Brenda's Blog

Friday's Favorites

2012-02-24T03:53:00.002-03:00

This was my first full week of working from home and it was a bit of an adjustment for me. I'm excited because I know I will learn really good time management, and I love the commute! ;) We also had time to do some fun things this week such as,

Hiking Golden Gate Park. The Bay Bridge was closed over the weekend so we took advantage of the fact that people could not get into San Francisco and spent the afternoon at Golden Gate Park. With less people in the city, parking was easy and the uncrowded park was relaxing!

Chinese Candy on Irving Street. After hiking through the park we walked over to Irving Street and found a Chinese Candy store. All kinds of dried sweet and spicy plums, candied ginger and orange peel and salty/sweet things we could not identify. So fun to try new things!

"Rebecca's Mom", I was emailing with someone in SF this week who asked me if I was Rebecca's mom. That made me smile! We moms love being associated with our kids, right? (I'm also Paul's mom, pictured above with Rebecca)

Viggle. A new app for my iPhone. If you check in to the television you watch, it gives you prizes, so far I've gotten a Starbucks gift card and a movie ticket. I'll probably lose interest in a few weeks, but for now its entertaining me :)

My crazy cats. Delphina has become very stealth at sneaking up and stealing our food. Here she is in my yogurt. Crazy, crazy cat!

Lugo, enjoying the sunshine in my office.

Pork Chili

2012-02-19T02:15:00.000-03:00

I've been making this recipe for at least 24 years. I can remember the very first time I made this, and although I don't make it often, its delicious and nostalgic for me.

First you brown the bacon- a great start for any savory dish.

Onions and fresh jalepenos.
The kitchen is starting to smell delicious!

The browning station- flour the pork then brown in bacon fat. Yum, Yum, Yum!

This is the chicken broth I use, comes in these little packages so it does not take up a lot of space in the pantry. Tastes good too

No picture of the finished product, but my guests enjoyed it and ate every last bite!

New Mexico Pork Chili

2 TBS oil
1 med onion, chopped
4 strips bacon, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs pork cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup flour
3 TBS chili powder
3 jalepeno peppers, seeded and finely diced
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups pinto beans

Heat oil, add bacon and cook until crisp, remove. Shake pork in flour, fry in small batches in bacon fat until evenly browned. Lower heat to medium, return pork and bacon to pan, add onions and garlic and cook until onion is transparent- about 8 minutes. Add chili powder, peppers and broth. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer uncovered about 2 hours or until pork is very tender. Stir in salt and add beans.

When I serve this I put out cheese, sour cream, avocado and chopped onion for everyone to add to the beans. I usually serve hot corn tortillas as well

And I try to double the recipe because it tastes better and better as the days go by.

Friday's Favorites

2012-02-17T02:01:00.008-03:00

This week I remembered to take lots of pictures to chronicle the fun times we had. We've been having great weather here in NoCal and we've been out enjoying it. My five favorite things this week were,

Cork Board squares I placed under the window behind my desk. Now I can post my "to-do" lists for the next day. Its easier for me to stop working when I have left a list for the next day :)

Farmers Market, on Alemany, close to my house. Lots of citrus at this time of year. I've been wanting to visit this one and I was happy to discover how economical it is.

Locally grown produce.

Yummy agua fresca too.

Pizza! Wood fired pizza for breakfast at the Farmers Market, and.. . .

Potato garlic pizza just down the street, yummy!

A movie! We went to see The Artist and I highly reccomend it.

Cats! Jackson Galaxy who does the show above on Animal Planet was speaking at the SFSPCA (just down the street), so we popped over to listen and were not disappointed. Cats are so interesting! Afterwards we walked through the adoption center and enjoyed seeing all the happy people adopting pets, big smiles all around. The adult cats were only $12.00 and I was really tempted to bring home a big, fat 20lb tabby. Big cats are so decadent.

Our cats are happier because we are making appropriate spaces for them in our house, but they still like this box,

Delphina has taken to stealing my wallet recently, I never know where it will be dragged off to. She is a teenager and testing on every front. But it makes us laugh and that is a good thing.

Hope you all have a wonderful Presidents Day weekend!

Friday's Favorites

2012-02-10T02:25:00.000-03:00

Its Friday again! Hurray! I'm liking this new job where I get weekends off, its nice to know I have two days ahead of me where I don't have to think about work (at least until Sunday night). We had some fun moments this week including,

Hiking on Saturday. With the beautiful weather we have had we just felt like spending some time outdoor so we crossed the Golden Gate and went over to the Marin Headlands and investigated some old Batterys.

