Thursday, April 30, 2009

What Do These Have in Common?

Thursday, April 30, 2009


I bought this totally cute shirt this week from my favorite store and was excited to wear it for the first time today. As I went throughout the day I managed to avoid spilling anything on it. Tonight as I was loading a bike into the back of my Blazer, I got careless, and the bike rubbed up against my shirt leaving a nasty grease spot (well, grease smear really). I was SO bummed! When I got home, the first thing I did was google how to get grease spots out of clothing, and I decided to try one of the suggestions - mix Dawn and baking soda together until it makes a paste and scrub it on the shirt with a toothbrush. It worked! I had to scrub for a while, but eventually the last little bit of grease came out. Definitely a trick to remember!

0 comments

Fashionable?

Yesterday a former co-worker made my day when she said I looked "so fashionable". I don't know that I've ever been called fashionable before... it definitely put a smile on my face!

0 comments

Monday, April 27, 2009

I Love Chuck

Monday, April 27, 2009

I have talked about Chuck before, but I wanted to blog about Chuck again. I seriously love Chuck. It has far surpassed my old favorite, The Office, which has sort of fizzled out lately. It might be kinda lame to admit that watching Chuck is often the highlight of my week, but it's true. Since I have Monday evening commitments (FHE), I record Chuck on my trusty VHS tape and watch it as soon as I get home (I know - when will I get with the times and get DVR? My VHS tape is getting worn out, and I'm not even sure if they sell them in the stores anymore!). Anyway, Chuck is cute and funny and smart and witty and I will be DEVASTATED if the rumors are true and I don't get to watch Chuck next season. Regardless, at least I have Season 1 on DVD (and will own Season 2 as soon as it is available), so I guess I can always fall back on that, but I sure hope that my weekly Chuck fix can continue come September. PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE, NBC - SAVE CHUCK! Oh - I seriously clapped for the season finale tonight :-) Again, I know - lame, but I can't help it! I love Chuck!

2 comments

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Total Transformation

Sunday, April 26, 2009
For the last several months, the corner of my front yard looked like this. And believe it or not, this patch of dirt was an improvement over what was there previously... oh I wish I had a before picture! For years I hated my corner landscaping. Not only were the the evergreen bushes so big and overgrown, but there was this low evergreen ground cover that constantly had grass growing up through it. I kid you not, I would spend hours out on this corner pulling that grass, being so careful to get it by the roots, only to go out two weeks later to do the same thing. We even tried grass killer - my brother used an entire bottle to no avail. Well, last fall I was finally fed up with it, and paid a landscaper to pull everything out. By the time he actually did it, though, it was cold and even a little snowy on days, so I decided to wait for Spring to re-landscape it.

That day came yesterday, and I LOVE the end result! My landscaper brought in several yards of dirt and made a small berm in the corner, then added boulders, a clump birch, weigela, daylilies and other flowers, natural grasses, and permabark. Right now everything is pretty small, but I think it will grow in nicely.

You might also notice that a large plant/tree is now gone from the front corner of my house. I'm not sure what it was, but it was tall and prickly, and I don't think it really did anything for me, except scratch up my arms as we try to hang Christmas lights every year. Anyway, my landscaper cut that down and hauled it away for me too!

Kind of a cool side note that came out of this landscaping project - it initiated conversation with several of my neighbors! There are a couple neighbors that I've only met once who dropped by to see what kind of project I was doing and to comment on how nice everything looked. I have wanted to get to know my neighbors better, so it was nice to have this "ice breaker" topic. I am sure with the nicer weather that we'll all be outside more and have additional chances to talk.

8 comments

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Ring in the Spring

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

I took the day off work to have lunch with some friends today - a Ring in the Spring lunch! It was the perfect day for it too... all the flowers are in bloom and I think it got up to 86 degrees! Tiffany and I co-hosted, and made a yummy lunch of carbonara, breadsticks, salad, and an almond tart with strawberries and whipped cream. I had a really great time just chatting and catching up with this gorgeous group of ladies. It's amazing how I can live so close to them and how rarely I see them! Thanks for coming everyone - let's do it again soon!

3 comments

Monday, April 20, 2009

Like Clockwork

Monday, April 20, 2009

Almost exactly one year ago, I posted a very similar picture... my tulips (and daffodils) have finally decided to bloom! Seeing these colorful flowers make me so happy - happy to know that warmer weather is here (well, at least for a couple days before it takes a nose dive and we get drenched). I am also happy to think that our seemingly endless winter is finally over. Welcome Spring!

