New Years Eve Appetizer

Need an appetizer for New Years eve?  I tried this fabulous recipe on Christmas Eve.  Its quick and a great crowd pleaser. 

Ode-to-Chevre Bruschetta

{Sunset}

Heart-Soul-Love

My latest project involved a few fabrics from Amy Butlers new line called LOVE.  I used the polka dot from the heart line, and the darling navy flower pattern from the soul line. 

I drew my SIL (sister in law) for Christmas and knew she had been wanting a laptop bag for quite some time.  I didn't use a pattern and it turned out pretty well.  I put a removable flower pin on the front to spice it up at times in need.  Here is what I came up with.....

A few nights before Christmas, some of us 'couve girls got together for a wonderful dinner at Ciao Vito.  If you haven't been there I'd suggest it.  Its always a dependably good meal.  It was so fun to catch up with friends.  I can't wait to do it again.  I had my short lense on my camera and the lady was struggling taking a picture of us, so this is what we ended up with.  Not too bad, but you should have seen the other one she took! LOL

Christmas was great, Davis enjoyed the "party" (he thought we were having a party and thats why there were gifts) and has been non-stop with all his new toys since.

While my blog tends to always be chipper, I must be honest and say that I haven't enjoyed 2009 like most years.  2009 has had some great highlights, but Its had some big dissappointments: husband being laid off for 2 months (he has an awesome job now), grandfather passing, misscarrying (again), and a family friend having a less than positive diagnosis with his cancer...I feel my list could include a few others but I'll leave it as that.  With that said, I'm really looking forward to 2010!!  While some of those things seemed awful at the time some really positive things have/will come of what I mentioned below.  I know most everything happens for a reason and I'll carry that mantra with me into 2010.  Do you have something your looking forward to in 2010?

CHEERS!

Mini project

I have been wanting to make a camera strap cover for quite some time.  I winged it and am pleased with the results, hoping to find that mojo I lost so I can whip up a few more for family.

Didn't make it to volunteer Friday, unfortunately Davis got the flu so I stayed home to take care of him.  Then we all got it, not fun. 

Gearing up for Christmas

We jumped into Christmas mode rather quickly after Thanksgiving.  By the way, I made a killer side dish that I think might become a Thanksgiving staple, give it a try the next time your looking for a mashers recipe.  Baked Mashed Potatoes with Pancetta, Parmesean Cheese and Breadcrumbs.

Davis posing with his hand crafted Turkey

We met Tami Glem and her darling kids at PIR.  One night during the Holiday display they close it down to cars and people come to walk and many brought their dogs.  Tucker and Davis enjoyed running from one thing to another and it was fun to see an old friend.

Tami and Addie...I'm pretty sure Addie is a perfect child.

Davis graduated to "big boy" PJ's!  2 peice instead of footed.  We dress all the kids in our family in the same PJ's for when we all get together on Christmas eve, its so fun.

Tree hunting!  It was COLD! 

Not the best shot of B, but I loved how interested Davis was.

D's first gingerbread house, made at Craft Night at Davis's school.  He loved it, notice they use cereal instead of candy (they know just how to please us parents :)

Last night, I had a champagne tasting girls night.  We did an ornament exchange and this is what I got.....I love it!  I'm really into vintage inspired ornaments.  We even have some up from B's Granny.

I finally forced myself to sit down and sew the other night.  I'll post my latest mini project tomorow. I've got a few I really need to get working on...but I've lost my mojo.  I'm trying hard to find it, its just not coming as fast as I'd like.

I'm off to volunteer at the Oregon Food bank with a few of my work teammates tomorrow morning.  I haven't volunteered in a few years and am so excited to give back.  I encourage you to find a way to give back this holiday season.  A few easy ideas: donate a meal when your checking out at Whole Foods, take part of a toy drive, donate your blankets and coats to a local mission, or drop a few coins in the bell ringer outside the store.  Most things don't cost alot, but go miles.

Happy Holidays!

Sending out an APB!

I seem to be missing a few brain cells, if you find them, give me a holler!

As I was getting my shopping list ready for the week I came across a recipe I had cut out of Rachael Ray's magazine....I know, I can't stand her either.  But every once in awhile she has a recipe that looks good and isn't over the top disgusting sounding.

