Kentucky

Mike's family reunion was this past weekend in Kentucky. It was nice meeting some of Mike's family (his dad's side) for the first time. It was also my first time in Kentucky. We mostly just hung out at our motel and ate together.

On Saturday, we went to the Natural Bridge Park. We hiked and I got to ride a sky lift for the first time!

On Sunday, we went to the Kentucky Horse Park. We didn't get to see everything because it was pretty hot and I was very tired by then.

But it was a good trip despite the hot weather. We went to the town Mike grew up in... that was cool to see. We also had a surprise baby shower thrown by Mike's step mom. She even got us chocolate cupcakes! Now I have my first sets of adorable baby clothes. This little one is finally starting to feel a bit more real :)

What we eat

This past Sunday, we went on a tour of the ranch we bought our beef from. Between us and another couple of friends, we bought 1/4 of a cow. It comes from a local farm and the beef is grass fed. It was nice being able to see how the animals we eat used to live. It was a huge and beautiful farm. It was also my first time going on a hay ride :)

In case you haven't been following our eating habits, here's mostly what we try to do:

- eat only natural, non processed food (at least at home)

- cook everything from scratch

- buy grass fed beef, cheese and butter

- buy whole, grass fed, non homogenized milk.

- we try to buy most of our fruits and veggies organic

- we buy pastured eggs and chicken.

- we drink fermented cod liver oil and also eat high vitamin butter

- we try to avoid grains and sugar

Some of these things we have been doing for years now, but others are a most recent habit. Of course, this doesn't mean we don't sometimes eat out and enjoy some pizza and burgers or make yummy desserts, it just doesn't happen that often anymore.

We try to follow the advice of the Weston A. Price Foundation, because after doing our own research, that is what we believe to be the healthiest "diet". So movies like Food Inc and shows like Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, weren't much of a shock to us, but I'm glad it has opened up others people eyes to what they eat.

I noticed that we haven't gotten sick in a very long time. Also, when we started to eat less carbs, my menstrual cycles became more regular, I stopped having migraines and Mike and I lost weight :) I know a lot of people say they wish they could eat healthy but they just can't afford it, well I think it's all a matter of priorities. I could write a whole other blog post telling you the ways we save money ;)

♥ Happy Valentine's Day ♥

I hope everyone had a lovely day. After two days of being out and about, today we had a relaxing day watching movies, cooking chili and of course, baking something sweet. We made these easy individual fallen chocolate cakes, aka molten lava cakes. We had ours with a side of french vanilla ice cream. Here's the recipe that makes 4 individual cakes. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1/2 stick of butter
4 ounces bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate
2 eggs + 1 yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour + more for dusting
Confectioners sugar for sprinkling

Instructions:

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease and flour 4 ramekins. Melt the butter and chocolate in a heat proof medium bowl. Beat the eggs, yolk, vanilla, salt and sugar on high speed for 5 minutes.

- Scrape the egg mixture over the melted butter and chocolate. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture. Gently fold egg and flour into the chocolate until mixture is uniform in color.

- Pour batter into prepared ramekins. Bake for 11 minutes. Run a paring knife along the edges of the ramekins to loosen the cakes. Invert the ramekins onto serving plates and cool for 1 minute. Lift ramekin and sieve a light sprinkling of confectioners sugar. Serve immediately.

Butter Pecan Cookies

These are probably the easiest cookies I've ever made. Simple and delicious! Yesterday I was in the mood for something with pecans and our usual cookbooks didn't have anything fast and easy... yes, I needed some instant gratification.

I was in a weird mood, probably caused by the fact that I fell over the opened door of my dishwasher. I hurt my shin, it was swollen and it bled a little, yes I'm a big wimp and well, it scared me, it still hurts...

Anyway, back to my cookies! I went online searching for a recipe and found this great one, thanks Martha Stewart! Here's the recipe taken from her website:

Ingredients:

-3/4 cup pecans
-1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
-1/3 cup sugar, plus more for coating
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/8 teaspoon salt
-1 cup all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a baking sheet, toast pecans until fragrant, about 6 minutes. Let cool completely; finely chop.

2. With an electric mixer, cream butter and 1/3 cup sugar until light, about 1 minute. Beat in vanilla, salt, and flour, scraping down sides of bowl, just until dough comes together. Fold in pecans.

3. Separate dough into 12 pieces; squeeze dough to shape into balls. Roll in sugar. Place, 3 inches apart, on a baking sheet. Gently flatten with the bottom of a glass (reshape sides if necessary). Sprinkle with sugar.

