Truffles

I wondered how people ever found new things to do before the advent of Living Social and GroupOn.  Brilliant ideas to be sure, in fact, wish I would have thought of it.

Sometime in January I bought, as did ChickenLady, a truffle making class.  I have 21 new things to do and this would be one of the new things.  Last night was said class.

It took me longer to find this place than it should have, but it turns out Dawn's Candies is a small shop that's inside a large party center type shop. They have the whole set up and the heavy lifting done for you.

Blueberry, ChickenLady and I took our seats in the back as Dawn began by explaining the chemistry of chocolate tempering. I had no idea that chocolate had "crystals" that wanted to be separate then together and depending on the temperature of the chocolate will stay together or not. Fascinating stuff. As Dawn went over and over the complexity of tempering chocolate I was struggling to keep up and then realized we wouldn't be tested. Phew!  And that Dawn and her little elves had done all the tempering etc for us.

They handed us these little trays of "pre" molded chocolate molds.  These little molds needed to be filled and then coated.  She left us with a VAT of chocolate ganache - it took every ounce of my being to not just stick a spoon into the VAT O'Chocolate. She showed us how to flavor the ganache and left us to our imagination.

Blueberry shot right out of the gate by mixing peanut butter with caramel.  You'd think the two wouldn't do so well together...but it turns out it was over the top fantastic. 

My first flavor was hazelnut.  I love the smell and flavor of hazelnut. And mixing it with chocolate meant these little gems of goodness would taste a lot like Nutella.  I should have made more hazelnut.

My other flavor combination weren't overly exotic or interesting, but good all the same.  Between the three of us we made orange, amaretto, Kirsch cherry, Tequila/lime/salt combo, Malibu Rum, lemon, raspberry, and coffee! I think that's all of them. We could have chosen from so many other flavors and the combinations were endless.

After we filled our truffles, it was on to sealing them and dipping them.  The sealing them was as easy as swiping over the flat bottom with a finger full of chocolate. Once that was done, it was on to dipping.

They had these nifty forks for dipping.  Blueberry and ChickenLady were doing mostly dark chocolate, where I was all about the milk chocolate.  We had to "temper" our milk chocolate though. They little elves heated it up and at a certain temp, them dumped in these HUGE chunks of chocolate. The heat helped melt part of the bricks of chocolate.  Once the milk chocolate was at the right temp, we pulled out the chocolate chunks and began dipping.

 

After dipping each flavor, and before the chocolate dried, we could decorate the top with misc colored sugars and other things like coffee beans.

In the end, I have 35 beautifully decorated truffles. And someday soon I'll come down off this sugar high. ChickenLady may or may not.

Snow Day!

Snowpacolyps has sit the Seattle area again, shutting down the city.  Well, some parts of it.  Redmond, where I live, sat in a weird pocket that didn't get too much snow.  An inch at the most...but the ice it created is ridiculously slick! Weird.

So because of above mentioned snow day, I worked from home.  Stang + Snow = Me No Leave-y!  I did manage to get out a bit though as the sun came out and melted parts of the streets. Anything in the shade stayed frozen, which made for interesting driving conditions.  Why did I venture out? Because I had to mail the cookbook.  The darn thing is done.

Kudos to my personal graphics designer, Andy, for the cover.  He's super creative and I'm glad cuz I never would have been able to come up with that cover.  I'll have the books in hand in about 2 months - so watch this space for ordering options.  I'll most likely be selling them for a "minimum donation" of $10+shipping.  It contains 150 tried and true recipes.  You'll love it.

As I was sitting on my couch today working, I glanced over to my side table and noticed all the books waiting to be read.  I laughed because the side table apparently holds the "grown up" books.  I have Necessary Endings by Dr. Henry Cloud, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, by Ree Drummond (Pioneer Woman), Promise Me by Nancy Brinker, and The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.  I also have two teeny bopper books to read, my journal, and two photography books, and one note book for, well, notes.

I can't remember why I was even mentioning what was on my side table...um...nothing.

Right, moving on.

Pookie was "helping" me work from home today.  He's a little spoiled.  Okay, he's a lot spoiled. But I wouldn't have it any other way.  I'm sure if he spoke English he'd be thanking me for all that I do for him.  At one point today as I sat on the couch with my laptop on the side arm, he hopped up and tried to get onto the laptop.  I tried to explain to him that this laptop is essentially what keeps him fed.  He looked at me in disbelief...and walked away. 

In other news, the PhotoGods are getting together this weekend to do some shooting.  I know you can't wait to see the photos.  I've been pretty good with keeping up with the Project 365, this will only help.

Life is a Highway

Oh boy, what a weekend.  Nothing overly exciting happened last week so there's no need to really comment...oh wait, something exciting DID happen.

