forgive me. we moved.

hi all, happy september. (wow, that's weird to say.)

i basically took the summer off it seems. accidently, of course.

in july we took a little trip to visit family and quite literally moved once we got home. we picked up moving boxes, rented a storage unit and gave our notice all on the drive home from the airport. it's take a bit of time to get acclimated to the new place but all is well.. we like it here.

honestly, what's not to love about mukilteo?
(i have a thing for ferry boats..)

i promise, i will be back soon to actually blog about something. (& introduce what i've been doing all summer...)

how i spent this wednesday afternoon...

some how i've managed to make wednesday my at home, free, to-dolist accomplishing, somewhat loungey day to myself. today was a bit different...

i spent this afternoon baking 12 dozen cupcakes.. 144 CUPCAKES... i want you to think about that number for a minute.... here.. i'll help create an image in your head..

....what beauties, eh? i think so. why 12 dozen cupcakes you ask?

my mom runs a great ministry out of her churchs doors on friday nights called "got soup?" her and her team of selfless volunteers devote their time, energy, money, and greater parts of friday morning/afternoon/evening to preparing meals for the homeless in their community.

this friday will be a picnic to celebrate the fourth of july. on the menu this week will be bbq chicken, macaroni salad (i'm enjoying a little bowl as i type this out!), watermelon, and red, white & blue cupcakes. i forgot to take a final photo of the decorated ones but after 3 hours of measuring, mixing, beating, spooning, baking, testing, tasting, cooling and icing, it's ok by me.

enjoy your wednesday evening, i will be putting my feet up and though i dont have that refreshing feeling of things crossed of my infamous, daunting to-do list, i do have some sort of peace knowing that i did something for someone else, something for a community larger than myself.. ..must be how my mom feels every week.

love you mom, thanks for letting me show off my cupcake decorating skills!

pottery barn obsession

because i have three thousand other things on my to do list and all of those three thousand items will take at least an hour to complete, and that sounds really boring.. i decided to browse for new dishes for my/our kitchen. something way funner that spending the rest of my life checking things off my to do list..

i really shouldn't be allowed to visit pottery barn or their website without supervision. my heart starts to race, i get goosebumps and short of breath. it really is a visceral reaction. i think i need someone to guard my credit cards as i browse and another to monitor my blood pressure.

this is what truely gets my heart racing...

well.. now onward to my horrid to do list.. happy wednesday. cheers :)

lazy wednesday

today is my first day off from work & nannying in 6 days. im not complaining, im just stating fact. typically on my days off i have a long list of things to get accomplished and waste no time in getting started.

today is different.

today, so far, all i've done is climbed out of bed, turned on the coffee pot, kissed the hub goodbye, browsed a few blogs - ashley ann's under the sycamore & all things new, played with little ilsa and poured myself a cup of coffee.

sidenote: oooh, if you do check out all things new, make sure to browse rachel's etsy store. i'm in love with all her earrings, not to mention the hairpins. i think i should order my mum earrings now.. just thinking about wearing them gets me excited!

now, i have a to do list.. a rather long to-do list infact. today, when i woke up, it looked like this:

start coffee pot

water plants

gym this morning

hang curtains

& now.. (after i've had my coffee), it's evolved itself into this:

start coffee pot

water plants

gym this morning

dimension chalkboard (explanation later)

hang curtains

browse world market for more curtains

flea market?

lunch with the hubster

uncover desk

finish at least one painting

start/finish may birthday cards

post office to mail cards

pay some bills

call rei about the climb

work on vacation to do list

finish knitting project.

decide on mothers day gift

start dinner

email the girls

find a housewarming gift

well now, after seeing all the things i have yet to try & accomplish tody, i feel i should get my butt to the gym and start tackling that to-do list. happy wednesday all :)

wallace falls

last saturday hubby and i went for a litle hike. we've been planning to go for about 3 weeks but the weather and our days off never seems to coordinate. nonetheless, we finally made it out to wallace falls. it took us about 3 hours and 20 minutes for the 5mile, (1400' elevation gain), roundtrip hike.

