*{Fabulous Find}*

Light my fire!
Saw all these matches on C.S. Post and think they are brilliant!

Weekend Recap

Didn't have time to post yesterday, Monday's are generally filled with meetings and organizing my to do lists at work and yesterday was no exception.
What a great weekend it was! Saturday night we (me, the Babe and our friend Jadin) went to a cool Italian restaurant in Hayes Valley called Il Borgo - pretty old school, not too fancy of a menu and yummy food. We started with an antipasto platter and a bottle of wine, a great start to any meal if you ask me. I had the artichoke ravioli with a fresh tomato sauce and it was incredible. The Babe ordered linguine bolognese and the sauce tasted like it had been cooked by some one's Italian Grandmother all day. Jadin had spaghetti carbonara, which I had never had before and it was delicious, very rich and creamy! The service was great and the place filled right up during our meal - there were people waiting at the door. We decided we had to taste the chocolate gelato and the tiramisu, which were both a wonderful sweet ending to our dinner. We each had a couple bites of both and were absolutely stuffed. We took a walk around Hayes Valley afterwards and looked in all the shop windows, which is always fun!
Sunday we woke up, took the Jeep to get her oil changed and headed south to San Jose to hang out with Robin and Kenny. Robin made an incredibly wonderful breakfast - cornmeal biscuits, eggs and bacon and hot coffee. The rest of the day we just hung out, did our laundry and Robin and I watched "Twilight" while Kenny and the Babe did manly things like drain the pool, talk to the neighbor while washing his car, etc. It was such a nice and mellow day, so nice to get out of the city and hang out in a nice homey, comfortable house with great friends. We drove home in the evening and had a nice night at home before starting our work week yesterday.
Hope you all had great weekends as were surrounded by wonderful friends, we are truly blessed.

So Excited!

Manic Monday

If I had the closet of my dreams, this is what I would be wearing today...

Guess Who I Saw at Target?

Sarah Jessica Parker!!!

Well of course I went right up to her with the zeal of a child running to an empty swing on the playground. We ended up becoming quite close right off the bat. She came home with me and hung out for a while and then it was time for Tim and I to go out. Geeze, I didn't want to stop spending time with her, but I did have plans with another friend. Ugh, I hate decisions like this. So, I took a risk, invited her to dinner, she ever-so-sweetly declined, but did agree to wait at my apartment until we got back. When we returned she was on the couch with BayLee and we spend the remainder of the evening together. She opened up about Sex and the City part 2, her new twins and fashion! It was a good night for sure.

Happy Friday!

Hope you all have a nice weekend!
Mine has kicked off with me still here at work at almost 7 PM. Better now, than over the weekend though.
Headed to ballet Saturday, dinner on Saturday night and down to San Jose Sunday to hang with Robin and Kenny!
Have a good one!

Veteran's Day

I had a work event today up in San Rafael, it was nice, but my mind was on it being Veteran's Day. I started my day by calling my own personal hero, my Dad and wishing him a good day. I was thinking about the war we are in, the men and women that we have lost overseas and as of late, in this county on their own base. The fact that the entire day went on without anyone acknowledging the holiday really made me upset and mad, I didn't know how to channel that energy. I was on my way home and as I drove into San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge, I saw that the Veteran's Cemetery in the Presidio was all lined in flags and I was drawn in. I didn't know how to exactly get to there, but found my way 20 minutes before the gates closed. I parked my car, got out, had a good cry and a rigorous walk, said a prayer and felt better but still have things to get off my chest.

It bothers me that as a nation this day is not looked at like other holiday's when it is a holiday itself. It bothers me that we are a country at war and people are too busy to get fired up about it. It bothers me that the media shields us from what is really going on in the world and at the same time sensationalizes the little things that don't have any impact on our lives. It bothers me that I feel helpless most of the time as to what action to take, what will make a difference, what will work, I am only one person. I do my best to thank every Veteran I know on Veteran's Day - I just feel like a bigger statement needs to be made and maybe that needs to come from me, I don't know. I don't support the war, but support those who are over there fighting in it - it is a mess.

Dad, Jess, and the entire TOP crew, thank you for your service and welcome home. For those of you who spent Veteran's Day 2004 in Vietnam with TOP 202, I will never forget that special evening in Ha Long Bay. I love you all.

*{Fabulous Find}*

Love, Love, Love this Raj Teapot. Sturdy, timeless and an all-in-one service with the creamer and sugar that sits right on top - see info and website by clicking here.
I can feel it warm in my hands as I type this, oh, how I crave this!

Greek Style Couscous

Dinner Challenge - no groceries until pay day, Sunday night 6:30 PM and super hungry. Not much left in the food department in the cupboards besides some random stuff.

I found the following:

• One box of Israeli Couscous (the big pearls)
• One box of chopped Pomi tomatoes
• 1/4 red onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Feta (hiding in the drawer of the fridge)

Here is what I did....

Toast and cook couscous as directed on package.
In a small nonstick pan, add 2 Tbls olive oil and when HOT, add thinly sliced garlic until golden and crispy, remove garlic. Pour left over oil into a container, it will be used at the end (it has been infused with garlic, yum). In the same pan used for garlic, saute chopped onion and add Pomi tomatoes, salt, pepper and dried oregano (about 1 1/2 Tbls) and let simmer uncovered for about 10-15 minutes until slightly thickened and flavors have developed.
When couscous is done and all moisture has been absorbed, add tomato sauce to couscous and mix until well incorporated.

Spoon mixture into pasta bowls with crumbled feta on top, fresh black pepper, crispy garlic and drizzle with olive oil reserved from frying the garlic.

