Hallelujah, it's done!

I have just finished a project I have been working on for the last 6 months. But, before I tell about that, I'm first going to give a little background:
For the last several years when I get magazines (such as Sunset, Marth Stewart Living, Real Simple) I cut out pages, or scraps of recipes, craft ideas, cute gift ideas, home decorating tips, etc that I want to keep, rather than keeping stacks of magazines long term. I decided I wanted to organize my recipes because I have ton I wanted to make, but they were buried in a folder.

I went through them all and separated them into categories, and threw out the ones I wouldn't make or didn't want anymore. When I was done sorting I had 350 recipes! I was a little overwhelmed about all the typing I would have to do. Well, I just started doing one section at a time, until the only section left was desserts. I have a bit of a sweet tooth, so they made up about a third of the total amount. Ay-yi-yi!

Well, I finally got them all typed up, printed, and inserted into this binder. I can pull out the page I want, use it, then replace it into the book. I decided to use page protectors so that they kept the recipes clean, but made it easy to add additional recipes. Yay! I am so excited to have it done, and to start using it, in fact I'm make a chicken recipe today, so maybe I'll post about it tomorrow! It's not the most creative, but its functional and that is what I wanted to be able to utelize my recipes. So those of you out there that are in the same dilemma- You can do it!!!

I used colorful section dividers to make it more fun.

The sweets section. Like I said it is about 1/3 of the total recipe book. Yummy!

Reality TV- Greatest thing since, Sliced Bread?

Here is another ode to my favorite TV Genre: Reality TV. I will have a go at just about any reality show out there. Survivor, Amazing race, Bachelor, Bachelorette, Project Runway, America's Next Top Model, Age of love, Beauty and the Geek,and most recently I have become addicted to Farmer wants a Wife. Haha, it makes me laugh even just putting it down. I stumbled upon it by accident while I was browsing channels, and now it is on my DVR list. It's about a farmer (duh) and all the city ladies trying to become his final choice. It's funny to see them chase around pigs, and chickens, and drive tractors in high heels! I love the drama!
Oh, what a nerd I am...Haha, anyway, I want to hear from my peeps- who's with me?! Give it up for Reality TV!

One little, two little, three little aprons...

My husband and I recently were on our favorite cheap date: hanging out at Barnes & Noble. We love going there and perusing the books, and that is where I look at alot of books I am interested in, but get to preview them first. Some books I'll read about and it seems really good, but then when I look over them at the bookstore they don't interest me anymore. Saves on alot of disapointing purchases! Anyway, we were there last week and I came across this book:


A is for Apron by Nathalie Mornu.

It had so many cute aprons and patterns in it that I got it that night. (Usually I get things at the library to read, or on ebay if I know I want to keep it- lots cheaper!) It has not disapointed me, and unlike some craft books there are not just 2, or 3 cute ones, but the majority of the aprons are really darling. This last week I made three aprons, that were easy to make and super cute. Hope you like them as much as I do! I was pretty proud, becuse I haven't sewn many clothes items, mostly quilts.





My poses were a little goofy, I had to set the timer, as I was alone when taking these pics!

The Red Hot Mamas!

This is my absolute favorite group in the parades. I look forward to them the whole parade, and they are usually towards the end. I love their energy, and choreographed marching/dancing in formation, and the pregnant ladies near the end, also pushing strollers. One of these days I am determined to join them (lucky they originate in Coeur d'Alene, Id) but you have to be at least 30 (which I will be at the end of this year- yikes!)

Fun at the parade

Yesterday we went to the 70th annual Lilac Festival Armed Forces Torchlight Parade. Whew, what a mouthful! I don't think I knew the full name until yesterday, usually we call it the "Lilac Parade" Anyway, it is always lots of fun, with people everywhere, street venders, excitement, smells, and noise. It has been a gorgeous weekend with temperatures up to upper 80's, and I think this was the first lilac parade I've been to that it didn't rain on! It was soooo nice. We saw brightly colored floats of the schools, as well as their marching bands, and different branches of the armed services, which made you so proud, and rodeo horses, and fun parade groups (like my favorite: the Red Hot Mamas! see next post). Most of my pictures didn't turn out because it was dark, which was a disapointment. Anyway if you're ever around the 3rd weekend in May, then come join us at the Lilac parade!

Ps, usually the lilacs are in full bloom by this time but since we had such a late winter they are still in bud. I will try to post some pictures when they do bloom. Wish I could post their smell- heavenly!

Shhh, he's sleeping...

I just got done preparing a yummy dinner, and I went over to tell Derek it was done, and what is he doing? Sleeping. He works hard and is on his feet all day, and he rarely takes naps, but when he does... I love it. One, because he is just so dang cute when he's sleeping, and two, because he always proclaims he never takes naps. I love that little bit of vulnerabilty. Anyway, I guess I'll keep dinner ready until he wakes up. Though it smells so good! Maybe I'll just take a little bite... or two...

Can you do this with your fancy grill (Kim)?

One of our favorite meals is grillin' veggies, or adding a litle meat action and making Kabobs. All we did is marinade the beef chunks in some marinade from the store, then toss the cut up veggies in some olive oil and salt and pepper. Then we grill about 6-8 minutes on each side. Voila! a yummy, quick, fabulous meal. But the most impressive thing about this is we cook this on a grill about the size of a dinner plate. Ooooh, it's so good!


No, this is not the size of dinner plate we use. This is my serving platter!

Don't you just love the colors? No, I'm talking about my clothes! haha, it was the end of the day, and I was wearing comfort clothes: fleece jacket for warmth, PJ bottoms, and the striped shirt from earlier that day. Obviously it wasn't chosen for it's matchability! Ah, oh-well.

We've all been there right?

Seattle Aquarium

Hey, we're back! We spent this last weekend in Seattle. We love going there. This time we went to the Seattle Aquarium, so I thought I'd show some of our pictures from there, and also of Pike place. Lots of fun!

There were some gorgeous tulips, of all kinds of color combinations, that smelled so good! Derek got me a beautiful bouquet of them :)
These blue roses were $70 a dozen- yikes! But a very pretty blue.

I thought this puffer fish was kind of cute and ugly at the same time. Reminded me of the ghosts on Super Mario Brothers, 3 the old school game! If you look close you can see the spikes.

Finally a picture of us!