2 comments

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Kitchen Experimentation

Sunday, April 19, 2009
I enjoy taking recipes and giving them my own twist. Sometimes they turn out, sometimes they don't. Last night, I took two recipes and made my own version of Coconut Lime Chicken Soup. I got lucky this time as the soup turned out GREAT! I had actually intended to make the soup for my lunch today, but I had to try a couple bowls as a late night snack last night :-) I am excited to have a new simple recipe that I can make anytime. I posted the recipe on my recipe blog - check it out!

1 comments

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Boise Watershed Project

Saturday, April 18, 2009

As I have mentioned before, I am part of the Civic and Community Involvement team of Boise Young Professionals. We spent the last month or two organizing a Day of Service, which consisted of planning 5 diverse service projects for BYP members to select from. I spearheaded the environmental focused service project, and was excited when I learned that April 18th (today) was Citizen Monitoring Day for the Boise WaterShed. I contacted the volunteer coordinator, and was told they were looking for groups of volunteers that would test the water quality at an assigned water source, map out any erosion, collect garbage, collect samples of bugs, etc. I thought this sounded perfect!

So this morning, a group of 9 of us gathered for the project at Ann Morrison Park. Well, what I was hoping would be a real hands-on service project really turned into more of an educational outreach on the part of the WaterShed. Yes, we got to help with 4 tests (turbidity, PH, oxygenation, and content), but unfortunately the water was WAY too cold for anyone but the trainer (who had waders) to go in to, so we mostly watched as he gathered the few samples we needed, and listened as he explained the history of the Boise River and the importance of good water quality. Oh well... live and learn, right? So even though we didn't end up providing much "service" on this Day of Service, we all learned a lot!

0 comments

Monday, April 13, 2009

Beat Pete

Monday, April 13, 2009
Saturday was the annual Beat Coach Pete race. Of course I had to run to support the student scholarship program (although since I knew there was no way I would beat Pete, I decided to make an extra donation to scholarships myself)! Coach Pete finished the 5k in 25:38... yeah, I didn't even come close with my 31 minute finish time - although 322 people did beat him! Coach Pete had pledged to donate $5 to scholarships for every runner that beat him, but he generously donated $5000!

I now have a t-shirt to match last year's shirt - it says "I'll Beat Pete Next Year". I doubt that will ever happen! Oh well, at least I have a nice new dri-fit shirt to add to my workout clothes! Oh, and I was stoked that Beki finished her first year of college in time to participate in the race with me. Her friend Bryce ran it too... he was the only one of the three of us to beat Pete!


1 comments

First Thursday

I've blogged about First Thursday before, but I just think it is so cool. My friend Krista had another art show at First Thursday - this month she designed clothing out of live plants! I think the entire point of the art show was to re-use materials. Another artist "dressed up" these cool, old chandeliers with paint, jewelry, beads, etc. I seriously almost bought one to replace the chandelier over my dining room table, just as to have as a unique discussion point!

Anyway, I was totally impressed with Krista's creativity. I really liked the moss dress (the moss was the only part of all her designs that wasn't live). I am looking forward to Krista's upcoming fashion show, for which she designed all the clothing with material from old clothing that was donated to her!

0 comments

Cupcakes!

I'm behind in posting, I know... so here's a quick one (followed by a couple other quick ones!)

Stephanie showed us how to make these cute cupcakes a couple weeks ago:
They are super simple to make:
  1. Make cupcakes and let them cool.
  2. Frost the cupcake with green frosting.
  3. Take a large pink marshmallow and cut it with kitchen scissors into 5 slices. As you cut the marshmallow, the slices will curl a little to resemble petals.
  4. Press one side of each slice into colored sugar sprinkles and then arrange on the cupcake.
  5. Add a hard candy as the center of the flower (i.e. sweet tart).
Easy, huh! You can also slice the mini-marshmallows to make smaller flowers. Anyway, I thought these were just adorable :-)

0 comments

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Perfect Day for a Picnic

Sunday, April 05, 2009
We've had bizarre weather this spring... we can have a single day with hail, thunder, lightening, and sunshine. I can't wait until the warm weather is here to stay. The weather this weekend was beautiful, and I was happy to take advantage of it! I spent several hours yesterday working outside in the yard trimming bushes and edging my lawn. I am really looking forward to the day my flowers bloom!

Today I got together with some friends in between Conference sessions for a picnic in the park. The sunshine made me happy - and the food and company were great. Thanks for putting this together Erin!

0 comments