Narrating Life

Quiet

2012-01-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

This is what I do when my mind is racing. And it has been, recently.

I can't seem to find a better way to quiet my mind while the rest of me feels like being silent.

In related news this quote that I spotted on my Kat's blog has been speaking to me lately:

Some periods of our growth are so confusing that we don’t even recognize that growth is happening. We may feel hostile or angry or weepy and hysterical, or we may feel depressed. It would never occur to us, unless we stumbled on a book or a person who explained to us, that we in fact in the process of change, of actually becoming larger, spiritually, than we were before. Whenever we grow, we tend to feel it, as a young seed must feel the weight and inertia of the earth as it seeks to break out of its shell on its way to becoming a plant. Often the feeling is anything but pleasant. But what is most unpleasant is the not knowing what is happening[…]Those long periods when something inside ourselves seems to be waiting, holding its breath, unsure about what the next step should be, eventually become the periods we wait for, for it is in those periods that we realize that we are being prepared for the next phase of our life and that, in all probability, a new level of the personality is about to be revealed.

- Alice Walker

Amazing, right? Right.

(Apologies for the unreadability of that quote. I can't seem to figure out what is going on with the type and I have embroidery to get back to)

Made

2012-01-11T05:00:00.000-08:00

This Christmas definitely helped nudge me out of the crafting slump I've been in for, what, a year now? My handmade gifts weren't as varied as previous years and I'm okay with that. Perhaps I'll narrow my focus and start to actually excel in one or two crafts rather than doing a bazillion sub par crafts? Yeah, you're right. Probably not.

I started the month by adding to my needle felted ornament collection after I panicked thinking we didn't have enough ornaments for our tree. Update: We had plenty. Anyway, the fox and mushroom are the new guys and only took me an evening. Ah needle felted animals, you would think I would make more of you considering how much I love you.

Also for the tree, super duper glittery ornaments. I made these while Nate was not home (nor did I mention to him that they had been made...he found the glitter trail all by himself) and nobody was allowed to touch them. Their sparkliness was totally worth the mess.

I decided to make tent for Z-cakes to replace a completely unacceptable pup tent I made for her this summer. I made this decision around the time that a rational person would decide that there wasn't time before Christmas. Pshaw. I used the pattern from Meg's Growing Up Sew Liberated. I made it with the giant roll of canvas that I had tucked away in my basement. What's that? You don't have a giant roll of canvas in your basement? Huh. Weird.

~~It turns out that tents were a super hip gift this year.~~ Ahem. I mean, I totally knew tents were the raddest so I made one because I'm hip like that. Also, Z-cakes loves it.

And now: The Knits.

An adorable hat for my sister-in-law. This is the kind of hat that I would only make for a fellow knitter, which she is.

{details on Ravelry}

I also made these fingerless gloves for the same sister-in-law, because she lives in Portland and it can get cold there.

{details on Ravelry}

I made a hat for my Nate. I figured after watching me knit for nearly seven years, he probably deserves something hand knit for himself, right?

{details on Ravelry}

P.S. I recently updated my Ravelry project page with photos and words and everything. It took a lot longer than I wanted it to so if you're a Ravelry user you should probably check it out if only to make me feel better.

Basically

2012-01-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

{photo by Z-cakes}

Here's what's been happening lately when I sit down to blog. I log in to blogger. I write a title. I write a couple of sentences. I erase them. I write new sentences. I erase them. I write three sentences in a row that are all related to each other. I take a break to sing the intro song to Super Why! with Z-cakes. I reread the sentences. I hate the sentences. I wonder if I have a picture to post. I realize I don't. I decide that I don't feel like blogging. I close the laptop. I knit.

Later in the day I post a picture on Instagram and decide that totally counts as blogging.

And that, my friends, is my in-depth explanation of why I haven't been blogging lately. It's pretty much the best I can do especially since I hate writing blogs about blogging. It feels redundant. Meta? And just downright awkward.

Whew. Glad that's out of the way. Now I can tell you that, no, I am not dead. I have not quit blogging. I don't know if I'll ever go back to blogging every day but I do know I'll be blogging more frequently. I don't have a blog series planned, no big ideas, no Friday features. Just me. And some Instagram pictures. And my family. And lots of narration.

So basically, I'm back. Get excited.

xxoo

December 01 (aka: Yesterday)

2011-12-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! Happy December to you. Did you remember to say Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit yesterday? Woe be unto you if you didn't! (I'm just kidding.) (I think.)

Last night I declared our December 1st to be one of the best ones yet. Here's what went down:

Since I had to work the first half of the day was pretty uneventful. Just me sitting in the coldest corner of our basement talking to a computer. Glamorous? Yes. Of course when Nate (did I mention I'm sick of calling him N8tr0n on here? Because I am. His name is Nate. Actually, Nathan. But I call him Nate.) and Z-cakes got home the party started.

Z whipped up a quick dinner for us. I must say she is becoming quite the help in the kitchen these days. After that it was off to....

buy a Christmas tree!

This is the first time we've purchased a real tree. The first time! I'm sure you can imagine that I was soaking up every second. The man at the tree lot gave Z-cakes a candy cane which basically made her life.

We put our tree up as soon as we got home; that is, after we carried a billion pound water softener down our stairs with our new hand truck and I suppressed my severe anxiety that Nate and I were both going to die trying to get it down the stairs. Anyway, we got the tree up and I've been sitting and admiring it ever since. And also breathing in its intoxicating smell.

I also bought a wreath at Costco for our front door because I've wanted one for like SEVEN YEARS.

The end.

30th Birthday Party

2011-11-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

Over a month after the fact and I still can't stop thinking about my 30th birthday party. That, to me, is the sign of a great party. I am one very spoiled girl.

The Details:
The party was in Kim's gorgeous backyard which was dressed to the nines (Thank you, Kim!). We started off the evening with a six foot sammie + mingling. Two more of my friends from Denver showed up (Thank you, Ben + Rachel!)—once again, a complete surprise!

As the evening grew chilly we passed out scarves, coats, and hats (we were crazy enough to plan an outdoor party, in Idaho, in October) and we started the entertainment—TRIVIA! Some of you may know that N8tr0n and I loved going to trivia with friends while we were living in Denver. We were able to purchase trivia questions from the same company for our event! The questions were mainly 80's/90's themed (too bad for the 20-25 year old crowd) and my brother in law Kevan was our fantastic quiz master.

As the evening progressed (and got colder!) we broke out the hot chocolate and munched on fried food (think jalapeno poppers, fried pickles, tater tots, you know, bar food).

In lieu of a cake, we ate homemade doughnuts (Thank you, April + Sarah!) which were the perfect end to the night.

At the end of the night we sent everyone home with a homemade caramel apple favor (Thank you, Mom!).

I honestly can't think of a single thing that would have made this party better. Being surrounded by the people I love, eating good food on a chilly October evening in a town that I love. What's better than that? Nothing.

Oops. Been gone a while.

2011-11-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

Two weeks? Dudes. I did not mean to be gone for two weeks. I must apologize for that. Although, you should understand that I really don't have time to blog. Because I'm knitting.

No, really. I mean, I'm working. I'm feeding Z-cakes. I'm running the dishwasher. But otherwise? Knitting.

You should also know that I have a bundle of blog posts written in my head and there is a good chance that they'll actually be published in the near future. Fingers crossed. It's just that you can't type and knit at the same time, you know? Unless you have someone to dictate to and N8tr0n is at work right now. And Z-cakes? Well Z-cakes is downright horrible at dictation. Trust me.

Last night we had a family game night. N8tr0n and I sat there marveling at how much we love Z-cakes and how amazing her attention span was and how hilarious it was when she said, "whoa, I am way too fast for you!" And just now I realized that in a few short months that girl will be four years old. And I'm going to put that thought out of my mind just as quickly as it entered.

If all goes according to plan, by the time you read this I will have been to an aerobics class at the gym with Emmylou and will probably be considering a mid-morning nap. I hope your Monday goes according to plan to friends.

XO

Weekending

2011-11-06T22:03:00.000-08:00

To say that I had fun at our first ever letterpress class this weekend would be a devastating understatement. I was positively giddy the entire time. I could have spent hours at the Idaho Poster and Letterpress studio searching every drawer and fingering all of the gorgeous type. But since our time was limited, I pulled a few cards and then busied myself with picture taking and question asking. Good luck getting me to shut-up about letterpress from here on out.

But that wasn't all that made our weekend so fantastic. We also went to see Ira Glass speak at BSU! I figured seeing this show was as close as I was going to get to having him over for dinner. Of course I loved every second and wish I had it all on tape so that I could listen to the entire thing again. If he is on his way to your town, I would highly recommend attending. And if you do, let's chat about what it is like to tell people about your weekend plans. For example, I had this conversation several times in the last two weeks:

"Any plans for the weekend?"
"Yeah! We're going to see Ira Glass!"
"Blink...blink. To see what?"
"Oh. He's the host of This American Life. A...radio program?....on...NPR?"
"Ah."
"Yeah. Anyway..."

I hope your weekend was equally as wonderful. Today Z-cakes and I both have coughs so we're going to be wearing flannels and watching a lot of movies. I can't say I'm complaining.

Random Friday

2011-11-04T14:17:00.000-07:00

:: Sometimes I like to pretend that I am the kind of person who has personalized stationary for which to write to-do lists on. This leads to me drawing headers on the top of all of my post-it notes. Do you do that too? No? Just me?

:: N8tr0n and I have big plans for the weekend that I have been looking forward to for a few weeks. I can't wait to tell you about it in a Weekending post. What are your plans for the weekend?

:: I just painted my fingernails gold.

:: N8tr0n fixed our water heater (thank you, N8tr0n!) and slightly flooded the basement in the process. Fortunately no damage was done and truthfully I'm kind of glad it happened. I've been meaning to organize that side of the basement for a year and now I have no choice. Wish me luck.

:: We are supposed to get snow this weekend.

:: I can't think of another time in my life when I have been happier.

Reason #2

2011-11-02T13:13:00.000-07:00

Sometime between when I dropped Z-cakes off at the babysitter and when I took my lunch break the leaves started falling off of our tree.

If our kitchen was reason #1 for buying this house then this tree in the fall was reason #2.

Right Now

2011-11-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit friends! I'm thrilled that today is the first day of November.

Right now I am...

:: Keeping a close eye on a little princess who is feeling under the weather today.

:: Snacking on a piece of my mom's delicious apple pie. The last treat left from my brother's birthday.

:: Sipping Egyptian Licorice tea. Mmm.

:: Remembering to tell you to go enter Amanda's amazing giveaway! While secretly

:: hoping that I'll be the winner.

:: Wishing my order from Knit Picks would arrive so I can get to knitting.

:: Waiting for N8tr0n to get home from Home Depot and fix our water heater.

:: Hating that we don't have hot water.

:: Looking at the buckets of apples from my mom's tree and wondering when I'll get around to making more apple sauce.

:: Admiring my newly organized basement food storage closet.

:: Searching for a perfectly amazing patterned arm chair for our living room.

:: Pretending we have the money to buy one if I find it.

:: Taking a break from fertility medicine and feeling completely relieved as a result.

:: Reading Dracula and being totally creeped out when it gets dark.

:: Editing pictures from my birthday party. I still need to give you the details and there is no way I'm letting it go undocumented.

:: Listening to the new album by Beirut. Holy moly it is good.

:: Feeling thankful for my sweet family. Immediate and extended. We are so blessed to have each other.

:: 8juyyhgggtrv;;lppo90 (Says Z-cakes. She said she wanted to help me.)

::Thinking that all of you are pretty fantastic. Thank you for reading, commenting, emailing, and being rad.

Weekending

2011-10-31T05:00:00.000-07:00

I love it when holidays extend over several days. I feel like we've been celebrating Halloween since Wednesday and there is still one more night of action! Here are a few highlights from our weekend:

Z-cakes got all dressed up for our church Halloween party. (That makes 4 times so far that she's gotten to wear her costume. Yesssssss!) I took pictures of her on the deck and the well-known struggle with opening her eyes AND looking in my general direction AND smiling continued.

At the party several people told me that they loved my nerd costume and I didn't have the heart to tell them that I was actually just wearing my regular clothes.

We spent the rest of the weekend in Burley where my sister-in-law and I turned approximately eleventy thousand sugar cookies into mummies.

We had a little birthday celebration for my brother who is turning 26 on Tuesday. I made the White Out cake from Baked and oh my lands that recipe is a keeper. It was especially delicious with the raspberry filling I included. No, seriously.

At the end of the night my sister-in-law decided to cut up her wedding dress to turn it into a Halloween costume.

I'm kidding. She got this dress for $20 at a thrift store. Won't she make a lovely Bride of Frankenstein?

Happy Haunting my friends! Are you Trick or Treating tonight?

Halloween Preview

2011-10-26T19:34:00.000-07:00

So, maybe I was up late last night hand sewing a zipper into this costume after I realized I didn't have a zipper foot for my machine. And perhaps I was frantically hand sewing the hem five minutes before it was time to be at the library for trick-or-treating (which, by the way, Z-cakes calls "taking treating"). But the important part is that this little girl is wearing a costume that her mama made. And when she tells people she is Cinderella she curtsies.

And my buttons are bursting.

Weekending

2011-10-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the first one in what seems like forever that we haven't been away or hosting guests. We took advantage of our free weekend, and the amazing weather, to paint our deck.

I believe it was June when we decided to completely refinish our deck. So finishing four months later? That's actually pretty good for us. Here's what the deck looked like before (photo taken way back in July):

{please note the lone flower pot. I went way over the top this year with deck decor}

The black paint that had previously covered the deck had mostly peeled off. I decided I didn't want black anymore but finding a deck color that looks good on old wood + doesn't clash with the color of the bricks was harder than I expected. It took a mere seven sample bottles of stain before we found a color that was acceptable.

N8tr0n has been working like a fiend on the deck stripping, scrubbing, treating, sanding, and finally painting (I finally helped when it was time to paint). Like every other home project, this one took us way more time, cost way more money, and was way more of a pain than we thought it would be. All that aside, we still really love home projects. And we love our pretty deck.

Now N8tr0n and I are constantly stopping to admire our (mostly his) work. We have big plans for the fence too but there is a good chance it will be spring before you see those results.

What do you think? Any fun, more work that you thought they would be, projects going on in your home?

Bliss

2011-10-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

{Z-cakes + Uncle Kev-Bo via Grandpa Bill's camera}

Best Birthday Ever

2011-10-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday and my heart is so full. Here's a few highlights from my weekend:

:: Four of my best friends from Denver showing up for the weekend. Total surprise.
:: Kim hosting an amazing party.
:: Being surrounded by friends and family from Burley, Seattle, Portland, Salmon, American Falls, Idaho Falls, and Pocatello.
:: A new ipad2.
:: Giant breakfasts with 10 people around the table eating our fresh eggs and pumpkin waffles.
:: Caramel apples.
:: 2 trips to Cafe Rio.
:: Pine nut hunting around the City of Rocks.

