I hope to have some photos of the trip up soon, some info about all our friends and their crazy obsession with baby making. , some great food stuff I’ve been dabbling in, and as always some fun craft stuff! Just bear with me a bit longer while I readjust to the idea that I have to actually finish things I start.

We’re also currently working on our back yard. We decided to give up on the grass. The puppies just tear it up. So currently we’re trying to put crushed granite back there. We’ve also recently fenced in our vegetable garden. Once the puppies figured out that what was in there was edible, it was best to just make inaccessible  to them. It turned out quite nice. Kind of looks like a little English garden fence. I’ll try to post photos soon.

What else… Friends, board games and dinner! Our friends Brandon and Melissa came over recently for boardgames and dinner. We had a really nice time! It had been so long since we had played board games. We also had Julie over recently for game playing too. So much fun! It’s a good past time. We always look forward to sharing games with new friends and family. It will be good times when we have kids someday too.

Other than that we’re just enjoying the summer. Annabelle just turned one. There are a few photos here if you’d like to check them out. Our friends Aaron and Monica are expecting their first in October. We also have several other family and friends with babies on the way. Its just the season in our lives for babies I guess. We are looking forward to it all though!

I should also mention that I put up some wedding photos from Allison’s bachelorette, bridal shower, wedding and photos from our trip to California if you’d like to check them out.

Here are a few photos for now. I’ll post more of our trip soon!

And here’s one of me and Sean. He’s so handsome when he dresses up!

So Allison’s good friend, Emily, put together an awesome shower! The theme is “Mastering the Art of Marriage.” She came up with it via Julia Child. We are all wearing aprons and exchanging recipes and more!

I made the bride-to-be her own special apron. Its reversible with a very cheesy heart shaped top. I’m pretty proud of how it turned out. I’m rather critical of my sewing, so I won’t point out the imperfections as I know that’s annoying. The white side is made from a vintage pillowcase and a small table cloth. Fun huh!?!

I know its odd that I took photos of an apron on the back of my office chair, but let me tell you! It isn’t easy to take photos of things you’re wearing, even with a tripod. Anyway, I also was supposed to make a gift for one of the games we played. Since it was a kitchen theme I went with potholders. I know, I’m brilliant. Anyway, I had seen some heart shaped ones somewhere and kind of rolled with it. Again no pattern here. Anyway this is what I came up with. I’m thinking of making me a pair too!

Well anyway, that’s all for now! Maybe if I have the chance I’ll post a photo of the wedding. So excited!

Why are we going? Well, we are taking a bit of a vacation and also attending a good friends wedding. We will be in Monterey for a few days and then in Los Angles for about a week, then back to the San Fransisco Bay area before we head home. We are very excited and are looking forward to beaches, sun, relaxing, friends, food…. and well just about the whole thing!

See you in JUNE!

On a crafty note, if you’d like to see what we gave our mothers here you go. We decided to make something a bit personal and homemade this year. I went flea market rummaging a while back and found a woman who made these really cute pendants. I snatched them for a good deal and made some necklaces for our moms. Here’s the finished product. We really hope they liked them, and I really enjoyed making them.

Hehe, so I get carried away with my love for food. Its something I learned from my family culture and flourished while I lived abroad. Now that I live in one of the most amazing cities in the US for food its hard to get rid of the passion I have found for simple, yet amazing, flavors in food.

So we had a bit too much milk on our hands the other day… what would any self respecting woman do… MAKE GELATO! We made lemon gelato, which actually ended up truer to the consistency of gelato, and chocolate hazelnut. Oh how I love hazelnuts! I would put them in every dessert and dish if I could. I even found hazelnut milk the other day and could resist. While it turned out well too, I think I did go a bit ‘nuts’ with the nuts and thus it froze a bit harder than traditional gelato. Oh well, good thing it still tastes good. Sean and Evan both happily approved. Sean also helped out. Here’s him doing double duty:

What a good man to help out in the kitchen. However I think his only real thoughts were, “when do I get to eat this? Two to four hours later! Why did I volunteer to help?” Of course the answer to that is because he loves his wife. And he very much loved the treat he got later when the tasting began.

On a side note, yes that is Harry Potter, book number six to be exact, on the island. Sean started reading them all a few months ago. It only took me five years to convince him it was way better than the movies. And he says I’m the hard one to convince.

I’d really like to loose 40lbs over all, and preferably before I do a long cycling trip. Right now I weigh 210lbs! I know, I apparently carry it well. However my joints might tell you a different story. I have chronic back, neck, knee and ankle problems due to my weight. I also fear all the crazy health problems that I could eventually get from being overweight. Is this the largest I’ve ever been… no. I was up to 250lbs back in 2005. Scary to think about.

Anyway, I am working towards a more natural, healthful and fulfilling way of eating (no low fat diet here), as well as working on getting in my daily exercise. It will all take some time, but I hope by putting this out there that my friends and family will be able to be more understanding and supportive. Don’t be offended if I’d rather have coffee with you instead of going out for dinner, I’m just trying to be healthy (and watch my pocket book!). Don’t tell me that I look fine and don’t need to loose weight, I know I LOOK fine. I have very few self-esteem issues, as many of you well know! I want too FEEL fine too and reap the benefits of being healthier.

After seeing several family members suffer from issues associated with obesity, I would truly like to avoid those things myself and to put forward a new lifestyle for the family Sean and I hope to have some day. I appreciate your consideration and support. We are blessed to have you all in our lives!

1) Long Cycling Trip w/Sean (example, MS150, Shiner 100 or similar)

2) Learn some more Spanish

3) Find another way to incorporate French into my daily life (so I keep learning it)

4)Visit a continent other than North America or Europe

5) Have a professional photos session of me done (I want to remember these years )

6) Remodel at least one part of our house

7) Visit Europe again

8 ) Loose some weight (like about 40lbs!)

9) Make a wardrobe of clothes out of things I’ve made, bought second hand, or re-purposed

10) Read 30 books or more

11) Have a 1920′s themed party

12) Clean out the garage, organize it, and put gym equipment in there

13) Make a woodworking area in the garage

14) Make at least one piece of furniture with that woodworking area in the garage

15) Try to make at least one blog post a week, even if its just a photo

16) Organize our photos, like the film ones and the mass of digital ones on the computer

17) Get my back yard looking the way I want, meaning trees cut down, plants put in, fence around veggie bed, porch furniture, new paint… the works! I want atmosphere back there!

18) Create a make book – essentially a bider that that has a photo or description of all the things I’d eventually like to make. It would be a good idea to develop a place for that online to. Hum?

19) Try to make something from the make book at least once a month

20) Work on my writing – I’d like to put together a book someday. About what I don’t know. But I do like to share knowledge, and what better way!?! However until I figure out what I’d like to impart on the world, I’ll just keep working on my writing.

21) De-clutter my house, and make a space for framed photos and objects to go when they are being rotated out for a different look/season

22) Make a photo/scrapbook of our honeymoon (as well as some other things)

23) Go camping more often! Like at least 3 or 4 more times before 30!

24) Put together my photography portfolio and webpage

25) Try to develop a system for all my fabric and scraps of fabric

26) Go horseback riding more

27) Start learning a musical instrument

28) Learn more about farming

29) Try a few new cooking/baking classes

30) Take a 5 year anniversary trip with Sean!

Whew! Well I’ll let you know how my progress goes. It may be asking a bit much in 14 months, but I’ll try! I can always give myself a bit of an extension and say “30 before the END of the YEAR I turn 30 in.” Either way… LETS GET STARTED!