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Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Garden update

I am SO behind on my garden updates. These photos were all taken about a month ago. I'll try to fill you in on new developments as I go!

Here we have our leek plant. That bulb in the middle continued to grow until it was probably close to 3 feet tall, and it blossomed into a huge flower. We have since cut the flower off (it made a great kitty fishing pole) and have yet to eat any leek.

Here we have our strawberry plant. Only one berry actually survived. The rest mysteriously disappeared in the night. Now the plant has stopped producing fruit, but is sending out ridiculous numbers of baby shoots. Soon the far half of our garden will be covered with strawberries.

Here is the first bunch of lettuce that survived the snail attack. Doesn't it look pretty?
These little guys are in the higher tier of the garden, and they are all just as big as the individual lettuce plant now. I have no idea how we are going to eat this much salad!!!

The tomato plants are getting massive, and going crazy with tomatoes!
These guys have since turned red and been eaten. No worries though...there are dozens more turning red and being eaten! They are so good...they can actually just be eaten plain. Good stuff!

The jalapenos are right next to the tomatoes. This little guy was really growing great!
Check out that plump, spicy pepper. I later came back to find a gargantuan tomato worm hanging off of it. He had eaten the entire side of two jalapenos. YUCK!!!!

We later found several of his brothers and sisters hanging out on our plants. Troy discovered that they splatter green EVERYWHERE if you throw them at the fence.


The oregano is growing like crazy now. It doesn't get taller...just wider. It's probably twice this in diameter now.


Our edamame is starting to produce pods.


So far they are still not plump enough to harvest, but there are definitely enough there for a good night of Asian food. I can't wait! It shouldn't be long now....


The sweet peas have had a hard life. They look beautiful here, and have produced a handful of pods. They just aren't very hardy, and we have lost most of the plants. Only two of the pods have matured enough to pop the peas out. They were definitely the tastiest peas I have ever eaten though. I ate them raw, straight out of the garden! The rest of the baby pods have made their way into salads.

This house plant was doing really poorly, so we put it outside in the garden. All the green is new growth, and it has totally exploded in the past few days. There is a TON more growth. Hopefully it all turns red like the old leaves!

Troy's little pineapple never did get much bigger, and started turning yellow. We think it was a mini-pineapple. See below for the fun you can have with a little pineapple.

Matt looks quite classy with a pineapple hat.

There's Norm the Gnome back in the shade, looking after the garden. I swear he is alive. Every time I go out to the garden, he is in a new spot!

Obama Bake Sale

Last month, MoveOn members across the country organized over 3,000 bake sales to raise money for the Obama campain. See here for photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124466908@N01/2605539884/

I wanted to help out, so naturally, I baked my Vanilla Nut cupcakes that everyone seems to think are to die for! I figured I would deck them out in a political theme, and took them up to the bake sale at the Cardiff Seaside Market.Don't they look patriotic? :)

Monday, July 28, 2008

I need your help!

Okay, friends. I need some advice. I really would like to buy a new Chargers shirt for the upcoming football season, and I really cannot decide which one to buy! The t-shirt looks SO comfortable and casual and cute, and would work, but I do already have a jersey, which is kind of like a t-shirt. However, the tank top is super cute, and I could really use something sleeveless for the games early in the season.

What do you think?



Thursday, July 17, 2008

Check out our new ride!

We have a new addition! Last night Mike and I bought a Vespa. We will be back to having two vehicles now...hooray! We still have to take care of the registration and licensing, but within a couple of weeks, we will both be good to ride it. I am guessing Mike will ride it more at first until I get used to it, and I'll drive the Element, but after time, I will probably ride the Vespa more. Hooray, we are so excited! It only takes about $6.50 to fill the tank, and we shouldn't have to fill up more than once every couple of weeks. I can hardly wait to start driving it! :)

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Awesome Night!

So, this is not food related, but I felt like I needed to blog about my wonderful night last night. As an anniversary gift, I bought M tickets to see Heart and Journey. The show was last night. WOW. Was it amazing!!!

Heart totally rocked.

Ann Wilson can SING. That woman has got a set of pipes on her. Whoa. I just can't believe how much power is in her voice. I was blown away, seriously. When her sister Nancy took the mic and sang "These Dreams" I was seriously brought to tears, it was so beautiful.

They did a rendition of The Who's "Love, Rain O'er Me" and I was speechless. So much power and emotion. "Barracuda" was a huge hit, and we snuck out to beat the bathroom lines, just as they started to sing "Crazy On You." LOVE that song. I was thrilled when M bought me a Heart tank top that says "Crazy on You" - while they were performing that very song! Wheee!!!

Then, Journey took the stage. They started rocking right away. Then, the new singer came running out. So crazy. The new singer is seriously like the Asian version of Steve Perry. I couldn't believe that voice came from that little guy! Check out the picture of Steve Perry,

and the picture of Arnel.

Similar, no? Especially from a distance. He was wearing tight yellow pants and a black vest, and he was running and jumping all over the stage. He was absolutely incredible. The entire show was SO good.

We saw Journey last year with a temporary singer, and we thought it was a great show. Well, it totally paled in comparison to last night's show! This was definitely a concert that I will remember for years to come!!! It is up there on my list of great shows, for sure!!!!!


Stay tuned for more...today I am going to Opening Day at the Del Mar races - I bought a big hat to wear. How fun! We are going to buy a Vespa today, and in a couple of weeks, I'll have a report on the Wolfmother & Stone Temple Pilots concert. And, eventually I will get my garden pictures and pictures of my anniversary trip to Niagara Falls online! What a great month this is! :)



Tuesday, July 1, 2008

And...I'm off!

Dear Readers....all two of you....

I just wanted to wish you all a wonderful 4th of July holiday! I will be in beautiful Ohio (hee hee) for the next week, visiting the in-laws. M and I are driving up to Niagara Falls for a couple of days though to celebrate our 1st anniversary. I can't wait!

Stay tuned for updates! :)

Alanna