San Diego, CA!

One of my best friends, who was also my maid of honor in my wedding, suggested to me a couple months ago that we should take a vacation together. We rarely see each other because I'm here in Ohio and she lives in a tiny mountain town in Colorado...so a couple times per year is usually it. We always have tons of fun together despite our completly opposite lifestyles. She is single & childless and plans to stay that way for life...and I think we all know my position on marriage & children! She enjoys living up her youth and traveling across the states with nothing holding her back. She graduated college with a degree in interior design, but gags at the idea of having a 9-5 job in the "real world"...waitressing and bartending suit her just fine!  We have such similar interests outside of these differences though. Lord knows we would not be best friends if either one of us was afraid to live life...to get dirty and camp in a tent...or sleep in my old yellow bug on Panama City Beach (spring break '04)...or go a couple days without a shower...or rent bicycles on vacation and work up a sweat riding 30 miles round trip to La Jolla, Ca...or put on our hiking shoes and hike for miles (Grand Canyon trip already in the making for next year!)...or enjoy good quality food so much that we just cannot stop eating....or just kick back together with a beer (or wine!) in our hands and talk for hours about life, family, and relationships..and I mean good quality talking...the kind of conversations that leave you thinking for hours after you're finished. I love this girl....

When she asked if I would go on vacation with her this summer, I will admit, I had some initial hesitation. I thought,"you mean...me & you? Just me & you? I'd have to leave my husband & baby at home & travel across the country without them?! Is that possible!!?? Yiikes!!!!" Not that I wouldn't love a trip and some quality time with my best friend...but I'd have to leave Ava! What if she forgets who I am!!? So...I talked it over with Eric, who bless his heart, encouraged me to get away for awhile and have fun on a girls trip. He said, "you should go hun, I take guy trips all the time, you need a getaway!" I thought, "wow, what a guy. Did my husband just tell me to go enjoy a vacation in California? Without him?....wait a minute...was he serious??" Turns out...he was...AND he handed me the cash from one of his sidejobs for my vacation. God, you have blessed me...I am not even sure I deserve such an awesome husband, family, and friends. Not only did my best friend return me a favor by paying for my plane ticket to get to San Diego, but another of my best friends volunteered to keep Ava overnight for 2 nights and my mom kept Ava over the weekend while Eric worked. I'm at a loss for words...

Enjoy these awesome pics! I want to go back already!!!

 

Hello California!!!

 

We rented bicycles as our only mode of transportation on our trip! They were perfect. Pretty fancy Schwinns, eh? So, I just have to add that this picture was taken by a 78 year old woman. I told Chantel that I would stop and ask the next person who walked by if they would take our picture...it happened to be 2 old ladies. Sweet as pie they were. The cute old lady said, "oh you girls have such pretty colors on!" Bless their hearts... :)

 

 

Riding down the boardwalk. We really felt like we needed to be on roller blades with our walkmans on like in the early 90's movies... we could've pulled it off. :)

 

Okay, this fella's name is Scott. Scott picked us up from the airport because we were staying in his condo rental. We didn't know Scott from Jim Bob, so I was sneaking pictures of him from the backseat in case anything happened to us and I happened to get away with my camera. Scott ended up being very nice and showed us around San Diego a little and where all the happening places were to eat (because food was our main concern...always is!). BUT, just in case he turned out to be some creep...I have a few pictures of him. ;) Hey, a young mom away from her family has to protect herself. I might've even memorized his license plate number...just sayin'!!

 

Our oceanview rental! Not bad...really it wasn't. San Diego hotels are not cheap...especially not beach front! For 100 bucks a night, there was absolutely no beating this place...Chantel found it on craigslist...which might've been another reason for my hypervigilance. ;o)

 

Oooooh, we ate so good in San Diego. Being 20 miles north of the Mexican border you can imagine that the mexican food was unbelievable. Just unbeatable...P.S. I ate this entire burrito and licked my fork clean! ....okay, Chantel had the last 2 bites... ;o)

Mmm...mmmm. Are you even surprised that I took pictures of the food? You shouldn't be. :) These are banana pancakes with orange infused maple syrup and cinnamon cream. We felt entitled to eat whatever we wanted because we got plenty of exercise on our bikes. Did I mention that it is extremely hilly in San Diego?

