The One with Photos of Home...volume 2

So I am thinking that once a week I will upload some around the house photos. This week they weren't very exciting, but I'm sharing just the same! I will keep trying to improve my photography and come up with interesting things to take pictures of.

We still have pumpkins still brightening up our dining room...

 Evidence of my newly painted nails. I really like this color and so far three days later it hasn't chipped!!

 Flashy has spent most of the week curled up in his favorite chair. Even when he's healthy, he LOVES this chair. Any time anyone gets off the chair, it only takes minutes for him to steal the seat.

 Here is part of my mantle. The only new thing is that I have added the corks to the clear vase. I want to collect enough so that I can make something cool. Until then, here they sit!

 Pretty fresh flowers from TJ's! I love having brightly colored flowers in the house.

 Evidence of Matty's pistachio eating habit. These are his favorite! And there's his blue light in the background. That thing is super helpful in the fall months as we are losing more and more daylight.

 And here is a lovely bathroom shot! Why not? That low flat jar is my coconut oil body butter. That stuff is from Trader Joe's and its INCREDIBLE!!

So there ya go...just some everyday photos of home. Again, hopefully next week photos will be more exciting. I will certainly try!!

The One with a One-Eyed Cat

No worries...there are no scary photos in this post! I just wanted to quickly update my many readers about poor Flash and his little surgery from Monday.

We love Flash. We want him to be a happy cat. There was so much pressure from glaucoma in his left eye that it had to be removed. We are very sad now, because he only has one eye. He seems comfortable, albeit completely lazy and sleepy. We still love him and think he's super cute, although right now I'm always sad to look at him. The left side of his face has been shaved, and I think when that grows back he will look much better.

This photo is the last photo of Flash before surgery. We were giving Flashy lots of love! Peter and Hannah have been over a lot this week, which has been really nice and comforting.

Hopefully he will heal well! I think I will wait until then to take any post-surgery photographs.

If you have a cat, give him or her a hug today. :)

The one with Bacon & Brussels Sprouts

I found a great deal on Brussels Sprouts at TJs! Actually it was Matt that placed this large branch into our cart. Its huge!! We will get two meals out of this one stalk, and it was only 2.99.

It was quite the feat to cut all those little sprouts off the big trunk!

This is what I did next: 
Cut the sprouts in half and add to a pan that's lined with foil.
Sprinkle generously (or not) with olive oil.
Add salt and pepper
Add cut up bacon. I used Trader Joe's ends & pieces bacon.
Cook for 45 minutes at 375 degrees.

Its amazing, I promise!!

Here is what it looks like all finished: (Photo is from 2011, but same recipe)

At the same time Matt was making some delicious Paleo peach cobbler. I'm not sure what the recipe is, but he said all he did was Google "Paleo Peach Cobbler" and used the first one on the list. That is how we cook at our house! :)

Happy Paleo Eating!!

Currently....October 2012 edition

 (This post is inspired by Elise, my favorite blogger. I've done this before, but its been awhile!)

Currently...

Eating...a super ripe peach.

Running...Faster and Longer. Half marathon in one and a half weeks.

Wearing...My favorite LuluLemon work out clothes.

Loving...Wednesday boot camp. My favorite class in all the world.

Listening...to nothing. There is silence in my house right now, which is really, really nice.

Reading...part way through the "China Study." A Pro-Vegan book. As a mostly Paleo eater, this I'm sure is very odd. But I like to be well informed on all fronts.

Taking...vitamins every day. Go me!

Sleeping...not so well lately.

Hoping...my kitty Flash will heal from surgery well and soon. (He had his eye removed on Monday. Poor little guy. He's been sleeping non stop! He still purrs when you pet him.)

Wishing...Matt would arrive home soon so he can tape up my wrist. Its hard to type. Its better, but not all the way.

Working...on getting my photos organized. I have so many photos from 2010 to 2012 that its getting rather ridiculous.

Feeling...hopeful and excited.

The One about Sunday

I remember a time long ago when I hated Sundays. I am sure this is because it is the day before Monday, and I spent the day dreading going to work. Somehow, I have completely forgotten to hate Sundays, and now its one of my favorite days. Here's why.

I always sleep in. Usually until 9 AM. I love this.

Its often a day that we don't have any more food in the house, so its a Starbucks breakfast day. The last two Sundays I have gotten a latte with 1 pump of pumpkin spice and a Ciabatta Ham sandwich. Yum! No, not healthy or Paleo, but still yummy.

We usually go to the church meeting around 9:40, even though it starts at 9:30. The only stressful part is finding a parking spot. Once a month I teach the preschool kids meeting, which is super super fun. Sometimes I even convince Matt to help me out with that. Today I got to see some lovely friends and take photos of my favorite kid.

We always tend to do our grocery shopping at Trader Joe's on Sundays. I LOVE Trader Joe's. I love going with Matty because he likes to be creative and buy exciting foods to make for dinner Sunday nights. Today I took photos of the pretty pumpkins.

 We bought some fresh flowers the past few Sundays, and that's something I would like to continue.

