Braggin' on my bro

I know ... no posts for awhile. Sorry peeps, but I'm wicked busy right now!

BUT today I was forwarded something kinda cool ... the student paper at Paul's University wrote a story about his travels last semester. You can check it out by CLICKING HERE. :)

Recipes

This post is for you, Mary!

A friend of mine asked me to put my recipes all in one place. Well, I'm going to be lazy about it. ;) When I make a post, I apply a few labels/tags to it. So, here are my labels for recipes:

Recipes (this is a general, catch-all place). CLICK HERE to check them out.

Meatless Recipes (Erik and I eat meatless at least once a week. Sometimes it's rough to be creative. There are a lot of good ones here). CLICK HERE.

Drink Recipes. I actually was looking back through my recipes and saw I have a few drinks on there ... so CLICK HERE.

Also, during my 101 in 1001 project, I kept all of the recipes in one place. CLICK HERE. (My favorite peanut butter fudge recipe is in here!!!!)

My Favorite Things — Steel cut oats w/ frozen blueberries

Since embarking on this sugar and yeast free journey, I've had to make some major changes in my eating habits. I've also added some foods that ... let's face it, I would never have imagined. Steel cut oats is a great example. I'm not a genius about the reasons it's different from regular or old fashioned oats (they're not flat ... that's my only wisdom!).

When I first purchased steel cut oats at the health store, the lady told me you had to cook them for quite a while. "How long?" I asked. "About an hour" was her response. YIKES!!!!! But I've learned if I cook smaller quantities, it doesn't take *quite* that long. But it's no 5-minute oatmeal.

Honestly, I didn't anticipate really liking the stuff. But .... it's SO tasty! It has almost a nutty flavor to it. SO good! It's absolutely worth the wait time to watch it cook.

And when it's done, I toss some frozen blueberries in, mix it up and just gobble up the goodness. Oh, and when we have walnuts in the house, I toss those in, too!

Here's something kind of strange. I'm not really a big fresh blueberry fan. I don't really know why. Maybe because I didn't think they were very sweet? I don't really know. But let me say this: the frozen variety MAKE my steel cut oats amazing!

This food change has certainly been frustrating. Lord knows I've had my meltdown moments. But the last 10 weeks have really challenged me to grow and expand my culinary skills and palate. I would never have guessed how much I enjoy steel cut oats, but I do! I had no real reason to start eating couscous, but now it's our new favorite alternative to rice ...

I suppose it could sound strange, but I'm a bit thankful for these crazy food restrictions. They've forced me to get out of my comfort zone and experience worlds of new things!

Geeking out, Census style!

I'm probably a big, fat geek, but I have to say, I was rather excited about this whole census thing. Probably because it is the first time I've been considered "head" of household (ok, co "head" of household) to fill one out? Who knows, but I was pretty jazzed.

And when it arrived this week, I ripped it open, elbowed Erik out of the way, and attacked it with a pen. (ok, I gotta be honest. Erik didn't want to fill it out, so there was no war over who would get to do it).

I gotta say, it was a bit anti-climactic. A few quick questions about if we owned or rented, what our racial origin was (Erik, you're not Samoan, so get over it), and our names/ages. It truly took all of 3 minutes, IF that.

The thing that amused me was how many spaces there were for people living in the household. Something like 12. Interesting. Actually, I have some clients with 6 kids, so I certainly won't argue it's unneeded.

Oh, and I feel like I should add a quick blurb about why it's important to participate. One of the biggest reasons is for YOUR city. The numbers from the census help to calculate tax dollars, as well as if your city is eligible for certain types of grants (Salina has a BIG push to get everyone to return their census in hopes of reaching 50,000 residents). As a former city-government reporter, I can see the value in this.

And, one last comment. Someone who is on the Census committee here in Salina told me that if you don't have a mail box, you don't get a census form. They live in a loft downtown, and while they have an address, they don't have a physical mail box. So they might not get a census form! Which led me to wonder about people like my sis ... who is a grownup now, but living in "student" housing. I wonder how many people have a similar situation. But I also suppose the smart people behind this already thought that one through and there's an answer I just don't know about.

