Went to Monte Carlo Deli today in Burbank. It was really fun and I thought pretty yummy. My Italian co-worker, Diego, said the grocery section is very good and authentic but the deli is not....oh well.

The gelato was DUHlicious! I mean look at that gelato! C'mon!



This was a little disturbing...does anybody know what you would use clam juice for?

1 trip to the market....3 green and white arrangements!

The one to the right is the practice arrangement for the upcoming wedding. I'll be adding Sahara Roses for a little subtle pink contrast.

Flowers used:
Avalanche Roses
Hanging Amaranthus
Vibernum
Hydrangea
Butter Yellow Stock
Lemon Leaf

I get to do wedding flowers for the first time in a couple weeks. I'm SO excited! Thank you Matt and Sarah for the opportunity!



Today my wonderful friend, Michelle, accompanied me to the market downtown for a wedding flowers prep day. We had such a great time!

The day started altogether too early for a Saturday morning, so our first stop was Starbucks for caffeine and scones. We made it downtown pretty quickly and survived a trip to the ATM in an "interesting" part of town. The market was absolutely wonderful! This is a great time of year to go see all the early spring blooms like lilacs and lilies. Both the main market halls were filled to the brim with beautiful blooms even mid-morning after the retail florists had come through.

The day was definitely a successful venture. I got a good idea for prices and vendors and came home with some great "practice" flowers and supplies. Sarah has chosen some beautiful flowers for her event. We're doing a monochromatic white/green simple elegance look. The ceremony will be in the rose garden at a local hotel.



I LOVE this idea for lining the aisle - so classy!




Michelle is also really good at putting photo collages together from events...so instead of trying to make my own, I thought I'd just borrow hers (thanks, Michelle!)

I've had a little friend at the window by my desk all day. He keeps coming by, standing on the sill and tapping on the glass with his beak. Does that make him a woodpecker? I thought woodpeckers looked like this...



...maybe he's a windowpecker. At any rate, he and a few of his friends have been around for a couple weeks bothering a guy in the office directly above me. I know he's been there because every once in a while for about 2 weeks now, the aforementioned guy in the office upstairs starts yelling and pounding on the window. At first I thought he was crazy or really stressed out, but now I see that this little windowpecker has been bothering him to the point of explosion.

Come to think of it, maybe it's not the window that the windowpecker is pecking at. Since our windows are mirrored on the outside maybe this little meanie thinks he's pecking at another bird...? Hm. Any bird experts out there that can shed some light on the situation?

What exactly is happening here? Has it been so long since he's seen his "mum" that she won't recognize him? Or is it that she's so embarrassed that she's pretending she doesn't know him?



Um....raise your hand if you feel awkward



AHHHHHHHH (big breath) AHHHHHHHH



I don't understand...am I supposed to be scared or hungry?



I think Ann Rabson speaks for herself.



Watch out, David!! There's a huge explosion behind you!!



I just have no idea what to say about this one....it's just plain disturbing. But it does look like he's doing the dance from THIS VIDEO



"My Goals, Beyond getting the ransom money for Mahabala (pictured to my left), include getting my original compositions for guitar on every radio station within one year. This is how I intend to eventually take over the world! MWAhahaha"

Some of you may already know the tragic story of the Honda Passport. For you, this post may be a bit boring.

You see, back in March of 2005 we bought our second car. This was a long-anticipated, much-needed purchase and we were very excited to make it. We knew we wanted an SUV because of the type of gear we haul and we both liked the Honda Passport. We found a 1998 model at a local used car dealership and began the process of testing it for purchase. We looked up reviews online, we had our mechanic inspect it, we drove it on surface streets and highways, we looked up the Carfax report. Everything seemed to be good. So with a little nervousness, we signed the papers.

3 months later, the transmission started shifting hard. 17 months and many more problems later the Passport died. Then began the saga of trying to pay it off and get rid of it. For nearly 1 1/2 years it's been sitting in our driveway as a giant leaf collector and expensive security system. In December we paid off the loan and today we sold it.

J found a used car buyer nearby who was interested in buying it for parts. The guy came by around 6 this evening and inspected the car. He had a really cool tool that we wished we had back before we bought the Passpoop. This tool revealed that it had been in at least one accident that required major body work. Would have been nice to know. Long story short, we signed some papers, he gave us some cash and like that the nightmare was over....well, almost...the dang thing is still sitting in our driveway. They'll be back to tow it away within the next few days.

