Luring...

Our first addition to our garden. It is the middle of winter, so all other gardening will have to wait a few months. I just love our new bird feeder. It's even my favorite color. Now that the cats are finally becoming adjusting to our new house and are not quite as terrified, they've taken to sitting in the front window. We thought they'd love being able to birdwatch, but there's one major roadblock... no birds! I know that there are birds around, as evidenced by the photo below, (can you even see the little birds nest in there?)... but we have yet to see a bird at our feeder. What's the deal? Why are they shunning our bird feeder? This weekend I took some of our seed and made a trail leading right up to our bird feeder to attempt to lure the birds to the goods. And it worked. Kind of. We saw a birdie hopping around out there, following the happy trail of seeds. And though he never made it to the actual bird feeder, I like to think that it was only because he was frightened away before he had a fair chance by Chloe's barking at the neighbors. Maybe next time, little guy...

Semi-annual trip...

to the MOVIES! We don't get to go too often... we're more the rent-a-movie type. I tease Kev that we keep it as a semi-annual event. Honestly, I can't even remember the last movie that we saw in the theater. Sad, isn't it? As much as I enjoy going to the movies, it's just so nice to settle down on the couch, fire a'burnin, with some wine and a movie. And I really felt old as I typed that.

Juno was amazing. We both loved it... I won't give a recap as I'm sure that everyone else has already seen it, but if you haven't yet... GO SEE IT. It rocks.

Focus into 2008...

This was the topic of last week's Photo of the Day challenge. I jumped in on the last day. Most everyone posted New Year's resolutions, but we all know that resolutions are made to be broken. I do have a few goals that I'd like to accomplish in 2008...

1. Be healthy - hence the photo above. I've fallen off the proverbial horse recently. I'm determined to be more active and change my diet. A big problem is that the gym is boring me to tears recently. Lucky for us, my wonderfully thoughtful Aunt sent us some UnderArmor for Christmas... so now we have no excuse not to get out there, even in the cold, and bike, run, snowboard, do anything but be lazy. We took our bikes out this weekend and rode 17.25 miles. And it was so refreshing.

2. Begin my journey into domesticity - My husband will love this one. He has challenged me to cook one meal a week. Baby steps people, baby steps...

3. Focus on my photography - I'm going to try to learn all that I can this year. I've already registered for a few classes and seminars and I have quite a few intimidating books on my 'to-read' pile. And most of all, I need a lot of PRACTICE. So if you have some willing models, you know who to call.

4. Make decent progress on our home renovation list - We've already repainted the office. Next we'd like to put down hardwood in the office to replace a hideous green carpet. Then we'd like to redo the powder room downstairs. The previous homeowners seem to have thought that wallpaper border looks good in EVERY room of the house. Blech.

And what better way to close than to share some photos of Chloe from this weekend... who's idea of heaven involves a thin slice of winter sunlight, let in by the front door...

A Christmas gift...

From the hubster. Do you know what it is? Okay, it's probably not too tricky. It's an ELEPHANT! To hold our rings. I admit, I've been known to misplace jewelry. Simply misplace, definitely not lose. I love this. And I love that in this shot you can see me taking the photo in multiple places on the elephant... though you probably can't tell here.
And the girl... She looks to be fully recovered and back to her mischievous ways. She has perfected the 'innocent' face...

Poor, sick girl...

Doesn't she look so pitiful? She was acting very strange the other morning... lethargic, not wanting to eat, trembling. Luckily Kev already had off work so he took her to the vet. We will not go into her typical misbehavings in the vet's waiting room... let's just say, that place makes her mean. The vet thinks she has pulled/strained something in her neck. She wouldn't let the vet turn her head to the left. She's been put on some medication, which is good and bad... Good because she seems to not be hurting anymore, but bad because she seems to have forgotten the pain quite quickly, and has resumed her normal, hyperactive behavior even though she's supposed to be resting and recovering. Tomorrow will be the true test of her recovery. Today was her last day of pain meds so we'll see how she does when she's not doped up...

Gone Blonde...

Not me! Our office has decided to go blonde. We finally decided on a color to paint it. Previously it had been blessed with some rather interesting green & white striped wallpaper to about waist-high level. We knew right away that we wouldn't be wading in that sea of uglyness for long, but being novice home decorators it has taken us awhile to agree on a new color. I wanted something bold, since the rest of the downstairs is beige, with only the dining room being a olivey-sagey green color. Not too exciting. But, our office is small and we didn't want it to feel even smaller by painting it a dark color. So Kev agreed that we could paint the powder room downstairs RED (Chianti, to be exact... how appropriate, eh?) and we chose Blonde for the office. It's not quite as bright as it appears in this photo... It's much more dirty blonde. I'll have to wait until the sun reappears before I'll be able to get any more accurate photos. Isn't it lovely?

