Adam & Courtnay

Jonah Everett Gross - Birth Story Part One

2011-12-20T11:34:00.000-08:00

Tuesday Dec 13, 2011

I got up to go to the bathroom at about 12:40am. On my way back to bed I felt warm liquid fill my underwear and I thought “am I still peeing??” in my half asleep state. So I got back on the toilet till it stopped. At that point I figured it was my water had broken so I checked the color (it was light pink) and smell (none). I waddled (with every move more would leak out - fun) back to bed to wake Adam. I said “I think my water just broke. I don’t know what to do.” So he jumped up and thought we should call our doula. So he called Sara-Marie and she said it was up to us if we wanted to call the hospital. We decided not to because the color and smell were ok. I laid some towels in bed and crawled back in for a long night. My contractions started pretty much right away and I didn’t sleep. At first they were 10 minutes apart and then around 7am they were 7 minutes apart. I called my midwife’s office at 8am and told them. They thought I should head into the hospital soon. I wanted to wait a bit but thought by noon would be good. My contractions were getting stronger but still 6 minutes apart when we left. Adam rushed around and got all our things in the car. But we forgot something! About half a mile down the road Adam realized that he took the birth plan out of the suitcase but never put it in his backpack. So back to the house we go. Once on our way again Adam decided that he needed to stop and get some cash for the hospital (??) and got $60 out of the ATM. I didn’t want to argue but that seemed really random. Also on the way we called Sara-Marie to let her know we were on our way tot he hospital.

We got to the hospital around 12:30pm Tuesday. Once at the hospital we had to wait a bit to get taken back to triage. In triage they hooked me up to the monitors and checked my dilation. I was 1cm dilated and 90% effaced. Yikes! Not that much progress. But I was in active labor according to the contractions so they kept me.

We got to our room, it was like checking into a hotel with all our bags, and then proceeded to walk to halls for a while. When my contractions got to be too much and I was leaking too much fluid for the hall we went back to the room where I labored on the ball among other positions for most of the afternoon into the evening. I think something like 4-5 hours after getting admitted I was checked again for dilation and to see if they could break any more of my water bags. I was only 2cm! And then the doctor was reaching around up there looking for bags but couldn’t find more to break. Yikes! That was not fun!

So that was a little discouraging but I pulled it together and got into the zone. I labored for 4 more hours in the shower. (I can’t even imagine the hot water heaters that place had!) My contractions were getting really strong and close together. I was starting to doubt if I could do this so I was hoping I was going into transition. I got checked again for progress and was at 5cm 100% effaced. Yea progress! But not as much as I hoped. So I labored some more on the ball and then back in the shower for a bit. At about 12:45am I was really exhausted. I had been up for 24 hours at this point and was really hitting the end of my ability. I knew that if I wasn’t close to being done, there was no way I would have the strength or energy to push. Also my contractions had slowed down to 7+minutes apart and only every few were really painful. I was actually falling asleep between contractions. My nurse came back in and I asked about my options. Basically I could continue as is or get an epidural and rest. But I should be checked again before deciding. If I was 8+ then I would continue as is but if not I could decide then what I wanted to do. So the doctor came in and checked. I was 5cm maybe 6cm! What!!! Then I said “get me the epidural!!” In about 30 minutes I was feeling much better. The epidural was not painful at all. They hooked my up to the monitors and I fell asleep. So did Adam and Sara-Marie. We were all exhausted. Luckily neither Jonah or I had any problems with the epi. Every time a nurse or doctor came in to check the monitors they said what a perfect baby he was. Never went into the bad zones on the screen. And my blood pressure stayed even so I didn’t need anything extra. We slept. At about 4am my contractions were still 7 minutes apart and the nurse said that I needed to start pitocin. They started on the smallest amount. Not much change so they upped it to the next smallest dose. By 6:20am I could tell something was happening. My contractions were different and I felt pressure to push. I waited awhile to call the nurse. I wanted to make sure it was the real thing. She came in about 7am and checked. I was compete and he was at +3 station. Basically he was right there. I guess she could see his head. Yes! Finally! Well, it didn’t happen as fast as it seemed it would.

Stayed tuned for part two!

Photos of the trip

2011-07-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

Here's the photos:

Yosemite Falls

Half-Dome

Drive out of Yosemite to Nevada
Adam driving of the salt flats in Utah
Temple Square

Long, straight road with windmills

That's it. I stopped taking pictures in Wyoming. It wasn't as interesting anymore.

We Made it!

2011-07-13T16:01:00.000-07:00

Adam and I drove cross country last weekend. And we made it! We even made it earlier than I ever thought would happen.

We packed up the car Thursday night after our final walk through at the rental. It was packed to the brim! I was able to get my meyer lemon tree in but my Christmas cactus didn't make it

We headed out Friday morning.

Our first stop was Yosemite National Forest. Neither of us had been there and we (mostly me) thought we needed to see this before we left California. It did increase the length of our trip but we both agreed that it was worth it. We were able to hike a bit and see the falls and half-dome. It was beautiful! I really liked the drive out and into Nevada through the mountains as well. That night we pushed though till Winnemucca, Nevada. Nevada was really flat and boring during this part of the drive. And very desolate. Not a lot of food or gas stations or anything else for that matter.

Saturday we got up bright and early and headed out. Around lunch time we stopped in Salt Lake City to see the Temple Square. Very interesting and we wished we had more time to learn more about the Mormons. Neither of us really know what the book of Mormon teaches and how it all came to be. Are they Christians? How do they believe you get into heaven? What about when the Bible warns of false prophets? Anyway... We had a great lunch in the square and checked out a visitor center before taking off. That night we made it to Laramie, Wyoming.

Sunday was a day of straight driving. The country side was beautiful. Rolling, green farmland all through Nebraska and into Iowa. We stopped in Iowa City for the night.

Monday was another day of driving but our end was in sight! We got an ok start. Adam had to do some banking at one of the last Wells Fargos we would see and then we took off. We made it to Ann Arbor for a celebratory diner at Palios at about 7:30. It was great! We sat outside. We even saw a Michigan football player eating outside at a different place (which Adam almost got teary eyed over - so happy to be back for the season! ).

Overall it was a great trip. Now we are just hanging out at Adam's brother Dave's house waiting till we get the keys to our new place. That happens Friday at 10am. Can't wait!

It feels great to be back in Michigan. We definitely noticed the humidity! Wow, it's going to take some getting used to. And there was a big thunder storm Sunday night while we were in Iowa. We are back to weather! And to bugs. My car is covered in bugs! Gross...

Christmas time

2010-12-19T16:12:00.001-08:00

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

2010-12-19T15:51:00.000-08:00

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

2010-09-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-11T20:05:00.001-07:00

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

2010-05-11T19:59:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-17T12:22:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-04-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-04-10T10:43:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-03-27T10:01:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-03-07T17:40:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-29T15:26:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-24T21:34:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-01-24T21:07:00.001-08:00

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!

Canning

2009-09-05T18:49:00.000-07:00

I had a good day. Not only did Michigan Football kick butt, I canned some tomatoes! What an experience. I have to say it is not all that hard, just a little time consuming. My tomatoes have been doing very good but they aren't producing enough at one time to use them solely for canning. Therefore, I made a run this morning to the local farmers market and picked up a few pounds of organic heirloom tomatoes. I don't exactly know how many pounds of tomatoes I canned, but I now have ten 12 oz jars!

I forgot to take a pic of the tomatoes before the skins were off. But here they are skinned and getting mashed and cooked.

And here are the cooked tomatoes with lemon juice and salt getting ready to process.
Here they are in their water bath. I don't have a canning pot but this worked pretty good. It was a little tight with such tall jars! They stayed in here for about 40 mins.
The finished product! I was a little nervous about the space at the bottom of the jars but after a quick search on Flickr it seems that this is very common.

Now what to can next..... except I am out of jars and don't really want to buy more. Which is why these are not pints... these are what I had on hand.

I got a lot of info from these sites:

www.sunset.com/canning

www.thriftyfun.com -this is a pdf

Sailing

2009-07-06T17:05:00.001-07:00

Adam and I got the opportunity to go sailing a couple weekends ago on SF Bay. It was awesome! Our friend Joel's girlfriend goes every year with her friends and they invited us to go along. It was a beautiful day! We rented the boat in Sausalito. It was, I would guess, about a 35+ foot sailboat. We had 8 people and that was the max. There was a small cabin with bathroom (gross!) but we mostly stayed in the back on the benches or on the bow.
Unfortunately Joel wasn't quite ready for the pic! And yes, we are a little sideways.

This is our captain, Forbes, and his girlfriend. He also went to U of M and goes back to Mich often to race trimarans. And for my family: yes he knows and has raced with the Gougeon Brothers. But wasn't sure if he knew Joe. It's a small world!

Garden

2009-07-05T15:32:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Sarah's posts about her garden, I thought I would write about mine. I have to say I am a bit jealous that she already had a ripe tomato! I have tons of green ones that I am sure will turn perfectly ripe as soon as we step on the plane this Thursday.

This is what the garden looked like on June 1st. Nice, neat, and contained.

This is what it looks like today. Just crazy! My tomatoes are way too big for the cages and everything is all flopping over... plus the picture is a bit blurry.

One thing we have had a ton of is beans.

We have also had one summer squash and it was great.

But look at the tomato plants! How freaking huge are they? And really, I had no idea what I was doing when planting all these, so we will be having tomatoes coming out of our ears! I think I have 7 tomato plants!
6 are 3 different types of heirlooms and 1 cherry tomato plant.
All of them completely loaded with tomatoes. I'm just waiting....

The Big Apple

2009-06-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

I love New York City and while I have friends there, I will visit!

The first weekend of June I flew to NYC and stayed with my good friend Darra in Brooklyn. We had a blast! It had been over a year since we last saw each other. I arrived Friday night into JFK after a little rain delay. That night we hit up the corner bar for some dinner and drinks (where they had Goefel Kolsh on tap and Adam is supremely jealous!) and some serious catch-up! Then Sat afternoon we went to Williamsburg, Brooklyn for the Renegade Craft Fair which was very cool. Darra bought a sweet necklace and I left empty handed. Then we went into Manhattan to check on play times/prices. The show we wanted to see was sold out so we went to plan b which was Ave Q. We got there in time to add our names to the raffle (at 5:30 you put your name in a bucket and at 6 they draw names and sell 12 tickets for half price). And my name was pulled first! Yea! Two tickets, front row, center. A little close for comfort but it was still fun. By the time the play was out, we were both exhausted and headed back to Brooklyn.

