Handmade for the Holidays

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I think soon there will be a special part two to this post but for now, I want to share that yesterday I went to Jenni's house for a party to showcase all of the things her friends & family make and/or sell, i.e. a mostly handmade party.

The point is that buying handmade objects gives a sense of satisfaction way beyond normal shopping. There is a certain glee factor knowing someone took the time away from their "regular" job, their busy to-do lists and carved out a little space for their creative spirit. It is cool and inspiring to see the results.

Now this afternoon, I have stumbled across a site promoting buying handmade things, so naturally I am going to put their banner up right here on my blog for all of you.


They have links to lots of sites but I get lost still just at Etsy. There are so many creative people out there and what a great use of the internet. Back in the day, I guess, there was only the local craft fair if you wanted to buy handmade & didn't have any crafty friends & weren't crafty yourself.

Wine Notes

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Inspired by Friday night's Women & Wine event, I am going to start noting which bottles I try and enjoy so eventually I am not totally reinventing my wine wheel each week.

Last week, I surprised Jeff when I was in the mood for white wine after being in Pajaro. For some reason, I enjoy drinking chardonnay with Marsh and I wasn't quite done with it. We tried one from Chateau St. Jean.


Here it is on our dining table, sadly I can't tell you the last time before this we had a candlelit dinner together at home OR out.



I liked it so much that a couple of days later, I had Jeff go get another bottle.

Now after this event Friday night, I am totally back on my red wine wagon. I had two different Bordeaux there and talk about yum. Maybe after I spend some energy on the Women & Wine site, I'll be able to describe what I liked about the ones I profile.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

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My boys are out skating with Jay in Pacifica. It's just Jackson & Me, drinking coffee in a "for here" cup instead of a "to go" cup. That right there, is a minor victory in life. Take time to smell the coffee in a ceramic cup everyone. Jack Johnson is crooning at me and I am working my way through Real Simple at a leisurely pace. I happen to be reading about gemstones and my, I think I like peridot very much.

On the opposite page is an insurance ad of all things and it caught my eye quickly because it is halfway taken up by an Elizbeth Barrett Browning poem. Since I referred to it in my last post, I think I will just post the entire poem this morning since it's right here in front of me.

How do I love thee?

Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

-- EBB

Happy Sunday!

Easy Peasy Tortellini

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Okay I did my typical scramble for dinner tonight. Instead of the usual cave towards take out or fast food or pre-pack food, I actually found a recipe that looked simple, fast and yummy.

Simple for me means a short list of ingredients. Here ya go: 2 packages of cheese tortellini, one bag of frozen peas, cream cheese, grated parmesan cheese, milk and ham. I substituted prosciutto because I am gourmet and Italian like that.

Fast means this: cook the tortellini and keep in the strainer after draining. Using the same pot, add one cup of milk, 1/2 cup of cream cheese (I used super whipped or whatever, not the brick) and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. Mix over low heat. I found I needed a splash more of milk than it called for to be able to stir in the cream cheese.

I put the cover on the pot and left it for about 5 minutes while I chopped up my prosciutto and separated it (that was the hardest part and that was my own doing since the recipe called for plain ham, much easier to chop).

Take off lid, add a few dashes of ground pepper, throw in two cups of peas, stir. Throw in tortellini and gently stir it all together. Put lid back on and clean up the counter from all the measuring cups.

Add prosciutto, stir and recover for another few minutes while you grab bowls, forks and beverages.



Eat.

That's the yummy part.

And mine looks very similar except prosciutto is piu bella than ham! I'm too busy eating to take my own picture so this will have to do people.

You're welcome. ;)

Artsy Pajaro

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Here are my favorite photos from Pajaro Dunes.



I really loved the meandering line of the fence


House #60


A round house greatly enhances the visually interesting leading lines...


...the ceiling for example.
Jaden took this photo for me so I could remember it always.



Wine has never tasted or looked as good as from the Adirondack chairs on the deck.


A familiar sight to me, but isn't it simply amazing how good light
turns the everyday into the extraordinary?



Hands down, this is my personal best photo of the year!

2:50

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...Amount of time it took me tonight to enter 2.5 months worth of receipts into Quicken.

Yeah, that pretty much means no one's been minding the money.

I'll run the reports another day, for now, it's time for my rolled roast beef, scallion and Havarti with dill tortilla roll-up (courtesy of a Kikkoman's ad in some magazine recently) and some mind-numbing enjoyment of season one of The Hills.

Tomorrow?

Back to life, back to reality, back to work!

Huge, Wild, Fires

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California Office of Emergency Services firefighters wait for water
as a home burns Monday, Oct 22. 2007 in Poway, Calif.
(AP Photo/Denis Poroy)


Shortly, as in minutes, after we drove away from the beach house in Pajaro Dunes, Marsh called to tell me there was a huge fire going on in San Diego and I should call and check on my family.

Now I'm not naming names or anything, but this Yahoo! News article says:

"Firefighters — who lost valuable time trying to persuade stubborn homeowners to leave — had their work cut out for them as winds gusting to 70 mph scattered embers onto dry brush, spawning spot fires. California officials pleaded for help from fire departments in other states."

That Poway home pictured above? Yep -- it's only 14 miles from my aunt's house. But I'm not naming names or worried sick and noticing that it's easier to be angry or anything. I got my last update 3 hours and 35 minutes ago.