 

On our way to Temecula for our wine tasting tour. Temecula was about 50 minutes northeast of San Diego. The wine tour shuttle picked us up...there was absolutely no way we were riding our bikes there! 5 hours of wine tasting plus bike riding is a recipe for disaster! Anyway, this is a picture of California's avocado trees! Pretty cool. They grow on hills or flatland, so the land they're planted on is usually pretty affordable, but the trees require TONS of water and the harvesting of the avocadoes is extremely laborious, which is why avocadoes are 75 cents to $1.50 each. Workers basically have to climb the trees, pick the fruit, and toss it into a sack on their backs. I would not want that job.

 

Farmer's Market in Temecula! This was a pretty neat tourist-y city. Lots of shops and boutiques. Anything and everything that could have a shop did....candy & sweets shop....cheese shop...rock shop...coffee shop...clothing shops...etc. We sample lots of popcorn at this farmer's market...and right across the popcorn tent was a clothing tent where Chantel bought a really cute long dress. One stop shopping right there! :)

 

The first winery we stopped at. Breath taking views. It was incredible. I wished time would just freeze when we got here. Warm sunshine, sweet air, cool breeze...just amazing. Look at those rolling hills....ahhh, I wanna go back! This was a cutesy little winery where we sampled 5 wines and then they fed us lunch. And Franny the mut was by our side the whole time. Should've gotten a picture of Franny...she was a cutie.

The second winery. Way more commercialized, but just as cool as the little winery we just came from. I think they were setting up for a wedding reception when we got here. Can you imagine your wedding reception being held here? Here at Wilson Creek they made the famous Almond Chamgagne. It was tasty. They also had dessert wines that tasted like chocolate...which I found to be pretty gross...but I'm sure in the right atmosphere they might taste better...or not. Anyway, I was a big fan of the dry white wines...those with undertones of peach and pineapple were my favorite. Not too sweet...just right. The red wines weren't bad either. Normally, I'm a white wine girl...but the reds at this winery were pretty darn good.

 

I just wanted a picture of the breath-taking blue sky...

 

This picture was taken by a nice gentleman who sat back and watched us struggle with trying to create a makeshift tripod so that we could take a picture of ourselves...he gave us about 3 minutes and a few good chuckles before offering to take our picture.

 

This is real...there are scenes like this in the world...it was nice to somewhat capture this view...and I say somewhat because sometimes pictures just do not even compare to being there...those are grape vines at the winery...in case you can't tell.

 

Wine tasting in the barrel room at the winery...gave it an authentic feel. ;o)

 

Riding our bikes to La Jolla (pronounced Lah-HOYA)...what we thought would be a 30 minute bike ride really ended up being a 50-60 minute bike ride. But, it was worth it! So much fun!

 

The seal cove in La Jolla. We ventured out on the pier to get a better view.

The waves were crashing away on the pier...occasionally splashing cold pacific ocean water all over us. :o)

 

Some dude swimming with the seals that wandered up to shore...they must be friends. :)

 

Our parking spot every night. Had to lock those fancy Schwinns up so nobody would steal them!

 

Entertainers on the beach. This was our entertainment one night while we waited 45 minutes for our table at the World Famous restaurant.

 

They were pretty talented!

 

Getting ready to watch the sunset! We met a family on the beach who invited us over for a cookout and to watch the sunset from the best location on the beach...their balcony. Let me tell ya...San Diegan cookouts are nothing like Ohio cookouts! We had BBQ chicken and potato salad...which was very good...but cooking out on a balcony is nothing like grilling out on the back deck! :) Anyway, they were a very nice family and did have something Ohio can't offer...the most amazing sunset I've ever watched.

 

They even had sunset watching binoculars... I would too if I lived in their condo!

Aahhhhh.......

