Desert Drivel

My favorite apps for iPhone and iPad

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Tue, 22 May 2012 01:29:00 +0000

Within the past few months I've been fortunate enough to upgrade my personal technology to and iPhone and an iPad. I'm no expert on these devices, but I've found some pretty cool apps I wanted to share with you. By the way, they are all FREE.

Flipboard
Excellent way to quickly read through your subscribed feeds in just about any social network. I most often use it for Facebook, Google Reader and Instagram, but you can also connect Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn, Tumblr and a whole bunch of others I've never heard of. You can even customize a section (I've got one for my own Flickr photo feeds) or read everything all bundled together. Flipboard also suggests feeds for you if you like - but if you don't want them they are easy to delete. Photos in this reader appear absolutely stunning on the iPad, in a format that makes you feel like you're reading an e-magazine customized to your interests. Flipboard works on the smaller-screened iPhone too, but it's kept pared down to single stories rather than multiples on a page.

Instagram
A fun way to share photos with friends. Sort of a combination of Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter and Flickr, all dumbed down into one app. Oh, and it syncs with all of those apps as well. Simply take a photo, enhance it using one of the included easy-to-use filters (optional, and super fun!), and then post it to any or all of your favorite networking sites (including Instagram itself). Because the app uses hashtags (the same way Twitter does), you can also easily search for fun photos of your favorite subjects. Instagram posts weekend hashtag ideas too - so you can participate in a community photo-sharing project (for instance, my recent - and lame - #alightinthedark entry). You can view my Instagram feed in the left sidebar - click to view any of the photos full size or to view more than six. Oh, and feel free to follow me on Instagram and I'll follow you back!

Skype
Now finally available for the iPhone and iPad! I find that if I'm at home, it's easiest and best to use Skype on my iPad with wifi, but if I'm out and about, I can also use it on my iPhone (though it's a little laggy, especially on big Skyping occasions like Mother's day). For all you out there who use Skype on mobile devices, please be considerate of the people you are chatting with and use some sort of easel or holder to keep your device still. I found a cheap, nifty little foldable iPhone stand on eBay - I carry it around in my purse's phone pocket so it's ready to whip out anytime I might need it.

Happy Mother's Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:09:00 +0000

March/April Highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:57:00 +0000

This post will probably be short and sweet - as usual, we were immersed in lacrosse and now we're gearing up for football season too. Apparently I didn't take any photos of anything other than lacrosse (which I won't bore you with this month) and these two shots...

Yes, that's Justin eating a super sized sub sandwich. Actually it looks more like a full size loaf of Italian bread with some lettuce and lunch meat thrown inside. The kid eats. He eats a lot. It's not news, but he's growing. I'm officially the shortest person in the household now - soon Terry might be as well.

This is us at Easter. We had a pretty low-key holiday this year. I made a scrumptious Beef Wellington but believe it or not Eric had to work! I can remember the days when retail outlets were actually closed on Easter, Thanksgiving and all other holidays. How soon before they're open on Christmas Day as well? Then again, I suppose back in the 'old days' they didn't have 24-hour shopping via the Internet. I guess they have to do what they can to compete.

Coming up next month...

Mother's Day <3
Father/Son football game
School's out for the summer!
3-day weekend over Memorial Day

January/February Highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 16:21:00 +0000

Besides our usual enjoyment of the beautiful Arizona weather, participation in Justin's football and lacrosse activities, and "Saturdays with Suzie", not much has happened in our little world over the past two months.

Eric and I enjoyed one of our little hikes - something we don't do often enough. This time we went to up Fountain Hills which is an affluent little foothill community that is known for its huge fountain. The trail wasn't anything to speak of, and it was really tough to find, but the real payoff of the day was spending time with my son (and pooch).

Once an hour, the fountain sprays up 562 feet into the air and can be seen from miles away.
I've even seen it from an airplane!

Eric and Duke resting at the peak.

I also got the opportunity to use "old blue" (aka my awesome new KitchenAid Stand Mixer) to make some pizza dough from scratch. We each designed our own personal pizza - I cooked them on the grill and they were to die for. Seriously, one of my best meals EVAH! It was still a lot of effort (though totally worth it) but I learned from the experience and next time maybe it will be easier.

Nom-nom-nom...

And as if I don't get there enough, I enjoyed yet another trip to Austin. This time it was business for about 5 days, but then I extended for a few and enjoyed time with my sisters and niece/nephews. We did pretty much all our usual things (which oddly enough revolve around my favorite Austin food stops - Bacon, Cool Haus, Gordoughs...) and a few new things too.

One day Allison and I went up to Mt. Bonnell, a scenic overlook. And by scenic, I mean you can see all the mega-mansions on the river.

My sister Allison

Just after, we stopped at Mayfield Park and Nature Preserve. It being February and all, there wasn't much in bloom. Actually, nothing was in bloom at all. Except the peacocks!

My sister Danielle took me to an outlet center in San Marcos where we drooled over Coach handbags and Vera Bradley designs, then we headed to the Zilker Botanical Gardens to practice some photographic techniques.