Sunday morning we went for brunch at this great place right by Darra's apt. Then went to buy tickets for the boat tour around Manhattan. Luckily it was a beautiful day. We really enjoyed the tour although it was a bit long, 3 hrs. After we met up with Anna in Soho for dinner. We ate at a completely random place but by the time we were done with dinner, speed dating was happening! So of course we had to stay and watch for a while :) What a funny experience! Makes me very happy to be married!

Darra and I on the boat.

I believe this is the Brooklyn Bridge.

Manhattan.

Lady Liberty.

Out to dinner with Darra and Anna in Soho.

This is a bunch of Trump condo buildings. I just read in some mag that Jon (from Jon and Kate) is rumored to be looking at buying on of these condos.

And for those that watch How I Met Your Mother, this is a for real crooked apt building, possible down wind from the sewage treatment plant :)

Then Monday came abound and Darra had to work so I was planning on going in with her and seeing what school, 1st grade special ed., was like in the inner city. Well, neither of us slept well and D forgot to alert the principal that I was coming so she called in sick. Can't say I was too bummed about this :) So we went back to bed and then met up with Anna again in Soho and did some shopping. I left later that evening. It was an awesome trip! But next, Darra has to visit me!

Garden

2009-06-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

My garden is growing! I started the seeds a few months ago and now there are beans! I am very excited about this.

They are so tiny!

I have planted tomatoes, peppers, beans, spinach, summer squash, melon, and some herbs. So far so good.

Ann Arbor

2009-05-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

While in Mich we stayed one night in Ann Arbor. It was awesome!! We got there in time for church. They had this new thing on the wall where we signed our names.

And we are so cool because we could sign at the same time :)

Gaia!!

Oh I miss Ann Arbor....

Jessica and Dan's Wedding

2009-05-04T21:33:00.001-07:00

The wedding was beautiful! We had so much fun! But my camera didn't do the best job..... some of the pictures are a little blurry. Whoops!

Jessica was looking gorgeous!!!

Wedding!

2009-04-24T08:29:00.000-07:00

We're off to Detroit for a wedding! I am so excited! Haven't seen these girls in a long time!

Congratulations Jessica and Dan!

It should be a fun weekend.

Lemons

2009-04-17T10:21:00.000-07:00

I don't take a lot of pictures. And I have found, of the pictures that I do take, a vast majority of them are food. This is something my mother-in-law finds quite amusing. But hey, I enjoy food!

As some may know, it has been citrus season here in Cali for the past few months. It is really interesting to be able to go in the back yard and pick an orange or drive by trees just dripping with lemons. Not something you see everyday in Michigan. Well, one of my patients had a "lemon" tree in his yard so full that the branches were breaking so he brought a huge bag in for the office. I say "lemons" because they did not resemble any lemons I have seen before. They were so cleverly disguised that my boss started to eat one thinking it was a mandarin orange only to spit it out in disgust! No one at work really wanted them so I took the bag home. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with them but I was up for the challenge!

First I made a lemon poppy seed cake. Not so good. I don't think the lemon flavor was strong enough.

Next I made lots of lemonade. This was very good! I basically just made some simple syrup and mixed it with juice and water till it was right. It also had a great color because of the orange lemons. But no picture :(

Then I made lemon curd. This was interesting and very good. It took a long time. The recipe is from Peace Meals that I got from Michelle for my birthday.

Lemon Curd

5 egg yolks

1 cup sugar
4 lemons, zested and juiced
1 stick butter

Heat up the base of your double boiler over med/high. In a metal bowl (mine was glass- not sure if this is a big deal) combine the egg yolks and sugar, wisk till smooth. Measure juice (should have 1/3 c) and add to egg mixture along with zest. Wisk till smooth. Reduce heat to med/low and place bowl on double boiler. Stir till thickened, approx 16 mins (or in my case, 30!). Once the mixture is lighter in color and coats the back of a spoon, remove from heat and stir in the butter one small piece at a time. Wait to add the next till the first has dissolved. Put in the fridge for 2 wks or freeze.

Then I made lemon cupcakes with lemon butter cream frosting! They were good. I think Adam ate 8. I took the rest to work. To make the cupcakes I just added zest to vanilla cake mix. The frosting recipe also came out of Peace Meals.

Lemon Butter Cream
1 cup butter at room temp
3 cups powdered sugar
2 t milk
1/4 cup curd

Cream the butter on med till light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar, then add milk and blend till smooth. Add curd and mix till well blended.

With the lemons I also made lemon risotto with shrimp and asparagus. I don't remember where that recipe came from. Adam loved this!

And I made chicken. This was super good and easy. I got the inspiration from thekitchn.com and the recipe is from Jamie Oliver (I made slight changes).

Chicken in Milk

1 whole chicken (I used 5lb)

1 pt milk (I used 2%)

10 cloves garlic with skin on

1 cinnamon stick (I used ground)

handful fresh sage

zest of two lemons

1 T butter

1 T olive oil

Heat oven to 375. Put the oil and butter in the pot you will be baking the chicken and heat up over med/high. Brown all sides of chicken. Take off heat and add the rest of ingredients. Cook with or without lid for 1.5 -2 hours basting occasionally. Yum!

Jamie's webpage with recipe

To go with this I made the Pioneer Woman's roasted garlic mash potatoes. Yum!

Bible memorizer

2009-02-25T09:56:00.001-08:00

A while ago, I wrote a program for Windows to help me memorize bible verses while on my computer at work. It has been really helpful over time to have that scripture reminder while at work, so I figured I would share it with you all in case you have any need for that. It's free, so don't worry about having to pay any money.

Here is a link to the website I created for it

The basic idea of the program is that it automatically provides you 5 verses of the day that it downloads from various Verse of the Day websites. You can either select one of these as your verse of the day or you can add your own (which it will automatically download if you have an internet connection). After you have selected a verse for today, it will pop up occasionally in the corner of your screen as a reminder for you to be reading it. If you want, you can test yourself and see how well you know the verse. If you want more info, just folllow the link above and there is a walkthrough on that page.

As always, let me know if you have any suggestions or any problems with the program. I hope it helps you all.

Sad teddy bear

2009-02-23T10:41:00.000-08:00

While up in San Francisco this weekend visiting a friend from college, we stopped in a chocolate shop to look around. Aren't these the saddest-looking Teddy Bears you've ever seen?

Dave & Buster's

2009-02-16T12:58:00.000-08:00

Court and I went to Dave & Buster's (basically the adult version of Chuck E Cheese's) with some friends yesterday for a ticket competition. We all bought $23 worth of points to play various games and the deal was that whoever got the most tickets would get everyone else's tickets. Court and I had our strategy down because we had gone there for her office Christmas party; we would play the trivia game for the whole time and see how many tickets we got. So we played it and ended up with 3280 tickets and won the competition! Everyone gave us their tickets and we ended up with almost 10000, so we decided to cash them in for golf balls.

We ended up with about $70 of golf balls, which was pretty sweet. This brings our total year-long earnings at Dave & Buster's to 8 sleeves of Pro-V1s and 4 Pinnacle golf balls. We are all set for golf season!

Projects

2009-02-15T18:56:00.000-08:00

We got down to business these past couple weeks and knocked off some DIY projects.

First, I covered the back of the Ikea shelve with wallpaper. I got the paper at Target on sale from their "Home Decor" line. It is really nice stuff. I had never used wallpaper before and the smell brought back memories of my mom wallpapering various rooms when I was little. Overall it was a pretty easy project and I really like how it turned out.

Next on the list of projects was making a headboard. I had been in the market for a headboard for some time now. Always looking at the online and searching craigslist for a good deal. Never found one. Then my mom came to the rescue. She sent me some instructions for one that she found on Joann.com. It turned out to be pretty easy to do. It took us a couple of weeks to actually get to it but I am glad we did. We went to Home Depot last Saturday after the shooting range for the lumber and other random things. It was a bit of a challenge getting it all home since the board did not fit in my car like I thought it would. I still have to get used to the smaller back end. We ended up tying it to the roof. Then we put the wood parts together that night. Sunday, I shopped around for fabric and the other supplies. Monday, I finished upholstering it.

This is the board laying on the batting. You can see all the markings where the buttons will go.

Here is Peach checking it out. She liked playing with the button sticking out.

Here it is waiting to be moved.

The finished product.

I got the fabric at Calico Corners. It is white and has a small quilted pattern. I covered the buttons with the same fabric. Overall the total cost of the project was about $150. Total time was three days but it could easily be done in one if you are organized :)

Here is the project PDF: http://www.joann.com/static/project/0801/P488316.pdf
Webpage: http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CATID=cat13860&PRODID=xprd509570

Shooting range

2009-02-09T22:04:00.000-08:00

I have a friend from my men's group who goes to the shooting range a lot and he invited Court and I to go. We were a bit nervous trying it out (our hands are both of our livelihoods!) but we really wanted to try it. We went this past Saturday and had a great time. Here are some pictures and a video of us. And yes, Court was more accurate than me, as you see in the last picture.

Peach

2009-01-31T10:06:00.000-08:00

because she is too cute! Doesn't it just make you want to take a nap?

Courtnay loves...

2009-01-31T09:54:00.001-08:00

cornmeal pancakes! Seriously what else would I love on a Saturday morning?? Oh these are so good! I woke up this morning with them on my mind and had to make them. And lucky for me, the recipe is on the box! Oh how I love Jiffy! You can also make waffles with the recipe so maybe that's next on my list of morning goodness.

Key ingredient in this is the real Michigan maple syrup. Thanks Mom!

Cornmeal Pancakes
1 box Jiffy Corn muffin Mix
1egg
2T shortening melted (I used butter)
3/4 c milk
Preheat griddle/ waffle iron. Mix all. Cook like normal pancakes.

How hard is that??
Yum!

What a difference a week makes

2009-01-26T21:11:00.000-08:00

It's funny to read the last blog post and see "I am not sure how soon we will actually get a new car". Because we sold Court's car this weekend and bought a new car today!