I couldn't feel more blessed. Thank you all for such a wonderful birthday!

XO

Happy Monday

2011-10-10T22:10:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the school year I started working three days a week. It has been a huge adjustment for me. Huge, I tell you! Since I work in the middle of the week I have started to love Mondays because they feel like an extra day off. I'm counting this as a much needed plus side. Today was a particularly productive Monday. Here's a quick list of the things Z and I were able to accomplish today:

Vacuumed the whole house, did laundry, played Hopscotch, planted tulip bulbs, eradicated the Giant Knotweed from our yard, watched Curious George, arranged pumpkins on our deck. (Z-cakes prefers them to be in a line across the bottom step but I eventually talked her into small groups.)

And while I'm in the spirit of loving Monday and all, here is a list of things making me terribly happy today:

01. Long email exchanges with Kim about party plans!
02. A new letterpress print hanging in my entry. After living here for a year and a half I can honestly have this hanging in our house.
03. The fact that N8tr0n has not told me what he's getting me for my birthday. I don't think this has happened in the 7 years we've been married so it is worth getting excited about.
04. Z-cakes in striped tights.
05. Clicking through pictures of my brother's wedding.
06. Reading Dracula with Charlotte as part of my new scary book in October tradition. Last year we read Helter Skelter. Creepy.
07. Wearing what is possibly the greatest cardigan I have ever owned in my life.
08. Lunch with N8tr0n.
09. Watching Mad Men with N8tr0n.
10. Pumpkin everything.

Your turn. What is making you terribly happy? No really, I want to hear. And speak up so they can hear you in the back.

First Snow

2011-10-06T23:09:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we went driving to find fall colors. Yesterday we went driving to find snow. We found quite a bit of it at Pebble Creek. Ahh, Idaho. I love you. You're crazy.

In case it isn't obvious, N8tr0n has been bitten with the ski bug. Hard. Also, I recognize that I really need to drag out my real camera and quit subjecting you people to cell phone shots.

Thank you for your votes of confidence regarding Cinderella's dress. We have a completed bodice, people. It was all I could do last night to not wake Z-cakes up to try it on her.

Update: N8tr0n just reminded me of this post. Ahh, Denver. I loved you. You were crazy too.

A few things

2011-10-06T07:03:00.000-07:00

:: First of all, a whopping big THANK YOU is long overdue for your kind comments about our bedroom. I'm so pleased that you like it. It is nice when I put so much thought into something to have it turn out exactly the way I want it to. I've gone back and answered a couple of questions in the comments so be sure to check them out if you have a pending query.

:: It rained all day yesterday and looks like it is going to do the same today. Also, we turned on our heat last night. I was probably more excited about this than is reasonable. I would however like to cold weather to put off coming for just a bit longer (or forever but you know, can't have it all) so we can finish stripping our deck and planting bulbs. Fingers crossed.

:: My dear sweet little Z-cakes. She wants to be Cinderella for Halloween. We looked at a few costumes at the store but they were....well...let's just say they were sub-par. I have taken on the task of sewing her a costume even though this is hands down the most technical thing I've ever tried to sew. Skills needed that are not currently in my repertoire include but are not limited to: sewing with satin, gathering, lining, and you know, sewing anything other than a straight line. But I love my daughter, so I'm going to try. And I have the rest of the month to work on it. And it doesn't have to be perfect. And most importantly...I can do this. Right?

Right?

Tag Team Tompkins

2011-10-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

Please tell me you love Tag Team Tompkins newest letterpress art as much as I do! Diane and Madeline recently sent me some of their latest work and I could hardly wait to share it with you. My collection of Halloween decor is growing with the help of their Scottish Proverb, and I'm pretty sure my mom needs this pack of Halloween prints don't you think? Isn't the black with silver ink just gorgeous?

I also have four of their Dire Warning prints waiting to be hung in Z's reading nook.

And now for my exciting news. Diane + Madeline are offering FREE SHIPPING to Narrating Life readers for the remainder of 2011! Stock up right now if you need some Halloween prints of your own and while you're at it, perhaps you need a few Christmas gifts? I'm just sayin'.

To take advantage of Diane + Madeline's generous offer just use the code MWSHIPFREE (domestic addresses only) between now and the end of 2011!

Many kind thanks to Diane + Madeline. Happy shopping!

Weekending

2011-10-03T06:54:00.000-07:00

Good morning friends! We spent another lovely weekend in Burley. Did you have a good weekend too? We spent Saturday hanging out with family (N8tr0n golfed with my dad and I shopped with my mother + sister-in-law).

Plus we ate at Aguila Con El Taco which is possibly my most favorite Mexican restaurant ever.

On Sunday the three of us drove to Bostetter to catch a glimpse of the gorgeous fall colors (we were not disappointed), and ate Chili for dinner. Yum. So far, this fall is coming together just the way I like it.

And as you know, it is October which means, I am happy. Here's a list of a few of the things that are making me terribly happy today:

01. Having gone for a run with Emmylou this morning! Hip Hip Hooray for us!
02. The pile of leaves sitting on my counter collected from our fall colors drive.
03. Mailing out a stack of invitations for my 30th birthday party!
04. The crazy way Z sprawls across her bed while she's sleeping.
05. Peaches for breakfast.
06. Our family date to the pumpkin patch tonight!
07. Making a list of possible desserts to make today and trying to get Z-cakes to choose just one.
08. Planting bulbs.
09. Watching new TV with N8tr0n.
10. Leftover chili in my fridge.

So do tell, what is making you terribly happy today? I'll be making plenty of lists just like this one so prepare yourself accordingly. Also, be sure to check in tomorrow morning. I have a fun offer from two of my favorite Etsy artists!

Just right

2011-09-30T07:40:00.000-07:00

Last night I decided it was time to do something about the box of peaches that we have slowly but surely been eating our way through. My intention was to just make a lifetime supply of peach butter, but once we started slipping the skins off those gorgeous peaches N8tr0n and I decided we should try canning them. I put in a late-night call to my dear Emmylou for a quick tutorial on how the crap you do that.

As it turned out, the peach butter took me so long to finished that I didn't have it in me to can the rest of the peaches last night. I was a bit sad when I realized that I'm too old and too attached to my sleep to pull all-nighters to satisfy superfluous whims. Oh well.

This morning all I can think about (aside from the giant bowl of peaches sitting in my fridge waiting to be canned) is how fun last night was. Working in the kitchen with N8tr0n talking about how much we love our house and our daughter I couldn't help but think about how good life really is. It was one of those moments when you can put your current frustrations aside because everything else about life is just so right.

In other news: Last night N8tr0n bought a new pair of ski boots. Z-cakes adamantly wants to go skiing too and keeps asking us to buy her some "skidis."

Z-cakes' Bedroom Inspiration

2011-09-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

Now that the master bedroom is 95% done (we just got prints to hang above the nightstands!) I have my sights set on Z-cakes' room. I recently painted the room a gorgeous light gray that looks great with every color I bring in. Previously her room was a brown that I referred to as "unfortunate"—at least for a three year old's bedroom. Repainting immediately made it feel more like a little girl's room. Isn't it wonderful when that happens? Here are a few of the photos I keep coming back to when I imagine Z's future room:

{via Annily Green}

So, you know Annily? She's kind of my new blog crush. I love everything about her house and this kids' room is no exception.

{via Little Green Notebook}

I love the mix of blue, green, and especially yellow in this picture. Speaking of yellow, I'm toying with the idea of having that be a unifying color in my home. Discuss.

{via Apartment Therapy}

Ahh...geometric quilts.

Now that I have these pictures all put together, I'm kind of shocked at how different they are. Here's hoping I can synthesize the three into something stunning and not something that looks like it was actually decorated by a three year old.

In other news, our Fab.com order arrived today!

It is supposed to be a Christmas present for Z, but I've been playing with it for a solid 45 minutes. It may end up being difficult for me to share.

Monday Morning

2011-09-26T08:25:00.001-07:00

Did you know that I start every week with the intention of blogging every day? So, yeah. That has not been happening so much lately.

Today my friend's daughters are spending the day with us. Z-cakes is in heaven and my belief the trampolines are one of the best inventions ever is reaffirmed (as it is every day).

You can blame Annily

2011-09-19T16:54:00.000-07:00

The lovely Annilygreen first clued me in on the completely awesome Fab.com. I'll save you the long-winded explanation of why I love it so much and just say: I am a big fan. Even though 95% of the time I don't buy anything, I still love looking at all of the pretty designs.

Aaaaaanywho. This post is to let you all know that if you join Fab.com through this link: http://fab.com/h2tabt before 7:52 PM, EST tomorrow (that means you have 24 hours) you will get a $10 credit. Wahoo! You're welcome, friends.

Weekending

2011-09-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

Good morning! How was your weekend friends? N8tr0n surprised us with an overnight stay in Jackson Hole. He said that even though we have been doing lots with our extended family we hadn't gone anywhere just the three of us. Rad, right? We had a great time. I can't wait to go back for a longer stay next year.

We started the morning with a delicious breakfast at The Bunnery.

Then we looked through some art galleries, watched the Art Festival Auction, and hung out with Al.

If you knew how many pictures I took trying to get Z-cakes to smile + look directly at the camera....It sounds something like this: "Z. Look at me. Look at me and smile! Look at me with your eyes. Z? Hello! I'm over here! No, look at me with your eyes. Can you turn your head? Now your eyes? Smile please!" This is the best I could do.

N8tr0n and I kept our eyes out for any cool art to put in our house (it was all waaaaaaaay out of our price range), but Z-cakes had her sights set on candy. She made a sizable purchase at Yippy I-O.

We also went to Teton Village to check out the ski resort. Obviously nobody is skiing yet but the place was still hopping with mountain bikers. N8tr0n decided he needed to go skiing this winter now that we have an actual job and money to do those kinds of things. I thought about how it is a shame that I don't ski living in this place of endless winters.

Since he won't be skiing with me, N8tr0n is currently training a new partner.

On the way home we stopped to check out the Teton Dam. I thought it was an amazing sight but it didn't stop me from recognizing that it was the kind of thing my parents would have driven out to see that I would have thought was beyond boring. I guess this is what it feels like to be an adult.

Happy Monday! Here's to having a wonderful week!

P.S. Last night after closing up the chicken coop I came inside and announced that it smelled like fall. Z-cakes insisted on coming outside and smelling for herself. No doubt about it friends, my true love is on his way.

Finally a House Tour: Day 2

2011-09-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

Remember when I showed you our kitchen? Well now, a mere six months later I'm finally getting around to showing you our bedroom. Though, to be fair, it has only been finished for about a month. So that makes me feel a bit less guilty. Anyway, here we go:

I'll start right off by telling you that my favorite thing about our room is the curtains, but the thing that I'm the most proud of is the nightstands. They are the Rast drawers from Ikea; painted by yours truly. There is a good chance that you've seen this exact project on a couple of other blogs but I don't care. That is how much I love them. Also the antlers. I love those too. I'm probably going to start a huge collection.

We have plans to hang art above our nightstands but we (N8tr0n) haven't decided what we want yet.

Over there in the corner is our closet and oh, she is a tiny dancer that closet. I decided to take the door off and replace it with a curtain for three reasons: 1. Then I wouldn't have to paint the door. 2. Then we would have room for the velvet storage ottoman. 3. Then it wouldn't take up so much space when it got left open like it always did. I also feel like the wall with the round mirror needs a little something more but I'm going to wait until I think of something brilliant.

The small gallery wall is a work in progress. Eventually there will be more Instagram photos and hopefully a family picture if the ones we had taken at my brother's wedding turn out. This is very important information that is very interesting to you, I'm sure.

Oh! I almost forgot the before picture! What good would this post be without a before picture? I mean, this is the internet after all...

Ha! Awesome. This is a before picture of my room slumped over, wearing baggy clothes, no makeup, and a frown on its face. Obviously the transformation is miraculous.

So what do you think? Not bad for my first adventure in decorating eh? Please do let me know what you think. Oh! And Happy Monday to you my dears.

Oakley to Jackpot

2011-09-08T05:00:00.000-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend our family (us, my parents, + N8tr0n's parents) rode four-wheelers from Oakley, ID to Jackpot, NV. Some of us may or may not have been burned to a crisp by the high desert sun, but we all had a wonderful time. It definitely satiated my need to be outside, in the mountains, and very very dirty. Also, have I mentioned lately how much I love Idaho?

Z-cakes was an absolute rock star through the whole trip. Two days on the four-wheeler and she didn't complain. Not once. Unless of course we stopped for a break and then she complained a bit because it was time to ride.

Weekending, briefly

2011-08-29T09:12:00.001-07:00

This weekend we welcomed a new member into our family when my brother got married! In addition to that we drove, ate, roasted 175+ lbs. of beef in a pit dug into the ground, threw flower petals down the aisle, danced, drank ridiculous amounts of coke zero, and hardly slept at all. It was one of those weekends that constantly makes you stop and think to yourself, "Oh...so this is what it means to live the good life."

I'm hoping you don't mind that I'll be taking the rest of the week off. You're used to me being away this summer anyway, right? I'll be back next week with lots of pictures from the wedding + details about our deep pit BBQ. N8tr0n's parents are staying with us for the week so the good times here continue. Good luck to those of you who have little ones starting school today. Z-cakes is quite jealous of you.

New Additions

2011-08-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

We have a few new additions to our very fine house that I have been neglecting to tell you about. First of all—and this is a big one—we bought a couch.

Oh how I love my new couch. It is comfy, stylish, and I'm contemplating marrying the color. We have all taken naps on it and while I love sitting on it, sometimes I like to sit across the room so I can gaze upon its loveliness. Here it is in what you could typically expect to see on a lazy summer morning around here (Which we haven't had for like, a month. This picture was taken ages ago in July). Z-cakes finishing up her breakfast getting ready to watercolor, me possibly still in my bathrobe getting ready to write a blog. You know, the rockstar lifestyle.

Next up: A trampoline. A big one. A FREE big trampoline.

We have my brother to thank for this blessed addition to our house. He gave it to Z after he got a screamin' hot deal on it and she's pretty much been jumping on it ever since. I think I've probably jumped on a trampoline more this month than I have the last 12 years of my life.

Finally, we got a rocking horse from my grandpa (who Z-cakes affectionately refers to as
Grandpa Two).

He currently lives in our basement and goes by the name of Maximus for obvious reasons.

