Be Thankful.

Lately I've been feeling like time is flying by so quickly and so much is happening it's all just a whirlwind spinning around between my ears! As of this week we've been in Kansas for four months already, and watched the seasons change from a blazing, humid summer to mild, colorful fall and just the last few days a noticeable drop to frigid, icy winter with first snow ready to drift in any time. Looking back at those four months it is easy to become overwhelmed with how much has happened in that time, how much we've missed back in California, but also how much we've been blessed to be a part of here in Kansas. I can't help but be oh so thankful for everything that is happening in our lives right now, and in our family- both sides! 

My mantra this year has been "Choose Happiness," and with the exception of a few meltdowns along the way, I'd say I've managed to do just that. The amount of fruit it has produced has easily transitioned me into "Choose Thankfulness." I am so grateful for the love and support that my friends and family have shown through my big life changes this year, and for all of the opportunity that God has dropped in our laps the last few months! It is impossible to know exactly how things will shape up for us as we continue to get settled into our new life in Kansas, but what I do know for sure is that as long as we continue to choose happiness and express thanks for this incredible journey we're on, everything will fall into place exactly the way it is meant to.

And on that note, my sister-in-law and I are headed to the airport to pick up my mother-in-law, which officially kicks off our holiday fun! I hope you enjoy your holiday week as well, and take some time to really dwell on all of the blessings, even if they at times feel outweighed or overshadowed by that whirlwind between your ears. 

Life is as good as you allow it to be.

DIY Cake Toppers

And the countdown continues - our wedding is in 10 days! Eek! I am flying to California Friday, so I've already been packing and organizing and finishing up as much crafting as possible before heading out. 

One of my favorites from our many DIY projects is our cake toppers! 

Initially, we hadn't planned on cake toppers because we aren't having a cake. A wedding without a cake - I know, right? But neither of us really like cake and we didn't see the point in spending a bunch of money on something we didn't care about. Instead, we are having a dessert station with assorted cheesecake bites! Although I didn't mind skipping the cake, I didn't really want to skip the cake cutting moment, so our caterer offered to prepare a sweethearts cheesecake just for us. At that point it only made sense to have (cheese)cake toppers, but they would have to fit our casual, country chic theme.

I stumbled across an Etsy shop called Goose Grease, which is a Columbian fair trade DIY wood figures business owned and operated by a family in Brooklyn. "Fair trade"often equals outrageous prices, but I really feel like I got an excellent bargain with their wedding kit, which only cost me $28.95! The box included four toppers, two brides and two grooms, which relieved my "oh no, what if I mess up!" anxiety. The six colors provided were adequate, since I was able to mix them to get the shades I needed for our wedding colors. The kit even included two paint brushes and a cute fabric pouch.

The Big Move: Part 3

Our first night in Kansas was spent with my sister-in-law and her fiance, who live in the same apartment complex. The next morning we got our keys and did a quick walk-through of the place. I have never lived in an apartment complex quite like this - a clubhouse, a nice pool, an exercise room, beautiful grounds, a unit with full size laundry, a dishwasher, and a walk-in closet... and all for less than a shoebox studio in the worst San Francisco neighborhood would rent for.

A few of my fiancé's friends showed up to help unload the truck. The boys were quite pleased with themselves after lugging the larger pieces of furniture up three and a half flights of stairs, so my sister-in-law and I wound up moving more than our share of the boxes, which we were none too thrilled about, but on the upside, we got the best workout of our lives. We could hardly walk for the next two days!

It's a strange thing to see your whole life in boxes piled to the ceiling of a living room that doesn't quite feel like home; to unravel yards of bubble wrap protecting heirlooms and treasured possessions to be placed on shelves that don't quite feel like yours. I probably would have sobbed through the whole process if not for my ever so sweet sister-in-law who spent countless hours helping arrange and rearrange each room and closet until the whole space felt just right.

Our first night in the new apartment was a rough one. We didn't discover until late that evening that both the A/C and cold water weren't working. Too exhausted to process my disappointment, I didn't even bother changing out of my sweaty, filthy clothes before curling up on top of our clean bedding. Fortunately, the next morning I was able to reach someone in the front office who had a maintenance man at our apartment within a couple hours to fix both issues.

The Big Move: Part 2

The Big Move Continued...