The 5 mile hike ended at a beach where we sat on a log to eat our lunch while we watched the surfers. Amazing that we can do this in February without coats!

Lugo and the shoe box. I lined one of boot boxes with a soft cloth and Lugo took up residence in the box for days. He fits just right and is especially happy when the sun shines on his box!

Feeling more comfortable with my job. Its been three weeks and although I know I still have a lot to learn, its feeling less foreign. Getting good feedback from my boss helps a lot too!

San Francisco water. I'm reminded how wonderful our water is when I leave the City and have to drink water somewhere else- its just not as good! Our water comes from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir and, strange as it sounds, its really delicious. I've started carrying my water with me :)

Funny signs. This sign makes me want to go and check out that road when its wet. Exactly how many frogs go out on the road when its wet? Sounds like something I'd like to see!

Delphina meets catnip. This little scratch pad had catnip on it and Delphina did everything BUT scratch it, she rubbed her body and her face along this thing until we finally took it away!

Hope you have plenty of things to be thankful for in your week as well!

Friday's Favorites

2012-02-03T02:07:00.000-03:00

It's been an eventful week at our house. I reached complete and total saturation with my new job. That glassy eyed, head throbbing moment when your brain will not accept a new fact. And yet, since I am the only Spanish speaker and handling those accounts, I had to push forward. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? Also eventful this week was this,

Bob dislocated 3 fingers on Sunday (see previous post). I'm thankful he did not break anything! A little pulling and pressure and the doc was able to pop them back in to place. He fell down the stairs leading to our apartment so I'm also thankful nothing more happened!

The Alpha course. We started it on Friday at our house and some new people came. Its often done in a church but we are hosting it in our home, I'm excited!

Retail Therapy. tee hee- I found a dress at Ross for only $1.99, really! But then I found this jacket that cost a tiny bit more and I could not resist it!

Crab feed! To celebrate my new job Rebecca treated us to an all-you-can-eat crab feed. It takes a long time to eat all the crab you can eat. I don't think the fiance was ever actually full, even after eating for about 3 hours. Lots of fun accompanied by some local musicians in Mountain View.

Delpina and Lugo. No matter how tough things get, these cuties have a way of making me smile and distracting me. They especially love my desk covered with papers and the occasional note that floats to the floor. Lugo is particularly thrilled with the FAX machine, lots of fun noises and papers moving around. Its fun to be home with them a little more.

Enjoy the Super-bowl this weekend! I'm still sad that the niners aren't playing- but I'm sure I'll tune in for the commercials and entertainment. How about you?

"I Think I Broke My Hand". . . (said Bob)

2012-01-29T22:43:00.000-03:00

You know the injury is bad when they put you right in to a room in the ER. Especially when it's SF General, and when they tell you they will be with you right after they take care of the last ambulance that came in. . .

Ouch! This is Bob's hand just half an hour after he dislocated 3 fingers. He was trying to fix our phone line and fell down the stairs at our house. He reached behind him to brace the fall and pushed these fingers in to the steps.

I was in the kitchen making soup and when Bob said, "Brenda" in his a voice a little higher pitched than usual, I knew there was a problem. Off came the apron, double check to make sure the stove is off and we walked to the ER. That's right, we live 2 blocks from SF General.

His injury is uncommon and the RN's and MD's were asking permission to take pictures of it. The resident was quite excited about getting to pop those fingers back in to joint (after an x-ray that determined there were no breaks).

Her first attempt popped in the middle finger, but a little pain med was needed for the other two.

Bob's fingers post-adjustment. You should have seen the look of relief on his face!

A splint and the phone number for the hand surgery clinic sent us home. Hopefully no surgery will be needed, but a surgeon needs to see him.

Meanwhile back at home. . .

Delphina, my food thief had gotten in to the soup pot and dragged carrots and celery all over the kitchen floor. She also ate half a cube of butter and then returned it on the kitchen rug.

That was my day!

Friday's Favorites/New Job Edition

2012-01-27T15:58:00.000-03:00

Eek! Its Friday and I forgot all about my favorites! I've been so wrapped up in my new job that I lost touch with the rest of the world. Since that is all I can think about, I'll tell you the top 5 of my new job.

