editing in photoshop

playing with photoshop. pretty neat how with the help of a program you can make some pretty cool changes to an image.


before:
after:

no i didn't forget...

so many thoughts to share today. it has been forever, it seems, since i've been on here and posted ANTHING. to those of you who are avid followers, thank you and i'm sorry for keeping you hanging. not to worry though, i have plenty to share to keep you all up to date.

first: (and foremost) lil H is walking! yes. one day he stood up in the middle of the floor and took a few steps and five days later he had it figured out. He prefers to walk over anything else. we did purchase him a pair of shoes, which are beyond cute.

Since he had the walking thing mastered barefoot he wasn't a fan of the shoes right off. in the shoe store he decided that they weren't as cool as mom thought they were. i put them on his feet and stood him up. I guess assuming he would just take off and do his usual scream of satisfaction. NOPE! he took one look at the shoes, scowled, blew raspberries at his feet then dropped to crawling. needless to say, like with anything else he is learning, it only took a couple days for him to figure them out. now that he's walking, i'm running. and he's into EVERYTHING.

second: wow. I'm so excited about this the most... maybe... it might be a close tie... i have a couple of blogs that i LOVE to follow, one of which posted an add for the 'sketchbook 2011 project'. it's awesome. it is a tour of sketchbooks that you get to participate in if you so wish.

i couldn't resist. i had to purchase a sketchbook, a theme and now a couple of sketching pencils. my sketchbook just came in the mail yesterday and i am so stoked. i have an artistic itch that i can finally get out, and then it will be touring the US. the 'art house co-op' is pretty cool. you should go check it out, i highly recommend it:

http://arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject picking a theme was hard, so i selected one that didn't seem like i would be too restrictive on myself. i'm good at setting way to many boundaries and being too safe. i'm using this as an exercise to let my self loose. HELLO WORLD! MY NAME IS STEPHANIE. I HAVE A PENCIL AND I'M RELEASING IT ON PAPER! very excited and i will keep progress updates on here.

third: I sold another pair of baby shoes. those things are way too cute. i love making them. there is something so therapeutic about stitching and knowing it is going to go on a babies foot. oh baby feet, how you are so perfect and tiny and...*sigh* i love you. haha, especially lil H's super chubby square baby feet (that are near to impossible to shop for) i've pretty much cleaned out my supply. i'm going to have to get started on some more. any requests? (note: I need a few weeks, i'm still working full time too)

fourth: Mr.A came home from Africa with all these gorgeous prints and canvases. (keep in mind he came home from Africa 3 years ago) right after we got married i framed one of them for his birthday. the guys that did it for me charged way too much, so i've been procrastinating taking care of the other ones. mostly because i just couldn't justify spending that much money on stretching one print and without a frame. Turns out that my parents have cool tools, and the art store that i pretty much kept in business while in school had more cool supplies and i was able to stretch them myself, with a little help of course. they turned out beautiful. now we have all this color in our apartment and i'm in love with it. we got rid of the make-shift media shelving once lil H started crawling and pulling up on things. somehow cinder blocks and plywood just aren't baby friendly. plus, i was getting concerned for the welfare of Mr.A's TV. Tiny hands and wide screen Tv's aren't a great combo, and tiny hands like to push game console buttons as well (they have lights that blink, ooooh). so we invested in something much taller and deeper than little hands could reach to. i'm not sure how long it will last, but i'm hoping at least until he understands why i'm telling him not to touch instead of taking his hand back and trying another time. (have i mentioned before that he is into EVERYTHING?!)

i'm a mom who wears a cape!

because i'm SUPER MOM! but seriously, now that I'm back at work I've really developed a crazy respect for mom's that wear both hats.

Going back to work was one of the harder decisions that Andrew and I have had to make since we have been married. And I am so glad that it is working out in our favor. Working has been good for my soul. I, too easily, got lost somehow while being at home all day by myself. Going back has helped me snap back. I am so happy. I love my job and I love being at home when I am with the baby. Who seems to be growing faster than I can keep up with.

It's been a while since i've updated this thing so to keep you all up to speed. We (me and Henry) drove to Utah with my parents to help move my sister down after graduating. It was Henry's first road trip and i was a little worried. But he is a super traveler and loved it. You know he loves something when he starts yelling and giggling. both of which were actively present during the drive up. I cannot lie, the 18 hour trip up was more enjoyable than the 18 hour trip back. It always seems to take longer to get back home than to get away.

