Little day at the pool.

Today we enjoyed one of the last open weekends at our rooftop pool with friends.

Hanna Lu and I got in the water even though it wasn't that warm. The baby also thoroughly enjoyed the company of friends who took turns holding her.

It was a lovely little last Saturday before school/work starts.
xoxo, natty ♥

Hot dog!

Last night my wonderful dad hosted a BBQ {tri-tip...California yum!} and Hanna got to enjoy herself too {no tri-tip for her though}.

And on today's agenda? Another dip in the pool as the mercury rises.

Stay cool folks!

xoxo, natty

Iced.

Enjoying the heat in our new city I realized that I can now drink iced coffee on the regular without contracting hypothermia; woot. So I took a page out of Bec's book and made my own batch earlier this week.
My biggest hurdle to achieving the finished product was finagling containers big enough for THIS recipe. I could've halved it but I knew I'd be happy with a large output so I went for it and I'm glad I did; I've been averaging two glasses a morning.
I scrounged and used my most voluminous pot and an old Brita that was laying around. The double bonus for me, beyond that I was able to find these things in our apartment, was that it's a Brita that has a spigot so I can now just dispense iced coffee with the easy press of a handle.

This is a super easy and rewarding recipe and I'll let you look it up {see link above} if you want accuracy but I'll also give you my own version, mostly as a personal test - if I can recreate a recipe without looking at the original then I feel like I've mastered it. And that doesn't happen often.

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground coffee {16 ounces}.
8 quarts of cold water {one quart to each ounce of ground coffee, more or less}.

 Steps:

1. Mix the coffee and water and let it steep eight hours or overnight or however long you can manage. I let it sit at room temperature.
2. Using cheesecloth or paper towels placed inside a fine-mesh sieve, drain the coffee mixture so that the liquid is caught below in a container of some sort. I placed my sieve/strainer directly on top of the empty Brita thing and then slowly and carefully poured my coffee stuff into it so that the coffee grounds-free-liquid would fall into the Brita below.

3. Get rid of the grounds; compost for some, garbage for others.
4. Chill the coffee mixture and drink it however you might please.

I like a bit of half & half to a tall glass with a few ice cubes.

Yea!
The benefit of this over just putting ice into a cup of coffee is that it's not diluted {hot coffee turns ice into water} and...there's more I think but that's one reason.
Do you have any hot weather drinks you enjoy? I love actually having a summer, one that is really and truly hot, rather than just the warmish weather we get in San Jose. I do admit there's not much that can/should be done in the middle of the day during the heat and humidity here, which can get old, but I feel like I'm getting a real season and all of the accoutrements that go with it. I'll probably be eating my words after a few more weeks but I'm digging it right now while I can.
On that note, Happy Friday!
xoxo, natty ♥

What a great thing.

It's hot today. Which I love. But still, some pineapple frozen yogurt makes the day that much better.

Happy Saturday y'all!
xoxo, natty ♥

First Days of Vacation.

In my first two days of vacation I've continued to clean out my office, cooked some at home, had lunch out, saw a movie {finally!} and taken on some dog sitting. 
And I forgot to turn off my alarm clock - something that's changing tonight, that's for sure.
Happy Days.
xoxo, natty ♥

Valley of the Sun.

It's more like Valley of the Really Really Strong Sun. We're in Phoenix visiting Mr.Mike's parents and having a great time. I actually ran outside yesterday morning. That was before the mercury hit 118 {woah!} and it was really early. Honestly, though, I'm loving the weather. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm perpetually cold. Cold fingers, cold nose, cold toes; I'm used to it all. Phoenix, however, warms me from the inside-out. I haven't been cold once since Friday night. This may sound bizarre, but it's me.
Like I said, we came to visit with family and have a good 'ole time. Yesterday my future-mother-in-law and I got the invitations just about ready to go (♥!), we hung out and ate at one of Mike's favorite restaurants. Today we're having a BBQ today for the holiday since Mike's brother has to go back to where he lives tomorrow.
We're getting ready for our grill out right now and I'm trying to get people into the pool to cool us down even though the water is in the 90s {just the way I like it!}- wish me luck!
That's all for now =)
xoxo, natty ♥
PS
My lovely step-mom is traveling around the world this weekend to visit her home country; have a wonderful time Leah!!!

