...and happy cows come from California. I've been thinking as I've been nursing Gracie this weekend that good milk comes from happy moms, and happy moms come from California! :) (I'm sure all you non-Cali moms produce good milk too....) Anyway, that's how it feels. It's been amazing to me how easy it is to forget. I love being here. It is so refreshing to wake up to blue skies and a palm tree right outside my window. It's so nice to have some moisture in the air. It's especially wonderful to dig my toes into the sand and let the waves wash over my feet, however cold the water is. I love California! It just feels so good to be here!
We have had a great week so far. On Wednesday, we went down to UCLA so Rob could interview with their MBA admissions people. (He did a great job, by the way). Then we stopped at Diddy Riese for some tasty ice cream sandwiches.There was horrific traffic headed back North, so we decided to take the coast route and got there just in time to experience a gorgeous sunset. I snapped some photos as we drove, they just don't do justice to the experience of being there, but here they are:I felt like the paparazzi driving through Malibu with my camera out the window snapping away. It was sort of fun! :)
We had a delightful Thanksgiving. It started with the boys putting the Christmas lights up on the house.
I am glad Rob didn't die...
Then we drove to Santa Barbara to Ellie and John's for dinner. My favorite part of the day was getting to walk on the beach with the family. This is one of my favorite traditions - going for a walk on the beach on Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is just amazing to enjoy Mother Nature's beauty on the holidays. This was also Grace's first trip to the beach. Have no fear, it was a well-documented milestone: It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the turkey and it was fantastic! My cousin Terrell barbecued it on a spit. It was smoky and delicious. The whole dinner was fantastic and it was fun to visit with family that we don't get to see very often since we live so far away!
Gracie must be getting good milk, because she sure has had a happy mommy this week!
The Tanger Outlet Center in Park City used to run an ad that said "It's the thrill of the hunt...more than amazing deals...Tan-ger Out-let Cen-ter...It's the thrill of the hunt!" Rob and I have a little tradition wherein we shop on Black Friday. While we usually find some great deals, I think that Tanger has nailed it. Going out on Black Friday is for the thrill of the hunt. We did it again this year, but this time was in California, where people are apparently nuts for a deal (but thankfully not as nuts as they are in New York...). We headed to the Outlet Mall at 10:00 pm on Thursday. Holy cow, there were a lot of people. The night had an inauspicious beginning when we were ticketed for stopping for 1 minute in a fire lane - that lame-o cop! Then while we spent 15 minutes in Ralph Lauren our car battery died from the lights being left on (remember Mom, this is not the car that has lights that turn off automatically...). It was all up hill from there, and really how could it not be? There was a gigantic line at Banana Republic.
Although we waited in line for almost an hour to get in to Banana Republic, I appreciated them for it. It was nice to be able to shop without the crush of people and tourists assaulting my olfactory senses with their less than ideal hygiene. I am constantly amazed at the people who travel to our little ole Camarillo Outlets. After Banana Republic was finished at 2 am, we were tired and ready to go. Would you believe that the line to get into the Gap was even longer than the Banana line? Thankfully we met some BYU grads in line at Banana who were so kindly willing to jump our car. Even at 2 am there were hoardes (not exaggerating) of people coming in to the mall. There was even a little tiff over the parking spot that we weren't even completely out of while we were jumping the car. The whole experience was amazing to say the least.
The best part was that we went to the Gap tonight (Saturday) - yeah, they were fully stocked with all the same deals they had the other night, just without the insanity. I felt pretty good about that.
After I posted about all my fun cooking and freezing adventures, Andrea suggested that I share my recipes. So I am going to add some of my favorite recipes to my sidebar. I'm having fun with trying out freezer recipes, so I hope you will too! I love trying new recipes, so if you have any recipes to share, please let me know and I'll post them. Happy Cooking!
