Jamaica — Erik in the shower!

Woah! Are you scandalized by the title of this post? Well, don't be ... there are tons of outdoor showers in Jamaica, so deal people.

This is by the pool and I think it's super cute. :-) It also reminded me of showering outside whilst in Africa. Oh, how I love showering in nature.

This is by the beach ... and SO necessary! I tell you what, there was sand in every part of my body .... even in my eyebrows. Ugh.

Jamaica — scenic

A little wider view of the same scene. I couldn't decide which I like better, so here they both are!


Here's a life saver by the pool at sunset. I popped a little fill flash in and think it's a nice effect.


Erik and I spent ALL DAY under this little shade thingy one day. I'll have a bigger post about it later. :-)


Here's just the edge and sunset on the water.


We took one of these out and paddled around for awhile one day:


A sweet row of palm trees.


I'm not exactly sure what the function of these little beds by the water is, but there was a row of 4 or 5 of them. Nice idea, but none too private. ;-)

Jamaica — More Larry

One afternoon on our Honeymoon, Karen and I ran across Larry the Lizard (He actually might have been a relative of the chameleon since he could change colors to blend in with the background.)

We thought he might scoot away when we settled in, but Larry made it clear that this was HIS spot. We were welcome to share it with him, but he was going nowhere.

Since we all agreed to share the spot, I thought I'd offer Larry a taste of my Jamaican smile.

The only thing Larry loved more than frothy, rum-laced drinks was staring up at the thatch umbrella. We assured him that we wouldn't walk off with it, but he was still quite protective.

Finally, we tracked down some other Honeymooners to get a shot of the three new friends.

Jamaica — Larry

Yeah, I've been slacking on the Jamaica photos .... but I've been toning more of them (yay!).

I love this photo .... it's of Larry the LIzard. I'll let Erik tell you more about it. :-)

More to come, I promise! Oh, and there will be a full report on the macro function on the awesome camera (I used the Macro to take a photo of Larry).

Working on the 101 list — macaroni salad

Ok, another new recipe! Last night, we took a Macaroni Salad to the Super Bowl Party. WOOHOO!

Erik's a big fan of the stuff, I could leave it in the corner to collect dust, hence taking it to a big gathering where everyone would eat it and I wouldn't have to take it home. No such luck. Plenty in the fridge. Oh well, it's really good, I just don't swoon for it.

As always, please CLICK HERE to check out the recipe. (I LOOOOOOVE that BH&G has all of their recipes online, it makes them SO much easier to share!) Oh, and I used shredded cheese instead of cheese cubes .... simple.

Of course, here's the list of the new recipes I've tried so far:
Dec. 21 — Peanut Butter Pancakes
Dec. 31 — Calzones
Jan. 9 — Braised Brussell Sprouts + Pork Chops with a creamy herbed sauce
Jan. 14 — Black Bean Burritos
Jan. 18 — Hot Chocolate Mix
Jan. 29 — Ham and Bean Soup
Feb. 1 — Macaroni Salad

YAY! On Heather's Blog!!!!!

FINALLY! At long last, there is ONE photo from oru wedding on Heather's Blog (scroll all the way down to the bottom)! Granted, it's on why it takes so long to get photos turned around .... yikes!

Mike and I have a way shorter process, but as Heather said, every photographer is different. I have the luxury of having Mike to help me do all of the heavy lifting. :-)

Working on the 101 list — Ham & Bean Soup

Whew! Half way through my efforts to make a new recipe weekly for 3 months. Yay!!!!!! :-)


Last night, I made Ham and Bean soup. Yummie! The first time I had the soup was while covering a Democratic gathering while interning at the paper in Topeka.

To view the recipe, please CLICK HERE.

Of course, here's the list of the new recipes I've tried so far:
Dec. 21 — Peanut Butter Pancakes
Dec. 31 — Calzones
Jan. 9 — Braised Brussell Sprouts + Pork Chops with a creamy herbed sauce
Jan. 14 — Black Bean Burritos
Jan. 18 — Hot Chocolate Mix

Soup Exchange!

Ok, I'm a big, fat dork.

There, I got it out. That's my disclaimer. If you can live with the above statement, read on.

On Feb. 8, I'm planning a soup exchange in Wichita.

I can hear your subconscious thinking: "Karen, you're so strange, where on EARTH did you come up with this?" ... WELL ye of little faith, I read about it in the Dec. 2006 issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine and thought it sounded like fun. I've been itching to do this, but just haven't had the chance.


The idea is everyone makes a soup (probably doubles the recipe, depending on the number of people who come), divvy up the soup into the amount of people who come, and then everyone swaps. Then, you take them home and stick them in the freezer. If you decide you want a soup, simply pull it out (in the morning before you head to the office), and once you get home at night, toss it in a pot to heat it through.

I was chatting with a friend about this and she was like "This is better than a recipe exchange because I never get around to making the recipes that look good" ... which is SO true! It's already made and (here's the best part) IN YOUR FREEZER!!!!!!

Simple!

SO ..... if you're interested, we'll be having one of these on Sun., Feb. 8. Leave me a comment if you want the details/want to come! I'll send out an e-mail next week with the details of how many people are coming, so we know how much soup to prepare!


(This is pumpkin soup ... I know my sister is seriously wanting to make some, but doesn't think her household will eat it ... so I'm hoping she'll make it for the party!)

Piles of paper ...

Ok, so our house doesn't look like this, but I *feel* it looks like this.

Anyhow, I've shredded GOBS of paper I no longer need, so next is getting all of the household papers in order. Yay!

# 69 — Attend the March for Life in Washington, D.C.

... CHECK!!!!!!


Whew! Saturday night, I returned from my trip to DC. The trip entailed 24 hours on a bus and 24 back. UGH. I had a darn hard time sleeping on the bus ... especially on the way back. But I've been wanting to attend the March for Life for several years ... which has been great.

I reported/photographed for the Diocecean paper, which was great fun. I'm in the process of finishing my story.

Yet another item checked off the 101 in 1001 list.

I also will have more photos from my "being a tourist" in DC for the 101 list. :-)