are you ready for the country?

Hi guys!

Well, yesterday marked three weeks of both Eric and I quitting smoking! Some say that's the milestone, but I'll admit that I still miss smoking and think about it pretty often. But my lungs are still raw and congested as if I have been smoking still, so I think I made a very wise decision to quit now, and let my sweet little lungs get back to healthy. It's gross to completely run out of breath going uphill with a case of wine.

We have more healthy plans, including walking or jogging the neighborhood today (hopefully three times a week) and to eat healthier. We don't eat too badly, but we do eat a lot of cheese and things. We want to eat more vegetables and incorporate more fish into our diets! We picked up some Mahi Mahi not too long ago and hoped to make some fish tacos out of it. Well folks, last night was the night!

 I asked all my coworkers and the owners of Cafe Luna (who happened to visit the winery) if I should grill or fry the fish for my first attempt at fish tacos. Everyone said fried...so much for healthy choices? After searching Tastespotting for some good recipes (which you need to visit if you haven't already) and settled on this one: Baja Fish Tacos with Fresh Pico de Gallo (but with a few changes, as always).

Fresh pico de gallo, cilantro cream sauce, fresh cabbage and avacado!

Cornmeal crusted Mahi Mahi

It was so nice to come home from work and cook with Eric. I made the fresh salsa, Eric made the cilantro cream sauce. We chopped vegetables side by side, laughed and sang while drinking Pacifico.

We danced to Neil Young together in the middle of the kitchen, kissed and cuddled our cats and made them dance to Neil Young too.

It was such an easy meal to prepare, and it makes it so much better to cook it with your loves after a long day at work!

They ended up super delicious- we cooked two fillets of fish, but only ended up eating one between the both of us. That makes it pretty inexpensive! It was really filling, and super fresh. It's a perfect example of a meal tasting of summer! Next time, I think I will try grilling the fish and add some grilled corn for a different texture and some sweetness.

What have you guys been cookin' up lately?

xoxo

This week has felt like two!

What a whirlwind this week has been!

My birthday was on Sunday! I ended up having to work, and made Eric go to Rapid Care because his throat had white patches. Turns out he had viral pharyngitis! Not contagious, but he was ordered to rest and drink lots of fluids.

So, I got off work about six, and hung out with my coworkers and shared a bottle of wine. When I got home around 7:30, I still couldn't decide what I wanted to do.  I just wanted to feel like we did something out of the ordinary, so it would feel like I celebrated my birthday even though I was exhausted and  Eric wasn't feeling too hot.  He was supportive of going out, provided we didn't go out drinking at bars until 2am.

 I decided it would be nice if we just went to main street and had a beer in their little courtyard at the Wine Smith.  We got down there, and it was closed! Ohhhh Sundays in Placerville! You kill me! So we walked across the street to Heyday Cafe to use our giftcard on a pizza and some salad, and a couple glasses of wine. Stan and Les called and I told them we were having a bite down the street from them, so they decided to join us! 

Poor Eric! You could tell he wasn't feeling well here...

Heyday was closing up, so we walked around Main Street to see if we could grab another drink, but nothing was open except Powell's and Liars Bench, and I wasn't feeling rowdy enough for either one.  So Stan invited  us up to their place for some wine, where we sat in their sweet little patio with candles and grape vines wrapping the lattice, chatting and making plans very late into the eve. It was mellow enough for Eric to keep up, but later than we anticipated being out!

Part of the plans we made that night was for a journey to Sacramento! Stan, Phil and Les were planning on looking at houses in the afternoon down there, and I was already planning to go see Mallory so we could shop and hang since I told her not to come up for my relaxed birthday. I planned to steal Les and make her hang with Mallory and I until Stan and Phil could get down there.

So we went to a few thrift stores and got some cheap sushi lunch! Mallory mentioned that she had to give Breanne a ride to the vet at 5:30, so we kicked Lesley out to meet Stan at Crimson and Clover (lucky girl!) and took off to meet Bre and her broken leg kitty, Wario!  What a awesome surprise for Bre and I to see each other without planning on it! So fun! After the vet, we took Wario home and she lead us to a delicious ramen house called Shoki! So warm and spicy and perfect for that crisp, windy evening.