Our last day on the beach...and it was gorgeous out! Apparently, San Diego experiences "June gloom" which means that the mornings are very cloudy and gray until about 11am when the clouds clear and the sun comes out. Pretty weird. I had never heard of this kind of thing until we got out there! But the weather was still beautiful everyday. Not quite as warm as I was expecting...but still perfect!

Our last night in San Diego...might've stayed out a little too late...it was very difficult to wake up for our flights at 9 am and even more difficult to remember where we put things...like our ID's and money... which were pretty important since we needed BOTH to board our planes home. And for some reason we had these massive headaches. At least by the end of the trip I was able to drink more than 1 beverage before feeling completely hammered...Chantel was traveling with a super-lightweight...one that was not even going to attempt to keep up with her!! :)

I had an amazing time in San Diego! It was fun to feel young and responsibility-less...no work...no child...no grocery shopping!..haha....but I am soooo glad to be home! I feel so refreshed & ready to start thinking about planning baby #2! Ha!

Girls Weekend...Yea!!

My neice, Torie, Ava, and I had a girls weekend and ooh my goodness did we have a blast! Torie's at an interesting age...she's 8 now and kind of at that I'm-a-big-girl-but-still-kinda-a-little-girl stage...if that makes any sense. The fact that she was born after 3 brothers should tell you that she has been the "baby" in the family for quite a few years, if you know what I mean. So, it's comical to watch her interact with Ava. One minute, she wants to be her babysitter... her own personal care taker, picking her up (and let me tell you how funny that looks! I'm always ready for her to drop her at any moment!) and carrying her around the house, giving her sips of her water from her cool pink water bottle, holding her hand as they walk down the stairs, tickling her chubby legs and giggling with her...just being as sweet as pie to her baby cousin. The next minute, she's ripping her American doll out of Ava's hands, pushing her off the Dora couch, running up the stairs and leaving her in the dark basement, telling her, "You're too little for this Ava, don't touch it!" A complete 360 degree twist!!! Amazing. She goes from Strawberry Shortcake to Angelica Pickles (you know her from The Rugrats from back in the day on Nickelodeon) in the blink of an eye! I actually get a kick out of it...she's just figuring out the whole "big cousin" role. Really, it's more like 85% Strawberry Shortcake and 15% Angelica Pickles. I should also add that Ava's no angel to her bigger cousin, either. She has this thing about pulling the poor girl's hair...drives her nuts...and rightfully so! We're working on that on our end. ;) Torie has the funnest personality though, (I've never known if it's "most fun" or "funnest", but I like "funnest" so I"m going with it. ;) and I love having her over for weekend sleep-overs!

We went shopping, hit up Fuzziwigs Candy Store and loaded up on highly-sugared-teeth-rotting deliciousness, ate at California Pizza Kitchen, made berry smoothies, watched the movie UP and ate lots of movie-theatre-buttered-popcorn and drank grape juice (except Torie drank cranberry juice because grape juice reminds her of her "icky" medicine she says ;), went to the zoo, watched more movies, painted our nails (matching pink of course!), went to the playground, made tacos, and ate the most delicious cupcake either of our taste buds have ever tasted (yes, it was only one cupcake split between us because there was a 3 inch layer of icing on top and it had a sweet custard filling! Oo-ver-loaded, but tasted so fantastic!) !!! Wow--all that in one weekend!! You can imagine my exhaustion...and this awful bloated feeling I've got going on...whoa.

Well, here's some pictures to briefly sum up our weekend...

Nice kangaroo shot at the zoo...

Lil miss sunshine...posing on this beautiful warthog...

Neither of them are too thrilled with the giant koala man... sorry girls, I wanted a picture! :)

The tire swing was a big hit at the playground...see here they love each other! ;)

"Yeeeaa Mom! This tire swing rocks!!"

The end of the weekend...both look pretty worn out to me....what can I say, we girls play hard...