Happy Thursday!

I've graduated

From the 2" binder to the 4" binder for taxes. Bleh. I am plugging thru 2009 taxes, and my 2 inch binder is just exploding from all of the paper. SO when I was at the office supply store grabbing needed supplies, I took the plunge and got a 4 inch binder for 2010. If I fill that entire thing during this year .... well ..... let's not think about that right now, or I'll get overwhelmed.

Indoor Laundry Line!

Oh Goody Gumdrops!

I have a serious lack of indoor drying space, yet I hang dry most of my dress clothes, so where to put them?

Well, here's a "before and after" photo. The left was my before ... it was rickety and off kilter, plus it couldn't hold many clothes.


The after on the right is great! Tons more space to hang things. It's a bit shaky, but way less rickety than the previous one. :)


I screwed these hooks into the under side of the stair ... they were more of a closed loop than a hook. I tied a laundry line to them, and then stretched it across. I probably need to tighten the line some.


On the other end, I used some PVC pipe I was using from the original drier, and it worked well! The struggle was I intended for it to hang straight down. Well, when I put clothes on it, it started to draw the PVC pipe toward the middle. So we had to use some of those temporary hooks to anchor the chain in a bit more stable manner. It works pretty darn good. And uses previously awkward and unused space.


I had these hooks from last year when I was hanging a light down to grow my baby tomato plants. I have a different arrangement worked out this year, so the hooks were available for use!

His & Hers

Another painting project!


Before (above); After (below)


To make them better stand out on the blue wall, I spray painted them. :)


After much discussion, we decided to hang Erik's on his side of the bed and mine on my side. Yes, they're cute next to one another, but not as functional for us. I'm SO excited to have these up! Seriously great! Hopefully it will mean I hang my clothes here and not pile them on the floor.

Erik's comment? "Hey, there's an extra hook on yours."

My reply: "Some sexist person made these."

Bathroom accessory:

I've had this cross for awhile, but didn't quite have the place to put it. Then I decided the front bathroom would be the best place. Buuuuuuut, it wouldn't stand out on the wall, so I spray painted it white. :)


Sorry, I didn't rotate the photo.


Working on it!


Yay!


The cross made a bit of an interesting design on the paper.


And .... finally on the wall:


I'm happy with it, and even liked it enough to paint another wall article .... I'll show that in a bit.

BL#80 — Go visit Bobby Ann & Vern in their winter nest

As evidenced by all of the posts about Arizona, Erik and I went to see his parents in Arizona! :)

But, the whole spring game thing probably won't happen because some of the baseball teams are moving elsewhere for spring training. Oh well, half of this is good, right?

Bucket List

So, my Bucket List is a holdover from my 101 in 1001 list. And that's what the numbering is all about. (You can read about it HERE).

SO, I'm posting this because I have an item to check off, but want to have a good reference. So here is the list. I don't know if I intend to add to it until I get it complete. But we'll see!

