Finally A Beautiful Day With CLEAN Air!

It is SO nice to finally have a clear day after weeks of stifling heat and smoke, which traveled 100s of miles to get here. I can't feel sorry for myself, as we have been more fortunate than the people up north, but it is really nice to have our blue skies back.

The photo below shows the smoky sky in the backround...

With voracious gophers, ground squirrels, AND a horse and donkey, gardening has been a challenge. However, I am growing gladiolus and 4 O'Clocks in my little side yard...

I also have this Russian Sage; the other died after my new dog Bailey dug it up... ;)

What a Week! Asparagus, Green Juice and Snow!

A week ago, I inspected my asparagus patch, and there was nothing.Wednesday afternoon; wow! A bunch of spears! I harvested them, and that was wise. We had snow on Thursday morning!!

The day before, Cisco & Lucy were rolling up there after their mani/pedis from the farrier. Lucy was the best she's ever been; didn't raise a warning hoof even once!!

So, my son and I went on a fabulous spring break trip to Cabo a few weeks ago. Just 3 nights but so incredibly wonderful. In fact, I think I want to go back during Thanksgiving break instead of throwing a 'double nickels' party this year. We stayed at an amazing all-inclusive resort on the beach (Barcelo Gran Faro) and feasted, snorkeled, rode horses...aaaahhhh...Anyway, they had this amazing green juice at the breakfast buffet, so I just made my second batch this morning. I had to tweak it a little (I need to get some cactus). Mine had: spinach, cucumber, celery, fresh orange slices, orange juice, kiwi, carrot and a tiny bit of banana. YUM!!

This is what it looked like before I blended it...

Latest Chalk Paint Projects and Cisco

 We have four of these adirondack chairs, which all looked like this. Nine years of weathering. However, yesterday and today, I painted two of them and now they look like this!

This is the Annie Sloan chalk paint in Napoleonic Blue, with dark wax. SO pleased with the results! AND, I did another section of kitchen cabinets yesterday.

Today I also did ground work with my newest horse, Cisco. Sadly, my sweet Kahlua passed away February 13. Cisco is a work in progress, but is doing really well.

The First Egg of 2017!

Our first egg of the year finally arrived yesterday!!! Much prettier in person, a lovely light, blue green. #needmorehens

Temecula Olive Oil!

Wow! I sautéed some chicken with this amazing jalapeño olive oil from Temecula my sissy bought me and used a Thai simmer sauce. Yum!! Naan breads and creamed spinach...super yummy!!
Last weekend, my other sister and I took her to Carlsbad for a birthday weekend. We had a blast!
Visited the California Wolf Center in Julian, which is a fabulous little town, went to the flower fields, and had a wonderful splurge dinner at Vigilucci's. Our room at the Beach Terrace Inn was amazing:

It was huge, with two queen beds. We had an amazing visit. I think next time I drive down south, I'll take the 15 again. It is worth the detour to not deal with the congestion in LA, and the OC!! Plus, Temecula is super cute!

Fall Decor!

 So we are having fun decorating for fall! I got this idea from Pinterest...

I have the table set for a fun birthday dinner tonight; pork chops, baked potatoes, asparagus, & cake for dessert! Raspberry mojitos, too...

The mantel is ready for Halloween!!

The $15 Date Night Outfit!

I LOVE Lord & Taylor! They have the BEST sales. Check out this beautiful coat I recently purchased, that was originally $109, that I scored for $11.97!! The cute corduroy dress I purchased last weekend at Goodwill for $3!! So my date night outfit was only $15. 

 Speaking of date night, look at the amazing filet mignon the hub had for dinner last night at our local fave, Café Silva Bella.

 I had the cioppino, which was served on pasta, with an amazing sauce. SO yum!!

Merry Christmas & I LOVE Trader Joe's!

I WISH my house still looked like this! Most of the snow melted yesterday, and the RAIN has finished off the rest. It is now a giant mud pit on my property. In fact, I had one of my mud boots sink almost 2 feet, & pop off my foot this morning!

On a happier note, I'm just LOVING Trader Joe's even more than usual! I decided to make last night's dinner a 'surf N turf,' since we had leftover fab steaks from the night before. I found these great steamed mussels at TJs, & they are only $3.99 box. Delicious, just a little too heavy on the thyme. We started off with TJ's veggie samosas with homemade cilantro/mint sauce, then had TJ's garlic naan with our surf 'n turf.  YUM.

