Trainwreck

Watching our friends, and realtors, the band Trainwreck on the back patio at LaSalles. Loving the drunk smelly hippies and transvestites!

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Girls night out

Having drinks and appetizers upstairs on the patio at Crush with the work girls.

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Strike one

Really Starbucks, you're going to start my day off like this? Susie, really?!

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Pool party

I had a fun time yesterday afternoon hanging out in p-town with co-workers having a potluck and pool party.
I spent five hours talking, laughing, eating, drinking and checking out the firemen who showed up at the party for a while. We had a good time commiserating about work and spending time with those who's layoffs are effective this coming Thursday. We should all get together like this more often.

Western wraps

I'm going to a potluck pool party this afternoon with co-workers as a good-bye celebration for those who are being laid off effective the end of next week. For my potluck contribution I'm bringing pinwheels (deliciously filled tortilla wraps). I found an old Pampered Chef make-your-own pinwheel recipe sheet in my collection that had an easy western wrap recipe.

First you spread a tortilla with a cream cheese and bbq sauce spread;
Next is a layer of lettuce pressed into the spread;
Followed with a layer of roast beef lunch meat;
Topped with a layer of shredded cheddar cheese;
Finally a layer of tomatoes;
Then the whole thing is rolled up and wrapped in plastic wrap for an hour or so before slicing into rounds.
The recipe ended up making one more than it called for so I had it for lunch and it was very tasty. After seeing the sign up sheet for the potluck I know I'm not going to have to eat for days!

Four eyes

Our new eyeglasses came in earlier in the week and I finally got a chance to go pick mine up this afternoon after a lovely lunch at Hula's with one of the gals I sing with on Sundays. I was relieved to see that I still liked them as much I apparently did the day I picked them out.
Everything looks so clear and sharp, I love it! These glasses have a stronger reading strength (they're progressives) than my last pair and, if I recall correctly, the over all prescription is a little stronger.

I didn't have to work today since I worked late on Tuesday night because of Planning Commission. Instead I woke up when Chris left for work and got started on my day's errands including getting my grocery shopping done before all the scourge of the earth got there. All in all I'm feeling pretty productive today, which truthfully, goes against my grain.

Wickedly Decadent

Today was Father's Day, or as my gift card to the boy said, "Happy (you're not a) Father's Day";
Lots of candy to celebrate his childless freedom.

This past week has produced some very warm temperatures, following weeks of rain, that have caused our hop plants and tomatoes to take off in the back yard.
No tomatoes have started yet, but there's lots of buds. To better our odds, we only planted tomatoes this year. Some sweet 100s, yellow pears, and some mystery tomatoes from a co-worker.

I got started on my Sunday baking early today because of the long baking and cooling times. Chubby Hubby Brownies full of caramel, peanut butter pretzels and a cream cheese filling.
Even after baking almost double the cooking time, the very center of the pan was still too gooey to take to work tomorrow so they became our sample pieces. So rich, sweet and crazy decadent. I'll think they'll be a winner at work. A layer of brownie, caramels, crushed peanut butter pretzels, cream cheese filling, more brownie batter swirled into the cream cheese filling, topped with more caramel and pretzels. How can you go wrong with that combo?

Platanos!

I scored a special treat in the check out line at Trader's;
Platanos! Or "plantains" for you gringos. They are crispy, salty, and according to the bag, Peruvian deliciousness. My mom used to make these for my sisters and I as kids. Par fry (thicker) slices of platanos, pull them out of the oil, smash them and then throw back in to finish frying before taking them out to salt. I've already eaten half the bag as I typed this. Must...put... them...away.

Speaking of chewing, I now have a hot date with the oral surgeon the first Friday of September to have all of my wisdom teeth taken out. Oh joy. Apparently they thought it was a good idea to grow in at an angle right into my other molars. This will learn 'em!

Biggest Loser

Last night at bunko I won the prize for most losses;
Yeah, I'm definitely the loser here.

Not so secret secret

You leave your stuff unattended for even a second in this place and it gets tagged by vandals!

