Can you solve the question of "The Mystery Plant?"

Anyone up for playing a fun game? I have this patch of green stick things in between my two birch trees. It wasn't there when I moved in at the beginning of July, and has just started popping up in the last 2-3 weeks. I have NO idea what the heck it is! I want to know if it is going to take over and I should rip it out before it takes over or if I am patient it might turn into something beautiful? Right now it is a mystery and I have never seen it before. Maybe if someone out there knows what it is I'll get you a prize!

Spring Has Sprung!

Fresh flowers inside. Fresh flowers outside. I LOVE springtime!!!! This post is devoted to the pretty flowers I have surrounding me today. I just hosted a baby shower ( I hope to steal pictures from people to post here soon) so I have lots of beautiful flowers all over inside and outside my tulips bloomed just in time for the party. EEEKKKK, they just make me so happy. Hope you enjoy this pretty posting!











If you look super close you can see the very first yellow tulip pop open in the far end of the bed. There are more yellow ones now, just late to bloom I suppose. I love driving home and seeing that sea of pink, red and yellow tulips. Thanks Aunt Mary and Uncle Ken!

Spring in February?

So 2010 thus far has been fairly uneventful. January was packed full of studying for a certification exam for work. I didn't HAVE to take it, but I guess I thought the torture sounded like fun! Mostly I was being stubborn. I didn't like the fact that it was hanging out there as something possible to achieve, and I hadn't done it yet. I can't stand having things on my to do list for too long, it drives me crazy! So with many tears and moments of feeling overwhelmed, I spent January studying, but passed the test :)

Even though I was busy I found time for a few fun things. Here we go on another really random blog posting.

A yummy dinner I made. I thought it was pretty and it was super easy to make.

Steve has become a master baker! I am not fond of having to follow a recipe so baking doesn't always turn out so well for me. Lemon bars are his latest treat and they were SO lemony and delicious.


He also decided it was time for the first fire in the fireplace! I am too much of a nervous nelly to build one when home alone but I LOVED it. Fires are so pretty and Mom and Dad got to enjoy it too :)

My cake creation for Dad's birthday. I tried to make it tropical with palm trees but I don't know, it might have been more of an abstract cake. But at least I didn't ruin it with my lack of baking skills combined with my unique ability to ruin anything I try to cook out of a box. Yummm, I look forward to Dad's birthday every year for the spice cake.



February rolled along before I knew what happened but with it came beautiful flowers all over the place! I got a WONDERFUL arrangement of tulips for Valentine's day


and I am SOOOO looking forward to seeing all the tulips I planted in my front bed spring up! They are just starting to pop out and it's fun to see all the other spring flowers around the yard I had no idea were there when I bought the house. I think it's one of my favorite things so far about the house is getting to see spring arrive :)


A little patch of flowers in the bed out in the backyard.


Up Close. With some tulips mixed in.



My hope is that in a month I can post pictures of my tulips in full bloom! Waiting is killing me, I'm so excited for them :) Hope 2010 is treating you well!

Mastering the Art of Boeuf Bourguignon

So I've always been a fan of Julia Child. How can you not when the lady spills food or sets it on fire and brushes it off as if it's a normal thing to have happen? Maybe when that happens to me I should just go put my pearls on, grab a glass of wine and laugh about it (instead of what my normal reaction would be which is get hugely upset about it, cry and pout about it and suggest we should all go eat at Taco Bell instead).

Needless to say, being the owner of 3 copies of Julia's Mastering the art of French Cooking (each one being a gift and I adore all 3 people who gave them to me) and having just watched the movie Julie and Julia, I felt inspired to whip up something sensational. Boeuf a la Bourguignon has always sounded so intimidating to me, but I decided now or never was the time time to conquer it! And it also gave me a reason to "have to" purchase a new le creuset pan, but it was 30% off!

Though start to finish was just under 5 hours, it really wasn't that hard at all. Of course, Julia helps a great deal by listing ingredients to be used immediately next to the instructions for how to use those ingredients. Why more cookbooks don't use this method is WAY beyond my comprehension. It makes so much sense! Yet another reason to love her.

Ok enough rambling. Below are the photos to document this momentous (ha ha) event!


At the beginning: got the book, the pan, the spoon, the apron... Ready, Set, COOK!!!

Action shot. Thank you for that apron Marylee! It was so helpful and I simply love those pockets in it. Very functional too as my kitchen usually stays clean when I cook, but I do not.



Hot out of the oven, YUM! Even put on the pearls to embrace my inner Julia, he he he :)




Close up a la table...



Bon Appetit!

Christmas Day and the Surprise Snow

Some pictures of Christmas this year for y'all to enjoy :)

At home after having the best clam chowder on the face of the earth at Uncle Rick's on Christmas Eve. Following Thanksgiving, the meal we eat Christmas Eve is my most favorite meal of the year.

I wish I could have worn that super cute and comfy outfit on Christmas!



The stockings lined up with care

Driving past Multnomah Falls on the way to Aunt Mary and Uncle Ken's for dinner.


Cookies I made to deliver to neighbors :) They were so festive looking I didn't want to package them up and give them away






Well, even though the snow didn't arrive on Christmas Day, at least it arrived later and was pretty to look at :) Though I enjoyed it much more after I survived my 2 hour commute home from the hospital; my commute which is normally 20 min on a heavy traffic day. Counting my blessings that my car and myself survived unharmed and I wasn't one of the ones stuck in traffic for 6 hours!

Snow!

SOOOOOO happy when I took this picture to be home. The house looks so cozy :)

My First Christmas in my First House

I am having so much fun decorating and making the house festive for Christmas time. It's taking me a really long time to pull it all together and I'm certainly not looking forward to putting it all away. It's like packing for a vacation, you don't mind having to pack all your things up to go, but when you get back the chore of putting it all away is a real drag!

I hope you are all enjoying the season! I guess now that I am decorated I should start shopping. I wish this was 2007... the year I was done with my Christmas shopping by October, that was a good strategy.

Well here is the fun part; all the pictures.







We thought that this might be the one...



... but this one beat it out.


I cut down our tree last year so I wanted to try again, but I had to call in for reinforcements.





Christmas in my family room once everything was all decorated.


Practicing close ups.


Another close up of the garland on the ledge between the kitchen and dining room.

Before and After

I guess you could call it a small kitchen upgrade. I was blessed with a brand new disposal in the sink when the old one decided it wanted to die and thankfully that was covered by the warranty on the house. Then I decided that it was time to upgrade the fridge after having to tear it apart 3 times to eliminate a solid chunk of ice blocking the draining system which in turn created pools of ice in the fridge portion and froze my food. Bummer. Well now that you have endured by sob story, here are the before and afters.

The old humble fridge .


The new fridge that decided it wasn't going to fit. Yes, we measured!



The process of cutting off 1/2" of counter and connecting water to the fridge. It was a messy dusty process :) But had great results!

Yay, she fits!!!!! It looks and works great!! Makes the kitchen look all pretty too.