Wednesday, October 6, 2010
P90X
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Yard Work is HOW Much?!!
Matt is the unofficial landscaper of our house, and he does a very nice job watering, mowing and trimming. But in the summer months, it gets really difficult to find a time when it's cool enough to be outside and also light enough to see what you're doing. So a few months ago, we came up with the great idea to hire someone just once during the summer to do the dirty work for us. A little treat to ourselves - a reward for being so frugal and doing it ourselves the rest of the year. And we figured it would cost about $50, right? So then we let the yard grow out nice and full so we would get our money's worth out of this landscaper we were going to hire.
Flash forward to this week, when Matt calls around to get quotes. 3 visits later, and we find out the absolute cheapest anyone will do the work for is $100!!!!! Am I just cheap, or does that seem outrageous to anyone else? It normally takes the two of us an hour to get the job done, and you'd think it would take a professional half that time, no? One self-professed arborist (who takes care of your trees with a holistic approach - oooh! aahh!) wanted to charge $225!
So then I had a heart attack and when I recovered we got out the gloves and the trash bags and headed outside. Matt worked the hedge trimmer while I followed behind and picked up clippings. 90 minutes, 8 trash cans, 5 scrapes, 4 bottles of water and one thorn (sorry Kim!) later, we tamed the jungle down to a nice garden. It was quite a work-out. When we were done, I realized that I hadn't seen our fence in a few months due to the overgrowth - whoops! So from now on we're back on our maintainance plan so we don't make that same mistake twice. And we are treating ourselves to a nice dinner out as a reward - which feels a lot better than paying some schmuck $100!
Flash forward to this week, when Matt calls around to get quotes. 3 visits later, and we find out the absolute cheapest anyone will do the work for is $100!!!!! Am I just cheap, or does that seem outrageous to anyone else? It normally takes the two of us an hour to get the job done, and you'd think it would take a professional half that time, no? One self-professed arborist (who takes care of your trees with a holistic approach - oooh! aahh!) wanted to charge $225!
So then I had a heart attack and when I recovered we got out the gloves and the trash bags and headed outside. Matt worked the hedge trimmer while I followed behind and picked up clippings. 90 minutes, 8 trash cans, 5 scrapes, 4 bottles of water and one thorn (sorry Kim!) later, we tamed the jungle down to a nice garden. It was quite a work-out. When we were done, I realized that I hadn't seen our fence in a few months due to the overgrowth - whoops! So from now on we're back on our maintainance plan so we don't make that same mistake twice. And we are treating ourselves to a nice dinner out as a reward - which feels a lot better than paying some schmuck $100!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
How to Grow a New Oleander Plant
I like oleanders as a plant because they are very hearty and low maintenance. They are awesome because they not only survive through intense Arizona summers, they love the heat. Our oleanders flower several times throughout the year, their leaves stay green all year round, and they don’t require much water. Another cool feature is that you have a lot of options when growing and pruning them. We have some in front of our house that I have trimmed down like a small hedge, about 4 feet tall, in front of our kitchen window. Then in the back yard one of our oleanders has grown into a bush maybe 12 feet tall and 10 feet across that works great to block out some of the street noise from the road next to our house. I have even seen oleanders trimmed to grow like trees with a large single trunk.
However, some of my friends do not share the same affinity for oleanders that I do. Their heartiness also makes them very hard to remove once they are established. So before planting oleanders you better be certain that it is the plant you want and you are happy with the location. Also, oleanders are very poisonous. We have never had a problem with Jordan but you should be cautious if you have pets or little children.
Like I said oleanders flower often and will produce seed pods but the best way to propagate a new oleander plant is to take a cutting off of the existing plant. The best time to do this is in late summer or fall. Look for fresh shoots coming off of the branches about 6 inches long or so and cut them off close to the old branch. The new branches will be a nice bright green like in this picture.
Take these new growth branches you just cut and put them in a glass or vase of water and let them sit for a week or so. Make sure the bases of the cuttings are submerged in the water and refill the container if necessary.