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Things that go bump in the night

Much to our amusement, Chris and I were awakened in the early morning hours both Saturday morning and Sunday morning by random things crashing around the house. First was a loud crashing sound early Saturday morning around 1:30 am that got us both jumping out of bed. Our first thought was that something was thrown through the front window, but upon further inspection it was found to be the explosion of an over-carbonated 22 oz bottle of beer in the spare bedroom. Nothing is more fun than washing beer off the walls at two in the morning. Fast forward to Sunday morning, same place and time. Immediately we thought it was another bottle o' beer exploding, but instead ran into the spare bedroom only to find that my shoe rack behind the door had tore itself apart and dozens of shoes thrown to the ground.
Nothing Chris couldn't repair with a little duct tape and a screw gun. Thankfully our little room of horrors took a break last night and let us have a full night of sleep for work today because our aged hearts couldn't take another startle like that.

Monday treats

I got up early this morning and made brown sugar and cardamom Palmiers for work today. They weren't as perfect as the ones in the recipe picture, but still just as tasty.

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Thank you flowers

Sherry brought me some gerbera daisies as a thank you for working her chamber of commerce ribbon cutting last week. I think it can be planted at home so it doesn't die, right Mum?

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Ribbon cutting

My co-worker Sherry, who teaches the bread and tamale classes I've taken, asked me if I could come to her house after work on Thursday and help out at her Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting. Never one to turn down a party, I gladly obliged. When I got there I was assigned to be in charge of the tamale table where I cut tamales up in three pieces, topped them with sauce and cheese, and served them up in little dishes for the guests to enjoy. Another co-worker, Cheri, worked next to me cutting up and serving small pieces of homemade pizza.
After Sherry gave her little speech to the group there was the official ribbon cutting and photo which she insisted that all of us "helpers" be in. I'm waiting for it to be on the chamber's website so that I can bask in all my new found fame.
I had a blast helping out. I haven't done anything remotely close to catering in about 4 years, so I really enjoyed reliving my glory days in the food biz.

New specs!

Both of us were due for an eye appt and new glasses so we made an afternoon of it.


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Birthday extravaganza

Today was my co-worker Kari's birthday. For the occasion I brought goodies to decorate her desk with - banners, flowers, a balloon.
We had a fun girls lunch at Round Table Pizza followed by some lemon cream cake I brought from The Upper Crust.
All the slices were literally devoured seconds after I sliced it. People were crawling out of the woodwork at the mere mention of cake. I'm glad that I could help my friend have a special birthday experience at work.

Home Improvements

After some serious discussion this weekend regarding the lack of storage space in both my craft room and Chris' beer cave, Chris sprung into action and built me some new storage shelves in my craft room closet. One side already had floor to ceiling shelving, but the other side was a standard pole and shelf setup which I wasn't using so he removed the pole and built some sturdy wood shelves.
Now I can discreetly stack the piles of scrapbooking kits I currently have stacked on the floor. I might actually be able to see the floor again! The best part is that my craft room now smells like fresh wood. So outdoorsy.

Because I had a church singing team party this evening, I didn't have a lot of time this afternoon to bake fancy treats for work. So instead, I pulled out my Pillsbury cookie book and looked for a recipe I already had all the ingredients for and found some tried and true oatmeal cookies. I didn't have any raisins so I substituted cranberries instead. An improvement really since raisins are the devil's treat.
Next weekend, when I have more time, I'll do something a little fancier. But now I've got everybody trained that I bring treats on Monday so I can't let them down!

Thursday Night Market

In my quest for a birthday gift, we decided to go downtown tonight for dinner and gift shopping. Since Thursday nights are also the downtown farmer's market we decided to head over as soon as we got home to beat the crazy crowds of scantily clothed college students. We'd been eyeballing a newer restaurant downtown called Burgers & Brews. It sounded right up our alley. I chose the spicy guacamole cheeseburger with fries;
That's a 1/2 pound of medium well spicy deliciousness! Chris got the bacon jalapeno burger.
True to their name they had pages and pages of brews to choose from on the menu. An Anchor Steam Amber was finally settled on much to the Canadian's satisfaction. We ate out in their outdoor patio since the weather was nice this evening and were serenaded by the thundering bass of a live band next door at the local downtown bar. After dinner we strolled around looking at the food booths and peeking inside some of the shops that stayed open late like Made in Chico. Unfortunately I didn't find any great gift ideas, but it was still worth the burger and fries.

Coffee anyone?

I bought my co-worker a big bottle of Frangelico for his birthday yesterday so he surprised me with a mini bottle today. Perfect for my cup of coffee. Mmm!

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