Happy Wednesday friends! Do tell, any new additions in your house that make you happy every time you see them?

P.S. My bedroom is 98.5% complete and I'm dying to show it to you. Perhaps I'll share the pictures even though I haven't found the perfect accent pillow of my dreams yet? Especially since I've now started in on Z-cake's room and I want to tell you all about that too. Here's a hint about my bedroom: It looks absolutely nothing like this.

Weekending: County Fair Edition

2011-08-22T06:32:00.000-07:00

On Thursday evening, Z-cakes and I drove to Burley. When we walked in the door my dad said, "Don't take your shoes off, we're going to the fair for dinner," which was pretty much exactly what I wanted to hear.

The next morning we went to the fair for breakfast, and proceeded to eat constantly for the duration of our stay.

We stayed at the 4-H arena most of the day watching our cousins show their steers.

And Z-cakes climbed and jumped off the bleachers for four straight hours.

On Friday evening N8tr0n joined us.

And we celebrated our 7th anniversary by going to the rodeo.

When we finally drug ourselves home on Saturday afternoon, after yet another breakfast at the fair, and more food than anyone should really try to shove into their stomachs, I declared the weekend a success.

How was your weekend, friends? Did you get to go to a fair? Did you eat a corndog? Or three?

Red + Orange + Yellow Bridal Shower

2011-08-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

My mom and I put this shower together and I couldn't have been happier with how it turned out. Before I start in on the pictures, here's a little something you should know about me and my mom: I remember one Thanksgiving when one of mom's guests was looking at all of the pies she made and said something like, "Wow, you really went all out didn't you?" My mom thought for just a moment and said, "Well, I don't really do anything halfway." Truer words have never been spoken.

(NOTE: Someday when I am a professional event planner I will hire and actual photographer to photograph my fêtes. Until then you'll have to live with my pictures. Taken frantically, sweat dripping into the viewfinder, while trying to get the rest of the food on the table before all of the guests arrive.)

{not all of the food}

The bride's parents have a beautiful sunroom in their home. Perfect for throwing parties if you ask me.

We piled the gifts up the sides of the hot tub and they looked lovely. It is nice when guests bring along your decor.

The menu included:
Hostess Streusel Cakes (the brides favorite treat)
Fruit salad
Crudites in cups
Shower sandwiches (duh)
Apricots
Cherries + Strawberries (not pictured)
Lemon curd tarts
Cherry chocolate cupcakes
Izzy (again, duh)

The theme of the shower was "Stock the Kitchen" so for favors everybody got a cute striped dish towel. I also made a few kitchen utensil arrangements with utensils from my mom's kitchen.

I found these gorgeous flowers the day before the shower and couldn't believe my good fortune. The colors were perfect!

All in all, a successful shower. Wouldn't you agree?

Many thanks to my mom for helping pull everything together, to Spencer for setting up the tents and hanging things from the ceiling, and my dad and N8tr0n for hauling multiple laundry baskets full of party supplies to and from my car.

Weekending

2011-08-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

Good Morning! Long time no see, right? My apologies for the silence here but August has proven to be as busy as I thought it would. Here's what we were up to this weekend.

I pretty much spent the weekend neck deep in bridal shower prep which included painting table runners because I couldn't find exactly what I wanted. They ended up being much easier than I thought.

On Friday night I went to Burley all by myself! Z-cakes stayed home with N8tr0n so that I could focus on throwing the shower without feeling guilty for neglecting her.

And while I was gone, N8tr0n + Z-cakes built nesting boxes for our hen house!

The cupcakes I made for the shower were possibly my best yet. I'll be posting more pictures of the shower later, pinkie promise.

On Sunday I was so wiped out from the shower that I did nothing. Seriously. I did feed Z-cakes because she's happier when we do that but otherwise, nada. Today begins my full fledged campaign to put the house in order before N8tr0n's parents arrive. I can't decide whether giving myself two full weeks is pessimistic or a little too optimistic.

In other news, Z-cakes has taken to putting her baby dolls here:

N8tr0n and I find it terrifying.

Surprise!

2011-08-03T06:20:00.000-07:00

Just the other day I was telling someone that I expected our hens to start laying eggs in September. Plenty of time for us to build the dang nesting boxes that we've been putting off. Then when I went to fluff up the coop bedding yesterday evening, surprise!

Two tiny eggs and one slightly larger egg. I remember my mom mentioned once that her mom used to let her use those tiny eggs (also knows as "pullet eggs") to make mud pies with. Isn't that cute? I doubt Z-cakes would be on board with that because she's a little scared of cracking eggs. Yeah, you read right. There's no use discussing the logic behind being scared of cracking eggs, you're not going to change her mind.

Anyway, having chickens is pretty rad. Yay for eggs!

Weekending

2011-08-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit!

We took a very brief trip to Burley this weekend. Just long enough for N8tr0n to hand out gifts from China and for Z-cakes to get in some time on the tractor with Grandpa Ken.

{learning to eat sunflower seeds}

{loading up}

{beautiful Idaho}

On Sunday we had my dear friend, Emmylou and her family (husband + two little girls) over for dinner. I didn't take a single picture—proof that I am out of my blogging groove. But it should be noted that by some random miracle N8tr0n and I were able to get everything finished (including dinner rolls and pie!) before our guests arrived. Teamwork high five!

Having friends over for dinner has to be one of my favorite things to do. Sitting around your table having good conversation over a dinner that you made yourself is even more rewarding than throwing an amazing party. Do you agree? Last night felt like one of those moments that I tally in my mind because I am reminded of how very good life is.

Happy August friends! Do you have a full schedule this month? My schedule consists of: swimming lessons, a bridal shower, my anniversary, my brother's wedding, house guests, and fairs. Always fairs.

Two Weeks of Summer

2011-07-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Good morning friends! How are you? I've missed you!

{presents from China}

On Tuesday N8tr0n returned home from a two week business trip to China. You didn't know he was gone? Well to be honest, I try to keep our comings and goings quiet on this space just in case of would-be serial killers. You understand I'm sure. Anyway, N8tr0n's absence is why things have been so quiet around here; that is, I've pretty much spent the last two weeks doing whatever Z-cakes wants to do as an attempt to survive being a single parent. Writing blog posts was not on her agenda if you can believe it. Also, N8tr0n took my ipod. Which means no easy pictures (since I am suddenly way to lazy to carry my giant camera around which must weigh what, at least a pound? Way too heavy for summer). Which means no easy posts. So while we were having our all-the-time-girls'-party at our house, I made sure to make note of the unphotographed moments. Here are a few of them:

:: Going to the farmer's market and every other used/thrift store within walking distance the first day N8tr0n was gone.
:: Popcorn + apples for dinner (I really think I'm on to something with that combination).
:: A trillion Otter Pops eaten on the front porch.
:: Driving to Salmon to hang out with our friends (more on this later).
:: Jen and me both sleeping through Cars 2 while our girls ate gallons of popcorn.
:: Z's frozen yogurt topped with: Andes mints, Butterfinger, Swedish Fish, Jelly Beans, Jimmies, and Marshmallows (I think she's getting the hang of the "self serve" setup).
:: Z playing on the swings with Grandpa Ken for hours.
:: Swimming at Indian Springs and having an ice cream sandwich for dinner.
:: Talking to N8tr0n via Skype (because the Internet is awesome).
:: Watching Tangled nearly everyday.

Whew. It was a long couple of weeks you guys. For some reason time seems to pass slower when N8tr0n is gone. But now he's back! And all is right with the world.

What have you been up to in the last two weeks? Do you love the dog days of summer or are you just getting by? Oh! And Happy Friday!

Blog Hopping: Summer Salads

2011-07-19T23:00:00.000-07:00

I know it is summer when the only thing that sounds even remotely appetizing is some sort of salad. The fact that this month's blog hop is about salads is completely self serving.

This salad is best when compiled over the course of a few days. I wouldn't recommend making it all in one sitting. That would just take too long. And that's not really what we're going for when it comes to summer salad, right?

So here's the thing. On the night that you saute fresh green beans from the farmer's market for dinner, make sure you set a few aside for a salad. If you roast some baby beets the next day, squirrel away a few of those too. Or maybe you have Swiss Chard coming out of your ears via your garden? You get the idea.

After you have a fridge full of leftover veggies, boil some Israeli Couscous as your base and add your leftovers. Here's what was in my salad on day one and then day two:

Israeli Couscous

Green Beans
Basil
Scallions
Toasted Almonds
Lemon juice + olive oil

Israeli Couscous

Green Beans
Beets
Pistachios
Dressing from this amazing salad (P.S. I make a giant batch of this dressing a couple of times a summer and keep in my fridge. You know. For emergencies.)

Easy right? The key is to remember to set aside all those awesome summer veggies that you're cooking up for dinner so that you can enjoy them later. And while we're talking about summer veggies, let's take a minute to talk about the perfection of roasted baby beets. Seriously I eat those things like they're candy.

Are you ready for your favorite part of blog hopping? Here's the list of ladies who are sharing their favorite summer salads this month. Enjoy!

Lee
Stephanie
Kimberlee
Sara
Christina
Thanks so much for participating ladies!

Here's how "Blog Hopping" works:
• Each blogger participating will post on their own blog about a pre-chosen theme. (Blog Hopping is all about discovering new blogs!)
• Posts will go up on the 20th of each month
• At the end of the post, the bloggers participating will be linked so you all can "hop" around and check out the other ideas/recipes.
• And most exciting: YOU are invited to participate. Please contact me if you are interested.

Okay but maybe I'll still go...

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

{image}

Tonight The Avett Brothers will be playing in Sun Valley, Idaho and I, after an unsuccessful attempt to convince anyone to go with me, will not be in attendance. And this pains me deep within my soul. Can you believe the unfairness of my life? Also? Just five days ago The Avett Brothers were playing at Red Rocks in Denver and for reasons that I can't quite define, that just feels like salt in the wound.

So tonight instead of dropping Z-cakes off at my mom's house and speeding up to Sun Valley by myself (which I have very seriously considered) I will be enjoying a pretend concert in my backyard. You are welcome to join me if you'd like. Unless you have tickets to the show in Sun Valley. Then I would recommend that you go to that instead. And also, how rude of you to not take me with you!

Ahem. There will be homemade quilts for sitting on our dandelion covered grass, popcorn, string lights, and my laptop blasting playlists and YouTube videos of The Brothers. Also there will be Coke. And not Diet Coke either...it is a concert after all.

And in case you can't make it to my pretend concert either...here is a little/giant playlist for you. Because I and love and you.

BFF

2011-07-08T08:54:00.000-07:00

So last night I was sitting in the basement watching So You Think You Can Dance on Hulu because that is what I do in the summer. As I watched I whipped up another set of matching friendship bracelets for me and Z-cakes. I also thought about how she had insisted that I paint her fingernails the same color as mine. That is when it occurred to me:

Z-cakes is totally my best friend. Even though I'm a friend who sometimes has to put the other friend in time out or tell her to take a bath or a nap.

I know you can't see the colors of the bracelet very well with this picture but can you see the brown? It is a rusty brown that I never would have put in a bracelet in a million years. But that is the color that Z-cakes chose and when she makes a decision, it sticks. Turns out the color works perfectly and Z-cakes is probably cooler and more color savvy than I'll ever be.

Happy Friday friends! If you want to make a bracelet for your BFF you can find the beautiful tutorial/refresher here.

4th of July Weekending

2011-07-05T08:10:00.001-07:00

Our holiday weekend was perfect. I hope yours was too. Here are just a few of the highlights (because if I showed them all to you we'd be here all day):

Left to right; top to bottom:
01. Feeding ducks at Emerald Lake with Uncle Spence and (soon to be) Aunt Britney.
02. Watching kids try to climb a greased pole with a $100 bill at the top: HILARIOUS.
03. My new favorite snow cone flavor: Tiger's Blood + Nectarine.
04. A backyard BBQ complete with checkered tablecloths, neighbors riding over on four-wheelers, and enough salads to feed an army.
05. I made an angel food cake (I had a lot of egg whites left over after making all of that ice cream).
06. Convincing Z that holding a sparkler is not so much terrifying as it is awesome.

Happy July

2011-07-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit Friends! And Happy July to you too. And Happy Canada Day to my friends in Canada!

{peonies by my back step}

Are you all gearing up for a big holiday weekend? We are heading to my hometown for the 4th and I'm so happy that we are. I told N8tr0n the other day that I realized I don't really like to travel for the 4th. I like to be close to home and I like knowing what to expect. Mom's pasta salad, poppers on the sidewalk, perhaps some pretzel jello, and fireworks at the golf course. Happy Independence Day.

Speaking of expectations, if I were you I wouldn't expect daily posts from my blog this summer. That's not to say that I won't be posting, but just that it will be more...erratic. It has been a long hard winter/spring here in our new home and now that summer has arrived we're going to go all Sheryl Crow and "soak up the sun." I imagine you're doing the same. Which means you really don't have time to sit at your computer and read my ramblings. So really....I'm thinking of you. You're welcome.

Have a lovely and safe 4th of July weekend! XOXO

Summer is...

2011-06-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

Farewell Rooster-Hen

2011-06-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend we said goodbye to our rooster-hen. I'd like to say that the parting was bitter sweet but that would probably be sugar coating it. I was happy to see her go. I pretty much let N8tr0n load her into a crate and never looked back. Her crowing drove me up the wall and after she pecked me (like not hard enough to break the skin but hard enough to break my heart) ((except my heart wasn't broken so much as it was completely pissed off)) well, let's just say we weren't the best of friends having so much fun together.

Anyway, we loaded her up and sent her off to the ranch. And no, not the kind of ranch you're thinking of. An actual ranch where my cousins live. And speaking of cousins, mine were kind enough to trade us straight up for one of their hens! Isn't that great? Now I can still have four chickens AND not get woken up at 5:00 AM by rooster-hen!

Allow me to introduce you to Lilly II. She is an Australorp and as far as we can tell, very quiet. Very non-rooster-ish. We hope she likes it here.

{it totally cracks me up how not pretty chickens are when they are teenagers}

Lilly II is currently being quarantined on the other side of the yard. The experts recommend quarantining for at least 30 days but uhhh, we're not going to be doing that. In an effort to balance prudence and practicality we'll probably quarantine for a couple of days and then introduce her to the ladies. I'll let you know how that goes since introducing a new hen means they have to revamp the pecking order and all that jazz. Unless the results are gruesome. Which I'm sure they won't be. But, you know, if they are I won't tell you about it.

So, farewell Rooster-Hen. I would say that we'll miss you but right now I'm looking at the scab on my hand from when you bit me so...have a nice life.

