Christmas time

I'm on a roll....might as well continue....

Here we are at VMware's Christmas Party. It was fun. Not that crowed. Lots of food. The theme was Winter Wonderland with fake snow machines and snow globes around. They even had ice skating with fake ice! I don't really know how that worked. We didn't try it.

I rearranged the living room a bit and put up our tree. I can never get a good picture but I really like the way it looks now. It will make me sad to take the tree down after Christmas. The room always feels empty after.

Crafts/ Presents

I've been busy knitting and crocheting this year again for Christmas gifts. I am thinking that the people these are for don't check my blog so it's no big deal that I am posting this before I give them out. I figure I never post and so I should when the mood strikes.

I made two scarf and headband ensembles with flowers to give away. I hope the recipients like them! I got the idea for the headband from Anthropolgie but I can't find it online anymore. They must have been popular! The basic pattern for the headband was in the Nov issue of Martha Stewart Mag. The scarfs are simply knit every row and then attached at the ends so they are continuous.
The two button necklaces are mine, not gifts. I made them with my mom over Christmas last year. We followed Martha's directions and used glue but some of the buttons fell off. Martha! So I did a little maintenance on them and here they are afresh. Can't wait to wear them!

Projects

I made two pillow cases for the couch. Our couch has seen better days but we can't really complain since we only paid $100 for it. The back pillows are all smashed and it is broken on the one side where Adam "falls" into it everyday. We contemplated getting a new one but we cannot decided and therefore decided not to get one. I might eliminate the white back pillow all together and make more of the square ones but I will have to be really motivated.

In other news, I have been painting! It started with a project at a girls night a couple months ago. It was a good start but I really got the "bug" when we went back to Michigan. My mom has been painting a lot and I was inspired. While there I made this hydrangea.

This was the one I did at the girls night. It looked a lot different that night. After coming back from Michigan I doctored it up quite a bit. I think I am happy with it now.

I'm not quite sure about the arraignment or about the "23." But the beauty of paint is that I can just paint over it!

2nd Mile

I don't even know where to start with this one.... It's slightly confusing and I don't even know the whole story.... So this is my story...

My dear friend Tiffany and her husband, Dave, recently took over a ministry called 2nd Mile. It, to my limited understanding, is like Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Craziness. But awesome. It is funded by donation and most all of the work is completed my volunteers. Their first project as leaders was Brentwood Elementary in East Palo Alto. Generally speaking, East Palo Alto is not the best neighborhood and has low socioeconomic standing. So the school was in need. For this project over 700 people showed up to help over the two days. I wish I had some pictures of the school before and after but I don't. The whole exterior was painted including most of the trim. The bathrooms were painted along with the gym. New landscaping throughout and updated playground equipment. The front office, Principal's office, counselor's office, library, and conference room also got a makeover. I'm probably forgetting something. It was such a busy weekend.

Tiff asked me to help her out with the project but taking charge of the teacher's lounge. So it was my job to redesign the room and buy the necessary items.

Here are some pictures from my first trip to the school:

It was pretty boring. I talked with one of the teachers and she expressed how depressing the room was and how she spent as little time as possible in the room. I wanted to change that.

I forgot my camera the first day of the project. That day we cleared out the room and painted.

Here are some pictures from halfway through the second day. At this point we have most of the new furniture in the room.
Here is the crazy work table I made. It is two Expidit shelves from Ikea with a door on top. In this pic you can see the way we connected the three pieces. Just flip over the door and it all fits together. That way if it needs to move it just comes apart.




The new kitchen is amazing. It was done by professionals the week the school was on spring break.


Yea! It turned out great and the teacher's love it! But what a busy weekend!

Another box

Another box has come and gone. It is surprising how fast we eat the produce. We are loving mashed sweet potatoes lately. And now with the nicer weather we have been grilling. Zucchini and broccoli are great on the grill. I made some chicken and wild rice soup yesterday with the carrots and celery. I gave the kiwis away to our favorite cat sitter. The only thing left are the green peppers will be used this week in some fajitas. Yum!!