What a weekend though. On Saturday Court decided to put her car on craigslist to see if we could get a better deal on the car than a dealer trade-in. Immediately after listing it we got a bunch of offers and ended up selling it on Sunday. But we had to do a ton of research to make sure that what we were doing was legal and that we weren't going to get scammed. We even bought a counterfeit pen and laser-light to make sure that we were given legit cash. But everything worked out great and we got a good deal for the car.

So this morning, I decided to go make a low-ball offer for an Escape hybrid and see how they responded. We went back and forth several times and I finally got a deal I liked and so we bought it! We are so pumped. It has everything we wanted and it gets sweet mpgs! The navigation system is ridiculously awesome and we got 45 mpg on our trip around town tonight.

This is why...

2009-01-19T20:03:00.000-08:00

So I am in need of a new car. My car has been making a noise for a few months now and I finally took it into the shop last Friday. I was afraid that there would be nothing wrong and they would just tell me that it is normal and I would look stupid. But I was right, there was definitely something wrong with the car. A lot wrong with the car. They also were quite shocked with the amount of rust and kept asking "where is this car from?" So after hearing all that was wrong and adding up the numbers, Adam and I decided that the cost to fix the car is more than it is worth. I called my dad and he agreed, "don't put any money into it." Yea! New car for me! Kind of funny timing because I had been eying all the new Escapes on the road and REALLY wanting one.

I am not sure how soon we will actually get a new car but this is why I really want a SUV:

I made a trip to Palo Alto today to visit Adam, go to Anthropologie, and Ikea. And look what I found in the "as is" dept at Ikea. If I had a car this would have never happened. Notice the rust coming through above the wheel.

I had been wanting a white shelving unit for some time now so this worked out perfect. I am planning on covering the back with paper or fabric. Here is it in the living room. I just threw some stuff in to get an idea.I also bought frames for the pics on the wall but naturally they are too small. So for now my Christmas presents from Adam are taped up.

Peach likes it too.

Christmas Party

2008-12-22T17:20:00.000-08:00

Adam and I had a Christmas party on Sat Dec 13th. It was a very last minute idea and we were just happy that people came! It was a lot of fun to see everyone before we all went our separate ways for the holidays.
Our friends David and Tiffany and thier 4 month old son, Noah.Our friend Nathan. He doesn't really stand like this or have a purple jacket.

Me with Lindsey, Nathan's wife.

Our friend Steve.

Our friend Matt sitting with Nathan and Lindsey's daughter Bella. She really enjoyed playing with (read: terrorizing) our cat with the cat toy she's holding. But it was really hilarious to watch.

Our friend Joel keeping his distance from the baby ;).

It was pretty low-key but we all had a good time catching up with everyone. We will definitely have to do it again in the new year!

Finally! Our Europe Post

2008-12-22T09:50:00.000-08:00

Friday Oct 24th - Arrive in Frankfort, drive to Cologne, nap, meet at the apt, go out to dinner.
Sat Oct 25th - Hang out in Cologne, train to Munich, walk all over looking for food and eat Italian for dinner
Sun Oct 26th - Bus tour of Munich, lots of walking, our to dinner at Paulaner Brauhaus - Yum!
Mon Oct 27th - More walking around and touring, out to dinner at Schumann's - Yum!
Tue Oct 28th - Fly to Rome, get to the hotel, private wine tour and dinner, get drenched in the rain
Wed Oct 29th - Private tour of the Coliseum and Forum, out to dinner at the best Italian seafood place - Yum!
Thurs Oct 30th - Walk to the Vatican, St. Peter's Basilica, Sistene Chappel, get totally drenched again, out to dinner at a nearby Italian place for a traditional meal.
Friday Oct 31st - Fly to Cologne, out to Mexican for dinner
Sat Nov 1st - Plan on shopping but it was a holiday so everything is closed, walk to the Dom and climb many stairs.
Sun Nov 2nd - Fly back to San Fran.

The first night at the Gross's apt.

The Dom Cathedral in Cologne.

Out to dinner in Munich at Paulaner.

In a park in Munich.

Out to dinner on our first day in Rome.

It rained a lot in Rome. Here we are drenched on our first night.

The Coliseum. It was amazing!

With our tour guide in the Coliseum.

All dressed up in the hotel to go out to dinner in Rome.

Our food. My favorite meal! I still lust after it!

The Trevi Fountain. Just beautiful. We tossed a coin in so we will be back :)

The Pantheon. The hole is open and it there was a torrential downpour the night before so part of the inside was blocked off.

The Vatican.

Back in Cologne. We climbed the 509 steps to the top of the Dom Cathedral!

View of Cologne from the top. The Rhine River.

Jordan and Laurie's Wedding

2008-11-23T20:04:00.001-08:00

So we are pretty late with this (2 1/2 months to be exact), but we wanted to post some pictures of Jordan and Laurie's wedding. It was such a fun weekend and was so great to see everyone. It was the first time in a very long time that all of us cousins on the Gross side were together. We didn't end up taking a ton of pictures, but we still got some good ones.

Court and I after the ceremony:

All of the cousins together:

The whole family all together:

On the dance floor:

Was wir machen in unserer Freizeit

2008-10-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

(What we are doing in our free time). Germany has been so much fun so far! We have so many great pictures, but the highlight has unexpectedly been the food! We have been to Cologne and Munich in Germany and are leaving for Rome early tomorrow, but German food has been quite the pleasant surprise.

Deutschland!

2008-10-22T23:56:00.001-07:00

We are heading to Germany tomorrow morning and are so pumped! We will be back in a week and a half with lots of pictures.

Risotto

2008-10-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the dinner suggestions! I have yet to make one but I will! The crock-pot lasagna sounds great cause I can cook it while at work. The salmon is good! I have already done that many times. And I want to try the enchilada casserole soon.
But in my searching for new food to try the last couple weeks I can across 2 very good risotto recipes. I had never made it nor am I sure that I have ever really eaten it before. But I went for it and in Adam's words it was "something you would eat at a really expensive restaurant."

The first is from Rachel Ray Click here for link. It was somewhat time consuming but worth it. I did not have pine nuts and it still tasted great.

Popeye Risotto with Beefy Balsamic Mushrooms

Ingredients

1 quart chicken or vegetable stock (use vegetable to make this meal vegetarian)
2 cups water
2 pounds spinach, stems removed
1/2 cup (about a handful) pine nuts, toasted
A few grates fresh nutmeg
1 cup (about 2 handfuls) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, divided, plus additional for passing at the table
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), divided
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated, plus 1 clove cracked
2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 large or 6 small portabello mushroom caps, brushed clean of dirt and sliced
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (eyeball it)

Yields: 4 servings

Preparation

Bring the water and stock to a boil, then reduce heat to low to keep warm.

While the liquids are heating up, add the spinach, pine nuts, a few grates of nutmeg and a handful of Parmigiano-Reggiano to a food processor. Pulse a few times to get everything chopped up. Add a ladleful of the hot stock and water and about 1 tablespoon EVOO. Run the machine to puree and reserve.

Place a large skillet with high sides over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 turn of the pan of EVOO. Add the onions and chopped or grated garlic, and saute until the onions begin to get tender, 4-5 minutes.

Add the arborio rice and toast it in the pan, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes. Add the wine and cook until all the liquid is absorbed, about 1 minute. Ladle about half of the stock or broth into the pan with the rice and bring it up to a bubble, stirring constantly. Simmer the mixture, stirring frequently, until all the liquid is absorbed, 4-5 minutes. Ladle in about half of the remaining liquid and continue stirring the rice until that liquid has fully absorbed, 4-5 minutes. Ladle in the remaining stock and cook the risotto until most of the remaining liquid has been absorbed and the rice is al dente, about 7 minutes. Season the risotto with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Once you get the risotto going, place another skillet over medium-high heat with the remaining tablespoons of butter and EVOO. Add the mushrooms and cracked clove of garlic into the other pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are golden brown and tender, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, and add the balsamic. Cook about 1 minute to glaze the mushrooms then remove from heat and discard the garlic clove. Keep the mushrooms warm until the risotto is finished.

Once the risotto and mushrooms have finished cooking, add the spinach puree and remaining 1/2 cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano to the risotto and give it a good stir. Spoon the risotto out onto a serving dish and top it with the glazed mushrooms. Pass additional Parmigiano-Reggiano at the table.

(Pictures and recipe from www.rachelrayshow.com)

I made another risotto last night and found the recipe on Smitten Kitchen which is a great food blog. Click here for link.

Tomato and Sausage Risotto
Martha Stewart Everyday Food

Serves 4

1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes in juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage, casings removed
1 small onion, finely chopped
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 bunch flat-leaf spinach (10 to 14 ounces), washed well, tough stems removed, chopped (about 7 cups)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving (optional)
2 tablespoons butter

In a small saucepan, combine tomatoes (with their juice) and 3 cups water. Bring just to a simmer; keep warm over low heat.
In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add sausage and onion; season with salt and pepper. Cook, breaking up sausage with a spoon, until sausage is opaque and onion has softened, 3 to 5 minutes.
Add rice; cook, stirring until well coated, 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine; cook, stirring until absorbed, about 1 minute.
Add about 2 cups hot tomato mixture to rice; simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until absorbed, 4 to 5 minutes. Continue adding tomato mixture, 1 cup at a time, waiting for one cup to be absorbed before adding the next, stirring occasionally, until rice is creamy and just tender, about 25 minutes total (you may not have to use all the liquid).
Remove pan from heat. Stir in spinach, Parmesan, and butter; season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately (risotto will thicken as it cools), and sprinkle with additional Parmesan, if desired.

(recipe from Smitten Kitchen which might be from Martha Stewart)

Both recipes made enough for dinner (main course) and then lunch for both Adam and I.

What's for dinner??

2008-10-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing I hate about Sunday night/ Monday morning, it's planning meals and making a grocery list for the week. I have completely run out of food ideas (and Adam is no help- he eats anything and has almost no opinion). So please help me! What are you making this week? Thanks!