P.S. Pretend that you don't notice that my husband not only painted the walls, but also a bit of the outlet itself. Sloppy work, I tell ya... ;-)

The aftermath...

We had a lovely first married Christmas in our new home. I couldn't have asked for more. My hubby is so thoughtful, sometimes I feel undeserving. I'm quite domestically challenged. Santa (aka: my inlaws) got us a grill for xmas, so Kev and I decided to do Christmas dinner for just the two of us. It was nice to have some quiet alone time after the bustle of the holidays. Sometimes it's hard trying to merge two familes... you want to spend time with each family, which made our holidays rather stressful when we were dating. Always a rush. I think we've got things ironed out. This year was perfect. We spent Christmas Eve afternoon Kev's parents, the evening with his side of the family, Christmas brunch at my parents, and then headed home for our romantic solo dinner. Kev grilled some filets, and we had asparagus cooked with soy sauce, garlic, mushrooms and tomatoes. So delish. Oh, and mashed potatoes. And some wine from our favorite local winery. Perfection...

Unrelated to Christmas, Kev got me these flowers last week so I was just practicing on them. It's going to be quite an adjustment with my new camera. I feel like I'm starting all over again!


The survival of my favorite tree in our backyard... I think it's a Japanese Maple tree. Pretty exotic, don't you think?

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a fabulous holiday!

Mushroom & Sherry Soup

Kev made this soup for the second time tonight and it is delicious. It's perfect for a cold, blah, winter day like today. Since my mother in law requested that we share the recipe, I thought I'd post it here so that everyone can enjoy it's rich, creamy yummyness. 

Ingredients:

4 tbsp butter

2 garlic cloves, chopped

3 onions, sliced

1lb mixed white and chestnut mushrooms, sliced (Kev likes to get creative with the mushrooms... last time we used white, portabella, and porcini. This time we used white, portabella, cremini, and oyster mushrooms. 

3 1/2 oz. fresh cepes or porcini mushrooms, sliced

3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

generous 2 cups vegetable stock 

salt and pepper

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp sherry

1/2 cup sour cream

Melt the butter in a large pan over low heat. Add the garlic and onions and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes, until slightly softened. Add the mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring. Add the chopped parsley, pour in the stock, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover the pan, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Put the flour into a bowl, mix in enough milk to make a smooth paste, then stir it into the soup. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining milk and the sherry and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the sour cream.

Return the pan to the heat and warm gently. Remove from the heat and ladle into serving bowls. Garnish with sour cream and chopped fresh parsley, and serve the soup with crusty rolls.

The end.

One of Those Days...

Ever have one of those mornings when you think it would be in everyone's best interest if you just crawl right back into bed? That's my today...

10 months...

This morning I woke to kisses on the cheek and the sound of Kev setting breakfast in bed on my nightstand. All my favorite things... pancakes, raspberries, orange juice... and pumpkin spice coffee waiting downstairs for me. Confirmation, yet again, that 10 months ago today I made the best decision of my life. Strange how the past 10 months seems to have flown by, but at the same time it feels like we've been married forever. I can't imagine my life without this man.
And another thing that I awoke to this morning...
SNOW! Our first real snow of the year. It wasn't even enough to cover the grass or stick on the roads, but SNOW! Bah. To me, the magic of snow ended when snow days were no longer a possibility. It's not completely terrible on a day when we can light a fire and snuggle on the coach watching movies, but commuting in snow is plain dreadful. Each and every winter I wonder why we don't move someplace warm, someplace where we'd never have to worry about 2.5 hour commutes in the snow, salt, snow tires, shovels, plows, black ice, and bone chilling temperatures. And each and every year, here we are again...



The one thing that I do enjoy about the snow is seeing Chloe in it. Here is the big debut of Chloe's pepto pink sweater...

JPG

JPG is my new favorite photography magazine. Very cool. I've only received my second issue, so I can't give a very thorough review just yet. But from what I've seen so far, I'd definitely recommend it. It's outside the box kind of photography. Unconventional. Inspiring. I've checked out a couple other photography mags, but many of them seem filled with advertisements more than substance. And it makes for a pretty coffee table magazine...

Golden Gate...

This is Kev's shot of the Golden Gate Bridge, taken mid-bike ride. I must say, I love it! It's so him. This was my favorite day of the trip. We rented bikes and rode across the bridge to Sausalito. We had lunch overlooking the water, and then took the ferry back. Probably a typical tourist excursion, but regardless, we had such a good time. The weather was absurd. Riding up towards the bridge in San Fran it was overcast, chilly, even a little rainy, but when we got to the other side it was a whole other world. Sunny, warm, clear... just gorgeous. You can kind of tell in the photo... the bridge is so foggy, but on the other side, it's blue skies!

I'd like to get this framed for Kev... so here's the 2 edits that I've done. Please let me know which you prefer... or if you have other ideas, I'm open to suggestions!