I love Austin - it's such a unique city, filled with all kinds of creative people and has a personality all its own. Probably one of the best things is that you can 'be yourself' and do your own thing without getting any weird looks - they're used to weird! This attitude really helped me get over my shyness with the camera and I got some pretty good street shots that capture the city's personality. Maybe one day I'll work my way up to taking photos of people instead of inanimate objects?

The following shots are just a few in the collection - you can view the rest by clicking here.

The iconic Austin Motel

Dia de los Muertos decor in a shop window on Congress

Any how can you resist a smile at Cheer Up Charlies?

Coming up for March:

Lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse

Recipe: Easy Baked Meatballs

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:54:00 +0000

Make-ahead cooking is wonderful in theory. The flaw (for me anyway) is that it assumes you have a block of time to make these things in the first place. Since I'm more of a deadline-driven gal, I was forced to use up 2 lbs. of ground beef I thoughtfully removed from the freezer a few days ago, I decided to make a batch of meatballs and freeze them for use later in the week/month.

I found this recipe a few years ago when I used to get Kraft Foods monthly magazine for free, which I loved! But alas, they don't offer it as a free subscription anymore, I guess because their recipes are so readily available online. But I don't go to their website regularly so I think their theory is flawed. Anyway I have made these a few times and they are really tasty.

Enough of my ramblings - here is a wonderful and easy recipe for baked meatballs!

Easy Baked Meatballs
Recipe By: Kraft Foods

Ingredients
2 pounds Lean ground beef
1 package Stove Top Stuffing mix (120g)
1 cup water
2 eggs

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 2 large pans with foil. Spray pan and rack (if using) with cooking oil.

Mix together all ingredients, and form into 32, 1-1/2" balls. 3Place meatballs on the pan (or rack if using) and bake for 16 - 18 minutes, or until done.

I use my cookie scoop to make these meatballs and it yields 70 meatballs.

Tip: Make ahead and freeze. When you need an easy weeknight meal, drop the desired amount of frozen meatballs into a pot and add a jar of spaghetti sauce. Heat to boiling, then turn down and simmer for about 10 minutes. The meatballs will defrost while the sauce simmers!

Photos from August trip to Europe - Part 2: Palma de Mallorca

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:04:00 +0000

After Naples, we had a day at sea followed by a full day in Palma de Mallorca, a very small Mediterranean island off the southeastern coast of Spain. I was fortunate to have a morning off so as soon as we got into port I disembarked and went walking into town. It was early so there weren't many people milling about.

Palma de Mallorca, Spain

The Passeig de Born is one of the city's squares where they have a few boutiques, offices and residences. Being so early in the morning there was nobody - and I mean nobody - around. Mind you, it was probably 8:30 or so, but for Europeans that is early - especially on a Saturday. Normally the place would be bustling with people on bikes, on foot, motos (the Spanish word for motorbikes), etc.

Passeig de Born, Palma de Mallorca

Armed with a sub-par tourist map I meandered through the streets and stumbled upon some beautiful architecture.

A local businessman waiting for handsome cab customers
Catedral de Mallorca, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Catedral de Mallorca, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

St. Nicolau Church, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Ancient Mills of el Jonquet, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Let me tell you, getting lost in a foreign city sucks. And getting lost on foot really sucks. But sometimes getting lost brings you to places off the beaten path that you wouldn't have normally seen. The windmills above are one example. The mega-yachts below are another.

Palma Marina is a playground for the rich!

I did eventually make my way back to the ship and relieved my coworkers so they could enjoy the afternoon ashore. This marked the end to our cruise, since the next morning we were to dock in Barcelona for our final departure. My overall thoughts of the cruise were that it was OK, but I don't think I'd ever want to do it on my own. There was too much time spent on-board and not enough opportunities for people to really experience the ports of call.

Here are a few other interesting cruise-related images to remind me of the trip....

Huge ferry docked next to our ship - unloading cars and even semi trucks!

Our ship, the Norwegian Epic
I could never get a full shot of it because the thing was so huge!

Towel animals courtesy of my cabin steward - the sunglasses on the bunny were a

nice touch, and the monkey scared the cr*p out of me when I opened my cabin door!

Next stop - Barcelona!

December highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:57:00 +0000

Merry Christmas!
Clockwise from top left - Terry, Sue, Eric, Duke, Justin and me

Justin made chocolate covered pretzels which are destined
to be a new regular addition to our annual cookie tray.

Such a busy month for us! As you know from my previous post, I went to Austin and had a blast with my sisters. I also had my annual cookie exchange which was a lot of fun as usual. I made Brown Eyed Baker's Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars for the exchange and I got some awesome cookies in return too. Terry loved the peanut butter
ones so I made a second batch just for us using my beautiful new Kitchenaid Stand Mixer that Santa brought me! My Christmas baking also included my traditional rum cake, cake balls (red velvet with blue coating to match my color scheme), chocolate covered pretzels by Justin and some other goodies.

