WHOOP!!!

Well this morning S. received an email from UCLA ..... She is in!!! Road trip is a must now!! We will have to head down to LA and Santa Barbara in May. The decision will be made by the 1st of June. All of our lives will be changing soon.....

WAY TO GO S.!!!

YIPPEEE!! GREAT NEWS!!

Well S. has heard from 3 of her schools... Here she is deciding will it be close to home with a "fabulous" Farmers Market on Saturdays, bike friendly and a Black Bear diner!

OR will it be beach side at her "FAVORITE" restaurant SAMBOS!

The final decision has not been made but she got the news today that she has been accepted to UC Santa Barbara!!! This is her first choice... We are so happy for her and very excited that she got in!! She has also been accepted to UC Davis (her backup) and Chico State (her backup to the back up). We are waiting to hear from 2 other schools before she makes her choice! We will not know until the end of the month on the other 2... But she did a little happy dance when she received the news today!

Of course when she told me we were walking around Pottery Barn.... And

she nonchalantly says" Oh by the way I got into Santa Barbara ".... WHATS UP WITH THAT!! I let a great big whoop!! And called T. immediately... Of course he did not answer his phone!!! UGH!! But he did call back while we were still there and was also VERY happy for her!

Unfortunately she has to work tonight... But a celebration will be had soon!!

Have a great week!!

Let the Easter cooking begin!!

T - here....

Nothing shall stop the cooking!

We will start off with Spencer in her own Das Booot. She is suffering from a heel spur (pump bump) that will not go away. Sometimes the boot helps - sometimes not so much. She may be heading off for a second opinion.

She pushed through in her cooking - making the wonderful cake below.

Ricotta cheese cake with citrus compote.

Of course the spinach Gnocchi had to be made.

And to that Kate's special sauce - YUMMMMMMM!!!

Yes that is a big meaty rib eye that has been simmering in the sauce for a few hours.

Kate is such a great cook!

It will all be topped off with Parmesan that we purchased while in San Diego in the little Italy district.

San Diego Fun!!!

T. had a business trip down to San Diego a couple weeks ago... So of course I had to tag along. While his was laboring away in meetings I was visiting old haunts and some wonderful new ones! I do miss living there.... Maybe we will one day again! T. was done Friday afternoon so we took the ferry across to Coronado. Rented bikes and rode around the island. Ice cream was had at the Hotel Del and we wound up the day with a wonderful dinner in Little Italy.

Here I am on my not so sweet ride... But then again I am in San Diego and the weather is "PERFECT" , so I should not complain! Right? But my highney missed Gigi's seat!

This is T. on his much sweeter ride than his Schwinn at home! S. and I are a bit embarrassed to be seen with his bike..... Since our bikes are way hipper then his!

Hello blog... long time no see!!!

It has been awhile since we have posted.... Bad blogger! And it was one of my resolutions to try and post once a week! All is well... January and February just flew by.

Lets see January was Mine and T.'s 20th Anniversary! Can you believe it? We can't! We went out to a great dinner at Mulvaney's which is one our favorite restaurant's. We tried to get away but just no time...

February was pretty uneventful... I guess some of you follow T. on his facebook so maybe there is more info there.

And here we are now in March... And T. brought me home a "gift" of wait.... the FLU!! I was in bed for most of the week and have not been this ill in 14 years! Since we moved into this house, I cannot believe it!

The photo is of Francis.... The "parking lot" turkey at my work and he really LOVES my car!

A post would not be a post without a photo of S. Here she is posing for a friend of mine in a "re-engineeared" Linsey Vonn Olympic hat! Yes she came up with the pattern and made it! Some friends are pretty impressive! And of course S. always feels she is #1.

April will be a big month in the Big. household S. will be making her decision on what 4 year she will be attending. She has been accepted to her backup to the backup of the backup State school. Yes the one she does not want to attend unless all else fails... which is not happening. April 28th at 6 something she will log into a website of the last school to see if she has been accepted... Then her decision must be made... letter of intent has to be submitted the beginning of May! She has applied to 4 UC's and 2 state. And we are keeping our fingers crossed she gets into the one she wants! S. has worked really hard, has great grades and will have her A.A. in May so we are not really concerned except for the fact the the schools here in CA are cutting back so much. We will keep you posted on any developments.

Well last but not least.... here is a blanket that I made for a dear friends daughters baby boy that was born this morning! Welcome to the world Landon!

WOW - where did the days go! Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

2009 has been a busy year full of fun and adventure - it sure went fast.

2010 will be a better year for all of us!!

Spencer is soon headed off to a four year college having completed her AA degree at the local JC.

She is going to have a lot of fun and learning ahead of her.

Her new MacBook with MSOffice should help.

As well as the warm and cozy sweat pants, earrings and all the other terrific gifts she has received.

Felted - shown above with her fancy knitting bowl - (yes I've found that there is nothing out there that can not be encompassed by yarn or knitting - I even recently saw soap that had "felting" around it to give it that extra scrubability - nuts!!!) She also received from Santa a new needle kit from knit picks - and one gift that shall still remain hidden as it has not yet arrived (darn international shipping!). She also received a cook book - but - given all the knitting related activities I'm afraid Julia Child is going to have to take a back seat.

And Santa was good to me as well - I received the gift of something not having to do with work. A few days in SF at "Cheese School" - which should be wonderfully fun - as I will be there with my own cheese squeeze - Kate. The clothes and other gifts - including the Wii game console from "Money Bags Spencer" to Cathie and I - are all very wonderful. (We were both in total shock - although I plan on still kicking her butt in bowling - and getting in some better Yoga shape with Cathie.)

