After the smashing success of Summerfest, we got to spend even more time with Annie & Steve. This does not happen often, so I was super excited!! We drove up north to camp at Humboldt Redwoods State Park. This was extra fun because Steve had just had shoulder surgery a few weeks beforehand. And yes, we really did need all this stuff, and more.....
Avenue of the Giants:
Sweet shady campsite:
We may or may not have taken all the leftover beer from Summerfest......
Nothing better than camping food:
And drinking out of squishy cups:
I love these two:
After a couple of days, we drove home along the coast, where someone who will not be named did some brutal carsickness-side-of-the-road puking. We also got to stop at a couple different beaches in Mendocino.
Annie discovered the Pacific Ocean is cold:
Jason & Steve did some serious kung-fu-fighting:
There were Bigfoot sightings:
And Shrek:
After a one-night detour in Ft. Bragg (which involved the very creepy Carnival-by-the-Sea and a lot of women's softball), we made a final stop at the Korbel winery for lunch & champagne tasting. Sweet!
This was the most time I've got to spend with Annie and Steve in a few years and we had a blast!! I miss them and wish we didn't live so far apart. Moving to Maine won't help, since I was informed that Minnesota is pretty much smack dab in the middle of the country. So hurrah for good times and good memories!!!!!
Have you been wondering what I've been up to during my long absence from the blogosphere?? Since our Memorial Week camping trip (which I'll post pics of in my next post), we have been working on our house, day in and day out. Cosmetically, the house needed a lot of updating. A lot. Especially if we wanted to sell it. Which, as you can tell by the title of this post, we have decided to do.
Jason has always planned to move back to the promised land of Maine and that was something I agreed to before I jumped on this marriage train with him. Although truth be told, even before he and I became "we", I was itching. Restless. Wanting a change. Looking for something different. somewhere greener and cooler. Maine is alright by me. Close to his family. Close to cheap lobster. A place where we can have an old house with some land. Maybe even some animals. I'm hoping this will bring me one step closer to fulfilling my childhood dream of being Laura Ingalls Wilder.And I'm not talking about Melissa Gilbert, I'm talking about the real deal:
This was always our "someday" plan, but thanks to the recent shenanigans of those wacky UC Regents, our "someday" plan has become our "now" plan. And so, we prepared our house. We painted and tiled and painted and recarpeted and painted and planted and remodeled and painted and cleaned and painted and packed and painted and painted some more. I am proud to say, the house looks fabulous. All things we have wanted to do, given a certain sense of urgency by events out of our control.
Which leads us to the next thing out of our control: selling the house. We hope and pray that someone will fall in love with it's quirky charms just the way Jason did when he bought it years ago. We have a wonderful realtor and we've done all we could to make this house beautiful and welcoming. Now, we wait. And curse the Sacramento weather for killing off all my new flowers after I planted them.
Welcome in...............
It has been completely bizarre to come home from work this week and realize that there wasn't a project waiting to be completed, a door that needed painting, a box that needed packing. We have an open house on Sunday and after that, I plan on getting my scrapping supplies back out (in a controlled fashion of course) and catching up on my pictures with all the free time I suddenly have!
Annie & Steve are here in town -- YAY!!! Please excuse Jason. He was very excited to see them.
Lucky for us, their visit coincided with Steve's parents' annual Grass Family Memorial Day Weekend Summerfest Beer Tasting BBQ Extravaganza. Otherwise known as Summerfest. The premise is simple: everyone brings a favorite summer beer, all the beers are sampled and voted upon, and a winner is declared. There are no prizes, only the glory of bringing the winning beer!
The competition was pretty stiff this year, as there were 15 beers to taste! Trust me, even for a beer lover, that is a lot of tasting and ranking to do! There was definitely a clear male-female divide in the voting, with most members of one gender ranking beers the opposite of the other gender. I wonder if someone could get a grant to do a research study on that??
Of course there was also food. Lots and lots of food. Mainly involving things you can put on a BBQ.
We had a blast, of course catching up with Annie & Steve. This was also the first time I had seen Steve's parents in a few years; they got to finally meet Jason after hearing many tales! It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon: beautiful weather, good food and beer, great friends, and lots of laughs.
As a bonus, Jason brought not only the winning beer, but also the close second. Let's hear it for Chamberlain Pale Ale and Sam Adams Summer Ale! It was a sweep for New England. Too bad the Red Sox couldn't do the same this weekend........
The darkhorse entry was Grandpa Earl's Big Ass Beer. It was a surprise tie for third! You never know what Grandpa Earl has got up his sleeve.
And that concludes our Memorial Day weekend. Tomorrow we're heading north with Annie & Steve, to go camping in the redwoods all week. I'll have lots of pictures when we get back and hopefully some good tales. Viva les S'mores!!
I thought I would share with you all how well our little garden is doing so far. This past weekend it was over 100 degrees -- yuck! Thankfully, we'd been really generous with the watering and all our veggies seem to have taken off. The heat didn't seem to phase them and there is already evidence of deliciousness to come!
