Flowers in the Window.

When I first stepped foot into the living room of this house, my imagination
sent me on a flash forward to Christmas and I clearly pictured a
Christmas tree in the window. I love this window.
I think it's my favorite thing about the house. I knew I couldn't cover it up
with furniture or a t.v., there always needed to be something
pretty in front of it, something dainty. The decision was easy, fresh flowers
please. These white peonies were from Trader Joes.
Did anyone else notice that they carried these lovely things for about a month?
I bought two more bouquets after this one died. The farmers market
has had a great selection of flowers that I can't pass up,
so every Sunday morning, we come home with a new bundle of fresh flowers for
the front window.

Hi guys.

You know the feeling you get when you've been away from blogging for so long
that it makes it harder to come back to writing again? Well that was me,
for close to two months now. Unacceptable. I'm sure that I have been long forgotten, but
I hope that you will take me back... whoever you are. :)

We have lived in our little pink house for a little over a month now and we are
in heaven. We love it so much more than I can say. We are
pretty settled in, still hanging pictures on the bare walls but things are
coming along. The picture above was taken over a month ago and since then,
we have gotten a big area rug and hung some pictures on the walls. I'll
have to update with new pictures soon. So much has happened
but all I can say is that we are so so happy with where we
are. If I could extend my arms and wrap them around this little house,
I would immediately. I feel so blessed by what G-d has
given us and I don't want to take it for granted, not even for a minute.

I have decided to compile a short list of what has been going on in the past couple
of months:
we moved (obviously)
dinners in the backyard
Mal and Jonathan stayed at our house for 3 whole days
Paul turned 29 :)
BBQ with great friends
countless nights spent out on the porch
Dad's birthday dinner here
Father's Day in Claremont
Cheese Cave opening (and many visits since then)
bocce ball in the backyard
enjoyed the air conditioner
summer school (bleh)
spent the day in Los Feliz, ate at Alcove
family visited
went to Vegas for the day
4th of July BBQ fun with friendsies
Claremont farmers market every Sunday morning
and finally found a home church where we regularly attend every Saturday morning (!!!)

And that about sums it up. :)

It's a beautiful Sunday, the farmers market was nice this morning and we
decided, instead of spending the rest of our day inside, we are going to go to the beach.
I hope that you are all having a great weekend. I'll be backkk.

I don't even have enough time to write this post.

Tonight is the last night in our first home. We have been so busy with moving boxes and packing things up and going back and forth to the new and old house. We are so so excited to live in the little pink house that I haven't really thought about leaving the old and it made me a little sad. I took the day off today from work and my mom is going to help me finish putting contact paper on all the shelves and drawers. We have pretty much everything moved over except for the big furniture. We need more man power than I can give so tomorrow morning, some lovely fellows have offered to help.. and we are so grateful. :) We haven't set up internet in the new house yet (too busy to think about it) so I don't know when we'll be up in running again but I have been making sure to take pictures so I have some before and after photos. Hope you all have a lovely Memorial Day weekend. :)

Sun-dazeeee

It's Sunday, the day that I have the house to myself and the day that I (normally) get things done around here. In going to bed last night, my plan was to sleep in and then get started with my day and my chores. There was laundry to be done, counters to be wiped down, dry dishes to be put away, a new Martha Stewart magazine to be read and my brother's birthday painting to be finished.. but but but, here I sit on the couch, at 3pm, in the very same place I have been since I woke up. What a shame. And all I have gotten done today is read my magazine and baked a new loaf of bread (and ate two slices)... oh an watched 10 Things I Hate About You, My Best Friend's Wedding and Man vs. Food. -- and I have enjoyed every moment of it. But the time has now come to get myself up, start the laundry, jump in the shower, clean things up and get ready for my darling husband's homecoming. I like him. :)

It's a short update, but it's all I got right now. The weekend is almost over.. hope you've had a good one.

Flowers, For Me?