A new tradition

2011-06-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday we hosted our first annual First Day of Summer Ice Cream Party. The weather was perfect, the homemade ice cream was copious, and the childrens' faces were covered with chocolate. It was everything a summer party should be, if I do say so myself.

The conversation lasted until well past dark and N8tron and I have already started brainstorming lighting options for our next party. I also learned that I seriously overestimated the amount of ice cream we would need. We have tons of it left in our deep freeze which I'm not about to pretend is necessarily a bad thing. I wasn't able to take a picture of any of the ice cream (I was too busy scooping cones for the kids), but it was all served out of bread pans. We filled the large white dishes with ice and put one bread pan in each dish. It worked well as long as we kept an eye on it and rotated the flavors whenever they got a bit too melty.

At the end of the night each family went home with a tiny jar of fudge sauce. Do you see the carafe full of it in the first picture? Yeah, that's still sitting my fridge completely full because, you know, we decided to make a triple batch. Again...not saying that's a bad thing.

Many thanks to all of our friends who joined us, to Jen for making a long trek to come help me, and to the lovely ladies who helped me with the dishes when the night was through! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Did you do anything to celebrate the first day of summer? Would you like to come over for some ice cream?

Three Days In

2011-06-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

Homemade ice cream party
Free park lunch
Drive-in corndog
Long line at the swimming pool
Not actually going to the swimming pool
Running through sprinklers instead
So You Think You Can Dance
Otter pops
Summer reading program
Sonic happy hour
Stroller walks
Sprinklers on the lawn
Salad from the garden
Laundry on the line
Peonies

Only three days in to summer and I think we're off to a great start. If you had asked me last week I would have told you that I wasn't sure summer would actually come. Maybe it was just waiting for it to be official.

P.S. No more apologies. I love Instagram. If you care to follow me just search for walker_miranda.

Blog Hopping: Hostess Gifts

2011-06-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be completely honest with you. I'm pretty sure I've never actually given a hostess gift. I mean....let me think about it....no. Never.

However, I really like the idea of hostess gifts and I've always wanted to be the kind of girl who gives them. The only problem is that they require forethought. And forethought is not my strong suit.

That being said, I believe that it is never too late to start over, to try again, to become the kind of girl who stands on a doorstep with a totally unexpected and wonderful gift. Which is why I chose this particular topic for this month's blog hop. In other words, this series is purely for my benefit. I'm selfish like that. Perhaps you can find an idea for your next gift-giving occasion and forgive me?

My friend Rachel once told me that whenever she has used the seeds out of a vanilla bean she sticks the remains (I don't know what else to call it...bean skin?...shell?...you know, the stuff that isn't seeds) in an airtight container with some sugar to make vanilla sugar. I think it is the perfect way to get the most out of your precious vanilla bean that you may have shelled out good money for. It also might make you feel better when you find a bean that you had completely forgotten about and realize that it has long since become dry and brittle. Don't cry! At least you can make vanilla sugar with it!

Of course I know you wouldn't be that irresponsible with your vanilla beans.

So really, this process couldn't be simpler. Get your vanilla bean (be it used up or dried up), stick it in an airtight container that you bought new or for a steal at your favorite thrift shop, pour in some sugar (I once heard a rule of thumb that you should use about 2 Cups of sugar per bean but I'm going to go ahead and say that it doesn't matter)(I used Turbinado sugar in this case because I think it is pretty), and let it sit for at least a week occasionally shaking it move the bean around.

Once the sugar has been sufficiently infused with the vanilla (or you have a party to go to, whichever comes first) throw on a label and a ribbon in your signature color (because you are now totally the kind of girl who has a signature color with which everything is wrapped) and you're set!

Now all I need is a hostess to give this lovely gift to! Any takers?

So tell me, do you give hostess gifts? Are you one of those always prepared girls that I am so envious of? Either way be sure to hop over to all of the other clever bloggers that are sharing their ideas today too.

Jocelyn
Michelle
Marisa
Joy
Amberlee
Thanks for participating ladies!

Here's how "Blog Hopping" works:
• Each blogger participating will post on their own blog about a pre-chosen theme. (Blog Hopping is all about discovering new blogs!)
• Posts will go up on the 20th of each month
• At the end of the post, the bloggers participating will be linked so you all can "hop" around and check out the other ideas/recipes.
• And most exciting: YOU are invited to participate. Please contact me if you are interested.

P.S. Do you love my new header? It was designed for me by the always sweet Kylee. Thank you so much Kylee!

Menu of the Week

2011-06-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

I spent the previous two weeks on a full-on cooking strike. Consequently we ate out nearly every night and now I have put myself on an eating out strike. It's all or nothing with me, people. On Monday I timidly made my way back into the kitchen and started mincing garlic for dinner and slicing strawberries for dessert; I pondered my cooking hiatus and thought, "Huh. Well that was silly."

Here's what we ate this week:

:: Brats with sauteed onions and cole slaw + radishes—I like to use this dressing for a quick cole slaw and I bought the brats from a local grocery store.

:: Shrimp + Escarole with Israeli Cous Cous—I picked up a beautiful head of escarole from the Farmer's Market on Saturday but it took me most of the week to figure out what to do with it. I finally settled on this recipe and added shrimp. This recipe continues to make me as happy as it did last September.

:: Hamburgers + Bibb Lettuce salad—If it is nice enough outside to grill, that is where you will find me. Also, I am praying that the dude at the Farmer's Market has more Bibb Lettuce this Saturday because ours is all gone and I'm sad.

:: Pizza—Pesto, Mozzarella, Spinach, Tomatoes

:: Salmon Burgers—we eat these quite often in the summer. They are quick to grill, I usually have hamburger buns on hand, and it is an easy way to get fish on our menu more frequently.

Dessert: Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble—more about this one later. Also, these cookies. Which I meant to take a picture of but never had an opportunity as I was busy eating the entire batch.

Happy Friday Friends. Any big plans for Father's Day? What was on your menu this week?

tag team tompkins

2011-06-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

The lovely ladies at tag team tompkins never cease to impress me. This mother/daughter pair (Diane and Madeline) have such a knack for finding endearing quotes that I adore and then pairing it with a charming paper cut silhouette. I can think of a spot in my house for nearly every one of their prints. Here are a few of my current faves:

{all photos via tag team tompkins}

If you haven't stopped by their shop lately, I highly recommend you do so.

P.S. Madeline and Diane wanted to find a way to reach out to those who have been struck by devastating spring storms and tornadoes. They realized that they already had the perfect print in their shop! Purchase this print during the month of June and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross to benefit recent storm victims.

Poultry Update

2011-06-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of you asked for chicken updates and as I am always one to give the people what they want, here I am updating you.

Let's just start with this shall we?

Rooster Hen from Miranda Walker on Vimeo.

Do you know what that sound was my friends? Well I will tell you.

I'm not entirely sure.

I mean. Yes. It was a crowing sound. But was it a crowing sound coming from a rooster, or a crowing sound coming from a dominant hen pretending to be a rooster? Because that happens you know? I didn't know, in case you were wondering. But now I do. And don't know. Whether this is a rooster or a hen. I mean really, who can know these things?

Yes I know that there are people who can know these things but I am not one of them.

Anyway, the future of this rooster-hen is undetermined. If she is in fact a he, then he will have to be relocated. If she is still a she and she continues on with that blasted crowing then she will have to be relocated. Until we know for sure, I am taking solace in the fact that all of our neighbors are elderly and can barely hear me when I'm talking straight to them. Perhaps they cannot hear our rooster-hen crowing at 5:00 AM?

Also, I take it back. I do know what that sound was. It was the sound of betrayal.

Also also, the rooster-hen's name is Lily. Or Lyle.

Okay. On with the updates:

This is Winnie the Wyandotte. Remember how we almost lost Winnie? She is now my favorite chicken because I think she is gorgeous. Unfortunately I think she is one of the hardest ones to catch. Also you can see in the background how the chickens frequently knock over their food thingie. It is annoying.

This is Archie the Ameraucana. Z-cakes was in charge of naming most of the chickens and she was dead set on having a Tulip and an Archie (my mom dog-sits a couple of dogs named Tulip and Archie) which is why this little hen was given a boy's name. Amazingly, this did not make her dominant over the rest of the flock and allow her to develop masculine traits the way her fellow Ameraucana rooster-hen did. Archie went through a very ugly phase, but I think she's quite pretty now, if not a bit of a camera hog.

For some reason I do not have a picture of Tulip the Rhode Island Red. Perhaps the fact that she is on the bottom of the pecking order makes her a bit camera shy? Tulip is in the running for favorite chick because she is by far the easiest to catch and I anticipate her being very pretty when she gets a bit older. I've never pretended not to be fickle when it comes to this little brood.

And there you have it. Poultry: Updated. I'm happy to answer any questions you have in the comments, although I still really don't know what I'm doing. I mean...I have a hen that crows for crap's sake.

P.S. Here are a couple more pics of me and Z-cakes with our chickies. Thanks At Home!

Weekending

2011-06-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Our weekend was ridiculously productive and yet this morning I'm feeling totally rested. I'm feeling very fortunate. Here's a peek at what we were up to:

We've been trying to go to the Farmer's Market every Saturday that we are in town. I was pretty pumped this week when I realized that a few of the vendors remember us! We also told Z-cakes that she could buy some cookies at one of the stands. You should have seen the look on her face when we came to the cookie booth.

After the market we went to the new Dick's Sporting Goods because it was the grand opening and that's a big deal, yo! We bought chap stick and sunblock in case you were curious.

And Z-cakes tried out their running track.

Saturday afternoon was all about the yard. Which I suspect is what a lot of our Saturdays will be about. Which I'm totally okay with. I planted flowers, worked in the garden, and weed whipped while N8tr0n mowed the lawn, trimmed branches off of our tree, and hacked the branches up with his new hatchet.

In the evening we both cleaned out the shed and sorted out yard sale items. I have to admit I'm a bit embarrassed to post this picture because I don't understand how we have so much crap but, oh well. Here's to editing, starting over, and living with less. Right?

Happy Friday

2011-06-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

:: I took this photo as I was leaving Salmon. I love it.

:: Our master bedroom (I call it that because it is our bedroom and not Z's bedroom but there's really nothing master about it) is so close to being complete that it is killing me. I really want to show you pictures. But you're really not seeing pictures until the curtains are hung.

:: Z-cakes is finally recovering from the crud and so am I. I started to get sick just as Z started showing signs of getting better. Lovely.

:: The sun is shining today and I hope it sticks around. I need some sunshine and our garden needs some sunshine. I don't think I've ever had a problem with my garden actually having too much moisture. However, our brussels sprouts look awesome and only two of our strawberry starts died. Also, I think one of our cucumber plants is alive. I have no idea how that happened because the rest of them are dead as doornails.

:: Thank you for the kind comments about the shower. It is always so fun to hear what your favorite parts were and it gives me the motivation to get started on plans for the next event.

:: Happy weekend friends! See you next week.

I completely forgot....

2011-06-09T12:45:00.001-07:00

...to show you the invitations Jen made for the shower!

We were so smitten with Melanie's idea for invitations that we snatched it right up. They were a huge hit. Hand delivered, of course.

And Jen's little girl in her Snow White pajamas? I'm dying.

Baby Shower Behind the Scenes

2011-06-09T07:03:00.000-07:00

01. Jen was smart enough to know when the lilacs would be in bloom in Salmon and planned the shower accordingly. She also had a sweet hookup. We cut buckets full of lilacs and didn't even make a dent in these bushes. 02. The girls were happy/insistent about helping put the flowers in the water. 03. We were up late the night before the shower making the favor bags and tags. I painted a watercolor stripe on the bottom for a little extra detail. 04. We packed all of the cookies in cellophane bags before putting them in the paper bags so there wouldn't be any spots on the paper. That's problem solving, people. 05. To buy us a little "quiet time" during the day, Jen made the girls a "special treat" that involved ice cream. It reminded me of these pictures. 06. I wish I always had a beautiful stack of crepes sitting on my counter.

Rustic Chic Baby Shower

2011-06-07T06:49:00.000-07:00

When Jen called me a couple months ago about helping her plan a baby shower, I was thrilled. I mean, we already know I love to plan a party, but planning one with a close friend is the best. Jen sent me this picture as inspiration and the ideas started flowing from there. There were many late night phone calls and long-winded emails as we planned the shower 200 miles apart. On a Thursday night Z-cakes and I landed on Jen's doorstep at 10:45 PM. The next morning was a flurry of grocery trips, baking, soup running over on the stovetop, and blowing noses. (Did I mention Z-cakes was sick? Because she was. Sick.) We were still putting together the final touches as people were pulling in the driveway. Luckily we got everything looking presentable before most of the guests arrived. In the end it all came together perfectly. The weather was gorgeous and it is hard to beat the scenery in Salmon. It was the perfect backdrop for our rustic shower.

Okay. Time for the pictures. Because you and I both know that is what you're here for.

After two full days of giving our toddlers full control of the house, we definitely did not want people walking through Jen's living room. We kept the front door closed and made a sign that fit inside the wreath already hanging on Jen's door to direct people to her back yard.

Upon arrival, guests were asked to place their gifts in this cute decorative baby carriage. A local antique store loaned it to us because Jen is such a good customer!

The guests were then greeted by everybody's favorite thing about parties: the food table.

The Food:
Crepe Quiche (adapted from this recipe)
Itty Bitty Pancakes
Fruit Soup
Cheese, Baguettes, and Grapes
Raspberry Lemonade

While the mama-to-be was opening presents we asked each guest to share their favorite thing about being a mother (inspired by the lovely, Dandee). I wasn't present for most of this part, but I did hear a lot of laughter coming from this fun bunch of ladies.

As the guests left, they were given a favor bag full of cookies. Jen was once again the brains behind this favor setup. We moved this cute corner bookshelf out of her bedroom just moments before the guests started to arrive. I am a big fan of shopping for decor in your own house and when you decorate like Jen it's easy!

And now, a few more pictures. Because I can't resist.

Here's what I learned throwing this party:
:: Jen is one of the best friends a girl could have. She just is.
:: Parties take a ton of work. Especially when you have to do most of the legwork the day before. By Sunday Jen and I were both exhausted and our feet were aching. In other words: prepare yourself.
:: Pinterest is your BFF when event planning. It was a great way for Jen and I to put together an inspiration board just for this shower even when we were miles apart. Check out my party planning board to see a few more pictures that were the inspiration for this party and much, much more.
:: I LOVE PLANNING PARTIES and I want to plan more. In fact, if you need help planning your next big shindig, please email me at mirmandy27@yahoo.com for more information!

So what do you think? I'll be answering any questions you have in the comments and a "behind the scenes" look at a couple of the shower details is in the works!

