Tree House

One thing we've loved about our new apt is the beautiful view out our living room and bedroom windows of Golden Gate Park. Here's a shot of the living room view back on the day we signed our lease w/our land lady. We felt like we lived in a tree house!


Fast forward to Sunday night when this happened during an overnight wind storm. So sad!!!! I worked from home on Monday so was able to watch the progress as they removed the fallen tree which is literally, outside our living room window.


Our new view looks a bit more like this. It's like a scene from Jurassic Park...it looks like some giant Triceritops broke out of GG Park right outside our window.


Also sad, whoever was parked under that mess when it happened. Yowza.

Gold Star Husband

I dropped Steve off at the Oakland airport yesterday morning at the crack of dawn so he could fly out to Utah a few days ahead of me and help my parents unpack from their big move from Pleasant View to Daybreak. What a good man I'm married to...willing to fly out and spend multiple days with his parents-in-law and my sisters...and their kids. Can you see why I love this guy? The best part of our time apart this week is the constant calls/emails/pictures/texts I'm getting updating me on what task he's currently working on. It makes me sad he gets to spend more time with my family than I do this week but not when I get pictures like this one:

This pic came in an email that said "I'm selling a bunch of stuff for your parents on craigslist including you and your sister's wedding dresses. He looks so lovely in my sister's veil. And his Sundance t-shirt. And his wriststrong bracelet. And his Prada glasses. Honey, you're all over the fashion-map today.

Photoshop

I have been taking a Photoshop class over the past few months. I never used Photoshop before and I remember last summer when I was trying to finish my thesis and wanted to create a mosaic of SEM photos. I tried for about 1 1/2 hours but left for the day completely confused and without anything to show for my effort. That same night I casually mentioned my problem to my friend Alex, and 5 minutes later he created my mosaic. I was dumbfounded.

So this past semester, I enrolled in a Photoshop class at CCSF. I am no longer confused about the program and can navigate my way around. My last assignment was to place a rubber duck behind the splashing water. This is what I came up with.

So the other day our friend Andy sent this cute photo of their baby Sadie. The photo makes me laugh every time I see it!

As soon as we got the photo, Betsy called dibs on making it her background on her iPhone. I was jealous until...

I made my own!


I love Photoshop!

Oye

Oh San Francisco, why must you always be so extreme?

Ticket to Ride!!!!

The other day Betsy told me to expect a surprise in the mail. She had picked up something for me but wouldn't tell me what is was, no matter how many Jedi mind tricks I tried on her. She just wouldn't budge.
But today the package came and to my surprise, she bought Ticket to Ride!!!

Our old neighbors the Kane's, got this game for Christmas and quickly hooked us. Sadly we moved away from the Kane's and can't play the game or with Sadie as often as we like. Not anymore.
Thanks babe for putting a smile on my face!!!



(if you really want to surprise me get one of these!)

Baked Cornflake Chicken

I love living in San Francisco but it means I don't get to see my family all that often. Usually I deal with this fact just fine but sometimes I get sad. Take last Sunday for example...I called my parents house in Utah and to my surprise, Emma answered the phone! Turns out my sisters Jen & Suzy were both there enjoying a big family dinner of Cornflake Chicken! Hearing all the fun going on and the phone getting passed from person to person made me miss everyone terribly. I was also extremely jealous of the cornflake chicken dinner they were all about to consume without Steve and I.

Last night I found a recipe for cornflake chicken online and made it for dinner and it was SO delicious.

I stopped at the market on my way home from work and picked up two cups of organic cornflakes from the bulk bin knowing we'd never eat an entire box of cornflakes before they went stale. I was a bit nervous b/c the organic flakes were a little thicker than the traditional flakes you get in a Kellogg's box. In the end I think they made the chicken even better! I also put a wire rack on top of the cookie sheet I used for baking so the bottom of the chicken didn't get soggy (we used boneless/skinless breast tenders). The kicker was I dipped the chicken in Egg Beaters, not a whole egg AND I forgot to add the oil to the crushed flakes as the recipe states and it made no difference! I realized right before putting the chicken in the oven that I'd forgotten the oil so I used a little olive oil spray on each tender and it was perfection. This recipe is definitely going in the Santos dinner rotation effective immediately.

SOS

San Francisco is completely out of Milk Chocolate Cadbury Mini Eggs. I'm not kidding. Steve and I have checked three Safeway's and 6 Walgreen's. This is serious. If any of our friends run across a bag of these delicious Easter nuggets, please pick us up a bag or two and send them our way.

