30 Days of Gratitude: Day 17

thankful for:
soup from safeway
the laundry pile seems to finally be dissipating
a day without being puked on
luna seems to have her energy back
another dress almost finished sewing

a girl who loves buttons as much as i do.  i spilled them on the floor in search of the perfect ones and she loved combing through them all (none went in the mouth, i was watching)
preparations for a first birthday party
packages arriving daily in the mail for my sweet girl
free magazines from frequent flyer points
planning a crafty day with friends- having an empty apartment to fill with crafty messes!

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 16

*for a sweet moment when luna was feeding me chex cereal.  two for mommy, one for luna, it was so cute.  i guess she got tired of me feeding her all the time!
*for leftovers
*late night sewing.  one dress is almost done
*cuddle time on the couch watching sense and sensibility.  luna thought the mean lady with the weird curls and black hair was hilarious.  she started giggling so hard when she saw her!

*here's for keeping it real- this is what a lot of the week looked like
*cherishing the cuddle times
*listening to music

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 15

Thankful:
That my baby seems a little more settled (She threw up 6 times this morning, poor girl)
A good smelling baby (thanks to the bath and lotion)
A girl who makes the funniest faces and knows how to make us laugh
 Getting sucked in watching a Molly Ringwald 80's flick (For Keeps) with my husband and staying up way too late!
An amazing dinner.  Tonight I made the butternut squash lasagna, yum, yum, yum!  Lots of prep work but so worth it!
Things are slowly getting organized
A doctor who answers my questions promptly and cares and checks in
For that washer and dryer (yes, after 6 pj changes and puking on all of her bedding and ours, and 4 outfits I went through, I'm glad I didn't have to lug that to the laundromat)
A friend who picked up something from the store so I wouldn't have to go out
A good conversation over dinner
Feeling very much on the same page as my husband
Getting some sewing projects started (now to finish them...)
Listening to new music
The chill in the air- the changing seasons
Anticipating the next few months, they will be full, but very good

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 14

Thankful for:

Friends who remember their cameras and take beautiful pictures
An amazing night out with friends (Sara Groves, Audrey Assad, and Jenny and Tyler concert)
Dinner at twigs to celebrate a birthday
Really lovely and beautiful friends
A great concert
The chance to help out
That at least one Starbucks stays open until midnight!
Getting a bunch of bills taken care of and annoying  phone calls done with
Finally making a dentist apmt (yeah, i think it's been about 3 years since the last one- oops! i'm so scared to find out the cavity count!)

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 13

Thankful for:
A good church
taking a break
relaxing

wrinkly toes after bath time

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 12

Thankful for:
Getting some serious work done in the downstairs

 Yeah, it's pretty gross, here is a little side by side comparison.  I scrubbed the left side.

 A clean house (upstairs)
Some time alone with Sam
Grandparents who offer to babysit and bring dinner
Sam picking up Mrs. Meyers clove scent
Getting a chance to do a little demo work, I love smashing things, so gratifying!

The first snowfall

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 11

Thankful for more good food on the table. (this roasted pork was so good)
Thankful for friends who drop by unexpectedly
Thankful for a good family

Thankful someone enjoyed the apple sauce (Luna was more interested in throwing it on the floor)
FYI, Luna loved the pumpkin smoothie, me not so much.  I'm just not a pumpkin pie girl.  I'm curious if I make it from a real pumpkin if I'll like it better.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 10

Today I'm thankful for:

The smell of applesauce cooking.  It was so yummy, but took forever to peel the apples.  I'm thinking I may try leaving the peels on next time and finishing it with an immersion blender.  It makes me happy every time I use my dutch oven.

A yummy dinner.  Here is my take on this recipe my sister heard on npr and shared with me.

-Frozen everything mini baguette (that had dried out)
-Red bell pepper
-Cheddar cheese
-Rosemary
-Smoked Sausage
-Heavy Cream
-Green Onions
-Garlic

This looks beautiful but it's so yummy and easy to throw together.  I could have used a cuter pumpkin, but this works.  Sam asked, "Are we eating our fall decorations?"  Yep, that is the plan.  I'm excited to try some other recipes using pumpkins and butternut squash.
Ina's butternut risotto (I will be using some of that saffron I got)
Pioneer Woman's pumpkin soup
This butternut squash, rosemary, and garlic lasagna
Pioneer Woman's Pork Roast with apples and onions
I still need to make an apple pie and caramel apples and homemade donuts sound good.  We'll see if Luna likes pumpkin smoothies tomorrow

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 9

Today I'm thankful that:

I have a little brother who I can swap tips on fermenting heirloom tomato seeds, yeah we're both nerds like that

That I have friends and family requesting the best soup recipe ever, it's on the menu for the week (warning, if you make it, plan on inviting some friends over or having leftovers to freeze-it's a big recipe)

Family who sends the cutest little pjs.  They even glow in the dark!