3. Learn how to speak rudimentary Italian

4. Go on a vineyard tour in Italy

5. Learn to juggle

6. Earn as much from Heartland Photography in one year as I did from any previous job

7. Adopt a child internationally

8. Learn how to play (basic) piano

10. Develop a long-term documentary project

11. Attend WPPI in Vegas

12. Put 10% of my income into a retirement plan

13. Put another 10% of my income into investments

14. Play the stock market

15. Buy a share of stock in Apple Inc.

16. Travel in Africa (again)

17. Become a member of a wine club

20. Buy a gold coin

21. Eat veggies grown ONLY from my garden for one summer

22. Practice yoga 2 times/week for six months

24. Be interviewed on NPR

25. Go to Mt. Rushmore

27. Join a fantasy team

29. Fly first class

32. Book 20-24 weddings/year

33. Take a SCUBA diving class

34. Have something ELSE published in Better Homes & Gardens magazine

35. Have a wedding featured in a magazine

37. Visit the center of the continental U.S.

39. Finish one of my "in progress" quilts

40. Keep tax information current on a monthly basis (i.e. don't wait until the end of the year to get organized!)

41. Send birthday cards to everyone on my birthday calendar for one year

44. Replace all possible lights in house with more eco-friendly light bulbs

48. Take a dance class with ERB — DONE, Fall 2010

49. Learn to belly dance

50. Develop and implement a regular backup system for my computer

51. Volunteer as a classroom aid in a local school (to read to children)

52. Document the birth of a child — DONE, Fall 2010

53. Read "How to Win Friends & Influence People"

54. Participate in the Bike Across Kansas

56. See the northern lights

57. Go to Nicodemas, Kansas; learn a little about its history

58. Photograph Castle Rock at sunrise

61. Read pages 1&3 of the newspaper EVERY DAY for a MONTH

62. Take my vitamins every day for a month

64. Have a photo published on Trash The Dress Web site

67. Photograph a wedding in Hawaii

70. Go to groundhog day activities in PA!

73. Photograph a family for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep — DONE, April 2010

75. Get my 3 a day for an entire month!

76. Enter photos in a competition

78. Get large canvas prints made — DONE!!!! May 18, 2010

80. Go visit Bobby Ann & Vern in their winter nest, catch spring game while in Arizona. — DONE!!!!!!! December 2009

81. Go to the Salt Mines in Hutch — DONE!!!!!!! Aug 2011

84. Re-do the master suite in Erik's house (bedroom/closet/bath)

87. Have an article I write published in an industry magazine (wedding/portrait photography industry)

91. Blog stalk a blog COMPLETELY unrelated to photography for ONE MONTH. — DONE!!!! April/May 2011

96. Get 2008 wedding album designs completed/to the printer/binder before 2009 weddings begin.

- - - - - -

*** EDIT/ADD-ON: I've decided to add items at the bottom of the list, per this blog post. Because I'm adding them onto a 101 list, I'll start numbering them at 102. :)

102. Come up with a year-end thank you/Christmas gift for clients — DONE!!!! December 2010

103. Get signed up for a State of Kansas library card so I can download audio books w/o having to go to the library to get them. — DONE!!!! January 2011

104. Find a new and loving home for Erik's original couch/love seat/recliner — DONE!!!! April 2011

105. Have the hardwood floors in our house refinished/make the ugly tile in the kitchen go away. — DONE!!!! April 2012

106. Get some insulation installed in the crawl space under the master bedroom!!!!!!

107. Write down a "company manual" for the systems and order I do things ...

108. Vacuum the main living areas up and downstairs bi-monthly for 6 months (for those of you out there cringing, this is WAY more often than it's done now, hence a big improvement). — DONE!!!! June 2011

109. Add the lattice planters on the patio.

110. Have an attic fan installed (this will help in the spring/fall so we can use the attic fan and hopefully use less air conditioning!!!).

111. Grow lavender somewhere, just because I think it smells nice — DONE!!!! May 2011

112. Have a garage sale in 2010!!!! — DONE!!!! April 2011

113. Take a spring/summer trip to the Drive-In. Have an old fashioned good time. :) — DONE!!!! June 24, 2011

114. Cook a new recipe (2x a month) involving a new grain (bulgur, amaranth or something as such).

115. Install under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen. — DONE!!!! May 2011

116. Install a ceiling fan in our living room.

117. Have photos published on a wedding inspiration blog — DONE!!!! September 2011

118. Paint the trim on our house

119. Decide on a color; paint the middle bedroom. — DONE!!!! November 2011

120. Have couple's dinner once/quarter with a good friend(s)

121. See Garrison Keillor perform (again).

122. Go to Minnesota; see Garrison Keillor perform on his home stage before his retirement in 2013.

123. Install a gate on patio to contain the dog. — DONE!!!! December 2011

Arizona XII

Ok, last Arizona post ... this will be long, though. Another neat place we went was Tubac. It's a little artists colony and I really could spend days going through all of the shops!