Paul has been working a lot of overtime the past few weeks, which puts him home much
later in the day than I'm used to. Last week was a stressful week at work for me
(and for him) and with Paul coming home later, it kind of bummed me out.
Today, he was supposed to be getting off work at 6 (starting at 6am mind you),
and so my plan was to run all of the errands I needed to do, in time for his
homecoming. Well... at 3ish, I was in the kitchen doing some dishes
when unbeknown-st to me, the front door opens and in comes walking
my darling husband with a lovely bouquet of flowers, just for me.
Yellow ranunculas and wax flowers.. I just love them. I could not have
been more thrilled at that moment. He told me that he had canceled his overtime
that morning and wanted to surprise me tonight. We ran our errands together
and then treated me to sushi (my favorite!) and Golden Spoon. Now we are back home
and are about to start a new (for us) episode of Heroes. And I am really happy.
I just love this man.

Spring Time

I love spring time and all of the blooming flowers that it brings. Our peach
and apricot trees have budded and blossomed in our backyard, along with
the pink and red camellia trees on the side of our house. It makes life
feel new again and with the new season brings a new list of goals,
hopes and dreams. For this season, I pray for..
...a refreshed attitude and frame of mind.
...a simpler, less materialist life.
...more late night drives with my husband.
...a thankful attitude for the jobs we possess.
...more of Jesus everyday.
...our time to be spent reading and creating new things.
...lots of deliciously cooked dinners.
...a clean house. :)
...more walks in our neighborhood and naps in the park.
...lots love and time to be shared with our family and friends.

(photo via waterproofvalentines)

Farm Fresh To You.

We received our first shipment of fresh, organic produce this morning from Farm Fresh To You. Everything looks scrumptious and I am so excited. We heard about this through a friend of ours and we thought that it would be worth it to try once, and if it was good, then we would keep going with it. In the past, we have bought our organic produce from farmers markets or grocery stores but as we all know, it can be pretty costly. What Farm Fresh To You does, is they harvest seasonal fruits and veggies from local, organic farmers and distribute them to their customers by delivering it to their home. You have the option of having it delivered every week, every other week or once a month. There are four different size shipments that you can choose from and you can see what they will be harvesting. We chose the second size to be delivered every other week, since it is only the 2 of us, we don't go through food that fast. At first, I didn't know if it would work for us because I really like picking and examining my own food to make sure I am getting the best but, again, I thought it would be worth it to try once (it can be canceled whenever you want). After looking though our produce today, I can see that it is definitely something that I will continue to use. Everything looked so so yummy and perfectly picked (with the exception of one blood orange that looks like it got dinged on one side). So, what did we get?

• Cameo Apples, 3
• Fuji Apples, 2
• D'Anjou Pears, 2
  
• Blood Oranges, 3
• Hass Avocado, 1
• Eureka Lemons, 2
• Broccoli, 1 crown
• Chard, 1 bunch
• Collard Greens, 1 bunch
• Leeks, 1 lb.
• Celery, 1 bunch
• Romaine Lettuce, 1 head
• Beets, 1 bunch
• Yukon Potatoes, 2 lbs.
• Red Onions, 1 lb.

And with our order, came a newsletter and four recipes. I'm pretty darn excited about this. How convenient it is to have our fresh fruits and veggies placed on our door step? Lovely. We pay $31 a shipment that comes every other week. We are going to see how it goes, and if we need to up our order, we will. If you are interested in this too, when you sign up, use code 6164 and type Paul de Partee and you will receive $5 off your first shipment.

I couldn't get all of the veggies in one shot but this is some of them. Yum!

A long day that ended with potato dumplings.

