Blog love!

Love this - it sounds like "right on" to me, but it's ride on :-) Fun

Sunday fun-day was spent tooling around town on my cruiser with the hubs and the pup! What a goooood day! BUT alas... Monday is here again! One positive about starting the work week is sitting here in front of the computer with ample time to go through the blogs I follow! Who do you follow? How often do you check? Leave a comment and share your blog love with me!

I try to check these every few days, quite a funny variety I have going here so I thought I'd post:

Martha Stewart

YEP! That's right!

ediTORIal 

Blog by Tori Spelling - she's crafty!

Nourish

A college friend and her girlfriends collaborate on this creative, fun, fashionable blog

NieNie Dialogues 

Blog by mormon mommy Stephanie Nielson - capturing her journey through daily life after a near fatal plane crash

Nie and You

Stephanie and "you" - daily photo journal from Stephanie and a different woman she chooses yearly from another country
Cjane Enjoy It
Mormon mommy blogger, Stephanie's sister Courtney, she's witty and I like her

Shutterbean

Cooking, eating, food photography, mothering

A Cup of Joe

Fashion, Design, Photography

Feitelogram

Nick - foodie, improver?, semi-celebrity after staring on one of my fav shows: Bethany Ever After

Kate Spade: Play

Just a whole bunch of cool shit :)

The Italian Dish

Such pretty food photos and recipes too

Mighty Girl

More cool shit - random - and she's funny

Brunch with Darling

Designer, mother, list-maker-sharer

Chef Frank Bonanno

Sort of a big deal chef around Denver - owns Bones, Lou's Food Bar, Mizuna, Luca d'Italia, Osteria Marco

Help Jules Get to Kili

A friend who's about to embark on a journey to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro!

Simply Me

Blog by a creative craft shop owner...

Dashing Dish

Food blog - practical foods with a healthy twist

Oh Joy! 

All kinds of cool pretty things!

Whole Living Daily

I get Whole Living (by Martha Stewart) emails daily, this is the daily blog

Summery Saturday dinner - Surf and Turf!

We spent the day at the Stapelton pool on Saturday and it totally put us in the mood for grilling out! Since I have been trying to eat more locally and seasonally, we drove by In Season Local Market - only to find out they were closed! (and three minutes early, mind you - nothing worse than showing up at 4:57 when they were supposed to close at 5:00) Sunflower Market is our go-to so we kept on, for our collection of summery goodness! I was inspired by some mozerella, beefsteak tomoato, and fresh basil already at home in my fridge and our hand basket looked like this:

Garlic and herb stuffed tri-color cheese tortolini

Deli fresh basil pesto

LOBSTER TAILS! (on sale for $4.99lb!)

A few bundles of asparagus

NY Strip - one to share

Mini Soy Delicious Neapolitan ice cream sandwiches

And in less than an hour, I had dinner on the table - which was a Mediterranean inspired surf and turf that my husband DEVOURED! He's a lucky man, I keep him well fed and know what plucks his heart strings - good food and lots of lovin {Wink}

My plate

Geoffrey's plate

Caprese salad - tastes like summer!!

Fresh mozzerella, beefsteak tomato, tiny bit of white onion, fresh chopped basil, drizzle of grapeseed oil, and balsamic reduction!

Stay tuned for the surf and turf recipe - which I'll post on my recipe blog - The Tin Lunchbox!

Blog merging

I've decided to merge my "regular" blog and my food blog to create the best of both and make it less work for me. Yes, blogging can be hard! :) I may still keep The Tin Lunch Box around to post recipes to - so don't cross it off of your list of blogs to check out from time to time!

Junk - Aspen, CO

See my food blog here...

All good things

This week has been interesting. Finally FINALLY finished up our kitchen project! It took us about a month, though we were in Florida one weekend and I had the flu for many days. On Monday, we made a beautiful romantic Valentine's dinner together in our new pretty kitchen:

Tuesday was eh... We worked then tried to grab a spot in the sun for a cocktail afterwards, but the winter sun was still too low behind the buildings, making long chilly shadows across the town. These days make me long for summer! Laying in the grass in the sun, taking our yoga mats to Sloans Lake, riding my new bike...