Many of you know I'm a budding photographer, trying to make a go at a potential business.  In my attempt to get a photography business going, I've been practicing a lot and I've been trying to put myself out there in many different ways. 

Coupled with that I LOVE Pioneer Woman.   Her website not only has her story and a blog about all the things that go on during her life on a cattle ranch (after living in LA).  She's funny and she's full of stories that make you laugh and cry. 

She has two other parts of her blog, one dedicated to cooking, which is where I find a lot of my recipes. And another dedicated to photography. Its the photography page I am about to discuss.

The Pioneer Woman (PDub) has these photo assignments every couple of months.  In the past year I've submitted a half dozen photos. None of them ever made it any further past me submitting.

Her last assignment was on the theme "love".  On a whim I submitted my 3 Day photo that I'm so very proud of.

Yah, that picture gets me all choked up too. 

Anyhow back to the story.  I submitted this photo about a day into the contest.  Then suddenly I see it as a chose one.  She picks about 20 each day that she thinks represents her theme.  And mine made it in group 6. Scroll down and you'll see my photo.

Then on Friday I got a text message from my GalPal Meg-A-Roonie saying I had made it to the finalist.

Needless to say I was a little more than excited. I came home and passed the word to everyone I know to go and vote for me. 

Now I wait to see. 

It may seem like a silly little contest to many people. It's not national, it's not anything really big, but it is to me.  To me it gives me validation.  It helps my confidence to know that my photo is chosen out of more than 4,000 photos. I am one of 16 finalist.  That's big to me.

Even if I don't win, I'm thrilled to have come this far. 

So I'll wait patiently to see if I win!  I swear I'm waiting patiently.

And so....I could sing Love Stinks...

Hmmm? So it’s been a week since I’ve posted. Surely something interesting happened last week. Lemme think.

Taps head thinking…

Shifts in seat thinking…

More tapping of head…

Ooo, I know. I did and mailed in my taxes.  I’ll be getting a refund which will promptly go into “Save-Jenn-from-Starvation-during-her-3-months-off-in-June” fund. Or as I like to call it SJFSDH#MOIJ. I think I need to work on the acronym.

I also attended a fantastic Getting Started meetings. Each meeting, while the same format, is different and unique in its own way. The faces that come through the door to hear about the 3day are usually full of excitement, fear, uncertainty, and sometimes tears.  Still, the participants sit and listen to all the 3Day is and does.  Some came already registered, many leave registered.  Each meeting reminds me again why I’m involved with this special organization.  The spirit and love that surrounds the 3day is addicting. There’s so much sadness that it represents, but it also represents hope.  The money the 3day has raised has gone to fund some of the most cutting edge new treatments for breast cancer.  Seeing that treatments are “better” (its hard to say better when you’re discussing cancer treatments), more exact, and extend lives of many who may not have had a fighting chance.

I have another coming up this week too. I can hardly wait.

I also had lunch with a friend from the former employer who shall not be named.  Immediately following the Great Unemployment Adventure of 2009 I defriended her from FB.  In fact, I defriended anyone and everyone associated to that employer.  She wrote me a very sweet, nice email that said first and foremost, “I understand why…” And then she proceed to say that she hoped one day I’d reconsider and friend her again. 

I knew I had reacted harshly – considering the news.  But to see an email from her in which she “hoped” I’d reconsider, spoke volumes to me about her character and what type of person she was.  It wasn’t HER who made me unemployed. She just had the bad luck to work for the company who had.  So I added her back to FB.  And we had lunch last week and it was GREAT to get caught up with her.  We did everything we could to refrain from gossiping but we just couldn’t … okay we really didn’t even try to refrain.

Then the weekend was upon me. Saturday I spent a good portion of the day inputting recipes for this fund raising cookbook I’m doing. I need 200 recipes, have 147, and inputted 50. I thought I had put in way more, but counted wrong. Ugh!  I’m on a tight schedule now and am trying to get it done by Feb 28^th in order to save $$ on the order.

Saturday night, BigBro, Seattle SIL and I went to our favorite pizza joint, Northlake Tavern.  We barely had to look at the menu, we knew we’d order the Logger Special.  The large pie weighs 6 lbs.  We opted for a medium, which weighed in at 4.5 lbs. That’s a lotta pie.

After stuffing ourselves silly, we ventured to the Shanty Tavern to watch The Yank’s new band the Soul Proprietors play.  Interesting little tidbit about the Shanty Tavern, I’ve driven past this bar a thousand times. Every time it makes me shiver because it looks like such a dive. I imagine the type of clientele they have and just know that a bar room brawl breaks out every night. “Shots fired at the Shanty,” is heard on the local police scanners.  Turns out the little joint wasn’t at all what I expected. Clean, quite clean really (either that or they kept it dark enough for me to not notice.) Anyway, it was as entertaining of a night as any.  The band was exceptionally good. I liked all the songs they sang, and wasn’t overly surprised that I knew the words to about 80% of them.