Interesting day

Well I've had an interesting day. It included some great sales, the farmer's market, and even an 911 call!

So I'll start with the call.... I was just leaving the farmer's market after picking up my steaks when I heard this woman yelling "call 911! Call 911!" So I did. There was a small crowd gathering and I remember learning in psych about something to the effect that when there is a group of people everyone assumes someone else will call and therefore no one calls. I wasn't going to let that happen. And really, no one else was calling. Everyone was just telling the mom to "do this" and do that". I don't really know what was happening but it appeared that a young boy passed out. It didn't look like a seizer but I didn't see the beginning. I was also relieved to see that he was breathing. I really didn't want to have to use my CPR knowledge (watch out everyone- I'm a dental hygienist!-haha). One thing though, that phone call was stressful! Before I was able to tell the operator where we were or what happened she needed to have me tell her my phone number twice! Really? I know I have a weird number (from Ann Arbor) but couldn't we do that once the ambulance is on the way? Oh well. I think the kid will be fine. The fire truck and ambulance were there in about 5 mins. And then I left. Too much excitement for me!

But the first thing that got my heart going today was this:

I found a Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress at an estate sale for $5! It's not in the best shape but it is the type of dress she became famous for. So why not! I am going to clean it up and hopefully it's not too huge.

Here is the rest of my score:
2 huge curtain panels for $10. I hope they wash up nice. Not sure what I will do with them but it was a ton of fabric to pass up. 2 more vintage dresses, a wrap skirt, wool sweater, sweater skirt, and about 3 yrds vintage fabric. It was a good morning.

Produce Galore!

My box came this week! Yea!

After emailing on Saturday, I received an email on Tuesday saying that they were sorry that I got missed and we would be getting a box this Friday free of charge. Yes! It even came at a good time, about 10am. I didn't get the first box till late at night.

This is what I received:

2 pink lady apples, 2 meyer lemons, 2 avocados, .5 lb strawberries, 1 bunch red radish, 1 napa cabbage, rainbow chard, carrots, celery, romain lettuce, red spring onions, 1.5 lb jewel sweet potatoes, asparagus, 2 pears (I don't know what type)

So lots of greens. The recipes this week were: Red Chard Enchiladas, Lemon and Asparagus Fettuccine, and Broccoli and Rapini with Lemon and Shallots....and none of them are available online! I just checked. Sorry guys.

One thing I can't wait to make is mashed sweet potatoes. I don't have a recipe but will look for one online. I am going to the farmers market to pick up some steaks (local and grass fed) that Adam ordered tomorrow. So one meal for the week will be steak, mashed sweet potatoes, and salad or asparagus. Yum!

Speaking of asparagus, I thought I would share my (apparently) famous recipe for them. I almost always make them this way and everyone asks for the recipe! I even get phone calls about it! I find it funny because it's so easy. But they are a big hit. Especially with the Gross' (I'm not so good with grammer/english and that ' is probably in the wrong place-don't judge!).

Courtnay's famous roasted asparagus

1 bunch asparagus

olive oil

garlic salt (cali style)

pepper

optional- lemon, white wine, fresh garlic

Pre-heat oven to 350. Trim asparagus and place in an 8x8 backing dish. Drizzle olive oil to coat (maybe 2T). Sprinkle garlic salt and pepper over. Shake 'em up! And bake for 15 or so mins until they are done like you like them. A splash of wine or lemon is a good flavor too. I would add this before cooking. And if you use fresh garlic just mince and make sure to add a little plain salt too (omit the garlic salt). Enjoy!

Box where are you?

Well my box of fresh vegetables is missing in action. I don't know what happened so I emailed the farm. I changed some of my preferences yesterday and maybe that messed up the delivery? I decided we didn't need to pay for lemons or oranges since our fridge is over flowing with ones from the neighbors trees. Hmmm.... when it comes I will post some photos again. I hope it comes soon!

Breakfast Success!

The Cheddar Chard Omelets were a great success! Adam ate his so fast I couldn't even think about getting a picture. I didn't have cheddar so instead I used parmesan and pepper jack and left out the hot sauce. Over all very good! I definitely recommend this recipe.