The Great Lakes State

2008-09-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

After the wonderful wedding in San Diego, Adam and I were off again! We flew into Chicago late Sunday night and stayed in a (awful!!!) hotel. Monday morning we took a cab to Adam's parent's condo to see his mom quick and pick up the car. And we were off! It took up a good 5+ hours to get to Caseville but it was a fun drive. We were loving the lack of traffic but disliking the amount of trucks. For whatever reason, there are about 0 truck on the expressways here. My dad made grilled vegs and steaks for dinner!

We stayed two nights. Tuesday it rained on and off so we spent most of the day inside and downtown. It cleared up and we were able to have a nice beach fire.

Wednessday we were off again!

Again on our drive to Mac Island, Adam and I loved the open road. No traffic and beautiful sights! We took the Star Line ferry to the Island. It was the best deal (free overnight gaurded parking). We stayed at the Island House (do NOT recommend!). We ate fudge (but never bought any :) ). And then went to the most amazing resturant ever!! It was Woods on the Stonecliff property but owned by the Grand Hotel. It was so much fun to get dressed up (not too fancy) and take the horse taxi into the island to get to Woods. It seemed to be an old building but it was recently redone to look like (to me) a old hunting club of someone really wealthy. It was just plain cool. The service and the food were amazing! And in true Mac Island form, there were some fudgies there in their shorts and t-shirts and then some others in full out dresses with sequins.

Due to our not so nice hotel experience, Adam was up very early the next day and took some beautiful pictures just after sunrise.

After a crappy night's sleep we decided not to ride bikes around the Island and instead took a carriage tour. It was a lot of fun!

Thursday afternoon we left the Island and drove to Petoskey. As soon as we checked in to the Perry we went to the beach! Oh how I LOVE Petoskey State Park!

We ate at the hotel bar that night and were able to sit outside on the patio. We had Oberon! Beer that cannot be found in Cali.

Sunset from our room balconey.Friday we were off again! We made a short trip to Harbor Springs to look at the boats and get a cookie from Tom's Mom's. Then we drove through Bay Harbor (beautiful developement where the water is deep and the houses and boats are huge!) on our way south when we decided that this will be our boat as soon as the market goes back up :)

It started to pour not long after this picture and we ran back to the car and started out drive to Elk Rapids for the Ericksen family reunion. It was awesome to see everyone! We ate lots, swam, kayaked, and went boating. Saturday most cousins and my dad went on a long boat ride to "the sandbar" where we jumped off and swam. The water was amazing!

We left Elk Rapids on Saunday and drove back to Chicago. We got there for dinner with Adam's parents. We went to a great Italian place. Monday Adam, Michelle, and I shopped for a few hours before having to get back to the airport. At this point in the trip I guess I forgot about the camera and here is the only proof that we were in Chicago... Navy Pier.

Ryan and Carlee's Wedding

2008-09-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

We started our 1-year anniversary trip in San Diego for Ryan and Carlee's wedding. It was an awesome wedding; so much fun to see them and to hang out in the great city of San Diego. The wedding was at Bali Hai and was absolutely beautiful. It was right on the water with a great view of the city of San Diego.

The groom waiting for his bride:

The bride walking down the aisle:

They did wedding cupcakes that were delicious. I had 2.

JAR (Josh-Adam-Ryan) crew reunion picture:

Instead of riding out in a car, Ryan and Carlee rode out in a tandem bicycle:

For the rest of the day, we hung out with Josh, Kristen, and Kevin in downtown San Diego. Then on Sunday we went to Coronado Island and lounged around in the sun. Overall it was a great weekend and we are looking forward to making it back to San Diego again some time.

SF with the Salazars

2008-09-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

We're back from all of our trips, so we are going to start posting pictures from the last month. It has been such a great time to see both of our families and be back in the Midwest a couple of times.

The weekend before we left for our 1-year anniversary trip, our friends the Salazars visited town. I (Adam) lived with Josh my Sophomore year of college and he was in California to see our other college roommate, Ryan, get married. They had decided to make a week-long road trip out of it, so they came to visit us and we showed them around the Bay Area. Here are some pictures of our trip to San Francisco:

Here is Coit tower, with a statue of Christopher Columbus:

When we were walking up to Coit tower, we had a good view of Lombard St:

we're off!!

2008-08-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

It's vacation time! See ya at the beach!

Poor Peach

2008-08-04T15:31:00.000-07:00

Peach got fixed on Friday. I felt bad for her but at the same time in no way did I want to contribute to the cat population. Adam took her in early Friday morning (I had to work) and then we picked her up later that night. I didn't know what she would be like when we brought her home but I wasn't really expecting her to be in a cone! When we first saw her it was so hard not to laugh. I think the person at the vet thought we were being rude but it was pretty funny to see her like that! Once we got her home it was quite the show to watch her continually back-up to try and get away from the cone. We were supposed to keep her confined so we constructed a makeshift cage out of boxes but she always managed to escape.

Peach enjoyed watching Planet Earth last night.

Today she is doing really well. I took her cone off for a bit and kept my eye on her. She was pretty dirty and needed to clean herself but I had to make sure she never went after her tummy.

She is also a big fan of these chairs I picked up at Goodwill on Thursday!

Next thing I need: a new lamp! The leaning Ikea one that we got for free isn't cutting it any more!

New Suits

2008-07-27T21:26:00.000-07:00

Now that I have reached my mid-twenties, it was time for me to get my first suit. On Friday, Court and I headed out to the mall in search of a new suit and ended up with two! We just couldn't decide between two suits at Express for Men and ended up going home with both. One is great for a more casual summer wedding and the other is a little more formal.

Now I just need to find a good tailor in the area to finish them off. I can't wait to get a chance to wear them!

Calling all fashion critics!

2008-07-25T21:53:00.000-07:00

I bought a dress at TJ Maxx and like it, I think... I need some help. I don't know who all reads this but comment away! And I am no model so the pitcures are .. ya know... not the best. I was thinking about wearing it to a wedding this summer.

Thanks!

PS. Yes, that is a cat door taped open. Peach won't go through unless it is open...

Yum!

2008-07-24T21:12:00.000-07:00

We've been grilling! Adam and I have been using our craigslist find a bunch lately. This week we made pizza and corn on the grill. Yum! And it was all pretty easy.

I also made a strawberry pie this week and took it to Bible study. It was a big hit. Thanks for the recipe mom!

Trip Plans

2008-07-21T20:35:00.000-07:00

In a few weeks Adam and I will be taking a trip to celebrate our one year anniversary. It has turned into quite a busy trip and here are the plans....

August 15- 25

Friday 15th - Fly to San Diego
Saturday 16th - Ryan and Carlee's Wedding!
Sunday 17th - Fly to Chicago
Monday 18th - Drive to Caseville, Mi
Tuesday 19th - Hang out in Caseville
Wednesday 20th - Drive to Mackinaw Island, staying at The Island House
Thursday 21st - Tour the island, drive to Petoskey, staying at The Perry
Friday 22nd - Hang out in Petoskey and Harbor Springs
Saturday 23rd - Drive to Elk Rapids for family reunion
Sunday 24th - Hang out in Elk Rapids and then drive to Chicago
Monday 25th - Hang out in Chicago and then fly to Cali

It will be busy but it will be a ton of fun. We are so excited!!

Sweet Deals

2008-07-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

Adam and I have been thinking about getting a new couch for some time now. Adam really didn't think that our couch was very comfortable but I wasn't quite ready to part with it (espically after making that slipcover!--- but after washing it with a pen :( I decided that it was no longer the masterpiece that it once was). We decided that we would go take a look at some couches and start getting some ideas. So last weekend we went to Crate and Barrel and checked out all the different couches. We decided we liked the Potomac the best but weren't quite ready to spend $1600 on it. We left saying that we would continue to look around and maybe buy one in August. Well later that night, being the bargain hunter I am, I got on craigslist to see what was there. To my surprise there was a Crate and Barrel Potomac for sale in a neighboring town for $100!!! Adam suspected that it was a typo and it should have read $1000. So he called and the price was correct. We went to look at the couch on Tuesday and then Joel and Adam picked it up Wednesday. Yea!! New, cheap, nice, couch!!! There is one stain on the skirt but other than that it is in great shape!

Peach likes it too!

And in other super craigslist deals.... we bought a $350 grill for $75 last week also! It was pretty dirty but Adam gave it a good scrub and we grilled some brats last night and are going to grill salmon, corn, and tomatoes tonight!

Yea craigslist.com!

More Peach!

2008-07-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

Check out her paws... three black and one pink. And look at that spotted belly!

And she just *might* be named after Princess Peach :)

Kitty!

2008-07-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

We have a new addition!! Meet Peach!

She is a little shy right now and likes to hide behind the mattress. But she is getting used to her new surroundings and to us.

She has had a rough day. I got her from a co-worker who brought her to work this morning from Modesto (100 miles away!!) She spent the morning in her crate at the dental office. She did ok but was crying some. I didn't want her to be meowing all afternoon in the crate so I brought her home at lunch. She is tuckered out!

Stevie Wonder!

2008-07-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

Stevie Wonder came last night to Shoreline Amphithteatre in Mountain View, so Courtnay and I went to go see him with a couple that we're friends with. It was so awesome! I (Adam) had been a big fan of Stevie Wonder since high school and had always wanted to see him in concert and this was a really great chance. So we bought some lawn seats and met up with our friends for the show. As you can see, we didn't have the most amazing view, but it didn't really matter. They had video screens of the band and the sound of course was great.

His song selection was a great variety of older and newer songs, as well as greatest hits and album selections. He started out with some selections from various albums, but he hit his stride at the end when he played several of his greatest hits in a row at the end. I can't remember all of the songs he played, but among others, here's a list of some of the songs he played in no particular order: "Creepin", "Visions", "Living for the City", "Golden Lady", "Higher Ground", "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing", "All I Do" (one of my favorites), "I Wish", "Isn't She Lovely", "Knocks Me Off My Feet" (another one of my favorites), "Sir Duke", "I Just Called To Say I Love You", "My Cherie Amour", "Overjoyed", "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)", "Ribbon In The Sky", "Master Blaster (Jammin')", "Uptight (Everything's Alright)", "Do I Do", and of course he ended with "Superstition".

Here are some more pictures (as you may notice, we shaved my head):

Here's Courtnay with our friends David and Tiffany (who is 8 months pregnant):

One of the greatest parts of the concert was watching all of the people dance all crazy. There were many different styles and for your viewing pleasure, here is an excerpt that I would like to call "White People Dancing Up a Storm":

Let the Painting begin!