After several days you should start to see little white roots growing from cut end of the clippings. Be patient with this part. For the first week or so you wont see any change in the clippings and may be tempted to give up, but keep giving them water and give them time to grow.
Once these little roots are an inch or longer you can take them out of the water and plant them in the ground. I put mine in pots so they have good soil with which to establish some serious roots and it makes it easier to make sure they have enough water.
I usually start with about 6-10 clippings. Not all of the clippings will sprout roots and they may not all survive once they are planted so it’s good to have some extra. I made out pretty well this time with most of the clippings surviving so far. I’m planning on using these to grow another bush in the back yard. I’m also trying to grow one like a tree, which I just recently planted in the front yard. As he grows taller I’m just pruning off the lower leaves and so far it is looking promising. Here is a picture of him in the pot before I planted him.
This one is just a few months ahead of the new little guys. The oleanders grow very quickly, especially during the hotter months. I’ll try to remember to post an update in a couple months to show how they are all progressing.
However, some of my friends do not share the same affinity for oleanders that I do. Their heartiness also makes them very hard to remove once they are established. So before planting oleanders you better be certain that it is the plant you want and you are happy with the location. Also, oleanders are very poisonous. We have never had a problem with Jordan but you should be cautious if you have pets or little children.
Like I said oleanders flower often and will produce seed pods but the best way to propagate a new oleander plant is to take a cutting off of the existing plant. The best time to do this is in late summer or fall. Look for fresh shoots coming off of the branches about 6 inches long or so and cut them off close to the old branch. The new branches will be a nice bright green like in this picture.
Take these new growth branches you just cut and put them in a glass or vase of water and let them sit for a week or so. Make sure the bases of the cuttings are submerged in the water and refill the container if necessary.
After several days you should start to see little white roots growing from cut end of the clippings. Be patient with this part. For the first week or so you wont see any change in the clippings and may be tempted to give up, but keep giving them water and give them time to grow.
Once these little roots are an inch or longer you can take them out of the water and plant them in the ground. I put mine in pots so they have good soil with which to establish some serious roots and it makes it easier to make sure they have enough water.
I usually start with about 6-10 clippings. Not all of the clippings will sprout roots and they may not all survive once they are planted so it’s good to have some extra. I made out pretty well this time with most of the clippings surviving so far. I’m planning on using these to grow another bush in the back yard. I’m also trying to grow one like a tree, which I just recently planted in the front yard. As he grows taller I’m just pruning off the lower leaves and so far it is looking promising. Here is a picture of him in the pot before I planted him.
This one is just a few months ahead of the new little guys. The oleanders grow very quickly, especially during the hotter months. I’ll try to remember to post an update in a couple months to show how they are all progressing.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Mmm... Avalon...
Last night, my sister Liz took me, Matt & Kim to this restaurant called Avalon. AZ Central had voted it "Best Dessert In Phoenix," which was enough to convince me to give it a try. And we were not disappointed! The menu is small - maybe only 8 entrees offered - but everything we ordered was amazing. A small sampling of the menu:
Every bite was as good as the first, and we played Pass The Plate so everyone got to try some of each. Then it was time for the best part: the dessert! Here's what we got (one of each that they offered, actually!)
Another cool thing about this restaurant was the decor - very cool and modern with lots of blues and browns - one of my favorite color combos. And now I have some good ideas in case Matt and I ever get a house with a basement and want to make it look like a swanky club :)
All in all, Avalon was a wonderful belated b-day gift from Liz and we all had a good time! Then we all went home and fell into a food coma.
http://www.avalon-scottsdale.com/
Grilled Mahi Mahi over rissoto with pineapple butter sauce
Aged Prime Top Sirloin with mushroom glaze sauce and au gratin potatoes with grilled onion
Pork Tenderloin wrapped in bacon over grilled asparagus and fresh vegetable medley
Aged Prime Top Sirloin with mushroom glaze sauce and au gratin potatoes with grilled onion
Pork Tenderloin wrapped in bacon over grilled asparagus and fresh vegetable medley
Every bite was as good as the first, and we played Pass The Plate so everyone got to try some of each. Then it was time for the best part: the dessert! Here's what we got (one of each that they offered, actually!)
