some of my favorite things

by no means is this an exhaustive group, a rather a small collection of my favorite things.

the list l-r, t-b:

cribbage board-made by my father in law

bible-my grandmother's

gingher scissors-from my mother

love rock-found and made by me

scarf-from my father

earrings-collected from my brother's travels

poem-written by my brother

silverware ring-made by meagan

peace, mother pearl, and tiger's eye rings: from my grandparents

pearl bracelet: made by my aunt 

minolta baby: found and bought by eric and i

our love is...: collaged by me

knit socks: made by my mother

viewmaster with personalized pictures: eric

hairbow: bought by me

puzzle box: made by eric with help from alan.

year twelve in music

holy woah.

how in tarnation is it already december?

(yes, i just used the word tarnation)

so this happened today. the yearly family tree outing.

<3

minus dad and eric. boo. but we all sang 'call me maybe' in the car and joe and i busted out 'gangham style' dance moves and we got some fambam pictures. so all in all, a fabulous day.

 

so i wanted to document the music i purchased this year, cause somehow i feel like music is a reflection of where i've been this past year. so here goes:

 

artist/album

the bird and the bee/ray guns are not just the future

esperanza spalding/radio music society

of monsters and men/my head is an animal

alabama shakes/boys and girls

jason mraz/love is a four letter word

eric hutchinson/moving up living down

gotye/making mirrors

alex clare/late lateness of the hour

god help the girl/god help the girl

abba/greatest hits

justin beiber/believe

walk the moon/walk the moon

piney gir/geronimo!

rihanna/talk that talk

childish gambino/camp

joshua radin/underwater

john mayer/born and raised

will retherford/walk

two door cinema club/beacon

brigitte/et vous, tu m'aimes?

noisettes/wild young hearts

mumford and sons/babel

gungor/beautiful things

various artists/holidays rule

she and him/a very she and him christmas

adele/21

lana del rey/born to die

taylor swift/red

any albums that stood out to you this past year?

 

recipe: peanut sauce

(via)

 

eric and i went on a lunch date on monday to sivalai thai restaurant.

our roommates had recommended it a while ago, so we finally went to check it out

annnnnnnnd...

it was AMAZING. 

like forseriously AMAZING.

it's a family restaurant, a bit quaint, but the food and the service!

the food was amazing. super filling and delicious. thai iced teas for a buck. that alone means i'm sold.

plus, they brought out a free appetizer for us annnnd a free mango sweet rice dessert,

which in eric's words were "i could eat this for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and fourthmeal."

so you know it's legit! 

bahaha:)

the appetizer came with peanut sauce.

and i was slightly embarrassed when i was caught eating alone it with my fork.

i think the waitress's words were,

"good peanut sauce, eh?" 

uhhhhhhhhhh. yes. :)

 

so that brings me to this recipe for peanut sauce found at the amazing thai food blog she simmers.

  it pretty much tastes exactly like the stuff in the restaurant. 

and it's super easy.

and i made some yesterday and it's pretty much all gone already.

good sign of a 5 star recipe.

so go here for the goodness of shesimmers easy thai peanut sauce.

her website has a really nice printable version of the recipe and other tasty thai yumminess! :)

 

note: i didn't have massaman curry paste, so i just used mostly yellow curry paste with 2 tbsp of red curry paste and it was just right for me: mostly mild with just the right amount of heat. i had marinated chicken in a whiskey ginger marinade and cooked some rice. it was a super tasty hit.

different together

i love being married to eric.

he's awesome.

and kind.

and the most helpful & humble person i've ever met.

and he's super different than me,

which always makes things interesting.

:)

this is eric's lab.

he designs, builds, solders, creates, and 3D prints cool stuff down here.

and he listens to people all over the world with his Ham radio.

this is ellen's art space.

she creates, designs, sews, hot glues, and makes pretty things up here. 

and she has dance parties when she needs a break.

and as much as we like our own things, 

i'll be honest:

sometimes our differences are frustrating.

sometimes i want eric to go dancing with me.

sometimes i want him to go to an opera with me.

sometimes he wants me to play strategy games with him.

sometimes he wants me to learn Morse code. 

 but thankfully we can laugh at how opposite we are.

and know that God did that for a reason.

i think it's so that we get outside our boxes and learn and appreciate things that are different than us.

so we've been trying to say yes to each other more often when activities are suggested. 

also, we're both incredibly blown away by each other.

last night, eric designed an circuit board to control the temperature of a project he's working on.

yeah, and it only took him a few hours. bam. 

and he was pretty impressed with some sewing kits i assembled for the girls i'll be hanging with next week. 

all this to ask,

do you have any suggestions for activities/projects that we could do together?

i mean, i'm pretty sure we could rule the world, but since that's not really an option for date nights, a little help would be awesome.

:)

thanks!

pinterest for dinner

i'm being honest.

cooking is not my favorite thing. 

if i'm inspired, yes.

but if i get home and am tired, blech.

so my newest technique?

peruse pinterest for a meal. 

and hope that i have most of the ingredients on hand.

then run run run across the street to safeway.

and come back with a dinner inspiration. 

phew!

 but it seriously helps me so much! 

so here's a list of tasty things i've made in the last couple weeks via pinterest:

1. cauliflower aged white chedder soup

 (via)

2. oreo chocolate chip cookies

(via)

3. pumpkin pie almonds

(via)

4. cranberry-pecan clusters

(via)

these next two recipes are in cue:

1. garlic rosemary & lemon potatoes and brussels

(via)

2. cranberry-lime vodka

(via)

and i totes recommend the oreo chocolate chip cookies. they are incredibly delicious!

catch up: part 2

(just a bunch of resident crazies...i mean my family) 

so this one time, i went to maui for my uncle's wedding and my whole family went.

oh wait, that was two weeks ago.

annnnnnd it was AWESOME. 

here's some pics to prove it. ;)

 top-bottom l-r

1. flying into maui

2. nathan and i after 10 months of him being gone in australia

3. "the ocean is my bathroom"

4. joe post shaved ice

5. cliff jumping!

6. i can't keep track how many shaved ices i ate. nom nom nom.

1. more reunion pics!

2. see above

3. "...."

4. meagan with hula pies!

5. little morning reading sesh

6. me and the boy with more shaved ice

7. bamboo forest 

8. the kiss!

9. fambam

sarah, seth, thomas, joe, me, and nathan.

one of the days we took our really fancy rental cars...

 (yeah buuuuudy)

and drove around the east side of the island to hana. 

after a hike through the bamboo forest,

and some quick cliff jumping in the venus pools,

we ate some delicious thai food in hana,

and drove like maniacs

to catch the sunset at ho'okipa lookout.

  oh. and we went snorkling...

  and good times were had by all!

so long maui, until next time...

<3

      

catch up: part 1

 ladies and gentlemen,

it's been a while. 'nuff said.

here's catch up pics from the last 2 months via my instagram feed.

above: started ballet classes! 

 went to grant and jen's wedding in nampa, idaho.

far right: best friends from high school!

 labor day at the beach with the girls.

aunts, cousins, beautiful weather, oh my!

couldn't have asked for a better time:)

top-bottom, left-right

 1. columbia river gorge from washington stonehenge

2. remnants of my birthday party weekend

3. dad teaching me how to sail

4. my lover sleeping soundly

5. color run with my in-laws and their neighbor

6. packing for hawaii

part 2: hawaii!