It's been way too long since I've posted, but life just got a little nuts. I'll tell you about it. We have recently started budgeting again and man, does it feel good to know where all the money is going. While we're not amazing at it yet, we're working on it. Right before we got married we listened to the audio book by Dave Ramsey called Total Money Makeover. I think it has changed our married life in ways we will never know. I highly suggest it to anyone interested in this sort of thing. I digress, so anyway, we've been budgeting again (we took a hiatus over the summer when things were crazy with Grace being born, we shouldn't have, but we did) and the area that we most often bust is food...what does that tell you about us? :) So with my new found hobby of couponing, I've decided to stick with the food budget tighter. With that and a little inspiration from Money Saving Mom last week I decided to start making freezer meals that are homemade, but that require little or no preparation besides warming in the oven. Little did I know that this is an exhausting venture, especially when you have a small child that will only nap when it's most inconvenient for you! Last week I made 4 lasagnes, 6 meals of winter white chili, and 6 meals of spaghetti. I was so proud! Then I finished off the week by cooking my first turkey and it wasn't so bad! Whoo-hoo! The last one I tried with my old roommate was a distaster (good story, ask sometime - this was the roommate who lit the kitchen on fire...). The worst part by far is the clean up. This is what my kitchen looked like when I was finished with the lasagne day:
It may not look so bad, I mean it's only a few loads of dishes, right? Wrong! You should see the countertops! It's embarassing! Needless to day, I'll be doing a repeat of my super scary Halloween mopping!
This week, I'm planning on adding to the frezer stock a few meals worth of homemade turkey noodle soup (from the turkey adventure on Saturday) and a couple of chicken pot pies. I think that will be it for me until the New Year, but I'm proud of doing that much. It really makes me feel good to do things like this and it's helping with the budgeting by buying things on sale and using them!
As you probably know, Rob is in the process of applying to MBA schools. The University of Iowa really, really wants him to go there and offered to fly the whole family back to check it out in hopes of swaying our choice.
As we flew in we flew over a big thunderstorm. It was cool to watch the lightning bolts from the plane, but kind of scary as it reminded me of all good action-adventure movies where a plane goes down... It was awesome! The weather was nice when we got there on Wednesday evening, but the storm soon blew in on Thursday morning. It didn't last long, but we did see a tornado! This tornado's name was Dorothy. It was a nice tornado and didn't cause too much ruckus. We left on Thursday night and got back late. It was a tornado of a trip, but really fun. Iowa City was really nice much like it's people. And after the storm was over we had beautiful fall weather. It is the quintessential college town. Who knows where we'll end up but, this one is definitely in the running!
Once upon a morning dreary, after I woke weak and weary,
Again checking blog posts, a.k.a. forgotten lore, :)
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my old back door. `'Tis the workman,' I muttered, `tapping at the gutters core - Only this, and nothing more.'
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak October,
And each separate rain drop falling dripping, dripping on the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; when I would wake and no longer
Listen to the dripping, dripping dropping loudly outside the door
Keeping me awake for ever more.
That was then and this is now – workmen cleaning gutters lightly
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic joys never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`I will never be awakened by the sound of rain drops dripping,
Dripping right outside my door.'
Then the scariest part happened, I devised a plan of action
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
The gutters now will not be cleaner, cleaner than my kitchen floor!
I got the mop and broom for action, and no longer was I nappin’
Slowly my plan came to fruition, as the broom and mop were swishin’
And so slowly I came a cleaning, cleaning my dirty kitchen floor,
With brush and swish and scrub, scrub, scrub, the water turned an ugly shade -
Darkness there, and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
Of my clean floor sparkling as ne’er ever before.
But the water dark and dismal was not a sign but more a signal
That I must do this much more often. I must clean and dust and vaccuum
All of this and much, much more.
With the dirt so oft terrifying, I am buoyed up – not close to crying
But if I don’t keep the house clean, whoever knows what else might be seen
Lurking in the deep, dark corners of our apartment evermore.
The centipedes should run with fright, the spiders need move out tonight!
So with resolve I get the Pledge out, hoping praying that Grace won’t pout
‘Cause this Halloween is about cleaning, cleaning evermore!
Thanks for indulging me in a little Halloween fun. And yes (sadly), this is a true representation of my Halloween. The mop water really did give me quite a fright!
Thank you Andrea for the photo tag. It is for the fourth picture in my fourth picture folder. So, here it is: Easter! I tag Annie, Taralee, Kira, Shakirra and Natasha to post the fourth photo in your fourth picture folder on your computer. Shakirra and Natasha: this is so you will post something so when I check your blog daily there will be something new to see :)
There was horrific traffic headed back North, so we decided to take the coast route and got there just in time to experience a gorgeous sunset. I snapped some photos as we drove, they just don't do justice to the experience of being there, but here they are:
I felt like the paparazzi driving through Malibu with my camera out the window snapping away. It was sort of fun! :)
I am glad Rob didn't die...
It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the turkey and it was fantastic! My cousin Terrell barbecued it on a spit. It was smoky and delicious. The whole dinner was fantastic and it was fun to visit with family that we don't get to see very often since we live so far away!
