2010 in Photos

This year has been filled with lots of celebrations, love, and memories that will be near and dear to my heart forever. We've made some progress on our house both inside and out with a guest room re-design, a new garden, and some landscaping. My lovely friends threw the best bachelorette party I could dream of and my supermom put together the sweetest bridal shower. And then we topped off a very lovely (and windy!) Spring with the most beautiful and fun wedding and an exciting honeymoon to Japan! What could get better than that??  I am so thankful to everyone who came together to help us start this new chapter our our lives and I am  anxious to find out what will happen in 2011! I hope to be back on my feet in February and we will be planning a trip to visit my family in Seattle, a Hawaii anniversary, and Helya's wedding in August! I think it will be another great year!!

Music: Sufjan Stevens - The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders (this was our recessional at the wedding!)

A Christmas Gift

Steve got me a wedding band for Christmas! It is tiny and perfect!

Friday Favorites: Survival Essentials

All I need to survive. Merry Christmas Eve!

A sweet birthday message from my lovely mother!

Nice things Steve has done since surgery

I have THE BEST husband in the world. He is a super caretaker! These are just some things that he has done for me since I am stuck on the couch. It's the little things that really make me thankful for him!!

• carried me to the bathroom every day for 4 days
• called tech support for my ice machine because it stopped working
• turned on the christmas lights every night
• made me soup
• got me raspberries because he knows how much I love them
• brought me water 144,543,958 times
• drove me back to LA for my post-op, over 6 hours round trip of rainy driving
• made a nice bed in the back seat
• fixed my pillows 49,494 times
• wrapped the ice pack around my leg 7,339 times
• did laundry
• made coffee every morning
• loaded and ran the dishwasher
• emptied the dishwasher
• slept on the couch in the living room with me every night
• re-filled my prescription
• bought me tampons
• got me the prettiest bday card from Papyrus (can you imagine how cute he must have looked browsing around Papyrus??)

I got a new foot for my birthday

Today, Steve and I drove back down to LA for my post-op appointment. They took off my cast and oh, the freedom! It was like a breath of fresh air. 

Then they unwrapped what seemed like 20 layers of gauze and tape and ta da!!!

Look! My foot is straight!! No more bump! We got to look at the x-rays and all of my bones are perfectly in line and there is no more bunion. WAHOO!!

And, introducing a brand spankin new, PINK! cast to prance (lay) around in for the next two weeks!

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

The annual American Chemical Society Wine Tasting Event was held at Firestone Vineyard this year. We always top off the wine tasting with warm soup, cheese, crackers, and fruit and I offered to make one of the soups. I decided to try something new and found a recipe from Everyday Italian with Giada de Laurentis for Creamy Red Pepper soup. It was a big hit and all of the women came up to me afterwards and raved about it. I'll definitely make it again, as Steve and I love soup on cold, winter nights. 

A trick for transporting hot soup from one location to another: Put hot towels in the bottom of an ice cooler. Transfer the hot soup pot directly from the stove to the cooler and wrap more warm towels all around it so that it is stable. This keeps the soup hot for a few hours believe it or not! Plus, if there's any spill, it is captured inside the cooler and not all over your car!

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2 (12-oz) jars roasted red peppers, drained
• 1 russet potato, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• baguette slices (I baked my usual biscuits instead)
• mascarpone cheese

Directions:

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions, carrots, garlic, and thyme and saute until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the broth, bell peppers, potato, wine, and sugar. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Decrease the heat to medium-low. Partially cover and simmer until the potatoes are very tender, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Cool the soup slightly.

Using an immersion hand blender, puree the soup in the pot until it is smooth. Alternately, working in batches, puree the soup in a regular blender, taking care while blending warm liquids. Season the soup, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the bread cubes and saute until they are crisp and golden, about 8 minutes.

Ladle the soup into bowls. Dollop a tablespoon of mascarpone in the center of each bowl and top with croutons. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.

Friday Favorites: View from our bedroom

I'm feeling better enough to post today, just in time for Friday Favorites. Today's favorite is perfect for how I am feeling because we got home from LA today and it is the view from our bedroom at sunrise. I love waking up to this glorious surprise and each morning my jaw drops and I feel so lucky to live here. Just looking at the photo makes me so happy to be home from surgery. I love being home and I am already feeling the peace and calm that this view, that our home, brings.

Bunions aren't for everyone

On Wednesday I am getting surgery on my right foot in Santa Monica. Can you figure out why??

It took me two years to find the right foot surgeon for the bunionectomy (Lapidus procedure if you're interested). The first doctor I "interviewed" turned out to be a super creep who lost his license because he  inappropriately touched women during operations and exams. EW. Anyway, my surgery is Wednesday morning and I will be in a cast for 6 weeks but here's the good news: I get a handicapped placard for three months, and I don't have to go to work for three weeks (but I still get paaaaid!)

Happy Holidays!!

Friday Favorites: Paris the Pup

Aunt Cathy's favorite!! Her darling pup, Paris!

Let's Meet in New York City

One of my dreams is to travel to New York City during the fall so I can jump in the crispy colored leaves in Central Park. You might think December 20th 2012 in NYC will be too cold and snowy for a pizza crawl, but how about October or November? Then I can jump in all the leaves I want and we can wrap ourselves in cute scarves and wear pea coats. Ok? Cool. Meet you there!

via John Mayer Blog

Friday Favorites: KitchenAid Mixer

I got a KitchenAid mixer as a wedding gift from Steve's sister and brother-in-law Jamelle and John. This sleek and shiny tool makes my life very happy. I love that I can just toss all of the ingredients in and walk-away while it mixes. The bowl is large and never splatters and its easy to clean. I have started baking more because of this new toy which is perfect timing for the holiday season. Pumpkin muffins, pie, and yummy treats to come all throughout December!!

Change your cupboards, change your life!

Steve worked all Thanksgiving break on these new kitchen cupboard pulls. It was so hard to choose a pull style, but I ended up with a simple silver pull with a little detail on the ends from Home Depot. This was a relatively inexpensive and easy way to give our old kitchen a much needed facelift! 

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