i, delena...

waddling along

2012-01-26T21:32:00.000-08:00

At almost 24 weeks pregnant I am still surprised every time I happen to catch a glimpse of my reflection. With my petite frame, I am showing quite a lot. Yesterday my boss (a man) asked me if I was sure there was only one in there. *Awkward*

I have started knitting on bart again. I've decided to stick to little things that I know I can do quickly and well. I'm already on my second pair of baby legwarmers. They are so easy; easier than hand warmers even because there's no need for a thumb gusset. Just knit knit knit and sometimes purl purl but that's it, round and round I go. The most challenging part is that I have no clue how big babies are when they are brand new. So my first pair and the one I'm currently working on are drastically different in size. Luckily since it's a girl her dolls could eventually use them. :)

These are made with cashmere/wool (green) and wool (grey stripes). My first time knitting with cashmere and I enjoyed it.

They look boyish because of the dark grey I chose for the stripes. I should've chosen a lighter grey. And it could've used either one more or one less stripe so it's not so adidas-ish hm?

My lighting is bad so you can't tell what color it really is. The lighter color is actually a sea-foamy green. I'm using just this color to make the second pair so I can use up all the yarn. I learned that baby things don't require much yardage. Good excuse to buy the good stuff now. :P

I kind of want a pair for myself now.

i see london, i see france

2011-12-23T09:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Blog,

Guess what? We're having a baby! Words cannot explain the fullness in our hearts that this growing little person has brought. We are so, so grateful. The outpouring of love from family and friends has really helped to settle and reassure us that we’re truly not alone. There are moments when I feel others are more excited. Which is awesome. We’ve gotten past the terrified/freaked out stage and are now more excited/nervous. Just five and half more months and then baby L. Tran will be here!

As much as I want to craft it up and make all kinds of baby things, I have been so lazy. I don’t know why I’m lacking so much motivation but hoping that this trimester will see me better days and more energy to do the things I want.

We’re heading out to London and Paris soon and I’m so excited to get to do this with D. He has always talked about wanting to go to Europe and he’s worked so hard that finally I thought we’d better go now or wait 18 years. Some parts of the trip might
be a challenge, like me having to resist coffee, tea, AND CHEESE, but it’ll be so fun. D downloaded a French speaking app on his phone and it’s been hilarious (and a flashback) to hear him ecouter and repeter. Can’t wait!

Au revoir for now, mes amis. I'll leave you with a picture of our little helpers who got in trouble for not being very helpful...

football season has started...

2011-09-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

more importantly, fantasy football has started. this year, both my brothers and dang are in the same league so you can imagine the obsessive conversations that come up at dinner. i hear numbers and names thrown out and i try to keep up but usually get bored and start grooming the dogs. cheers to fall, football and free sundays for me!

today we're having our downstairs bathroom fixed (finally). we're having tiles put in and replacing the toilet. i was just told that it'll take three days. this is why i don't enjoy huge projects, even when i'm not the one working. so far this morning, it's cutting into my chicken pho simmering time.

this weekend. i'm excited for this weekend. having a mini beauty day on saturday and then visiting with an old college friend on sunday.

have a lovely weekend. and remember, if you're gonna eat organic, cut your fruit first. i keep learning the hard way.

and just like that, goodbye summer

2011-09-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

Can you believe how quickly summer went? It's been a while since I checked in here. My computer was/is bonkers and I started temping a non-teaching job. I thought my comp was fried but Dang was able to revive it somehow... except now all my favorite programs are missing. At least it works, I guess. I became unhealthily frustrated by the teaching job outlook (lack thereof) that I had to find work somewhere/anywhere else. I start my permanent job on Monday and, to be honest, I'm excited. As much as I loved teaching, I hated that I had to work so hard to find a job after everything that I'd put into it. But don't worry, that ship hasn't sailed yet - it's just harboring... unless my 3 year extension doesn't get approved. Then I don't know what kind of analogy I would use. Maybe sunken? Taken over by pirates? Swallowed up by the big bad sea?

Anyways. I love that I'll have an income again; subbing sure was tough on me. Do you know how sad my closet looks? Now D works to support us and I'll be working to support my shoe habit. Fair right? What's yours is mine, what's mine is mine? :P Not really but it's fun to pretend. We're actually hoping to save up for smaller but better things - no, not a baby, but more on that later!

For now, enjoy some of these things that kept me busy this summer.

...such as nail polish shopping with Wendy.

And then painting our nails fun colors, including throwing gold glitter over everything.

Dang and i celebrated our one year anniversary where we shared a mini replica of our wedding cake and then went camping.

I went on a girls weekend getaway to Point Reyes where we hiked and had a picnic on a beach. (I still think about that cheese rolled in espresso.)

And most recently, creating these two pillow cases which was actually a quilt project gone awry. Too impatient to remeasure squares I had incorrectly cut, I scrapped the entire idea and split up my quilt top to make these instead. I enjoy them but can't say that it's my best work.

I'm glad I requested a later start date. It gives me time to do things I'd never normally do like iron the bedding and think up skirt patterns to sew.

Next up: bathroom remodeling at the end of this week which will be no fun at all. But it'll give me material for another project I'm working on which has sadly been pushed to the very back back burner. (More on that later too!)

Have a great week!

lion... umbrella

2011-07-13T16:32:00.001-07:00

I must say, Isabel's book turned out nicer. Having two more letters in her name made her book more substantial. That, and the fact that I started working on Luke's book first not knowing how long it'd take. Which naturally means I rushed it and cut a few corners... like only giving him the capital letters. My bad, Luke, I'll make it up to you when you're old enough to eat candy.

ice cream... sailboat...

2011-07-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

I attended a baptism for double cousins last weekend. And I only found out they were double cousins when the priest asked where the ba ngoai (maternal grandma) and ba noi (paternal grandma) were, and one lady stood up and said she was both! Confusing? Yea, I was completely confused during the rest of the baptism as I tried to sort it out in my head. Turns out Isabel's dad is Luke's mom's first cousin and Isabel's mom is Luke's dad's sister. Get it?

Anyway. I made books for the babies.

2011-06-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

dear blog,

i have been extremely busy, yes. but also, i've been lazy too! today is my first real day of "vacation" though so i finally have time. lots of time. an indefinite amount of time until someone *cross my fingers* calls for an interview. this morning i applied to 5 jobs - 3 teaching and 2 non-teaching. hopefully one of those files gets opened.

with the purchase of my beautiful and beloved white iphone, productivity has been stagnant. i do what i have to do and then it's back to games and more games. sigh. but it was so easy! for example, {report card, report card, words with friends, hanging with friends, report card} was way easier than {report card, report card, pull weeds, report card}. know what i'm sayin?

anyway. now that there are no more report cards or lesson planning, i have time to get some things done around here. we have such a long to-do list that i promised to get to once i sent out some resumes. that will commence tomorrow for now it's {iphone, kindle, make dinner}.

happy summer! wish you could be here to smell this sweet thai basil from our garden.

{hugs}

a trip to the antique fair

2011-05-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

There's an antique fair (flea market) every first Sunday in Alameda. I think I've mentioned it before long, long ago. Dang and I finally had an opportunity to go this month. It was a beautiful day (and we were not prepared for the heat).

There's something for everyone.

And tons of people pushing karts around.

We had one too. :)

We were looking for a vintage mirrored or glass tray and ice bucket to go with our Mad Men inspired beverage cart. Sadly, snaking through more than 20 rows of vendors later, we didn't see what we were looking for. But determined to not leave empty handed, here's what we did find...

A silver platter that could sit on the top tray of our cart. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet. We may just use it as a serving tray. This particular vendor was asking $50 for it and Dang asked for a better price. The man then flipped the platter over to show us the back:

And we were all, "is that supposed to mean something to us?" We are antique-shopping newbies so we had no clue. We probably offended him. :[ A quick google search shows that this tray is worth anywhere between $20-100+. Who really knows. We ended up giving the guy $30 and are pretty happy with it.

I had also been wanting a dresser tray since the last time we were at the antique fair and I missed a great opportunity to get one. I'd been pining for one since. So we passed by several trays before I finally got this one from a nice lady in a rustic booth. I learned that if you like something you should just get it because it'd be hard to find particular booths/items again (the faire is huge).

This vanity/dresser tray was marked for $24 and I got it for $20. I am not as savvy of a bargainer as Dang but it felt good to "save" $4! This one is from the 1930s.

I like it a lot and want another one. I think it'd make a perfect gift.

beverage cart

2011-05-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

Dang and I (and probably some of you, how could you not be?!) are huge fans of the show Mad Men and every time we watched it we'd want to smoke and drink. I know, that's actually a bad thing. Well, we never did the smoking thing but we did enjoy sitting down to gimlets and gin&tonics with Don Draper. Oh Don.

Anyway. I've said before that we were inspired by the show to get a bar cart of our own. I knew that was one of the must haves for our living room. We were very patient and after a few failed craigslist inquiries, we were finally successful.

We picked this one up from a couple in the Mission (SF). It's originally from Bombay Company and we got it for $50!!!!!! I know it's not polite to talk about prices of things, but I think it's okay to talk about craigslist and hidden gems. ;) The cart is actually more whimsical than I'd like but I drove all the way to SF on a Monday for it that we just had to buy it. I'm also not in love with the wine rack portion and am going to see if I can yank it off. All in all though, a really good deal from a family that outgrew its practicality.

dining room blinds

2011-05-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

I'd been wanting to replace the dining room blinds for a while. My dad gave us the bamboo roman shades that used to hang in the kitchen at the home that Nina and I shared a few years ago. That was back in August. Eight months later, they're in!

Here's what it looked like before. It's not bad, it was just kinda boring and didn't really fit our new dining table. I finally tidied up and took a picture of the "new" blinds today. The lighting is different because today is such a gloomy day. :(

Hanging them was such a pain. While I was screwing and drilling until my arms wanted to fall off I realized why it took so long for me to install these. For some reason, the window frame on the left side had a thicker/harder wall and it took forever to get the screws in. I remembered that I'd tried to install these before and the reason I'd given up so easily; I must've started on the left side last time. Blah. Glad they're in though. What do you think?