The Sunday was Sunday dinner.  The usual suspects showed up.  Chicken Pot Pie was on the menu at Chez Jenn’s and I’ve gotta say, it was delicious. Of course it was delicious, it was an American Test Kitchen recipe…what’s not to like with them.

Today is the dreaded Valentine’s day.  Not sure if I’ll ever be happy about this day – as my mom stated, “Don’t think about it as Valentine’s day. Think of it as your sister’s birthday.” So that’s what I’m going to do.  No hearts, no love, no chocolates, no roses...just another day. A birthday in fact.

On a much happier note, BeagleBabe contacted me last night to "hire" me to shoot her husband's 40th birthday party at Canlis - one of the swankiest restaurants in Seattle. And she wants to pay me. Now I've got to figure out how much I'm worth. 

Operation: Find a Guy

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated you all on Operation: Find A Guy. Truth be told there isn’t much to update.

eHarmony seems to have really got their lines crossed with regard to my matches.  Let me ‘splain.

90% of the matches I’ve received have been “outdoorsy” men.  I’m not talking Grizzly Adams type, but men who like skiing, camping, hiking, fishing, boating, skiing, hiking, fishing, climbing big mountains, gardening, being outdoors whenever possible.

Now, I have nothing against men like that. In fact, the world needs them. Without hikers, we’d never even have the Northwest (Louis and Clark were essentially hikers). Without skiers we’d never have – well, I’m not sure what they bring to the table. Without fishermen our streams and rivers would overflow with fish.  I get that these are fun, exciting ways to pass time for most…but not necessarily for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I like being outdoors, but my idea of camping is at the Westin. Skiing as a past time I let go of some 10 years ago when falling was more the sport than skiing.  Fishing? Blech…fish…

I fought against this for years, this “need” to be outdoorsy in the Northwest is strong – it’s in almost every fiber of every Northwesterner’s being.  I’m not a pure blood Northwesterner so I’m lacking this gene…which is fine by me.

My outdoors adventure usually involves walking with my camera in hand trying to find something interesting to shoot.  On a sunny day, Seattle is the most beautiful place there is and after a long, wet, winter, being outdoors is something I crave.  I just don’t feel like I have to be outdoors every second of every waking hour.  My Seattle Sister-in-Law said it best years ago –even though it bothered me then, but she was right – she said, “you aren’t the “get your hands dirty” type.”  And that would be right.

Right, so back to the matches.  So far, I’ve sent the “getting to know you” communication to 35 men.  One has responded – we’ll call him Phil. And unfortunately I did not realize that “Phil” was 53 at the time I sent the communication or I wouldn’t have even started it. That’s too old for me.  A guy friend this weekend who’s also doing the online dating told me his “rule of thumb” for age is half his age plus 7 years.  I can’t live by that rule…because I so can’t see myself with a 28 year old.

I’m rewriting my profile with the help of a few friends.  Though I’m not sure that will do any good.  This weekend I decided I need to branch out onto more sights.  The first rule of selling anything is getting out there in every possible place you can. And so I’m “getting it out there”.

One of the sites I’m a user of now, I got matched with a guy who prefers to have his women hypnotized. Though he doesn’t say “all the time” or how often…I just found that amusing. 

Another match today I have to give kudos for being honest…admits he’s married and admits he’s only looking for an “intimate friend”. Next.

Another match likes to dress up in Renaissance era clothing. That’s it. He doesn’t actually say “and go to Renaissance fairs”…

And yet another says, “I currently don't have a car, and I've decided I just don't want to even think about meeting new people until I've changed that, so I consider my profile to be on hold.”

Alright then…moving on.

Yesterday at the All Female Superbowl party I had one of my friends asked each of us about our "type" of man.  Two of the three women in the party really prefer the athletically built type.  I believe the word "chiseled" was used.  They had other things on their list and as I sat and listened to them describe I thought, "Huh, no competition in this room for my type".

While "chiseled" and "athletic" are fun to look at, I don't really see that as a reality for me. Nor do I find myself overly attracted to those types (that doesn't mean I can't and don't appreciate a mighty fine body).  And maybe its because I've seen so many "types" online, but it seems the more natural, real looking type -you know the one's who have a few extra pounds or a little belly - seem to be the type I'm attracted to.  It could be because I'm that type too and figured I'd likely attract the same type (I mean lions are only interested in female lions - not female cougars).

It was interesting to hear their "types" and I tried to imagine each of them with those types.  One I could the other I couldn't.  I do think one of them has a Cinderella complex and wonders if she'll be able to step down from the carriage long enough to find a good guy.

In the meantime, I’m not giving up, not by a long shot, in fact, I’m rather enjoying all the “potential” fish out there…its entertaining me and giving me blog fodder…

A little this...a little that...

