Valentine Pizza!

For Valentine's day, two local pizza shops were advertising they were making heart shaped pizzas to celebrate the day. I decided to run with that idea and do our own homemade version! I made the dough in the bread machine, then shopped for all our favorite pizza toppings. We invited my oldest daughter over for dinner (youngest daughter was not able to join us, since it was the middle of the week & she's off at college), and after she compiled a valentine playlist in itunes on my computer we went to work in the kitchen. I cut the dough into 3 pieces and we each shaped our own crust, then created tasty individual pizzas! This might become a new tradition!

Once a month blog? Hope not...

Well, I'm not doing very good with keeping up here---last time I wrote was Jan. 6th, now it's February! We've enjoyed several snowy mornings and days in January---unusual for our area. I had to go out and capture some snow images before it melted away. Even took my honey out for some fun snow pics---gearing up for Valentine's day. Had a weird bug last week---mostly brain fog and headache... really squelched my enthusiasm for productivity, but it's gone now & I feel way more perky! Without further discussion, here are some favorite pics from the past month:

This first one we saw the night before when we took a midnight snowy walk around the block. I was happy to see it was still preserved the next day! Says it all....




I saw the water drip when I shot this photo, but wasn't sure if my camera caught it too---I was so happy to see it later on my computer!






And last but not least, a little valentine's love to share! Happy Valentine's week!

How to make Almond Roca...

After stirring forever on the stove you spread the almond roca candy onto a cookie sheet with sides, then you break pieces of hershey bar & scatter it on top.



Then you start smearing the chocolate pieces around on top---use a heat proof spatula.



Watch out for flying spatulas!




One of the things we did on Christmas eve...

December Blur

Wow, it's been a month since I last posted---December was an active month to say the least! Let's see if we can do a quick December "in a nutshell"...at least up through the 22nd...

First off, it was my Daddy's birthday on the 3rd---

Then we found our Christmas tree on the 8th---lovely on the porch with our Christmas pumpkins...

My daughter came home from college & made Christmas cookies!

She and 2 friends decorated them...


We had a 19th birthday party for her on the 15th:

Our tree, all decorated.

I went into major beaded jewelry production,

Our daughter's new boyfriend came to stay with us for a couple of days:

We went to a Blue & White Solstice party in new ties,

And last but not least, I leave you with one of my latest favorite photos! More Christmas pics to come at a later date... (hopefully not a month from now!)

End of November

Last day of November---tomorrow starts the big holiday month---birthdays galore, Christmas, the return of my daughter from college, holiday traditions, the race begins! The main thing is to not panic, to remember to sit and enjoy the season, the lights, the music, the warmth of family and friends.

Thanksgiving was the jump-off point to this upcoming month. We happily spent it on the Oregon coast, connecting with family for a couple of days---rare sunny November days to boot! Most years of coastal Thanksgivings in our past it was impossible to venture outdoors without getting drenched from the torrential rains! Not this year---an abundance of sunshine softened the jump into the holiday season, giving us all a chance to run off energy ahead of the game.






Meals were fabulous over Thanksgiving---we were on for dinner the night before so brought a Chicken Noodle soup that was actually Minestrone with chicken added. Everyone loved it---even the kids since we called it chicken noodle ;)! The following photo is a favorite from TG dinner, and the last two were from our first night. Minutes after we arrived at Brad's aunt & uncle's house Wednesday, we were hustled to the beach to catch the sunset. We did.





May this next month have some unexpected treasures of extra time and peace tucked in with the race towards the end of the year!

I love autumn

It's a good day to organize the house, declutter my office area, and reclaim the upstairs watercolor studio---but I think I'll go paint in my pastel studio instead...

The Oregon Gardens

Well, last weekend we finally visited the Oregon Gardens, a place I've always wanted to see, especially now that it's existed for a few years. We tried to go a few weeks ago, but the clouds never lifted until almost 4:00---which is when the Gardens close! We had fun that day exploring Silverton instead, choosing to go to the gardens when we'd have sunlight and more time.

It was a beautiful afternoon, sun pouring through the leaves, warm, and we had the added enjoyment of including my parents in our wanderings! Highly recommend going sometime if you're ever in Oregon. I'm sure, mid-summer is even more spectacular, but maybe in a different way---we saw so many lovely colors of leaves, and the feathery grasses were constantly catching our eyes---so many varieties! When we arrived we hopped on a slow-moving tram that drove around the gardens, with the driver talking about different bits of history, and plant info to give us a bit more insight into what we were seeing.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the day: