Mom's Room

This is Melvin...

Melvin lives in Mom's room...

Our second bedroom is routinely referred to as "Mom's" room. Every time Mom and Dad come to town we invite them to stay at our place in "their" room. On previous visits we've had to put them up on an air mattress, but we finally had the bed delivered and now they can sleep in style. Being that this bedroom set is the bedroom set of my childhood, I got to pick out the comforter cover and add my personal Julie touches throughout the room. Christian gave me free reign to cutsie it up as much as I wanted. Typically he is not one for the girly additions I frequently try to add throughout the house. Christian is the one responsible for the matching furniture and coordinating color schemes throughout the house.

This room is definitely matchy...

and cutsie to boot!

Did you notice the Giant microbe on the shelf?

Here is a zoomed in picture...

It's Herpes! Cute isn't he!

So the desk doesn't quite fit...

were still not quite sure what to do about it...

any ideas?

As I sit here counting down to 2011 I'm pondering the events of the past couple of months. November and December were a busy blur of pandemonium and I'm not even sure I remember anything except for a faint memory of lots of family and food. I guess its probably about time to get Christian to help me take down the tree... I'm not even sure how time flew by so quickly... I'm still in shock that Thanksgiving and Christmas are over already. I barely remember the fall season, much less winter. I still have pumpkin puree that needs to be eaten and my yearly tradition of watching Pride and Prejudice while the snow falls is unfulfilled...

Maybe I can augment the Christmas tree take down with some pumpkin pie and Mr. Darcy. I'm pretty sure Mr. Darcy is a man of all seasons and will rise to the occasion.

31...Lame, Disneyland...Awesome!!

Bret - just before he realized they ruined the Haunted Mansion

In October I had a birthday. I am now at the ripe old age of 31. LAME!!

So far I haven't been too impressed with the 30's. I think I'd have much rather stayed in my 20's. My lovely mother, along with Kate-shine, Locust, Bretsuf, and Uncle Marky-mark decided to meet me at Disneyland so we could celebrate in style and make the best of my 31 situation. Because we have awesome connections we were able to score a trip to club 33 which is definitely, in my opinion, the only way to properly enjoy Disneyland. The food was amazing, and the setting was uber fancy. Almost too fancy for the likes of me and our little crew. I thought Kate-shine was gonna blow a gasket when Locust' rice puff cereal spilled all over the fancy floor. We thought they might throw us out but they were nothing but friendly. If you have the connections I highly recommend this place.

Mrawmin inside Club 33

I'm not sure if little Locust was old enough to fully appreciate Disneyland, but with the enthusiasm this family shows for all things Disney I'm sure he'll learn to love it soon enough.

Mom and I looking cutsie

Lucas finally found a ride he liked!

Unfortunately it was Mark's least favorite ride

Mom's favorite ride was dumb... she tricked us all into going on it.

Guess what Locust is doing;)

We got really good at the ride snapshots

Captain EO... Classic!

We may have embarrassed Mark here...

Kate-shine and I expressing our love for MJ!!

Just before we realized how soaking wet we we're gonna get on this ride

We had an awesome time together. We've decided that trips to Disneyland should really occur more frequently. Before we left, we had to stop so Mom could get a "Ben-Gay" for breakfast... delicious!

I promised Katie I would post the happy dance on Main Street... but after 3 attempts I can't get the darned thing to load. Sorry. I'll try to post it again tomorrow. Considering the dance is so incredibly awesome I feel it really deserves it's own post anyway.

Little Lulu

Lucifur 2006-2010

I have not always been an animal person but somehow I ended up with a cat named Lucifur. The two of us did not always get along... I routinely thought up new ways to humiliate and torture him and he was constantly plotting my demise. We had a complicated relationship.

Now that he is gone I find it depressing that I will no longer open my hat drawer and find him rolling around on my hats spreading his Lulu hairs all over my houndstooth cabbie cap. I will no longer be able to dress him in adorable kitty sweaters and watch him sulk down the hall to tattle on me to Christian. I will even miss the way he would plop himself directly underfoot stretching as long and wide as possible when I'd be laden down with heavy grocery bags and could not see the insurmountable Lulu obstacle until it was too late.

I will miss the meows when he wanted to be let outside... and then back in... and then back out. I will never again be able to laugh at his curious expression as he peered in through the glass just watching Christian and I inside. He used to eat just one leg off the grasshoppers in the field... then he would watch them try to hop. We found the sidewalks littered with half eaten handicapped grasshoppers and I wondered what kind of a demented animal would do such a thing.

Despite this evilness he was a truly sweet cat. He would wait all day in anticipation for Christian to come home and would regularly meet him at the door. He absolutely adored Christian and was uniquely depressed when he wasn't around. The two were positively adorable together.

One of our favorite things about Lulu was that no matter where in the house he was if you decided to make a sandwich he was there in two seconds flat to beg for a piece of turkey. I found his carnivorous appetite for pumpkin guts and canned green beans weird and cute all at the same time.

Sadly our beautiful Lucifur suffered a stroke last week and wasn't able to recover. It was a moment of deep felt sadness for us. Through the good moments and the bad this little guy was a part of our family and he will be greatly missed. Good-bye little buddy.

Where did the time go...

