My new favorite part of our place

I had trouble decorating this corner of our apartment, since the windows are a little too low to put a couch in front of, and I didn't actually know how to successfully decorate window space. So first I stole these three cute blue chairs from my mom (I will have to give them back at some point, but I'm on the lookout for chairs of my own), and then I found these adorable topiaries at Pottery Barn.



And ta-da! A corner that I am now very happy with. Next I'll have to post a picture of our tv-disguising hutch.

Christmas 2009, part two

How pathetic that I'm still catching up on Christmas posts in March. But better late than never, especially when I promised to explain some of the more cryptic pictures in a previous post (recall the cow and the somewhat creepy masks).
So, during the Santa Cruz portion of our Christmas vacation, Meris and Kusie + kiddos took us to Carmel-by-the-sea. It's an adorable little town a short distance from Santa Cruz that has row upon row of perfectly manicured lawns and quaint houses, plenty of very expensively-dressed citizens walking their dogs, and practically no kids. We toured the Carmel Mission Basilica, which holds the shrine of Fr Junipero Serra. It's a beautiful Parish/School/Museum.



On the way home we stopped at this amazing view of the ocean. It was incredibly windy, but through the telescopes you could see a rock jutting out of the water, and hundreds of very fat and happy seals sunning themselves.



And here's the cow, in case you forgot her.



Joel and I spent a day in Gilroy, shopping at the outlet malls and touring local wineries. While we were trying to find the winery we found ourselves very lost on some rural back-road. Since it's prudent to drive fairly slow on those small windy roads, we were happy enough to spot this old gal enjoying the sunny afternoon. She seemed pleased to have a visitor drive by (it gets lonely being a cow), so we had to stop and take a picture.

And of course, the infamous mask photo. On a recent trip to Europe Sunny, Howard, Tio Benjamin and Aunt Lisa picked up these masks. With the wonderful details and the perfectly shaped eye slits they are eerily lifelike. They brought them out while we were over at Benjamin's house one night, which provided us with plenty of entertainment. Here's another picture of me, Joel, Daniel, and Cousin Lilly. Please take a moment to laugh at how short I am compared to them.


And lastly, no trip to Santa Cruz would be complete without some good home-made Mexican food. Meris taught me how to make tamales (yum!) and we also made home-made corn tortillas for the shredded beef we had on Christmas day. It was delicious. Don't we look domestic? :)

Christmas 2009, part one

We had the privilege of visiting California to kick off our holiday festivities this year, and we had a great time! I got to snap lots of shots of my adorable nieces and nephew (the girls were a lot more willing to ham it up for the camera, what a surprise!).







This is one of my favorite pictures. Not just because I'm holding my adorable youngest niece (who insisted on being shown each picture taken of her, and then would giggle and stamp her feet in a delighted little dance), but because of the AMAZING weather we had during our vacation. I'll be honest, I started looking more seriously for jobs for Joel in Santa Cruz once we got home....

Two things we like right now

The first is a TV show that Meris got us hooked on: Bones. We've had to start limiting our tv watching time because of this show. And both of us love this song from one episode in Season 2.



The second thing is one of those marvelous 2-o'clock-in-the-morning-on-your-graveyard-shift finds:

http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=23303422&gt1=35000

Guernsey

I'm reading a great book right now: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It's a historical fiction novel comprised entirely of correspondence letters between the characters. To be honest, I didn't think I would like it because I couldn't imagine an entire book of letters being interesting. But I was wrong. It really is delightful and it has inspired a great deal of day-dreaming on my part.

I want to go to Guernsey. And so will you if you read this book, or even just look at their website: http://www.visitguernsey.com/

This cute little Bailiwick has everything an ideal vacation spot should have: beautiful scenery, historical sites, wonderful food, ideal exploration paths, quaint accomodations, etc. Not to mention, you can get to it from Weymouth which, according to one of the characters in the book, is the ideal way:

"I would catch the afternoon boat from Weymouth. There is no more beautiful approach to Guernsey than the one by sea--either with the sun going down, or with gold-tipped, black storm clouds, or the Island just emerging through the mist."

Here's a teaser

Our Christmas celebrations this year lasted for about three weeks. One week we spent in Santa Cruz visiting with lots of family, and the last two were spent in Moscow with Kate and Davey home for the holidays (and Lynn and Kenzie for part of the time who were nice enough to drive them from Spokane). I don't have time right now to post all the pictures of our fun times, so consider this the teaser trailer before the main event. Highlights of the most exciting parts of our holidays:

First, a masked event.



Second, (the tension), not everyone was pleased to have David home for the holidays... (ok I stole that picture from Kate).



And lastly.....



If that doesn't catch your interest, I don't know what will.

Fantastic French Fries

I was making a steak and salad dinner last week and I decided to be daring and make homemade french fries. They were delicious (and so good for you, I'm sure, right mom?). So here's the recipe. I could honestly put this batter on just about anything it's so good.

2.5 Pounds Peeled russet potatoes (or however many you want, I didn't use that many for the two of us)
1 cup flour
1 t. garlic salt or garlic powder
1 t. onion salt
1 t. salt
1 t. paprika
1/2-1 cup water
1 cup vegetable oil

1. Slice the potatoes and place in cold water (if you're worried they'll discolor)
2. Heat oil over medium high heat
3. Combine flour through paprika. Stir in the water as needed to form a paste (for dredging the potatoes through)
4. Dip slices in batter and place in hot oil so they aren't touching, one at a time (if they touch they stick together).
5. let cook, flipping over halfway, until they are browned on the outside and soft on the inside (I just taste-tested so I have no set time for you).
6. Drain on paper towels.