Spring Break

One more day and then my Spring Break.  I can't wait!  My to-do list is growing and I doubt I will accomplish it all, but I'm excited to tackle some of this.

• Finish the Recipe Book I started for my mom, last year.
• Finish planting seeds, I want to start more peppers and some sunflowers.
• Get the next batch of lettuce, carrots, spinach, radishes, and peas in the ground.  And maybe the beans.
• 2009 Scrapbook finished, made into a movie, sent to be a book, done.
• Go to IKEA with Maggie, in Canada.  Fun.
• Bake cookies for Andrew's recital.  And other foods.
• Spend some time with family.
• Go to Andrew's recital.
• Finish reading The Atonement and start/finish the latest Gabaldon book that I have been scared to pick up.
• Go to the gym.
• Go for a hike.
• Sleep in.
• Make some dinners to add to the routine.
• Figure out what the next step for dresser is.

And that's just what I came up with in a few minutes.  If all or any of these things get accomplished, be prepared for some blogs.

By the way, I changed the format of our blog.  Rachelle inspired it.  Sorry for copying you sister!

Bread, Orzo, & Avacados

Well, thanks in part to all of the encouragement and ideas, we gave it a shot. Heather recommended a good bread recipe to me, and I got lots of ideas for orzo salad.


We found the bread recipe that Heather recommended here. This is our first shot, and it turned out pretty good. Andrew made a second loaf last night and it was better. I can definitely tell this is something that will taste better the more experience that we (meaning Andrew) gets with it. I can't wait until the next batch when we are going to try some of the herb add-ins. Anyone want some homemade bread?For the orzo salad, I just ended up making it up as I went. I cooked some orzo, added 2 chopped green onions, a bunch of fresh parsley, 1/2 can chopped olives, feta cheese, 1/2 yellow pepper, and 2 fresh chopped tomatoes. It was pretty good. I definitely will make it again but I want to add some artichoke hearts. It just wasn't as good without them.
Here is to figuring out how to make your favorite meals! Thanks everyone!

More Great Photos

(Photo by Michael Yamashita)

See more of his photos here. I wish that I could capture the things I see around me as well as some of these photographers.

Matthew & Carina's Wedding

So I took some time last night and sorted through Matthew & Carina's wedding pictures. And wow, that was a project. There were around 1300 excellent pictures. Which is way more pictures then I need of someone else's wedding. No matter how good they are.

In the end, I narrowed it down to 550 that I am saving, and these 5 scrapbook pages. Not so many pictures of Matthew & Carina (sorry guys, I did save quite a few) and more pictures of Andrew & I having fun. Which is fine as this is the scrapbook of our life and we definitely had fun. And that is very evident from these pictures. The one problem with having a great photographer that is also a family member: people get a little TOO comfortable for the camera. Click on the pages to make them bigger, its worth it. Have a few laughs at our expense. And see if you can find some of my favorite pictures floating around on the blog.

Thanks for having such a fun wedding Matthew & Carina, it was definitely memorable! And thanks Natalie for capturing just how much fun we had!

Nature Photos

(Photo by Robert M. Palmer, 2009)

Here is a sample of the amazing photos featured here. Thanks for sending us this link Lynne, what a great photo contest!

Plant Starts

For all of you who have been wondering, our plants starts are going great! We planted them last Friday, a week ago yesterday. These are a few pictures from Tuesday night. We just had a few little starts coming up.
We thought that was really exciting. But by Wednesday night our trays were full of little starts.
By yesterday evening, one week after planting, some of our plants were so tall already that we had to take the lids off the trays. This is what the trays look like this morning.Very fun! We look at them all the time, I swear we can almost see them grow. I wish we had set up some sort of time lapse camera so we could "show" them growing. I really like the little newspaper seed containers. They help keep the soil really moist and that when these little plants go outside, their newspaper wrappers can go right along with them.

Laughs

I laughed many, many times at this video when it was first posted last year. And then I forgot about it until Andrew mentioned it again the other day. I went and found it again and it still makes me laugh, I love their faces!

Orzo Salad

The not-so-new, not-want-to-cook meal at our house is a fresh loaf of Rosemary Olive Oil bread (fancy artisan stuff), a fresh avacado, and orzo salad, all from Haggen. Deliciousness. Tastes good on any night of the week, even when nothing else sounds good. We buy it way too much. And we always say we need to figure out how to make it. It being both the bread and the salad. So I'm starting with the salad. Anyone got a good orzo salad recipe or have any tips about using it?The orzo salad is the one on the left, set in lettuce.

Here is what I want:
1. A good orzo salad recipe. One with feta, olives, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and a light flavorful dressing.
2. Where do you get uncooked orzo? What kind of package am I looking for and where in the store is this going to be?
3. Any tips on cooking this stuff? Or any other information about it?

Me

Birthdays seem like a good time for updates. And not the here is what I am doing today kind. Here it is, in my favorite style. A list. I could go on and on about any one of these things, and will if you ask. But a list is enough for me to look back on later.

• I am 27.
• I am married. And I would rather be with Andrew than with anyone else. If you ask me to do something where he can't come, I will probably say no.
• I like to be organized. And have lots of lists.
  
• I like to make a system be more efficient. I don't always follow my systems, but I like a good set-up.
  
• I get excited about reusing materials. Furniture, blankets. Just about anything. I like taking other people's (or my own) forgotten items and making them usable again. I don't get excited about recycling or reducing, even though I do them. I get excited about reusing.
  
