2009 Calendar Wrap-Up Part I: Every Page

As promised in my previous post, I will be sharing all of the pages in my 2009 calendar, and will go into detail about some of them. For this first post, I would simply like to post the front cover and each of the 12 months for you to see. As I mentioned before, many of the pages were incomplete when I first posted them, so I want to make sure I get them all on here! Enjoy!

Front Cover

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Long Time, No Scrap!

It's been a long time since I've posted about my progress on Ryan's calendar (see here & here for the first 9 pages). I have finally, 3+ months late, "finished" the calendar. I would like to work on it a teeny bit more, but honestly, I may never get to it, because Ryan now has it! Finally!

10. April, Trip to San Francisco

I went cricut-happy with this one. Dannelle has the wonderful cricut machine, so I was able to make the tags, the swirly thing, and the city skyline with the machine. I definitely did not have a plan in mind when I started this one. I kind of just started organizing things, and it kind of worked out. This is actually his favorite page... (so maybe he'll be in favor of me getting my very own cricut)

11. February, Formals etc

This one started with a really pretty piece of paper I had. It had blue, purple, green, yellow-ish slash beige, etc. I started putting the pictures together, and realized that almost the entire background paper would be covered up. Oops. I didn't want to completely cover it, so I ended up changing the background to a plain black piece of cardstock.

12. September, Stanford Football

I can't wait to go into detail about this page. It took me FOREVER to do, because of the background, because I made it by hand. I really like it, probably because I know how much time went into this page (overall, probably 12 hours? Something ridiculous, maybe even more). I also love the colors (!) and the pictures. And I really like how it isn't super "Stanford-y" which I wanted to stay away from, because I had another Stanford football page in the 2007 calendar I made for him. And it just so happens that the page from 2007 was super cute, and I didn't want to try to compete with it!

Thanks everyone for your patience (as if you really cared, haha)! I had such a great time making the calendar, but I am definitely ready to start working on my own scrapbook.

Next up: I'll provide pictures of every single page from the calendar. The reason for this is that many of the pages were unfinished when I first showed you. Especially the lyrics. And by the way, the lyrics on each page were the most difficult part. It is very tough to find small letters in all different colors that can be used for this!

I will then end this calendar series by posting 3 or 4 additional posts, and I'll focus on some of the details of the calendar. I'm going to try to post some other non-scrapbooking posts too, so I won't bore you all too much!

Recipe #10: Fusilli with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Artichokes and Sausage

And goat cheese toast! I didn't think all of that would fit in the title.

This meal is probably one of my favorites! Both recipes can be found on foodnetwork.com (compliments of Giada de Laurentiis). We've probably made this 7 or 8 times.

First the goat cheese toasts. These are super easy to make. In fact, you don't really need to "make" much! Start out with one of those skinny french baguettes. Cut them up into pieces, maybe about 1/2 inch wide or so. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil on each piece, and put them in the oven for about 15 mins at 375 degrees.


Meanwhile, make the goat cheese mixture to go on top! You need 8 oz of goat cheese and 4 oz of cream cheese (or whatever you have, but approximately 2:1, goat cheese to cream cheese). We buy the goat cheese with herbs in it already, but feel free to buy anything. Mix together the cream cheese and goat cheese, and really, add any herbs that you like. I forget what the recipe calls for, but we always add thyme, chives, lemon zest, garlic, salt and pepper. Yum!


Once the bread is done in the oven, simply spread the goat cheese mixture on top of each one.

So easy! And you're done.

Now the main course: Fusilli pasta with artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, and sausage. For those of you who, for some reason, hate fusilli pasta (Alex....), you can substitute whatever pasta you like! I actually first found this recipe online, but she has the exact same one in one of her cookbooks, except she uses penne instead. But lucky me: fusilli is my absolute favorite!

Ok, so the ingredients:
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in the oil (you need the oil for the sausage)
2 (8oz) packs of frozen artichoke hearts
1 lb hot italian sausage
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
2+ cloves of garlic
1/3 cup fresh basil
1 lb fusilli pasta
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
8 oz mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper

Take 2 tablespoons of the "sun-dried tomato oil" and heat it up in a large pan. Place the sausage into the pan, and cook until it's completely done (about 8 minutes). Transfer the sausage to a plate, but leave the oil in the pan.

So, I didn't take the best pictures, which can be seen by the one above. Haha, you probably didn't really want to see that plate of meat, but too bad =)

In the same pan (with the oil), put in the 2 cloves of chopped-up garlic (or more) and the frozen artichoke hearts. Mix them around in the oil, and leave them in there for a few minutes. Next, pour in the chicken broth, wine, and sun-dried tomatoes. Stir occasionally and let simmer for about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, grate the parmesan cheese and cut the mozzarella cheese into little cubes. Oh also, start cooking the pasta! I accidentally started it too late last night, so the above mixture was simmering for twice as long as it should have. I'm not sure it did anything, except maybe make it so that there was less sauce available for all that pasta!

