the influence of blogs

1. This week I bought a bunch of produce and spinach so we can make green monster smoothies...like GFF.
2. I made pesto with the forest of basil growing in my garden and used it in this recipie because Stephanie said it was good. She was right and my man now likes pesto!
3. Instead of balling it up into a messy knot on top of my head, I made an attempt to do something cool to my non-blow dried hair because Erica said she was doing it.
4. I bought a bunch of young adult lit off Amazon because Janssen said they were good.
5. I went to eShakti and filled my online shopping cart with amazing dresses because cjane looked so good in hers. I also exercised restraint and didn't any! Go me!

Prevention

Saturday it was just too hot. So hot that I felt myself getting really annoyed at the weather for inflicting so much discomfort on my poor, weak, privileged body.

Too hot to be home since our 80 year old little house has no AC.

Too hot to go outside since my red-headed constitution prevents exposure to weather over 100 degrees. When it's that hot outside I just melt into a grumpy puddle of goo.

Just too hot.

So we decided to go to the mall. (cue angelic choir)

There we were, crammed into the megaplex with our fellow under-conditioned Denver home owners. We strolled and laughed and passed the time as if we were 13 year olds with mothers who dropped us off at the curb.

And guess what? It just happened to be the Nordstrom anniversary sale! And after searching for almost a year I finally found sunglasses that, I think, work on my face:

As the sales girl was wrapping up my purchase I exclaimed with great pride, "oh, my optometrist is going to be so proud of me!"

Did you know that fair skinned red heads are much more likely to develop macular degeneration? Which means that when I'm old I could go blind simply because I didn't wear sunglasses?

So not only does the sun quickly and mercilessly burn my skin to a crisp, it will probably make me blind in the long run!

I'm just not cut out for this global warming thing....

Girliest Costco trip ever

Crate of peaches, new white socks, jug of laundry detergent and a huge log of goat cheese....

...heaven!

First pickins

When I was little the only way I liked to eat zucchini was the same was I liked my shrimp: battered and fried. For some reason I thought it was bitter or slimy or maybe just too green to eat on it's own. I just didn't like it.

The summer between my junior and senior year of high school my mom shredded it up and put it in zucchini and chocolate chip cookies. I was invited to a super awesome party. It was hosted by the most popular girls in school and my mom made me take a baggie of these cookies to the party. I must have been totally out of my mind with nerves because I vividly remember being really embarrassed to take lumpy, homemade cookies to such a cool party.

What?

Who doesn't like homemade cookies?

The only thing I remember about this party was that everyone LOVED those cookies.

And I decided that I could add "cookie form" to the list of how I would willingly eat zucchini.

And then I met the ear doctor (who has an almost freakish love for all things green) and we started grilling up zucchini. And boy, oh boy, was it good. So good that I couldn't even remember why I hadn't liked it as a kid. We'd go to the grocery store together and I was almost ashamed that I was actually BUYING the stuff that had so plentifully poured freely from my mom's back yard garden.


And so last night when we picked the first long, green zucchini from our very own back yard garden I remembered the stubborn little red-headed girl who turned up her nose at her mother's wise and generous offer to share fresh back-yard grown produce. I shook my head at how silly I'd been as my man tossed the juicy green slices with olive oil and salt. I wondered how many delicious eating opportunities I'd missed because I thought I "didn't like it" while the ear doctor slapped em on the grill. I marveled over all the future wonderful moments I'll be able to have eating fresh summer veg sitting next to my man out on our back yard deck.

Endorsement

My college campus had a Jamba juice right there in the student union building on campus. And my freshmen year I walked right by it on my way home every single day. Needless to say, copious amounts of frozen delight were consumed that year. Which was probably pretty good since I think the only other thing I ate that year was Kraft macaroni and cheese.



My favorite was a cranberry/blueberry concoction, but I had to be careful when I got it because it left all kinds of little black seeds in my teeth. And Freshmen year I had about 18 crushes at the same time. I would have DIED if any of them had seen me with imperfect teeth!

THE SHAME!


Anyway, have you tried the new fruit smoothies at McDonald's? Sweet glory, that mixed berry one is my freakin dream come true. Just like my favorite Jamba, but cheaper and so much more convenient since I can't blink without seeing a McDonald's around these parts.

In the last week I've had 3 and I don't see myself slowing down any time soon. I even got one on my way into work today.

Do yourself a favor...

..get one...


...and don't worry, they don't leave any seeds behind.


Totally running-into-crush approved.

Holy Basil!

For the last 2 years I've tried to grow a decent bunch of basil and had minimal success. I've always got enough to shred on top of pizza or pasta, but this year? A completely different story. Just feast your eyes on this bounty:

(please note volleyball for scale)

This basil is at least 2 feet tall and attempting to overtake my entire garden. Does anyone have any super awesome ideas for using all this glorious herb? Keep in mind my man's not a big fan of pesto...

