as of RIGHT now...

Vacation 10 on Tuesday

After an amazing 10 day vacation I am back to the grind of real life and all of it's everyday annoyances. So, to try and hold on to some of the "vacation mode" I was in I dedicate this 10 on Tuesday to some of my favorite moments/places/things from my vacation.

1. Sedona and Slide Rock. One of my favorite places to visit despite the tourist trap it has turned into (I live in a huge tourist trap so who am I to judge). The red rocks, cool air, favorite  swimming hole. I especially loved seeing Nate enjoy the cliff jumping at Slide Rock as I would never have the nerve to do it myself.

2. Staying up late talking with my dad. It's been so long and some of the memories he shared I had never heard and so this was really something I cherished over the course of our vacation.

3. Seeing Katie again. Can't believe it's been over 4 years since I have seen her. Loved seeing her new house and spending the afternoon BBQ-ing and catching up. Have to make sure I see her every time I am out in Arizona:)

4. Swimming in my dad's pool in the early AM (before anyone was up) and in the evenings (after the sun went down). Loved the time to myself in the mornings and loved the time it gave Nate and I to be goofy and playful in the evenings. Sometimes in everyday life he and I forget to be goofy and fun and so this was some much needed time together.

5. Drive in movies in the middle of a lightning storm. Awesome. Being stuck in the car during the pouring rain...not so awesome. But for that first 45 minutes it was an amazing evening. I miss the lightning storms that occur in Arizona. We just don't get storms like that here on the coast of Califonria.

6. Happy hour for Wade. First it was good to see he is doing so well with his cancer treatments and to catch up some with him. Second, it was awesome seeing some old friends and spending an evening with them. Wish I could make it out every month for these Happy Hours.

7. Seeing the Holmes family. They are one of the main reasons we've ever considered moving out to Arizona. We've missed a whole year of Olivia's development and this time she was definitely not warming up to us like last time. Still, it was good to see her and especially to see and hang out with Amanda and Ian.

8.  Traveling with teenagers. Not so bad. Except when they were whining but overall bringing someone along for Alex to hang with was the best idea ever. Definitely was a much more enjoyable trip than in the past with her.

9. Lulu, my dad's dog. She was so fun and cute that I *almost* thought a dog would be fun to own. For all of 10 minutes.

10. Cooking dinner for my dad. I left Arizona when I was 23 and my idea of cooking was pasta with (jarred) sauce on it. Now cooking is one of my favorite things to do so it was extremely satisfying to make him dinner, especially since he had opened his house to us for the visit and made us feel so welcome.

 This was the first time I realized how much I miss not living inArizona. The climate, my family, my friends. The cheap houses to buy.  It was hard coming back to California. Even the cooler weather was hard to take (i know..I know...poor me). Guess I will have to make a better effort to visit Arizona more than once a year so I don't get so homesick.

unplanned adventures make the best evenings...

I had thought that my next blog post would be about my daughter turning 16 (which happened back in December) but then last night I had an unexpected adventure with some friends.

Our friend Craig just started working at the Monterey Bay Aquarium on the 4th of January. This has caused a number of emotional reactions within our household because  Craig has been my husband's co-worker and carpool buddy for the past 4 years  and so this has been quite an adjustment for Nate.  While he was excited that Craig was getting out of a job he's been unhappy in for years and starting a new adventure with another company he was feeling quite sorry for himself that he was losing such a good co-worker.  It's been a rough few weeks at the Hyde Casa. Last night though, we got to see one of the biggest advantages to friends that work at really cool companies...

WeI got to go into the aquarium after hours....

like at midnight....

and see the animals without anyone else around...

and I had the bat rays all to myself to touch and bond with...

and I got to go behind the scenes in the jellyfish exhibit...

....

....

it was like the BEST NIGHT EVER!

  

(isn't my little bat ray friend cute!)

Hoping there are many more unplanned adventures in my future:)

 

Dutch Baby goodness

 
 As most of you know I love to cook. I love every aspect of cooking, from choosing the recipe, shopping the ingredients, to the actual preparing and cooking of the food. I can spend hours looking for new recipes to try. It's one of my favorite things to do.

One thing I do not like and I am awful at though is BAKING.

There's too much riding on exactly measured ingredients. Too much attention needed while it's in the oven (especially in our oven from the 1070's) And nothing ever comes out as good as my mom's baked goods.The other day though, when I was planning to make brunch for the first weekend of the new year I happened upon something called a Dutch Baby pancake. I was intrigued by it but was momentarily put off by when I saw that it is baked. In the oven. With carefully measured ingredients. sigh. I decided though that I wasn't going to be intimidated by the baking aspect of this recipe. I was going to make one of these pancakes.