CSA

As I was laying in bed unable to sleep the other night I was contemplating the lack of vegetables Adam and I eat. I try to have at least one vegetable with dinner but that is not enough considering we don't eat many others throughout the day. I also hardly eat fruit. It was so bad that even Adam mentioned how he thought we needed to eat more vegs and went out and bought asparagus. At first I figured I would amend this but making a point to going to the farmers market and buying random vegs every Saturday. But I have tried that before and get nervous about buying unknown and leave with only bread and flowers instead. So I remembered about the CSA's that I had heard about in the fall and decided to check them out. I didn't do a lot of research but the little I found I was how most have limited subscribers, you pick up the box, and a year commitment. I didn't want that. I wanted the box to be delivered and to be able to back out if needed. So I found Capay Organics, Farm Fresh to You. They are a larger operation and source some of the produce from other farms but for the most part it is all northern Cali or close and it's all organic. One great feature about the website is they have many recipes for the various vegs. This is great because I will need some help. And a flyer came in the box today with farm updates and recipes for the items in the box. Yea! Looks like we will be having Chard and Cheddar Omelets tomorrow!

In our box we received: 1 large leek, 2 navel oranges, 2 fuji apples, 2 small cauliflower, 2 mucot tangerines, 1/2 lb strawberries, collards, red chard, mixed baby lettuce, 1 bunch carrots, 1 bunch asparagus, celery, and 2lbs yellow potatoes

Followers?

This may be stupid but I just realized that I have followers..... what are they and what's the point? Maybe I miss the point because I follow all my favorite (or like a 100) blogs on reader.google.com Is "following" the same type of thing? Well whatever it is, THANKS for following me! Maybe I will post more!

Getting some things done

First off it's really hard to get a good picture of a whole room. So here are a bunch of parts of our bedroom. We have only lived in the place 1.5 yrs and are thinking of moving to make me finally get it looking alright. We bought some carpet remnants and had two area rugs made this past week. I am very excited about these! I just couldn't take the bare floor and cheapo rug in the living room any more! I also scored three oil painting for cheap at an estate sale last week.

And this is the hallway where my Christmas present for 2 Christmas's ago hang. They have only been up for about a month. Apparently it takes me a long time to get things done :)
So when I get the living room shaped up I will post a pic of it. But right now it has become Adam's "work from home office" and is a mess of papers, computer cords, and him laying all over the couch.

Thankful for some dirt

Who knew a very dirty air duct would be so handy! I left a Pearl earring on the dresser and Peach decided to have some fun with it. I looked and looked and then spotted it resting haphazardly in the partially opened air vent. Yikes! I tried to carefully maneuver it out but it almost instantly fell to the unknown depths below. But as it turns out, that's not too deep at all. I pulled out the vent only to find a ton of junk! I started pulling out and vacuuming up stuff but no earring. I kept thinking "if only I had one of those arthroscopic cameras" when I realized why not just take a picture and see if the earring is still anywhere close. So I did and there it was!! Just needed a long kitchen spoon and my earring is back safe and sound in the jewelry box. But know I understand why people would get their air ducts cleaned! If we actually owned the place where we live this would be on the top of my "to-do" list.

We do exist!

It's been awhile but we do exist! Here's what we've been up to since the last post.

We went to Napa with Adam's parents and had a fantastic time! Drank lots of great wine and managed to learn something as well.

We went to a Brad Paisley concert with our good friends David and Tiffany. It was awesome!

We also managed to fly to Colorado for a wedding and make it to the top of Pike's Peak. It was beautiful!

My parents came out to visit and we went on a "haunted" wine tour of Testarossa on Halloween.

And made our way down to Carmel-by-the-sea for some fantastic sites and food.And over Thanksgiving we went to a Packers v. 49ers game with Adam's family. Go Packers!Then got locked up at the Rock aka Alcatraz for... well.. who knows...

But at least we were on Michigan Ave and could pretend we were in Chicago!