Wordless Weekend

 

Top 2 Tuesdays - Favorite Songs

I thought it'd be fun to play along this week to Taylor's Top 2 Tuesdays, this week featuring favorite songs. I love such a wide variety of music; it's hard to narrow it down to just 2!! 

One of my all time favorites is Motownphilly by Boyz II Men




And one of my current favorites is Tightrope by Janelle Monae -  totally gets me dancing every time I hear it and this girl is SERIOUSLY talented!

Fun Giveaways!

Simply Reading Kindle Giveaway hosted by Simply Stacie & Luxury Reading are giving away the latest generation kindle.  I've been wanting one of these so bad!!

Brittany at Unexpected Suprises is offering a piece of jewelry from Barberry and Lace - winner's choice up to $25. There are tons of ways to enter, and your have until Thursday, Sept. 30 (Thanks SIL for the heads up!). 

Snuggle Up Scarf Swap!

Mateya and Chelsea are hosting their first annual scarf swap. If you're interested, you'll have to sign up fast, deadline is Sunday Sept. 26 and scarves will need to be in the mail by Oct. 1 so that we can all have them before the weather gets too cool! Thanks to SIL for sharing this fun swap!

Silhouette Digital Cutting Tool Giveaway!

Twig & Thisle is giving away a Silhouette Digital Cutting Tool! Go check it out!

Happy List

My SIL has been posting her Happy List from Dandelion Wishes and I thought it'd be fun to play along this week. So many things to be thankful for it's nice to be able to take a moment and reflect on it :)



1. My mom has been in the hospital all week with an infection she developed from a cyst she had removed.  She's hoping to be released this morning, and I'm just thankful she and my dad caught it early enough it didn't become something more serious.

Feb 2008



2. I'm super excited for my little sister - she starts her first day of college this week. It's so hard to believe I was in her shoes 7 years ago!! Hoping all goes well for her, especially during her piano auditions! They are mostly a formality - she had an impromptu audition with the music teachers (one was my high school band teacher!) last spring and they told her she's in :)

3. My husband's aunt & uncle and uncle's mom came to visit us this weekend. From the first time I met them, they have welcomed me with open arms and I just love them to pieces! I paint Aunt's nails and she shares classic movies with me. It's perfect.  It was her birthday yesterday and she chose Indian cuisine.  Naan and dal makhani, YUM.

4. I'm super excited for all my favorite shows to premiere this week: Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice & Glee!! I don't watch TV except for these shows so it has been a long summer without them.

Want to play along? Grab the Happy List button, add it to your post and join the linky party.

Hawaiian Love Affair

Our friends got married in Hawaii last week and here is a sneak peak she emailed me today. Doesn't it just look dreamy ♥♥

Jam Exchange

Last Thursday, I received a package from my jam exchange partner, Leslie from Spilling Buckets and all I can say is she totally outdid herself!!! Leslie mailed Cinnamon Peach Jam, Spiced Blueberry Peach Jam, and a BONUS can of Salsa, YUM!! I can't even begin to explain how excited I am, especially since I never got around to preserving peaches this year.

Thanks so much Leslie, I hope you enjoy the Tayberry Jam and Strawberry Jam :)
And thanks to Steph for hosting this awesome event. I can't wait until next year!

30 before 30

Over the weekend, I received a care package of novels from my super sweet sister-in-law to hold me over while I continue to wear my aircast. Sunday, I started and finished one of the books, The Next Thing on My List by Jill Smolinski. It was such a charming book about a woman who survived a car accident and sets out to accomplish a list she found in the wallet of her dead friend's 20 things to do before she turns 25.

I was so inspired I decided to make a list of my own things to accomplish - 30 before 30. Nothing new or groundbreaking, these are a combination of things I've never done, started and never completed, or maybe have done but would like to take it to the next level (for example: I've made a very basic quilt/lap blanket, but here I'd like to make a fancy, detailed, huge quilt). I have until November of 2014, so I'll have plenty of time to reach for the more life-changing goals (like, ahem, have a baby). I'll periodically do updates and have the list posted on the sidebar. These are in no particular order.

30 before 3o

1. Read the Bible

2. Purchase & learn how to use a a Canon Rebel or similar camera

3. Watch my sister play piano live in a concert at the college level

4. Run a half marathon

5. Make a fancy quilt

6. Ride a motorcycle

7. Visit Victoria B.C.

8. Play a round of golf with my husband

9. Start & finish our downstairs decorating

10. Put together our wedding photo album

11. Successfully make something with rhubarb

12. Stop drinking pop

13. Get a massage

14. Go camping

15. Do 20 real push ups

16. Attend a cooking class

17. Ride a bicycle

18. Have a baby

19. Teach my husband to speak Spanish

20. Learn to make my Grandma's Queso Fresco

21. Go to a hockey game

22. Pay off my credit card

23. Watch all the Harry Potter films

24. Eat fried green tomatoes

25. Learn to knit

26. Not eat out for an entire month

27. Throw a baby shower for one of my girlfriends

28. Have a tea party

29. Get promoted to Construction Manager

30. Buy a lotto ticket

Do you have any long term goals?

