Love Bites

Vampires. Eternal Love. Sacrifice.

The last thing is what Josh did for me on Valentines Day. It was very heroic (and romantic, for me at least). I've been waiting for ages (not quite eternity) to see this movie. Rather than spend the big bucks, I've been waiting until it reached the Cinemark 12 theater, the awesome $1.50/person movie theater nearby. Quite magically it reached the theater this weekend...just in time for Valentines Day.  Knowing he'd eventually be dragged to the movie, Josh thought Valentines Day would be the perfect time to sacrifice himself (in his words, "sacrifice on the alter of love").

Valentines Day started at work for me. Somehow I got stuck with the opening shift. It was also a long shift too (actually both days this weekend were opens & long). Although, opening did mean I was done at 2pm. At work, there was some Valentine's Day stuff going on - cupcakes, heart cups, red ribbons tied on coffee bags, teddy bears. The holiday stuff is always fun - the cups were cute. Anyway, I was done at 2pm, which is the real start of Valentines day because it meant starting my time with Josh. Aww, isn't that sweet?!?

As I said, we saw New Moon. We went to the matinee showing so I'd stay awake (remember, I opened). I had a great time. I know it's not really quality acting or film here, but I just enjoy this kind of stuff - my guilty pleasure. Although, I must admit, I think only people that like the movie are those that have read the books (perhaps if Josh read the book, it wouldn't be a sacrifice - ok, who am I kidding). I could review the movie, but this post is strictly Valentines Day themed. And really, is there much to review?

After the wonderful movie, we headed for dinner. We opted for a non-pre fixe or Valentines-typical restaurant. We ended up with pizza. More specifically, we ate at Mezza Luna and created our own pizza. Quite tasty and fit the bill (I mean that literally too). Afterwards we had some dessert at Prince Pucklers. I had froyo, of course.

And that concludes our Valentine 2010 celebration.

Two Years Ago Today

Two years ago I was on a pre-Valentine's Day weekend trip to visit Josh. We were spending the weekend in Portland because it was cheaper to fly in than Eugene. Plus we could go out for a nice Valentines Day dinner in the city. On February 8th, we enjoyed a fine dinner at Wildwood, where I thought for certain if the "big question" was to happen, it would be there. It didn't happen, but it did just the next day on February 9th!

So two years ago today Josh proposed to me. Josh had been preparing for months and had a grand plan. The grand plan involved tricking me about stationary, actually getting stationary (just not what I expected), and a box with a big blue bow. You could say it was a joy.us event (chuckle chuckle). Ahhh two years ago today...

Josh just brought me flowers (awww). And for my readers, a picture of the engagement email we sent out:

The Saints Come Marching In

I wouldn't have known that the Saints won, but I did actually watch the Super Bowl this year (sort of). To be perfectly honest, football is one sport that doesn't excite me much. In general, I would rather be out there playing the sport than watching it. I just don't watch sports, or follow sports teams. And football is especially tough for me since I don't know the rules very well and I also don't like the slowness of the game. What is it with playing for like 30 seconds and then the clock stops for like 3 minutes. It takes forever. Sure in high school I would go to the games, but that was really just to hang out with friends, wear my letterman jacket, and to watch the half time show. I never watched the game. Well, apparently the same holds true today - and we'll get to that, but let's set the scene first...

Josh and I went to our friend's house for a mini Super Bowl party. There were about and about seven of us in total. Anna and Lacie, the hosts, made lots of food. Oh yea, and the game was on. I think we were all more interested in talking, the dog, and especially the food. Food in crazy amounts. There were pork sliders, chicken wings (two kinds), fried green tomatoes, enchiladas, chips, salsa, carrots, hummus, cookies, etc.

Every once in a while, we'd watch the game. But we mostly watched when commercials came on (funny how it's usually the reverse in every day life - ignoring commercials). I think one of the game's highlights was when the Saints guy carried the ball over half the field for a touch down. That was cool. Other than that, I really can't say much about the game. This is what I know: the Colts and Saints played. They were from New Orleans and Indianapolis. Blue and Gold were the main colors. That's it - and I just re-confirmed that information as I typed with Josh. Actually, I keep calling the Saints, the Spirits. Oh well, we all enjoyed the game. Secretly, we all enjoyed flipping to the Puppy Bowl every now and then too.

As for the commercials, they were okay but a bit disappointing overall. I mean what's up with all wearing no pants commercials or talking babies? Google's Ad was decent, or should I say sickeningly cute. Lots of beer commercials. Nothing too memorable. Okay, maybe the one with the long-horn and the Clydesdale.

In a nutshell, the game was fun, but the friends were better. The good was plentiful and we were all happy. All signs of a successful Super Bowl party.

Default Drink

My default drink is the Caramel Macchiato. This is a layered drink. As an iced drink, you can really see the layers. It looks really cool. The layers are: vanilla, milk, espresso shot(s), and the signature Starbucks criss-cross caramel. It's funny that my favorite, default drink is also my favorite drink to make (caveat: when there is not a crowd/line). A fun fact about this drink is that there is a special design we are supposed to follow with the caramel - take a look next time. Another fact is that a many people don't know how to pronounce macchiato. Although it's a pretty layered drink, I really recommend getting it stirred (extra foamy is also delicious). How to “call it” (order it)? Double Tall, Sugar-Free Vanilla, Nonfat, Stirred, Caramel Macchiato.