the trail starts out walking by some blackberry bushes and underneath buzzing powerlines but once you get actually into the hemlock trees, it's a whole different world entirely.

within the first quarter mile the trail forks and the left goes along the old railroad tracks and is more gradual, hence making it popular for moutain bikers but adds an aditional mile to your roundtrip. we decided to go the more direct route, right, down woody trail. (there's a map at the fork, don't worry). woody trail takes you down to the river, across a few bridges and then up switchbacks. above is the hubby on wallace river. nice beard, eh? looks like a mountain man.

along woody trail.

small falls.

view from atop all the switchbacks. it was definitely worth the work to get this view. just to be able to see the tippy-tops of all those evergreen trees was a beautiful thing.

this is the best photo we got of the falls.
an astonishing 265' from top to bottom. breathtaking in my book.

one a dreary thursday night...

... I decided to copy a few questions from a neighborblog while I kill some time. enjoy.

on my bedside table:
heidi swanson's cookbook and a notepad full of doodles.

latest interests:
I think I want to learn to knit.

on my mind:
uncluttering our office... ehhh.. (we'll see).

learning:
how much more exciting life is with a 7 & 11 year old on your side, (the darling kids I nanny).

making:
a cup of chai tea.

looking foward to:
climbing mount si next week.

enjoying:
a glass of wine.

amused by:
ilsa (our younger cat) sneek up on ike (our older cat).

our kansas trip

we made a trip back to kansas this past weekend. it was so great to hang out & relax with family.
anyhow, here's a few pictures from our trip. enjoy!

24 of us bombarded the derby, KS village Inn.. here's a little panoramic view of the craziness.

kent, sarah & rachel. aren't those girls gorgeous!?

dunn-dunn-dun-dun! charade time!

above: kent drew "transformers" and had to act it out.. needless to say it was a bit difficult.

here's larry & diane doing their best at charades. diane's face just cracks me up!

cade wasn't too into charades but he did eventually figure out the trike on the stairs didn't work too well..

the hubster at the village inn. lovin' the 'stache huh?

i didn't take this. i just thought it was worth sharing frank martin's face. and we did watch the kstate game while we were there.

showcasing my newest painting...

drumroll please...... TA DA!

my newest painting.

it's for our kitchen and i absolutely love it. and i just had to share it.

now off to brunch w. the inlaws :)

happy sunday. more blogging later this week. promise.

lake wenatchee camping trip

Evening All,

Still recouping from our camping trip... We took a nice little weekend trip over the mountains to Lake Wenatchee.

We packed up the car and left Friday morning(ish), got some breakfast and arrived at the campgrounds by 1:30pm (we really good time - about 2 hours total). We spent the rest of the afternoon & evening just relaxing at our campsite; setting things up and getting the fire going. Saturday we spent a few hours at the beach - I read (& finished my book) and Hubby swam/spalshed water at me from the Lake. Thanks to PCC's bean soup mix we had a nice big bowl of yummy soup to warm up with that evening. Sunday we made some pancakes and reluctantly packed up. We figured we had two choices: one choice to go home, or drive about 40 more miles East to Sonic... Needless to say we decided on a trip to Sonic Drive was in order considering 1) It's the closest one to where we live, 2) Hubby's have withdrawls from their Route 44 Cherry-Limeades, 3) I'll never been!! One word to say: YUMMMMMMM!

Back to camping.. We had a great time - we always do but being home is always nice. (We missed the kitties!) The weather was perfect and we had a pretty good campsite! Plus the in-laws are looking to buy property over in E. Washington so they actually came by the campsite we were at and visited for a while Saturday evening.

Rather than write all about our trip, I figure I'll just post pictures: Enjoy!

Notice the little picnic table condiment holder... FREE at a garage sale! Soo cute!

