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A really perfect, much needed day…

Aside from waking up with a kink in the right side of my neck…

Today has been exactly what i’ve been needing…r&r. rest. and. relaxaaaaatiooon.

Woke up at 9. Which is very late considering the last few weeks, my “normal” work schedule starts at 4:15am. It was very nice.

Got ready with my husband, put on a spring time dress (even though spring starts on the 20th, it sure felt like spring today)…wore a new strapless bra (can you believe I haven’t owned one in years? Yesterday, I went shopping with a friend and there was a deal…buy one bra, get the second for $1…so we split that and only had to pay $8.50 each…that’s the great thing about going shopping with a girlfriend…huge side note)…then Ty loaded up the dogs and our Bibles in the car while I quickly put up my hair.

Off to our morning coffee date where we got to sit outside with the dogs, our little family soaking up the sun…had a great conversation with a lady and her daugher…the dogs getting a lot of attention from passerbyers. (oh how they loooove attention.) It was really lovely.

After some reading, conversation, zucchini muffins, and iced lattes, we packed up again and came home although I begged Ty to go to the park to take the dogs for a walk on this lovely day…but Ty was itching to work on some music. (he must have his daily dose) But I still wanted to spend time with the pups outdoors…

So when we got home…I decided to pretend my front lawn was the beach…took my leggings off under my dress, somehow my legs were shaved…took off my cardigan, grabbed my sun hat, beach chair, and the recent Real Simple issue and worked on my leg tan while spending some quality time outside with the doggies as they grazed our front lawn like little cows. I sat out there for a whole 20 minutes!!! That’s a long time for how white I am. Real Simple had some great tips on time savers (if you have the issue, you know what I mean), for example, before putting your socks in the wash, safety pinning each pair together so that way you don’t lose the sibling socks when they’re done…which I always hate trying to find.

Before I went back in, I got to try out a new brush I got for the pups…they shed so darn much in the house. This brush works wonders! Thanks to the gal who trimmed their nails at Petsmart…great suggestion…then walked in through my wide open front door…

I felt so…I can’t find a word…fresh, good, lovely, cozy, peaceful…whatever, I just knew I needed to make this one salad. This is a salad you MUST try…you can find all the ingredients organic for cheap…you get your veggies, fruit, and protein…and tad bit of fat free dairy, and because it’s all uncooked (except for the chicken, of course), you get all the nutrients and enzymes…good huh? So what is this oh so tasty salad?

Afternoon Salade

Baby Spinache

Mandarine Oranges

Grapes

Trader Joe’s Poppy Seed Dressing

Nonfat Feta Cheese Crumbles

Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breast sprinkled with salt, pepper, and a pinch of cayenne, baked at 350 for 20 minutes, then sauteed for 5 minutes to a crisp brown.

So easy, you have to try it. It really was a great break to our day…along with some Orange/Peach/Mango juice. We don’t ever really eat dessert here…our “dessert” is buying different juices or foreign iced teas or whatever. We like to indulge in those…but don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a little banana creme pie  or a bowl of ice cream every once in a while.

This is us after a delicious meal…

no…we didn’t make out, we were just really relaxed :)

After that, I joined Ty for some one on one music practice where I learned a drum part! That was fun…

Then we headed to Ty’s weekly hockey game…we were all really pumped for this game because last night we went to the Ducks game in Anaheim with our friends Mike and Kristen. It was such a fun time!  We definitely want to go more often. Anyway, Ty’s team, The Black Moustaches, was awesome, they looked like the Ducks out there, but they didn’t win. :( That’s okay…there’s always next week.

Now i’m home, just laid out my work clothes for the morning, and i’m ready to enjoy some sleep after a beautiful day.

Sweet dreams…

P.S. I might be hosting Easter at my house this year! A little nervous, but very excited.

So sad…

I’ve never been part of such a huge community where everyone is walking around so depressed. I feel depressed and can’t stop crying…this sweet girl’s, Chelsea King, body was found yesterday just a few miles away from where I live. It’s so scary…I was so close to going out for a run with the dogs last week at the same place she was raped and murdered…this could have happened to me…to anyone.

Happy Sunday :)

note to self: slow down.

The past couple weeks have been non stop…I think yesterday was the first day of the craziness I had a minute to go online (because I really have forgotten about this other world called the internet.) I found myself upset after reading my best friend’s blog…someone out there is very unhappy with their life and is trying to make themselves feel better by saying hurtful things to two of the greatest people I know, my best friend and her husband.

Anyway…we won’t let that ruin our day because we all know that none of it is true.

