What Is Beauty?

While reading The Beauty Myth, I started thinking what do I find beautiful? The women on tv, in magazine ads or people I know? Honestly I stopped reading magazines cause they made me feel bad. I don't have her body, her skin, her wardrobe. I feel a lot better about myself since I stopped reading those magazines and focus what I like. Perhaps I don't have the latest clothing or the newest hairstyle but I feel better.
So I want to show you what I think is beautiful. Starting with me:

In November I started a project where for the entire month, I took a photo of myself everyday. This is my favorite of the bunch.

 Two of my favorite people, Pat and Jen. And they look this beautiful all the time!

 Ashley and Marta, two beautiful women I'm lucky to call friends.

 Another beautiful friend, Erin.

 Adria and me on my beautiful wedding day. Adria's beautiful and a bad ass to boot.

And the beautiful Cindy with me at Kris' wedding.
Then there's all of you, my beautiful readers. Yes, I honestly believe you all beautiful too. How often do we give ourselves compliments? Probably not as often as we criticize ourselves and others. Stop looking for the flaws and look for the beauty in life. It's so much more rewarding.
Heather of Heather's Dish started The Faces of Beauty website "to celebrate the incredible and unique beauty in all of us.  It throws off the societal pressures to look a certain way and gives an opportunity to share what we love about ourselves." Check out the beauty there and spread the love, starting with yourself.

Holiday Baking Day

This past weekend was holiday baking day. I did the majority  of my baking the night before. I figured it would be easier to get my stuff done the night before then hang out with the ladies. So Friday night, I started making my items but Jeff was over and he brought this adorable little guy:

He was underfoot the whole night. But I was using chocolate so I had to make sure he didn't get any.
I made 3 things for baking day. First up pretzel turtles:

These were so easy. A rolo on top of a pretzel with a pecan squished on top. Yum. I made tons of them. I would make these again in a heartbeat.
Next up is peppermint bark.

Someone makes this every year. There's no real recipe. I melted a combo of semi-sweet and milk chocolate, added peppermint extract when it was all melted. Then dumped it out on the parchment paper. I also melted white chocolate, added peppermint extract to it and poured a little bit to the chocolate. While it was still liquid, I took the spatula and drew lines and swirls in the chocolate to get that pattern. I took candy canes, crushed them and sprinkled them on top. Then let the whole thing sit til solid. I like to put the whole tray in the freezer. It's done faster.  One of my favorite things to do with peppermint bark is to make hot chocolate. I melt the bark in the milk and then you have peppermint hot chocolate. It's so yummy.
The third thing I made was the pumpkin pie bars. I have two friends who are gluten free so I made some gluten free just for them.
Everything was a success and I had a great day hanging out with friends and catching up!

I'm Thankful

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Every year Mom would make us go around the table and say what we were thankful for before we could eat. It was never my favorite part of the holiday. After my attempts to get out of it, I would either say I was thankful that the Cowboys were losing or that I was thankful for our health (everyone's favorite). But I don't say thank you enough so I'll take this opportunity to thank you to the important people in my life.

My husband-Again this man is a rockstar. I'm so happy that he has a permanent job now. His job is super stressful but he works hard for us. I adore him. I'm so thankful he's in my life.

My dad-I'm so lucky to have amazing men in my life. My dad has been dealing some health challenges but he's maintained his usual fantastic attitude. He's always there for me and Tai. I'm thankful that he's my dad.

My friends-When I was a kid, I had trouble making long term friends. I kind of thought I never would make the kind of friends I have now. I'm thankful for their friendship daily.

Blogging-When I started blogging I never thought I'd been blogging this long or that I would have met so many fantastic people. Each of your comments make me so happy and make blogging so much more fun. Thank you!

Have a wonderful day with friends, family and food. Hope it's a great one for you!

Portland Bound

Next month, Ashley, Marta and I are going on a girls weekend to Portland, OR. This isn't my first time to Portland, but I'd love some recommendations.
High on our list is Voodoo Donuts and checking out some of the street food trucks. I can't wait to head back to Powell's.
For those of you familiar with or from Portland, where should we eat? Which are your favorite street food trucks? Do you know a good place for brunch?
Ashley wants a massage. Can anyone recommend a good massage place near downtown?
Lastly we want to go out and dance. Can you recommend any places that we can shake our thangs? We like top 40 & hip hop mostly.
We won't have a car, so please keep that in mind while giving me recommendations!