Weekending

2011-06-06T07:40:00.000-07:00

Z-cakes and I spent our weekend in Salmon, ID visiting my friend, being sick (Z-cakes), baking, shopping, eating, enjoying the gorgeous scenery and throwing a beautiful baby shower. Here are a few sneak peeks of the shower:

{chocolate dipped sugar cookie favors}

{favor tags}

Z-cakes had the time of her life playing with Jen's two little girls. I can't begin to tell you how fun it is to see my little girl play with my best friend's little girl. Will they grow up to have every class together their senior year of high school? Not likely. But the fact that they are friends as toddlers is good enough for me.

{a princess and a ladybug}

A little while after this picture was taken Z-cakes got sick. I was within arms reach of tissues every moment of the weekend.

{BFF}

{Dear Idaho, I love you.}

Even after a wonderful weekend spent with gracious hosts, it is always nice to come home, don't you think? Z-cakes has been missing her daddy and I am happy to have us all under one roof again. Jen, I promise to come back for a longer visit when we don't have so much work to do and my kid isn't infecting your entire house. :)

On today's agenda:
Unpack
Edit shower photos
Watch a million movies in an attempt to keep Z-cakes relaxed and recovering. She has recently discovered Diego and is requesting that I watch the next episode with her. If any of you are lacking sunshine and would like to have a movie watching competition with us, you're so totally on.

How was your weekend? I want to hear all about it!

The Time, It Flies

2011-06-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

{photo by truche}

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit!

I had to pop in here this afternoon to wish all of you a happy June. Did you know that we have lived in Idaho for an entire year? How can that be? On May 26th last year we pulled away from our beloved duplex in Denver and headed to Idaho. On June 1st, N8tr0n started his new job. A few months later we bought our first house, and a few months after that N8tr0n started a new new job. And now? Right now all is right with the world.

There are definitely times when I still miss Denver and the many friends that we had there. But the gravitational pull that Denver had on my heart when we were driving away has loosened and Idaho is feeling more like home everyday. That's not to say that I couldn't still go for some Chipotle. Or Sweet Action. Or Good Times. Or Tokyo Joes. Anyway.

I am done with work for the day. My first order of business is to go outside. If I have learned anything from this spring it has to fill my nice weather canteen whenever I can because the clouds are probably rolling in in about an hour. Maybe this is what it feels like to live in the moment?

A chicken update is on the way. Thanks for the request. I'm also throwing a shower with my friend Jen this Saturday so be prepared for a picture heavy party post. Aaaaaand I'll be sure to share the mix I'm putting together for the drive to Jen's house! Yay!

Happy June Friends. Go enjoy the sunshine if you can.

Long Weekending

2011-05-31T21:28:00.000-07:00

N8tr0n and I missed Z-cakes hard while she was staying with her grandparents last week. I picked her up on Friday morning and the rest of the weekend was pretty much all about her. Of course, if you've been reading this blog for like, two seconds, you know that every day is pretty much all about her. Which is exactly the way I think it should be.

On Saturday we went to Burley to celebrate my uncle's birthday. It was fun to see a lot of my cousins that I don't often get to see. After that we stayed at my parents' house and Z played a million games of Hi-Ho Cherry-O—one of my all time favorite games as a kid. Did you play Hi-Ho Cherry-O when you were growing up? Do your kids play it now?

At some point Z-cakes grabbed my ipod and went all crazy with the Cheez Wiz. I have approximately 200 pictures like this one on my ipod. I am not exaggerating.

On Sunday our Maple tree initiated its plan to eat our house. Also, we moved to Seattle. At least as far as I could tell we had.

On Monday Z-cakes got a manicure from her daddy,

and then hollered back on some chocolate chip pancakes from Ihop.

In the evening she sang an original song on Rock Band while her daddy played the guitar. The song is called Because I Love It and the lyrics go like this:

Because I love iiiiiiit
I love iiiiiiit
Because
Because
I love
I love iiiiiit
I love it because

(I also sang a little Bon Jovi duet with her and I totally caught her singing Livin' on a Prayer before bed that night. Yesssssss!)

As you can see it was a successful/exhausting weekend. I imagine it is tough being the lone princess in a family, but our Z-cakes seems to handle it with grace. And whining. She whines a lot too.

(P.S. I feel a need to apologize for all of the ipod pictures? I'm sure it's just a phase but it is ridiculously convenient phase. Plus Instagram is fun. And did I mention convenient? I'll try to limit the ipod pics to these weekend roundups. But no promises.)

So. You know. Stuff.

2011-05-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

This week by some crazy random happenstance I've gone and become a speech pathologist again. A dear friend of mine needed a little vacation so for the next two weeks I am doing therapy via the internet because you guys, the internet is amazing. As if I have to tell you that, right?

While I am working my articulation magic, my little #1 is off visiting her grandparents. Can you imagine? An entire week without my child at home? I spent days imagining all the things I would get done before and after work. I daresay I assumed I would be able to decorate the entire house in four short days! Clean the bathroom! Paint the living room! Save lives!

Here's how Monday (which was a half day of work) went down:

7:30—wake up
shower
eat breakfast
get ready
do laundry
load dishwasher
sweep living room
clean bedroom
fold laundry
read blogs
write emails

And by the time I got all that done it was....9:30.

What? I got all of that done in 2 hours? Holy Crap! The world is mine! I am so PRODUCTIVE!

And then, here's what happened: I quit. I stopped getting stuff done because honestly? I could not think of a single thing to do. The house was too quiet. I had done too much in a two-hour stretch. It's like I had overloaded my capacity for accomplishment for one day and I was just done. Suddenly, I was B.O.R.E.D.

My dearest Z-cakes,

I love you. And even though you decrease my productivity exponentially when you are around, it is totally worth it to hear your tiny voice singing and your little feet clip clopping around in your princess shoes all the live long day. Have fun at grandma's and then come home and hang out with me. You are my favorite.

Love,

Mom

Weekending

2011-05-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of weekends. Especially sunny weekends. Especially sunny weekends where we go to the farmers' market, visit friends, accidentally stumble upon a fiber fair, plant a garden, travel to Burley, and visit family. Here's the visual evidence:

I couldn't stop taking pictures of this tree that is in MY FRONT YARD!!!

While running a few errands we happened upon a MASSIVE fiber fair (I say "happened upon" as in, we were driving down the road and I saw a sign that said YARN and then another sign that said FIBER FAIR and I said "There's a Fiber Fair right there!" and N8tr0n turned into the parking lot immediately because that is how well he knows me). I got some beautiful yarn that will be turned into baby gifts post haste.

Z-cakes ran down the hall sniffing every single bag of raw wool because it "SMELLED LIKE SHEEP!" thus dispelling any questions as to whether or not this child is mine.

That afternoon we got to work on the garden.

And planted a few of the plants we picked up at the farmers' market (and a few from Home Depot).

On Sunday I admired the cotton candy clouds on the drive to Burley.

Z-cakes ate her weight in Red Vines and then made a face like a monster from Dr. Who.

And then she ate a giant ice cream cone.

The End.

How was your weekend? Sunny? Rainy? Productive? Relaxing?

Blog Hopping: Easy Family Recipe

2011-05-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

Good Morning! I'm excited about this new Blog Hopping series that Hannah and I will be hosting on the 20th of each month. Today we're talking about an easy family recipe and I'm featuring one of my all time faves: Fish Tacos.

I fell in love with fish tacos right after N8tr0n and I got married. We were living in Bellingham, WA and there were fish tacos aplenty. It didn't matter if the fish was battered and fried or grilled and smothered in chutney; I was in love.

Now that we live in Idaho fish tacos are less...plentiful. These that I make for our family are not quite as good as the ones that I had at the tiny restaurant on Mt. Baker Highway, but they give me an excuse to fire up the grill, which is really all I'm looking for from May through October.

So I have to say, the picture? It's not amazing. But that is basically because when I make fish tacos we just want to eat them. NOW. And the fact that I need to take a picture for the blog is like, nobody's concern. So, the lighting was bad, the presentation was rushed, and the focus was off. But the tacos? The tacos were delicious.

Fish Tacos
Adapted from: My most favorite grilling cookbook of all time: Weber's Real Grilling

Makes 8 Tacos

Slaw:
8 oz. red or green cabbage
1 medium carrot, shredded
1 small red onion thinly sliced
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 T. fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Toss and combine all ingredients in a bowl and let sit while fish is being grilled.

***
Fish:
4 Halibut fillets (or whatever happens to be your favorite fish) approx. 8 oz each
extra virgin olive oil
chili powder
salt and pepper

Brush or spray fish on all sides with oil; season with salt, pepper, and chili powder. Grill over direct high heat until the fish begins to flake (about 6-8 minutes; turning once). Remove from grill and break into 1 inch pieces.

***
Sauce:
1 Cup sour cream (you can substitute Greek yogurt here but I wouldn't recommend it. To me, if I add Greek yogurt to something it starts to taste less like Mexican food and more like Greek food. You know?)
juice from 1 lime
1 clove garlic finely minced
1 T. cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Combine sauce ingredients and adjust according to taste.

Heat corn or flour tortillas on direct high heat for about 20 seconds per side. Wrap in kitchen towel or put in tortilla warmer to keep warm. For each taco layer a warm tortilla with fish, slaw, and white sauce.

(Psst! If you have a non-fish eater in your home, black beans are a quick and delicious substitute.)

Please be sure to hop over to the other rad blogs that are featuring easy family recipes this month. Dude. It's like we've planned your menu for the entire week! Huzzah!

Hannah
Cathy
Dianna
Jaime & Emily
Jessie
Jessica
Lindsey

Gardening 101

2011-05-18T07:17:00.001-07:00

Are you planting a garden this year? Do you have any advice for us?

12 on the 12th: May 2011

2011-05-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

Turns out that the amazing weather lasted all weekend so this grid is a bit late. I make no apologies.

{larger}

01. Morning chores include feeding Izzy and letting out the chickens. Morning chores are rad when it is not snowing.
02. The chicks have been busy establishing a pecking order. I think this light Ameraucana is the boss lady.
03. Raisin bran muffin + email. You didn't think I was over my muffin obsession did you?
04. Finally getting some work done for the bedroom.
05. My tulips have two layers of petals! Does anybody know anything about tulips like this?
06. Our city just started offering free curbside recycling to everybody and today they were delivering bins. Yay recycling!
07. Z-cakes spent all morning picking dandelions.
08. For lunch I had a grilled sandwich that had Nutella and fresh raspberries on it because honestly, I could think of a good reason not to.
09. Lilacs! In our back yard! Lilacs!
10. Kim and I got got our hair done. Z-cakes and J Buddy played so well together at the salon.
11. And then my hair breathed a giant sigh of relief.
12. After the salon we went to the park to enjoy every last bit of the sun. Z's outstretched arms in this pic are the perfect representation of how I felt about the day.

Learn more about 12 on the 12th and play along here.

A glimpse

2011-05-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

N8tr0n got home late last night after a quick business trip to Northern California. We only saw him for a few minutes this morning before he went to work but I can certainly tell we are happier when he is around. He brought Z-cakes a present; one of those pens with all of the different colors built into it. She played with it for a solid 45 minutes after he left.

My present was two loaves of sourdough bread. Yessssss! It went perfectly with our homemade strawberry jam (which, by the way, turned out perfect) and I shall be eating it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until it is gone.

I've been contemplating learning to make my own sourdough bread and perusing this site more than is probably necessary. Do any of you make your own sourdough bread? If you have advice, do tell. I'm all ears.

And while we're on the subject of baking, I've decided that I need a wood fire oven in our back yard. Yes, yes...I should probably start saving for one of those yesterday.

I'll be back this evening with my 12 on the 12th grid. Right now we have lots of being outside that need's doing.

Spring day with Z-cakes

2011-05-12T06:54:00.000-07:00

And on the 11th day of May the heavens parted, the sun came out, the temperature rose, and there was much rejoicing. And knocking on wood. And throwing salt over shoulders. And going for long walks in search of spring! Here's a glimpse of the perfect spring day that Z-cakes and I had yesterday.

(Starting from top, left to right, left to right. Get it?)
:: We got a stroller/bike trailer last week. I am completely in love. The last stroller I pushed Z in was an umbrella stroller.
:: Z patiently waited to get going on our "nature walk." It was so nice outside she didn't want the cover on the stroller.
:: We spotted lots of beautiful trees.
:: And one that had popcorn growing on it!
:: And the plant that my dad refers to as "the eyeball plant."
:: And monkeys! Z-cakes didn't want to get dressed when I was ready to go for a walk and I didn't feel like making her. So: monkeys.
:: After our walk we went to the library where Z painted a "river." Because that is what she paints/draws. I swear someday when she is an artist she will have a collection named "River." There will be no paintings of anything resembling a river.
:: FINALLY, Z-cakes got to play on the statue outside the library for as long as she wanted while I read a book. She calls this statue "the talking one." As far as I can tell the statue has nothing to to with talking but what do I know?

I hope you get a chance to get out and find spring today. And don't forget to bring your camera. It's the 12th! It sneaks up on you, I know.

Painfully honest

2011-05-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have made a new resolution. Here it is:

When somebody asks me a question about having kids, be it when we are having more, or how many we are planning on having, I'm going to answer them. Honestly.

Here's the thing. In the past when people have said something like, "Your little girl is so cute. Don't you want to have another soon?" I've always said something like, "ahahaa...oh, eventually," or any other non-committal answer I can manage to squeeze out before sneaking into a bathroom to cry. After such an encounter my mind would fill with thoughts like, "I can't believe she asked me that! Since when is that his business? How could she be so oblivious! Doesn't he know I'm infertile?"

Well. No. They don't. I mean, I don't exactly go around wearing a sign. Which is why I've decided to answer questions honestly. And whether or not people have the right to ask about my reproductive plans is beside the point. And truthfully, the fact that they're asking is most likely because they care about me and my family and not as a function of their well crafted passive-aggressive ploy to break my heart.

Here's a few responses I've been rehearsing in my head (please read the following in your most polite but not overly sweet voice):

"So, when are going to give Z-cakes a sister or brother?"

"Well, I'm infertile. We've been trying to have another baby for about 2 & 1/2 years now and we're just not sure when she'll have a sibling."

"Isn't it time for another baby?"

"Yes! I'm struggling with infertility so I'm not sure when another baby will be on the way."

"Do you want to have your kids far apart in age?"

"No. But I'm dealing with infertility so we don't really have the option of choosing how far apart to space our children."

"How many kids do you plan on having?"

"Well, I have infertility issues so we'd like to have more than one but we try not to set our hopes on a specific number."

