L. A-dventure....

Brian went to California to visit his friend Justin. As he won't post about his trip, I will post for him. He left on Wed, June 11 and got back on Sunday, June 15. He had alot of fun. Here are some pictures from his trip.

Here he is on Venice beach, notice the segway in the background.

Look at the tough guy by the Egyptian theater.

Friends! by the Elliott Smith wall.

Justin's dog, Vincent, was super cute. He is a beagle and pitbull mix (with a very large head). We think that Potter would probably date him, if she liked other and younger dogs.

Here the guys are getting ready to go to the Body World exhibit. This was right before they saw Kevin Smith.

The End.

You are my favorites...

As exciting as life may be, I decided to post 8 of my favorite things (yes, kind of like Oprah... Oprah and I have alot of similarties, whether it is our favorite things, Presidential candidate...) And so we are off...

8. My new yellow purse, I feel like my tastes are evolving. I like purses in general, one can never have enough.

7. Candles, most specifically the sage and citris and cranberry chutney by Yankee Candle

6. Our deck chairs and their comfy cushions

5. Pie??? I always thought I didn't like pie and then this place called Grand Traverse Pie company came into town and I keep eating pie from there. I also made a berry pie for a late father's day present to Jim and I thought it was delicious. Here is a link to the recipe, (I also added some raspberries to it.)http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Blackberry-and-Blueberry-Pie/Detail.aspx?src=etaf

4. HBO tv shows: Brian and I just finished watching all three seasons of Deadwood and I highly recommend it for anyone that isn't bothered by swearing and a little inappropriate content. We loved it because of all the awesome characters. Dare I say I liked it more than Six Feet Under?? We are currently watching The Wire and I am still on the fence about it.

3. Old Navy long layering tanks, $5. I were them under everything and I counted while I was doing laundry and I have 22 of them. They are nice, especially for me with my extra long torso.

2. Food in general, but my favorite foods are as follows: hummus, cheese, salsa... but my favorite hummus is from Al Sultan in Dearborn Heights, MI. I would recommend traveling there to taste it.

1. Brian and Potter (duh)

*This post is from a while ago that I never posted and I thought I would end my long absence with it.

Tonsils, reviews, etc...

Well, as many of you know I have had continual problems with my tonsils. They have huge craters in them and they are red and swolled like 50% of the time. So gross story time... I was eating a salad today and I got a chunk of carrot stuck in them. O lucky me. Of course I can't get it out, I've tried everything and it is making my throat even more sore. I guess it is a sign that I should go to the doctor. It is difficult though b/c I don't have paid time off yet.

On to better news... I had a review today. It was kind of nerve racking b/c my supervisor sat behind me while I answered calls. And I got 100%!!! That is beyond exceeds expectations into the wow phase of the grading scale. Not to brag, but what else are blogs for?

That's all.

A tour of our rental house...

Well, the long awaited pictures of our new place have arrived. I finally finished sewing the curtains and am sitting on our deck in our comfy lounge chairs. What beautiful weather we are having, perfect for using our new grill!! Brian got a shiny new gas grill for his birthday from his parents. (Bonus for me!!!)

Here is a picture of me that Brian told me to post, so I am posting it to remind you of two things. Number one is what I look like, number two is how cool I really am.

Living room, super spacious.

Bookcase and my blanket displayed on the back of our couch.

Potter is looking our our sliding glass door.

Huge gas fireplace.

Curtains!

New bedframe (Happy early birthday to me!)

Gnome, in Rob's honor.
View from our deck and the fence that Potter likes to find a way out of.

The end!

What do you think?

I am at work...

