The Thumperian principle

Remember Thumper? From Bambi? A cutie right? Oh most definitely! But not only a cutie, a smart little baby bunny as well. Something that has been popping into my head a lot lately is Thumpers best phrase from the movie. If you know it, say it with me now...

"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

I looked it up and it is apparently called The Thumperian Principle. Who knew? I certainly didn't. But I love it! And will do my best to incorporate it into my daily (since I personally need to remember it often) conversations. :) Probably going to annoy people. My favorite. :)

Tree planting (lots of pictures coming your way)

My baby tree's one last time in their little green pot they called home for three (plus) weeks.

Filling their new home with brand new dirt (or top soil, whatever) bought just for them.

Their new home. It's so huge! They can finally stretch their roots a bit, that should feel nice. :)

Mom and I working together to plant the little greenies just right.

Me and my greenies in their new red-cracking paint home. :)

Their new home and my parents house by the pretty pink bush...much more exciting than my desk and office, I must admit.

This little guy will watch over my little greenies for me...I hope. He looks pretty stoik, I think I can trust him.

My mom got a little excited about all the planting we were doing that she had to go work on her own garden. Here she is planting some cherry tomato plants. Oh, I cannot wait for those to grow!! My mouth is watering just thinkin' about it.

And here are some pretty things growing in my mom's yard that I just had to get some pictures of. I don't know what they are but I sure do think they are fun to look at.

Linda's Thursday Dinners

So, Linda (from the front desk) has a crew that comes over to her house every Thursday night to have dinner and watch The Office. For the last several months, every week Linda and I have had a grand ol' time coming up with the meal that she will serve to the Thursday night gang. It's been fun because she has been stepping out of the comfortable cooking box (which there is nothing wrong with) that she has been in and has been trying new recipe's, new technique's, and even new tools (such as the "paddle" that she bought to flip her pizza dough, similar to the one pictured below).

She has made some pretty fabulous things including a very some fabulous pulled pork taco's and a very tasty veggie pizza (she was even sweet enough to bring a piece of the pizza to work for me to taste...and it was GOOD!).

So...I decided that since we have so much fun with this little meal planning of ours, we needed to blog about it. I have finally gotten some pictures from her from the most recent Thursday night dinner and hopefully we can keep this trend going and we can share Linda's great culinary skills and the recipe's she makes with you all out there in blogger land. :) Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! :)

Here Linda has just pulled out from under the broiler her famous bacon wrapped scallops. Yum!

I tell ya, she pampers these people. Here is her other appetizer plate of crackers and brie with a jalepeno relish on top.And the dinner, foccacia bread, a nice italian dressed salad, garlic orzo, and porketta. The recipe attached is not the one she used but it will work very nicely for you. :) I have never heard of porketta but it sure does look good and she said the gang LOVED it! Oh, and she put her pork shoulder (I think that is what she used?) in the slow cooker all day and said the meat was just pull apart tender.

Okay, this is the first installment. Hopefully next week we'll have another one with this Thursday's dinner for you to try. :)

(oh, I should also mention to you that I just walked Linda through her first order of Vitalicious vitatops. Yep, I have another convert. :) Kristin, that means you're next!) ;)

My own personal Christmas tree's

The pictures aren't great (taken on my phone) but here is a little pot of Christmas tree's that I have been growing on my desk for a couple weeks now. The first picture is the first little growth, it's kind of hard to see...

in this picture, you can almost see the three little buds...

and there they are, in all their little glory... and now you can start to see (despite the bad picture quality) their little neetlesAnd there they are today! They are just getting so big. I almost feel like a proud mama. :)

It's just so fun to watch!!! And really, the most shocking of this whole experience thus far, the fact that they haven't died already. These are some sturdy tree's, I'm tellin' ya. I usually kill plants...no, scratch that...I always kill plants. Never on purpose mind you, I'm just not always good at remembering to water them. But these little guys, they are surviving and soon they will be planted in my parents back yard...that is, if they let me...I haven't actually asked yet. :)

A new restaurant (to me at least)

Just wanted to give you some a couple more updated pictures of my sister so you can see just how b-e-a-utiful she is for being the young age of 40. Me and Sammy at Pix
Sam and Karl looking like their bohemian selves

