both aloud and in our own heads:

Me: Would the dogs like it here? Jon: I'm sure they would.

Me: We would be fairly close to an airport for people to visit and for us to go back home.

Me: How do we make new friends? Jon: I don't know...

Me: Would we miss the family that much? What about all of our friends? How do I make a roast for tacos for just the two of us?!?

Jon: Disneyland isn't here (this is usually a large drawback).

Me: There's no beach here. Jon: We never go to the beach anyways.

Me: Aw man, no Hollywood Bowl for concerts. What if this is a place that bands don't come to?!?

As you can see, the longer we think about it the more we talk ourselves out of the place. As if we were ever going to actually move there. Then as we are leaving the place, on the plane or in the car, we start talking ourselves back into said location...

Me: I'm sure people are super nice here, I think the whole making new friends thing wouldn't be too hard.

Jon: Yeah, I'm sure it wouldn't. I think a lot of it is mental, we can get over that.

Then we take it a step further. We think internationally!

Me: So if we moved to London, do you think that people would actually visit?

Jon: Why do you assume we would go to London? Me: Because that's where I picked.

Me: Where would you pick? Jon: I don't know, London sounds nice.

Me: I JUST SAID THAT!

Me: So do you think people would come visit? Jon: I don't know.

Me: How much does it really snow? I heard the taxes are steep.

Jon: How does immigration work over there? I'd have no idea how to start that process.

Me: I wonder what a house would be over there, or would we have to go apartment/condo? You're dog would go crazy in a apartment...Oh wait, they call them flats there. Is that like a condo?

Jon: No Disneyland!

Me: We can go to Disneyland Paris. Although, it might not be the same as the original.

Jon: I wonder what food they have at Disneyland Paris.

Me: Oh food! I didn't think about that. Isn't the food in the UK not all that awesome? But the Indian food would be awesome! Do they have Mexican places? Maybe that's how we'll make our money! Million Dollar Idea!

And that's how it progresses. We can go on for a long time like that. We delve into all kinds of facets of the 'ifs' of where we would live. And we switch back and forth from international locales to domestic ones. We go from the Pacific Northwest to Texas to NYC to Florida to the Mid West to back to So Cal then settling on wherever enamored us the most during that particular conversation.

It doesn't hurt to dream right? :)

Order

2010-10-05T22:32:00.000-07:00

Do you do things out of order?

Directions out of order?

I do. I do it a lot.

Why? Because I think that they way I do it is much more efficient. Or, when it comes to a recipe, that it makes it taste better.

The reason that I bring this up is because I was making Chocolate Chip Cookies tonight. And for some reason I had a brain fart on the amount of flour to use (2 1/4 c, BTW). I caved and looked on the back of the chocolate chip bag, and I read the directions they give you.

At that point I realized that I made my own directions to make the perfect cookie.

I believe that the order in which I add the ingredients into the mixer is the absolutely perfect order. And therefore makes the best cookie.

When I read a recipe, I read it all the way through, and then modify. I streamline all the steps to make it all easier and quicker. Sometimes I even re-number steps and I have been known to bust out a highlighter at times.

At work I line up everything in my head that I need to do for the day, and decide to do tasks in time order. Unless of course something is time sensitive; then I make concessions. Now usually this plan goes all to poop because I can't ever stick to it. People mess it all up everyday. But hey, I do make a concerted effort.

Seattle/Vancouver Pictures!

2010-10-04T22:16:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictured from the trip for everyone! These are just the highlights, here is the link to my Facebook album to see the whole album: Seattle/Vancouver Trip 2010

We had a TON of fun on this trip. As with most vacations, I wish that it would have been longer.

We didn't have any concrete plans, just a small list of some things that we wanted to do. Of course we had to see the Space Needle, Pike Place and the first Starbucks. Some friends turned us onto the Underground Tour, which was pretty awesome. We also hit the Duck Tour of Seattle. Two tours that I highly recommend everyone to go on. They were both an absolute blast. And also quite informative.

The one tour that I did want to go on was the Pyramid Brewery Tour. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to get to it. But hey, there will be a next time that we go up there, so I'm not overly sad about it.

Canada was also an experience. We had the most enterprising homeless man encounter, but I'm going to save that story for another post. ;) Vancouver was a awe-inspiring city. I wish we could have been there longer than one night. But again, I'm sure we will go back.

Well I'm tired, so I'll just leave you with the photos to ogle at. :)

Cord Found!

2010-10-01T11:37:00.000-07:00

I've found the cord for my card reader! Yay!

Now when I say 'found' I mean this: My Mom actually took the cord for our card reader to use with her computer for the printer. I was now out of a cord....great. So I went into her office and nabbed one that wasn't being used from her desk drawer (why she didn't do that in the first place, I don't know!). So now we have a cord!

Tonight I will download the awesome Seattle pics into iPhoto, and then onto the blog! Everybody say YAY!!!

Seattle Souvenirs!

2010-09-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

We're back! It was a awesome trip! I wish it could have been so much longer!

As for the tons of pics that we took, I haven't uploaded them all yet. To be honest, I can't find the cord to the card reader for Jon's camera...which puts a wrench in things. So....I took some pics of the souvenirs that we purchased...

Our first souvenir purchase was from this fine establishment...THE VERY FIRST STARBUCKS!!!!!!

These are the two coffee cups that we purchased. The one on the right you can only get at the Pike Place store, it's a specially special one.