2008-06-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

Adam and I are in full swing painting out here in "The Cats." We are both really excited to move in to our new place in Los Gatos, but did not completely understand the amount of work it would take to paint it first. I got a little over zealous when I found out we could paint and picked out all sorts of colors. After thinking it over a bit, we are going to paint one less room and use 2 less colors. So we are painting the living room, master bedroom, hallway, and bathroom. The living room was a darker brown and not really my favorite color, but we are leaving it in the kitchen. The hallway was a bright light pink; yea, that had to go! The bathroom was a darker pink and the bedroom was a dark greenish blue color. Not really our tastes (not that Adam cares too much! Especially after he asked what color I wanted to paint it. I said "green" he said "wasn't it already green?!?" This was after we had primed it).

Sunday we got started priming all the rooms. Joel came over at night and helped us. We primed the living room and the bedroom.

I put 2 samples up on the wall. The darker one is going to be the living room and the lighter is the bathroom.

Monday, after deciding that the green for the back bedroom wasn't going to work, I felt as if I was back at square one for picking a color. I went back to Home Depot and stared at the paint for a while and couldn't figure anything out! I then called my mom and got some tips. She suggested a warm neutral. I felt like I was taking every paint sample by the time I left! I got home and taped them all up on the wall to try and decide. (I had more that I didn't tape up.)

Then I got started priming the bathroom. It is divided into two rooms and I gave the shower room two coats. Then Adam and I made a trip to Ace Hardware to look at more colors for the bedroom and then to Sherwin Williams. We bought one sample from SW and then stopped for a A&W float :) After that nice treat we went back to Home Depot and got the paint for the living room and bathroom and one sample for the bedroom.

So here are the current choices. Of course we can't really decide. Really we can't go wrong, they are both neutrals. But.... it is still a hard choice.

Then we painted the living room!! Yea! It is done. We put one coat on, chilled for a bit, ordered chinese take-out, and then put the second coat on.

It looks alot bluer in the pictures I think.

After we were done, Adam got to work on the other half of the bathroom.

Doesn't he look so excited?? I just can't wait till it is all done!

What's been happening

2008-06-08T17:57:00.000-07:00

This might turn into a big post...

We have been doing things even though we have not been posting so I (Court) am going to finally update!

First, our dear friend Kevin Tudball has moved south. He was unhappy here with his job and decided to go for his dream job and location. Now he is working for O'Neill, a surf company somewhere south of LA, and loving it! We are happy for him but it was sad to see him go. The night before he left, we met him, Lauren, and Ryan (who flew up from San Diego to help Kevin move) at a bar in Santa Cruz for a concert.

(I know this is kind of a bad pic but there was not a good one)

Next, Adam and I went to a Matt Wertz concert this past Tuesday (June 3rd) at the Swedish American Club in SF. It was so good! I really like Matt and it was my third time seeing him but Adam's first. I first went with my friends Carissa, Allison, Jessica, and Abby from college in 2005 to the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor. This concert was a little different because he didn't have his band. It was just him and a friend on thier guitars. They played for a long time and it was AMAZING!

And last but not least, we have a new place to live! Adam and I are going to rent a duplex in Los Gatos for the next year. We are really excited to get out of Sunnyvale. It is just way too built up and boring for our liking. Los Gatos is a very nice town with a nice downtown. It is also very close to the mountains and trails. We drove by the house today and I snapped a pic. We get the keys on the 15th! I am going to try and pick out some paint because the last tenant REALLY liked pink and we don't so much :) It has hardwood floors, granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, and most important... we can have a cat! There is also a nice private backyard. The only problem is that the woman in the other half is dating a Ohio State fan. Booo....

New York City!

2008-05-22T19:56:00.000-07:00

My trip to NYC...

I booked my ticket months ago for a weekend getaway to NYC to visit Darra. I didn't have a job or even a license then. I decided to go Fri - Mon and as luck would have it my new job worked out perfectly (I only work T-Th). So I left from SFO on Friday morning at about 10am and got into JFK at about 8pm (gotta love the time change). I almost made a stupid mistake and followed a guy that claimed he was a taxi driver but relized my oops as we past the cab line and were heading into the parking lot (yikes!). I then said 'peace out' to him and got in the cab line. I arrived at Darra's apt at about 9. We were hungry and decided to go to the conviently located (literally 1 min walk) Park Slope Ale House for some drinks and food. It was a great spot and a great time catching up with Darra. With her (not so much mine :) ) busy schedule it has been hard to talk as much as we would like.

Saturday we got up surprisingly early (7:30am) and left for Manhattan to meet Anna for some shopping. After a bit of confusion as to which H&M to meet at (there are many in a small area), we finnaly got together. We shopped and then decided to get some luch and go to Central Park. On the way we walked through Time's Square.

After Central Park, we took the train to SoHo for some more shopping. At about 5pm we were getting tired and decided to head our seperate ways and go home with the promise to call if we did anything that night. We got home around 6 and two hours later after a good nap, Darra and I decided that some slices of pizza and a movie sounded better than getting all gussied up and going out.

Sunday we got up at a good hour again. Rain was predicted for the day so we planned on doing some things inside. We rode the train into Manhattan and saw a play called Spring Awakening at 2pm. It won the Tony for best musical last year and did not dissapoint.

After we meet Anna for lunch/ early dinner at the Coffee Shop. The food was good but they definitely wanted us in and out fast. We then all took the train back to Brooklyn and went to a comedy show. We had heard that it was good but must have hit it on an off night because we (and everyone else) barely laughted and were glad that it only cost $7.

Monday was a relaxing day for me. Darra had to work sort of. She took a personal development day so we could go out Sunday night but still had to "be productive" on Monday. That consisted of 5 hours on public transportation and probably 2 hours of "personal development." Anna was able to call in sick and take the day off so she met me in Brooklyn. We got lunch and then had our nails done. Then we went to some random stores such as Borders and Rite Aid. It was really great to see Anna again for the day and I will be eternally jealous of her beautiful nails (should have taken a pic).

Overall I had an amazing time in NYC. I REALLY miss Darra and Anna. It was so awesome to see them and be with them again!!! Also the fact that it rained was amazing! I really miss the rain and the way it smells. Cali is wierd and never rains. I also loved Brooklyn. The brownstones were beautiful and the maple tree lined streets were very refreshing to my midwest spirit.

New York

2008-05-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

I (Court) went to New York City this past weekend to vist two of my college roommates. It was an amazing weekend! I will post later with details and pictures but for now...

I saw this really cool poster and it reminded me of the weekend. We took the train everywhere.

Poster made by: dkim and they are from Brooklyn.

It's hot!

2008-05-16T23:37:00.001-07:00

Today and yesterday, it has been over 100 degrees out here! We don't have air conditioning, so it has been very toasty in our apartment. While at a stop sign, I took this picture of my car's dashboard for some proof of our crazy weather. 102 degrees at 7 pm...

New Christian Music

2008-05-13T17:22:00.000-07:00

In the past couple of weeks, we picked up 2 new CDs: Shawn McDonald's "Roots" and United's "I Heart Revolution". We were pretty excited about both of them because we are big fans of both groups.

Unfortunately, Shawn McDonald's CD has disappointed a bit. His best CDs have definitely been his live ones (Live in Seattle was amazing and Scattered Pieces was also great), but even his studio CDs have some great songs. What normally shines about his music are his great voice and his honest lyrics but neither seemed to be particularly on display in the CD. The one exception is the first track Clarity, which I really like, even though it is a bit too Easy Listening at times for me. Clips of some of the tracks are over at Shawn McDonald's website, www.shawnmcdonaldmusic.com.

What is truly a treat is the new United CD. Their last CD, All of the Above was different from all of their other CDs in that it was their first studio CD. It had some awesome songs, but it had way less energy to it than their previous live ones. Well, this disc has brought the energy back big time and is great to listen to. It is a double CD with 30 songs performed live from their last tour. The tracks are mostly old with a few new ones, but none of the new tracks particularly stand one; the highlights are all old tracks performed live once again. The fast songs (One Way, All Day, and My Future Decided, among a few others) all have an energy that just gets you pumped for Jesus! I would highly encourage you to check this CD out. I picked it up for $14 as an online music download at amazon.com (here's a link).

Fun weekend + random notes

2008-05-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

We had a really fun weekend and are sitting down and watching some Dancing With the Stars, so I figured I would update the blog with what we've been doing lately. Friday night we went out with another couple to Comedy Sportz in San Jose and it was a good time. We went to a Gordon Biersch restaurant beforehand and got some good food and then headed over. The premise is that there are two teams of 3 that face off against each other in different humorous minigames and whichever one makes the audience laughs more wins. In one minigame, the audience provided a few multi-syllable words while 1 player was out of the room. When the person came back into the room, his teammates had to act out each syllable of the word while in the middle of conversation until the person figured out what word it was. For example, one word was gelatinous so they acted out gel, latin, and bus and the person realized the word. I had actually seen this thing too when growing up in Milwaukee, so it was cool to see it again after so many years.

Saturday night we had another great night when a couple that we know came over for dinner. We made fondue and they brought over their hibachi grill and made chicken and flank steak. It was all delicious and it was really fun getting to know them better. After that, we played some Scattergories and Courtnay dominated like usual (although I did finally beat her once!). Then we played some Mario Kart Wii together and had a great time.

Speaking of Mario Kart, if you have it and want to play online with us, let us know! We will give you our online code to play with us over the internet.

And finally, Netflilx sent us some coupons for 1-month free trials for friends (the normal free trial is only 14 days long). So if you want one, just let us know and we'll send it to you.

Finally...

2008-05-04T17:09:00.000-07:00

Adam keeps bugging me telling me that I really need to post something to the blog. But I keep telling him that I don't really have anything to post about. I haven't taken any pictures and we haven't gone to or done anything interesting. Oh well. I guess there is a couple new things in our lives...

First, my job. I have officially worked for 2 weeks. This past week and next week are/ were busy! I work Tues- Sat and then Mon-Thurs. I am temping in a different office the extra days. I normally only work 3 days a week. But it has been good. I like what I am doing and am glad to finally be productive.