4. Bake until golden brown, rotating sheet halfway through, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with more sugar. Cool cookies on a wire rack

(Makes 12 according to her instructions, but you can just make the balls smaller and keep an eye on them so they don't burn)

I actually had to hide ours because Mike wouldn't stop eating them, and well, we are still following a low carb diet supposedly he he. Enjoy!

November

And it's still hot around here... Sorry for the lack of posts, but I started to work for the US Census again, this time as a Recruiter Assistant. I have to find people in my area to apply for Census jobs, find locations where I can administer the test required to be hired and administer the test myself.

I was really freaking out last week, we only had 3 days of training, the rest of the days I kind of helped and listened to other recruiters administer the test. I was at the main office last week, so it wasn't that bad, this week I really need to go recruit and find locations. I also get to administer my first test tomorrow all by myself *gulp*

Other than that, I sold 3 paintings from Sugar Village the other day, that was cool! They were some of my personal favorites too. I don't know when I'll have time to work on new ones now, which sucks! I did however, purchase a set of pens that I use on my paintings, my very first Ebay purchase.

Another thing that I'm a bit embarrassed in sharing is that, I am slightly obsessed with the Twilight books. Yes, I used to make fun of them, until I saw the first book at the library and decided to give it a try. Omg, now I can not stop reading them! I'm on the second book now. How did this happen?! Ok, you can stop laughing at me now...

Well, I guess I better go get my clothes and lunch ready for work and also organize some paper work for the tomorrows test... who am I kidding, I'm just going to go read New Moon, muahahaha!

Twenty Seven

I had a great birthday weekend. Even the weather was perfect! We went over to my mother in law's house Friday and Saturday. I always feel spoiled when I'm there, it's like a mini vacation. We went to see an antique car show that was going on in Lakeland, around the lake Mike and I got married. Later on we had lunch at a Mexican restaurant, where I had some delicious flautas.

Today I had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory with my friend Candice and also did a bit of shopping. Later this evening we all went to see Where the Wild Things Are. I thought it would be better and Mike thought it was better than he thought it would be, so I guess overall it was ok...

Since we haven't been home this weekend, Mike still owes me my birthday cupcakes, which will probably be the last carbs I'll be eating in a while, we definitely broke our diet this weekend. So yeah, nothing crazy or extravagant this birthday, but I was surrounded by loved ones. And not only this weekend, but lately I've been feeling pretty damn happy, I guess I could consider that an additional gift :)

Hola

Just stopping by before the weekend is over. I'm already done with the Census job for now, I actually only worked for about 3 days after our one week training. I would have liked to work for a few more weeks, but we finished our assigned area really fast.

Mike finally bought himself some fancy new work clothes, he's going to look so nice! I can't wait to see him on Tuesday. He used to work from home most of the time, but now he has to go in to the office 3 times a week. He even threw away some really old and embarrassing t-shirts that had holes in them... shocking!

I told myself I wouldn't cry, but once again, I got my period this month. I was pretty bummed this weekend by it. I know we haven't been trying for a baby for that long, but it still makes me sad every time my period shows up. I never imagined this is what it would be like and I feel like I have no one to talk to about it.

My birthday is next week, so that will hopefully distract me a little. I should be getting my camera soon, we ordered it last week. I also got an early birthday present from my friend Candice, she got me the Wreck this Journal I mentioned in another post, I already filled out some pages, it's pretty fun.

Anyway, everything else has been great and I'm grateful for that. The weather on the other hand went back to being hot, so that sucks! Oh yeah, I even assisted my friend Isabelle on another photo shoot last week, that was fun! Here's a pic of me from that day. Ok, time for bed kids!

Mid September

Where did time go? Not that I'm complaining though, it means the weather should start cooling off a bit and that my birthday is about a month away :) I sold my camera, so hopefully I'll have the Rebel XSi for my birthday.

One of Mike's co workers had a barbecue this Saturday where even dogs were invited. I had a good time, I really wish we did things like this more often. Even Lily behaved... well, that's if you ignore all the barking she did, she was just wondering why there was people in the water.

It also looks like I'll be working for the Census again. They called me Saturday morning and as much as I wanted to say thanks but no thanks, I really couldn't do that, it's a job after all. I start training (again) next Monday. We'll see how it goes this time around...

Mike will be in Ohio this week which means I'll be playing lot's of video games, catching up with friends, watching girly movies, going shopping for a few work outfits and hopefully getting some paintings done for Sugar Village.