I read through the recipe and saw it said Meat Sauce.  Lacking these brain cells I figured it meant bottled meat sauce and added it to my list, I even went as far as putting pasta sauce by it because Brandon was offering to go to the grocery store and I figured I would be a step ahead of him.

Fast forward to tonight...I'm looking at the pictures and I notice this seems to have more ground beef than the "meat sauce" I bought...hmmm better run to the store and add that to my bottled meat sauce.  I start to mix things together and I notice that meat sauce in her recipe seems to be bolded and looks like a link! AHHHH I hurry to get online and see if its posted because I didn't tear out the "meat sauce" recipe too!

Found it online and didn't have anything it called for nor the time.  So I improv'd.  And you know it still tasted good.  So I would imagine the next time I try this I'll do the real meat sauce recipe and compare.  If its no different then I'm sticking with bottled meat sauce.  This working mom needs shortcuts!

Men will like this one because its hearty.

White Bean Stew recipe

Meat sauce recipe

{rachael ray}

If you want to try my version:
- Purchase a bottle of meat sauce
- Brown .75lbs of ground beef and add to bottle
- only use 1- 2 t of Herbes de Provence vs. the 4 she recommends
- top with Parmesan cheese

Seems I've been doing more cooking these days than sewing.  I'll have to do something about that!

P.S: does anyone know where the spellcheck button went on the new layout?!

New Moon

I'm a fan of the Twilight series, not sure how it all happened but earlier this year I read all 4 books...quickly.  It amazes me the wide range in ages of those who are captivated by the series.

Last night I joined some work peeps for a little party which included appetizers, Twilight showing and then off to see New Moon.  It was way better than Twilight, I'd recommend it.  I couldn't help but feel very old at times throughout the movie when the young girls in front, in back, OK all around me were giggling anytime Jacob came on the screen or Bella and Edward kissed.  Funniest part was a few young girls in front of us in line mentioned that Edwards body was really gross....when we saw his body I cracked up...it was great! However these young things don't realize thats what an older mans body looks like! HAHA not like Jacob....they have a rude awakening waiting for them as they get older.

I made some Werewolf  Kibble to bring as an appetizer and then made everyone an individual bag to sneak into the movie.  Very easy, very tasty.  It was a hit, so I'd suggest it to any of you who are finding themselves enjoying New Moon with their girlfriends.

Recipe here, label here.  I substituted 2 cups, of the 9 total, with cocoa puffs.  Served perfectly in a dog bowl.

T$

I'm a planner...that comes as no shocker to those of you who know me well. So each week I plan about 5 meals to eat at home and then we have about 2 nights to "figure it out"...which translates into left overs, scrapping something together or going out.

This week I was feeling like tackling Tortilla Soup. Its something I haven't made before, I thought I'd share it with you because it was GOOD!

Tortilla Soup

{Sunset.com}

This recipe is easy, so I won't go into details on the struggles I faced tonight making dinner...like hot soup flying out of the blender or forgetting the limes and it tasting like tomato soup NOT tortilla soup.  In the end it turned out great, but limes make a huge difference in this recipe so if you don't have them send your hubby to the store! 
 
A few things I should mention...I bought a roasted chicken from the store and shredded it up, it saved time but you could also use Just Chicken from Trader Joes.  I don't typically like cilantro, but use it, it really tastes great.  Don't skimp on toppings, they are yummy.  And lastly...don't fill your blender up too full when blending it....it could result in a huge mess!
 
Enjoy!

Family Pictures

Its that time of the year...capturing the Simmon's family on film (or SD card) just in time for Christmas cards.

My girlfriend Erica, from Life in a loft, gracisouly took our pictures on one of the last sunny perfect days this fall.  We had a great time wandering downtown in the Pearl. And the pictures turned out better than I could have hoped for. 

These were a few fun(ny) ones she sent to me

Like father like son!

Visit her website to see a few more captured smiles.

To compliment our newly captured pictures, I entered a giveaway on Todays Creative Blog, and won.  Take a look at the card makers site, Announcing You. Which is your favorite or which should we do as Christmas cards?