And in the spirit of recycling, here are the old blinds in our upstairs room.

This was a project I did all by myself - probably the reason it was so difficult. Yes, I am taking all the credit for it.

hokey poke

2011-05-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, on a whim, I decided I wanted to make Hawaiian poke. We picked up a tuna filet and made it happen. It's so simple and I had all the other ingredients already. You pretty much combine soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and onions. Toss then enjoy over rice. I also sprinkled some furikake seasoning over the rice and added sriracha sauce for an extra kick.

p.s. the tuna turned grey after a couple of days in the fridge. I did not eat it then.
p.p.s. that's not to say that the greyness prevented someone else whose name starts with a "d" from eating it.

basil spaghetti

2011-05-10T20:11:00.000-07:00

It takes a lot of effort to plan meals and then actually prep and cook it. Long story short, I am not cooking this week. Because of Mother's Day, we didn't do a dinner exchange this week which means someone has to cook. And because of the [long story short] Dang will be doing all the planning, prepping, and cooking. But I was nice enough to suggest the first meal.

He followed a Real Simple recipe and made basil spaghetti with cheesy broiled tomatoes (except he used penne because we had no spaghetti, sadly). Extra cheesy.

He did a good job and it took him a little less than one hour.

like a raisinette... but better

2011-05-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

Our school district is celebrating teacher appreciation week this week. Yesterday I got hand picked flowers from my kids and today I received a bunch of yummy treats. Marshmallow treats, cake pops, apples... My favorite?

Have you had these? So good.

Today they were all, "do you know why we've been so nice and good to you? --because we like you!" Hmm, let's pause and think about the recess the whole class just owed me for not following directions.

tidbits

2011-05-07T12:17:00.000-07:00

Last Monday morning one of the girls came to class with a full set of blue french tip press-on-nails. By the afternoon she had maybe three nails left.

On Thursday, while the kids were playing Math games on the floor, I watched as one boy walks over to the girl, throws something at her and says, "here's your nail! It's gross!"

I had to walk back to my desk, stare at my computer and pretend that I was laughing at an email. Teaching is so rewarding, not because of the difference you could be making, but because of the small kicks you get on a daily basis!

tidbits

2011-05-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

kid 1: (pointing to picture of man in book) who is this?
kid 2: it's abraham inkling. duh!!

pet rescue

2011-05-07T11:54:00.000-07:00

Pet Smart might change their return/exchange policy because of our dogs. Toys don't last very long in this household, especially the cylindrical ones that fit snuggly in our pups' mouths. For the toys that we have receipts for, we've been able to exchange with no questions asked; they're really nice there. The toys that were gifts, however, could only receive at-home triage.

Such as the case this morning when I finally had some time to resuscitate a few of Zoe's and Peppers' victims.  Hole in the pig, skunk tail fallen off, and ripped blue guy with a missing squeaky.

Good as new.

The worst one to work on by far was this little blue guy.  He was/is so crusty and smelly.  It's a toy that Toby didn't like but is a favorite in among this crowd.  Z and P fight over it all the time.

So much so that we went and bought another one.  And believe it or not, this pink one is a replacement for another little guy that didn't last in our home.

html-ing, not really

2011-05-07T10:51:00.000-07:00

testing my new font

...failed

Are there turkeys in Thailand?

2011-05-02T17:48:00.000-07:00

For dinner exchange this week I made pad kee mao and used ground turkey as the meat. It turned out pretty delicious... well, the batches that didn't burn.

This turns into dinner. So easy. Who knew?

Here's the first (good) batch. I had to cook in several batches because we don't own a wok and our pans are too small for all the fresh ingredients which start out massive. Once everything cooks down, it fits nicely.

Inevitably this happens when I fry noodles in a regular pan. The first batch came out perfectly but in the middle of frying the second batch, I had to scoop everything out and into a nonstick pan. It was too late, though. The second batch of noodles tasted smoky. Ah. Subsequent batches were okay in the nonstick pan. I think I did four batches altogether which made about two large pyrex dishes worth.

flowers from my favorite florists & a new beverage cart

2011-04-25T22:21:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I visited my parents and noticed that cala lilies were blooming in their backyard. These lilies remind me of when I lived in the city and hated law school, and my parents would bring them to me to make me feel better. Obviously it didn't work well enough to keep me there. But I still enjoy these simple flowers which I think add freshness to any room. Here they are on our newly acquired dining table... it only took 9 months!

These pink roses also came from my parents' garden. I love the way homegrown roses grow every which way. And I love pink roses over red ones. But I love tulips the most. :) Our new beverage cart is another craigslist find and it was inspired by our love of the tv show Mad Men. Being that it's only about 3 hours old to us, it's still beverage-less and will probably remain so until we clean and polish it.

We've done a decent amount of traveling since we got married and I feel like we're finally at that "nesting" stage. I am so happy that we are finally there because I wasn't sure how much longer I could stand the mess that we were living in. We're taking it one room/area at a time and we've actually been pretty good at sticking with it. Hallelujah!

how i know soil matters

2011-04-24T22:45:00.000-07:00

I know that it matters what type of soil you use for growing vegetables because...

The single tomato plant that I haphazardly planted in a pot (because I had no room for it in my cool planter box) is thriving while the other two are merely hanging on. The pot has old sandy soil, new soil, plus dirt from the ground. The planter box has the same except in different proportions, which I can't remember, of course. It's pretty amazing to watch the happy tomato plant grow and double in size. Ah, so this is what successful gardening feels like. But then I look at the plants in my box and can't help but feel a little guilty. How much better would they be had I fed them the right food from the start?

Luckily everything, except for the cucumbers, is still green. And that lemon balm stuff is clearly loving this soil so something's happy in there.

And the silver lining to the cucumber gone awol? It's going into our new home-made compost bin. Yep, a little late but we're finally composting! More on that later.

Have a delicious week.

8 pound catfish

2011-04-18T20:06:00.001-07:00

Over spring break, we also had friends over to share a delicious catfish meal. It's kind of hard to see but under that mountain of sauteed onions and jalapenos is an eight pound catfish - fried & baked.

To eat this meal, we took pieces of wet rice paper and rolled lettuce, cucumbers, sprouts, and pickled carrots & daikon with the fish. Then we dipped it in fish sauce. (yes, those are napkins from our wedding) :)

The six of us did a pretty good job.

I'm very excited that we now have a bigger dining table, meaning more friends and a BIGGER catfish next time!

chicken red curry & pork chops

2011-04-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

I made porkchops with sauteed corn, green beans, and beets yesterday. The chicken red curry came from our dinner exchange - it was delicious.

The pork was a mixture of chops and country style ribs. I'd bought the wrong cut (the ribs) so I had to do a lot of fat trimming and trimming around bones. It didn't look so bony inside the packaging! Trimming around the bone always takes so much time, even when it looks like it'll be easy. Among the random ingredients that I marinated it in was some mint from our garden! That was the most exciting part about these chops. Overall, tasty but oversauced. A fried egg on top would've been nice.

I've been really enjoying our dinner exchanges. There's such a convenience to not having to cook in the middle of the week yet still coming home to a delicious meal. And I love that we're not stuck eating the same thing four days in a row - though I could eat curry for days and days.

Anyway. Thanks for reading.

next time you bite into a strawberry

2011-04-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

We bought some strawberries from the farmer's market on Sunday. As I was washing and cutting them up to pack lunch I saw one with a little hole. This is what I found inside after I halved it.

Two little pincher bugs - one still alive!! See? He's making his escape.

And as I was taking pictures, he ran onto the counter. BLEGH.

Yes, this is the price you pay for farm fresh.

bun rieu (crab noodle soup)

2011-04-18T18:38:00.001-07:00

I made bun rieu a couple of weeks ago. It's a noodle soup made with crab meat, eggs, crab paste and a bunch of spices and herbs. Traditionally ground pork is used but since we were going for healthier (and it so happened that ground turkey was on sale a week before), I substituted ground turkey. It tasted exactly the same! I got the recipe from my dad so it's hard to say how much of each ingredient I used. A pinch of this, a "pot" of that, etc.

I love spring break and having extra time to venture out of my kitchen comfort zone. We had friends over for this and still had leftovers which I had to dump after a few consecutive days of eating it. Sorry, only a photo of the pot...

i made a skirt

2011-04-06T17:14:00.000-07:00

I made a skirt that I can actually wear! I followed this pattern and it was super easy! My particular skirt was even easier since I didn't have to hem at all. I used this eyelet fabric that I'd bought years and years ago... like when I was still using my mom's industrial juki machine. I think I meant to make a skirt back then but never got around to it. (this came straight out of the dryer and i didn't iron) I think I'd like to make another one in a softer fabric. The fabric that I used for this skirt is too thick and so it's not very flattering on me. This is a good Sunday, I-don't-care-who-sees-me, skirt.

a garden update

2011-04-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

All plants are in except the basil! Here's what it looks like.

I read that kale gets bitter if it's grown in hot weather so we'll just have to wait and save that one for fall. In its place I got a cucumber plant. Instead of jalapeno peppers (which I couldn't find at Lowes), I found serrano peppers. They're a little smaller and a bit spicier but I don't mind. We have one empty plot left for the basil which I'm hoping we'll get soon. They had plenty of regular basil at the store but I really love Thai basil so I'm willing to wait.

Someone brought up a good point about the garden getting overcrowded. I see a high possibility that this will happen but we'll just have to wait and see. I planted the taller plants (tomatoes and peppers) in the far north end of the garden so that it wouldn't block too much sunlight from the others.... but what do I know? (not even sure if that's north!) Trial and error.

square foot gardening

2011-04-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

We learned about square foot gardening from a couple of friends who were quite successful with it last year.

