San Francisco

Garrett had to go to San Francisco for work so we made a little getaway vacation out of it. We were able to do so much in just a week! In the beginning of the week, we stayed right next to Stanford University. I was able to check out that area while Garrett worked during the week. My friend Katie lived really close to where we were staying so we got lots of quality time in too.

From there, we drove up to Sonoma Wine Country. We checked out some of the vineyards and stayed in the quaint downtown area. As you can see from the photos below, it was peaceful and beautiful...

On the drive back down to San Francisco, we stopped and hiked through Muir Woods and were able to check out some monstrous Redwoods.

We drove to Garrett's cousin Kirk's house in San Francisco (he was out of town) and met up with his wife, Alyssa. Alyssa was quite the tour guide and showed us all around the city. She also brought us to Philz Coffee, which is one of the best, if not THE BEST, cup o' coffee I've ever had!


Katie and her fiance, Ben, were able to meet up with us in San Francisco for dinner. Alyssa brought us to a very unique Mediterranean restaurant. We sat on the floor with pillows and shared some deliciousness like warm apple cider/Sangria, meat and veggie kabobs, and of course, hummus. Unfortunately, we missed the belly dancers which started later in the night.

All in all, it was a fantastic time and we hope to make another trip before we leave California.

My New Job

I've been subbing here and there since January. I was starting to get antsy to have a steady job (I don't really know why?? :)) so I applied and applied and applied. I was spending ample time searching for something...anything on Craig's List. I heard nothing at all. I applied for jobs that I was overly qualified and not even a response.

I know. I know. This is the cry of millions of people right now. But I know it was more than that. God had the perfect gig planned out for me. I just had to wait for it. The principal at my school offered me another long-term sub position. This time in third grade, which is the grade I taught. I was so pumped!!!

The job starts this Monday: a class of my own for the rest of the school year. And something cool on top of that...but maybe only a teacher would appreciate it. Out of hundreds of spelling programs, my new class uses the same one I did in Ohio. On top of that, my new class starts on "Unit 14" on Monday. It just so happens that I BEGAN making "teacher aid" worsheets starting at "Unit 14" in 2006. I don't have anything for Units 1-13; just 14-25. Okay, I know most wouldn't be excited about it...but I thought that was pretty amazing. :)

Breadmaker, Breadmaker, oh how I love thee...

I feel like a kid in a candy story....

Yesterday I was checking out a neighbor's garage sale and lo and behold: she was selling an unused breadmaker, with recipe book mind you, for $30. I had to...I couldn't resist. I've been looking through the recipe book tonight and I can't wait to get my hands all floured up!! Recipes I'm hoping to make soon: Good Ol' Wheat, Lemon Blueberry (and turn into French Toast), Sourdough, and Beer Bread.....yum! Guess we need to buy some butter! :)

*San Fran update soon to come, along with a video you won't want to miss! Check back soon...

10 Random Things

1. Tomorrow Garrett and I leave for a week long trip to San Francisco!

2. I continue to love married life with my amazing husband!


3. I'm missing my Ohioans terribly!

4. This is one of my new favorite CDs: The Fray

5. After many attempts at preparing asparagus and ending up with a stringy/soggy mess, I finally found a recipe that works....Roasted Asparagus.

6. Garrett recently gave his brother, Spencer, his commissioning oath into the U.S. Army making him a 2nd Lieutenant. Spencer and his wife, Lara, will be moving to Germany this Fall! We're so excited for them and for a possible trip to Germany!! :)

7. God has been teaching me lots about His faithfulness while studying Exodus.

8. Scrabble is my new addiction.

9. Frustrated from Jack's constant meowing for food, we caved in and bought him a self-feeder. Life has been a lot quieter but Jack's hiney is now a lot fatter...

10. I learned yesterday not to adjust a burner with your bare hands after turning it on high...it may result, in case you didn't know, in a painful burn.

Yummy!

If you are a salmon fan, try this recipe: Baklava Salmon. If you are a fan of sweets, like me, add 1 T more honey.

Surprise Weekend

(Shirley Temple...look at her little hands!!)

Sarah came to visit this past weekend for her birthday. Little did she know, Lisa and I had a surprise in store for her. We had two of our other friends from high school, Katie and Megan, come in for the weekend too. She was shocked...the expression on her face was priceless. We had so much fun over the weekend doing the Hollywood tourist attractions, hanging out around the beach area, shopping, and just being together. There was lots of estrogen going on at our place, that's for sure. :)

Hollyweird

My mom said she didn't think the following photos depicted anything too weird so let me give some more commentary at the sites seen at a recent Hollywood trip.

If you haven't yet, click on this photo...view the enlarged version. Seriously, a bunch of stuffed tigers with bendable arms and legs lined up at a gas station. You might have guessed that the gas station was located across from a zoo, but no, just in the midst of some streets in Hollywood/weird.

Then, look at this picture...as you can see, Spidey is hanging from a pole striking poses for strangers. We were in Hollywood for 2 hours and he remained on the pole the whole time. Not to mention, the many other creepy characters that lurked around the Walk of Fame. We're talking a dirty costumed Barney and Elmo, Freddy Krueger, and Chucky. Now most people might not be afraid of this situation but you better believe I was. I think Chucky could sense this. I saw that spotted me across the sidewalk and I tried to look away and act tough but I saw his scary eyes watching me the whole time. Then he proceeded to come in my direction. My heart was beating so fast and I wanted to scream. He took out his fake knife and acted like he was going to jab it in my leg. Needless to say, I was freaking out and felt as though this could be the trigger to many future nightmares.

Patterned Chairs from Target

I love these chairs from Target! Most of the chairs are $299. Right now you can get free shipping and 15% off your order. I wish I had room for one of them....