To put it all in context, I'll let you know that I am working as a nurse case manager- my job is to be sure that patients with complicated medical cases get the care they deserve from their provider and to be sure that the provider is being charged what is reasonable. I like it because I see it as a way to help people through our complex medical system.

This week I've mostly been training and what I have loved are the following:

1. My boss/trainer. She is an amazing person with years of experience at case management. She is also the owner of the company and a person of high integrity. We are spending 8-10 hours together each day and so far what I see of her I love.

2. My new co-workers. I've only met a few, but they are mostly women my age with incredible work ethics. They are all attractive go-getters and I know I'm going to learn a lot from them.

3. Speaking Spanish. They hired me to handle the Spanish speaking accounts and I've already started calling some patients who don't speak any English. It feels so good to be able to walk them through a complicated system and explain things that they have not been understanding. I really feel like I can be an advocate for them.

4. The software. I'm pleased that they use an easy to learn software system for charting and billing.

5. Hampton Inn. While I'm training they put me up in a hotel so I don't have to drive back and forth from San Francisco. At the end of the day when I feel like my brain is going to explode, its nice to be able to return to the hotel and just vege. It doesn't hurt that they have warm cookies in the lobby every afternoon!

Bonus: Weekends off! Really looking forward to that!

Hope your week was equally as wonderful!

Friday's Favorites

2012-01-20T02:17:00.001-03:00

Another great, if not very cold week here in San Francisco. I'm grateful for many things this week, including:

1. San Francisco Football! Yes, this is my shirt, and I wish it actually said 49'ers, but I couldn't find one to buy! They played a great game last Saturday and we are looking forward to seeing the play-offs on Sunday. I'm not usually a football fan, but when the team in your city is winning, you gotta be a fan!

Lugo and Delphina supervising my packing

2. Hotel Reservations! I start training for my new job on Monday and I'll spend several days in another city while I train. Its exciting to get the confirmation that this new chapter is starting in my life!

3. Timely medical care. I've been having a lot of trouble with my TMJ but the wait to get in to the specialty clinic was loooong. When I went to my oncologist for a check up this week they decided that a certain medication I was taking made seeing the specialist urgent and I got in that very day.

4. Fun Facebook message. I sent some homemade soup (see previous post) to a friend and he posted this message on FB:

Brenda, your Soup is screamin!!!!!! You can fix soup for me anytime!!!!!!!! Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!! Thank you so much!!!!!!!

Way to make me feel great!

5. Two Fun Evenings. On Sunday Rebecca and Jon came over for a tapas and game night- we love spending time together that way. A text message on Tuesday invited us to dinner with new friends- it was my first time to have homemade stuffed chicken wings accompanied by the best cauliflower au gratin I've ever had (the secret seems to be lots of swiss cheese).

Today is a bittersweet day for me, I have to say good-bye to coworkers I have come to care about deeply. I'm excited about the new opportunity though. I'm sure next Friday will bring lots of exciting news to this post!

Black Bean Soup-Slow Cooker

2012-01-17T01:10:00.000-03:00

It suddenly got very cold here in San Francisco and I was craving soup. I love the spicy black bean soup that comes in a carton at Trader Joe's and decided to try and recreate it in the crock pot with delicious results!

1 pound dried black beans
6 cups water
4 carrots, sliced
4 potatoes, cubed
2 tsp olive oil
4 slices bacon, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalepeno pepper, chopped (no seeds)
1 red pepper, chopped
2 chipotle peppers in adobo, chopped
3 bay leaves
4 tsp salt (more or less to taste)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp paprika
1 tablespoon cumin

Soak beans in water overnight, drain water and place beans in slow cooker. Add water to about 1-1/2 inches from the top. Cook on high about 6 hours until beans are tender. Add carrots and potatoes. Saute bacon, onion, celery, jalepeno, red pepper and garlic in olive oil until vegetables are tender. Add to black beans along with remaining ingredients. Simmer on high for another 2-3 hours. When vegies are tender, puree the soup in small batches in a blender. Return to crock pot and keep warm until ready to serve.

You can serve it just as it is or add one or more of the following: sour cream, greek yogurt, feta cheese, queso cojita, grated mexican cheese blend, diced avocado, fresh cilantro or some crumbled up tortilla chips. If you want to get fancy you could fry up some corn tortilla strips to put on top. I added a little Tapatio sauce to mine because I like it hot!