The drew started a new job. We are both very excited. It will be nice to see where this one takes us. I really admire him and all that he does for our little family. He works full time and goes to school full time, he's a full time dad and husband and always remembers where we fall in the priority lineup.

with both of us working and juggling the baby it's like learning a whole new routine. new routines are nice, but the first few weeks are always in need of a serious learning curve. dinners are messed up, bedtimes are a little crazy, and the apartment, well, my somewhat tidy routine turned into an 'ahhh, my day is done. i'm going to bed, i don't care what the living room looks like' routine. we have slowly begun to transition into a more steady routine in the past couple days. dinners are getting done in time, thanks to a crock pot and the laundry is getting folded and put away. Henry has become quite fond of the grandparents and grandpa cline is his new buddy. he gets very excited when he gets to hang out with him for the day. (i think it's because grandpa fed him ice cream)

i've started a new project. I'm going to finish this old chair that i have had sitting around for a couple of years. i bought it back in 2005 at a thrift store, knowing that it needed to be sanded, re-finished and i would need to make new pillow forms for it. It sat on the back burner for a long time, a very long time. when i got pregnant i quickly decided again, that 'the chair' would be my new focus and i would finish it before i had that baby. well, now that Henry is 8 months old and my chair still isn't done, it once again got put on the back burner. It will be done this time. I have had to mend it a little bit, and my wood filler has quickly become my new best friend. i will show before and after photos when i get it done.

1a bed time, 5a wake up

i've been up and down all night long. pretty sure that the lil' tank is working on teeth. it's killin me just a little bit, but it must be some sort of pain full to have teeth rip through those gums of his. he's up crying like ever 45 min. it feels like by the time i am actually falling into sleep, i'm just getting right back up. and to add more to this mix, now that he is a rolling , crawling and climbing machine i have to change his clothes and the sheets in the middle of the night. i thought this only happened with toddlers who were potty training or little kids who slept deep in the night. needless to say this is night two like this. i need to invest in more crib sheets, and maybe a different brand of diapers.

some like it HOT - buffalo chicken wraps

These wraps are FAN-TAST-IC! promise. They are a little on the spicy side, but that is canceled out for the most part by the awesome dressing that goes on it. I had never had whole wheat tortillas before but they are actually tastier than the regular white ones (corn are still my favorite, but i wouldn't do them with this meal). Only down side I had with the wheat ones is that they seem to be more fragile than regular ones. Andrew ended up having to eat his wrap with a fork, sorry bud! But he enjoyed them nonetheless.

Servings: 4
Prep time: 35 min

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons hot pepper sauce, Tabasco or Frank's RedHot
3 Tablespoons white vinegar, divided
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound chicken tenders (or chicken breasts, you are gonna chop it up anyhow)
2 Tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons nonfat plain yogurt
freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
4 8" whole-wheat tortillas
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 cup sliced celery
1 large tomato, diced


Directions: (and photos)

above: chopped up veggies

above: sideways view of ingredients for buffalo sauce (it would not rotate... shame)

above: chicken, chopped and tossed in sauce. mmmm spicay!

above: blue cheese sauce

above: assembled wrap prior to wrapping it up

above: yummy spinach, apple, cranberry & walnut salad

above: dinner is served.

1.Whisk hot pepper sauce, 2 TBLsp vinegar and cayenne pepper in a medium bowl.

2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken tenders; cook until cooked through and no longer pink in the middle. 3-4 min per side. Add to the bowl with the hot sauce and toss.

3. Whisk mayonnaise , yogurt and the remaining 1 TBLsp vinegar in a small bowl. Stir in blue cheese.

4. To assemble wraps; lay a tortilla on a work surface or plate. Spread with 1 TBLsp blue cheese sauce and top with one-fourth of the chicken, lettuce, celery and tomato. Drizzle with some of the hot sauce remaining int he bowl and roll into a wrap sandwich.

couch potato to 5K -

So please listen to Beasti Boys "No Sleep Til Brooklyn" while reading this post. This makes me happy! ♥

Alright, so today I found a killer website. It's for runners, which I am not. At least not yet. My goal is to be one and to be good at it. Ah, running! I was a skating champ, but like previously posted I am still nervous about taking out the skates and the jogging stroller. (someday. and don't worry, when I do, you will know!) But I figure the stroller was made for jogging/running so that is what it will be used for!

www.coolrunning.com has a super sweet program for all you exercise enthusiasts who WISH you were more than enthusiastic! I'm going to use it to get me to my 3 mile mark. According to their couch potato - 5k program by week 9 I will be running for 30 min straight, or 3 miles. And week 9 pretty much puts me at finishing around the end of the second week in June. Pretty cool and I'm pretty stoked. I'm starting Monday so I can keep track of it all and do it MWF. I like plans and programs and they planned out my program for me! I will keep you updated on my progress.