Whew, what a week.  It came in nice and sunny and is going out stormy and rainy. Though I’m not complaining. I’ll take our rain to hella-storm in the middle of the country. Ick.

As I mentioned, it’s been quite the week. It started out like any other week, then got progressively better because the dining out and meeting with friends ratio went up. Blueberry, ChickenLady and I met for dinner on Tuesday night.  My appetite is finally back (sadly) and so I’m starting to crave things again.  I’m not sure that’s a good thing, but when I don’t have an appetite it worries me – so I’d rather be hungry than worry.

Anyhow, at dinner Blueberry and I got in a discussion about endives.  I know, “What? Why?”.  We were telling ChickenLady about the meal we had at  Ventana on Saturday.  Blueberry made a comment that the lettuce-y stuff on our plate was endive.  Hang on there Berry…endives aren’t lettuce-y.  I tried to explain what I thought endives were, and her and ChickenLady both looked perplexed.  I took the “I’m a cook!” attitude – but neither of them were having any of that.

So I whipped out the iPhone and the Google ap and looked it up. Turns out we were both right.

This is what I thought endives are/were. And in fact are called Belgian endive. I was saying how you can peel the leaves off and use them as an appetizer dispenser (as in put the dip on the end of it). Blueberry thinking it was the other endive couldn't figure out how that was possible.

This is the endive Blueberry was thinking about. Its also known as chicory and curly endive. 



Satisfied we were both right we went about eating our Thai food.

Last night I got to meet Meg-A-Roonie for some of the best Mexican food around, Peso's Kitchen on Queen Anne.  I've been there a hand full of times and have yet to have a bad meal.  I had red chili beef enchiladas last night and OMG were they good.  I love the fact that they just serve enchiladas.  No beans or rice on the side to make you eat more.  Now, I did order a side of rice because I love their Spanish rice...but it's a small portion and so worth it. I've also heard a vicious rumor that they do one heckuva brunch on Sunday's with a dozen or so different types of - oh hell...what's it called - um - egg's Benedict. I'm not a fan of egg's Benedict, but their carne asada with eggs totally gets my breakfast crave on.

I so didn't take this photo. First...it's sunny outside and if you know nothing about Seattle in February...the sun isn't what we see much of. 

This weekend I need to get a few things done. The Superbowl commercials are on (yes I watch for the commercials) and I have to make nachos. I've been craving my chorizo nachos so I figured why not mix football and nachos. It's not like anyone else every thought of that.

I need to spend some time this weekend working on the 3Day cookbook too.  It's going to be the end of February before I know it and I won't have received my cookbooks for selling.  Get your order in early...it's going to be the hottest cookbook EVER...

So you wanna see what I did in Tucson....

I'm finally feeling up enough to actually look at my photos and fix the ones that are "fixable."  I had an interesting issue this trip that I don't usually have too often in the great Northwest. I had harsh sun.  That's right.  Too much sun does a bad photo make.  I have horrible, distracting shadows everywhere...but it was still better (despite getting sick) than being at home in the rain.

As I no doubt mentioned in my sick haze of a post the other day, the MomUnit and I took off to see the memorials of the Tucson shootings.  It was humbling to be amongst so many well wishes and prayers for the families for the one's who passed, as well as for the survivors.

The front lawn area of UMC.  This is about two weeks after the shootings. They had already removed over 500 stuffed animals and donated them. As I shot these photos, there were still people bring flowers and signs.

The patriotism that comes out of these horrific events almost always moves me.

Even the young at heart get involved.

This one was taken at the Safeway where this event transpired.  I've always loved the song "Imagine", and only in an environment like this one do the lyrics really hit home to me.

Now let the healing begin...

I’m Not Sure Where to Begin

There seems to be so much that needs to said that I’m not sure where to even begin. So let’s begin with last week.

Friday I was off to Tucson. Early flight got me into Tucson in time for a quick lunch at In N’ Out. They never disappoint. The ParentalUnits and I just kinda hung around on Friday getting caught up on this and that.

Friday night about 2am I had excruciating pain in my back – shoulder blades. These muscle spasms have happened before and it just takes a couple of ibuprofen and I’m okay. This time, things were going to be different. On top of the back pain I had this sharp pain in my chest just below my breast bone. It hurt like the dickin’s (which I have no idea where that phrase came from). It kept me up most the night.

By Saturday the pain would come and go, I was tired from lack of sleep, but felt pretty good.

Mom and I took off to see the Memorials at the UMC hospital and the one at Safeway where the shootings happened. The UMC Memorial was huge, and they had already taken out 500+ stuffed animals. Tucson as a community had been devastated, but they clearly came together in a wreath of support.