Friday's Favorites

2012-01-13T03:00:00.002-03:00

Its been a busy week in my world, for my last two weeks at this job, I intended to work less and use all my PTO, but work had another idea. They have called me in on all of my days off and asked me please, please work every day I am available and they will cash out my PTO. Its a little tough but I want to leave well so I'm doing it. One more week of this craziness (then I'm sure I'll be off to new craziness). There have been a lot of great moments this week though, including,

A Church service near this intersection.

We are starting a new church and having practice services on Sundays.

Its going well, but its clear we need the practice before our official launch :)

Pie, gifted to me by a person at work as a way of thanking me for a kind act.

She remembered my favorite type-boysenberry.

New Shoes! (for my new job!)

I only paid $12 for both pair thanks to a Groupon and an inexpensive shoe store.

Rebecca and I discovered this little gem of a shoe store on Sunday.

Lunch Outdoors

NorCal is having wonderful weather so I've been able to have my lunch outdoors

Fresh air is a great de-stressor!

Funny mug, and a coworker confident enough to carry it.

She is incredibly direct and just says things the way she see's them.

We get along great, but some people like things a little more sugar coated.

Hope its been a good week in your world as well. I'm looking forward to a holiday Monday and then 4 more days at my current job. Incredible!

2012-01-06T04:20:00.003-03:00

Happy 2012! I think its going to be a great year - we have at least one wedding in our family this year and lots of other exciting things that I can write about as they approach. Some favorites in this first week of 2012 include:

1. Hunchback of Notre Dame, the silent movie. We saw it at an old church here in San Francisco accompanied by a live pipe organ. I'd never seen that movie before and its amazing. Very sad but moving. Not at all like the Disney version but worth seeing- its written by Victor Hugo, the same author of Les Miserables.

2. Last Sunday at a church we have been attending. Bittersweet- we've made some wonderful relationships and will miss our friends but living in the same city we will still see many of them. We are starting a new church soon and need to dedicate ourselves to that at the moment. You'll be reading more about that in future posts.

3. Walking in the sunshine. We've had some wonderful weather here recently we've taken advantage of it by spending a lot of time outside. The sunshine makes me happy!

4. Home organization. After we took the Christmas tree down we spent a little time sorting and organizing. A trip to Ikea helped us store things neatly and some donations to the Salvation Army helped de-clutter the house a little.

5. Split Pea Soup. I made a HUGE pot of it with the Christmas ham bone and we've been enjoying it all week. So comforting and delicious.

Bonus: Thursday was another bittersweet day for me, I gave notice at my current job. Its been wonderful but a new opportunity came up and I won't have to commute as far to work. I actually won't commute at all because I'll be working from home! More on this later. . .

Bonus Image,

A view of San Francisco from Alcatraz

Delfina Steals My Yogurt

2012-01-03T01:40:00.000-03:00

I posted these on Facebook, but I know not all of you follow me there. Delphina had an eventful day today, she got stuck behind the refrigerator and it was too heavy for me to move. Her mournful meows and Lugo's distress motivated me to try many ways to get her out, what finally worked was a broom propped at an angle that she managed to climb.

Later, she knocked this nearly empty yogurt container off the counter and proceeded to clean it out.

She loves the stuff,

Getting her head all the way in,

She'd put her whole body in if it would fit

Getting every last drop

Yum!

Clean up time!

Friday's Favorites

2011-12-30T03:17:00.003-03:00

Last FFF of 2011! Woo hoo! Another great year with lots of things to be thankful for. I'm sure a lot of you are listing your top five for the year, but I decided to post my top five Christmas gifts because I got so many interesting and creative gifts this year. No particular order here, just some fun thing I received from thoughtful people.

Pom Poms! And a voucher to go see the play Bring It On at the Orpheum! We went last night and it was fantastic. This was from my thoughtful daughter who knows how much I love a good play.

A Trip to Alcatraz (and back)! Bob was raised near here and has never gone, so we'll be doing that today thanks to my thoughtful/creative sister in law.

Alpaca blanket, that matches my living room. I'm trying to put small blankets that match the furniture throughout the house because San Francisco can be damp, and that somehow makes the cold feel more intense (and we rarely use the heater). This is a good start- from a thoughtful guest.

A painting for my living room from my son-yet unseen (and probably unfinished). Too big to take on the plane, he'll be bringing it to us next time he comes to visit. Another great thing about this gift is that it will bring Paul back to us again soon :) I can't wait to see what he does for the big wall behind my couch.

