Sunday, January 25, 2009

Kauai 2009


Matt and I spent the last week in Kauai...had a very relaxing time. My post got all screwed up...so now I don't have much to say. :)


Waimea Canyon


Whale



Sugar cane plant




Sunrise




sunrise


sunrise



on the catamaran


whale tail



Na pali coast


coast


coast


Rambutan-fruit that we ate at breakfast. It tastes like a big grape with a seed in it.


The view of Poipu beach from our room



A chicken-they were everywhere


A rooster-EVERYWHERE and always crowing



View of the Waimea Canyon and me



Matt and I on the cruise catamaran



Me kicking the Captain's butt



Sunset on our cruise




Sunset



Sunset



Na pali coast



Na pali Coast



Na pali Coast



Sunset


Sunset



Not many pictures of Matt and I...I didn't like any of them :)

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

another post

Man, am I full of posts today. I filled these apothecary jars today after finally figuring out what to put in them. For Christmas, I filled them with water, fresh cranberries, and evergreen branches.





And here is my deviant little boy Whiskey. He sneaks up on the couch and quickly makes himself soooo comfy that I couldn't possible want to kick him off?! As soon as I tell him no and walk over to him, he stiffens up and leans into the back of the couch. This is a 2-3x a day occurrence.



soup

I made some soup last night...because it's clearly soup weather. I went off of a recipe I found recently called Turkey Albondigas soup. Albondigas means meatball, I think. It kind of reminded me of a spanish version of Italian Wedding soup. I tweaked it a bit though, and I will give you the recipe for my version (which is doubled so we have leftovers):

meatballs:
2lbs ground turkey
about 3 TBS each: cumin and oregano
about 2 tsp each: salt and pepper
2 eggs
almost 2 cups of bread crumbs

*mix together, form meatballs, refrigerate for about 20 min. (why? I have no idea...I just follow what they tell me...) This made about 30 med-sized meatballs.

soup:
3 large carrots, chopped
1 lg onion, chopped
1 lg can of diced tomatoes
4 lg pasilla or poblano peppers, chopped (I used pasilla because I couldn't find poblano...and I have no idea what the difference is) they are large and dark green :)
1/2 box acini de pepe noodles (small little tiny balls)
10-12 cups chicken broth...or however much you want :)
salt and pepper to taste
3-5 TBS cumin and oregano each (I used a CRAPLOAD-literally)
fresh cilantro

in a large pot, heat up EVOO, add chopped up carrots and onions. cook until softened. add the peppers, and tomatoes, cumin, oregano, s&p. Add broth. increase heat to high and get up to a boil. add the noodles, and the meatballs. Cook for at least 8 minutes at a simmer to cook the meatballs. Garnish with the cilantro.

The original recipe called for extra jalapenos and brown rice instead of the acini. I will try it next with the rice because this soup was AWESOME!

hair

So, I failed to mention that several weeks ago I dyed my hair. It is now brown...you know, for winter. I needed something different for awhile. I have had mixed reactions to it, but I will most likely go back mostly blonde later on... :)
Here are a couple of pics from Christmas...terrible pics, but you get the idea


Friday, January 2, 2009

New Year's Eve

So I had to work 7am-7pm on New Year's Eve and then again on New Year's Day, so I was at the party a little late. Everyone went on a Scavenger Hunt that Bry and Amanda put together around Seattle. They said it was awesome, and I hope they make it an annual thing so that I can do it next year.


So I realize as I am typing, this is the only pic on this camera worth putting on the blog. I have more on my NEW IPHONE (yay!!) that I will put on later if I can figure out how to do it. I feel really OLD because I feel incompetent with this new phone.





Matt, Luke, Collin, Bry, Amanda, and Marcie.

Christmas Eve

Here are some pics from Christmas Eve. We had my Mom's family over to my place for dinner/gifts this year! I made Beef Tenderloin, Green Beans with Almond Butter and a yummy salad with pears and candied pecans. It was fun, but oh so tiring!


I couldn't put pics up without this one from Whiskey's time in our deep snow.


Whiskey sleeping with his fuzzy bone



My Mom


My Uncle Richard with his dog, River



The family minus Jess and I at dinner.


My tree...fuzzy pic sorry



This was taken on Christmas Day at my house again with Matt's family. Bry is showing off my new Rooster apron.



