Soup of the Day

I decided on Tuesday that I wanted to finally try making chicken gnocchi. So I called up the OSF, ran my list of needed ingredients by him, and headed to Vons to pick up fresh veggies.

First step: Cook the chicken and garlic.

Second step: Shred the heck out of the carrot, celery, and spinach.

Third step: Get the boyfriend to chop the onion.

Step Four: Mix flour with chicken, then add milk and half and half.

Step Five: Throw in all the veggies and stir, stir, stir!

Step5: Finished! Ladle that soup into bowls and feed your hungry boyfriend!

I had hoped this would taste like Olive Garden's chicken gnocchi, since the specific recipe I was using swore it was the same, but it really didn't have the same feel to it. It was still good though, for my very first homemade soup. Chris loved it, and I'm pretty sure he wasn't just kissing up because it was the first meal I'd made all on my own (with the exception of the onion, of course), because after his first bite his eyes got really wide and he said, "Babe! This is really good!" Another bite. "Babe! I can't believe how good this is!" Third bite. "Babe. It's really, really good." Fourth bite. "Babe! This is way better than Olive Garden's!" (Heresy!) So, since I've never heard him call me 'babe' four times in under twenty seconds, and he went back for a second bowl full, I think he did in fact like it. :)

Woo-hoo! I can make soup!

A funny thing happened at school yesterday...

Brittany and I were sitting together grading homework, talking about the fruit strudel we'd just eaten (and which I may or may not have dropped on a student's world history paper), when Brittany sets her pen down and says, "Farmville makes we wish we had a plot of land."


Yeah. She really said that.


Farmville is taking over! Even my OSF spends his free time sowing seeds and harvesting strawberries. He says he's only in it until his farm is better than Sarah's, but I'm not so sure about him....

It's Saturday Again; Time for an Update!

Saturday: Let's start it off right with a cute picture of the OSF. This is from our run bunches of errands day, when we took a break from going to Best Buy, Radio Shack, Batteries Plus, Henry's, and Vons, and enjoyed a nice meal at the TGIFridays off the 163. That restaurant is super hidden back there, so it was really mellow inside, especially for a football game day. I got some yummy fish and chips and Chris went the healthy route with some Dragon spicy chicken dish.

He eats well to maintain that breathtaking adorableness of his.

Sunday: Had some more fun playing with the Slice. It's got some pre-made word features that let me cut the whole thing at once. I'm also pretty impressed with that tiny scalloped heart frame; this machine is amazing!

Monday night we went to Cody and Emily's to watch the season premieres of How I Met Your Mother, the Big Bang Theory, and House.

This is Cody's beloved dog, Cuddles. It's actually short for Mr. Cuddlesworth. Isn't that a ridiculous name for a dog? I can say that, because Cody didn't name him. He belonged to an old co-worker from Cody and Chris' company, Bulldog Drummond.

Cuddles used to be really fat. And smelly, if I remember correctly from Chris' stories. His owner used to bring him to work and let him wander around the Bulldog offices, and Chris didn't want to pet him because he smelled so bad. But everyone still loved Cuddles, in spite of his doggy smell and fatness.

When Cody adopted him, he put Cuddles on a strict work-out regime and eating schedule. And slowly, Cuddles lost all that unhealthy weight. And somehow the smell went away too.

He's still kind of a chubby dog, but at least he can go for walks now without dying. And Cody brings him to work and lets him wander around the Bulldog office. And Chris will pet him now that he doesn't stink.

PS- Cody's wife Emily hates Cuddles. It's really funny.

Tuesday: chicken gnocchi soup prep. My awesome boyfriend is amazing at slicing onions.

That is way I keep him around.

At the charter school, the teachers celebrate birthdays and going-aways with a special desert from this great bakery called Han's and Harry's. Tuesday we celebrate Sylvia's birthday with the best cake I've ever had in my life (so not an exaggeration): Colombian Mocha Buttercream. Oh. My. Gosh. It was so good, I've seriously been dreaming about it.

Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration.

On Wednesday we had this fruity strudel guy. (That's Brittany going in for a piece, by the way.) The thing was impossible to eat with a plastic fork, and we all eventually had to give up trying and use our hands. The strudel is not as good as the cake, in my opinion, but I've never been much of a strudel person, anyway.

Thursday: Chris has been craving sushi lately, and out of the blue on Wednesday night, Ryan called to suggest picking up sushi for TV Thursday. The OSF was all over that. So he and Ryan went straight to this hole in the wall sushi place that Chris swears by, and picked up quite a smorgasbord (who would have guessed that word has a 'd' on the end of it?) of rolled raw fish.

Now, I have had sushi a total of two times in my life before this. The first time, my old roommate Sarah brought some home; it was the most disgusting thing I'd ever eaten, and I could not fathom why people were so willing to spend large amounts of money on the stuff. The second time, Heather and Neil insisted I come with them, their cousin Brandon, and Jeremy Miller for a spur of the moment sushi on the beach trip. And you know what? That sushi tasted pretty good.

But I still wouldn't have paid money for it.

Chris brought back three variations of the California roll: the standard roll, the Hawaiian roll, and the crunchy roll, shown here:

The crunchy roll definitely won, but I just can't handle those things for very long. I think it's because you have to eat the whole thing at once, and I am one of those people who like to take small bites. So this sushi thing is just not very enjoyable for me.

I gave up after 5. Which I think was still a great amount of food... if Chris hadn't brought back about 20 pieces.

Picture of the Day goes to Ryan, looking skeptical about his choice, the soft-shell crab roll. Those things were ginormous!

I heart scrapbooking

I got a really fun toy last week.

The Making Memories Slice.

It is amazing.

Basically it cuts out everything I want for me.

I like things that do menial tasks for me.

So in honor of my new fun toy, here are two recent paper scrapbooking pages (as opposed to the digital route I've been going lately).

First one: Me and the OSF

Second one: Ryan and I on an infamous friend date.

Lizzie and Brad get hitched

So Lizzie asked me back in March or April if I'd help out taking pictures at her wedding, first for the guest book pics, and second as a back-up to the actual photographer, a girl from our church named Katherine. Of course I said yes; there's nothing better than getting to take pictures at a wedding without the stress of actually being the real photographer!

(Sidenote: I could probably never be a wedding photographer. I'm pretty sure the stress of having someone's wedding pictures in my control would be way too much for me. I'm happy enough taking backseat pictures.)

But the very first thing I thought of when Liz asked me was, "Excellent! There's a fun wedding picture project I've been wanting to try!" (See link for project original.)

Lizzie was not impressed with wedding picture projects. "Do whatever you want," she said. "Just make sure to focus on the guest book pictures."

I assured her I could do both. In fact, the guest book pictures where what I needed for my little project anyway. She still didn't sound enthused.

Well, the project came out 10 times better than I expected; hopefully Lizzie will finally understand why I wanted to try this so badly-- it turned out so darn cute!!!

If only I could have gotten Liz and Brad against the same backdrop as everyone else, it would have been perfect. They were just too busy with the whole getting married thing to come out for a mini photo shoot. Oh well.

Since I was outside taking guest book pics for the forty-five minutes before the ceremony, I didn't get too many pre-wedding pictures other than the couple here of Liz's shoes, and her bridesmaids doing some last minutes primping.

How cute are those fans? The church has no air conditioning, so the fans were a major necessity to making it through that ceremony- for everyone involved, not just the bridesmaids. :)

Here's some of the test shots Brittany (my co-guest book photographer) and I did with our fun brick wall background and the fans.

Getting ready to go in...

The ceremony!
It was so hot in there, I couldn't handle it; I went back out to the foyer to grab shots of little things like the basket full of fans for the guests, the picture of Liz and Brad that everyone was signing, and the guest book itself. And since I was already out there, I was in a prime spot to catch the newlyweds coming out the door.

