Autumn

I knit a hat for me!

I am soooo in love with this hat. It is soft and warm, was super fast to knit, and the color makes me drool. This pictures can't even start to show how awesome the color is (one again sorry for the lousy pics). The hat is supposed to be more slouchy, but I must have a big head to fill it out. Next time I will add a few more rows to it.



details:

pattern -autumn by Jane Richmond
yarn - lion brand wool-ease quick 'n thick in grass
also detailed on my raverly page

My first hat!

I finished knitting my first hat! I'm very excited. I can't even begin to tell you how good it felt to knit again...or just be crafty! I have missed it so much. I have to appologize for the lousy pictures. I got a new camera for a graduation gift and it hasn't came yet. I gave my old one to my mom so I just have a point and shoot currently.

As you can tell Ryan was the lucky winner of this hat. The name of the pattern is "Turn a Square" you can see where it gets its name from the top of the hat. See the square?

Knitting a hat wasn't nearly as hard as I had expected. I did struggle with the jogless striping on it. You can kind of see in this picture how the stripes don't line up...that's where I had the trouble. You are to only slip the first stitch of the color change...not all of the color change. So that is why it looks so funny. But I was so excited to finish the hat that I couldn't rip it out and do them again. Ryan says he still loves it. I wish I would have used better yarn. I guess I will have to knit him another hat. I really liked this pattern and will use it again

details:

pattern - Turn a Square
yarn - Loops and Threads Solids
also detailed on my raverly page pattern

update!

I have been a very bad blogger. But in my defense life has been VERY crazy since my last post back in August ( by the way Karla your last blog post was 8 months ago!). So here is a quick run down of what life has been like:

• Ryan and I went on vacation with my parents. We had such a great time and go to see so many things. We traveled through 5 states saw one of the most amazing places on the earth. Ryan also discovered my obsession with collecting my national park stamps, which was highlighted by my Dad driving way to fast in the pouring down rain so I could get my stamp before the visitors center closed.
• I got very sick. Before we left on vacation I had a trip to the ER. I had been having horrible abdominal pain that would not go away. I couldn't eat with out vomiting it all right back up (sorry for that visual). The doctor in the ER said that he thought that it was a virus or something and that I would be better in a few days. So I decided to go ahead with our family trip. I got better for a little over a week. But I still couldn't eat much without having a ton of pain. Our trip came to a quick close in Spokane Washington with a big dinner that ended with me in the fetal position crying all night. We drove home the next day and I saw more and more doctors. Had tons of tests ran, lost 20lbs (on the bright side awesome for the wedding!), and ended up having surgery.
• Had surgery  on October 28th I had my gallbladder removed. While I did have a few complications after the surgery, I feel so much better now! It still blows my mind that I just have 3 tiny scars on my tummy. I also can't even begin to tell you how nice it is to eat again. before my surgery all I could hold down was smoothies and bland soup. So that 20lbs I lost will be work to keep off.
• Started my last term of school. So my last term of my nursing program was insanely hard. Not only was I sick and had to have surgery I logged in 90+ clinical hours, 100+ classroom hours, put over 2400 miles on my car driving to said classroom hours and through all of that I still passed my final with a 95%.
• I graduated from my nursing program! On December 3 I was officially done!! All my hard work for the last 5 years paid off (I can't believe that is how long ago I started my very first nursing class). I now can put all of these fancy labels behind my name. Here they are in the order that I achieved them CNA, CHT, LPN, RN, BSN, MSN.... PhD (haha not quite that far).  
• Job search....since I graduated I'm not exactly sure that my plans with legacy will play out as I hoped. So while waiting to see how the cards fall I am exploring my other options. And let me tell you that the job market is bare out there! But I have faith that it will all work out and I will end up with an awesome job that I love.
• Holidays. Halloween, this year I was way to sick to even consider carving a pumpkin. That made me so sad. I will have to carve extras next year to make up for it. Thanksgiving was fun since I could start eating by then. Now on to Christmas!

So that was the quick run down of life over the last 4 months. I will try to get some pictures up from vacation and graduation soon.

peace out!

We are off to Yellowstone!

The East Side

This last Thursday Ryan and I spent the day with our friend Julie and Steven. We had an action packed day! We started out going here

The Vista House is a special place for Julie and Steven but Ryan and I have really never gone. It was so pretty! Not to mention that it had an AMAZING view

The color on this picture is off because of the filter lens I messing around with, but I like the pink tones in the sky.

Julie and I being dorks. After we finished up here we headed to Multnomah Falls for a hike. So pretty! We were all amazed on how crowded it was for a weekday.

After our hike we went to The View Point in so I could dork out. They filmed the final scene in Twilight there (the prom). This place has a killer view. I would love to go stay there some time.

After all our looking around we went to HUB for happy hour. Ryan has been dying to go to this brewery since it opened. We just don't get out on that side of town very often. We we stopped for some beer and probably the best pretzels I have ever had. After that we went to Foster Burger for dinner. The burgers were really good, check out Julie's blog to see some pics of the guys going at the burgers. After dinner we were all so full we could barely move. It was such a fun day!

We've set the date!

After a blur of venues Ryan and I found one that we both love! We will be getting married on August 6, 2011 at Elk Cove Vineyards. We are super excited!!

Summer Reading Part 2

I have finished yet another stack of books! I have been doing so much reading at work lately because I have been doing a lot of 1:1 with patients. It is so boring to just sit and stare at the patient for 12 hours, so thankfully we can read during this time.

I really disliked this book. I wanted to stop reading it on so many occasions, but didn't because I kept waiting for something to happen in the book. When I finished it I was like...ok now what. There was no climax to the book what so ever, which was disappointing. I really can't tell you what the point of the book was. So far I have been very disappointed in Madeleine Wickham's books. I love her books when she writes as Sophie Kinsella, but this pen name is very different. The books often deal with affairs and more serious issues. Which can be quite the downer.

Another Twilight book. This one was very short, it only took me a couple of hours to read. But it was interesting seeing the vampire side of the story. On Stephenie Meyer's website you can read a few chapters of Twilight from Edward's perspective. It is amazing! I would love it if she published more books from the vampire's point of view.

This book I actually enjoyed. I almost didn't read it because I have been so disappointed in Wickham's books, but I decided to give it one more go. I was pleasantly surprised. This was about a woman who is getting married, but she is already married to another man...a gay man. It was a fun book and made me really think at times about the issues in it. Because of this book I will give Wickham another try.

Jane Green was the first author that I read in the Chick Lit books. Her writing has changed very much over the years. I can really tell that she writes from her own experiences. At first the books were about young twenty somethings trying to find love, then about getting married and having kids, affairs, divorce, finding love again and so on. This one was very different from all of her other books. It is about a woman who has cancer. It was a beautifully written book that made me think a lot of my experiences of my Grandma and her cancer. A fun thing about this book was each chapter had a recipe in it. The book wrote from many point's of view so you could see how all the family and friends were affected by the cancer. I felt very silly because I read the book at work and it made me cry. I was trying so hard to keep it in, but the book hit so close to home that I couldn't help it!

Emily Giffin has a knack for writing about affairs. It seems to happen in most of her books, but this one was different. It alternated each chapter from either the wife's point of view or the other woman's point. Very fun to see both sides of the story and really made me think about the complexity of an affair. It isn't always so black and white.

Engaged!

Ryan and I are getting married! I know I should have written about this when it happened (7/22/10), but I can't even begin to tell you how busy I have been.

Ryan proposed to me on a Thursday night. We went out to dinner, watched an outdoor concert then when back home. We were sitting around watching TV and next thing I knew Ryan was down on his knee asking me to marry him. The ring is absolutely beautiful and perfect in every way. I wish I had some pictures to show you from that night, but taking pictures was the last thing on my mind. But here is one from the next day

Ray LaMontagne You Are The Best Thing

good stuff

Ok so I totally love Ray LaMontagne's music. He is pure genius. I just thought I would brighten your day with one of my favorite songs by him

Summer Reading Part 1

Now that school is out until September I have been doing a lot of reading. I can't even begin to tell you how nice it is to read for fun! Here is the damage I have done so far:

I heard about Jen Lancaster from my friend Julie. We have very similar taste in our books so I had to give this author a try. Oh my god! She is so friggin funny!! I laughed out loud through out this entire book. This is not always a good thing, especially if you are reading at work. This book is basically about a girl who is living the life. She has a great job earning tons of money, perfect trendy apartment in the city (Chicago), all the latest fashion from all the biggest labels, hair done by the best stylist in the city, and an attitude to match. Then everything crashes down when she loses her job and can't find another. I could relate to Lancaster in a few ways in this book. Mainly I went through a phase where labels and status were a big deal to me (stupid girl I was). I learned my lesson alot quicker than Lancaster did. This was a great book and I highly recommend it to you! Lancaster is a smart ass but she is funny.  

Another Jen Lancaster book. This is the follow up to "Bitter is the New Black". While I have never lived in a big city, I have always wondered what it would be like. Sex and the City made it seem so awesome. Thank you Jen Lancaster for showing me that it is not always so super. While Lancaster tells you her tales of apartment hunting, life being employed, job hunting and her other shenanigans in a funny way it wasn't quite as laugh out loud funny as "Bitter". Still a fun read.

