twelve dollars

This is what I bought for twelve dollars at my church's garage sale fundraiser....

I love finding mirrors for a good price. I am planning on painting the frames white and hanging them as a collection. Maybe in my guest room



An old pink Samsonite. This was just too cute to resist. Katie had the great idea of using it for craft supplies.



Now, I am not exactly sure the original purpose for this cart. But it doesnt matter. I love it! Its on casters and the yellow adds such a cheery color to our patio. I am planning on using it for potted plants or to serve drinks/food.

american saturday night

Brad Paisley
American Saturday Night tour
Loved it!

My boots


Pre-party




Brad!

skeletons in my closet

This Saturday I tackled a project. Something I have been dreading. My nemesis, if you will.
My closet.
In full disclosure, I tend to be a packrat in all matters of my closet. I have a hard time getting rid of clothes. Either they hold sentimental value, or I think I will wear them again.
Which I wont.



For example, the khaki capris I wore for my high school senior picture. I have not worn them in probably 6 years. Yet, for some reason they keep staying with me. Why? They are out of style and I am sure they dont fit. (I saved my self from depression by not trying them on). Or the stretchy black pants with silver pinstripes I actually used to wear to work in college. These should have never been allowed. Oh, and the maroon Abercrombie sweatshirt I wore religiously. Why did I shop there? I know see the errors in my ways.

These clothes take up space in the back or stacked in a hamper in my closet. I have not worn them for years. And on Saturday, I finally decided to clean them out. They had made too many moves with me from dorms to apartments to my current house. It was time.



And yet, as I went through the clothes I felt a little sad. The aqua polo reminded me of the day I moved into college. The blue sweater was a gift from my boyfriend. I bought the silver tank top at H&M in New York. The black shirt I wore to my grandpas funeral. So many memories attached with these old clothes.

But now, now they are bagged up ready for Goodwill. Where hopefully someone else will benefit from them.

Oh! But look at what else I found....

My pink razor! Man, I loved this phone. Those of you who had a pink razor, will, I am sure, agree. This phone saw me through many, many late night phone calls to my boyfriend. You know, those calls you try to make discreetly and quietly in your dorm room,while your roommate lays three feet away. Totally listening, but acting like they cant hear. You know what I am talking about. We all did it.

Oh, and remember these? What IS this thing?

bye bye summer

Our last summer weekend was full of football, tailgating, huge breakfast burritos, driving, heat, sweat, the beach, family, and friends. Here are some pics!

Angie and I came up with some amazing breakfast burritos. Cooked all on the grill. Here I am cooking some bacon. We forgot to pack aprons, so a dish towel did the trick. We sincerely apologize for the massive amounts of bacon splatters we created on the patio near the Student Health building.


The masterpiece


Peter and I inside the coliseum. It was hot. HOT. Which reminds me...middle aged men should not go shirtless in public. I dont care what your body looks like. When your sweaty chest and back bump into me in line, I am offended.


In front of Tommy Trojan after the game. Not to be confused with Tammy Trojan, pictured.


We left USC and headed over to the beach to spend the rest of the weekend.



Ladder golf. A favorite yard game. Have you played it? My grandpa introduced us to it a couple years ago. It was all the rage among seniors at RV parks across America. Peter made our own set and we play in our back yard.


A great weekend to celebrate the end of an even better summer.

pw cooks

I, like many of you, LOVE the Pioneer Woman. Her posts can move me to tears or make me laugh hysterically. Her pictures are amazing and I love hearing more about her ranch life, her punks, and, of course, her Marlboro Man. I spent an entire weekend reading her years of archives. Its pretty much all I did that weekend. But I dont consider it a waste. I love her that much.

So it will come as no surprise to you that I am super excited for this...



Having tried some of her recipes, I know this cookbook will be chock full of gems.

It is scheduled to be released at the end of October. And my birthday is in November.

I'm just saying....

weekend work

So in order to spare you (or myself) from looking at that piece of raw fish on my last post, I am now posting some random pictures from this past weekend.

An unexpected cool, rainy Saturday morning. I spent it sitting on my back patio and checking blogs :)


Then we got to work! Took advantage of the slightly cooler weather and got some yard work done. I had know idea our yard was that over grown! Hopefully we are looking not so WT now.


oh. This bush. is. hideous. And dead. And needs to be removed. I just thought you should all see it.


My cute Toms. Doing work.


Trailer full off clippings. Off to the farm.


Saturday night with these girls and our hubbies. We have loved getting together with them all summer for bbq's and Dodger game viewings. Being friends AND neighbors definitely has its perks.

one fish, two fish

So I am not a big fan of fish. Never have been. No fish and chips, no crab, no shrimp, no sushi. NO sushi. I think its the texture of everything. I am not sure. But I wished I liked fish more. I really do. I try to like it, but it usually fails me.

Oddly enough, I like tuna in a can. Which, my fish loving husband, absolutely loathes. Growing up, my family went to dinner at a local chinese restaurant almost every Friday. And I always, ALWAYS ordered the tuna melt. Which, is not Chinese at all, I know. Are you following me? Anyway, to this day, as an adult, I cannot walk into that place without being harassed by the owner and called tuna melt girl. Seriously, like a thousand times. Not exactly flattering. And I havent ordered a tuna melt in over 10 year! So needless to say, we dont go there very often.

Anyway, my in-laws went to Alaska over the summer to spend a week at the vacation home of a family friend. While there, they went fishing and caught a lot of fish. The maximum you could catch actually. So when they came home and offered us some super fresh, vacuum packed halibut and salmon, I gladly accepted. I DO want to like fish, afterall.

So after spending a while on the internet researching recipes, I found a one for the halibut that I thought would work. Citrus glazed halibut with peach salsa. I figured, I like citrus. And we had fresh picked peaches. And I LOVE salsa. So yes, this was going to be good. I could feel it.

And it was! The best part was that the fish was soooo fresh. It made a huge difference for me. Here are some (not so good) pics.




With the salmon, I used a recipe from our church cookbook (one of my favorite sources). Thanks Sharon! Hope you dont mind, but I opted out of the dill and added some orange juice to the marinade.

Simply grilled (on foil) with veggies and cous cous. Again, so yummy!


Oh, and on the same night I made the halibut, my neighbor showed up at my door with these babies

Homemade carne asada tacos. With fresh corn tortillas and cilantro and cabbage. They were amazing.

So we ate those too. We like to stuff ourselves to maximum capacity on a regular basis.