Gather

Just a quick sneak peak at the lovely Northwest Thanksgiving dinner that Loverboy and I hosted this weekend. I am grateful beyond words for these people and can't wait to share more about the day. Stay tuned!

La Amistad

I'm truly blessed with an amazing group of girlfriends in the bay and the creativity that pours out of this group of girls is something that absolutely nourishes my soul. We had our11th book club gathering on Saturday - yes we've read ELEVEN books together! Our next book is our12th - I'm pretty sure we're getting smarter by the minute. Kat provided us with about every type of cheese you could imagine for the occasion - not to mention, the most adorable table setting for our book/life chat. She even made little flags for so we could identify each cheese! Check these puppies out...

How adorable is that?!

We read a book called Little Bee this past month - it's a story about the amazing strength of a Nigerian refugee. For me, the book forced me out of my comfort zone a bit and while I admit I chickened out of reading some of the more graphic parts, the story heightened my awareness of the struggles that still are very real for citizens of countries/villages that are/have been exploited by oil companies.

As our book club ended we got busy in the kitchen for our 2nd Bruschetta off! Yep, you read right, Bruschetta off!! Look at all that bru-ske-ta!

Here's Lindsey's Morroccan Road...

and Laura's Autumn Sunkist....Joe's excited about this one!

and Kat's Christmas...

We're not done yet people, another one of Kat's creations - BORSCHETTA

My lips of rome...Julian is seriously scrutinizing this creation.

And the winner of the evening....Lindsey's California Capote. (Although I think the true winners were the boys/judges - they kicked back watching football while us girls whipped up a bunch of fun food for them.)

Is there anything better than friends and food? I think not!

Amazing Grace

Bella Note

I'm sorry that I'm head over heels in love and that all of you are subject to my weekly posts where I re-hash the gushy details but I can't help myself. I just feel so darn grateful for Joe and he continues to do things that make me fall even further in love and I just have to share.

Grad school has fully taken over Joe's life in these past couple of months and between teaching full time at an intense charter school that operates on business hours and attending classes Monday, Wednesday and Saturday (not to mention the hours of time he spends on homework/lesson planning etc) the guy hardly has enough time to breathe. I really don't know how he does it - all I know is I am amazed every day by his work ethic, endurance, passion and optimism. He's incredible about keeping his head about him when everything around him is swirling around in chaos and I am so moved by his dedication. Lots of days I wish I could be like a substitute reader for him and read the hundreds of pages that he is assigned each week and just dump all the knowledge from the readings into his head so he could have a few extra hours to write papers or grade tests, but unfortunately, I haven't figured that out yet - so what I have been doing is cooking. A LOT and in BIG quantities. That way Joe has lots of leftovers that he can freeze and pull out for easy dinners during his crazy weeks.

Last Friday however, the tables were turned and Joe made dinner for ME. He already gives so much of himself when we are together and well, his time is his most precious commodity these days so it was very special to me that he made such an effort to make dinner. He had not gone to bed until 11:30 on Thursday night because he was doing homework and then he woke up at 4:30 on Friday to get more work done but when I arrived at his place on Friday evening, he had set a romantic table with candles for us and made a yummy salmon dinner with red pepper pasta and an incredible homemade salad dressing for our salad! And then to top it all off as we sat down to eat he cued up this song for us to eat to - Bella Notte. I almost cried, actually I might have cried.

I'm sure this story sounds incredibly simple and maybe I'm foolish for being moved so deeply by all of it, but the simple things Joe does for me (and for all the people in his life) are so full of his heart that they have a way of filling me up with a joy that's bigger than all the space inside of me.

more GLEE...

I loved this one too - couldn't find the actual video, but all you really need is the audio to be swept away by the harmonies goin' on here...

And this is from a few episodes back, but I also loved it...

i HEART Glee

and ESPECIALLY this little diddy....

A little character building and A LOT of jarring!

These are our shoes - drying in front of the heater.

Why you ask? Because Joe and I are borderline nut-so and decided that despite the constant rain today, it would be a good day for a steep, uphill trail run. Sunday's the one day of the week that loverboy can get a good run in these days with his crazy schedule and so whatever the weather, he's pretty committed to getting out to hit the trails. And well, I guess we're a good match, because I'm not usually one to shy away from a little bad weather if it means getting to workout in the great outdoors. At the end of the run as we stood in the rain, sopping wet with mud streaks up the back of our legs, we decided this was definitely one of those experiences that builds some character and makes ya a little tougher. Challenges truly do reveal character and well, if our attitudes on the run are any indication of the way we handle adversity in the real world - I'd say I'm getting the better end of the deal in this relationship :). Loverboy's a total champ when it comes to facing challenges and remaining calm and collected - anyone looking for a good Amazing Race partner? He'd be perfect!

On our way down Windy Hill all I could think about was taking a warm shower and eating A LOT of hot food. And well lucky me, I got both of those things shortly after we got back. As you know, Joe and I have been experimenting with jarring this fall. I told my boss about it when we first started - she's pro at jarring and instigated our fig jam adventure by generously providing 5 lbs. of figs from her tree. Long story short, she is a part of this incredible jarring community - each year they host a Harvest exhange and loads of people bring all the amazing things they've been jarring - the host makes a BIG pot of black bean chili and apple cider braised pork and then everyone swaps! Brilliant! The host's home was about as homey as a home could get and when we arrived he whisked us straight to the pot of chili and poured us some wine! How's that for hospitality. We scarfed down our chili and chatted with some of the others and then I just marveled at the table full of jarred goods. I could have cried - I'm just so moved by people who create things and then when they are both beautiful and edible, well that just about does me in! I was bubbling over with excitement! We contributed a couple jars of our fig jam and our recent pickles and check out some of the amazing stuff we came away with!

Joe and I sat and stared and this stuff for a little while and declared it was almost as good as Christmas!

Chili Peppers, lemons and adorable homemade leaf cards.


Duck Breast Prosciutto - what?! This sounds amazing - and the host made it!!

Strawberry Orange Jam, Apple Rhubarb Conserve with Maple Syrup and Peach Jam - ummm....heaven!

Turmeric Pickles, Spiced Beet Pickles and Balsalmic mustard - holy possibilities!

Sauerkraut - Joe's fav. takeaway.

Some kind of salty lemony concoction that is supposedly perfect for making a Morroccan chicken dish - we'll be giving that a whirl soon!

We also came away with dried persimmons that are beautiful and about the only thing more delicious than regular persimmons and home made truffles.

I just love the community of craftsmanship that this group has created and feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate this weekend!

Happy week!