The idea is to get the most out of minimal space and effort by dividing up your garden into one square foot plots. We built a flower box that's 1ft x 2ft x 6ft. Home Depot offers two free cuts and $0.50 for each additional cut so we didn't have to saw anything ourselves.

Before we could get to the fun stuff, we had to clean up our yard again. Fall and winter yielded new weeds, grass, and dead leaves. This part was no fun at all.

Eventually, we'd like to do something to the right side of the yard but right now it still pretty much looks like this.

On the second day of yard work/gardening, we built our box and started planting. We used wood screws and corner brackets to put the box together. We put it on top of a weed stopper mat then we filled it with random soil, topsoil and dirt because we didn't know what we were doing. Later on, our parents (both D's and mine), who are avid gardeners, told us that all we needed was some cheapo $1 cow manure soil mixed with dirt from our yard. Being that good soil is the most important element of a successful garden, I'm not sure how ours will turn out.

Here's the plan for our garden. We got the tomatoes and cilantro from Home Depot. The chili peppers, lemon balm, mint, sorrel, and Vietnamese coriander are from my aunt's garden. This week (during spring break, woohoo!) I'm going to look for kale, jalapenos, and carrots. And eventually we'll get basil from my aunt.

My goal is to grow a garden that I can make salsa from. I hope it happens!

macaroni tuna salad

2011-02-09T10:54:00.000-08:00

Dang's first attempt at "cooking" since we got married (I think)! He made the tuna macaroni (macaroni tuna?) salad. It was good. Then we heated up some eggplant stuff and garlic naan from Trader Joe's. Yum. He even took the photo! AND, he did the dishes. :)

chicken adobo with bok choy

2011-02-09T10:52:00.000-08:00

I know - real (Filipino) chicken adobo doesn't have bok choy... but it was a Real Simple recipe and that's what it called for. It was good but I don't remember what real adobo tastes like.

Coffee braised beef roast

2011-02-09T10:46:00.000-08:00

Our first slow cooker meal. It smelled good but needed salt. It was from Real Simple. It was okay.

Zoe's Little Sister

2011-02-09T10:28:00.000-08:00

Hello Internet! Meet Pepper, Zoe's new little sis.

Pepper is a 4-month old Maltese weighing in at a whopping 5 pounds. She's a little devil dog. A sneak. A whiner. And, like Homie, very determined.

We quickly learned that Pepper is strong, very strong. Enough to pull a wooden pet gate back to create an opening that's wide enough for her to escape the kitchen area. Then we learned that she's smart enough to get through the gate, a cardboard barrier, and a couple of boxes that are twice her size. Last night, Dang devised this new barrier. Check it out:

There's a gate, a cardboard barrier, two boxes, and then weights tying it all down so that she can't pull anymore. ...although she's still been trying all morning. I think we're going to have to take a trip to the pet store this weekend to invest in another gate that Pepper can't scale over, crawl under, or jump through (yes, she has tried to go through the gate's slits).

When they're not busy being bad or eating their own poop (guess which one. hint: her name rhymes with joey), they are pretty darn cute together.

porkchops with mango salsa and sesame noodles

2011-01-20T18:15:00.000-08:00

Man, we've been bizay. But last night I/we managed to get this meal out. I found an easy pork recipe in last month's Real Simple and then I found a sesame noodle recipe that used similar ingredients. The outcome...

...it looked pretty but I didn't think it was very tasty (D thought it was good). The mango wasn't ripe and the pork was dry. I just don't know how to cook a porkchop. :( But! the noodles were good.

On this episode of "what will she make a bed out of next"...

2011-01-03T16:59:00.000-08:00

why, if it isn't my hawaiian canvas tote bag...

Put something down for just a minute and this always happens!

ornaments - all sorts...

2010-12-21T10:28:00.000-08:00

I saw this great idea for organizing earrings and decided to re-purpose some picture frames from our wedding. I took off the glass and backing and then glued a mesh plastic canvas to the back of it. I want to figure out how to attach a stand to the back so that it doesn't have to lean against a wall. Otherwise, I guess I can just attach some ribbon to the back and hang them inside the closet.

Earrings make the best souvenirs. Aside from a few that were from Macys, most of these earrings were bought while traveling. I can remember exactly which country each pair came from, like the circle metal ones came from London. The dangling hot pink ones to the right of those were from Thailand. And my most recent souvenirs, top left from Jamaica. Some earrings remind me of certain moments in life, like the bottom right blue ones that I randomly bought off the streets of San Francisco while walking home from law school; and those green and bronze ones that I wore, lost and then found in Bonnie's pocket one New Years Eve I spent with her and Faser. Ah, my favorite mementos.

While traveling in Ireland with Kristy one year, we met this lady who collected Christmas ornaments as souvenirs everywhere she went. Every Christmas she would be reminded of all the places she's been. Dang and I were talking about ornaments one night and I was reminded of her so I told him the story. When we were in Jamaica, we happened upon this lovely little thing and I knew we had to start the tradition!

The Jamaican ornament gave me an idea for our tree theme this year -- stripes! Some were homemade (two left ones) and some were store bought (Target: right one).

I bought plain silver ornaments from Michael's and glued and glittered them myself. Next year, I'm thinking polka dots!

Have a wonderful holiday season.

(tree skirt still needed)

...was wrapping gifts

2010-12-17T12:10:00.000-08:00

I was wrapping gifts and then went to check my email. I turned around to see what Z was up to and...

she made a bed out of my brothers' gifts. Oh Zoe. She does love stripes, just like her mama.

See that red crate? It's full of work that I have to go through over winter break. I am filling in for a teacher on maternity leave for three months. Yay! I have not been happier about having to do work over break. I'm secretly hoping she won't want to come back after her baby is born. :P

As far as crafting goes... besides hemming a few pairs of jeans, not much is going on these days. We did get a Christmas tree that I "made" ornaments for and I'll show you soon. Right now, gotta get back to wrapping and packing - off to Tahoe this weekend. Yee!

Ha, I turned around after typing this and she did it again!

happy belated national cupcake day!

2010-12-16T19:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday D surprised me with this delicious treat from Amia Bakery in Fremont.

Red velvet and vanilla. Thanks Cupcake! And Happy National Cupcake Day!

ate too many mini cupcakes!

2010-11-23T10:23:00.000-08:00

Last night Nina and I went to a cupcake tasting/judging event in the city called Iron Cupcake SF. We got to sample 22 different cupcakes that had some variation of nuts (butterNUT squash, NUTella, honeyNUT cherrios, etc.) in it. They split us up into groups of 4 (hello strangers) and then each group was in charge of cutting up their own cc's into fours so that each person would get just a sliver.

When we got there and saw the tiers of mini cupcakes, we were all, "what? they're so tiny. and then you have to cut them up into quarters? you'll barely get a taste!"

And then we received our 22 all on one tray.

Our group was tasting rather quickly, and suddenly, after about the 13th one we were slapped with reality: maybe we shouldn't have eaten all that... maybe a quarter of each was too much... maybe cc #4 shouldn't have been a contender.

And somehow, my dear friend still managed to pick at the cc's from a neighboring group's leftovers. They were smart - they didn't eat it ALL.

We ended the evening accidentally driving to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Time to catch a matinee with Wendy now. So loving Thanksgiving break this year!

Tahoe Road Trip!

2010-11-18T13:12:00.000-08:00

Remember way back when, when I talked about this project I wanted to start? Well, last week, I decided to take it off the needles. I got this far on it but decided that I wouldn't be able to go back to knitting lace anytime soon. I'm just not a lace-knitter. Lace-knitters have patience.

Anyhoo, we were going on a Tahoe trip and I needed those circular needles for this Purl Beret that I wanted to start en route. It was so simple to start and I forgot how easy it is to knit in the round, even with the Z on my lap. Winter's coming and I'm a little late to be starting my knitting, yes, but better late than never!

We arrived in Tahoe and took Z for a walk, where we saw our first snowman of the season, and Zoe's maybe first snowman ever. She was okay the first time seeing it but for some reason, on our walk back she started barking at it. I know Z, he's missing some buttons.

It was a nice walk until we saw this sign that said NO DOGS ALLOWED. Woops.

We took Zoe to another park where we were able to let her off-leash. She is so good off-leash, never straying too far.

We rented a kennel for Z at our hotel but we couldn't stand to keep her in there by herself all night so we snuck her into our room.

She was much more comfortable there...

Perhaps a little too comfortable.

We had a lot of fun in the Sierras and Zoe's such a good car dog, cone and all. We can't wait to take her back up on cabin trips this winter.

What's she doing now? What she usually does when I lay fabric out to get ready for my next project:

an update on Zoe

2010-11-10T08:35:00.000-08:00

This is what I came home to yesterday afternoon. Zoe had been sleeping upstairs and had access to the entire house except the bottom floor until her birthday party on Sunday. Since there were a few accidents during the party and she's been sniffing everything again, I thought I'd gate her back up in the kitchen area while we were at work just in case. Poor Zoe looked so sad.

Later in the evening, Zoe went under and had her ear stitched up. It was so sad to see her medicated and helpless - not the usual feisty little thang we're used to. Here she is after her surgery. She couldn't walk straight so we had to carry her to take her outside, to go downstairs, back upstairs, etc. And poor Boo wasn't even allowed to have dinner. (...though maybe for the better since vet says she's a little "round".)

Here she is this morning, preferring my blanket to her own. She's on antibiotics and pain medicine so she's kinda drowsy. I didn't get called into work so timing worked out perfectly for me to stay home and be with her.

And guess what?! We got some great news yesterday. Zoe has "good" teeth! I was concerned when the vet that we saw on Monday told me she was going to develop gum/teeth disease soon. He wanted to clean and polish her teeth (for an additional $95) while she was sedated for her ear surgery. The vet that we saw yesterday, however, was extremely positive. She told us that Zoe's teeth looked good for a dog her age and to not be worried. Go Zoe!