Second, we are going to be moving. Adam and I thought that when our lease is up the end of June that we would move to San Francisco. Well, we have changed our minds. We decided that with my new job in Sunnyvale and the price of gas it would be better to stay in the area. Plus we have finally started to make some friends. We really didn't want to move an hour away to a place were we knew no one just because it might be a cool area. But we definitely are going to be moving out of where we are now. We just really don't like Sunnyvale. It is very, very boring. We are looking into Saratoga, Los Gatos, and Los Altos. All smaller towns with nice downtown areas and close to the mountains. Ideally we would find a small cottage or guest house on a nice piece of property with some nice trees. And MOST important is that we could get a cat!! I really can't wait to get a cat.

And that kind of brings me to another point... Lately Adam and I have both been going a little pet crazy. Me for a cat and Adam for a dog. I like dogs I just don't think that it would work for us to get one now. But every time we see a dog, Adam can't stop talking about how "cute" it is and "look at it" and "oh, it reminds me of Rex." I had a missing Pepper moment this past week where I put my foot down off the couch and hit Adam's back pack and instantly thought I had almost stepped on Pepper. It is weird how memories come back like that.

Ok so I finally posted. Yea!

Banana Cake and Dinner in 1 Dish

2008-04-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple more recipes from this week:

Tonight's dinner was great. I was a little concerned that it would be bland but it wasn't at all. I think is completely depends on the sausage. We used SPICY Italian. The recipe was super easy, Adam made it (and messed up a couple time but didn't affect it). I got this recipe from one of my favorite food blogs The Kitchn (click here).

Anelletti Pasta with Sausage and Greens

1 pound anelletti pasta from Trader Joe's
Olive oil
1/4 pound Italian or spicy sausage, crumbled
4 cloves garlic, minced
Four big handfuls of seasonal greens like baby spinach or arugula
1/2 cup grated Pamesan cheese

Cook the pasta as directed in salted water. It should cook for just 12-13 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In the same big pot you cooked the pasta in, heat a little olive oil and add the crumbled sausage and garlic. Cook over medium heat until the sausage is cooked through.
Add the greens and cook until barely wilted, then add the pasta and cheese and stir until all is combined and gooey - about two minutes. Serve with extra cheese.

Picure from The Kitchn. I was lazy but it really looked exactly the same.

Another thing I made this week was Banana Cake. I have made this three times and every time it is defferent. This time I mixed it a little too long so it was somewhat dense. But it was still good. Adam, not so secretly, dosen't eat the bananas in hopes that I make this cake.

Banana Cake

3 small ripe bananas or 2 large ripe bananas
4 large tablespoons sour cream
1 white cake mix
3 egg whites
2 tablespoons oil
1 1/3 c. milk1 tsp vanilla flavoring

Frosting:
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 stick butter (room temp)
1/3 c. nuts of your choice (I use walnuts)
1 box of powdered sugar (4 cups)
1 tsp vanilla flavoring

Blend bananas with mixer, adding sour cream. When mixture is well blended, not lumpy, add your cake mix, egg whites, oil, milk, flavoring together and mix. Pour into a greased 9x13 or rounds and bake for 25 mins or until done.
Tip: place waxed paper over the cake while it cools to keep in the moisture.

Frosting:
Mixed cream cheese and butter untill smooth. Add powered sugar (taste before you add it all!) and vanilla. Frost cake and sprinkle with nuts.
It makes a lot of frosting!

Court's No Scrub!

2008-04-23T19:03:00.000-07:00

But I wear them (and make them)!

I finially started my job! Today was my first day and it went well. It was very busy however, I was glad to be doing something. But, I am tired tonight! The office I work in is small but nice. The other employees are really great and helpful. I had a full day today. Nine patients (4 in am and 5 in pm), 9-5:15 with a 1.5 hour lunch. The afternoon got kinda crazy but I made it out on time! The instruments are old and dull so I am getting some new ones and can't wait! They will make my job so much easier.

To go with my new job, I made a new scrub top. I am very happy with how it turned out.

I got the fabric at Ikea for .99 a yrd and the pattern at Joanns. I will probably make some more in the furture because this is one of the best looking/fitting scrubs tops I have seen that doesn't cost a fortune.

Recipes

2008-04-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

I made a couple of good things lately and want to share.

Veggie Lasagna (Adam loves this)

1 tub low fat ricotta

1 egg
1 package frozen spinach

2 small zucchini

1 jar pasta sauce of your choice

mozzarella
Parmesan

1/2 box no boil noodles

Cut the zucchini into small slices and pre-heat the oven to 350. Mix ricotta and egg. Add thawed spinach. Start layering in a greased 8x8 dish with sauce, then noodles, the ricotta, then zuch, then parm and motza. Continue until dish is full with a top layer of cheese. Bake at 350 for 1 and a half hours.

I made mine in a hurry!

About 1 hour later... but not quite done. Back in the oven for 30 mins.

This recipe I found online. It's great!

Frozen Yogurt (better than Pinkberry)

1 tub Greek Yogurt ( I used 2%)
3/4 c sugar
1 t vanilla

Mix all together until sugar is dissolved. Refrigerate for one hour. Read ice cream maker instructions and start making! I had to freeze the bowl for at least 15 hours and start the beater before adding the yogurt (makes sense but would have never thought of it!).

Sorry for the bad pic.

New website to love...

2008-04-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

IBKC also know as the itty bitty kitty committee. If the name isn't ridiculously cute enough then check out the pictures! They are adorable! Makes me want a cat NOW!!!

Counting the days till I can get one....

Check it out HERE (click here)!

Just a sample of the cuteness:

Wedding Movie

2008-04-15T17:40:00.000-07:00

Parts of our wedding DVD have been posted on youtube.com and we thought we would share. We really like them! It brings back so many great memories to watch them!

Beach!

2008-04-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

It was crazy beautiful this weekend and we took full advantage!! Saturday Adam, Joel, and I took off to the beach! It is still crazy for us to think that we live so close to such beautiful places.

We met Kevin, Lauren, and two of Lauren's friends in Scotts Valley and then drove to Santa Cruz. We decided to forgo the regular beach and drive a few miles north on 1 to a more secluded beach and it was amazing! It was so beautiful!

We laid out, threw the freezbie, and played catch. We were there for about 5 hours. The water was frezzing!! But the weather was amazing. I don't know what the temp was but it was perfect with a great ocean breeze.

Courtnay's Wish List

2008-04-14T11:09:00.001-07:00

I have been thinking a lot about colors lately. I really like yellow and robin egg blue. I think they would be great kitchen colors and want to start collecting things in these colors for our next move. Adam and I are going to move to San Francisco in July and I would like to have more of a plan for the space than I did this past move.

I have been browsing Etsy over the weekend and found all these great things. They are on my current wish list.

Yellow bowls from suttree:

Glasses from BlendedSplendid:

Bowl from suttree:

Tablecloth from tangerinechic:

I don't know if I will get any of them but I really like them. And really, nothing is that expensive. But for now I guess I will continue to scope out the thrift store for some finds.

Costume Party!

2008-04-13T18:49:00.001-07:00

Adam and I went to a costume party this Friday. It was a birthday party for three people, Kevin (who we know), Jessica, and John (who we do not know). The theme of the party was dress up as any Kevin, Jessica, or John ever in any way. Seems easy but for whatever reason I had a very hard time thinking of anyone besides Jessica Simpson for myself. Then I was trying to think of someone for Adam and all I could think of was John Mayer. So Adam and I went as Jessica Simpson playing Daisy Duke and John Mayer. I couldn't really think of anything to wear to be Jessica beside being Daisy Duke.

I was in complete shock after going to the party at all the people the other guests dressed up as. For example, John Wilkes Booth was there along with Kevin Costner, John Quincy Adams, and Dear John. We also meet a couple John Does, Johnny Cash, Sarah Jessica Parker, John McClane (Bruce Willis's character from Die Hard), Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Kevin Costner as some sort of war-time character, and K-Fed. Over all there were probably 35 people there. We didn't know many of them but it was still fun.

Kevin as Johnny Cash:

The stuff I'm working on at VMware

2008-04-13T09:49:00.001-07:00

For the last several months, I have been hard at work programming parts of the user interface for the newest version of VMware Workstation. For those who don't know, VMware makes virtualization software. VMware Workstation basically lets you run a separate operating system on top of the current one that you are running without much overhead. For instance, I am running Windows Vista as my operating system right now, but there are many programs that work better with Windows XP than they worked with Windows Vista. With VMware Workstation, I can run this other operating system and use the programs on it even though I am still using Windows Vista.

The feature that I have been working on is a redesign of the functionality used to create a new virtual machine. This is the initial step you take when you first install VMware Workstation in order to start running a virtual machine. In this version, the two features we added to new virtual machine creation are: 1) Easy Install, which allows you to enter some settings for your operating system like serial number, usern ame, and password and then step away from your computer while the installation happens automatically and 2) Guess the Guest, which reads the operating system installer disc and determines which operating system you are trying to install. I helped out some with the code to do those two tasks, but mostly I wrote the user interface for these new features.

Even though this version of Workstation is only in beta, Infoworld.com did a preview of it and really liked it. What was even better was that they specifically pointed out the features I have been working on and called them the most "fully baked" new feature of the beta release. It was a great feeling to see all of the hard work I've put into this release appreciated and to see screenshots of my feature on their website.

Here is a link to the review
Screenshot one of some of the user interface I wrote
Screenshot two of some of the user interface I wrote

Antiques by the Bay

2008-04-06T16:47:00.001-07:00

Adam and I went to the art and antique fair today in Alameda and had a great time. At first I didn't think that Adam would be able to come with me but it turned out that he could. So we got up bright and early this morning and left at 8:15. We arrived at about 9:20. It was perfect timing because we got in the car line close to the entrance gate and looked in the rear view mirror and the cars were lined up big time. I don't know how that all worked out but it was great. And then the same thing happened when we got in line to buy our tickets to get in. I brought my little wheel cart after a little hesitation but as soon as I got it out of the car the women in the car next to us were complaining to their husbands "Look! She has a cart. See, I told you we should have brought ours!" Adam and I thought that was pretty funny.

