Happy Birthday Jenny!

Happy birthday to my beautiful wife who loves boots and handbags. You have a husband and dog who love you. You're the best wife I ever could have ever hoped for, and I can't wait to extend our family (since Roxy, our little furry baby, was the start).

I hope you have a wonderful day--and birthday week.

-C

Weekend in Review

Another great weekend in the books, though I can't believe it's already Sunday evening and we have to go back to work tomorrow. But as they say, time flies when you're having fun!

Here's a quick look back at our fun weekend.

• Kelsey, Gina, Sara and I headed to Bastille on Friday for a delicious early birthday dinner. Gotta love when the birthday celebrations start several days before your actual birthday! I had a fabulous time and it was so great to catch up with the three of them - it had been awhile since we'd been in the same place at the same time.


• On Saturday morning, Natalie, Ashlie and I went to the Nordstrom Fall Trends Show. With beauty experts from around the country on hand, we learned all about the latest and greatest trends for fall when it comes to both cosmetics and fashion. We even scored some free goodies and enjoyed facials and makeovers. (Head over to Natalie's blog for some fun photos from our morning.)


• We had the pleasure of celebrating Hannah and Charlotte's first birthday (they're our friends' Katy and Tyler's twins) on Saturday afternoon. Corey and I hadn't seen them since January and they have changed to much! It was so fun to watch them interact with all the partygoers and to watch Hannah devour her first ever cupcake in record time. (Charlotte took a much more dainty approach to eating her cupcake...)


• That night, Corey's mom had us over for dinner and for another early birthday celebration (again, love the multiple birthday celebrations!). We had a great time visiting and we left completely stuffed after a fabulous dinner of Indonesian chicken soup and spring rolls, followed by homemade chocolate mousse with whipped cream, carmel sauce and macaroons. (I'm getting hungry just thinking about last night's dinner!)


• Tonight, my friend Brooke and I headed to Madame K's (I hadn't been in months and Brooke hadn't ever been!) for a girls dinner. I hadn't seen Brooke since her bachelorette party and we had tons to catch up on.


• And you all probably know without me telling you that Corey had a great weekend as it involved tons of football.

(That's Charlotte on the left, and Hannah on the right.)

Whew! It was whirlwind couple of days but we had a blast. And I am looking forward to more (!!!) birthday celebrations this week and next weekend - I am one lucky girl!

Doggie Duel

I listen to KISS 106.1 each morning on my way to work, and a few weeks ago, they launched their second annual Doggie Duel (i.e. a cute dog contest where anyone can enter a photo of their dog for a chance to win). Corey and I thought it would be fun to enter Roxy, not only because we think she's pretty cute, but an iPad is up for grabs and who wouldn't take a free iPad?? (Second place is a $200 gift card of some sort, which isn't too shabby either.) We went back and forth on what photo to include - do we go funny to help her stand out amongst the other entries, or do we go super cute? We finally settled on funny and went with our favorite shots of her playing fetch.


Once the contest began, we asked a few of our friends and family members to vote for her but didn't think too much more about it. Fast forward a week, and come to found today, she made it into the second round! This puts her in the top 50 of 1,400 contestants! I'm so glad we chose the awesome fetch photo Corey snapped of her --- I honestly think that helped her stand out amongst all her super cute, furry competitors.

If you'd like to help keep Roxy in the running, feel free to vote! (You'll be asked to register and then you'll have to wait for the confirmation email to arrive before you can vote, but your vote is greatly appreciated!) And make sure that when you vote, you give her a '10' to up her changes of making it further.

Who knows if she'll end up winning, but now we just think it's funny that Miss Roxy, our snorty, gasy, crazy little munchkin of a dog is up against some pretty cute competition.

Have a great weekend!

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You

Corey and I are getting excited for the release of The Town on Friday! It's not just any movie...if you remember, we saw it being filmed while we were in Boston last fall.

We keep seeing the trailer, which includes the scene we saw them filming, and we can't wait to check out the rest of the movie (and more of Ben).

Our view of the movie being filmed. (It's a bank in the movie, but is actually a laundromat.)

Similar view at the beginning of the trailer.

Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend was the perfect mix of rest & relaxation and fun with friends. Here's a quick recap of how we spent our last few days outside of work.

• We met up with our friends Sandy and Adam and their adorable daughter Addy at the Houghton Beach Park in Kirkland so that Corey could get some family photos of them. The photos turned out great!
• After the photoshoot, we all enjoyed a yummy brunch next door at the Beachhouse Bar & Grill, which is a restaurant their friends own. It was delicious!
• Football kicked off for Corey and his Fantasy team. This means non-stop football, all day every Saturday and Sunday. (This also means that there may have a been a few naps on my part. Maybe.)
• Gina and I got to catch up over steamy coffee drinks at Aster.

Lots of reading, some movie watching and a bit of cooking later, that's a wrap on this fun weekend. Already looking forward to the next one!

