11.26.2011

Life as we know it

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

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Love love love



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9.29.2011

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.

dress for my niece

sheet for the pack and play

looking fly

the only food I made myself in a month

1.23.2011

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.

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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!  

flip and tumble bags

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

1.02.2011

What I did on my winter vacation...

I took a lot of naps.

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I knit a few lovelies.

baby noro hat

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I made marshmallows.

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I said good-bye to someone I love dearly.

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I watched the rain come. come. come.

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12.19.2010

Steamed Mussels in Wine

My friend was kind enough to haul me out of bed a few Sundays ago so that we could go check out the new farmers market. I am glad I went, because the selection was great. In addition to picking up some grocery staples, I found myself standing in front of the Aquaculture stand totally mesmerised. I picked up a 2 pound bag of mussels for ten dollars.

I brought home my mussels and scrubbed them off with a soft bristle brush. Then I placed them into a colander covered with a damp cloth and slipped a bowl underneath to catch the excess water.

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I made a broth of butter, thyme, garlic, onions, lemon and white wine, plus a dash of red pepper. Once it was boiling, I threw in the mussels for about 6 minutes.

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After the mussels had finished steaming, I threw in some browned andouille and roasted some potatoes into the broth with some parsley.

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We sloshed the whole mess into big bowls and scooped up the broth with crispy warm French bread.

steamed mussels in wine

11.21.2010

Halloween Party

I totally lagged on getting these up, but the party rocked.

delicious brains

zombie treats


creepy picture wall

We had tacos, and beer and a bunch of other yummy stuff.

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It was our best year yet.

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I am already planning next year.

11.14.2010

iZombie

Just another reason to love Long Beach.

Zombie Walk 2010.

tinkerbelle zombie

Hide Yo Kids, Hide Yo Wife!!!

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