Kind of Glad

I am kind of glad I have a gluten issue. Sure it is a HUGE pain to eat out or eating at people's homes, but I feel so much better now it is almost worth it.

Plus, these are the meals I have been coming home to:

and this

Quinoa balls with homemade avocado sauce with chili aioli, stuffed mushrooms with kale and chicken. Does it get any better?

If I hadn't been diagnosed with gluten issues, I would be missing out on so much wonderful food!

Baby Blanket 2

Here is the second baby blanket I made.  This is for my soon to be little nephew. I actually made it months ago, but his mom follows the blog, so I had to wait until I gave it to her before I could post.
While I am not thrilled he will grow up a Dodger fan, I am SO excited to have him arriving in our family!

His parents are big Dodger fans and I have know for years I would be making a Dodger blanket for their future babies. Lucky for me he arrived so fast! The backing on the blanket is a Dodger blue with little puppies.

One side note: When getting a block pattern cut at the store, be sure to ask if they can cut along the block line, instead of right at a yard. It makes life so much easier. And if you get someone like the gal I had who could care less about what she was doing, be persistent. If that doesn't work, as for another cutter.

Makeover doomed to go badly

McDonald's has decided to makeover some of its stores for a cleaner and more modern look.

Take a look:

 courtesy of google images

Ooh, pretty! So crisp and clean. So welcoming. I can't wait to sit in McDonald's eating a messy Big Mac on that couch!
This looks pretty in pictures and it will look like a mess in person in less than 2 weeks.  You can not put white or cream upholstery in public areas. It is hard enough to keep clean with minimal adult use, let alone in a place where children frequent. The white tables and chairs will be stained in less than 6 months. The designers who came up with this obviously missed some schooling or a backbone to tell the executives they can't have white in their stores.
Good luck to McDonald's. I hope their revamping doesn't end up the way Jack in the Boxes did. (hint: it failed)

Late Easter Picture

I was invited to a wonderful brunch the day before Easter with some girlfriends. My job was to bring the colored eggs. The process did not go well. If you wanted to eat them because they weren't finished cooking. Or even touch them because the dye didn't set up correctly. No egg fights this year.

 

They looked okay and fared a bit better than my friends Peep centerpiece which melted about 5 minutes after she finished it.

 We both blame the seasonally warm weather.

Extraordinary Desserts

One of my favorite places for years to get dessert is Extraordinary Desserts. Just look at all the delicious cakes and treats! My favorite favorite is the au chocolate. The dessert menu is different every day, so I recommend popping in often. We popped in the other day for an afternoon treat/dinner. 

Can you guess what I had in this pot?

Birthday Tea! It smells and tastes just like fresh baked cookies. 

Perfect for the days when the store does not have any gluten free items.

Lucky for me, I also got to pair it with this:

 YUM!

Lemons

You don't see this in stores! 

It isn't a perfect lemon shape, but smells and tastes the same. 

Gotta love when nature takes its own course.

Happy Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day, here is a little quiz to find your carbon footprint.  

courtesy

 Mine is 6.6. What is yours?

This quiz isn't perfect though. Instead of asking how many bedrooms, they should be asking about square footage. That makes a big difference. Also they could be specific on the type of car you drive.

New Twist in Life

So not my face when cooking - courtesy of ifood.com

I do not enjoy being in the kitchen. The thought of kneading dough, meat or anything with my hands freaks me out. If I can't mix it with a spoon, I don't do it. I will open a package of meat with a knife and then dump it into the pan in one lump to avoid having to touch it. I enjoy reading cooking blogs and then passing on recipes I want to try to my better half to cook. Occasionally I will make something in the kitchen. Occasionally it is edible. My cooking adventures are legendary in my family. Every one of them has been faced with staring at a plate of who knows what and attempting to eat it in the face of being polite. Needless to say, one of my life goals has not been to learn to cook. Sadly this past month has created a large problem in my life goal of not cooking.
I have always had stomach issues and have not been able to eat diary for years. Recently my issues got worse and I went to the doctor. She told me I have to be on a gluten free diet.