Once the pasta is done, drain the water, but do not rinse. Put the pasta, sausage, parmesan cheese and basil into the same pan as the rest of the stuff. Let it all heat up, and then throw in the mozzarella cheese.


Keep it on the heat until everything is melted and heated through. Enjoy!

Picture from the first time I made this dish. It looks like I forgot about the basil, oops!

April Fools FAIL

Just want to say, that I officially FAIL at april fools! My post below was, in fact, my attempt at a joke! Well, kind of! Ryan did NOT buy a house (and if he did, I really hope it wouldn't be that condo thing that I posted pictures of...) and I am NOT moving down there this June. But who knows what the future will hold?

I think I should have posted pictures like this, to make it more "jokey":

[source - actually in Bako]

[source - not in Bako]

So I failed...but I tried! Sorry for being too believable! hopefully you can all forgive!!

I knew this was coming...

I just didn't think it would be so soon! Well, you may recall the first time Ryan and I went house hunting. A couple of weeks ago, Ryan's friend, who will be starting full time at Chevron at the end of May, came to visit Bako to look at houses. The weekend before he came, Ryan and I decided to check out some of the places he was looking at. He really did his research, and if we thought the first houses we looked at were a good deal, these ones were even better!! Seriously...I can't even describe how insanely "cheap" these places were.

Well, the one we completely LOVED is 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. I took a few pictures. It's hard to get a really good idea of what it looks like, because unlike the houses we looked at the first time around, this one was not set-up and furnished.

This is probably my favorite part...the master "suite" with a fireplace!

So, as you can see, when we went to visit the house, they were working on it. Fixing it up a bit, to make it look much nicer! One of the reasons I loooved this place is because it has 2 fireplaces!

You can see the kitchen area in the picture above. It really is quite large! Why I didn't take a picture of it, I have no idea. Sometimes I do dumb things (or don't do smart things).

So there you have it, the house Ryan and I looked at about a month ago. And why am I showing you this? Well, because we're buying it!!!

Or should I say, Ryan's buying it. The cost is SOOO great, that it just doesn't make sense for me to contribute to the down payment (for various reasons). AND, the mortgage payment is actually LOWER than what he's paying now for his apartment (well, when you take into account the tax incentives). He's been approved for the loan!! As long as the home passes the inspection (and there really shouldn't be any problems...it was built in 2005), it's ours (his)!

So now what? Well, I'm still in school, so it doesn't make sense for me to move down there right now. Plus, it will take a little while for Ryan to get settled in (he has until the beginning of June to get out of his apartment, so the timing actually works out pretty well). So my plan.....is to move down there in the beginning of July. Yep. I didn't think it would happen so soon, but the opportunity came up, and it just makes sense for me to go down there.

I have been thinking about this for the past couple of weeks, and have just recently decided that it is worth it for me to go down. My main concern was school. After June, I'll only have 1 more quarter, so I definitely want to finish. Well, it just so happens that by taking a class (my project class) this quarter instead of in the fall, I can get away with taking my last two classes online. I already know one of the classes I'm taking in the fall, and I've already talked to the professor about it (I took a class from him last quarter, and he's really understanding about it all).

The other thing is...my job. I haven't quite figured that one out yet. I know that at least a couple of you who read this have done a bit in the job searching arena, so any advice is greatly appreciated!

I'm seriously really excited to be able to do this! I've been wanting a change, and so it's my chance to do something I wouldn't normally do, and see how it all works out. I feel like I've been "playing it safe" and I want to see what else is out there. So for once, I really don't know how this is all going to turn out, but it's something I feel like I have to do for myself, and I really hope it works out for the better =)

Win-Win-Wynn!

Yep, it's a win-win-Wynn situation (I heart the office, ps)!

First of all, there really is nothing wrong with the other places I've stayed...they're just different!

1. First time in Vegas, I was a mere 6 weeks shy of my 21st birthday. I stayed at Harrah's with my cheer team. I mean, whatevs, I didn't even get the "Vegas Experience," but really, I still fell in love!

2. First REAL time in Vegas, we all stayed at the Excalibur ('cali). Good times.

3. Went for Ryan's 21st in June 2007 and we stayed in the oh-so-classy...Tropicana!!! Hahaha, at least the pool was pretty cool...it had a waterfall and everything.

4. Yep, 'cali! Gotta love it! And really, I do...I swear. I would not mind staying there again and again! It's just way down the strip, which makes it difficult to get to the other side...