I wasn't too sure folks, but it was yummy! We are having it again tonight (it made a LOT). I do have the ability to make something from almost nothing, I love a good dinner challenge. All we need for tonight is some crusty bread to have along side.

Manic Monday

If I had the closet of my dreams, this is what I would be wearing today...

Morocco in Malta

I had to do a follow up to my last post. My Mom and I went to this Moroccan interior store while in Malta. Ilene told us about it and I was super excited to check it out. The prices were incredible (due to Malta's proximity to Morocco, a lot closer to it then California); it's a good thing I had to fly back or I would have literally bought the entire store and redecorated my place from my suitcases. If you are ever in Valletta and want to check out a super cool store than spans over 4 floors in an old limestone building, go to: Maroque 95/96 Old Bakery Street.
http://www.maroqueimports.com/

J'dore Moroccan Interiors

I am obsessed with Moroccan decor at the moment, to be honest, I have been for a while, but it keeps getting more intense. The tile floors, warm colors a multitude of mixed patterns and lanterns make my heart beat a little faster. I did a google search for some inspiration and came up with these fabulous photos below. I like the mix of Modern and Moroccan in the second photo, pretty cool and just look at those windows! I would kill for that kind of light in my living room. Anyway, just thought I would share my recent love.

New Developments

I just realized I have not posted since Monday and the week is already over (well, the work week that is).

I have to be honest and say that I have not been feeling that well. I was excited at the start of the week because after many, many years of suffering, I decided I would go to an allergist to see what the deal is. I was excited to find out what I am allergic to and what I can do about it to give me some relief. I was finding out more times than not, I was miserable the weekends I spent inside my own house, which is never good. No one should feel like they are allergic to their home.

I must have the best allergist on the planet because he met me in his office (not an exam room) for about 40 minutes before even checking me out. No one does that any more. After talking with me he told me he noticed my breathing didn't look right and wanted to take a listen. Well, after many checks with his stethoscope he told me he thinks I may have asthma and my breathing seems labored and he can hear a wheeze. So, we move on to some breathing tests, one where you breathe into what looks like a toilet paper holder and one you breathe into a machine where you breathe out and then in and it measures your force or something like that. Turns out I have "severe asthma" apparently I have had it for so long and never knew because I never got the tightness in my chest, never wheezed too much unless it was a rare occasion where all of my allergies took over at once, so I thought that was part of it. Not the case.

Dr. gives me a nebulizer treatment and then runs all the other tests again and my breathing gets somewhat better. So he leaves me with a hard core asthma regimen for the next three weeks and then moves on to the allergy test portion of the appointment.

The nurse scratches my back with all kinds of things to see what sets me off, she leaves me there for 15 minutes to see what has an effect and what does not. The nurse comes back in to take notes and the Dr. is reading the results, a combo of numbers that is a secret code to them as to what the allergies are. By the way, this is NOT FUN, it is like having mosquito bites on your back because whatever you are allergic to starts to get red and itch and you can't scratch - think chicken pox. I cannot believe what they test for, the one that blew my mind was cockroaches, I guess some people are allergic to them, not me though.

I am allergic to....guess what?

It is very sad because it is one of my favorite things....are you ready?

Are you sure?

OK - I am allergic to......

Yes, that is right, I have an "acute cat allergy" and was told "immediate removal of cat from the living facility" is in order to restore my breathing and quell some of my other allergies.

NOT GOING TO HAPPEN FOLKS.

We talked about some other options because BayLee is my baby. Seriously, if I didn't have him, I would probably have lost my mind a long time ago.

There are a million of other things I need to do around the house because I am allergic to other things as well but the cat is the major one and probably exacerbates the other allergies. We are making some changes in our bedroom (wish I could remove that old carpet in there that has been there since we moved in and God only knows how long before we moved in). Removing it would make it a cleaner breathing room for me but honestly there is only so much we can do as renters. I have more tests they need to do and am getting some lab work done this weekend to see what else may be present, but we have to get the asthma under control first before any other "scratch tests" that may send me into an asthma attack. I am on medication that so far has helped, I guess, I mean, I didn't know I had asthma in the first place. Funny thing too, I have had cats my entire life and no doctor ever noticed. My allergist told me that I had what he is calling an "in-audible wheeze" - you would have to be looking for it to detect it so he was not surprised no one else caught it.

Crazy - with all of that said, the medication has put me in a bit of a mood, headache, stomach issues, and no appetite, but they said it could take a week to get used to. We will see.

All of this happened on Tuesday and I have been a little down (not emotionally) ever since, just super tired, worn out and trying to get used to my new lung capacity - ha ha!

PS - thought this photo was funny, BayLee is like "who? me?" so cute!

Manic Monday

If I had the closet of my dreams, this is what I would be wearing today...

Pumpkin Day in Malta

Just read this in the Times of Malta - I love that they had a pumpkin festival!
Click the link before to see the video and read the story from the times.

Pumpkin's own day in Manikata

Happy Halloween

Boo!

Happy Birthday Andy

Happy Birthday to my brother Andy!
Hope you have a great day - I miss you and love you! I wish we lived closer to each other so we could celebrate your special day together.

Beauty

I love chard, and I super love rainbow chard because of the color. Amazing, rich jewel like tones grown 100% organically in nature. Just incredible!

To top off the joy I was feeling from admiring my beautiful produce, the Babe entered the kitchen while I was cooking with a white box - guess what was inside?

What a nice surprise! It must be love.

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday Mom!

I hope all of your wishes come true and you have a wonderful day!

Manic Monday

If I had the closet of my dreams, this is what I would be wearing today...