Red Velvet Cake Balls

We enjoyed our usual Costco prime rib roast on Christmas Day, but must make a mental note for future years to get it earlier and freeze it. We made the mistake of buying it late in the afternoon when all the smaller ones were gone - so ours was a whopping 11 lbs! Even though there were just the five of us this year, I don't mind the size (though it took seven hours to roast) but the price was considerably higher. Needless to say we enjoyed prime rib sandwiches for a few days and I even stuck some in the freezer.

My beautiful and functional Christmas gift!

Decorating cookies on Christmas Eve

Christmas can be exhausting.

"Noel" glass block decoration

I got my "craft" on this month by making some lighted glass block holiday decorations - mostly for gifts but I did make one for myself too. I was pretty happy with how they came out - I made one in blue for my Mom like the one you see here, and also a red one and a green one for a couple of friends. I'm considering making one that is Valentine's Day themed, but not sure where I would find the white-string lights at this time of year - they were hard enough to find during the Christmas season.

Eric is still dealing with bureaucracy from the Navy. He is hoping it gets cleared up by early January so he can formulate his plan for the service. He's still working part-time in retail but he really wants to get his life in gear - the waiting is hard on all of us but we are trying to be patient.

Justin was busy with lacrosse - he attended a 2-hour clinic at Arizona State University early in the month. Even more valuable was the ASU clinic he attended at a nearby High School that spanned over 3 half-days - he got some great tips and learned techniques from the college coaches and players. Now he has to go practice those things with the lacrosse goal Santa brought him.

New Year's Eve was pretty low key - we went to a friend's house for a small party but were home by about 12:45. For New Year's Day (today!) we are having 'fun food' for dinner while we watch the Giants (hopefully) kick some Cowboy butt. On the menu is sushi, cheese fondue (with bread, steak and broccoli), homemade pizza (reference Austin post below) with homemade dough (made with "old blue" and baked on my pizza stone) and for dessert we have strawberries dipped in mascarpone and brown sugar and cannolis.

Best wishes to all for a very happy and healthy 2012!

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 15:28:00 +0000

May 2012 bring you peace, love and prosperity!

December trip to Austin

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:30:00 +0000

Allison and Ethan

This month I went to Austin and spent a few days with my sisters. Funny thing about my trips to Austin - our activities so often center around food. Maybe it's because Austin has about a bazillion awesome and unique restaurants. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for a cool food truck. Or maybe it's because we just love to eat. This trip took my palate to many new and different places.

Eating with my sister Allison and her family: We made pumpkin spice cupcakes as the finale for a delicious home cooked pot roast she prepared in the slow cooker.

Ethan using the mixer

I spent the next day with Danielle, who showed me how to make pizza. We looked up a pizza dough recipe on YouTube I've been wanting to try, and used her Kitchenaid Mixer which definitely made the work easier, as well has her pizza stone which I'm sure made the crust tastier. The result was delicious - we enjoyed a traditional (Italian-style, not CPK-style) Margherita and a fig, caramelized onion, Gorgonzola and arugula pizza. Both were excellent, and I've been inspired to make my own at home.

While the dough was rising, we took a break and went to a nearby dog park with Stella. Sadly, these were the best shots I got from that event, partly because I apparently haven't mastered the autofocus on my camera yet and partly because of the lighting conditions at dusk.

Danielle and Stella

Stella the moving target. I have about a dozen photos of this area 'empty' because
she and her friend were like lightning bolts dashing around the area.

Danielle, Allison and me

Me, Allison, Danielle and Al's friend Brenda

The next day we went ATVing with a Groupon I found (don't you just LOVE Groupon?). None of us had ever been before, and it turned out to be a great time. I did hit a tree (just a little bit on the bottom) but none of us managed to fall off (though Allison almost lost it once).

Allison, me, Danielle at the Grist Mill, Gruene, TX

After that adventure (which was a blast) we went to nearby Gruene where we enjoyed lunch at the Grist Mill and walked around in some little shops.

Gruene's water tower

One of our mornings was spent at the Austin Farmer's Market - I saw a comment on Foursquare that said "This market has more meat than produce - Texas." I think that's probably accurate. It was kind of chilly that morning so we were bundled up - Allison brought the kids and Ethan burned his tongue on some hot chocolate (which explains some of these photos).

Danielle and Stella at the Farmer's Market

Ethan at the Farmer's Market

Lucy in Disguise costume shop

No trip to Austin is complete without going to Big Top Candy Shop

Big Top Candy Shop: Avery, Allison, Ethan and Caleb

Danielle in Big Top. Yes please, I will have the sensory overload
to go with my sugar high.

Food Truck site near Big Top

Stella meets a mule

Ethan and Danielle in front of
Wurst Tex Food Truck

Avery and Danielle

We also went to lunch at a place called Bacon. As you might guess, everything on the menu has bacon. They have breakfast food, sandwiches and desserts. My favorite dish was the Bacon fries. YUM!

