whats up

my baby is crazy cute





I can't believe it's already Christmas



i made grilled lamb with this recipe. it was really good. i left out the mint and parsley.



I took a trip to Rogers Gardens, it was gorgeous

thats all i got. 

Life as we know it

I can't believe he's already 3 months old.

Its been a while.

Sorry for the lack of posts, in case anyone is actually reading this. I have been working on my biggest project yet, and it is finally done.



He is awesome and motherhood is awesome and life is awesome. But I'm super slow and I suck at one-armed activities. In fact, it took me two months to write this post. So bear with me while I get my groove back. Please enjoy some pictures of things I have been doing. Click on the photos for details.

green things

While I wouldn't consider myself someone who dwells often on these sorts of things, I have noticed that there are a number of things that we are doing- mostly for other reasons, that are making a little bit of difference for the planet.



One of the first green things we did when we bought our house was open an account with a water delivery service. We were spending tons of money on bottled water and creating so much waste with all the plastic bottles. At the end of any given week, my car was looking like a landfill. Buying good water in larger quantities just made more sense. At first we were using the old-school Nalgene bottles to hold our water; these were popular with the granola-ey types in the early 2000s. I was never crazy about them- they were ugly looking and the water tasted gross after hours in the plastic container. We got rid of ours when it was discovered that they were made with really nasty chemicals. We switched over to the aluminum Sigg brand bottles, mainly because of the cool designs on the exterior- but then discovered that they were also made with shady materials. Plus, the water in aluminum tasted worse than the plastic bottles.

Finally, I discovered these awesome bottles from Kleen Kanteen. They are made from food-grade stainless steel, are totally safe and leave no yucky taste in the water. Plus they come in super awesome colors and a variety of sizes. We use the 27oz classic and 40oz versions.

Another "green change" that we recently implemented was also out of necessity. The plastic bag situation in my house was out of control. We like to save and reuse plastic grocery bags, as they are handy for disposing of dog poop, kitchen waste and a variety of other purposes. Somehow though, our stash had grown to two cabinet shelves full. Since my kitchen is small and I have a slight Pyrex problem, space is a high commodity. The shelves were packed so tightly with plastic bags, I couldn't fit any more in! I finally decided enough was enough, and we were going to wean our bag collection.

I purchased a bag holder to free up the shelves. It fits nicely under the sink, and keeps the bags tidy. The leftover bags were stashed in the shed for future dog poop duty. To keep from adding to the collection, I purchased some pretty reusable grocery bags from flip and tumble. These bags are really cute, they come in tons of colors and they fold up for easy storage. They also sell reusable produce bags, which I really love. Every time I bring my bags to the grocery store, people ask me about them!  



Throw in the pyrex refridgerator dishes and our kitchen garden, and I'd say we doing a pretty good job at being green.

What I did on my winter vacation...

I took a lot of naps.



I knit a few lovelies.





I made marshmallows.



I said good-bye to someone I love dearly.



I watched the rain come. come. come.

Island fever

Maybe it is because I really need a vacation, but I have been thinking about Hawaii a lot this past week.


I miss the whales, the rain, and the beaches.


I especially long for the delicious food we ate--I really love Hawaiian cooking. It is such a wonderful blend of so many ethnic flavors. My favorite Hawaiian cookbook is by Sam Choy, which I found at a bookstore. Though I have never eaten at his restaurant, I really like the dishes in the book. They are decadent, but fairly simple to make.

 

For dinner, I decided to make a plate lunch; one of my favorite meals. The Mister had never had one before our trip to Maui, and now he is a loyal fan.



For our version, we chose to make a dual meal of chicken katsu and teriyaki beef; served with macaroni salad and coconut rice.

Dear June, I love you.

thanks to you,

the garden looks good, despite the insane rabbit problem we are experiencing.



there will be fun at home.



there will be sunday spins in the camaro.





there will be some delicious dinners.





there will be happy.

eight airports in one month

It was a busy May- more so than the normal busy. We were thrilled to have family come and visit us. Having guests is so much fun. We get to cook and entertain. and show them our favorite local spots. and glamor them with Pyrex. We truly appreciate it when our friends and loved ones make the time to come and visit.



There has also been a lot of travel for work. And although I don't mind the occasional field trip to somewhere new, lately I have been just wanting to stay home and recharge. there was the trip was to Fort  Bragg.



and then I traveled to Nevada, for some work in the middle of nowhere. At least the scenery was interesting.



The last weekend of May, I hopped on yet another plane- this time to return the favor and visit an old friend before she moves even further away. Even though I don't get to see her more than a few times a year, I'm gonna miss her dearly. In addition to having some quality time with her and her adorable kids, i took away some awesome souvenirs- particularly these:



Finally there was a lovely Memorial Day bbq to end the month, which involved some good eats. (click on the images for the deets).

Back to reality

I'm blogging again after a much needed break. We spent New Year's Eve weekend in Lake Arrowhead, just relaxing and enjoying friends. Although there was no snow, the scenery was quite spectacular.



The following week we set out for a trip to Maui. It was beautiful of course, and very relaxing. We drove all over the island and got to enjoy some amazing views and delicious food. After 10 days though, we missed our simple little life and our own ocean.











Click on any of the photos to see more from my flickr.

Coming back to not-so-sunny California was quite the contrast. Our little house received almost 5 inches of rain in one week, which for So-Cal is a whole lot. We had some flooding in the backyard, but no major leaks or damage. What a wild 2010 it has been so far!