Adventures in Flowers and Candy

Today my parents took me into San Francisco to explore the Wholesale Flower Market. There were whole buildings filled with the most vibrantly colored orchids, and an entire shop devoted to florists supplies (ribbon, vases, moss, etc...). It was so much fun to jump from shop to shop and see all the cut and planted flowers, shrubs, etc... Plus, the smells were pretty great. If you live near the city and haven't been, I'd recommend stopping by. (Entrance is free but parking in the lot is expensive, so be prepared.)

My father intended for us to eat lunch in China town, but after battling with traffic and circling for parking, he gave up and left the city. It was a little humorous to watch.

On the drive back up North, we stopped to experience the joys of the Jelly Belly. I had never been to the the Jelly Belly factory. Tours are free, and an added incentive is the free bag of Jelly Bellys you receive at the end. You are also able to try free samples of all the different flavors and candies. Even though most of the other people on the tour were parents with small children, and I was a 23 yr old child with her parents, it was fun. I got to hug a giant Jelly Belly- he was squishy (I like squishy as much as I like blue). Sometimes it is good to just have fun. With candy...




All in all it was a wonderfully colorful day!

Dresses...

My sister and I decided just to have one bridesmaid in our weddings, each other. Rather than pay hundreds of dollars for a bridesmaid dress we'll never wear again, we decided to find fun dresses that would fit the day, as well as make a special contribution to our wardrobes. (We both love having an excuse to buy a new dress.) Since neither of us has decided on wedding colors, I haven't really looked.

But I got the new Anthropologie catalogue today (Have I mentioned that I LOVE Anthropologie?!) and saw a couple adorable options:

The-grand-holiday dress:



Coral Way dress:




I won't post all the pictures, but if you love this store like I do, go visit their site and view their new dresses. There are some cute ones.

All things blue and beautiful...

More blue shoes...

Yes, I realized I am obsessed, but I am posting a few more of my favorite blue shoe finds anyway:










These last two are my favorites. I can't even really explain why. A year ago, I probably would have hated them. Perhaps I like them because they are different, not your average pair of pumps. Or perhaps I just like them because I know I can never afford them. Whichever the case, they are fun to look at:

Something Blue

I am far from fashion conscious (just ask my friends), and most of the time I am content to buy clothes from Walmart or Old Navy. However, there are a few fashion items that I get excited/obsessed over: dresses from Anthropologie, wool coats, red purses, and blue shoes. I can't explain the particular appeal, but these items always seem to catch my attention.

Being jobless is creating all sorts of opportunity for weekly obsessions. My current obsession is the idea of wearing blue shoes under my wedding dress. My dress is bright white and without a lot of adornment, so wearing blue shoes under just seems like fun.(Of course I already have white ones that match, but a girl can dream...) Plus, blue is by far my favorite color, and probably 60% of my wardrobe features blue in some shade or fashion.



So despite the fact that I don't need, nor can I afford new shoes for the wedding, I found myself spending all day searching on-line for none other than: blue shoes. Here are some options for me to drool- I mean, dream about:

Rings, rings and sparkly things...

After weeks of having an empty ring finger, my engagement ring has finally come back to me! It made me so sad to leave Scotland without it- my hand just felt naked and it made me more aware of how far away Ross is.

I was so excited when the package arrived this afternoon that I couldn't wait to get back to the house before opening it. I sat down in the dirt, pried the box apart with my keys, and tried my rings on as I walked back to the house. Akin says I am a huge DORK, because I spent half the afternoon taking pictures of my rings, just to see how photogenic they are. :-)

My rings are absolutely perfect!! I can't stop admiring them and thinking how very sweet my man is to give me such a lovely sparkly reminder of his love.

I can't wait to be married!

Ibuprofen, Snow and the beauty of the Scotchmallow...

Thanks to my monthly gift, I have been living off of Ibuprofen for the last few days. In my current situation, I can't tell you how glad I am that I invested in the mammoth Costco bottle of the stuff. After being in such severe pain the last few months, I am looking forward to my Gyno appointment. Hopefully I will be able to find a way to not be confined to bed for one week out of the month... here's hoping.

Despite my general sour mood, brought on by pain, the fight I had with the Boy yesterday, and hours of boredom, there are two things cheering me up. First, the recent snowfall. Second, the box of See's Scotchmallows that my grandmother sent me for Valentine's day.

Snow is always a beautiful sight. I love how it covers everything and changes a landscape. Even though the light peppering of snow we had this morning is melting, I am still enjoying its remnants and I am thanking God for it because we needed the water!

Scotchmallows are seriously delicious and I love the chewy texture. They consist of caramel and marshmallow covered in dark chocolately goodness. If you have never tried one, I recommend them. My grandmother sent me a big box and it was everything I could do not to eat it all last night (I managed to limit myself to 6...). They are just so tasty and it makes me feel very loved that she remembered that these were my favorites. I have such a sweet grandma!