My Afternoon Outdoors

Today I had the day off, but Josh had his "long day" at school. This means lots of "me" time. After a morning of intense cleaning, I saw some sunshine and jumped at the opportunity to take a little adventure outdoors.

Before we talk about my outdoor adventures, let's go back a few days. You know when you drive around you see little trails, and you say you should try that sometime. Well, I tried to do that randomly. I thought I'd just drive around and find one of those "I should try someday" walks. I ended up driving around and finding nothing. Then it got dark and I only really managed driving around. Err.

This time I saw the sunshine, I had free time, and instead of just roaming like before I decided to go out prepared. I hopped on my laptop and looked up a specific park. I already knew what I wanted to do - the park Josh & I roamed last year during one of my weekend visits. With location in mind, and address in the GPS, I was off.

Within five minutes, I was at my destination, Hendrick's Park. Not only was I prepared with location, but I had on boots and red jacket just in case the rain should return. Now, walk time!

I just roamed around - downhill and uphill. There were some flowers peaking out screaming "I want spring!" There was also a part that I decided was a mini rain forest - lots of moss, ferns, trees, and when you stood still you could hear the dripping of water from the leaves (and not raining). My walk brought me past some runners and dog walkers. Oh, and I even found the turkeys. They haven't been around our house lately. Apparently, they've decided to roam the park instead.

With fresh air and sunshine, I felt like it was a fulfilling afternoon. Funny enough, right when I got back in my car, the rain started up again. Figures. (For those not familiar with Eugene weather, it changes about every 30 minutes. If you're not happy now, just wait a few minutes and it'll change.)

As always, I had my camera on hand during my walk. Check out my new Flickr photos.

Seen it?

Have you seen Avatar? I thinking most of you have since apparently it's the highest grossing movie of all time. Now Josh and I are one of the multitudes that have helped it reach that ranking. It took us several tries to get there. The first two attempts we were rejected with the blinking "sold out" at the ticket booth. We decided to just buy the tickets in the afternoon and see it in the evening - it worked. We saw it this Saturday at the very front of the theater with the music pounding in our ears.

Even if you haven't seen it, you might know the story already. How's that you say? Well, it's one part FernGully, one part Pocahontas, one part Dances with Wolves, and one part Star Wars. Okay, maybe throw in some Last of the Mohicans. Yes, my friends, it's a combination of these movies. Top it with some major themes like religion, evil corporations, and go green. Wait, wait...don't take any of this the wrong way; I did enjoy the film. The 3D special effects were awesome and the Avatar concept was very well done. I'm glad I saw it in the theater and got to see it in all it's glory. It was a great action flick for sure. And I always enjoy the movie-going experience (especially when I still have gift certificates - dang, movies and 3D is expensive!). Oh, and it was quite funny to see Phoebe's brother in Friends playing the big Corporate guy - HA!

Anyway, fun movie, fun times, and I'm glad I saw it in theaters. Not to mention, I got Thai food beforehand - Yum yum!

Muffin Maddness

You may recall from other blog entries, that I'm on a perfect muffin recipe quest. I'm constantly trying to find the best, oaty muffin recipe - the perfect blend of sweet, oat, and savory. To be perfectly honest, I haven't been entirely successful. That was until yesterday afternoon. Yesterday, I got one step closer to that perfect recipe.

Actually, it was after making yesterday's muffins that I came to the realization that I've been making the wrong type of muffins. I've been making bran muffins when it's really should be oat bran - emphasis on oat. My search would come to an easy close if I was able to get my hands on Honey's oat bran muffin. Sadly, they are unwilling to give it up. With Honey's muffins, I have to buy the muffins in bulk when I go home, carry them on the plane, freeze them, and enjoying them daily until they are gone (which is way to fast). I know it's a bit intense, but I love oaty muffins.

Anyway, these muffins were getting awfully close to my lovely Honey's muffin taste and texture. Close, but not quite there though. I'm going to share this recipe so my fellow bakers can review, contribute, and perhaps even try them out. Let me know what you think. In corporate world, I'd say I'm looking for feedback.