• I have lots of family and a few friends that love me and support me. I like it that way.
• I like office supplies. New, clean ones, lots of back-ups too.
• I have a love/hate relationships with my cats. Mostly love, except when John whines, which can be frequently.
• I have lots of creative ideas. But the execution of them normally doesn't go smoothly and it frustrates me.
• I'm a control freak which can also displays itself as demanding, bossy, etc.
  
• I teach special education but I am not patient.
• I want a huge garden and to can and preserve the food I grow. But I am scared at the same time, as I have never done it before and something will go wrong this first year.
• I hate when people have expectations of me. I like to do things well, but I hate when they start to expect it. Pressure.
  
• I wish I knew how to sew and to play the violin.
• I like being around people once I am with them, but usually the thought of being social sounds like too much work.
• I like reading books that let me stay in my comfort zone and make me happy. Getting out of my comfort zone is for real life.
• I hate cleaning bathrooms.
• I like smart people who make me laugh. But I laugh at stupid things.
• On that note, I think I like middle schoolers because that is about where my humor level is.
• I like being outside. Doing just about anything.
• Some days I like cooking. Everyday I like to eat.
• My favorite meal right now is rosemary and olive oil bread (the nice kind) and avocado. And orzo salad.
• I don't like to ask for help. Or have to rely on others, although I do. I want to be able to take care of myself. Which ties into growing more food, making more things, and being about to work more on our immediate necessities, instead of for money.

P.S. This post has been a few days in the making, and I think it is time to just go ahead and post it. I am tired of thinking about myself. Feel free to suggest any additions or deletions your think necessary.

Emma

Emma's Spring Basketball picture! She is a great athlete...way better than I ever was!

Favorite CD

I have many favorite cds, but this one:

seems to be staying up there. Anytime I put it on I am happy with it. It makes me smile. And it makes me think, and want to more than just the daily grind.

Bybee Birthday

I really am blessed to have amazing family members on both sides that make me feel loved and supported. Last weekend, Tyler and I had a joint birthday party. It was fun evening with lots of egg rolls, cabbage salad (my choices), apple pie (Tyler's choice), and lots of laughing. I took a few pictures but not many, seems like that happens when you are just relaxing and enjoying peoples' company.Thanks guys, it was a fun evening!

Smiles

Who: Me
What: A person made happy by daffodils
Where: Sitting at my desk at work
When: Last Friday
Why: To test the camera on my computer and capture a happy morning

Mercer Island Half Marathon

Andrew and I ran our second half marathon yesterday with Carina. Andrew and I were not too excited about it. We have been slacking off on our training schedule. The farthest we had run since the last one in November was 6 miles. And I don't think we had ran at all in the last 3 weeks. Honestly, if we hadn't told Carina that we would do it with her, we would have dropped out. So based on all of our wonderful training, I was fully expecting it to be very painful and that we would have to walk a good portion of the way.

Well, I was only half right. We ran the entire way! It was a beautiful run, a nice course around the perimeter of Mercer Island. My only complaint is the two hills right at the end of the course when I already thought I was going to die.

The time clock as we ran by said 2:24, but listed below are our official chip times. I actually am not sure that I believe them. It definitely felt like we waited to cross the starting line for more than 3 minutes, but maybe I am just a bad judge of time.

Andrew: 2:20:15
Carina: 2:20:28
Me: 2:21:04

So we were able to run faster than our November time of 2:24, crazy huh? But I am definitely paying for it today!

Andrew, Carina, and I waiting for breakfast/lunch at the 5 spot after we ran.

Maybe next year Andrew and I will do another one. We need a break!

Spring

We have had some beautiful weather up here lately. As we were working outside yesterday it was completely evident that Spring is here. Look I have proof:Outdoor cat scratcherDirty catThis is what happens when we walk around, it's a cat parade. Sometimes the ducks and chickens join in and it gets really crazy.Peach budsBeautiful trees, I couldn't pick the best picture, so you get them all.Beautiful bouquet of daffodils from a friend at work, I love their smell!

Planting

Andrew is on his Spring Break now and I am not. Which always makes me a little sad. But I took a half day personal day yesterday and we enjoyed spending a day together outside planting and getting our space ready for the ambitious garden we are planting. We got a lot done!

Here are a few pictures of our progress:
This is the space in the front our house...we filled it with compost (of our own making!), garden dirt and we are going to be putting corn in there. 45 stalks to be exact...
We made tons of these fun seed starting containers, thanks for the great tip Mandi!
Here are the 50 we made for starting corn, we added another 25 later and didn't take more pictures.
This is my herb bed starting to come back. I keep just tossing things out there and they grow. But it looks like a mess as the ducks, cats, and chickens all think it is the best place to stand or lay.
My shadow and some the of the wildflowers coming back up.
All the perennial potted plants from last year that are reblooming, and our seed trays. Here is our total seed count at this point:
50 corn seeds-45 to plant and 5 spares
4 zucchini-3 to plant and a spare
4 summer squash-3 to plant and a spare
4 cucumber-3 to plant and a spare
4 acorn squash-3 to plant and a spare
4 spaghetti squash- 3 to plant and spare
4 pepper plants-I will take whatever we can get of these
cilantro
Me working away
Strawberry plants
Doing a little yard work with the chickens.

Hmm...I am missing a picture of the garden beds that we actually planted yesterday. But it really isn't much to look at yet, so you probably won't miss it. We put in some early carrots, radishes, lettuce, peas, and spinach. We planted a third of what hope to have of each of those. Our plan is to do two more plantings, each two weeks apart so that we can spread out the harvesting and be able to eat more of the food. We still have beans, pumpkins, tomatoes, and a few more herbs that I want to get going. Ambitious first year garden?