Up In Flames

I spent three hours today burning chicken guts in my yard…

Even I am speechless.

Slaughter Day

My parents live on 10 acres of land, and a small petting zoo to boot. A skittish donkey, two attention loving dogs, three mischievous cats, five ornery goats, and a coop full of chickens. It is the later that created today’s adventures.

This past summer, in an effort to add to their current flock of hens, my father acquired a batch of chicks, but didn’t sex them. He ended up with several roosters, which are essentially a waste of feed. Our neighbors hate them because they crow constantly and they abuse the poor hens. Apparently a rooster's main goal in life is to be an annoyance to both man and beast alike. My father’s brilliant solution was to raise the roosters to full size, when we could eat them.

Killing the chickens is easy enough, but preparing them to be eaten is not. A chicken must be drained of it’s blood, plucked and properly gutted. As shocking as it may be, that packaged pink material doesn't magically appear in shrink wrap. Having grown up in suburbia, none of my family, had ever carried out this process. Thankfully, my sister bought a book to instruct us in the proper slaughtering techniques. (I apologize to my vegetarian friends, who will be horrified by this whole idea.)

After months of fattening and planning, today was slaughter day. Of course, I was assigned plucking duty, which is seriously the most thankless job. You never realize how many feathers a chicken has until you are asked to removed them all. Four hours and six chickens later, my hands were stiff and sore, and my whole body smelled like wet chicken… There are people who are professional pluckers, and let me just say, those people must have the strongest hands. A good chicken plucker can pluck a chicken clean in a matter of minutes. I think I averaged an hour, and was frequently tempted to simply remove limbs to avoid having to pluck it.(I mean, how much meat is on the wing anyway?)

I almost wish we had pictures of the ordeal. It was freezing cold outside, so we ended up moving inside halfway through. By the end of the day, the slaughtering area was a mess, our kitchen was full of feathers and chicken pieces, our clothes were smelly, and we were all exhausted. All this for a few lousy pieces of meat…

Slaughtering chickens is hard work!

Licorice Tasting

There are many things I love about Placerville (Akin- don't roll your eyes). Sweetie-Pies and the Old Tyme Candy Store are just two.

On Saturday, my sister and I wandered into the Candy Store. She had never been inside, and I was craving something sweet. Secretly, I was hoping beyond hope to find something with chocolate and ginger.

In the back room, we discovered a whole wall of licorice, which I had never noticed before. They must have had at least 30 different flavors. Jackpot!! Much of their licorice is imported from Holland, Finland and England. I told my sister about how the Dutch like their licorice salty and finally we found a place that had salty licorice for her to try. (Be warned- the double-zout is very very salty. The lady sampling with us actually gagged and spit it out.)

I love licorice, not the sweetened licorice whips, but real black anise flavored licorice. (Just ask my grandmother, who is constantly filling her licorice bowl after I leave.)

We sampled so many different flavors that I left with a severe case of licorice-belly. But we walked away with several bags to enjoy at home...

It’s who you know…

Good Friends are hard to find. I just wanted to take a few minutes to rave about a couple I am privileged to call good friends. From their brains to their heart, the Caldwells are just awesome. Here are some reasons I love them:

1. They get the Boy and his Britishness. (Too many Americans can't understand sarcasm.)
2. They have a crazy little cat child, who Nolan once tried to get drunk.
3. They are generous (opening their home to me whenever I pass through SF, and even picking me up from the airport).
4. A is faithfully available (always willing to listen patiently to my freak out sessions). She is straightforward and open about life. Marriage is hard and I value her insight and wisdom. (Ahh, the benefits of learning from others experiences…)
5. A is one of few people, with whom I can talk about sex or anything else without awkwardness.
6. They are just plain good company (hanging out with them is bound to lead to fun and lots of laughter). Plus, I can’t have a conversation with Nolan without learning something new.
7. I love how proud A is of her husband, and I definitely appreciate her example as a wife and friend.
8. A actually gets results with Wii Fit (and I am totally impressed with the abs!)

Of course, I could add more, but the bottom line is: I love these two. Thanks for being you, Caldwells!

Home Again

I fly home tomorrow and while I have a huge list of wedding stuff to work out, I am dreading it just the same. Leaving is always the hardest and I am fighting back the inevitable tears. It feels so unfair to have to live so far away from the one you want to share your life with. However, I am holding onto the fact that this is the last time we will have to do this. June is only a little ways away. Then we will be married and we can be together until we are sick of each other.

At least I will be able to see Akin when I land. She is always a welcome sight and her futon is pretty comfy, especially if there are warm blankets. And then there is Milo, who is endlessly entertaining with his evil deeds.