see.sunny.sf

I am fortunate that most of my friends are extremely hard working talented women. Art, graphics, education, design... it is astounding and exciting!

Michelle Steen is just one of those ladies.
Please, PLEASE check out her work at the link above!
This painting was by far my favorite, but it wasn't easy picking just one!
I made a short visit to San Francisco in July to see Michelle's art work on display in a downtown San Francisco Art Gallery. It was breathtaking. The trip and her artwork.

After a few days in which I am happy to say the camera was not present... we brought it along on a typical San Francisco outing. Filled with frozen yogurt, rice pudding, basking in the sun at Dolores Park, eating far too much delicious Mission Mexican food and just laughing until we peed our pants... I mean, till we ache.

Rice pudding and frozen yogurt came first. I won't name names but someone I know just happens to stop by this little 'Lovin Cup' Shop quite often. In fact they had her dessert half prepared before she even ordered...

Pre-frozen yogurt faces... "don't worry, its coming!"

First bite face... or little shop of yogurt horrors! you pick.

Post frozen yogurt faces... yes, it is that delicious!

Dolores Park

Dinner with Melanie and Melanie.
Whew! It is amazing what a short weekend with AMAZING friends right after an exciting week with family does for ya! I am still grinning from ear to ear!

see.family.friends.florida

More pics of our recent trip to Florida. The trip was full of exciting events. My pal Kristen married her beau Will. They met at the University of Florida and now live in Oakland, California while Will is finishing school at Berkeley. Will and Kristen were the first familiar California faces I saw when I arrived in the Bay area 2+ years ago. They also gave me a place to crash before I found a place of my own!

Groom's cake = Florida gator!
Congratulations to Kristen and Will Beeson!!

And no trip home would be complete without 1,000 pics of my amazing little group of nieces and nephews! Although... this trip I actually didn't take many pics. I kept my eyes out of the camera to actually be a part of what was going on!
Here are a few that I did manage to take...

Boundin'

Pre-movie make-up session!

Sisters playing pretend!
(I think something "scary" was lurking near-by)

Owen.
Last time I saw him, was the first time he saw any of us!
Can't wait to see him again!

Jeremy, this was his defense against very little "booger picking self control"
!genius!

You are NEVER too old to play dress up!

see.date.night

Date Night.

I think it is necessary to have Date Night. Mike on the other hand... well the concept confuses him because we are already together but he goes along with the idea because I like it!
Last night was date night and we went here and it was 5 starts delicious!

Getting ready for date night usually goes something like this:
I'm ready 30 mins before we have to leave and Mike starts getting ready when we have to leave!
Grrr!! So I find things to do like take pictures of me waiting... patiently... :)

All the food was so good and went down great with the pineapple + fresh ginger sake cocktail! YUM!!!

So can you tell who enjoyed Date Night the most here?

see.top.5

Before we left for Florida, I put together a craft for a special trip I made while down home.

Mike is such a sweet fiance to put up with my endless desire to craft... he is extra sweet because he ALWAYS helps, cut, paste, glue and so on. AND he doesn't mind when I insist that it HAS to be perfect and I create a huge mess in the process!!!
While in Florida, I (along with my mom, sister, Mike's mom, Mike's Grammi, my sister-in-law and her mom + 4 nieces and nephews) went wedding dress shopping... yes for our wedding.
I wanted the day to be memorable, informative, and special so by inviting my entourage of ladies it was both memorable and special... as for the informative, well that is where the craft comes in...

I started with fun printed craft paper + really bright coordinating card stock paper, white card stock, glue, olfa knife, straight edge and my printer.I printed out 6 copies of large black numbers 1 to 5
Cut out (6) sets of five- 4x6 inch white + bright card stock paper and glued them together.

Cut out (6) sets of five- 2 inch wide strips of fun printed craft paper for the edges of the cards.

I coordinated the fun printed paper, colorful card stock, and number for each set of cards and glued everything together.

Front and back view of each card. So number 1 in each set was pink with a swirly purple and pink paper edge. The back is a blank white sheet of card stock for notes.

Inexpensive key chain hoops to link numbers 1 to 5 together!

Once I was complete I had visual voting cards numbered 1 to 5 so the ladies could vote on which wedding dress they like the best (no. 5) to the least (no. 1).
With each dress, I could walk out and instantly see what each person felt about the dress.
The blank paper on the back was used for notes about each dress so later I could remember which dress style looked the best, fabric choices and so on.

A big thank you to everyone who came along!!
Let the planning begin!

see.lauren.wed

Two weeks ago, Mike and I flew down to Florida to visit family. For me this was a much needed, long- LONG overdue trip!
One very important highlight of the trip included my dear cousin Lauren's wedding. Lauren and I are very close in age and share many fond memories of Summer days spent at the beach. We would make doodle castles, play in the surf, and always have a blast!!
Lauren is an avid surfer and so it was only natural to have a beautiful beach wedding on her favorite beach: Cocoa Beach.

Jeremy and Valerie on the play set at Lori Wilson Park. How fun is that? Beach and slides at a wedding!! Cousin Christa, Aunt Jo-Ann, Aunt Lisa and Gramma all waiting in anticipation for the bride!Cousin Lauren, all grown up and looking stunning!!

Lauren and Todd Holland!!!