Here's the original...
And w/ a little cinnamon flava...

I've been wanting to try this for awhile...

I love movies. But, a trip to the movie store often turns out to be more hassle than it's worth. We rarely agree on which movie to rent, and when we do... chances are that the movie is not in stock. So we wander around aimlessly and usually walk out empty-handed and annoyed at each other's indecisiveness. Now that we're more or less settled, we decided to sign up for Blockbuster Total Access. It'll be so nice for us each to get to add whatever movies we'd like to see online, and then just wait for them to arrive in the mail. We chose this over Netflix because we can return the movie to the store and a) immediately be eligible for a new movie to ship, rather than waiting for them to receive it in the mail, and b) twice a month we can get a free in-store movie rental for returning it to the store, which does not count as an outstanding movie.

Now we need to start adding movies to our queue. Which is where you come in... Suggestions will be greatly appreciated!! I'd love to hear movies that you've seen recently, or not so recently, that you'd recommend. Please leave a comment!

Happy trails...

I'm taking a break from San Francisco photos. These are from a few weeks ago as we were enjoying the unseasonably warm weather on the trail by our house. Chloe digs it. Except for the one time we came upon people riding horses on the trail. That kinda freaked her out...
And an incredibly soft shot, but I can't help but adore it...

Happy Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving. I have so many things to be thankful for this year... I wouldn't even know where to start. One thing that I am not thankful for however, is the fact that I have to work tomorrow. And that Kev has off makes it even more painful. But at least it'll be Friday!

The obligatory flower shot...

A view of Alcatraz...
A lil different processing... Like it or not?

More from the archives...

More flowers! Are you getting sick of seeing them yet? =) I apologize for the photos being so small now. Blame Blogger. I do.

For all that are concerned/worried/terrified... Though we are celebrating our first Thanksgiving in our new home, I am NOT cooking. Calm yourselves. I hope everyone has a fabulous holiday!

San Fran flowers...

POTD - Two days in a row... Go me! Though I'm cursing Blogger right now. I'm STILL not able to upload photos. Yesterday I was able to upload my berries just fine, but today... no dice. WTH Blogger?!? Make up your flighty little mind already. In order to post photos, I now have to upload my photos to Photobucket, resize them so they fit my blog, and then copy and paste all the codes here. It's becoming increasingly annoying.

But let's ignore the fact that I'm ticked off at Blogger and look at photos from our trip to San Fran. I haven't posted many of them yet, so I'll try to take this week to share some of my favorites. To stay on theme... flowers at the top of Lombard street...


Kev and Rose...


This city is no joke! You know it's serious walking when you need stairs to walk up a sidewalk...

POTD - Flowers

It's BAAAAAAACK! I've decided to try doing Photo of the Day again (try being the imperative word there). I feel like it really helped me learn and grow, back when I did it every day. And honestly I've been feeling less than creative lately. So I thought I'd give it another go. Besides, there's only six more weeks until the end of the year ::: gasp ::: Feel free to leave me nasty comments if I slack off. hehe. If you couldn't tell by now, I'm the type that needs a swift kick in the rear to keep me on track. I recognize it.

So this week's theme is flowers. Whoever made the POTD schedule obviously didn't consider that there aren't all that many flowers sticking around in November. Or maybe they live in Florida, or California, or some other place that I dream of living when I see my car covered in frost on Monday morning. Blah. So you get berries instead. It's all I've got.

By the way, it SNOWED this weekend. First time of the year. It was just flurries, but snow none the less...

Christian...

Look how tiny he is for two and a half! How completely adorable. We went down to the farm last weekend to take some photos... but Christian didn't want anything to do with the camera. Haha. Who can blame him when there are so many more interesting things going on... tractors, horses, cows, chickens... All kinds of fun stuff!

Here are a few...

::: Wub :::

Owie...

Somehow, I found myself at the gym on Saturday. I've been meaning to make it there for awhile now, but have been able to find excuses to avoid it... I think that working 11hr days is a valid excuse. Unfortunately, Kev remembers the days when I would work 11hr days and then drive directly to the gym afterwards. And he reminds me of that. I don't know what my problem is now. It seems like after the wedding my body subconsciously made the decision to avoid the gym at all costs, give in to all office birthday cakes, and sustain myself during those long workdays on Cheetos. It has not been a healthy 9 months. I need to make a change. Desperately.

So, Kev and I went to the gym together on Saturday. It was my first trip to our new gym since the move. As we walked in, my dear husband reminded me to take it easy, as my body has not seen real physical activity in almost a year. I ignored him. And I shamefully admit that I'm paying for it now. It hurts to MOVE. That's bad. But I'll be back tomorrow to kick that gym's ass. Or something like that...

Fire flower...

Just one shot of a gorgeous flower in San Fran...