Friday

Tonight I'm going to an art show/art supply drive for the SHO Foundation in Winter Park, my friend Isabelle will be showing some photos among other artists.

Two of my Sugar Village paintings are in this amazing online magazine called Modern Handmade Child, I'm on page 17, check it out and share it with anyone that has kids or babies.

Here's a picture of some "free" moo cards I received in the mail last week, I really like the feel and look, now I understand what all the fuss is about moo cards. Oh, and that flower? It's a hair clip I made out of a flower I bought at Ikea for 50¢!

Have a good weekend!

My point exactly...

Setting: Sunday afternoon, looking at a free magazine picked up at Whole Foods.

Mike: This magazine is all new agey...

Me: Well, you're kinda of new agey too...

Mike: No I'm not! I make fun of those people... Oh! I just remembered, I found a good new age station last night, can you turn it on?

Any way... We finally bought some grass fed beef and made some delicious chili with it. Mike also wanted to buy raw milk, but I drew the line with the non homogenized, it's actually very good and creamy! How was your weekend?

PS. Mike asked if they sold brains at Whole Foods... enough said

Happy Birthday my love...

We had some friends over for a little early birthday celebration for Mike this past Saturday. Food was great, we made a cream of mushroom soup, following a Julia Child recipe, spinach and asparagus salad with goat cheese and roasted chicken with a pan sauce. For dessert (yes, we cheated a bit on our diet with the dessert), an orange souffle with ice cream. Everything was delicious!

We also played a little bit of boardgames, watched a movie (The Wrestler) and went over to Avalon Park to see some fireworks. It was a good day overall. He got these speakers for his birthday. On Sunday, we headed over to Cool Stuff for another birthday present, a boardgame of course! He chose one called A House Divided. Happy birthday baby, I love you more than anything, can't wait to share more birthdays with you ♥

Miami

That's where I'll be spending my weekend along with 3 other friends. It's Candice's birthday tomorrow and she wanted to celebrate it in Miami. We'll be staying at the Deauville Beach Resort in Miami Beach. It's been raining a lot lately so I hope the rain doesn't ruin our weekend. I'm really excited about our mini road trip and totally girly birthday bash weekend. Have a good weekend!

Happy

I am done with the census job for now. I turned in all my materials, badge and hand held computer this past Friday. I'm glad I didn't have to quit and that we were just done with our work. They said we would still be in the system, so if they need help with other things, they might call us back.

I made a few sales at my Etsy store this weekend. I have a weekend deal over at Paper Cakes Finds Blog. That really cheered me up since I've had very low sales lately. Now I feel motivated to keep creating new things. So this week, I'll start working on new designs.

I also noticed that I was on Etsy's front page today, which is a big deal for Etsy sellers! I knew because I had a bunch of new hearts. Thankfully, there's this Flickr page were users upload screenshots of the front page. So I was able to see where I was featured.

This week I'm reading a book called Birth Day by Mark Sloan. I've only read about a chapter so far, but it has very interesting facts about child birth, I think it'll be an informative read. That's all I have for you. Have a great week!

Hello there!

Yes I know, I've been neglecting my blog lately. Nothing too exciting has happened. Mike was in Ohio for a couple of days for work last week. Driving is getting a bit better, I noticed my knuckles are not white and my hands sweaty anymore from gripping the steering wheel so hard. I haven't been painting or photographing anything. This job has sucked all creative inspiration from me.

On the other hand, I did get many interesting books from the library this weekend. The list is long, but I started with Dumbfounded: Big Money. Big Hair. Big Problems. Or Why Having It All Isn't for Sissies by Matt Rothschild. Honestly, I do pick my books based on their cover, 8 out of 10 times I'm right and pick out (in my opinion) good books that way. The author in 27 years old and lives in Orlando. It's about a Jewish boy growing up in the Upper East Side, it's pretty hilarious.

We also got around to watching Slumdog Millionaire this weekend, and of course I loved it. I'm so glad I was not disappointed. Another great movie we watched this weekend was called Phoebe in Wonderland, I highly recommend it. Elle Fanning is such a great actress! I didn't even realize she was Dakota's sister when I saw her in Babel (another favorite of mine).

Ok, that is all, have a good week!

The weekend has arrived

I am down to my final free weekends before I start my new job. I still need to go buy a few "work" outfits... maybe even some comfy shoes, I'm sure I'll be doing lots of walking and standing.