French fries + sour cream + melted cheddar + bacon + chives = Bacon Fries!

Bacon!

Where else but Austin would you find a VW Bug with a mustache?

Hi, how are you? Near UT

One other awesome thing we did which wasn't documented with photos was going to the Alamo Draft House - a movie theater with tables and complete dinner service. Food was good and it was fun! We saw New Year's Eve which was predictable and so-so, but the best part was spending time with my sisters.

Overall a fantastic trip - and I get to go again in February! Wonder what sort of fun things we can look forward to then?

November highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:48:00 +0000

Now that football is over - on to lacrosse! Justin had two indoor scrimmages to kick off practices this month. He did well - he's got a rare talent for his age which is the ability to easily switch right to left. If he spends more time developing that skill (and others) he is destined to be a force to be reckoned with!

Before his practices started, Justin helped out on the Junior High team
by giving the new players some pointers.

Terry's brother Todd came all the way from New York to visit us for Thanksgiving. I made all the usual stuff - turkey & gravy, mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, sweet potato pie and other goodies. My friend Kathy made green bean casserole and the best stuffing (dressing?) you have ever tasted.

Suzie, Duke and Todd - Thanksgiving

Terry carving the turkey - with Duke always nearby.
And Justin waiting patiently for supper to start.

Thanksgiving with family and friends (who are like family!)
Clockwise from bottom left: Todd D., Suzie, Todd M., Jen/me, Terry, Jim,
Kathy, Justin, Eric and Barbara

While Todd was here, we also went hiking at San Tan Mountain Park and took Duke to visit Suzie at her Memory Care home.

Left to right: Todd, Jen (me), Duke and Terry

Left to right: Duke, Todd, Jen (me), Suzie and Terry

It's been a while since I've posted a recipe, so why not? This is an awesome pie - I'm not a big fan of the pumpkin - this is a delicious alternative (and I don't even like sweet potatoes!).

Sweet Potato Pie

-= Ingredients =-
1 (1 pound) sweet potato
1/2 cup butter; softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoon Lemon juice
2 tablespoon Flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust (try the pat-in-pan crust below - easy & delicious)

-= Instructions =-

Boil sweet potato whole in skin for 40 to 50 minutes, or until done. Run cold water over the sweet potato, and remove the skin.
Break apart sweet potato in a bowl. Remove strings. Add butter, and mix well with mixer. Stir in sugar, milk, eggs, lemon juice, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth. Pour filling into an unbaked pie crust.

Bake at 350° F (175° C) for 55 to 60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Pie will puff up like a souffle, and then will sink down as it cools.

Adapted from www.allrecipes.com.

Easy "Pat in Pan" Pie Crust

-= Ingredients =-
1 1/2 cups plus 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons cold milk

-= Instructions =-
Place flour, sugar and salt in a pie pan. Mix with fork until blended. In another bowl, add the vegetable oil and milk. Beat with a fork until creamy. Pour oil mixture over the flour mixture. Mix with the fork until moistened. With your fingers, pat the dough across the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan.

For a filled pie, add filling to crust and bake according to instructions in the pie recipe.

For a pre-baked crust bake at 425°F for 10 to 15 minutes. If using a glass pan, decrease oven temperature to 400°.

Finally! Photos from August trip to Europe - Part 1: Naples

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:42:00 +0000

My trip was up and down - the work part had a lot of challenges and I was super glad when it was over, but when I had free time I made the most of it. Here are a few of my favorite parts of the trip...

It was my first time on a cruise! Once I got over the mind-boggling notion of 155K+ tons of steel impossibly floating over a mile-deep body of water, I was able to enjoy it for the most part. All our cabins had balconies so I was able to get some good shots right from the boat...

But my favoritest one was this - the sun rising over Mount Vesuvius. Pretty awesome, huh?

On this same stop (Naples) I was able to stretch my legs a bit. Came across a beautiful shopping center.

Galleria Umberto

Inlaid mosaic tiles throughout the Galleria.
This was the Aquarius portion of the Zodiac wheel
which was in the center of the building.

But one of the absolute BEST parts of the entire trip was this...

Caprese and margherita - Trattoria Medina, Naples, Italy

Aren't you jealous? If not, you should be! Real margherita pizza - from the city where pizza was invented! Accompanied by a caprese salad and Italian red wine - what could possibly be better than that??? I think if I was on death row this would be my last meal. But it would have to be from Italy, not just some Podunk Americanized pizza shop. Even Trader Joe's Italian imported pizza does not match up.

Speaking of food, and Naples for that matter, take a look at the humongous lemons they grow in those parts! Limoncello was also invented here.

Lovely lemons! And HUGE too!

Limoncello in various flavors, shapes and sizes

To be continued...

In the mean time, if you want to view the entire set click here or for a slideshow click here.

October highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:56:00 +0000

Hopefully this is not what I'm turning into... one of those people who writes on their blog only bi-monthly. I have so much to share, but so little time! Yet, I find that when I post updates there's little variance from month to month as far as what we have going on. What is wrong with this picture?

