SOLD!

We have a home! Last Friday we got the keys to our new house, well the house isn't new, but its new to us. The reality of home ownership hit us on our 8th hour of painting our bedroom. Yes, we are slaves to a house again and we are loving it. It might take us two weeks to paint the entire inside of the house before we move in so I'm going to be MIA for awhile until we get settled. All of our free time is going to be dedicated to painting, and painting and yard work. Lots of yard work.

This is an image the previous owners took who are our good family friends. 

This was a few years ago. The little trees are actually much bigger now and they installed a beautiful industrial looking fence since this was taken. Its a peaceful place and there are lots of birds and doves coo cooing and tweeting all around.  Finally we are nesting. It feels good. 

Blossoms.

There is beauty around every corner in the Columbia Valley this week. Fruit trees are in bloom and really sprucing up the joint. This is a great time of year to visit this side of Washington. The Apple Blossom Parade is this weekend in Wenatchee. Wish we could go but we have a milestone to attend instead. My Dad's retirement party. He's retiring as an air traffic controller for Sea Tac air port. Couldn't be happier for him. The big "DondO," retiring, about to kick back and enjoy the finer things in life. 

These photos were taken in the same orchard that we took our wedding photos in. These blossoms will turn into scrumptious, delish, pears.

Much love from the orchard land. 

Jamie at Home Cookbook.

Have you ever seen Jamie at Home on the Cooking channel? Jamie Oliver is one of my faves. His cooking is simple, rustic, and always seasonal. He takes his ingredients right from his garden which is something I miss greatly. And how can you not love his accent and his over usage of "brilliant?" His show makes me want to buy Wellington boots and get to work on creating our own garden. In due time. 

Little did I know he has a Jamie at Home cookbook. When my friend showed me this cookbook it was like that feeling you get when you find money in your pockets you didn't know you had. 

Jamie's British accent comes through in the book which makes it even more enjoyable. Right now I'm reading about Rhubarb since ours is a few days away from harvesting. He gives you a little history of the rhubarb, great recipies and then explains how he grows it. 

Love the illustrations throughout the whole book. The pages feel natural like and crisp, no gloss finishes here. 

Note to self; find some ramekins.

Wow, thats a big stalk. I'm talking about the rhubarb. 

Jamie highlights many different vegetables and gives tips on how to grow, store and cook. 

Here is our 35 year old Rhubarb plant. We dug up part of our rhubarb plant from our old house to take with us to where ever we end up setteling. Its almost ready! Can't wait for the first pie. 

If you are starting your garden right now, I'm very envious. However, I've come to enjoy weeding;) 

I love my $2000 cat.

I tell everyone when they meet William Wallace how much he's cost us. I think people who meet him should feel our pain. And the fact he's cost us so much money really sums up the type of cat he is, as does his name. We decided on William Wallace because when we first met Willy we knew he was brave. 

Willim didn't have a home and found ours one day and decided we were it. 

We were hell bent on never owning a cat again. But when he came to us one night, he was spewing blood, shaking, pooping himself, $1000 later, we found it hard to get rid of a cat we spent so much money on. So he's ours. William Wallace, pain in our ass, and makes us laugh daily. 

This is how I found him the other morning.

The guy has no problem sleeping.

Soul mates. William is Casey. I'm sure he's Scottish, he's a fighter, and loves to sleep. They are in love. I do not exist. 

Typical of William Wallace. Casey about had a heart attack when he saw him up on this roof. Again, soul mates. 

If cats have nine lives, I swear William was gifted more. 

Reminiscing.

Found this framed, stashed in a box in my Dad's garage yesterday. Flash backs came flying at me seeing my old room again. Written on the back said Summer, 1993. My bunny's name was Basil. Barbies, dolls and florals were my thing, obviously! I love the fanny pack hanging from my bed. 

Please excuse me while I reminisce!

I remember after begging and begging for a Barbie house for years, my parents gave me this antique doll house for Christmas. I know what I was thinking...should of asked for a doll house so they would've given me a Barbie house. But you know, I look back and appreciate the fact that my parents gave me some card board boxes to make Barbie houses out of instead of what I wanted. I would sit in my room for hours and decorate the boxes. I'd glue fabric on the inside for wall paper and with a stapler and some card board peices I was able to make up some pretty cool bunk beds. I drew windows and doors on the outside with those, I think they were called Mr Sketch, smelly markers. My parents were smarter than I thought. I think those cardboard Barbie houses sparked my creativity, used my noggin, and they didn't have to see me for hours. 

After seeing this photo, I sat on the floor and went through a mound of photo albums. Oh how life changes. I started getting teary eyed thinking about the changes yet to come. 

I miss this happy go lucky girl. Not a care in the world. 

Yummy Cake.

I'm ashamed to admit I had never made a cake from scratch until I made this gem. Ok I just lied, I made a cake for Carly's wedding. This cake was for my Dad's birthday. Back to never making a cake from scratch. Yeah, I said it. Baking scares me. Precise measurements, I'm not precise about anything. Following instructions? I'm trying. 

You will not regret the extra effort to make this amazingly delish chocolate peanut butter cake from Smitten Kitchen, I promise. Its so rich that you will easily feed a large crowd. I had to hide the cake after my Dad's birthday in a cabinet so we all (DAD) wouldn't hover over it all day with our (his) forks (fork).

I adapted the recipe a tad. I made the cake a two layer instead of a three layer cake. You have to remember all of our belongings are in storage, that includes cake pans. I made this bad boy with two pie pans. Thanks Tiff for lending your mixer. 

It doesn't look pretty by any means, but baking at my Dad's house is sort of like baking in a camper, you deal with what you've got. Its obvious by looking in Dad's cabinets that he's not doing a lot of baking. 

How about you? Do you resist baking? I have to say, baking is beginning to ware on me. 

Monday Inspiration: Photo Books

Mother's Day is just around the corner and I thought these photo books from BLURB would be great inspiration for Mother's Day gifts. I only have our wedding book as an example but their website it full of inspiration. There are so many options to choose from on BLURB. Small books to big books. You can use their templates or make your own if you have the software to do so. I used BLURB for our wedding books to our parents and they turned out better than I expected and their turn around from order to delivery was so fast. 

I recommend their upgrade to ProLine premium paper. I think it made a huge difference and worth the extra money. 

Another idea I would like to do in the future is design a family cookbook on BLURB. I saw an example on their site. Very cool!

If you sign up on their website they often send lots of discounts around the holidays. Usually 25% off. 

Have a great Monday!