Kale Chips

Nothing like regular chips, but I didn't really expect them to be so I still liked them. I've been meaning to try these for a long time, but my Safeway never has regular kale so you can imagine my excitement when I spotted it the other day. I made them as soon as I returned home from the store.

Here's how you can make your own:

1. Heat oven to 350
2. Get a bunch of kale
3. Wash it
4. Trim leafy parts off the vein it's attached to
5. Pull out your salad spinner that you received as a wedding present because your husband, who thought it was a necessity, put it on your Bed Bath and Beyond registry
6. Dust off the salad spinner (because it has NEVER been used)
7. Have your eager husband assist in the spinning process

8. Remove from spinner and pat dry with a towel (it has to be super, super dry)
9. Toss with olive oil and seasoning of your choice

10. Place on parchment paper lined baking tray
11. Bake for 10-15 minutes (don't let them brown, they'll taste bitter)

12. Enjoy!

Day at the Coast

Jake needed to look at a job he's doing in Fort Bragg so we loaded up the car and took Zulu on her first trip to the ocean! It was quite the adventure trying to get there because she got sick twice during the two hour car ride. She had a wonderful time upon her arrival to the beach though. She loved running in the sand! The water was pretty cold though so she wasn't too fond of that.

San Diego

I had such a wonderful time in San Diego! I went for a work conference, but had plenty of time for other fun activities.

I woke up early on Wednesday morning to go running. It was during my run that I decided I needed to move to San Diego. I was going to call Jake to tell him about my plans, but instead, I just texted him this picture I snapped while running.


After the conference on Wednesday I met up with Jake's cousin. We had dinner downtown and then went to her house to meet her HUGE (but very sweet) dog. We had a lot of fun.

The conference was only half the day on Thursday so I had one of my friends pick me up as soon as it was over. He was my tour guide for the afternoon. I'd actually been to most of the places on previous trips to San Diego, but it's been a few years and everything was worth seeing again. We started with lunch at Tender Greens, an organic restaurant. We then went to Coronado and walked around. We went to the ferry landing, the Del Mar Hotel, and walked on the beach. It wasn't until Thursday afternoon that I regretted not taking my nice camera. Luckily I had my little one though so I was still able to get some pictures.









Next we headed to Balboa Park and walked around. We went into a couple museums and just enjoyed being outside in the beautiful weather.




We then headed to Old Town to walk around and then stopped for a couple drinks.

My eyes are closed in this picture, but it's the only one I have from Old Town, so pretend I look awesome.


Our last stop was El Indio for dinner. This was pretty much the reason I came to San Diego, well besides the conference I guess. I've written about it before. I picked up a bag of chips and wrapped up my San Diego trip. We left on Friday morning.


I want to go back right now.

Gifts Galore

I'm headed for San Diego today to attend a conference for work, but I wanted to show off some items I purchased that will go in a gift basket. Each office was asked to bring items from their area and they will be put into baskets and then auctioned off.

Bottom row from left to right: Dish towel, book that Jake's grandma wrote, outdoor thermometer, pear cookbook, bottle of wine inside a wine bag, top row: word game in a little pear bag, Lake County walnuts, Lake County honey, and a magnet.

I had a lot of fun finding things around town. I mean, who wouldn't want to shop with someone else's money during their work day?!

Speaking of gifts, I received a package from my mom yesterday. You know how she loves those flat rate boxes! Here's what was inside:

Cooking ingredients that I couldn't find at my local grocery store, cat treats and a toy mouse for Sydney, Girl Scout cookies, two of the best Rice Krispy treats known to man, and a bag of homemade heart cookies. Not pictured: An OSU collar for Zulu and a little OSU football for her to play with. I'll get pictures of those later. She was already wearing the collar and playing with the football when I took this picture. Both of the pets love their treats and want to thank their grandma. We're also thankful for our treats!

Email Conversation

Jake: Pat just brought in his new baby and it is so cute! It has the bluest eyes.

Me: Awww, I want to see the baby!

Jake: You can’t look at any babies for a couple of years.

Me: well you can't look at any more puppies

Jake: NO PROBLEM!!!

Weekly Puppy Pictures

I can't get over how much she's grown since she came to live with us. She's getting huge! I'm a little sad she's growing so quickly, but I'm looking forward to the days of freedom when she's potty trained, doesn't bite and will sit quietly while we love on her. Oh, and it would be great if we could make it through a night without getting up 3 times to take her outside...

