6.18.2013

Prancersize and John Mayer

I'm sure you have already seen or at least heard about Prancersize by now, and whether you think it's hilarious or horrifying, it's like a car wreck, you can not look away! Today John Mayer uploaded a video for his song "Paper Doll", and it's pretty Prancetastic! Here you go. ;P

6.17.2013

Idaho Visit and Photo Overload


The 6th through the 10th we were in Southwestern Idaho to see family. It was the first time seeing my middle sister since we moved to Washington in February of 2012. Since then she got married and moved to California, so my immediate family now spans 3 states. I can't imagine how that feels for my parents, who only have one kid left at home.  In some ways being with both of my sisters at my parent's house felt just like home, but the dynamics have changed. We get along now, we love each other more, we don't have things to fight about, we've added brothers to the mix. Side note: I really like my new brother (who can dish out smack and tease with the best of them) and he makes my sister happy, which makes me happy. I miss the heck out of them! When I look at my youngest sister who is going to be a senior this year I still see her as being Lorelei's age, then being 5-10 and a complete pain in my rear, on purpose. I see my middle sister finding her own identity and ideals, and gaining a sense of independence, and I'm surprised and proud that she's managing (she's the one I thought might live at home much longer *chuckles*). 

She just turned 20 a couple days before our visit so the day we went to Boise to treat ourselves we took her with and spoiled her too. We binged on shaved ice and chatted up the owner/operator about the business and costs, he was really cool and answered all of our questions. After that we hung out at David's mom's house for a while and decided we were all tired and needed coffee (the night before we had driven over and then stayed up until 4 am for a total of 23 hours awake and then got up after sleeping 6 hours). We headed to our usual Boise coffee spot Flying M Coffeehouse, but were sidetracked by Guido's Pizzeria that is in the same building. We finally made it to the coffee shop with slices of thin, delicious basil pizza in hand. Guido's is the second best pizza we've eaten, after Ken's in PDX. Somehow, we hadn't finished our food adventures and ended up at Janjou Patisserie where we ate perfect French macaroons, a delightful little plum tart, and ran into one of David's school friends who was the barista there. Our last stop in Boise was Whole Foods, which wasn't there when we moved away so we had to check it out, and buy vegan burgers and cheese for a big barbecue we were having on Sunday. A lot has changed in Boise since we moved away, we miss it a little, aside from the dry heat and lack of foliage and employment.

The next day we lingered around my parent's house and Lorelei played in the yard and sprinkler until we decided to go see my grandma and grandpa. We stayed there pretty late, after having coffee, cheesecake, and pizza and just talking away. My grandma is always so genuinely interested in what we're up to and what our current interests are, so there's lots to talk about. We told her all about our future business plans, which she was tickled with. She told us about her plans to run away with my grandpa to the Oregon coast, which I wholeheartedly hope she does, and soon! Also, Lorelei got to see my grandma's horse Paco for the first time and pet him, I think she was in awe. My grandma sent us off with a stick horse that little miss promptly figured out how to "ride" all on her own. 

Sunday we went to breakfast to catch up with David's best friend. It was nice seeing him in such a good place, and so adult. I'm only bummed that we didn't get to meet his girlfriend who I think I would love. David misses him. I think we both miss our best friends because we haven't made any in Washington, they're kind of hard to make because people are disappointing and people have expectations. After we got back we barbecued and had lots  LOTS of company and lots of pool time (for Lorelei at least, this mama doesn't put on bathing suits, or shorts for that matter). All of my dad's family came, which included my grandparents, 4 aunts, 1 uncle, and 12 cousins, who are all growing/shrinking/changing like crazy. Abby's boyfriend was also there and I think 3 of Kitty and her Mr's friends. Also, 5 Schnauzers, and a guest appearance by a hilarious Chihuahua. Then to my surprise and delight my best friend and her two littles (who I expected) and also her parents and younger brother. When we were in high school her family was like my second family and I love them so I was so happy to see all of them! We had fun reminiscing about our shenanigans (we were um, weird, and we thought hilarious). David may have messed with Cera's dad about how because we were vegan we were part of some weird cult/religion. It was priceless. I'm so glad that even if we live 600 miles away we can still make new memories as adult friends with our own children. 

Below are a lot of the photos that David took. These are just of a few scenes from the trip, as there was so much going on that we wanted to enjoy rather than be behind a camera all the time. Fortunately these photos serve as a reminder of the other things that went on and weren't captured. It was the best kind of trip, much more pleasant than our last one to Idaho! 