A little girl who is just killing me with her cuteness today.  I just had to put her in a sweater dress that was slightly too small to reveal the bear butt!  I know, a fashion faux pas for adults, but Lunabelle can pull it off!

This is my little reminder.  Yeah, dishes aren't my favorite thing.

A fridge full of food for some good cooking.  Yeah, I'm on a bit of a cooking kick!  I even bought saffron! (It's $20 for less than an ounce, yikes- but so worth it!)

An easy dinner of gnocchi and it went really well with this Argentinian Malbec that I picked up.  Yum, make this- you won't be sorry!

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 8- The Pumpkin Patch

Before it gets too far into November, I have to post pictures of our trip to the pumpkin patch.  Luna wore a little pumpkin hat that my mom knit for her last year and it was so cute.

We also got to pick some golden raspberries, they are yummy!  I love that we get to actually go to a real pumpkin patch.  So many pumpkin patches are grassy fields that randomly have pumpkins strewn about.  I love that we have to chop them off the vine.  Luna was more into the vines than the pumpkins, silly girl!

So there are the photos of that day, but today I'm thankful for:

Not having to cook tonight because someone brought some yummy shrimp and chicken from Bangkok Thai.

That Excedrin Migraine works so well, I love it!

A girl who is starting to walk.  She is taking little steps.

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 7

Thankful for:

An upcoming siblings vacation over Thanksgiving to a cabin on a river near the coast of Oregon.  I will turn 28 there.  My brother and sister-in-law will drive north, we will drive south, and my older sister will fly.

Planning events to do for my December advent activities.  I'm going to work on it and then I will share them with you, if you want to try them too.

Excited to be going to Minnesota for Christmas

Waiting for the snow to fly.  Looking up ski conditioning exercises.  Looking forward to downhill and cross country ski this winter.

Planning on cooking this week.  I'm restocking my pantry.  I want to spend some time baking.

God's outpouring of love.  I'm feeling really blessed.

Thankful for a husband who skipped band practice tonight because I needed him here.

Thankful for a cutie who loves green smoothies as much as I do.  Two days in a row she had a whole glass.  Do you think it's true that babies will like what you ate when they were in your belly?  I drank these green smoothies daily.

Having a kinda crummy day, but still rejoicing!

When clearing out and organizing we found our high school yearbooks.  I had to read the cheesy things we wrote to each other.  Sam had written that we will look at them later in life and think of how weird we were in high school.  Yep, it's pretty true.  So thankful that 12 years later we're still together.

30 Days of Gratefulness: Day 6, My Garden

I am thankful that despite the fact that our tenants were doing all the gardening at our house, I was still able to have one across the street at a community garden.  It was just built this year.  I love the neighborhood we live in, it's growing and new and exciting things are happening all the time.  We got to rent this plot for only $20.00.  They had water right there and we got to know some of our neighbors.  We met another VW Van lover who lives right around the corner.

It was so fun to check on the progress every day.  It is such a miracle to watch food grow from seeds.  

Doesn't food that you grow taste so much better?  Yum!

I'm still pretty new to gardening, but it was fun to give it a go.  We planted white beans, green onions, broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, cilantro, basil, butternut squash, and some cucumbers.  We bordered the garden with zinnias.
Some notes:
The butternut squash took over by the end of the season and overshadowed and killed the carrots and lettuce.  We could have picked the squash just before it got ripe to let it ripen inside.  Maybe it could grow on a trellis?  It was so exciting to see them grow.  We waited patiently to pick them only to find out the squirrels beat us to them!

We had a little weird thing happen.  Right after we planted, someone stole our basil plant and replaced it with a puny one.  Someone planted a nice big pepper plant in our plot.  Someone or something pulled up the cucumber plants.  I guess this is what happens with a community garden.  Not too bad considering there was no fence.

I had so much fun sharing my zinnias with kids strolling through the garden.  Flowers are always a good idea.  One little girl got to pick some and she planned on giving them to her mom who was in the hospital.  I want to also plant dahlias next year, even though they come up later.  A little sunflower plant would be fun also.

The green onions did great.  The broccoli got huge.  Eventually it produced, I'm not sure why it got so tall.  The tomatoes did ok.  It will be better to plant earlier next year.  The peppers did well.  The basil and cilantro grew great, much better than how it grew in the pots.  I still think it's worth it to buy a good basil plant, I have trouble growing them from seed.

Things I would like to plant next year: kale, jalapenos, fingerling potatoes, garlic, shallots

All in all, we only got a little bit of food, but it was a good learning experience and I think next year will be even better!