Lucy

I might have mentioned that I have two dogs in our family - Betty, the sweetest lil dog ever, and Lucy who we call Lucifer - because she is a naughty little minx. 

Finally Friday

I got up full of the joys of Friday, showered, put the makeup on - you know, the usual routine... and then the familiar throbbing in the temples, the little strobing of the light - all of which finally, and unceremonously ended in a mirgrane.  One of the enemies of mirgranes is light, and on a late summer Friday morning with blue sky abounding, the enemy was everywhere...sorry Pemco, I really wanted to be there with you.

The day has worn on, Geneva's out with her friends and its 15 minutes before the hubby comes home, so for now its just me and the dogs and the left overs of this mornings migrane.  I need comfort food for the evening, especially because its family board night night. 

One of the meals the kids like best in mac and cheese - no, not the boxed kind, homemade from scratch mac and cheese (with bacon).  I dont really know where I learnt this receipe, but everyone loves its - maybe your family will too.

Fees Homemade Mac and Cheese

Boil about 6 cups of uncooked macorni elbow in salted water till cooked

Drain well and set aside

In a saucepan heat 1 1/2 sticks of butter, once its all melted and starts to bubble slowly add, teaspoon by teaspoon, plain unbleached flour stirring as you go.  Keep adding flour till you have what resembles a thick batter in the bottom of the pan, stir for another few minutes and slowly add milk a little at a time stirring the whole time till voila! A white sauce.  I actually often use 1/2 and 1/2 (or even cream when I want a really special mac and cheese but today was 2% milk).

To the white sauce add 3-4 cups of cheese - today I used cheddar, but I like to use 3 different cheeses usually - sharp cheddar, mozzarella (for the strings) and parmesan (for the super cheese flavor).  Season well to taste. 

Snip bacon into small pieces and fry with no oil till crisp, add to cheese sauce - add this to the pasta.

At this point its your choice - you can serve it right away, or pour into a shallow casserole dish and top with breadcrumbs and more cheese and bake till golden.

More on Thursday

A gloomy Thursday ended up being the perfect summer afternoon with the fragrance of bbq meat in the air and the sound of kids playing in the park.  We (me, Betty and Lucy) are sitting in our little house with a glass of iced tea awaiting the family to arrive home.  The light is so beautiful in the garden right now - look at some of the flowers that came up this season -

I don't know what these ones are called but there are like triffids, almost engulfing our

little porch:

Day before Friday Rambling

Now I understand why my dear sweet husband Gary chooses to attempt to do as little as possible on a Thursday.  He really has it right on dosen't he? Thursday has to be one of the hardest days of the week to make it through.  Thankfully - Miss Daisy, one of my lovely work colleagues baked this morning so I did begin the day with chocolate chip cookies, but still.....I can't help but be a little less jubilant than usual.  So I'm consolling myself in Daisy's baking, a cup of strong coffee and a new book.  Don't you love it when you get a new book and it has a terrific opening ?  Check this out :

"Lillian loved best the moment before she turned on the lights.  She would stand in the restaurant kitchen doorway, rain-soaked air behind her, and let the smells come to her - ripe sourdough yeast, sweet dirt coffee, and garlic, mellowing as it lingered"

Delicious start to things yet to come, I love that kind of poetic writing.

Kids will be kids

This handsome face but blistered bod belongs to our eldest, Elliott.  El's a camp counsellor at the moment, volunteering at the YMCA youth camps this summer - he's a style myster and has been rocking the tank top this summer - on Friday he chose to do so with no sunscreen and on Sunday he had the unhappy resultant damage...matching bubbles of joy on his shoulders, plus, as you can see, he still looks like he's wearing a shirt.

Weekly Photo Challenge

Yay - here it is, the weekly photo challenge submission to http://www.iheartfaces.com/ This week the challenge was to have a human face showing in the entry...and the color purple. What better than to submit a favorite photo of my neice Laurie - and maybe make her just a little bit famous for those few people that might stop by to look at the image. This was taken on a visit home to New Zealand. Laurie is running with my sarong in the surf at Whangamata Beach, one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Head on over to

  to see more fantastical creative photos on the theme "purple"

Woah, seriously cool

Me likey! Check this out

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/guest_bloggers/56/almost-invisible-mirrored-tree-house-built-in-sweden.html

Paddling the Aboretum

Once the sad part of the day had passed we focused on having fun.  Taking fun advantage of the day we headed south to Lake Washington and the paddle playground of the University of Washington.  Its a fantastic place to go at this time of the year with spectacular views everywhere you look - to one side is the iconic "Husky Stadium" where the University of Washington Huskies play football, to the other is Mt Rainier.  You can also see the floating bridge with freeway traffic going east west....course, Gaz and I couldnt quite get to the freeway view, sadly our paddling prowess is one that will only be shared with you dear reader.  My apologies if it happened to be your sail boat we collided with as we were steaming towards the lillies ... we couldnt stop ourselves and you could not be avoided....the ducks had the good sense to give us a wide berth after watch us circle incessently, even going to the lengths of bringing their babes in close - I guess they witnessed the yacht collision?  Anyhoo, once I left the paddling to Gary everything went well, neither of us ended up in the water AND incredibly we did end up back ashore - though I have to say my exit from the boat was less than graceful. 