Shorty.

As in a short post, not a girl. 
I'm mired in summer and loving it, even though it's back down to the 70s; am I such a freak that this is "cold" to me?? 
Yesterday I had lunch with friends, dinner with a high school alumnae group and killed an hour {or two} in tar-jhay. I love these days so much because I don't need to worry about being prepared for the next, I can just float about and do what I like. Don't get me wrong, work is a fabulous thing and as I've mentioned before, it always feels good to return, but an eeentsy part of me just can't wait for retirement.
After lunch yesterday we walked around downtown Sunnyvale, where we ate and walked past Willy's {see yesterday's post}. My inner grammar-demon came roaring out {disclaimer: I know that I don't always use perfect grammar here [and in life], I split my verbs, use indicative when I need subjunctive, over-use superlatives and run-ons, blah blah blah...but I can still be picky if I has a hankerin' to!}. This:

needs to be this:

It sure is a good thing that they have me to fix things.
Today I get to do more summer. Tomorrow, even more. Next week, EVEN more. I'm seeing three great friends this weekend which I'm really excited about and we're looking at rental stuff for our big partay coming up. Next weekend we're hoofing it down to Phoenix for the fourth which should be right up my alley: HOT. 
I'm also looking forward to the Obon Festival in two weeks time. I blogged briefly about it last year and you can check out more genuine information here. I realize that I'm a fool for festivals, though not all. A festival needs a specific food-type to be worthy. Those traveling food booths that are the same for all street festivals are whack; these are not to be confused with food trucks, those are wonderful. Back to festivals. The food must shine. Now that I think about it, I'm drawn to cultural festivals. That must be it, the food AND the ethnic diversity just reel me in.
We are LUCKY to have many in our area and the Japanese Obon ranks high on my list. The food I've had there and deemed drool-worthy, in the order it should be consumed, is: Gyoza, beef Teriyaki, Udon, strawberry shortcake (yes, strawberry shortcake!). 
I can't wait. 
If you do go, it's in our beautiful Japantown so try the light rail so as to avoid parking which can be difficult to find. Or, if you're like most everyone and drive {guilty I am}, park in the neighborhood, you'll need to walk a few blocks but it will go towards canceling out all of the calories you'll consume. There's fun dancing to watch, beautiful flowers (& leis) to buy, BINGO, and game booths for kids.
This was longer than intended. Happy weekend y'all!
xoxo, natty ♥

Scenes from a summer place, our place.

As is known by many some, we in our family have a thing for the Goodwill. Also, for the Salvation Army, the Savers, garage sales, estate sales, rummage sales, you get the picture. There is just SO MUCH stuff to be found. Exhibit A: the window dog.

One of them is real...

I think it's supposed to be some sort of Afghan dog.

one of them is not.

My auntie dear, she who perpetuates this second hand addiction of ours, got this at Willy's, as we call it. She claims they're somewhat expensive in real life which I don't doubt, and then somehow it ended up in the window. I guess it might be embarrassing, but I think it's pretty high-larious. There's a fake dog in our window!
Once, in random internet land, I read that it's a southern US thing to keep a mannequin in one's front window and to change its outfits season-to-season, or day-to-day if you have more of that time stuff people are always talking about. This is just our version here in San Jose my family.
xoxo, natty ♥
Le post script: please don't mind the poor exposure, picture wise. There is only so much that the iphone camera can do and I'm not feeling into excessively tweaking dog pictures in the photo programs I have and the real camera has gone away for a while so here we are.

Summer Solstice.

Happy longest day of the year, y'all! This is the greatest day of the year, I think, along with a few others (my birthday!our to-be wedding day!), because there is the most light and it's (usually) warm- a perfect combinatino in my eyes☺(how did I EVER survive at college in the arctic tundra?).
What are you doing/did you do to celebrate this day? I ran early, again, which is a feat in mine eyes. I'm not normally a morning runner, which is ironic since all races are in the morning! If I have the luxury of a morning with no schedule, I like to enjoy my coffee and the paper and maybe some reading then I can get in a run at my leisure. Despite loving the heat, I don't love running in it so I try to be responsible on these days and I was succesful again today- yea me! It's supposed to cool-it a bit so maybe my mornings will go back to relaxed, but I realized, as I do whenever I run before my day starts, that I actually like it this way, being able to do anything I need/want to in the day and not have to worry about getting in those miles.
I also ordered our wedding invitations; it's for real now! Though I said that when we ordered the save-the-dates too...now it's more real ♥.
I ate a Trader Joe's cold lunch (southwest salad with sonoma style chicken salad and pita chips...and an apple!) and have been watching an SVU marathon; what is up with these tv marathons on during the week? Don't people work?
I'm going to go splash around some more and go on a date with my sweetie; the video is a clue to what we're doing, you'll have to read tomorrow to find out what we did! A great official kick-off to verano (that means "summer")!

I hope you're enjoying the season too!
xoxo, natty ♥

Changes and two dinners.

Today wasn't super productive, at least wedding-wise. It was a boilermaker, weather wise, so I tried and was actually successful in getting my run in before it was too hot (yes!). Mike was at work and my grandmother was at an appointment when I realized my car keys were locked in my car (don't ask why) and I needed wanted to go buy a quick lunch and then meet her at my aunt's house. The reasoning behind this intricate schedule today is that my grandmother is having the tile in her kitchen re-done (hence the "changes").  

Demolition derby...in our kitchen.

With the noise of sledge-hammering the old counters (shed a tear, they're all I've ever known here) and the heat, we decided to go to my aunt's quiet house with a pool to let the dogs relax a bit (the tile guys really stressed them out!) and me splash around a bit. 

So, despite getting in my run before the heat, I had to ride my bike under the hot sun to go to Mike's work to pick up the spare key. A run and bike ride before noon.

The 1970s were hiding behind the old tiles.

We relaxed all afternoon and I swam and it was great. Mike and I did yoga later in the evening and it was also great.

I kind of love how bright and cheery 30 years ago was.

Since the kitchen is out all week we decided to try to eat healthy since we're eating out (hence needing the store-bought lunch earlier today!) we had planned to go to this "lighter-fare" restaurant which I'm so-so on for dinner tonight. I realized tonight that I'd NEVER be able to go on a diet. I may be able to eat diety-light-salady stuff for lunch just fine, but I guess I'm just one of those people who must have something delicious, cheesy, possibly meaty, and warm for dinner. Mike is not like this at all and can have salad or something equally boring for for any meal of the day. Maybe I just need the warm carress of comfort food at the end of the day? So, after a disappointing dinner #1, Mike took me to In 'n Out and waited with me and then watched me eat my almost 800 extra calories worth of dinner #2; I'm not a counter, but in California now the restaurants have to post them and I sometimes can't help but notice, not that it ever stops me! That was my last official day of Spring. Tomorrow on the agenda: welcome Summer!

xoxo, natty ♥
PS how cute is google's manga-styled (??) theme today? 

The answer is: super cute!

I forgot something!

On Sunday night I said that the weekend was a good start to my summer, but I forgot to mention one very important thing lacking from this weekend that would have made it perfect. I missed out on an event, a weekend-long event with friends. Mikey and I both went to Macalester College, a small liberal arts school in St. Paul, Minnesota (I know, a Californian and an Arizonan meet in the frozen tundra, go figure). The college celebrates reunion every summer and this was our fifth. I feel as though most people focus on the tenth or twentieth, and I'm looking forward to those for sure (although for the sake of my youthful appearance I hope that they don't approach too quickly), but I don't get to see my friends too often and it would have been so nice to hang out with a couple of lovely ladies (you know who you are!) in our old stomping grounds. I have been back since we graduated, but even that was a few years ago and we didn't check out campus too much and I would love to just wander around. It would have been fabulous to go, but with grading and graduation I just couldn't swing it so tenth anniversary here we come!

Other than that, I'm pretty tired tonight and don't think I have much to post. I cleaned and organized and cleaned some more at work today and got home after 7. We had an end of year lunch at work and there was a taco truck; it was delicious! Mike and I had been thinking of having one for the wedding and now I'm kind of sold =) I'll need to go in to work at least one more time to take care of some technology to-dos, but I'm a free woman until Costa Rica. Free, except for the wedding planning, but that's a labor of love ♥. Apart from the nuptial-nesting (do you like my alliteration?) this freedom means running, reading books that I've already read three or four times (I've talked about this habit of mine I think...), watching movies that I've seen several times, maybe reading new books, maybe some of that scrap-booking I mentioned yesterday...the possibilities are kind of limitless! I have not quite realized it yet, though. It takes some time for summer to sink in, for my jaw to unclench (that's where I hold my tension, where do you hold yours?) and school year to fade away. I'll drink to that =)

Anyway, I have no pictures from the day, but imagine yummy tacos and lots of dust from cleaning out shelves in my classroom!


xoxo, natty ♥

June 1st

Mid-week randoms:

The weather gods continue to frown upon us here in San Jo, but I am grateful that it's not extreme and my heart feels for all those who have been affected so harshly this spring.

My attempt at gardening this year...look at their growth in a bit over a week! Tomatoes & strawbabies ☺

I found a delightful new place to stuff my face get quick food, L & L Hawaiian BBQ! I'm able to experiment since my mr is out of town and he has some strong preferences, so this was a first for me. They even have the Dole whip fro-yo, but not the pineapple juice so it's not quite a float (I think you must know the tiki-tiki room at nirvana Disneyland to get that reference). Though it was a bit salty, my dinner was delicious and I felt nostalgic for the islands while waiting for my food since they had Hawaiian music playing.


I love June. I mentioned it HERE, last June, and I'll reiterate it, this is the best month. There's the most sunlight and school's out (for summer...forever...) and it should be warming up. Oh well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. 

In an effort to really appreciate June, and July and August, for that matter, I'm thinking of a few things. On some random blog I read the author's thoughts on how June has always been a time of renewal for her rather than January. It made perfect sense, since for our formative years we are on a school schedule and when June rolls around, it is a time of change. The school year finishes, we are able to do things that we can't necessarily do on an academic schedule and there seems to be a bit more freedom all around.

As a teacher, I'm lucky since I've never not had this schedule. I always feel slightly energized thinking about how I can make next school year better and how I can start over again and not do the things that I wish I hadn't this school year. I love that sense of renewal but had never quite placed those feelings together with this time of year. 

In that vein, I can be a bit more deliberate about my "resolutions" this year, or rather, the things I want to do now that my life is more open than even just a week ago (although as I write this, my grading is still not quite over...). I'd like to be more available to life around me so I'm going to try to limit my internet time to an hour a day. I chose an hour arbitrarily. 

I'm using my phone stopwatch and so far today have clocked 37 minutes. This isn't necessarily one hour of screen time, so I can still write in a word processor and work stuff won't count, neither will serious wedding planning that involves a computer. Not-serious wedding planning would be the likes of trolling theknot.com looking at things I don't need to look at, serious would be looking at prices for our rentals, etc.. I've recently thought about how much time I can easily spend looking up various things or reading odds and ends articles and it's keeping me from what's around me. I still want to continue blogging, that's another thing that I'd like to commit to this summer, but blogging doesn't translate to useless internet time.


I also have wedding stuff up the wazoo to attend to. We're going down a somewhat do-it-yourself route which is great and feels cheaper and is definitely more personal, but time consuming for certain...though it is a labor of love ♥. Fabric bunting, invitations, centerpieces and more await me.


Reading is something else I need to attend to. Since living with mr m, I find I use my spare time to do things together with him rather than read. It's great since we get to be together, but I miss being absorbed in a book or even a magazine; and fyi, I lean heavily towards the fiction genre ☺.


There's more, plenty more, that I want to do this summer, but I only have 12 minutes and 10 seconds left to be online so I'll leave it as this: I want to savor these light filled months and enjoy my time together with my husband to be before we tie our knot...and sleep in a lot!


xoxo, natty ♥

Spring Fling

Traveling dog...

BEST FIRST DAY OF SPRING BREAK EVER! My day wasn’t as dramatic as I just implied, but I did have a lovely day. I slept in, got a latte, lazed around, did the crossword puzzles AND the jumble (“…on a dead end!”), finished save-the-dating,

Off you go little ones, do your job...

vacuumed (blech), watched “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” (shamelessly, mind you)(I’m on volume 3), ran, and took some backyard/garden pictures. I say the “Best first day ever…”so vehemently because with the advent of every vacation, except Christmas, there’s just too much going on there, I ponder how well suited I am to a life of leisure and not having to show up anywhere. I am totally content puttering around the house and straightening up our things or reclining on a beach or whatever it is that I do with my free time. The tricky thing, though, is that I can get quite crabby by the time my vacation time comes to an end. I really don’t think it’s because my happy time is coming to an end, I actually think it’s because I’m ready for the structure and community that work allows me. This happens to me at every vacation. It’s great, I guess, since it means that deep down I do like to be employed for reasons other than monetary ones; that I like what it is I do, even if it kicks my hiney all the dang time. However, being at the start of my break, I’m soaking up every second of it even if I’m just cleaning and taking care of life’s business…SPRING BREAK 2011 SAN JOSE WOO HOO YEA!!!! Minus the body shots…

I’ve been on a phone camera kick recently. As mentioned, my little computer is quite slow. Blogging and internet and such is fine, but loading up the camera takes a toll so this way I can just email the picture directly to myself. Hence the quality of the pictures isn’t as good as it could be, but ohhhhh well. I “snapped these shots”, though, because as much as I love summer, spring is just such a close second (something I have definitely mentioned before). It smells soooo good outside these days (depending where you are, I suppose, but you get it) because of the jasmine and other fine fragrances nature allows us (citrus blossoms! Etc.) and I LOVE how the day time lighting in the house has a tinge of green to it because of how many green leaves are outside the windows and just how concentrated that green is (not to mention the different shades of it: light-almost-yellow-green, deep-hydrangea-leaf-green, grass-green…). Today the sky was grey but the cloud cover was fairly thin, so the grey is very bright if you can picture it; this bright light reflects that green and I just can’t STAND how pretty and luminescent it all is and how it casts everything in this light. Plus the days are still getting longer…waxing, if you will, as in the opposite of waning, not the waxing that is painful…I digress. While summer woos me like no other, the green is not quite as fresh as it is now and once June hits us, the days technically shorten just a teensy bit every day, though one doesn’t really notice until later. So I would love the warmth and sunshine of summer with the beauteous coloring and promise of aforementioned summer; sprummer ifyoupleasethankyouverymuch.

Another thing about the gardens is that there's always a surprise. My decade old cousin and his neighborhood pal play in and around the yard/house/street/wherever. See if you can spot some of the evidence of their misadventures here.

I live by the kitchen door...

I do too!

Those green leaves I love!

Pretty and sweet-smelling trumpet flowers...these are a bit worse for the wear but they bloom often and smell soooo nicely!

How much is that doggy...

Hydrangea leaves and buds...soon to be flowers!

More hydrangea...

and more!

Backyard wisteria...

Backyard persimmon...

Backyard Japanese Maple...

Street sycamores...

Backyard view...

Anyway, this day has been quite nice. I’m sitting on top of clean laundry on a freshly made bed waiting to go to yoga (which hasn’t happened in quite a while, incidentally) and Mr. M and I are going to get a quick bite after so I’m excited for the night ahead. I have also mapped out a brief schedule for myself for the rest of the week so that I can pencil in grading. I find that I am really drawn to absolutely any other to-do when the grading piles up and that makes it necessary to make a list that includes the grading since I’m a slave to my lists…so...happy Monday (really!!)!  Post Script: I went to yoga and, as always, thought “Why don’t I do that every Monday?” 

