Artosaurus Tex[t]

April 30th is the release date for our EP.

Finally.

You can pre-order it here.

Today is the first birthday of a very special boy.

& even though he is just a pet pup, he truly brings us happiness, love and a whole lot of laughter. 

I make this salsa weekly. It doesn’t last very long in our house. Especially when our favorite [quick] snack around here is chips & salsa. It’s simple and easy, yet SO delicious. Not to mention how it compliments a slow-cooked pork taco beautifully. 

Just chop up the following ingredients. 

We like the tomatoes chunky, but you could use a food processor to make this salsa more of a ‘restaurant style’. 

I only like green onions, but I’m sure any kind of onion would work.

A lot of cilantro.

I squeeze a lot of lime juice for this salsa. For a small batch I only use one lime, but for big batches I use 2-3 limes. 

At this point I mix in some salt & pepper [not pictured above].

or eat it. ;)

Enjoy!

Better late than never, right?

I can’t even put into words how crazy busy the months of Nov-Jan were. And now that life has fallen back into a slightly normal routine, I can finally relax a little bit. 

Now here we are, year 2013, and already at the end of January. Time is flying by, people. I personally feel like the years are getting shorter and shorter. I’m assuming this feeling comes with age. 

Anyway, Chris and I were able to go home for Thanksgiving, Christmas AND New Years. I’m grateful that Chris has a job where he can work remotely if need be, and I’m also enjoying the fact that we live closer to home. Makes the drive worth it!

Hey Family, we love spending time with you all and we are blessed by each and every one of you! 

I made a german chocolate cake for the first time for Thanksgiving dessert

Trying to teach Brutus how to fetch a stick. It was pretty comical.

Chris and cousin Nick. Our Aunt and Uncle live on some beautiful property. I feel like a true Oregonian whenever I’m out there. 

Our second Thanksgiving dinner with my family and Chris’ parents. I love spending time with all these people under one roof! 

These guys are two peas in a pod. 

Zoey is a Grandma’s girl through and through.

Time well spent at Noble Coffee with my BFF Sunni.

Brūt’s first time in the snow. :)

I made gingerbread cupcakes for our Christmas Eve stocking exchange.

Christmas Eve at the Fulton’s house this year.

Getting ready to steal gifts from each other. It was such a fun night.

Brutus ‘opening’ presents on Christmas morning.

My kangaroo singing his little heart out. What a ham!

Now that’s what I call a cozy Christmas.

My two favorite cuties. Uncle Chris and Joey.

Eddie Christmas photo 2012.        Merry Christmas …

… & a Happy New Year! Ca$ino night out at the Saling house. I took 3rd place. ;)

Goodbye 2012. Thanks for all the wonderful memories. 

Both of the bathrooms in our house have pedestal sinks, which [for a girl] I find very unfortunate. Luckily our downstairs bathroom has a pretty big closet where I can store most of our toiletries and towels, but our bathroom upstairs only has a medicine cabinet above the sink. If you have ever seen the amount of makeup and hair products/tools I have, you would know that a medicine cabinet doesn’t cut it. 

A few weeks ago my mother-in-law came down for a visit and we went thrifting. She also brought me a cute little corner table for our bathroom downstairs. At the thrift store I found a cabinet that was the perfect size for our bathroom for $10!  I just used paint that we had around the house and was able to give these pieces a facelift.

Before • I don’t have a better ‘before’ picture of this table. This is the picture my mother-in-law texted me asking if I wanted it or not. Yes, Please! I think corner tables are so neat.

After • 

In Use •

Before •

After •

.

In Use •

I realize that both of these designs are pretty popular. Both the look of ‘dipped’ table legs and chevron patterned furniture are all over Pinterest, but I couldn’t resist! I don’t think I’ll ever paint another chevron pattern for as long as I live. It was a tough one. 

It sure is fun to take a piece of furniture and make it your own by painting or distressing it. Especially when its free! Thanks to Sonja for the corner table. I love it. :)

‘Well, it’s not far down to paradise

at least it’s not for me

and if the wind is right 

you can sail away & find tranquility.’

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico. On the boat, setting sail.

St. Thomas ferry to St. John

Ahh, snorkeling. One of my favorite ocean activities.

St. John. My mother-in-law facing her fear, snorkeling for the first time. So proud!

St. John- one of the most beautiful beaches that I have ever seen.

Trunk Bay Beach

.

Yeah, I could live there.

They make you take these cheesy portraits on the boat. Well, you don’t have to, but why not? I just want to know…who actually poses like this for a photo? Ha!

St. Lucia

Lunch at Pigeon Island Jambe de Bois Restaurant & Bar

Enjoying his hard-earned vacation. ♡

Barbados. On our way to another beach.

Hello.

I know that it has been quite some time since my last blog post, but I just wanted to let you all know that I’m still here! :) 

Right now I’m in the process of sewing my first quilt [thanks to my mother-in-law for helping me get started!], re-painting a bathroom cabinet bought at a thrift store, writing more songs & of course eating anything ‘pumpkin’ that I can get my hands on. 

October came and went, but it was a great month. We even squeezed in a visit home that was absolutely wonderful and refreshing. I can’t believe it’s November already and the holiday season is right around the corner.

Here’s what we’ve been up to lately [via photos].

____________________________________________________________________

Brutus had his big surgery in the beginning of the month. He’s officially an adolescent & weighs a little over 40 pounds. His most recent favorite thing to play with is any kind of ball…we think it’s because he had his removed. ;)

Since his surgery we’ve been letting him sleep in our bed. Big mistake. Oops.