What a good little worker bee I am... Blogging at work. Well really there is nothing to do in the down time besides reading extensively on people.com, ccn.com, imdb.com, etc. I have fulfilled my quota of celebrity and political figure gossip and have moved on to looking at recipes. So the rest of this post is made of recipes I have found to use and have used:

Super yummy mint-chocolate cookie:

They had andes mints melted on the top and I would highly recommend eating and making them. Here is the link to the recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chocolate-Mint-Candies-Cookies/Detail.aspx

Also, Brian and I have been loving on black bean burgers. No we are not vegetarians but they are very good and healthy. Here is a link to their recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Homemade-Black-Bean-Veggie-Burgers/Detail.aspx?prop31=6
I am going to add extra bread crumbs and top them with pepperjack cheese and avacados for Brian's birthday meal.

I also found this recipe and I think I am going to make it sometime this weekend. It is for barbecue chicken cooked in the crock pot and then shredded and made into tasty sandwhiches. I am always on the lookout for a good crockpot meal. Here is the link for it. I will let you know how it turns out: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Zesty-Slow-Cooker-Chicken-Barbecue/Detail.aspx

If you haven't already noticed, I have also been loving on the website allrecipes.com. It is so nice b/c you can find just about any recipe and there are lots of words of advice on all the recipes. I would recommend it for all you geeky cooks like me.

I have been new recipe hungry so if you have any good recipes for me I would love if you could leave a comment with them. I am especially looking for a good fococcia bread recipe. I think I may have found one but I will let you know how it turns out.

Wish Brian a wonderful birthday tomorrow, because it is his birthday tomorrow.

I think I am overly tired and bored. I strongly dislike wednesdays b/c I have to work until 9 and all my friends leave at 7 so my mind is left to its own devices... GOODNIGHT!

***This post is dedicated to restaurant wars on Top Chef tonight***

What a busy, busy mess...

Well life has been full of busy-ness and packing. I figured I should probably update you on the situation. My sister Julie asked why I haven't been updating this anymore. I told her that nothing super exciting had been happening and she told me that my posts are never about anything super exciting. Well something exciting has happened, we have officially moved into our house and are loving it.

List of positives:

1. It has a yard and an awesome deck with two comfy reading chairs

2. It is big (bigger than we know what to do with)

3. We have more kitchen cabnets than we know what to do with

4. It looks nice now that we have decorated and hung up pictures.

List of slight negatives

1. The bathroom is small and when sitting on the toliet, you may feel slightly clausterphobic.

2. Potter ran away on Sunday!!!!!!! She wiggled her way out of the fence and luckily Andrea was on her way over and found her wandering down the street. It was terrifying! We blocked the place she got out with bricks and hopefully it won't happen again.

3. The hole the box spring made on the wall by the stairs. (Landlords fault and he will be fixing it)

I will post pictures as soon as we have unpacked the upstairs. I am also in the process of sewing some curtains. Brian and I both forgot how much time and energy moving takes. We are still recovering. Well, I should probably get back to the daily grind. What a shame that it is only Tuesday...

Aren't they so cute?...

Well, my two best buddies had a photo shoot while I was at work. Here are the results:

Isn't she just the cutest model?

She loves the blanket I made, it is like she finds the only dog hair-less item in the apartment and she won't rest until she makes it hairy. Well, look, she is resting b/c she made it hairy...

Model number two... angry?

They are pretty good friends.

Well, I must apologize from my absentee-ism (hey, I was no English major) from this blog. Life has been busy. We are pretty much all packed up and ready for our move next weekend. Speaking of which, if you want to help, you can...

I have also been a little baking machine. I made my best bread yet last weekend. I also was forced, against my will, to make cookies for Brian's work (I'm totally kidding, I love to make cookies). I looked online and found an ultimate recipe for chocolate cookies with an andes mint melted on top. They are the best cookies I have ever eaten. Perfectly soft, chocolatey and tastey. I have numerous offers of marriage from Brian's coworkers.

I am really loving my job and have getting along really well with two of my coworkers. Work is so much more enjoyable when you work with people you like.

Brian's job has been so stressful due to their audit next week.

That about covers it.

OH! CONGRATULATIONS TO SUE! She is now oficially an American citizen.

Happy Citizenship day to you!