By the way, I ought to share the origin of the recipe. I discovered this recipe on the side of Bob's Red Mill Oat Bran Cereal bag, which I tweaked slightly. Honey's website says their muffins have canola oil, buttermilk, yogurt, applesauce, egg, juices, and fruit. I tried to get as much of these things in this recipe as I could. I might add different fruit next time too (i.e. strawberries or peaches). I know you're tried of reading now, so here's the recipe:

Nutritious Oat Bran Muffins

Ingredients:

• Dry: 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour, 3/4 cup oat bran, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. fresh nutmeg, 1/2 tsp. baking soda


• Wet: 1/8 cup mashed banana, 1/8 cup applesauce, 1/2 cup yogurt, plain 1 egg, 2 Tbsp. canola oil, 1 tsp. vanilla


• Other: 1/2 cup shredded carrot, 1/2 cup dates, chopped 1/3 cup blueberries (optional), 1/2 cup Walnuts, chopped


• Topping: 1 Tbsp. flour, 5 Tbsp. white sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 Tbsp. butter

Directions:

1. Mix together dry ingredients. Mis liquid ingredients in separate bowls.


2. Combine the two mixtures and stire until moistened.


3. Fold in carrots, dates, blueberries, and nuts.


4. Lightly grease or line muffin tins.


5. Fill 2/3 full. Sprinkle topping on muffins.


6. Bake at 400 F for 20 minutes. Bake 5 more minutes at 350 F.

My Changes (from the original recipe):

• Bake 400 F for 18-20 mins but that's for 12 muffins (I made 6 muffins)


• Added Bluberries, frozen


• 1/3 banana mashed and no applesauce -decided to split


• Added 1/2 tsp. more cinnamon and vanilla


• Added a dash of fresh nutmeg

Oat Muffin

Oat Muffin - Close Up

Randomly Routine

I've been thinking and thinking about what to write my next post about unsuccessfully. We're just not doing that much, and I don't want to bore people either with stupid things- all this makes posts tough. I decided to write some random stuff on my routine and everyday life that might be somewhat interesting, or not, but you can choose which bullets to read. Up to you!

• Netflix: I love Netflix. If you see a preview that you're not sure about, reviews aren't great but you want to see it, or you just can't pay for the movie theater experience, then I say "just Netflix it." It also gives the opportunity to watch past television series that you never knew about until it was over. One such tv series is How I Met Your Mother. Josh and I are going through this series right now and loving it. Watch it.


• TJ Groceries - Trader Joe's is the bomb. I go to TJ's once a week for our grocery needs. It's like a small town market that's fun to walk around with nice people, yet still has good stuff. Plus I think the prices on most items are pretty dang good. Not to mention I've had success with the TJ brand items and semi-premade meals. For instance, the stuffed pork chops, ricotta chicken with marinara, and their Balsamic dressing are some of my favorites. In fact, I was told by an employee that they often take popular, successful brands and then sell practically the identical item with their TJ brand/label. There is a whole TJ culture out there. While we were roaming Barnes and Nobles, I saw this book: The I Love Trader Joe's Cookbook. I'm tempted to purchase it. P.S. Check of these nifty grocery shopping list planners here. I just downloaded the list template - neat!


• TCBY: Yes, frozen yogurt is still a routine thing. Josh and I like the daily specials. Monday and Tuesday specials stink, but we enjoy Wednesday's waffle cones, Thursday's shivers, Saturday's parfaits, and Sunday's sundaes the most. Wait, that's almost every day of the week. For the days I can't con Josh into going, I have the Sub Shop frozen yogurt quart in the freezer to hold me over.


• Relaxation: This isn't totally routine, but I'm trying to make it part of my a routine. I've been testing some relaxation dash anxiety-reducing type techniques to help. One of the best relaxation scents is lavender so I've been on the look out for anything lavender. I bought this lavender spray to put on my pillow at night - quite nice (although I got Josh's pillow and he was like, "what's that smell?" - haha). Anyway, I'm trying all sorts of relaxation stuff  - candles, incense, reading, calm music, tea, stretching. All of these have worked pretty well. My New Years resolution of yoga might still happen, but it's hard to get any sort of routine with the Starbucks gig - we'll see. Maybe a DVD would work (hey, just Netflix it). Oh, and my moto and desktop picture (from WWII): Keep Calm and Carry On.


• Dining Out: Josh and I don't dine out very much (I've amped up my cooking), but we do get to go out and treat ourselves occasionally. One of our favorite Eugene spots is Yi Shen. The pho is delicious and prefect on a cold, wet day (and they add broccoli - makes me happy). Josh likes the Vietnamese sandwiches too. Ehh, we like all of it really. Another frequent dining option is Thai, which generally defaults to Chao Pra Ya. And the third most dine-out food is pizza. That's it: Vietnamese, Thai, and Pizza/Italian.


• Hanging Out: Generally we enjoy just hanging around town. For instance, we'll go walk around areas of town or high-end grocery stores like Market of Choice (similar to Whole Foods). I'm starting to make friends too. Last week I had a friend over to hang out. We bonded over the fact we both grew up on The Cutting Edge, so that's what we did. I picked up Thai food and we chowed and watched the movie. Can't beat that combo!

We do plan on doing fun stuff soon. Actually, tonight we went to the theater to go see Avitar 3D. We thought it'd been out long enough, it was Sunday night, and we were ~15 minutes early, yet it was still sold out. Boo! We still plan on seeing it though...perhaps Thursday.

Also, I have plans to go home for a friend's wedding in March and check out Seattle again. Then there is Valentines Day potential. So we'll break the routine and get out soon! Stay tuned, more post ideas will come...eventually.

