Our Funny Farm

Happy Valentine's Day 2012

2012-02-14T19:40:00.000-08:00

I am not one for celebrating Valentine's Day. I hate the explosion of pink and red at the stores back in January. Every year, Jason and I tend to exchange a small gift and a card. This year, I saw an awesome chance to have a pre-Valentine's Day at Mimosa Studios on Alberta.

Mimosa Studios is a paint some already made pottery place in our neighborhood that was hosting a Valentine's event last Friday night. For a small purchase, we enjoyed romantic music, chocolates and champagne while paint pottery. It was relaxing after a crazy week. I have taken my share of pottery class and, hoping, to take more this summer.

I chose to paint a chip and dip plate and Jason painted a bowl. I tend to over-decorate things, so I am embracing less is more mentality.

Jason painted a shamrock at the bottom of the bowl.

I went with petals and a "B" at the bottom of the "dip" portion.

Finally, we signed and dated our pieces. We got to take them home Valentine's Day and they mark a great time talking and painting. What a great evening! I cannot wait to go back. Painting anyone? I am thinking I am getting my creative itch back.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Hour Friday!

2012-01-13T06:58:00.000-08:00

Hello Friday!

It is about time. Friday, you are welcomed to stick around for a while.

Nothing beats working a full week to make you miss 2 weeks off for Christmas Break (add into it a little 7th grade drama and it will make you want to drink).

So, in honor of the great Fridays, I bring you Hopworks Bike Bar. When this place opened up down the street from us, we were excited. I have always been a fan of the original location but the place was always packed and parking was a pain.

Since the place opened, we tend to eat there at least once a week. They have great beer, great food and a great place to watch sports, talk with friends and an impromptu date. Our favorite is Pint of Pretzels with their yummy cheese sauce:

Jason has a few favorites on the menu, he rotates from the Tofu Po Boy to the Portland Bella Sandwich.

Here is the Tofu Po Boy with their awesome fries:

My two favorite items on the menu is the Hopyard Black Bean Burger and the Pear and Nut Salad. Depending on the mood, I will get one of them and an ice tea.

We had my birthday event there and they were gracious to house 10-15 of my friends. We love Hopworks.

Happy Friday the 13th. It's a great day.

Just Like a Fresh Coat of Paint

2012-01-02T06:22:00.000-08:00

I was lucky and received a Target gift card for Christmas. I heart Target. I cannot leave there without spending at least $50.

The days after Christmas had me shopping. I sure stretched that gift card, I stocked up on girl essentials (makeup), next year Christmas needs (wrapping paper, cards, etc), and splurging on some new curtains for the living room. I stood there in the store doing mental math to make sure I got long enough curtains.

I came home and learned a lesson. MEASURE first. I thought 84" was enough. Um....nope. We needed 95".

Yesterday, I went to my favorite Yoga class and there is a Target next door. So, I returned the old curtains and upgraded to better ones. I was in and out in 10 min and on the treadmill.

After waiting for Jason to come home from golfing, I got bored and hung those bad boys.

With the new rod, these brown babies are awesome. I also replaced the sheer behind the brown curtains. Our old sheer had a lovely hole in it from an earlier incident so it was time. To prove that 84 was too short, that is the length of the sheers and I like the brown ones touching the ground. Now it's time to motivate the BF to hang the new rods on the side windows.

Happy Monday, it's back to work tomorrow.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T14:41:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a lovely New Years! We sure did.

A great New Years needs to have the following:
1. An awesome black dress and a very cute BF
2. Champagne at midnight
3. An epic kiss at midnight

This year, we met all three requirements and then some. We made it to double digits and back to single digits, latest we have stayed up in a long time.

We started the night out at a friends place on Mississippi. From there we had a late dinner plans with friends at Montage.

We had some lovely drinks at Le Merde. I love this place so much that I request dinner there for their grapefruit drop....to.die.for. I love it. I am not a lemon drop girl, I am a grapefruit girl.

We enjoyed dinner and more drinks and laughter. From there, we made it to our hood for drinks at The Box Social, a new bar on Williams.

Here, we parked ourselves for the remaining hour and half of 2011. This lead for people watching, including a random dance party.

At midnight, Megan, Ryan, Jason and I toasted with champagne and a time stopping kiss.

It was a great night, we had a blast. I hope 2012 is a year of balance and adventures.

Here is to a great Twenty-Dozen!

P.S. Watch your camera, I ended up with some crazy pictures from this awesome couple:

Time to read on the couch. Happy New Year, my friends!

Christmas Card Display

2011-12-22T14:40:00.000-08:00

I am a horrible friend this year, I did not do Christmas cards. I bought the cards and they are sitting by my to do list. I haven't touched them since school got out last Friday. It does not look like I will be sending out cards this year, yet, all our friends and family have sent us cards and pictures. This year, I wanted to display the cards. So I hung some left over ribbon and pinned them with clothes pins. I got the idea from another blogger who painted the clothes pins with glitter. I would like to do that next year (hopefully, the need to do anything crafty will bite me in the bum).

I have added previous cards from the past that I loved and I hope to frame next year as art pieces for the season.

Jason and I are making an effort to not eat in front of the television and at the table, the cards are a conversation starter, especially since most of our friends have kids and they are growing.

And on the table is a jar of pins for the future cards we receive. (They would be lovely with some glitter, next year!).

I hope you have a merry and bright Christmas.

Love from Brittney, Jason and London

A Spendy Postcard

2011-12-15T05:00:00.000-08:00

On a lovely walk last Saturday, we checked out a local printing press shop. They had lots of cute cards and clothes. I have been eyeing the alphabet poster for a while. I wanted to check out the price tag.

While browsing, we found a love postcard that said, "I'm so happy we both showed up here" and the background was the state of Oregon. I decided to buy it.It was $9. A quick trip to target for a frame and we have a lovely new art piece.

All of this was for $25 and I am thinking it should hang on the exposed brick. In the words of Jason, we can cover up all the mistakes.

I hope you enjoy, I am in love with it.

Our Toes Thanks Us

2011-12-12T07:26:00.000-08:00

This last week was a busy week. Between Jason and I, we had something planned every night. One night, we went to Mumford and Sons. We were lucky, we saw them in Seattle last year and again last Tuesday night. Both times, they did not disappoint. Despite it being a late night, we rocked out and had a good time.

On Thursday, Jason was getting his Charter, I was staying late at school. My students had invited me to their choir concert. Since I had a couple hours before the show, I had dinner at my parents house. My mom informed me that Big Lots in the area was going out of business. With 45 min to spare, I was able to find a lot of treasures. I found a lovely 5 by 7 area rug for the T.V. room. Jason came home to a lot of Big Lots bags. I also got curtain rods and curtains (I have taken them back since they are too short and the brown looked reddish in the living room).

So, on Friday, I had Jason help me place the rug in its spot. Instantly, I was happy. It is nice to have a rug under our feet. The room is coming together. We are slowly adding finishing touches to the house (since most of the major remodel work is done, for awhile).

The room is looking good, right? I think London loves the rug too, she is often laying on the rug.

Christmas Cheer

2011-12-11T07:11:00.000-08:00

Since Thanksgiving is over, I am ready to embrace the holiday cheer. Last weekend, Jason and I drove to St. Helens to run Reindeer Run. Jason did the 5k and I did the 10k. Through the countryside, I noticed a lot of Christmas tree lots. This made me want to cut down our tree.

After a shower and some warm food, we ventured to our favorite farm on Sauvie Island and cut down our Christmas tree. We did a quick walk to the Douglas tree and found "the one" in a hurry. Jason got to cut down the tree. Despite it being in the 30s, he was working hard and sweating by the end.

Our tree measured to 8 feet and then we had to tie it to the top of the car. We made sure this baby wasn't going anywhere.

Twine everywhere in the car. A lovely drive home. We got the tree home and on the porch it went. We had some errands to take care of. That night, we set our tree free.

I was slightly worried that our eyes were bigger in the forest and the tree would be too big in the house. But that was not the case, our tree might be a little bushy or chubby, it still looks wonderful. We had a great time decorating and London became friends with the tree. She loves to eat the bottom branches and I often find her sitting underneath the tree.

Time to get some presents under the tree.

The other day, Jason got his Charter and our tree made for a lovely backdrop. I love it.

Thanksgiving: My Favorite Holiday

2011-12-10T17:17:00.000-08:00

Happy December, dear readers. I am loving the holiday cheer. November came and went, my head is still wondering what I did for the five days off.

I wanted to share our Thanksgiving feast. Even though it was Jason, Pete and I, we ate like Kings and Queens.

I made out a out a timeline for events. I spent Wednesday baking and preparing. On Wednesday, I baked a pumpkin pie, cleaned and saw The Help at Mcmenamins, I went during the mommy matinee. Interesting time.

The day of, Jason and I ran a 5k. We came home and literally spent the day cooking/baking. We made almost everything. He made a lovely apple pie and I attempted potato rolls (success).

Pete brought some wine and we ate. We had a quorn roast (fake turkey), mashed potatoes, green beans, bananas and whipped cream, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, veggie gravy (from Pine State), and Jason's famous scallop corn. Top it off with apple pie and pumpkin pie, it was perfect. I love Thanksgiving, it is an awesome holiday: eating and no gifts.

Let the holidays begin.

Dust, Dust is Everywhere!

2011-11-16T07:01:00.000-08:00

Well, with the end of the sanding project, I have discovered dust everywhere. Tiny little drywall particles everywhere. I do mean everywhere. The back of the toilet has a thin layer, the nightstands has some, even my boots are dusty. I spent last night washing the floors, we are slowly conquering the dust war.

Last night, we spent the evening picking out a paint color for the living room.

Can you guess which one we are liking? Too bad the iPhone picture quality is not that great. We painted the samples over the room, left and went to dinner. Up next, painting and getting it done, so I can have my bedroom back (everything is stored in the spare room).

Cleaning Up the Sink, Yo!

2011-11-15T18:52:00.000-08:00

Since the bathroom remodel, I was hoping we were done with the it. For a while, it was working out. Then someone's, I won't use names, daily products made it to the sink area. One of us has a lot of crap he or she uses on a regular basis. There is make-up remover, hairspray, face wash, hand lotion, etc and it was falling into the sink. Since we changed out the medicine cabinet for a plain old mirror, there was no home for the much needed products. At first they piled up on the back of the toilet, now, they are everywhere. So, inspired by this nursery, especially how the books are displayed. I copied the idea and made a trip to Ikea to purchase this spice rack and at $3.99, I might be back for more. After assembling them and placing them in the bathroom, they needed a little paint.

After a coat or two of the yellow paint, I added some contact paper to keep the shelf part clean.

Then Jason hung up them. After checking on his work half way, I made him move them. At one point I had him sit on the toilet to make sure you would not bump them when you are using the bathroom.

After measuring out the height of the hairspray, I can say everything has found a home. The sink area is clean, my a person's crap is put away orderly and it is easily ready.

I like it. It was a quick and easy project: a trip to the store, two coats of paint, a little contact paper and some holes in the wall. Voila.

See the cabinet next to our new shelves? Jason made em out of the kitchen cabinets. I love it. Maybe peer pressure will get him to do another post. Until then, my area is clean.

Dexter Morgan, You're My Hero

2011-11-13T14:50:00.000-08:00

I think we have been watching a little too much Dexter because Jason has made our living room into a scene from the show.

He is channeling his inner serial killer. Actually, he is sanding the walls down. He is getting the room ready for paint, and I cannot help, darn.

I am currently trapped in the tv room with the kitten, she is not happy. She hates closed doors. It is forcing me to catch up on some of my blog posts for Run Oregon and maybe it will motivate me to grade (or bake).

Until then, a nap on the couch sounds nice. Happy Sunday!

Guess Who's Back, Tell a Friend!

2011-11-11T11:05:00.000-08:00

Sorry dear reader, life got in the way. My Iphone is full of pictures to blog about, the boyfriend's phone has pictures too but sitting in front of a computer after a long day was not my cup of tea. We have been busy and exhausted. I have been in survival mode for the last week, looking forward to Veteran's Day off. I was looking forward to a day of nothing, an empty house and my pajamas. So, here I am with a quick recap.

While I was off being awesome, the boyfriend had lots of little projects that took up September. You see, we had the house appraised. This meant, lots of little projects taken care of, like molding around the doors and windows, and the basement cleaned up?!?! It was great, all those nagging little projects becoming finished.

So, in part of helping out, I hung another picture.

Jason had this picture before we met, I just took it out of the packaging and framed it, I am liking it. As I was taking it out, he told be to throw it away. I still don't know what I want to do with that wall, I would like a giant world map. That is as far as my vision has gone.

Wrapping up September was my dearest friends' wedding. I have known Justin since middle school and those awkward years. We went to high school together, went to prom, he would visit me in college and we took a road trip to San Diego in grad school. We have been through boyfriends, heartbreaks and major accomplishments, it was a honor to attend their wedding. Plus, a long weekend in the Bahamas could not be passed up.

We spent a long weekend on a Disney Cruise having a blast, we would dress up for dinner, catch a musical show, play bingo and many runs to the make your own ice cream cones shop. It was a great weekend. When some of your closest friends are in a room, it was destined to be awesome.

While I was gone, walls disappeared in my house. The hard thing about being in the Bahamas, I had no access to internet or cell service so it was a shocker to come home to a front room with no walls. I knew this was on the radar, Jason was a busy bee while I was gone. By the time I came home, he had torn down all the plaster and cleaned it up. He had insulated the walls (sweet) and started hanging dry wall. It was like night and day, the noise level from outside had dramatically dropped. That about sums up October. Onward to November (my favorite month).

