black dress, part two

I'm posting this only as a follow up to my original cry for help to find a LBD for the S + S wedding next month. I've received kind tips on where to buy a dress so I thought I would share that one has finally been found! I was very surprised at the number of modest dresses at Nordstrom.com. It is my new go to place. I saw this one online, but finally went in the store to try it on and it fits great! Aaron gave the thumbs up, so in a garment bag and home it went. A good price and a nice modest dress I can wear again. Thanks for all your help!

new apple in town

i'll admit it. i'm a bit of an apple snob. ok, a lot of an apple snob. i literally have an apple each day and i love it. i look forward to it. but, i won't have just any apple. enemies? sandiness and lack of flavor, so out go the red delicious, oft times a gala, nothing golden, and for heavens sake no granny smiths unless caramel is involved. i usually reach for a pink lady.

recently i've found a new love. my local market was having a sale on ambrosia apples. at 0.77/lb i thought i'd branch out. so glad i did. they are on the medium to large size and perfectly crisp. not too hard, but no trace of sand. the flavor you ask? amazing. so sweet. i'm pretty sure it's candy. i'm so in love with this variety that i googled it. it's a relatively new breed and hails from canada. aaron, maple syrup, alanis morissette (during jr high only), and now this beauty are all things i love from canada. i have sampled from two separate crops and they were both delicious. if you see them in your market, try them and let me know what you think!

cookies and tv

yesterday was a bad day. what did i do after work? instead of heading to the gym, i stopped by the library where i picked up a good book and a season of gilmore girls, headed home for dinner, baked a package of nestle chocolate chip and walnut cookies, ate 4 of them, watched gilmore girls until aaron got home from school, then went to bed. a much better night than day.

julian saturday

this weekend we made our annual afternoon trek to julian. the weather was perfect. it's the closest thing i can get to northern california down here. it has about 1/100 of the awesomeness of apple hill, but i'll take what i can get. i desperately want to stay in a b&b there one night this winter and i think aaron might grant me that wish. aaron was such a good sport. i'm pretty sure he sees this whole trip as pointless, but agrees with whatever i want to do when we go. i love it.we had a gift card for mom's pies and took home an apple crumb, but sampled a slice of cherry apple crumb with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream while in the store. i'd like to try one of their apple dumplings (which you can watch them make through the window). maybe next trip. i've been gorging on delicious pie all weekend. i'm not much of a fruit pie person, but this is an exception.

cute boxes of local apples decorate the store.

on the way home we stopped at dudleys, a local bakery specializing in bread. they carry it at costco and local stores, but it doesn't get more fresh than stopping at the place that baked it that morning. they have an amazing variety of flavors. we decided on jalapeno cheddar and cinnamon raisin. the rosemary and olive oil loaf caught my eye, as well. we immediately began snacking on slices as soon as we hit the road. all in all a yummy weekend that will last until all the provisions are gone.
ps- aaron's flock of seagulls hair was created from driving through the back country with the windows down. he was rocking an adorable side part before that.

is anyone else as captivated

by the Chilean miners rescue as i am? i could barely put on my makeup this morning because i was crying so much while watching the news. i'm crying every 60 minutes viewing the live coverage at work. all i have to do is think about that being my husband, father or brother and i lose it. i will be so thankful when the last one is out.

i'm preparing for christmas

by dreaming of gingerbread house designs and digging deep for my creativity bone. not sure i have one in my body, but if i do, i'm going to find it. i signed up for a gingerbread chalet class where you learn how to design, make, and decorate a gingerbread house. can't wait. being able to make a fantastic gingerbread house is along the same lines as having the cookie recipe everyone requests or being the lady in the ward where women have babies just to get one of your quilts. maybe that's just in my mind, but i think a fine gingerbread house is pretty awesome.
after two classes in december, i should be able to make something like this one, right?
ps- this house is not on a table, but rather taking up most of a hotel lobby. yes, it's almost life sized. dream big.

sweet potato advice

can anyone help me with this spud? after hearing all the health raves it has received, i'm eager to begin incorporating sweet potatoes in our fall collection. i think i'll be fine with sweet potato fries or roasting them, but many questions have arisen in my mind regarding mashing them. every recipe i see has so much sugar/syrup/butter in it. no thanks! there goes my nutritional value. i'm fine adding cinnamon and other spices, a little sugar or butter, but would rather not make it a fat/sugar bomb. does anyone have a favorite mashed sweet potato recipe?

air show

saturday we went to the miramar air show and had a great time. we weren't planning on going, but got some great free seats at the last minute and quickly made plans. our box seats were literally in the front row. you can see how close the plane is to us. it is an all day event, but we went only for the afternoon. it was blazing hot and i cannot imagine hanging out in the sun all day. the planes were amazing and so loud and brought up lots of questions like 'how much pollution does this show generate?' or 'why does the government need planes that can hover like a helicopter?', but we sat back and enjoyed the show anyway.

thanks for coming, friends! and a HUGE thanks for thinking ahead and bringing the ear plugs!

so hot and past wanting to take a picture.

H-E-Double Hockey Sticks

I don't know how toothpicks replaced hockey sticks, but it is hot here in San Diego. The good news is that hockey is back!