After that we went home, we were having the entire Arizona Based Wraspir clan over for BBQ ribs. Now, you all know that BBQ ribs, particularly Dad’s ribs, are my favorite, so I was looking forward to this meal. We had 15 Wraspir family or friends there and I swear mom cooked 5 cows worth of ribs. I ate only 2. I had no appetite and wasn’t interested in eating. Bummer. Though for dessert Cousin Jeannette brought her famous white cake with peanut butter frosting … I had to have some of that. Interested or not, I was eating some of that cake.

Sunday we were heading to Tubac. Tubac is a small town that’s full of stores, and fun shops to wonder in and out of. I was looking forward to going since in all the years I’ve been going down to Tucson, we talk about it but we never make it. So mom and I hop in the car at/around 10 and head south. I think we were only a couple miles from the border by the time we got there. We picked up Cousin Jeannette on our way and met family friend Suzi down there. I was so tired, and was feeling pretty much like crap. I took all of 3 photos…which anyone who knows me knows that 3 photos is child’s play for me. As the day progressed, I’d find a place to sit and let the other gals wonder in and out. I just had no energy.

We headed home, mom took my temp and turned out I had a 100.6 temp. That coupled with the chest pain and lack of sleep and eating was starting to catch up with me. I had a half of piece of toast for dinner and was in bed by 8pm.

I was promptly awaken out of my slumber at 9pm. Dad had fallen again. I came out and he was lying on the floor asking me to help get him up. I sure wish I could have. Dad broke his shoulder a couple weeks back, then needed another surgery to fix a bone fragment that had dislodged. He was still stapled together and in a sling, no way I could get him up from the floor. Mom called 9-1-1 and the cavalry showed up. All very familiar with dad and his falling. His blood pressure was super low so the EMTs (which by the way, I looked and felt like crap and every single one of them were gorgeous…figures) thought it best he be transported to the ER.

Great! Here I feel like crap, and I can’t let mom go alone. So I go with mom to the hospital. I wasn’t there very long before she called a family friend to come and get me.

They released dad about 3:30 and they all got home around 4am. We had to be up and out of the house by 8:30 to make it to Phoenix to drop me off at the airport. We were all exhausted.

So the weekend in Tucson wasn’t nearly as much fun as I had hoped. It was good to see the folks and the rest of the entourage. There are some good people down there watching out for mom and dad.

Tuesday I woke with the worst pain in my chest since the Friday before. I could barely breath, it hurt to breath and I felt overall like crap. I finally decided to drive myself to Urgent Care. Now you all know I won’t go to the doctors unless its necessary, so we all knew this was bad.

Urgent Care checked me out, ordered up a chest x-ray and I waited for the results. When they came in there was a spot on the top of my right lung. The doctor wasn’t sure if it was a clot or not so ordered a vq scan – which turns out to be a lung ventilation/perfusion scan, which is a test that measures air and blood flow in your lungs. Right.

So before the scan the doctor gave me a breathing treatment that made me very woozy and shaky. I needed to get to Evergreen Hospital in about 30 minutes for the VQ scan but it didn’t look like I was in any shape to drive. She called 9-1-1 and the cavalry came to pick me up. My turn to ride in an ambulance.

I’ve never been in an ambulance, and frankly would gladly pass it up again. The EMTs were, naturally, attractive, and very friendly guys. The got me all checked out and off to the hospital.

After the VQ scan, the radiologist determined it wasn’t a clot and I was free to go home.

It didn’t explain what it was or why the pain, but I was headed home. Seattle Sister-in-Law, bless her, came and picked me up.

The doc called today because I was still concerned with what exactly this was. Turns out that a blood vessel had ruptured and that was the pain I was feeling. It would repair itself, if it hadn’t already.

As for the fever, shortness of breath and lethargy she suspect it might be some type of flu bug and to watch it. The tiredness she thinks is because I haven’t been eating anything so there are no calories in my system. And in the meantime, I get to take a few hits from my new snazzy inhaler.

I managed to make it to work today – barely – and made it home for a quick nap. Hoping tomorrow is a better day. I'm off to bed.

I'm Published...

I'm so excited, I can barely contain myself ...

So, you know how every year I get involved with this little thing called the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3 day! And every year I go out and shoot photos to send them to maybe - someday - if they feel like it - use a photo in marketing.

Well today was that day!

I waltzed into the Getting Started meeting and the official PowerPoint opening slide is this photo.

My favorite photo of all times...it gets me all teary-eyed every time I see it.

My photo...on the official PowerPoint!

Look! That's me in a dark room doing my very best Vanna White.

But wait, it gets better.

Then, they start playing the marketing video that plays and runs through photos prior to the meeting getting started.  THREE of my photos are in that video!

THREE!

I can barely contain my excitement at seeing MY PHOTOs being used. 

Which three? Thanks for asking...

I'm famous! I'll sign autographs in the sitting room after my viewing!