Since then, I turned a year older and wiser.

Finally, this week has been interesting. I have been sick. I attempted to make this soup. I cut up most of the veggies the night before, I threw everything in the pot the morning of and spent the day worrying about it burning since I did not put the full amount of broth. I came home to an amazing smell.

It was slightly under cooked, so onto the stove for some boiling. Now I have left overs that are amazing. That about sums up ~~our~~ my life. So, its onward to lots of laundry, cleaning the house and grading essays. Anyone want to do some grading for me?

Isn't my plan book awesome?

Happy Veteran's Day! and 11-11-11.

Spice Rack

2011-09-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

After the bathroom face-lift, I had some time left before girlfriend came home so I decided to make a little gift for her. Since we moved in, she occasionally mentioned that it would be nice to have a spice rack or shelf above the stove. I agree.

The wood the old cabinets were made from is still good and we haven't gotten around to getting a dumpster yet so I decided to pick out a piece and make a nice little shelf for her. First, I found a side to one of the old cabinets and cut it down to size. Then went looking for some leftover trim to make it look nice and make sure nothing rolls off. After a little dusting off, painting, glue, nails, and some wall brackets, the old cabinet went from this:

To this:

After checking for level (and getting it right on my first try!), I loaded it up and waited for girlfriend to get home.

Making a Cute Little Corner

2011-09-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

I am on a mission to hang up pictures and art work. It is time to make our house lived in.

So, room by room, I am adding some pictures.

This is what our bedroom is looking like and I am loving it.

I even caught London sitting on the chair, watching the world go by. Time to make this house a home. Plus its fun to tell Jason to put a nail here and there. I am wanting this world map for our t.v. room.
Baby steps!

We Have a Mirror!

2011-09-20T13:58:00.000-07:00

Our bathroom has slowly but surely coming to a completion! It has been exciting to see the transformation from god-awful to something livable and enjoyable. For a while now, we have been without a bathroom mirror. I had a rinky-dinky mirror from good, old college days. This thing was leaned up against the vanity and it was not big enough. Rather, when needing to your hair, you got some butt workout in the process because you had to squat. Maybe that explains my lack of hair styling the last three weeks?

So, off to IKEA for some lovely wondering. The questions aroused, do we want a medicine cabinet or just a mirror. In the end, we went with just a mirror. Since the directions came with pictures, we easily put up our new mirror.

I was the awesome mental math wiz and the tool handler as Jason did all the muscle work.

Four holes later and about five minutes, we had a mirror!

Now, we can do all our primping like grown ups. I am excited we went with a mirror and not a medicine cabinet! It looks awesome. Plus, I have some storage ideas I need to execute for the bathroom.

Bathroom Switch

2011-09-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

I love white, its clean and simple. Our bathroom is white. For the longest time, I had a white shower curtain the bathroom due to the horrendous pink and grey bathroom tile. I loved this curtain (still do), it has been with me in many apartments and soon made into Jason's place.

Since we have a white bathroom with a white window curtains and a white shower curtain, it is time to add some color. Enter in our new shower curtain.

I love it. I am now on a mission for some curtains. I am torn between using the teal color in the curtain or going yellow. I am learning to embrace yellow. I do not know why but I cannot stand yellow, I think it stems from the belief that blondes can't wear yellow. But seeing this yellow door, I want some cheerfulness in our house. Bring on the curtain challenge.

Spring Cleaning

2011-09-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

We started spring cleaning the house a little late this year! At least we were de-cluttering our junk. I am a saver, it runs in the family so its super hard to get rid of crap. This time, I threw out all my research and data from my masters. Yes, I got my masters in 2008. I am only 3 years behind.

While tackling my corner of crap, I found some house stuff.

My color swatches! This is before we moved into the house and my head was full of grand ideas. Essentially, I took folders and labeled each room of the house and then found color combos for each room. Then I would "pitch" my ideas to Jason.

At the time, he was on board and rarely shot down some ideas. This was before we really knew what we were getting into when we moved it.

As you can see, most colors made it into the house. I love it. I had a vision and slowly and surely, it is coming true. Baby steps add up. It was a good find and, sadly, my color swatches went in the recycling.

Waiting, Wishing, Adding it to Jason's To-Do List

2011-08-24T12:31:00.000-07:00

Can you guess what I have on my mind for Jason after work?

I cannot believe we have not posted at ALL in August. I won't be saddened if people have abandoned reading the blog. We have been boring lately. Actually, we have been a little burnt out on the house. There is always stuff to do & I can barely keep up with the cleaning.

A fast forward of our month: We played.

Lots of good has been happening in the house! Jason passed his test after 3 years of hard work! There is light at the end of the tunnel and we will be celebrating soon. I have been moved to middle school. I am busy moving and cleaning another portable. I somehow have 45+ desks in my classroom. That better not be a sign of how many kids I will have in our already stretched school budget.

I will find out on Thursday what I will be teaching. Cross your fingers that my punk fifth grade boys will not be in my class. I threatened to follow them to middle school if they did not shape up. Apparently, I follow through on my threat as I am at their school. Oh, the irony.

Til Jason gets home for work, I have been plotting & planning homes for my pictures. We are having people over and by-golly, its about darn time to put some art on those walls. Give us credit, its only taken 2 years.

maybe here?

This one was picked up in Paris and hand carried home:

Finally, the debate in my head is this piece (shout out to April for painting this):

I like it on this wall, you can see it from the hallway but it does not work with the curtains, should I put it on the opposite wall but no one will really see it unless you walk into the room.

Carpet Coupon

2011-07-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

I hate our carpets. They are ugly. They are brown. They are well worn. I cannot wait to replace them with something softer. Despite all the vacuuming (its my favorite chore), they look dirty. It doesn't help that London sheds all the time.

So, enter Groupon. I recently purchased a carpet cleaning groupon and waited patiently for summer so that I could be home and use it.

Today, I cashed that baby in. Around noon, two guys came in and worked their magic. I did not have high hopes but it is nice to have clean carpets. They are still ugly.

It only took them 30 min, I now know we have 190 sq. ft. of carpet upstairs and that it there is no hope for it.

The hard part, locking London in the bathroom. She hated it and let me know. So she moved to the tv room with me and hated it. She hates locked doors. The minute I opened the door, she went right upstairs and laid on the carpet.

So, now I wait a few hours to dry and I like the company I used, they use all natural products and do not saturate the carpet. Plus, they moved furniture. Now, I have to keep 'em clean.

Garden Love

2011-07-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

For a short time, I left to go on vacation. I spent 5 days in 110+ degree weather at a lovely resort in Palm Springs. It was wonderful, I slept, I ran and spent most of my day in the pool. I left Jason in charge of my garden. He had specific instructions to water the garden and talk to the plants.

After I came home and I found this:

A lovely, giant zucchini ready to be picked. So we did. I admired it for days, thinking about what I wanted to do with it.

Finally, I decided to make Zucchini Bread. I pulled out my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook.

Since the zucchini was so huge, I only needed to use half of it.

Despite it being a nice, warm(ish) summer day, I love the smell of fresh baked goods.

Got to love the dog days of summer.

Bathroom Almost Done

2011-07-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Whenever the girlfriend goes on vacation, the ginger gets busy with some housework. This project was saved for when Brittney was gone since it involved painting in the bathroom. I waited until she was gone so she didn't have to go without showering for a day or two as the primer and paint dried. So...step 1: get all the crap off the walls.

The walls went from this:

To this:

Step 2: Wash the walls, give them a quick rough-up with sandpaper and prime.

Step 3: Keep London out. If a door is closed, she tends to open it and I really didn't want to clean primer or paint off of her. Surprisingly, this silly sign worked. I guess she can read? (It says No Kitties Allowed).

Step 5. Sign my work and paint until it's all covered.

The (nearly...missing mirror and shelves to come later) final product:

Backyard Boo-yah! Part 2

2011-07-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

Back in April we set out to make the backyard a whole lot nicer than a bark-dust wasteland. We added some garden boxes which are now overflowing with veggies for the summer. Over the 4th of July weekend, I took off Friday and Tuesday in addition to already having Monday off for the holiday. Since I had so much time off work and no major travel plans (the girlfriend and I did take a fun day trip to the beach), I decided to get going on the back yard.

The girlfriend and I, for once, were on the same page for what we wanted to do with the house. We both wanted to have grass in the backyard to put or feet in and brighten it up. So Friday I raked and sort of leveled the yard. It's better than it was but it is a little lumpy in sections. That Saturday was beach trip day so no work was done. After a lazy Sunday morning and early afternoon, I decided I would begin getting sod to put over the top. Little did we know that sod was in very high demand and a lot harder to come by than we thought. We showed up at Home Depot and one of the guys there told us they had been out for awhile and the cashier said they had called all over the Portland area and everyone else was

out too.

A few days later, we set off early in the morning and cleaned out one of the Home Depot's supplies and made about 3 trips to another one to get all we needed. The first picture is after two trips. The second picture is the finished product with a picture of the amazing growing garden. The sprinkler was a great $5 find at Ace Hardware in the neighborhood.

A little story part 2

2011-07-03T09:17:00.000-07:00

Since it was half #2 go time, I was off doing my thing and leaving Jason to finish the bathroom. The night before he replaced the flooring and moved on to replacing the toilet and the vanity.

My man has muscles, since he did this entire project on his own that meant a brand new toilet had to make its way from the backseat of a car to the upstairs with only Jason's muscles.

While I was gone, he replaced the toilet with a shiny, new and effiecient toilet (only uses 1.6 gallons per flush vs. 4 gallons)!

Hello new friend! I am looking forward to cleaning you (not). After successfully replacing the toilet, he moved onto the vanity. Let me tell you, picking out a vanity is hard and took us 2 tries. We got one that ended up being too small and when we went back to get the next one in size, we noticed that most of the vanities were priced the same. So why get standard when you can upgrade for 20 bucks?

By the end of the day, the sink was in (but not working). The drains did not line up and it took a few days to redo the pipes to line up but by the middle of the week, I had a new toilet and sink and something I did not need to clean for a week! I am in love.

Next up for the bathroom, getting rid of the f-ugly tiles, adding molding around the bottom and replacing the mirror above the sink. It is getting better and I am seeing the vision for the bathroom. I have come a long way since getting the house, that bathroom was the deal breaker for me and now I am excited for it!

I am so proud of Jason for his bathroom challenge. It was not something we were ready to tackle yet but we needed a working toilet and he went for it. He went big. London, on the other hand, was a trooper and just followed her bathroom around for a few days and her box moved to the main floor bathroom.

A little story part 1

2011-07-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

This is a story of how I did one thing and Jason did another. This is a story of how I was off being selfish and running two half marathons in one weekend and I came home to an almost new bathroom.

It all started off a few weeks ago and when I flushed the toilet, the water would not stop running. In non-technical terms, the ball thing that floats up to tell the toilet to stop filling up with water was broken. Off to Home Depot we went to get a replacement. Several Saturdays and many late nights of having to turn on the water to use the bathroom later, we (meaning Jason) was unable to replace the broken on part. The directions said to hand-tighten the piece, whoever replaced it before must of had super strength or used something more than hand tightening.

The Saturday after school got out, I was busy running a half marathon in White Salmon where the views were amazing and I learned some life lessons.

notice the town in the middle: that is the start of the race and I was at the summit 1800+ feet higher

When I got home from spending the day running and having lunch with my dad, I came home to an empty bathroom.

Um...it was a toilet that was broken, now my bathroom is broken. Jason had made the decision to completely replace the toilet and in the process decided to replace the flooring and the vanity. Why go small when you can go big?

That night, we had completely replaced the flooring by covering the old flooring. It took two attempts.

Attempt number one included some mistakes in measuring. Off to Home Depot for some new flooring. We choose a flooring that looks like natural stone. After the flooring was replaced, it had to sit for 24 hours. There were bubbles in the floor that Jason used my handy-dandy rolling pin. Since we had to wait for a bit, I was busy running half #2 and Jason had another fun filled day of working on the bathroom......

Happy July!

2011-07-01T20:55:00.000-07:00

I swear, time flies when you are having fun and since June flew by, that must mean I was having fun.

I ended the school year on a high note: playing beer bingo with my school.

And it was awesome. They last day was a blur. I spent time saying goodbye to kiddos and signing yearbooks. Everyone wanted my autograph, I am that awesome. Then it was time for the goodbye wave. I have been waiting for a long time to wave kids off for the summer.

Once the last bus passed, we all did the wave. It was awesome. Since the last day of school, I have packed up my classroom, took a few days for the couch, seen some doctors and took a three day First Steps in Mathematics course. Cannot wait to teach math (did I just say that?).

Also, I have been busy. I have been taking yoga classes, swimming and bike riding and tackling my stack of books and magazines, in other words avoiding doing house projects.

Since I am behind, I will leave you with my mother's day craft project. I have been wanting to post this but waiting until I give my gift to my mother.

It all started out months ago, Jason and I were walking through the Rebuilding Center. I love the Rebuilding Center, essentially it is a place that you can find used parts of people's homes for cheap. I have purchase a door and a window screen. Today's craft project is the $1 screen.

After digging some, I found this screen and had a vision.

First: I had to remove the outer foam and the staples.Then I removed the mesh. The screen was wrapped around the frame and I cut the screen down to fit on the back only. I had to remove all staples.

Second: Once the screen was removed and cut to size. I painted the wood.

Third: After the wood dried, I re-stapled the screen mesh to the back side only. Finally, Jason measured and added knobs.