Organic Strawberry Trifle with tart mousse whip (very refreshing!)
Peanut Butter & Dark Chocolate Truffle with Raspberry Jam (like a fancy Reese's Peanut Butter Cup!)
Bananas Foster Cheesecake (Basically a little cheesecake with a caramel brulee banana)
Pineapple Bread Pudding (Everyone's favorite - Matt said it reminded him more of a pineapple crisp. But I think he was embarrassed since he professed his dislike for bread pudding as we ordered, then it ended up being the best one!)
Peanut Butter & Dark Chocolate Truffle with Raspberry Jam (like a fancy Reese's Peanut Butter Cup!)
Bananas Foster Cheesecake (Basically a little cheesecake with a caramel brulee banana)
Pineapple Bread Pudding (Everyone's favorite - Matt said it reminded him more of a pineapple crisp. But I think he was embarrassed since he professed his dislike for bread pudding as we ordered, then it ended up being the best one!)
Another cool thing about this restaurant was the decor - very cool and modern with lots of blues and browns - one of my favorite color combos. And now I have some good ideas in case Matt and I ever get a house with a basement and want to make it look like a swanky club :)
All in all, Avalon was a wonderful belated b-day gift from Liz and we all had a good time! Then we all went home and fell into a food coma.
http://www.avalon-scottsdale.com/
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Baby Jordan
Pamela was checking out her favorite blog, Dooce, the other day and on it there was a picture of her dog when it was just a puppy. Pamela loved the picture so much that I thought I would put up some pictures of Jordan from back when she was a baby puppy. Here are a couple of them, plus I put a few more on Jordan's page.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Vacations: The Final Chapter
Trip #3: Back to Santa Barbara for some Team fun!
This past week, I went back out to Santa Barbara for a planning meeting for work. We stayed at this cute historic hotel in the heart of downtown called the Upham. So there is the main hotel and then there is an 8-bedroom house converted into a Bed & Breakfast right across the street. Our team was staying in the B&B so we would have meeting space and also so we could all hang out more and get to know each other. Gross side story now:
We got to the hotel and the innkeeper said that a few of the rooms had a "fly issue" and that those people would have to wait a couple of hours to check in while the problem was being fixed. Of course, my room was one of the infested ones. Around 1:30, she announces that my room is good to go and I head up there to find 4 or 5 dead/struggling flies on my bathroom and bedroom floor. I feel a little sick about it, but I pick them up with a tissue and flush them. Then I head back downstairs for meetings. 4 hours later, it was time to go back upstairs to get ready for dinner. Oh the horror! I walk in and see more than 20 flies scattered around the room - dead or dying on their backs. I grabbed my stuff and booked it over to Kristina's room before the carnage made me throw up. Needless to say, I ended up staying in the main hotel property across the street. Because I doubt General Mills wanted to pay for my therapy bills when I started having nightmares about flies touching me. On to the real story now...
Like most General Mills trips, this one was filled with great food and fun times. We ate at this cute restaurant called Downey's, where I had the most amazing sea bass of my life! And the desserts here were killer too - nobody could stop talking about the sorbet and the homemade peach ice cream. The next day, we went on a vineyard tour of Santa Barbara where we learned how wine is grown, processed and bottled. It was very interesting and I learned a ton about wine that I never knew before. It was also great to learn the correct pronunciations for different wines and how to pair it with foods - something that comes in handy in the world of business and sales. That night we had an awesome time bonding as a team over pizza and Taboo. For what I lack in sports skills, I make up for in board games and trivia knowledge, so I pretty much rocked that game :)
The next morning, I earned my fitness points for the day by attending an impromptu boot camp put on by my co-worker's husband. Holy moly was it intense! My abs and legs still hurt 2 days later. And a word to the wise: apparently if you eat before a hard workout, your body doesn't have time to focus on digestion so your stomach will try to send that banana back up the way it came... Yikes. Before we headed back to Phoenix, we made a stop at CrushCakes - a famous cupcake shop featured on Cupcake Wars. Strawberry Lemonade cupcake = very tasty. Vanilla Bean cupcake = perfection. Another great trip, but now I am glad to just be home with Matt for a few weeks.
