Leah's Favorite Things

He is still alive! Turns out Tasha is a better squirrel mama than I thought. Maybe I’m just jealous because I have unsuccessfully tried to save many a wild baby animal. We wont go into the poor baby pinky will we Husb!

Awwww…

isn’t he cute?

Maybe you are all totally weirded out by the baby squirrel posts. Are you?

I have a soft spot in my heart for squirrels. When I was little my elementary teacher had us write letters to a company that was building an observation tower or something. The idea was that they were tearing down trees that were vital to the survival of a certain red squirrel. I must have written a very concerning letter because the company wrote back saying that I didn’t have to worry…they weren’t killing the squirrels. I was very proud of myself and then I went to recess.

On top of this, I once had a baby squirrel for a pet. My cat caught it and brought it in the house. We named him Timmy after the Secret of Nimh and I remember him crawling on my head. Yeah…kinda weird. But Timmy’s life came to an end as one of my parents fed him sour milk. To this day they argue over who did it…who killed my poor little Timmy. I guess it runs in the family!

I bet it’s all starting to make sense now

Anyhow, T’s squirrel made it to the wildlife sanctuary…just incase you have been biting your nails in anticipation!

I’ve been out of commission the last four days due to a cold. This has been a hard cold season for me! Enough with it already!

Anyways, I could post artistic pictures of my Kleenex piles or cute pictures of the bridal shower I co-hosted yesterday.

Bridal shower it is!

We tried to have a little bit of a beach/wedding theme.

I found beach/wedding themed scrapbook paper at the craft store and cut stripes to cover the water bottle labels. 

We had fruit salsa with cinnamon tortilla chips…this was a big hit! Here is the recipe.

Veggie platter was a must!

Brownie bites with frosting! 

We also had a wonderful cheese/meat/cracker platter but I didn’t get a picture of it! Sorry E!

Some white tulips to tie it all together!

Overall I think we put together a beautiful and fun spread! Thanks Laura!

We played fun games…which I didn’t win

But I guess it wasn’t all about me…but about this chick! We hope you had a great time and felt special!

Shout out to Esther and Shelly for the hot rehearsal bouquet!

Now I’m off to take Dayquil and move from bed to couch.

At least that’s what little Mark told me.

T’s husband found it…they think he must have fallen out of his tree! Poor baby. They are pretty sure he is a squirrel.

They (meaning Tasha) has been taking very good care of him. However, she is pretty much a crappy mama squirrel and hopes to take him to a wildlife rescue facility tonight.

Also, this picture was taken on Monday so I’ve been told he has more hair and is cuter now.

And just because I love you all and want you to have some humor in your life…I’ll let you know that yesterday…

I almost fell off the treadmill at the gym.

It was very embarrassing. That’s what I get for trying to change radio stations on my Zune and walk at the same time. There was nothing graceful about it. I just remember feeling like something was wrong…then half running, half walking to try and stay upright. Then holding onto the treadmill handle bars for dear life as the rest of my body felt like it was a mile back trying to catch up.

Sunday night I burnt myself making that pork tenderloin. I have a bad habit of forgetting to not touch the handle of my frying pan after pulling it out of the RAGING HOT OVEN.

However, Mom to the rescue. She gave me this JASON mineral gel for Christmas. I highly recommend it! After one application…no more pain. It hasn’t hurt since! Also, it doesn’t have that stinky tea tree oil smell. The smell reminds me of wintergreen gum.

Mom also gave me JASON lotion for Christmas. I wash my hands a million times a day…so they are often dry and and even crack! Hate it!

This lotion is the best I’ve used. Doesn’t really have a smell…so great for those with sensitivity to fragrance. It is pricey…so be warned. I’m sure you can find it at your local health food store. I have found it at both Whole Foods and Fred Meyer.

I’m not in cahoots with JASON… I’ve just have been using their products over the last month and am impressed. If you use these products let me know what you think.

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen today. It’s probably all in my head… but there is something about cooking on the weekends that is much more pleasant and relaxing.

First I made a garlic rubbed pork tenderloin…already marinated courtesy of Trader Joe’s!

It was super easy and I felt like such a grown up…I’m trying to over come my fear of cooking large cuts of meat.

I made a gravy out of the drippings to go over brown rice. Then threw together a quick salad. Turned out to be a yummy Sunday meal!

For Husb’s birthday Lucie gave him a jar of her homemade cherry pie filling. He has been asking for a pie everyday since. I delivered today.