We found 4 cute knobs at Pier One for $10. Finally, we added hooks on the back to hang the screen. Viola. It is a cheap mother's day jewlery holder for necklaces (hanging on the knobs) and earrings (attaching to the mesh) and something I wish I had one for myself. Happy Mother's Day! Since completing the project, I have been searching the Rebuilding Center for another screen that meets my needs. I will find one to make my own! All for under 15 bucks. Next craft project: the door but I will need some people to drink wine as I am in need of corks.

My Almost Kitchen is Complete

2011-06-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

For a while now, we have been waiting anxiously for my cabinets to be completed. Waiting is hard work and being patient is not my forte.

It all changed today. Jason stayed home from work and by the time I got home, I had doorknobs and frosted glass cabinets. Hello, easy to open! My finger tips thank you!

We went with different knobs on the doors and drawers. I love it.

I love the frosted glass and the plate rack. It looks wonderful from the couch!

I am so happy I could stand on one foot and point with a sailor.

Wait, I did that already last weekend. I must come up with some new moves.

I guess hide in a bag like London:

Happy day, blog readers, happy day.

Happy Hour Friday!

2011-06-10T06:31:00.000-07:00

With this being the LAST Friday of the school year (school gets out next Thursday), I know I will be able to commit more time to the bloggie-booger. I am excited. I am going to conquer some things and cross things off my to-do list. First, give me a week to soak up vacation and to relax. This past month has been dreams of school and paperwork. I am ready for a mental break.

In honor of Happy Hour Friday, I am talking about my new addiction. Meaning, whenever Jason is gone or I am on my own to cook, I turn to this place. It is my current guilty pleasure (besides pedicures, books and chocolate pancakes). Jason, you might not like them but I do!

Their small green salad is to die for. It makes me love salads. Where else do you get avocado on it without paying extra? It is spicy and you search for all the toasted sunflower seeds in it.

I also love their bowls. I love them and their tortillas. Finally, their Sangria is wonderful. Makes me wish for summer and sitting outside. Cannot wait. They are cheap and worth not cooking one night.

London is ready for me to be a full-time kitty mommy! She has hijaked the suitcase and ready for some window-open cat/squirrl/moving object watching.

Speaking of which, walking back from my run, there was a rooster in my neighbors yard. Just another sign of life on this funny farm.

Happy Friday!

Porch Sitting

2011-06-08T18:31:00.000-07:00

Summer is almost here. We have had small teasers of warm late nights.

I am ready for it. I have never been so excited for summer than this year. First year teaching and all has taught me a lot of things!

Here is what I learned this year:

DON'T take on too much at one time. Your house, which is your refuge, will no be a place of peace and quiet. Your home life and work life will never find balance.

DON'T plan on having a clean house all the time. This means there will always be a mess. There is no need to fret when gobs of people spend the night.

DON'T let your students' or their parents' drama become your drama. For me, this means don't let the emotional baggage of neglect and abuse become part of your emotion. THIS WAS HARD for me overcome. I got caught up in the drama, now, I have learned a way to disconnect without being burnt out.

DO attend happy hours, Taco Tuesdays and any other events that involve teachers. It is a time to get to know each other without the drama of students.

DO embrace your need to be anti-social. I am in my introvert space right now and I am fine with that. I like being alone and being quiet.

DO read amazing books. I have a list of awesome books that rocked my life by taking me to another world.

DO start amazing challenges outside of norms. For me, I have a running goals of streaking every day for a year, log 1500 miles, do a TRI and break 30 min. PR on a 5k. I had the gardening challenge and house challenges.

DO allow yourself rest. I love sleep. I want more of it. I let myself go to bed whenever I want to, no longer caring to stay up late. I also got in the habit of washing my face early on so that I won't drag going to bed because I hate washing my face.

DO have date nights. I love em, I love talking over a bottle of wine and laughing with the man I love.

Life is worth sitting on the porch with people you love. Don't let it pass you by.

Finally, there are endings and beginnings, it keeps moving on. Roll with the punches and have a wonderful garden to tend too.

Summer is close!

2011-05-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

I know summer is coming. Students are becoming restless and it is a losing battle. Shoot, I am even checked out.

Coming home to a blossoming home makes all challenging days better. I am loving that life is bloom and the fact that it is light out later. Why stay indoors when summer is coming?

Getting My Martha On

2011-05-21T15:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I took a half day and got my Martha on. Meaning, I got crafty. You see, today is an important day. It is the birth of the Boyfriend.

I first channeled my carfty Martha by making Tissue Paper Pom Poms!

I made them in all the colors. I loved how simple they are to make yet they add a pop of color and class to an area.

Next I embrace my baking skillz via Ina by making a cake. I woke up too early NATURALLY and so I made the cakes before work and let them cool while I was looking at the sun from the window.

I made two chocolate cakes, layered them with a coffee chocolate ganache and added vanilla frosting. My first attempt at a layered cake. I was itching to dig out my piping bags but the messy frosting look was working for me.

Finally, after being inspired by her, I got my fashion on. Since it was a half day (hello early weekend!), I went downtown for a lunch date for the birthday boy. We took care of his birthday present.

Then I called it a day. The day of his birth will be even crazier!

Happy Birthday, Jason! I love you.

Moving Along

2011-05-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

Life is moving on. Summer is coming, I can smell it every morning. I am excited. I am on countdown duty until the last day of school (31, thankyouverymuch). I am itching for summer but having a long to-do list. We are entering survival mode for the next few weeks. We can do it!

Until then, life has been rather low key in the house. I am entering my anti-social/hibernating phase. I am wanting to clean the house and watching guilty pleasures (extreme couponing anyone?).

As life moves on, we have had a lot of rain yet our garden has shown life. I go out every morning to check on the new life and have a morning chat.

I am excited to see where life takes us this summer! I am moving onto bugger and better things!

A Change of Placement

2011-05-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

I can do simple math! Our old kitchen had 15 drawers. Our new kitchen has 12 drawers. We lost a bank of drawers due to the lovely Sammy. 3 less drawers means less storage space. That meant I lost my dear, dear running drawer. It was a sad loss, but I can take one for the team. I would take a new kitchen any day.

After our kitchen was put together, there were three drawers hanging out in the living room.

Today, there are two drawers.

I made a quick stop to Target and by quick, I had 20 minutes before my dentist appointment. I was on a search for cd holder bins. CD holder, you say? Yep, I had a vision. I was going to execute it when I got home.

I was able to find a green one. Then I meandered around heading to the book section, because, lets face it, I love books and the stack of 20 books to be read is not enough. I bumped into some colorful bins for storage. I decided to go with a brown and a tan bin. Soon, I transfered everything into the bin. Clothes, gloves, hats, safety gear into one and the other was foods, lip balm and Aquafor into the other.

I placed 'em in the bathroom because that will be their new home.

I have so much open storage space and nothing to put in it, so now, my shelves are filling in. I love my green bathroom.

Happy Hour Friday!

2011-05-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it is May already? Where did April go and what is that yellow thing in the sky? I am welcoming the change in season, I get to run during the sunrise and I am loving the quiet mornings to myself. It really focuses me and lets me plan out my day.

Despite having a new KITCHEN!, we were not feeling like cooking last night. The sun has been shinning and a walk to happy hour sounded wonderful.

Jason and I enjoyed a quick walk to Miss Delta. I was introduced to Miss Delta about a year ago from a dear friend and since then, I have been hooked. I have been trying to sample everything on the menu that I can. The menu is very vegetarian friendly. Miss Delta is known for its southern food and their 40 oz PBR in a champagne bucket.
It did not disappoint. How could they not when there is sweet tea out of mason jars?

Since talking with my friends about the wonderfulness of Miss Delta, my dear friend recommended the grilled cheese grits and that is what Jason had:

I think he liked it because he gobbled it up and would barely share and telling me he is taking one for the team and eating the grits. I think this changed our view of grits.

I got the simple salad and a plate full of corn fritters, both were amazing. The corn fritters got the two thumbs up from Jason and I. They were deep fried dough balls with cheese and jalapeños with a great sauce......how can you go wrong with that combination?

The ginger got a beer and I sipped freshly made sweet tea. Life was wonderful. Miss Delta is not bad on the pocketbook (and they have lots of options for happy hour). One more thing about the awesomeness of our neighborhood, two stores down is Devine Frozen Yogurt.

I ended my night with coffee and mounds fro-yo with waffle cone pieces, a lovely walk home and a great date.

I love our neighborhood and a wonderful evening.

Some Before & Afters

2011-05-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

I took a photo editing class.....expect more from me in the area of pictures since that was one area I wanted to improve. For now, a walk down memory lane.

Life keeps on going on and we can live it or just keep the boat floating. Let the fun begin!

Clumsy 'cause I'm Falling in Love....So in Love With You

2011-05-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

Girl can't help it.

Sick of kitchen posts? No? Okay, I will keep talking about the beauty of a new kitchen.

So, the kitchen is far from finished but all of it is minor details, but right now, the before and after are remarkable.

Before, October 2009

Now, in the midst of the Royal Wedding Week, this was our Royal Awesomeness:

After

Le Sigh

I made a huge dinner last night and dirtied up a ton of dishes and did not feel guilty about it. Instead, I put them in the dishwasher and went to bed. Oh, life is wonderful.

The Day My Life Changed

2011-04-28T20:30:00.000-07:00

Meet Sammy, the Dishwasher.

I think I am in love. I might even propose to Sammy. She will change my life forever. I came home to the dishwasher hum....life is getting better the more I get older! No more getting annoyed with the pile of dishes at the night (OCD much?).

Speaking of OCD or anally organized, Jason totally stole my thunder and was trying to be nice and put the kitchen back together. Um....I will admit that I have been planning how I was going to organize the kitchen. I had to make some changes to his organization. Am I a freak? Or is it normal to love going to the Containers store and dream?

Almost Kitchen Surprise

2011-04-27T19:53:00.000-07:00

After a fun filled day at work in which I saved the world, wrote 3 IEPs, prepped for MSP testing and managed to leave work on time, I came home to a surprise from Jason, the Super Ginger. He kept quiet all day (we tend to talk all day long) but he left work early and the counter guy came in to put the back splash and the counter.

Nothing like walking into a brand new kitchen. It looked amazing and took my breath away.

I totally gasped and hugged the Ginger.

I am in love with the granite counters and the subway tile! We chose Tropical Brown granite. We went to the granite store 2 different times to check out the different types of counters. Who would of thought there were so many options!?! We narrowed it down to a select few and came back the second time to bring a wood sample (we forgot it the first time). We chose Tropical Brown. Weeks later and the counter guy came over to place the order. I told him our choice he said the old version or new! Um...what?!!!? Turns out, whether it was the old or new, it was perfect.

Tomorrow is the dishwasher and hooking up the sink. We are still waiting for the door handles, the glass for the doors and the plate rack. Be warned, lots of kitchen posts. It was a great way to end hump day.

Queen of the Castle

2011-04-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

While we wait for the rest of the kitchen, London has made her new home.

While we normally do not let London get on the counters or the table, she has made herself at home in a drawer. She would be in heaven if we brought her a blanket. She seems to like watching life move on from above.

She rules this house. For now, I will be putting away stuff in the cabinets while waiting for the kitchen to come together.

Goonies Never Say Die

2011-04-24T06:13:00.000-07:00

I was so excited for our old kitchen to die. I learned a lot about the make up the kitchen cabinets in an old home when we ripped everything out, now, it was time to move onto modern convenience. I think I am growing up.

One night, Jason came home to court me with these:

And a cute kitty was loving them. By the time Friday rolled around, we were plotting out where to eat dinner and what to do. I was promised Miss Delta but sadly, I came home to some bad/good news. Bad news: no dinner at Miss Delta. Good news: Jess the cabinet guy was coming. We were getting our cabinets. I ordered pizza and settled in for a guilty pleasure: eating and watching Biggest Loser.

Up pulled two trucks and three men unloaded our new kitchen. We took off to Home Depot to pick up handles for the doors and drawers and by the time we got home, we almost had a kitchen.

As they brought more and more pieces in, I was so excited to see how amazing they looked.

They were excited to see the three decker part of their work. I have renamed it as the upper decker. The cabinets are in, we are missing the glass for some of the doors, a plate rake thingy, drawers and door handles. That is coming next week with new counters and a new sink. Up next, a lovely dishwasher who I will name Sammy the sweetest dishwasher around.

Before bedtime, they finished their work, I made it to bed and had a wonderful look at the cabinets with the sun the next morning! Things are coming together! So excited for dinner parties now!

Pounding Away

2011-04-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

About a week ago, Jason and I finished ripping out the upper part of the cabinets.

Then life stopped. We got busy. People came to visit. The cabinet guy needed more time. I had crazy girl adventures. Sometimes, life gets in the way and we spent a week or so looking at half a kitchen. It might be half a kitchen but super ugly. I was fine with it because it meant we still had a sink and were able to cook and have fun. No paper plates for us, we hosted people on real plates!

One night, Megan the trainer and I went on a crazy girls night and found ourselves laughing too hard in this bathroom. We ended our night at a seedy seedy bar and decided to brave the restrooms. We found this and ourselves dying of laughter. Doors are so overrated.

Sometimes, you need to giggle with your girlfriend.

Time went on, work went on, and we finally had a due date of when the cabinets were coming in.

On Thursday, we said goodbye to it all and hello to doing dishes in the bathtub. (it is a lot harder than you think and ants were on the attack).

Muscle Man Ginger did most of the work and all of the hard parts. He ripped it all out while I took it downstairs and secretly tried to finish my book!