Maybe next year

I realize its past Halloween, but I tried a new recipe that was share worthy!  Its called Candy Corn Cookie Bark.  Remember this next year if your looking for a fun, easy, crowd pleaser.

Candy Corn Cookie Bark

{photo: yourhomebasedmom.com}

Recipe and step by step pictures can be found here.

Mea lanakila

Thats Hawaiian for WINNER!

I figured I would get in the Hawaiian spirit since Brandon and I just arrived in Maui for our 5 year anniversary!  This is our second time to Maui, but our 4th time to Hawaii.  Its our favorite island.  We are staying in beautiful Wailea.  We've got some new places to try and I'm so excited to be here without a plan.

{ Pi }

Here was Pi's holiday tradition, which I love and hope to start this year,

Growing up my favorite Piland family tradition was a week or so before Christmas we would get dressed up, go out for dinner then go shopping for our Christmas ornament (a new one for Cale and I each year), afterward we would drive around and look at all the Christmas lights. I'm excited to start that tradition with the Flynn family!

Everyone had great ideas and traditions, many of which I'd like to incorporate into my family this year and in the coming years.  Pi, start putting those Holiday recipes together so you can shake your tail feather in your new apron. And of course I love to see pics of my peeps sporting their prizes

And one last view from our deck

Aloha!

100!!

100 posts since I started this blog and I'm still loving it!  I've been a bit busy these last few weeks, but I promise I'm back in full force.   I have some projects that are already started and I have some great recipes to share.   I'm even thinking about selling a few things...more on that soon.

Before I get into the happs, I think its about time to do the GIVEAWAY!  I thought you all might need a Holiday Apron since Christmas is right around the corner.

To enter a chance to win, leave me a comment about your favorite Christmas tradition.  If you don't have a blog, email me and i'll post your comments.  Giveaway ends Friday, 10/6.  I'll be on my way to Hawaii but never fear, I'll have my laptop with me!

Or you can double wrap the ties

I'll just post a few pics from the past three weekends, 2 of which consisted of GIRLS weekends away!

My first weekend away was to run the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Fran.  I went with my girlfriends from work who I run with.  We ate at some fabulous restaurants, Nopa, Barney's Burgers after the race for burgers and champagne, and Bread and Cocoa for one of quite possibly the best latte I've had.  We also ventured to the Ferry Building and had a great breakfast at Boulette's Larder.  I had no idea there were so many great shops and small cafe's in the Ferry Building  But wait, although we had great food all weekend we went for the race.  It was wonderful, the weather was perfect and there were over 20,000 women running it! Unbelievable, I even got teared up at the start because it was so powerful.  The course was really hard but worth it at the end when the hot fireman were standing there in tuxedo's holding tiffany boxes!  Can't beat that!

Niketown had all 20,000 runners names on the wall, you can't see it, but obviously thats my name.  One of my only pics from the weekend.

Next weekend away was with my college girlfriends.  We headed to Flagstaff for Homecoming...what a GREAT time!  We partied like we were still in college, ate fast food at the end of the night and laughed the entire weekend.  There ended up being about 30 of us there and it was like we never left.  Definitely one of the highlights of my year so far.

And finally Halloween.  We had a good time celebrating Halloween Friday night at my parents with all the kids getting dressed up and pretending to trick or treat to see what treats Grandma and Grandpa had...boy were they shocked.  It was like Christmas! So much fun.  Actual Halloween was laid back as B was at the Duck game (YAY DUCKS!).  The costume was so fitting for the big win!

BTW, I must have been gone long enough not to realize that there are changes here with putting in posts...its ANNOYING! I hope they work the kinks out...yuck!

Catch up & vote (a little long)

Whoa, I don't like to be away from the blog world for so long. But, life simply gets in the way sometimes. I thought I would spend a little time catching up with you all.

The main reason for being away for awhile has been work. We just launched a cancer program for our employees. Part of this meant partnering with LIVESTRONG, which was an obvious partnership for Nike, and creating a program that consisted of 3 ways to get resources and support for anyone touched by Cancer... on the web, through the phone and LIVESTRONG SurvivorCare network, and creating a resource room in the Wellness Center. In the process I was fortunate enough to present my case to the CEO, Mark Parker. What a wonderful man, one of my greatest times here at Nike was to meet with him and bring this program to life and of course seeing everyone pitch in to evolve the program in just 3 short weeks.