On Sunday morning we were up with the sun and headed toward Reno. I led with my car, and the beau followed me in a Budget rental truck, towing his car on a trailer. We realized in that first leg that the rental truck was going to need to go slow and steady on even the slightest incline. I really didn't mind creeping through the mountains around Lake Tahoe at 30 miles per hour, since I knew it would be the last time I would take in those views for a very long time.

Our first day was a 13-hour trek to Salt Lake City. I had high hopes for sight seeing to do at each stop on the trip, but by the time we pulled into our hotel parking lot all I could think about was food and sleep. We didn't do any sight seeing other than what was visible from our windows as we cruised down the highway, and we were both completely okay with that.

Day two took us from Salt Lake City to Denver. That drive was a little shorter but we got to Denver during rush hour which, if you think is bad on any other Monday, is a nightmare when you've already been in the car for eight hours. We decided to just tough out the extra hour of drive time to get to the far side of Denver and avoid any morning traffic the following day.

Day three was a Tuesday. It felt like a lifetime away from the previous Saturday, spent sipping tea in the sunshine, opening wedding gifts and reminiscing with my girlfriends. We pulled out of Denver at what should have been an early enough hour to get us to my sister-in-law's apartment in time for dinner. Somewhere in the middle of Kansas we blew a tire on the trailer. It could have been much worse, so I won't even complain about it. Within seconds of pulling to the side of the highway a patrol car pulled up behind us and offered to escort us to the rest stop just 100 yards or so further. We were able to get a hold of a shop in the next town and had a man there putting a new tire on within an hour, and Budget even paid for it. What could have been the end of our day wound up only setting us back about two hours.

An hour or so down the highway I noticed low, dark clouds just north of us. They were beautiful. Clear blue skies to my right, ominous black clouds to my left. As they inched closer across the sky there was some relief from the blistering heat, but the humidity took it's place, making the air so heavy and sticky I had to close my windows and turn on the A/C just to keep my hands from sweating on the steering wheel. 

Shortly after a strange thing caught my eye, something I hadn't seen before, something that doesn't happen where I'm from. Just above the tall grass the air looked like it was full of white streaks coming toward me. The grass blew down sideways and the panels on some sort of tented dome in the field began flapping violently. I stared our my window, fascinated, having no idea that those black clouds were the tip of a massive storm that would rip across the middle of Kansas, later dropping hail the size of ping pong balls. While it didn't feel lucky at the time, we really were lucky that all we caught were those white streaks, which turned out to be the hardest most consuming sheets of rain I've ever had to drive through. When the rain first reached my car it seemed to hit from the side more than it did from above. My Kansas family teases relentlessly for this description but it's really the only way to describe it - I felt like I'd driven my car off the pier and into the ocean, as the wind and water whipped my car around on the highway. I couldn't see a thing.

I flipped on my lights and slowed down, slow enough to see the glow of an exit sign in my headlights. I followed the exit down a slight decline and parked off to the side, where the small overpass provided some relief and a strange view of the storm from beneath. My fiance got out of the truck and ran over to my window, shielding his face from the heavy rain, shouting through my window - the only way out of this is to pass through it, we have to go now, it will only get worse! Reluctantly, I inched my way back onto the highway, death grip on my steering wheel, radio off, praying aloud for fear that I'd just driven within hours of our destination only to wind up dead in a ditch. When the rain lightened up enough the big trucks started to go faster, but I didn't dare, so I had to endure a fresh dumping and splashing with each one's passing. A small red car was backward in the median; a deer lifeless on the side of the road.

Once in the clear, we still had another 150 miles to go. We pulled up to my sister-in-law's apartment well after dark, but we made finally made it!

Next entry: The apartment!

The Big Move: Part 1

It has been a full month since we moved out of our sweet home in the Avenues, and my heart still breaks a little every time I think about that place. I had the best two years of my life thus far in that home and I miss every inch and memory of it. 

I miss how on a clear evening I could curl up on my couch and gaze out the living room window at freight ships inching along the horizon, slipping out of the Bay and following the sun to Asia. I miss the little, old Chinese man who would catch gophers in our back lawn for five bucks a pop. I'm pretty sure his biggest reimbursement was seeing my face, equal parts terror and fascination, every time he pulled a new one out of the trap. I miss waking up in the middle of summer to an icy breeze and fog that dangled so low and wet it clung to my sweater as I walked through it. I miss knowing my mom was only an hour away. I really, really miss that. 

Kansas City has been a good move, though. As much as I miss what was home for 29 years, I am trying to fully throw myself into this new adventure and season of life. There is so much uncertainty in it, having moved away from my family and friends, walked away from my career and hard earned self-sufficiency, and trusting that the gut feeling that ultimately nudged us way down 80 East was genuine calling and not an immature restlessness. 