Did I mention I'm so excited to have MY PHOTOs being used?

The Great Search for the Other Half of the Orange (OHO)

When in Mexico, the host family I lived with told me that they search for la otra media de naranja (the other half of the orange). I've always thought that was charming and not so "prince charming" like.

It dawned on me that I’ve not written and update about my adventures in online dating. It could, frankly, because there has been no adventure in it. It’s been painfully slow. I don’t do patience well, but I guess this is an exercise in just that…patience.

Speaking of exercise, here’s something amusing. But first some background.

My profile is on eHarmony. I know many couples who are couples because of this site. So I figured I might as well give it a try as well. I have in the past, but afore-mentioned virtue I’m missing stopped me from continuing. It was taking what I considered too long. Anyhow, this time around I started an entirely new profile with them. From beginning to end, I answered all their questions, honestly and succinctly. No need to get too wordy yet. I’ve discovered reading profiles is a lot like reading resumes. If you don’t have me within the first couple of lines, I’m moving on.

So fast forward to my profile being live and active. Not two words I used in my profile mind you. I would 1) assume they knew I was alive and 2) am not an overly active person – as in hiking, fishing, skiing, bungee jumping, or any of the sort.

The matches weren’t rolling in. In fact, I only got a handful the first couple of weeks. I’d check every couple of days and be shocked that there were no new matches. I’d think to myself, “Really? No matches.” In a city of a couple million, I’m surprised – or maybe I shouldn’t be.

Then I noticed all the matches that were coming in were for men in their mid to late 50’s. Now I have no issues with a large number of years between me and my OHO (see subject for translation) – I mean my mom is 13 years younger than my dad and they’ve been married for 30 ish years. Yet, when I see a profile for a man who’s 57 I think, “That’s almost 60! And that’s almost my mom’s age.” And – well I just can’t go down that path yet.

I should also mention that none of the 50Plusers were interesting. I’m sure had anything in their profile been interesting, I might have given them a shot…but they either 1) had nothing in their profile or 2) used words too big for me to understand.

I joke.

Mostly.

Ahem…Right, so let’s fast forward again to last week. Suddenly I was getting the mother-load of matches. 19 came in at one time. I felt like I had hit the OHO Lottery. As I read through them, trying desperately to not make snap judgments on them, I started to see a trend. ALL of them, while in my age range, were overly active. As in hate sitting on the couch watching TV or reading, hate staying home, hate doing anything that doesn’t get your heart rate up (none mentioned hanky-panky but one could only assume they would include that in their list).

As I read through them, one at a time it dawned on me…ALL of them were the sporty type. All wanted to hike, fish, be outdoors, swim, ski, bungee jump (one guy said it was on his bucket list and the following item on his bucket list – Survive Bungee Jumping), boating, yoga, working out every day for 3 hours (I kid you not), and the activities went on and on.

Um, did eHarmony read my profile? I know opposites attract, but really? There is nothing in my profile, let alone life, that says I’m an overly athletic type who loves to fling herself off a perfectly good bridge/cliff, then swim 9 miles to where the boat will pick me up so I can hike home.

That’s not to say I’m not active. I am – to a degree. I’m just not Sporty Spice. I’m more Cooking Spice. Or Photo Spice. Or any other spice that is less athletic.

I re-read my profile just to be sure I hadn’t accidentally lied and said I was Sporty Spice…and I sure don’t see how they are getting these matches.

Needless to say, I didn’t send my questions to any of them. They all wanted Sporty Spice and I ain’t she. Yes, I know, I should have let them say that – but frankly – why waste my time.

I was chatting with a friend about it today and how frustrating it’s becoming. She said I should have someone else write my profile. Someone who knows me and who could perhaps do a better job describing me than me. I need a better Marketeer!

So if you feel so inclined….

Questions:

The One thing I’m most passionate about:



The Most Important think I’m looking for in a person is:



The three things I’m most thankful for:



The One think I wish more people would notice about me:



The things I can’t live without:

Never on a Monday...a Monday...a Monday...

Wow, it's Monday already. And what a Monday it's gonna be. Makes me want to drive my 3.2 miles home, change into my flannel pjs, hop into bed, throw the covers over my head and not come out until Thursday.

We had one hellevua wind storm last night. I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.  "There's no place like home...." I have a screen on my front window that I was sure was going to jiggle loose and take flight. I noticed this morning its a bit more waggled than it had been.

I bought a new printer table (actually it's a microwave stand, but whatever) through the mail. And can I just say, "You get what you pay for." It had been in this catalog for $80 then it went on sale, free shipping and $40. I can't pass that up. It has shelves on it so it could house my scanner and  my new Silhouette tool. Yesterday I put the thing together...and I swear it feels like a house of cards. I wanted something studier than the desk I had it on...and I think I went backwards instead of forwards on the "sturdy meter".