Yi Shen's Pho

Tale of Teas

Since I started working at Starbucks, I've spent a lot of my time talking about coffee. However, I realized tea just isn't getting enough coverage. And you know what...it totally should! I love tea. Tea was a beverage I enjoyed even before coffee. I must attribute my enjoyment of hot tea to my sister. She taught me to add sugar and milk to my black tea - the British way.

Anyway, tea isn't just a terrific drink to have during the cold weather to keep you warm. Nay, it's also quite delicious during the summer as iced tea. Although, I must admit my preference is for hot tea. That said, let's talk about some teas I enjoy...

• Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf: This is mostly a Southern California chain and their best product is the tea lattes. Heather Richardson introduced me to these lovely tea lattes when I visited LA (a long time ago now). The first favorite was the English Breakfast tea latte. They also had a lemon chamomile tea latte in the springtime. My all-time favorite is the Winter Dream tea latte, which is only available during the winter month (shocking, Winter tea only during winter). The thing that makes the tea lattes so special is this magic vanilla (or chocolate in some) powder that you add to the brewed tea and before adding the frothy milk. Since I knew the ingredients, I thought I could whip up some up of these wonderfully delicious drinks myself at home. While down in SoCal for the holidays, I picked up some of the vanilla powder. Sadly I couldn't find the Winter Dream tea. Luckily Josh's parents came to the rescue and sent us some. My creations are very similar to the in-store drink (perhaps not quite the same, but pretty dang good).


• Starbucks Loose Teas: This is the latest and greatest at Starbucks. We just released all our teas in loose leaf tea bags. These bags are so much better than the compact, little bags we carried previously. The loose bags allow the tea to disperse and steep, so there is just more flavor burst. We had three teas available in loose bags before the release that were used for our tea lattes - these we didn't have out for purchase in boxes. Now, all teas are loose bag and available for purchase. Now, I can get my favorite tea and bring it home. My favorite is Vanilla Rooibos. It's an herbal, naturally caffeine free tea. It's decent as a latte, but I like it just brewed with a bit of sugar-free vanilla. I just bought it yesterday with my markout.


• Starbucks Chai Latte: This is still at our stores even though we had the tea bag renovation (mentioned above). It's similar to Oregon Chai in that both are basically a syrup. We add hot water to it to activate the "spices" and then top it off with steamed milk. This is one of my classic favorites, especially adding a bit of vanilla. I enjoy this more than Oregon Chai as it seems to have more spice, yet it's still sweet (you know some chai lattes can be uber spicy).


• MyChai: This is a local chai from Bend, OR. A few places offer it on their beverage line-up: Full City and Market of Choice. I even like this better than Starbucks Chai (shh, don't tell). It has a bit more bite (spicy) and still slightly sweet, but it's a perfect blend. Sadly, you cannot purchase it to bring home. A in-store enjoyment only.


• Evening Decaf Tea Options: Good Earth Decaf Vanilla Chai is my favorite. This is just a tea brand you can get at the grocery store, but it's quite good. I first had it in New Haven at Lindsay's apartment. This is great just before bed since it's decaf. I just add a drop of milk and splenda. I enjoy it almost every night. The second runner up is Celestial Seasoning's Sweet Coconut Thai Decaf tea. That's pretty good too - it's more exotic tasting. Beth and Chris had this tea at their place and that's were I discovered this option. Besides these, I've tried other decaf vanilla chai teas and they just don't quite cut it. (Caroline gave me some German teas for Christmas too which I've been enjoying, but those are a Christmas speciality and hard for me to buy for everyday consumption).

This is probably more than you ever wanted to know about my tea drinking. Let's face it though, I've got good taste (wink wink). Plus, you've now taken a step into my life and what I drink in the evenings (besides a large sparkling water).

Josh and I shared some tea during lunch on our mini-trip to Portland over the weekend. Here's a funny photo of us with the tea pot...

My Would-Be AD Anniversary

This is going to be a short post, mainly noting my would-be five year anniversary with Acxiom. Oh yes, I was so very close to reaching that five year anniversary mug (or some awesome piece of Acxiom branded nick-nack). In reality, I only made it to about 4.75 years. So Close!

A big shout out to all my Acxiom colleagues. I miss you guys!

(For those of you not in the loop, AD stands for Acxiom Digital. AD was formerly Digital Impact, and now just simply Acxiom).

Re-Charging Our Batteries

Yes, super mini. I say super mini because we left Friday afternoon and returned Saturday evening from a little getaway up north. Josh received some Bed and Breakfast gift certificates (a combo birthday and xmas gift from my folks), so we decided to put them to good use and head out of town. The timing was perfect because I had two days off work in a row and it was the weekend before Josh's last semester begins.

After some debate early in the week - beach, mountains, vs. city and then exactly which B&B - we ended at the Camas Hotel which is a cute little Parisian-style boutique hotel located in Camas, WA. Camas is just over the Oregon border (that would mean Washington) and along the Columbia River Gorge about 20-30 minutes outside of Portland. We thought we'd get more bang for our buck out there and it'd be peaceful, quite, and quaint.