Bridesmaids' Dresses Round 1

One of my best friends is recently engaged and wowie, the wedding is in early spring! She had us order this dress from JCrew. I'm not sure if they are going to work out because they didn't have a lot of sizes left, but oh I hope hope hope it works out! I may be keeping this dress even if she doesn't choose it :)

Me + You

So cute, I found this adorable Etsy shop, la happy, which belongs to the sister of a fellow construction management friend of mine. Love her stuff, it's free shipping in the US and oh, she has a wedding collection coming soon too!

source

Awesome.

I visited a podiatrist this morning about some severe pain I was having in what I thought was my achilles. Turns out my posterior tibial tendon is inflammed and I get to wear this boot for the next month. Yeehaw.

source

After some huffing and puffing this morning (and I'm not sure I got all of the pouting out quite yet), I've realized a few things.

1)I caught it early enough my excercising career is not over forever. One month of downtown is not the end of the world.

2) I have the best husband ever as he already has plans to set me up with some books to read for all my downtime and

3) After the tendon is healed (fingers crossed) I will get orthotics for my high arches which will hopefully prevent this from happening again. I teased my husband that we can be "Orthotics Twins" now (he has a pair for his flat feet).

Any good book recommendations?

A Garden Affair

This past weekend, my old college roommate and I had a bridal shower for one of our other college roommates. It was a surprise for the bride - all she knew (or thought she knew) was that the three of us were getting together to do something girlie. I made up these invitations and mailed them out to a few of her closest family and friends.
She showed up a little early to the party, but was stunned none-the-less. Her mom, sister, and best friend drove down from Seattle to celebrate the occassion. I forgot to take pictures of the food spread, but we had cucumber tea sandwiches, ciabattas with either ham or turkey, greek salad, pasta salad, florentine salad, veggies, baguettes with hummus and cupcakes! Everyone got souvenirs of canned jam I had previously made- cherry jam, strawberry jam, or tayberry jam. The start of a quilt her future mother-in-law is making for the couple. There were a few other pieces put together and it was one of the most detailed designs I'd ever seen!
After opening gifts, we went to a local spa to pamper ourselves with manicures and pedicures.

The atmosphere at this spa was so relaxing - the owner has it decorated much like something straight from Italy. Only a few more weeks until the bride & groom head off to Maui for their wedding!! I hope this little get together made the bride feel so very loved!

working out and stickin' with it!

Earlier this spring, I started working out quite frequently. Many times in the past, I'd exercise a few weeks or so, get burnt out and fall off the band wagon. This time was different - I was working out consistently for at least 2-3 months (a record for me) and even signed up for my first 12k. It was the healthiest I'd felt in my life!

I'd mentioned before that I took a pretty good spill during that 12k and my knee was on the mend for at least a month, putting a damper on my workout routine. Well after a month, then we were super busy being out of town for graduations and such and trying to catch up on housework and laundry during the week. Then I just got downright LAZY.

A few weeks ago, I finally had enough of my couch potato-ways and started walking again and dreadfully showed my face at the gym after 3 long months. Things were finally starting to look up - my coworker and I were walking up to 4.5 miles at lunch everyday and I start feeling the difference in my jeans and extra energy throughout the day.

One very hot day when we were getting ready for our walk, I changed into into a pair of old, worn socks and my beloved New Balance tennis shoes when I developed some pretty knarly blisters on the balls of my feet. I thought, "no big deal, I'll just take the weekend off to let them heal and get back to it on Monday." Monday came around and it got worse. Of course, I didn't want this to be another excuse for me to once again fall off the band wagon, so I pushed myself again on Tuesday - to the point of barely being able to walk. My feet felt like they were on fire!! I'll spare you the details of what I did to those blisters, but now I have to sit around waiting for them to heal completely.

Needless to say, I've had a lot of time to think. My New Balance's have always been a little stiff and I generally always wear my tennis shoes until they are worn out (gasp, 3-4 years), not the average 500 miles that are recommended. It's very likely my shoes played a big part in the blisters considering I've had them over a year (but they still look brand new!). In the back of my mind, I knew I had put a lot of miles on them, so I went out this weekend and bought these new babies! I've never worn anything outside of New Balance. A coworker also gave me some Spyroflex for my blisters (I need to get my hands on some more!). I'm so excited to finally get back on my feet again. There is a 12k this October I'm considering signing up for to help motivate me to get back to it!

