Lunch break at the park

Snapshots of Steve's Birthday

Friday Favorites - Date Night!

Last weekend, Steve and I had one of the best date nights yet! Castoro Cellars and SLO Folks put on outdoor concerts and one of the featured musicians is a guitarist named Peppino D'Agostino. Steve heard Peppino on NPR about 20 years ago and loved what he heard so much that he made it a point to remember his name. Many moons later, Steve hears that Peppino plays annually (for the last 25 years!) at a local vineyard and here is where our date night begins! Imagine sitting on a grassy lawn in a lovely courtyard, cuddled up with blankets, sipping on a bottle of tasty wine, and listening to fantastic music by superb musicians. I highly recommend Castoro Cellars and their little music venue..it was a real treat and oh so romantic!! I took a little video too which I will upload and edit later this week!

Art in nature

This artistic and stunning creation validates my fear of spiders. A creature this smart is bound to be dangerous.

Progress

One of the first things we did when we moved into this house was plant several palm trees all around the property. They were just little twigs with a few straggly leaves back then. Two years later and BOOM! These babies are giant! See for yourself...

2009

2011

(look at my awesome footwear)

And another before and after picture of our driveway entrance:

2009

Now we need to re-surface the driveway....the list never ends people!!!!!

Friday Favorites - White Flowers

I am in love with white flowers. So clean and pure and oh so lovely. I made this bouquet earlier this spring from Trader Joe's daisies, tulips, and one of my most favorite flowers of all time, ranunculus. YAY Trader Joes.

Living together in harmony

Remember our friend, the baby fox? Well, the little fox family officially lives on our property and we don't mind one bit! Steve has noticed the foxes out in the trees where he has been working and we saw three brother foxes roaming our patio a couple of weeks ago. The foxes like to steal Steve's socks from the patio (his dirty, muddy socks that he sometimes takes off before coming inside the house), and we find them strewn all over the yard!! But this evening, as we were photographing the progress of our palm trees, a sweet fox rustled through the trees and poked his head out of the bushes. He stared right at us and didn't flee! 

We continued to walk along the driveway and we could hear him running back through the trees next to the creek parallel to us.  As we came upon the house, look who was waiting for us!!! 

He sat calm and still, looking at us with curiosity, not scared in the least. Steve threw him a piece of prosciutto which he grabbed with his mouth and then scampered back into the trees. Just look at that beautiful tail!!

Iowa Sweet Corn

Most of you who know me, know that I LOVE my veggies! But, my very favorite is corn on the cob. Remember that time my lovey bought me corn on the cob for our anniversary, and I was in high heaven?? Well that's how much I love corn!!!

I don't know about you, but when I think of Iowa, I think of CORN! I've never been to Iowa but I can imagine miles and miles of corn fields, playing hide-and-seek in between the rows, and enjoying crisp sweet corn on a warm summer day sitting on a screened-in porch with some sweet tea! Well, back in May, Steve's Aunt Margo and Uncle Pat took a road trip across the country from Iowa, touring National Parks, and we were lucky enough to have them spend a couple of nights with us! Pat raved about their sweet corn and described it as so tender and sweet that you can pull a cob right off of the stalk and eat it right then and there! Steve doesn't like corn (I know, crazy huh!) but he said the only corn he will eat is Iowa sweet corn. It MUST be good.

Well folks, today on our front porch was a package from Aunt Margo and Uncle Pat...and inside that box was a very special treat. You guessed it! A dozen sweet corn cobs, freshly picked on August 15th, yes TWO DAYS AGO, from Iowa!!! I can hardly contain myself!!!

I immediately de-husked them and oh my, they are gorgeous! I wrapped them in foil and put them on the BBQ for 20 minutes and OH MY GOSH, you wouldn't believe the delightfulness of this corn!!! Best. Corn. Ever. 

Friday Favorites - Helya's Wedding!

One of my favorite people of all time got married last weekend. It was the most gorgeous and perfect wedding day ever and I feel so honored to have been a part of it. Helya was absolutely stunning and I am dying of anticipation to see her professional photos. Congratulations to Helya and Jon!! Here's to a long and happy life together!!!

A Blast from the Past

So today I was reading over some of my old blog posts from 6 years ago. Six years doesn't sound like a long time, but I feel like a completely different person - in a good way. Most of the stuff I wrote back then makes me cringe, but there were some good moments and some rather funny anecdotes. It's crazy to read about how different my life was in college and I find myself going, "what was I thinking!!??" My memory thinks back on college as the good ol' days, but in my posts I really made it sound like life was sooo hard and stressful, when really it wasn't at all! Ohh, boo hoo, you have to do homework! If my present self were there back then, I'd slap me in the face. Why didn't any of you tell me how much of a basket case I was?! Anyway, here are some of my favorite excerpts from my long-ago life.

On dining out with Rachel:
We had a great dinner and acted pretty much retarded the entire night.

The moral of the story:
Remember kids: DD's rock, leaving your friends is a bad idea, EZ-J is hot, alcohol takes your money, conscience, and ability to speak in an inside voice.

On taking rides from strangers:
We were walking along when one of the petty-cabbers asked if we wanted a ride. I said no, and we continued to walk. I looked behind me and the petty cab guy was still watching us, and I realized he was really quaint! So, we ran back to his cart and jumped on!

A rather normal night out:
We found a free ride after Helya yelled at the taxi driver, and went to Mothers.

Nothing unusual about it:
We went to Mothers and had some jager blasters and "rolled deep" with Joanna and her many male followers.

They don't teach you how to park in college:
We left dinner and went to "The Rock" where we only stayed for about five minutes because helya parked on the sidewalk.

Boy, was I angry:
 Today I worked 1-9, and attempted my take home pchem exam which was NOT easy. It pretty much pissed me off, but at least I got something done.

In 2005, I had 99 problems:
I don't like Bills, spending money on alcohol, annoying people, cleaning my room, saying goodbye, feeling hungover, pink eye, jeans that are too long, being so white, the wind, drunk drivers.

I hope this is still true:
...and now I get to be a guest at Helya's house which means she will give me candy and ice cream and canteloupe.

That one time I made a "firework" in college:
The sound was like a gun going off right next to your face and Jon and I said we could feel the waves of the explosion on our face.