P.S. they were even able to save her pigtails while shaving her ear hairs.

had a 1/2 birthday party for Zoe!

2010-11-08T22:07:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, Zoe's friends came over to celebrate her half birthday (which was officially Friday, November 5th).

There were favors, gifts, and games - which we ended up not playing since the dogs were entertainment enough.

There were party hats...

Some were too big for the dog so they slipped off (Toby - bottom right) and some were too small for the dog so they broke right off (Hansel - bottom middle). Hilarious and adorable though!

There were attempts at group pictures...

Some flirting (some more than flirting, ahem Rocky & Tawna... but mostly Rocky), lots of hugging, and even a dog in drag (sorry Toby! - he liked it though)...

There was birthday cake with peanut butter frosting, served on our beautiful Martha Stewart cake stand and eaten all over our carpet (gasp!). Yes, poor planning in hindsight but nothing a vacuum cleaner and diligent husband couldn't take care of.

We hope Zoe and her friends had a great time. She played a little rough and is currently needing some extra tlc. Hopefully by the time her whole birthday comes around, she'll be good as new.

Thank you Ringo, Rocky, Tawna, Hansel, Tobi, Toby, Kyoto, and Arty, and all their parents/uncles/aunts/sisters/brothers for bringing them to Z's party.

Happy 1/2 Birthday Zoe Boo Boo. We heart you!

Yes, I've come a long, long way. ;)

Spotted: Lady Gaga and Brian Wilson!

2010-10-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

They were totally flirting tonight!! Maybe Gaga is a season ticket holder.

Maybe she's his biggest fan.
.
.
.
Maybe he's hers.
.
.
.
Love was definitely in the air though....

Just kidding! These are just Brian Wilson and Lady Gaga pumpkins we decorated for D's work contest. Haha.

Fear the Beard! I'm so proud of D for doing the Brian Wilson one entirely on his own.

Brian Wilson, meet Brian Wilson.

Okay, I've officially lost my mind. Have a great night!

day off

2010-10-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

I had a day off today and wanted to be productive. It's starting to rain and get cold so we have to hurry up and clean and organize before it gets too cold to do anything. Here's the state of our garage. :(

(Excuse the overexposure. I'm still learning. Plus, it doesn't look as dirty when it's so bright like this.)

I didn't think I'd paint again so soon but I sucked it up and got our shoes organized. This is a storage closet inside our garage.

I bought some bricks and then primed and painted them white. Then I painted some shelves that I had, which were just long planks of bare wood. While painting the bricks and wood, I decided that I might as well paint the floor to make it look cleaner. Stripes are in after all.

I was a little nervous about doing the floors however since D wasn't home. But then I went with it anyway. Whenever I want to do something to the house that I'm unsure about, I first ask myself: will D like it? If the answer is no or maybe then I ask myself: will it look better than it does now? If the answer is yes then I do it. Which I did. Because it looks better.

I ended up painting the ceiling and walls too. I left the brick wall as is because there might be some issues with it that HOA has to look into. As for the floors, I wanted to paint blue 8x8 squares (think checkerboard) but ran into some technical difficulties. First, the tape that I used peeled off my primer so having to freehand a bunch of squares would've been tough. Secondly, I couldn't get the can of blue paint to open. I gave up on blue and decided green would be okay too but then I couldn't get that can to open, so I settled on purple. The stripes worked out, it makes the closet look bigger, and the purple brightens up the space a bit.

I stacked the bricks and set the shelves on top. We'll eventually need to go back to the Container Store to get more plastic boxes. I don't like leaving shoes out in the garage like this. Spiders.

And of course, this is a project I did by myself which means I get moded somehow. And here it is. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to use the table saw on my own so eventually I'll need help chopping off about 6 inches from each plank so that the door could close.

All in a day's work. :)

eat drink married - meals during our first year of marriage

2010-10-24T18:37:00.000-07:00

I explored the farmer's market on my own this morning. It was my first time at this particular one and I wanted to bring my camera but knew that it would've gotten too heavy eventually. No fear, I used most of the ingredients for this week's dinner exchange so I took plenty o' pictures.

Those red bell peppers? 90 cents for all five of them! Everything else was typical farmer's market prices. Fruit for $1/lb, parsley for $1/bunch, etc.

I don't normally buy parsley but this recipe called for it and I happened to see it this morning. I would've otherwise used cilantro which I like waaaay better. I used half the bunch and put the rest in a green bag. Do you guys use green bags? SUCH a food saver. (You can read people's thoughts about them here. Some are really against them but I still prefer them for leafy things).

You are now looking at approximately nine pounds of raw chicken, maybe less (I took out all that extra stuff - the insides - that came with it).

Here's my sous chef aka husband hard at work cutting up veggies. I like cooking a lot better when he helps me.

I coated and fried the chicken after cutting them into smaller pieces. I learned that when you buy "cut-up chicken", they don't cut them into serving size portions. You still have to do some of the work yourself. Still, at 99 cents a pound, it was worth it. :)

One pot wasn't enough to cook these babies so I had to split them up. The pieces that were in the pan didn't cook as well as the ones in the cast iron pot. I think it didn't get hot enough. After the ones in the cast iron cooked, I took them out and put the ones from the other pot in and cooked for a little longer. It worked out in the end.

We ended up with delicious chicken cacciatore served over penne pasta. I ended up picking out a lot the parsley from my plate though. I forgot how much I really really dislike parsley.

And maybe you can tell by the sheer mass of food, this was another Pioneer Woman recipe. You can find it here. Enjoy!

I must say, one of the funnest things about married life is how much we enjoy and pride ourselves in saving money on our groceries. It has been really fun learning to use coupons and looking for the best deals every week. I just thought of this because I was so disappointed this morning when I was at the grocery store and had to pay regular club price for butter (I needed it!). For shame, for shame.

got a new camera!

2010-10-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

D and I traded in an old broken camera and got a refurbished Canon PowerShot G11. We weren't ready to invest in a dslr because neither of us wanted to invest time (or money) into learning how to use it. Instead, this step-up camera is just perfect for us to take on vacations and use at home to take photos of our "eat, drink, married..." meals.

Internet, I've been trying really hard to remain positive about everything. The career situation seems like it keeps getting more and more dismal. This week, a few more classrooms were shut down and a few teachers were laid off... IN THE MIDDLE OF OCTOBER. How could this be?

Anyway. In light of trying to keep a positive mentality, I plan on taking my new (to me) camera everywhere I go and taking pictures of everything and everyone. My mom was really sick a few weeks ago and it made me take a step back and evaluate life. It's time to enjoy the small moments, take vacations, and appreciate everything, especially since I have so much time now.

Have a great weekend, friends!

eat drink married - meals during our first year of marriage

2010-10-03T10:38:00.000-07:00

Dinosaur red velvet sans frosting. Baked with Nina. We didn't double the recipe but we ended up with waaaaay more cupcakes than we could eat.

Extremely cheesy chicken spaghetti. A Pioneer Woman recipe.

It was very creamy. P.s. Don't double PW's recipes.

We ended up baking another casserole during the week. That way D had food while I was in Portland for the weekend.

I hid a lot of veggies in this one. Lots of zucchinis, bell peppers, and tomatoes. Chopped it up, stirred it up, and then baked it up. Super easy.

Cheers!

eat drink married - meals during our first year of marriage

2010-09-19T21:59:00.001-07:00

Woops. It's been a while. No, we haven't been starving ourselves, just really busy.

9/8
I have a problem where I start cooking and then worry that there won't be enough food so I keep adding more dishes. We had friends over for this dinner and still had leftovers for the rest of the week.

Chicken pad see ew. This was my first attempt at pad see ew and I was really excited when it tasted like the real thing.

Basa (fish) green curry

Zucchini stir-fry

9/10
Another random weekend with B.

Porridge at midnight.

SF Underground Market.

...where we shared, among 7 dishes, this delicious tart!

Awesome experience. Thumbs up.

9/12
D and I ended our weekend with this beautiful roast from the Bitzes. We loved it. We had it with a side of fresh tomatoes from Fay's harvest!

9/15
I haven't told you! We're doing a food exchange.

Our goal is to just have to cook once for the whole week; each household makes enough food to last all of us half the week. That way, instead of having to eat the same ole thing for five days, we can change it up and have at least two different things. For example, we had the roast (above) for a few days and then gave our taste buds something new mid-week with the following:

Broccoli chicken, sesame spinach salad with pasta.

I went for healthy here since some of us have colds. I wanted lots of veggies so we could get as much vitamin c as possible; I even cooked the linguine in the water I used to blanch the broccoli. I thought it'd turn the noodles green (how cool would that be?) but you couldn't even tell! This meal lasted us well into Friday night. Even with the exchange, I got a little sick of it.

9/18
Green pepper, cheese, and tomato omelet with toast for brekky.

9/19
Grilled cheese with ham and sweet peppers.

Coming up this week...

Chicken spaghetti to serve 50. Ugh.

eat drink married - meals during our first year of marriage

2010-09-08T14:07:00.000-07:00

We were away last weekend.

We started our trip with a pitstop at Sonics Thursday night. A little out of the way but I'd never been. We had burgers, fries, and tator tops smothered in cheese.

On Friday, we were in Pasadena and had Islands (burgers) for lunch. Forgot to take a picture.

For dinner we visited Dang's favorite prime rib establishment, Lawry's, in Beverly Hills. Four people shared one bottle of wine, two bowl cuts...

...and a 3-tier dessert platter.

On Saturday morning, we met up with more friends at Overland Cafe (somewhere in LA) for a birthday brunch. I had the eggs benedict with ham and Dang had a boring omelette. A lot of our fellow diners were having endless champagne (for $4.99!). Had I known the ridiculous traffic we'd be stuck in, I would've joined them.

After three and a half hours of traffic from LA, we finally made it to Santa Barbara. We went straight to the rehearsal picnic where we feasted on delicious Thai food.