Our beautiful camp fire the hubby built.

Lake Wenachee view from the beach.

Lake Wenatchee again.

The Lake, again.

Leavenworth, Wa. We drove through on our way to Sonic.

Maypole in the center or Leavenworth.

One of my favorite pictures.

BIG weekend so far & it's only saturday evening

Alrighty, well like always the husband and I met at our favorite date-night spot on Friday night - Johnny's Sports Bar + Grill. The service is excellent (we usually get the same waitress), decent beer choices, the food is pretty good for being a bar & grill and you have a front row seat of the trains rushing by if you sit on the patio. Plus with $5 appetizers during HHour, how can you go wrong?!

It's always so refreshing to know we've started the weekend on such a great note. After a few beers and TONS of food, we headed home, I worked on a little craft/art project for our living room and the hubby read his new book. All of sudden hubby saids "We should think about getting another cat..." Needless to say forty-five minutes later we were off to PetsMart*.

[* A note about PetsMart & Purrfect Pals - When we looked into getting our first cat, Ike, we went to PAWS but were treated so rudely we vowed to never go back. We ended up at PetsMart. PetsMart allows Purrfect Pals Adoption Company/Organization to run their volunteer based program out of PetsMarts doors. We were floored with how great Purrfect Pals was and how in touch they were with their "sponsers" (adoptive parents). Each cat/kitten adopted from Purrfect Pals is spayed/neutered, given all shots, a micro-chip, treated for fleas & worms and has tested negative for FIV & Feline Leukemia. Purrfect Pals also confirms with each sponsers landlord, if necessary, to make sure a pet deposit has been paid & the animal is welcomed in the apartment. Also, they're 100% against declawing and before adopting all applicants are required to sign a statement vowing to not declaw. Purrfect Pals spends an average $375 per cat; but only require a $100 adoption fee. Donations are greatly appreciated. For more about Purrfect Pals, please visit their website: http://www.purrfectpals.org/indexTemp.asp]

Anyhow, I fell in love with 19 week kitten, whereas Hubby liked the "Mini-Ike" (black hair, bright green eyess) who was about 7 months old. After holding the kitten, and after she licked his chin, husband changed his mind and we filled out the paperwork right then and there. The conversation between us to decide if we should get her consisted of him holding her and saying "I think we need her"; I was convinced from the moment I saw her.

According to her paperwork she was 1.48lbs when she was 11 weeks old and I swear she can't be more than 2.5 now - she's just about all black with white on her chin, whiskers, all four paws and a white strip on her left back left which winds up her ankle - how cute!!

While I was at the bakery today he went over and picked her up. Now the only thing is to see how big brother Ike likes having a new little one around.... (NOTE: It's not been going well so far and I've only been home for an hour).

In other, more serious news.... my little sister was taken to the emergency room around 4am this morning. After 5.5 hours, 1 CT scan, a ton of pain meds, and an ultra-sound, the doctors concluded she had Appendicitis. She is now appendix-less and awaiting the chocolate-oreo-pudding pops I just finished making. Hugs + kisses to my little sister who's been a champ through all of this! We were suppose to go get her nose-pierced (18th birthday present!) this coming week but we'll have to see now.. Nonetheless - Keep your fingers crossed for a speedy recovery!

I'll share the pudding pop receipe (and more pictures of Princess Isla!) another day... It's almost my bedtime and I still need to shower, play some guitar hero with the husband and figure out what to serve for dinner tomorrow evening with my in-laws... Wish me luck!

seattle heat wave

Morning All,

What a crazy few weeks it's been. Right after my last post we celebrated my little sisters 18th birthday (Happy Birthday again little girl!), the husband finished the shed at my mom's and then my mom & grandparents decided to have a garage sale.