CrushCakes... as close to heaven as Santa Barbara can get!
My emu call was apparently spot-on, since I got these guys to come right over...
One of the many gorgeous vineyards we toured
This past week, I went back out to Santa Barbara for a planning meeting for work. We stayed at this cute historic hotel in the heart of downtown called the Upham. So there is the main hotel and then there is an 8-bedroom house converted into a Bed & Breakfast right across the street. Our team was staying in the B&B so we would have meeting space and also so we could all hang out more and get to know each other. Gross side story now:
We got to the hotel and the innkeeper said that a few of the rooms had a "fly issue" and that those people would have to wait a couple of hours to check in while the problem was being fixed. Of course, my room was one of the infested ones. Around 1:30, she announces that my room is good to go and I head up there to find 4 or 5 dead/struggling flies on my bathroom and bedroom floor. I feel a little sick about it, but I pick them up with a tissue and flush them. Then I head back downstairs for meetings. 4 hours later, it was time to go back upstairs to get ready for dinner. Oh the horror! I walk in and see more than 20 flies scattered around the room - dead or dying on their backs. I grabbed my stuff and booked it over to Kristina's room before the carnage made me throw up. Needless to say, I ended up staying in the main hotel property across the street. Because I doubt General Mills wanted to pay for my therapy bills when I started having nightmares about flies touching me. On to the real story now...
Like most General Mills trips, this one was filled with great food and fun times. We ate at this cute restaurant called Downey's, where I had the most amazing sea bass of my life! And the desserts here were killer too - nobody could stop talking about the sorbet and the homemade peach ice cream. The next day, we went on a vineyard tour of Santa Barbara where we learned how wine is grown, processed and bottled. It was very interesting and I learned a ton about wine that I never knew before. It was also great to learn the correct pronunciations for different wines and how to pair it with foods - something that comes in handy in the world of business and sales. That night we had an awesome time bonding as a team over pizza and Taboo. For what I lack in sports skills, I make up for in board games and trivia knowledge, so I pretty much rocked that game :)
The next morning, I earned my fitness points for the day by attending an impromptu boot camp put on by my co-worker's husband. Holy moly was it intense! My abs and legs still hurt 2 days later. And a word to the wise: apparently if you eat before a hard workout, your body doesn't have time to focus on digestion so your stomach will try to send that banana back up the way it came... Yikes. Before we headed back to Phoenix, we made a stop at CrushCakes - a famous cupcake shop featured on Cupcake Wars. Strawberry Lemonade cupcake = very tasty. Vanilla Bean cupcake = perfection. Another great trip, but now I am glad to just be home with Matt for a few weeks.
CrushCakes... as close to heaven as Santa Barbara can get!
My emu call was apparently spot-on, since I got these guys to come right over...
One of the many gorgeous vineyards we toured
Vacations Part 2
Trip #2: Visiting my baby in Lompoc!
The day after I got home from Chicago I unpacked, repacked and headed off to Lompoc, CA to see Matt! It had been 2 weeks since I had seen him last, which might as well have been an eternity! So it felt awesome when I stepped off of that plane into 70-degree weather and (more importantly) into Matt's arms! Matt's co-worker Jake was out in Lompoc too, so his wife Nicole and I made the trek out there together. Hooray for awesome new friends! We all ate at a yummy steakhouse off the marina in Santa Barbara, and then made the 45 minute drive to the boys' hotel in Lompoc. Initially, we thought that Matt would have to work the entire weekend, but at the last minute their launch was delayed and he was free to hang out with me for 3 days! We got in some good beach time this trip - going to Pismo Beach one day and Santa Barbara Beach another. Jake bought a kite that we tried flying, but there was just no wind during this trip. It was still nice to be smelling the ocean air and out of the heat. We also made a visit to San Luis Obispo to do some window shopping and sightseeing. What a cute little area!
