The weather down here has been just superb the last couple days! I'm sitting here with the windows open, breeze just flowing through our house. It's great. I'm not sure if I've said it yet, but I really like it here. I've met some great people. We have great neighbors. The kind that come over to borrow aluminum foil, and watch Fuzz if I have an appointment. This is a first for me. I feel like we are home, and it's great.
It's been awhile! Since I've last written, Fuzz had a birthday! Can you believe she's two? Because I can't.
Right before I left Wisconsin to return to Hawaii, our computer died. I took it as a sign that I needed to get off my butt and start packing, so I just packed it up, and it came with us to Georgia. We took it in today to see what the damage was and I got a call this afternoon.
"Hello, Kiki? We had a chance to look at your computer this afternoon, and...it's not good news. The main board is dead, so...it looks like you'll be looking for a new computer." Yippee!! Another expense I was hoping to avoid.
We did go and pick out a new one, and let me tell you, I'm excited to get working in Photoshop again.
There is this girl who I went to high school with who still emails me from time to time. Here's the funny part. She only emails me when she has a military forward to send. Does anyone else have this? I think it's completely funny. Like, "ooh, I'll send this to Kiki, her husband is in the Army!" Does that count as supporting our troops? Sending mass emails that you know you just want to delete the second you see the "FW:" or even better, the "FW: FW: FW: FW: FW:...." you get the idea.
The farmers market was a little pathetic, only one farmer, but he was nice and had some beautiful looking produce. If it's any indicator of how good it was, Fuzz ate a WHOLE peach last nice in addition to her dinner! I don't know where that girl puts it. Sometimes I swear she eats more than I do. Although she's growing, and I'm hopefully...not.
I gotta admit, I'm pretty excited to go to the farmers market with Sara tomorrow! Are any of you farmers marketers? I think they are great. The produce always looks amazing, and you're almost always guaranteed a good story to take home. Once at the farmers market we went to in Hawaii there was a guy with a mohawk that must have been 18" high. Seriously, it was the biggest mohawk I've ever seen.
Stryker is heading out to the range tomorrow and may or may not have to stay overnight. I guess it will be a surprise whether he makes it home for dinner or not!
The Mrs. mom is so talented! She makes purses, wall art, and now little bags! In honor of her impending third little boy, she's hosting yet another giveaway, and I missed the last couple, so I'm not missing this one! Go check it out!
Picture this. I'm in the kitchen, browning chicken for dinner tonight. It's smelling good, I start to flip the first batch, as a drop of oil spits out of the pan and lands right on my eyelid.
Talk about a close call.
Anyone else have a scary kitchen mishap?
In pursuit of my career in photography, I got a new baby yesterday.
So far, I love it! I am still learning some of the things on it that are different on my old camera, but I'm excited. Here's one of my first pictures on it. 
The greatest part is that shirt is from my mom. The grandma who thinks that Fuzz can do no wrong.
Yeah, I was the mom who made her sit as if she was in time out so I could take a picture of her in her time out shirt.
Yay! I met my first blogging buddy! Sara, Fuzz, and I met up yesterday, and it was so fun.
I can't imagine how it sounds to a non-blogger. "I met this girl on the internet, and we're going out for lunch." But it was very un-weird actually. She was taller than I expected, but other than that, there were no surprises. Her true spirit just shines on her blog, so I felt like going out for lunch was something we had done many times before.
After lunch, Fuzz and I got to meet Jagger. I'm willing to bet Fuzz liked Jagger more than he liked her. About 5 minutes after dealing with Fuzz, Jagger was hiding by Sara begging her to get rid of the crazy little girl.
She got some great pictures of all of us playing at her apartment complex, go check them out!
*Disclaimer* Although it looks very much like I had it out for Jagger on the slide picture, Sara assured me it was alright to let go. Don't listen to what she says. :)
A whole post about food...loosen your belt.
For Father's day, my sister and I prepared a brunch for our dad, grandparents, and Stryker. We included a strata, and it was delicious. I prepared it the night before except for adding the bread, and it turned out great.
Father's Day Strata
INGREDIENTS
3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
3 cups chopped zucchini
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
1 1/2 cups chopped green pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup half-and-half cream
12 eggs
4 cups cubed day-old bread
3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
DIRECTIONS
In a large skillet, saute the mushrooms, zucchini, onions, green peppers and garlic in oil until vegetables are tender. Drain and pat dry; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and cream until smooth. Beat in eggs. Stir in the bread, cheese, salt, pepper and vegetable mixture.
Pour into two greased 11-in. x 7-in. x 2-in. baking dishes. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
We've also been grilling a lot. One of our favorite marinades comes from this Southwest Turkey Breasts with Avocado Salsa. We have used it on both turkey and chicken, and it's phenomenal. The avocado salsa just puts it over the top! The salsa is a lot like my guacamole recipe, so it's a big hit in our house. If you only try one recipe from this post, try this one!
I get a lot of my recipes from blogs. We love trying new things, so whenever I see one I think looks good, I bookmark it. Then when I plan our menu for the week, I go through and pick whatever sounds good at the moment. Last week we tried this Tequila Lime Grilled Chicken. Spicy, but yum! I added some cooked white rice to the beans and it was great.
I'm not a huge meatloaf fan, but every once in awhile Stryker requests it, so when I came across Martha Stewart's Honey Mustard Meatloaves, I thought it was worth a try. They are surprisingly good, but very filling. A little onion in the mixture wouldn't hurt either. We've already tried them a couple times, and next time he requests meatloaf, I'll probably make them again!
You didn't think I'd leave you without any sweets did you?? Stryker's brother graduated from college this year, and for his party I made these:
They weren't really anything special, just chocolate cupcakes with ganache frosting, but aren't they cute?? I got my inspiration from Brown Sugar Bee.
Finally, when we went last weekend to help some friends move, I made these Cookies and Cream Rice Krispie Treats. Yum, yum, yum. That's all I have to say about them.
So tell me, do you try new recipes every week or do you have old standby's that you always make?