Good riddance...


We are SUPER thankful for the new SUV we were able to get this past November.

Hello Merjeepees!!


See the difference?

You may remember when I posted this back in January. Again...my co-workers apparently have WAY too much time on their hands.


Basically it's a throwback from the past

Will you please pray with us for our dear friends, the Weinbergs? I am so thankful for their testimony of trust in our Great God.

How God is Good

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!



See What A Morning
Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

See, what a morning, gloriously bright,
With the dawning of hope in Jerusalem;
Folded the grave-clothes, tomb filled with light,
As the angels announce, "Christ is risen!"
See God's salvation plan,
Wrought in love, borne in pain, paid in sacrifice,
Fulfilled in Christ, the Man,
For He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

See Mary weeping, "Where is He laid?"
As in sorrow she turns from the empty tomb;
Hears a voice speaking, calling her name;
It's the Master, the Lord raised to life again!
The voice that spans the years,
Speaking life, stirring hope, bringing peace to us,
Will sound till He appears,
For He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

One with the Father, Ancient of Days,
Through the Spirit who clothes faith with certainty.
Honor and blessing, glory and praise
To the King crowned with pow'r and authority!
And we are raised with Him,
Death is dead, love has won, Christ has conquered;
And we shall reign with Him,
For He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

Copyright © 2003 Kingsway Thankyou Music

They're done!! The kitchen curtains are sewn and hung....sewed and hanged? Don't look too close, they're definitely "home-made," but I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

They are drape shades made with Manzantia Linen Damask from Dakota Cabin Quilts and white ribbon.

There certainly is a vibe....


"You see Julie, when you were born your parents promised
that you would marry me on your 16th birthday. I know I don't have
much now, but with your dowry and this CD we'll be able to buy
that beet farm down the street!"




"Cloud Nine" as in-
NINEties hair
NINEties sunglasses
NINEties outfit
NINEties green screen
Wait a second....is that cousin Larry?



If there was a thought bubble for the tall guy on the left it would say -

"Why are we doing this? This is really stupid. Oh man...please put your leg down.
This is gonna look really awkward. My kids are gonna be so embarrassed."



Ah, poor QBoy! I heard about that accident with the weed-wacker
....at least they could cover up the forehead scar with makeup.



Track 2 - "Can I Also Borrow An Eye"




This Heino CD was the special give away at the
German Star Trek Convention - HUGE hit.

"When Irish Eyes Are Smilin' "


Be Thou my vision, O, Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best thought, by day or by night
Both waking and sleeping
Thy presence my light

Be Thou my Wisdom and Thou my true Word
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son
Thou in me dwelling and I with Thee one

Be Thou my battle shield, sword for the fight
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight
Thou my soul's shelter and Thou my high tower
Raise Thou me heavenward, O, Power of my power

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise
Thou mine in heritance, now and always
Thou and Thou only be first in my heart
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art

High King of Heaven, my victory won
May I reach heaven's joys, O, Bright Heaven's Son
Heart of my own heart whatever befall
Still be my vision, O, Ruler of all.

Both the lyrics and the tune of this hymn are Irish in origin and
can be traced back as far as the time of St. Patrick in 433 AD.
The translation from Old Irish to English is attributed to Mary E Byrne
in 1905 and the text was first versified by Eleanor H. Hull in 1912.

I was a lame wife this year on J's birthday. For many reasons, which you don't care about, we didn't get to have a propper celebration of the day J was born. We didn't even get to have cake! Well, we decided that yesterday was as good a day as any for birthday cake...so thanks to my friend, Betty Crocker, I whipped up J's favorite cake - lemon cake with lemon frosting. We invited our dear friends, the Anthony's, to come over after church last night and enjoy some In 'n' Out (or Inside Out, as my nephew called it) and lemon cake.

I had baked the cake before we left for church and planned to frost it when we got home. I turned the pan over onto my cake stand to remove the first layer of the cake... which broke in half.

"Not to worry," I thought to myself, "you can't see the bottom layer of a layer cake."

So I layered on some frosting and grabbed the top cake layer which essentially crumbled as it came out of the pan. Sigh.

"Ok. Don't panic...just cover it with frosting"

The frosting only made it worse. Before long it looked more like a pile of leftovers than a cake. Then Michelle came to the rescue and did her best to recover my mess. Here was the result -

(the sign is courtesty of Ryan Anthony - no he's not a kid)

Here was the song that went with the cake pile.