So this morning, after my pre-teen FINALLY came down, I made him yummy French toast with TJ's cinnamon swirl bread (to die for). But wait, there's more!

  I topped it with the Trader Joe's cookie butter, which I purchased for the first time yesterday. NOT good for a diet, but YOWZA, is it delish!!

Of course, I had a fab Thanksgiving thanks to Trader Joe's. BUT, I also helped host a wonderful wedding shower for my nephew thanks to TJs. I purchased the RSVP brut sparkling, and various juices for a wonderful mimosa/sangria bar. Spiced apple cider, OJ, cranberry and ruby grapefruit were the choices, and 4 kinds of fresh fruit. See the photo below:

 

Didn't that come out great?? Pretty serving bottles from Target, lambrusco from San Antonio winery, & a great red from Tobin James. Delicioso!

Fall Update

 

   I'm in love with my new mini-cheesecake pan! Last night, we had our dear friends over for the premiere of the new season of The Walking Dead. My friend made an amazing beef stew, with two bottles of pinot noir in it (yum!). I made mini pumpkin cheesecakes. I got the idea from watching a Bako weatherman decorate a plate like this, with the spider web design. I halved my normal recipe, and was able to make two dozen mini cheesecakes. I want to get another pan!

   Instead of the usual nut/butter/graham cracker crust, I used Jo-Jo cookies from Trader Joe's. You just remove the filling, and use the cookie discs. Then, after baking the cheesecakes, I topped them with chopped walnuts and pecans. On top of that, I put a sour cream topping, that was mixed with brown sugar, nutmeg, and pecan pie whiskey, and baked that.

   Voila! Yummy cheesecakes, and so speedy!

   My senior horsey is now barefoot since August. I'm treating her with kid gloves, since she is still adjusting, and I worry about her, so we went for a walk yesterday, instead of a ride. I rode her in my yard last weekend, and she bucked me about 5 times, so she still has some spunk left!

Welcome to 2015! (in July)

   Well, better late than never! A LOT has happened: the biggest event being, my dear friends sold their house (despite my attempts to convince them not to). On the upside, being their realtor enabled me to pay for a corral and living space for our horse, Kahlua. This is her hanging out on the day it was built (and of course, she hurt her leg, but not too seriously).

   Here she is hanging out in her corral, with her new carport stable. The other side is for hay storage, and other supplies. Pretty nifty!

   This is the other side, before we put in my supplies & finished the corral. Notice the clouds: it POURED that afternoon!

   So I FINALLY got our corn seedlings planted. We also have some pumpkin seedlings (hopefully they will do better than last year with the gopher attacks). I also have some asparagus, but it's difficult to see it.

   This is the middle tier, with the peach tree that sprouted from my compost a few years ago. That big tan blob at the bottom is my weimaraner photobombing...

   This is the very incomplete upper tier, with green onions, a few pumpkin & corn seedlings, a tomato plant, and a young apple tree that also sprouted from my compost. I need to do a lot of weeding. I had planned to build a pizza oven, but that project is on hold.
   It's been a busy summer: jury duty in BAKERSFIELD (52 miles away!), but got taken off jury by prosecutor (yay!), dentist/dr. visits, a great vacation at Pajaro Dunes, with a trip to the Monterey Aquarium, horsey chores, entertaining, etc. Plus, we have to find a new teacher for our school, because we lost a valued colleague to another school.

Fall Update

Wow, a lot has happened since my last post! We had our first (light) snowfall of the season on Thursday night!

   On Halloween, the staff at my school dressed up like superheroes. Being a huge Guardians of the Galaxy fan, I had to be Gamora!

   Despite the gophers and GROUND Squirrels best efforts, I managed to harvest 7 lovely pumpkins this year (I would have had over 20!).
  
   We had a lovely Thanksgiving with family and friends! We had an additional table set up in the living room. We liked the arrangement so much, we moved the kitchen table there.

 

   Kosmo loves the new pillows in the den!

This is the dining room before Thanksgiving. We had so much fun (& food!) I forgot to take photos!

My preciousssss!! My friend Kelly ordered another can for me when TJ's ran out! Love her!

On Dec. 6, we went to our 13th Eberle Black Tie Dinner (we've only missed one since 2001).

We had a snow day on the 12th, so the monkey had coconut pancakes for breakfast & a homemade pizza for lunch (spinach for mom, cheese/onion for him!). Then, that night, he had homemade turkey/black bean/lentil chili! YUM!