Hoodies for everyone. Such a practical gift for San Francisco because we wear them all year long. My mother thought of this. Here are a few of us headed out for a Christmas day stroll, and below is a picture of my big kids in front of the Tom & Jerry house in San Francisco- these guys have been decorating the same tree since the early 80's and now the tree is HUGE and they still decorate for all to enjoy. It was a nice walk from our house.

Hope you had a joyful Christmas and here's wishing you a safe, fun Happy New Year!

Best Books 2011

2011-12-29T01:16:00.000-03:00

Television this week has inspired me to do some posts on my personal "best of" 2011. Since reading is on of my favorite things to do, I thought I'd list my favorite books of this year. These are not in any particular order, just some of the most interesting I've read this year.

The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls that chronicles her childhood with two unusual parents. Astonishing how I would describe this book, and incredibly moving. I'll read it again some day.

I can't believe I only this year got around to reading this classic. I'd call it heartbreaking, but so compelling you just have to keep reading. Since most of us here in the United States are immigrants, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is our story.

The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam is not for everyone. Somaly was sold into sexual slavery when she was 12 years old and later escaped. She skips a lot of details but tells enough to sicken and raise awareness of the issues. If you decide you can handle it, buy the book- proceeds from every book go to Somaly's foundation to free girls from sexual slavery.

My can't-put-it-down fiction of the year was City of Thieves by David Benioff is a gripping war time novel about courage and friendship. Its at times funny and at times terrifying, I think that both men and women would appreciate this book.

I read a lot of other books this year, but I did notice that working full time kept me from reading as much as other years. I'll admit to reading and enjoying the entire Twilight series, Stephanie Meyer manages to make a vampire seem benign. I also read a couple of books by Abraham Verghese, a doctor at Stanford- I like his style and I've seen him a couple of times at work.

I have several books on hold at the local library, so my reading will continue. Let me know what you think if you have read any of these books. You can find a complete list of my 2011 reading here. Happy reading!

Holiday Recipes/New Favorites

2011-12-26T02:25:00.001-03:00

We do a lot of cooking over the holidays and I feel like most years, I just end up doing the same few dishes over and over. One year my mother and I prepared endless platters of vegetables and dip to take to gatherings, that was an easy thing for me to do just as I finished up radiation treatments.

Last year I made batch after batch of pumpkin pie cake. While I did make a few batches of that as well this year, I mostly moved on to bundt cakes. Inspired by a bottle of Bacardi Gold I had in the cupboard, I started making Rum cakes, those were so delicious that I threw in a Kahlua cake, of these cakes are tender and infused with a sweet glaze that tastes of rum or chocolate. You won't regret trying them.

The holiday dish I prepared the most this year was the Knorr Spinach Dip served in a sourdough bowl. Maybe its because the Safeway by my house has amazing fresh bread every morning, but family and friends were asking me to take this along to our celebrations.

I did try one new recipe, it came out of the Costco cookbook that they gave out the day after Thanksgiving- I changed it out a bit and make it like this,

Buffalo Chicken Dip

2 cups cubed cooked chicken

1/3 cup Franks hot wing sauce

1 8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

3 green onions, sliced thin

1/3 cup blue cheese, crumbled

Mix first three ingredients together until well mixed. Add all but blue cheese and pour in to a small oven proof greased pan. Sprinkle blue cheese on top and bake @375 for 20 minutes. Wonderful with celery and crackers.

How about you, did you try any new recipes this year?

Friday's Favorites/Almost Christmas!

2011-12-23T03:50:00.001-03:00

Not many pictures this week, I've been too busy enjoying "the most wonderful time of the year" to think of taking pictures- so busy that I almost forgot about this post! But here I am to share with you some of the highlights of the week that include,

1. Happy People, lots and lots of them. I arrived at work one morning to find my staff blaring Christmas music and dancing around the room while they set things up. The good mood continued all day as people stopped in with family and treats for us all to share. Love this time of year!

2. Dinner at my daughters and enjoying her very large, beautiful nutcracker themed live tree. She made a delicious stew and them we played some board games. Great way to spend a Sunday evening :)

3. Paul arrived from LA. Happy, happy mother when her son arrives for the holidays, right? I'm sure many of you have enjoyed the arrival of loved ones from far away this week as well.

4. Christmas lights. It always makes me happy when people put the tree in the window where where we can enjoy the beauty of it while we walk down the street.

5. Good Ideas, a friend sent me an email with a lot of ideas to organize the home and I immediately used one, putting a magnet in my medicine cabinet to hold my hair clips. Clever, isn't it?

Finally, a couple of cute Delphina pics to round out the post,

It's hard to see, but she is resting on Lugo here.

2011-12-16T03:14:00.001-03:00

Just a little more than a week until Christmas, are we ready?! I think we're close, and we've also enjoyed some of the following along the way,

1. Gift Book, I'd seen a volunteer where I work reading this book and we talked about it and then when she finished it, she brought it in and gave it to me. I really appreciate that!

2. Science of Lights Tour. A walking tour of Christmas lights in the hills of San Francisco that included lessons and demonstrations about how light works and the history of Christmas lights. Very geeky, very Bay Area. Not your average stroll through pretty lights.

The Finale

Discovery Street Tours

They do lots of different tours all year, check it out if you are ever in SF

3. A New Laundry Basket. I've been looking for a year but I have not been able to find a basket I like at a price I want to pay- but I did this week while Christmas shopping.

I think the cats approve :)

4. The Nutcracker at the War Memorial Opera House. Rebecca and I have been going to this ballet at the exact same place since she was 3, she is 27 now and we never get tired of it. So beautiful!

5. Christmas Wrapping with the cats. They were so excited about all that tape and ribbon and bags to explore. And it was nice to get most of the wrapping done!

Hope you are having some "most wonderful time of the year" moments as well!

Delphina Loves Cookie Batter

2011-12-12T03:47:00.001-03:00

Watch her try and actually eat the wooden spoon at the end

Snippets of my Weekend (so far)

2011-12-11T21:32:00.000-03:00

A house very close to ours nearly burned down last night,

we found burning embers on our roof and in our entry way.

Scary

We had a Christmas celebration for the church we are starting,

so festive!

Macabre Christmas decoration seen in a window on 24th street

This McDonalds advertisement here in the United States in the middle of a Latin neighborhood.

Any one know what it says?

Bob with me on BART getting some Christmas shopping done.

We still have some more fun stuff to do, I hope work is easy tomorrow!

Fridays's Fave Five

2011-12-09T03:53:00.000-03:00

I can't believe the weeks keep flying by and I don't ever get a chance to post anything but my Friday Favorites. But at least I have this. So many interesting things I'd like to share with you this week, I'll start with these,

Date night at Piqueos,

Peruvian food in San Francisco.

Bob with a glass of Chicha Morada, a juice made out of blue corn.

Yum!

A new fabric store!

New to me at least,

I bought this fabric for an after-Christmas table cloth

Painting the church,

its looking great, I'll have to do a post on the improvements

These stencils are all over and I like the warmth that they add.

This one is in the kitchen

Christmas lights.

this is my entry way,

but I have lights in a lot of the windows in my house.

So pretty!

Gelatin flowers

A new friend made these,

I asked her how but she won't really tell me.

I think its pretty amazing!

How about you? Anything interesting to report this week?

Friday's Favorites

2011-12-02T03:01:00.002-03:00

It's Friday! The first Friday in December and holiday activities have begun.

I'm having tons of fun and I hope you are too!

This week we also celebrated,

An Engagement Party!

We had a little party for Rebecca and Jon so the families could get to know one another. I made a lot of Rebecca's favorite foods from around the world in the form of appetizers, it made for a fun experience.

The Happy Couple :)

The next day we went to look at the wedding location, you can see it here

I think its going to be beautiful.

Spending time with my son Paul.

He was home for several days over Thanksgiving, we played lots of scrabble and nertz.

Turkey leftovers,

some enchiladas I made.

The roasted peppers make a delicious sauce.

(I used yogurt instead of buttermilk)

Essie Nail polish.

If you have not tried this you need to,

I love the colors and it seems to chip less.

Today I'm cooking up some turkey soup to share with friends and my work Christmas party is this weekend, so the fun continues! Hope the season has started off Merry for you too!

Friday's Favorites

2011-11-25T16:50:00.000-03:00

I'm late with my FFF today because I was OUT SHOPPING! I love that the stores opened at midnight for Black Friday shopping, its easier for me to just keep going than to wake up at 3am. Bob and I went out around 1130, and by the time we parked, we walked in just behind all the people who were waiting to get in. We didn't get any certified so-called door busters, but we got plenty of good deals.