And here's Whiskey again with his new HUGE bone that he LOVES



We had a great Christmas and my house is still turned upside down because I have been working the past few days. Today is THE day. Hence the reason for blogging now while I enjoy my coffee. Oh, and CONGRATS! to all the people who are pregnant or who just had babies lately (there are SO many!!)! We LOVE hearing the good news and seeing all of the pics!
Pictures of New Year's to come...



Sunday, December 21, 2008

SNOW!!!

We got a ton of snow this past week, and it's still coming!! Last night, we had more wind than snow. The wind carried all of the snow to certain places where it stacked up to several feet high!

Here is Whiskey in the snow next to our house..you can tell he is about 2 feet off the ground here


Here they are in the backyard...we had a couple of steps there and you can see the BBQ next to where Matt is standing.



Here is the door from the garage out to the backyard-there are steps down from this door as well-so deep!


Here is the fam on top of what must be at least 3 feet deep-I had just sunk down deeper when the picture was taken



And here is when I was actually standing on top of the mountain of snow



Whiskey found a Fruit by the Foot wrapper to keep him busy





Here's Matt and W on top of that mountain in the front yard



The front porch-our porch is off the ground about 2 feet and you can see the snow blew up onto the porch by the front door


The back side of the mountain of snow


Mountain



A video clip of Whiskey running from Matt to me-he LOVES the snow!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

snowy

I left my house at the usual time today: 6 am to get to work by 6:30 so I can have my coffee. By 6:20, I am at Eastgate in Bellevue-making good time even with the snow!! All of a sudden, I was at a stand-still. It then took me 3 hours to get to the hospital for work. I don't think it's even 5 miles!! Needless to say, I was late. I-405 royally sucked today.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

neutered

My baby Whiskey was neutered today. He also had a small umbilical hernia that needed to be fixed. I felt so bad for the little guy! He has a cone around his head and cries when he really wants to bite at his incision. I guess the good news is that he is mostly calm and quiet tonight, sleeping next to his sheep.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Whiskey and Matt

Matt and I wake up the other night to Whiskey rolling around in his kennel being SO noisy. Matt jumps up out of bed and turns the light on to see if he was ok. He was fine, just moving a lot. I rolled over and went back to bed. A few seconds later, I feel Matt tapping me on the shoulder. He says,

"honey, when did I put on your shirt???"

me: "umm...you have MY shirt on???"

matt: "ha, yes...but WHY?"

me: "I don't have a clue. Go back to bed...and take off my shirt."

I am not kidding you either. There he is in boxer briefs and my long sleeve V-NECK purple shirt! All I could think of was "fat guy in a little coat..."

We have been laughing for days!

The other day while Matt and I were getting ready for work, Whiskey took a pair of my underwear and ran away with them. He does this with everything: clean laundry, dirty laundry, the recycling, etc... We usually chase him around until we corner him then get it back. This time, while running away from Matt, Whiskey SWALLOWED MY UNDERWEAR WHOLE!!! And no, this was not a little thong, it was normal underwear. Luckily, W passed it yesterday!! Matt and I have never been so thrilled to see poop.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thanksgiving

I work this Thanksgiving, 12 hours, 7am to 7pm. So I decided to make a little Thanksgiving for my little family yesterday. Notice that I don't own a gravy boat, and yes, I used Rachael Ray's "Muffin' Stuffins" idea. Or is it Stuffin Muffins? Not sure, but I like it because I can portion my food a little better. So much for eating less carbs and sugar...

Friday, November 21, 2008

Twilight

I am recording Ellen today for my sister who is in LOVE with Twilight's Edward. I have NOT read the books, but she has read them all in the past 3 weeks. When she explains to me some of the plots, I laugh because she explains them as if they are so real. And then she realizes how funny she sounds talking about vampire romance...

I will read them eventually. I have heard from many that they are awesome-do not think I don't like Edward. :)

Daycare

Not much going on around here. Just work, work, and work. Whiskey started doggy day-care/obedience this week. I think Matt was sad to have to drop him off in an unfamiliar place, but he did well with it. Whiskey has his own kennel there and seems to be doing well with his training. I felt like we were taking our child to school for the first time... :) I know, I am pathetic.