Summer's Here!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell that summer is definitely here? The lack of posts lately gives that away! So, I'll catch up a little here. I recently cut back my percentage at work, which has been heavenly!! I will work two 12 hour shifts and one 8 hour shift a week...it makes a huge difference...there for awhile I was working 4 days a week, which for someone who's aiming to be a stay-at-home mom that was complete torture!! Okay, I know currently I couldn't totally be a stay at home mom, but for the most part I want to be home raising my kiddo(s)! I never thought that would be such a strong desire for me before I became a mom. It was never even on my radar. I just thought I'd be a working mom and be fine with it...doing the professional thing and getting my master's degree in a couple years...working my way up the career ladder in nursing. B-L-E-H. That's about how desirable that sounds to me right now. Now, I'm all about finding a way to soak up and savor every last minute of my life with this incredibly fun, outrageously cute, kissable, bundle of love that wakes me up with giggles and baby babble every morning. Ohmigosh, she brightens my life! Such a bummer that she won't be 19 months old forever...

My other half has been out of town for the past week. Another indicator that summer is definitely here. He's been a working fool lately! God bless him for it...he really enjoys working, believe it or not. He typically has side-jobs that he tends to on the weekends, so even his days "off" are busy. When he's not working on someone else's house, he's working on ours...which is in desperate need of a paint job, I might add. He's getting home from Louisiana tomorrow morning sometime...and plans to start prepping our house for painting in the afternoon. I hope he realizes that I won't let it happen...the man needs a day of rest!!! He's funny though...when I tell him to sit down and take a load off, and maybe even take a nap, he'll relax about a 1/2 hour before he's all antsy and restless, telling me "well, better work in the yard before it rains" (even though there is no rain in the forecast for the next 3 days!) or "I should get out in the garage and organize some stuff". I just say, "Ok hunny, whatever floats your boat." That's my husband though...he's such a tinker-er...I guess it's one of the thousands of reasons why I love him. Well, that, and who doesn't love watching a handsome handy-man in a cut-off t-shirt and rugged camo shorts man handling a power washer? I mean, come on... ;)

As for Ava...well, she's just been doing her thing lately...learning the ropes of this world and being super cute while she's at it. ;) The girl gives me butterflies...and belly laughs...and I just wanna squeeeeeze her all day long! Sometimes I even try to...it's not well-received...apparently she doesn't realize that mothers like to squeeze their babies when they're as snuggable (I think I just made that word up) as she is....

My Favorite Cheeseball...

With all the posts about food lately, you probably thought my favorite cheeseball would be of the edible kind--well, not quite. And although sometimes I could just gobble her up...those chubby cheeks, rolly thighs, and fluffy buns and all...it just wouldn't be acceptable...plus, I would desperately miss her. :o)

So, here are some of my favorite shots of our little cheeseball....

She works hard to cheese-it....so hard, in fact, that her face becomes somewhat distorted by her efforts to show me her best cheeeeeese face ever.

This is a decent snapshot of what humidity does to this kiddo's hair...curly cutie.

"Here Mom!! This is a good one!! Take a picture of this cheeeeeese! Hurry! I can't....hold it....much....longer!!!"

Playing in the rain...stopped for a cheeese pose. Hey, we play in the rain when that's all we see for a week straight.

"See me, mom?! See me?? Cheeeeeeeeese!!"

The moments preceeding this picture went something like this, I picked up the camera to move it to the counter and Ava caught a glimpse of the camera and shouts, "Mom!...Mom!...Momma!...Momma!...Cheeeese!...Cheeeeeese!!!....CHEEEEEZ!" Girl loves the camera... ;o)

Now you see why I nearly gobble her up at every waking moment.

Ask and You Shall Receive ...