THE MOVE:
Amongst all that excitement, we were getting ready to move. Not a far move, just across the sidewalk courtyard actually. Forty-five steps if I counted correctly. It's just a little bit more per month for about two-hundred additional square feet. Talk about a steal of a deal. We made the move this Monday, though we have/had until the 31st to get all the way out, the husband wanted to do it in one fell swoop. Looking back now I'm glad we did it all in one day, especially considering the heat since then.

Yesterday just about completed the unpacking, the bathroom, bedroom & kitchen are unpacked and useable & functionable now and the living room is coming together nicely with the exception of the media center causing the husband some trouble. Not to mention me causing him chaos regarding the placement of picture frames.

However my craft area is looking like a hurricane hit it. There are paints and fabric swatches littering the table and drawers strewn about... it's really quite a mess. Though I've decided from the moment I'm back from the gym Monday morning to when it's 100% completed it'll be the only thing I work on.

THE HEAT:
When I drove down to the bakery about an hour ago my car said it was eighty-three degrees outside which actually means it's about seventy-eight. But even time the door swings open I catch some of that warm air and I'm thinking it's gone up quite a bit since I've been in the lovely air conditioned bakery. Ooh, the reason I'm here isn't because I'm working, it's simply because our tv & internet provider can't get out to our apartment to reconnect whatever is needed until next Friday... So I was "borrowing" wifi from our lovely neighbors (Not stealing! - I was planning on baking them some cookies as a thank you later...) when suddenly it cut out. Unfortunately for me they're the only ones with an unprotected network, unforuntatly for them it's wayyyy too hott for me to bake cookies today.

I've found out that though I think I can handle heat and higher humidity, in actuality I can't. I'm miserable. I only like to sweat when I'm burning some calories and not when I'm merely hanging photo frames.

Though I've haven't written about it yet, here are some photos of green beans & chives at our old apartment, these were taken about 6 weeks ago:

I have more plants now, some sunflowers, roma tomatoes, wild flowers, moon flowers and some oregano but no photos yet. I promise I will take some as soon as it cools off around here.

Monday, the day we moved, it was ninety-seven at two in the afternoon, needless to say we took a break from moving things from the old apartment to the new and just stayed in and unpacked a little but my poor plants... they burned. I mean litterally burned. The leaves look like they've been set on fire. Our previous apartment faced the North and was shielded somewhat from the East but our new one faces the South and is shielded a bit from the West but gets a large amount of morning sun and doesn't get a break until about 5pm. Finally, yesterday I got a dark sheet out and drapped it across the balcony and put all the plants underneath; our poor neighbors probably think we're hillbillies drying our sheets on the porch :) I've also been setting a timer every ninety-minutes to remind myself to check on the poor plants to make sure they're not drying out. Monday I checked them in the morning aruond 8:30am and the soil was dry so I watered them A LOT and by 11:30 when we took a mini-break to rehydrate, my plants needing some rehydration too. So far checking every ninety minutes seems to keep them somewhat happy.. as happy as plants with burnt leaves can be... Speaking of which, I should probably head some to my internet-less apartment and check on those babies!

For all you in the Northwest experiencing this temperature change, good luck to you - keep watering your plants and YOUR SELF! :) Adios!

sunday evening supper

Alrighty, well first of all, forgive me if I'm somewhat out of practice; it's been a few days since my last post. I was at the bakery the past few days. So it's good to be back at home with some free time to blog away.

Anyhow, I started to miss the weekends the husband & I used to have together so I took today off to have a hubby+wife date-day :)

We started off by sleeping in and just enjoying a cup of coffee together on our patio. Then we headed off to Pike Place to get some new lavender, veggies & gorgeous flowers.

