Day 203: NYE

I wish I would've packed wine glasses. We had to drink our champagne out of tumblers. Happy New Year!

Day 202: 12th Day of Christmas

On the twelfth day of Christmas, I took down the Christmas decorations--all five of them... ":)

Day 201: Owl Quilt - pieced

I pieced the owl quilt today. The quilt frame is at home in Michigan, so I can't quilt it until March.

Day 200: Vines

This place is within walking distance of the condo. There's a nice trail and lots of greens--a perfect place to walk the dogs. There are these vines with yellow flowers on them. Yesterday, the vines were mostly green, but today they were full of the yellow flowers, so many in fact, that you could smell them from the trail.

Currently, I am listening to a book called The Ruins and it has creepy vine plants that kill people and animals and (basically) eats them. It looks like Ashley is about to get eaten.

Day 199: 11th Day of Christmas

On the eleventh day of Christmas, I purchased a couple pieces of Christmas fabric (on super sale) and coordinating ribbon. I'm going to use them to make gift bags to put the ornaments in for my Godkids next year.

Day 198: 10th Day of Christmas

On the tenth day of Christmas, I made Christmas cookies. I know they don't look very Christmas-y, but they are delicious, so who cares? Making cookies when you don't have an electric mixer or even a whisk is tricky, but doable.

Day 197: 9th Day of Christmas

On the ninth day of Christmas, Ashley and I opened our Christmas presents to each other and the one from Granny. We will do Christmas with Mom, Dad, and Ed in March when we get back to Michigan.

Day 196: 8th Day of Christmas

On the eighth day of Christmas, I opened my Christmas Eve pillowcase (from Ashley) and my Texas Christmas present (from Aunt Lynna). Yay! Now Ashley and I have a something to watch. ":)

Day 195: 7th Day of Christmas

On the seventh day of Christmas, I moved the Christmas tree so that I could put the presents under it.

Day 194: 6th Day of Christmas

On the sixth day of Christmas, I made pumpkin dog treats for Toby and Rodney. I wrapped a couple treats for each dog to put under the tree.

Day 193: Big Rock

Ashley and I took the dogs for a walk around the condo complex. There is a big hill (or perhaps a small mountain?) with trees on it and big boulders on it. I saw them a week ago and ever since, I've wanted to climb up there. Today we did. It was steep and the leaf covered ground made it tricky to climb up. We basically just slid back down the hill.

Day 192: Triominos

Ashley and I have been playing this game all day. It's one of the few games I brought with me.

Day 191: Giant Redwoods

We drove up US 101 to the Avenue of the Giants to see the redwoods. They were awesome. Ashley drove Sing Sing through the Chandelier Tree (I walked through it).

Day 190: Artichoke Dinner

Artichokes (with super garlic butter) and the recipe for Chicken Marsala with Pancetta Bacon (only we used pork instead of chicken, Riesling instead of Marsala, and regular bacon instead of Pancetta).

Day 189: 5th Day of Christmas

On the fifth day of Christmas, Ashley and I addressed and mailed our Christmas cards.

Day 188: Sherlock Holmes 2

I took Ashley to the Grand Lake Theatre for her birthday to see the second Sherlock Holmes movie. The theatre was so cool. The movie was shown in the main theatre (check out a photo of what it looks like here). And before the show, a little old man played Christmas songs on the organ. It was so cool.

Day 187: Turkey Potpie

Super easy! I cut up precooked turkey breast and put it into the bottom of the baking dish. I cooked frozen mixed veggies on the stove and then dumped them on top. Added a can of cream of mushroom soup and about 1/3 cup of light cream (milk could also be used) and mixed it all up. Then I unrolled a tube of crescent rolls and laid them on top. Baked at 375 for 12 minutes. Not only was it delicious, but it was easy to cut into triangular serving portions.

Day 186: Tacos for Dinner

Day 185: 4th Day of Christmas

On the fourth day of Christmas, I put out the few Christmas decorations I have or were mailed to us by Mom--window clings, Santas, and card holder (I hope she sends us a string of lights!). The "snow" I bought at Joann Fabrics this last weekend (it also works great for stuffing toys).

Day 184: Pretty Paper

Day 183: Indian Rock

On our way to the grocery store, Ashley and I stopped at Indian Rock Park in Berkeley. The park is essentially a giant rock in the middle of a neighborhood. There were houses all around it. When we were there, there were a bunch of people practicing rock climbing.

Day 182: 3rd Day of Christmas

On the third day of Christmas, I started making presents for my Godchildren.

Day 181: Living Room

Here is a picture of the living room. Since we aren't planning to use the fireplace, we pushed the sofa in front of it. We don't have any shelves, so the mantle is where we are storing books. I found the giant pine cones while out walking the dogs.

Day 180: K Title

I give up! I have tried three times to get this to upload the right way and it won't, so you'll just have to turn your head sideways.
This is the last book I need to read for the 2011 Reading Challenge. My plan was to request a different K-title book from PaperBackSwap, but when I got to California, that book was no longer available. So I looked for a new book and came across this one. I hope it's good.