Anyway, in October we were busy finishing up football and working on sign-ups for lacrosse. Justin's poor team had a horrible record - I don't even want to repeat it here in writing. He played well, though, especially in the last game. Hoping that next year in JV will be better for him because hopefully the coaches will be able to weed out some of the more lackadaisical players on the team. Here are some awesome shots of him by the team's photographer... In case you can't tell, he's #21.

Justin (#21) and some of his teammates

Eric got a job at Old Navy and loves it. He loves making money, and doesn't mind that he's one of only about 2 male store employees (hmmm... I wonder why that is?). His room still looks like a tornado went through it but if you look in the closet his T-shirts are neatly and uniformly folded. Well, at least that's one thing he'll be pre-trained for in the Service. Speaking of the Navy, he's finalizing some paperwork and we're hoping he will wrap that all up soon so we know when he will be shipping out to boot camp (or whatever the Navy calls it).

October was Halloween! I went to "Spooky BUNCO" dressed as a Beverly Hills Housewife. Here I am with my friend Barbara, who was our ZUMBA instructor...

Chanel purse-check! Über high heel platform pumps-check!
Starbucks-check! Purse puppy-check! Sunglasses-check!
In this photo you couldn't see, but I also had various designer-store
shopping bags. This was a fun costume.

Left to right: Kimberly/Witch1, Monica/Katy Perry; Garden Gnome; Julie/Blackmail;
Barbara/ZUMBA; Kathy/Pink Lady; Kristin/Nerd Girl; Witch2; Stacey/Ladybug;
Jen (me)/Beverly Hills Housewife; Michelle/Little Miss Muffet

September highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:04:00 +0000

Not a whole lot to report for the month of September. We have been busy with football and lacrosse of course, but other than that, not a whole lot has happened in all honesty.

Justin enjoyed playing football against his friend Danny at a rival school but with about 2 minutes left in the first half Justin was returning a kickoff and got slammed by a couple guys. As a result, he suffered a concussion which we later learned (that is, after a CT scan and multiple evaluations) that it was only minor, thank goodness. But that kept him out of the rest of that game, plus the following week's game when he would have played three of his buddies from a rival school. He's fine now, so I guess we'll just have to wait til next year to play those guys again.

On the 17th the football team had a golf tournament fundraiser which I helped out with. My job was to sell $5 at the 18th hole - the object was that if you got a hole in one, you would win $1000. Guess what - someone DID get a hole in one! It was so exciting! BUT he didn't purchase the ticket! So no thousand bucks for him! Crazy. Bet his girlfriend was mad.

The month still kept us busy as always - seems every night was a meeting for either football or lacrosse, or a game, or a work thing.... Schedules won't ease up at least until football is over at the end of October - but then lacrosse practices start a few weeks later!

Oh, and we got a new mattress - a foam one that is really nice and should last a long time. Guess who gets the most use out of it???

Never forget

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 16:48:00 +0000

I have no desire to turn this post into a super-long diatribe about what's wrong (or even what's right) in our country. I simply want to reflect on some of the things I remembered from that fateful day ten years ago.

Turning on the TV before work and seeing Tower 1 smoking. Though at this point a lot of people thought it was a strange accident, my first thought was an attack by Iraq.

Driving to work and hearing on the radio about the second tower. Beginning to realize the scope of the tragedy, calling my husband (waking him up) and telling him to turn on the TV. "Which station?" he asked. "It doesn't matter," I said.

Speaking to my Mom and being relieved that my sister, who had been in New York City for a short vacation, had returned safely home the night before.

Watching news coverage with my colleagues and realizing that a good portion of my clients were actually IN the towers of the World Trade Center. My territory was Northeastern US, Finance and Insurance.

Imagining the unimaginable, as so many Americans did. How horrifying it must have been for those victimized by this tragedy. Seeing news coverage of people running for their lives and realizing there is so much more the cameras won't show because it was just too terrifying for the American public to see. Those cameramen and women most likely witnessed horrific sights and they spared us from seeing them ourselves.

Over the following days came more realizations. This was a tragedy that hit all Americans in one way or another. Everyone knows someone who was directly affected by the attacks. In my case, it was Todd Pelino, who I went to school with in Junior and Senior High. Through the simple circumstance of the alphabet, he sat in front of me in High School homeroom for three years. Now he was just gone. Though I never saw him after High School, and never met his wife, I still felt sadness for her. She not only lost her husband, the father of their 9-month-old baby, but also her sister, who worked at Cantor Fitzgerald with him.

Our usually-noisy neighborhood fell quiet. No longer did we have the small prop planes and helicopters flying overhead from the nearby small airport which housed a handful of flight schools. We had been accustomed to hearing them every 15-20 minutes or so on the weekend, but now... simply silence. For what seemed like an eternity.

We learned that one of the terrorist pilots actually trained at one of those schools. That he may have been flying over our house only a few weeks before during a training exercise.