Husb LOVES my pie crusts. Which is very kind of him since I’ve only made two pie’s in my life and both were made last summer. Pie is not my thing. However, this is why he loves them so much.

It is the secret ingredient. Actually it is pretty much the main ingredient. The trick is to use this recipe and this butter. I’m a total butter snob because of this stuff!

Turned out to be the prettiest pie crust I’ve made to date. Hopefully it tastes just as good…he is taking it to work so I don’t get to taste test.

Lastly, remember this post? I was talking about putting together a healthy but quick dinner. Yeah, well…this is what I ate after the healthy meal.

Just keepin it real for ya…and reminding myself to go to the gym tomorrow!

That’s what we were last night!

We got dressed up…well as dressed up as you might get in the Pacific North West!

and headed out to learn

The only things missing were cucumber sandwiches and tea!

I spent almost $100 on groceries at Trader Joes today…

and loved every minute of it!

I so love that store…Trader Joe’s, Target, and Nordstrom are three stores I could waste the day in.

Then I came home and made Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina for dinner.

Yeah it was a frozen pasta mix…so what!

It was good stuff! And even though it falls under the category of frozen food…I’m not stressing out about it! It doesn’t have any preservatives or artificial ick in it. Trader Joe’s has a pretty good variety of fairly healthy convenience foods.

Plus, it took under 10 minutes to cook (I was hungry) and during those 10 minutes I made myself a salad of organic baby lettuce, chard, arugula, and frisee… a Trader Joe’s pre-package salad mix that I…

wait for it…

didn’t wash!

Tasha and Kristel would be proud and my mom would be appalled. But the package says “triple washed”. Do they really need to be washed four times?

I then topped the salad with homemade balsamic, olive oil, garlic dressing, dried cranberries, and almonds. I buttered some whole grain bread and shoveled it in my mouth.

It was good and healthy. I say…don’t feel bad about serving a frozen entree every once in a while. Pair it with some healthy sides and you are good to go!

Aren’t you glad you read my blog? What would you do without a step by step of my dinner experience

I love you because…

• you always tell me you love me.
• always give me a hug goodbye when you go to work…even if I choose to stay in our warm bed instead of pack your lunch or make breakfast
• are such a great provider
• you get really excited to give me birthday presents… even though I don’t like to get them until MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY…and we end up in a fight about it almost every year
• you are the most giving person I know
• and don’t mind that I am in sweats and your London fog fleece every night when you get home
• you let me make your computer desk girly and cute
• and allow me to have complete decorating control over our home
• you say that I am beautiful when I have no makeup on and my hair is in a sumo wrestler bun
• you did research to find the best stuffed animal doctor so that my bear Grizz could get re-stuffed
• you don't mind that I have a stuffed animal named Grizz and that I put him on our bed each day after I make the bed
• you love ALMOST everything I cook

These are just a few of the things that I love about you!

Happy Birthday

I know, I know…enough with the pillows already! But guys…Kari and Kijsa are having a pillow parade finale and I have to partake!

So…yes, I just started an Etsy shop selling pillows. And this is somewhat of a shameless plug. But really, I don’t have any pillows except the plain brown ones that came with my couch and the beautiful ones that we covered.

This however, is another beautiful pillow cover that Tasha and I made and are selling. It’s our favorite! I love the colors and incorporating both floral and stripe makes my heart happy.

Front

Back

Isn’t is sweet?

Don’t worry…this wont turn into a pillow blog. To make all you pillow haters happy I will share with you a little tip.

When making twice baked potatoes…stir in some shredded cheddar and bacon bits before you re-stuff the potato skin.

Does everyone already know this? Why didn’t you tell me? Jerk!

That’s what I had for dinner…so yummy. Keeps the potato moist and flavorful!

I had strawberry shortcake for lunch

I don’t think my mother would approve ;0

There were no leftovers from dinner and lots of leftovers from dessert…what’s a girl to do?

Then I spent over an hour at Joann’s scouring the aisles for the perfect fabric for a custom pillow order! I think I found it…I hope I found it!

Next, I rushed home to feed my pirates booty addiction. Not the healthiest day…but my legs are still sore from going to the gym on Wednesday. That has to cancel it out…right?

I also added a new pillow cover to the Etsy shop! Click on over and check it out. While you are there take another look at some of the others…I loaded some better pictures of them today!

Now I’m waiting for husb to come home so we can eat dinner and snuggle up for a movie!

Hope you are all having a good Friday night!