Reception time! We all headed down to the Lakeside Community Center (Britt and I stopping at McD's for 79 cent cokes along the way- did I mention it was HOT and we were DEHYDRATED?)

Here's some fun shots of guests, family members, and our gang of friends enjoying the appetizers before the wedding party arrived.

Jarrod and I. Look at him with his stylish new glasses!

Jesse and Lily. Jesse talked with me at length about the myriad of problems that could be possessing the White Demon. He's such a great friend.

Virginia with the newly-turned-one Lucy Goosey! If you can't tell, Virginia's about to have a kid herself; it's hard to tell because she's so stinking little and cute still!

DJ Jarrod rocking the tunes.

Ryan Poole... posing for a picture?

This is one of my favorites: Can't you just see the thought bubble over Lucy's head? "Get your own cracker, buddy."
Weston Stecklair, Cassie Labbe, and- look at that!- David Stuckey jumped into the frame too!

The wedding party arrives; looking stylist in sunglasses and rocking out as they are introduced. Here we've got Nathan and Genisee, who I'm sure were probably the most fun couple out there.
Jessica and Mikey wait to make their grand entrance, with flower girl Gwen waiting in the wings.

Lizzie was just the cutest bride ever. She just had this goofy smile plastered on her face for the entire reception.

The flowers...

More Lucy. (I can't help it- she's too cute not to photograph!)

Jess and Gwen at the wedding party table.

Genesee and Brandi.

Michelle, Lizzie's youngest sister, and Bethany, one of her good friends. (Can I just say it really makes me feel old that I've known Bethany since she was in fifth grade? And I was in my last years of high school at that point?)

And finally, what wedding is complete without the circle of dancing high school girls? Complete with a younger cousin in pink trying to keep up and looking adorable in her Mary Janes.

And that was Lizzie's wedding. Well, what I saw of it anyway. I had to leave right before the first dance to make it to Mandy's bridal shower in time.... which I still haven't blogged about....

Coming up next: Mandy's bridal shower!

Five on Friday

1) I know, I did Ten on Tuesday already. But I've got more to say!

2) I got a haircut. And a perm. Because I decided to give perming one more try, since when I did it four years ago it fell out immediately. Twice. Decided to try it again at the hair school, since they were having a special last Friday. It's been exactly a week, and while they're definitely a little waviness and body to my hair still, there's no curl. But I really wasn't expecting much anyway, so a little extra body is fine with me! And it's not like they didn't try over at the school; I had a student and two supervisors trying to get my hair to curl. It's just a lost cause.

3) I've been on more of a scrapbooking kick than writing kick lately. It seems I can only concentrate on one creative outlet at a time, or I just start feeling overwhelmed with all the stuff I want to do.

4) Because of that overwhelming feeling (which I've been getting A LOT lately), I've decided to pick just one thing to accomplish each day, instead of having this idea in my head of completing four or five things each evening. Because I've realized nothing gets done when I do that; I just get little parts of a lot of things completed. No whole projects. Wednesday I decided I would finish up one whole project- getting my rough draft novel ready to turn into a Blurb book- and then whatever time I had left over could be spent working on other things. And you know what? I finished the book, made the cover, and was able to order it that night. And move on to working on Lizzie's wedding pictures. I just love finding my productive modes.

5) So I haven't been getting as many comments as I have been... just wondering if anyone's still reading this. Not that I'm planning to stop if no one out there's paying attention to me... but it's always nice to see a comment or two. :) If you're out there, please leave me a comment! Tell me what you like reading about, what you couldn't care less about, if you'd like to see more pictures of that cute OSF boy, etc. I'm open to suggestions!

One thing off my list...

... and that's updating the blog! Hurray!

I know some of you might not really care. But I write my blog so I can look back and remember someday, and it stinks when I think about all the things I'm forgetting to include, things that are making life just so darn memorable right now!