Josh took a week long, one unit Corporate Finance drafting course before the semester began that ended Friday. After his class, we high-tailed it out of Eugene up the 5. The rain was coming down in torrents so the driving was a bit tough (thanks Josh for taking over the wheel.

Finally, we arrived in Camas just in time for a nice little pizza dinner at Twilight (not related to the movie mind you). We wrapped up the night up with a martini and apple crisp at the recently opened restaurant next to our hotel, Harwood's restaurant.

Saturday morning we opted to get a bigger breakfast instead of the continental option at the B&B (which was sparse by 9am when I scoped it out in the dining area). We took a few steps down the road to a diner called Natalia's Cafe. The order? A Josh-like meal of hash browns and a Heather-like meal of egg whites and veggies scrambled. Not too shabby, and it was an adorable little diner to boot. Then we walked around for a bit since it wasn't pouring at the moment. The town did turn out to be quaint and cute, but pretty small. You can tell it's really trying hard to build up, but it's not quite there yet. There is a paper mill at the edge of town that has kept the area running over the years - a mill-town in other words.

Next up: Vancouver. That would be the closer Vancouver, the one in Washington as opposed to Canada. We walked the waterfront area, but it was pretty small. Nice condos and apartments though. After a quick walk on the water, we hopped in the car and found downtown. It was uber quiet - oddly quiet in fact - in the little downtown square we found. Our overall opinion of Vancouver: its a nice, quite place to live.

We then headed back over the bridge to the sales tax-free Oregon (always nice when eating out). We went to our favorite area, the Pearl District and walked around like we lived there. For example, we were giving people directions. Also, we hit up a few of our favorite shops, which of course means a stopat Oblations, "the scene of the proposal."

Eventually our tummies rumbled for some lunch so we jotted over to another favorite, Silk. I got a delicious curry with yams, eggplant, and chicken while Josh got a Vietnamese beef sandwich. We tacked on some tea to share since it was chilly. A perfect cold weather lunch. To top it off, Josh got a spicy mocha at Masterpiece.

Before heading back home, we did a Heather-must-feed-the-addiction stop at YoCream. I think I about died and went to heaven when I saw cookies 'n cream (my all-time favorite), Irish mint, and chocolate macadamia nut. Yummy in my tummy. Even though I wasn't incredibly hungry I ate a very large yogurt (dang that self-serve spout), but it was worth the pain...glorious.

A super great mini trip ended on the YoCream high and then back to Eugene. Need ed to get out out town..check. Good food...check. Spirit of Adventure...check. Relaxation...check. Recharge batteries...check. Well, you get the point, we checked off all our needs. This translates to...an excellent weekend!

As always, photos for your viewing pleasure on Flickr. The sneak peek picture below is along the Vancouver Waterfront.

Vancouver Waterfront

Winter Dreaming

I'll give you a hint, it's not coffee. Give up? Okay, it's tea. Whoo there. (As a side  note, I'll be writing a blog post on teas shortly, but for now a mini-post). Actually, it's not even Starbucks related. Yes, I snuck out and visited the competition: Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. The aren't in Oregon, mostly just SoCal and a few in NorCal. However, it's a must-visit place for me when I go home. This time I brought it back and now I've been utilizing my newfound knowledge on espresso machines and hot drinks. More specifically the magic steam wand that foams and froths milk. I brought back the special vanilla powder for the tea lattes and my favorite tea, Winter Dream. Together = Heaven. So I'm (correction, we are) drinking Winter Dream Tea Lattes. I'm not going to say how to order since I don't know their "code." Go get one if you can!

It's Back

After basically a month, I FINALLY got my car back!!

That's right - a month. I brought my car in on 12/14/09 and I'm just now getting it back on 1/13/10. You might have forgotten since it has been such a long, long time, but I had a little rear ender back on 12/4. See post - Stuck in the Midde. Apparently, the stereo had to be shipped off to Honda for repairs. I ended up losing all six Christmas CDs, but luckily I had them all safely copied on my iTunes library. The story ends well though because I now have a happy, clean, and functional vehicle - woot woot.

Day, Month, Year

I just have to share some good news...I love my new calendar. Every year after Christmas I have the Great Calendar Hunt. As the name suggests, it is the search for the best calendar. Needless to say, I am *very* particular  - to Josh's delight (cough cough). I'm over the dogs, puppies, or picture a day of some far off place. I want something cool, artsy, and not-too-common. I like the deals you can get post-Christmas (hence the wait), but then they are all picked over and there is minimal selection. Plus the type of calendar I have pictured in my mind is never at these stores (i.e. tiny kiosks at the mall, B&N, or Borders). This means taking it to the Internet - wider selection.

So the search continued online. To start, one requirement is that be something different, non-type such as a new artist. Last year (2009) I had William Rice's calendar with arts and crafts block prints. The year before (2008), was Robert Creamer's Intimate Blooms calendar. Another requirement of getting a calendar is to not repeat a calendar I've had previously - get something new. I almost got Lawren S. Harris, Group of Seven, or Vintage Travel posters. I was just about to purchase (really I was getting my CC out), when Josh said, "how about making your own on your Mac with iPhoto." And that's what I did.

