Day 263: Pea Cookies

We were trying to get rid of perishable items before the road trip home and I had a bunch of frozen peas. I didn't know what else to do with them, so I cooked them, mashed them up, mixed them with flour and made treats for the dogs. They're healthy and the dogs like them.

Day 262: Balconies Caves

On the Balconies Cave trail.

Day 261: Bixby Bridge

Today we took Dennis and Marc on the highway one drive. The weather wasn't the greatest--cold, super windy, and hazy--so the photos weren't the greatest, but it was still fun.

Day 260: Tags

Suffice it to say that I'm paranoid that something could happen to me while I'm out walking the dogs and they could get lost or whatever. Since I don't walk them with their collars on (I hate that damn jingly noise that all their tags make), no one would know who they were or where they needed to go. So I started walking them with just their bone-shaped name/address tag. But it still makes that awful jingly noise--I'm pretty sure it annoys Toby and Rodney too. So, I made them shrinky-dink tags that took all of ten minutes: traced the heart, cut it out, wrote their info and then baked it for like 2 minutes, let it cool, and then sewed it right onto their harnesses.

Day 259: Pretty Flowers

Day 258: Seems like Summer

It was a beautiful day (high of 70), so Toby, Rodney, and I sat outside for a bit, enjoying the sunshine.

Day 257: Asleep

Day 256: Zoltar

Day 255: Bacon Chicken & Green Beans

Day 254: I'm a Pepper

Dr Pepper was on sale, so we stocked up for the trip home.

Day 253: My Peeps

felt Peeps

Day 252: Book Rose

I have been feeling crafty lately, but have limited materials. However, I did try making a book rose. It turned out pretty good. Now I just have to figure out what to do with it. ":)

Day 251: Brownies from Scratch

I've never made brownies from scratch before. I always just used mixes. These were super easy and turned out pretty good, but I wish I would've greased the pan like the directions said. ":)

Day 250: Water Bottles

Ash and I decided to order new water bottles for hiking since our old ones are leaking or cracked. Since we're going to do some hiking on the way home, we thought we should get them now and mentioned it to Dennis and Marc, in case they wanted to order one too. (From left to right: Marc, Dennis, me, Ash.) They arrived today and I sent this pic to Marc, Dennis and Ash to confirm their arrival, mentioning that Marc's must be contaminated since it's in a bag. Here's Marc's theory: Dennis's and Ash's are zombies. Jen's just died (which is why it's upside down). Mine is observing via its safety bubble waiting to see Jen's turn.

Day 249: V-D

Day 248: Hiking up High

Ashley and I went to Pinnacles National Monument in central California for a hiking adventure. It was awesome. We hiked the Moses Spring Trail, through the Bear Gulch cave to the High Peaks Trail, and then took the Condor Gulch Trail back to the parking lot. It was a 6-mile hike, varying from easy to strenuous with an elevation gain of almost 1500 feet. The cave involved some crawling (and flashlights) and the High Peaks Trail had some very narrow passages with rock on one side and NOTHING on the other except a low rail.

Day 246: Tunnel

We drove through a mountain to get to Walnut Creek.

Day 245: Chinese New Year Parade

Ashley and I took the bart over to San Francisco to see the parade in Chinatown, which according to website, is "the largest celebration of its kind outside of Asia." It was very cool (literally and figuratively).

Day 244: Sopapilla Good

I bought a brick of cream cheese for something, but I can't remember what. So, I went online to find a recipe to use it in, because I can't take it back to Michigan with me. I found this recipe for Sopapilla Cheesecake. Oh my gosh.... it's so good. (And so easy!) Too bad it's 480 calories per serving. Ouch!

Day 243: Did you hear that?

Day 242: Little Farm

Day 241: Tote Bags

A couple tote bags I made for Christmas stuff next year. The flat bottom bag is super cute, but a pain to make. When I make more, I'll probably just do the flat bag.

Day 240: Tea and Biscuits

I discovered these tea biscuits back in December, but because the blogger is from Europe, the recipe was in grams. I had to do some converting, which wasn't exactly easy, but I must have gotten something right, because these tea cookies are super yummy and addictive. Another reason I like this recipe is because I make it without special tools, like a mixer, which I do not have here in California. Here is the recipe I use:

Put 10 tablespoons of butter in a mixing bowl and allow it to soften (at least an hour). Using a fork, mix in 1/2 cup packed brown sugar. Cut open 2 Earl Grey tea bags (really, you can use any tea you like) and pour into the mixing bowl, mix well. Mix in 1 egg. Next mix in 1 1/2 heaping cups of flour, in 1/2 cup intervals. Place bowl in fridge for at least an hour. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a spatula, scrape biscuit dough out onto a floured surface. Roll into a cylinder and cut into half inch slices. Place on baking sheet--the cookies don't rise or spread much, so you can put them pretty close together. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Enjoy right out of the oven with a cup of Earl Grey tea.

Day 239: You're a wonder!

Day 238: Homesick?

Day 237: Pretty Please

Can we please go outside, RIGHT NOW!?

Day 236: Happy Cows

Ashley and I decided to go to Point Reyes National Seashore in hopes of seeing migrating whales. We didn't see any. But we did see lots of cows, ravens, deer, a colony of elephant seals, and several herds of elk. Those commercials about happy cows coming from California... well, I can see why. Look at that view!

The trip to Point Reyes was only supposed to take a little over an hour, but it ended up taking us two hours. We realized on the way up that we would have to cross a bridge and therefore need cash for the toll--we still aren't used to this and don't always remember. Anyway, so we exited the freeway to find an ATM, but we ended up finding a bad area (Richmond) and what I'm pretty sure was a crime scene. Even though we didn't get to see what the crime was, it had to be pretty bad since they had an entire intersection blocked off and I didn't see any civilian cars on the scene...

And since I'm sharing weird stories... on the way home from Point Reyes, we stopped at the grocery store where we saw a guy buying a dozen large bottles of rubbing alcohol... and that's it. Perhaps he has a back alley surgery to perform. We also saw a girl walking through the store, holding her side like she had just gotten stabbed... And lastly, there was a weird couple that was yelling to each other across the store and in a big hurry. The guy pushing the cart almost ran me over.

Day 235: Bird Watching

It rained this morning, so there were some birds hanging out on the front porch, probably because it's covered. Rodney stood there watching them intently for several minutes before he decided he needed to bark at them.

Day 234: January Last

Today was the last day of January and I didn't take a picture the whole day. I worked more on the tree quilt (see yesterday's photo) and I worked on my novel.