Let me tell you...it is so easy. Almost fail proof. And really something cool to watch bake. It puffs up the sides of the cast iron pan...almost like a souffle except only on the sides . The bottom of the pancake becomes the consistency of really thin french toast. Served with lemon sugar, lemon juice and raspberries it really was a unexpected treat for brunch. 

I found the recipe here and only made a few changes to it. I would suggest not making as much lemon sugar as she has you make. I used maybe one tablespoon of the lemon sugar because I also squeezed one half of a lemon on the pancake before adding the sugar.

1/3-Cup (65 g) Sugar
2 tsp Grated Lemon Zest
3 Large Eggs, at room temperature
2/3 Cup (160 ml) 1% Milk, at room temperature
2/3 Cup (80 g) All-Purpose Flour
¼ tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1/8 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Grated Nutmeg
1/8 tsp Sea Salt
½ Stick (55 g) Unsalted Butter, cut into pieces

juice of 1/2 a lemon

Equipment: A 10-inch (25 cm) Cast-Iron Skillet

Method

Put the skillet on middle rack of the oven and preheat oven to 450˚F or 225˚C.

In a small bowl, mix the lemon zest with sugar.

Beat the eggs with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and frothy then beat in milk, flour, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sea salt until smooth, about 1 minute.

Remove the skillet from oven and melt the butter. Tilt the pan so that the butter coats the sides and pour in the batter. Return the skillet to the oven and bake until puffed and golden brown, 18 to 25 minutes.

Serve immediately, topped with lemon juice, lemon sugar and fresh berries, if desired.

Serve 2-4

You'll never be what is in your heart

So I took a little break from blogging. If all of 2010 can be considered a "little" break.

I'd been feeling guilty about it for a while but 2010 was a very hard year and I just felt like I didn't have anything positive or interesting to say here. I pretty much retreated from the internet world in general. I stopped scrapbooking. I stopped following blogs. I was still doing Facebook but not like I was a year ago.

Instead I started battling my weight (and still am). We started infertility testing. I dealt  with a couple MANY other health issues. We struggled to get my daughter through her first year of high school. We dealt with financial setbacks. I turned 40. For me, personally, it's also a challenge to know how much to talk about online. I know I've found solace in regard to my weight and infertility by reading about others who struggle with my same issues  but I'm not sure I want to put my struggle out there for the world to see. I know my husband doesn't want me to put any of it out there. Unfortunately, these struggles are a huge part of who I am and so for me NOT to talk about them here...I would be lying about what my life is really about. So I've just stayed quiet.

Recently though, I read through some of my old posts and I've realized how much I miss blogging. For myself. Life moves fast and if I don't stop to record the little moments then I forget them. This was painfully obvious at my high school reunion a few years ago. I didn't remember half the stories and antics my friends were talking about even though I was assured that I was there for most of them. My daughter has grown (physically and emotionally) so much over the past year and I have nothing to reference back to. To the way she used to be. I just feel like I've missed out on so much by NOT posting about my life.

And so I am taking small baby steps back into the blogging world and you'll be seeing posts from me a couple of times a month (that's my goal at least) and we'll see how it goes from there:)

 

Today I

-took a walk down to the water. To think. To contemplate the new year.  (Because...excuse my language but 2010 sucked ass for me. One of the hardest years I can remember. Emotionally. Physically. Financially.)

-sat on a bench, under a tree, and ate a sandwich while I watched the clouds roll by (quiet time really is the best sometimes)

- played with the macro setting on my point and shoot (I've really been missing my Rebel lately and should just get another one...)

 
- cooked dinner while listening to the Mumford and Sons album I got for Christmas

- thought a LOT about this blog post that I found via pacingthepanicroom.blogspot.com  (Already made a note to check in so I can contribute next year)

-set  goals for 2011

- started "Operation Un-Clutter My Life" today starting with my dresser (feels so good to purge and organize)

- planned a nice breakfast (with mimosas ) for tomorrow morning for just Nate and I

- found some beauty in a simple telephone pole (I think it would have lots of stories to tell)

I am so ready for the 2011 year. Hoping it's not as rough as last year. Fingers crossed:)

falling off the face of the earth...