We had brunch with my sister Sunday morning at Cajun Cafe. I had the jambalaya with cornbread (YUMMM) and Dang had another boring omelette. :)

In the evening we attended the beautiful Chenhansa-Lutz wedding ceremony and reception. The happy couple exchanged vows on the beach and had an outdoor dinner.

There were mini tacos and mini sliders.

Wedding cake

And wedding melon (which we didn't get to eat).

We finished our trip with a last stop in SLO for lunch at Fireside Grill. Tri tip sandwich and a basket of fries.

It was a great weekend filled with lots of love, friends, family, and calories. We went running around the lake for the first time in months yesterday!!

eat drink married - meals during our first year of marriage

2010-09-02T09:40:00.000-07:00

Have you had a banana boat? Uhm... RIDICULOUS! We were introduced to them last weekend and I'm sold.

It's a banana slit down the middle just enough to stuff with marshmallows and chocolate. Then you wrap it in foil and throw it over the campfire. I didn't think of this at the time, but how much more awesome would it be if we sprinkled graham crackers on top?! I'm thinking about making these at home.

D and I were in charge of Saturday's dinner. We made sloppy joes using the Pioneer Woman's recipe.

It was quite tasty even with a few ingredients missing. Once again, we overestimated how much people could eat; with most people having seconds (some thirds), Husband and I still ate sloppy joes for dinner when we got home on Sunday.

Yosemite

2010-09-02T09:21:00.000-07:00

We went camping in Yosemite last weekend. Met some great people and Zoe even made some new friends.

This is Z on the drive there, with her old favorite friend, her gorilla. She was a really good passenger for the 4+ hour ride.

Here is Z with her new friend, Sprinkles. I use the word "friend" loosely here because we all know that Z does not make friends with other dogs. She's a loner. Plus, she's old enough to be Sprinkles' grandma.

This is during a pit stop on our way back from Yosemite Falls. D doesn't like it when I put photos of him up, but this one is so cute! Look how happy Zoe is. Booji booji booboo.

We went biking later in the evening and saw deer. They were so close we could touch them (but didn't. Look at the stuff on that one's face!).

The most relaxing ride ever...

Then we had dinner and told ghost stories... which are still freaking me out.

The next day, Z passed out on the way back. Exhausted and smelly.

She got her first home bath with us when we got home. Dang did and excellent job while I sat outside the door eating cheerios.

And that concludes our much-needed, much-enjoyed trip to Yosemite. 2 days and 2 nights with no showering for anyone. Sniff, sniff, sniffsniffsniffsniff.

zoe sandwich

2010-08-25T22:13:00.000-07:00

This is what our baby does at the dog park:

...at least she's starting to make friends.

3 meatloafs (meatloaves?)

2010-08-25T19:44:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Delena and I made 3 meat loafs today.

#1

#2

#3

I decided I wanted meatloaf for dinner today, but not just any meatloaf - Vietnamese meatloaf. What's that you ask? Well, it's like your typical meatloaf - eggs, meat, onions, & garlic, except it has preserved snakehead fish. I have no idea what snakehead fish is but that's what my mom uses for this dish. The kind I used comes in a jar labeled "preserved snakehead fish in brine". It really stinks but if you can get past that, you will have a delicious meatloaf in no time at all.

My first two loaves turned out well. The third loaf got distorted because I fought with the steamer a little bit. Just a small steam burn. :(

The meatloaf was delicious served up with rice and cucumbers. Husband and I finished half a loaf. The other two went to my family. It was a whole lotta meatloaf.

Normally I wing it and use my mom's eyeballing method. But the last time I did that, our entire family ate meatloaf for one week. This time I decided to use a recipe I found online. It still yielded more than expected but not as much as before. I came out with 3-7" pans of meatloaf but the author of this recipe says she used 7-6" pans(...how do you figure?) If you're interested in trying Vietnamese meatloaf, click here and enjoy. :)

It's (was) a jungle out there!

2010-08-24T14:23:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, Dang and I made a date of pulling weeds in our backyard. It was disgusting and itchy, and he ended up with hives. In some areas, the weeds came up to my ears and were about an inch thick... and spikey.

We made huge progress in just one afternoon. We pulled out all the big stuff and will be treating the dirt/small stuff with weed killer over the weekend while we're away.

Here's another angle.

Looking forward to clearance patio sets so we can have a bbq!

eat drink married - meals during our first year of marriage

2010-08-24T10:49:00.001-07:00

Today is a full moon day which means that in my culture we should be eating vegetarian food only. So last night I made a pasta salad for Dang to take to work and for me to eat at home. We didn't have olive oil so the salad is a little dry today. We have a huge pyrex bowl of this stuff left. Probably enough for dinner and lunch tomorrow too. ...and this is why we need to start a dinner exchange!

Kitchen Curtains

2010-08-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

We've been without curtains in the kitchen since I moved in and took down the old ones. Some things I just can't stand and one of them is when curtains are hung incorrectly. I bought a new curtain rod when Wendy and I went to Ikea a few weeks ago and finally got around to making the curtains.

I unpacked one of my fabric boxes and found a huge piece of this upholstery stuff. I don't love it but it's white so it works for now.

These curtains cover the entire window and hit just right below the window sill. The old ones hung down past the top edge of the window and the old rod was not strong enough so the middle sagged. That always bothered me.

I followed this tutorial that Cz sent to me. It's for how to make curtains out of bedsheets. I did a combination of eyeballing and measuring and it turned out okay.

But I neglected to sew in the edges, or even at least put some "stop-fray" stuff on it. Luckily, I don't expect anyone to be climbing through our kitchen window to check out the back of these curtains anytime soon.... then again, who ever expects such random things, they kinda just happen sometimes huh?

Master Bath Before & After

2010-08-24T09:13:00.001-07:00

Something's still missing in the master bath so it doesn't feel like it has all come together but, again, feels cleaner.

Before: green vanity area, white inside the actual bathroom. (oh hi! there i am.)

After: I painted the entire bathroom (inside and out) beige. Then I painted the cabinet a super white color and lined the inside with green floral contact paper from Target. I removed the chrome towel ring by the sink and installed an 18" bronze towel bar on the back wall (right side of photo). For inside the bathroom, I removed the old wooden toilet paper holder and installed a matching bronze holder and 24" towel bar. I also replaced husband's UCLA bath mat with new ones.

The result: less frat house, more grown up.

Eventually I'd like to replace the yellow 1970's wall plates with white ones. I also want to put up some black frames above the outside towel bar. I think black accessories would look nice in this area.

eat drink married - meals during our first year of marriage

2010-08-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

Breakfast this morning (solo): scrambled eggs with parmesan and kethcup. Took less than 2 minutes to cook and less than 1 minute to eat.

Guest Bath Before & After

2010-08-23T10:10:00.000-07:00

Not a huge makeover but it certainly feels cleaner now.

Before: an olive green/brown color. Large shower head contraption.

After: a fresh coat of purple paint for the walls and ceiling, a fresh coat of white paint on the vanity cabinet, new shower curtain, simpler shower head, new rug, etc.

My uncle gave me a bucket of purple paint and a few buckets of beige paint. I mixed the colors myself and actually wanted less purple/more beige but wet paint dries differently. Too tired to repaint it, I decided to stick with the purple. It's okay. I actually really hate that white cabinet above the toilet so we might end up pulling it off. Right now it really serves no purpose because we don't need that extra storage space; it just takes up room where we can hang a picture or something else that's not ugly.

eat drink married - meals during our first year of marriage

2010-08-19T23:08:00.000-07:00

Tonight: porkchops!

Before: beautiful, pristine stainless steel pan

After: crusty & caked on (currently soaking).

Dinner: porkchops, ginger rice, and cucumbers.

Tasted better than it looks! That's just burnt soy sauce, that's all. ;) I do need to learn how to cook using non non-stick pans, it's been a while. Do I add more oil?

curtains fail

2010-08-19T22:47:00.001-07:00

I had no motivation early this morning. When I finally pulled myself out of my rut, I was pretty gung ho about working on some window treatments.

I decided to pull off the vertical blinds from the living room sliding door. Who knows how long those have been there. If I had to guess, I'd say the 80's.

Of course I didn't think to snap a before picture until I was halfway through. At that point, there was no one there to help me so I had to keep going til I pulled them off completely. Those blinds are a lot heavier than they looked.

My plan (to save money) was to replace these blinds with the curtains that used to hang in the now-office. I measured the width to make sure the rod we had would fit. Unfortunately, I never measured the actual curtains, therefore FAIL.

They're about a foot too short. Woops.

eat drink married - meals during our first year of marriage

2010-08-17T22:34:00.000-07:00

Today I made some fried rice for Dang to take to work tomorrow. I didn't have to though because we still have leftover curry pizza. But I thought, what the heck - had some rice, had some eggs, had some sausages... let's do some fryin. I had to call Hubs at work to ask about the sausage though; I wasn't sure how long it had been in the fridge. He assured me, "less than a year for sure so it's fine." I said okay, you're eating it, not me! So I fried it up.

But I never fry rice well. Hence, this pan has been soaking in the sink since 1pm.

I do love that pan though. It's stainless steel so I can scrape the heck out of it and not worry about damaging it. Go Kirkland!

planning the living space

2010-08-17T08:25:00.000-07:00

The living/family room in this house is a longish space cut exactly in half by a fireplace that reaches the ceiling.

We are (I am) thinking about creating two different seating areas - one as a main area around the tv (far right wall), and the other with smaller furniture (far left wall).

Since this room is so yellow (as is the rest of the house) and, again, I don't feel like repainting it, I've picked some colors that I think could work here.

It'll be mostly blue and brown accents, which I think are very clean and pretty but not too girly. The room in the bottom right photo is so lovely (although I don't think hubs would like the animal print-like chairs). Again, we're going to try to do this room on the (much) cheaper side than what I found above.