Sam, Karl and I went out Friday night to celebrate my sis's big birthday with some dang AMAZING food and good laughs. First we went to Toro Bravo, this great little Mexican restaurant over off Russell st. in NE Portland. People...the food was absolutely delicious. They serve all tapa style plates of food so it's great to go with a small group and just get a bunch of plates to share. Wow, I wish I had pictures but just go check out their site. Now, I say small group because the place isn't as large as the pictures on the website might make you think. We got there probably about 5:30 or so and the place was already full and we would have had to wait an hour to and hour and a half just to sit at a table (we sat at the bar instead, was just perfect, too). So, we think the key is to get there AT 5 or shortly there after or wait until about 6:15/30 for the first batch of people to finish eating. Also, if you are allergic to nuts be sure to tell your waitress upfront. She/He can tell you what has nuts in it so it isn't a surprise and you don't accidentally eat something and die...like Karl almost did. Actually, praise the Lord, Karl didn't have any reaction after he had eaten a bite of some almondy pasty stuff (that comes with the steak, one of their signature dishes) but we kept asking him if he was okay and I think he was getting annoyed with us. Sorry Karl, we are just worried and don't want you die and ruin Sam's birthday. But seriously, this place is fantastic. Their sangria is very delicious and, although we didn't order any, their desserts looked rather mouth watering too. Especially their churro's with some sort of berry dipping sauce (yum!). And for 3 of us with like 6 plates and a pitcher of sangria? We ate pretty cheaply for a night out. Also, if your vegetarian, you will find no shortage of options. :) I just can't say enough good stuff about this place. Oh, they also get all of their good and whatever else from places in Oregon, to keep everything fresh and in season and to help out the local farmers. I love it when restaurants do that. And I just saw on their list of providers (on their website) that they get their coffee from Stumptown. Need I say more? Didn't think so.

Oh, I should tell you what we tried (if I can remember it all)...

1. Manchego and Paprika Fritters with spicy salsa roja (cute little fritters and oh so tasty, gotta start with these bad little boys cause they are so good)
2. Harissa Stewed Butternut Squash with crumbled sheep's cheese (wow. that is all I can say. You should order the bread plate if you get this, trust me. Sam almost chopped my hand off when I asked if we were done with this dish so we could make room for our other dishes...there was another spoonful in the bowl so NO WE ARE NOT DONE!) ;)
3. Sauteed Kale Raab with sunny side up egg (this was ALL mine...and oh so good. I don't know what it is about an egg with veggies like this but it is just so good and always appealing to me..although I think I prefer it with asparagus, but this was still very good and hit the spot)
4. Seared Cauliflower with olives & salsa verde (very delicious)
5. House Smoked Coppa Steak with olive oil poached potatoes, chopped olives & salbitxada (this is one of their signature dishes. the word that I can't pronounce, salbitxada, has the almonds in it...I think. This is a good dish, but it was a little pink for my taste)
6. Okay I know we got something else but I can't think of it. Whatever it was, it was good, and I do mean GOOD. :)

So go, enjoy, and then come back and tell me all about it. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER!!!!

It was my fabulous big sister's birthday yesterday (it's her 40th, I hope she doesn't get mad I told you). But I'm awfully proud of her and think she looks more like she is celebrating her 30th birthday. Maybe we are actually only a year apart and our parents have been lying to us all these years...

My parents, the road lovin' fools

So my parents, we'll call them Grant and Katy...'cause those are their names (and yes, that is them below wearing their beloved fanny packs)......are out and about the country on a road trip visiting friends and, well, more friends. They keep sending me pictures via phone (my mom just learned how to do it) so I thought I would share them with you (because my life is so boring that I have nothing of my own to share)...Mom and Dad at Starbucks

The church at Fort Polk (middle of nowhere Louisianna) that my dad, the Chaplain, use to preach at. (is it just me or does he look like he's leaning?)

Some random ranch entrance that used to be on an old show that my mom watched
(random picture #1)

Dallas's version of the MAX
(random picture #2)

a burned out mobile home on the side of the road
(really random picture #3)

MATTHEW!!! My cute "little" nephew. He's like 6.2 feet tall and 17...watch out world! (is it just me or does he look kinda scared? I mean, I know my parents can be wierd, but they aren't really that scary...)

My papa with my very great friend Krista and the also great boy she is going to be marrying this summer, Jason. (pictures are taken on a phone so they aren't the best quality)

My mama, in front of...hmmm...can't remember? I think it has something to do with George Bush...it's great whatever it is. (sorry I'm such an idiot)

Good ol' Sonic

Good ol' Buick and mom getting ready to place the good ol' order at the good ol' drive in

Good ol' sonic onion rings

The boys

Here are some of the guys I work with...they're such goobs...but I love 'em!

Blake

Zach

Ty