Normally I have to do a long run on a Sunday afternoon, if I didn't get to it on Saturday. Since I love running, especially long runs, this is a huge highlight. Today I got to run in the sun!! I also got to run with a friend, which is always better than running alone. I ran to the U. Village area where I met up with Lindsay and we ran for about 6.5 miles on the Burke Gilman. This time of year, the trees are beautiful on this route!

While I was running hard, Matty went to Top Pot! Fortunately he bought me some donuts while he was there. A perfect post-run snack! (Only later I realized they are 450 calories each! Oops!)

As I said before, Matty tends to cook on Sunday nights. Yesterday he made Pesto gnocchi and fried tilapia. He was trying to relive our experience in Italy. Last weekend, he made fresh wild caught salmon. Yum!

The evenings are always pretty laid back and low key. Matty plays video games. I scrapbook. Or I watch a TV show. Or I read a book. Sometimes we have Pete and Hannah over. Its always relaxing and fun. Nothing like a week night.

So that is why I now love Sundays. We don't treat it like we are going back to work the next day. And we usually are super productive, in between our laziness. I get lots of laundry and cleaning done, and sometimes even tackle a huge project, like re-organizing the kitchen. (Did that today!)

Now I just need to come up with some good reasons to love Mondays. I will be thinking about that.

The One with Photos of Home

Here are some random photos taken in our place this week. I didn't really clean up, just took some photos of the way our house looks on a regular day, but of course now with pumpkins and gourds on the table and orange leaves outside.

 

 

 I think I will try to take more indoor photos in the coming weeks. I love this season and I love being indoors this time of year. Tonight I made Paleo muffins and Hannah made spiced cider and we have just been totally relaxing.

The One with the Apology

Wow, this blog is really getting lame.

I am not sure I have any readers anymore, and that's really sad! Its all my fault of course, for being neglectful! I have so many good intentions. I plan to photograph more recipes and take more "real" photos of my life around the house. But lately, life has gotten in the way.

Right now Matty and I are super busy with work. We also have a Flash cat with a bad eye that we are dealing with. We are still trying to eat healthy and work out a lot, but I've been a bit behind with documenting with photography/Project Life/scrapbooking.

At least I still post Instagrams almost every day, so if you want to know what I'm up to, just look to the left side bar!

Hopefully this blog will be more exciting soon.

I can only hope. :)

The One with a Weekend Update + Photos in France

This week has been pretty fast-paced and busy! I have had hardly a moment to sit down at the computer, which actually is quite a good thing, wouldn't you say?

I ran a couple of times in the Fremont neighborhood. Love those leaves.

I made Paleo pumpkin muffins last night. They are SO good. I ate so many of them and need to lay off the muffin making for a while.

I indulged in chocolate sprinkles (Dutch sprinkles=the best!) in the evenings with my licorice tea.

I caught up on "The Office" episodes. This last season is actually quite funny I must say.

I waved good-bye to the blue sky.

I am welcoming this pouring rain and I'm about to run many, many miles in just a few moments. 

Last night Renae and I exchanged Europa photos. So I thought I would share a couple of Matt+Jenn photos that she captured with her camera.

 (At a cafe in Paris)

 (In St. Gervais, where we waited for the train in the Alps)

I have so many Europe photos, so maybe its a good thing to just interject them with regular blog posts. Then I don't have to take any real photos here in Seattle. Ha!

The One with the Photobook

 Finally my Europe photo book has arrived!! I love LOVE love it. Its simple and small and very easy to read. Now, whenever anyone asks to see my trip photos, I can just hand them this book and be done! I am glad I spend those two whole days getting sick of photos. It was worth it!

 It was super easy to drag and drop photos into the book. I just had a whole lot of them...that's what took so long.

One of my favorite pages was from Cinque Terre where I recorded our wine tasting adventures. I made a photo into an entire page!

I finished the book by adding a lot of extra photos to the back. It was a way to add photos I loved into the book that didn't otherwise fit. I got my book from Shutterfly. Just thought I would share my excitement!!

The one with Football and Nightwish

Fall has been arriving in Seattle! This week, the sky is blue and the air is crisp and clean. I miss the warmth of summer, but I am happy to welcome a beautiful autumn. I thought I would just share a quick post about what I've been up to lately...

Its college football season!! On Saturday Matt and I were lucky enough to receive free tickets to the Cougar v. Ducks game. I am not the hugest fan of either team, but as most people in Seattle do, I hate the Ducks! So it was a fun evening. We lost, of course, (by a lot) but appreciated our time out with friends, as well as a few fresh donuts with powdered sugar. (Don't tell!)

On Monday night, I attended my first concert! Nightwish has been a favorite band of mine since 2005, when the girls and I would listen to our "European Death Metal" while studying for various exams. It was great to see them live! I couldn't get very many photos inside, but I snapped an instagram of my shoes while we were waiting in line.

That's really all the excitement that's happened around here.

Everything else has been pretty routine. I'm still eating (mostly) healthy and when I endulge, its been with red wine and my chocolate sprinkles from Holland. I made a batch of Paleo cookies this weekend as well. I've been trying more and more healthy recipes and I'm proud to say that we haven't gone out to eat AT ALL since returning from Europe.

I have been seriously behind on my "regular" photo taking recently and my project life pages are suffering. My goal this week is to take more Fall photos, especially since the weather is so nice. So hopefully I will have more (and better) photos soon!!