Okay, we'll start at last Saturday. Lizzie and Brad got hitched, and Lizzie was a beautiful, stunning, calm, picture of elegance kind of bride. You could just tell all day that she was having the best time. So beautiful, Liz. My picture of the day for the fifth is Lizzie getting ready to eat her wedding dinner, with her special Bride apron, and the glowing, floating candles behind her.

I've still got a few more to go through for the actual wedding post, but hopefully soon! I think I've still got a bit of time before she and Brad get back.

Sunday night Ryan came over to Chris' with the best idea: weekend road trip to central California to catch Spring Awakening in San Jose, and a new musical in previews called American Idiot, starring John Gallagher, Jr., who just happens to be an original Spring Awakening cast member himself. Best idea of the year! So far it's Chris and I, Ryan and Sarah, and two of Ryan's other friends. We'll do Spring on Friday night, American Idiot on Saturday afternoon, and then have Saturday evening and Sunday to explore and do touristy things in San Francisco.

We are all very excited about these plans. Too bad we have to wait until the end of October!

Ryan made the picture of the day with his L&L meal. L&L is a Hawaiian barbecue place just down the street from Chris', and the boys love it. Sunday night was my first taste of "Hawaiian cuisine" and sadly I can't say I'm a real fan. It was a lot of food, but I thought it was just too overpriced for not enough yummy goodness.

Ryan and I voted two against one to rent 17 Again. Chris was opposed when he heard the reviews weren't stellar, but it ended up being really cute and funny, and he eventually admitted he liked it. If you haven't seen it yet, go rent it! Definitely a must see fun family flick. (A triple F if you will.)

Oh, White Demon. Why do you insist on being broken? I just want to love you and play with you and show you the sites of San Diego. But you're going to have to start cooperating.

My dad and I took it to the Chevy dealer to run an official diagnostic on it, since my dad was out of ideas of what could possibly be wrong with the thing. The verdict came Tuesday morning: bad fuel pump. Cost: $640 for Chevy to fix it.

My dad said he could do it cheap over the weekend. From what I heard from my sister, he found a great pump at the wrecking yard but the guy somehow broke it when selling it to him.

Sigh.

This is me in the bathroom mirror.

Not everything in my life is as exciting as weddings and babies and demon cars.

And me again. For first official TV Thursday of the season, Chris tried to brand my computer with his Apple sticker. When I wasn't going for that, he branded me instead.

Like my new necklace?
Then he insisted on taking a picture of me like that, and I insisted at the last minute of holding up my beautiful PC. Take that, Mac Boy.

Below are the onesies I made for Mel and Chris Holz, who are expecting at the end of October. Chris Holz is one of the four Chris' that comprise my Chris' inner circle of best friends. We went to their coed baby shower on Saturday (kind of like Justin and Jen's baby barbecue), and had a great time eating yummy appetizers, watching Mel open adorable presents while Holz modeled (or demonstrated how to use), and figured out scrambled words like cinsavtanscoi.
(The scrambled word is vaccinations, by the way. No one got that one during the actual game, and the ones like me who can't go on with life until we know the answers to things took quite awhile figuring that one out.)

Here's one of the reasons I like that OSF boy: we spent our Saturday afternoon with him in the kitchen, baking cookies for a community service project they're doing at work, and me at the table scrapbooking to my heart's content. It was perfect.

Sunday. Yet another reason I like that OSF boy: He made me 'breakfast' at 1:3o in the afternoon! Eggs, bacon, toast, and he even cut open a pomegranate! Then he insisted on taking a picture of me for my picture of the day!

Let the record show: I really like that OSF.

(I'm generally a fan of people who feed me. )

And finally, yesterday's picture: my delightful youth venture thugs.

Okay, they're not really thugs. They're actually very sweet. Especially these four. But for some reason junior highers just won't look normal in pictures, no matter how many you take.