I finally finished a big painting I had started like a year ago, I think I'm going to put it in my bedroom. I haven't been painting for Sugar Village this week because of that. I did however, designed a shipping label for my shop. I will have an Etsy shop print for me, it's really cute!

Since we finished watching the Vicar of Dibley, we started watching another British TV series . This one is from the 90's and it's called "As Time Goes By", so far we really like it. I know I know, you would think we were 50 years old or something...

I'm currently reading Split: A Memoir of Divorce by Suzanne Finnamore. I've read all her other books and really enjoy the way she writes.

I made pizza dough for the first time today, for homemade pizza of course! Sorry no photos of that. Instead, here's a much more cheery picture of a cupcake, dessert courtesy of our friends that hung out with us today for dinner and card games. Have a good weekend everyone!

Spring forward

I've never heard of it called that before. All that comes to my mind is Tigger from Winnie the pooh, bouncing around on his tail. Good thing it doesn't really affect us that much, since lately we've been going to bed around 2am and waking up embarrassingly late.

Mike has had a lot of work lately, so today since he had to work, I decided to ignore my messy kitchen and other domestic duties and went to a few stores all by myself. I bought a small canvass to attempt a painting for my bathroom. I also had a hot dog and a coke, nothing like junk food to try to cheer myself up from the horrible mood I was in.

The more I think about starting my new job, the more nervous I get. Why did they have to give me so much time to think about it? I'm mostly worried about the driving part, it still doesn't "come natural" to me yet. I think a GPS would be an excellent idea. I also need a few work outfits.

We've been baking fruit squares every week now. Mike calls them his breakfast bars, since they are way healthier than all the other desserts we used to make. Although, we do plan on making some chocolate pudding from scratch soon, I'll let you know how that turns out. I have a loaf of bread in the oven as I type, I added rosemary and parmesan cheese to this one.

Well, I hope everyone has a great week, I know it's spring break for some, so have lots of fun! In the mean time, I will be working on an old bird painting that I never finished from a long time ago. I also have paintings for Sugar Village to work on. By the way, I'm having a sale on selected paintings in case you want to check them out. Good night!

Recipe for the fruit squares

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups quick cooking oats
1/3 cup granulated sugar ( You can use only half the sugar if you don't want them too sweet)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup fine chopped pecans (or any nuts)
12 tablespoons softened butter in pieces
1 cup of your choice of fruit preserves (we usually use Bonne Maman)

Take butter out of the fridge to soften (about an hour before). Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter pieces to the flour mix and with a hand held mixer on low, mix until it resembles wet sand ( a few minutes). On a greased glass baking dish (we use the rectangle one for thinner squares, but you can also use the square one for thicker pieces), spread about 2/3 of the flour mix and press it into the dish. Bake for about 20 minutes. Take out the baking dish and spread the preserves on top, sprinkle with the remaining flour mix and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Salad Nicoise

After looking at the recipe, I decided I wasn't going to eat it. But after making it with Mike, I gave it a try and it was ok. What was even better was having a small slice of homemade chocolate cake afterward. Lily really enjoyed being fed green beans under the table, hee hee.

Can you believe it's almost 4pm and I'm still in my pj's? I gave Mike a haircut earlier and didn't want to get hair all over me... that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Don't worry though, I'm about to get in the shower. Have a nice rest of your Sunday.

Take Two....Action!

Ok, you know how I said I was going to a birthday party yesterday? So this is how it went: we go to our friends house to carpool with them, get to the party, we ring the doorbell, we hear no party noises, we wonder if we are the first ones to arrive, no one is answering the door, finally a guy opens the door, confused looks all around, he asks us if this is some sort of surprise, we say no, birthday boy actually invited us, we go inside (holding our beer and bag of chips and salsa), no one is there, more confusion, birthday boy comes out of his room looking confused, we then find out he told us the wrong date! The party is actually today. It was pretty hilarious, but completely awkward, I've never been in a situation like that. So later tonight, we'll be trying that again, hopefully this time, we hear some noise before we even bother ringing the door bell.

Pasatelli Soup

We already had homemade chicken stock and homemade bread. So we decided to make this delicious and extremely easy soup. It's basically just chicken stock with a few herbs and dumplings made out of fresh bread crumbs, grated Parmesan cheese (the real stuff, not the kind in a container with a green lid) and eggs. The dumplings were nice and cheesy and the broth had so much flavor. I see this as being one of our "family favorites".

Tonight's dinner

Cream of carrot soup and three cheese and turkey, grilled sandwich...on homemade bread of course. Take that Wolfgang Puck's can of soup!