New Recipe - #20

Our second new recipe this week was Beef, Red Pepper and Green Bean Stir-fry, also from 30-minute Suppers.

While we make stir-fry often, we typically use tofu vs. beef, so it was a nice change. We also liked the seasoning used in this dish.

Jenny's rating: 4 stars
Corey's rating: 3-1/2 stars

Recipe:

• 1/2 cup oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 flank steak (about 1-1/2 pounds) cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced thin
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 8 oz green beans

1. Whisk oyster sauce, vinegar and pepper flakes in medium bowl. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Cook half of beef until well browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer to bowl and repeat with additional tablespoon oil and remaining beef.

2. Add remaining oil and bell pepper to skillet and cook until just softened, about 2 minutes. Add ginger and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add chicken broth and cook until thickened, about 1 minute.

3. Add green beans and cook until bright green and tender, about 2 minutes. Return beef and any accumulated juices to skillet. Add oyster sauce mixture and cook until thoroughly incorporated and thickened, about 1 minute.

New Recipe - #19

Joan gave Corey a 30-minute Suppers cookbook for his birthday and that helped re-inspire us to continue working towards our new recipe resolution. The first of two new recipes we made this week was Quick Lentil Soup (recipe below).

It was super easy and didn't require too many ingredients at all. And, when paired with pita bread and a homemade Mediterranean Kitchen-type dipping sauce, it was yummy!

Jenny's rating: 4 stars
Corey's rating: 3-1/2 stars

Recipe:

• 1 cup split red lentils, rinsed and picked over
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 large beefsteak tomato, cored, seeded and diced
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt

1. Combine lentils and 2 cups vegetable broth in microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave until lentils are al dente and most of the liquid is absorbed, about 8 minutes.

2. Heat butter in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until melted. Add onion and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and curry powder and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

3. Add lentils, remaining broth, and tomato to pot and cook until lentils are very tender and flavors meld, 10 to 12 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls, sprinkle with cilantro, and dollop with yogurt.

Corey's Birthday Celebration #2

Last night, we had a bunch of our friends over for birthday celebration #2. Overall, it was a day of Corey's favorite things: seeing our friends, watching football (Huskies vs. BYU), Mexican food for dinner (tacos from Malena's and chips & salsa from Azteca), followed by yummy gelato for dessert at D'Ambrosio.

We are so lucky to have so many friends who were willing to make the trek to Ballard to celebrate Corey's big day. Thanks to Matt & Christy, the Shawvers, the Reeders, the Gossetts, Kels, and the Gordens for partaking in the festivities. We had a blast and hope you did, too!

(P.S. - Roxy also had fun, even if she did put herself to bed after everyone arrived - it is hard work entertaining so many people!)

Here are a few photos from last night's festivities.

Our New Ride!

Last weekend, what started out as a window-shopping trip to the Mazda dealership turned into us driving home in a shiny new ride - a Mazda CX-9.

We'd been talking about getting an SUV for awhile and with my car (Toyota Solara) just about paid off, the timing seemed right. Especially when you factor in the 0% APR we snagged, which was ultimately why we decided to sign the papers last weekend.

One of the main reasons we started looking at an SUV was space. My car had a huge trunk, but only two doors, making it a pain when were hauling around anymore than one other person. His car (Mitsubishi Lancer) has four doors, but a small trunk. Weekend road trips, or just any time we needed to haul around more than just a few things, became a bit of a packing hassle. As much as I don't want to think about snow right now as summer just begins winding down, we wanted an AWD car to make trips over the pass to Yakima (or anywhere else) easier and safer in the winter.

I've always loved the CX-9 so I'm super excited that we ended up with this car. We've been thoroughly enjoying the new ride over the last week, even if it does eat up a bit more gas than my car used to.

And to top it off, it gave Corey a new "subject" to take some photos of.

Corey's Birthday Celebration #1

Last night, Corey and I met his parents at Gorgeous George's for a yummy birthday dinner. After having food from this restaurant at Dara and Leah's wedding reception last week, we were looking forward to more.

1 plate of hummus with meat, 1 plate of stuffed grape leaves, 1 huge plate of Greek salad, 1 bowl of lentil soup, 1 chicken Shawarma, 2 combos and 1 plate of Shish Tawook later, we left completely stuffed but very happy, with many leftovers in hand.

We came back to our place for presents and homemade lemon meringue pie. Corey loved his gifts and the pie turned out better than last time (which means the meringue actually had some height to it) but because I didn't think to bake the crust before filling it with lemony goodness, it wasn't completely done all the way through. Oops. I promised Corey I would make a good pie, with a fully baked crust, before the end of the year to make up for it.

Because Corey's birthday gifts consisted of some new camera equipment, and because he had some multiple subjects to test it out on, he had us all pose for our own portraits. With the fun background colors, they turned out great.

We are continuing the celebrating today by not working. Corey had today off so I took it off and we've been at home relaxing and enjoying a day off together while looking forward to more birthday festivities tomorrow!