"When is your baby due?" (yeah, it's happened)

"Actually, I'm not expecting, but I wish I was! We're struggling with infertility so keep your fingers crossed for us." (mental note to go on diet)

"Have you tried yoga and B734 (I made that up) vitamins?"

"No, I haven't. Thank you for that suggestion" (reserve the right to ignore suggestions)

"Have you thought about adoption."

"Right now we're going through medical infertility treatments. The thought of adoption is one thing too many for us right now. But thank you for the suggestion."

I also reserve the right to still return home to N8tr0n and bawl my eyes out after bravely answering such questions. I think that reaction is allowed.

I hope that none of this sounds too harsh. My point is, we all have struggles that we are dealing with. Sometimes during conversations people ask questions that they don't realize (and have no way of actually knowing) are hurtful and we can choose to be offended or we can remember that most people are well-meaning. And for the times when we are truly hurt by the comments/questions of others, we (hopefully) have a support system of people who know what we're going through, who don't care if we're crying again. I have that in N8tr0n and the rest of my family. I have that in you.

So go ahead. Ask me. I'm ready.

What I do when cakes fall (sometimes)...

2011-05-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Weekending

2011-05-09T07:09:00.000-07:00

Our weekend was chill and rainy and wrapped up with a wonderful Mother's Day. I hope you enjoyed your weekend just as much as we did.

The tulips in our backyard AND front yard finally bloomed.

Z-cakes played with my old Fisher Price house for hours.

I started reading a new book.

And I got really excited about the beautiful scene coming to life out my front window.

Other non-photographed scenes from the weekend:

:: For Mother's Day I got my mom one of these and Z-cakes and N8tr0n got me one of these.

:: Z-cakes said "Happy Mother's Day!" almost every chance she got, and said it with all of the reverence/importance she could muster. What a wonderful family I have.

:: N8tr0n and I hung the basement TV on the wall and rearranged the furniture. We now have twice as much space in the main room. High five.

:: Friday Night Lights made me cry.

:: I accidentally watched an entire episode of this show because...I have no idea why. But apparently it exists and therefore I was unable to look away.

***

Today is another rainy day so we'll be staying inside most of the day. I plan to spend a considerable amount of time on Pinterest. Oh! Did you see that they have an app now? I just downloaded it last night and it is pretty sweet.

Happy Monday Everyone! How was your weekend?

Tis the Season

2011-05-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

I bought an entire flat of strawberries on crazy sale last Saturday. They are beautiful. The majority of them will be turned into jam and the rest will be used for Z-cakes' snackies and possibly some fresh strawberry pie for Mother's Day?

By the way, I'll be making my jam sans commercial pectin which is a first for me. I'll be using this book for help. Do any of you have experience in this department?

Many thanks for the chicken coop love. Also, the names you suggested were hilarious. Keep them coming. Yesterday our coop was inspected and approved by the city. Huzzah! Now we can legally have the birds that we already own! In breaking chicken news: I just watched one of our chickens fly out of the Rubbermaid, onto a nearby hamper, and halfway up the stairs. No joke.

Coop-a-Loop

2011-05-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

Check out the new addition to our backyard!

That's right. That is MY chicken coop in MY backyard. This is not an inspiration post. This is an actually happening in my backyard right now post. You're jealous, right?

On Thursday night my dad delivered the coop that he built from scratch. My dad happens to be the kind of guy who, upon realizing that his daughter needs a housing structure for her chickens, goes and builds one. Even if the fact that his daughter wants to keep chickens leaves him wondering where he went wrong as a parent.

As you can see this coop is a high quality item. The hinges and pin for the door were custom welded by Mr. My Dad and there is tons o' room for the ladies to roost and get their nesting on. This coop is also one heavy mother and took the strength of six men to haul it into our yard. Because, let's face it, there is no way any kid of my dad's is going to raise chickens in some trashy lean-to. The thought is simply unacceptable.

{inside coop}

Right now the chicks spend their days outside and their nights inside in their Rubbermaid palace. We are excited for the day when they get to go outside full time which will probably be in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed.

When Jen was here she informed me that my coop must have a name. And I was all, "what the what?" I didn't know it had to have a name! I'm currently accepting suggestions. That along with a few more touch ups (painting the frame, connecting a pulley to the chicken door, building the nest boxes) and those chicks are in business. Four very lucky ladies if you ask me.

So what do you think? Seriously, my dad will want to hear how awesome you think the coop is.

Last Week

2011-05-02T08:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the silence here last week. My friend was in town with her two little girls and naturally they had our undivided attention.

Somehow Jen and I never managed to take a picture with each other. What were we thinking?

How was your weekend? Are you as excited as I am that it is May?

Scenes from the weekend

2011-04-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Z-cakes and I colored Easter eggs. I'm a total micro manager when it comes to coloring eggs. It's kind of embarrassing but Z-cakes didn't seem to mind.

On Sunday we all dressed up in our pretty clothes.

And Z-cakes became a princess.

N8tr0n made Sriracha deviled eggs which were totally delicious which was totally shocking to me.

I made chocolate cream pie and coconut cream pie. Also totally delicious.

Z-cakes apparently took no joy in hunting for Easter eggs,

my brother was surly and his girlfriend was cute,

and we tried to regulate the amount of candy that Z-cakes shoved into her maw.

In other words, our Easter weekend was absolutely perfect. I hope yours was too.

Earth You're a Wonderful Wonderful Planet

2011-04-22T08:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day everyone!

:: As a semi/fake hippie, I try to do something small to celebrate Earth Day. I think it is a nice reminder that God has blessed us with a beautiful place to live and He expects us to take care of it. Here are a few things on our To-Do list today.

:: I've been excited to see this movie for a while. We'll probably wait to go until tomorrow so that N8tr0n can come along.

:: Have you seen Google's clever banner yet? Be sure to mouse over the animals!

:: Even though it is going to be cold outside today, Z-cakes and I will be taking a nature walk. (Which will basically be the same walk that we take every day except I'm calling it a nature walk. More exciting!) I also plan on choosing an activity from Jennifer Ward's fun book, I Love Dirt!

:: We still have some work to do on our new compost setup. (More about this later.)

:: I'm thinking Z-cakes should have her first cup of worms in dirt dessert.

:: And to finish off the evening, we'll read one of Z-cakes' favorite books before bedtime. We got this cute book when Z was just a baby. You know as well as I do that it is never too early to start brainwashing your child.

Wishing you a wonderful Easter weekend filled with family, deviled eggs, and peeps.

Do you do anything to celebrate Earth Day? Any especially exciting Easter plans?

Right now I am

2011-04-21T12:30:00.001-07:00

realizing that getting my full-time blog on after an extended break is like, way hard.

recovering from a lovely/sudden/perfect trip to visit some friends. Specifically this one, this one, this one, and this one (who also happens to be my cousin).

enjoying the sounds of thunder outside and chirping chicks inside.

lusting after this pan that Marc used while he was teaching me to make crepes on Monday. I have enough room in my cupboards for more pans, right?

obsessing over muffins. I must make muffins. Many muffins. Do you have a favorite recipe I should try?

wondering what to make for dinner this week. The only thing that sounds good is vegetables. And crepes. And muffins.

wishing that someone would re-design my header. Any takers? For reals. Pretty please?

listening to this podcast. Are you a regular listener? You should be. Well, if you like eating food then you should be. Matthew and Molly are hilarious and charming and 100% to blame for my muffin obsession.

researching this square foot gardening thing. Should I go all in with the special non-dirt soil and everything? Or should we just put some dirt in the box and call it good?

waiting for the supposed amazing weather that Saturday will bring.

hoping that one of our trees outside is going to bring an explosion of pink flowers.

admiring the lamps I found for my bedroom. They're not the right color and I had planned on painting them yellow or turquoise. But they are such a gorgeous green I'm not sure I can bear to paint them. Conundrum.

plotting how I can rearrange my freezer to fit all of the muffins I'm about to go bake.

looking for my ability to make decisions. Have you seen it? Could you please check under your couch?

thinking I should wrap this up and bake some muffins.

thanking you for being rad. Your comments and emails mean so much to me. Thank you thank you.

Scenes from the weekend

2011-04-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

Behold, our weekend:

On Saturday N8tr0n made some planter boxes. Square-foot gardening here we come. He also mowed the lawn. Productive, right?

That night we went to the Monster Truck Show with what appeared to be the entire state of Idaho.

Oh yes we did.

On Sunday Z-cakes dressed monochromatically and got her craft on.

And begged for strawberries.

N8tr0n and Z-cakes built a roost for our baby chicks (who are now more like tween chicks) to have in their Rubbermaid house.

We had pancakes for dinner. I also made pizza dough AND strawberry shortcakes. Because I am rad.

And then the kitchen looked like this.

The End.

Today is Friday

2011-04-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

{source}

Today is going to be sunny and tomorrow might be rainy, so we're going to be outside all day long.

Today I should be posting our Menu of the Week but I really don't want to. I've changed my mind about doing it every Friday. I hope you're not crushed.

Today I am back to obsessing about finding a couch. I'm sure it will pass.

Today I think you should listen to this interview with Tina Fey because she is rad. I wanted order her book the moment I heard about it, but instead I called the library and am now first on the waiting list when it comes in. Now I can put the money I would have spent in my couch fund.

Today my mind is filled with party plans. My friend Jen asked me to plan a baby shower with her and I can already tell it is going to be beautiful.

Today I am doing a terrible job at containing my excitement over the season premier of Friday Night Lights tonight. It has been way too long since Tim Riggins has been a part of our week.

Today my heart is aching for a new addition to our family. I am growing impatient.

Today I am accepting suggestions for things to bake. I have an addiction.

Today I am looking for the perfect spot for this print and this print on the walls of our house. I'm also trying to think of a name for our house. In my head I refer to it using the name of the previous owner. Like, "Bob's House," except the previous owner wasn't Bob. Anyway, I think it is time to stop calling it that.

Today is going to be a great day.

Today I am hoping you have a wonderful weekend. I can't wait to see you next week!

12 on the 12th: April 2011

2011-04-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday! Oh the glorious wonder that was yesterday! The forecast turned out to be completely wrong and the sun was shining all day long. Z-cakes and I were in heaven. I even took my jacket off while we were outside. You guys. I haven't taken my jacket off since October!

Although this wasn't a particularly exciting 12th, I still loved taking pictures of it. It is nice to finally feel like we have a routine; both in our new town and in our new house. Days when nothing exciting or out of the ordinary happens are sometimes the perfect kind of days, don't you think?

{larger}

01. Every morning I make breakfast for N8tr0n. It is usually something elaborate like a bagel.
02. Then Z and I take our time waking up while N8tr0n gets ready for work.
03. Breakfast for Z-cakes consists of either yogurt, oatmeal, or cheerios. Today she chose yogurt.
04. Then we say good morning to the baby chickies.
05. We went to the grocery store and used the self-checkout.
06. Z-cakes decided to decorate the back steps with her chalk art.
07. And I worked on a project for our entryway.
08. While Z was having "quiet time" I mad Big Soft Ginger Cookies.
09. We had the missionaries over for dinner.
10. And then took the baby chickies out on the lawn for the first time.
11. The weather was STILL nice so we set up one of our new compost bins. That's right folks. The Walkers are taking their composting to the big time.
12. I packaged some cookies for someone at church.

Learn more about 12 on the 12th and play along here.

Headlines

2011-04-12T07:43:00.001-07:00

Today is the 12th! Do you have your camera ready?

Here are a few of today's headlines:

Toddler Discovers New Favorite Game—Z-cakes has fallen head over sidewalk chalk for hopscotch. I think she learned about it from Curious George. Every time the sun comes out I hear "Gasp! Should we go play hopscotch mommy?"

Indecisive Woman Chooses Paint Color—We completely repainted our bedroom. The color is Sherwin Williams: Intellectual Gray (I agree with you DW, who names these colors?). I'll share pictures soon but you should know that I am completely in love.

Baby Chicken Probably Going To Make It—One of our little chickies wasn't thriving like the rest of them last week. She was sleepy, listless, and not eating very much. I was worried that she wasn't going to make it but she seems to have pulled through. She's much smaller than the other chicks but I think she'll (probably) make it. I suppose somebody has to be on the bottom of the pecking order, right?

Forecast Calls For Rain and Wind Until You Die—this is my interpretation of the forecast. The weatherman didn't actually say that. He just might as well have.

Local Blogger Declares Rodeos are Still the Awesomest—We went to the rodeo with our family last week. I LOVE the rodeo (Kim agrees), I LOVE a dirt filled arena, and I LOVE hearing Z-cakes yell, "Hold on tight!" and "Ride the buckin' horse!" I also love seeing Z-cakes eat a GIANT popscicle and then immediately ask for another.

There. Now you're all caught up on the happenings of my life. Feel free to move on to the New York Times headline feed to read about things that actually matter.

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Spring is trying.

2011-04-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

This is what's cruel about springtime: no matter how it treats you, you can't stop loving it. If the calendar says it's the first day of spring, it is.-Barbara Kingsolver

Spring has had a difficult time gaining momentum in this part of the world. The forecast is usually sunny for one day, rainy for four, and snow in the morning just for kicks. I seem to be rapidly filling up my quota of "throw on a flannel shirt and don't leave the house" days. I keep thinking about how if we were back in the Seattle area I would be trying to learn to love the rain. Embracing cold drizzly days. Going to play outside in the rain like all of those crazy little Seattleite kids. But I don't live in Seattle. I live in Idaho. So I keep waiting for this to pass.

Despite the occasional snowfall, spring flowers have been popping up in front of my house! It gives me hope that spring is still trying to grace us with its presence. I want to thank the previous owners for the work they did to keep their house/yard beautiful. It also makes me excited to see what else will pop up in our yard as the season continues. I know there is a giant rose bush out back that needs pruned (I consider myself a pro based on my extensive rose experience) and grapes. Grapes! I don't know what kind. Concord? Something other than Concord? Honestly, it will do you no good asking me. Alls I want to know is whether or not I can make jelly with them. Except that I don't like grape jelly. So there you go.

I'm crossing my fingers that there is a lilac bush back there and I'm pondering where it would be best to plant some rhubarb. That is, of course, if there isn't some out there already.

Orange Ricotta Pancakes

2011-04-06T10:03:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to make good on a previous resolution while our family is visiting. These pancakes certainly helped.

With the majority of the batter made up of ricotta cheese, these are not as bready as a traditional pancake. They're creamier—more like a dessert. They're wonderful topped with powdered sugar, maple syrup, freezer jam, or (my personal favorite) lemon curd.