At first I was annoyed at the time I was spending. I have BILLIONS of pictures - it's true (all those fab trips). I was agonizing over it at lunch with Josh when he gave me some direction: try picking a theme for the calendar and apply it for each month. That's when the idea came. Each month is a different country or city I've visited. With a goal and some direction the production was much easier - fun in fact. I visited all the places again through my pictures. The Calendar's name: Heather's Travels. It came in the mail Monday and it looks great! I've so excited. It's hanging over my desk in our little office. Here's the deal:

January = Spain, February = Eastern Europe, March = Holland/Belgium, April = France, May = Germany, June = Hawaii, July = Italy, August = Seattle, September = Oregon, October = England, November = Switzerland/Norway, December = California Xmas

2010 Calendar

Calendar @ Eugene Desk

Framing the House

With the new year, Josh and I thought we'd spruce up the place a bit with some photos. What's the inspiration? For Christmas Don and Nada gave us a blow-up of our McKenzie River covered bridge photo. The first step was to get some frames. While we were at it, we thought we'd also go ahead and frame my Jack Vettriano Singing Butler picture. I mean, what the heck, we're in the framing mode anyway. I've had this Jack picture since college, so it's a bit beat up, but it's still a great picture if you ask me.

It began today with a trip over to Michaels (bummer - no Aaron Bros in the area) to pick up some frames. We got a great deal - buy one get one free! Oddly, Michael's policy is to not cut photos (we needed the Jack picture trimmed a bit), so we headed next door to Staples. With some rulers and some cutters, we got them all in place. Then we returned home and...Poof! Voila! A classed up home with beautifully framed pictures.

Hello 2010 and Hello New Looking Walls!

Our Frames

Sunday Stroll

This past weekend of 2010 turned out to be a the best of the year so far. Not to mention, it's the first weekend of the year, so it'd be hard to beat at this point. Just fun to say. Seriously though, it really was a great weekend. I had Saturday off and worked earlier on Sunday, so it was almost like having a full weekend. Better yet...Josh isn't back at school yet so we could do fun stuff together.

As my title suggests, Josh and I decided to take a little stroll through Eugene's Alton Baker Park on Sunday after work. It was a non-rainy day; just gloomy but that added to the winter scenery of park (i.e. trees without leaves). I got to sport my new Christmas cold weather wear. Check out the red jacket, rain boots, jeans, warm vest - okay, the whole outfit (but so comfy, so warm). Anyway, enough about clothes, the walk was very nice. I got in the picture taking spirit and captured some of our walk in photographs -- I got a snapshot of Josh in front of Autzen Stadium to commemorate his time at the law school, some attempts at artsy pictures, and then some shots Josh took of me. The one below is me with some trees. Yes, enormous trees, little itty bitty Heather. That or I'm little red riding hood.

Taking a step backwards, Saturday was also a nice day. Saturday I got the entire day off. I started it with a much needed trip to my favorite grocery store: Trader Joes. Our house was in much need of food after being down in SoCal for the holidays. With food in the house, Josh and I opted to go out for lunch - HA! I've been feeling under the weather, so we got some pho (sorta like chicken noodle soup). Then off to Target. Did I mention I love Target? I could spend a long time just roaming around. There is so much to buy and so little money - sigh.

Saturday night we enjoyed a get-together at a Starbucks co-worker's apartment. She is leaving Starbucks for a local coffee shop. It makes me sad that she's leaving, but she's still in the area so we might actually get to hang out more not working together (for instance, shift schedules might not conflict as much). It was a fun night - we all brought different wines and cheeses. Just hung out and chatted it up. It was great to hang out outside of work - we were all wearing stuff other than black, white or tan too!

Over the weekend, we also hit up TCBY for my froyo fix. I can no longer say I haven't had it all year (I can say I haven't had Yumi all year though, tear). We also headed to Barnes and Noble (my wall in the office is lonely. I'm looking for a calendar - unsuccessful so far), Cost Plus (just a few odds & ends), and Sports Authority (JB cold weather running wear). It was almost like the scene in Old School where Will Ferrell talks about Bed, Bath, and Beyond - see seconds 23 to 40 on the video.

Now, I'm sitting on the couch with a cold. The sore throat from New Years went, but then a stuffy nose and all-around achy head cold came last night to replace it. Thankfully I have today off, but I don't like colds. I don't like just sitting around - it drives me crazy. I need to get up and do stuff. Err.

Let's end on a food note since Julie and Julia inspired me. I cooked a new dish yesterday for dinner. It was from a Martha Steward magazine I bought for the plane trip home (I don't like Martha much - good things, etc - but I do like some of her stuff and ideas). It was Pork Paillards with Sour Cream Paprika Sauce. I added some roasted potatoes and a salad. It turned out great! Earlier this week my when-in-doubt, safety meatloaf meal and turkey ragu were on the menu. Tonight (assuming the cold doesn't get the best of me), it's Eggplant Lasagna (remember that from last year? I did a posted on it).

Little Red Heather Hood

Welcoming in a New Decade

Man, I haven't written a blog entry all year!