Enough of the sentimental stuff - Here's how these shenanigans went down! 

The beau and I moved out of our house a week before hitting the road, so we stayed in a hotel near the airport for our last week of work. On our last day at the brewery, our coworkers gave us quite the sendoff. A cake, a bag of junk food for the road and a BBQ in the parking lot after work. One of our favorites also gave us walkie talkies, which were fantastic for the three-day drive that loomed ahead. The following day was my bridal shower at my aunt's home in the Oakland Hills. We lucked out with perfectly sunny, warm weather and I was delighted for the opportunity to give one last squeeze to so many family and friends.

Next entry: The drive!

Goodbye, house

Well, it's official. We're homeless. Okay, not really, but we're hotel dwellers for the rest of this week. Yesterday we finished packing up our lovely little house and said farewell to the home where we shared our first year together.

The most practical moving tip I can share from this (my TWENTY-FIRST!) move is to buy room label packing tape! It's not strong enough to use for assembling your packing boxes, but a strip across the top or around the side of a box sure makes a world of difference when you're trying to sort out which room your boxes belong in without having to open everything up.

My second favorite discovery from this move is that when you do your mail forwarding on the postal service website they give you printable coupons for a variety of things, including Budget, who we rented our moving truck from. Even though we had already received a quote, we were still able to take the 20% off coupon in when we picked up our truck and they applied it to our fees. It really only covered the taxes, which aren't included in their quote, but when you're renting a moving truck and car trailer for two weeks and driving them half way across the country, every bit of savings makes a difference. Another coupon that would have been really great was for Vista Print. Unfortunately, I had already purchased our change of address cards from Vista and they were already being shipped so I couldn't use the coupon, but hopefully I'll have just saved you some money on yours!

Goodbye, house!

Fall Crafts

I realize we're now nearly a week into December and the weather is fully winter outside, but better late than never, right? Here are some fun fall crafts I did for Thanksgiving, and since I'm so late posting those, a Christmas one too. 

A few years ago I got this idea out of Safeway's quarterly magazine, which featured recipes and craft ideas for each season. These are a bit messy to make, but if you're already carving up jack-o-lanterns it's no biggie to do these at the same time. You'll need a medium sized pumpkin with a stable bottom. Cut out a circle at the top of the pumpkin and gut it as clean as possible. Arrange flowers of your choice in the pumpkin and display! It won't last more than a few days to a week because of the raw pumpkin, but you'll get more time out of it if there's no water inside and it is displayed a cool place.

 The week before Thanksgiving I attended a friend's Friendsgiving dinner. She had a "Thankful Tree" and I thought it was the cutest idea so I made one to take up to my grandparents' house for our family Thanksgiving. You'll need a tall slender flower vase, reeds or branches, ribbon, and scrapbook paper. Look for reeds or branches with small knots in the texture so that the leaves will catch at various heights. Tie ribbon around the vase. Use scissors or a dye cut to cut leaf shapes out of scrapbook paper, making a small hole on one end. Allow guests to write on the leaves what they are thankful for and hang on the branches. 

I had a hard time finding initial ornaments that I liked, so I decided to make my own. You'll need holiday ribbon, wooden letters, and gold leaf paint (can also use gold spray paint but I went with a jar because of the size of the project). Paint the letters, allow to dry, and hot glue the ribbon in a loop to the back of the letter. So easy! I ended up hanging these on our stockings instead of the tree.

Life's a Beach

Last week it rained and it poured and it stormed, although we Californians can't really complain considering the Midwest got ripped apart by tornadoes for two days straight. Nevertheless, we sure were ready for some sunshine come Saturday, and that's exactly what we got!

There is a beach right down the road from my house in San Francisco, but on the rare occasion that the weather is nice enough to enjoy it, every square inch of sand is covered with blankets and bodies from sun up to sun down. I prefer to cruise down the coast an hour to Santa Cruz where there is more beach to go around.

If you haven't been to Santa Cruz before, know that it can be sketchy, so make sure you stay on the right side of it. The Boardwalk is expensive, crowded, and highly overrated. If you have never been, give it the obligatory touristy walk-through, but once that's out of the way cruise over to one of my favorite beaches, between Woods Lagoon and Schwan Lagoon, off of E Cliff Drive. During tourist season, which begins the first weekend of April, only residents with a neighborhood permit can park on the street, but if you arrive early it's not impossible to find a free curb space or a reasonably priced lot.

