darwin

so our coworkers great danes had a litter of pups... a huge litter. 18 to be exact (tho one was still born and another passed away after a couple days).... so 16 pups and a mom who couldnt feed them all, so i volunteered be a foster mom and bottle feed four of them... after a week four became a handful so we went down to two... four weeks later, weve decided to adopt one of them....
meet darwin:

29 by 30 update

29 things to do before turning 30 - gives me a year and a half:
(i think with the economy in the state its in... all items below that cost money may have to be put on hold til things are more stable)
1. visit at least 5 "middle" states (1. indiana, 2. michigan)
2. go rock climbing
3. pay off all loans (loan one paid off - dec 2008)
4. start licensing exams (i may need to shoot for completing my idp forms first)
5. read the pillars of the earth (started!)
6. cook lasagna from scratch
7. buy flowers for myself at least once a quarter (nov - tulips, dec - christmas tree)
8. save money
9. make an amigurumi
10. work out at least 3 times a week
11. treat myself to a massage at least once a year
12. take at least one international vacation (cambodia?)
13. take a pottery class
14. bike the burke-gilman trail
15. spend a day in west seattle
16. do a real detox (dr natura... cant say it did much)
17. knit a scarf
18. purge the closet (dressers & shoe racks too)
19. visit the olympic peninsula
20. go to whistler
21. go fishing
22. have dinner at canlis
23. visit the capilano suspension bridge
24. watch a live nfl game (steelers would be good, but id settle for the seahawks)
25. learn how to turn (all the way around) on a snowboard
26. go camping
27. buy a gift for no reason for three friends
28. use my dutch oven at least once a month (at least when its cold) (oct - pot roast; nov - beef stew, lasgna meat sauce)
29. get a kitty (a kitty turned into a puppy)

le creuset

ideally id own a le creuset dutch oven (or french oven as their brand calls it), but being that they are way out of my budget i own a cheap (temporary) version from ikea.
i went to williams sonoma this past weekend with the intent of picking up a lodge 12" cast iron pan. they were having a big sale mostly on their holiday items, and me being a big shopper of sale items and bargains i spent a good chunk of time wandering around the sale tables... and to my luck i came across a cherry red le creuset cast iron pan!

it was on sale from $110 to $49.99! and tho it was more than i was intending to spend on the lodge one, and it was only 10" rather than the 12" one... it was my chance to own le creuset without spending hundreds of dollars... slowly making steps to good cookware.

so to break it in we made steak and garlic mash for dinner... mmmm.

29 by 30 update

29 things to do before turning 30 - gives me a year and a half:
1. visit at least 5 "middle" states (1. indiana, 2. michigan)
2. go rock climbing
3. pay off all loans (loan one paid off - dec 2008)
4. start licensing exams (i may need to shoot for completing my idp forms first)
5. read the pillars of the earth
6. cook lasagna from scratch
7. buy flowers for myself at least once a month (nov - tulips, dec - christmas tree)
8. save money
9. make an amigurumi
10. work out at least 3 times a week
11. treat myself to a massage at least once a year
12. take at least one international vacation (cambodia?)
13. take a pottery class
14. bike the burke-gilman trail
15. spend a day in west seattle
16. do a real detox
17. knit a scarf
18. purge the closet (dressers & shoe racks too)
19. visit the olympic peninsula
20. go to whistler
21. go fishing
22. have dinner at canlis
23. visit the capilano suspension bridge
24. watch a live nfl game (steelers would be good, but id settle for the seahawks)
25. learn how to turn (all the way around) on a snowboard
26. go camping
27. buy a gift for no reason for three friends
28. use my dutch oven at least once a month (at least when its cold) (oct - pot roast; nov - beef stew, lasgna meat sauce)
29. get a kitty

christmas treats

instead of buying gifts for people, i decided this year to bake cookies. since our office is so small i decided to make cookie bags for everyone.... oi. next year i shall start earlier and cut back on the variety.
from that though a coworker asked if i could make a batch of the chocolate dipped rice crispy treats i had included for a party shes attending. my first baking effort commission!
instead of just the standard sprinkle topped treat, i decided to crush up some candy cane and sprinkle that on some also. i even packaged it up in a festive box.

listen...

i have a hard time watching him play, but listening to what he can do on a ukulele is amazing.


more here

via boing boing

christmas in the mainland

the great thing about living in the "mainland" (as opposed to hawaii) during the holiday is the added activities that come with a holiday.
going to the pumpkin patch in october rather than the grocery store... m
and the best... going to the tree farm to cut your own christmas tree rather than picking one up (at a ridiculous price) at a random lot.

thats me cutting down our tree this year

and thats jaisn carrying it to be wrapped up

and thats our end result!

tho i think we agreed that next year wed buy a potted tree to possibly plant or reuse rather than killing another tree.