5. This is probably the best one on the list...with the cheer team, representing Stanford, we stayed at.....hOOters! ha! At least I got to gamble and drink that trip...it made it a lot more bearable!

6. .....'cali! Again! We can't stay away, can we? But the pool was done this time, so at least we got to chill!

7. And finally, last weekend, Ryan and I stayed at the fabulous Wynn hotel! Really, it was gorgeous. And it was crazy to think that we were actually staying there. Like, legally...we didn't lie and say 2 people, when we meant 7. I know, I know, what a concept. (oh, but I still brought a half empty bottle of vodka...but we didn't end up drinking any of it, haha)

Anyway, the Wynn was awesome! It was really nice to be able to relax in such an upscale hotel. But it was definitely a different Vegas than I'm used to.

Pros: the window in our room. Really, it was great...I can't believe what a big difference a HUGE window makes!

The bathroom was great and huge! And it had a little seat and a make up mirror. Yay! Oh, and I loved the bathtub and the TV that was in the bathroom! I got to lay in the tub while watching Without a Trace...how great is that?


Closer (than 'cali, hooters, and tropicana) to the hotels we wanted to go to (which were the hotels that are on the north (?) side of the strip...). The room was just super updated and nice, including the nice big TV. And the bed was really comfy! I didn't feel guilty hanging out in the room, because it was really nice!

The pool area was also nice, but it was really crowded when we went down in the middle of the afternoon. However, it was okay because the waitress still found us and the service was great - I got my strawberry daiquiri delivered to me in no time at all =)

And best of all, we got a really good deal on the room! We booked it through hotwire, using a little research to make sure we wouldn't end up with a hotel we didn't want (they tell you the price and the amenities, but don't actually tell you which hotel it is...).

Cons: expensive. The table limits were more than I was willing to pay (there was at least one $10 craps table during the day...but most of them were more than that). Also, the food and drinks were way more than other places. Oh, and I couldn't really shop at the stores they have at the Wynn. Umm, yeah, I'm not in the market for a Ferrari or a diamond encrusted Rolex, but maybe next time?

Also, the players card reward levels went up. I heard it used to be 40 points to get 2 free buffets (I don't really know how the points translate...but I have about 60 points - all from slots - and I didn't spend that much money), but apparently they just raised it to 400 points. Seriously...why? Whatever, we went to the buffet at the Mirage instead!

So I think that's about it! Oh, and I loved the decorations in the Wynn! It was all just a lot less "Vegas-y" than the other places I've stayed. Which isn't bad or good, just different. I'll leave you with the few pictures I took of the lobby area...

Recipe #9: Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Last week I used my beautiful kitchen aid mixer for the first time. I was thinking about making some sort of bread (so that I could eat it....thanks Lent), but decided that it would take too long. So, I found a cookie recipe that looked good, and went for it!

The actual mixing was great. It worked really well and it wasn't a huge mess! The part I had a problem with was actually baking the cookies. Our oven is known to produce flat cookies, so I guess I should have been prepared.

Here's the dough about a minute after I put it in the mixer.

And here it is after mixing in the dry ingredients! So smooth!

Yum! Now it's starting to look really good with the oatmeal and chocolate chips

In case you are interested, the recipe is below. I found it on this site, and edited the recipe based on the comments that were left by people who have made the cookies.

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugat
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour*
1 teaspoon baking soda*
1/2 teaspoon salt*
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup (plus some extra) semisweet chocolate chips

*in the original recipe, these values were 1 1/4 cup, 1/2 teaspoon, and 1 teaspoon, respectively. But almost everyone who left a comment changed the amounts to the ones I have listed above, so I followed suit, since I don't know any better!

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees

2. Cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs, and then stir in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into creamed mixture until just blended. Mix oats and chocolate chips in! (Oh, the recipe also called for walnuts...but my family doesn't do nuts, so I left those out).

3. Bake for 12 minutes. I actually ended up baking each batch for at least 25 minutes, just because our oven doesn't quite work right.

The look good here...too bad they didn't stay that way!

As I mentioned above, our oven always flattens cookies, and I'm not quite sure why. I think these cookies might just be flat in general, because I made a batch in Ryan's oven, and those were also flat. But not nearly as flat as the ones from my house! I don't know if you can tell from the pictures below, but seriously, some of the cookies flattened out so much that there were holes....wow. Please see below for examples!



But on the bright side, I was told that they tasted super yummy! I can't wait until Easter so I can try out some more recipes, and actually enjoy the outcome! Any ideas for the next thing I should try?

For your viewing pleasure, here is a quick sample of the Kitchen Aid mixer at work! Don't mind the background noise...Mary Anne called me, so yeah.