Got a call from Blueberry last night. She spent the day in the emergency room. Silly girl took her niece and nephew ice skating, fell and broke her left wrist. Blueberry's left handed. This should be interesting.

In other news, I'm heading to Tucson this coming weekend. The MomUnit is telling me the weather is going to be cold. Which, frankly, I don't care, as long as it's sunny. And cold Tucson is Spring Seattle sometimes.  I'd like to go by the Safeway the shootings happened and see the memorial that's growing there. I love to see the outpouring of support when tragedies happen. After 9/11 in West Seattle, the small version of the Statue of Liberty was COVERED with flowers, candles, signs, balloons, etc. It was a sight to be seen. It really made you pause and think about how life is fleeting.

And on that note, I'm going to get work done today. Oh and I'm 16 for 16 on the Project365.

Just another Tuesday, wait Wednesday, night...

Why do firemen hold such an appeal to us girls? My brother-in-law is a fireman...and he's just Stupid-Brother-in-Law. Nothing overly exciting...(hehehe...don't tell him I said that). 

It could be the uniforms.

It could be the bravery and courage we associate with them.

It could be they are just damn hot under all that fire protecting gear...

Or it could be I'm just weird and I blame my mother.

Tonight I was warm and happy sitting on my couch getting ready to take a nap when I heard the fire alarm of a unit in our complex go off. 

"Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy", I thought.

I grab my coat, my camera, my shoes (yes I have to remember my shoes) and I was off.

Ten minutes later, the cavalry arrived. 

Wait...the alarm's going off again!  Will they come check it out again?

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy...too bad I'm upstairs and so done with going out in the cold. Sorry boys, you'll have to work this one without me.

I wonder what percentage of their calls are false alarms. 

In other news, I'm on day 12 of Project365 and I'm 12 for 12 with my photos.  Only (calculator please) 353 more photos to go.  In case you've been remiss in checking out my progress, here are the last several you've missed.

The Breakfast Club

GalPal Claudia and I like to meet for breakfast on the weekends.  We have a couple of favorite spots that we frequent but we wanted to track down some new haunts.

A couple things you should know about me and Claudia and breakfast.
1. I am not a fan of eggs.
2. Claudia likes eggs.
3. Claudia usually eats all her eggs, all my eggs, and takes the rest home for leftovers.
4. Nothing goes to waste at breakfast

Way back in October I had won a drawing at the Drink Beyond Pink auction.  In the beautiful pink basket I won, was a $25 gift certificate for The Breakfast Club.

 This was one of those places I've driven past a hundred times.  And one of those places I'd never go into by myself. As we pushed open the door - I thought as my senses were washed over with the smell of grease - that we'd either have the best breakfast of our lives, or we'd be sick for days with food poisoning.

Its a small place, with, let's call it, eclectic decorations.  It reminded me of going into an antique store.  You know the types, with thousands of items on its shelves and walls.  Your eyes are so confused with what you're seeing that you don't even know where to look. This is that place.

This was the view from our table toward the back of the restaurant.  The clutter just about drove me crazy, but as I started looking around, I began to appreciate the craziness that was this little diner.

This view is from the front. It doesn't do it justice to all the stuff on the shelves to the right - which you can't see - but it does show the walls well...so many items.  Through the course of breakfast I counted about 10 flamingos around the place.  Any place with flamingos can't be that bad, right?

Turns out the food was pretty darn good. Reasonably priced for how much food you got and surprisingly tasty.  I wasn't holding out a whole lot of hope considering the location of this place (Lake City - hooligans live in Lake City...like my bigbro and his fam...it's just not safe with those Wraspir's lurking).  Anyhow, the staff was was you'd expect from a family owned little diner...polite and attentive.

I had their corned beef hash and Claudia had their chicken fried steak.  We split the two ...she had my eggs and her eggs (which was 6 total and to her credit she only ate 5...took everything else home with her.

Nothing matched either.  The coffee cups were stained with years of use...I momentarily questioned if they were even cleaned...and decided coffee wouldn't hurt me.  Claudia's knife was yellow and black ... with a rubber handle.  You can see it in the photo above with the blue rimmed plate.

At the end of the breakfast, we were satisfied.  Good food, great conversation, and the best part...it was free.  I'll most likely go back - not alone of course - I bet I can talk the fam into meeting me there some day.

And since I know you care and are dying to know...I've done well for 8 days with the Project365.  I don't hold any delusions that I'll be able to keep this up, but I'm gonna try.

Cold...Leaf...

I swear to you this will not become a photography blog!  However, with the Project365 getting started I'm overly motivated to take photos and  post them.  Trust me, in 15 days - give or take - I'll be struggling to find something to take a photo of.

I did get asked today what's stopping you from taking 7 photos on the weekend and posting one a day. My reply - Nothing. I don't see anything wrong with that.

