I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.

Even in California we have gotten to enjoy some of the great things that come with fall. The air is crisper at night, pumpkins everywhere, and even some trees turning colors in between the palm trees. Garrett and went to a pumpkin patch on Sunday and picked up a whole wheel barrow full or fall. Fall is in the California air!

Trader Joe's

The coolest pumpkin flowers I've ever see! ( way to to trader joes) 

Halloween kitty 

Webb Ranch 

Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall. 

xxO

Chicken AND Waffles.

A few weeks ago Garrett and I decided to make home made chicken and waffles for dinner. Now Garrett LOVES chicken and waffles. I think any restaurant we have ever been to where it has been on the menu he has gotten it. So this was a big challenge because I wanted to make ours better an anything we had ever tried. I have made quiet a few waffles in my day, but frying chicken, not that is something I have never done, but it turns out it wasn't hard at all if you have the right help and assembly line set up.

Let me tell you these chicken and waffles blew our mind! I wish I would have gotten more pictures of the actual cooking, but it was a two man job. I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!

Waffles: 

1 1/2 cups flour 

3 tablespoons sugar

1 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups buttermilk (the best secret ever... If you don't have buttermilk, which we never do, mix milk with a few tablespoons vinegar and let sit for a few minutes, and presto!)

1 egg

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

I don't like to get too fancy, I just mix everything together, and then let it sit until you are finished with the chicken.

Chicken:

3 chicken breasts

1 1/2 cups buttermilk ( or secret buttermilk substitute, works like a charm I'm telling you!)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cut up your chicken into small strips and let sit in the buttermilk/salt for 3 hours (or overnight) in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. 

Put 1 1/2 inches of oil in a large pan and heat the oil on your stove on high.

The dry:

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Now prepare your multitasking skills! Take each piece of buttermilk coated chicken and coat it in the dry mixture. Re dip it in the buttermilk and then re coat it in the dry mixture once more pressing the coating on the make sure it really sticks to the chicken (this give it that really delicious crunchy outside) 

Add the double coated chicken to the hot oil a fe pieces at a time. All to fry for 2-3 minutes in the oil flipping if necessary. Remove once brown and crispy and drain on a paper towel. Then transfer the cooked pieces to a baking sheet or plate in the oven that you set to 200 degrees to keep warm while you finish the rest of the chicken and make the waffles. 

Once you are finished and all of your chicken is in the oven you are ready to heat up your waffle maker and cook the waffle batter. 

Place a waffle on a plate, spread a little butter on the waffle, add a few pieces of chicken, pour some maple syrup on the whole thing and mmmm mmmm mmm you've got yourself some amazing chicken and waffles! Enjoy! 

an ode to art projects..

I am a huge fan of anything 'do it yourself' or crafty and moving into our apartment a few months ago was the perfect opportunity to try out some projects I have had my eye on. These are some my top favorite do it yourself projects that now live in our home. 

Magnetic scrabble board (my latest project)

 *covered in poems from an old poetry book. So easy and such a fun continuous game!

Heart map frame

*this guy I made for Garrett actually last summer. It has a map of every place we have been together (with room to grow, work in progress)

Jewelry hanger

*this is an oldy, but goody. I made this quiet a while ago with help from my fathers sawing skills (thanks dad) then painted the frame a dark charcoal and wood a cream color and found mismatched knobs.

Long distance mug

*made for Garrett last valentines day after he moved to California. I love the simpleness of it and I a, always a huge fan of black and white.

Super old piece of a wood fence shelf

*this wood has an interesting story. It was actually 'borrowed' from an old abandoned fence/barn in Fort Collins. The plan was to get 4 pieces and create a headboard, but let me say that is not a light piece of wood and it happened to be the only one not still nailed to the fence (laying flat on the dirt) needless to say I could only get this one piece. We got some shelf hooks from Ikea and with the help of my live in handyman (thanks gar) made a pretty awesome shelf for our bedroom.

Coffee mug holder

* I wanted a way to display all of the mugs I had been collecting and so I found this old piece of a baseboard for a house, cut it to the size I needed, painted it, found some cute hooks at World Market and voila! Coffee mug display!

Morning and night mug

*i wanted to make a morning and night mug because Garrett always has his morning cup of coffee and night cup of tea. One mug, multi purpose and cute!

Paint chip calendar

* this is probably the most useful and handy craft I have made, plus I absolutely love the gradual color change. For this I used a large black frame with a white poster background. I then went to Home Depot and collected the tiles I liked ad cut off the names/labels on them, measuring them out on the white poster. By framing it behind glass it becomes the perfect erasable month to month calendar.

Picture Wall

* I have been waiting to do this project for such a long time! It took me and while to find the frames I liked and the right letters, but once I did I couldn't wait to see the finished product. 

Oh darling, lets be adventurers.

One thing you should know about Garrett and I, we both have a huge love of the earth. Hiking, biking, swimming, or just enjoying, yup we love it all. And it just so happens that our current location is very close to one of the earths most beautiful places. We are fortunate enough to live near Carmel and let me just say we are so lucky! And if you haven't been to Carmel you should! You can be at the beach, in the jungle, and on top of the world in one day, all in all, pretty amazing. 

Strolling through Carmel...

(Livin it)

We also got to go on the most amazing hike in Garrapata Park. It was right on the ocean and as you were climbing up the steep hills you could hear the barks of seals on a rock in the ocean in the distance. We climbed above the fog from the ocean and even able to see the curvature of the earth in the sky. On the way down we hiked through a redwood forest filled with clovers and small streams. (Fairy tale on a Sunday morning, my kind of story) 

Thought for the day: while lying in bed reading tonight I looked around me, Garrett peacefully asleep next to me and our two cats cuddled up at our feet and I realized, how lucky am I. That's all. Not complicated. Just a moment of awe mixed together with every other hectic moment of my day, I saw what it's all about. These moments of perfection. 

living our adventure

 So there is this one guy...

His name is Garrett, and we like to do fun things.

He is also probably my favorite person. 

Anyway he's pretty neat. 

Here are some snap shots of our summer adventures in California (so far!)

That one time Garrett hurt his knee and got to ride the motor wheel chair through the mall...

The inspiration for our collage photo wall (coming soon)

That one time we rode the Caltrain..

.. And brought a 110 pound dog on the Caltrain, hey Rojo.

We like to drink beer in paper bags

Garrett like to pick up big logs...

Birthday candle breakfast...

And dessert.

Pescadero beach

City days.. Including a visit to the Ghiradelli Factory for a sundae of course.

Craft beer festival (missing Fort Collins beer, nothing better!)

Hanging out at the FB campus and signing the wall 

4th of July chili cook off with Kara and Matt

All white outfit for a work Party. Nailed it. 

Exploring Little Yosemite 

Touring the America's Cup Pavilion with the New Zealand team

So many fun activities! But it turns out it's not where, but who you are with that really matters. Thanks Gar :)