I took my niece back down to Sacramento tuesday since I was babysitting her for my folks, and Mallory offered for her to come make Jewelry since she was going to make some with Bre and walk around some more shops. Eric drove us down so he could hang with Charlie while we did girl stuffs. So we went down there, and my niece made gorgeous navy blue feather and turquoise stone earrings! I was amazed. I tried to make some myself and couldn't do it! She loved that cats, and I think really enjoyed hanging with the older girls. It helps that Breanne is a nanny and an animal lover- that went over really well!

My niece ended up staying the night at our little home tat night- we made tacos and watched Ponyo until the early morning. We hung around the house being lazy most of the next day, until we took her back to my parent's house and got to visit with my Grandmother and Aunt! I only see once every few years! It was such a nice visit- my Grandma is still so young at heart!

Which brings us to yesterday, where Eric bought a car first thing in the morning! Holy smokes, it's the newest car we have ever purchased! He test drove it and new he wanted it, bad. Its a beautiful 2002 Subaru Impreza Outback 2.5 L.  Really exciting, but that means we have to sell his Nissan Sentra asap!

 I also hosted a Clothing Swap last night at Boeger after I got off work, where there were mountains of clothes, ladies, wine and cheese everywhere! It was awesome! I think we all ended up with a lot of treasures.

We moved the party to Brick Oven Pub for Trivia night- it was a packed house! I had never seen it so busy. I think there was some sort of home-brewers meeting happening that had reserved the front room, so everyone had to squeeze into the darts/bar/jukebox everything small back room. The line to get beer was out the door when we walked in! It was a tough round, and we laughed and ate way too much! Mallory, Breanne and Tim ended up winning, which was so awesome because they had the smallest team! That means they have their prize (beer tokens) to spend, so we will have to do it again real soon!

A very busy and emotional week, yes, and now its the start of my work week. I have just had some incredible times with some awesome people, but I also spent some time in the last few days reflecting on friendship and what it means as well as what can be expected or demanded from a friend. Ultimately I realized that I do have a great group of girlfriends that I feel close to, that I can trust and turn to for anything, for the first time in my life. I never thought it would happen, growing up a tomboy and all... I feel truly blessed. 

  

PS- I'm kind of falling in love with Sacramento. I wont deny that I have been craigslisting houses down there.

Anway, I hope you guys are packing your summer as full as I am! It's almost over!

dating vintage and an update on our boy

Hey guys! I'm sure you already read about Mallory and I opening our little etsy called shopglovebox!

 

Well, first off, if you have an online shop of some sort too, let me know! I'd love to browse and promote! Even if you don't have a shop, and are just a vintage lover, I wanted to share an awesome site with you that I just came across. Perhaps you already know of and use it yourself, but its called TESS: Trademark Electronic Search System.  It is seriously AWESOME for helping you date those vintage gems that found you, and just can't exactly decide what decade they are from. I found that I am pretty bad at guesstimating, it turns out. For instance:

I thought this might be from the 80's or 90's? Nope! This company existed sometime in the early to mid-seventies, owned by a lady named Allie-B in San Franciso!  How amazing is it to have access to this information? It makes me treasure items so much when I get to see where it came from and when! I'm sure any future owner of these items will be as stoked to know a little history as well. So sweet!  I also have a knitted black skirt from the 60's (as it turns out) that will be up on our etsy soon too! Keep your eyes peeled.

If you are curious, and want to date some clothes yourself, you just need to go to:
http://tess2.uspto.gov/ and click on the Basic Word Mark Search (New User). Type in the label or maker of your vintage item. I played with some settings too, like some designers I assumed some were no longer in business, so I set it to "DEAD" and also changed the search to only include the exact phrase. You can also peruse by images, which is helpful for searching a common name, but unique label design.

Good luck on the vintage dating, and let me know if you discovered any treasures you didn't know you had!



Lastly, for all my cat lovin' friends- an update on JULIUS!

Yesterday morning, our local vet called, frantic upon getting a fax of Jules' visit to the the emergency vet over the weekend. She wanted to check on him, and see if he was doing any better- eating or drinking any better. I told her we haven't been able to get him to drink for days, and that all we have been  able to do is trickle water down his throat with a baby syringe and use our fingers to feed him little bits of wet cat food.She didn't like that he wasn't drinking, and had Eric and I come in and learn how to give him subcutaneous fluids and pick up some antibiotics. She seemed as shocked as we were that the ER vet felt he didnt need antibiotics, even though you could SMELL the infection whenever you are near him.

Well, he wouldnt let us do the fluids more than a minute. I poked him with a needle three times, but he trashed so much that it was both impossible and dangerous. So we gave him his antibiotics morning and night, did the finger feed and water syringe game again before going to bed.