Before the wipe-out

 
Ok, I found another video from last summer; not all readers (if there are any at all, that is ;)) can appreciate this but if you're tall and blond and from Nebraska, then this is for you!

 

Monday Monday...

Was yesterday. Oh well, here I go. Yesterday my aunt and I had some fun at the Wal-Mart (I know it's not the best choice, but no body's perfect, so there) and the tamale factory and then a thrift shop by Memaw's house = danger danger Will Robinson! I'll be posting about that later seeing as how I'm still striving in the great catch-up (grate catsup?). After struggling to stay awake all morning long and feeling like doing nothing but this:

(what is wrong with me?!), I've decided to post a bit, clean a bit, run a bit, eat a bit and then maybe lounge some more; it always helps to have a plan!

Last Monday my grandmother and I began a project to grow things not out of the ground but out of a straw bale instead! Have you heard of this type of gardening? The benefits are really mostly the novelty of it all, but it's also less bending down as well as no weeds since it's not the ground dirt that's full of pesty little volunteer plants. Also, if you have no ground in which to plant, this is an option. We traveled over to Sam's Feed and Pet Supply on West San Carlos in our fair burg to procure for no more than about $10 our very own straw bale which is then very kindly put into your vehicle at no extra charge. The strapping young man who completed said task for us was wearing a shirt that read: Real men wear kilts. He also used these Freddy Kruger-esque hooks that have  leather strap to go around his wrists to get the bale where he wanted it (the back of my car)...the things you learn!

Using my super girly strength I wrangled the bale, which is not too heavy, actually, from the car to the back yard using only this vintage hand truck we have. It was pretty fun, actually, and Memaw summed it all up by saying "farmette".

You begin with a straw bale which is apparently different from a hay bale due primarily to something having to do with the stalks and parts that are left on the strands, etc....just start with a straw bale dudes. You put it wherever you'd like it and drench it for about five minutes a day for a week. After the drenching you are ready for the planting. You place seedlings (any old type that you'd like, yo) directly into the straw or create a layer of dirt (fresh from a bag to avoid weeds if you're picky like that) in which to plant your seeds. There's a tutorial as well, courtesy of youtube-o:

So we've been drenching the heck out of this thing (read: my grandmother = we) and will probably put in some pumpkins and other odds and ends. We're aware that it's pretty late in the planting season so: fie, fie to all you naysayers, we live in a climate temperate enough to grow practically anything whenever! I have also included some shots of my grandmother's garden handiwork, similar to earlier shots I'm sure, but pretty nonetheless:

Also, I received my teaching schedule for the upcoming year, which is exciting, it looks to be good and I'm slowly coming to terms with the reality that my life isn't all summer time lounging and getting paid to do nothing (but wouldn't it be nice if it was???).

We grilled quite a bit last week so bear with the multitude of grilling shots to come, they are special to me! We've so far done burgers (inaugural) and chicken soaked in a couple of marinades...yum-yum! The propane tank sure gave us a heck of a time the first night that we used it. It took three men, a towel, a large wrench and myself just staring for the thing (blast if I know what to call it) to twist open and shut, but after that it's worked like a charm.

Don't mind the tackiness of the cardboard rug beneath our little grill, it's just how it happened and we haven't gotten around to removing it!

 

Our first feast and our little friend, just for kicks.

Our second feast and the marinades, that Annie's dressing being my all time favorite.

That broccoli has some Greek seasoning added in and those dark things are plain old flax seeds added in for pizazz. Here are some action shots (!):

Pretty night sky shot from the backyard.

Aforementioned finicky contraption and the end product.

He helped. 

Anyway, our (M's) grilling has been great fun and we look forward to much more! Last week also involved an adventure at Petroglyph, homemade chicken masala, some pretty nails and whatnot, to be posted about soon I'm sure. I'm now off to said cleaning, running, snacking, etc.. Have a great rest of your day!!