Today was busy. My class and I went on a fun field trip to a walnut ranch in West Covina. There were a lot of fun, hands on activities for the kids to do and they really enjoyed it, so did I. After the field trip, I went to my Grandma's house to take care of her (as I do every Wednesday) and she was especially confused when I came walking through the door. I think having a Grandma with Alzheimer's is something that I have gotten used to.. either that or I'm just calloused. It's all just very odd.. very sad. I think it's something that I have already grieved over. She doesn't know me at all anymore, I am a stranger to her.. but there are those random times when she looks up and she smiles and looks at me as a familiar face. She's very sweet. We played cards, put together a puzzle and sat outside and looked at the trees and the flowers.

Later, Paul and I went to the farmers market and did our grocery shopping. We were tired and hungry when we got home and decided that something hot was the way to go. I had some left over mashed potatoes from a couple nights ago and decided to make potato dumplings in tomato soup. The process is pretty easy, all you need is some flour and your left over mashed potatoes and you're in business. I sprinkled flour on the board, plopped a big handful of potatoes on it and needed it until it felt more like a dough that could be rolled out, adding flour until desired consistency. I rolled it and cut it into bite size pieces and put them in the hot soup to heat them through. All it needs is some freshly ground black pepper and a spoon, total comfort. I served it along side a fresh mixed green salad and it was the perfect pair. It was super easy and it hit the spot.

Bed time.

Healthy Morning

I am so thankful for this day off from work. What better day to be home than on a cold, rainy morning, it's been lovely. I cuddled in bed with Tootsie for a while today listening to the rain and after some time passed, I figured it was time to get myself up. I started out with a little morning yoga which was so refreshing. (I'm keeping up with my 2010 goals and I've been doing well with trying to work out several times a week.) Then I danced around the kitchen with good music blaring and made a little breakfast: Raspberrry Vanilla Whole Grain Cream of Wheat.

>>Follow the instructions for a single serving of Cream of Wheat and put into a bowl. (Oatmeal would be tasty too.)
>>Add in 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and 2 Tbps of raspberry preserves.
>>Add a splash of low fat milk for richness. (Optional)
>>Whisk together and enjoy.

This was very easy to make and a healthy alternative to pouring spoonfuls of sugar into your breakfast. You could always add a any fresh or dry fruit that you might have on hand. Change up the flavors too if you don't like raspberry. :)

Paul will be getting home earlier than normal today so we are going to try and do something fun in the rain. For dinner tonight, I am going to make a chicken and brown rice dish accompanied by Julia Child's french green beans, I'm pretty excited to make them. For Christmas, Paul's parent's got me The French Chef with Julia Child which is a full season of her cooking show and it is delightful. I have learned many things from her, I am striving for culinary excellence after all. :)

I always have music playing when I'm home, it's just something I can't live without because it brings me so much joy. So here is my theme song for the day. I hope it brings you as much happiness as it did for me this morning. Watch the cute video too. :) Happy Monday.

One.Five.TwoThousandTen

Paul should be home in approximately one hour. He picked up 20 extra hours at work this week (which totals to 60 hours - yipes) and I am trying to be a good wife by making sure the house is clean, dinner is on the table and that I am dressed in my sweetest apron as he crosses the threshold. Real Simple's orange chicken with bulgar pilaf (sub quinoa for bulgar because the grocery store didn't have it, darn) will be served on our dinner table this evening and I hope it turns out just right. I am really trying to commit to my "2010 try to achieve" list this week (one week at a time) and I am doing that by staying in tonight and cooking for the two of us instead of going out. Feels good. :)

Another way that I am sticking to my list is by taking a picture everyday. So for today's picture, I give you this: my new favorite pillow. This was gifted to us by Mallory and Jonathan for our Christmas present and I couldn't be more thrilled about it. Here it rests on our couch and I look at it fondly every time I enter the room.

The little sign in front says "de Partee" (!)

I wish the picture could be better but as we know, the photo booth camera is going to have to have to cut it until something better comes along. Is this not the cutest thing? I have a lot of love for this little pillow. Please excuse Tootsie's behind, she was not willing to move for the photo. Happy Tuesday. :)