I know, I know, I know.... It has been a long time since I've posted... it's been busy! This may sound like a lame excuse but I don't care.

Some of you may know that I went back to school this semester. This is the main reason for my lack of posting. I used to spend my free time running, and climbing outside... or taking naps and watching cheesy movies while baking in the kitchen. Since I have no time for these frivolities anymore blogging just seemed to slip further and further down the to do list. I think it ended up about two slots below sleep. Today I presented at a mini-conference on the research I've been doing and afterwards I suddenly realized that the semester was over. So before the next semester begins I decided I should post some of things that have occurred in the past three months.

I started the semester off with a trip to Lake Powell where I spent five days kayaking in and around the many side canyons within Lake Powell. I packed all of my camping essentials and stuffed them in dry bags and stowed them inside my kayak. There is something exhilarating and carefree about being able to carry all your belonging with you and paddle from one destination to the next. I woke up with the sunrise over the waters of Lake Powell each morning and watched the sun set behind the brilliant red rock each night. This trip was set up through Utah Valley University and several faculty, each specializing in different subjects, were there to point out the educational wonders of Glenn Canyon. I learned a lot during this trip but I think the part I'll always remember most is the fun group I had the chance to meet and the special characters who taught me a little something about ablutions.

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

We did lots and lots of paddling. I got an amazing tan and my arms were super buff... I wish every class I took at UVU did that for me:)

The guy with the glowing head of hair is Larry... he is awesome and does ablutions sans clothing every chance he gets. He was adorable:)

The guy holding his hand up to block the sun for my glowing head shot is Dr. Harris... He is the professor I do research with and is amazing! I would not have enjoyed my time at UVU near as much had I not started doing research with him. I hope to one day be half as smart as he is.

Dr. Harris on the bridge...

Lost Eden was a little side canyon we kayaked down. We paddled as far as we could and then got out to do I bit of canyoneering to see the cool stuff.

The corralled kayaks...

Cool stuff.

And more cool stuff...

The water in the morning was so peaceful and calm. Usually mornings are not my cup 'o' tea... At Lake Powell however, it was my favorite time of day...

Lots of exploring to be done...

Lunch...

We found an awesome cave to explore. If the water level had been any higher I probably would not have ventured inside. The sun was setting at the time so the light entering the cave was gorgeous.

Everywhere we went seemed picture perfect...

Ablutions with clothing on...

Datura... this stuff grows everywhere! You can take the seed pods and brew a tea that will make you hallucinate. We didn't try it of course but I just though you should know that I did learn a thing a two while I was there.

It was an amazing experience! I only wish it could have lasted longer.

Ode to Food

The best part of summer is the fresh produce found everywhere. I recently went to the Farmers Market in Salt Lake and scored 4 of these beautiful summer squashes for 1 dollar. 2 lbs of perfect squash for 1 freaking dollar! I highly recommend that everyone go immediately to their local Farmers Market and go crazy. It was so much fun perusing the gorgeous produce and sampling tasty treats from small bakeries and cheese vendors. I got to sample the most delicious chevre and gruyere cheeses. I also bought a loaf of basil asiago cheese bread and some blueberry cream cheese pastries that disappeared in about 5 minutes.

hmmm... bread.

The following day I went to visit my Grandparents and found these beautiful peaches exploding off the branches begging to be picked. I obliged of course but had quite an adventure keeping Diesel from attacking me and eating all my peaches.

Today i finally had a chance to cook up my squashes and bake a peach pie. It was the perfect summer meal. Christian paced his Pappy in the Wasatch 100 race yesterday and is feeling a bit sore today so we've enjoyed lazying around all day filling our bellies with summer bounty.

My Dad is the best squash cooker upper in the world! When cooking up these little guys I followed his simple yet delicious method. It's classic.

Warm peach pie with whip cream. Makes me smile just thinking about it. I think it might be time for another piece.

Beef Bourguignon and Braised Beef Short Ribs

I love to cook.

I especially love to try out new recipes.

One recipe in particular has been a goal of mine for quite some time.

That recipe is Beef Bourguignon.

It sounds so fancy for such a simple hearty comfort food. This is the kind of stick to your ribs goodness that makes people smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I'm pretty sure that world peace could finally be achieved if we only had a bowl of Beef Bourguignon big enough to feed us all. However, with a sad heart and a full belly, I'm sorry to report I've none to share with the rest of the world cause I've already eaten all the leftovers.

Here are some pictures from the event...

We lit the vegetables on fire after adding Cognac. I always let Christian do the bits involving fire. He's so talented with flames... smiling on camera not so much but fire... he's a pro.

I highly recommend you all make this! It really is that good!

As if that dish wasn't delicious enough...

Round two began the next day as I was still digesting the tasty bits from the previous evening. My sweet sister Kate-shine and I had decided to try making a dish from one of our favorite chefs. To us she is the reigning goddess in the cooking world... Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. Her cuisine is delightful and delicious and her personality cheerful and radiant. Who wouldn't want to cook like her. Katie and I proudly presented our own bare feet into the kitchen and cooked up an Ina original of Braised Beef Short Ribs.

Katie is channeling her inner Ina...

Stewing in it's juices...

The final product!

Ok I can't decide on which one I like better so you'd better try making them both...

No excuses... go do it right now... Pretend world peace depends on it:)