If you feel so inclined, you should join me on my fitness adventure. You can log your process with me here. I'm so excited. It's probably partly that the weather here is AH-mazing! And all great weather deserves to be ran, cycled, skated, played and swam in, and I'd even say golfed in (that's for you Andrew). And I know what I said the other day about not going by weight to gage my progress... i know... I'm not going to go by my weight, but I figure if I set a goal of lets say 20lbs in 8 weeks that it would just make me more cautious of what goes into this body of mine. so here's the guidelines from this article I read:

if you want to lose 10 lbs - daily calorie intake should be 1,700 plus moderate exercise 3x's a week
if you want to lose 15 lbs - daily calorie intake should be 1,600 plus moderate exercise 3x's a week
if you want to lose 20 lbs - daily calorie intake should be 1,500 plus moderate exercise 3x's a week

and of course the foods should be smart choices, like don't starve yourself then go binge on a big mac and shake, although that is probably over even the 1700 plan. just be smart chickas!

So here is to running 3 miles in 9 weeks, being 20 lbs lighter, stronger, and fitting into all those cute pre-baby jeans collecting dust in my closet!

Salmon-and-Avacado Rice Bowl

The lil' tank is my right hand man these days. He's always around to help keep me entertained while I'm cooking and doing everything else. Good thing he likes his highchair so much, I just rotate out the toys (or kitchen utensils) to keep him busy and preoccupied.

So, Salmon and Avocado Rice Bowls... They turned out pretty good. If you are in the mood for something a little lighter than usual, and if you like the taste of the traditional California Roll then you'll probably enjoy this meal. I am usually pretty hesitant to cook anything that isn't traditional american or tex-mex. I have those cuisines down snap. Needless to say, I was impressed when these turned out so yummy. Even the left overs were good. (and to me that is a good gage of how good food really is)



The salmon I used was the frozen, individually vacuumed packed fillets. I like them. Not as amazing as the thick gorgeous fillets from the seafood counter but not as $$$ either. Plus they are already individually wrapped which is awesome, and they thaw pretty quick. I also had a hard time finding the sesame seeds, luckily the local grocery store had them in the bulk section. (btw i ♥ the bulk section)

Servings: 4

prep time: 10 min

cook time: 10 min

Ingredients:
2 large salmon fillets
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 1/2 teaspoon honey
small pinch of cayenne pepper
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 cup shelled edamame, steamed
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
1 1/4 cups short-grain brown rice, cooked according to package directions
1 ripe avocado, sliced

Directions: (and photos of course!)
1. So you want to pre-heat the broiler. Then for clean-up purposes line an ovenproof pan (ie cookie sheet) with aluminum foil. place salmon fillets on lined pan, and coat with honey sesame sauce: 1tsp each of sesame oil, honey and then a small pinch of cayenne pepper.

2.Broil on each side, aprox 4 min each side, depending on the thickness of your fillets. You will know they are done when the fish flakes easily. Transfer to a plate.

above: salmon coated with honey sesame sauce


above: honey sesame sauce


above: sesame seeds




Above: lightly beaten eggs

3. Heat a small, nonstick skillet over medium high heat and add the remaining sesame oil. Pour in the eggs. Cook undisturbed until set, aprox 2 min. Flip and cook until just set on the other side, aprox 1 min. Transfer to board and cut into strips.

above: eggs cooking in skillet


above: eggs cut into strips

4. In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce and rice wine vinegar with the remaining 1/2 tsp honey.

5. Fold edamame and sesame seeds into the rice. Serve the rice bowls topped with the egg strips, salmon, and avocado. Place the soy-vinegar mixture in a small bowl and use at the table for drizzling.

above: salmon-and-avocado rice bowl, finished!