1. Untitled, 2. chilton county beauty, 3. Untitled, 4. <3, 5. dresser, 6. Untitled, 7. Untitled, 8. windows, 9. Untitled, 10. Untitled, 11. Untitled, 12. Les Amoureux du Sacré-Cœur, 13. so please don't wake me up, 14. Sprung, 15. Swimming in the North Sea, 16. The Haight, 17. It's Roid Week tomorrow, 18. poem, 19. Adam and Halli's Wedding, 20. monet, 21. diamonds, 22. full - paper wedding 6, 23. Tiny, 24. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are., 25. "put a pretty dress on", 26. buttermilk biscuits, 27. just a little more portland, 28. the perfect fence, 29. Cinnamon-Spiced Bourbon-Apple Cake, 30. rum (15)

A few images that I love lately (from Flickr of course!). I haven't been diligent about taking photos. I really have stopped caring about photo taking in general. That's what the loss of long days of daylight do to me though. I get up in the dark and come home to the dark. Not a lot of inspiration in that kind of day.  I took some last weekend photos last weekend but my heart wasn't in it. What do you do to be inspired to photograph something?

blame Facebook

I realized a few days ago that one of the reasons I don't post anymore has a little something to do with Facebook. I post my pictures on there and update my status therefore I often don't feel the need to post to my blog. Only 4-5 people come to this blog and they are all (except one) on my facebook. Then I remembered this weekend that the reason I started a blog was so that I could keep track of the details of my life while sharing my life with friends and family. I used to scrapbook ( a long long time ago) and my blog was helpful for keeping track of events and details I would want to remember for later.  I stopped scrapbooking almost a year ago. Almost exactly at the same time I signed up on Facebook. I don't think this is a coincidence. So I am going to work hard to change this and maybe I'll find my interest in scrapbooking again...

This past weekend was Alex's first Homecoming Dance. She was suppose to go with her boyfriend but she broke up with him a few weeks ago. So her friend Alyssa became her date for the night. They both looked so beautiful. I don't remember looking this good ever.  Kids these days have so much access to cute  and cheaper clothing than I ever did "back in the day". Forever21 is agodsend for cute affordable clothing for her. Both these dresses are from Forever21 and combined they were less than $50.00. If only I had access to cheap fun clothes when I was younger. I might have developed some type of fashion sense. Oh well. My daughter has enough of that for both of us I guess...

sometimes I suck at life

or maybe I just suck at blogging.  Probably a combination of the two;)

You may have noticed that I haven't been on here in a few months. (Or maybe you haven't.) Anyway, I was busy with life and forgot for a while that I had this blog. Well, ok, to be honest I never really forgot I had a blog. I just was too busy, or too sick or life was just too boring to blog.  I was all pumped up to do the NaBloPoMo again this year. And then yesterday I realized I had missed the first day of the month already. And then I missed the second day. sigh. So much for getting back in the blogging saddle again. 

Let's try this again...

Alex on Halloween. She had planned this costume with her boyfriend.He's a football player. Then she dumped him. She still looked cute though:) 

today I...

i love the smell of: the amazing peonies in a vase right next to me
i love the sound of: the ocean waves I can actually here from my desk at work
i love the taste of: fresh peaches from the Farmer's Market
i love the sight of: blue skies with white puffy clouds
i love the feel of: my sore muscles from my 6 mile bike ride this morning

jen

8th Grade Graduation

Yesterday was my daughter's 8th grade promotion ceremony. I have to be honest with you that there were certain times this past school year when we weren't sure she was going to make it to this day. Like... when she came home with an F on her report card in Algebra  for example. But she pulled through and yesterday was the big day. I'd pictured this moment for many years...at least since her 6th grade promotion...but it didn't play out as I had imagined. I was calm and not weepy. (I cried like a baby at her preschool graduation). I really just found that I was relieved it was all over.

Middle School sucks.

There's no sugar coating it. The drama alone is enough to drive an adult crazy. I always thought my mom just didn't understand me and now I realize I was just a dramatic bitchy teenager. These are the years we start to  get a feel for who we really are. We try on new friends. We try on new personalities. We try on new attitudes. It's a time of such change that it's hard for anyone to keep up.

It seemed like Alex had a new best friend every other month. Liked a different boy every week.  I know that high school brings a whole new pile of worries but in some ways I know that it starts to stabilize. A little. I'm looking for a little stability. She made the cheerleading team last week and I hope that this also keeps her in check with her grades. And introduces some new friends because some of these girls she's been friends with are really just awful to each other. They have such tempers and emotions at this age. The smallest things really set off a chain of events within her group. I'm not a dramatic person (now...) so it was a little too much for me to take sometimes.

I was so proud of her yesterday though. She's become quite a young woman. I like that she still has a unique sense of style. Her spunky personality. She couldn't stop smiling after the ceremony...really smiling. With teeth showing and all...that's the part I enjoyed the most yesterday...seeing her reaction to this milestone. I'll have to actually post one of her big smile...these were taken before the ceremony...when she was still nervous about the whole affair.