Lost!

As many of you know, Lost ends this weekend. It has become my favorite show. I remember the first time I saw the first episode. I rented the first season (I was a couple of seasons late to the party), watched the first episode and said no, I don't want to get sucked into this. And left it at that. Fast forward a year or two when I met Tai. He just started watching the first season and wanted me to watch it with him (we're really big on watching tv shows together). I resisted but he was so cute so I gave in and became a Lostie. (For those of you counting, I'm a Lostie and a Gleek. I wear a lot of badges). Now 6 seasons later, it's ending. I don't know how I feel about that. I cried at the episode with the sub a couple of weeks ago. I'll probably cry at the finale.

I'm definately excited that our friends are having a Lost Finale party. Sharon made the coolest invites. I have to share them:
The envelope:

The letterhead and the boarding pass sleeve:

The boarding pass:

We're encouraged to dress up, but I probably won't since I tend to be lame. What would I dress up as anyway? I'm so not that creative. But Sharon is. I cannot wait to see what she comes up with!

Weekend Rewind

What a weekend! Without trying it was a jam packed weekend. Friday night we were invited to a friend's birthday party last minute. The family made a huge feast. I wish I could tell you what half this stuff was but it was impressive. Like nothing I've had before. I made up names for what I could identify.

It was an amazing meal. But my favorite part was the jackfruit.

I never had jackfruit before. But it was so good. It tasted like a combination of orange and mango. So yummy. I could have eaten the whole plate. Have you had jackfruit before?
Saturday night we met some friends and went to an 80's Love Song Sing Along. Tai and I love to sing but didn't want to go to karoke. We wanted to sing with people. A little internet digging and I found Central Cinema in Seattle has sing alongs. We sang along with Madonna, The Cure, Tina Turner, Soft Cell and Air Supply. Tai and I cannot wait to go to the next sing along! It was so much to watch the old videos. I can't believe how strange some of them were. The Soft Cell video for Tainted Love was banned on MTV. Very bizarre!
Sunday we met Pat & Jen for dim sum in the International District. Since it was Chinese New Year we caught the dragon show.

The rest of our Sunday/Valentine's Day has been quiet. We've alternated taking naps, watching tv and just chilling.
Hope you had a great weekend!

Corn Maze

On Saturday night Tai and I (along with a few friends) went to a corn maze. Tai and I were corn maze noobs. So for our first corn maze adventure, we choose the Farm at Swan's Lake with the largest corn maze in Washington state.

We took a wagon out to the eastern part of Washington and walked through the maze back to the west coast. The roads are all named for parts of Washington. While walking through you can learn about Washington history and look for towns along the way. We did get separated a few times (cell phones come in handy). But it took us about an hour to walk through the whole thing even with some detours. It was fun. I would go again but I think Tai would enjoy a haunted one better.
Have you ever been to a corn maze?

Halloween Costume Inspiration

For Halloween we've been invited to a murder mystery party set in the old west. My character is an widow and the suggested outfit was pretty basic-a black top and black skirt. But I had a specific idea in mind.

 

 I know the ladies of Avonlea aren't old west but it was the proper look I was going for. 

But in doing my research it was in line what women wore in that time period. I did some searching and did find some stuff online but it was pretty expensive. I was concerned that if I ordered something it might not fit and I might not have enough time to get something else.  We headed out to the stores to see what we could find. I choose this:

 

Of course I won't need the broom, cape or hat. But the buttoned up top was exactly what I wanted. Sure it's a little flimsy but we'll be inside and I think I'll be fine.

So what about Tai? His character is a cowboy.

But without the fringe and in black. Adult sized of course. We found the hat so far. Chaps don't seem to come in Tai's size. He's also obsessed with a duster.

We couldn't find a play one in his size and the real ones were more than we wanted to spend for a one night thing. But I am taking this opportunity to get myself some black cowboy boots.

We did go to the one Western clothing store near here and found $400 boots. I'll keep looking.

I'm kind of excited about the party. I've been to two other murder mystery parties and they are a lot of fun. I'm also excited to get all dressed up!

I Wonder Little Random Thoughts

*If I eat 5 100 calorie packs of craisins in one day is that bad?

*I don't know what to do with my headphones? I need them on the bus and at the gym but there's no convenient way to carry them. Any ideas?

*Has anyone gone to Dream Dinners or Dinner's Ready type place? Yea? Nay? Somewhere in between?