Couches - big furniture pieces in beige to keep it neutral and easy for when/if we move. I'm thinking of putting the tv against the far right wall with couches/arm chairs in a U facing it. We like to have people over and there's usually not enough couch space so people end up sitting on the floor; having three different pieces of furniture would help.

Chairs - chairs for the left seating area with pops of blue. Hopefully we'll get lucky on craigslist for these.

Bench - since the left side is also where the front door is, I'd like a bench for this area for people to sit and put their shoes on. People usually sit on the stairs which causes a traffic jam.

Coffee table - I want a big coffee table since we enjoy board games. I like something sturdy and simple with a little bit of storage space. Ottomans are nice but we have priorities!

Okay, I decided to whip up a quick layout.

Crossing my fingers for some steals. Happy Tuesday!

DIY laminate flooring

2010-08-16T16:31:00.001-07:00

We replaced the carpet in our downstairs room with dark cherry laminate flooring. My awesome little brother offered to help us since he'd just finished my parents' house last weekend. Sweet brother.

Here's a photo midway through pulling off the carpet.

Putting down the moisture guard.

Some foam and then laying down the boards. It took some time in certain areas but with some help from Nina, we were efficient with other things.

Day two. Finishing up as little Zoe supervises. We just need to purchase and install some new baseboards and then the room will be complete. Thanks Nina and Bro! Well done.

we adopted!

2010-08-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

Internet, meet Zoe.

We adopted her from a friend. She's a seven year old Cairn terrier mix off some sort. She is very lovable and will roll on her back to get her belly rubbed by almost anyone.

But I must warn you. Girlfriend's got some kickin breath.

eat drink married - meals during our first year of marriage

2010-08-16T16:15:00.000-07:00

I thought it'd be fun to document the meals Dang and I make (or good meals we didn't make but ate) during our first year of living together. To be realistic, I'm not sure how long this will last but it'll be fun while we have some time on our hands.

8/7/10 (I'm already behind):

Chicken green curry with pasta. Dang took leftovers to work. (p.s. I am not a food photographer.)

Today:

Chicken stir fry. I used whatever ingredients were in our fridge (chicken, bell peppers, and cucumbers) to make lunch for the hubs to bring to work tomorrow.

Sick but productive... decorating the home office :)

2010-08-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

60-30-10. I learned from HGTV that to make a room aesthetically pleasing, you need to stick with the 60-30-10 principal. 60% is a dominant color, 30% is a secondary color, and 10% is the accent color. I'm having a bit of trouble though. I'm creating a mood board for our home office because I think it's a room that we can tackle fairly easily; we already have most of the furniture (desks and bookshelves) for it. However, I can't decide what color is which - 60-30-10...?

The room is a deep turquoise color. We're leaving it that color because it's not ugly and I'm over painting anything that's unnecessary. All four walls are this color. Then I have my furniture: a desk, side table and bookcases, which are all white. And husband has his desk which is dark grey/grey (maybe black). I'd like to buy mostly black or white furniture since I think it'll be easiest to work with if we were to move.

So... with that, I think 60% is white, 30% turquoise, and 10% black?? Or the black and turquoise might be flip flopped once we get more furniture for the room. I have a feeling I'm gonna throw the 60-30-10 thing out the window. But check out my mood board!

Top left - I tried to find an L-shaped desk to resemble what Dang already has. His desk actually has more panels and is more enclosed.

Top middle - this image is from Pottery Barn's Bedford collection. Our walls are kind of that color. I like the feel of this desk area.

Bottom right - I'd like to get these two storage units to store my sewing stuff in (thread, fabric, etc.). I think that if I can have them a couple feet apart, I can go to the As-Is section at Ikea and find a tabletop to put on top and turn it into a sewing table. Last week when Wendy and I went, they had tabletops for $4! (I found one for $7 on their website).

Bottom left - I like the black and white frames, although I think I'd stick with all black frames since we have so many from the wedding. Reduce, reuse, recycle!

I'll be checking out Craigslist to find all of these wants for cheaper! Def can't afford that West Elm chair for $300 right now. :)

moving, unpacking... no, not really

2010-08-10T08:11:00.000-07:00

I have lived here for over two weeks and I have barely unpacked my belongings. I've been living out of either luggage or laundry baskets since I got married three weeks ago. I feel (and look) so disheveled. It is sad.

But! there is a reason for the madness. In an attempt to make this place feel more like home, clean and mine I decided to do some painting. First thing's first - the kitchen. I decided the cabinets needed a facelift. Since we don't want to invest in brand new cabinets, we decided that painting them would be a quick fix.

My uncle owns a painting company so he gave me some helpful tips that helped save some time. He also gave us gallons of paint and rollers which saved us a bit of money too. However, either white is really hard to paint evenly or I am just really bad at painting because there were (are) stroke marks on some of the cabinets. Two weeks later, the cabinets are finally getting their doors back.

In the following photo, I'd already started sanding and painting before I realized I should take before and after pics.

The kitchen was pretty grimy before I began. The cabinets were a beige color and were quite dirty. I had the husband pull out all the contact paper so I could sand, prime, and paint the insides. The outside took some sanding and about three coats of paint.

Here's what it looks like now.

This photo is from a different angle (better pics later, my camera ran out of battery and I can't find the charger). They look cleaner! ...just don't look closely because we need to do a lot of touching up.

Eventually I'd like to paint the kitchen walls a pale blue color. But not until the rest of the house is functional, like maybe first finding a couch to sit on so we can get rid of the camping chairs that are currently in the living room.

Today: bathrooms

life as a newlywed

2010-07-30T15:35:00.000-07:00

husband: what's that purple thing you have in the shower?
me: what purple thing?
husband: that purple thing, i picked it up and it's so rough.
me: it's for your feet.
husband: oh i thought you rubbed that on your body!

object in question: pumice stone

Cowboy Bunny

2010-05-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

Last week one of my students from my kindergarten placement waited by my third grade classroom to give me this:

I walked to my room and he quietly walked up to me and handed this bunny to me without saying a word. Then he walked away and that's when I realized that bunny had a horse for a tail.

:)

sharing more 3rd grade anecdotes

2010-04-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Kid: Uh, Miss Nguyen? I think I have the diarrhea.

Me: Oh.

Kid: I don't know if I'm gonna make it.

Me: Run [kid], run!

am taken for a fool!

2010-03-23T22:32:00.000-07:00

My kids were playing with a rubberband during my read aloud today so I took it away.

...5 minutes later

Kid: Ms. N., can I please have my rubberband back? My cousin gave it to me and it means a lot to me.

Me: No.

Kid: Okay.

feel so unappreciated

2010-03-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

...so to brighten up this ridiculous day, I will take a nice long shower and then hang my new lanterns. I bought them for the wedding but I've decided that I could use a little sunshine in my life. Pictures to come (but no promises).

Crossing my fingers for lemondrops and gumdrops tomorrow.

Hope you all had a nice St. Paddy's Day and maybe a tiny pinch from the ones you love.

je suis tres fatiguee

2010-01-16T11:01:00.000-08:00

Bonjour mon freres. Aujour d'hui je me reve a neuf heure. Ou est ma mere? Ou est mon pere? Je ne sais pas. Je suis seul. Maintenent, je n'aime pas faire de travail, mais j'ai beaucoup de travail! Je suis tres fatiguee par ce que en la nuit, j'ai regarde le film Angels & Demons et j'ai dormi retarder.

Je suis desolee parce que mon francais es mal.

A tout a l'heure!

spent Sunday morning...

2009-12-06T22:07:00.000-08:00

...drawing swirls!

I wanted to learn how to draw these so that we could add details to various wedding-related things if we felt like it. These things are highly addictive and I ended up spending a good portion of my morning playing around in Illustrator.

I'm so excited that winter break is coming up! The wedding is only seven months away and I finally have time to start planning. Friends, listen up! I will probably start enlisting people for help real, real soon. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Happy holidays everyone!

done done done!...

2009-11-01T09:42:00.000-08:00

TPA finished (for the most part)! ..so I finally get to spend a somewhat leisurely Sunday morning catching up on all my blogs. I now have 343 unread items. Holy, help me!

Anyway, so I was reading through some of Anna Maria Horner's blog and got this terrible itch to start a new quilt. I want to, I need to, I've got to make another quilt!! And I can't wait til winter break! As I was pondering new projects I wanted to take on (but will realistically not have time for), I started to wonder about what the heck happened to that zig-zag afghan that Wendy and I started on. Hmmm. Good question.

there's too much to do

2009-10-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

...and yet, all I can think about is not getting to knit anything. waaaaaaaaa.

Random thoughts:

DNRtime has completely died. Let's revive it Winter Break?
Can't wait til Thanksgiving break
Can't wait to be done with this first TPA
Why did I sign up to be an intern?
I'm going to need a break from teaching before I even start teaching!!
There are a gazillion to-do lists floating around me
I want a chocolate chip cookie
I really, really want to wear sweats to work - maybe get a single subject cred. in p.e.!
Can you find me a photog for my wedding? No progress.

i'm getting engaged! (officially)

2009-10-15T22:52:00.000-07:00

So that we will no longer be "just friends" in the eyes of our families, we are having an official engagement ceremony on Saturday. Until yesterday morning, I didn't realize how huge this day was for my family. It not only signifies our two families coming together, but it has brought my family closer together. For the past two weeks, my family has pulled together, ordering food, gathering furniture, preparing the house, and planning their wardrobes. I have been buried pretty deep with school, interning and being sick that I have had no time to get excited. Then on my way out yesterday, my dad told me about all the thought my relatives were putting into the day. Until then, I had no idea the importance of the engagement ceremony to my parents and relatives. When I found out that my uncles bought new suits and that my aunts had gone to get dresses made for the occasion, I was shocked, to say the least.