I love doing that, saying I haven't done something all year. Yesterday, New Year's Eve, while at work, I was telling customers I'd see them next year. I think my co-workers got a kick out of it - that or laughing behind my back. Anyway, I think that's one of my favorite things about the New Year holiday. Now, I can go around saying things like, "I haven't had frozen yogurt all year" - that particular one won't be usable for too long though. Josh, loves this phrase (cough of sarcasm there).

As you probably picked up in my above paragraph, I'm working the New Years holiday. I worked New Years Eve until 5pm and today, New Year's Day, starting 12:15pm to 5:45pm. But, that'd ain't too bad! I got to stay up and sleep in. Plus customers are usually cheery on holidays.

New Years Eve was low-key this year for Josh and me. I started the tinge of a sore throat the other night, but it decided to come in full blast last night after work. With a sore throat, I really didn't feel like going out so we thought we'd take it easy (probably the flying or customers that gave me the cold - grumble - blame someone).

Instead we did some of our favorite things - Thai food and movies. Josh and I enjoyed a yummy meal at our favorite Thai restaurant, Chao Pra Ya. We returned home to watch Julie and Julia in the comfort of our own home (so yes, heaters were turned on). We sorta made it to midnight. We went to bed around 11:20pm since I had to work the next day and had a sore throat and opted for a good night sleep. However, we did awake up at midnight since our neighbors decided setting off fireworks and yelling would be fun for 2010. So I turned over to Josh and said Happy New Year, he grumbled a response and we were back to sleeping. I think sleep is a great way to welcome a new year, don't you? It's so comfy and nice.

Now, it's 2010. I guess we should discuss resolutions. I'll admit, I didn't really finish all my resolutions last year. But I did make about 3 of 5 - hey, that's not too bad. The ones I missed: yoga and golf. Perhaps yoga will be reset for 2010. I'd like to say I'd like to learn golf this year, but it's rainy and stuff here so to be honest, I doubt I'll go out in the rain to learn. So this year's resolutions need some further thought. I know health is the top, and keeping up this blog. I'm still thinking of others. Julie and Julia inspired me on the food front, so perhaps I'll try something there. Ehh, who knows. Oh well, resolutions really stop after January anyway (not to be a New Years humbug or anything).

Time to get ready for work. An ending thought: How will we refer to this year, and decade for that matter? Hmm: '10, the 10s, year 10, 2010. It's a bit perplexing to me. Guess we'll see.

Go Ducks! They're in the Rose Bowl & playing today.

Feeling the Holiday Hangover

Ever since Christmas ended, I've had trouble vocalizing this bum feeling I'm totting around. As I was writing an email yesterday, it came to me: the holiday hangover. I also thought of "reality bites," but holiday hangover sounds better. I mean we spend one day for everything we prepared the month for, and then the day is over and we're expected to go back to normal lives. Tear. Why isn't Christmas longer?

And another thing -- don't tell me that New Years is a "hair of the dog" cure-all for the hang over (Josh told me about this fitting phrase). New Years, is anti-climatic.  It never really what you hope it will be (i.e. the awesome party you see in the movies with sparklers and champagne at a really cool venue...nope, never happens).

Sigh, back to no decorations or fun music at home (or work).  Instead, its back to reality.  This hit me when I got home and spend all day yesterday doing the laundry, cleaning the house, putting things away, going to work.

Bah Humbug (in the opposite sense). Holiday Hangover.

If you're suffering the same, perhaps my Encinitas sunset photos will help cheer you up. Oh and Happy New Year Okay, I'll stop being a hum-drum and complaining - this whole email is a complaint, HA!. Side Note:  Isn't it crazy we're headed into another decade?

Santa Claus Came To Town

Or should I say Josh and Heather came to town..two towns to be exact: Indio and Encinitas. Indio with the Browns and Encinitas with the O'Neills. Yup, both parents are now down in SoCal, so we were able to squeeze in the holiday with both families. Josh flew down a day before me since I had a work shift, but I followed shortly after and arrived at our first stop, the Browns, on Wednesday afternoon.

Christmas Part 1 - Brown's in Indio
As I was about to get off the plane at Palm Springs (after a tad bit of turbulence), I noticed we had to go outside once off the plane. Ick, outside, that means cold (or at least that's what my brain translates "outside" these days). However, to my delight I stepped out to a wonderfully warm and sunshiny day. Ahh, melt. Then to top it off, Don and Nada took us to froyo. And it gets better because the flavor was cookies 'n creme. Heaven! And that was the first of the Christmas joys.

The rest of Wednesday was a bit of this and that. We visited some of the Brown's family friends, the Harvey's. We also had dinner at Papa Dan's where Josh's childhood brother-friend (a friend that's like a brother), Kevin, is manager.

Christmas Eve began with some Nada-Heather time getting fabulous manis and pedis. It'd been far too long since my little feeties and handies got some love - too much coffee making, cleaning, and cold weather drying them out. They came out much energized, or at least however hands and feet can be energized.