Below are a few pics of the actual space. We kicked the program off on 10/2, LIVESTRONG day, we filled 6 rolling walls with tribute cards employees filled out during the week, it was so touching to see what everyone wrote and how cancer has affected everyone.

Ok, moving on....In the midst of my crazy work hours I had signed up for a Quilt class. It was alot of fun and I think I like quilting, although I'm not hooked. Reason...you have to hand bind the border?! WTH?! I'm not a huge fan of that process, it just takes too long. I made a small square, and I still haven't picked the needle and thread up to finish it, I can't imagine doing a huge quilt. BUT, I did love putting the fabrics together and seeing how it all works itself out.

We had a weekend trip to Reno during my time away from you all. It was better than expected. The downtown, well lets not go there, lets spend a minute to talk about the good things. The suburbs are cool, lots of hiking/walking trails and tons of people on their bikes. We ate at some fabulous restaurants, and had good champers (thats champagne folks). It was nice to get away with the inlaws (who are moving there) and with hubby sans Davis.

Last but not least, I'm on the hunt for brown boots. I'd love to wear them on the outside of my jeans like all the cute girls do. I bought 2 pair the other night and need to decide if I should keep them or just keep searching....friends I need your help.

Let me start by saying I love honesty, it doesn't hurt my feelings. So there you have it, be honest and tell me which of these two look good, or if they don't give me some suggestions on others to try. This style might not even look good on me, because I'm short, and I can accept that. Ohh and why the heck do my skinny jeans bag at my knees?! WTH?

* side note, B thinks I'm officially crazy "why are you taking pictures of your shoes?" *

Next post is 100!!! Giveaway time!

Meaty

I can't believe I'm writing about this...but lets talk Meatloaf folks.

If you can get past the part that its a big ol' pile of cooked meat, than keep reading.

I found this recipe a few years ago, and if you could see it you'd realize that its been well loved. The page is permanently crinkled, there is a big stain in the left corner reaching towards the picture, and it has a few rips in it. Despite is haggled ways, I've made sure to keep a secure hold on it.

Its quick, has great flavor, and tastes good the next day. I made it last night and while enjoying it again for lunch, I felt the need to share it will you.

{photo: cooking light}

The recipe can be found here. Enjoy.

2

My little guy turns 2 today! I can't hardly believe its been 2 years. I'm sure I'll say that every year he has a birthday. Its so cliche, but it really does go fast. He brings us so much laughter and sunshine!

The kid is pretty darn funny these days. He loves to sign to himself in the car, his favorite sentences lately are "follow me" or "hey, look at that!", and can't get enough of playing sports. He even slides across the carpet and yells homerun!

We've had a few small family parties for him:

Party at the in laws

Party at home

I'll leave you with this picture....yes they are a delicious as they look!

Stella

A few months ago, B came home and told me he thought of a girls name to add to the "list"....it was Stella. I liked it! Little did he know that is what Tori Spelling named her daughter, but I don't tell him these things. You see, B and I always find names we like and add them to the "list". Lately its only been girls names, and no folks, I'm not preggo.

Patty Young over at Mod Kid was having a giveaway, she was asking for girl names for her new patterns coming out soon. I LOVE her fabric and thought I'd give it a whirl....what do you know, she picked Stella. Since I don't make little girl outfits, she is mailing me some fabric....I'm stoked! I'll share some yummy pics with you when it arrives.


Ohh and this post 96th post is coming direct to you from Shuttle Express, click on the link and check it out! Its nice!


4 more posts until the giveaway...I know hurry it up already!

Latest project

With my hubby back from China, I was able to get some shots taken of my latest sewing project. If you been with me for awhile, you have heard me talk about the blog Tie One One. The most recent submission is for plaid. You can have plaid anywhere on your apron, while plaid isn't my favorite, it is very in this year.

I fell in love with the green Joel Dewberry line and had to use it, so I found a plaid to go with it. I was trying to figure out how to use all three of these together and then I came across this darling blog and this great apron pattern. It was a blast to make and I'll surely use it again soon.

This apron is for my fun friend Erica. She is in Paris right now....I know I'm jealous too :)