Day 179: Little Monsters

Until I find a job out here, I thought I'd try to supplement my income by selling felt stuffed animals on Etsy. So far, no sales yet, but I am hopeful. Today, I made the pink and the purple monsters. (Check out my shop for more felties.)

Day 178: Walk in the Park

Ashley and I took the dogs to a nearby dog park (less than 10 minutes from the condo). Unfortunately, we forgot their collars (which provide proof of rabies shots) so we didn't take them to the dog park section and instead opted to go for a hike in the woods. It was beautiful. We will definitely be going there again.

Day 177: 2nd Day of Christmas

On the second day of Christmas, I made owl Christmas ornaments for my Godchildren. They turned out super cute!

Day 176: 1st Day of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas, Ashley and I bought this spruce shrub thing from Home Depot for $5. It will be our Christmas tree and it's hardy enough to come back to MI with us in March.

Day 175: The Rock

Today we toured Alcatraz Island.

Day 174: Arrival

I meant to take a picture of the apartment after we had settled in a bit, but never got around to taking the photo. But don't worry, there will be apartment pics in the near future, I'm sure.

Day 173: Out the Window

We had planned to hike in Arizona and to do some scenic driving through Joshua Tree National Park today, but due to the epic windstorm sweeping the nation, the weather was too crappy to enjoy either. I took this picture out the window of my truck while we were driving down the highway.

Day 172: Red Rock Country

We really wanted to go hiking in Sedona, but most of the hikes do not allow dogs. So we just drove around on back roads (gravel roads) and took pictures out the window. We did manage to find some places to pull off and take pictures too.

Day 171: Rock Climbing

In the morning, we climbed all over the sandstone bluffs in El Mapais National Monument. In the afternoon, we climbed all over the (ginormous) rock formation at El Morro. It was so awesome. It was definitely the best hike of the trip.

Day 170: Mountains

On our way through New Mexico, we stopped at Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque. The actual trail wasn't anything special, but when we hiked up the boulders and rocks, that was pretty awesome. We saw lots of petroglyphs too.

Day 169: Shadows

On our way to California, we stopped in Texas to go hiking. We hiked the Lighthouse Trail. As we were hiking up the last bit (which was really climbing) we ran into a man and his son. The man urged us not to continue on, but to turn back because it would be dark in an hour. When we asked how far it was to the end, he said less than a quarter mile. So we said we wanted to continue. He then proceeded to tell us that a lot of people had died at the park this year... because of the heat (which was not at all an issue for us since it was only 60 degrees). The guy meant well, but the info he gave us was completely irrelevant. We did hike to the end and saw the lighthouse formation (and we didn't die even though the last thirty minutes of the hike were in the dark).

Day 168: Road Trip

Toby and Rodney taking a nap on the longest road trip of their lives.

Day 167: Alcatraz's New Backpack

Day 166: Thankful

 In honor of Thanksgiving, I'm posting some of the things I am thankful for.

Day 165: MBC

Sarah, Doug, Dan, Nina, Sarah, Kevin, Marc, Pat, Liam, Sophie, Mandy, Dennis, John, and Steve all came out to Midland Brewing Company to hang out the night before Thanksgiving.

Day 164: Vet Appointment

Toby and Rodney each had a check up today to make sure they were healthy and good to go to California.

Day 163: NaNoWriMo

I was so busy working on my NaNoWriMo novel that I completely forgot to take a picture today.

Day 162: Fried Chicken Bet

A month or so ago, Dad and I were having a discussion about the movie, Forest Gump. Dad said that Forest Whitaker played Bubba (the shrimp guy) and I said that there was no way. Well, he was pretty certain about it, so we made a bet. If I won, he had to make me fried chicken and if he won, I had to make him homemade cookies. Of course, I won because Forest Whitaker is not in Forest Gump. The guy that plays Bubba is Mykelti Williamson.

Day 161: Lily's Princess Birthday Party

Day 160: Homemade Crab Cakes

I tried out making crab cakes tonight. They turned out pretty good. I made a sauce out of sour cream and dill to go with them.

Day 159: Flower Quilt

Finished quilting it!

Day 158: Write-In

Sarah and I had our own NaNoWriMo Write-In at the Midland Brewing Company. I wrote about 2500 words.

Day 157: Easy Dinner

Kroger's broccoli and cheese with some pasta shells makes a super easy dinner.

Day 156: NaNoWriMo

Toby and Rodney cuddled with me while I worked on my NaNoWriMo novel. Tomorrow is the halfway point. Check out my progress.

Day 155: November Quilt Day

Day 154: Another Project

I found this really weird book (The Cute Book) and it his directions on how to make felt stuffed animals. I can't wait to try it. The book is so weird...

Day 153: 11/11/11

Today was 11/11/11 and I didn't take a single picture. I don't know if that is good luck or bad luck. Happy Eleven Day!

Day 152: Another Baby Quilt