Tofu for you?

I tried something new this week, something that I had wanted to use before and never had. I've eaten it in miso soup and I think that is just about it. Then I stumbled across this recipe, and yum yum yum, I'm in love, with tofu! Well, I'm in love with this recipe, maybe not tofu quite yet. This recipe was so simple and turned out great! I have made it twice in the last week, eaten it as leftovers, you should too!
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/slurptastic-herb-noodles-recipe.html
101 cookbooks has lots of great, beautiful, recipes. Most of her recipes may be a little bit outside of my palette range but I have been tempted by so many of them. Instead of the spinach noodles I just used whole grain spaghetti and it worked well. We have just been starting to get some real fall weather and these noodles are perfect to come home to. Enjoy!

Birthday Half Birthday

Today is Dad's birthday...which also means that today is his mom's half birthday - 99 1/2 years! Not to steal Dad's thunder, but come on! The scary thing about today is that she is having surgery to fix a shattered leg, broken in three places. So today, instead of having a very merry unbirthday, we are facing the reality of celebrating 99 1/2 years, today that reality is very thick with the human condition.
So in celebrating Gram's half birthday it seems fitting to celebrate the birthday of her youngest son, my Dad. I took this picture of him this weekend. He came in from the garden where he had been rototilling and harvesting and getting the ground ready for the winter. He was covered in dirt and I was laughing because as he sat down to eat lunch he had mud smudged on his face, not that that bothered him much. As I am watching him help his mother finish her life here, it has become so important to me to remember the "normal" day-to-day moments that we share. Days when Dad comes in sweaty from the yard smeared with dirt. Those are the times that even though they seem a dime a dozen now can too easily pass unnoticed and slip away.
I hope this picture makes you smile. It makes me smile. Happy Birthday Dad! Happy Half Birthday Gram - what an awesome Dad you gave me!

More Steph

This picture may not be Steph's favorite, but it was the only one that I didn't have to edit to get the window out of the picture. I like that it's just her, the red bench and white wall. The idea is good, execution is a bit lacking. But that look on her face is priceless! Maybe this is right as she noticed the HUGE spider above her head...

Steph's Shoot

When Steph and Ellen were up visiting last month we had a few extra minutes one morning and of course, I begged Steph go out and let me try to get some good pictures of her. The place that we stayed at was a home in the middle of a green belt which was a beautiful setting in itself but the home also boasted a huge garden which was fun to shoot in. We also found this little red bench that happened to be set up against a completely white wall of the house. It was fun to play around with the color contrast. I'm just learning so I still need LOTS of practice! Thankfully, Steph is a very gracious and patient subject. She'll do whatever I tell ask her to and is up for anything! It makes for lots of hilarious photos and lots of fun. I am so grateful for a friend like Steph. Everytime we get together is truly cherished time. It was so nice to have her in the Great NW for the weekend especially because she delights in the surroundings...it's so fun to watch her enjoy FALL. I hope some of these pictures can truly reflect to everyone how beautiful my best friend really is.

The trouble with Facebook.

My story starts a few months ago when Andrew and I decided that we needed to run and went on to decide that if we were going to run we needed a definite goal to work towards or no real running would happen. So, we set out to do the Indian Summer Half Marathon here in TC. Well, we got off to a great start, kept to our schedule, and then...August hit! For me, the month of August compares to getting sucked in face first by a black hole. Come about the second week in September I look at Andrew and wonder..."who is this guy and why is he so nice to me?" Oh yeah oh yeah, I do have a life outside of the fair and this guy is my fiance - cool! Needless to say, our running schedule got a bit derailed thanks to ME, I take full and complete blame for lack of forward motion during August and now into September.
This is where Facebook comes in. It's really easy to show someone website links but simply posting them to their Facebook page. So, I posted a link for the Seattle Half Marathon on Andrew's wall. The problem with that is that it them becomes public information. This is not a good thing! Andrew and I toyed with the idea of running the race and had pretty much settled on being lazy for a big longer and running a race in January instead, and then, Naomi logged on. Naomi being the runner of all runners sees mention of this on Andrew's wall and as it looks on Facebook (let's remember that most of what you see on Fb is lies, all lies!!!) Andrew and I are hoping to run the Seattle Half Marathon and she thinks this is a fabulous idea! Crap. So then she tells us that she had been planning on running it and blah blah blah blah. Can you guess what I did today? Yes that's right, figured out how in the heck I could be ready to run a half marathon in just 10, TEN, short weeks! Andrew doesn't know it yet but here is our training plan for this week, wish us luck!:

Monday, September 21: 40 minute run, easy/moderate

Tuesday, September 22: 40 minute cross train, moderate

Wednesday, September 23: Rest

Thursday, September 24: 40 minute run, moderate

Friday, September 25: 30 minute cross train, moderate

Saturday, September 26: 3 miles, conversational pace

Sunday, September 27: Rest

*Training plan adapted from the book "Marathoning for Mortals" by John Bingham and Jenny Hadfield.

Starting from the top left and moving right, a recap of my summer:

1. Dominic did Mutton Bustin again at the fair, always lots of fun!

2. The fair's second annual fun run, lots of stress but totally worth it! So exciting to see a dream come to life.

3. I got a brand new baby niece, Kira! I'm love her pieces already.

4. Annual camping trip with the Campbell's at Priest Lake. I'm getting better and better at camping.

5. Went to Mt. Rainier for the 4th of July with the girls. So pretty!

6. Amanda and I headed to Seattle to see Kenny Chesney at an amazing concert. I think we were both hoarse the next day from screaming.

7. Dad, Andrew and I took a helicopter ride over the Snake River down at Uncle Gene's. I think that a short ride was long enough for me.

8. Mom and I went to California to see Steph and Ellen. This is a picture of us at Disneyland, it was a great day!

9. Danielle had never been to Canada after living in the NW for almost 6 years - it was time, so again, we went camping. Holy cow, I did a lot of camping this summer. Strange.

10. Mom and I at Dana's graduation party. I love this picture of us. She is such a beautiful woman.

11. Andrew asked if I would marry him. I said yes. :)

12. Because I'm a dork, Dom is on here twice. He's cute, huh?

Summer Started

Summer seems like it has flown by. I wanted to put up a few pictures to highlight some of the events that took place this summer. It was a great summer filled with many blessings, too many apparently to fit into one post. So, here's a look at how my summer started....

My cousin Dana graduated, and became a Coug...

Andrew's cousin Kevin graduated as well and with in a weak moment made a bad choice, he is now a Dawg (bummer).

Mom and I headed to California to spend time with some of our best friends, The Keens. Steph and I of course soaked up our time together.

And oh yeah...on May 21st I got a new ring. :)