Night Cheese.

Last night Kent and I got our night cheese on.
Now that are kitchen is fuuuully operationaaaaal* Kent has been getting the itch for doing more of his cooking "Kentsperiments".  And since usually such experimenting is reserved for Saturdays we felt all kinds of daring for making goat cheese on a Tuesday night.
I got Kent these awesome cheese making kits from urban cheese craft for his birthday last year. And while the mozzerella turned out awesome, the goat has been a little trickier.
The last attempt was barely palatable mostly it fell apart in your mouth like goat dust. But with a new brand of milk and a kitchen that was fuuuully operationaaaal* we were feeling very optimistic.

Well, there were pros and cons.
Cons- The end product, (though better than the first attempt) was not exactly what you would think of when you think of the words goat and cheese put together.  It more closely resembled Goat Cheese's dry and crumbly cousin Rolled Oats (very distant, on his mother's side)

Pros- We get to try again! And I got to spend a quiet night with my sweetie listening to records and trying out new recipes.

*Creepy Emperor voice from Star Wars

The Invitations

Right now, the little White Rabbit is bouncing around the mail, trumpeting in the ears of my friends and family that there is a very important date coming up involving birthday tea and croquet.
Invitations, done and done.
My next project to consider is that of the pinata. Something like this would be awesome.

Something like this is also not found at your local Target. (image by isuwannee) So it is time to turn in the direction of home made goodness.
I will report on my findings:)

Earth Day!

It's Earth Day! And my friends at Zimbags are having a sale!
Canvas grocery totes, lunch Bags, and mini zippers purses featuring handmade patches by some awesome Zimbabwean artists.
Buy one and the proceeds go to helping these women support their art and their families, because lets face it being a starving artist is not really that cool.

Party Central.

Whew!
It has been a while! Mostly because it has been party central at our house. Yesterday some of "the gals" and I threw a surprise shower for the fabulous Lissa. So for the last month it has been secret keeping, party planning, and since I was in charge of decorations, lots of time with my little orange exacto.

The day before (Friday) was our thank-you-so-much-for-all-your-help-moving-us-in-last-October-and-tearing-out-our-old-slate-floor-so-now-we-can-finally-wear-socks-and-have-people-over party. Or, as we shortened it, a sock party!
It was so unbelievably nice to just have people over to relax and eat dessert with us, in a completed* downstairs in a "house" feeling house.
And then to top it off I have my big birthday to-do coming up in a few weeks and I have been up to my ears with fun ideas for it!
The theme is an Alice in Wonderland Tea and Croquet Party...so you can imagine all the fun that's in the works.
I tell people that the greatest part of having a birthday is that I get to plan a party with all the fun details I love, and have everyone come over to play in it when all the planning is done.
What can I say, I'm a party animal.

*I say that it is completed, but with the kitchen back splash to still do and the crown molding to add to one room, lets just say it is complete as far as function goes...in the sundae analogy there is just a few dollops of whip cream left to add:)

Rock and Roll Show

Spoon was aaaaawesome.
A real rock and roll show.
From a killer parking spot to a stranger giving us amazing seat upgrades* it was a flat out fabulous night!
It has only made me more of a die hard...and also it gave me a little case of the day after blues. Why can't everyday be Spoon day?  I also come away with this, Britt is an awesome boys name. DIBS!
Thanks so BIG Meg!

*An anonymous girl hiked up all the steps to the tippy top of the balcony to hand Meg and I floor seats! Wherever you are, you are a fabulous red head.

SPOON

Oh my goodness, The Amazing Meg bought me tickets to go see Spoon on Saturday for my birthday. They have been in my Top Three Pick* for years, and somehow they have escaped me until now!
 On top of them being among my all time favorites, I get to have a girls night on the town sans child, sans diaper bag, and sans a watch.... I hear the whisperings of youth.

*My "Top Three Pick"  is a list of bands I most want to see live. Today it goes 1) SPOON 2) Muse 3) Andrew Bird.
Come Saturday it will be 1) Muse 2) Andrew Bird 3) Vampire Weekend. Due to the lists nature it is always changing. Sometimes slower than I like:)

Extra Extra!

...Read all about it, parents (experts) agree, baby is more remarkable than otherwise thought possible!

Yeah, it's true what you're hearing in the news nowadays, Greta is exceeding even our expectations of clever and cute.

 We were in Chipotle the other day, loving the fact that Greta now feeds herself, when she took it one further. Having her fill for the moment she puts down her fork, picks up a napkin from the table and wipes her face with it.
"What the What!?"
Not just a careless smother, but after several times it became clear that as she applied the corner of her napkin to the corners of her mouth, she was in fact displaying TABLE MANNERS*.
So I did what any parent would do and spent the rest of my dinner taking pictures of her wiping her face.
This, and the fact that when she gets a hold of paper towels now she starts scrubbing the nearest surface (one of my favorite...I'm not kidding...things to do) has me near bursting with pride.
Be still my heart.

*Although independent napkin use is an integral part of proper table manners, so is not screaming for the application of more food to high chair tray....we are still working on that.

He Has Risen!

Easter Weekend

Happy Good Friday everyone! 

 I hope you are all gearing up to celebrate this weekend. We are heading over to my mom's in Olympia for easter eggs, spring time foods, and basically the whole kit and kaboodle.
All that is missing from this picturesque childhood Easter is a flouncy dress, straw hat, and those little white gloves.
Yes, those were the days.

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8)