Sweet married kiss on their way to party!
The wedding was fun and food was delicious!
Thanks for another fun time at the beach Lauren!!!

see.July.4th!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Boy does time fly!!!
Here we are on the 4th of July 2009!
Camping in California.
Hopefully in about an hour we will be on Lake Michigan eating veggie burgers, grilled jalapenos stuffed with cheese and yummy pasta salad with some friends.
Hopefully this big fat rain cloud will go away!
Hopefully you are enjoying this day as much as we are!
:0 )

see.summer.okra

Hello blog.
Sorry I've been away... the World Cup is on and I've been pretty busy...
Have you ever spoke with someone you haven't heard from in a few months and just talking to them brings back a memory or a song in your head or a feeling??
Well... for me, it's usually food.
My friend Katie called me the other day just to catch up and chat.
I love talking to Katie. She has a way of just making me smile. After I got off the phone with her I had this incredible craving for okra and tomatoes.
Katie makes this dish (or at least has in the past) and for some reason just talking to her brought on an urge to prepare some for dinner... and that's what I did.
Okra- like many veggies, is in season from June till late September so now is the time to buy!

Okra is prepared in different ways and (I feel) that it is delicious no matter how it is served... pickled, fried, in stew... it's just delicious.

Fresh from the market. Bright and green with few blemishes.

Most (Southern) Okra and Tomato dish recipes call for bacon or bacon fat. And since we are fresh out of meat around here... I had to alter the recipe (only slightly)
1 lbs. Okra - cut into 1/4" pieces
1 lbs. fresh tomatoes (you can also use canned) - skinned, cored, and chopped
1 onion - chopped
1 bell pepper (we were fresh out of bell pepper on this night) - chopped
1 cup veggie broth (you can always replace this with chicken broth if desired)
1 - 2 cloves garlic - minced
1 - 2 jalapeno (depending on heat preference) - chopped
1 - 2 tbsp. butter (yep! butter, to substitute for the bacon fat)
fresh sprigs of oregano
salt and pepper Well seasoned cast iron skillet... this is crucial. OK, it's not crucial but it sure makes food extra tasty!!

Add the butter, onions, bell pepper, jalapenos and garlic into the hot skillet and let them mingle and chat for a while in the hot pan!
When the onion has turned a nice golden color, add the okra, tomatoes, and veggie broth. Cover and let simmer for about 30 mins.

Now if you have read this entire post... I will give my thanks by letting you in on an okra cookin' secret...
1 - 2 teaspoons sugar! Add it to the okra and tomatoes before you let them simmer. This will cut down on the common okra "slime".
Serve over a steaming bowl of rice and enjoy!
Thanks Ms. Katie

see.slug.sluggers

Our shared garden is such a sweet space. We have herbs, broccoli, tomatoes, cucumbers and much more!
It's so nice to step outside and garden with our neighbors (Mike) and/or just hang out and enjoy the yard (Mel).
When sharing a garden... it is best to contribute a little or poke around in the leaves to look like you are contributing... or you could find intruders -like I did last week!
I found slugs- slimy, gooey, slugs!
This is a slug.

This is what slug snacking looks like!
Slugs love spinach!They eat their broccoli.

And snack on mint for fresh breath!

We couldn't let this feast go on much longer. So we took action and googled it!
Slugs come out and eat at night, they are attracted to beer and corn meal so for the first few nights we set traps! Cups of beer and piles of corn meal. Except... our traps were not that great and instead of dead slugs we had fat, drunk, happy "hugging" (trying to keep the blog G-rated) slugs that were making more slugs!
Our next line of defense- slug hunting!
(note: this contains some graphic slug slaughtering... viewer discretion is advised!)Around midnight, last night we filled a bowl full of salt (slugs dissolve in salt), got out our slug collecting sticks and flashlights and went to work.
It was like a slug street party in the garden. They were EVERYWHERE!!
I have never visited a garden at night. There is so much going on! Did you know flies rest at night much like we sleep? Well they do, and I found where many of them do it... on leaves in the garden.
We also found worms "hugging", tons of centipedes, and other creepy crawlies!
Our next step is to buy some Slug-O to fend off the slugs... but until then each night around midnight we will continue to slug the very hungry slugs.

see.paper.bag.pop!

One of my favorite memories as a kid consists of my mom, a basket of fluffy clean laundry, coca colas, buttery popcorn and Oprah. My mom and I would enjoy this delicious snack while watching Oprah and since then, snackin' on popcorn always brings back pleasant thoughts.A few years back, I started making popcorn at home. The good ol' fashion way. On the stove, hot oil, pop corn, and melted butter. It is SO tasty that way and you decide how much salt and butter to put on the popcorn! This is a fun way to make popcorn except some nights, you just want to throw a bag into the microwave and 2:00 mins later have hot delicious popcorn ready to be snacked on.
This was my dilemma until: my moment of eavesdropping enlightenment!!
While in Columbus, I visited a craft fair. The Columbus Etsy Craft Fair to be exact. While in line for fresh lemonade I overheard 2 ladies talking about brown bag popcorn (this is what craft fair people gossip about by the way).
"It's so easy" she said "you just put the kernels into a brown paper lunch bag, roll up the top and put it in the microwave!"
My mind was literally blown away!

And so we tried it! 1/4 cup popcorn kernels, salt n' pepper, and a little bit of oil or butter for taste (you can also flavor after it has popped)
I like to jazz it up with crushed garlic too!

Put all the ingredients in the bag, and fold the over a few times (be sure to make a nice firm crease)

Set the timer to about 2:00 mins depending on your microwave or just listen for the popping to slow, and the result...

Delicious, fluffy, slightly salty, buttery popcorn!!

Yum!!