Adam had never been to a flea market before and kept asking me "what are we really going to do for 5 hours there?" I said "you'll see." And boy did we see!!! There was much good stuff, so much crazy stuff, and everything in between. We guessed there were about 30-35 good sized booths in every row and 25 rows with thousands of people. Some stuff was a good price and some was expensive but we got a good haul for the price.

The fair was held on an old air base. It was on the runway and while we were there an airplane flew over (actually many flew over considering Oakland and San Fran airports were very close) that looked like it belonged.

Adam and I did some bartering. He did most of it and the first time I tried, the women told me I was rude for asking for less. Adam said she bit the head off of the guy right before me as well. Now that's not a good business plan but I did notice that he bought whatever he was asking about. I did not.

Overall the day was a success. It was a bit chilly, very breezy, and threatened rain most of the day but we had prepared for it. We spent about $100 including the entry fee and food. Here is my haul… 2 quilts, 2 glass things from electric fence, 5 embroidered linens, 3 aprons, cast iron cross, cast iron green roses key hook, metal pyramid stand, blue wood goose (named Claude), and a conch shell. I am going to use some of the stuff for other projects, like a quilt or pillows.

Slipcover

2008-04-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

Wow! That's all I have to say. That and.... NEVER AGAIN!!
My back is killing me and I am exhausted! I have spent the last three days making a slipcover for our couch. What a PAIN! But a good use of my new sewing machine.

I didn't think that it would be that hard. Especially after seeing this post (click here). It got me thinking about doing the same for our couch. I think that the original upholstery is ugly and the slipcover that my mom made for it was falling apart after many years of use. Plus it was very bland and blended in with the wall.
I got the fabric at Ikea for dirt cheap, $1.99/yard. I started the process on Monday morning. I cut up the old slipcover and used it as a pattern (after calling my mom to confirm that I could cut up the old one).
Then I laid it on the couch and pinned away. Then came the dilemma of now what.... so I called my mom, for the 2nd time concerning the couch.

Me: "Hi, it's me again. I have another question....I have it all pinned on the couch and it seems like it is going to work. But now what... how do I sew it?? How do I get it off the couch with out it all falling apart??"

Mom: "Well... that's the question. How about you baste it together with big stitches and then take it off and sew it."

Me: "Ok. Sounds good. Thanks."

So I basted, sewed, pinned, sewed, gave up, sewed more, pinned, etc...... and this is the result.

It's not perfect but I think it turned out pretty good. I was also going to do the ottoman (with a different and even cheaper fabric!) but decided that it matched good enough as it was and I will use the fabric for something else.

I am just SO glad that I am done! And never doing that again!

Easter Sunday

2008-03-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Easter, Court had the great idea of inviting Joel and Kevin over for a nice Easter dinner. She baked bread along with the delicious alfredo/pesto/shrimp/bacon pasta dish, salad, asparagus, and broccoli. Kevin brought over cheese and wine, Joel brought over dessert and wine, and I helped out by doing dishes. All of the food was delicious and we had a really great time together. We played some Wii games together: Smarty Pants and Super Smash Bros Brawl. After that, we broke out Table Topics, which Court and I had bought a few months ago but never used. It turned out to be really awesome, as it provided some good questions to spark some good conversation. Here are some pictures:

Here is the setting that Court made. She dyed the eggs the day before:

Court cooking up a storm in her new dress:

Washing some dishes:

Us playing Super Smash Bros:

Here's a picture of Joel's amazing dessert. It was chocolate pudding, brownies, cool whip, and heath:

Courtnay on TV

2008-03-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

I (Court) have an interesting story.....
So while Christmas shopping in San Francisco I was interviewed by CNET and kind of forgot to see if I made it onto the show. It was the same day that I cut my finger so that's what stuck in my head for the day. But tonight while Kevin and I were checking out shows on Hulu.com I came across CNET TV and mentioned that I was interviewed for them. Kevin asked if I checked to see if I made it in the show and I hadn't, so we searched. All I could remember was that the product was shoes that claimed to eliminate cellulite and help your posture. And thanks to Google, I found that the shoes did exist and that CNET did review them. I found the show online and lo and behold....I was the first one they interviewed!! I am famous!! Not... But I thought I would share here.

All I could remember of the interview was me being very nervous and then thinking "don't look at my shoes!!" after saying that the others shoes looked orthopedic! I was wearing my favorite Dansko clogs that DO look orthopedic. But I needed the height because my pants are long and I wanted something comfortable to shop in all day. Ok enough justifying my shoes... just watch me on TV! I am there at about 2:30 left in the clip. And if you keep watching, at about 1:50 left in the clip, I am in the background putting money in the meter. I am thinking "Oh no! Please don't interview me. I don't know anything about anything important!"

CAG RDH

2008-03-19T09:13:00.001-07:00

Psalm 34:15 - "The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right; his ears are open to their cries for help."

Exodus 14:13-14 - "But Moses told the people, 'Don't be afraid. Just stand where you are and watch the Lord rescue you. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.'"

Even though it has only been a little over a week, we checked online today and got some really good news:

After all of the stress, all of the prayers, Courtnay passed her boards and is now a registered dental hygienist. Thank you everyone for your prayers; God has been so faithful to us during this entire process. I never got to post about the actual exam experience, so I'll talk about it a little about last Sunday.

Courtnay's exam was at 6:30 AM on Sunday, March 9th, which if you'll remember was the morning after the daylight savings time switch. Given that we had to get up so incredibly early for it, we started staggering our sleeping schedules, which helped a lot on the actual morning where we got up at 4:40 AM. The few days before were very stressful, because we really were not sure if Courtnay's patient would pass (that is, if Courtnay's patient fulfilled the correct qualifications) and were just praying a ton that God would cause everything to work out.

So we both woke up that morning and Courtnay headed for SF for the exam and I picked up the two patients (one primary and one backup) and met her there. The process went so much faster than last year, when there happened to be rolling blackouts which delayed the examination process a lot. So this time the process started pretty quickly and Courtnay sent her patient off to the examiners for them to take a look at Courtnay's patient and tell her whether the patient was suitable.

After a short while the patient came back and didn't come with an examiner, which meant the patient was accepted! Then Courtnay called me in because I was her assistant and she got working on cleaning some teeth. She had 2 hours to do it and finished in an hour and a half (after checking and re-checking to make sure everything was off) and sent her patient off to be examined for a final time. The exam sounded like it went well, but they did not give us any indication of how she did, so we just knew that we had to wait and see. We were told that the results would be mailed in 6-8 weeks and available online in 6 weeks. But now we know that it all turned out well! Courtnay got her license number so she is free to go look for a job!

Fun With Facial Hair

2008-03-06T15:04:00.001-08:00

I went to a men's retreat in the Santa Cruz mountains last weekend, so I figured I had to look rugged for it. To fit the bill, I stopped shaving on about Sunday or Monday. After the weekend passed, I was going to shave it but decided instead to let the experiment go on for a little while. I finally decided to shave it tonight, but not before trying out some different types of facial hair in the process.

Fully bearded Adam:

Awkwardly-shaped goatee:

Anchorman mustache:

Back to normal:

It's Dinner Time!

2008-03-04T20:13:00.001-08:00

I have always wanted to make bread but never really thought I could. But that has all changed. I was cruising the blogs last week and came across thekitchn.com where I then saw a link to "No Knead Bread." I read it and it sounded interesting and I wanted to try it. So I did! There were so many comments and other websites listed that it was a little confusing but I found this website and used it. I don't have a dutch oven and I was using my stock pot to make dinner so I had to improvise and use the crock from my crockpot and cover it with tin foil. It worked great! Only thing that I would do different is try and limit the amount of flour that falls into the pot. On the website it said it didn't matter but Adam and I found that it really does matter.

And then to go with the bread I made a sweet potato and carrot soup. I also found this recipe on thekitchn.com. It was pretty easy to make and it tasted great!
Here is the recipe:

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely chopped yellow onion
2 ribs celery, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 cup white wine
1-2 teaspoons chipotle powder
1 quart vegetable or poultry broth
1 1/2 pounds garnet sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
1/2 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch lengths
1/2 cup whole milk
Salt & pepper to taste

In a large, heavy soup pot over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add onion, celery, garlic and thyme and cook, stirring, until soft, about 10 minutes. Add wine and chipotle powder and cook until the wine is reduced and alcohol smell dissipates. Add broth, sweet potatoes, carrots and a little salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer until the vegetables are soft, about 25 minutes.

Cool the soup, transfer to a blender and pure until smooth. Return the soup to the pot, add milk and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Garnish with plain yogurt and cilantro.

My Notes:
I didn't have chipotle powder or cayenne powder so I used Emeril's Southern Essence and it tasted fine. I also didn't have whole milk so I used about 1/4c half and half. I did not put in yogurt or cilantro. And I used Japanese Yams ( from the farmers market!).

Yum!

Mary's Visit

2008-03-04T19:23:00.001-08:00

My Cousin Mary was in town this part weekend. She came out to visit the camp that she used to work at and since it wasn't too far away, I got to see her. This past Sunday I rode to Mission Springs with Kevin. We met Adam there because he was already in that area because he went to a retreat there. Then we picked up Mary and Lauren. We decided that it was such a nice day we should do something to enjoy it. Mary, Lauren, and Kevin had all been to wine tasting place that had outdoor seating so that's where we went. We picked up some burritos in town and then headed to Hallcrest Vineyards where we enjoyed the free wine and the sunshine. I had made some banana chocolate chip muffins the day before so I brought them. It was a really great trip and I had a lot of fun. Adam and I did buy a bottle of organic wine. It's a 2003 Cabernet. I don't know when we will drink it but it was the one we liked the most.

Court's 23rd Birthday

2008-02-24T23:19:00.000-08:00

Courtnay turned 23 on Friday, so I made sure to pamper her as much as possible. For breakfast, I cooked pancakes for the both of us, even though it ended up taking a full hour with cleanup because I forgot an ingredient in the first batch :-). I stayed and worked from home for the day, while she started working on the 1000-piece puzzle that her parents gave her, among other things, for her birthday. For dinner, I cooked her one of two dishes that I actually know how to cook: a shrimp alfredo pasta dish. After that, we went out with Kevin and Joel for drinks and dessert in downtown Palo Alto. Courtnay got to wear the dress her parents gave her for her birthday and the rest of us guys went business casual:

The bar that we were thinking of going to turned out to be a really busy restaurant, so we headed to the second place on our list, which was also in downtown Palo Alto. When we got there it wasn't very busy so we ended up staying there for the night. It was a really cool Indian-Californian fusion named Mantra that had a great atmosphere. Yeah I don't really know what it means either, but it had some cool Indian food in really small portions that was really expensive. Courtnay and I stuck with the drinks and dessert though and Joel bought a round of Washington Apples for everyone.