San Diego was my home for over 7 years during college and my family has lived there since the NYC days. Wildfires are not uncommon down there but this one is pretty bad as far as I can tell. My thoughts go out to everyone down south right now. And one last thing:

Listen to your firefighters people! Don't make their job any harder than it already impossibly is right now!!

ETA: Okay okay, I sort-of see why my family is reluctant to leave, although it still scares the hell out of me. I continued reading that article above and see that at Qualcomm, there is a lone concession stand with coffee and donuts for folks and folks with pets are stuck in the parking lot as pets are not being allowed in the stadium. WTF is up with that? What if it was my little family, we're forced from our home, stuck in a parking lot with Jackson and what? Nothing but begging someone inside to bring us coffee and donuts? Like I'm going to feed that to Jaden in an emergency or even a Saturday morning. I think that is so lame. Didn't we learn anything from Katrina? HMPH.

Leaf Prints

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I ventured out yesterday afternoon to Laurel Street, so adorable. I went to Prairie (yummy clothing boutique way out of my price range), the pet supply store (Bow Wow Meow or something like that) and Good Sage, where I finally found Amy a birthday gift.

Along the way, I picked up a Sunset Magazine and it was a great issue. I pulled out at least three recipes to try and found a project I would like to do.


Who is up for a nature hike so I can leaf gather? :)

Drooling

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There are so many amazing, inspiring and creative bloggers out there, it is not even funny. One in particular that I go back to again & again is Hula Seventy.

© girlhula


I was drawn to it initially because the author is in Portland, OR -- and everyone knows how I adore thee PDX.

Anyway, Hula Seventy recently blew me away with this post friday afternoon -- an inspired idea to leave happy quotes all around the city for people to find. Hello Awesome Idea.

And now tonight, the gift of a lifetime from this amazing woman and photographer: her Flickr set of Italy photos.

Loves Italy AND lives in Portland AND is a brilliant photographer?

OMG.

That's all I can say.

OMG.
OMG.
OMG.

FFF and L

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I've resorted to researching high fashion, how far is that from my life?

That's what happens when you watch The Hills to escape and then because it's the middle of season 3 and you are just getting started watching, you try to get caught up via Google and Lauren's official site seems a logical place to start.


Quickly you find yourself at the LA Times (warning: you have to register) reading about how she took on the challenge of putting together an outfit for only $100. (Poor girl, pun intended).

That is where you run across the knock-off Lanvin frock and decide to take a break from the computer and pick up the copy of C Magazine you borrowed from your fashion-forward friend. There you see the Lanvin frock mentioned again ("do not even think about leaving your house this fall without a Lanvin frock" so you wearily go back to Google to read more about it since you don't have a clue what it is.

"Thank god I had surgery last week and can't leave the house yet," you think to yourself.

Since you're hanging out with Google, you remember to look up this thing called a Louboutin shoe that you are supposed to wear in SF no matter how steep the streets.

And after all this you say, "HUH? What is going on here? Frickin French Fashion, that's what!" and this is only one letter of the alphabet.

"New" Friends

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Jenni & Carter in Half Moon Bay



I got this precious photo this morning to start my day.

Okay in the scheme of my 37 years on this planet, Jenni is a "new" friend since I only met her last year. But Jenni is way more than that already, she is one of those friends that you have an instant connection with and I feel like I've always known her except that I'm still learning about her life story. But those missing details are the only clue that I haven't known her most of my life.

She is an accomplished woman and mother, a supportive wife and just a burst of energy and light in the world. She always has a smile and a positive attitude to share with those around her and energy galore. She is an inspiration to me and she is running the Nike Women's Marathon for her third year this weekend. This event is near & dear to my heart.

I just realized yesterday that we will be out of town and I won't be able to cheer her across the finish line this year like I did last year. In fact, I think at the finish line is when I officially met Jenni for the first time (although I had heard about her from Jamie for years before hand).

Hey Jenni, happy friendship anniversary to us! :)

Well Wishes

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I hobbled around to take pictures of all the well wishes in my little house so I could share them with everyone. (I'll get to the closet next trip). Anyway, it's a beautiful rainy day here which just adds to my joy.

With all these cheerful signs around me, it hardly phased me when I just coughed and nearly passed out from pain. Okay I admit -- it did too phase me. :)


from Marsh & BD pre-surgery


from Lara yesterday morning, hello stunning!


gorgeous roses from all the teachers at Campbell CDC


Yesterday evening, Jaden said "I am so angry with you Mama and I do not know why!" I guessed pretty easily (he's mad I am not up to my normal activities) but he got over it eventually and brought out almost all of his animals to keep me company.


This is to show everyone that I am taking my vitamins proactively. :)

Here's to health!

Betty's Fall Party

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Every year on the fall equinox, Betty has a party for her friends and family. Six years ago was my first one and I met Jamie for the first time. The year after that, I was very queasy and pregnant. The year after that, I had my noodle with me for the first time. Here's a few pics from this year's party, Betty's first at Patrcia Way.


Oma (fiercely resisting the camera)
and me (fiercely refusing to put it away)


Rayleen, who followed me around the party asking for food by saying,
"Yum Yum" in a very insistent and most adorable manner.


Some very happy grandparents doting on baby Bodhi.

The cousins fall asleep together for the first time
with new skeleton jammies from Lulu to boot.

A little wine and at last, a little music from some of the family guitaristas.

Thanks Betty for another successful party!
(Despite the cool weather for the first time ever).