Have injuries kept you from your workout routine and if so, what do you do while you're on the mend?

Jam Exchange!!

::steph chows:: is holding her 2nd annual jam exchange and I'm am so excited to participate this year! I started venturing into canning last summer when we had more tomatoes than we knew what to do with. Since then, I've made lots and lots of types of jams (they make great Christmas gifts!). If you are interested in participating, here are the rules straight from ::steph chows:::

1.You do NOT need to have a blog to participate! Everyone is welcome to join in!
2.You must be willing to mail 2, 1/2 pint jars of any kind of jam your little heart desires to your given person. (yes they can both be the same kind of jam)
3.You must sign up with me so I can make sure to pair you with someone! Email me at stephchows (at) gmail (dot) com with the following:
Your name and address
Blog URL if you have one (see rule 1... you DO NOT need one)
If you would be ok with mailing internationally or if you want to stick domestic (USA) (totally ok either way you choose) I know we have a few peeps from Canada who are in to do this... I checked with the post office here and they said we can ship jam to our Canadian neighbors! I know we have a bunch of AUS readers too... and the post office says no issues with shipping jam to you either! All my other international friends... email me and I'll check and see if it's allowed to your country or not :) As for your country to here or somewhere else... I'm not sure about that one...
I figure if you agree to ship international, I'll pair someone international to send back to you so it's a fair trade. (I know the USPS has flat rate international boxes... probably the cheepest way). 4.If you would like your jam included in the final roundup email me a picture of it and a link to a blog entry if you have one up, or just email me to let me know what you sent/received.

Deadline to send me your info: August 11th (my birthday!)
I will contact you with your jam partner by August 22nd
You have until September 7th to mail said jam to said person. You can mail as early as you like though, so if you have your jam ready to go on the 22nd when I email you... go for it and mail it! Or if you are a procrastinator... wait till the 7th to mail it... either way works :) Just please make sure to mail it so no one is left out!

Happy Endings

This past weekend, we found a wandering dog in our neighborhood with no collar or tags. He was such a well-mannered dog, it was so hard to take him off to the humane society even though we knew it was the right thing to do. We made sure to post an ad on Craigslist that we found a lost dog and had dropped him off and made sure to leave contact information for the humane society we took him too. Today, I was browsing the Craigslist ads and ran across one that said something along the lines of "thank you, thank you - to the lady that took our boy to the humane society, I just can't thank you enough". Totally made my day! I just love happy endings!!

anniversary shoot

It's amazing how fast one year of marriage went by. So for our anniversary gift to each other we thought it'd be neat while we were in Seattle to meet up with our rad wedding photographer, Jenny Jimenez, to document the special occasion with an anniversary photo session! We had so much fun eating cupcakes, hanging out at the park and playing at Alki Beach! She sent us an email earlier this week that included a few teasers and got so excited about the photos she actually finished our gallery! One week turn around? HOLLA!

all photos by Jenny Jimenez

Strawberry Ice Cream

My sister-in-law knows I love ice cream and recipe books, so for Christmas 2007, she thoughtfully gifted me the Ben and Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book! So many wonderful recipes in this little treasure include everything from their famous Cherry Garcia to Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough to Kiwi Sorbet. We had bought some strawberries at the farmer's market this weekend and I decided to give the strawberry ice cream a try, and believe me it did not dissapoint! Thanks Aubrey!


Strawberry Ice Cream
from Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book
makes 1 generous quart

1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/3 cup sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
*Sweet Cream Base (see below)

1. Combine the strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a mixing bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

2. Prepare the Sweet Cream Base. Mash the strawberries to a puree and stir into the cream base.

3. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions.

Note: For a chunkier ice cream, drain the juice from the strawberries and whisk it into the cream base just before transferring it to the ice cream maker. After the ice cream stiffens (about 2 minutes before it's done), add the mashed strawberries, then continue freezing until the ice cream is ready.

*Sweet Cream Base
(I chose the 1st of 3 options)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy or whipping cream
1 cup milk

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream and milk and whisk to blend. Makes 1 quart.

mariner's game

Thank you all so much for the sweet anniversary comments - totally melted my heart when I read them! My husband and I had a great weekend celebrating the milestone over in Seattle. While we were there we hit up a Mariner's game, my hubby's first time in Safeco Field!
And get this, I got sushi while I was there - an "Ichiroll", get it? :) It had spicy tuna and cucumber. Totally weird to have sushi from a ballpark but I figured since they are right on the Pudget Sound, can't be too bad, eh? I was also told I had to have their garlic fries and although they are very tasty, they aren't kidding with all that garlic! He was very excited to be sitting so close to the action! My mom scored us some awesome seats right behind 3rd base!
It was a fun game, especially since the Mariner's beat those Reds, 5-1 WOOHOO!

one year

one year ago today, i married my best friend.

marriage - what a sacred and beautiful commitment.
i'm falling in love with him more and more each day.

