Can't stop eating these....

RED HOT CHILI PEPPER!

These things are amazing.

I made the mistake of bringing an almost full bag and a new container of hummus as my lunch today.

Last week was the first time I'd ever seen them at the store and if they aren't there when I go back then I'm probably going to cry.

I found them at Safeway (that's Tom Thumb to you Texas folks, and Vons to the Las Vegas crowd).

Go get some NOW, but leave a few bags for me. Thanks.

Things I'm Excited About:

1.) Jake's birthday weekend. We're going to San Francisco to do a night tour of Alcatraz!

2) An unexpected entire week off for Thanksgiving. I was originally only going to be off Th/Fri, but my boss accidentally made my schedule to include an entire week off. I then had the option to work the first 3 days and be paid by time card (as opposed to my regular salary), or take them off and not be paid. I had every intention of working, but then we planned Jake's b-day weekend to carry over to Monday (his actual b-day) and I decided to be lazy.

3.) An entire week to start and (hopefully) finish Christmas craft projects.

4.) Thanksgiving-an official day of not eating vegan food.

5.) My first Christmas at home since 2006! We won't actually be arriving until around 9:00 pm on Christmas day, but I can't complain. The tickets were free ;) Unfortunately one of my best friends is leaving for a trip to London and Paris on the same day and won't return to Texas until after I leave. I will complain about that.

P.S. I really want these Christmas decorations

World Market

World Market

Pretty Skies

I rushed to get my camera when I got home from work the other day because the sky looked so beautiful. It's so fall like outside!

I'm really more of a spring time person, but the past couple of weeks have been so gorgeous. I wish we could hang on to this a little longer, but I feel winter creeping in. Even though we're in the 60s-70s during the day, the nights are freezing. The trees and grapevines are starting to get bare and that makes me sad. What will I take pictures of once all the prettiness is gone?!

On Saturday we were driving home and stopped to catch these next couple of shots. The pictures don't do them any justice. It was much more beautiful in real life.

Jake's Open Mic Night #2

Last Wednesday we went to Ukiah so Jake could attend the open mic night at the Ukiah Brewing Company. The venue was really neat and some of our friends were able to attend, thus making the night even more fun. Jake really enjoys performing and hopes to do many more shows in the future. He even wants to do an open mic night in Texas when we're there for Christmas! My mom can hardly contain her excitement about this ;) One day I'll post video clips of him singing, but first I need to learn to keep the camera steady and I need to learn the art of patience because it takes about a million years to upload video to this thing.

Sydney

I've been promising my mom that I would put pictures of her grandchild up on the blog, so skip this post if you don't want to see pictures of my cat. I'll understand. I think she's the cutest thing in the world though and I know my mom feels the same way.




P.S. I think we rarely call her by her name anymore. She responds best to "meow meow". Weird, I know, but she meows a lot so we started imitating her and she seems to like it.

First there was Ebay, and then there was Etsy....

I know I am way behind on the Ebay bandwagon, and I'm way behind on the Etsy bandwagon as well, but once you activate that paypal account, the online shopping just becomes way too easy. Luckily I'm the queen of bargain shopping so I think it's a healthy addiction. I made my first Etsy purchase the other day and I got it for over half off. I paid a total of $7.50 (including shipping) for these adorable little coasters:

Teddy Ruxpin

Jake had been mentioning for a while that he wanted a Teddy Ruxpin. He had one when he was little and I guess he really missed it. Then one day he sent me a link to one that he found on Ebay. I purchased it right away, and since I'm awful at keeping secrets, I told him the second I purchased it and then let him have it the day it arrived. Let's just call it another early b-day/Christmas present. Jake was especially excited because this particular Ruxpin came with a fire protection book! It actually came with several books and even though the mouth doesn't work quite right, he still loves it and is excited for nightly story time. I remember some of my friends having this bear when I was little, but I don't recall ever really wanting one. My mom will remember better than I do though so I'm sure she'll let me know if I actually did beg for one of these.

I actually had a huge fear of battery operated animals when I was younger. One time I had a bunny that would do flips when you turned it on. I was probably way too young to remember this thing, but I do. I think it scarred me for life. I never had a fear of rabbits, and I still don't, just rabbits that do flips in the air. They are crazy little creatures.

TR seems like a well mannered bear though so I'm sure we'll get along just fine. Unless he busts out a somersault or a hand stand without any warning, then he might find his way on the top shelf of a closet.

(Semi) Vegan Update

It's time for another monthly installment of the "semi vegan diet"! Below you'll see the cookbooks I've been using. All were purchased on Amazon.com for relatively low prices. You might be thinking "Wow, 5 cookbooks?! Recipes are available online these days. Stop wasting your hard earned money on these silly books." Well it is actually very difficult to find vegan recipes online. I have found a few, but definitely not enough to make a whole cookbook.

Here are some dishes I've made the past couple of months. Leave a comment if you'd like any of the recipes.

stuffed peppers and mashed potatoes with jalapeno and corn gravy

veggie-hummus wraps and tabouli

bean enchiladas, Mexican rice and corn

macadamia nut crusted eggplant with chili-lime roasted vegetables

lasagna and Caesar salad

tortilla soup and guacamole

spicy sweet potato soup

pesto pizza with potatoes, sun dried tomatoes, and spinach

(the Boboli crust is NOT vegan, but it's just so easy to use...)

"cheese" dip

This was actually really disgusting. It tasted nothing like actual cheese dip. It took very little effort and very few ingredients though so I wasn't too upset.

I'm still having issues with the time and money aspect of the diet, but I still think it's worth it in the long run so I'm sticking to it. Jake is having a little more trouble with the whole thing. He misses meat. And he doesn't like eggplant or mushrooms. I crave these items because of their hearty consistency that is just as filling as meat. I'm also finding it frustrating that for every 3-4 recipes I try, only 1 turns out good or decent. I'm sure this will get better with time. Some of the recipes are just gross and the grossness is not caused by human error. Okay, there have been a few fails caused by human error, but not all of them!

Jake's Open Mic Night Debut

Jake has been wanting to perform during a open mic night for a really long time, but he's been especially motivated since we went to one a few weeks ago. He's been practicing not stop and all the hard work paid off because he did a fabulous job last night! He sang "Wonderwall" by Oasis, "Feet Don't Touch the Ground" by Brandon Jenkins, "So Much To Say" by Dave Matthews and "Hey Ya" by Outkast.



I'm so proud of how well he did. He's hoping to perform at another one this Wednesday in Ukiah so we're really excited for that. I'm also excited for him to learn some more songs. Hearing the same ones over and over can get exhausting after a while ;) He's pretty awesome though so I can't complain too much.

Val Kilmer in Kelseyville!

He's shooting a movie directed by Francis Ford Coppolla! Go here for what very little info there is about the film. Such a HUGE deal for this little town of ours. The movie crew just doubled the population of Kelseyville. Okay, not really, but it definitely has everyone talking up a storm. And taking breaks from work to go gawk at the movie star....

Oh, and did I mention that he WAVED TO ME today?! It's true. Well, me and 3 people that I work with. We went out to watch for a few minutes during lunch and he totally smiled and waved to our group. We waved back and then talked about the incident for the rest of the day. It was the coolest thing ever.