A slow, slow evening at work the other night gave some co-workers of mine and me a chance to sit around and talk about one of my all-time favorite topics....one that makes my neck get red & splotchy from my excitment...organic food. I love talking food with people...organic produce, recipes, homemade food, budgeting for organic food, growing a garden of food--any & all things food!! I get especially pumped when others get as excited as I do about cleaning out the cupboards and refrigerator and converting to an all-natural lifestyle. Stinkin' love it! It's even better when others understand the rationale for needing organic and natural food in your life. But that's an entire post in itself...and trust me, I will go there soon. Right after I finish the book Food, Inc. Actually, let me rephrase that...I don't believe that we need to eat everything organic...just food without the added hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, preservatives, and chemicals. And you better be able to pronounce every ingredient in that bottle or box of 'food'. There's plenty of food out there that doesn't contain these things and they're not necessarily 'organic'.  To my excitement, a few folks are asking me for recipes and ideas for healthy snacks for their families, and I've got quite a few to share! I thought I'd post the recipes on here for whomever wants them! And because I think food education is necessary these days, I'll try to occassionally post some food facts. Everybody will learn a valuable thing or two about the food in our lives by reading this blog. ;-)


Enjoy the recipes--let me know how they turn out or if you find others! You know I'm crazy about new recipes--especially for convenience foods that I can make at home!


Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread
The best part of this bread is the way it toasts. Wow! The cinnamon sugar crust on the outside gets all sweet & warm...slap some high-quality butter on a slice of this toast and you'll melt along with it.


Homemade Pizza Dough...the best ever.
I've tried a quite a few homemade pizza doughs in my day...this one tops them all. Not. even. kidding. Stromboli...calzone...pepperoni rolls...endless possibilities.
The Most Amazing Hamburger Buns
Who woulda thought? Homemade hamburger buns? Whip this dough together, let it rise once, and then wrap it up and stick it in the freezer for burger night. This brioche is nice and fluffy and slightly sweet. But not too sweet--I have a diabetic husband! Annie also has a honey wheat bun recipe that is currently sitting in my freezer...waiting for burger night. ;)

Homemade Granola Bars
Yield: About 10 bars

2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup salted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
2/3 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cup dried fruit, or a mix of dried fruit (I used chopped cranberries and the few leftover raisins from cinnamon raisin walnut bread :)

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine oatmeal, almonds, sunflower seeds, wheat germ in a bowl and spread on sheet pan. Bake for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently. Lightly toasted is good. Remove from oven and decrease temperature to 300 degrees. Pour oatmeal mixture into a large bowl. Combine honey, brown sugar, and vanilla in small bowl and pour over warm oatmeal mixture. Sprinkle with salt and add dried fruit, stirring to evenly coat all ingredients with the honey mixture. Line sheet pan with parchment paper and lightly grease paper. Pour granola bar mixture onto sheet pan and distribute evenly. Press the mixture into the pan...firmly...quite a few times...you want these bars to stick together! Using plastic wrap to press on the mixture worked best for me. Place bars into oven (remember 300 degrees!) and bake for 25 minutes. Let bars cool for 2 hours before cutting. I used a heavy duty serrated knife to cut these. Turned out delicious! Sweet, salty, and slightly crunchy.







I know what you're thinking..."Yea, sounds good Liz...but not practical...I don't have time to make all this stuff!" Two questions I hear all the time are, "How do you do it?" and "Why do you do it?" Here's my best answer for "How?": Take one day every couple weeks and have a marathon of baking & making. You can freeze all this dough so you can use it whenever you're ready for it! You'll have the freshest, best-tasting, homemade goodies, and you'll have total control over the ingredients that you're putting into your little-ones bellies...and your own!

And the "Why?": Since I got serious about this natural lifestyle revamp...so, about 2 years ago now...my eyes have been opened to the real hidden world of food. I was a bit naive before I got into "fooding" and thought that, of course, the food on the store shelves is safe and "healthy" for consumers. Of course it is, right? Um, no. After much research into the organic food vs conventional food battle, I have learned that you really can't trust that the FDA is allowing only the safest food  onto the market. I'm not a political person...but when it comes to the food made available to us in supermarkets, it really is all politics...not safety...or nutrition. It comes down to money...power...and mass productions. Really...in all seriousness...watch the documentary Food, Inc and then tell me that you're okay with where our nation's food crisis stands. The politics behind the most basic substance of our existence are out-of-this-world-ridiculous. The obesity rate and climb in childhood neurological disorders in this country should tell us all something. Ooooh, but I'll save all this talk for another post! :) I'll just say that what we don't know about our food does hurt us! Whether we are willing to acknowlege it or not! Anyway, another answer to "Why?" is that making your own simple convenience foods will save you tons of money! I have cut back our grocery bill by a lot...and I'm almost a little embarrased to say by how much...I spend about 40% less nowadays (that's ballpark--I should figure it out for real)!! Gah!!! Think about it...a good, healthy loaf of bread at the grocery store will cost you $2.49-$4.99 (just what I've seen). Making it at home...with all natural or organic ingredients...all of which you can pronounce...will cost pennies. Sure getting started with the ingredients costs more...but you can make like 10 loaves (or something crazy like that) from those ingredients. Now, it's all about time management & organization...and really, time is not the real issue...we make time for the things that are important to us. It's just about figuring out if a natural lifestyle is important to you!