After nails there was a whirl-wind of errands and Christmas prep time. Suddenly 4pm rolled around and we at the Christmas Eve service at the Southwest Community Church. I was happy to find that they sang multiple carols and the big finale was Silent Night with candles. There was a weird attempt at a skit with mountaineers on clouds acting as angels and some crazy electric guitar version of Carol of the Bells, but all-in-all a nice service.

After the service, we enjoyed a scrumptious dinner at a seafood/steak restaurant called Pacifica. I had a lovely whitefish and a very tasty lemon drop. I even got to add to the the toast: "God bless us everyone." Then the Eve was tied up with some initial gift unwrapping with Aunt Ester back at the hacienda.

The sun shone in on Christmas morning and Santa had made a visit. We dove straight into our stockings where we all got various sorts of fun things - chocolates, notebooks, iTunes cards, and more. A quick break of the fast (aka breakfast) with some yummy multigrain pancakes. But not too long of a break because we were right back with unwrapping gifts from under the tree. Josh gave me a beautiful Tiffany heart necklace - woohoo, my first (and probably only) blue box! Side Note: I'm keeping the cute box. Also I got a super soft, warm vest and turtleneck from Don and Nada. Josh and I also received a nice set of pans for some fabulous cooking - perhaps a Food Network recipe.

We packed up and off we went over the desert and through the mountains (no river or woods, but sorta similar). The road lead us to the beach which brings us to...

Christmas Part 2 - O'Neill's in Encinitas
The minute we arrived, the O'Neill clan (aka mom, dad, and Lindsay) were ready and waiting. They held off all Christmas rituals until our arrival. They had the house prepared and food cooking for the big dinner feast at evening, so we got straight to the unwrapping (after a quick bite to eat). With the O'Neill tradition we started with the gifts under the tree. I must have been a good girl this year because I received all sorts of good stuff - rain boots, mittens, scarves, warm jacket, cozy PJs. Notice the list, they go right along this year's gift theme: warmth. Now I can say I'm all suited up for chilly weather. Additionally, I got a few tech things like an ear piece - Oregon is going to start the hands-free law in 2010. Josh got great stuff too. My gift to him was a nice, warm PJ set.

We had to go-go-go and move straight to stockings before the company arrived for dinner. The traditions were kept and we all sat in our usual places at the fireplace area and opened one gift at a time in a circle. More cute little stuff and goodies.

Starting around 3:30pm, the guests started to arrive. As tradition goes, we had a bunch of our family friends over for a big feast (our friends included the Hartleys and the Troglers). Before indulging in the xmas gluttony, we all sat around the tree and caught up on each others past year and holidays. We even opened some more gifts (I think my fingers should hurt from the unwrapping by this point - hehe, no complaining here though).

Dinner was fabulously delicious with roast turkey (very juicy), mashed pototoes, sweet potato casserole*, Brussels sprouts*, jello (my mom's famous jello with fruit), stuffing, and oh so much more. And don't forget dessert of pie, velvet pudding, chocolates, and cookies. (* = you may recall both dishes from my recipe collection & earlier posts).

And that wraps up (pun intended) yet another wonderful Christmas. Josh and I were blessed in that we were able to see both parents. I had such a great holiday, and to get somewhat mushy here, I feel like a very lucky person to be able to spend the holidays with those I love. I'm so glad I was able to get a few days to spend some quality time with the families - the perfect gift! This comes a bit belated now, but...Merry Christmas!

Christmas pictures are posted on my Flickr site - Check them out! Bonus pictures too from our walk on the beach the day-after-Christmas.

Xmas Tree

I'll Be Home for Christmas

Start singing: I'll be home for Christmas; You can plan on me. Please have snow and mistletoe; and presents under the tree.

Okay, now take out the snow part and it'd be just about fitting (no snow in SoCal). Tomorrow (Wednesday), I'm flying down home for the holidays. To start, I'm going to Palm Springs to spend some time with the Browns (that would be Josh's parents). Josh and I will be with them for Christmas Eve and early morning. Then we'll jump in the car and head to Encinitas to spend Christmas day and evening with my family. We'll have all our usual Christmas dinner friends & a regular, ole holiday feast.

And, oh boy, I've been preparing and waiting for the big Christmas day. I've been busy in the kitchen making cookies. Of course, Pepparkakor has been baked and enjoyed. Kakor what? It's a traditional Swedish cookie I learned from Grandma Norma. It's like a gingersnap slash sugar cookie because it requires cookie cutters. Then there is my Holiday Biscotti, which is a Giada De Laurentiis recipe that I've been making for a few years now. I've tested two new recipes too. First, I tried Peppernuts (or Pfeffernusse in German) to pay respects to my German heritage and friends. Second new recipe was from my December Cooking Light, Mexican Chocolate. These had pepper and cayenne in them. I used local chocolate, Euphoria, at 70% cocoa. Big hit. Whew, that's all I managed this year. Still a nice array though if you ask me. (And they are packed in my suitcase to bring to everyone).

As I write this very post, I'm watching It's a Wonderful Life. I've just about gone through all my favorite Christmas movies. I've been also listening non-stop to Christmas music!

If I don't post beforehand, Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Xmas Cookies