The red lettuce and Chinese cabbage are already going strong:
The cucumbers have a lot of flowers on them and the beans are happily climbing their trellises. Many of them already have pods!
The tomato plant is looking a little sad, but hopefully these yellow blooms will bear some juicy fruit:
And last we have the salsa garden. Green onions in the front, I've never grown them so I don't know if they look healthy or not?
I'm hoping for a bumper crop of all these hot peppers!
The roses in the front yard seem to be in their final bloom for now. They've still got a few gorgeous blooms left on them:
This little tea rose wasn't trellised and it got so heavy with blooms it just flopped over on its side!
And finally these little guys, some annuals that I had planted in my hanging baskets last fall. At least I thought they were annuals. Jason swore they were going to come back to life after the winter and I really didn't believe him. Now I have to admit, he was correct:
So that's what been growing around our little homestead! I still have a bunch of wine barrels to fill on the side of the front yard. I'm looking for something tall, colorful, likes partial sun, and will survive a brutal Sacramento summer. Any ideas???????
I'm linking up to Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer. You should head over there too and see what else everyone has been to up to outdoors. I'm counting on lots of spring flowers and early gardens!
Thanks to some prodding from Mara....I realized I had not been scrapping since...ummm.....before Christmas?? The sad thing is I made a December Daily album ala Ali Edwards and took pictures all through the month for it. And then never put it together. Nice. Thankfully she prodded me right back over to two of my favorite scrapbooking message boards and encouraged me to join in on some May fun and motivation. And boy has it worked!!
In case you were unawares (and seriously...how could you possibly not know), May 2nd was National Scrapbooking Day! Did anyone catch Michelle Obama showing off a few of her favorites layouts of Barack and the kids? Okay well she didn't really do that...but it's just one short step from organic gardening to scrapbooking. Back to reality.
Color Me Daisy and Moments 2 Remember are two awesome places to go for some scrappy fun and inspiration. CMD is having a month long "Be Happy" online crop full of challenges and prizes. Leave a comment on their blog, because they are awarding a RAK a day for the entire month to commenters! They have a fun message board and their kits are to DIE for. Always chock full of beautiful paper, lots of embellies, and beautiful add-ons to tempt you!
M2R is also having a month long online crop to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day. They have an around the world theme, with challenges based on different parts of the globe each week. Their design team does incredible work and the crop has been very inspiring....really gotten me off my butt and back scrapping again. Their message board is super friendly and supportive; I know several of the ladies have become friends in "real life." They have monthly challegnes, and the design team also does monthly tutorials on different techniques. Everyone that posts there is really talented, lots and lots of great eye candy in the gallery. And if you want one of their kits, you have to act fast, they always sell out super quick!
So enough talk. The point is that I've been diving back into my pictures and getting a lot done and having fun! If you need some inspiration too, check out these sites, they'll be sure to get your creative juices flowing again. I'll leave you with some of my recent favorite layout and projects. A lot of them are really simple, but I've definitely got my mojo back!
Susan is hosting her weekly Metamorphosis Monday blog party over at her blog: Between Naps on the Porch. Check out the changes that have been going on around here, then head over her way and look at all the other amazing transformations! I know all of you have been waiting to see some pics of our kitchen remodel. Try to hold down the excitement. We debated redoing the kitchen....over and over and over. We are really hoping to sell the house this summer and have been a bit addicted to HGTV lately (okay I have, but Jason watches it too!). After hearing "kitchens sell a house" about a bazillion times, and looking at our crooked cabinets every single day as we walk in the front door, we decided to take the plunge and go for it!
We're still in the middle of things, but I'll update you so far. We've been doing the vast majority of the work ourselves. So for time and budgetary reasons, things have been done piece by piece. Which has actually been a good way to do things, I can't imagine living without a kitchen for weeks on end!
Without further ado, some befores: Nice empty space in the cabinets. And where's the stove you say? Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay over on the other side of the room: No, it's not my photography skills, the cabinets really are that crooked. And what about the fridge? Surely we have a fridge? Ah yes, it's tucked around the corner: Work triangle? Ha! We don't need no stinkin' work triangle! Moving walls and plumbing and gas lines was not an option. We needed to figure out a better flow and a better way to define the kitchen from the living room, while keeping the same general setup. The front door opens right into the "great room" which is currently defined by this lovely sight:
Sweet lino in the kitchen, nasty carpet in the living room! First order of business was putting up a half wall. I was a little unsure about this, afraid it would make a not-too-big space seem even smaller.However, once it was up, the kitchen area felt twice as big! Now we have room for a little rolling island/cart up against the wall (which I don't have a pic of). Since there is hardly any counter space next to the stove, this is perfect for rolling over there to do veggie prep. Jason and Roger did an awesome job! Plus, when we have people over, they'll be able to sit in the living room without feeling like they're in the sink.