Shrimp & Avocado Salad

Here is one yummy salad I made for us a few weeks back. So light and refreshing - and I had to seriously refrain myself from licking my plate because the vinaigrette was so tasty!


Shrimp & Avocado Salad
from Simple and Delicious Magazine, May 2010

1 lb. uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. olive oil
5 cups hearts of romaine salad mix
1 cup fresh or frozen corn, thawed
1 cup froze peas, thawed
1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper
1 medium ripe avocado, peeled and thinly sliced

cilantro vinaigrette:
7 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
1/4 cup lime juice
1-1/2 tsp. sugar
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

In a large skillet, cook the shrimp, garlic, chili powder, salt and cumin in oil over medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until shrimp turn pink; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine romaine, corn, peas, and red pepper; divide among four serving plates. Top each with shrimp & avocado. In a small bowl, whisk the vinaigrette ingredients and drizzle over salads.

My First 12k!

That's right, my first race ever! A group of friends (my girls I've known since kindergarden!) ran in Bloomsday this weekend! 50, 661 people crossed the finish line, the biggest turnout since 1996. It was so much fun and so exilerating! Our official time was 1:55 but that included a detour to a friend's house in the neighborhood for a potty break and a medical stop when I totally wiped out at mile 3, haha! I brought my Garmin FR60 along, and I started/stopped it during those two detours and it's time said 1:36.We jogged nearly the entire route, except Doomsday hill. I can't wait to do it again next year, sans the road rash!

green monster

I had my first green monster today and all I can say is oh my gosh it was delicious!!! What is a green monster you might ask? Read more about the movement here. Angela's other site, Oh She Glows, is awesome too if you are interested in healthy recipes and fitness tips. Anyway, I found this recipe on she-fit.com and had all the ingredients on hand so I decided to give it a shot. Wow, you can't even taste the spinach! It was very filling and I can't wait to have another one tomorrow!!

Also, my husband saw it he kept saying, "GROSS!!" so I convinced him to have a drink so he at least had the backup to say it was gross. It wasn't his favorite but he did say had I put it in a solid colored cup where he could not see the green smoothie, he would've liked it! And that's coming from one picky eater!

Recipe from she-fit.com via Green Monster Movement

2 cups of spinach

1 cup of almond milk

1 frozen banana

6 cubes of ice

a dash of stevia to taste (I used raw sugar)

lemon blueberry scones

I got this recipe from one of my favorite blogs, gimme some oven, and have been wanting to try it for some time now. This was the first time I'd ever used whole wheat flour, and I was very pleased that I couldn't really taste the difference. My only advice is if you're looking for a sweet scone, be sure to add the glaze :) I didn't have buttermilk on hand so I used the old make your own trick!

Healthy lemon blueberry scones
from gimme some oven

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp. sugar (optional)

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. lemon zest

1/4 cup butter, chilled and cut into pieces

1/4 cup olive or canola oil

3/4 cup milk or buttermilk

1 cup fresh or frozen berries (don’t thaw them)

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.

Put the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest in the bowl of a food processor or into a medium mixing bowl and pulse or stir until well blended. Add the butter and oil and pulse or stir with a wire whisk or fork until crumbly. If you’re using a food processor, transfer the mixture to a medium bowl.

Add the milk and berries and stir gently just until the dough is combined.

Pat the dough into a circle that is about 1” thick and 8”-9” in diameter on the cookie sheet. (If they are sweet and you want a brown, crunchy top, brush them with a little milk and sprinkle with sugar.) Cut the circle into 8 wedges with a knife or pastry cutter and separate them on the sheet so that they are at least an inch apart.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden. Remove from oven.

If you would like to add glaze, stir together lemon juice and powdered sugar in a small bowl until well-blended. (Feel free to add more/less powdered sugar to make the glaze your desired consistency.) Brush or drizzle glaze on top of cooled scones (or if you’re impatient like me, brush while they’re warm), and serve.

Ali’s Tip:

If you end up opting to pass on the glaze, feel free to add in an extra teaspoon or two of lemon peel to the scones to give them an extra kick of lemon. You could also sprinkle a bit of raw (turbinado) sugar on top of the scones before baking to give them a little extra flavor if you’re going glaze-less. :)

these mice are so nice!

My uncle's mom (my grandma-ish?) book club lady friends threw her a "birthday tea" yesterday. One of the gals from the club made these absolutely adorable mice. I thought they were just toooo cute not to share! They are basically made with maraschino cherries with stems (cherries dipped in chocolate), sliced almonds and Hershey kisses!