In related garden news please compare these two measly little peppers:

to this one:

What the crap?!?!? They were all planted the same day, watered the same amount. Yikes!

Blackmail fodder

If you look through my parents photo albums you'll see lots of pictures of two little red-headed girls. You'll see a few pictures of my dad asleep on the couch and maybe one or two of my mom with awesome 80's hair.

(seriously, no one rocked 80's hair as hard as my mom did)

And I always wondered why there were so few pictures of my mom...until now. Now I totally get it. She was the one taking all the pictures.

I'm lucky that my man loves to take pictures, but lately I've been the one missing in most of the pics. For example, just look at the awesome photos that were taken this weekend at the Colorado Irish Festival.

The ear doctor wearing a legitimate "hunting knife"

My man wearing a $200 skirt


Having his face eaten off by a fox pelt

After an average day of plunder and pillage...

Aaaaand we're back!

We decided to make a road trip over to Utah for the 4th of July this year. Two of my awesome cousins were both blessing their brand new babies in church, and I've been hearing all over blog-land how awesome Provo is for the holiday so we decided to make the trek over.

On Friday, July 2nd we loaded up the truck and set out. Our first stop was a gas station in green river, Utah where the ear doctor spied some quality reading material.

I was SOOOO tempted to buy it when I saw this beauty of a recipe...

Saturday morning my aunt made us a big family breakfast, to which my cousin Tyler decided to dress like Colombian drug lord. Yes, those are linen pants...

We all sat around oohing and ahhhing over the absolute perfection of my cousins little adorable baby, Finn. Pretty sure this is the best picture I've ever taken of a new baby. Look how perfect his little lips are!

Next we headed down to the freedom festival in downtown Provo. I love me some vendors and fair food, but my allergies were driving me nuts so I didn't have that much fun. Our basement dweller spotted Belle here and just had to get in the shot. She's never been to Disneyland, but given her obvious character-posing-picture skillz you could have fooled me!

Another thing our friend hadn't done is see Temple square or the LDS conference center in Salt Lake, so we reluctantly boarded the truck again and drove up to check it out. Here is our obligatory self-portrait taken on top of the conference center...it wouldn't be a trip-recap without a self-portrait, right?

This photo was taken in the exact spot where the ear doctor asked me to marry him. I'd still say yes in a heartbeat!

On Sunday, the 4th of July we attended two different churches where my two of my cousins babies were blessed. Afterward there was a big family picnic where everyone who wanted to got a chance to hold the tiny, perfect little Finn-baby. Here is my mom taking her turn.

My man is hottttttt!

That night a few of us went up to Park City to see the fireworks. It was really a beautiful place to lay down a blanket, but it got surprisingly cold and there were rocks all over the ground. By the end of the night we were just a huddled clump of family trying to stay warm.

Monday morning we woke up bright and early, packed our lawn chairs and found a shady spot to watch the Provo grand parade. I may have walked down the majority of the parade route in hopes that I'd see cjane or nienie, but no such luck. Instead, we ended up getting PERFECT seats right on the corner of Center and University.

As you can see, it was a ton of fun:

Feeling like a real planner

Last night the ear doctor and I threw a birthday party for our awesome friend who is living in our basement. She was turning 18 years old and I thought we should really celebrate! Plus, I sort of love planning and throwing parties...so it was a great opportunity. Since we just got back from Branson, we didn't have a whole lot of time to plan. Having said that, I think it actually turned out to be one of our better events!

In order to get everything done in time we put together a schedule. Do you do this when you plan a party, or is it just me and my crazy type A personality?

The ear doctor make pulled pork sandwiches and I made the other fixins. The birthday girl grew up in Texas, so we thought a bbq/picnic feel would be perfect for her.

We set up a volleyball/badminton net for the guests to entertain themselves while we put the finishing touches on the food. Then, they all sat down to eat. Seriously, it was probably the best food the two of us have ever made. 12 people were there for dinner, but we made enough for about 30...oops!

After dinner the group of kids all went into the house for an intense game of guitar hero while the ear doctor and I picked up a little and got the cake out of the fridge. Just as night fell we brought the kids and the cake out to eat under a canopy of lights.

They all said they felt like they were in a movie which totally made me feel awesome. I really want our friend to know that she is loved and so special. Just as cake was wrapping up we all surprised the birthday girl with a crazy, intense water fight.

Big sponges full of water were hurled, girls were lifted and dunked into buckets of water, the ice water used to chill the beverages ended up on someones head and the ear doctor tackled one of our guests in the middle of our back yard.

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty successful party!

Patriotic

Great news! Today was free cookie and ice cream day at our work cafeteria in celebration of the 4th of July!

God bless America!