But the best gift is the same one that I hope each of you had - time with family and friends - time to reflect on how blessed we all are to be happy and healthy - time to think about all the blessings that are yet to come.

Merry Christmas!

It was a wonderful Turkey day !!!

Here is the chef!

S Made a wonderful lunch/dinner.

The menu was:

Sage butter roasted turkey w/ cider gravy

Sourdough stuffing w/sausage,apples,and golden raisins

Potato and autumn vegetable hash

It was all very YUMMY!

Oh and I made popovers.... I know it was a stretch for me! I think I will be passing the apron on to S for the rest of the Holidays!

We all hope that you all had a "Thankful" Day... And you were not one of the people at Toys R Us at midnight!

Will post soon with info on our trip down to Santa Barbara.... I know some of you are T's friends on Facebook so you know about some of it! I went down and took a class from Jared Flood of Brooklyntweed infamy... I have followed his blog for a couple years. He is an amazing knitter and photographer. To say the least I had a GREAT time!

Guess who is the big 19!!!!

It is S's Big day!!!

Here she is at the San Diego Zoo last Friday... Her B-day gift from us! She and D flew down for the day and had a great time!

Well it has been awhile!!

Here is S. with her book bag that we talked about a few posts ago! We found the "car" fabric while we were on vacation. In Ashland Oregon... good times!

PHEOBE LOOK AT MAMA!!
PHEOBE LOOK AT MAMA!! I WANT TO TAKE A PICTURE!!
PHEOBE ARE YOU GOING TO LOOK......
I am thinking that answer is NO! We still love her though! She seems to be doing well even with her Cushings disease.

GAME WAS ON IN THE BIG HOUSE!!!!!
Cleaning was done!
And much CHEATING!!!
YES I am talking to you!! This is suppose to be an individual competion!! NO helping out the "GIRLFRIEND" D.!
OH and also T. got into the cheating with his use of the Halloween costume he wore to work!!
The power tools were also taken out.... S had quite a lot of help on her pumpkin!
OH! Carmen how I thought for sure we would win this year!! But it was not to be!
Even your gourd nose did not help!
D's masterpiece!
S's in all of its glory!
How cute are they??
This is the aftermath! Pumpkin guts everywhere!

Last Sunday was much better and I have gotten over my loss on the pumpkin front! T. received the most compliments on his so he won.... (CHEATER! with the use of costume) Here he is with his precious taking photo's of the vineyards in Napa. We had a great time the weather was a perfect 75! Ice cream and coffee were had at Oxbow marketplace in downtown Napa. It is right by were Copia used to be. Too bad it closed because they would have been a perfect mix! Rumor has it though that the Food Network might take over the locale and film shows there! What fun that would be!
A Vineyard... Love the Fall colors... Can I live there T????
Oh and here is Precious #2.. Yes that is me waiting while he is photo taking with #1
I say we cannot compete with this guy's Halloween decorations!! So I am not even going to try. Maybe we will have to cruise by around the holidays to see if he goes all out then! This was in St. Helena of all places.
Well that is it folks.. This weekend had nothing to write about.. We did finish putting up the crown molding in the den and kitchen. T did a great job! Especially around the radius corners! What a great guy to have around the house! Even though he cheats with the pumpkin carving! I swear I am not bitter.....

Butter Sunday

The morning started off with Fritatas - these were Halloween Fritatas with some purple potatoes. Okay - Fritatas is really Spanish for kitchen sink so they just happened to be in the fridge with all the other needed ingredients - butter, onion, red bell peppers, yellow bell peppers from the garden, cheese, as well as some carnitas al pastor (mildly spicy pork).

Going with the halloween theme - there happened to be a potato that ended up looking like a heart. I gave that slice of the final product to Cathie with a kiss - which I guess is better than a vampire neck hickey. At least it didn't look like Nixon - I would not have known what to do with that!

We ended up going out on a bike ride at around noon, off to Whole Foods for some grocery items. (Having ended my 30 day protest against Whole Foods for the stupid comments from their president about health care. It never ceases to amaze me how the biggest asses seem to run companies - he had been investigated earlier by the SEC for making disparaging posts about a competitor (Wild Oats) under an assumed name while trying to drive a bargain with them. You have so much potential to do good - and instead - you choose to be a jerk. Rant Rant Rant - I'm done now - okay - just for now.)

While there we picked up some plantains for an afternoon snack - a little more butter, honey, cinnamon, and vanilla - to be combined with ice cream.

With all the wet weather the ponds and streams in the area had filled up bringing back the ducks. They are right along the bike path and seem to be very used to people riding or walking by. Wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that they get feed regularly through out the day by "concerned citizens". I believe they shout "Let them eat bread" - as it gets closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas I'm certain it will be replaced with the more frequent "Off with their heads". (Hey it's better than the "Let them eat Quackers" joke I was going to tell.)

One of them tried to stare me down!

(Okay - he did win - he was big - and then he puffed up - I ran away screaming like a little girl. Or that's what C said - I thought it was more like a mature woman than a little girl. And not so much screaming.... okay - it was like a little girl - but he was puffy....)

Oddest moment of the day - when riding away from the pond C and I saw something in the corner. It was moving kind of funny and we couldn't tell what exactly it was - ended up being a little gardner snake swimming in the pond.

Well that's about all the excitement for this week.