Heppy berfday to you!
Here's a big pile of poo!
Heppy berfday dear Johnny
I really do love you!

The cake actually tasted really good and we had a great time with the Anthonys, laughing at the pictures in the post below. We're going to make up for all of the birthday lameness by taking a birthday trip to Disneyland next week.

J did get some great gifts. Probably his favorite was from Matt, who sent him a Walther P22 Pellet Gun. Oh. Boy.

Today is my husband's birthday. There is so much I could say about my wonderful man - he is truly a gift from the Lord to measly ol' me. I am so thankful that the Lord saw fit to bring us together. I love him so!

Happy Birthday Johnny!

And I quote -

Oh you're absolutely fine, your lips are taste of wine, I'd like to think you're mine. And if I could touch your hand this rock would turn to sand, so this is where we stand.

I hope those dancers were volunteers.

Ok, ok...for those of you who are itching to know what's happening with the curtains, here's a quick update.

What I didn't tell you in part 3 was that the brackets for the new curtain rod I bought held the rod only about 1 1/2 inches away from the wall. This is a problem for 2 reasons -

1. Grommet top curtains need more room at the top in order for the pleats to hang correctly.
2. The vertical blinds apparatus extends about 3 inches from the wall. This means that the curtains get caught up on said apparatus.

So today I stopped at my local Linens n' Things and got new expandable brackets. You'll be happy to know that this was a successful venture. The new brackets fixed that problem. All that's left is to finish the curtains.....sigh.

I guess I'm a glutton for punishment because I decided it was a good idea to make new drape shades for my kitchen windows. The good news is that these were actually pretty simple and are very close to finished. I would have finished them today if I had bought enough ribbon....again with the math problems.

I'll be posting pictures soon.

I went outside to check on Frtiz this morning and found him thoroughly enjoying an avocado. I have no idea where he got the avocado. We don't have an avocado tree. None of our neighbors have an avocado tree...that I know of. I don't think he could have opened the fridge, the vegetable drawer and the bag my avocados are in, although I haven't checked to see if one was missing. But however he got it, he really liked it. I wish I would have thought to take a picture of it because I'm pretty sure he was smiling.

I love when the weather warms up enough for the flowers to start blooming. I suppose if I were a real gardener I would have planted seeds and bulbs for these beautiful blooms back in the fall, but I didn't. I simply went down to the Home Depot, chose the prettiest blooms and brought them back home to my flowerbed. I love when the front bed is full of colorful flowers - it makes the house look inviting and warm.


Michelle - Do you see the ranunculus?


Sunny Yellow Tulips


Purple Kale





Beautiful Hanging Basket from Mom Martin!


Purple Kale, African Daisy, Indigo Pansy, Purple Stock

Yes the blog has a new look. I realize that much of the good ol' U.S. of A. is still in the dead of Winter, but here in So. Cal., Spring has sprung! I thought it was appropriate to give the blog a fresh Springy look. After all, it has been adding to the plethora of non-sense on the world wide web for almost an entire year. It deserves its own little clean sweep.

Hope you enjoy the new look!

If any of you out there are fellow Rapidweaver users, you might want to check out this super cool resource - Multithemes

Sigh......

Are you ready for the next chapter in the curtain saga? I've gotten 2 panels "done" and the hemming actually turned out pretty good...as long as you're standing at least 4 feet away. It was very time consuming since the fabric was so long and heavy, but it wasn't as difficult as I expected it to be. Same story with the grommet top - not easy, very time consuming, but do-able. So what's the problem you ask? I'm apparently much worse at math than I thought I was because:

1. After several calculations using a calculator, the 2nd panel still turned out 5 inches too short! 5 inches is not something you can wink at...nope.

2. I had to buy the fabric from 2 different Joann's stores and when I went to buy fabric for panels 2 and 3, I had a pretty frustrating experience with the fabric cutter manager and got kinda flustered. I thought that I had gotten just enough fabric to do 2 panels including the seam allowances, but I ended up being about 7 inches short. Which means I had PLENTY of "extra" fabric and could have made the 2nd panel more than 5 inches longer.

Meanwhile, the studio has a curtain over the window and a short curtain over half the slider. Sheesh.

Stay tuned for the next riveting chapter in:
"Lisa's Ridiculous Attempt to Re-Decorate The Studio."
Coming soon to a taco stand near you!