Promontory

2008-02-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

One of the greatest things about working in Silicon Valley is being completely spoiled by the company you work for. VMware opened a new campus this past summer with what will eventually be 5 buildings. My department moved into the campus very early on and it is a work in progress, but it is turning out very well. Here are some pictures:

This is the outside of our cafeteria:

The building on the left is the one I work in:

This is a cool waterfall that is behind where the receptionists sit during the daytime:

Having some sort of pond at a VMware building is a company tradition, because we throw soon-to-be-weds in the pond. I got thrown in last summer and got even by throwing Chouhan in when the water was freezing cold a few months ago:

Court and Mom sitting in the chairs. They look really hard and uncomfortable, but they were surprisingly soft:

Here's an action shot of work. I like to teach my pet dog how to program the computer. He is getting really good and sometimes takes over when I go play ping pong. On the left is a fancy picture that Kevin Tudball drew (More illustrations from Kevin). Courtnay printed it and had it framed by her Dad as a Christmas gift for me!

I'm Hooked!

2008-02-07T13:59:00.000-08:00

I (Courtnay) am totally hooked! I am hooked to this awesome website called www.etsy.com. I was checking out some of my favorite websites (listed to the right) and kept seeing this other website (etsy) being mentioned. So I thought I would check it out and now I can't stop browsing! You can get anything on there and it is all so cool!
I am also hooked to the soundtrack to Once. Adam and I watched it with some friends a couple weeks ago and loved it. So he bought the soundtrack and now it is always playing or in my head. Especially track 2. Love it!

Trip to Michigan

2008-02-05T14:57:00.000-08:00

Adam and I went back to Michigan this past Wednesday through Sunday. It was a great time. Adam was recruiting at the internship fair at the School of Engineering. It was a free trip for him and I just tagged along. We arrived late Wednesday night at went out to eat at the only place open for dinner at 10pm, Pizza House. Thursday, Adam was at the fair till 3pm and I hung out on campus and caught up with Gaia. Then Adam and I met my parents for dinner at Cottage Inn and went to the basketball game. I went home with my parents for the Thursday and Friday nights. I wanted to see Reese (who is getting big!)

and go though some of my mom’s vintage table cloths and drapes. It was very relaxing in Cass City. On Saturday, we met Adam at Birch Run. Adam and I drove back to Ann Arbor and met my friends Jessica, Carissa, and Allison at our fav sushi place, Sadako.

After, we went to the Heidelberg for happy hour. It was really great to see then and catch up on liFe. They left at about 7:30 and Adam and I decided that we were not ready to call it a night so we walked around town. We then went to Ashley’s for pizza and beer and rounded out the night with some Stucchi’s ice cream. Sunday we got up and went to church were we saw a bunch of old friends. After, we went out to lunch with Adam’s brother Dave, Gaia, and my sis-in-law Sarah at BW3’s. It was a jam packed trip but was so much fun. We truly enjoyed it and greatly miss Ann Arbor!

New Pictures

2008-01-29T16:08:00.001-08:00

The silver leafed table I did yesterday. I am very happy with how it looks and so is Adam. Yea! It's like having a new table.I was feeling a bit crafty one day and made a pillow. It was somewhat of a pain considering I don't have a sewing machine. Maybe I will get one someday. I like how it looks but I am afraid that it will come apart at the seams someday soon.

The view from our balcony on Monday the 28th, in between the rain.

I made some amazing blueberry muffins a couple weeks ago. They looked so good I had to take a picture.

Here is the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/To-Die-For-Blueberry-Muffins/Detail.aspx

I did follow some of the suggestions in the reviews.

Rain, rain, go away!

2008-01-27T20:48:00.000-08:00

Well life in Cali has been very wet lately. It has been raining and raining for the past 3-4 days. It stopped a little bit yesterday and Adam and I ventured out. We went to the local farmers market and got some good vegs and fruit. I really enjoy going to the farmers market on Saturdays. There is always something new, good, and cheap. Later that night we went out to dinner with another couple that we knew from Michigan that also live in the area. We went to an amazing Indian restaurant in Santana Row called Amber. After dinner, we decided that we were so stuffed from all the butter chicken that we would skip the bar and go home and watch Planet Earth. It was a nice and relaxing evening.

I hope it isn't raining tomorrow. I have a project I want to do but need to do it outside. I bought a really cheap side table a few weeks ago at Ikea and I want to silver leaf it. It is a cream color and just looks very boring. There was a mirrored table at Target that I have had my eye on for months now waiting for it to go on sale but it never does. So I have decided to make my $9.99 table go the distance and make it shine! But for this to happen, it needs to stop raining!! I have to sand the table and then spray the adhesive on it out on the balcony. If this happens and it looks good, I will try and put a picture up.

We will be leaving the rain behind this week! Adam and I are flying to Michigan on Wednesday! We are very excited to see everyone. I am also excited to be back in the snow for a bit.

New Friends

2008-01-13T22:01:00.001-08:00

This last week, we have had the pleasure of hanging out with some new friends for the first time in a long while. It has been pretty rough meeting new people around here, so it was really refreshing finally being able expand our circle of friends.

I (Adam) had hit it off with a guy named Nathan at a Saturday men's conference and we had kept in touch a bit over the last couple months. Then a couple of weeks ago, Nathan invited us to a bi-weekly couple's bible study at their house with his wife and another couple. Then today, Joel, Court, and I visited the church they go to and then went to lunch with them and a different couple. It was a great day full of good conversation, good company, and good Red Robin burgers! We will probably visit again next month but in the mean time, we are looking forward to some Tuesday bible studies.

New TV

2008-01-13T21:31:00.000-08:00

We bought a Wii for Christmas and after a few weeks of playing on a 27" TV, we decided to take the plunge and buy a big TV. I (Adam) went looking around and decided that the Sharp Aquos looked the best to me. The picture quality was great and the brightness was a big plus too. We were originally thinking about getting a 42" but after looking around, we decided that we should go big or go home. We took a look at the 46" Aquos at Best Buy and it looked just amazing, but weren't sure if it was too expensive. I decided to do some research online and see if there were any better deals available online. Eventually I came across a post in a forum with an advance copy of the Best Buy and Circuit City ads for the next day. It turned out that if you were to buy any Sharp Aquos 42" or bigger, you get a free Blu-Ray player!

The next morning, I took a look around all of the area stores and it became pretty obvious that circuitcity.com was the best deal: it ended up being about $200 on top of the free $400 Blu-ray player. We have had the TV now for about a half of a week and it is amazing! Here is a picture of the TV:

The TV supports up to 1080p resolution and has 3 HDMI and 2 component inputs. The speakers on it look small but were surprisingly powerful. And it's light too! Only about 60 pounds. We have Dish Network but can't reach the correct angle to get HD programming but one of my coworkers let me have an antenna he isn't using. After messing around with it for a while, we ended up having a decent over-the-air signal from CBSHD, ABCD, and PBSHD which is good enough. The HD channels look pretty good, but nothing really compares to watching a movie on Blu-ray. The disc selection is a bit disappointing at times, but the picture quality is just beautiful.

Speaking of PBSHD, Court found out that they are running the complete Jane Austin series on PBS Sunday nights, so she is pumped that we get PBSHD over the air. As a result it looks like our Sunday nights will be filled for a while.

Court's Finger

2008-01-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

So as some know I cut my finger pretty bad a while ago. Well it is doing great and I thought I would post about it. But really, I just had these pictures and wanted to use them. Beware some are a little graphic!

Well it happened December 12th at about 6:30pm. I had just got home from a day of Christmas shopping in San Fran and was doing some day old dishes in the sink. I was in a rush and snapped a martini glass right were the stem meets the top. At first I was just really upset that I broke to glass but then I realized that there was blood everywhere. I grabbed my finger to stop the bleeding and started pacing. I didn't know what to do. Adam was not home and about an hour drive away. We had no first-aid things either. So I called Adam and told him to get someone to me! Luckily his friend Joel had just moved out and was close by. He brought me gauze and tape and I wrapped my finger up tight. At 10pm Adam finally made it home. I was really hoping I wouldn't have to go to the ER and thought if it had stopped bleeding it would be ok. I checked it then and it gushed blood as soon as I let the pressure off. So off to the ER we went! Then about 3 hours, seven stitches, and 3 x-rays later we were home.

This is what it looked like two days later. I was concerned about the big white area so I sent a couple pictures home. My parents said that that area might just fall off. Yea! It was I thought might happen too.

This is what it looked like about 5 days later. Much better!!! The white spot was gone. The body is amazing!

I got my stitches out the day after Christmas. And this is basically how it looks now. It's doing great! It is still a little numb around my nail but getting better everyday.

Holiday Recap

2008-01-07T17:06:00.000-08:00

Adam and I had a busy holiday! We flew from Cali to Mich on Friday the 21st. We arrived but our bags did not :( Adam's bag arrived the next day but I did not get my bag until the 26th.
While in Michigan we went to a piano concert in Bay City, had family Christmas, and then spent Christmas Eve in Belmont with my mom's side of the family. It was a lot of fun and very relaxing (besides the lost luggage).

Adam and I then flew on the 26th to Chicago to be with his family. While in Chicago we went to Wicked, did some shopping, and had the Gross family Christmas at Adam's aunt and uncle's house. We also went out for New Year's Eve to a comedy club and then to the Signature Room on the 96th floor of the John Hancock building. It was a great time in the windy city!

Cutest Puppy Ever!!

2008-01-05T16:27:00.001-08:00

I miss Reese. She likes to do the dishes. Maybe she could come to Cali and do my dishes :)

Yea a blog!

2007-12-25T12:12:00.000-08:00

We have a blog! Our lives are not that interesting but we will try and post things anyway.
Merry Christmas!