Our kitchen went from ugly to just plain ugly. We did not find any money instead we found tons of seeds!?!?! I know, right!

It was soon off to the Going Market for beers and I found myself tired for work on Friday and making my green monster on the living room floor.

Thanks Florence for Helping Our Work

2011-04-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

There's a drumming noise inside my head

That starts when you're around

I swear that you could hear it

It makes such an all mighty sound

There's a drumming noise inside my head

That throws me to the ground

I swear that you should hear it

It makes such an all mighty sound

Louder than sirens

Louder than bells

Sweeter than heaven

And hotter than hell

We were making a lot of noise. We were moving our pantry out of the kitchen and a little pounding. And we are sweating. A lot. About a month ago, we decided to jump feet first into a new kitchen. This means new cabinets, new counter tops, new back splash and my first dishwasher in over 4 years! Wahoo!

For now, we will be a little preoccupied. You see, we are getting a new kitchen! So, if you come to our house in the next week, do not expect anything fancy, even food might be served on paper plates.

Until then, I will not be making a pie for Pie Day Friday! at school this week. Oh well, I can still eat them!

For now, do not take a deep breath. There is lead paint, rat poop and dust in the air! We are ripping the kitchen out and scaring our London. Oh happy day!

Backyard Boo-yah!

2011-04-13T16:43:00.000-07:00

As the rain was being placed on hold, Jason took advantage of it and moved the raised beds into the backyard. Using my muscles, we brought out the raised beds and placed chicken wire on the bottom of the beds. Jason leveled the ground and put in the beds. They look amazing.

They are screaming "PLANT ME!" and I cannot wait to get started. Lots of fresh foods are being planned out.

Next up: filling our individual coffins with dirt, plant, and cat proof them! If only the rest of the backyard wasn't such an eye sore.

Finally, on my run home, I found this:

I stopped running and carried this home. I was worried what Jason would think of me bringing in more junk. But I had to have it. The teacher in me was in heaven. I will find a home for this and maybe with some cute cushion. It totally made my day and Jason liked the desk too.

I am inspired to find more junk on my runs.

Black Hole Backyard

2011-04-11T18:47:00.000-07:00

Remember the fun we had when we dug up the backyard? You will recall there were lots of lost treasures under the tarps. Well, we were at it again. The sun was shining and it is almost time plant our fruits and veggies, so Jason decided it was time to get our raised beds plotted in the backyard.

First we measured out the space we wanted to put the beds. I have learned that things grow better in beds that run north to south. The plan was to put the beds parallel to each other with 18 inches in between.

We found some lost twigs and put them to work with some twine.

Next up digging. Well, until we struck some interesting characters in the ground. This includes a never-ending fence (!), lots of rocks and sand, and cement chunks. Don't forget the various broken glass we find everywhere. I swear this backyard is cursed, it is the black hole for unwanted junk. With the fence, I was picturing a hidden house where someone is held captive and Jason was looking for the pet cemetery. EW, hopefully, we have overactive imaginations.

Cat Chasing vs. Sun Chasing

2011-04-08T07:49:00.000-07:00

I went away for spring break. I went chasing the sun in a small city on the Colorado River. I spent the day running between Arizona and Nevada and back again, catching some sun, reading a great book, and taking a picture a day of my feet in the sun. It was warm and I got much need vitamin D.

Jason did not come. He got to spend 4 days home with London and doing house work. (I think he got bored but he won't admit to it.)

On Saturday, he got his Dexter on and covered the entire living room with plastic. This meant locking London up in the t.v. room and kitchen area. You see, he was tackling the ceiling. He needed to 1. sand the ceiling, 2. prime the ceiling, and 3. paint the ceiling. He did this in one day. He is super man or should I say, Super Ginger?

The living room turned into a white winter land with drywall dust everywhere (BTW, I am still cleaning it up).

Then he primed and painted the ceiling. It looks great. It is no longer a light brownish yellow that made the room look dark. It is now white. It looks wonderful. He worked hard and was exhausted from looking at the ceiling all day/night.

Finally, he spent the rest of the evening, chasing a certain escape artist.

She left her mark on the stairs. She managed to put her paws in the paint. I bet she figure she could do it since Jason did it too. There are his footprints going into the basement. Like father, like daughter? They make me proud.

Coffin Much?

2011-04-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

Apparently, I have been watching WAY too much of the t.v. show "Being Human" because not only do I have a slight crush on Aiden (le sigh) but when thinking of a title for this post, I kept going back to vampire related ideas. (Does not help that I spent the day watching Being Human AND Buffy all day long).

I digress and we are moving on.

Jason was busy building away on the new raised beds. He built away in the basement, the hardest thing was keeping his drilled charged and making sure the corners were perfectly square.

These babies were looking like giant coffins. We had ourselves our very own his and hers coffins hanging out in the basement. Everything about it, screamed vampire jokes.

Before I knew it, I was beckoned into the basement to "help" out. I was to hand him screws as he could not reach em and did not want to move the boards. I kept telling him, "put that on the blog." Meaning, I that I helped since he has said that I do not help. He interpreted that he meant the screws and the fact that he has 3 and half inch screws. I just giggled.

Its about time for the weather to climb out of the 30s and getting the backyard going! I went on a lovely run today and I smelled fresh cut grass and saw colorful flowers. Spring is a coming and time is a wasting! I am reading to plot my planting strategy.

Happy Hour Friday!

2011-04-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

It is Friday and April Fools! To top it off, it is spirit day at school and last day before spring break. Kids dressed like cartoons, it is going to be a great day.

Last night, Jason and I went out to dinner. Jason asked if we were celebrating anything special? Nope, just love. Since spring is in the air and it hit 60 degrees, Jason and I used the opportunity to walk to Lovely's Fifty Fifty!

It was the first time for both of us. Lovely's is known around the area for its fresh ingredients and simple menu.

Jason got a coke in a bottle. There is something special about a soda from a bottle.

We started the night with a radicchio ceasar salad. It was amazing. The croutons were amazing. It was the perfect amount of salty and creamy.

Next came:

The Margherita. Simple sauce, amazing dough and ooey-gooey cheese. Simply to die for. So simple and light and yet, I polished off most of the pizza.

We ended the night with Jason watching me eat homemade ice cream!

I had a scoop of salted caramel. You can be jealous now! I walked away satisfied. Good thing we had a 1/2 mile walk to let things settle. I am ready for summer nights and walks around the neighborhood.

Get Your Head Out of the Gutter

2011-03-23T18:38:00.000-07:00

My classroom matches what my head feels like:

A disaster. My classroom has somehow puke on itself. I have piles of piles. I am talking to myself. I move on thing to another area. I am making to-do lists galore. You see, it's two weeks from spring break. I have to do progress reports (they are like report cards but they are individualized per each kid and if they are meeting their goals). They take forever and you have to be organized. I am organized, anally. On top of that, I have IEP meetings every day next week. One IEP = 2 hours of my time. Times that by 8 this month = crazy, messy me.

Irony of the situation, I was writing an IEP when my room looked like a tornado blew threw and the goal I wrote for the kiddo was in organization skills and that the kid will know how to maintain a clean work environment. I am modeling a way not to be organized!

Jason has been busy at home making me planter boxes! BIG planter boxes.

It started this weekend with Jason wanting to swing by Home Depot to look at wood and screws and all other jokes you can get out of my dirty mind.

At the store, we meet a genius employee. He had mental math skills that put Jason and I to shame. We told him what we wanted, dimensions and within a few seconds had the amount of boards needed and price. Before we knew it, we were loading up on wood (hehe) and getting the wood cut.

I learned that Home Depot cuts wood for a small fee! Within an hour, we had a car full of wood (hehe). We had to swing by a surprise party (we were late for the surprise part) and enjoyed a few adult drinks and dinner. By the time we made it back to the car, it smelled wonderful.

Jason went right to work making our over sized coffins. The smell of the cedar has crept upstairs and I love it. Spring is a coming! I am excited to grow our own food!

Tick Tick Tick...That is the Sound of Your Weekend Slipping Away

2011-03-20T15:00:00.000-07:00

One would think with my life freeing up, I would be less busy. Yet, my weekends fly by and I am wanting one more day off. Last week, I talked all about how I wanted to do nothing on Sunday and here I am, wishing Sunday would pause for a bit.

We forge on, I have two weeks until my spring break. I.AM.READY.

This weekend we welcomed spring with the beginnings of new project! Jason is working away on it in the basement right now, I am watching SatC extra loud because the drill is working hard.

For now, take time and enjoy a wonderful decaf, nonfat, hazelnut latte.....made to perfection with extra foam and spending time with the things and people we love.

Life is for living, not rushing.

For now, a teaser, our home smells like cedar! Time to enjoy my Sunday!

Happy Hour Friday!

2011-03-11T17:53:00.000-08:00

Another Friday here, another dollar spent!

Last week, I suggested sushi for dinner and Jason was all over it. He spent the day texting me "sushi tonight!" I think he was excited for dinner. I am not a huge sushi fan, I have come to love it. I suggested a place on Alberta that I have run past a few times and recently checked out the menu. I do not remember the name, it has Hana in it. We sat down and spent a while looking at the pictures. I picked out the Lovejoy and the Ladybug. Jason picked out the September roll and some cold egg roll. At the last minute, we threw on the Monster.

We started our Saturday off right, with Sake for me, beer for him.

Edamame is my weakness, I love it: warm and salty! I cannot get enough of it, I have a freezer full of Trader Joe bags.

Finally, our food arrived. We ended up ordering too much. In the order from top to bottom: the Lovejoy, the September, Monster, the Ladybug and some cold egg thing Jason got. I am getting hungry now.

Our favorite was the Monster, which is funny because we added the Monster last minute. I really loved the Lovejoy and the Ladybug was great (just overwhelming in the end).

It was a great date night and I had so much fun talking with Jason (and taking crazy stalker pictures).

Finally, we ended our night with a macaroon from Ken's the size of my hand. MMMMmm.

We watched the Social Network and one of may or may not have slept through! Have a great Friday!

A New Home for My Old Desk

2011-03-06T07:41:00.000-08:00

For months, Jason has been complaining about the desk in the spare bedroom. It is small, it is awkward and it does not work for what Jason needs it: studying.

I asked my dad to bring over my desk.

Since I was a little girl, I have had this desk. It has a huge round mirror that attaches to the back of the desk.

It is old, I don't know where it came from, but it is real wood and sturdy. While Jason was painting the living room, I was cleaning this beauty out.

I wiped it down, cleaned out the drawers and added contact paper.

See the dolls in the corner, I found some cabbage patch toys in the drawers. I see a summer project. It needs a little lovin! But for now, it can handle the job and do so in style.

I now need to find a chair that can be pushed in. Jason requests a chair that is comfortable. We all can't get what we wish for.

A Grand Welcome

2011-03-05T19:32:00.000-08:00

After painting the living room, cleaning, and putting it back together, Jason anchored the bookshelves to the wall (safety first, my friends). I stood there, stinky from a run, waiting in sheer anticipation.

Finally, it was go time. I was like a kid on Christmas morning. Finding an old book was like a trip down memory lane.

It was awesome!

I slowly put books where they should go, according to my thinking! There is a non-fiction shelves, classic books shelves, children's books, and an entire shelf devote to C.S. Lewis (le sigh). Even, Jason got a shelf for climbing!

We got an extender on the shelves so I had to stand on the chair to reach the top shelves. With the natural light, the room looks amazing. The bookcase corner is inviting and awesome.

Finally, out came the trinkets to fill on the gaps. The bookshelves are 90% done and we are happy!

The bottom right shelves are getting doors to hide the alcohol & board games.

I am so happy, my books are home, and I think it almost time to reread Anne of Green Gables series and dream!

Later that day, we went out with my college roomie and her husband (and family) and practically dragged them over to show them the shelves. Julie would totally appreciate anything that makes me happy!

Happy Hour Friday!

2011-03-04T06:51:00.000-08:00

Let us discuss staying in for this Happy Hour Friday.

This is a story of a girl getting what she wishes for thanks to an awesome neighbor.

Better yet, lets talk Root Beer. My love for root beer started years ago (2007) when I was in the middle of my first marathon training. I was learning things the hard way. I was learning to not stay out late on a Friday night dancing. I was learning not to run a 20 miler hungover. I was learning what it meant to sweat alcohol. I was young and naive.

I finally bit the bullet and decided to not drink on Friday night or go out until the wee hours of the morning. Since then, when I was out Friday evenings or any night I had to do an important run the next morning, I started ordering root beer. I feel if you are at a restaurant or bar and you are not drinking, that does not stop you from ordering anything. Many, many of my friends do this, sit there drinking water. Waiters must hate them so I make it a point to order something even if I don't even drink it.

Root beer was my drink of choice. I have tried many many different brands. I like very few. Last summer, I ordered Steel Head Root Beer at a bar one night and fell in love. It is to die for. It is very flavorful, the vanilla is the perfect sweetness. Despite Steel Head being local (brewery is in Eugene), I could never find it at the store and any other place. I was on a quest for Steel Head.

Fast forward to moving into the house, we discovered a corner market around the block. Soon the guys there were getting to know us. I got into a discussion with the owner (who is awesome, if it is a quick trip to get milk, plan on spending 20 min, he loves to talk). We discussed root beer, since we always got root beer and beer. He took down the name and low and behold, the next time I am there, he points me to Steel Head. I am in love (with Charles or the root beer, I don't know).

Since then, it has become a weekly treat for us. Turns out other customers know about the deliciousness of the root beer because he cannot keep enough in stalk. Better yet, he has marketing deals with big name soft drinks and he cannot display Steel Head, so they sit in the back corner, behind the dairy. Yet, it is flying off the shelf. It makes a simple dinner special.