Bedside Lamp

I have a small bedside stand that I've been looking to put a lamp on for ages but haven't been able to find anything well suited. Lamps are so boring and lamp shades take up too much space. I recently saw some lighting fixtures in an Urban Outfitters store and thought to try it out for myself. 

For years I've owned a cord for hanging a single bulb, I assume intended for paper lamps and such, but hadn't found use for it. I decided to cut the wire frame out of a lampshade I already owned and turn it into a mini version of the fixtures I'd seen at Urban. 

I started out with scissors but switched to a razor blade because it was easier to maneuver. I cut off the fabric, tossed the bottom of the frame and only used the smaller top piece, attached the bulb and frame to the cord, and ta-da! Perfect bedside lighting that I can switch on and off from bed instead of having to walk over to the switch.

Christmas Weekend

I hope you all had a delicious, sparkly, cozy holiday weekend! Besides having my worst allergy attack of the year, mine was quite delightful. I spent time with family and friends, attended the Christmas program at church, and did a bit of shopping. I'm back at work today, but it hardly feels like a normal workday since the roads were nearly empty on my way in, there was no line at Starbucks, and my office is a ghost town. This evening I'll take down my Christmas decorations, and if I can get a friend to help, I'll take the tree out. I'm less sentimental about my Christmas tree now that I'm sure it is the culprit of this latest wave of awful allergies. How can such a pretty thing bring so much joy and so much ickiness at the same time? It is a mystery, a mystery that requires a lot of tea and inhalers.

 The hometown holiday bar hop is something my friends and I look forward to every Thanksgiving and Christmas. It started in college when all the kids we grew up with would flock home for break and congregate at local dive bars to catch up. Even though we're all in our late 20's/ early 30's now, the tradition has carried on. For those of us who don't spend much time in our hometown anymore, it's still the easiest way to track down old classmates and friends and find out what everyone's been up to the last year (off of Facebook, that is).

Pumpkin Carving

I simply adore all things fall, especially all things holiday, and certainly all things pumpkin!

Just because a girl lives in the city doesn't mean she can't enjoy some good ol' fashion pumpkin patch fun and home cooked yumms! Yesterday after work, a friend and I headed to The Great Pumpkin Patch on Sloat and 19th Ave to goof off and pick up a few mini pumpkins and gourds for my mantle. We bought our carving pumpkins at Safeway - yah yah, I know, I am that cheap.

Low-fat jalapeno poppers from scratch (see recipe below)

Bruschetta (Baguette, basil leaves, tomato slices, mozzarella cheese) 

Blood orange mimosas with black sugar rims

After munching, we carved up these beauties! Okay, well, maybe "beauties" isn't the best way to describe them, but after two bottles of sparkling wine we weren't exactly pro status. 

This morning I seasoned and baked the seeds to take to the office and share! The batch on the left is  cinnamon and sugar, and the batch on the right is salt. Separate seeds from the pumpkin guts and rinse well in strainer, spread seeds on a baking sheet, bake at 325°F for 10 minutes, stir them up and add more seasoning, pop back in for another 10-15 min until they are more crunchy than chewy.

LOW FAT JALAPENO POPPERS

Ingredients: 

6 jalapeno peppers, 1/4 cup reduced-fat cream cheese, 1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream, 1/4 cup diced scallions, 1/2 cup packed reduced-fat shredded cheddar cheese, salt & pepper, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 cups whole wheat breadcrumbs, 4 egg whites, nonstick cooking spray.

Directions:

Preheat broiler on high. Wearing gloves - cut stem off of peppers, cut in half length-wise, scrape out seeds and membranes. Place jalapenos on foil covered baking sheet and broil for 2 min to draw out some of the spice. If you don't do this, they'll be WAY too hot! Set aside to cool completely.

Preheat oven to 450°F. In a small bowl mix together cream cheese, sour cream, scallions, and cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Tightly pack mixture in each jalapeno half.

Put flour in shallow dish. Put breadcrumb in small dish. In a bowl, whip egg whites with a whisk until they are foamy but not quite holding peaks. Dredge jalapenos in flour, shaking off excess. Dip in egg whites, being careful not to lose the filling. Place in breadcrumbs and coat completely.

Place on foil covered baking sheet, salt and pepper to taste, spray lightly with cooking spray, and bake around 20 min until golden brown and crispy.