I am carrying my camera everywhere with me and as I was walking to the mailbox - before almost slipping and breaking something - I saw this.

Got any brilliant ideas of what I can take photos of in my every day life?  Food is already on my list. The Stang, Pookie, coffee and weather are all on the list. I  need ideas people.

Project 365

I have three friends who are involved in what's called Project 365.  The idea is to take one photo every day...and post it. These friends aren't professional photographers and at least two of them I didn't even know they owned cameras. Yet, they are setting off on this adventure.

Can I do this?

I love taking photos. I want to improve my photography ability, but a photo a day? That's a lot of photos. Well, 365 to be exact.

One of my goals this year was a photo a week - which seems more doable to me.  But what if I could do a photo a day? There's no rules saying it has to be perfect. No rules saying there has to be a theme. No rules for it at all. I could certainly give it a try, couldn't I? Of course, you all will suffer the most because I'd be posting them here.

Let's see, since Jan 1 I have taken a photo a day! I'm already well on my way to a photo a day.

Okay, so how about this. Why don't I say I'm going to TRY to take a photo a day...and worst case I take a photo a week. I can't possibly think I'd post a photo a day, so I might post them in clumps ...or I can make an attempt at one a day. We shall see. Watch this space.

In the meantime, here's Jan 1 - Jan 3rd photos:

January 1 - Right outside my front door.  I had decided to go on a little photoshoot - my weekly theme was Cold. And since it was 17F outside, I figured how hard could it be.  Right outside my front door is a wood fence that haunts me.  Every time I see it, I know there's an award winning photo in it. I just can't compose it correctly. It screams to be photographed.  Today, instead, I focused on the moss and ice that seemed to be clinging on for dear life to the old faded wood.

January 2 - Also right out my front door. I have a pond behind my townhouse. It's protected land so the cat tails line the pond. Throughout the year I enjoy watching them change color from vibrant green in the spring, to warm, autumn brown in the fall.  Suddenly, I noticed they are spitting cotton out.  I love this photo with the warmth in the background and the cool, shaded foreground.  If I could do it again, I'd try to expose the foreground more..but Projec365 beggars, can't be choosers.

January 3 - What to shoot today? Since the Stang was filthy I decided to get it cleaned.  Pulling into my garage and pulling out the camera I'm not carrying everywhere with me, I thought, "why not shoot the stang?"

I should also state that you should not expect all my photos to be quality photos.  Having a photo a day means I most likely will be shooting whatever I feel like at the moment. Could be dinner, could be my coffee, could be my shoelace (if I wore shoes with shoe laces).  I'm just saying, to not expect glorified photos...some maybe...most, probably not.

OOO UPS is here with my 2nd birthday gift...ironically it plays very well into my Project365. I bought a new small camera.  Found a killer deal online and since my other little camera has decided it no longer wanted to participate in the photo taking business - I figured why not.  I didn't put it on credit, and starting this month is my huge savings plan. Why not? 

1.1.11

Hard to believe it's 2011.  We've completed the first decade of the new millennium. Oy vei!

I spent last night with my BFF Blueberry.  We kept it quiet and just hung out and had "BFF" type of talks.  I made a beef pot pie that was out of this world...surprising since I didn't have a recipe.  Turns out pot pie is pretty easy. 

Part of my goal last night was to finalize my goals for the new year. I'm not a big "resolution" type of girl, but more a "theme" type of girl.  This year is all about 21 New Things, financial freedom, and personal development.  In the  next couple of days I'll be discussing about my goals and my plan to accomplish them, but for now suffice it to say, it's going to be a GREAT year.

As part of my new plan, I decided to do a post mortem on the last year. What was good, and what was bad.  I recently read an article about doing an annual review when you're doing your goals. By doing that you can sometimes find clarity in what your new goals should be.  The author suggested coming up with 6 good and 6 bad.

Let's see what I've got.

What was good:
1. I have a job I love
2. I got fired.
3. I have been very aware of my financial standing and have followed my plan closely
4. Sunday dinners
5. Live.Laugh.Love Photography
6. Development of some personal relationship that needed some love and care.

What was bad:
1. I got fired. I know I listed is a good too and I meant that on purpose.  It really was a good, as well as a bad.  Had it not happen I wouldn't be where I am today.  I wouldn't have had to do some serious contemplation about my career and what I wanted to do. As bad as it was, it wasn't horrible and has turned out okay.
2. Lack of exercise.
3. Debt
4.

I can't come up with 6 bad. Isn't that interesting?  Turns out I had a pretty good year. Despite some serious attempts to make it suck.

I found why I was coming up with the bad - which was the first list I started to make - that as I came up with bad, I came up with a counter good, then more goods, then more.  Huh!

So I welcome 2011.  Show me what you've got.  I'm ready for you!