Am I crazy or is it the simple things?

Painting Part Deux

2011-03-03T07:16:00.000-08:00

Well, live and learn, my friends. And I learned the hard way and put Jason to work.

When we spent days debating on the living room paint color, we pictured (more like me) warm mocha color. Something inviting and to scale down our large 10+ feet walls. We painted the walls a great color, so great that we painted the kitchen the same color.

Months went by, we moved into the now TV room and the living room stood empty. And I started to hate the color every day.

It was an awesome color but not for the living room. Our living room is very dark, there is rich, dark hardwood floors, limited natural light and only a fan-light for lighting.

I wanted something lighter.

So, at the wonderful Miller Paint, the guys took my vision of the color in the room now a few shades lighter.

I came home and test painted. And loved it. The color sat there, for months. Waiting. Waiting for the right time.

After our tip to Ikea and putting together our bookcases, the time was NOW. My books were wanting out of their boxes!

This last weekend, Jason painted the living room a shade lighter. (I am banned from painting, I do more damage than good)

I was actually working on another project. It took him a good 3 hours to paint but I am in love with the lighter brown.

It lightens the room, still giving the look of crisp, clean and classy.

I love rooms coming together!

Up next, putting the room back together and releasing my books from their cage!

Adding Little Details

2011-03-02T07:04:00.000-08:00

After painting the downstairs bathroom apple green, it has been sitting for months. It has been driving me crazy because there are little details that need to be taken care off. For example, I want to change the fake-wood towel rack and toilet paper dispenser to something a little nicer. It is ugly and screams cheap.

But, atlas, not today. Today, I started a painting project. Originally, I was working on another project but that will have to wait as it is a present.

Here is a story of how something cheap can be made into something classy!

A few cheap Ikea frame:

Were taken apart and painted:

Left over night to dry. Next came picking out the pictures to go into the frames. I used the pictures I took on a wonderful summer day, on Sauvie Island, berry picking. I had a hard time selecting the right pictures.

I had to decide from horizontal or vertical pictures or mixture of both.

And finally, placed into the bathroom:

I love them, just like I love the bathroom. I have always wanted a green apple bathroom, my dad always said no.

Good thing about being an adult, doing whatever you want and having no regrets! Details, my peeps, are what matter most.

Being Crafty

2011-03-01T06:46:00.000-08:00

Since we were in a stalemate with the bookshelves and I was avoiding cleaning, I began a few crafty projects!

If you are a close friend or family members, this might ruin your upcoming Christmas...so SURPRISE! (my mom probably is thinking, "thank goodness, no more jam!")

For months I wanted to make homemade vanilla. It has been a project I have been itching to do after using up all my vanilla from Mexico.

I spent days researching vanilla. I discovered, like diamonds, there are many, many different beans and various grades. I learned about what goes good with what. I learned that there are many places to get vanilla bean from, the best for my research was Madagascar. I am the vanilla bean queen.

So, I bought a air-tight container, found good bourbon vanilla beans at New Seasons & headed to the liquor store.

A little coffee, slicing up the vanilla beans and I got this:

A few tips, the stronger the bourbon, the stronger the vanilla. Same goes the more beans, the stronger the vanilla.

Directions:
1. In a larger container, fill with bourbon (or whiskey or vodka depending on what type of beans you get from whatever part of the country)
2. slice beans down the the middle and place the whole bean in the bottle.
3. seal the bottle and add the date somewhere.
4. Shake and store away from sunlight.
5. Shake every day for a month.

Research shows that it will mature in as early as 30 days. Run out of vanilla, add more whiskey and repeat. Finally, strain the vanilla!

I will let you know how it goes. If all is well, you might be getting some from me.

Putting My Tax Refund Back into the Community

2011-02-28T06:35:00.000-08:00

I really, really wanted my books. I love my books. I have lots of them (8 giant boxes). Everyone means something to me, whether it is nostalgic or books that have rocked my world. I keep the ones that mean the most to me. Since we moved into the house (16 months ago), we have kept the books boxed up and out of sight in the scary basement. It was sad. I was needing to be surrounded by my books. Around my nightstand there was 3 pile of books waiting for their home.

So, Jason and I found ourselves free one Friday from any work obligations and off the IKEA we went.

We had a vision of a bookshelf wall. We were debating where this wall should be, I think Jason won this debate. The final vision, in the new and improved living room. We found the shelves we wanted and I was ready to buy.

We did not plan out HOW we were going to bring them home but it all worked out, we had to take the side streets and I was on box-watching duty.

In came lots of boxes for London to explore. Our poor recycling bin has been overflowing since. One of my favorite thing to do is put things together. I am a speed demon and have a great ability to follow directions and direct someone around. Jason agreed to listen to me (hell froze over) and let me be point. So after an hour, the boxes disappeared and three beautiful bookshelves were up.

We missed measure, I was hoping the small bookcase would be placed in corner, at an angle. It did not work. After moving the shelves around to various locations in the room, they made it back to the original plan. We ended making the small shelf a 90 degree to the other shelf and we were happy.

Out came 8 boxes from hiding and a very exciting Brittney.

But before we began, we needed to do some minor repairs. Almost home, books, almost home.

Snow Torture

2011-02-27T18:35:00.000-08:00

We only had one snow day so far. That means one more day of work in June.

I came back to work on Friday to find this:

This is Friday afternoon, a good 36 hours since the snow. Students had to spend the day starring at the snow since there was no outdoor recess. I never realized how bad kids need to RUN. Good thing it was early release for the kids, too bad we had to work.

Back Porch Light: CHECK!

2011-02-26T14:02:00.000-08:00

The back porch lighting had its up and downs, like all things with the house. We had light coming out of the light, the motioned sensor worked, but there was no way to turn off the light. After finishing installing the light, Jason discovered that there was no electricity going to the light switch. Oops!

After taking apart the light switch, Jason found that turning on and off the light switch did absolutely nothing.

Well, a quick turn off the power and replace the light switch later and voila. A working light we can turn on and off! Who knew that having control of turning on and off a light would be so exciting.

It makes coming home from a special dinner even better. I don't have to hunt around and put the wrong key in the lock (that's what she said).

I am so proud of Jason and his hard work. He did most of this work while I was gone (doing what, I cannot recall) and it makes a world of difference.

Happy Hour Friday!

2011-02-25T06:05:00.000-08:00

In honor of my love for Seattle, Happy Hour Friday will honor one of my favorite places.

I love Pike Market. Yes, it is touristy. I still love Pike. In college, it was a short 20 min bus ride we would make every weekend. It is simply a wonderful place to people watch, to see vibrant color and wonderful art/crafts. I love Pike!

Every time, Jason and I head to Seattle, our trip includes a walk through Pike. Pike is delightful first thing in the morning with the fishermen bringing in their catch of the day and people laying out their fruit, flowers, and art. There is the best seasonal fruits and amazing flower bouquets.

Surrounding the market, there are wonderful shops and restaurants. There is a French Bakery that is to die for. Like the French, they embrace butter and make the best chocolate croissant. I always have to get one. Just like in college, it is a must.

There are many other great places to grab a bite to eat including hot donuts, cheese (and seeing the cheese process) and sandwiches, falafel, and beer! I think another trip to Seattle is in order! Happy Friday!

Snow Day in Portland

2011-02-24T11:04:00.000-08:00

We live in Pacific Northwest. We live in a place where it rarely snows and when it does, the world shuts down. Over the past few months, we had some teasers of snow but last night, the weatherman came through on his promise. I woke up to my first snow day! I was like a kid on Christmas, I was up at 5 and unable to fall back asleep. So, I tried to make London snuggle with me. I think she did not like the part of my story when I told her I would spend the entire day with her.

I made it out for a run (I had to keep my streaking alive). I went down Alberta and around Mississippi and enjoyed seeing all the kids playing. Snow days are the best. I know I will regret it in June when I have to work an extra day but I will enjoy my day off today, that includes watching kids laugh and having a ball.

I might be in the honeymoon period or the fact we never get snow, but it is sure beautiful when it does snow. It is so peaceful!

Side note, I spent the weekend volunteering at Hagg Lake for the Hagg Lake Mud 25k and 50k race. My job, handing out warm food to runners. We rocked the hot dogs, grilled cheese and soup. It was awesome to watch such strong people cross the finish line completely covered in mud. It was about 30 degrees out and they were smiling and jumping in the lake. On my drive into the park, I fell in love with the place. I am convinced we will be heading out there this summer with our bikes.

Oregon, you are beautiful. I love it.

Happy Hour Friday!

2011-02-18T05:38:00.000-08:00

Wahoo! It's Friday, it's Friday! AND we don't have to work today (and Monday for me)!!!

Last weekend, my dear friends and I hit up Tommy O's for a nightcap and a little happy hour.

We enjoyed a wide spread of food, cheap wine and great drinks. It was great. We needed to sit, relax, drink and listen to live music.

I enjoyed a lovely Blackberry Lemon Drop. Yums! I am not a Lemon Drop girl, rather, I like my Grapefruit Drops but this sounded amazing. (Plus it was one of the few drinks that didn't have tequila).

I could not pass up $2.00 fries. These were to die for. They were spicy and perfect. I am guessing there is Lawry on it. I barely made a dent but don't worry, there were 5 girls. We polished them off.

Finally, Megan and I shared Tempera veggies and she enjoyed a salad.

It was the perfect night with some of my girls. Tommy O's is a great place for actual Happy Hour!

Bolts of Lightening

2011-02-13T16:01:00.000-08:00

Another lighting issued "sorta" solved in the house.

We have a slanted back porch. It is a ramp. When the previous owners added the "addition" to the house, it settled funny. As a result, we have a ramp. It is fun to carry groceries up. It is also dark in the backyard, including the porch. We have a porch light that has not worked since we moved it. We first purchased an attachment to make it have a motion sensor. After attaching it, no go.

After my dad poked around the light, he discovered a wasp nest.

Since then, we have left it alone.

Lately, Jason has been riding his bike to work and was using the back door to bring in and out his bike. It gets annoying to try to unlock 2 locks in the dark. This weekend, Jason attempted at replacing the light and add a new lighting fixture.

Our Sunday was spent at looking at light fixtures at Home Depot (and a few other products, yes, I needed the window sill herb garden!).

Jason got to work. He turned off the electricity and changed out the light. He got rid of the wasp nest.

A little while later, we had light!

Now, we have to figure out the motion sensor but for now, we have light on the back porch.

blog stalking

2011-02-07T20:24:00.000-08:00

During my day, I read dozens upon dozens of blogs. My google reader is always working. I follow healthy eating, running, foodie, home improvement, designers, and anything and everything under the sun.

There are a ton of home improvement blogs I love to stalk and get ideas and non-ideas from. I do not know what my style is, sometimes, I think I take after my grandma and want to paint everything white. Other times, I find myself appreciating the beauty in natural wood. I cannot pin point my style or even our style as a couple. Saying that, there are a few things I want to do to the house. A picture wall is on the top of my list.

This is a lovely post by simply seleta about a picture wall. I really want to do a picture wall in the t.v. room. I want pictures filled with art, friends and family. I want it to be abstract and symmetrical at the same time, making our room a warm & inviting place to spend time.

I guess I need to start collecting cool frames.

Happy Monday!

Light You Up

2011-01-30T06:33:00.000-08:00

Since coming up with the title for this post, I now have Shawn Mullins song stuck in my head. Not cool.

Recently, I have learned a lot about Jason. It started out when he came home from a run, he said he ran on Kli-ci-claky street. I said, Klickitat street. This is where I discovered he has never heard of Romona Quimby! This is shocking. Is Romona a NW thing? or a girl thing? I was shocked, how can you not know about Romona the Pest! I loved Romona.

Fast forward to today. I was home sick and when I am sick, I want two things: my mom and Anne Shirley. I wanted to watch Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea. I owned the movies on VCR at my parents house but I wanted to watch it NOW! I was wishing Jason would get the hint and bring me Anne to watch on my sickbed. Sadly, he responds "I don't know who Anne is." Bomb. How do you not know Anne Shirley!? Do gingers stick together? I loved Anne Shirley. I own all the books. I love all the books. I will spend 6 hours on a Saturday for the last ten minutes of the Anne of Avonlea, where Anne is on the bridge. Aren't we all searching for our Gilbert Blythe? I love my Gil! Devastating.

I guess this summer, the boyfriend has lots of reading to do. There is so much insight into my world in those books alone.

Onward to the story at hand:

When my parents built their house in Washougal, I had the unfortunate ability to make light bulbs go out. Meaning, once a week, I was replacing my light bulbs in my room. This ability has followed me since. I run all over Portland and different times and routes every day. Still, at least once a week, I will be running by a lamp and it will go out as I pass it. I have a gift! It has now followed me into the house as lights have been going out of business. One being, the front porch light. It has not worked for months due to electrical needs. I love the porch light, it welcomes people to our home.

Jason had took it upon himself to replace the light, entirely. Told you, he loves electrical work. We now have a lovely porch light working! I think it is wonderful, it is on when I come home from my morning run and after a long day at work!

I am excited for all the projects Jason will be coming up with in the future!

Divide & Conquer

2011-01-28T13:32:00.000-08:00

I am really working on effective transitions in the classroom. I have this afternoon group of 5th grade boys that can ruin my entire day. As we switch from reading to writing, some kids stay, some go and some kids come to group. This has turned into a 5 minute hangout session. I was putting the kaboom on that. I came up with a plan to herd the exiting kiddos out of the classroom. Out go my arms and I gently talk to them as we walk to the door. Divide and conquer, my friend. This week, my punk-ass kiddo was talking smack as I was walking him to the door and I was repeating, "time to go, have a good day...." Finally, at the door, he turns, hugs me and walks out. I was thrown for a loop. He must trust me. Now, I wish I could get the boy to read.

