Mi Vida Ocupada

Yippee!!!!

Kristi S (sweetsauer) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:05:04 +0000

Remember a few months ago when I sought advice and opinions about camera lenses??? Well after a lot of research and getting opinions from some awesome professional photographers, I decided to start saving my money to buy the fancy Nikon 50mm f/1.4 G series. It took me a few months (car issues were a major set-back) but I was finally able to purchase my new lens last week and it arrived last night!

I have a lot of practicing to do but did snap a few photos last night. Just look at that blurred background, I LOVE it!!!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Tuesday’s Top 10: Things to do on a Rainy Day

Kristi S (sweetsauer) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:27:27 +0000

Spring is indeed right around the corner, the rain is a sure sign!!

Here is my list of favorite things to do on a rainy day. Kind of boring and lazy, but isn’t that what rainy days are all about?

1. Sleep late

2. Read a good book

3. Watch a movie or Tv

4. Snuggle

5. Put together a jig-saw puzzle

6. Bake something sweet and delicious

7. Listen to music

8. Play cards or other game

9. Tell/listen to ghost stories or watch scary movies

10. Catch up on tons of Computer/Internet Stuff

What do YOU like to do on rainy days??

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Give me that Fish!

Kristi S (sweetsauer) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:54:32 +0000

I know I am not the only one who has gotten McDonald’s new fish jingle in their head over and over! ha ha

Anyway, here I go posting my food photos again! We enjoyed a hand-caught walleye dinner with our dear friends on Friday night, so I used the opportunity to practice one of my assignments for my photography class.

Veggie medley

And now the question of the day…….. what do YOU call the object that the spoon is on?

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Spring Ahead!

Kristi S (sweetsauer) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:34:40 +0000

Spring is indeed ahead and I am looking forward to the longer daylight hours and warmer weather!

The snow here has pretty much melted due to temps in the 40’s and rain all of last week. Now that the ground is clear again, I spotted some of my lilies already starting to sprout

Can’t wait to see all my pretty tulips come up soon too; I planted several new varieties last fall.

Just hoping that we don’t get one of our regular March snow storms now (but I wouldn’t be surprised considering this is Minnesnowta)

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Check out the AMAZING photo hunt entries!

Kristi S (sweetsauer) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:35:43 +0000

During the month of February (2010) I hosted the 6th Photo Hunt over at one of my other blogs, Photo Hunt Challenges. Ever since the very 1st Photo Hunt I have been choosing my favorite photos for each category and posting them together, with a poll for people to vote for their favorite. It is incredibly hard to pick favorites from after looking at all the fun photos of the Participants and very time-consuming as well. I was afraid I wouldn’t have time to do all the work myself this month so I asked for a little help and got Ang and Carly to help me out with picking favorites. So here they all are!! Please go look through the photos……. talk about eye-candy!! I promise you will enjoy looking at them and have a very hard time choosing your favorites! Anyone is allowed to look and vote. If you want to copy this list of links to post on your blog or elsewhere, feel free!

Favorite Portraits

Favorite B & W with selective color

Favorite Chocolate Photos

Favorite “Something Homemade” Photos

Favorite “Something Sweet” Photos

Favorite “Candid” Photos

Favorite “Something Pink” Photos

Favorite “Symbol of Love” Photos

Favorite “Clock” Photos

Favorite “Main Street” Photos

Favorite “Mirror Image” Photos

Favorite “Landscape” Photos

Favorite “Your Own Reflection” Photos

Favorite “Two of a Kind” Photos

Favorite “Tower” Photos

Favorite “Game” Photos

Favorite “Something Romantic” Photos

Favorite “Night Image” Photos

Favorite “Cat or Dog” Photos

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Happy Birthday Bennett!

Kristi S (sweetsauer) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:32:08 +0000

Time sure flies, doesn’t it? I mean surely I can’t have already been two years since my nephew Bennett was born!! Indeed, my little buddy turns 2 today. Happy Birthday Bennett! Looking forward to seeing him and the rest of my family at the birthday party on Saturday…

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

TFT: Meals Gone Wrong…..

Kristi S (sweetsauer) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:44:43 +0000

I may have led some of you to believe that since I have been trying a lot of new recipes lately, that I am a good cook. Well, sometimes I am, but sometimes my meals do not turn out as good as expected.

Example….. I found a crock-pot recipe book recently and thought I would try a recipe for pork chops in orange sauce. It sounded good at the time, really! I thought it would be kind of Asian-like. WRONG. I started the recipe before working a 12 hour day and had been looking forward to dinner all day long. What a disappointment it turned out to be!! YUCK. Like inedible, waste-of-food.

