THE FIRST OF MANY

After reflecting on 2010, Ruben and I decided that we both worked waaaaaay more than we played so we're determined to make 2011 different. So, last weekend, we hosted our first wine tasting party. We had so much fun and quickly decided we MUST do it again. I'll readily admit that I really don't know that much about wine....but I'm learning. :)

Shockingly, I have a little photo re-cap of the night. Yucky, low-light, but that's the photographer in me coming out. Great memories none-the-less.

My dear friend, Rachel, helped me put together all the cheeses and other appetizers. She's awesome. So was the food. Be still my heart.



We planned a blind tasting, so here's our disguised cast of characters:



I roped Christian into helping me explain the "rules"...since I really didn't know what I was doing. :) Don't we look serious though? It's always a bit scary when someone else picks up my camera.



Ahhh, but apparently, I thought Christian was hilarious.



A few rad :) shots of the ladies. And for the record, Debbie was here too...just showed up after these pictures were taken and no one was thinking about pictures later in the night. Sorry Debbie...you know we all love you!



We're still practicing this shot...we're gonna get it down one of these days!


Probably my favorite...I love outtakes.


See...here's Debbie. :) I love seeing people have fun in our home.


And some more random favorites.







Guess who bought the wine with the polka dot label??? ;)


So there you have it! Such fun!

SOUP SWAP

Last January I came across a blog that was posting about National Soup Swap Day. Never knew there was such a day, did you? I didn't either, but I resolved to do something about this the next year. Well it was this past weekend, and shockingly, I actually pulled it together. I received lots of emails about the details so I'll try to get in. I missed numerous steps in the process as far as pictuares go...out of practice. Here's what I DID get:

First off...two weeks ago I sent this home with 8 friends. Inside were 8 quart containers for their soup, labels, and a smaller 1 pint container for sampling the day of our swap. Sorry no picture of the contents or instructions on the back of the bag. Shucks...it was cute too. :)



So it's pretty simple really. Bring 8 quarts of your favorite soup, swap with everyone else, and go home with 8 different types of soup. Brilliant, right? I thought so.

Here are a few pictures of our swap. I couldn't have everyone over and not EAT! I din't get a picture of the salad, but I love this one of the yummy tomatoes.



Good excuse to by "cute" food. :) I'm such a sucker.



I made paninis too. :)



Stars of the show:



Surprise of all surprises...I made Dutch Soup.



We were missing a few in this photo...by the time they were all there I was busy making paninis...or eating...can't remember.



And a couple random shots...because that's what I do..take random pictures.





So there you have it! Technically National Soup Swap Day is over, but give it try. Who doesn't love a bunch of delicious soup? Now all we need is some "soup weather." Darn this mid-70s weather in January. :)

THE AMAZING RACE!!!

Well, kind of. For the past two days we had two sweet girls from Calvin College stay with us. They are on the college's version of 'The Amazing Race.' You can follow their journey here. We're big fans of the real show, so being remotely attacheded to anything similar was grand. They're having a blast and LOVING our Cali weather this week...as are we. Bright, beuatiful and in the 70's...can't beat it. Grace, in particular, was beside herself. She's probably the biggest fan in our home, and she oozed with delight at the girls being here. She talked their ears off (shocking, I know.) and tried to impress them with her "minute to win it" games.

When they left today they gave us our own race shirts. Grace was beyond excited. Despite it being too big, she HAD to wear it to school today. At the last mintute, she wanted the girls to sign it, so they put their initials by San Diego on the map. Too cute. Wonder if they'll get asked for their autographs at their next stop?

Our famous racers:

GETTING REAQUAINTED...

with my kitchen counter. Over the past few weeks it's had so much junk on it that I could hardly see it. I'm slowing making my way through the house, and I've officially declared January as, "Mommy's on a warpath and she's throwing out everything SHE doesn't like" month. I'm just getting warmed up and it's grand.:) Ruben's afraid, I think he's hoarding stuff in his office. So I started in the kitchen because it's where we are the most, logical choice. I decided to photograph it because I'm not sure how long it will last. I think I'll clean out the pantry next, there's good reason why that door is closed...it needs an intervention.











This weekend I'm getting rid of almost all the furniture in our living room. Have you ever stepped back and looked at things in your house and thought, "Why is that here? I don't like that." Yep, that's what's happening around here.

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

I'm not typically a resolution maker...recipe for failure usually. And since I don't like to fail, I don't make them. Logical, right? But ironically, I found myself randomly jotting these things down the other day. They seem reasonable enough so I thought I'd make them my "official" New Year Resolutions for 2011. Now, I wrote them while eating a bowl of granola standing by the kitchen counter so the first one might prove to be the most difficult, but I'm working on it. :)



What are some of your resolutions? I'm not great at keeping them, but I'm a great encourager of others and their resolutions!

JUST BECAUSE...

Just because we had about 5 extra minutes this morning and I don't know about the rest of you, but when I have 5 extra minutes it's only natural to pull out the camera...duh? What else am I going to do with that time...wash dishes? Nah.

Check out Ben in the middle picture. :)

FAVORITE FALL MUFFINS

I'm not really sure why I only make these in the fall, but I do. They're the best! Kind of a lot of work, but worth it! Bom Dia Muffins in their full photo glory, featuring my favorite little kitchen helper/taste tester.



My favorite photo from this day here.