Our San Francisco Treat

View from Coit Tower













San Francisco here we come!
Nick and I recently ventured out on a 12 day road trip; Destination: San Fran, Yosemite, St. George, Escalante, Moab and Salt Lake City. Thought I would post a few pics (yeah, that's right, I'm learning slowly but surely how to utilize this blog) for your viewing pleasure. Up first San Fran!

My beloved friend James acted as host, tour guide and photographer extraordinaire for the 48 hour stay Nick and I enveloped while in San Fran. As a 3 year native to the 7x7 mile peninsula, James has been encouraging me and all of his friends to come visit the diverse city he loves so much. So we did...rolling in after a 14.5 hour drive (but first stopping in Castle Crags for a sunrise viewing and intense hike), James warmly welcomed us and our gear, groceries and backpacks into his amazing 2 bedroom town home in North Beach District. After showers and a quick glance at the city from the rooftop (don't tell), we hit the streets walking! From Chinatown to Farmers Market at the Ferry Terminal, we were awed by the city's diversity, authenticity and architecture. We hit up the typical touristy spots; Fisherman's Warf (clam chowder in a sour dough bowl...of course) and the Ghirardelli Square (double cappuccino hot fudge sunday blast...naturally) while also enjoying the quaintness that San Fran offers...Saturday night church service, an amazing Tapas restaurant and enjoyable conversation with other friendly San Fran natives. Besides being awed by the accessibility that this fine city has to offer, Nick and I were taken aback by the diversity and things to do there. Walking, walking, and more walking pleased us to no end...a nice chance to stretch the legs before heading off to our next destination: Yosemite, a mere 6 hours away or 7.5 if I fall asleep in the passenger seat and neglect to assist in the navigation department. Oops!

A wonderfully enthusiastic Thank You to James for going above and beyond the line of duty to show two friends a city so near and dear to his heart. You are such a blessing!

Nick in Chinatown...he fits right in!

Our professional "shot" on California Street - don't mind the guy in yellow.














Farmer's Market and all their goodies














Letting out a little crazyness from a long car ride

Fixin' up the House

Sunset at Lariabee


This weekend, my adoring parents (and Brea of course - total momma's girl, freshly groomed doggie) came to Bellingham to swap their three days of freedom for three days of work on and around the new digs with Nick and I. That's why they call it Labor day right??? Work. So that we did. Dad asked for a prioritized list of projects and after scoffing at the three pages Nick and I mustered up, we narrowed it down to a few "need to happen now" projects that could realistically be done in 3 days: Repair the leaking dishwasher and dripping sink, replace the cracked toilet and living room light fixture, pressure wash the fence, and install shelving in the garage. Nick and I also had a game plan in mind to show them some of Bellingham's best features to perhaps swoon them into an ideal retirement location or at least have a better understanding of why we decided to move back up. Trips to the Farmers Market, Larabee for the sunset, ice cream break at Mallards, quick burritos at Banditos, bike ride to Whatcom Falls, swim at Padden and a hike to Yellow Aster Butte were all on the docket...unfortunately, only the first few on that list happened too; there is just too much to do in Bellingham. But hey, work had to get done and since we have 2 and a half more pages of projects to go, there will be many of opportunity to see all that B-ham has to offer. So as Nick hit the garage with dad to build shelves, and mom was dudded up in mud boots and earplug pressure washing, I was under the house, hanging ducting and spraying beams to keep the bugs out....all working hard. I learned a long time ago, taking breaks are essential while doing home repair, otherwise, people start getting grumpy (as in me) and decide to quit long before the project is done (oops, me again). This is when I would suggest a trip to Lowes or Home Depot for more supplies (completely work related, plus I get my Diet Pepsi on the way there). Silly me thought that would be a work break, where in actuality, it turns into a 2 hour tool shopping spree for Nick, tapping into dad's 30+ years of experience in the field as I stand there interested for about 30 seconds then make twenty laps around the store and start to sigh real loud to get my point across that I am DONE and ready to be back under the house. I was more exhausted leaving the store then working at home. Once again, affirmation that I need to seriously work on my patience. Don't worry though, we only headed back to the hardware store 2 more times and I stuck through it each time.
All in all , we had a fantastic weekend. We can now use our garbage disposal without whipping out the plunger and the dish washer actually cleans the dishes instead of being used as drying rack. I would have to say that the best part of the weekend was transporting Brea in a backpack as we rode our bikes downtown to the market. And since dogs aren't technically allowed in the market area, she continued to call the backpack home, with her newly fluffed head popping out of the top, taking in all the vendor's goods. I think Brea got more attention and photographs of herself in that two hour span than I have my entire life. People are suckers for cute dogs in backpacks I suppose. Perhaps next weekend, I will sit in Nick's backpack and see what kind of attention I get...probably not as many "oh that is sooooo cute" comments, but hey, a girl can dream.

