Farmer's Market Friday

Have a great weekend!

I died

This video killed me. Warning: I am a cat person. You may not find this as amusing if you don't like cats. I laughed to the point of tears at the end with the boxes.

Random

1. Apparently, yelling "Pick Reid!" at the television means nothing.

2. OMG, will this house saga never end?

Again, I will spare you the complicated, boring details, but to make a long story short, last week we ended up changing loan strategies (for the better) which put us a week behind in the escrow process. Now we are a couple of days past the date we were supposed to lift our loan contingency, but due to the change, the new loan hasn't been approved yet. Thus we can't lift the contingency yet. And the selling agent is seriously riding our agent and loan guy. They keep telling us it shouldn't be a problem, but it's like we just can't even relax for a second. They say we should know today, so please keep your fingers crossed for us that it works out. If not, I'll definitely be blogging less, because I don't think they let you have a computer in your padded cell.

3. On a happier note, I made this delish zucchini bread a few days ago. It's adapted from a recipe from Smitten Kitchen. It was really good.



This is the original recipe:

• 3 eggs


• 1 cup vegetable oil


• 1 3/4 cups sugar


• 2 cups grated zucchini


• 2 tsp vanilla


• 3 cups flour


• 3 tsp cinnamon


• 1/8 tsp nutmeg


• 1 tsp baking soda


• 1/2 tsp baking powder


• 1 tsp salt


• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts


• 1 cup raisins (I used golden raisins, because it's what I had.)

(I added a couple of grated carrots for the heck of it, and because if you looked in my crisper drawer you'd think I was breeding bunnies. I also added a little more walnuts than called for, and next time I will add more raisins, because those made it for me.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8x4 loaf pans.

Beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in the oil and sugar, then the zucchini and vanilla (and carrots!).

In another bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nuts and raisins. Stir into the egg mixture, and pour into the pans.

Bake 60 minutes. (I baked for closer to 45 minutes, because I prefer bread a little more moist {moister?}, and they turned out perfect in my opinion.)

The weekend was...

Mostly filled with boring little chores and minor repairs to our current house to get it in rentable condition, but we did make it out on Sunday with Mark's mom, sister, and her husband to the Huntington Library and Gardens for tea. You know I can't resist mini food!

Tonight I will hunker down to watch the Bachelorette finale. Who is Jillian picking? I haven't agreed with most of her choices, but if I had to choose between Kiptyn (really?) and Ed, I'd pick Kiptyn because Ed's shorty shorts in Hawaii were just unpleasant.

Movin' on up

You may have noticed that I haven't been posting as regularly around here. I've been busy and I've wanted to explain why, but it hasn't been the right time...until now.

We bought a new house!

We went into escrow the Monday after the 4th of July, and of course we were thrilled, but the escrow process thus far has hit so many snags that I honestly wasn't sure everything would go through. Turns out securing a loan right after a major mortgage/housing meltdown is a bitch. Who knew? I won't go into all the bloody details (believe me, I was going to kill someone several times), but I *think* it's safe to say we've got it in the bag now.

The house is twice the size of our current house, and it has a pool!!! And it has a lot of storage/closets. I'll even have a walk-in pantry! I'm getting tingly. It's a 50s ranch and almost all the finishes are original which when you're talking about the hardwood floors is great, but the original oven and yellow tile - not so great.

Get a load of the kitchen. The tile is yellow and maroon. And the cabinets are knotty pine. I think that's all that needs to be said...

We plan to make a lot of changes (the kitchen needs the most work), but it's all going to happen slowly over time. This is the pool. You can't tell from this picture, but it's HUGE!

We were supposed to get the keys on August 11, but yesterday the sellers asked to rent it from us for two weeks after that until their escrow closes. Of course we agreed, but get out of my house, people...I'm ready to swim!

So anyway, while I would love to be a blog that posts everyday (at least M-F), the posting will probably continue to be sporadic around here for a while, what with packing and moving and painting and settling. But I promise lots of before and after posts starting in a couple of months!

The weekend was...

Sitting in crawling traffic on the 5 freeway on the way to Mark's dad's house because of this...

But once we got there, it was relaxing. On Saturday, the neighbor of Mark's dad and stepmom was having a Hawaiian-themed 40th birthday party. Although Mark and I had never met her, when she heard we would be in town for the weekend, she was gracious enough to invite us. And their house is a mansion. For real. Mark's dad has a nice, big house, but this house is like something out of Cribs. I wish I had taken pictures of the inside, but I thought that might be tacky.

Anyway, Mark estimated there were about 200 people at the party. It was catered with a huge staff, open bar, professional photographers, Hawaiian dancers-it was crazy. Please excuse the quality of the pictures-all were taken with Mark's very beat-up point and shoot...

This pool has a swim-up bar...


I wish these pictures could convey how oppressively hot and humid it was. I'm talking pouring sweat. It's almost all anyone could talk about. So when the sun went down Mark and I and a few other people dipped our toes in the pool...


Then some people even got all the way in with their clothes on...

Mark thought that was a great idea...

Wonderland

I cannot wait for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland! It doesn't come out until March of next year, but look at these photos! And Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter...please!

The weekend was...

Pink and silver ornaments from an estate sale...

Homemade pizza...

A little work in the garden...



But mostly it was staying indoors where it wasn't hot as Hades and trying to get some work done, which meant keeping Bean out so he didn't sit on the keyboard...

Etsy Goods

I could spend hours looking at the beautiful handmade and vintage things on Etsy.

thebrickhouse

matteart

Dandelion vase:

prettyrandomobjects

I think this is so cute even though it reminds of high school biology, pretending as hard as I could that I was participating when I wasn't turning around to take deep breaths and dry heave:

craftyhedgehog

Adorable butter dish:

burrobranch

Do you have any favorites on Etsy?

The weekend was...

Fantastic...and I don't have a single picture of it. We went to the best parade along a tree-lined street in the cutest city which *may* soon be our city (details to come), where all the houses were decorated and people were barbecuing on their front lawns and handing out drinks and treats to passersby, and kids were riding their bikes they had decorated with flags and streamers, and there was an overwhelming feeling of community, and I actually got choked up 'cause I'm a loser, and when I realized I forgot my camera I wanted to punch myself in the face, and I better wrap up this sentence before they take away my B.A. in English.

I hope you all had a great weekend as well!

Happy 4th!

via

I hope you all have a great weekend of friends, family, food, and fireworks!

Mail Hog

I'm obsessed with getting the mail for some reason. We have a mail slot in our door instead of a mailbox (which is something that took some getting used to for me. When I first moved in it would scare the crap out of me if I was in the living room when it came.), and if Mark and I walk into the house together I always yell, "Let me get the mail!" I just have to see it first. I never said I was normal.

And 95% of the time it's a huge stack of bills and some ads. But how delightful is it when a lovely little package arrives?

I've mentioned that I was one of the winners of Rachel at Heart of Light's "Pay It Forward" giveaway, and last week this little bundle of goodness arrived...



It's one of her beautiful ruffle headbands (tutorial on her site), a set of adorable notecards, and a pad for keeping track of the week's menu and grocery list. How much did I score!?! I love handmade treats! And check out her blog if you haven't already...it's beautiful!