I am happy to report that he is like a new cat this morning! I really think those antibiotics did it. He has a sparkle to his eyes, and most importantly, he isn't drooling goop! He ate ON HIS OWN this morning! Oh, I'm crying with happiness! Scratching on his post, harassing his little brother... So happy that this vet helped us out. $40 of antibiotics and fluids vs. $340 for a diagnosis that he "has a cut on his tongue." He still wont drink, but we are working on that. My boy is on his way!  And that is definitely pulling me out of the funk I have been in, too.

xoxo

what can i do?

A long bummer post for you-

Hi folks, and happy fourth of July! To be honest, I don't feel at all like celebrating.  I spent most of last night at the emergency vet with my boy Julius. He somehow got a lesion on his tongue, which we discovered after I smelled his breath and saw that he hadn't been eating or drinking. As of saturday, he had began drooling thick, gelatinous rotten-smelling saliva all over himself and everything near him. I was trying to hold on until tuesday to take him to our regular vet, but he just acted too sick. I couldn't bear it anymore.

Five hours and hundreds of dollars later, they told me he has a cut on his tongue, and that he was incredibly difficult to handle. Thats it. They did pump some fluids under his skin, but otherwise, they didnt feel like he needed meds, writing on his form that we wouldn't be able to administer them to him, as he is "too fractious." I explained so many times how sweet and cuddly he is at home- so tender! But no, they gave me nothing for him. Told me to let him drink as much as he wants and give him soft wet food. I got him to eat a little wet food watered down by pinching bits and pushing them in his mouth and rubbing it on his side teeth. But he hasn't drank a drop in water in four or five days, which I don't think they understood either. I got the vibe that they thought I was insane, and definitely thought he was. They had to administer sedatives to him twice, and he still kept fighting them! It's no wonder they didn't give him a legit examination...but obviously they under estimated his weight or dosage- that's their problem, not our cat's.

Today, he seems to be drooling more, not interested in food at all. I bought a little medicine plunger for babies to force some water into him. He seems so weak and listless. I am so heartbroken to see my babe like this.  I am going to go to the local vet tomorrow and tell them my tale, and hope that he will give me some antibiotics or something to help my furry love. Its killing me to see him suffer like this, but I cant afford another visit like that to the emergency either. I'm incredibly frustrated, broke, and depressed at this point. What else can I do to help him? I am so lost. Such a nightmare. I would much rather be sick than my boy.

Just needed to vent my sadness and anger someplace for now.  Its hard to watch a loved one suffer and not be able to help. I feel bad that our little babe, who we are now calling Bruce or Brucey (after Bruce Wayne), isn't getting the attention he needs either. He has been a very patient and understanding little brother. Its unreal how sweet the little guy is.

Please think good thoughts for our infectious kitty. He may give the doctors hell, but he truly is a lover, and I cant imagine life without him.

To sell, or not to sell?

I always though this tank top of my mama's didn't fit me, but now I feel like it kind of does...and Im in love with it... I think I'm hanging on to this one. If the ones in my shop fit me, I would cherish them forever too! But Im not comfortable enough with my belly region to wear such sweet little crop tops! I hope someone gives them a home and loves them like I do.

Eric and I took a lovely walk down to the railroad tracks to model some more clothes for Mallory and my etsy shop. Its been a lot of fun to do on the side- a little project for summer! Eric has been really supportive and genuinely excited for us. He is even modeling a couple of shirts for us!

What a handsome devil. I need to find a larger man model too though because we just found some awesome t-shirts yesterday...or maybe Mal and I can model them pant-less and it would be hilarious and cute? Probably not. Theres nothing cute and hilarious about thunder thighs! Maybe I could get the Prince of Placerville to model!

We had to be careful on our journey down the tracks, because little baby toads were ALL OVER!

Oh man, so cute! The photos do it no justice- there were hundreds, but very camouflaged. Might make it a daily trip out there to watch them grow until they are old enough to know they must hide away into the rocks and bushes.

Tonight though, some friends are getting together at my work for some Sunset Sippin'!

Our good friend Tony Windle will be playing, so we are going to have a little picnic and some vino, and soak up the smooth jazz!


Just wanted to give a quick little update of my life at the moment. Gotta clean house and gather some snackies for tonight! Hope you guys have a fun friday planned!

xoxo

ps- This is my favorite version of this song. Plus, Bob Dylan was so adorable-listen to his little laugh!