Orange Ricotta Pancakes
Adapted from: Martha Stewart Everyday Food

1 3/4 C. part-skim ricotta cheese
1/3 C. granulated sugar
2 large eggs
zest of one orange
2 Tbsp. milk
2/3 C. all-purpose flour
Canola oil as needed

Whisk together ricotta, sugar, eggs, zest, and milk. Whisk in flour until just combined. Heat oil in a non-stick skillet on medium-low. Add batter using scant 1/4 cup servings and add oil as needed. Cook until browned (4-5 min. per side). Serve warm.

The sun is shining but there's rumors of rain on the way. I'd better get out there and get my hopscotch on.

Have I got news for you

2011-04-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

Should we get chickens?

Should we mail order them or just get them at Cal Ranch?

Maybe we shouldn't get chickens this year?

It can't be that hard, right? We should just get chickens.

Should we wait until we can get a permit?

Are we going to get chickens or WHAT?????

Umm....yes.

Please welcome: Archie (Wyandotte), Tulip (Rhode Island Red), Beulah (Ameraucana), and Leone (Ameraucana).

Holy crap you guys we have chickens!

Roy G. Biv

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

When I first moved to Idaho one question weighed heavily on my mind. Who exactly am I going to plan parties with? I'm not ashamed of my priorities people. Luckily, I have found a kindred spirit in my friend Kim. When it comes to parties she knows how to dream big, go overboard, and pull off at least 75% of the brilliant ideas at least 5 minutes before the guests walk in the door. Even better? Kim doesn't bat an eye when I tactlessly appoint myself as party planning committee chairperson as quickly as she can mention an upcoming soirée.

Observe this recent conversation between the two of us:

Kim: So, Brynlee decided she wants a rainbow party for her birthday and..
Me: Okay. Here's what I'm thinking. We make a rainbow cake and you can make those streamers that are....

And then like, half an hour later I shut up.

For this particular party, Kim did all of the leg work. Her daughter decided on the theme and helped her mom make most of the decorations. I made the cake (recipe here) and provided moral support as Kim took four hours to hang all of the rainbow colored, fringed, twisted, streamers. (You know those moments when you realize that you've taken way too long working on something that holds very little real significance but you're doing it for your kid and you realize that is like, the essence of motherhood? It was like that.)

Get all of the party details right here and try to argue that this isn't the kind of birthday party that dreams are made of.

You can bet I'm breathing easier now that my prayers have been answered and I have found a party planning buddy. Thanks for letting me play along, Kim! Let's do it again soon.

Happy Monday Everyone!

This time last year

2011-04-01T07:13:00.001-07:00

This time last year, I was mourning the loss of my dear friend and mentor, Charlotte, and making dinner for her family. Today I will be celebrating her life by baking the bread that she taught me how to make and taking it to someone in need. (Inspired by her equally wonderful daughter, Denise).

This time last year N8tr0n's parents were visiting. Today I will be putting the finishing touches on the guest bedroom in preparation for their arrival here tomorrow!

This time last year I was snacking on company cake. Today I will be making that same cake for some new friends that are coming over for dinner.

This time last year we had no idea when N8tr0n would get a job. I was working as much as I could to keep our savings from completely dwindling. Today I sent N8tr0n off to work and said a prayer of thanks for his good job and steady income.

This time last year we were trying to have a baby. Today nothing much has changed, except that I have a better doctor. And that I'm beginning to feel a bit apathetic about the whole ordeal.

This time last year we were getting ready for a trip to Idaho. Today we live here, and we're loving it more everyday.

Today the weather is supposed to be in the MID SIXTIES. Also, NO WIND—and if you live in Idaho, you know that last part is a really big deal. If you need us, we'll be at the park. All day.

RABBIT, RABBIT, RABBIT, EVERYBODY!

P.S. I'm back! I've missed you!

March is...

2011-03-13T21:15:00.001-07:00

{via}

rainy days
making cookies
bedroom painting

wind
spring cleaning
50 degrees
girl scout cookies
dinner with new friends
tricycle riding
visits from best friends
pistachio cupcakes
DIY-ing
flying kites
chickens?
Rango

St. Patrick's Day Dinner

thrifting

skinny jeans

garden planning

craigslist

a blog break

I don't think I've ever been so in love with March. I've been waiting not-at-all-patiently for more spring-like weather and March has delivered. I don't even mind that it isn't sunny as long as the temperature is above the 30's, yo.

I've decided to take the rest of the month off from blogging. It's true. I've been trying since the beginning of the year to get some momentum behind my blog and it just isn't happening. Have you noticed? Since Z-cakes has given up her afternoon naps I've had a hard time balancing my time with her, time online, and time putting together our house. A break from one of those things feels like the right thing to do. But don't worry! I'll be back some time in April. I can't promise when but I can promise I'll be back. Please. Of course I'll be back. Do you honestly think I could tire of tossing out unsolicited advice on the interwebs? I hope you'll be here when I get back.

In the meantime:

you can always reach me via email. I'm not taking an email break because I'm not insane

you can keep asking me (anonymous or not) questions here

you can see what pretty things I'm perusing here

Thank you friends. For being supportive. For being understanding. And for being straight up rad. I'll see you in April.

Are you enjoying March? Have you ever needed a break from blogging?

12 on the 12th :: March 2011

2011-03-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

{larger}

01. This is the face Z-cakes made when I asked her to smile while playing dress-up.
02. Dear Key Bank, Thank you for giving us a free ipod touch.
03. Possible fabric for kitchen curtains.
04. Z-cakes calls them "cocobah boots" (polka-dot boots).
05. Playing with her ball while mom and dad work outside(please note the sunshine).
06. Spring cleaning started in the shed. This is where all of our ~~crap~~ high quality items will live while awaiting yard sale this summer.
07. Red Lobster for dinner. Hurray for no dishes!
08. I love getting magazines in the mail.
09. Let's play guess the home improvement store!
10. Continuing my young adult dystopia series kick (thanks, Jaime!).
11. I'm embarrassed to tell you how long I stared at this trying to decide whether or not to buy it.
12. The last piece of chocolate cream pie. I ate the crust first, because it is what I do.

Learn more about 12 on the 12th and play along here.

Finally a House Tour: Day 1

2011-03-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

Okay. I've been dragging my feet long enough. It is time to show you more pictures of our itty bitty house. I've taken to calling it "itty bitty" in my mind out of love, by the way. I really do love that it is small. You can go ahead and roll your eyes right now if you'd like, but if I were you I would save it for when I get all smug about how much we enjoy learning to "live with less." Just sayin'.

Anyway, if I wait until the house is more "put together" to show you pictures I might not get around to it until the house is up for sale. So let's just get started, shall we? Today, blurry photos of: The kitchen.

The kitchen is the place that needs the least work and could hypothetically need no work if I weren't so changey-changey about everything. But seriously, this kitchen, I love it.

{please tell me you love Z-cakes' new picture pose as much as I do}

The previous owner built all of the cabinets because that is what he does for a living. By the way, if you are in the area and you are thinking about getting new cabinets, call me—I know a guy.

These cabinets are piled high and deep, Bob. Plenty of room for giant plates, multiple waffle irons, and eleventy thousand cake stands. Well. No. Not all of my cake stands fit in my kitchen. But that is probably because I have so many waffle irons.

I practically had to clamp my hand over my mouth to keep from yelling "We'll take it!" when I saw this spice cupboard.

{hello spice cupboard of my dreams. you need organized}

The previous owner managed to fit a bite-sized dishwasher into this space and boy howdy am I happy he did. It is cute and makes a pretty dinging noise when I open it and has a drying cycle that lasts a million years.

My attitude towards this space is so different from the rest of the house. Instead of wishing that I could hurry up and finish it, or just get everything organized, I've found myself enjoying the process. Figuring out that I keep reaching into this cupboard for those bowls and why is that rarely used item in such a prime spot? I love that a tiny kitchen can also be an efficient kitchen. I love pulling a stool (a must have with the giant cabinets) for Z-cakes to stand on while she helps me make dinner. (She's scared of cracking eggs, by the way. Isn't that funny?) And I love that it is the very middle of the house. With so much to love it seems fitting that this kitchen is where I spend most of my time, don't you think?

Here are a few things that I plan to do with the kitchen to make it even more perfect.

:: Wash the window. Seriously it's gross. I can't imagine how much brighter it will be in there once I take off that layer of earth.

:: MORE LIGHT. I'm dreaming of pendant lamps and a million recessed lights because the one light in the middle of the ceiling is not cutting it.

:: Roman shades on the windows out of some absolutely perfect fabric that I will know when I see.

:: New rug beneath the sink. Not cream colored, duh.

:: Some nice shelves along the wall where the lonely calendar now hangs. I want to put my pretty cookbooks on display.

:: I'll probably repaint because I can't seem to not want to repaint. The current color is...fine. But there is something about it that I want to be slightly different. I can't put my finger on it though.

:: Subway tile backsplash. But now we're getting waaaaay out into someday people.

So what do you think? Do you have a favorite place in your house? And honestly, how many waffle irons do you think is too many?

Monday Colors

2011-03-07T07:58:00.000-08:00

Our trip to the quilt shop was exactly what I needed last week. Here are a few colorful shots from our outing.

Turns out I need these pictures today too since the weather report is gray and drizzly for the rest of my life. Okay, that's not true. I think the sun is supposed to come out tomorrow. I'll quit being so dramatic.

How are you? Is it sunny where you are?

Happy Monday Everyone!

Menu of the Week

2011-03-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

{This picture has nothing to do with the menu but don't you love my tiny loaf of bread?}

Did you know that two weeks ago I started a diet? And furthermore, did you know that one week ago I quit said diet? Isn't that silly? I'm not sure what I was thinking. Oh wait, yes I do. None of my clothes fit is what I was thinking. By the way, for those of you who have asked me how I "stay so small" whilst doing "all of that baking," there is your answer. I don't. The real part that I wasn't thinking about was that the end of winter is not an ideal time to quit eating. I'm depressed and cranky as it is. Did I really think it was a good idea to give up bread? Ahem.

Perhaps I'll resume my diet when spring is fully present and I can happily go outside when I'm so hungry that I'm considering eating the area rug. In the meantime maybe I'll try eating dessert only on Saturdays—yeah and probably Sundays too I mean, come on. (P.S. To my friends who have gone sugar free for extended periods of time: I am in awe of you. Seriously, I have absolutely no idea how you do it. I say again, absolutely no idea.

Here's a menu full of non-diet food for the week:

Twice baked potatoes + roasted asparagus + broccoli—The giant potatoes are the main dish in case your dad is wondering where the meat is. I also bake some extra potatoes to use in meals later in the week.

Potato + Spinach Frittata—The link is mainly for the basic method. This is one of those things that I always want to make but never think of baking the potatoes ahead of time.

Homemade Pizza—BBQ chicken style. I usually grab a rotisserie chicken, slather the dough with my favorite barbecue sauce, and add either red or green onions. This pizza is far and away one of our faves.

Crispy chicken + Teriyaki sauce + roasted cauliflower—I seem to be roasting all of our veggies lately.

Pecan crusted Tilapia with Honey glaze + Israeli couscous—this tilapia recipe is new to me and I can't wait to try it!

Dessert: Boston Cream Pie. Heaven! The base cake is the same recipe I use for the Lazy Daisey Cake. The magic happens when you cut that sucker in half, fill it with vanilla cream, and smother the top with chocolate ganache. You know I'll be telling you more about it later.

What's on your menu this week? Don't forget to share a link in the comments if you're posting your own menu!

Cooped Up

2011-03-03T08:03:00.001-08:00

Wouldn't it be rad if I could make a chicken coop that looked like one of these instead of a rickety lean-to? Fingers crossed people.

Our playdate/chicken tutorial with Karisa (Thank you so much for the fun day Karisa! Z hasn't stopped talking about your fun kids!) was wonderful. Whether or not we will get our own baby chicks this spring remains undecided. Wishy-Washy seems to be the way I roll lately. Paint colors? Mmmm, I'm not sure. Chickens? Maybe. Change out of pajamas? I'm considering it.

Today I think the Z and I will venture out into the rain to check out a new-to-me quilt shop. I'm desperately craving some color.

What are you up to today?

Images via: 1, 2, 3, 4

Dear Spring, Hurry.

2011-03-01T07:10:00.001-08:00

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit, Y'all!

Whew. March. You're here. I know that for some of you February passed quickly but for me the last couple of weeks dragged on. I felt remorse one day when I felt that it may be my responsibility to let you all know that time had indeed stopped. That the thing with which we all think speeds so quickly by had actually ceased to be. But then I woke up and it was March 1st so, as I said, Whew.

Today we're welcoming March by taking a field trip to visit my friend Karisa for a Crafternoon and tutorial on backyard chickens! That's right. The keeping of chickens will be happening for us. At least someday. So I'm going to learn all I can right now in order to get things cranking ASAP.

Wish me luck! And it is okay if you think I'm crazy. You know who else thinks I'm crazy? My mom. And probably your mom.

Love,

Scenes from the weekend

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

It was one of those perfect weekends where we slept in without remorse, got a few things done, ate cake, and lost miserably in an Oscar pool (but that last one was just me). It certainly made up for Friday in which I chose to not participate in. (Thanks Rachel for instigating the contest to watch the most movies, successfully making my laziness justifiable.)

{scones + strawberry freezer jam}

We went to the Brooklyn's Park fundraiser on Saturday so that Z could get her bouncy house fix.

{sweet friends}

An unhelpful waitress at the pizza place we went to for lunch let us order way too much cheesy bread appetizer.

{too much}

{she was a fan of the apple beer}

{somebody please cut my bangs, I am begging you}

Z and I made cake because I knew I would want something delicious to eat during the Oscars.

{waiting}

{Lazy Daisey Cake}

N8tr0n studied for his differential equations exam while we watched the Oscars.

{too much}

And as I said, I finished off the weekend by failing miserably at guessing what movies/actors/actresses/sound editors/etc. the Academy might find exemplary enough to give a gold statue. This coupled with the fact that only weeks ago I WON a college football pool leaves me baffled. As a person who has watched many movies a pathetically measly number of college football games...I'm wondering what it could all mean?

Happy Monday Everyone. How was your weekend?

This post is more like a place holder

2011-02-25T07:49:00.000-08:00

Waking up to this

Changed my to-do list from:

Be super productive + do laundry!

to

do laundry. watch hulu.

Yep, even the color and italics changed in my head.

Have a good weekend everybody. I'll see you on Monday and I'll try to bring back the razzle dazzle.

XO

To be needed

2011-02-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

"Mommy! Could you come upstairs?"

Z-cakes yelled from the kitchen.

"Sure sweetie! What do you need?"

"You!"

On giving up on dreams

2011-02-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

"I would rather let my house sit empty and slowly fill it with only things I love rather than hurrying to furnish it with cheap stuff or okay stuff."