Wednesday, yesterday was a surprise! It was OH SO lovely outside, a breezy and warm 68! I went to lunch with my notebook, and jotted some thoughts while I sat in the sun. The highlight of my day was walking back to the office. And now, I have a story for you...

Standing at the crowded intersection, the white "walk-man" illuminated, the sea of people before me started to cross the street. Only, after a few feet they began parting, to shuffle around a (seemingly homeless) man in his wheel chair, struggling to push himself across the road inch by painful inch. I too passed, then stopped and realized the sadness of the situation... Too many people. Too many busy people. Too many busy unconcerned people, passing someone not like them who clearly needed help. Turning against the tide of faces rushing past, I walked up stream to the one legged man who had only been able to squeak his chair a few inches into the street and asked if he'd like a push? Yes. {Yes, of course he does} Past the idling cars at the red light and past the other blue collars like me, selfishly enjoying their sunny lunch break - I pushed the chair with the whithered man with ease across the street to a quiet spot on the sidewalk. I patted him on the shoulder and simply said "have a nice day".  A few blocks later, smiling to myself, I was hoping {praying} that whoever took note {if anyone} would pay it forward. Secretly, I hoped to start a chain of good deeds - that everyone on the street would say to themselves "How nice, I could have done that..." and would then look for a chance to help another that afternoon. And if they didn't... well... that's ok. I did and I won't forget the surprised and grateful look on the one legged homeless man's face, when I whisked him away :) The end.

That was yesterday's highlight and today, my highlight was finding this lovely song that makes me melt in an oh-so-romantic-full-of-butterflies way...

Napa - Day 1

We flew into San Francisco an hour later than we expected due to heavy fog in the bay area. Geoffrey went to work and I walked to downtown Napa from his job site. Along the way I admired the quaint little neighborhood and the things so characteristic about this region: everyone's yards had lemon and lime trees, olive trees, and roses galore! The roses get to be as big as a dinner plate sometimes! Absolutely beautiful!


I spent the afternoon meandering the streets and shops. I visited a toy shop and the Oxbow Marketplace. The Hog Island Oyster company was in one corner of the market so I sat outside and ordered some oysters and a glass of Fume Blanc. I swear to you, I feel like Napa California is heaven on earth. From the food to the lifestyle to the people to the views. This IS MY KIND OF PLACE!!! Then I found my way to the riverfront and the Napa General Store where Geoffrey met me after he finished with his job. We were starving so we went for some tapas and wine at ZuZu right down the street and to kill time until dinner service started. One glass of wine... two glasses of wine... bread and salted cod and spicy garlic shrimp and olives... we stayed for a long time and soaked up all the goodness, overlooking the Napa river.


It was quite a nice day. A PERFECT day in my world :)

Cleanse - Day 1

Today I started a liver cleanse and here are some of the things I purchased at Sunflower Market yesterday...

Organic Produce Galore!

Kale

Cauliflower
Broccoli

Carrots

Celery

Spinach

Radish

Onion - Red, White, Green

Acorn Squash

Red Leaf Lettuce

Cucumber

Zucchini

Squash - yellow and Mexican

Brussel Sprouts

Asparagus

Cabbage

Avocado

Garlic

Ginger

Artichokes

Portabella Mushrooms

Parsley

Lemons

Kiwi

Pears

Apples

Pineapple

Clemintines

Lean Ground Buffalo

Wild Salmon

Organic Chicken Breasts

Free Range Eggs

Organic Egg Whites

Sliced Turkey Breast

Mini fingerling potatoes

Brown Rice

Soba Noodles

Rice Cakes

Almond Butter

Almonds & Walnuts

Almond Milk

Green Goddess Smothie

Naked Smoothies

Chamomile Vanilla Tea

And I'm taking these supplements:

Probiotics

Milk Thistle

EFA's

Multiple Vitamin & Mineral

B-complex

Fiber

Vitamin C with Bioflavanoids

DIM

I'm drinking water with lemon juice, 2 T. Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar, and a splash of Cranberry each morning. Green tea or chamomile tea with agave. No coffee, no diary, no booze, no gluten, no processed foods (besides ready made smoothies), no soy, no mayo/mustard/ketchup/relish/etc, & LOTS of water water water with lemon juice.

So basically I'm doing this for two weeks (although I may have a glass of red wine next weekend).

Wish me luck!

I may look like this after two weeks!