I have been for a few weeks and it has cleared up my issues almost immediately. My only issue is sneak gluten. Seriously, people, it is in EVERYTHING! And this leads to my problem. I have to learn to cook. My better half has no interest in baking, so if I want to have bread, I will have to learn to make it myself. Or suck it up and pay $6+ for bad tasting pre-made bread. For now, I will make due, but look out world. I will at some point be entering the world of baking. Wish me, my kitchen and my oven good luck.

Photo of the Week

Photo of the Week

Clear winter view.

Photo of the Week

 

Natural vs Man Made deterrents.

Photo of the Week

A little bit of history.

Photo of the Week

The princess with her entourage.

Baby Blanket

Even though it is the year of the Rabbit, for me it is year of the Baby. I have 4 babies arriving this year and I couldn't be more excited about it!

One of our good friends is expecting her first baby and is a huge Padres fan so I made her a Padres fleece blanket. The backing is a light blue cloud pattern. I was so excited when I saw this in the store. They usually never have Padres fleece. It was almost like it knew I need some for a baby gift.

Fleece blankets are great because they are soft and durable. I know this will get lots of use. My friend and her husband went to a Padres game for their first date, asked for Padres Season tickets for their wedding and continue to go as much as possible. I can't wait to see their little one out at the Park at the Park.

My Snow Adventure

I haven't been in snow in about 15 years. So this weekend when it snowed 26" at the house I was staying at, it was an adventure. Chains, snow plows, 4am wake up calls and very sweet locals were involved.

Here is what the ground looked like on Friday when the snow started falling:

Here is the ground when we woke up on Sunday morning:

Lets just say, I like looking at the snow much more than living in it. I am super lucky to live in SoCal where we don't get white stuff falling from the sky 3-4 months out the year.

Photo of the Week

Photo of the Week

How I feel about Mondays.

Table Toppers

I recently hosted a small gathering of friends for dinner. Hosting dinner always poses a problem because we don't have an actual dining room table. Due to our inability to chose a table we both like and/or doesn't cost a small fortune. I have a taste for mid-century modern and won't buy knock-offs. Also we use the dining room for drafting and keep a large light table/flat file combo which C made years ago. It works like a charm.
We eat on TV tables every night. Since they aren't that exciting, I quickly spiffed them up with a 11x17 print of a pattern I took from the internet. Part of my being prompt and not over think things.
Here is the result:

I was even complimented on them because they thought they were place mats. I will for sure being doing this again, especially for the holidays.

Photo of the Week

 

 num num num num num

Happy New Year!

 

Welcome to the Year of the Rabbit!

May it bring you much luck and joy.

The year of the Rabbit is supposed to be much tamer than last year, which was the year of the Tiger.

For those of you having little ones this year, here is a link to their zodiac information: rabbit

Photo of the Week

Some pink/orange to perk up your Monday.

Photo of the Week

Learning my new camera setting while at the zoo.

Word of the Year

For several years, I have read great blogs by wonderful women who all choose a word for the year. It seems like a nice twist on New Year's resolutions, so I thought I would give it a try this year. It was hard to come up with a word for me, but after much thought, I have decided my word is going to be:

 prompt

I am usually paralyzed by my perfection issues. So much so that I don't get any project done that I start. Or often times, I don't even start the project for fear that it won't be as perfect as the image in my head. This has plagued me since childhood. My thesis was a nightmare of a time and even though I knew I had to finish it so I could graduate, I still put it off and put it off until I had to spend weeks up late every night to finish.  I can't even bare to open up my 300 page thesis these days. And it isn't bad, in fact the writing is surprisingly good, as well as my idea which due to the economy is very relevant these days.
Some of you might be wondering if you are such a perfectionist, you would get everything done and that you can't actually be a perfectionist.You are just lazy. It is hard to explain the anxiety I have from doing almost anything, including work which I could get fired from for sitting there paralyzed, so I figured this year I would work on less analyzing of everything and more of just doing. In December, I was very sick, but functional sick. You know the kind where you are sick, but not so sick you can't just lay there doing nothing. I got so much done because I was too sick to sit and worry about every little thing. It was quite refreshing to not have all the anxiety, although the coughing and mucus was not.

Here's to hoping  that working on being prompt helps me out this year.