The engagement ceremony date is like a mini-/pre-wedding (who knew???). It's when we start calling each other's parents "mom" and "dad". It's when we are formally accepted into each other's families. It's crazy and I honestly don't understand all of it (because then what's the point of the wedding??). :)

Anyway! I am so excited that my family is So so So so SOOO excited! I am happy that their happiness is carrying me into the weekend and I'm sure that by 3pm on Friday, I will be ecstatic! I am so lucky and blessed that my family is sharing Saturday with me and that they are truly making it their day too.

am going nuts

2009-09-16T23:00:00.001-07:00

It's been a crazy past few weeks and I'm nearly losing my mind. Last night I got out of the shower and realized that I hadn't used any conditioner or soap. Somehow, those two routines just got skipped. Stress. There is a lot going on right now with wedding, teaching, and school. But the thing is, I have never minded less that I may be going crazy. I don't care that I have to stay up late to work. The homework that I'm up grading is a reminder and motivation in itself; I am always thinking about my students and how important it is that I do everything that I can for them. (wow, i just reread that and it sounds a little j&k+8-ish)

I've only been in the classroom for three short weeks but already there are moments, either when I'm teaching or my master teacher is teaching, that I feel so proud of our kids it makes me want to cry. I get a weird happy/relieved/excited feeling that I've never felt before - like, Yes! They get what I'm saying. Yes! They really were listening and learning. Yes! I can do this! People always say that teaching is such a rewarding and meaningful career and already, I can tell that it's true.

Have a good night and a great weekend,
So happy, yet so tired.

p.s. absolutely no crafting has been going on except for the making of a "greater than/less than" math magnet AKA "Chompers" (which the kids loved, thank-u-very-much) ;)

need a lunch pail

2009-08-27T22:56:00.000-07:00

i'd like to make an insulated, waterproof lunch bag. does anyone have a pattern? please email me if you do! i've been obsessing about finding a project that uses oilcloth and i think this would be a great opportunity. let me know!

xoxo, d.

getting rid of my to-do list

2009-08-24T22:48:00.001-07:00

School hasn't even started yet but I am already thinking about the things that I won't be able to do this season. No more time for knitting, reading the Twilight series, or working on my etsy shop.

Instead, these will be my top priorities (after health, I guess):

school
student-teaching
wedding

Whenever I start to feel really stressed out about how crazy life is about to get, I think of my sister who went through med school and is now a second year resident, and I feel better. She still spends 30 straight hours in the hospital regularly. Safe to say, as hard as teaching will be, I will probably never know that kind of stress. Thankfully.

And speaking of inspirational... I recently learned that my third and fourth grade teachers are still teaching in the same school district. So awesome.

can finally show you!

2009-08-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some things that I made for some dear friends of mine whom I have asked to be my bridesmaids. The running theme among the three is polka dots, the same theme as the engagement party that I will eventually have. If it weren't so casual, I'd have polka dots at my wedding too; a polka dot cake/cupcake perhaps? I love polka dots, don't you? Yea? I dot sew! Wonk wonk wonk...

Anyway!

First up:

For Bonnie, an outdoor enthusiast and lover of camping, a set of picnic/camping placemats, equipped with utensil holders. Love it or hate it? I loved it, so I made myself an extra set.

Last weekend, while D and I were hiking around Yosemite, we realized that these placemats are also excellent for keeping beverages cold.

Next up:

An iphone/ipod cupcake holder. Love it or hate it? Hint: I have one too. This one's for Nina, who owns an iphone, loves cupcakes, and works out a lot. There are slots for her to keep her drivers license & gym card in if she so inclines. Or she can just use the entire thing to store business cards; Nina knows a lot of people.

She's also the only bridesmaid I baked for. She lives down the street and really loves cupcakes (& the color red).

Lastly:

For the only mini-food-enthusiast I know- Kristy - a mini apron. I would've made and sent her mini food except last time I tried sending her something, it took over one week (maybe two) for the package to arrive. I looooove this apron and will probably make something similar for myself soon.

I am very proud of everything that I made, but especially this apron because it's a tricky pattern that I thought of all on my own. I even "serged" the back seams.

Speaking of idotsew, whatever happened to that etsy shop I started? I never did get into it but I realized how much I missed sewing and making things while I worked on these projects. Hopefully I can get back into sewing and creating things for the shop soon. It'll be tough but I could really use a part time job! :)

am cleaning up the long way

2009-08-13T21:44:00.000-07:00

I am finished with what's been brewing behind the scenes and I will be ready to show it to you soon. I have been de-stashing my fabric collection by making things for friends and will continue to do so until there is little left for me to have to move when the time comes. Sadly, everything that I have made I have wanted to keep, which led me to making extra for myself and completely defeating the purpose of having less to move.

Hope you're all having a great summer!

am starting my summer break

2009-08-10T10:19:00.000-07:00

My two week vacation starts today, this very moment, and I am so excited! Everything is kind of falling into place - my car is running again (save for a hose that they can't figure out where it belongs) and D and I have narrowed down our reception venue and dates. So, with a running car and plenty of crafting- and wedding-type things to take care of, I am set for my two weeks of fun. To prevent myself from falling into non-productivity and idleness, I decided that I need a checklist of things I'd like to accomplish in my two weeks. Here it goes:

updated 8/10
updated 8/11
updated 8/12
updated 8/17
updated 8/19

1. ~~make roti~~ ~~(although, I really don't think this is the right way of making these)~~
2. ~~finish graphics for some potential save the dates~~
3. ~~find a style &~~ decorations for the engagement party
4. ~~laundry~~
5. ~~finish reading "The Namesake"~~
6. ~~look into buying used copies of the Twilight books (since reading them on Stanza gives me a headache)~~ thanks wendy (and cheri)!
7. ~~flip through all the new mags Nina handed over~~
8. clean out closet
9. donate boxes of clothes
10. reorganize craft room
11. ~~have a picnic~~
12. ride my bike
13. get a dress for the engagement party
14. ~~book flights for so-cal weddings~~
15. ~~beat Dang's score in Fuzzle~~
16. beat Chap's score in Flight Control
17. find a seamstress
18. organize last quarter's notes
19. restart P90X
20. ~~get my hair did~~

I think that list is long enough for now! Hopefully I'll get at least half of these things checked off. Wish me luck. Hope you're having a fantastic summer!

T minus 2 days!

2009-08-05T11:15:00.000-07:00

Somethin is definitely abrewin 'round here! Can't wait to show ya.

Now, where can I find a 3 foot long zipper? Hmmm....

got quilting on the mind

2009-08-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

I have so much to do for school: 2 projects done, 2 to go, but all I can think about is making a quilt like this one.

Just one week left of school and then a sweet two week break. What will I do with that time? Decisions, decisions!

have been too busy

2009-07-22T23:18:00.000-07:00

Hi Internet! Yes, I've been busy and away from the blog for over a month.

This photo of Tiny was taken about a month ago and he is about double this size now.

What a cutie though, huh? :)

And Homie?

Oh, Homie. He's the same old, same old.

School kind of got really busy with projects galore and then wedding season started for us so things definitely picked up around here. I can't believe I was unemployed for over half a year and then BOOM! it all hit me at once. All this activity.

While I've been spending my days trying (unsuccessfully) not to worry about my own wedding, I've been able to get a few things done and out the door for others.

Terrible photo but I made a bachelorette veil for Cz. I bought some tulle remnants, hand sewed fabric flowers onto it, and then glued it onto a barrette comb. Success! I'm definitely going to make my own veil.

I also completely finished the Minh & Czrena cake toppers! (The bride finally has her bouquet.)

They are adorable and I can't wait to see them on the cake.

They are also well traveled!

Here they are in Vegas, where they were handed over to the bride-to-be. I'm so excited for my dear friends and I feel so honored that they trusted me with this task. :)

ran around Lake Tahoe

2009-06-25T23:31:00.000-07:00

Not really, but I ran 1/7th of it and followed in a car the rest of the way. My team (Run Happy) consisted of 7 people who each ran a leg that was between 8 and 12 miles. We ran through town, along the highways, through tunnels, and across two-lane passes in rain, wind, and hail. It took us 11 hours and 34 minutes to make our way around Lake Tahoe. Run Happy placed 86 out of 150 teams - not bad!! :)

Here's a banner that we made while we were up at the cabin.

And here's our team pre-race, still smiling, unaware of what was ahead.

zig zaggin along...

2009-06-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

I had dinner with an old co-worker on Tuesday and she mentioned that she can't blog-stalk me because I never update. Woops. So, this one's for you, Steph.

I finally picked up my zig zag afghan again after a few weeks hiatus. I had to look up how to crochet it because I had forgotten everything, including how to hdc (half double crochet) - a very basic stitch. Anyway, I told Dang that this blanket would be for our guest bedroom someday and he said that it's ugly (among other things). That made me quite sad and so to punish him, instead of having it in the guest room, this bad boy will go straight to our bedroom, where it belonged in the first place. He should've known by now that because I'm such a reasonable person, it's hard for me to take no for an answer when I really want something. ;)

What do you think of the zigzag 'ghan? Here's a photo of the one from Crochet Today.

And guess what, internet? I'm engaged! We want a simple, no fuss wedding and I'm hoping to do some of the crafting and creating myself. The thing I'm looking forward to most is seeing what elements of my imaginary/dream wedding can actually be incorporated into my real one. Can't wait!

am finito!

2009-05-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

I've finished the wedding tasks for my friends, MC, and am quite pleased, if I may say so myself. I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the projects and they barely felt like tasks. D says I may have enjoyed it more than I should have. Hmm? No such thing. The compass in my new blog banner is from the map I drew for the wedding invites. I have a feeling the wedding fever is going to make a full comeback this weekend.

Anyway, I'm shutting down and am going to prep for an evening of family and a weekend of fun and friends! (notice how I did not group the "fun" and "family" together - they made me fry a gazillion eggrolls this morning) ;)

I'm hoping for a few days of sunshine and hand-holding. Wishing you a safe holiday weekend!

busted my finger

2009-05-18T16:33:00.000-07:00

I hurt my hand last Thursday, jamming it in my car door while turning around to do something; I'm blaming aging for my poor reflexes. Anyway, my hand swelled up to resemble little sausages - think vienna or lil smokies. Since I was going camping for the weekend, I went to the doc to get it checked out and ended having to get a painful tetnus shot in my right arm since my middle finger had a gash in it. Luckily, there were no broken bones but still, camping isn't as enjoyable when it seems like all the odds are against you.

