and this isn’t even a post to really kick things off to get us back on track.

just a hello and to say we are still alive (although, i think our only readers are ones who see us at every family get together…).

i’m not sure what’s the cause for our lack of activity on here. maybe a combination of sorts. we’ve hit some penny pinching times, and while writing on here is free, the groceries are not. i’ve gotten into the routine of working a 5 day week, wil’s been making desserts and candies in school, and by the time we see each other in the evening, we plop on the couch with dinner on our laps, and jeopardy on the screen.

since our last post, we enjoyed a quick one night visit with our dear friend tom (introducing him to the portland food cart scene), wil drove halfway across the country in a day (just for kicks!! kidding…), we spent a quick weekend at the parents (helping them ‘clean’ their deep freezer of extra cuts of meats!!), and even had a lovely mothers day enjoying a ridiculously wonderful spring day of portland sunshine with family. and besides that, we continue to hole ourselves up for hours at a time watching entire seasons the sci-fi shows ‘firefly‘ and ‘dr. who‘ (yes we are nerds).

still been cooking of course…some meals more interesting than others. while buying a small bag of grocery store dog food *CRINGE* to hold the girls over till we could make the trek to petsmart, i saw four pounds of strawberries for only $4.40! i didn’t think twice about carrying that back up the hill to our apartment along with the dog food, and was so excited to get so much out of them…strawberry buttermilk cake, strawberry cobblers, creme fraiche strawberry muffins, as well as a handful every day at lunch and a bag to freeze for later baking.

wil has had his own developments, landing a job at zupan’s market (think fancy pants like whole foods) a few blocks from our place. he’ll be working in the deli and prepared foods section, and he is excited to be surrounded by great foods and ingredients…discount on high end groceries maybe? his start of training is to be determined, but we are both blessed and relieved.

keep us in line on continuing to post on here… be sure to throw out a comment if we are slacking. we like to know we are making our readers happy!

• gracie not doing her business when she and i both know she neeeeds to go.
• being sick, and probably with h1n1 for all i care (really, you don’t want to know how ridiculous i think the ‘swine flu’ is)
• people who do not know how to use facebook.
• not being able to do things i was mentally prepared to do this week, because of being sick.
• and what do i find out when i pop the laptop open this morning to vent all my frustrations? obama wins a nobel peace prize? nominations ended february 1st, 11 days after he was inaugurated….what amazing things had he done by then? i also heard earlier he was #2 on GQ’s top ten gentleman…exactly what i wanted in a president. make us all feel peaceful and warm and fuzzy.

took a few shots around the place…our home for the next year at least. click on the picture to go to my flickr, and i put little notes on all the pictures.

I’ve spent the last several weeks trying to figure out where we belong and it turns out it won’t be my decision at all.

One of the requirements for enrollment at the Culinary Institute of America (CA) is that I have to have 6 months foodservice experience before entering the school… this is something I don’t have (Starbucks doesn’t count) and won’t be able to get before school starts.   So… Portland here we come!

I’m happy with the result, it feels good to have a destination in mind.  I also know that if this school (Western Culinary Institute) turns out to be something different than I wanted or expected, Kris and I are open to re-transfering down to CA to give the CIA another attempt.  I know my mom is happy, what do YOU think?

made it on time and with all our bags (and the bottles of wine didn’t explode in our suitcases!)…opened the front door to greet the dogs at about 11 last night. just enough time to say hello and go to bed.

we’ll get a post up shortly with some picturey goodness hopefully in the next day or so.

everyone also runs their ac’s so early here, wil and i were proud to say we went all the way to june 1st without turning ours on. leaving our house wide open was fun for a while…kind of warm during the day, but wonderfully pleasant in the evening and at night. and the dogs loved being able to just go in and out at will, although after two seconds outside they come in, dramatically panting and throwing themselves onto the tile floor in heat exhaustion…i think they play it up on purpose just to get more ice cubes*.

we are also excited to have seen the first firefly of the season. there are certain things i will miss if i ever leave this place…lightning bugs is one of them. so nostalgic of summer. i love it.

ok, you can tell i’m really reaching for something interesting to talk about…but there’s really nothing. wil and i go to napa next week for van’s graduation and family visit, so that should be pretty fun and a nice change of pace. i think wil’s ready for a break from work longer than 2 days…come to think of it he hasn’t had one since new years. maybe then we’ll have something entertaining for you to read or look at… 

*i have not had another sighting to confirm it has fully sunk in to her brain, but ava discovered the ice machine and that if she pushes it with her nose, either water or ice will come out! we had no part in this…one evening while cooking i heard the machine go on, and turned around and saw ava sticking her nose in the fridge door! i hope she tries again, and i have a camera in hand.

go learn about yourself…it’s fun.

I have two days off in a row, starting today.  It would’ve been nice to have these days before my meeting yesterday, but this way i’ll get to relax during this time than work.

I think today, i’m going to tour some other stores and say hi to some of my friends – Matthew, Shiloh, Kelly, Amy and others.  Then i think i’ll go down to my store to see if anyone wants to grab some lunch.  I think i’m going to meet with ryan today to discuss the store website and newsletter and see if we can get some assignments finished a bit early.  Kris and i have a music show to go to tonight at my store.  My friend Dave and his band, The Champion and His Burning Flame is playing tonight, so we’re pretty excited to see him play.

We’ll probably do some christmas shopping tomorrow during the day before a party tomorrow night.  Shiloh’s birthday was last week, so he is having a big celebration tomorrow night!

So, right now, those are my only plans and i need some more ideas of what i should do… anybody?

-wil

I know that I will pass without any problems; and I hope to have my own store by February… the only thing is that I still have to work on this thing today, tonight after work and tomorrow morning. My meeting is at 9am in the morning and I am nowhere near completed. I decided to take a break and took a few pics of the dogs.

“Answer the 11 questions to find out which candidates are most aligned with your views and opinions. You may skip questions if you do not want them factored into the results. This quiz is not meant to pick your candidate for you. It is designed to inform the public of the various stances candidates make. Results are not scientific. The WQAD candidate survey is based on the original SELECT A CANDIDATE survey developed by Minnesota Public Radio.”

After the quiz, they say who your political views most line up with.  My top two were Joe Biden and Barack Obama… but I already knew that.  Something else that is funny, 7 out of my top 8 were democratic candidates.

http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460

wow… 2 political posts in a row…