First, for those of you who have been here around Christmas know we don't have a tree. Only a nativity set. We have a cat, I think she'd climb a tree. I'm lazy, I don't want to mess with a tree and a cat who likes to climb it. SO, this seems to be a great alternative:

But I've seen ones with knobs on the branches, to allow you to hang ornaments. If I ever see one like this with knobs, I'm totally going to rally for making it our Christmas tree!


Fabulous!


A vertical, a little closer.


I was SO taken with this wall! I really love it!


Seriously, what's NOT to love???!?!?!?


It's a bit difficult to see this, but it's a vertical metal planter thingie ... I'm not sure it has a place in our backyard, but I think it's uber cool!


SPEAKING of uber cool, I found a rain barrel! See how big it is! And see how pricey it is! Anyone living in Salina, there's a thing Tuesday night and you can get a rain barrel for $10. A TOTAL steal!


There were these cheerful metal flowers that were painted brightly all over the place! How fun!


Another one.


I dug this little courtyard.


An arrangement in a shop that I liked.


Yeah. No words. Just. Yeah.


There were these crosses that had all sorts of little figurines made into a larger artistic cross. I really liked these!


Another one; they also made frames and other things, but these were the most interesting looking pieces.


I liked seeing more of the room via the mirror.


Another beautiful little cross.


I'm kinda crazy about this overall wall. Really like it. It sort of reminds me of something from the new "Romeo and Juliet" movie .. er, the "new" one made about 15 years ago. :)


Just liked how the background is framed. Nothing too special, just some nice framing. :)

Arizona XI

I like to think I'm a fairly agreeable traveler. When I went to Africa to see Jeanel, I only had one request: that I ride a camel. That was it. The rest, where we went, what we did ... I was flexible. I like to think I'm a pretty easy guest. I guess people who have hosted me will have to speak to that. ;)

So, when we went to Arizona, and southern Arizona at that, my one request was to go to Mexico. It was my first time. :)

So, off we went to Nogales, Mexico.



I'd heard a lot about Erik's cheap sunglasses from Mexico. He sports some new ones. I ended up with an Armani knockoff. :)


HIs parents are friendly with this metal worker ... and this guy's stuff is SO stunning!


I actually became obsessed with looking for a light for the green bedroom. I saw tin ones, didn't like them. Ones with clear glass, and ones with frosted glass. I kinda dig the frosted glass, a medium size. But many of them, the metal work was sort of silvery, but peeling off, nothing I wanted to take home with me. But this is the direction I'm looking!


Last photo today: a chimnea! I'm really wanting one of these for our back patio. :) The one above is basically what I'm looking for. I dig the terra cotta look. But don't insist upon the aloe plant on top. ;) But this fella needed a stand.

I'm really not in too big of a hurry about the chimnea. I totally scored some awesome wicker furniture in a dumpster dive earlier this year, and need to re-paint it, and then assess our patio furniture situation. Then we'll see how/where a chimnea might go best.

Arizona X

This post is my post of detail shots. About half way through our trip, I became obsessed with taking photos of textures and the like. So here they are:








ALL of these photos were taken with my little point and shoot camera .... with the macro function. It's not the tool, it's the person using it! :)

Arizona IX

Meet a havalina. They're smelly wild pigs that live near my in-laws in 'Zona. (Think the warthog from The Lion King).


But they're kinda cute, right? ;)


We actually had a sighting on the golf course! We weren't too far, but Erik dragged me away. Thinks the havalinas are dangerous or something. ;) I wasn't too far away, but I don't think they're overly smelly.

Arizona VIII

It's strange to be somewhere and have all sorts of Christmas spirit but no snow.


I actually think it's pretty.


Quite festive!


And ... Santa evidently doesn't need snow ... a cactus or two will do.