******Note: this is from guest blogger, aaron. he saw "h-e-double toothpicks" written and said, 'who says that? it's hockey sticks.' yes, i guess in canada, that's what they would say.

san francisco

we took a weekend trip to san francisco for our anniversary and had a great time. as it should be in a city like this, we were on the go the entire time and exhausted each night. a sample of our activities includes: riding bikes across the golden gate bridge, checking out the marina district and all the forts therein, lunching in sausilito and riding the ferry back, exploring the wharf, sampling ghiradelli square, a night tour of alcatraz, mastering the muni system, falling in love with the local pizza and mediterranean place by our hotel, biking through golden gate park, lots of shopping, a tour of the boudin bakery, and hunting down the transamerica building. we had a blast and put it on our list of places to live one day.

i almost lost it multiple times while riding across the bridge. i'm not good around water! i was pretty sure i was going to die and kept singing primary songs to calm me down.

this is near strawberry field in golden gate park. i am not the focus in this picture, rather the two ladies in the background doing a very active form of yoga that aaron just had to capture.

where's waldo? i posed on the bridge thinking it would be a great picture and kept yelling for aaron to take it, not knowing only 2% of my body was visible. i laugh so hard each time i see this picture.

they billed this place as the Musée Mécanique on the wharft. curisosity led us there and we had a great time. it is an arcade of really old games which were oddly obsessed with execution or fornication. yea for the turn of the century?
bonding with the locals.

puts my baking skills to shame. the bakery tour was the highlight of my trip.

a friend saw this and thought i was holding up a breadstick. oh no, kids, this is a crust from a pizza slice i devoured. cheap, a few blocks from our hotel, and open late. it always hit the spot.

we took so many pictures of alcatraz that i did a separate post.

the rock

we decided to try a night tour of alcatraz and it was wonderful. delightfully spooky at night.

aaron demands his accessories even in solitary confinement. he can go nowhere without his purse.

i'm semi-obsessed with old buildings and loved exploring the burnt out shells on the island.

oh, and we got a real treat. they were providing unadvertised tours of the hospital for 30 minutes while we were on the island. again, the love of old buildings made me jump at the chance. for those of you familiar with the buildings, the hospital is directly above the cafeteria. i'm pretty sure this is where stephen king got his inspiration. many of the rooms were roped off and crumbling.

i can't even imagine what getting an x-ray on this machine would do to your baby maker.

wouldn't you love an operation in this room?

at least you have a window when you're recuperating.

the tour guide said the hospital was staffed 24/7 and used the latest technology to take great care of the patients. still gave me the creeps!

afternoon delight

a few weeks ago a trio of us at work hatched a friday afternoon potluck plan centered around my basil plant. we made caprese sandwhiches with fanciful sodas, strawberries and nutella, and brownies for dessert. luckily we had an italian in our midst and he provided the delicious buffalo mozzarella. i wouldn't have known to buy it.delightful conversation + amazing food = very hard to go back to work. we're planning our next feast! thanks, j & p!

give blood!

I'm a regular donor at the San Diego Blood Bank and each year they have an event at a Padres game to honor their high level donors. Luckily, it's always at the end of the season, so we usually end up seeing a pretty good game. The game was this past Saturday afternoon where the Padres played the Reds in what was an apparently important game. Aaron explained the standings and wild card business to me. The score was back and forth for most of the game, but we pulled it off in the bottom of the 9th and won! (nevermind that i made aaron leave in the top of the 9th so i could hurry home to the RS broadcast. he eventually forgave me) We're ahead of the Giants. Go Padres!ps- aaron is not wearing a yamaka, rather a Padres hat on the very back of his head. in case you were wondering. also, i think i've almost resigned myself to the fact that just like i don't want to wear make up each day, aaron doesn't want to shave. live and let live?

not the best seats ever, but it was nice to be up high and catch the breeze because it was so hot out. we're finally getting our summer. no thanks, i'm ready for fall.

love my pumpkin

i've always loved the flavor of pumpkin, but never found ways to eat it more often than in the fall. of course fall baking begs the use of pumpkin, however after learning about how it is a nutritional powerhouse (and loving the pumpkin-cinnamon combo) i was determined to use it year round. surprisingly, i found a yummy and easy recipe for pumpkin pancakes in aaron's october issue of men's health. i made them sunday morning and they were delicious! thought i would share.

pumpkin pancakes:

dry
2 c. pancake mix
3 tbsp. brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
wet
1 c. canned pumpkin
1 1/2 c. milk
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg, beaten
*combine the dry in one bowl, the wet in another, then add the dry to the wet and mix. pour 1/4 cup on piping hot griddle and proceed as usual.

note: i don't own pumpkin pie spice, so i did 1/2 tsp of nutmeg, 1/2 tsp of cloves and the rest with cinnamon. i used EVOO and fat free milk. i think i would like a recipe that doesn't use pancake mix, instead rather cooks from scratch, but this was very easy. i think i'll add some ground flax next time, too. i'll be working these in my pancake rotation as a nice change from plain and blueberry.

enjoy!

gardening

i've been wanting to plant a garden for a very long time, but i have also killed every plant i've owned for a very long time, so i was unsure if i should proceed. however, since i envision myself being a mother who has a garden and cans the fruits of her labor i figured i should start somehow. lowe's has a money back guarantee on their plants which gave me hope. we have the most pathetic patch of dirt outside our door but with a little perseverance i've had success. small success.

initial confusion on staking my plants.
a little elbow grease.

the first fruit! best strawberry ever. i absolutely love having a basil plant as nothing beats fresh basil. i finally have a squash coming in and am so excited about that. nothing from my tomato plant yet, but i have hopes. again, very small success, but a victory none the less.