(Cue the trombone Waaaaaa Waaaaaaaaaaa)

(↑direct quote from my favorite checker at my local grocery store↑)

I realize this post is nearly 30 days overdue, but I recently cooked the squash recipe (below) again and was reminded of how much I liked it, so I thought, "now is as good a time as any to share these recipes!" You can make fun of me in the comments.


J and I decided that the best way to spend Valentines was an evening at home. No plans. No stress. No sitting in dinner reservation traffic. Sure enough. It was the best. We had a nice home-cooked meal, rented a movie and enjoyed some DUHlicious Sprinkles Cupcakes my husband brought home for me (MUCH better than a box of chocolates) along with some beautiful roses!

Dinner turned out great! I was pretty excited because I'm not good at making steak and when I multi-task preparations of new recipes...it usually turns out right around edible. I got some really nice cuts of fliet mignon at Whole Foods and went straight home to figure out how to not mess them up. Normally, I would grill them, but I was out of propane and didn't want to go to the store to get more. So at the advice of Culinary Kyle decided to pan fry/oven cook them. It worked!! I thought I'd share the instructions with you in case you've had trouble making steak too.

...Using the oven to cook your filets will only take a total of 16 minutes. Before you prepare your filet steaks for baking you should add any seasonings that you like and gently rub them into the meat. This will help to keep the flavor in. If you prefer to use a marinade and soak your steak overnight that is also great...

First, you will need to have a large skillet and one tablespoon of vegetable oil. Pour the oil in the large skillet, preferably one that can be place in the oven as well such as an iron skillet. Heat the oil until you notice small wisps of smoke appear, then place your mignon steaks in the skillet. Sear each steak for 3 minutes on both sides. This helps to hold in the natural juices of the filet steaks and also aids in keeping your steaks tender. Now, place the pan in the oven and bake in a pre-heated oven on 375 degrees. For a rare steak you will want to bake for 4 to 6 minutes, for medium 6 to 8 minutes, and for well done you will want to bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

I used a simple combination of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper as the rub and let it sit on the meat for about 10 minutes before placing the meant in the skillet. The trick is to not overcook them. The filet cut is very tender, but turns tough as you get closer to well-done.

J loves spaghetti squash, but I didn't know how to make it. Thanks to cooks.com, I do now. Do you know why it's called spaghetti squash? Because when it's cooked the pulp pulls apart and looks like spaghetti noodles!

STUFFED SPAGHETTI SQUASH 
1 spaghetti squash (1 1/2 lbs.)
2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 c. diced onion and red pepper
1 garlic clove
8 oz. ground veal, or any meat
1 c. canned whole tomatoes, chopped
1/4 tsp. oregano
Dash salt and pepper
Shredded Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp. chopped Italian parsley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pierce the squash generously with a fork; place whole squash on baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool. Reduce oven to 350 degrees.

Cut squash in half lengthwise, remove and discard seeds. Scoop out pulp, reserve shells. Set both aside.

In skillet heat oil, add onion, red pepper and garlic. Saute until onion is translucent. Stir in ground meat, saute until meat is no longer pink, add tomatoes, seasonings and reserved squash pulp and cook, stir occasionally until liquid is absorbed. Spoon half of mixture into a shell.
Place shells in baking dish and bake 20 minutes. Sprinkle cheese on each one and then broil until melted and browned.
Serve with sprinkled parsley.
Makes 2 servings.

Since we were having steak as our entree, I skipped the ground meat in the recipe and served the squash as our vegetable. Here's a tip for you low carb friends out there - use the squash as pasta substitute in spaghetti! Bake the spaghetti squash, discard the seeds and remove the pulp. Prepare marinara meat sauce however you like it and serve over the squash pulp.

Pair the steak and squash with a nice cool glass of Sparkling Red Grape Juice from Whole Foods and some fresh fruit and you've got yourself a delightful meal!

Can I take a minute to brag on my husband? He produced this promo (and the previous 2 as well). It's awesome. Every time he does a new project I'm so impressed! You'd think I'd start getting used to it after 5 years, but every time I'm amazed at the massive talent and genuine humility my precious husband has. And you know what else? He's really cool....

Registration is OPEN and filling up fast! Go to RESOLVED.ORG and sign up NOW!



Video - Adam Hildebrand, Brian Touhy, John Martin
Music - John Martin
Mix Engineer - Darius Fong


Resolved Trailer 2007