Upon returning to work, noticing the skies were silent from commercial jets as well. There was nothing but blue sky, the sun, and some billowy white clouds. This may seem 'normal' to you, but to someone who was accustomed to seeing five, six or more planes constantly streaming through the air, their absence was certainly noticeable.

No, I will never forget all these things. I will never forget the feelings associated with them. But I will also always remember the way America came together through the tragedy. How people were no longer hesitant about mentioning their faith in God. They seemed to sing "God Bless America" everywhere, and I'm so glad this is still a tradition at major sporting events.

I pray that we have learned from this. That our lives have not simply become more inconvenienced at the airport and group events, and that the precautions that are being taken will truly prevent another attack.

I pray that our leaderswill make decisions that will protect the American people without letting party politics or personal agendas getting in the way.

I pray that the people of America, the people of the world, learned something and will never forget how they felt that day.

They say that time heals all wounds, but this is one that should never be healed, lest we forget the pain that it caused.

Friday silliness

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 14:30:00 +0000

August highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 04:20:00 +0000

Busy August for us! Here's what we had going on...

Started out the month with football of course - Justin put in a lot of effort with practice and training and it has been paying off. He's built great muscle tone on his arms and legs, and is in super shape! He's growing a lot too, still on the small side of average for his age at 5'3" but we know he is continuing to grow. He had his first game at the end of the month - unfortunately they didn't do too well. His school is not one of the "big football" schools in the area, and sadly their team usually reflects this. Some of the better 9th grade players are on the Varsity team, so that obviously takes away from our team (which I suppose is understandable). The Freshman team is also hurting for coaches and that surely does not help the situation.

Terry and I have been busy with lacrosse, believe it or not! We are both on the Board of Directors for the team that Justin plays on. They are no longer just one school, so this year we got a new name, the East Valley Scorpions. I'm the Communications Director and one of my jobs is the website - check it out: www.evslax.com.

Nothing new with Eric. Nothing at all. Same stuff, different day. Wish I had more to report!

The only other big thing that happened in August was my trip to Europe (for work). It was very tough - we had a lot of problems, no fault of our own. But I don't think, in my 20+ years of event planning, that I have ever had a program with so many troubles! Glad it's over and glad to be home. I will post some details and pics sometime later this month.

What's in store for September...

More football, of course! This month, Justin plays a few of his former teammates!
a swap party
???

I'm still alive!

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:34:00 +0000

Just a quick post to let you know that I'm still alive and kicking. I've been traveling internationally for business and was away for more than 2 weeks in August! Needless to say, it's been a busy time before, during and after my trip. Now that I'm home safe and sound I'm trying to play "catch-up" but it's been tough. There's housework to be done, meals to be cooked (groceries to be purchased) and it seems like everything is on the fritz! Both Terry's car and my car have been in the shop, our garage door has something wrong that isn't covered by our home warranty and Eric's car has a big crack in the windshield. When it rains it pours!

Aside from that, we've also got a busy week with picking up Terry's car tonight, a LAX BOD meeting tomorrow, Justin's first football game on Wednesday, Varsity game on Friday and our anniversary on Saturday. So far, nothing for Thursday but I'm sure something will come up! Thank goodness it's a long weekend.

I've been working on getting my photos cleaned up and hope to post them soon. Be on the lookout - some of them are pretty cool, especially if you appreciate architecture like I do. Here's a tease....

July highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:52:00 +0000

Another busy month in our household. Besides the posts on my painting workshop and Justin's birthday, here's what we had going on...

At the beginning of the month we celebrated the 4th of July at Jim and Kathy's, complete with fireworks in their cul-de-sac. I know it's hot but I love summertime and the fun get-togethers we have. In the past year or so however a few of our neighbors have moved away, had babies or are otherwise occupied, so it's not the same as it was. But we can always count on Jim and Kathy to be up for enjoying a cold beverage poolside with us.

Eat. Sleep. Football. That's Justin's life this month, as it was in June and will continue to be for a few more months. This month he went on a 6-night retreat with the Frosh and JV football team to Winslow (a few miles east of Flagstaff) to do some rigorous training with them. Although the physical conditioning was certainly good for him, even more invaluable was the time he spent with his teammates bonding. He had a blast but also worked hard. After he returned he continued to train in the school's weight room daily - what a dedicated kid!

We also celebrated Justin's 14th birthday. How time flies! We didn't do anything mind-blowing, but you can read here about how well we ate. Is that a sign of my age? That I get excited about what I'm eating? LOL.

Eric has been working hard at the tire shop. No big news on the Navy yet, still in a holding pattern.

Terry went to Lake Tahoe! Every year his company has an incentive trip there and they've had him go for I think three years now. He did work, but he got to play too. Lots of bonding with the boss and co-workers as well. Oh yes, and won another trip to Hawaii. How awesome is that?

Terry also handed down his old Malibu to Eric, and got himself a 2011 Hyundai Sonata. I don't have a photo of his car, but here's what it looks like - pretty sweet!

Here's what August will bring us...