I say to N8tr0n emphatically one night.

Because how else can one make a statement like that other than emphatically? And if you should be curious, yes, I am prone to making emphatic statements that I may or may not be able to back up as the months pass and there continues to be nowhere to sit in my living room.

Nevertheless, I reminded myself of my home resolve as we made a pilgrimage to the mega store of N8tr0n's ancestry. Or rather, the mega store where his family bought the meatballs for the New Year's smorgasbord that one year. Having learned my lesson from previous Ikea trips in which I was wooed by the cheap and okay things, I had a list. A very detailed list that I clung to and did not sway from. Miranda: 1, Ikea: 3. You know, from the times before.

But this post isn't even about our trip to Ikea! Rather, it is about how we accidentally found the couch of our dreams. And how it resides in West Jordan, Utah. And how it will probably never reside in my house. And how that's so sad, don't you think?

It all started with a trip to Gardener Village. I was meeting my friend Rachel there for some much needed catching up and frantic flapping/pointing "oh my gosh I love that chaise!" sort of stuff.

(And while we're on the subject of that kind of stuff, you know what must be annoying? Being N8tr0n when I am talking about decorating. Bless his heart but I am relentless. He actually answers most of my "what do you think of this dresser?," "how much do you hate this pattern?," "tell me your thoughts on sheepskin," could you please love this rug, for me?" queries that I throw at him while he is trying to get his Call of Duty on. This husband of mine, I think I'll keep him.)

N8tr0n spotted the couch of our dreams first and knowing I would love it, pointed it out to me. And the fact that N8tr0n actually liked the couch in the first place is big. As it turns out my taste in couches tends to be a bit dated for him. He can't seem to get images from That 70's Show out of his head when I'm showing him potential candidates no matter how adamant I am that it will not be paired with an orange saucer chair.

Anyway, about the dream couch.

I admired it the way one would admire Oprah's closet, knowing that it is beautiful, luxurious, and screaming your name but not gonna happen. I ran my hand over the fabric and imagined it making somebody else very happy. And if I hadn't gone back to that store for one more look—Oh but how I wish I hadn't gone back!—I wouldn't be whining to you about that damn couch right now. But then, what on Earth would I have posted about today?

The first mistake, as I mentioned previously, was returning to the couch to look at it just one more time. The second mistake was sitting on it for 15 minutes while we talked to a very nice employee who filled us in on the couch brand and how it had down in the cushions. She also mentioned that the style of the back is perfect for kids and pets and that the fabric could be cleaned with either soap and water or solvent. Usually it is one or the other! And suddenly I am an expert on couches when about an hour ago the only thing I knew was that futons are always a bad decision! The third mistake was me actually starting to consider buying the couch. I allowed myself to think that maybe the price wasn't so bad? Maybe we would just splurge on this one thing? And the store is having a sale?

Of course we left without the couch. Duh. And of course that didn't stop me from thinking about it constantly. Double duh. And now? Now nothing. I have no moral to this story. No great anecdote about how we left the store and decided to stop at a hidden thrift shop only to find an even better couch for ten dollars! Nope. Nothing like that. Just the fact that I still really want that couch and I've measured my living room and it would fit perfectly. Also, the gorgeous gray fabric that is reminiscent of a men's suit (not the white that is shown in the link because white couch = no thank you) would look amazing with the paint color I have picked out for the walls. Just stuff like that.

And here's the thing. There are approximately eleventy billion couches that would be just fine in our house for a fraction of the price. Even more that would be okay. We wouldn't even have to leave the state to find them! So that is probably what I should do? Find a couch that is fine, maybe even pretty good, and learn to love it? And possibly, quit making emphatic statements all of the freaking time?

So now I have something new to ponder which is this: Should I try to save money and pinch pennies and wait for years so that I can buy the couch that will bring me happiness? Or should I try to do something about the fact that I am deeply and profoundly shallow? Hmm...conundrum.

I can't provide you with an uplifting ending that inspires you and fills you with resolve of some type or another. Would you like to do it for me? Tell me that I should settle for something more affordable and focus on things that really matter. That I should never let go of my dreams! Tell me what you had for breakfast. What kinds of things you pine after that make you feel a bit shallow.

Pretty please?

XO

The Epic FREAKIN' Cake

2011-02-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

It's time to tell you about the Epic Cake, mmmkay?

This cake, I am so very sorry to say, is not for the novice baker. Had I made this cake when I had less experience under my love handles it would have undoubtedly ended up smashed against the kitchen wall. There would have been much throwing and flinging. It would not have been pretty. Those of you with a genetic predisposition for fits that involve throwing: consider yourself warned.

You can find the recipe for The Epic Cake here (Feel free to watch the video if you need a visual, and if the sound of Martha's voice doesn't cause you physical pain. Yeah, I said it.), though I think it is important to remember that it comes from this book—one of my all time faves.

Now. Let's break this down into three obvious parts: The Cake Layer, The Caramel Layer, and The Frosting Layer.

The Cake Layer:
I was singing the praises of this as a basic cake layer with every piece I ate. I thought the crumb was nice and the flavor delish. On the other hand, my dear friend—and expert baker—Katie, baked this same cake and declared it to be dry and crumbly. Dear Katie, I have no idea why that happened. Don't you live in a place where nothing ever dries out? I hope you give the cake a second chance. If it happens again I recommend banishing it from your repertoire.

I cut the leavening by half (altitude! are you getting sick of hearing me mention that? well too bad, I'm not going to stop) and I watched it closely when it was getting done. I tend to bake my cakes for less time than book recipes call for. The best time to start paying attention is when you can smell the cake and you might notice it barely pulling away from the sides.

The Caramel Layer:
Four times. FOUR TIMES I had to make this freaking caramel. If you're lucky and don't burn the sugar repeatedly you will only have to make it twice. One batch goes in between the cake layers (drool) and another batch gets incorporated into the frosting (double drool).

The caramel sauce is salty and rich and burns really really easily. Keep a constant eye on it and remember that candy recipes are written for sea level. If you don't live at sea level you won't need to get your sauce as hot as the recipe says to.

Also, I would recommend squirreling away a little of the sauce instead of putting all of it on the cake. That excess sauce can then be eaten with a spoon. Late at night. By yourself. Just sayin'.

The Frosting Layer:
You guys, this frosting is not screwing around. It has a pound of dark chocolate and a pound of butter and it knows how to use them. It whips up like a dream and spreads nicely. I LOVE THIS FROSTING. Make it and be brave. And adored by all.

***

You assemble the cake by layering cake + caramel + frosting + cake + etc. Yes. The instructions say to sprinkle a bit of salt in between each layer but I chose not to do that. I was worried that my caramel sauce was already too salty and wanted to play it safe. I deeply regret that decision. Remember, if you're going to make this cake, you have to be brave. Oh, and use the fancy schmancy salt.

Okay! Are you so ready to make The Epic Cake? I know you can do it. It's going to be great.

High Five.

Happy Weekend.

How we get through February

2011-02-17T09:30:00.001-08:00

Please to enjoy a few scenes from this month's Crafternoons.

And here I was thinking I had too many craft supplies? Sheesh. What was I thinking? A few more words about how Crafternoon came to be a little later.

In blogging news: I announced the winner of the knitting book giveaway last night. You should go see if you're the winner!

She says

2011-02-15T20:24:00.000-08:00

And so suddenly she's THREE. How can this be? Literally over night she is talking like a three year old, doing things by herself like a three year old, sleeping in a giant bed like a three year old.

{With remnants of Dilly bar. Though it doesn't really matter what it is because I pretty much can't keep her face clean ever, the end.}

I suppose you could argue that these changes have been creeping up a little bit at a time, developing here and there as many milestones are wont to do. But I'm going to have to disagree with you on that. It's like she knew that she turned three. Suddenly I go downstairs to get the laundry out of the dryer and when I come back she's gotten out the stamps by herself and started Crafternoon without me! I was almost temped to ask her to drive to Fred Meyer to pick up some milk for crap's sake.

Here's another list of things she says for you. The three-year-old edition:

When she wakes up in the morning she say, "Can you take my diaper off and I can have breakfast?"

When there is a lull in the action she says, "Can I watch a movie on the puh-cuter?"

When I get dressed in the morning she says, "You're lookin' good mommy!"

When we eat dinner she takes two bites and says, "Can I be done now?"

When she bumps her head she still wants to call it a "two-head" but she thinks about it first and says, "I hurt my forehead."

When we get out of the car to go into a store she says, "Should we run?"

Her favorite book is Chrysanthemum so all day long she says, "I'm like Chrysanthemum, I'm absolutely perfect!"

(Also Chrysanthemum) she says, "The day I was born was the happiest day of my parent's lives."

When I tell her to stay by me she says, "I'm not going anywhere!"

When she wants chap stick she says, "I want lips!"

Every ten minutes she says, "I want to do stamps!"

She calls Buzz Lightyear "Buzz Right Here."

When something doesn't work she says, "I want to try again again!"

When we get in the car she says, "Oh no! The Big Bad Wolf! I left him behind!"

When she puts on her princess stuff she says, "I'm a princess! Princess mommy, do you have your shoes and your crown and your purse?"

When she plays the "guess which hand" game she says, "Picky hand!"

One time when she was watching golf with grandpa she said, "I like that guy's orange shirt." And I was like, holy crap! That was like, a complete thought with an opinion and stuff. AND, that actually is a nice orange shirt!

When we tell her we love her, she still says, "I wuv you too." And then our hearts break into a million pieces and we collapse on the floor dead from love.

We love you sweet Z, and we think you're absolutely perfect too.

Psst! Today is the last day to enter the really cool giveaway!

12 on the 12th :: February 2011

2011-02-13T09:22:00.000-08:00

On the 12th my baby girl turned 3 and I turned into the kind of mom who calls here 3 year old a baby. I am not ashamed.

{larger}

01. The birthday girl in a for reals big-girl-bed.
02. Playing brown bear + panda bear with Grandpa Ken.
03. Ahem. Slowly but surely: curly hair.
04. We'll pretend Z chose where to eat lunch.
05. Dilly Bar
06. I finished the ~~Pope hat~~ birthday crown.
07. These cupcakes were fan-freakin-tastic you guys!
08. She blew out the candles three times.
09. Forget the pope hat, Claire sent rad princess gear!
10. These magnetic dress-up dolls were a huge hit.
11. Birfday Bawoons.
12. Mama + birthday girl.

Here's Z's grid last year. You know, for reference.

Did you document your 12th? Play along and link to your grid here.

Menu of the Week (kind of)

2011-02-11T07:40:00.000-08:00

{image}

A "menu" of valentine-y desserts for the upcoming day of love...

:: Z-cakes and I will be perusing this site today to decide what kind of cupcakes to make for her birthday tomorrow(!). Remember when this had to go and happen? That cake still makes me sad. (P.S. I'm kind of already thinking about making her these.)

:: Summer had me drooling over these orange scones. I haven't made them yet but I trust Summer enough to share the recipe with you before I do. If she says something is good, it just is.

:: Molly's chocolate mousse is pretty much the best. Remember when Z-cakes and I made it last year?

:: This amazing layered fudge cake is not for the faint of heart. This is what I made when I want to impress my friends.

:: Sometimes it is best to keep things simple. My favorite Valentine candies are perfect if you don't feel like baking. (psst! I think I might try my hand at the honeycomb since I can't find any here!)

Okay! Happy eating too many sweets! I'm about to begin rushing around like a mad woman trying to get Z's birthday put together. Apparently I will not be able to sleep until I have made her a birthday crown. And trust me, there's no talking me down from this particular ledge.

Oh! Don't forget to charge your camera batteries. Tomorrow is the 12th!

And be sure to enter to win the giveaway.

And I'm done now.

XO

Giveaway: Vintage Modern Knits

2011-02-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Please allow me, for just a moment, to gush over this book.

First of all, the sweater on the cover. And don't even try to tell me that you don't judge knitting/craft books by their covers. We all know you do it, it's okay to admit it. Anyway, the fetching sweater on the cover is called the Adelaide Yoke Pullover. If you've ever wandered into a yarn store there is no doubt that you've seen a yoke sweater and if you're anything like me, you've dreamed of making one. The Adelaide is an updated version of the classic yoke sweater. It has been designed to have a more flattering fit and soft colors while maintaining the traditional fair Isle patterning. As blog is my witness, 2011 will be the year of the yoke sweater for me, and I will be using this pattern.

The idea of taking a traditional method and modernizing it is what Courtney and Kate's new book Vintage Modern Knits: Contemporary Designs Using Classic Techniques is all about. While the two authors come from different knitting backgrounds, they share a love for vintage styles and the different techniques found in knitting. In the introduction of the book, Courtney and Kate explain that "each project has its roots in a particular style or technique that has been updated for a modern application and aesthetic." And as I flipped through the projects, I quickly learned that with each design there is a bit of history to be learned, and a new method to master.

So, to briefly recap: Vintage designs featuring traditional techniques that you use to make handmade knits with modern flair. Um, sold? I mean, what's not to love about this book is what I would like to know.

Here are a few more of my favorite projects:

Brigid Jacket—how cute is this take on a traditional Aran cardigans?

I am fairly convinced I would be much nicer if I were wearing the Whitby Stockings right now. These are cute enough for me to give up my sock knitting boycott.

Yvette Roositud Hat—Roositude is an "Estonian inlay technique" that looks similar to embroidery. I can't wait to learn this technique so that I can incorporate it into other knits.

Yangtze Cardigan—the 1950s cardigan of my dreams. In mustard yellow, please.

{all photos courtesy of Interweave}

So, enough gushing already! Do you want to win your very own copy of Vintage Modern Knits: Contemporary Designs Using Classic Techniques? Well you can! It's easy! The kind folks at Interweave are offering a copy of Vintage Modern Knits to one lucky Narrating Life reader.

Please leave a comment on this post: Do you judge books by their covers? You can be honest. Make sure I have an email address linked to your comment so I can reach you.

Spread the good word!Tweet, blog, facebook, (or whatever social media-type-thingie you're obsessed with) about this giveaway and link back to this post for an extra entry! Please leave an additional comment for each additional entry.

Comments close on Wednesday, February 16th at 10:00 PM MST. The winner will be announced on this post. Closed

Bravo to Courtney Kelley & Kate Gagnon Osborn
Thank you to Interweave
And
Good Luck to all of you!

Want to hear more praise for Vintage Modern Knits? Check out past and present stops on the blog tour here!

Congratulations to Marilyn who said: Oh, I'm terrible. I buy books by their cover, wine by their label, etc. I sure would love this book

Marilyn, please email me ASAP to claim your book!