Afterwards, we were off to the Bite of Seattle and enjoyed some good food. I had a tasty but typical gyro and the husband had a combo from Bama Buza with yakisoba, chicken skewers & fried rice. But the dissapointment was no "bite" - I've been to the Bite before and remember booths with three dollar sized portions so you can really nimble & sample and not get full off a huge entree. Nonetheless, great weather, fun people and like seven beer gardens! We're easy to please. (Here's a great article expressing my opinion on the Bite: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2008058779_bite18m.html)

We did a little shopping afterwards for Sissy's birthday (it's Tuesday!) then headed home. Typically I don't cook too much on the weekends, especially not anything from scratch but maybe it was being in Seattle around creative people or downing two beers before two-pm but I decided to make a super supper for hubby & I.

Here's the menu of the evening: (recipes below, if you're interested.)

Breaded Sweet Porkchops

Apple & Pear Chutney for on top

Dill & Pea Red-Potatoe Salad

Citrus & Cranberry Green Salad

Needless to say, it's been a great night. We polished off dinner around 7:30, sat on the patio again, this time with a glass of wine and then headed down for a walk on the beach.

Nighty Night all, Good Luck with your Monday morning.

Recipes...

[I would recommend making the porkchops along with the chutney.. It'll give you a great sauce for the wash used for the porkchops.]

Apple & Pear Chutney - this is such an easy recipe, lots of ingredients but SO simple.
4 tart apples; peeled & chopped into small-ish chunks

3 firm pears; peeled & chopped into small-ish chunks

2 - 2 1/2 c. packed brown sugar - start with 2 c. first.

1/2 - 1 c. granulated sugar - start with 1/2 c. first.

juice of 1 lemon & 1 orange.

1/3 c. apple cider vinegar

1/4 c. brandy

1 teasp. sea salt

2 cinnamon sticks

1/2 teasp. ginger

1/2 teasp. allspice
1 teasp. dry mustard

1 1/2 c. golden raisins.

After cutting the apples & pears put them in a bowl of water to avoid browning.

Drain out water before adding to pan.
In large, shallow saucepan add all ingredients except the raisins.

Bring to boil, lower heat to med-low.

Cook for 20 minutes until fruit has reduced.

Add raisins & cook 10 more.

Taste and adjust sugar, vinegar & spice if necessary.

Spoon out 1/2 c. sauce if making chutney.
Remove cinnamon sticks and pour into bowl.

Cover and chill if saving. If you're serving the meal soon, leave on the counter to let cool a bit.

Breaded Sweet Porkchops : yields 6 servings
6 - 1/2" thick porkchops
1 c. seasoned breadcrumbs
1 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. sauce from chutney

In large skillet, heat 2-3 TB. of olive oil.

Add porkchops to flour, then sauce, and into the breadcrumbs and into the pan to crisp up.

Repeat for all chops.

Dill & Pea Red-Potatoe Salad : yields 6 servings.

2lbs. red-skinned potatoes, cut in 1/2" chunks. I kept the skin on for vitamins & color but you can peeled them off if you like.

1 teasp. salt

2 hardboiled eggs - peeled & chopped
1/2 c. finely chopping red onion

1/2 c. peas - fresh or thawed frozen.

2/3 - 1 c. mayo

2 TB. sour cream

2-3 teasp. mustard

salt & pepper.

1/4 c. chopped fresh dill

Place potatoes in saucepan & cover with water.

Add half dill and 1 teasp. salt to water.

Cook until tender.

Drain and transfer for med. bowl, add chopped eggs, peas & onion.

Cover & refridgerate until chilled.

After cool, add 2/3 c. mayo, sour cream & mustard.

Gently stir mixture until blended.

Taste and add salt & pepper to taste.

Citrus & Cranberry Green Salad

1/4 head purple leaf lettuce

1/4 head curly leaf lettuce
1/4 head romaine lettuce

one bunch medium spinach

1/3 c. dried cranberries - look for them in the bulk foods area not the packaged. You'll save $$$

1 orange peeled and cut into sections

1 grapefruit peeled and cut into sections

Dressing:

1/3 c. honey

1/3 c. orange juice

1/4 c. Dijon mustard

Toss all the greens and fruit together, whisk dressing ingredients together and serve immediately.