Following the paddling we were thirsty for a frosty beverage - we thought we would go to Agua Verde - http://www.aguaverde.com/ (if you havent been there you've got to add this to your calender for a must-go-to place.  They almost always have a wait time, yesterday it was over an hour so we decided on http://www.neighborhoodgrills.com/eastlake/ .  We didnt think we would have a show of getting a table on the deck but as luck would have it they had 8 or more tables open.  I sat down on the shady side and let the others be in the sun, I burn like crazy so we glad that there was one seat with shade.  I'd just let out an ahhhhh (the sun, the view the little breeze, the two sips of my lemon drop) when I felt something hit my arm, oh yes .... bird crap.  But not just any bird crap - explosive bird diahorrea.  The waitress did apologize (yeah, train your birds better lady!)...and we went on to have a nummy dinner from the happy hour menu.  Eastlake Bar and Grill has a great view - but their happy hour is just incredible, coconut prawns, $5, chicken jalapeno mac and cheese $5.

Next stop on the tour was Big Picture in Redmond http://www.thebigpicture.net/ to see Knight and Day a very fun movie with Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise.  I think Tom is crazier than a boiled owl but you got to give it to the man, he can entertain - and he didnt disappoint in this movie.  Film aside, Big Picture is well worth going to and I think that this will definatly be someplace we will visit again multiple times,  Its only $11 per person (which is the same as the normal movie theaters).  There wasnt one kid there, all adults drinking wine and cocktails from the bar there (Fantabulous bartender by the way - she was cheeky, I love that!)...the perfect way to watch a movie.  I dont know who did the decor there but its wonderful.  See you soon big picture!

Still hunting for the illusive purple picture to submit to the www.iheartfaces.com weekly photo challenge...any thoughts?

Sunshine

It's such a beautiful day today!  The sky is blue and there is a perfect breeze, just enough to move things around....children are playing in the park, people are mowing their lawns, homeless men are getting shot in the McDonalds two blocks from our house...WAIT A MINUTE - somethings not right in this world, why today of all days would you select a random person to pick off?  What a crazy messed up world we live in some days.  Gaz and I are meeting some friends later tonight and we plan on paddling the arboretum before we go to dinner and a movie.  I asked Gaz - a stogie love - if he and Rick would have a cigar as we paddled around the lily pads and he said that because it is a state park you cant smoke, but good news!  You CAN take your handgun.....sending my blessings to the poor transient who was shot, and to the shooter in the hopes that he will realise, he should have just got his McNuggets and honey mustard, moved on and enjoyed the day like the rest of humanity.

Fabulous Friday

I know - everyone loves a Friday, but today is just one of those perfect Seattle days - the bluest of blue skies with a smattering a fluffy white clouds and the most lovely of lights settling over everything.  Though I love the place I work, I can't wait to bust out of here, see my sweetie and go drive some place to take pretty pictures before the sunset.  The photochallenge for this week on
http://www.iheartfaces.com/  is "Purple".  Im putting my thinking cap on re that one and want to think outside the box and not just go to the predictible of flora...I wonder what it will end up being an image of!  I love these photo challenges, I've only just started (this will be my second submission) - but its such fun, plus its awesome to look at everyone elses work on the site.  If you want to join in the fun head to their site for details.
I looked at my camera bag before I left for work this morning and thought...though this bag is a very cool backpack Im not really a backpack kinda gal....isnt there anything prettier out there? Good news...THERE IS!! Feast your eyes on this lovely Etsy site - http://www.etsy.com/shop/gypsyrosehandbags?ref=seller_info I definatly have this on my wish list for birthday (only 2 months away!) or Christmas or just an anytime gifty.

My friend Hailey and I have been trying to find time to get together and make a dream board.  I love the idea of this, in preperation Im pondering the following questions today:

1. What are my priorities RIGHT NOW?



2. What matters to me and my family?


3. What is NOT important to me?


4. What stresses me out? How can I eliminate that stress in my life?


5. What is the biggest waste of time in my life right now?


6. What excess can I cut out of my day


7. What can I realistically accomplish professionally right now?


8. What IS important to me?

I think that these are all good questions to ask one's self from time to time!

Tuesday Ramble

It's Tuesday - a weird day at the best of times, but today was especially strange. Though those around me at my place of work commonly encounter hostile people, I - until today - have routinely not had that experience. One person after the other was short, talked over me and didnt find me in the least charming.

The whole day basically was custard, and I found myself counting the minutes till it was quittin time. I thought it was the perfect day to set up a little spa in my bathroom and I stopped at my neighbourhood chemist to pick up a few essentials...only to discover that my wallet was where I left it on Sunday, in my camera bag...which was safetly nestled in the closet at home.

The day took a turn for the better when I walked onto our sun drenched porch and I saw the smiling faces of Gary and Geneva AND they'd made dinner, Fish Tacos no less! This was all followed up by a lovely call with my beloved brother Alex (LOVE YOU - MISS YOU), a couple of texts with my sissy (LOVE YOU - MISS YOU) who is laid up at home with slipped discs in her back and then a few minutes with Kathy Griffin, one of the funniest women alive. Gary and I were in stitches watching tonight's episode, It's now my mission in life to find more wats to use the term she introduced tonight - "vagazling" ... sensational!

It's true what they say, all's well that end's well.

Bite of Seattle

What a lovely weekend we had together - it included the family summer pilgramage to "The Bite of Seattle". This was originally set up by some clever restaurants in the city as a way to market to the masses and now its on a huge scale with hundreds of restaurants selling their goodies and bands to entertain you as you are sampling. Its also a fantastic people watching opportunity with all kinds of unusualties to gawk at. The picture above is one such weird thing we saw - Gary was thrilled to see floating chickens and, though it is not usually in his nature, asked me to take a photo of him with the chicken and here is the result. Coincidentally, there is a wonderful photo competition this week on http://www.iheartfaces.com/ called "over my head photo challenge" and I think Gary's picture was the perfect one to submit dont you?