Even so, bleary eyed that I am and tired after hosting 30+ people for Thanksgiving and shopping until I was delirious, I'm thankful for,

Saving hundreds of $ and getting almost all my Christmas shopping done. When I started adding up how much we saved, Bob perked up and even offered to drive me across the bridge to Walmart (San Francisco does not have one). Fortunately I did not have to take him up on that and we got what we needed closer to home.

One door buster. We really wanted a home entertainment system but were not willing to wait in line at Best Buy so we just chanced in and went in later and ended up with one of the last boxes. We're saving it for Christmas but I'm really excited!

Fall in California. It arrives late, but the colors are amazing. I just have to go for walks at work to see all these trees!

Wedding Decorations! I'm starting to experiment with making things and these are made out of coffee filters. I really like the way they look to hang at the end of the aisle. I made some another model to maybe hang in tree's, I'll post those another day.

The Tree is Up! And the cats love to play underneath it. So far we only have the lights on it, but I'm sure we'll decorate more this weekend.

I'm also thankful for,

A week off work to enjoy the start of the holidays
Warm-ish weather for Black Friday shopping
Catching up with family
Ping-pong tables- lots of friendly competition and laughter took place around these on Thanksgiving
Nyquil, yep, I came down with a cold in the midst of it all :(

Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving as well.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T09:44:00.001-03:00

The tables are set and I'm waiting for my guests,

About 30 of them I hope.

And we hope to eat,

Spinach Dip

Goat cheese with Cranberry

2 Turkeys

Green Bean Casserole

Baked Garlic Asparagus

Raw Vegies & Dip

Mashed potatoes

Homemade rolls

Sweet potatoes

2 types of stuffing

Pies, cookies and cheesecake

and maybe more. . .

Are you hungry yet?

I am!!!

Friday's Favorites

2011-11-18T03:29:00.006-03:00

With every new week I think I'm going to have time to post a day other than Friday, but then the days fly by and I find myself struggling to get THIS post done. But life is great and some of the things I've enjoyed this week include,

The Target Christmas Lady. I love her! Every one of these commercials make me laugh because they illustrate how I feel- exaggerated of course, but there is a grain of truth that makes it very funny. It even (almost) makes me want to go to Target (for some reason I never go there).

Christmas Shopping! I had an unexpected block of free time this week and I happened to be near some stores so I got in a little Christmas shopping. Now I need to organize my lists so I can be sure to get it all done (and not buy duplicate gifts for anyone).

Stop Thief! I was on the phone with my daughter while she was walking home from work through downtown San Francisco when all of a sudden she started yelling, "Hey! Stop that! Get your hand out of her purse!" Then to another person- "that lady was just trying to take your wallet!". Quick thinking is one of Rebecca's outstanding qualities and I'm proud she does not hesitate to get involved in a situation like that. Wouldn't you love to have her walking behind you in a crowd?

Holiday Foods. I made my first pan of Pumpkin Pie Cake this week. Its one of my favorite holiday recipes, I think this recipe is a lot better than the one known as Pumpkin Dump Cake. Its great with either whipped cream or ice cream.

Of course, I'm also very excited/grateful for all the fun events coming up in the next month. Lots of family time and celebrations, it really is the most wonderful time of the year.

Friday's Favorites

2011-11-11T04:56:00.001-03:00

Fun, fun, fun! That is what I have to say about this week. I don't have pictures to prove it, but we had a great week that included,

1. A Day in Petaluma, with friends. American Graffiti was filmed on the main strip there so we walked around and looked at the old buildings, had a delicious lunch out, then enjoyed an afternoon of games together that included,

2. Majong. Our friends taught us to play and I love it! It might be fun because I win a lot, but its also a great strategy game that is different every time.

3. Voting, Election day was busy for us but we managed to make it to the polls just minutes before they closed. It's important to me to cast that vote.

4. New paint! My husband painted our office as an early BD present to me and I love the color. We moved the furniture around and got,

5. Free Bookcases. I had seen some bookcases at Ikea that I wanted and decided to just check and see if I could find any on sale on Craigslist and I found them for free! Gotta love that kind of a deal.

Bonus,

THE DRESS!!!

Rebecca and I were out walking on election day and found a bridal shop going out of business so we scheduled an appointment and the second one she tried on was the perfect one. So exciting! It's top secret so no picture will be coming until the wedding, so you'll all have to wait :)