The crew hard at work:


That's me...under the house. It's so ROOMY!

Mommasita doing her thang! Check out those hot kicks and hat...she is a trend setter you know!

Dad and Nick fixing the leaking sink...obviously, Nick LOVES plumbing!

Brea working the hardest of us all. Seriously, sometimes I wish I had this dogs life...go on a walk with mom, come back, eat mom's hamburger, nap, eat mom's icecream, nap, get belly rubbed by dad and Nick, nap, lay by mom, nap, go on a walk...

Cookin' up a Storm

I got hit with a huge cooking stick today. I knew it was coming...I could feel it. Sometimes I have really dry seasons in the kitchen. The counters stay clean, the oven off, and the shelves are stocked full of easy food: Organic Roasted Red Pepper Soup, precooked Chicken sausages, mixed greens by the pound with complementing vegetables. All these and more take no more than 4 minutes to assemble a quick meal...perfect for late night dinners after biking or quick lunches. There is a threshold of how long this can go...my dry spell ended today.
At first I thought I would bake a few blueberry muffins for a dear friend. Then remembered that I have 7 million onions begging to be used, freshly picked from a luscious garden this past weekend. That was all I needed to get the mind spinning of what I can make with onions. Oh, I love a challenge! Driving home from hours of errands, I started menu planning: Curried Carrot and Apple Soup (we also picked 5 tons of carrots from said garden), Caramelized Onion with Bacon and Goat Cheese Quiche, Cheese Straws (made with the frozen puff pastry I learned to make earlier in the month) Classic Marinara sauce with Meat Balls, Teriyaki Marinated Chicken Thighs and finally, Blueberry Muffins. It may seem like a bit of food, but like I said, I go through dry spells so having some frozen homemade goodness is nice to have around. Plus my parents are coming into town this weekend and I would much rather be swimming in Padden with the fam, than cooking in the kitchen.
I get home and begin the chaos. Turn on some music for prep: Pull out the onions, carrots, garlic, blender, pots, cutting boards, butcher knife...crank on the oven and put on the apron. On the Cooking Continuum of Accuracy, my cooking tends to lean towards the end of "not so much." I chop, dice, sprinkle, pour, whip, saute and steam until it "feels right". I also tend to start more than one recipe at a time...after all, I may feel like cooking RIGHT NOW, but I don't know how long it will really last once I get going, so I would rather get after it with everything. Soon enough I have the apples and carrots sauteing, the bacon frying, the puff pastry thawing and the onions chopping (me that is, they don't chop themselves). As I am pureeing the carrot concoction, I rush back to the stove to mix the meat for the meatballs, then layer the quiche, sprinkle the cheese straws and bake. Back to batches of pureeing...back to stirring...check the quiche...watch the chicken...back to pureeing. Yes, I walked 4 miles in a 10 foot radius in my kitchen today...not bad. The amazing thing about the constant back and forth shuffle is it relaxes me. All that stuff going on gives me a huge sense of control and peace. Now don't get me wrong, I am sure each and every one of my recipes would come out a bit better if I were to give it my fullest attention. I would probably walk away with a few less burns too, but hey, when the mood hits you...USE it. The only issue...my filthy kitchen. I have a sink full of dishes, marinara sauce on the wall, floor and oven knobs, 2 cutting boards on the counter with more scraps on the counter than the cutting board, dirty tomato cans, and more cooked food than I have room for in my fridge. It's not pretty, believe me, I am looking at it right now. This is where my sister comes in handy. We are a great team...I cook, she comes in right behind me and cleans. By the end of the meal prep, the kitchen is sparkling clean and dinner is served! Perhaps we should seriously consider moving to the same town sooner than later...I need her (for more reasons that just cleaning of course!).
Ah well, life goes on. Praise the Lord for music...just crank it up a bit and get 'a cleanin'!

Whistler - A biker's dream...unless you're me

It's funny how easy things look sometimes. Like watching pizza dough being tossed into a 20" perfect saucer or seeing a Cirque De Soliel performer bend her heel to touch her forehead while balancing herself on a palm size disk with one hand. No problem I tell myself...I bet I could do that. That is, until I get home and watch my pizza dough flop itself to the floor or pull my back muscle just trying to touch my toes. Suddenly my appreciation for people's skills skyrockets and praise the Lord that He gave us all unique talents so I don't have to try those things again, if I don't want to. I was tainted yet again this weekend by foolishly thinking I could attain what was held before my eyes: Downhill biking at Whistler.