Busy Weekend

Here's a list of everything we've accomplished this weekend:

Saturday-

Gave Zulu a bath

Went to Ukiah (to Michael's to pick up some craft supplies and then to Quizno's for lunch)

Stopped by Safeway on the way home to pick up a bunch of pears

Went to take pictures in a pear orchard. Maybe I should explain all this "pear" talk. I'm going to enter a painting in the poster contest for the Pear Festival, but I needed some inspiration.


Went home because I got a brilliant idea of what I wanted to do for my painting, but it required a wardrobe change.


Took Zulu on another walk

(more Zulu pics will be up tomorrow)

Went to the in-law's house to pick up some memorabilia from my father in law. He's hired me to sell some items on Ebay.

Went back to the grocery store to do the regular grocery shopping. I didn't have my list with me when we went for the pears and it was ridiculously busy at that time so I'm glad I didn't attempt to get everything we needed.

Came home, made dinner, and then I think I just watched television the rest of the night while messing with itunes/ipod

Sunday-

Went for a run and then walked Zulu

Jake hung some pictures

Cleaned the house. We also went through cabinets and got rid of a bunch of stuff. This was a major undertaking and Jake is still putting stuff away in the garage.

I made my meal for the other blog


And now I need to take the puppy for another walk, finish the laundry, then figure out how to post items on Ebay

I would be sad that Monday is almost here, but I'm leaving on Tuesday for San Diego (work conference) so I'm kind of excited for the week to begin.

Park Photos

I managed to snap a few non puppy photos when we took Zulu to the park the other day. It's rare to have a sunny day during the winter so I thought it was necessary to document the sunshine and other fine scenery. I don't really have anything against summer, fall or winter, but I absolutely love spring time and I'm anxiously awaiting the return of all the foliage.

Puppy in the Park

* Disclaimer: Yes, I realize this blog is ALLLL about our new puppy, but she completely dominates our life right now so I have very little to write about. Once she is more trained and we can leave her on her own for longer periods of time, then I might have more to write about. But until then, just enjoy her adorable little face!

We took Zulu on her first trip to the state park on Sunday. We've had unseasonably warm temps the past few days and we took full advantage. Zulu had a wonderful time and I'm excited for our next trips (which won't be too often because it's $8 each time you enter the park).

Blog #2

Hi readers! Please check out the new blog that my mom and I have started.

http://blazingburners.wordpress.com/

It's a food blog that will focus on vegan cooking. I'm no chef, but my mom is a wonderful cook so I'm sure you'll see some pretty amazing things.

The goal is for my mom and I to choose a new recipe each week to make (hopefully on the same day). We'll then post our results on the blog. Hers will likely turn out better than mine, but I'm sure I'll be able to provide readers with some humor from my failed attempts.

I'm sure we'll convince my sister to join in on occasion, but she's off at school having fun, I mean working hard, so she probably won't have as much time to devote to the task.

P.S. Don't be scared of the vegan thing, I swear some of the food is really good!

Random Tidbits of Information

* I got bored yesterday and signed Jake and I up for 2 races (with his approval and promise to actually train for them...we'll see)

Bay to Breakers 12k (about 7.5 miles) in San Fran. This race is a HUGE deal and it's the centennial race so it's bound to be extra cool. People dress up and go crazy. Alcohol used to be a big part of the race, but I think they're starting to crack down on that so it might not be too wild this year. I personally don't know how people can drink and run 7.5 miles, but to each their own I suppose.

Napa Valley Trail 10k This race has a marathon, half marathon and a 10k. It's my first trail run since my high school cross country days so I thought I'd take it easy with the shortest distance offered.

* I'm probably going to sign up for the Healdsburg Wine Country Half Marathon when registration opens. This is the one I wanted to do last year, but was full by the time I went to register so I ended up doing another one in Healdsburg.

Each time I'm running a half marathon I swear to myself that it's my last one. I don't know why I keep doing them! Still haven't gotten the urge to run another full marathon though.

* I'm going to San Diego later this month for a work conference and I'm so excited!

* I received a box of Christmas decorations from my mom yesterday. I got a few of them as gifts for Christmas and others were purchased at after Christmas sales when we were in TX. I guess all of them were gifts because my mom spoiled me and bought everything for me. See the item on the far left? That's the table runner from World Market that I wanted earlier in December. I found it for 50% off AND it was the last one in the store! And some of the ornaments are the ones from Anthropologie that I almost bought online before Christmas.