All photos courtesy of Photography by David L. Clark.
































6.16.2013

Father's Daying

All photos courtesy of Photography by David L. Clark

So, not that I haven't been doing lifey stuff a lot lately, but yesterday we celebrated Father's Day and it was kind of perfect so...

1. Breakfasting: For breakfast I made vegan whole wheat and oatmeal belgian waffles and topped them with local raspberries that I pureed with some agave. Pretty, delicious, filling. Oh, and you know, chemex coffee.

2. Housekeeping: It always feels nice to do a little cleaning and care on a day when you know you get to do fun things as well. I did laundry, David tidied and vacuumed, and I cleaned the kitchen.

3. Treat Making: After some cleanup I made these raw lemon bars. They were really quick and simple to make, plus I managed to clean as I went so I had no mess afterwards (that's a huge deal, I make the worst kitchen messes).

4. Lunching: Friday night we were in Tacoma and ended up hanging out at my uncle's house pretty late, so we grabbed some vegetarian pad thai and sweet and sour tofu and veggies. It was a ton of food so we had leftovers for lunch.




5. Hiking: We headed out around 1 o'clock to the Twin Falls trail in North Bend. I did the trail when I was a kid and loved it so I thought it would be a fun, easy, spontaneous hike. Apparently every one else thought so to, it was really crowded but we really enjoyed ourselves anyways. Lorelei is a little pro! We brought our carrier backpack thinking she'd love it as much as last year, but girl's got too much energy and independence going for her, and a HUGE sense of adventure. We hiked about 1.8 miles with her hoofing more than half of it. She took lots of spills, saw a gardener snake, chased a much older ginger boy, tried to befriend a chipmunk, got blisters on her heels, peed on a rock, and made me a nervous wreck. I think she's pretty much the coolest child I could be lucky enough to know, let alone gestate myself and spend every day with ( I love her, my little "very best friend").




6. Coffee Drinking: After our hike I mentioned that we still needed to get Huxdotter coffee sometime, because it was the first coffee stand I ever went to, as a small child, and they have lots of milk choices. So we found ourselves there. David and I opted for iced lattes with hemp milk, him a double shot, me a single, and Lorelei a cake batter frappe. It only cost us $9.00 and it was pretty darn good, so that was worth the detour.

7. Dinner and Movie Watching: For dinner I did what I usually do and pulled some ideas out of my head into a perfectly executed, new favorite dish. It was a cashew cream and rainbow chard lasagna. David said it was restaurant quality and possibly his favorite dish I've ever made. It really was delicious, and EASY and I only dirtied 5 dishes making it! We watched The Company You Keep with Shia Lebeouf (good, good movie) while we ate.



8. Coffee and Desserting: So this is where we eat dessert, with more coffee (this time iced aeropress with coconut milk). The lemon bars were ambrosia! I'm convinced that I would be completely okay with eating all raw. I can't even begin to describe how delicious they were, just, if you like coconut and lemon, you would LOVE them.



So that was our Father's Day. It was just what we needed and we all went to bed pretty contentedly. I hope you're all having a lovely day celebrating the dads in your life, those guys are pretty darn important!





6.02.2013

Hello!



Between that little angel face not taking naps, me trying to be more engaged in real life, and a lack of anything substantial to write about I've been pretty absent around here. I can't promise that this is going to change, but I will hopefully at least find time to share snippets and say hi. I miss this place!

Lately we've been drinking iced coffee a lot, though it's not hot here yet. We plan on making an iced chemex brew guide video soon, and perhaps a cold brew video as well. That will be a few weeks down the road though because...

We're driving to Idaho on Thursday and will be there until Monday morning. My middle sis and her hubby are over there visiting from San Bernadino right now for her 20th birthday and we haven't seen her since Lorelei's first birthday. We're really excited about it, minus the hot, hot heat they're sure to be having. We also get to see my best friend, whose second baby I haven't ever met, so our littles will get to play together for the first time ever! Oh, and also, snow cones...because in Seattle there are no shaved ice stands. What?!?!?!

So aside from not napping Lorelei is now memorizing lines from movies (yeah that says a lot about how awful I am for letting her "watchy" too much, but seriously I would accomplish nothing otherwise). Her favorite is "Eating green is a special treat." From Bambi. So...my favorite Disney movie, and the most vegan baby line I ever did hear. I die. Also, see that fake toothy "for the camera" smile up there? Those kill me too. I love that silly little bug. :)

How are my lovely readers doing?
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