Back to the bathroom:

We finally got the outlet to work ("we" as in me hanging downstairs and staying out of the way). It was a good day! Jason proceeded to turn off the lights again. He began to install the outlet into the wall and re-doing the conduit.

From there, we were waiting for the "ta-da! c'est fini!" moment. Back came the power, then came the sound of electricity cracking. Something was not right and was not hooked up correctly. Off went the power.

Sadly, it was getting late and I was getting tired. So I went to bed. HOURS later, Jason decided to come to bed. He could not figure out what went wrong.

He had to work the next day and enjoyed a shower in the dark. I had the day off. I spent the day with no overhead lights working. I was happy, I could still watch T.V. The tricky part was baking in the kitchen with no lights on, I had to work close to the window. I found the entire thing amusing. Jason said I was a good sport. Who puts all overhead lights on the same circuit?

He came home with a plan, something about the circuit not being complete and electricity being sent the wrong way....I just nodded. Within a few moments, we had success! The plug was mounted to the wall and is working! Jason was off to a boys night and I was making dinner for one.

I have now used the outlet every day! I love it! Jason has added drywall. Already, there is much improvement to those ugly walls! Hello, bathroom! I might even like you! Remember seeing the bathroom was my deal breaker?

It makes watching London entertaining!*

*yes, I know I have a London problem. I have been told by friends to start having babies so I would stop taking pictures of my cat. I think they are scared I might turn into the crazy cat lady.

La salle de bains partie deux

2011-01-18T19:09:00.000-08:00

One weekend later, with one week to ponder how to conquer the bathroom, I was sitting on the couch and I was greeted with this very excited person:

He was proud of his work and wanted to show off. You see, he spent all week pondering the bathroom and how to get an outlet into the bathroom. After many discussion with friends, he used this last weekend to give me my anniversary gift (hello, 15 months without a plug! I will take it as the perfect present!)

Jason ran wire from the overhead light and viola, an outlet. Its sitting on the sink! I was nervous and staying out of the way. Electricity is a SCARY thing. We are not professionals but we do practice safe work. Still, I was nervous. Every little sound, drop of a tool, had me asking, "baby, everything ok?"

Follow the yellow brick road......

To a light that is TURNED on and PLUGGED in within the bathroom! WAHOO!

Just for giggles, I checked out between the walls to see if anything was hidden! Sadly no! I was scared that I would drop my phone down there.

From here, we might have had another glitch before we could say we officially had an outlet in the bathroom. That is for another day and time. London wanted HER bathroom back.

I couldn't help it, she is so damn cute.

Happy Hour Friday!

2011-01-14T07:24:00.000-08:00

This is the perfect Pizza making, staying-in date night recipe!

It all started a year ago, I was on a quest to find the perfect dough to make calzones. The first attempt was adequate, we had enough for individual but small calzones. A few attempts later (and conquering of yeast!), I have found the perfect pizza dough recipe. There are many little tricks but it would make enough for 4 individual calzones or for Jason and I, two GIANT calzones with some bread on the side.

Here are some rules:
*yeast need warm water to get a moving! BUT too hot of water kills em! Think warm hot tub! (you are supposed to use a thermometer but I don't have one!) I would just let the water run on warm until its warm, like washing dishes.
*yeast needs something to eat to get the blood a flowing (a teaspoon of sugar makes the medicine go down!)

Amazing Pizza Dough:

3-4 teaspoons of yeast
1 teaspoon of sugar
1/2 cup of warm (NOT BOILING) water

Place into a cup and stir. Set aside for 5 minutes.

4 cups of flour
pinch of salt

Make a well and add wet ingredients!

WET ingredients:
yeast/water/sugar mixture
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

Stir in the wet ingredients. Once it is a sticky ball, dump onto a clean surface and knead for 8 min! Prepare to put your arms and back into it! Soon, you should have a warm, smooth ball. Pinch the openings together and put the pinched side down into a clean bowl that is oiled with EVOO. Wipe EVOO on top of the dough. Cover with a warm, wet rag and place in a warm area for 1 hour to rise.

After 1 hour, punch down the dough ball, pinch down together the openings and re-wet your rag with warm water. Let it sit for 40 minutes. Heat your oven to 425 degrees.

After 40 min, build the perfect pizza, calzone or bread sticks.

Bake it and enjoy! I always do light sauce and fresh mozzarella. When it comes out of the oven, I sprinkle fresh basil on top.

This House is Full of Love (& HOLES)

2011-01-12T19:23:00.000-08:00

Jason has been itching to do some wiring. Yep, you read correctly, wiring. He is wanting to move switches, add outlets and add lights. He has been doing his homework and ready to go.

It started the other day, I came home for work and the power was out. Jason was in the kitchen with a headlamp on. He was replacing the light switch in the kitchen. A very quick thing to do (note: we turned off the power to the entire house and had a voltage meter thingy!).

We took off the old box light switch and discovered hundred (HUNDREDS) of incense sticks crammed in. For example, they would like an incense and have no where to stick it and so they would leave it burning out of the light switch! Oh my, not the brightest. With that mission completed, Jason moved onto the bathroom. We have gone 20 months without a plug in the bathroom. I have been blowing my hair in front of the mirror in the bedroom (and when we have guests, downstairs in the nook). It was about time I got ready in a real bathroom, like a real grown-up.

Lots of pounding and sawing later, we had a hole in our bathroom. Its not pretty, but it did not matter, our bathroom is hideous!

Our goal is to run an outlet from the light switch to the stud, completed by my stud-muffin!

Sadly, when we took off the light switch, hundreds of incense sticks come tumbling down. Like father, like son. Another sad note, when we took the light switch off, we found out that the wires don't match up and we can't do it right now.

I have a hole in our bathroom and no towel rack! Oh well, another to-do project for those stormy nights.

Good thing we finished covering our hole, London was wanting her seat back. The sink is hers! She drinks from it, she might sleep in it for a bit and she is always sitting there waiting for you to turn the water on. Sorry, London for disrupting your room!

When a Tiny Hole Grows

2011-01-11T07:15:00.000-08:00

Back up, a few months ago, we had a leak in our bathroom! Since then, there has been a lovely hole in our ceiling and the upper part of the cabinets were exposed!

We came up with the plan to leave it exposed and use the upper shelves to house lesser used objects. Time came to start fixing up the kitchen (since we have already ripped down the faux brick)! The kitchen is getting a little lovin'.

One Saturday, while Jason was putting muddy in the other holes and dings, he decided to bring down the rest of the drywall.

Some loud noises, pounding, and a scared kitty later, these walls were coming down.

I was there to help/take pictures!

Now, the new shelving sits empty with old plaster on the walls. Jason has cleaned it out and the plan is to drywall over the plaster and paint! I cannot wait for a complete kitchen and no longer cooking while starring at a mint wall. I wonder, in 30 years, what will people think of our color choice!

Date Night!

2011-01-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

We are trying something new, once a month, we are having a date night. One person plans it and it can be fancy or a day at the park. I kicked December off with Broadway tickets to HAIR at Portland's Keller Theater. This was a date I was looking forward for months.

Even though it was on a weeknight, we got dressed up, went out to a lovely dinner and to the play on a chilly Portland night.

We had dinner at Justa Pasta, which included a lovely spinach/feta salad, pasta marinara and wine.

From there, we meandered to Keller. I didn't know how good of seats I bought but I was surprised when we found our seats, we lucked out. The thing about Portland: it is a laid back city. It was odd to go to a play with people in jeans. I understand that the older generation was dressed in their hippie gear: tie-dye! There was a mix of people dressed up to relaxed, old and young! It was packed out.

It was a great show. I had a little idea what the play was going to be about but I am always amazed at actors and their stamina to entertain for 2+ hours. It was great. I was smiling and enjoying the show. Jason does not understand musicals at all. He does understand what they are saying when they are singing it and how it pushes the story along.

In high school, I did my fair share of plays and other drama classes. I found myself, gleefully, in the ladies lounge and to see all the lighted makeup mirrors. I could envision actors sitting around the bright bulbs, nervous and excited for a show to start.

So, I took a picture.

It was fun. At the end, the part of the audience went on stage for a giant dance party. Oh, the lights and the chance to be on stage. Too bad, we didn't join in! I can't wait for next month, Jason is planning it. He picks the event and the day!!!!

Faux Pas

2011-01-09T07:19:00.000-08:00

When we bought the house, there was the little things we glazed over. Like the brick in the kitchen. There was painted white brick in the kitchen. Upon looking at the brick, we realized it was fake and it did not go to the ceiling. What was behind that brick?

Soon the theories were pouring in about what is behind the brick. My theory, a black stain from the stove. Jason's a big hole (I knew this to be not true because when we drywalled the t.v. room, we could see the back side of the kitchen wall). We had so many people comment on the brick. I could not wait to take her down. When Pete and I painted the kitchen, we decided to leave the brick *just in case* there was a s something that needed immediate attention.

Well, months later and hole in the ceiling....down came the faux brick.

Lots of nails and screws later.....

Nothing spectacular but nothing we couldn't handle. A little hole and a previous UGLY wall color. Me no likey!

Bye bye, brick! You won't be missed.

Jason got to patching the "dent" in the wall with a little drywall mud. Scrape scrape scrape.....after doing this many times, we will sand it down & paint the wall. Soon it will be one cohesive wall. For now, I will be cooking and looking at a mint wall.....mint.....ice cream anyone?

Home is Where You Are

2011-01-08T08:34:00.000-08:00

Currently, I am obsessed (OBSESSED) with Edward Sharpe's Home and cannot stop listening to it. If I had my way, I would have the song on repeat right now. I get like this for music.

Anyway, a quick project (like 15 min) and a big change was taken on by BF. You see, our lovely chef's prep table is always full. Full of stiff not needed for cooking. We wanted to simplify the table top and find a home to our new knife (super sharp Jason!).

With a gift card from Target, we got a knife magnet holder.

One night, Jason was feeling ambitious. Down came the old towel rack (who puts a towel in the middle of nowhere on the wall?). We discovered various shades of color, including a lovely mint, blue, pink, white, yellow, and plaster. A few minutes later and drilling into brick, we had:

I cannot wait to cook! (Also, the green splash above the stove is the other project we have taken on!)
I think a knife holder is GENIUS! I am so excited. Jason was surprise how quick and easy it was despite the product having NO directions. He did good!!

Happy Hour Friday!

2011-01-07T08:25:00.000-08:00

In honor of our 3 year anniversary, Jason and I enjoyed a lovely dinner and dessert on a WEEKNIGHT!

We were going to pass on dessert but a certain French patisserie was calling our name.

We ended the night at PIX to enjoy a macaroon or two!

Since Pix is down the street from us, we have been there a few times since we bought the house. I have enjoyed various wonderful treats including a blue cheese truffle, homemade nutella, to many macaroons. They have an outdoor seating for the warm nights and intimate indoor seating. Last summer, my friends and I participated in the Bastille day celebration and a lovely 5k wine tasting event. They are fancy treats for the every day people.

Tonight: we got the Queen of Sheba.

A dense molten chocolate treat with homemade vanilla ice cream. Simply wonderful and rich. I love it.

I ended the night with two lovely macaroons for tomorrow (pistachio and salted caramel). I might eat dessert first. Good thing its Friday, there is no guilt on days ending with day!

Enjoy your happy hour!

Are you trying to tell me something?

2011-01-06T20:16:00.000-08:00

For Christmas 2009, BF got me a lovely red KitchenAide and a cookie sheet. For Christmas 2010, BF got me a really, really nice knife (and it is really, really sharp). I might be a kitchen gadget freak but 2010 was the year I got lots of gadgets! Weirdest: a banana saver & various size melon scoopers (thanks mom!), practical: a new peeler, apple core, and rolling pin (I had cheap-o-s from college days Ikea (thanks Jason's mom!)) to the sharp, sharp knife (for the record: I was NOT the first people to cut themselves with the knife).

Since I got a new knife and some new recipes, I was testing this bad boy out! For New Years Eve, I cooked a full blown meal. A Christmas Day meal. I made a Quorn Roast (think fake turkey but good), green beans, party potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls (from Pete) and apple pie (Jason made).

Party Potatoes is a yummy dish made by Jason's Nanu. It is simply wonderful and a crowd pleaser. I was so glad she was willing to share the recipe with me.
(also a great hangover food).

1 (16oz) sour cream
2 cups sharp sharp shredded cheese (and extra for topping)
1 can cream of celery soup
1/2 cup melted butter
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 (30ish oz) bag of shredded potatoes

Mix everything except potatoes. Add potatoes and gently toss. Place in a butter baking dish. Top with extra cheese and a little butter.

Bake @ 350 degree for 1 hour.

Enjoy. I cannot wait to make them again.

Adventures in Babysitting

2011-01-01T11:33:00.000-08:00

Ayden at his cutest:

This is taken while Jason is sick on the couch, Ayden and I were getting a little stir-crazy. Excuse the hair, we just woke up from nap time. Yes, its a bugger sucker outer. Yes, it is gross. Enjoys!

Happy New Year's Eve

2010-12-31T08:27:00.000-08:00

The question remains: how to say 2011! Will I saw 20-11 or 2011? There is no more "O" (like the letter) in 2010. I hate when people (sometimes me!), use the letter "o" for a number. I notice me doing it when I give out my number and my area code becomes a letter! Ugh. Live, learn, and move on.