Next step? New cabinets! I absolutely, completely, without reservation HEART our new cabs! They are the already assembled, straight off the shelf line from the Despot. Verrrry convenient: And they look great! It's so nice to put dishes on the shelves without being afraid they'll bow and crack. Old crooked shelves and sticky hood: New straight cabinets with new microwave/hood combo. Love the space-saving! We ripped off the old white laminate and forest green tiles (matched the carpet) and put down the lower cabs. We also hung a new upper cabinet on the left side of the window, to help define the kitchen space. Between that and a corner base cabinet, we gained a lot more space. Plywood is all ready for new counters! And so I bring you, our granite counters. They are so beautiful, I love them, so glad we picked this color. This is where we wisely let the professionas take over. After all the work we have done to the house, it was quite an indulgence to watch somebody else! Besides, granite cutting is really better left to those who know what they're doing: They did a fantastic job! Check it out: Now the half wall is a sweet little spot for sitting and having breakfast in the morning (and checking my blogroll on my laptop!). It'll be a perfect bar for parties too. We got a new stainless dishwasher and sink and now the stove looks really crappy so that's next on our list. Yea.
We're thrilled with how everything's turned out so far. There's a lot of work still to be done, but seeing this progress is super encouraging. It feels like a different house already! I'll try and be better about posting.....so they aren't as long as this one!
Head on over to Susan's to check out more cool metamorphoses.
And make sure to check back here. Next up........we're tackling this:
There are so many stories right now, in the media and in the blogosphere, about people saving money and changing their habits during this recession. Much has been made about the "latte factor," the way that little daily expenditures can add up to big money over time.
I am definitely a coffee addict, and since their is (or was) a Starbucks on every corner, I'm a bit of a Starbucks addict too. I've never gone there for a daily coffee fix, we brew our own at home. But I love their lattes, mochas, frappuccinos, you name it! I'm not neccessarily particular to their brand. I love Peet's espresso, and there are several good local coffee shops around we enjoy going to (I especially like Coffee Works). But most of the time we end up at good ole Starbucks.
I realized that while we weren't spending exorbitant amounts of money there (it's a pretty cheap way to pass a weekend morning), we could stand to save some money. And so I learned......to make Starbucks knockoffs! I'm totally Hooked on this, and I'll share some easy tips with you.
First off, if you don't already have an espresso machine, don't buy one. That will not save you money! Most coffee drinks are perfectly fine made with strongly brewed coffee, especially from a French press. Target has several perfectly good presses for under $20. Just make sure your beans are coarsely ground and you press SLOWLY. Trust me on this. You can also get a milk frother like this one, for around $15. You'll have to heat the milk first, but you'll get a nice foam with one of these hand-held tools.
If you are lucky enough to have an espresso maker, USE IT! We have an incredibly awesome machine, a wedding gift from Jason's friend Roger. It is of a quality that we never would have purchased for ourselves!
Once you get comfortable making a basic espresso/coffee and milk drink, this is when you get to have fun! All the tasty flavors Starbucks puts in your lattes? They sell everything in their stores, but you can find similar products much cheaper. You can get Torani syrup for a good price at most grocery/discount stores (I got mine at Food Source, which is no gourmet market!). Target also has their own brand of syrups, including sugar-free. Cruise the bakery/spice section, looking for tasty add-ins like cocoa powder, vanilla sugar, whatever you like! I especially enjoy pumpkin pie spice sprinkled in my drinks during the winter: It helps to have a super cute set of cups and saucers (thanks Annie & Steve!!): Caramel ice cream topping + spiced apple cider = super yummy on a cold night! I have also found some really yummy recipes online for different drink combinations and add-ins.You can whip up this recipe for Chocolate Caramel Latte Syrup and keep it in your fridge for a super sweet morning add-in! Allrecipes.com has a great tutorial for making hot and cold coffee drinks.
Speaking of cold drinks, now that it's getting warm, haul out your blender! The trick to tasty iced coffee that's not watered down? Coffee ice cubes! Next time you make a pot and have a bunch leftover, freeze it in a couple of ice cube trays and then put the cubes in a freezer bag. Substitute for ice cubes in any iced coffee recipe. I like this one and this one, but your imagination is the only limit. And of course, you can use lowfat/nonfat versions of the essential ingredients to make a drink with waaaaaaay less calories than a Frappuccino! For those of you who like green tea, check out this awesome lowfat Green Tea Frapp recipe my sister posted on her blog. I think it's even better than the Starbucks version! Last time she came to visit she brought me a little recipe kit with all the ingredients for making these! Isn't she sweet?
So there you have it. We rarely go out for coffee or lattes anymore. I get a lot of satisfaction out of making them at home. We're saving a little money, and it's fun to experiment with different recipes. If any of you have a great one -- feel free to send it my way! And if you have never tried it before, go for it (and let me know how it turns out!). I'm totally Hooked!
Now head on over to Julia's blog for Hooked on Fridays and see what everyone else is Hooked on!