Trip to Europe for me (business but with some playtime)
Back to school for Justin
First Freshman football game for Justin

Don't read this post if you're hungry

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:31:00 +0000

A birthday tradition in our home is that you, as the birthday person, gets to pick whatever you want for your birthday dinner, and I will make it for you. Of the three recipients of this tradition, Justin is by far the one that gets the most out of it. Every year (at least for the last three) he asks for the same meal...

barbecue ribs (with my homemade barbecue sauce)

We all swoon over this. The ribs are awesome, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE my homemade barbecue
sauce. Maybe someday I'll share the recipe, but I don't really want it all over the Internet.
Who knows? Maybe it will win me a prize someday. It's THAT good.

with homemade macaroni and cheese.

He usually asks for a cookie cake in lieu of a regular birthday cake, but this year he stepped it up a bit with a pizza cookie (because "pizookie" is apparently a trademarked word).

Pizza cookie: Half-baked chocolate chip cookie served hot with
vanilla ice cream and drizzles of chocolate syrup and caramel.

I am beat! Lots of kitchen time on this one - but it's worth it because he's such a good kid.

Justin with the lacrosse stick, with friends Alex and Haley

PS - his (14th) birthday is actually tomorrow (Monday, July 25th) but ain't no way I coulda done all this cooking on a workday!

BYOB Painting Class

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 18:33:00 +0000

A few weeks ago my friend Kathy and I went to a "Bottles 'n Paint" class at Sundust Gallery. The class was super fun - we brought and shared a bottle of wine while we painted our own personal 'masterpieces'. The word "masterpiece" came from the instructor - honestly I wouldn't call my painting a masterpiece. But I do like it.

Left to right - Kathy, me and some random lady who wanted to get in on our photo

I don't know who that chick next to me is, but I thank her
for hiding my big butt behind her painting. :-P

We painted our scenes using pieces that were on display in the gallery as inspiration. My pieces is totally "me" as Kathy's was totally "Kathy".

It really was a fun night - I got to enjoy some good wine, get in some girlfriend time, release my creativity, and left with a great take-away.

June highlights!

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 14:56:00 +0000

Justin started off this month with 4x/week football day camp. Now that he's a freshman, he's been taking football even more seriously. The boy is growing (tied for height with me) and becoming more and more muscular with all the weightlifting they are doing. He even goes to the gym on his days off sometimes. Take a look at those biceps!

Justin with Duke

I went on a business trip to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I'd never been, and have to say that I really like what little I saw of the area. Actually, I wasn't in Ft. L, but really in Hollywood which is between Ft. L and Miami. It's a quaint little town, a little old and run down as far as the buildings and restaurants go, but the "Broadwalk" as they call it has souvenir shops and a few casual restaurants. One night we ate dinner on the patio of the Marriott and it was quite good. The photo below was the view from my room - I never got to go swimming but I certainly appreciated the aqua blue waters - reminded me of the Bahamas.

We've been tolerating the hot desert days with pool time - be it ours or various friends'. Our pool gets more shade than most peoples' out here, so it's usually a few degrees cooler, but once summer is at mid-point it's usually caught up. It's not unusual for pools to be in the mid 90's.

Suzy after a swim

We celebrated Father's Day with a family movie - Super 8. Great flick, I highly recommend it. Terry wanted to keep things low-key so we pretty much just enjoyed an otherwise quiet day, ending with a fabulous steak dinner.

Eric has been working towards what he needs to get into the Navy. Right now his paperwork is processing so hopefully he'll be able to take his test soon and then they can find a job for him, and figure out when his training will start. At the end of June he was hired for a job at another local tire shop, this one very close to our house. He should be starting within the next few days!

I also discovered canning! Well, preserving I guess. I made three batches of jam (triple berry, peach mango and strawberry banana) and they turned out great. I had only made freezer jam before, but decided I wanted to give 'real' canning a try. Now that I know how easy it is, I will probably make more jams, as well as can some of my other creations like spicy pickled okra, homemade barbecue sauce and balsamic steak sauce.

So to recap, even though we were pretty busy throughout the month, we didn't seem to do anything too mindblowing. That's just fine with us!

Coming up for July:

Independence Day
Overnight football camp for Justin
Justin's 14th birthday
More hot summer weather and a crazy dust storm!

Tasty Tuesday: Blueberry Zucchini Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 12:05:00 +0000

Looking for something different to do with your blueberries? Got a lot of zucchini from the garden, but the family rolls their eyes at the thought of you baking another batch of plain 'ol zucchini bread? Well try this delectable recipe that combines the two! It's moist and flavorful, and won't likely be around for very long. It has just the right amount of cinnamon to complement the blueberries without being overpowering.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups white sugar
2 cups shredded zucchini
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 pint fresh blueberries

Crumb Topping:
1/3 cup Flour
1/4 cup Brown sugar
1/4 cup White sugar
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 stick softened butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 2 regular or 4 mini-loaf pans.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and 2-1/4 cups sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and 1 tablespoon cinnamon. Toss blueberries in a small amount of flour, just to coat (this will keep them from sinking to the bottom of the pan). Gently fold blueberries into batter. Transfer to the prepared pans.