Christmas part II was spent on Christmas in upstate NY.

Side note, when I tell people I went to NY for Christmas or any other time, they ask about the city. Um, never been to NYC. As I have discovered, there is more to NY than NYC. Digress....

We arrived in NY via Chicago and Scranton (hello, Jim! *swoon*) on Dec. 22 and were staying until the 28th. It was cold (14 degrees), hadn't snowed in a while but still white on the ground, and lots of people to see.

Our first full day, 23rd, was spent babysitting. How can we say no to babysitting Jason's nephew? In the process, we learned a lot about this 17 mo baby including sign-language, how not to laugh when he throws something at your head, and how long a tired baby can sleep!

The 24th, was spent having lunch with family and getting ready for Christmas Eve dinner at Jason's Nanu's house (grandmother). A few things I learned quickly: get your party potatoes quick, Jason has a huge family and you have to fight for a spot to sit and eat, and all the girl cousins love to pick on Jason (he is the oldest and only 1 of 4 boys compared to a dozen girls). Christmas Eve dinner was when I met the majority of his family, I needed name tags.

The 25th: was spent rushing to Jason's mom's place and opening presents. It was fun. Ayden was not interested in opening presents. When he saw a toy he wanted it NOW. Jason and I got a lot of the little things we needed: a rolling pin, peeler, and an apple corer (I have the cheap IKEA ones from college but we needed an upgrade) and other fun stuff. We helped with brunch for the ENTIRE family: ham, eggs and coffee cake. After everyone left to take naps/see movies, Jason and I cleaned up the house and went back to his uncle's (where were staying) to help cook Christmas dinner. I learned quickly how to peel 6 dozen shrimp and Jason grilled amazing asparagus.

The 26th-28th: was spent hanging out, eating out, making Jason go for a walk because all we have done for 3 days straight is eat, going to the gym, napping and reading books. A few memories: where we were staying, Chris' place, had HEATED kitchen floors and bathroom floors. I was in love. My toes were happy. I spent hours reading at the kitchen table. Jason and I went on an adventure to find Chris an angel for his tree (harder than you think on Christmas Eve), spending time with Ayden, Laura and Jason watching a late night movie and watching on a green t.v. an episode about chocolate, then rushing to Jason's mom's house to dig into her baking stash for chocolate to curb the craving.

We had a great time. We didn't take a lot of pictures, but we spent time relaxing and loving on Ayden.

We came home to see our love bug who was missing us (she now follows me around and is very vocal).

Yes, I cut my hair off. I cannot believe my break has gone so fast. I need more time. I hope all your Christmas' were great and filled with love, family, and laughter. Happy 2011!

Happy Hour Friday!

2010-12-24T13:54:00.000-08:00

While the holidays are taking over and we are loving being with loved ones, Happy Hour Friday must live on.

Last weekend, our friend Pete was in Seattle interviewing for a new job. He had to stay the weekend due to an interview on Monday and he was bored. I came home from running and I was in the living room when Jason asked if I wanted to go to Seattle for dinner. Um...YES! Thai food please, I already knew my order.

An hour later we were out the door & ready to surprise our friend.

Seattle was gorgeous. It was not raining, slightly cold but full of the holiday spirit. I always love coming home. I took Jason on a tour of my favorite way to enter the city (off 99). We grabbed Pete and had a lovely Thai food dinner and a walk to the park.

After dinner, we headed to the Tap House for drinks. We love Tap House because:

Yep, you read it right: 160 beers on tap. It is wonderful. It was recommended by our hotel last time we went to Seattle and we will always recommend it to others.

Jason is in heaven there! He is like a kid on Christmas.

Their Lava Cake is great (I've had better but it satisfies me whereas I can't go to Hawaii for the worlds best lava cake!).

Lava Cake and a strawberry Mojito, life is hard.

We have eaten there in the past, they have amazing sushi & bruschetta. Yes, random combo, still yummy.

It is always packed, their waitress' know their beers and it is a good place to sit and enjoy company in an intimate place.

What are your favorite drinks or your go-to drink at a dive bar?

A Small Adventure

2010-12-23T08:59:00.000-08:00

After bringing in the chair and welcoming it to our family, we needed to do some scooting of the couch. In the process, we found the legs to the couch. You see, for 3 years, I have hated the couch because it was so LOW to the floor. I hated the couch after a long run and your legs are sore and it takes all your strength to get up off the couch. Finding the legs to the couch was better than Christmas.

Those bad boys were going on the couch. It was getting a lift. Do or die style.

We had to get screws for the legs and off to the big home store late that evening. 18 screws later, our couch was sitting off the ground.

I am in love with our couch now. It needed a lift. I am happy and so is London, she can play under the couch.

Time to get some art on those walls!

Welcome Logan

2010-12-22T08:56:00.000-08:00

For about three months, I have been eying a chair, the Logan Chair. I go to the store and sit on the chair. I look at the various colors and fabrics and then I sit in the chair again. I was going to get this chair. I was debating to get the green floral, it was very unlike us.

Then, one day, I went to buy the chair. I get to the store, money in hand and ready to buy. They had a sale and there was no chairs in the entire west coast. I was sad.

A few months later and a few trips later to the store, I discovered the charcoal grey and knew it was the one. I was in love.

A few nights ago, we celebrated Christmas Part 1 at my parents house and part of my presents was a little moolah! It was burning a hole in my pocket and we went straight shopping. We had to buy presents for Jason's family. By the time we got to the store, I was ready to buy. No more thinking.

There was the charcoal grey chair. We were going to get it and spend the night putting it together. Instead, the one on display was the LAST one in the area and they weren't going to get another one until February 2011! Did I want that one? YES, please! Since it had "scratches" in the legs, we got it with $50 off. Even better.

We had a hard time getting it home, it only fit in the front seat. So, I became Miss Daisy.

In the house it went and London was the first one to sit on it in the house. She is good.

I am in love.

London loves her new chair, she takes naps on the chair while I watch TV. She is not a lap kitty but loves the company.

I recommend the Logan chair to anyone needing something stylish & comfortable.

Merry Christmas and thanks mom and dad for the chair. I am in love.

Christmas part 1!

2010-12-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

We are having our Christmas in many breaks. We will be celebrating in Vancouver before the holiday with my parents and again in Binghamton with Jason's family. For part one, I decided to put my kitchenaide to work.

I made Candy Cane cookies, they are a family tradition. My grandparents would make these cookies every year for us. I simply love these cookies, they are light and fluffy. I made cookies and Maple Pecan bars from another blog I follow. It was a baking adventure and caused me to miss my yoga but I was in my happy place.

The only problem is when making cookies and bars collide, there is a mess of a kitchen. I love it.

The entire time London was there watching me. She was sprawled out in front of the vent and loving life. She was constantly talking to me.

She misses me and loves having me around.

Recipe for Candy Cane Cookies:

Ingredients

1 cup butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red food coloring
1/2 cup peppermint candy canes, crushed

Directions

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, confectioners' sugar. Beat in the egg, vanilla and almond extracts. Combine the flour and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until well blended.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Divide dough into halves. Color one half red by mixing in the food color. Roll a small amount of each dough into a 2 inch long worm. Roll them together in a twisted rope and curve the end like a cane. Place onto prepared cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. In a small bowl, mix together the crushed candy cane and a pinch of white sugar. Roll hot cookies in the sugar mixture.

The SECRET of the cookie is sifting the confectioner's sugar. Every year, it reminds me of Christmas.

Part 2 will be after the holidays! Off to eat my weight in bananas and whipped cream (another tradition for us).

Happy Hour Friday! (Monday)***

2010-12-20T09:44:00.000-08:00

Friday was the last day of school before Holiday Break. It was epic.

It was all about keeping the boat floating and getting through the day.

We started the day out right. All us teachers came to work early (8 am) for a breakfast potluck. The 21st annual Christmas Breakfast. I love traditions. It was held in the library. The library was transformed into an intimate room. The lights were dimmed, candles lit, flowers, and tablecloths. It was a great way to start the day.

We enjoyed some amazing dishes including veggie quiche, biscuits, fruit and coffee. It was amazing.

After breaking bread, we enjoyed listening to various renditions of classic Christmas songs re-written to describe the school year so far. I have never laughed so hard before work.

Lori, Jodi and I redid Joy to the World to describe life in portable land and to poke fun at my teaching-partner who is alway missing, including today.

We had a blast. There is so many stories we experience teaching that no one gets outside of the school. It is nice to laugh about the mishaps and the fun in teaching.

We ended our morning with an interpretative dance and it was awesome. We were giggling like school girls when the bell rung and survival mode kicked in. It made work on a Friday a little lighter.

***while this is not happy hour restaurant related, it demonstrates the coping strategies needed to make it to Holiday Break.

Wowzers!

2010-12-19T13:13:00.000-08:00

Where has time gone? My poor neglected blog and my 3 readers are left in suspense!

Nothing exciting has happened in the house-repair arena.

A few stories to tide you over.

Since the great bathroom flood of 2010, we had to take care of all the water. Believe me, I was finding standing water in the weirdest places for days. We had to remove everything from the pantry, clean out all the dirt/drywall/water and the bad foods. In the process, we got to attack all the ant issue. For a long time, we had no ants and then one day and one slip of leaving exposed food later, our friends are were back.

There was a lot of food hiding in the 3 shelves. It amazed me how much food we had. Jason decided to reorganize the shelves, by doing so, he put the things we use less on the top shelf and the day to day stuff in reach. Problem: boyfriend is taller than me and all the stuff I use sporadically, I found I was unable to get without crawling on the counter. Um....I am short and when I am baking, I need it NOW!

Side story:

My school that I work at is an awesome community. We have PIE day once a month (when we are stressed, we announce PIE day and there is about 50 different pies in the staff lounge!), we have themed potlucks (September: comfort food, October: soup, November: Thanksgiving, December: breakfast) and the potlucks mean you don't have to bring a lunch for 2 days, and we have cookie day! One of the teachers makes to die for chocolate chip cookies that I have been trying to replicate but unsuccessful. She gets on the PA and announces cookies about 8:30 and most people come running from around the building. They are always gone by 8:35 because they are fresh from the oven. I love my job and love breaking bread with my co-workers.

One of my co-workers lives on a farm and has chickens galore. Every Friday, she brings in fresh eggs for $2.50 a dozen. I have never had such wonderful and fresh eggs. I am loving eggs.

Fresh eggs have spoiled me! I love the bright color yokes!

Its Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

2010-12-02T07:43:00.000-08:00

I have been avoiding stores since Halloween. I hate that Thanksgiving is always overshadowed by Christmas. It is like an explosion of green and red come November 1st. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. I love it from after Thanksgiving onward! The weekend after Thanksgiving, while most people were shopping, I was digging out my Christmas goodies. It was time for some red and green in the house.

While we haven't gotten a tree (we might not since we will be gone on Christmas), I did put out my new wreath. I got it awhile back and have been anxiously waiting for it to make an appearance.

I think it goes well with the red in the screen door. I was so excited when Jason put it out on the screen. It is the little things that make me happy.

It is a simple wreath because I like simple. Up next, busting out the stockings and the table cloths! Hello Christmas, you are welcome!

Happy December!

2010-12-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

Where has time gone? I am now in the countdown for Christmas break. Not because I need the time off (I do) but because breaks and special education make students nervous. In case you don't know, some students hate breaks, so they act out. They hate breaks for many reasons: lack of consistency and routines, lack of daily food (free breakfast and lunch at school), lack of supervision. There can be a whole lot going on in a student's life that makes them nervous for a break. Thus: acting out. So, the countdown must begin.

Exciting baby steps have been made in the new tv room!

It started out looking like:

A sad looking window. In need of some love, so we did this:

Before dinner was ready, it looked like this:

Time to bask in the awesomeness of curtains. I like them because they make the room seem taller (like it needed to with its 10 ft ceilings). It also gives us some privacy from the jungle next door.

I love it with our light green walls! My, oh my, this room is looking good. Time to find some art pieces and maybe (!) a bookcase wall. SHHHH.

Happy Hour Friday!

2010-11-26T06:12:00.000-08:00

In honor of Thanksgiving (where did you come from!?!?), I am making our favorite breakfast place the honor of Happy Hour Friday!

You see, since we started dating, breakfast is our favorite Sunday morning treat. We love breakfast. When we lived in NW, we had our favorite places to take a Sunday Morning walk to & now we live in NoPo, we are finding new and exciting places.

We have discovered a few. Recently, we have been spending our Sunday mornings at Pine State Biscuits on Alberta.

I discovered it on hot summer afternoon when I was wanting good old sweet tea. How can you not love a place that serves sweet tea!! out of a mason jar.

We have been going to Pine State every Sunday for a few months now. We have been using the nice weather to ride our bikes over and then hit up the local produce market. It makes for a lovely Sunday, day of rest.

We are predictable when it comes to Pine State. We order the same thing: biscuits & veg. gravy, sweet tea for me, a biscuit, egg & cheese and coffee for him. We might throw in some yummy goodness like a hash brown (they are HUGE so one to share) and, if we are really risky: fried green tomatoes (oh my!).

Then we sit at the counter:

While Pine State is SMALL inside and there is always a line around the block, the counter is the best place. You get to people watch and stare at the yummy goodness that comes out.

Then you get to enjoy (and maybe lick your plate clean). It is that good.

I am getting hungry. We tend to share (most of the time) and we are always happy. Their vegetarian gravy is the best I have had in a long time. If you go to Pine State: go early or way before you are not hungry, that way, with all the waiting, by the time you get your food, you don't want to gnaw your arm off or stare at the person sitting next to you food. They are a small place but worth the wait.