Then, on the 4th of July, we decided to all spend the day in Santa Barbara and top it off with the downtown fireworks show. This day could be known as The Day of Eating 5,000 Calories Apiece :) There was just SO much good food to be had there! We split a mixed cheese plate from some fancy cheese shop, and then went to the adorable Anderson's Bakery where someone decided we could easily split 4 giant desserts. Definitely worth the calories there, though! We took a break from eating to walk along the beach and look at the craft show that was going on. Then it was back to dinner at Aldo's Italian food. WOW!! This is some of the best Italian I have ever eaten - cheese and bacon-stuffed chicken with a sauce that really made the meal. And the best crabcakes hands down! That night, we watched the fireworks over the Santa Barbara pier and it was a gorgeous sight. Not only was the weather nice and cool (unlike every other 4th I spent in Phoenix), but the fireworks shining through the palm trees just made for a nice effect.
The biggest treat of all was that Monday afternoon I got to bring Matt home with me!! Before we left for the airport, we stopped in a little Dutch town called Solvang to walk around and sightsee. The buildings were so cute and Matt introduced me to these donut-like round pancakes called Aebleskivers - mmm! Then it was home again for us. It has been so nice to have Matt back here with me, and I'm sure he is glad to not be living out of a hotel!
Fun Friends, Fun Times
Beach Bums
Fine Dining - Aldo's, Anderson's & Arnie's
Santa Barbara is a weird hippie town...
Matt's gum wall contribution
Reunited! (And check out that beard!)
California-style fireworks
The day after I got home from Chicago I unpacked, repacked and headed off to Lompoc, CA to see Matt! It had been 2 weeks since I had seen him last, which might as well have been an eternity! So it felt awesome when I stepped off of that plane into 70-degree weather and (more importantly) into Matt's arms! Matt's co-worker Jake was out in Lompoc too, so his wife Nicole and I made the trek out there together. Hooray for awesome new friends! We all ate at a yummy steakhouse off the marina in Santa Barbara, and then made the 45 minute drive to the boys' hotel in Lompoc. Initially, we thought that Matt would have to work the entire weekend, but at the last minute their launch was delayed and he was free to hang out with me for 3 days! We got in some good beach time this trip - going to Pismo Beach one day and Santa Barbara Beach another. Jake bought a kite that we tried flying, but there was just no wind during this trip. It was still nice to be smelling the ocean air and out of the heat. We also made a visit to San Luis Obispo to do some window shopping and sightseeing. What a cute little area!
Then, on the 4th of July, we decided to all spend the day in Santa Barbara and top it off with the downtown fireworks show. This day could be known as The Day of Eating 5,000 Calories Apiece :) There was just SO much good food to be had there! We split a mixed cheese plate from some fancy cheese shop, and then went to the adorable Anderson's Bakery where someone decided we could easily split 4 giant desserts. Definitely worth the calories there, though! We took a break from eating to walk along the beach and look at the craft show that was going on. Then it was back to dinner at Aldo's Italian food. WOW!! This is some of the best Italian I have ever eaten - cheese and bacon-stuffed chicken with a sauce that really made the meal. And the best crabcakes hands down! That night, we watched the fireworks over the Santa Barbara pier and it was a gorgeous sight. Not only was the weather nice and cool (unlike every other 4th I spent in Phoenix), but the fireworks shining through the palm trees just made for a nice effect.
The biggest treat of all was that Monday afternoon I got to bring Matt home with me!! Before we left for the airport, we stopped in a little Dutch town called Solvang to walk around and sightsee. The buildings were so cute and Matt introduced me to these donut-like round pancakes called Aebleskivers - mmm! Then it was home again for us. It has been so nice to have Matt back here with me, and I'm sure he is glad to not be living out of a hotel!
Fun Friends, Fun Times
Beach Bums
Fine Dining - Aldo's, Anderson's & Arnie's
Santa Barbara is a weird hippie town...
Matt's gum wall contribution
Reunited! (And check out that beard!)
California-style fireworks
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