When I first heard about this book I had mixed feelings. I LOVE Sex and the City! So the idea of learning about Carrie's past intrigued me. On the other hand I really haven't been a huge fan of Bushnell's other books. But I decided to check the book out at the library and give it a shot. I did not want to put this book down once I started. It was really well written and had great characters. I had to stop a few times and think because some of the story lines differ from the TV show. The book leaves you with a HUGE cliffhanger that left me begging for the next book. But I don't think that the next book comes out until next summer :-(  Like I even need to say this, go read this book!

Mac and Cheese Friday

Yet another mac and cheese recipe! This is food networks #1 rated recipe for mac and cheese. I made it quite awhile ago, but just haven't gotten around to posting about it. It was pretty good, but not the best I have had. However the one thing that I will take from this recipe is hands down the panko bread crumbs. The crunchy topping on this was amazing. I liked the flavor the onions gave it, but really it needed a few more cheeses for complexity. By the way did you notice my awesome new baking dish? I choose this picture to show it off rather than the food :-)

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Ingredients


1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 large egg
12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper

Topping:
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.
Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.
Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Twilight: The Graphic Novel Volume 1

*sigh* I have some serious love for Twilight. This graphic novel just made me love it even more. This is the Twilight story told in pictures. It was a super fast read, I devoured it in about an hour. But what I enjoyed the most was the pictures were what I had imagined in my head when I read Twilight for the first time. Young Kim, the artist is so talented. I cannot wait until the next volume comes out. This book ended with Bella and Edward kissing for the first time. If I were to guess I think that their will be 4 volumes for the Twilight book. If you loved Twilight and get the chance to read this do it! I promise you will enjoy it.

PS- Julie read the dang Twilight books already!

Better Together

There's no combination of words

I could put on the back of a postcard
No song that I could sing
But I can try for your heart
Our dreams, and they are made out of real things
Like a, shoebox of photographs
With sepia tone loving
Love is the answer,
At least for most of the questions in my heart
Like why are we here? And where do we go?
And how come it's so hard?
It's not always easy and
Sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing it's always better when we're together

It's always better when we're together
Yeah, we'll look at them stars when we're together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together


And all of these moments
Just might find their way into my dreams tonight
But I know that they'll be gone
When the morning light sings
And brings new things
For tomorrow night you see
That they'll be gone too
Too many things I have to do
But if all of these dreams might find their way
Into my day to day scene
I'd be under the impression
I was somewhere in between
With only two
Just me and you
Not so many things we got to do
Or places we got to be
We'll Sit beneath the mango tree now


It's always better when we're together
We're somewhere in between together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together


I believe in memories
They look so, so pretty when I sleep
Hey now, and when I wake up,
You look so pretty sleeping next to me
But there is not enough time,
And there is no, no song I could sing
And there is no, combination of words I could say
But I will still tell you one thing


We're better together.

Kiwi

Meet Kiwi, she is the newest member of our kitchen family.

Kiwi is a 3 qt french oven who I have been wanting to bring home for quite awhile. She will be perfect for fixing smaller things in, such as our first meal in her

I made fire roasted tomatoes with shrimp, feta and zucchini. It was AMAZING! And the best part about cooking in french/dutch ovens is you just put it in the oven and leave it until it is done. It is the best thing ever for a busy person.

Sookie Stackhouse Series

So I have been trying to do some reading at night and in my free time. I am now caught up on the Sookie Stackhouse series.

There are 10 books in the series this far (yes, I know that there are only 8 in the picture). The books were fast reads...well except for the last one. The last book was not so great. "Dead in the Family" seemed as like the author had to write a book, but didn't want to. The book didn't have much of a plot and was hard to get finished. I am still surprised with my self that I have liked the books. I never would have thought that I would get caught up into a world of vampires, werewolves, fairies and other supernatural creatures.

Reading the series of books has made me excited for True Blood to start again (on June 13!). The last season of the show was just plain weird to me and I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep watching the show. But after reading the books and knowing what is coming in the show I am so excited!

Happy Birthday Brooklyn and Carter!

Brooklyn and Carter celebrated their 1st birthday on the 16th of May. Heidi and Chase had a fun backyard BBQ with lots of family and friends. The twins were really not in the picture taking mood, so the good ones were few and far between. But it was still fun to spend the day with them

Disneyland!

I just realized that I never blogged about our trip to Disneyland that we took earlier this year with Ryan's family. It was a great trip with nice sunny weather. It really isn't fair that some places can have 80's in February. After we got home I realized that I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I did when Ryan and I went two years ago. I think that part of that may have been intentional because I wanted to see the place with both my eyes :-) Also this trip was the debut of the flip camera that my parents got me for Christmas. It is pretty awesome.

I'm pretty bummed because I can't figure out how to post the videos. Oh well! I can't wait to go back when all the construction is over and the new rides are ready.