happy halloween

rawr!!

blondie

no, it's not a wig for halloween.  it's daddy hanging his hair over the babe to see what she would look like if she ends up being a blonde.  pretty funny, right?!

haiku friday - ashland

shakespeare festival

fall leaves in lithia park

ashland oregon

monterey

pheasant fields pumpkin patch

this road trip has been FANTASTIC so far and we have loads of stories and pictures coming soon but we're slightly limited in our internet access so there will be some delay...

in the meantime, saraya really wanted to pick her own pumpkins for her first halloween so we took a little trip to pheasant fields pumpkin patch in phoenix, oregon.  how's that alliteration for you?

 

say what?!

i love her crazy expressions...

Lofty Cuisine Dinner Party

Justin and i enjoyed a wonderful date night recently.  our friend C-Lo hosted a dinner party featuring an up and coming caterer called Lofty Cuisine.  unfortunately, i speak no french and i forgot to grab a menu to reference later, but i'll do my best to recall the dishes...

so the featured food represented rustic southern France.  for an appetizer we devoured a triple cream, walnut and fig jam stuffed baked brie served with apples, cantelope, and crackers and paired with a sauvignon blanc.  it was heavenly!  no picture even because like i said, we devoured it.  next up we had a cream of mushroom soup with shitake mushrooms and truffle oil served with anadama bread and paired with a sherry or pinot grigio.  i love mushrooms.

next up was our palate cleanser.  a fresh melon and anisette ice.  normally i hate black licorice flavored things but this was surprisingly good!  great even!  so refreshing!

then onto the main entree. a melt in your mouth beef stew.  it really is better that these dishes have french names because the english decription doesn't really do it justice.  it was a magical, tender, flavorfully layered dish served with perfect potatoes and paired with a fantastic bordeaux.  seriously, my mouth is watering as i recall this dish.

now at this point we are stuffed.  but how can you turn down apple flan with homemade caramel sauce?  don't ask how much butter went into this dessert.  don't ask how much butter went into dinner, period.  it's french.  french food = BUTTER.  paired with a sweet riesling or armagnac.  yum.

just look at these sufficiently suffoncified guests

merci beaucoup to chef Richard and his lovely sous chef Dawn!  (i guess i know a little french afterall)

Solvang

solvang is a cute little danish town hidden in southern california right on the 101, just north of santa barbara.  complete with windmills and bakeries, this place made for a nice stop on our fall 2010 road trip...

vikings, and windmills, and scarecrows - oh my!

walk on the wild side

this past weekend, Justin, Saraya and i participated in the San Diego Zoo's 5th annual walk.  this year's walk was to benefit the elephants.  this was her 4th visit to see the animals and she spent the majority of each of those previous visits fast asleep.  since she was wide awake this time, i thought Saraya might be excited by the animals.  what's really funny is that she was equally fascinated by the elephants and llamas as she was by the trees and even a zoo truck that beeped as it reversed.  well, at least she enjoyed herself and can mark another walk down.  just 10 more to go 'til we meet our goal.  next up, the O'side Turky Trot...

haiku friday - wedding

missa and patrick

are having a fall wedding;

congratulations!

joujou papillon

last month i met an awesome artist named angie.  she makes beautiful necklaces and calls her line joujou papillon (french for toy butterfly).  she takes beautiful pictures (as both a photographer and a model).  and she also writes a blog.  i love her blog.  it makes me smile.  as do these pictures she took of my baby.

i can't wait to custom order my very own joujou...  just look at all these gorgeous creations!

pink ribbons

october is breast cancer awareness month.  next to skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the US.  and it is the second leading cause of cancer death in women just after lung cancer.  breast cancer has affected more than one woman in my family and i like being able to contribute to research for a cure.
last year i raised money for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day For The Cure.  i was part of a team that intended to walk 60 miles in three days.  we raised thousands of dollars but then i found out i was pregnant and wasn't able to do the walk.  it was a lot of fundraising and training but i'd like to try again sometime.  i was able to do a 5k for breast cancer this time last year but we'll be out of town for that same race this year.  even if you can't raise thousands of dollars or walk 60 miles, there are still lots of ways to contribute.  just clicking on this link allows a woman to receive a free mammogram.

the great pumpkin

i can't believe it's october already!  if i were playing a word association game and someone said october, the first thing that pops into my head is pumpkin.  so here are some fun pumpkin, orange, and halloween themed items i found to help celebrate, courtesy of Etsy.

haiku friday - rollin, rollin, rollin

from belly to back

rolling over is such fun

let's do it again!

yesterday was a pretty monumental day for my little panda. she experienced her first thunderstorm AND she rolled over! she's been so close to rolling over for awhile now. she was having a little tummy time and just flipped right onto her back. she was so surprised she just started laughing. and then she wanted to do it again and again. i think it started to get a little tiring though. it seems like it would be a lot of work to get that buddha belly moving...