Time to stop thinking of food and out for a run! I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful, I am grateful for a few days off!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T20:10:00.000-08:00

I was in charge of dessert! I made pumpkin pie, apple pie, pumpkin cookies and maple pecan bars.

Good thing I have comfortable pants on! We also made a fake turkey roast and scalloped corn. We bought our own gravy.

Have a wonderful holiday & day after shopping!

Happy Thanksgiving!

School! Really?!?!

2010-11-24T18:55:00.000-08:00

Tuesday's weather was a recipe for at least a late start or even a day off of school! All money was betting on no school when the temperatures were to hit 19 degrees and snow! Even after Jason coming to bed telling me it was snowing, I was ready to turn off my alarm. Hello, Thanksgiving break come early!

Soon it was morning, I looked at my phone, NOTHING. There was white stuff on the ground. School districts surrounding the district I work for were closed or had late start. So I waited, waited for good news. Before I knew it, it was time for me to shower. I was in denial. I had to go to work, deal with kids who were excited for the snow and the upcoming break. Man, it was going to be a long day.

It was a slippery drive to work. It took longer to get there. I may have slid into my parking place. And the ramp up to portable land was slippery. It was going to be a good day.

We all survived the day, students and me, I picked my battles that day and we had Thanksgiving fun instead of work work!

Nothing beats the anticipation of snow. Waiting and wishing. I might be worse than the kids, snow please! I am grateful for a few days off! Time to do selfish things, to clean, to bake, and to snuggle with the kitten and the BF.

Bikes Galore!

2010-11-23T12:47:00.000-08:00

Within the last three months, we went from 2 bikes in the house to 5! Yes, FIVE bikes. Actually, we own 3 of them. 1 is our friends and the other I am trying out but will probably end up owning, lets be honest.

It all started a few weeks ago, I borrowed a mountain bike from my friend to do the Muddy Buddy race (three bikes in the house). Since then, the bike has been hanging out in the living room until we meet up again. A few weeks ago, Jason was fed up with his bike. He commutes to and from work on his bike and has been talking about a new bike for weeks. So, he got one (four bikes in the house). After talking with my friend who is an avid cyclist, she said she is getting ride of her first road bike since she upgraded this summer.

So, on Saturday, I picked up bike #5. We have stashed the bikes in various places in the house.

As you can see, the nook in the kitchen. \

I am excited for my new bike! It is lacking pedals. We have to figure out the bike situation soon. We have 3 bikes (one is my friends) that do not have kick stands and need to be leaned against something, ooooh fancy! and bothersome.

The plan: keep our old bikes for the bars and puttering around. Our new bikes for the weekend fun and long bike rides. I might turn into those bikers who are decked out in all the gear and yell at people on the sidewalk. Well....hopefully, not. I am a runner at heart but this is my new toy. Next summer, a tri!

Now, I am looking for a name for my new bike!

Oliver Bolt

2010-11-22T06:22:00.000-08:00

Oliver Bolt

On November 5, 2010, Oliver left this world. A few days earlier, he started breathing funny, like he was congested. After visiting the vet, we were giving him antibiotics. He kept getting worse. On Friday evening, Jason noticed he was breathing out of his month (cats hate doing this and it means something is not right). Jason took him to the vet and I met him there as I was leaving school. It was there we discovered he had a mass surrounding his thorax and it was pinching it close. The mass looked like the size of a golf ball. He was dehydrated and hadn't eaten in days. He was in pain. It was then, we made the difficult decision to put him to sleep.

It was pain-free and the hardest thing to do.

We will miss him. He was a great cat. He was set in his ways, grouchy, and a total love bug. I will always remember his non-meow that sounded like he was pissed off. He was always so much warmer than anyone else, it was my personal heater when he was on my lap.

It has been hard without him around. You never know how much a little furry thing means to you until they are suddenly gone. Life is a funny thing. Three months earlier, we had Oliver's bladder stones removed and there was no signs of a mass then. He came back from the surgery a happy, carefree cat. I have never seen him play so much. He spent days chasing that elusive tail. He put London in her place and made us laugh.

I like knowing he was happy for a while.

Poor London is at odds. You can hear her meowing at night and she seems down. She just walks around. She is calmer, she sits by his chair, and she is snuggling (which she is NOT a snuggler).

Bubby, you will be missed. There is only one of you!

I am thankful for my cats, for all the joy they give.

SNOW!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-11-21T12:37:00.000-08:00

It is not even Thanksgiving, yet, the forecast is calling for snow. Last night it snowed a little bit and I saw some whiteness on the roofs in the middle of the night so I know it is coming. Like any good NW'ner, I know that when it snows, the world shuts down. I am so excited. I am hoping for a late start and maybe an early Thanksgiving break. Knowing my luck, this will not happen. I am so excited though. I think I like the excitement of snow. Thursday and Friday was odd in the classroom. Everything was slightly off, a mix of anticipation for having a break (we have Wednesday through the weekend off for the holiday) and the excitement of snow. It made for an interesting few days (translation: cranky me). Bring on the snow.

Last week, I was ready to tackle the mass amount of colorful leaves that have landed so delicately in my backyard. We had a lovely, but chilly, Sunday afternoon and I was outside racking! I started at the side of the house to clean away the gunk from the house and the windows. I was lucky, I had Sunday Football on the television and was able to watch it from outside and do a slight cheer when the Seahawks had a great game.

It was a productive afternoon, I made lots of piles of leaves and other junk I found in the backyard. I also filled the compost bin with everything I cleaned out from the side yard. I was sweaty. I was muddy. I love racking leaves. It makes me happy.

The entire time, I had a watcher. London followed me from window to window watching what was happening. She is such a curious kitty. She loves watching anything that moves. Sometimes, I wonder what she is looking at.

Earlier this summer, she was so curious she busted OUT of the window screen above, took a tour of the backyard and made it back into the window, which is about 6 feet above the ground. This all happened while Jason and I were out to dinner and our neighbors tried hard to get her back in the house since they know how much she means to us! Our little escape artist better have learned a lesson! We quickly checked all our screens for any holes in them, the one in our bedroom had a tiny hole in it. We fixed it fast.

Here is to hoping it snows and a wonderful Thanksgiving! It is a time to enjoy good food, good company and being thankful for the little things in our lives. Today, I am thankful for laughter with friends. It is healing.

Happy Sunday, my friends.

Happy Hour Friday!

2010-11-19T12:57:00.000-08:00

A regular in our house: PIZZA. Thanks to the BF, I am now a pizza snob & I hate it. I used to like all kinds of pizza from all over. Now, I cannot stand pizza unless it is great. We have our standard pizza places that we rotate. There are some that we do take out from and the one that is worth a 90 min wait.

Yes, I said 90 minutes.

Good thing I got a new toy for my birthday, it made the time fly (ahem...Iphone: I love you).

On a Friday evening, we headed to SE for Apizza Scholls. We thought by leaving at 5, we would get in and get out quickly. Little did we know that Friday traffic make the drive extra long, me extra grumpy, and by the time we got our name in, it was a 90 minute wait.

But like anything that is awesome, it was worth it. We love Appizza Scholls.

We finally got a table and ordered our drinks (beer for him, root beer for me) and a salad to share. I love their house salad, it is simple and delicate. I love it because it taste light and good, you can taste the lettuce and not just the salad dressing. We are not olive people, so we ate around the olives.

Next up: our much anticipated pizza.....I was ready to gnaw on my hand.

A to-die-for margarita pizza. Simple: dough, sauce, cheese and basil. Simple and lovely. I did not take a picture of a full pizza since the first slice was already in my belly. Between Jason and I, we ate all but one slice. That is a first for us, normally we have 2-3 slices left over.

I was that hungry. When I a hungry, feed me now or deal with the aftermath.

It was extra good tonight, the sauce was perfect with the right amounts of cheese. Our bellies were happy and we were a happy couple again.

Since it took forever to eat, we cancelled all our evening plans & came home and crashed. Yes, we are that exciting.

Apizza Scholls is a must for anyone & everyone. It is worth the wait. A few odd things about them, they don't like messing with a good thing. They like to have some pizza rules: no more than 2 meat toppings (good thing we don't eat meat), and want the dough to be the star of the show.

some things that make me smile

2010-11-17T07:29:00.000-08:00

Tired Londons

How can you not love her?

There is lots of things going on in our lives right now: good and bad. With the days becoming darker, chillier outside and life slowing down (ahem, not really), I want to blog about the things that make me happy. As it is time for thanks, I am thankful for a warm bed every night, a cute kitty, and a job that I am learning to love.

With that said, blogging might slow down as not much on the house has been done since the last posts. Happy day friends! What are you thankful for?

conquering the unknown

2010-11-14T18:46:00.000-08:00

Since the epic birthday cake made by the BF contained buttermilk, we had half a container of buttermilk hanging out in the fridge. It was talking to me. Telling me to experiment! One thing I have always wanted to make buttermilk, cornflake, chicken fingers. Since we don't eat milk, buttermilk biscuits were calling my name.

A simple recipe found online, 20 minutes later, I had warm, golden biscuits. They are amazing. It was easier than I thought. The trick was less touching (playing with the dough!)

Some melted butter and I am in heaven.

For the BF, I added jam and some homemade whipped cream. Everything was made from scratch except for the jam (I ran out of jam last month!). Since, I had eaten 2 biscuits already, I made something different for my dessert. It is a tradition in my family for fresh whipped cream with any major meals (aka holidays & birthdays). It is a side dish. Not dessert! It is called bananas & whipped cream. It is a staple. We look forward to it all year. So, I made my mom's mom whipped cream and cut up a banana with it. A mini bananas & whipped cream.

one year older, one year wiser?

2010-11-13T06:36:00.000-08:00

Since it was my birthday last week, I allowed myself some me time. Kaila and I got up early and drove to Silver Falls, OR. 10 points if you know where that is!

We ran the Silver Falls Half Marathon. It was tough. The toughest thing we have ever done (and we have done marathons) and it was AWESOME. We ran under 3 amazing waterfalls and around for a total of 10 waterfalls. It was so pretty on a perfect fall day (aka the day of my birth!). Leaves were crunching and I ran with a bounce in my step and a birthday ribbon in my hair.

I came home to a lovely chocolate cake made from scratch from the BF and dinner and drinks with friends. A good day.

Boy, it was fun! Poor London was plum tuckered out. It was a great birthday weekend. London is loving the wrapping paper. I can't seem to clean it up as it is her favorite toy....well, that and my new school pictures. Oh, happy day!

a place to break bread

2010-11-12T06:24:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, Jason left to go to a wedding. I make changes to the house. Yep, this is normal in our house. I always do SOMETHING when he is gone! There was a time he was gone a lot, the house never saw it coming.

This time, he was off to NY and I was busy moving and shaking the house. I moved the bikes into the old table nook area that is way too small and out came the table. I had to clean off the table as it was home to all our random crap and London's food. Yes, I know we are horrible people and was letting London eat off the table top. She was the only one who ate at the table.

So out came the table! We actually have a table we can eat on! Well, maybe, its been sitting there for a month now and no one has eaten there but it remains relatively clean. That was a goal of ours, we already have one table to clutter. We don't need an entire table to clutter.

I am excited. We have been scouting new tables and buffet side tables. I cannot wait, it might even be a wet bar!

Don't mind the mess, teaching/life/birthdays get in the way. But we have a clean table! That's a start.

view from above

2010-11-11T10:39:00.000-08:00

With winter coming, a much needed gutter cleaning was done by the BF. First, we needed a ladder tall enough to reach the gutters. Off to the big-box store and a small Honda came home with a ladder hanging out of it.

Since we have been having a wonderful fall, Jason took advantage of it and got cleaning.

Apparently, the gutters haven't been cleaned in years. There was mud in it. It was gross. My poor gardening gloves had to be washed, they smell bad.

Good thing we got it done (or the BF did), rain is in the forecast.

falling leaves

2010-11-10T07:34:00.000-08:00

I really love everything about fall. My favorite is the colors. We are having an amazing fall in NW and I love it. I love the orange, yellow and red leaves. I love the crunchy sounds when I run. This year, the colors are so vibrant, they look neon. I am in love.

I love the color orange this year.

Our backyard looks like a fall wonderland. Anyone want to make a pile of leaves & jump in!?!?

things are looking up

2010-11-09T07:41:00.000-08:00

For Halloween, we had THREE, 3, THREE!, trick or treaters! That is two more than last year!

I love handing out candy (less for me). I love it. That means next year, we might have, like 9 trick or treaters!

I hope your Halloween was wonderful, filled with cuteness and kids! (and maybe a snuggly kitty).

Bring on Thanksgiving, my favorite day.

fall is in the air

2010-11-08T19:33:00.000-08:00

I love fall. Everything about, the chill in the air, the warm clothes, SOCKS, snuggling in bed with a window open, coffee, pumpkin, leaves falling, coloring changing. Fall. I love you.

I was on a mission to get the front yard cleaned out. We have a tree that puts pin-needle junk on the ground, over years of neglect, that thing has piled high. Too high and now we have a slope in our front yard. It was my goal to even out the front yard.

On a perfect fall Saturday (or two), I filled up TWO compost bins with crap. I found such random stuff and with the jungle growing next door, random twigs and growing things.

While I have more things to clean up, ahem, leaves, I am thinking the front yard has a little more curbside appeal.

Life is good from my front porch, a warm drink, a blanket and the world goes by. Life is good!

Welcome fall! Please stay.