Again, life has been full of  ‘to-dos’, I’m just glad that I have the choice to slow down…and I am.

I’m glad that…

taxes are done…a bigger return than we thought! Praise the Lord!

my bangs are trimmed

my legs are shaved (trust me, that’s been on the back burner for a while)

my house is clean

I got to catch up with my friend Katie W.

my small group is lovely

my family is amazing

my friends are amazing

Kay and Dan came to visit last weekend

I need to…

wait to see if Baggie really is prego (that’s right, she might be…anybody want a puppy?) If so, she’ll be having her babies in a little over a month!

go get our white comforter washed because our washer is too small for it (Kay…I’m right there with ya)

make bread

write snail mail to some friends

decide whether I want to cut my hair super short or grow it out (I always do this when my hair is at the awkward stage)

have friends that I haven’t seen in a while over for some din.

restore more relationships (Katie really helped realize that)

With February almost gone…I can’t believe that in two days, a whole new set of goals will have to be put in to play, don’t the months fly by so fast?

Have a great weekend :)

Let’s break bread!

Yeah, so I’ve been a little over passionate about my bread, but aren’t we all a little over excited when we discover something new? Not that bread is new, but handmade bread, made by me, is. So, I made this little draw string…tote, if you will, to store my weekly bread.

And since Ty and I live with two other friends, I though it would be appropriate to put “break bread.”  on the bag because there’s nothing like fellowshipping over food, or “breaking bread” with others.

Ta da!

More handmade to come!

:::sniff sniff::: ooooh myyyy gooodness…it smells SO GOOD in here!

My friend, Tif, suggested this bread recipe and it’s been baking and filling the house with the sweetest aroma, I wish I could capture it, put in my blog, and make it a link so you could just click on it, and the scent would come out of your speakers into your nostrils, but that’s impossible, for now. But the bread…you MUST try it! I really am in heaven with the smell…(I think maybe because I added some extra honey in the mix) And the finished product is so good that I made another one right after so we’d have enough to last us the week. Definitely a successful recipe.

Here’s the link.

Today has been very very relaxing…Tyler woke up and made breakfast for everyone, I laughed when he said, “It’s like we’re in Friends!” because to me is feels more like we’re in Seinfeld. [I'm of course, Elaine by default (although I hope I'm not as annoying as she is), Tyler is Jerry because he kind of runs all of the relationships around here, he's kind of the center of all of us, Mike is Kraemer because he can be really random sometimes, he likes to get a lot of weird free stuff from Craigslist (he almost brought home a free boat the other day), and Brad is definitely George because he still doesn't have a job, and he unfortunately gets picked on by the guys but we all love him]…that’s a big side note, anyways, the boys have been in the backyard for hours playing football, getting hurt, I’ve been inside, baking, cleaning, laundry, facial, eyebrows, all at a slow pace of course, music in the background, dogs nappin’ on their bed…everyone’s happy.

All to say, happy first day of February, I hope yours is as sweet as mine.

Last month, I accomplished a lot of my goals, but not all with redeemable reasons: I did finish The Shack, great read, I highly recommend it, still haven’t volunteered at the homeless shelter, although I did call a couple times and they’re waiting to see where they could use a group of 6 of us, still waiting to hear back from them, haven’t made orange juice from our backyard oranges, but I did make some orange rolls with them, I DID make three curtains, I haven’t yet cooked something from my J.C. book…but I will, instead, I learned how to make bread, and it’s sticking with me, and I got an awesome bread maker to help! Haven’t started our home Bible study yet, but we are tomorrow night…and I also joined an amazing women’s small group in Encinitas, I can’t wait to tell you more about it. I drank lots of water last month, but still not enough, Ellie rolls over, but that’s beause she’s super submissive, Tyler’s painting is in process, didn’t sign up for ballet because I realized I have so much other stuff going on and I need to prioritized music before ballet (for now at least), and I have been practicing on my new midi controller, and I love it!

My goals for February:

Continue eating organic

Farmer’s market every Tuesday and I promise myself I’m going to pay a visit to the Ocean Beach co-op.

Stay on top of laundry

Do a body cleanse with Ty

Make a stuffed animal for a baby shower

Make that chalkboard

I will have Dan & Kay, Paul & Jenna over for dinner…(so tell me soon when is good this month because it has been far too long.)

Get Baggie spayed

Use little to no plastic…so I’ll make bulk bags.

Join a gym

Learn how to make my own preserves…because I love jam…especially apricot.

I think these are fairly reasonable goals that develop progress in my life (and my dog’s)

Well, time to make dinner and then we’re heading out for some margaritas to celebrate our beautiful day. Have a good night!