While I was home, Sonja invited my parents over for dinner. We had a mexican food feast. & I made a really really really ugly cake. Not pictured of course. 

A sleepover with my favorite kangaroo.

Took my niece to her gymnastics class. She’s on the far left with the pink headband on.

So much fun! 

Had the chance to spend some much-needed quality time with my very bestest friend. 

Stoked out of my mind. I’m convinced Ben & Jerry love me. 

Halloween consisted of baking pumpkin spice cookies, listening to The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack while carving pumpkins & a funny movie. 

.

.

Chris chose a classic pumpkin face [top], Johnny chose scary [middle], & I opted for cute [bottom]. :)

Do you see this pumpkin!? I am terrible at carving pumpkins, but this year I finally figured out the trick. You have to take your time. & I just can’t sit still for that long. I’m pretty proud of this year’s carving.

Caught ya!

Hope everyone had a fun & safe Halloween.

The Fall season is a little over a week away. And I will be on a boat in the middle of the Caribbean, so it won’t feel like the end of Summer at all. I am a Summer girl through & through. Mainly because I love the heat & love being warm.  But, alas it is time to say goodbye. Can’t say that I’m not looking forward to wearing boots again. ;)

Here are just a few of my favorite moments from this summer…

Fourth of July picnic with Chris & Brutus.

On a walk with Johnny at the Golden Gate Park.

Enjoying the sun & some Starbucks.

All the women in Chris’ family came down for a girls road trip. This is my mother-in-law. She is a pretty funny character.

We went on a wine tasting [more like wine dumping for me] tour at Sterling Vineyards in Napa.

My pretty cousins Ashlee & Kate.

Cousin Nikki & I. We are afraid of heights…here we are acting like the lift ride to the top wasn’t scary. [It was!]

Touring the winery was pretty fun even though I don’t drink. It’s always cool to learn how things are made & the process of wine making is really interesting.

We also visited the Old Faithful Geyser of California.

Shopped around in Calistoga.

Took a tour of Alcatraz. Loved it. So much history there. This is the rec yard where the prisoners could let loose, get some exercise, play baseball, talk to each other etc. From here they could see the city of San Francisco & all that they were missing out on. 

Aunt Mel in the dungeon. Solitary confinement.

My good friend, Kristina came to visit us Labor Day weekend. She had never been to San Francisco so of course she wanted to do all the touristy stuff. It was a beautiful day. We had so much fun!

An after dinner game of Sequence.

I think Brutus’ favorite activity is wrestling with Johnny. Well, that & eating.

Hometown visits are the best. Spending time with my favorite kids.

Typical boy.

Staying the night with Auntie. We watched the Lion King three times. I think I can quote it now.

My two [oldest] nieces stayed the night with me also. We baked/decorated cookies and played Wii. They danced for hours & didn’t go to sleep until 1 am! Loved every minute.

A hummingbird flew into the studio and couldn’t figure out how to get back out. It was flying up against the window trying to get out and his beak kept clanking against the window. When he finally landed I was able to push him toward the open door and off he flew.

Time spent in the backyard.

Brūt loves the water hose. He tries to bite the water and step on it. It’s so cute.

& this is where he sits every single day when I’m getting ready for the day.

About one more week of Summer and I am definitely going to make the most of it. Show me some islands! 

Hope you all had a fun summer too. :)

We’ve had a lot of people come and visit us this month. Which means I have fallen behind in blogging. That’s a good problem to have! :)

The first weekend of August our good friends [Chad & Katie] from Seattle drove all way down to the Bay to visit with friends and stay at our house for two nights. We had so much fun with them. Chad is the worship pastor at the church we attended while we lived in Seattle. & Katie handles all the media & sound. They also serve as the youth leaders at the Eastridge West Seattle campus. They are amazing people. They are so giving of their time and talents. & they make a great team. 

They got married they same year we did & all 4 of us are close in age. So, we got to know them pretty well in the short amount of time we lived up North. I can go on & on about how rad these two are. God truly blessed us with their friendship. 

We took a day trip to the boardwalk & beach in Santa Cruz. Chad told us about this place called Steamer Lane where all the surfers hang out. Of course we had to check it out. It was incredible. There were a ton of surfers [I don’t know how they didn’t collide with each other] & the scenery was b e a u t i f u l. We were even fortunate to see a school of dolphins swim by. It was awesome.

On the Boardwalk.

.

.

Lunch time!

.

.

.

Ice cream at The Penny Ice Creamery 

Watching the surfers at Steamer Lane.

.

.

.

.

The sun was going down & it was breathtaking. 

.

.

We love spending time with friends. Chris & I always find ourselves talking about how awesome it would be to live close by Chad & Katie again. *wink wink* :) 

Thanks Katie for some of these photos! We love you guys. 

Going up!

There are 4 windows in the stairway. That’s just crazy.

& one of the windows is to our bedroom. :)

Our bedroom.

Brūt’s area.

I think this might be my favorite bathroom of all time. Love the tile work.

& the high ceiling.

Entry way to the studio. [there’s also another bedroom opposite of our bedroom, but we haven’t done anything with it yet. Right now it’s just a storage room.]

In the studio facing down the stairway.

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

My desk/craft area. Chris’ desk was there at the time this photo was taken. He’s moved his desk 3 times now. Indecisive!

.

The loft.

My brother claimed this loft as his when he helped us move. ;)

Backyard. There is a huge garden area [not pictured] that we hope to bring back to life when we get a little more free time to do so. Should be fun. We’ve always wanted to grow our own produce.

Back porch.

There it is. I hope you enjoyed the digital tour!