For my loving husband's 34th birthday celebration, a weekend trip to Whistler was on the agenda. We booked a hotel (that's right...a hotel...we left the tent at home this time) and headed North. Naturally, I had a few butterflies in my stomach on the trip up, after all Nick is what a few of us like to call a "Manimal" on his bike, while little ol' me just tries to keep him in eye's sight on the trail. The butterflies only grew as we got geared up: Shin pads, elbow pads, torso armor, gloves, glasses and a full face helmet. I was walking around like a pro football player by the end of it all. Standing in line to take our first lift up, I began to calm down a bit. I oohed and awed at the bikers working their way down the mountain: Hitting huge jumps and fatty drops...I couldn't believe how EASY they made it look...smooth as butter! Soooo naturally, I was convinced by the end of the day, that too would be me...hitting 5' air like it ain't no thang. WRONG! I will skip the drama and sum it up numerically, after: 1 sprained ankle, 5 slow and pathetic runs, 20 good crashes, 1,000 tear drops, and countless prayers, we called it a day. Nick attempted to head back up so he could actually get a few hard and fast rides in, but due to lightning, the chairlifts were shut down...done for the day. Oh my. We decided to chalk it up as "God wanting us to be together, just not biking" weekend and ventured out for the other things Whistler has to offer...enjoy the beautiful gondola ride to the top (ignoring the fact that it stopped running for 10 minutes in mid-ascend), touring the Village, eating out, swimming in the lake, farmers market and a lot of laughing to heal the soul.



Disclaimer: Though I do consider my husband a manimal, he turned his crazy biking skills down about 1,000 notches to coach and support me as I eased my way down the mountain. Nothing but encouraging words stemmed from his mouth...allowing me to fall all the more in love with him AND not want to retire my bike for a lifetime. He's a smart one.

A Place to Call Home

That's right...we're finally home! Bellingham has been calling our names for quite some time and after a few minor details (ie: quitting our jobs, packing up our stuff, selling the condo, finding new jobs, crashing with friends, buying a house and unpacking) we are feeling settled and easing into a routine. It was an easy decision to move...when God says "Go" you go. Nonetheless, it was a bit difficult to leave friends and a great church community behind, but knowing we were in good hands and merging into a community and lifestyle that fit us more appropriately than the hustle and bustle that the Eastside brought. Throughout the transition time the first few weeks we realized that we may just be a wee bit crazy; after all, in 5 months we had: Gotten married, moved in together, quit our jobs, moved to a different city and got a new job (Nick). I recently heard that those five things were on the top 20 list of most stressful things people do. But again when it's right, it's right...so we persevere and continue to be supported by friends and family.

Now we are re merging into what it is like to have a stable routine in our own house: Wake up, quick review of daily events, prayer and kiss goodbye as Nick rides his bike to work and I set off for my tasks for the day. I am quickly learning that managing a house with a huge yard sucks up a lot more time than expected (read: 24/7), but am enjoying it for the time being until my employment begins (more on that a bit later).

Most importantly, Nick and I have been getting our outdoor recreation fix since day 1 of living here. Nothing but biking at Galbraith, volley ball at Boulevard, Frisbee in any park, long walks, trips to Lariabee, hiking off Mt. Baker Highway, plus a few weekend adventures with the Lopez clan outside the city limits. We moved here for the recreating, so that is what we are doing dang it! We have recently implemented a early morning Monday and Wednesday ride at Galbraith to get the legs going and to open up our evenings for weekly BBQs with the crew or time to tool around in the garage (read: I sit on the hammock and chat Nick's ear off as he works on bikes).

All and all, we know that we are so very blessed to have had such a smooth transition to our new home. We have loved having the majority of our friends at an arms reach and the unpredictable activities that stem from it when we get together. I no longer have to commute to participate in book club, or spend time with "the girls", or indulge in a beautiful run around Padden. Nick now has the space and some time to pursue his passion in using elements of the earth to build unique creations. He is currently taking a creative welding class at BTC and plans to continue the series in the fall. We are still on the church hunt and are confident that the Lord will lead us to the right one in His time. I thank God daily for being in control of my life, so I don't have to take on that burden.

Nick working hard on our bikes...prepping for Galbraith
The yard...baccie ball, horseballs, tag...it all happens here!
Dinning/Living room area...
My favorite place in the house...the kitchen!