Ohmigosh!!!

I just came across the ultimate whole wheat bread recipe and it is so aah-mazing that I had to jump on here and share this awesome recipe!!! Okay, so, a few people have hit me up lately asking for good bread recipes and this one tops any and all that I've ever made. This is the only wheat bread recipe I will ever use again! I have a bread maker and have been trying the wheat bread recipes that came with the machine up until now. They have been okay, but I was searching for something I can use as an everyday bread for sandwiches, toast, etc. The bread maker is good for some types of bread, but not for an everyday bread in my opinion. For one thing, the bread pan is one size and the larger of a loaf you make, the taller the bread gets...which is not so good for an everyday bread...it needs to be longer like the loaves you buy at the store...know what I mean? Plus, I wanted a dough that I could keep on hand at all times and be able to freeze so I can use it anytime I needed it. Well folks, I just found it...light, fluffy, wholesome, moist, slightly nutty (strangely there are not nuts in the recipe), and straight-up dreamy... mmm mmmmm. Try it. You'll fall in love, too.

Look at these golden loaves! Seriously delicious...and we're kind of picky bread people around here. ;)

Slices like a butter with just a serrated knife and holds up to a hearty chicken salad sandwich. Holy wheat bread it's incredible...

Whole-Wheat Bread with Wheat Germ and Rye

Yield: two 9-inch loaves

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups warm water (about 100°)

1 ½ tbsp. instant yeast

¼ cup honey

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

2 ½ tsp. salt

¼ cup rye flour

½ cup toasted wheat germ

3 cups whole-wheat flour

2 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the water, yeast, honey, butter and salt with a rubber spatula. Mix in the rye flour, wheat germ, and 1 cup of each of the whole-wheat and all-purpose flours.

2. Add the remaining whole-wheat and all-purpose flours, attach the dough hook and knead at low speed until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Knead just long enough to make sure that the dough is soft and smooth, about 30 seconds.

3. Place the dough in a very lightly oiled large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm, draft-free area until the dough has doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

4. Heat the oven to 375°. Gently press down the dough and divide it into two equal pieces. Gently press each piece into a rectangle about 1-inch thick and no longer than 9 inches. With a long side of the dough facing you, roll the dough firmly into a cylinder, pressing down to make sure the dough sticks to itself. Turn the dough seam-side up and pinch it closed. Place each cylinder of dough into a greased 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, seam-side down, pressing the dough gently so it touches all four sides of the pan. Cover the shaped dough; let rise until almost doubled in volume, 20 to 30 minutes.

5. Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted at an angle from the short end just above the pan rim reads 205°, 35 to 45 minutes. Transfer the bread immediately from the baking pans to a wire rack; cool to room temperature.

If you're mixing this dough by hand, like I did (it's so easy, don't freak :), combine the water, yeast, honey, butter, salt, rye flour, and wheat germ. Add 2 3/4 cups of all purpose flour and 2 3/4 cups of whole wheat flour to mixture and reserve the last 1/4 cup of wheat flour for dusting and adding to mixture once ready to knead. Knead the dough on a flat surface sprinkled with flour for about 5 minutes, adding more flour as necessary, but no more than the 1/4 cup you reserved of the wheat flour. Continue to step #3.
Source: Brown-Eyed Baker