After we set up camp, we left to check out the beach. When we returned, I learned that my tent (which I'd attempted to fix pre-trip) ended up ripping completely open. There I was in sweat-dripping weather with a sore arm, a broken tent, and a bad finger that was naturally flipping the whole situation the bird. I'd like to think I made the most of it. But man, there were times when I just wanted to quit. So I'm sorry if it looks like I'm flipping you off; I'm really just trying to entertain myself to keep from crying.

Since I can't bend my middle finger and still haven't regained feeling in it, I can't crochet for a few days. I'm halting the granny squares and turning my spirits around by starting a new quilting project! Hopefully by the time I get all my fabric, wash and press everything, I will be able to use the rotary cutter with my right hand. There is hope. And if that doesn't work, there are friends.

am trying to avoid all kinds of fever

2009-05-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

I've spent a somewhat quiet afternoon working on these guys. Nine down and just about a gazillion left to do.

I took a break to go for a quick run to get outside of my head & these crazy thoughts related to the wedding fever that's spreading like wildfire. The run only partially brought me back to life. I ended up watching "When Harry Met Sally" while on the treadmill and realized that that movie can be so intense.

I'm coming down with a cold so I'm gonna spend my evening in bed, doing more of these while watching LOTR. I have never seen any part of that trilogy and my goal is to watch the whole thing by the time school starts in June. Wish me luck cause, as curious as I am, I'm not a big movie person. (especially three hour long movies)

it's naptime

2009-05-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

It's naptime around here...

But I missed the memo...

...so instead, I'm pulling these granny squares back out and adding a last round of the white yarn to each of them. Hopefully that'll help get things going so that I can finish this afghan by the time school starts in June.

am having a productive week

2009-05-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finished my Minh and Czrena cake topper dolls, save for her bouquet.

Then I took them out for a photoshoot since it was so nice outside.

The doll heads I used were from two separate packages; at certain angles, the bride's head looks a little oblong.

The oblong head along with her veil make her look taller than him, but if you stand them perfectly upright next to each other, he's actually taller. I may make another bride's head and plop it onto this body. For the groom, I might make him another tux with a fabric that frays less. I had a little trouble sewing and working with the linen material I used here and I didn't like how the "Stop Fraying" gel that I used left a shiny outline on his tux.

Hope you enjoyed the photoshoot! I'm off to contemplate my next project.

am making more dolls

2009-05-05T16:00:00.000-07:00

I've made a bunch of doll heads and bodies (not all are pictured) in hopes that one or two will turn out usable.

If you want to make dolls, here's a tip: tape a piece of thread down the center of the head to assure symmetry. Voila, nicely placed eyes.

I'll be back soon, hopefully.

made a birthday sticky rice!

2009-04-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

Last night in Thai cooking class, we learned to make two delicious Thai desserts/snacks: coconut sticky rice with mango and black sweet rice pudding. Today is my brother's 26th birthday and instead of baking him a cake (which I can't anyway since we still don't have an oven), I made him birthday sticky rice using my mom's massive aluminum steamer. The mangoes will be added when we eat it tonight, after we get back from dinner.

Sticky rice isn't always eaten as a dessert in Thailand. Kasma, our teacher, said that they often eat this dish for breakfast, which I plan on making more of just for that purpose.

Happy birthday "Boy"!

felt productive last weekend

2009-04-02T11:49:00.000-07:00

Reupholstering B's two kitchen stools was among the many things on our to-do list last weekend. We were able to borrow a staple gun from my uncle so we finally spent a couple of hours on Saturday pulling out old staples and punching in new ones. We used one of the upholstery fabric rolls that I'd bought for $5 a long, long time ago. Luckily it matches B's other living area furniture.

We popped the cushions out of the stools and pulled out all the old staples. There must have been over 50 staples per cushion. Then we stacked the old fabric on top of our new one and cut around it to ensure the perfect size/fit. This project was easy with two people since it helped to have one person hold the fabric taut while the other person stapled. We stapled corners first and then along the edges, folding the fabric in so that the fraying wouldn't show. We popped the cushions back into the stools, sat on them, and then laughed about how it took over three years to finally get to it.

It was a surprisingly easy project that brightened up and changed the look of her little kitchen nook. Hope you like 'em!

am a GAPS fan

2009-03-31T23:56:00.000-07:00

Last night, during my Thai cooking class, the instructor talked about the GAPS diet. She was very enthusiastic about this more holistic approach to health that her husband is taking, and I'm totally buying into it. I'd never heard of it before so I thought I'd mention it here in case anyone else may be interested. The GAPS diet is based on a study that shows how the gut and brain may be related. Healthy gut = healthy brain/mental state. I believe it!

I've signed up to do a 7-leg relay race around Lake Tahoe this summer. In the coming weeks I will be more focused on health and fitness than usual. I wanted to start off by sharing the GAPS diet and this recipe for the most awesome banana bread I have ever made or had.

And now I'm off to ponder my chosen career path, how spaztastic I am sometimes, and how it always feels so close, yet so far away.

Bon nuit.

untitled

2009-03-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

"Hi. Deed yoo mizz me?" (Spoken in a Governator tone, as Homie is sometimes known as Ahnold for his broad shoulders and expanding belly.)

I was in Santa Barbara visiting my sister two weeks ago and while I was grocery shopping, I picked up these daffodils that were only like two bucks for a bunch of ten. Ridiculous.

While my sister was working the night shift, I spent my evenings working on this little zig-zag number that Wendy and I learned together that weekend before. I wasn't planning on starting any new projects. My goal was to just help Wendy read and figure out the pattern but I was so intrigued that I got yarn and started my own. I was really hoping that this would be a quick project but, once again, I was wrong and it's already losing steam. In fact, I haven't touched it since I left Santa Barbara, over ten days ago. W and I are going to get together and force this thing out. (We have to since both our granny square afghans have been completely neglected and are now destined for life as over-sized coasters or potholders.)

While I was in SB, I also experimented with these macarons. They're supposed to be made with almonds but I used pecans because that's all I had. It seems that lately I have been substituing one nut for another with reckless abandon but hey, it totally worked! Some day, they will look as pretty as Paulette's. The macarons were insanely sweet and would probably be delish with some earl grey or english breakfast tea. Next time I would make the filling less sweet since the shell is made almost entirely of sugar. Mmm.

Hope you are well, Internet. I'll be back soon.

we did it! ...sorta

2009-03-16T22:56:00.000-07:00

Nina and I got together and baked the 14-Layer Cake today! But if you look closely and count the layers, there are actually only thirteen. Woops!

(I forgot my camera so these are from my phone cam.) The cake was oozing with chocolatey goodness. So much so that we were able to scrape the drippings and use it as extra frosting. Mmm.

Here are "all" the layers. We had another mishap during the baking process and so the layers were different heights. But that was kind of a sore subject. :)

We ended up making two mini cake slices with layer 14, which turned out to be a cute and delicious pre-treat (Nina has photos, I think). I'm sorry if you didn't get a slice this time but don't fret! This is surely something that we are going to attempt again. We think it'd be fun to attempt a age#-layer cake for special birthdays. Can you imagine a 30 layer cake? My head is spinning with possibilities!

killed two birds with one stone/needle

2009-03-01T20:53:00.000-08:00

This week for my DNRtime project, I did some embroidery work.

While studying during the week, all I could think about was making a pillowcase out of this candycane colored fabric that I had. The fabric measured a little short so I used a scrap of muslin to fill it in and added some herringbone stitches to it. It worked out well, I think. :) And I'm proud to say that eversince I discovered the "serging" function on my machine, I have been diligently serging my edges. It's not the same but it works great.

I checked with the Purl Bee to make sure I was doing the herringbone thing correctly on my candycane pillowcase. That's when I discovered this whole tutorial on embroidering pre-made pillowcases. And there I was thinking I was a genius for coming up with this idea all on my own. Boo-urns.

Nevertheless, the Purl Bee had some great ideas so I learned and started this project on my mini road trip today. My driver (aka Dang) told me that the blue pillowcase with red cross stitches looks Native American-ish. I can't remember how I reacted to that comment.

I hope you like it. And in case you are wondering, the middle pillowcase is from Shabby Chic Kids (on sale in a sheet set for $9.99 at Target 2 weeks ago!).

Goodnight and sleep tight!

just finished my first quilt EVER!

2009-02-19T22:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, be happy for me!!

Originally, the plan was just to make some of the binding and then save the rest for tomorrow. Well, it took me about 30 minutes to make the binding and then I got so excited that I just had to start sewing.

But let's rewind.

Last night I started and finished tying the quilt. Sadly, my dream of making a quilt with red ties was shattered when I flipped the quilt over halfway through and realized I didn't like the way the red looked on the white polka dots.

I snipped out all the red ties and replaced them with white ones.

I'm glad I did. The front may not be as pretty as it would be with red, but the white ties blend in so well in the back that they hide my novice tying skills.

Then today, I was impatient and couldn't wait to get a new bias tape maker so I used the one that has given me trouble in the past. Luckily, I got through that part with very little trouble. The only real problem I had (that I always have) was getting around these darn corners. I'm convinced that I'm still doing something wrong.

Nevertheless, I. AM. DONE. !!!

About Homie. It's late and I'm up on doggy diarrhea duty (gross, I know, sorry). My brother found a whole case full of canned dog food in the garage and I told him that maybe Homie didn't like it and that's why there's so much left. We then feed it to him anyway just to see if he would like it today. Of course, he inhales it. Next thing we know, my other brother comes home and asks who fed Homie the food that gives him diarrhea. Oops. Poor dog has had serious gas ever since.