I had taken photos of the whole process like I have been doing lately so I will post a photo of the final product but I refuse to share the awful recipe. Looks a million times better than it tasted.

What is the worst recipe you ever made??

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

“Which One?” Wednesday: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Kristi S (sweetsauer) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:32:00 +0000

I have decided to add a new segment to this blog on Wednesdays called “Which One?” Wednesday. How it will work….. I will give you a couple of choices for a specific item and you tell me which is your personal preference. This first poll is about your favorite type of chocolate chip cookie……. semi-sweet, milk chocolate or white chocolate chip.

Vote in the poll and leave a comment with your two cents! Which is your fave and why?

Pictured: Delicious milk chocolate chip cookies made last night by my neighbor, Denise

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Post #1500!

Kristi S (sweetsauer) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:08:24 +0000

I was just about to post something else and noticed in my blog dashboard that I had 1,499 previous posts, which makes this post #1500. Whoa!!! I know I don’t blog every day by any means but after nearly 5 years of blogging (come April), these posts sure add up!! (Of course at least 100 of the posts are photo posts that I imported from the former “Kristi’s Daily Photos” blog (which no longer exists!)

I thought I would highlight a variety of old material. I might even add more since this list is really old

Ode to the 80s (what I loved)
Introducing Annika (my first niece)
7 interesting things about me
Things I’ve done (that maybe you haven’t!)
Memoirs of a Geisha and Japanese dolls
7 years with Bessie (my former car)
My pride and joy (all about my special cats)
Sayonara (I was caught being ignorant!)
Back from Hollywood (my brother Jeff is my guest blogger)
Driving Tips (Every driver should read this, please!)
My Vegas vacation ( day 2 day3)
World’s most expensive foods
My knee surgery (recovery,
Counting my blessings (the time the entire front end of my car fell out)
Madeline Island retreat & More. (weekend away with my best friends)
History of my name
Letter to Myth Nightclub (this night still ticks me off!)
Meet Bianca (my 2nd niece)
My cancer scare (that turned out to be nothing)
My Costa Rican dream
My 30th birthday
Chocolate
My first video blog (its really me!)
My battle wound stories (yes, I am a clutz!)
Questions answered. (Blog readers asked me questions)
My poll about Crocs (do you love them or hate them?!)
Prince 07-07-07
Shout-out to my regular blog commenters
Pictoral blog guestbook (go ahead and sign!)
35W Bride collapse
A look back at my senior year of HS
A look at how I have changed (8 years of school and profile pics)

Here are a few of the most common posts that lead people to this blog from search engines, etc

A million thanks to those of you who read this blog (especially to those who actually comment!)

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Pesto Shrimp Recipe

Kristi S (sweetsauer) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:16:05 +0000

I have had a craving for pesto & shrimp ever since trying the pesto shrimp at CRAVE and the pesto shrimp pizza at Pizza Luce back in January. (Not to mention the habanero pesto that Jeff made with the pork fusilli). I know you can buy pre-made pesto at specialty stores but I figured I might as well try my own version. It turned out pretty good but since I did not have a food processor, the consistency isn’t as fine.

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1-2 serrano peppers
1/2 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts
5 medium sized garlic cloves, minced or pressed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 lb medium sized raw, de-shelled shrimp

If shrimp are frozen or still have shells, set aside in water to defrost

The original pesto recipe that I followed calls for a food processor to finely chop all the fresh ingredients but since I didn’t have one, I first chopped my basil leaves very fine. To my dismay, the large package of basil leaves was barely a half cup when all chopped up. I would suggest making this when basil is in season so that you can buy a ton of it or grow it in your garden!

Next I toasted a small package of pine nuts until they were golden brown.

In a skillet on medium, I cooked my shrimp after seasoning them with freshly ground sea salt, garlic, and red chili flakes.

I cooked a side of penne pasta to go with this, but I think it would’ve been better with an angel hair pasta or even cheese tortellini. You can make this low-carb by skipping the pasta.

Finally after combining basil, chopped serrano pepper, romano cheese, olive oil, toasted pine nuts and fresh garlic, I had my pesto. (Sorry, my photo turned out terrible)

I topped penne with shrimp and then pesto.

Then tossed!

The flavor was pretty good, it would’ve been better with more basil and if it had been processed and with a different noodle. Glad I added the serrano pepper, I would even add another next time.

Does anyone have any special pesto recipe to share with me? I’d love to improve this one!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!