*Why does my hubby give me that look, the look that say no way, Jose, when he's just kidding? How will I know when he is serious?

*Why can't my friends get along and not leave one ostracized person? I miss her and struggle to see her since she's not invited to group activities?

*Why doesn't Pandora have an all 80's station or an all 90's station?

Have a great weekend!

Yummy Cheese!

Last week, Ashley, Marta and I got together for dinner. When we were deciding where to go, I saw that Art Restaurant was having an all you can eat cheese bar on Twitter via SeattleMaven. If you living in the Seattle area or you are coming to visit you must follow Ann. She knows what's going on and points out good deals all day long.
So I convinced the girls that this was the place to go. As for the cheese bar I was expecting any where from 6-10 cheeses and some crackers. Not this:

 

There were about 30 cheese, plenty of crackers, nuts, dried fruits, caviar, and quince paste. It was an amazing spread for $12 a person! The waiter said this would be going on for a while so if you are in the area and like cheese go! And they had all different kinds from Bries to cheddar and everything in between.

I also got a salad with argula and artichokes. Yummy!

And Marta and Ashley got the popcorn soup. It actually tasted really good and a little sweet.

And the chef at Art used to be at Cascadia before it closed. A Cascadia he was famous for his sliders. Well he brought them to Art and we had to have them.

Definitely the best sliders ever.
It was a great meal. I can't wait to go back!

Totally Creepy Soaps

I was talking to a friend over the weekend and she mentioned how she wanted to buy this soap:
Creepy baby hand soap. Ew. She also said she wanted to make a hand dish to hold the soap in. A little too much hand things in her bathroom.
So what other creepy soap products are out there.How about soap that grows fur? And a tiny mouse embedded in the soap as a reward when you finish the bar. Bizarre.
How about soap shaped like a pair of cowboy boots? Looks too much like chocolate. I might try to eat that.Soap in the shape of peanuts? I don't know why these don't really look like peanuts to me.
For me soap should be in a bar or liquid. I'm closed minded that way :)

Preservation Kitchen

On Saturday, Janet, Kris and I headed to Preservation Kitchen. Janet had been there once before and I had seen how packed the parking lot was on more than one occasion. I knew this was the place to try. The restaurant is in a restored house. It maintains a lot of that cozy house feel.
The food is local and sustainable. I was impressed by the offerings and found it difficult to choose.
Kris ordered the eggs Benedict with bacon. Instead of an English muffin they use a biscuit. And they were stingy with the hollandaise for poor Kris, so the whole thing was kind of dry.
Janet got the salmon omelet. You can't see it but take my word for it. She enjoyed it the last time she was there and got it again.I also got the eggs Benedict but with spinach instead of meat. I got a generous helping of hollandaise which helped the dry biscuit situation tremendously.
Preservation Kitchen is a little off the beaten track and a little out of my way but worth it. Highly recommended.

Erin's Baby Shower

Erin and Sean are having a baby in July. Her sister threw here a jungle themed shower.I can't believe she made these cards. The details were wonderful.
Here's what I got her for the baby shower.
I want to rock n' roll all night and potty everyday. What happens at Grandma's stays at Grandma's.
And these teethers.
I put everything in this monkey box.
It was such a great box. Erin told me she was into monkeys. I guess she told everyone cause she got a ton of monkey stuff. Plus her sister used monkeys to decorate the whole party.
Erin started blogging here. Perhaps she'll have pictures from the shower.

Exploring Ballard

Saturday night the girls and I headed to Ballard to try some Mexican food and cupcakes.I heard good things about La Carta de Oaxaca so we decided to check it out. We were not disappointed. I got the carne asada tacos. So delicious!I also got the chile rellenos. It was yummy. It was not like another chile rellenos I ever had but still really good.
Ashley and Erin got the tamale. I had a little bit of the dough and it was good.
Next we tried Cupcake Royale. Consensus was that Trophy was better. But Tai liked the cupcakes I brought home.
I got the chocolate scorcher, salted carmel, mint chocolate, triple chocolate, pink frosting with chocolate, and The Royale with Cheese (cream cheese frosting).
It was a fun Saturday night and I'm looking forward to the next time.

How I Spent My Memorial Day

Yesterday, we went to our friend's son's baseball game. We brought a picnic of homemade potato salad with store bought fried chicken. I also roasted some corn but we were full and didn't have any.It was a gorgeous lazy day in the sun. Hope you had a great Memorial Day!