We'll make it worth your while.

ski trip

This weekend Shawn and I decided to take a quick trip to Heavenly to do some shredding. Apparently he had tickets to use before they closed for the season and he invited me to join. I was excited. I was going to ski twice this year!!!!

After book club on Friday night, we drove up to Tahoe. We arrived pretty late and checked into Motel 6. The room was pretty ghetto but it had two beds and a heater so I didn't care. I wonder if you can buy one of these comforters, they were pretty sweet!
The next morning we woke up to a beautiful sunny day. A perfect day for shredding. We drove up to the resort and Shawn had to rent some skis which took some time. I decided to take a quick run up the bunny slope while I was waiting to get some practice turns. As you can see it was a beautiful day on the slopes. Still cold, but nice.
On of the best things about skiing with Shawn, is his one piece. This stylish number comes complete with a detachable hood, fur lined collar, quad pockets, a belt and those snazzy racing stripes. It was awesome and I was a bit jealous.

One thing the suit didn't do was slow him down. I think those racing stripes helped him navigate the snow.
Since my only camera was an iphone, the pictures didn't really capture our awesomeness. This was supposed to be Shawn getting sick air but the slow shutter speed of the camera missed the action. But look at that landing!
Here I am on the ridge overlooking the lake. Heavenly is a great mountain to ski since it is so big so close to the lake. Heavenly can also be a pain with all the crowds and long lines, but the crowds were sparse.
I love going to Heavenly because I used to work there for 2.25 seasons. My commute to work used to include boarding to the lodge. I used to ski ~80 days a year but now I am lucky to get in 2. It's always fun to head back to my old stomping grounds. I never got tired of this view!

We actually stayed till 4 and skied down the mountain. The snow was great up top but got a bit wet on our way down. In some spots it was a bit like skiing on slush. On our drive home we stopped outside of Davis on Mace Boulevard. We took a chance on our food options and were heading to Taco Bell when we found this little gem hidden in a strip mall.
Authentic food. Dang their burritos were good!

We made it home at a pretty decent hour. Thanks again Shawn for the ticket and the good times.

Guilty.

My lotion mysteriously disappeared off our dresser last weekend and I didn't understand how it got lost. It had been sitting there since we moved in. I use it every morning. I put it back in the same spot. We searched everywhere...in our drawers, under the dresser, under the bed, in all the bathroom drawers and cabinets but nothing. So, of course, I accused Steve of doing something with it. And, of course, he vehemently denied my accusations. Well, I just got this in my email:


Turns out Steve "accidentally" put it in his toolbox. Riiiiiiight.

soup du jour

Heather passed along the easiest, most delicious, economical soup recipe to me a while back and I made it again tonight for Steve and he LOVED it.

Recipe
One can three bean salad
One box (4 cups) chicken broth
14 oz pasta sauce
1 cup pasta noodles

Bring the first three ingredients to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to box directions. Turn off heat and let sit on the stove for ten minutes. It's almost like a quick minestrone. We served it with garlic bread and a sprinkle of parmesan on top. Delicious and healthy!

Sorry for the picture quality. We dove right in before taking any beauty shots so here is one from my iPhone.

Thanks again for the great recipe Heather!

Bus Drivers

So I've been commuting to work now for about a month from our new apartment which involves me riding the bus. Usually in the evenings I'll take the N Judah home but in the morning, I hope on the 71L right outside my front door. The drivers have all been super nice and friendly and I can tell they are concious of their riders and make sure to not stop suddenly (especially when an elderly rider might be standing up). Yesterday morning I missed my usual 7:15am bus so took the next one at about 7:40am. The bus driver was out of control. Speeding, sudden stops, slamming on breaks...I almost felt like he hated his job and was taking it out on us. It was bad enough that all the riders were shooting eachother glances with worried faces and I even had a moment where I considered getting off the bus b/c I was pretty sure we'd crash sooner or later.

I was kinda late so I stayed on the bus and even offered my seat to a terrified lady who was standing next to me. I was so mad by the time I got to work! I wanted to give the driver a piece of my mind but then got worried that I might see him again someday so I got off the bus and didn't say a word. Just took a deep breath of that downtown SF air and felt happy to have made it all the way to 1st & Market in one piece. Do you have any muni/public transit horror stories? I wonder if you can log complaints about drivers somewhere.