Combine crumb topping ingredients with pastry blender; sprinkle over batter.

Bake in the preheated oven 50 minutes for mini loaves, 1 hour 15 minutes for regular loaves. Check for doneness by inserting a knife in the center of loaf - if it comes out clean it is done. Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely (carefully - try not to disturb that delicious crumb topping!). Serve warm topped with butter or jam. Store leftovers in the refrigerator - if you have any!

Adapted from a recipe on www.allrecipes.com

Linkups:

LL Bean-inspired sea-glass mirror

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:06:00 +0000

The other day I was flipping through an LL Bean catalog we received in the mail that showcased their home décor products. There were some adorable items in there, but the one thing that I saw and immediately felt that I must have it urge for was this gorgeous sea-glass mirror:

L.L. Bean Sea-Glass Mirror and Sea-Glass Candle Holder

Isn't it absolutely adorable? What's not beautiful about this item is the price - a whopping $129 plus tax and shipping. Talk about sticker shock!

Crafty lady that I am, I knew I could make something just as nice with basic craft store supplies so off I went. I found a 12" square mirror at JoAnn for $6.99 (slightly smaller than the L.L. Bean version which is 15.5") but there was no sea-glass to be found there or at Wal-Mart (though both places did have some lovely glass pebbles that would have worked just as nicely). I ended up finding the sea-glass at Dollar Tree of all places - they had 12 oz. bags for only $1 each! I used 2 bags of blue and 1 bag of white. To bond the sea-glass to the mirror I used E6000 which I had on hand. I liked that it wasn't an instant set because it allowed me to move the glass pieces around a bit before settling on their final placement.

Here's my finished product. I love it!

This project took me only about an hour once I had all the materials, though I let it sit for about 2 days before hanging, just to make sure the glue was set. The total cost of my project... $10.84 including tax. That's a whopping $129.13 less than the L.L. Bean version, and I didn't even figure in the cost of shipping! I hung my new mirror on a wall in my kitchen. What do you think?

Eric the graduate

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 04:26:00 +0000

Many thanks to friends and family who came out to celebrate with us. Here are some photos I took of Eric in his cap and gown though admittedly, these were taken tonight - about 2 weeks later! Graduation day was simply too hectic to do anything organized!

...and as a payoff for dressing up, getting in the car and posing for some keepsake shots, he gets to goof off a little too. Notice the getup he had on under his cap and gown.

The formal shots came out OK but the others are what really tell us about him, don't you think?

May highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Merkel) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 03:46:00 +0000

Hello my faithful blog-readers. Once again I am disappointed that my blog has back-to-back monthly highlight posts - the last thing I want is for this blog to be a 12-posts-per-year thing. Well, I will try to be better, but rest assured, we had so much going on in May that this is sure to be a long post...

Mother's Day 2011
Terry, Jen, Justin, Sue and Eric

Let's start with Justin. He graduated from 8th grade and is excited about becoming a freshman next year. He worked with a trainer at the gym 3x/week in order to get in condition for football camp which starts June 1st. They did an evaluation on him before he started, and he has 1.3% body fat! He has been working on nutrition as well, and has certainly bulked up, but is eating us out of house and home as you can imagine. He is making overall healthier choices but still has a hard time passing up the energy drinks and junk food. But then again, who doesn't have vices?

Eric graduated from high school! All we can say is "PHEW!" What a long, tough trip it has been for him and for us. Seeing him walk the platform and get his diploma was a proud moment for Terry and me. There were over 700 kids graduating in his class, but it was very well-organized and didn't seem to drag on forever as we thought it might. Now his concentration is on finding a job and signing up for his Navy test. His best friend joined and is being deployed in early December, so I think that is motivating him as well. It still might be a bit early however, because he will need clearance from the surgeon who worked on his knee, and he's not sure he is ready for that yet.

NOTE: All above photos taken by Danielle - not me!

To celebrate Eric's graduation we had a party at a pavilion in a nearby park. It was a lot of fun! We got to see friends and family we haven't seen in a while, along with our 'regular' closest and best friends. Terry and Justin cooked up burgers, brats and hot dogs and I made the sides - corn & black bean salad, crunchy cole slaw and pickled okra. Instead of a cake, I made cut-out cookies and chocolate-Junior Mint cupcakes. Everything turned out great, but we had a lot of leftovers!

We were also thrilled that my sisters Danielle and Allison came from Texas to join us for a long weekend. Allison drove here with her husband Chris and their three kids! We thoroughly enjoyed the weekend with them, which included lots of swimming, family games, dinner at Organ Stop Pizza, a visit to the Phoenix Science Center and an impromptu crowd-watch at Phoenix Comicon. I'll post photos of their visit later.

What June has in store for us...

A business trip to Florida for me
Father's Day
Football camp for Justin