Here are the backs of those two cups.

Here is a close up shot of the back of the special cup. I haven't been able to use it yet, but I'm sure that it will surely make my coffee taste even more spectacular.

And the special coffee that will be in that special cup is this: Pike Place Special Reserve.

One thing that I get everywhere that we go is a shot glass. I have a nice little collection of them. This is the one that I got for the Space Needle. I just now realized that I didn't get one that is just for Seattle. Bummer.

These are the two that we got in Vancouver, Canada.

Our second Canadian souvenir is Chocolate!! What isn't pictured here is the Mars Noir and the Aero bar that we ate on the drive back to Seattle...

Last but not least...SillyBandz!! I got a whole pack for Presley while at the Space Needle, these are the only two that I could find to take a picture of.

And that's it for the souvenirs!!

Many more pics and stories to come, I just have to find that darned cord...

Seattle Trip!

2010-09-20T22:12:00.000-07:00

Jonathan and I will be leaving for Seattle Wednesday night!

I seriously can not wait for this trip. We haven't been on a vacation that was just us in a very very very long time. Also, neither of us have ever been to Seattle, so we are super stoked on seeing all the landmarks.

And let's face it...I'm going to the original Starbucks. It's a mecca for a coffee obsessed person like me. The original location!!!!! Are you hearing me?!?! OMG! There will be a crap ton of pics of me in front of it, of me sitting inside of it. I will need to buy a souvenir. Ok, I'll buy a few ones.

Our hotel is less than a half mile from Pike Place. A marketplace that I'm sure I won't get to go through as thoroughly as I'd like. It's also close to the Space Needle, Pioneer Square and the Science Center and the Museum of Flight. Oh, and the Sci-Fi Museum.

I can't wait to be a tourist! Jon looked up the weather, and as of today it is supposed to rain almost everyday that we are there. For a SoCal girl that was a bit of a blow to me. I'm not particularly fond of walking around in the rain. And on the Seattle tourism website that I was reading, it said that if I am using a umbrella then the locals know that I'm not from town. I do hate looking like a tourist, but I also hate getting wet. We will just have to see how bad it is to see if I'm going to have to bust out my tourist umbrella.

We will be taking lots and lots of pics, so I will post some when we get back. I don't know if we are going to take the laptop, but if we do I might be able to upload some pics while we are up there...

JD Robb 'in Death' Series of Books

2010-09-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

I've been reading this series of books for a number of years now. They are written by JD Robb, which is a pseudonym for Nora Roberts.

There are 36 of the straight 'in Death' books, and two or three I think of 'in Death' books that were written as a part of another book series.

They are all murder mysteries that involve Lieutenant Eve Dallas of the NYPSD (New York Police and Security Department), her very Irish and very handsome husband Roarke, and their long list of friends. In the very first book they meet each other on a case. Eve is working a grueling murder in which Roarke is a prime suspect. As the books progress so does their relationship until they are eventually married.

I entered the series in the middle, so I just 'caught up' when I started reading. I've had the first book for a while, but haven't gotten around to reading it. So now I've decided to start the series from the beginning. I'm now reading Naked in Death, first published in 1995.

Sooooo.....I highly recommend that you read them. Pick one up, you won't be disappointed!

PS- I highly recommend all of Nora Roberts books as well...I have a lot of those too! :)

Product Review: Caffe Frappe

2010-09-08T20:13:00.000-07:00

Product Review: Kirkland Signature Caffe Frappe

If you are a label snob, then I'm sure that it hurts sometimes to try a non-label brand item. Or if you are hard core enough you won't even try them.

Me, I'm in the middle.

There are some items that I embrace with open arms when it comes to store-brand/off-brand labels. For example: When it comes to Mac N Cheese in the box I only eat two brands: Velveeta and Kraft Blue Box; I have to have Tylenol or Bayer, not any other brand; I can use all off and name brands of face wash pads; I will buy all brands of 'Claritin' for Jon and he doesn't notice; Soy Sauce is only Kikkoman; jarred spices I get at whatever store I'm at when I remember that I need them... you get the drift.

But, as most of you know, I love my coffee and I am VERY particular about it. Although I do like it many ways and from many places, I have standards and I don't waver from them. Falling into that category also is bottled/canned coffee drinks.

So when my Mom went to Costco and picked up the Kirkland Signature Caffe Frappe Mocha flavored instead of the Starbucks, I looked at her sideways like a dog does a high pitched sound. I proceeded to leave them on the shelf for a good week and a half before I tried one of them. I was resisting, being hard-headed and giving those off-brand mochas bad looks. But as I stood there at the rack looking at them I thought of all the Kirkland branded things that are awesome. It was then I realized that I hadn't ever had a bad tasting something that was Kirkland....so I grabbed it and went to get a cup of ice.

AND I LIKED IT!

It is a great substitute. It has a really smooth taste. It doesn't taste exactly like a Starbucks bottle, but it's pretty darn close. The only taste difference, to me, would be that it tastes more like a creamy chocolate rather than having a more bitter taste. I know a lot of people complain that the Starbucks taste more bitter, but I like it like that. It is an awesome lower-cost substitute to the pricey Starbucks case of bottles.

So go out and get a case for yourself and try it out!

..::My Little Soapbox::..

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New Books!

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Day 18, Party Attire

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Dream Weaver

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Product Review: philosophy: the microdelivery exfoliating wash

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ROTW: Pioneer Woman Simple, Perfect Chili

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